Last week

This week I had my last Zone Conference on Wednesday and my last interviews with President on Tuesday.   Thursday and Friday I was in bed with a stomach infection!  This area is killing me!  HA!

Sunday we went with our new convert, Tomas, and his family to a chapel right next to the Temple for a fireside with our Mission President.  Tomas and his girlfriend got married but we couldn't go to the wedding because it was too far and we had Zone Conference.  The little boy in the pictures is the son of Tomas' girlfriend (now wife)!  

We have started teaching a man named Carlos.  He has been to church a couple times.  We are also teaching his mom.  He is a fisherman and dance teacher.  He fishes by scuba diving underwater with a harpoon!  He is really chill ... but just has to work on committing to the Word of Wisdom. 

Love, Elder Gurney

It was a great week!  The highlight was the baptism of Tomas!  His soon to be father-in-law baptized him.   He is awesome!  Right after they gave him the priesthood, he offered to take the sacrament to a few people!  They are planning on getting married the beginning of August.  I'm not sure if I will be here or not. 

We found a few more people to teach .. and two of them made it to church on Sunday.  The work here is growing!! 

Our Bishop invited us over to make pizza!!   It was a fun night! 

Love, Elder Gurney

Tomas

Hi Everyone!
This week was good!  We had two investigators come to church on Sunday!  One is name Tomas.  He is from Spain.  He has been taking the lessons in Spain but is finishing them with us.  His girlfriend is a member and lives in our area.  He came here to get baptized.   He is scheduled to get baptized this Saturday!!

with Tomas

With Tomas and his girlfriend!

Today we had a zone activity ... waffles followed by a water balloon fight!  As always ... it is really hot (and humid) so it was nice to get hit by a water balloon!

Have a great week!
Love, Elder Gurney

July

Hi Everyone!

This week we were busy moving stuff ... an area was closed so we had to go take all of the stuff out of their apartment and move it into our house.  After we finished moving everything, we tried to leave our house but the doorknob wouldn't work.  We could turn the handle but the door wouldn't open.  So .. we were locked inside our own house!

It was pretty funny!!   I pulled out my engineering skills and tied a string to one of the stakes on our garage door.  It is locked but we can now pull it open and climb out.  We just have to be careful because we don't have keys to the garage door! 

It has been especially hot this week.  Most of our conversations start with people asking us how we can walk around in the heat all day! Thankfully, the church building has air conditioning!   We did find a few more people to teach ... but no one made it to church!  Hopefully this week!

A member made us tacos!!!

Zone Conference!

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Gurney

Last transfer

Hi Everyone!

This week is transfers again.  It is weird to think it is my last transfer!  I am staying in my area with my same companion.  Elder Vargas is a fun companion so I am happy to be staying with him.  Half of our zone was transferred though.  The three Elders that are staying are training new missionaries so that should be fun! 

My zone with the Mission President and APs before transfers!

Last week was really hot and we spent a lot of time knocking doors.  We found seven potential investigators but only one came to church on Sunday.  She really liked it though! 

We helped some people move as service yesterday.  The guy in the grey shirt was the ward mission leader in techno.  It was a surprise and really fun to see him!

Have a great week!
Elder Gurney

Bowling in Veracruz!

P-day fun!  Bowling in Veracruz!!

A kind sister in the ward sells juices.  She lets us go in the mornings and make our own juices to start the day!

Elder Holland!

The highlight of this week was that Elder Holland came to visit our mission.  It was awesome!  We were all able to shake his hand and they took a group picture.  Hopefully we will all get a copy!

My zone .. waiting to hear Elder Holland!

Basically, Elder Holland testified about the power of a mission and talked a lot about how our motivation as a missionary should be the Atonement.   He said that when he was first called as an Apostle and visited missions .. he would NEVER talk about life after the mission and almost refused to acknowledge the existence of life after the mission.  He has repented from that and he talked to us a lot about preparing ourselves for when we return home.  He cautioned us on slipping back into old habits because now we aren't the same innocent teenagers that we were then.  The mission should change us.  He pleaded with us to work hard and do our best.  He wants us to be able to talk about our missions and inspire future missionaries with our experience. 

He told us how much he loved us.  He also said that the night before the conference, President Nelson called him and asked him, "Where are you?"  Elder Holland said, "Soy Mexicano!"  President Nelson told him to say hi and send his best wishes and prayers for us!  Pretty cool!

Today it is raining a ton with a lot of wind!  We had a zone activity ... and we got soaked!

Have a great week!
Love, Elder Gurney

Transfers!

Hi Everyone!
This week was transfers! I moved to an area called Volcanes in the Villarica Zone. It is in the port! I called it .. I knew I was going back to the port! The area is right next to Magisterio where I was serving last year. The area is called Volcanes because the area where the chapel is all the streets are named after volcanos. We cover three different wards but they all meet in the same building. My new companion is Elder Vargas from Salt Lake City! I haven't had a companion from the states in a very long time!

with my new comp, Elder Vargas!

The area and zone are really struggling right now so we are going to try and fix that! Basically the whole zone transferred so we are all starting new! It is a big zone. We have eight areas plus the assistants and secretaries are also part of our zone.

Before transfers with Sister Palmer

Before transfers

The big news is that Elder Holland is visiting our mission on Saturday! We are all really excited. We are going to have a mission conference.

Random pictures before I transferred. A member found an abandoned baby possum and was taking care of it!

Reppin' the Y!

Have a great week!
Love, Elder Gurney

Baptism!

The most exciting news of the week is that the Gomez Ramos Family was baptized!  It was awesome!!  The dad doesn't like setting goals.  He likes to make his decisions last minute.  So on Saturday, he said that they want to get baptized the next day, Sunday.  Thankfully, we were able to throw everything together quickly and they were able to get baptized.  It was amazing!  The dad has sacrificed and changed so much to be able to join the church!

We also had mission leader council this week ... which is always a good time!  I learn a lot and get to see a lot of my missionary friends!

Have a great week!
Elder Gurney

End of April

We had a very good week!  The highlight was Amy's baptism.  She is 11 and her parents are members.  She has been attending church nearly every week for the past three years but she was scared of getting baptized.  She is pretty shy and would never open up as to exactly what she was scared of.  We decided to invite her again to be baptized and this time she said yes!  We feel like it was a little miracle! 

We also had zone conference.  It is always good to learn how we can improve!

The Gomez Ramos family set a baptismal goal for May 5th.  The father is still a little hesitant but he hasn't drank coffee in a couple weeks.  He has made so many changes in his life.  We are hoping to visit them often this week so we can help them reach their goal as a family! 

Have a great week! 
Love, Elder Gurney

Birthday Week

Elder Gurney only sent a few pictures and a video.  He had a great week celebrating his birthday!

Happy Birthday to Elder Gurney!  His district helped him celebrate!

Celebrating on his birthday with the Gomez Ramos Family

Pizza for my birthday!!