Fefe hake?! How are you?! Yes, I'm still learning Tongan. Pretty exciting stuff. But let me just say, I never want to eat Hawaiian/Tongan food EVER AGAIN. For the REST OF MY LIFE. The members here are awesome- and feed us great meals. But they know that my companion feels homesick, so they make her Tongan food every. day. People! I'M not Tongan! I want AMERICAN food! Bleh. But my companion hates hamburger and mexican food... Pretty much my two favorite things. It's quite disappointing. But (as you can tell) I'm not too torn up about the situation. hahahaha! *Mom, that was sarcasm. I'm pretty upset about it.*
A note to Mom: As I've been teaching people and getting to know them, one of my investigators asked me if my family was all LDS. And I told her about how you are a convert to the church and how your side of the family aren't members. She was really curious about your story... But I didn't know what your story was. Other than that you were baptized at.... 18? I'm sure that your story is quite personal (as every conversion is). But would you mind writing me and telling me your story? I'd love to read it. Also, can you send me Nana and Papa's address? And... Okay. This is a little weird. But do you know this restaurant called "The Poodle Dog" in Federal Way? I talked to this lady in the ward about how I was born in Washington and she was pretty upset about how I didn't know that place (she grew up there). But she's SUPER old, so it might be gone by now- but she's INSISTED that I ask you about it. Yeahhh. haha
Each week, we have appointments with members and help them get closer to going through the temple. What a heart wrenching thing... I would never want to be a Bishop. People have major struggles in their lives. And as I get close to them, and love them, and try to help them become worthy to go inside those temple doors.... My heart just breaks when they slip and fall along the way. Mom and Dad, you know what I'm talking about. All throughout my life, I've been around people that have slipped and fallen and I've been put in their path when they're trying to get back up. I don't know why the Lord puts these people in my path, or puts me in theirs. But I hope that He trusts me enough to allow me to continue to try and help His children.
Tuesday was zone conference. No one came to speak to us- so don't get too excited. But I did sing! I sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" to the tune of "Come Thou Fount". I don't know if I told you that already. But it was awesome to be able to sing again. :) Man, I miss it so much. And I was supposed to sing in church yesterday, but my accompanist had to go out of town. So I'll be singing in church on the 30th- and also speaking! haha! The missionaries are taking over sacrament meeting! We've been asked to speak on the restoration and how it applies to us in the latter days- while pulling in missionary work. NEWSFLASH PEOPLE! Missionary work is EVERYTHING! Oh my goodness. I've gotten so passionate about sharing the gospel, it's probably become a huge flaw in my personality. haha. I'm becoming like a young, woman version of Elder Holland. (But he's totally awesome, so I'm okay with that.)
But I learned something great at zone conference! (Imagine that!) Two things actually. President Cannon gave us all a copy of a talk given at the MTC in 2000 by Elder Holland called, "Teach the Atonement". I've been really struggling out here on my mission and been praying for relief- and Elder Holland directly addressed my issue. He talked about, to be good servants/disciples of Jesus Christ, we must all go through our own personal Garden of Gethsemane. It was really interesting. I'll mail you a copy of the talk- share it with the boys. It's amazing- and I can't really put it into words how much it touched me. But from that talk, I also learned that through our suffering and sacrifice, we can feel a greater love for others. When we have that love, we will have a desire to work and put forth effort. Through our efforts, we are showing and growing our faith. And through our faith- we perform miracles. Just like it says in Ether 12:6.
Just a quick side note: Why do people INSIST on giving missionaries advice on how to do their calling? Just let the missionaries do their work! (That's all I'm going to say about another run-in that happened this week.)
So, you're probably wondering about my little "joke" in the subject line. :) This week, we had dinner with a family in the ward. The night before we came over, they had actually invited some people (who had recently become homeless) to come and stay with them for a few days. Well, this homeless family consisted of a man, woman, and their daughter- and the man is a NAZARENE MINISTER. He's been a minister for 30+ years. Yeah, you can imagine where this is going. haha! Long story short, we finish dinner and it comes time to share a message. So I pull out my Book of Mormon and the minister guy just gets all tense and STARES at the book. (WHOA DUDE. It's gonna be okay.) But we ask if we can share a message, and they agree. So I share a quick and easy message from Alma 7:11 about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Okay, that's an easy one. They're Nazarene. They believe in the Atonement. Yeah, well... I share that scripture and bear my testimony of the atonement, and then close. And this minister starts saying... "You know, that reminds me of a scripture in Jeremiah that says... and a scripture in Isaiah that says... Do you know those scriptures?" And I respond with "Yes, those are great scriptures. Isn't the atonement such a blessing?" And he starts going off on a tangent. haha! Well, at the end of his preaching I say, "Would you like a Book of Mormon?" And he looks deeeeeeeeep into my soul and says, "Ya know what? I already have one." *shudders* I ask if he's read it and what he thought of it. And he starts going off on the Book of Mormon and blah blah blah. And I just say, "You know, at least you read it!" And then we have a prayer and leave. HAHAHA! Funniest thing ever. I wish you were all there. But after we left, the family from the ward told us (the next day) that the Nazarene family started asking all sorts of questions about the church! WHAT?! It was so crazy!
We taught Dave again on Thursday- and he's really getting excited about going to the temple! He's been reading his scriptures, praying, and going to church! He lives everything that he needs to... except for a slight word of wisdom problem. But he's so close! He's going to start meeting with the Bishop soon and attending the temple prep classes. :) Yay! Go Dave!
Another quick side note (sorry, I write as things come to my mind): As missionaries, all that we eat is ramen. Ramen, ramen, and more ramen. So, it's 10 am and we are downstairs eating (you guessed it) RAMEN. And Sister Minert comes downstairs to talk to us and says, "YOU POOR GIRLS! You're eating Ramen for breakfast?! What's wrong with you?!" And then, without letting us say anything, she runs upstairs and then comes back down with a bowl of fruit and protein bars. Bless her. She was sent from Heaven. But... really... I was just wanting Ramen at 10 am So I ate the ramen anyway.
Another food note: I've grown to love sweet potatoes. A lot. Baked in olive oil and garlic salt. YUM. I like them more than normal potatoes. :)
One night, after dinner with a member, we tried to go and visit some people- and of course no one was home. But we went over to a less active's house (Ted and Nora) because we hadn't contacted them yet. He's LA and she's not a member. And everyone has told us that they'd never let us talk to them. But, hey, why not try? We visited with Nora at the door, and she was nice but not interested- but she took 3 pamphlets! haha! And we found out that they still have our number (we had left it on a pass along card on their door). Yay! And, just as we were leaving, Ted pulled up- so we stopped to talk to him (as he smoked a nasty cigarette). He has a strong testimony of God speaking to his children and believes that God has blessed him with the gift of helping (he listens to promptings from the spirit). He knows that things happen for a reason, and he said that he knew that we showed up at that time for a reason (he was really mad at his brother and was about to disown him- but changed his mind after talking to us). He admitted that he had questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith- and he accepted our invitation to come back over and talk with him about those questions! But, of course, they're moving soon. Bummer. At least we're planting a seed in their hearts!!
Haley was at church on Sunday! Her Dad let her go! yay!
Let me tell you about our new investigators: Danny and Jackie! Danny is 18, and Jackie is his Mom. They moved here from Idaho Falls so that Danny could have his senior year here in Kuna. He has a football scholarship to play at a little college in Arizona. (Not sure which one- he couldn't remember. haha!) Danny is autistic (so, of course, I love him). He's so excited about the gospel and comes to church BY HIMSELF. And his mom does too! They don't come with members or with an invitation. They just come! It's awesome! We're teaching them on Tuesday night. :) I'm so excited!
We taught Cassie again on Sunday! She is AMAZING! We taught her about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and prayer. The spirit was definitely there! That was the most I've felt it in a lesson while here on my mission. Cassie was just sobbing the entire lesson... She knows that it's all true! We just have to help her realize that's what she's feeling. She shared with us experiences in her life where she knows that God has been watching over her. She knows that she has a greater purpose here on this Earth. She is so great! And we'll be teaching her again next week. :) YAY YAY YAY! She's getting close to baptism! I can smell the water coming from the font right now!
That's pretty much everything that's happened this week. Exciting things! Miracles are happening!
I hope you are enjoying my emails home--- cause I sure enjoy writing them. I love and miss you all! I'm sorry if I don't reply to everyone's emails or letter s in a very timely manner. I don't have a lot of time. But I'll try my best to get back to you- even if it's short. :)
--Sister Gubler
This is me and Sister Happy with our investigator Haley! She's the one with the "believe" shirt. :) the other girl is from the ward. :)
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