1 Corinthians 1:17

Family.

Friends. 

Random people reading this email.

Greetings to you all.

I actually have pictures to send this week! I know, right? It's been a while. 

I was looking through my old study journals that I'd kept for a couple of years before my mission and I saw something that I really liked. My companion and I have been struggling with feeling like we're using our time wisely. Mainly because we aren't seeing any fruits from our labors. Well- then I remembered the story of Babe Ruth. He's a totally legit guy. For the longest time (until recently- but that doesn't matter), he was rated the #1 player for HOME RUNS. BUT also the #1 for STRIKEOUTS. He was once interviewed and asked "How does it feel to be #1 in Strikeouts? Do you feel like a failure?" And Babe Ruth's answer was awesome. He said, "All of those strikes were SWINGS AT SUCCESS." He's a wise man.
All of our tracting. All of our lessons. All of our talking to people about farming. Those are all swings at success.

Speaking about farming- I could totally run my own farm at this point in my mission. I've learned so much about flood irrigation, siphoning water, mist irrigation, gardening, identifying crops, alternating fields, etc! Man. I feel awesome.
I'm never owning a farm in my life. Not happening. But I SO respect farmers!

Grandpa gave us flowers this week :) Random note- it was so nice of him. :)

I've been getting a couple of responses to my weekly emails- I love this, people! Keep it up! But, as you've probably read in my past letters, we've been having a lot of difficulties in the finding stages of the work. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. What is your ward doing? What are you seeing your missionaries doing? What has brought you success?

On Tuesday we had Zone Conference! Yay! (No one totally awesome came, so don't ask. haha) Not that our mission president and his wife aren't cool... but... yeah. No apostles or anything. But I loved that we talked about how everyone says that a mission is "The Best Two Years of my Life!" No. That's wrong. False. A mission should be the best two years FOR your life.  That's correct. Yes. Truth.

We went on a 5 mile hike with the young women of our ward! That was awesome. Okay, well, it was more of a long distance nature walk. But those are my favorites anyways! Pics included. :) We didn't have any appointments that night and several non-members were going on the hike, so we got permission to go with them! It was wonderful. The whole day it was pouring rain, thunder, lightning, the works. We almost cancelled. But once we got out to Melba, where the hike was at, it was BEAUTIFUL. 

We met with Jackie this week! Finally. :) We sat down and asked her what she wanted to learn (since she's taken the lessons 100 times) and thus had an awesome discussion about the Book of Mormon (in correlation with the Bible) and what the Doctrine and Covenants was. My companion is a history major and she LOVES the Old Testament (yep, she's a genius). So she totally rocked at that discussion. haha! As we tell the members, she gained her testimony through logic and facts and I gained my testimony through emotions and feelings. We work well together. :)

Side note- we worked with the Activity Day girls this week. We made lotions! Loved it. (Man, I miss pinterest and doing crafty things.) But, anyways, the main point of this! After most of the girls left, Sister Bell (their leader) gave us a snack. The most wonderful, unique snack ever.
Strawberries. Sour Cream. Brown Sugar. Try it.
Dip the strawberries in sour cream, then brown sugar, then shove it in your mouth. DELISH.

This week was pretty difficult to find things to do. High School graduation happened on Friday, so everyone and their dog was at parties and ceremonies. So, Friday and Saturday we went PARTY HOPPING!!! haha. It was awesome. We were invited, of course. ;) But we went from member to member, joining the parties, talking to members and non-members, congratulating the youth, taking some food, and PREACHING THE GOSPEL! haha. It was the best.

Sunday was probably one of the best days I've had in a long time.

There was a farewell talk given by one of the young men that just graduated. That was awesome. There's nothing like listening to a farewell talk to help you to remember just why you came out on a mission. You remember that greenie fire you had when you were heading to the MTC- wanting to baptize the world! Thinking that people would line up at the font to be baptized! (Which, I don't know why they don't. Silly people.) And you also remember the lack of fear and rejection that you had. Man. That talk just recharged me. Whoohoo!
It was crazy how blessed these kids are. They had HUGE graduation parties and the chapel was FULL of people to hear him speak. Man. I remember my grad party... Didn't have one. And my farewell talk... that half of my own ward attended. haha! It was funny to talk to my companion about it. (Since we both dealt with families that moved.) Spoiled kids! haha

I taught Relief Society on Elder Bednar's talk, "Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease". I love teaching that lesson. I felt like I was back in my BYU-Idaho days. Man. I miss TEACHING in general. We haven't had many teaching opportunities recently... well... in a few weeks. :P But it will pick up! I even made little hand outs! Not that they were super cute or anything. But, hey, for a missionary, it was pretty awesome. So after I gave the lesson, we went and handed out DVD's with Mormon Messages about the Atonement to less active relief society sisters in the ward. Not that anyone answered the door since they were all out of town... but it was the thought and the effort that counted!

MOM! It's getting super hot here.
Will you send me my half tee's? A lot of white ones.

I think that's all I have to say.

Yep.

I'll be sending a package home soon with books and stuff that I don't want to carry around anymore. :)

Okay love you bye! Pictures to come.

--Sister Gubler

I caught the Black Death...

I really did catch the Black Death... Well, maybe. I think I could have. Well, I didn't. But I could have! Story to come later in the email.

Update on my new companion! 
Sister Sleigher. I think I said a little bit about her last time... But she is a spiritual powerhouse! So legit! Best companion ever. She has had a ton of... well... bad experiences with her companions in the past. She's only been out one transfer longer than me (came out in January). Long story short, her trainer went home early and her second companion had anxiety/depression. So, she's been pretty down the last few transfers. Finally President Cannon asked her what he could do to make it up to her. So she responded with, "President. I just need a companion who is a hard worker, positive, and normal, without any problems." So... *drumroll* SHE GOT ME! Ta-Da! haha I guess that's a compliment? haha But we are getting along awesome. We have taken our ward by storm and are doing fabulously. We're still struggling with getting new investigators... but those will come with time. We've been spending time tracting, doing service, and trying to get referrals from members. Still nothing. But it'll come eventually.

A few nights ago, I had a nightmare that at the end of my mission, I was one of those missionaries that moved around and never had any investigators. Since that's how I've been spending the last couple transfers. haha! We have 2 investigators, but they don't live in our area, so it's been a little tricky seeing them. Grrrr. The joys of missionary work. I actually asked our district at our district meeting for suggestions with what we could do to find people to teach. I told them all what we were doing and how awesome our ward council is- and the only response that the other missionaries could give us was: "PRAY. And then wait to be transferred." HAHAHAHA! They were kidding of course. But really, all we can do is pray and keep working our very hardest. If we give our 100%, the Lord will make up the rest. I actually asked President Cannon for some helpful hints and he responded with, "Do you know what President Monson told his missionaries when he was a mission president in Canada? After you've knocked on every door- go back and baptize them." Thankssss President. haha We'll just try again.

Health update: Man. My shoulder has been killing me. So much. I might go to a chiropractor sometime... Problem is, I don't know if it's my muscle or if it's with the bones and stuff. Bleh. Well, I haven't been able to sleep well for the last couple weeks. So, whatever it is, I hope it stops soon! It hurts to carry my bag around... So good thing we have a car!

I've had this quote stuck in my head all week: "See a need, fill a need!" From 'Robots'.

So, for about 3-4 weeks, we had lost contact with Jackie and Danny. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get them to answer the phone or commit to have another lesson with us. It was terrible. Danny was supposed to get baptized on Saturday, but of course, that didn't happen. But then we got notice from Sister Lords (a woman from the ward who has friendshipped Jackie) that Jackie wanted to meet with the Bishop. That was... interesting. I had never heard of an investigator expressing interest in meeting with the Bishop of the ward. But okay! I was all for that! The Lords set up the meeting and we waiting for Jackie to arrive after church. 
Jackie introduced herself to the Bishop as the world's longest convert to the LDS church. haha! She's taken the lessons "at least 100 times" and hasn't gotten baptized because of "the commitment it takes to be LDS".
Danny had decided not to be baptized because his Dad is very anti-LDS and his Dad let him know that opinion. So, Danny was very afraid of losing his relationship with his Dad... even though he hasn't been much of a father figure to him throughout his life. He's the only Dad that he has. Jackie has been worried sick because she doesn't know how to help him through this situation and still make sure that everything is Danny's choice.
Long story short- Jackie has only thought about Danny her whole entire life. (That's the life of a Mother.) And we told her that she needed to take the time to take care of herself. She admitted that she knew that the gospel is true. And we committed her to taking the lessons FOR HER. Not for Danny, not for her friends, but for HER. And as she lived the gospel, and became a happier person, her children would follow after her example. 
It was an awesome meeting. I wish I could explain it better.... Sometimes I feel like Moroni. My writing is terrible.

Okay, now for the juicy stories.

My companion always laughs at me because every time something awkward/uncomfortable/weird happens, I always say, "SWEET! Something to write home about!" and then immediately make a note about it in the back of my planner. haha! Hey, you've gotta stay positive, right?

Here in Kuna, they have a Spanish Branch. And the Branch President (Hernandez) actually lives in our ward. We had committed him and his family to contacting their neighbors about some questions they had about the church- to which they accepted and told us "Come by Sunday at 8 pm and we'll report on how we did! We'll even have some homemade re fried beans for you!" Awesome. Sounds like a plan. 
So Sunday rolls around, and then 8 pm rolls around. And we pull up to their house and there are a million cars there. Awkward. But we had scheduled a meeting with them, so we couldn't NOT go. So we walk up to the door, ring the door bell, and President Hernandez answers, "Hola, Hermanas!.... [other spanish words that I couldn't understand]..." Awkward. My companion says, "Uhhhh... BIEN!" and then walks in. haha. 
So we walk in and they're having a branch missionary meeting!!! The Spanish sisters and Elders from our district were there and were laughing at us, "What are you doing here?!" There are a ton of people there and the branch mission leader is giving a training in spanish... So we just sit in the back of the living room and listen for 45 minutes. And then joined them for refreshments afterwards. Awkward. haha!
We just wanted to follow up and get some re fried beans!!! Is that too much to ask?! Instead, we walked into a fiesta! haha

One last story- about the Black Death.
We woke up Saturday morning and went to help the young women to clean the church building. (Ever since coming on my mission, I've taken those cleaning assignments super seriously. I clean every corner of that building! What if non-members want a tour and there are finger prints and trash all over? I can't stand a dirty building. Anyway...) 
It was fun to be with the Young Women. But we got a call at about 9 am saying that some Sister Missionaries got sick and needed to us to take over their service project. They told us that a ladies kitchen burned down and that she needed help cleaning it. No problem! We asked the YW to help and 3 of the Laurel's volunteered. We met at the church at 10 am and drove to the ladies house. This was going to be totally awesome!
NOT.
It wasn't just that the ladies kitchen had burned down... her house was filled to the ceiling with boxes. Millions of boxes. And there were dogs running loose and peeing over everything. The lady told us that she had left the house abandoned for 2 years and it had become mice and dog infested. The smell was... deadly. The Laurels were put to work cleaning the kitchen (which was the, if you can believe it, the cleanest part of the house). And Sister Sleigher and I were put to work upstairs, cleaning her daughters bathroom. Now, try to imagine the slums of New York- abandoned apartments that were full of graffiti and mice droppings... Yeah. That's what it looked like. There were weird stains on the floor and suicide notes written on the walls... Yeah. You heard me. Suicide notes. And we opened the cabinets to find mouse poop ALL OVER. Sister Sleigher and I looked at each other, opened up all of the windows, put our gloves on (we didn't have masks), and said a prayer that we wouldn't get the Black Death from cleaning this ladies house. We took an hour on the bathroom, and then started helping her move things around in her house, and clean the kitchen. We worked for 4 hours and barely made a dent in the place.
Oh my goodness... I felt so bad for dragging those Laurels into that situation. They were terrified! (2 of them wanted to go on missions... we'll see how they feel now. haha) And then were disgusted with the job. How do people let their houses get that bad? It's great to do service work... but... you know.
Afterwards, I felt terrible for taking the Laurels into that situation. And they were pretty grossed out. So we took them to lunch at Arctic Circle and I paid for each of them to get food and ice cream... Dad, that's why about 50 bucks came off of my debit card. Man, I felt so bad. But at least it's done! *whew*

That was my week. haha

Hope everyone is doing awesome!

--Sister Gubler

Yay for Mommies Everywhere!

Hello big, wide, wonderful world! 

I skyped home yesterday. It was wonderful. As always, not enough time, but it was still a blessing to see everyone.

Today was transfers. I'm staying in Kuna for another transfer! YAY! This will make 4.5 months in Kuna (after the transfer is done). Good thing I love it here. :) And I'm now with my new companion, Sister Sleigher (Sly-Ker), who is totally amazing. She is so positive and an extremely hard worker. We've already tossed some ideas around for how we want to make things work here in the ward. And- a huge bonus- she is GREAT at talking to people! YAY! YAY! YAY! I'm excited to see what this transfer will bring- there's still 6 more weeks left. haha I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself.

But with this new transfer, I am officially NOT A GREENIE anymore! Thank goodness! I'm done with my 12 weeks of training. And I feel AWESOME. So, instead of leaving the house at noon every day, we now will be leaving at 10 am! (This is both a curse and a blessing.) This means that we have an extra 2 hours to fill our day with totally righteously sweet stuff, but also that we can get more done in a day. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Tracting all the time!!!!!

Grandpa Welker. Oh my goodness. The cutest old man to walk the face of the planet. Did I ever tell all of you how he calls me "Peanut"? After "Goober Peanuts"? Well, yeah, he's awesome. He always tells me: "If a boy ever breaks your heart, you can say that there was one man who always loved you- and it's me." He is seriously the best. He invited us over for dinner with him on Friday night and he made all of our favorite foods- steak, sweet potatoes, salad, sparkling cider. He used his wife's fancy china and polished EACH AND EVERY piece of silverware BY HAND. He set up a nice tablecloth with a centerpiece and pulled out our chairs for us. He is always telling us how he loves us like we're his daughters. So sweet. He put his business card on each of our plates so that we would never forget him and that we would be able to write him each week. Cutest guy ever. I felt so loved and appreciated.

Okay, I didn't think I was going to write about this, but not much happened this week so I'll write about it anyways!
As a missionary, NEVER SIT BEHIND AN ENGAGED COUPLE AT CHURCH! Oh my goodness. That was the absolute worst thing EVER! So awkward! There's a young guy in our ward that got home from his mission about 2 months ago and got engaged on Saturday. But we sat behind him and his fiance at church on Sunday...oh my goodness. Too many kisses and hugs!!!! I seriously couldn't even handle it! GROSS!!! COVER YOUR EYES!!!! Nah, it really wasn't that bad. Just the typical new engaged couple stuff. But, as a missionary, my eyes were burning. I felt so awkward. haha!

Have I ever talked about the Girdner family? I think I have. But they are a part member/ less active family in the ward. All the kids and the Dad aren't members. They have been saying that they'll come to church and that they really want to- and I believe them because all of the kids are attending activity days, scouts, and mutual- but the Mom doesn't have any church clothes to wear. The people in the ward have been awesome at bringing over clothes for the kids, so that wasn't an issue. But the Mom didn't have anything. So,Saturday night, I went through my skirts (as well as my companions) and we picked out a few choices that would be about her size and brought them over to her. Super nice, right? haha. But, anyways, she still wasn't at church. But now she doesn't have that excuse! Mwahaha! 

I hate excuses....

This week was more weeds, and weeds, and weeds. All day, every day. Not much else. We were pretty exciting.

At district meeting this Friday, as everyone was eating lunch, I found a room with a piano. Pianos totally freak me out. I see them and I just... get scared. That sounds silly, I know. But I worry about my future and my ability to play as a music teacher. I sat down at the piano and prayed really hard that Heavenly Father would bless me for being on a mission and that He would help me get through my piano classes when I got home. (Thinking back, I don't even know why I prayed about that. I still have 15 months left on my mission. It shouldn't be a big deal right now. But, whatever.) But after I prayed, I opened the hymn book and actually proceeded to play about 5 hymns, back to back, without missing a beat.... How that happened, I don't know. But it was an answer to my prayers. Am I able to play piano in my church meetings? No, not yet. I'm still working on it (as much as I can while being a missionary). But I know that Heavenly Father will help me out.

Oh my goodness... Did I really not have a very exciting week? Or maybe it's just that not a lot happened. I don't know. *Sigh* I apologize for the lame email! Maybe it's time for another Q and A session? haha.

How's everyone's "Missionary Monday" going? Any successes?

I just want to take a second and thank everyone for their letters and emails to me. I'm sorry that I can't reply as much as I'd like to, but I appreciate each and every one and I pour myself over them each time. Thank you, thank you!

Love you all! I pray for you always!

--Sister Gubler

"I threw it on the GROUND!!!!"

Name that reference! (Saturday Night Live) haha

Dave wanted a blessing this week for strength to give up his coffee, so we brought some brothers from the ward to come and do that for him. But, before the Brother gave the blessing, he told Dave, "You are about to receive a blessing from Heavenly Father. And when we receive blessings, we need to do our part in making these things happen. So, Dave, when we give you this blessing, you need to promise to hand over ALL of your coffee and tea to the Sister Missionaries before they leave. Can you do that?" Of course he could do that. So we took it! Oh my goodness... It was epic. But oh so sad. Dave was tearing up. (I've never met a person with such an emotional attachment to coffee.) But we visited him the next day and he was totally fine! (Probably because we took pity on him and left him with 1 cold cup of coffee... I'm really bad at playing bad cop.) But we're glad that he let us do that. It will be better for him. He's SUPER close to making it to his goal of the temple. He was just letting a little thing like coffee get in his way. 

We saw Grandpa Welker again this week (as always). But this week he let us pull weeds for him! Apparently he was just kidding around, but we spent the next 2 days pulling weeds in his yard in the 90 degree heat! Us missionaries don't joke around! Haha! He is a wonderful 86 year old man. He always tells us stories about the good 'ole days and teaches us life lessons. He cries every time we go over there. His children are all grown and have families of their own... and they aren't active in the gospel. He tells us about the heartache that he's been feeling ever since they went less active- most of them happened to be sent home from their missions. I shared with him the story of Alma talking to his son Coriaton. Corianton had gone on a mission and had gotten into some... bad situations... and had to come home. And Alma is sitting here, lecturing him about the Atonement, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ for 4 CHAPTERS. A long time. And, at the end of that lecture, it never really shares if Coriaton really does repent or not. It explains that he goes back out with his brothers (so maybe we can assume that he did), and then doesn't mention him until about 20 chapters later when it says that he went away to a different land on a boat. ANYWAYS. Moral of the story! Most of the time, in the scriptures, it takes just 1 or 2 verses to convince people to repent. But Corianton took 4 CHAPTERS (if that!). Sometimes, after lecturing our children for a couple of days, they understand that they were wrong and repent... but, most of the time, children are like Corianton, and take 4 YEARS or 40 YEARS to change (if that!) Sometimes, like Corianton, we don't even hear about their repentance story... and they just... leave. But THANK GOODNESS for the healing power of the Atonement, and the comfort that we receive from knowing that Heavenly Father gives us EVERY chance to repent and change, even after we leave this mortal existence. Hopefully that made sense.... But it helped me.

                                              We made paper boats and sent them in the water!!!

Kay. Great story actually. My comps and I were driving down the road when we saw a woman mowing her lawn outside. I got the distinct impression that we needed to go ask her if she wanted help with her yard. SO, I turned the car around and got out to talk to her. She looked at the name tags, was a little reluctant at first, but I explained to her that this(service) is what we do and we're looking for people to help today. To that she seemed more willing and agreed to let us help her. We spent 4 HOURS weeding her yard and garden. IT. WAS. AWESOME. At some points, I would leave my companions working, and go sit with Kay (she's about in her 60's/70's) and ask her about her life. (You know me, I'm such a chatter box.) But she opened up to me about her ex-husband and how he was a less active member of the church and how her in-laws were members. She asked why we call each other "Sister". She asked about tea and coffee- after offering us some iced tea. She LOVES the LDS church- but isn't a church goer. She also expressed how she feels that women are second class citizens in our church. Haha! I laughed at that comment and said, "Oh Kay, you are so mistaken! I am NOT a second class citizen! If anything, the woman are the ones who run the show. Let's be honest here!" And she laughed, and I laughed, and we were just laughing about men and how clueless they are. (Sorry to the men who are reading this! haha) But Kay is such an awesome person! She accepted us to come back and talk more about the gospel. :) We'll be going back over there later this week! :)

Kassi was at church again this Fast Sunday. SHE. IS. FANTASTIC. Let me tell you. We went and talked to her after the meeting, and she expressed to us that she didn't know if she was "allowed" to go up there (because she hasn't been baptized). But she told us that she had felt this impression that she needed to go up there and share her testimony! But she didn't understand if it was God telling her to do it, or if it was just her. So she prayed that God would give her a sign or help her understand what she was feeling. And RIGHT AFTER THAT- Sister Happy got up to bear her testimony. And then I went up to bear my testimony. And she sat there going, "Well. This is my sign!" (But she didn't get up because she didn't know if she was allowed to.) But Kassi is such a HUGE example to me! How many times have I received a prompting, but didn't know if it was from God or myself, so I just ignored it?! PROBABLY TOO MANY TIMES. Kassi didn't do that! She was confused. So she prayed for further clarification- right then and there. I LOVE that. Kassi is such a prepared daughter of God. She is wonderful!

                                         The MTC zone reunited at Sisters Conference on Tuesday!

This week, during district meeting, we talked about being a 100% missionary and what it really means. It's been on my mind a lot lately. In order to be a 100% missionary, you have to completely dedicate your heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord and his work. And I know that I haven't been doing that to the 100% goal. I sat there during personal study one day just asking myself, "How can I be a 100% missionary when it feels like, to do that, I need to pull everyone else up with me?" It's hard to be 100% when you're in a companionship- because then your companions need to be (or at least try to be) 100% as well. But the thought (or maybe it was inspiration...) that kept coming to my mind was "lead by example". That's all that we can really do in this life- whether it be for missionary companions or for friends at school or in our own homes. Heavenly Father knows that we are trying our very hardest, and that's all that he expects of us.

While looking for ways that I can improve and be an example, I started reading in Luke 22. This is something that I've read a millions times, it seems. But as I read over that heavily marked chapter, I read verses 42-44 again. Jesus Christ knew his mission on Earth. He came to accomplish that mission. But there was a time in his life when, even though he was doing his very best to be 100%, he felt that he couldn't make it. And so he says, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." He wanted, so badly, to do his very best... So, he prayed. And in verse 43-44, "And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Those scriptures hit me really hard that day... Even Jesus Christ, who was perfect, needed strengthening during his time of greatest trial and his greatest desire to do his mission. So how much more do we, being imperfect, need to turn to Heavenly Father for added strength and continue to pray to him? 

Outside of the kitchen window of our apartment is a flower bush. When you sit on the couch and look out the window, you can notice that some of the flower branches gather together and form the image of an arrow pointing upward. I later found out that those flowers are called "bleeding hearts". The "bleeding heart" bush is a great reminder to me- when my heart is burdened and it begins to "bleed", I need to look upward. I need to pray to Heavenly Father. When I start to feel my heart burdening, I'll sit on the couch and look at the "bleeding heart" bush pointing me in the way that I should turn- UPWARD.

--Sister Gubler


Today is actually my 3 month mark!!! Yay! 
Can you believe it's been 3 months?!

Caroline sent me a mug! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! :)

3 missionaries walk into a bar!

Yes, it's true. We walked into a bar.

 And it was the most awkward experience of my life. Okay, well, it was really called a "cafe", but it was 80% bar. A ward member wanted to take us out to eat dinner- which I LOVE when people do that because then I can eat whatever I want, rather than feeling forced to eat what they make me. But anywayssss. She wouldn't tell us where we were going because it was supposed to be a surprise. But we get there and all we see are neon signs that say "Bud Light" and "Coors" and all sorts of other alcoholic drinks that I don't know the names of because I'm such an innocent little Mormon girl. (Side note: I almost ordered an alcoholic drink on accident. That would have been super awkward. Good thing my comp is a convert and she knows all of those things. hahaha) It ended up being fine. We just ordered burgers and then sat in the corner booth of the restaurant. Haha. But we were SO SCARED that the mission president was going to be driving by just as we were walking in- since his area is really close to ours.

ANYWAYS.

I have developed a new love for Mongolian BBQ's. Most delicious food ever. And you can pile your food up as HIGH AS POSSIBLE and have LEFTOVERS FOR DAYS!!!! #thebest 
That's all I have to say about that. :)

We have a new potential investigator! But... she's a little interesting. Katie (one of the recent converts that attends our ward) introduced us to her and we had dinner with her and the Minert's on Wednesday night. To make a long, awkward story short: she believes that we worship Pagan gods. (I don't know if I spelled that right.) She associates Easter eggs, bunnies, Christmas trees, and ornaments with pagan worship. I tried to tell her that those things are CULTURAL, not religious. But she wouldn't accept that. She even lived in the mountains for a period of her life, away from civilization, running water, and electricity. She studies the Bible in Hebrew, only does what Abba tells her to do, and believes that Abba talks to her in horse language. She's also one of those people that needs to see proof of everything in the scriptures. I tried talking to her and showing her scriptures about how she needs to walk by faith. We're not going to have a perfect knowledge of the things of God. And, to that, she responded, "I know the scriptures say that. But you need to show me the answers in the scriptures." What the heck?! You JUST agreed with me, but you still want "proof"?! Ugh. That discussion was very contentious- not from our end though. We'll have to wait and see if it goes anywhere. We're praying that her heart will be opened and that she'll be more willing to walk by faith, rather than sight. 
I'm also praying that I'll have more patience, because although I look and talk like I'm patient and loving- in my head I'm thinking, "STOP IT LADY! STOP IT! JUST LISTEN TO WHAT WE'RE SAYING!" haha.

We had FHE with a family in the ward on Monday night and spent a lot of time feeding/holding their animals. So they invited us to come back and help them with chores (to which we accepted gladly!)..... at 7 in the morning... (not so gladly). Especially because we woke up that morning and it was POURING rain outside- and we couldn't back out. So off we went into the rain, and we had so much fun! Unfortunately we probably took more pictures than we did help with chores. But I milked a cow! And fed some huge, disgusting pigs. haha. I will NEVER own animals. 

At district meeting on Friday we talked a lot about tracting and door approaches. Oh my goodness... Tips and tricks of tracting from the Elders. That adds to a very hilarious district meeting.

Shout out to Mothers everywhere- YOU ARE FANTASTIC.
Not much has happened again this week... Both of my companions have been sick with a flu bug the past week. And they seemed to take turns. Sister Happy was sick for the beginning of the week, and then Sister Keyser at the end. Meanwhile, I'm still rockin' it with my AWESOME LEGIT GAG REFLEXES! Puke free since 5th grade! WHOOHOO! Okay... that's gross. Sorry. haha! But it's given me a lot of time to play nurse and prep for life as a mother. haha. I HATE watching people puke. Worst thing ever. I don't know how parents do that! But one of my comps (not naming names) seriously can't be alone for 5 seconds without feeling lonely- especially when she's sick. So I've had to stay up with her the past 2-3 nights until about 1-2 am while she's sick. Motherhood- there is no greater calling! haha. 

Speaking of Mothers! Mother's Day is coming up soon! And that means I get to call home- oh joyous day! I'll call home on that Sunday and I'll probably skype. :) That seems to be the simplest way. I think we get 40 minutes to talk...? Not sure. I'll let you know. But we don't have a scheduled time, it's just whenever in the day is convenient. (I need to work around my appointments here of course.) YAY! SO EXCITED! Just let me know! Well... actually... I'll just let you know what time. haha That might work better.

We visited with Dave again this week- still struggling with the Word of Wisdom. Normally we go and give him a lecture about how he needs to stop drinking coffee and that he needs to have faith. But this time I went into the appointment and just had an overwhelming feeling to tell him to be patient. 
So many times, missionaries or friends get inpatient with people that are getting over addictions. And the thing that we need to remember is that they are always trying, every day, to improve. They don't WANT to be miserable. They don't WANT to be considered unworthy or unclean. 
I expressed to Dave that he was doing a great job. He is trying the best that he can. He will get there eventually, but it takes time to change our habits. I told him that we are praying for him, and that the Lord does not expect perfection right away. 
To that, I think he was greatly appreciative. And I think he felt of our love and support, as well as the Lord's.

That's pretty much all the exciting news that I have to share. haha. 

Love you all!
Sister Gubler

P.S. I encourage ALL people to serve a mission. It is a decision that you will never regret. Don't let fear, lack of knowledge, or questions stand in your way. 

We made cups for teaching the apostasy and the restoration!

Playing spiritual jenga... and building temples out of the pieces. 

Geese in the middle of the road.....We were stopped for about 10 minutes.

rejoicing about the clean apartment... haha

Law of Chastity!!! LIVE IT- LOVE IT!

Flying!

tucking in my sick companion!

we cleaned the ENTIRE apartment- thumbs up!