Here's ALL the info!

Week one in Parma was quite a success! We taught a total of 21 lessons this week! Isn't that awesome?! I haven't done that in... well... EVER! haha

Parentals, did you get my package? 
And also- could you send me a GPS? I don't need one right away (my comp just bought one), but I'll need one for future transfers.

Let me tell you about some of our investigators. :)

Renteria Family. This is a Hispanic family that my companion had been teaching. My first night here, we went to teach them a lesson- The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Apparently they had been asking Armondo (the dad) to pray, and he would always say no. So that was a huge boundary to get over. But I guess I have a gift for it- because every time I ask someone to pray they always do it. haha! ARMONDO PRAYED! And it was a fabulous prayer. At least, I would assume so... he said it in Spanish. :P But we had a member with us who speaks Spanish, and he said that it was great. So I'm going to take his word for it. ;)

Anthony. He's 15 years old- and man, what a dude. Youths. Sometimes I just want to slap them around a little bit. haha Anthony has taken all of the lessons- but if you ask him questions about it, he has no idea and doesn't remember anything. My companion was getting so frustrated with him. "Do you know what the Atonement is?" "NOPE!" "Do you remember who Joseph Smith is?" "NOPE!" Oh goodness. I knew there had to be something in that head of his.
I start asking him questions, and putting him on the spot a little bit. "When I say 'Jesus Christ', what's the first word that comes to your mind?" He started responding with words like, "death, sacrifice, sins, teacher". And then I said: "When I say, 'Book of Mormon', what's the first thing that comes to your mind?" That opened him up a little bit more. He said, "plates, translation, scripture". I assured him that he was correct, and that he knew more than he thought that he did. 
At the end of the lesson, I concluded that we needed to teach him more often and in shorter lengths. He's a teenager. He can't pay attention that long. haha. We're going to start the lessons over again, and we committed him to a baptismal date for next month.

Hannah. She's 9 years old... and the more I meet with her, I realize how much I don't like teaching kids. haha. Not that she's not an angel! It's just hard when they like church and like having us teach them, but they're not old enough to make that commitment to change. 
She LOVES Sister Pritchard and, well, doesn't care too much for me. haha. That's okay though. So whenever we go over to teach her, Sister Pritchard pretty much takes over and then I add things in every now and again. But Pritchard says that Hannah has opened up more to me than she has to any other missionary, so I must be doing something right! 

Mariah and Dallas- cute married couple. Mariah has a baptismal date for July 11, and Dallas is starting to get active again. Think of everything bad that someone could get into- Mariah's been there. Her life was CRAZY. But she met Dallas, and (long story short) they got married! They even have CTR rings as their wedding rings. I didn't know people legitimately did that! haha! But they are golden. Coolest people ever.  

Angel and Matthew. Angel just got baptized last Saturday! She was taught by the missionaries in the other ward. Angel and Matthew are the youngest couple ever... she's 19, he's 18- and they have a baby! And, oh my goodness, they are the kissiest couple I have ever seen in my life. We go over to teach a lesson, and they kiss about 4-5 times while we're there. REALLY?! PDA PEOPLE! 
But when we went over there... oh my goodness. Angel told us that she didn't know how to pray AND that she wasn't really paying attention too much when the missionaries were teaching her. WHAT?! So I told her that we'd start the lessons over again.... But how in the world did those missionaries let her get baptized?! It frustrates me how some missionaries only think about the number, and they don't care about the PERSON! Grrrrr. (But maybe that's why I haven't gotten any baptisms on my mission so far...)

Let me tell you about this mansion that we saw yesterday- and that we got 2 new investigators out of! We were out with a member, and she was driving us around, showing me the area- when I saw this HUGE house!!! IT WAS HUGE!!!! And it looked like it was straight out of a Country Living magazine! And the member KNEW them! So we pulled over, knocked on the door, and the most flamboyant man opened the door... hahahaha. He had a glass of wine in his hand and a huge smile on his face. I said, "Hi there! We were driving around, and I saw your house... and, this is going to sound weird, but can you give us a tour?! It's so beautiful!" And he responded with a hearty laugh and waved us to come in! 
This house was.... amazing. Pictures to follow.
But they invited us to come back and "practice" teaching them the lessons. haha! Sureeee... we'll "PRACTICE" on you. ;) We're going back on July 3rd! :) Awesome!

Well, yep. That's our life. haha Keeping busy! 
Write me more letters! :P

Love you.

--Sister Gubler 

Hello from Parma!

As you can tell from the title- I've been transferred!

Can I get a HALLELUJAH?! haha

Totally kidding. I LOVE Kuna- especially the Kuna 4th Ward. It was like leaving family for a second time. Ugh, the worst. But there were no tears shed (I've moved WAY too many times in my life to cry about leaving an area). Just heavy hearts. I love being able to serve somewhere like Idaho though, because I can come back on a weekend while I'm back at BYU-ID. It's the best. I have NO DOUBT that I will see these people again. They are family, and I love them.

I bought a journal for people to write messages in, as well as contact info. Thank goodness I did that! It was a great idea. Unfortunately I didn't get it to everyone I wanted to. Fingers crossed that everyone still lives there when I get off of my mission! Hopefully I get some facebook friend requests. :)

Sister Sleigher is staying in the area- and she's actually getting 2 more wards to cover. I'm so jealous of her! She'll be covering 3 wards now!!! I hope that this doesn't become a pattern... All the work starts after Sister Gubler leaves! BAH!

My new area is Parma, ID- population 1,711. Again, I'm only covering 1 ward (Parma 2nd Ward). But apparently they have (almost) 8 investigators! SWEET! I'm so excited to finally start teaching people again. We're actually part of the Nyssa, Oregon stake and we drive out to Ontario to do our emailing/church/district meeting.

My new companion is Sister Pritchard. She just came out 6 weeks ago- so I will be finishing up her training with her. (Man... there's a long story on that one. Long story short- I'm here to fix some things in the area and help everyone become more obedient. Which I can TOTALLY do.) Sister Pritchard is awesome. She JUST turned 19... IN the MTC. Crazy, right?! Crazy. But she is a great missionary, desires to be exactly obedient, and really wants the best out of her mission.

Transfer Day!

HA! So. The reason I'm so late getting on here today...
(Mainly cause I know Mom wants ALL the details on how this works.) I woke up at 5am to get ready/finish packing so that I could leave the house by6am. Sister Sleigher and I had to drive into Nampa to be at the transfer spot at 6:45am. Well, then they loaded up my things into a trailer and I got into a 15 passenger van with a bunch of other missionaries that were being transferred. We drove to Caldwell- dropped off missionaries, picked up new ones. Then we drove to Ontario- where I was dropped off and met my new companion. We went shopping, dropped off my things at home, and then I asked if we could go email... Well... my companion has no idea how to get around the area. -_- Oh joy. We were lost for... forever. We literally drove over 100 miles todayjust trying to find the library. (They had already used all of their monthly miles when I got here. I don't know how we're going to get anywhere.) And she doesn't know where the church building is! Uh-oh. We're gonna be in trouble. I was getting so frustrated. But if there's one thing I've learned on my mission so far- it's not to get frustrated at the little things that you can't control. So, in my head, I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness. You seriously don't even know how to get to the ONE most important place?! You can't even get HOME?!" But what I ACTUALLY said was, "Don't stress about it. You're doing great! You've only been in this area for 6 weeks. You'll get the hang of it." I was pretty proud of myself. haha AND she bought herself a GPS. Good for her. haha

We're at the library this week- and I have no idea how to upload pictures. Soooo... I'll send them next week. Sorry. :/

Okay, so, in response to my last email. I thought that complaining would make me feel better. NOPE. Lesson officially learned. Complaining NEVER makes you feel better. Complaining NEVER fixes the problem. Just learn to deal with it and do your best.

We taught a lesson this week! We met with Jackie- who we had been missing for a long time. Turns out that we really just needed to go to her house to be able to catch her. She started going over 2 times a week (well, the last week I was there). We had a lesson with her about the "questions of the soul" and how she can find the answers in the scriptures for herself. The lesson went really well, and the spirit was definitely present. Rather than just TELL her where all of the answers are, we wanted her to be able to know that she could find them herself through reading and study. We had her ask a question, flip open to a random page, and then we read together and (after every 4 verses) discussed what we read until we found the answer. Some of the questions took a while to find answers to, but that happens. Sometimes it takes chapters to find an answer- and that's the point that we were trying to get across. Sometimes answers aren't just going to jump out at you. Man. The spirit was SO STRONG. It was great. I was walking on air afterwards. Ahhhh, yes. :)

Dave FINALLY attended Sunday School this past Sunday!!! After 4.5 months of me being in Kuna, and visiting with him twice a week, and urging him to come... my LAST SUNDAY... HE CAME!!! YES! I was so excited! It's too bad he couldn't hear what was happening... :/ His hearing aids were acting up. Dang it. TECHNOLOGY FAILED US AGAIN!

And Haley (Remember Haley? 14 year old, from the beginning of my mission) texted Sister Bell during Sunday School and told her that she was ready to take the lessons. She said that she knew that this was the right path for her life and wanted to start learning. WHAT?! Right as I leave?! BAHHHH!!!

Ohhh.... Relief Society... I'm going to vent a little bit here. Because, oh boy, it was rough. The lesson was on Sister Reeves talk at conference about pornography.
The lady giving the lesson was so ANGRY! She talked about how if someone in her family was addicted to pornography, she would kick them our of the house that very second and there would be a bonfire in the backyard of all of their things. Ugh. I could go on about the angry comments that she made. She read horror story after horror story about this addiction. It made me feel sick inside. My hands were sweaty, my heart was beating, and I just wanted to leave the room. The spirit was gone. There was no mention of the atonement, forgiveness, love. She had such a lack of understanding. At first, I had to say a little prayer in my heart and ask Heavenly Father if I was supposed to be viewing people with this addiction with that much severity, or if I just truly understood how to view these people correctly- and I just understand. As I sat through the lesson, my heart literally ached and my eyes teared. I felt sorry that this teacher did not have an understanding of the atonement and addictions in general! I wanted to raise my hand and shout, "No! NO! NOOO! You don't GET IT!" But I held my peace.
My prayer is that people will work to understand, encourage, forgive, and love. People with addictions are not monsters... but just need help. Help from Heavenly Father- and help from us. The atonement is for EVERYONE. Not just for the sinner. Not just for the righteous. EVERYONE. 

#theworst

My whole week... in a picture...

Transfers are coming up on the 22nd so, send letters to the mission office if you think they'll get here after that point.
Also, do you think that you could send me The Best 2 Years soundtrack? I love that music. It's the best. Soundtrack to my life right now. 

It's about time you've got an email with me being honest about my area. People who know me know that I'm not a big complainer- I only complain to those close to me (my parents and super close friends). But this will be honestly hour... seeing as I have dubbed this week: #THEWORST.

I was sick from Sunday until Friday morning.... and literally stayed in bed ALL DAY, ALL WEEK. It was #theworst.

Back to The Best Two Years. 
Sometimes I feel like Elder Rogers- beat up. tired. done. just don't even want to try. and get super nervous when they teach a lesson because they haven't done it in forever.
And yet I feel like Elder Calhoon- remember that scene when he's writing the zero's in his journal and starts to cry? Yeah. That's me. Every week. And I try SO hard- every day.

Kuna is... dead. Everyone in our district is struggling. But my companion and I are falling apart. We had 3 investigators... 1 pretty much dropped us. She won't text or call us back. And we don't have permission to drive to her house. So we're handing her over to some different missionaries. And the other 2... they're moving in a couple weeks. To Arizona. Great. So we're back to 0. Back to square one. 

The 5 referrals that we received from the district tract have pretty much fallen through. 3 of them were actually in a different area. (They tracted in the wrong place.) And the other 2, we contacted, and they just don't seem very interested. But we'll keep trying and going over until they tell us no. 

My past two companions have left the area because... honestly... they couldn't handle it. And neither can my third companion- even though she is a spiritual powerhouse. Each of my comps has eventually had a breakdown and had to leave the area at the end of the transfer. (My companion had a total anxiety attack on Friday. And I had the opportunity of having a "Crap. Where did my companion go?!" moment.) THAT is why I'M still here. No one else can handle it. I've been told by the AP's and my STL's that I'm probably going to be in areas like Kuna for the rest of my mission... because I "handle them well". A.K.A. I don't go crazy and get depressed. 

I will go where the mission president wants me to go. If that means that I'm in slow areas, or with crazy companions, then I'll do it. But it's still a struggle.

Areas like Kuna have you question whether or not you're a good missionary. You start to wonder if you're doing anything right. "Why doesn't anyone want to hear the message of the gospel? Am I not doing enough? Am I doing everything wrong?" Those thoughts run through my mind almost constantly. And when you haven't taught a lesson in months... you really start to question yourself. I try not to get down on myself, because, well, what good is that going to do?! I can't control where I serve or who I talk to or if the people will accept the gospel. Becoming depressed does NOTHING. Absolutely NOTHING. You really do CHOOSE to be happy. And I've noticed that difference between my companions and I. I have CHOSEN to be happy- for the rest of my life.
What's funny is that my companions laugh at me because EVERY MORNING- I look in the mirror- and I say to myself, "YOU ARE A FREAKIN AWESOME MISSIONARY! AND IT'S GOING TO BE A FREAKIN AWESOME DAY!" Hey, whatever works, right?

Transfers are coming up on the 22nd- and word on the street is that they're going to combine Kuna 4th ward with another area. Hallelujah. Making a schedule and setting appointments will still be hard- but it should be better. I have a pretty good feeling that I'll be staying in Kuna for another transfer- seeing as my companion has asked to leave. And I have pretty good word from my leaders that that is what's going to happen. 
If I stay here another transfer... I will have spent 6 MONTHS here in Kuna. A THIRD of my mission. 

I'm up for the challenge. This tough area is really all that I know. 
And I know that the Lord is watching out for me.

Every day I pray that Heavenly Father will help me, comfort me, and lift me up. And He does. Every day. 

So, yeah. That's my week. And that's my area. Keeping positive. Keeping up with the work.

--Sister Gubler

Letter from June 9, 2014. Hola! Como estan?!

Hola mi amigos! 

This week was actually really eventful! 

Monday wasn't quite the same as other P-Days. We finished our 2 hours of study and then went to the Family History Center to do our email. I didn't have many emails that day, so I really just spent most of the time sitting, talking, and joking with the other Elders and Sisters that were there. It was nice. It's been a long time since I've sat and talked to other missionaries. (Yeah, I'm a boring missionary. I don't socialize much. haha) Normally we drive to Walmart to get our groceries, but that day we decided to go to a closer store called "Pauls". Oh boy. Wrong choice. First of all, there was a guy "ASLEEP" on the ground outside the store! That was weird. And second, the prices were so expensive. I'm never going there ever again. What a sketchy place. Once we got into Pauls, we got a call from some Sisters in our district and they asked us to go on emergency exchanges for the day. Great. Why does this always happen to me?! I don't even have a leadership position! haha. So, we didn't get any laundry, letters, or much of anything else done that day. But while I was sitting there and talking to the Sister that I was with, I had a feeling that THAT was why I was called here on my mission. I'm here for my companions- and the other Sisters here. I'm here to help them stay on their missions. Oh! And I went to the chiropractor as well! Man, that was the weirdest experience ever. He popped my tailbone back into place... OUCH. I went there to get my shoulder looked at! He didn't even look at it! Goodness. So, yeah, that didn't help much.

Side note before I move on: My best dinner this week? DINO NUGGETS! It was the best thing ever. Loved it.

Our district participated in a 24 hour fast this week. We fasted to find success, to focus, and to find more people to teach. (Let me tell ya, it's hard to believe that Christ fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. That would be rough.)

I've been reading a lot, and basing my studies off of, 2 Nephi 2:4-5. We have been sufficiently instructed to know good from evil. We all know what the right choices are and what the wrong choices are. I thought it was interesting, Mom sent me an article by Boyd K. Packer and, in it, he said that 90% of the time someone comes into a Bishop's office for counsel, they already know the answer! They know what they are supposed to do! They just want to feel comforted in making the WRONG choice! Isn't that interesting? It's so true. I can't even count the times that I've done that. I've gone to my Bishop, or parents, or friends, asking for advice- and I already know what I'm supposed to be doing. We have been sufficiently instructed.

The 5th was my 4 MONTH MARK! My comp and I spent a lot of time (okay, not a LOT of time) taking pictures of things with 4's. :) And it was also my half birthday- so therefore I decided to make some cake balls. Delicious. Let me tell ya. Pictures to come!

So, a little change in the mission. As missionaries, we have things called "key indicators" that help us to make goals and count the lessons that we had taught that day. Normally, in our "Lessons with Recent Converts and Less Actives" key indicator, we would count lessons with active members. I don't know why we did- but that's just how it always was. WELL. Now that has changed- and we're ONLY counting recent converts and less actives. So our dinner appointments/ lessons with members don't count anymore. 
There's a lot of positives to this. It's going to stop missionaries from going to members houses and then staying there all day to just "hang out". And it's going to help missionaries focus on the work that they're supposed to be doing. It just stinks for missionaries (like us) that have dead areas and struggling members are the only people that we can really visit (other than tract all day). But we've been doing really well actually. Our numbers have been higher than they ever have been- and I know that's because the Lord is blessing us for working and doing our best no matter what. Plus, President Cannon, as well as the AP's, are very aware of our situation and they know that we are hard workers. (They called us and told us that. So, whew, that was nice to know.)

I went on exchanges this week (on Friday) with one of our Sister Training Leaders, Sister Barnes. But... they're Spanish speaking. THAT was interesting. And that day did NOT go by very well. :(
First stop was contacting a referral that her and her comp had received from the English Elders. It went really well, I thought. I let Sister Barnes take the lead- since this was her referral and I probably wouldn't see these people again. Sister Barnes talked with a 15 year old girl, Jessica, about the Book of Mormon. I also testified, and we left a Book of Mormon with her and scheduled a return appointment. It was good! Plus- the girl spoke English! Yay! hahaha
Next stop- Fredrigo. We stopped by his "house"- trailor really. But he didn't live there anymore apparently. Sister Barnes talked to the guy at the door, in SPANISH, and basically taught the entire Restoration AND left him a pamphlet AND said that she'd come back on Sunday... All while I just stood there and acted like I knew what was happening. I felt so helpless. It was terrible. I hate not being able to say anything. THIS is why I'm glad that I didn't go on a foreign speaking mission!
And then we decided to go tracting to FIND Fredrigo. (Apparently all of the Spanish people know each other around here.) We went to 2 houses- English speakers- and Sister Barnes had taken the lead with the door approach. On the 3rd house, Barnes said, "Okay, Sister Gubler. If this is an English speaker, you've got this one." Okay. No problem. I've done this a million times. Well, she knocked. An English lady answered, and... and... well... I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!!! Oh my goodness! I completely froze! WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME?! 
Sister Barnes stepped in and saved it... As we walked away, I apologized to Barnes a million times. I still can't believe I froze. Barnes was frustrated.... And, well, that was the last house that we knocked on that day. :/
We then drove to Melba to visit a completely Spanish speaking family. Sister Barnes said that she'd translate... Nope. We go in, and I THINK she started teaching the Restoration? In the middle of the lesson, I'm just sitting there TRYING to follow what's going on, and she turns to me and says, "I just explained up to Joseph Smith, want to add anything?" Crap. I had NO IDEA what was going on. :( So I said that I didn't have anything to add. But later in the lesson she turned to me and said, "Will you testify of prayer?" YES! THAT I could do! I said my testimony sentence by sentence as she translated- and I'm pretty sure she switched up the wording on some things to fit it in with the lesson better. Man, that was rough.
I came home from those exchanged feeling like a terrible missionary...

But, the next day, I was DONE feeling sorry for myself. So I was going to GO OUT THERE and PROVE MYSELF WRONG!!!! BY GOLLY!!!! We started the day tracting! Knocking on every door! I CAN talk to people! I CAN have a good door approach! And GOSH DANG IT- I sure did! My companion was finally like, "Okay, Sister Gubler. I think we should take a break. You've proven yourself to the Lord. You have a GREAT door approach." *sigh* Okay. But I felt better about myself after that.
The entire district then came later that day to tract our entire ward area! It was GREAT! They found 5 referrals for us! YAY! Miracles happen! I'm so grateful that the other missionaries were willing to help. And I'm grateful that I was humble enough to ask... otherwise we'd still be miserable every day, trying to find things to do. But, I think I overworked my companion that day... we had to go home early. I tend to do that a lot to my companions... :/ I need to slow down a bit.

At church yesterday, we subbed for the 9 year old primary class. It was SO cute when we walked in- all the kids were CHEERING and JUMPING up and down! "Yay! It's the missionaries!" That makes everything worth it.
And, in Relief Society, the teacher was talking about following the prophets counsel and all of a sudden she starts crying- "Imagine when Sister Gubler goes home, and six years from now, when she has her own family... Imagine how strong they will be BECAUSE she served a mission." Wow. That was powerful. 

That night, my comp made a comment to me: "Wow. Sometimes, when I talk to you, I think, 'Dang! She's old!' Simply because of your experience and insights on life." haha. I didn't realize that I acted like an old person... I mean, I AM considered an "older missionary". Isn't that weird?? Most my age are going home soon. Oh well. I'm okay to be 'old'. ;)

So, as I'm writing this, I'm totally holding a million tissues, a water bottle, and some nasal spray. hahaha I'm totally sick. And, guess what, I got a migrane last night for the FIRST TIME EVER! There's nothing like a mission to make you realize what help problems you may have. haha

--Sister Gubler

Molly celebrated 4 months as a missionary!

We made a cow at district meeting

I shall press on with an eye of faith!

Man. I'm totally not in the mood to write today. 

HOWEVAAA! I shall press on with an eye of faith!

We were sick this week. So not much happened. 

We spent a night in the mission home! That was pretty exciting... I guess. :) Our bedroom was being painted- it used to be a sad, dark brown and now it's a bright yellow! Yay! Cheery! But the smell was soooo strong (because we only have one little window in our room). So we spent the night/next morning in the mission home. President Cannon made me breakfast: scrambled eggs with pepper jack cheese and nutella toast. It was pretty delish. 

Our district is coming to the rescue! On Saturday, we're doing a district tract in our area. Everyone is going to come in for 2 hours and tract out a part of the ward. We're praying for some success to come out of it. And we're just SUPER happy that our district is willing to come and help us. 

Sooo... since we were sick... we decided to proceed to glue our pages of Song of Solomon together (since they aren't inspired writings). Man. That stuff is weird... Totally doesn't "taste like light". Isn't it interesting how the spirit works to tell you what truth is? 

We helped out at mutual on Wednesday. The Young Women were having a Father/Daughter activity (and, oh boy, it made me miss my Daddy). They had us lead the fathers and daughters in a relay race- I had to pull out all of my memories from what we did in yw's back in the day. I taught them how to play "tree, bridge, rock". Yeah... that would take an uber long time to explain. So, if you don't know, write me and I'll draw you a nice chart explaining the process! haha :) They then had ice cream sundaes and took funny pictures with their Dad's. They let us missionaries take some pictures too- so those will be coming to you shortly. They're in the process of being edited. And they're pretty legit. 

On our way to church Sunday, my companion and I saw 3 little cows hanging out by the street, right next to the fenced field that they were supposed to be in. For those who don't know, people are responsible for whatever happens because of their animals. For example, if they're in the street and someone hits them- it's your fault. And you can get in big trouble. SO- my comp and I decided to go and knock on the door of the peoples house and tell them that their cows are out. But... us being missionaries... they totally didn't answer. Whatever. So I decided to take it upon myself to get the cows back in!!! My comp was supposed to catch this incredible act with my camera, but was apparently too amazed at my skills to do such. That's okay. You'll just have to take my word for it. I walked over to the cows and they started freaking out... Apparently you have to yell at cows to get them to listen? I don't know. So I started yelling and swinging my arms. It's all a blur really... But I got them back underneath the fence and into the field! I was pretty proud of myself. I don't know how I did it.... I thank the Tolman's for teaching me these cow wrangling skills. hahaha

We had dinner with the Bishop this week. His wife invited over a less active family and several other families from the ward that were at the same stage in life. It was awesome! Us missionaries were just kind of there... Which was great! They got to know people from the ward on a personal level- not a church level. And they also made some new friends! And met new babysitters! haha It was a great idea. I loved it.

I really don't have much else to write about.... We had a few unsuccessful tracting experiences. We heard that this families Grandpa had passed away, so we thought we go over there and give them a video with Mormon Messages on families. We didn't preach. We just wanted to give them the video. Yup, they just closed the door.... "Okayyyyy byeeeeee!" (from Frozen) I wanted to say... haha

--Sister Gubler