Staying. October 27, 2014 letter!

Yup. I'm staying in Parma for ANOTHER transfer. This will mean that I'll have been in Parma, ID for 6 monthssssss. Long time for Sister Gubler. Long time. I've pretty much reached the conclusion that there's either a big lesson that I need to learn, or someone that I need to find, OR BOTH! Whatever it is, I hope I learn it/find them fast- cause I'm getting antsy being in one place for this long.... (Dad has raised a girl that constantly needs to move around and have change.)

But this transfer will be good, and probably go by quickly. There's a lot of things happening! Halloween, zone conference, temple trip/halfway mark, a TON of referrals to contact, Thanksgiving, zone meetings, and my birthday (the big 21). Woot woot. Lots o' stuff.

Oh, and Sister Miller is staying here with me.

We had a tracting blitz in our area on Saturday and received a total of 20 referrals! (THAT'S A LOT!) That should keep us busy for the first couple weeks of the transfer. And we're praying that we get some new investigators from it as well. :) From the sounds of it, it seems like there are some golden contacts in there. So, we're praying that something happens!

We helped at a funeral this week- making salads, setting up, putting the food out, making dessert, and cleaning up afterwards. Not too exciting. But it was good to do some service- the person that had passed away didn't really have many friends and/or family. So, we were the only help that the RS president had in making the food for about 20 people.

We had interviews with our mission president this week. Short as always, no longer than 3 minutes. But he asked the GREAT questions that the Sisters always love: How's your area? How are you getting along with your companion? <--- LOVE those questions! Not that I ever have anything to say, but IF I DID, the opportunity is there.

We had a very frustrating Missionary Correlation Meeting with our ward missionaries... One of our ward missionaries just flat out said (about some less actives), "I'm done visiting these people. I don't enjoy their company and they're not going to change. You can still see them, but I'm done with them." WHAAAAAAT?! Oh my goodness. It took everything in my power not to say anything. I tried to explain about how we just need to be patient and loving, that one day they may accept our invitation to come back. I then shared some examples of people from the ward that had been visited for 13+ years before they had come back- but they did! Well, this ward missionary was NOT hearing it. Telling us (S. Miller and I) that we needed to listen to the spirit more about when it came time to drop people. Excuuuuuse meeee? Man. That made me a little angry. (Okay, a "little" is not an accurate word. I was a LOT angry. I repented about that.) But it is just SO HARD to do missionary work when the members and the missionaries are not on the same team! Get your head in the game people! It's impossible to win if more than half of our players are just sitting out on the sidelines!

We volunteered at the community senior center again this week. I was given the responsibility to chop an entire 50 pound bag of onions. Boy, that was killer. But, my eyes didn't even water once. Woot!

The Spanish-speaking Elders over our area spoke in our sacrament meeting yesterday. They gave fabulous talks- and gave us shout outs all throughout (which was wonderful). One of the Elders actually stood up and said, "The Sisters actually quoted to us yesterday about how happy they are to be serving here. And I quote, 'We are so excited to be staying here in Parma- the best area in the mission- for another 6 weeks! We know that the Lord has placed us here for a reason and we couldn't be happier! ...And Elder Halverson and Elder Collet are the best Spanish-speaking missionaries in the mission! We're so happy that they're covering Parma with us!" Yeahhhhhh, okayyyyy. We did NOT say that. hahahaha But it's all good! At least it was a shout out, right? :)

Well... Not much else has happened. It was a rough week for me- emotionally. Can't really explain it. But I'm sure that it will get better soon. This week will be better.

Sister Gubler