#MissionaryMiracles

This week has been full of miracles! So many... And I don't feel worthy of all of them. But Heavenly Father is trusting me with His children.

The transfer is almost over. So, if letters are going to be coming to me AFTER Saturday, send them to the mission office. :) You never know where I'm going to beeeeee....

We had a 24th of July party on... well... the 24th. haha! But I think that was the first 24th celebration that I've ever been to. I had to ask my comp what we were celebrating. haha! I'm a terrible person. But we had a BBQ and a swim party at the public pool (obviously we didn't swim!). Sister Pritchard and I had invited a lot of different investigators and less actives. And a couple of them came! It was awesome! Yay for ward parties! :) Okay... but... there's something wrong with the Parma/Nyssa area. They love onions a little too much. There was onions in EVERYTHING. Onions in the chicken, onions in the salad, onions in the fruit, onions in the mac n cheese... It was weird. I'm trying not to judge.

We also had exchanges this week. So that was nice. I didn't have to plan anything for a 24 hour period of time. SO RELAXING.

Mariah was baptized Saturday! 

What a lovely day. There has been such a transformation in Mariah from the time that I met her to now- especially in the time since she was baptized on Saturday. She is blossoming! And I'm SO grateful for this ward. The baptism would not have come together if we didn't have the help from all of the ward members. 

Angel- She is totally progressing! We were really worried about her at the beginning of the transfer, but she is really embracing the gospel. She's invited her sister to each of the discussions that we have with her. She's reading her scriptures and praying every day. AND she's always getting on her husband about coming to church with her. It's awesome! 

We had 2 miracles at church yesterday! 

Rocky and Pentana- We met Rocky's brother, Richard, while tracting last week. And we had been going back and inviting them to activities and such. They came to the 24th of July party that we had invited them to! We were so happy to see them there! And so, on Saturday night at about 8:30 pm, we invited them to come to church the next morning (at 9 am). I totally wasn't expecting them to come, people rarely do... But as we were sitting in church... Rocky and his daughter Pentana walked in! Pentana is 7 years old and totally loved church. She was so excited for primary and made a TON of new friends! And Rocky came with us to Gospel Principles and then we sent him with our ward mission leader to go to Elders Quorum. He loved every second! He read along with all of the lessons and you could tell that he was really listening. It was awesome. We have an appointment with them next Friday :) And (hopefully) Rocky will be joining us for a service project Tuesday night.

Anne- Anne was this lady that we saw walk into sacrament meeting and sit with a lady from our ward. She totally looked like a member, so we didn't talk to her. But then we got to Relief Society and she introduced herself as a visitor (I'm still struggling to get to know the members in our ward- I have no idea who people are)... She said that she had lived here in Parma for a year- moved here after her husband passed away- and was just visiting different churches trying to find the right one. WHAT?! GOLDEN! We totally cornered her after Relief Society and have an appointment with her on Friday. :) YES! And she made a TON of friends with the ladies in the ward.

Random side note: I realized that I have a new pet peeve. I get so frustrated when people can't make decisions! I could care less if they make the wrong decision or the right decision. Just make a choice! Grrrrr. "Who do you want to bless your baby?" and then they take several weeks to get back to us... And every time we talk to them about it they were like, "Let me think about it." Ugh.
Yeah. Random venting moment.

Pictures to come! 

Yup yup.

--Sister Gubler

If you aren't clothed... why even come to the door? Seriously. Why?

From Sister Gubler's letter dated July 21, 2014:

Okay... we tried to do the whole "missionaries in a field" picture... But #1 it was a million degrees that day and I didn't do my hair or make up and I had to hide the hand that was holding the keys... Yeah. It didn't turn out.

This week just flew by so fast! Where did the time go?! The weeks are going by faster and faster!

Sister Pritchard and I feel AMAZING about how this week went. We didn't have a lot of appointments or a lot of lessons or find new investigators... but the people that we did see are progressing so much! And THAT is a wonderful feeling.

Mariah is set to get baptized on July 26th! That's Saturday, people! We are so pumped. This will be a great day for her. Sister Pritchard and I were talking the other day about how (for our first baptism) we always imagined feeling so successful. I imagined crying my guts out in joy for the investigator and feeling like I had worked so hard to get them to that point. I thought that I was going to feel like I was "their missionary". 

But that's not how it's supposed to feel.

Mariah was prepared for the gospel. Everything that happened in her life, good and bad, got her to this point. She is the happiest person that I have ever seen. Every lesson we taught and every commitment we extended, she was more than happy to accept. She was attending church before we even came into the picture. She is the LORD'S investigator. All of the work and success that I wanted to feel... I don't want to feel it- ever. All of that success goes to the Lord. Not to me. Not to my companion. To the Lord. And Mariah is 100% the Lord's.

Matthew came to church! YES! He finally came with Angel and he stayed for all 3 hours. :) We were so excited! He got along really well with the guys in Elder Quorum- and actually chatted with Dallas (Mariah's husband) for a little bit. They clicked pretty well actually. I think it's pretty safe to say that they're now best friends. haha! 

"Need a friend? Ask the missionaries! They can help!"

I heard about the flooding at BYU-ID!!! WHAT?!?!?! We went over to a member's house and she was showing us all sorts of videos and pictures. I was going crazy! MAN! I miss that place. And that would have been so much fun to be in. haha. I wonder how the Snow building held up.... If anyone has pictures, send them my way!

So, ya know that Pioneer concert that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcasted on BYUtv? Yup. We watched it. :) We watched it with this older couple in the ward. It was awesome. A great way to end the day. :)

The zone came in to Parma and we had another tracting blitz! Those things are so successful, let me tell ya. We got 11 referrals from it! It's going to be a busy week of contacting. :) 

And, to end my email, I just have a question....

If you aren't clothed... why even come to the door? Seriously. Why?

--Sister Gubler


This is Sister Guitierrez and Sister Ketring... Sister G fell asleep on our way home from interviews with President Cannon. I was driving, so I had Sis Ketring take the picture. hahaha BLACKMAIL!

 Here are some pictures from the 65th Anniversary party. They are so cute. I need to get a picture with the newly weds. I'll have that next week. :)

 I think I'm going to start a blog and call it "Cool Church Cars". Cause this seems to be turning out to be a weekly thing. :)

 I found a dinosaur in the church!

Look at how cute these kitties are!!

I made a salad... It's been a long time... But my companion was so amazed at it that she had me take a picture. haha (She only eats cereal and milkshakes.)

 Here's a picture of Boy's. 1 of 3 restaurants in Parma. They feed missionaries for free. :)

 The Thueson's had their 65th Anniversary party this weekend- and we helped make the decorations. Do you see how cute this T is?! I almost stole it.... Stash it away.... haha
 Do you see how small this bench is?!?!?! It was like a tiny park! haha

 We helped a member from the ward with her beans. But we started goofing off a little bit... haha

I... I... I don't know what to say...

Hello everyone! Nice to chat with you again. :)

I'm seriously at a loss this week... I don't know what to say. I feel like it was just yesterday that I emailed you last. Has it been a week already?!

How's everyone's Book of Mormon reading going? Still keeping up with me? ;) 

Mom and Dad: Thank you so much for the package! I quite enjoyed that. :) Getting mail is like Christmas. Seriously. It's a big deal. I keep that laminated quote in my scriptures now. And Dad, we started listening to that talk! Notice I said "started". Eyring has such a soothing voice..... haha. But, from what I DID hear, it was awesome and inspiring!

We went to Thunderegg Days in Nyssa this week! It's just once of those community fair things. But it was awesome.
We were in Nyssa because... well... we had to move into a double wide. Bleh. Now, not all trailers are bad- but this once was disgusting. There were bugs EVERYWHERE. Gross. My companion jumped on a chair and screamed, "I do NOT do bugs! I can't do this!" Haha! I didn't think that it was that bad... I just went to bed praying that nothing crawled on me. ;) 
So we had to drive 15 miles into Parma every day, and then 15 miles home. We've moved back to our house in Parma though. My companion finally had enough. ;) (The reason we moved was because the people that we lived with had family staying with them for a few nights.)

We started out the week getting dropped by some investigators... That always makes you sad. People don't want to change their lives.

Hannah pretty much dropped us. Granted, she's only 9 years old. But we asked her if she'd get baptized- since she's heard all of the lessons 3 times, attends church every Sunday, lives the gospel, and totally has a testimony of it- and she said no. We tried to talk to her about it, but it was just a big NO. She never wanted to get baptized. ...Sad. But she asked us if we could still "come over and play". Man. That was a hard conversation to have with a 9 year old- telling her that we were there to teach her and help her to progress in the gospel, not to come over and play. She still continues to come to church, and we still drop by and read a couple scriptures with her. Hopefully she'll come around one day.

We had our lesson with the Johnston's- seriously the most famous family in all of Parma. Everyone and their dog knows them, and they know everyone and their dog. They are seriously the hardest family to figure out. Bottom line is: They believe everything that we believe, they just don't believe in "labels". So they attend their church, but are open to spiritual discussions. We are their first experience with LDS missionaries though! And we seriously go over there once a week- just to chat about the gospel, about families, and about the community. They're a great way to find referrals! haha! And, who knows, hopefully as we build our relationship with them something will come of it. :)

HAHA! Ready for the awkward moment of the week? I'm not sure how much of this I should tell you.... ;)
We went over to Angel and Matthew's house, but they weren't home. So we walked back to our car. As we were walking back, this guys head pops up over the fence (he looks SERIOUSLY intoxicated) and he says, "Hey! I'm LDS! You girls wanna come talk to me? We can all come and sit in my backyard." <---Now that was said in the most suggestive voice ever heard. Creepy. This obviously was not a good situation. My comp just FREEZES and almost agrees to go and talk to him! hahaha. Oh man. I engaged the guy in conversation for a few minutes (from MY side of the fence)- and after determining that this guy was most likely drunk, on drugs, and super messed up- told him that we had a meeting to get to and we couldn't stay. As we get into the car he yells, "I love you! Be safe!" BAHAHA! I get in the car and start CRACKING UP! I thought that was the funniest encounter ever! And I started laughing even HARDER as I looked over at my companion... She was in shock! And she said to me, "Gubler, thank goodness you were here... Otherwise I would probably be dead right now." hahahaha

We had another lesson with Mariah and Dallas. Mariah is scheduled for baptism on July 26 and we're praying that it goes through. Normally in our lessons with them, they can't seem to focus. They'll just talk and talk about things that don't have ANYTHING to do with what we're talking about... Which is fine. We can normally get it back on track. But during this lesson, I felt like I needed to share with Mariah MY conversion story. 
I mean, I've been a member all my life. And I've always had a testimony of the gospel. But there comes a time when that testimony is really put to the test and you have to find out if you really can apply the principles of the gospel in your life. We sat down and read Alma 36 together, verse by verse, as I explained how this chapter had entirely changed my life. For the first time, Mariah and Dallas listened. And I mean really listened. You could feel the spirit so strong. There was no denying that the spirit was there.
And she agreed to be baptized.

This week has changed my entire perspective of my mission. I think I've gotten over the hill...
I no longer go to bed almost in tears because I miss home.
I no longer wake up almost in tears because I miss home.
I no longer go throughout the day and think that I'm a terrible missionary for not having any baptisms.
I no longer feel like I haven't made any contribution to anyone's life.
I no longer think that "if I just share my comp's water bottle, I might get mono and get to go home".
I no longer agonize over having to talk to people.

I've been praying every day for the Lord to help me enjoy myself while I am here. And, over the last 2 weeks, He has answered my prayer. I wake up each morning excited and ready for the new day! I LOVE talking to random people at their doors! I enjoy teaching lessons and helping people to progress! I KNOW that I'm making a difference here in the Idaho Nampa Mission! 
And I really think that it's because I made 3 committments: a committment to MYSELF, to my COMPANION, and to the LORD that I will never give up.

--Sister Gubler

"Hush my mouth and feed me some grits!"

Is it only the end of week 2 of the transfer?! I feel like it's been an eternity... Time has seriously slowed down this week.

Dad: Do you know a guy named Jim Lemon? or Lemmon? He came up to me at church yesterday, asked if I knew Ovando and Edna Gubler! CRAZY. Small world! After chatting for a little bit, he said, "Yeah, yeah. I know Ovando and Horatio and all of those guys. I probably know them better than you do!" To which I responded: "Ain't that the truth!" haha I thought it was cool.

Mom: Thank you for getting that package out to me. I've needed it- bad. It's been 104 degrees the last couple of days. And, let me just say, tracting in the heat for several hours at a time is NOT FUN. I've sweat more now than I ever have in my life. It's terrible and disgusting. Blech. I could also use more downeast basic shirts too- just in white and black. AND STOP TELLING ME ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT LOSS! Seriously! I mean, congratulations and all. 30 pounds? That's great! But seriously. :P I'm dying here. I've gained 7 pounds! Don't make me feel worse about myself! :P 

BAHAHA! SOOOO... Let me share with you my favorite quote from the week. :) My companion had some trouble with her email last week, so we went to the public library here in Parma on Tuesday. This guy from the ward comes walking in, shouting and waving his arms like he knows the place. Turns out that he's from our ward! hahaha. AND he's a convert from Mississippi- who LOVES the missionaries. So, he walks up to me and asks me where I'm from. And as soon as I said "South Carolina" he goes off dancing!!! And then he waves his arms around and yells SO LOUD (keep in mind, we're in a library)....

"YOU'RE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA?! WELL HUSH MY MOUTH AND FEED ME SOME GRITS! WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A SOUTHERN GIRL!"

Funniest. Moment. Of. My. Life.

Okay, so, last time I emailed, I asked if you guys would join me in a Book of Mormon reading challenge. And I totally forgot to say how long or when to start. Sorry! But I'm going to start tomorrow, July 8. And I want to finish in 90 days (2 transfers). So that comes out to reading at least 6 pages a day. :) Up for the challenge? :)

Oh, and another favorite quote from the week! This one was in Relief Society- we had a testimony meeting at the end- and Hansen (one of our recent converts [17 years old]) gets up and, at the end of her testimony, says, "I didn't pray last night... and I feel really bad... But any prayer that I WOULD HAVE prayed would have been answered today." 
Now that's faith. :)

4th of July was this week. Whoo-hoo! 
There was a community flag ceremony that morning at the high school- which we participated in. The churches from all over Parma came together and we had a flag raising, prayer, 2 non-denominational speakers, refreshments, musical numbers, and a parachute jumper! It was good fun. This really is "small town USA". And we went home early that night! haha. We weren't allowed to be out past 6/6:30pm, so we went home and watched 17 Miracles and The District. It was a good time. And we made cake balls. Yummy. We tried to watch fireworks out of our window... but they ended up just being small little flashes of light in the distance. Not worth it. 

 Now onto the juicy stuff that happened this week.

I feel like each of my companions has had some major event happen (while they've been out) that they've needed to get over. And, the longer I'm out on my mission, the more I really do receive a confirmation that I'm out here for THEM. I may not get baptisms... I may not teach a million people... But I WILL help my companions.
Long story short- My companion got a... not so good letter from her sister this week. So we spent a lot of time together helping her get through. There were lots of conversations where I had to say, "You are NOT going home. Do you hear me?!" Yeah. Pretty much summarizes my week with my companion.
Sometimes... I wish I could just filter what parents write home to their children that are on missions.... Mom and Dad, unless someone dies, just don't tell me! 

Hahahahaha. So. We went tracting this week.... (funny stories to follow)

Well, first of all, we had a district tract in Nyssa for the Elders there. (The zones all over the mission are starting to do tracting splashes- patterned after the one that my comp and I started in Kuna.) While my companion and I were tracting in Nyssa, we found SO MANY PEOPLE for the Elders to teach. It was ridiculous. 
So now I know it's not a problem with my door approach or anything... Some people are just prepared! And some aren't.

But, anyways, after having that great success that morning- we decided to go tracting in our own area to see if we could find anyone to teach! FAIL.

House #1 Catholic Kid.
  We went to this house and were talking to this teenager at the door. It went really well! And we placed a Book of Mormon AND got a return appointment for Tuesday! Awesomeeeeee! After walking down the street, 2 minutes later, this kid comes running down the street yelling, "Wait! WAIT!" and waving the Book of Mormon above his head.... He hands the book to me and says, "Sorry, we're Catholic." To which I say, "That's okay. You can still have the book- It's yours!" Then he panics, throws it into my hands, and runs away back to his house.... haha Awkward. So much for that return appointment.

House #2 Crazy Guy.
   We knock on this guys door... Man. He was crazy. But he was also that annoying person that acted like they didn't know anything about anything and so they would ask you a ton of questions to get you excited and then they throw you to the ground and say they don't need you. Yeah. It was terrible. Thanks a lot, dude. Well, I'm here if you ever want to talk again! 
"What's the Bible?"
"Who is Jesus?"
Yeah. Some people have those questions... but he did NOT. He knew. Heeee knewwwww.

House #3 Anti Woman.
   My first anti experience! It was... insane. We knock on the door... and, wow. She just let us have it right from the get-go. And my companion (oh, my sweet companion) just starts going off on this lady! I literally didn't say a word the WHOLE time, while they were waving their arms and yelling at each other. Bad. Bad bad bad. I finally had to take my companion's arm and say, "That's enough, Pritchard." Turn to the lady and say, "Jen, I know that this gospel is true. But thank you for living your faith. Have a great day." And I dragged my companion to the car. Oh goodness. I hate Bible bashing. Hate it. HATE IT.

Well... that was pretty much my week. Yup yup yup. Glad I could share my life with you all. ;)
Really though, people. You need to write me letters. My side of the mailbox is forming spider-webs... while my comp's side... I don't even want to talk about it. haha

Love you all. Repent and send me mail. ;)

--Sister Gubler 

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