I am going to do these blogs by months. So this one will go to the end of November. I will add on each week and then start a new post at the beginning of the new month.
Helen
OKINAWA
Dear Family,
It
was great to hear from you, receive letters, and get one from Mandell as
well. I love hearing about home and the fun times the family is still
having? Where are Nate's interviews and what residency are they
for? That is so wonderful. I think he should look for a nice suit
at Goodwill or Buffalo Exchange. He could use my $.75 camel hair brown
blazer if he would like to. A man in our ward has the most
amazing suits. He pulls off purple, magenta, and blue suits all the
time. He is like 65.
Greta, already the Christmas music? That's great. I think I'll
probably just listen to it in December, as that will probably be somewhat
touchy on the homesickness side. Can you believe I turn 20 in a
month? I think my maturity is still around 13. Once a deacon, always a deacon.
Mom, Elaine actually is the same person as Helene. We first didn't
know how to spell her name. I'll start with talking about her because
that is the best news!!! On Friday, her husband came home from his
job (laid off), but he has another one almost already. This was a huge
blessing. He is the man power which is helping Helene overcome smoking.
They both came to church on Sunday with the whole family. It was
beautiful to see. James was skeptical before, but after church, he has received his
answer that this is the true church. He said he will be baptized, but
doesn't have a date yet. He actually announced that in Priesthood
opening! Dad, could imagine an investigator doing that in 8th wards
opening priesthood? It was great. The true miracle came last night.
We had dinner at a member's house, and got a text from the Helene that
they had someone that wanted to meet with us. After the dinner, we went
with Bro K and his son who is 7. We taught Helene's neighbor,
and she is very prepared and excited to read the Book of Mormon. We are
meeting with them again tonight. The last and best miracle is that they
quit smoking yesterday! 0 cigarettes! Thank you Dad from your
advice in your letter. That helped me understand smoking addictions
better.
Now, for the namesake subject of the email. The bishop took us out
twice this week! We went to his house Monday night and he cooked steaks,
corn, potatoes, mmmmmmmmmm, and we listened to Elder Holland’s Book of Mormon
testimony. It was powerful. Then on Wednesday, he took us out to
lunch to Okinawa, a Japanese steakhouse where they cook the food right in front
of you. He and his wife are so amazing. We learned a lot about
leadership and being examples of fun, humor, yet also Spirit. One joke about the restaurant is that every time you go there, you have
"to go" pretty much immediately after, with out fail. Our Okinawa
experience was more subtle than anticipated, but after eating the left overs
came to personally understand.
We had an appointment with a part member family. The father has been around the church for 16 years and has seen
missionaries off and on. Our purpose was to see if he was ready and to try
to have him begin reading the Book of Mormon. The bishop came with us. He and the bishop took
off! They talked for an hour and found so much in common. It really
was a great break through. He commited to come to church
(which he did). There is so much potential here. One
side note: this father was the No. 1 football recruit out of high school,
played on the Florida Gators, is a Florida legend, and played for the
Buccaneers for a couple seasons. I think I'll arm wrestle him next
lesson. If I win, he get's baptized. If he wins, he still gets baptized.
Elder Beckstead and I are doing great together. As a companionship, we are getting along
great. We are both more positive and humble and trying
to do the Lord's Will. I love him so much and am impressed with the leaps
of improvement he is making.
OCTOBER 31, 2011
OCTOBER 31, 2011
What
a blessing we have received this week! Helene was baptized on
Saturday!! We had the service in the chapel and it was very
spiritual. Sis. Farnsworth who was
involved in the lessons gave the talk on baptism. She is now her visiting
teacher. Bro Price spoke as well. We had so much support and fellowship at the baptism.
The Raders and Farnsworth and Kings and Sister Harris were there. Great
active, recent convert, and reactived families. Elder Beckstead did a
fine job baptizing for the first time.
Last Monday, we went to the Helene's to teach their neighbor but that fell
through. Turns out that was just where we needed to be. James
(Helene's husband) said, "Well I guess it's time that I start my
lessons." We set a baptismal date for Nov. 6th right there! He
is so excited and is already to 1 Nephi chapter 15! He loves the Iron
Rod so much and we had a powerful lesson on Lehi's dream. Then yesterday
at church, a sacrament talk was on "the Iron Rod!" how
perfect. Then Bishop Rader talked on the family in the combined
lesson. This ward is so wonderful.
We had another stellar week. James was
baptized yesterday. The best part was that Brother King (baptized on
Oct. 2) performed the baptism!!!! How amazing is that?! These two families have become great friends and perfect fellowship for each
other. They are the nicest people. His baptism was very special and
much of the ward attended. We involved a lot of members in the teaching
process. James' testimony of the Book of Mormon
is rock solid. He is almost finishing 1 Nephi. On Saturday night,
we went over and read a chapter with the family. I loved seeing their 7
year old daughter reading well from it aswell. As we help them learn
about our LDS culture, they will blossom even more. We are truly blessed
in Timuquana!!
Yesterday, both Helene and Christian bore their testimonies in sacrament meeting. It was so rewarding and seeing the fruits of my efforts and, ultimately God's preparations. The harvest is great and the laborers are few, but if we're united we all things can do.
I will be staying in Timuquana for another transfer! Elder Beckstead is being transferred. I will let you know where next week. I have learned so much about loving others, forgiving, and being patient with others and with myself. The 12 week training program was beneficial to both of us. Can you believe I have been on my mission for over 6 months now? On Friday, I ritualistically burned a tie (from another elder, that he got at good will). these months have flown by and I have been so blessed with bringing people into the gospel. I feel so much love for others and a love for feasting in the scriptures that I have never before felt. Even a year before my mission, my studies were lax and prayers were not a habit. I have grown closer to Heavenly Father with more sincere and daily prayers and I read from the Book of Mormon, or family history stories every spare moment I get. There really is no time during the 16 hours I am awake to be lazy.
11/14/11
Elder Johnson
Also grandma sent me a letter and told me a joke:
"Two elderly ladies were driving down a street. Ruby, the
driver ran through a red light and did the same thing at the next
light. Mary, the other, commented on the fact and Ruby said, "I
did?! Who was driving?" haha I sure do love you,
Grandma!
NOVEMBER 7, 2011
HAPPY 11/11/11
Yesterday, both Helene and Christian bore their testimonies in sacrament meeting. It was so rewarding and seeing the fruits of my efforts and, ultimately God's preparations. The harvest is great and the laborers are few, but if we're united we all things can do.
I will be staying in Timuquana for another transfer! Elder Beckstead is being transferred. I will let you know where next week. I have learned so much about loving others, forgiving, and being patient with others and with myself. The 12 week training program was beneficial to both of us. Can you believe I have been on my mission for over 6 months now? On Friday, I ritualistically burned a tie (from another elder, that he got at good will). these months have flown by and I have been so blessed with bringing people into the gospel. I feel so much love for others and a love for feasting in the scriptures that I have never before felt. Even a year before my mission, my studies were lax and prayers were not a habit. I have grown closer to Heavenly Father with more sincere and daily prayers and I read from the Book of Mormon, or family history stories every spare moment I get. There really is no time during the 16 hours I am awake to be lazy.
11/14/11
Elder Johnson
Elder
Johnson is my new companion! It is wonderful to have more experience in
the companionship. He has been out 13 months. He is the Senior Comp
and I was released as the District Leader. It is refreshing to only think
about my area and my ward. I am learning so much from him and we are both
being exactly obedient, which is the only way to qualify for those golden
investigators that change your mission and life. For that reason, I am
excited for this next transfer. Funny story, he has two older brothers,
then an older sister, and a younger sister. The respective ages are all
pretty close aswell, and he only has one grandma left of his grand parents.
He was a kick boxer for a bit. Him and I indulge in vain humor a
lot. I really enjoy him as a companion and leader. We are going to
see huge changes with how effective the TQ ward is. He just came from
Beaufort, SC.
The Kings invited the Vetere's over on Saturday. We joined them for the
lesson portion, but left to let them have fun with video games and such.
It was wonderful seeing friendship sprout and testimonies with it. I truly have been blessed
to see the bring in of two families into the church: the Vetere's and the
King's.
11/21/11
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Thank you for the wonderful birthday
presents! I can't wait to pick up the next two packages today at the
post office. We were out proselyting when the UPS guy came
knocking. Luckily that was a wonderful day and it was well worth being
out working. Elder Johnson and I are getting along so well. We both
love vain humor and making fun of ourselves; we have a lot of laughs. We
both are being obedient which is priceless. I am excited for my birthday
AND Thanksgiving this week. IT's going to be a good one for sure.
The most exciting
developments has been in the Timuquana Ward's missionary work. The Relief
Society is AMAZING. Sister Henderson has a dinner calendar set up where
we have 5 or so meals a week. Beyond the ridiculously scrumptuous
Southern cuisine and BBQ, it has been a great tool for missionary work.
We were at the Figuiras, a part member fam, and had a great lesson. One
of his son's friends had randomly shown up at the same time as us and we taught
her about the Book of Mormon and gave her one. He said she was pretty
interested and we will followup with that later this week. Also, the
Relief Society had a Super Saturday and they invited us to be the waiters for
the dinner. Luckily I had all that practice from Hamlet. It was a
wonderful event and we built even more trust with the ward.
Next, a less
active family we found two weeks ago. The Mom, Charity, and
daughter are members, but the husband and other daughter are not. We had
our second lesson with them on Thursday and it went very well. Their
daughter, who is 10, wants to get baptized. THEN the husband volunteered
to give us a ride to our next appointment. He opened up so much about his
impression of the church and how he had tried the book of mormon when they were
first married, but didn't understand it. He also said he was
"positive that eventually he would come to know the book of mormon was
true." They invited us to their huge thanksgiving dinner with family
and we are SO excited about that! Our other Thanksgiving appt is with the
Kings! They have sure talked it up for that last couple weeks. We
knew they were all business when they asked us what pies we wanted.
Christian is doing fantastic and has that wonderful new member fire!
Last night we had
a dinner with the Hernandez Family! They are officially my favorite
family. They are from Mexico and are great missionaries. We had
flautitas and spanish rice. So good. I love using the Spanish I
know. They said I don't have an accent. Anyway, we had a great
lesson and the Spirit is so strong in active members home who are actively
implementing the gospel. They are giving Christian King the new member
lessons.
I love this work.
I love my companion. I love the Lord.
11/28/11
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Happy Thanksgiving! I truly
have so much to be thankful for. Thank you for the amazing
birthday. I got LOADED with goodies and presents. I love the ties,
They are now my top 4 ties that I own lol. Moms are always better at
fashion that men. The sweater is pristine and I love the belts. Alex
Boye's Christmas album has blessed our ear drums all week. It is
ridiculous. I love the Echoes of the Sabbath album as well. It
reminds me of Sunday afternoons. It sounds like all of you had a great
holiday. Nate was surfing in Hawaii so I'm sure he is the happiest of
them all.
I had a fantastic
Thanksgiving. We had a dinner with the Dorings (less active, part member)
and then the Kings (the best!). We had literally everything we usually
have at home, except the cranberry salad. It was delectable! I was
so grateful for their love and to be apart of bringing them (back) in to the
gospel. They are on fire and that fire is fueled by their
gratitude. Sister King bore a thanksgiving testimony at church and I
never appreciated how far she had to come back, along with her husband being
baptized. I love them very much.
I doesn't sound like I will be
transfered this time either. Because transfers lie on Dec 21st, they are
only transferring 7 trainers. So I don't think I will be moving, but who
knowS?! I would absolutely love to spend 7 1/2 in Timuquana. I am
so blessed.
I love my family so much.
Thank you for your prayers and support. I laughed really hard when I
heard about Christmas in Costa Rica! That will be exciting for
everyone. I am jealous, but more blessings for me I guess haha.
Love you all,
Elder Gebhard
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