June 28, 2011

Hey! Sorry i didnt write yesterday. I think every 12 weeks or so we go to the temple so we went today. So today is my pday this week but itll be normal next week. But sounds like everyone is doing great! And yes we just go to internet cafes haha its alright i guess haha. I got a bunch of letters from all of you this past week! It was so awesome. So thanks for writing me! I love getting letters from all of you. But hmmm this week has been pretty good. Not much new haha pretty much the same as last week haha. But we did get rained on pretty good haha. We were in an other area for our district meeting and it started pouring like freakin crazy! It was insane! My comp and i didnt have umabrellas so we just decided to walk home in the pouring rain haha it was fun and we got soaked as all heck. But when we were about halfway a taxi picked us up for free so that was pretty nice. Tender mercies of the Lord we get a lot of those everyday as missionaries. Its just amazing. This week we have taught 2 of those 7th day crazy people that think that sat. is supposed to be the day of rest and they just straight up rejected the Book of Mormon. It made my comp and i so mad that they just said that it wasnt the word of God and it was not as good as the Bible and all this crap. We kept our cool though and just testified that it really is the word of God and that it is true. Then yesterday during my study time it just hit me super hard. The church is true. It was crazy. Like ive always known but it just all clicked so much more clearly in my mind. It just all made sense. Like everything! The Church is organized exactly the same as it was when Jesus was on the earth. We have 12 apostles, the priesthood, and a prophet. And we have the plan of salvation. Its all so clear to me. Im just super stoked how much testimony grew yesterday! Haha it makes it so much easier to testify when i really really know and understand. Even if it is in spanish hahaha. But anyways thats pretty much my week ahah. Nothing new with investigators. Actually we did find like 9 new investigators this week so that was pretty dang awesome haha. But i gotta go! I love all of you and cant wait to hear from you all. Miss yall! Oh and thats crazy about russell cluff! What the crazy 40 pounds? haha anyways talk to you next week!
Love, Elder Gunnell

June 20, 2011

Hey! Thanks for your email i loved it! It was really awesome to hear from you. Tell Sarah Im so sorry! And i will write her as soon as possible. I didnt remember where i put her address so thanks for sending it again. But this last week has been pretty crazy. We decided to drop some of our investigators cuz they werent really in it for the gospel, they just liked coming to activities and stuff. We asked them to be baptized and they flat out said no. So we will continue to be their friends but we arent gonna keep putting appointments with them. Cuz we have a few that are really progressing and feeling the spirit when we teach them and they wanna be baptized so we are trying to focus on them more. It sucks though, our best investigators are having some problems. We have baptismal dates with this lady and 3 of her children but the dad doesnt want to get baptized and doesnt really support her in it. And also they arent married. And he doesnt really wanna get married. I dont know whats up with that. But we are just having faith that we can get it all resolved before the baptismal date next month. Also another thing we are working on! There is this family that got baptized about a year ago and they are a little less active and we are trying to get them reactivated and to the temple. So we talked about eternal families. And they said they dont wanna get sealed and that they dont love each other! What in the heck? It blew my mind! Why would they be married and have a family if they dont love each other? Its just a hard situation. But they are a really nice family! I enjoy visiting with them. But yeah things are great! Oh! You all better not take things for granted! It is so crazy how differently we live and how much better we have it. Its crazy to see how humble these people live and how they are happy with what they have even though its next to nothing. So � � � just thank the Lord for how blessed we are. Coming here and seeing the difference has definately changed my perspective. Also! Yall better be reading your scrips and praying everyday! It is crazy how much my testimony of the Book of Mormon and of prayer have been strengthened. Its just super important! Its definately blessed me so much already. So i encourage you all to start if you havent already! Haha. Oh and actually i can email Sarah if she emails me! So you can tell her to. But anyways i gotta go. I love you all so much! I hope you all are doing great. I cant wait to hear from all of you. Im missing all of you so much! I cant wait to have moms food again..... Hahaha thats one of the things that i miss almost as much as you guys ;) hahaha anyways i love you!�
Con Amor, Elder Gunnell

June 13, 2011: First Week Out in the Field

Hola!
Well Monday is my pday now! Thanks for your email today. I really enjoyed it. But Yeah this last week was my first week in the field! Pretty intense stuff. Im assigned to the area of Limòn in the capital. Its pretty cool. My companion is Elder Ziemann from Illinois. He is way cool so thats good too haha. But my first week has been really good. We are both new to this area so we didnt know what to do at first but we have like 20 investigators! No joke! We have sooo much haha. We also had 8 investigators attend church so that was way awesome. Then in sunday school we taught them lesson 1. That went really well. We have i think 4 baptismal dates set too. I think 3 for the beginning of next month and another for september. So that is super exciting! But one of the days i went on splits and i was with the zone leader and one of his investigators speaks english! So i got to teach a lesson and actually say a lot of stuff! Haha this guy was awesome though. He is so ready to change his life for the better. It was so awesome to see. He has had it rough. He graduated from USC and was a succesful guy and then he lost everything and got deported. But he isnt crying about it or anything. He also keeps saying he knows that God sent us to teach him for a reason and that he feels good when he talks to us. So that was really wonderful to teach him and see his faith that he has. Also its crazy! I have given so many blessings! Its insane! At least one a day and sometimes more. I usually annoint but the other day my companion threw me under the bus! He said he would help me so i sealed the annointing and then he was like go for it! What the heck? haha this lady seemed like she was in some pain and then there is me this white boy that hardly speaks any spanish having to give her a blessing. So i just went for it and it went alright! I could tell that she felt the Spirit and that it gave her comfort. So that was also a really good experience. But other than that we pretty much just walk around all day and visit members and teach some investigators. There is so much work that we have to do so we dont do too much contacting but we do some. So yeah im super busy and super sore! My area is like 4 huge hills! It seems like no matter which way we go we are going uphill! I dont know how it works but whatever. All i know is my legs are getting big! I put on my jeans today and they were super tight! Its like im losing weight on my stomach from not very much eating and a ton of walking and then my legs are getting stacked! Its kinda crazy.
But im really glad to hear everyone is doing good and enjoyed the letters. And Craig landing on his head... Psssh! Haha i know how that feels dude! Just suck it up and do another one ;) haha but i love you all so much. Im missing all of you. I cant wait to see all of you in like 22 months! Well actually a little less than 22 months hahaha. Oh well it doesnt matter. I hope to hear from all of you really soon. Love you guys!
Con Amor, Elder Gunnell

June 6, 2011

Hey! I have email today cuz im leaving for the field early tomorrow morning. So im glad this time i had an email on here waiting for me! Haha i didnt get to read all of it but it sounds like everyone is having fun. hahaha I laughed at what craig said! in spanish and in the car haha. Youre a goof dude! But hmm i dont really know what to say in this email! Not much has happened this week! Every week is the exact same here! Its pretty lame. But tomorrow my mission really starts and im sure the emails will get more exciting haha. Oh and about the sonpopos! No i didnt taste it for that long haha. I didnt think that i would eat them but i decided to go for it and they were really good! Very surprising hahaha. But anyways i gotta go finish packing still :( Im actually sad to leave here! I love my district and my companions. I hope ill be companions with some of them later on in my mission. But anyways i love you all. I cant wait to hear from all of you. Im always thinking about you all and praying for you everyday! I love you!
Love, Elder Gunnell

June 1, 2011

Hey! Im doing really good! Spanish is getting easier and im having fun. Its crazy! This is my last week in the ccm and then im in the field! Its so darn crazy! So when that happens my emails will get more exciting haha. My days are pretty much always the same here. Except this week was pretty good! So in may in guatemala i guess these huge ant things come. They are called sonpopos. Anyways we were catching them and stuff during a service project and then a worker said that we could eat them. So we caught a ton of them and asked the cooks to cook them for us. So my companions and i ate ants for breakfast the other day! They were actually way good! They kinda tasted like peanuts. Seriously haha who would have ever thought i would eat ants haha i never thought i would haha. Oh and yesterday we got to go proselyting at the park again. It was better than the first time! I understood more this time and said a little more. We made 5 appointments too! So that was definately good. But things here are pretty awesome. I love my campanions! They are all super cool. One of them skates too so thats cool we have that in common and everyting. And we always laugh hahahaha i dont think i have ever laughed so hard in my life haha. Its so hilarious! So im definately having fun. I hope my companion in the field is cool too. But its crazy i have less than a week left! Im getting pretty nervous. But excited. So yeah thats pretty much my week haha. I wrote all of you today and mom on her birthday so you guys should be getting those sometime soon hopefully. Happy late birthday mom! i love you. I love all of you and i hope to hear from you guys soon! Have fun at rocky point you bums! haha
Love, Elder Gunnell