Happy Holidays

Dear Family

 

  This Christmas season my thoughts and heart always turn home. Although I'll be spending this fantastic Christmas Season away just know that I will be there next year and we'll finally be a family again. I do miss the comforts of the holidays that are only found in the Gonzalez home. I'll be thinking about my stocking which won't be stuffed. I'll think about my 4th grade picture on the tree looking better then ever. I'll be missing the "Christmas Story" marathon for just one more year but I'll be back before you know it to be eating them cookies that people drop off and I'll be the first one to suggest that we have a Jerusalem dinner with the lanterns lit. All in all I'll just be one homesick missionary away from my home for just one more Christmas. There's just nothing to say about it I'll be away for a bit longer, and trust me I'll be crying harder then anyone else when the day comes that I have to let my tag go and try to fit in a new schedule.

   I want the Gonzalez Family to know that I love you all and for my Christmas wish it's that yall have a great day and that the Spirit of the Lord is with you and charity is in your heart. Please remember the words of Alma during this time of hustle and bustle... For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people- Alma 7:7. Please don't let the adversary let things become out of focus. Christ is what must be discussed. Christ gave to us the greatest gift of all, his atoning blood and a chance to return home. For now my home is Illinois, soon it will be Riverton, and I pray that one day it will be in the presence of my Heavely Father. If the Holy Ghost is with us then that's the greatest gift we can have this time of year so go and seek the spirit.

 

 

  Love from Peoria    Elder Victor Gonzalez

Skype next week!!!

I have talked with some members in the ward about the whole skype thing that is going to take place next week and I'm super excited about all of it. i'll hopefully have some good time to talk to yall and check on what's going on. Chances are that I'm not going to be able to have as much time as last year though and that's due to the schedule of the day. Please write a list of things that need to be talked about so that there ain't no silence on the phone or with during the skype stuff. I'll be writing a list as well.

 

This past week has been super busy but also super successful. We had Devin to church again yesterday and he's set for December 29th and we'll be getting him set up with an interview this week and get things going. He's such a good kid and I love him to Death. Last night we had a church presentation of Handel's Messiah put on be the Stake and it was good and we even had Devin come a join in the festivaties. He's being fellowshipped by the teaches quorum pretty well and thats sucha great blessing. We also had Alex and Sophia to church with us yesterday. We walk with them to church since they live only a couple of blocks from the building. They are going to have baptismal dates set with them this week.

 

I did get to interview a lady for baptism last Sunday and got to witness her baptism and confirmation on Thursday while in Galesburg on exchanges. Her name is April and she was one of those golden investigators who was found and baptized in a couple weeks. Those elders are working great there and are such a strength to the zone. I have several areas in the zone that are less then excited for the work and it's really starting to irritate me because they just aren't getting it. This is the most important work on the face of the whole earth and they're treating it like something of little value. It's killing me week after week to see struggling areas never make changes is the attitude or work ethic. I just can't do it for them and can only tell them to get to work.

 

  I do want to say thanks again for all the goodies that are in your package mom they are a great way to start each day, and today I opened the Jerky bag and have already eaten like half of the bag. I love Jerky that's for sure.

So it's snowing in Salt Lake Eh?  We haven't had a single flake this year yet. We do get some mornings that are pretty cold but no snow yet and i wouldn't mind ever seeing it this year.

 

Elder Sauer and I will know next week what will be going on with transfers and it's going to rip a hole in my heart if i get the transfer call.......... I love the people, I love the ward.

 

I'm so glad to hear that you're recovering mom I pray for you multiple times each day, the rest of the family..... not so much hahaha keep going hard mom and get better and back to normal, but not normal illinois hahaha

 

I want to know what's going on with the family like what kind of school Aaron and Jake are in and if it's like art or history tell them to change majors right away. I quote from Elder Clarke " If you want to get somewhere in this life then don't study that of no worth, study what the world needs at this time".

 

I have so much to be thankful for that it's overwhelming to even start. I love this work. I'm thrilled to wake up in the morning and put on that name tag. It means the world to me to have this tag on. I hope Mom and Dad that you are already preparing yourselves to serve as full time missionaries. If your as good of missionaries as you are parents then you'll bring many to the gospel truth. With a returned missionary, a missionary, and an almost missionary in your ranks and under your wings I think the Lord will have a special place for yall in the mission field.

 

I do want to say something about the Book of Mormon. It's more of a question to everyone to answer on their own. Where are you in the Book of Mormon, and what will you do today to serve someone else? keep that in mind, let's not have such a precious gift like the Book of Mormon and not use it effectively for what happens to us when a gift if given and we don't us it. D&C 84: 54,57, 60-62

 

I love all of you so much and I'll be looking forward to Tuesday and will work hard until that time.

 

Elder Gonzalez  Peoria Illinois

 

ps. I downloaded the Church Handbook of instruction and this ward that I'm in doesn't follow it at all.  When I'm a bishop my ward will follow the Freaking handbook.

 

 

Blessings are coming our way!!!

I'm glad that yall got my Christmas card, it's really nothing fancy because we're just a bunch of poor missionaries that don't know how to do anything in that creative type.

 

I am very grateful for the packages that I've recieved this past week. Mom, your package is great because I have a something to look forward to every morning because my patience doesn't last until the nightime. Your gifts are.... great and very..... thoughtfull you might say. hahahaha sometimes i wonder where you come up with these gifts but I know that your doing your best and hardest and putting a lot of thought into each scripture. I read the scripture to Elder Sauer and he tries to guess what it is and he never gets it right and just laughs at what my mom came up with.

 

Tony your package says everything about you. Just shove it in a box and send it on it's way.

 

So this past week we had a very revelatory experience while at Zone Leader Council on Tuesday in Iowa City. We discussed and looked at all the logistics of what the new baptismal goal should be for the year of 2013. It took much discussion and then finally we all kneeled down and prayed as to what is should be. It was revealed that we are to have 550 convert baptisms within the Iowa Des Moines Mission in 2013. I'm so glad for the keys of the priesthood which connect heaven and earth, and reveal the will of our Heavenly Father. I know for a certain knowledge that President Jergensen is called by the Lord and direct this great and wonderful work in these latter days. I find so much satisfaction in knowing that I'm engaged in this most wonderful work of the Lord. I felt very strongly that the work is hastening. Times are getting challenging and the Lord's lost sheep need to be brought to the fold and to be apart of that gathering of Israel is almost unbareable, but it's true and God has had selected us all to be on the forefront of this great cause.

 

Elder Sauer and I have a new investigator who is progressing towards December 29 for baptism. His name is Devin and he's a great young man who is 15 and lives in the worst part of town. He's strong in keeping values even though his less-active mom doesn't. He was at church yesterday along with 2 other investigators of ours. We did pick up 2 new investigators yesterday which is such a blessing because all week we have been praying for the area to pick up and to let our testimonies reach the hearts of all the inhabitants of Peoria. Our prayer was answered and I"m so grateful.

 

Please keep the faith and I don't really know what to say other then I love you all. Tony you look like Paul Bunyan

 

I'll just explain everything on Christmas

 

Elder Gonzalez

 

Craziest week ever!!..... way fun though (from Dec. 3, 2012)

So I just want to start off by saying that this church it true. It's just that simple this church has everything going for it probably because it's the Lord's church and whenever he's in charge of things it's pretty sweet stuff.

 

Our week started with another p-day full of stuff that made it stressful and crazy. We left Peoria Monday evening and didn't get back into town until Friday afternoon ( that takes a hit on your area). We started off with our class on Tuesday morning which was the teacher presenting some factual stuff about the church and our beliefs which made it all look like a big joke and there wasn't any spirit there at all. It was disappointing and the way that she directed her questions towards us made it just really not spiritual, and without the background knowledge of the "why" behind everything it just makes it look really weird and unattractive. We were in there for the whole class and after talked to a girl that was doing her research paper on "Mormonism" and we got to explain more of our beliefs and why it's actually important to us. So she understood a little more why we believe the way that we do. There is this paper that they passed out that had info on it about us and it's all true as far as I can see but really puts things that have to be understood spiritually and not intellectually out there. I'm sure a lot of the students thought that we mormons are so weird and strange with our practice that they will never want to listen to our faith again after that class. I was very disappointed with the results of the first class.

 

When we went back on Thursday, Elder Sauer and I presented a very brief Restoration lesson to them and wow it was a night and difference change with the spirit. As we taught them for probably 20 minutes we had their attention completely. The spirit was there for sure and it was guiding the lesson. Even though the class was at 8 in the morning and these students were half asleep the first time that was not the case with the 2nd class. We had an open questions and answers session after the presentation which ended with the video on lds.org " Our Eternal Life" and it was sweet. The questions at first started off slow because I think people were nervous but then it turned into a ton of doctrinal questions mostly because I'm sure the majority of the class is christian. I loved it and the spirit was very strong when Elder Sauer and I shared our testimonies about the truths that were discussed over the 2 days of class and it all just made sense. The teacher of the class who is a Presbyterian Minister, took a copy of the Book of Mormon with ease and said she was interested in the "historical part of it" but wants to know if what we said is true, because with the Great Apostasy facts that we mentioned we probably shook her little faith that she had about the authenticity of her religion hahaa she deserved it because she didn't have the appreciation that she should've had for mormons in her teaching about it. I loved the class and the students sure are interested about it so we'll see how many referrals come the the elders serving out there.

 

We did a ton of exchanges including my hometown of Bloomington and then to Pontiac Illinois. Pontiac hadn't seen a new investigator since April 30th and they were complaining about not being able to teach anyone and so we went to blitz their area and found 2 new for them just like that. There's investigators everywhere, you just need to be the fisher of man that you need to be. You don't catch fish with bad bait so you need to talk to people about something first and then hook them with a 2 sentence statement about the church and boom hooked and in the water.

 

I don't have much time to email and so I do need to sign off. We as a Zone Leader Council are setting the new baptismal goal for next year tomorrow and it will be a very revelatory experience. President will come and teach with us on Thusday after he joins us for zone meeting.

 

I love yall and I'll cya later   do some missionary work in Utah will ya!!!   Christmas is coming soon!!!

 

Elder GONZALEZ   PEORIA ILLINOIS..... DA BEST!!!!!