It's all over... it's all on the field (last email from August 20, 2013)

Hi family It's with a heavy heart that I send this last email and say good bye to all the email sessions which have taken place in my 2 years out here. I will be in Naperville tomorrow morning and will attend the 1pm session at the Chicago temple. I will have to be up very early in the morning on Wednesday and will hopefully be ready for awaits me at the gate in SLC I love all of you and the people of Illinois Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois

Leave it all on the field (from August 12, 2013)

Hey good family This is the last official email that you will get from me as a missionary. Next week I'll just jaw off on a few things all of which isn'r really important. This week I will be packing up my stuff and making sure I make the weight limit. Please put some money on my home card as I will be needing to pay for luggage. So my flight leaves Chicago at 9:10 on the 21st and I guess I'll be in SLC at 1 so I'll see ya then. I'm going to throw away a lot of stuff that I don't need anymore like socks and white shirts and other stuff so that I don't have a whole lot of stuff hanging around the apartment. There is certainly different emotions flying through my mind right now and this week is going to be crazy in the fact that I will be setting up appointments for a time that I won't be here anymore. Sorry if my emails come off as harsh..... it's hard to put emotion into a dumb email so always take my emails in an upbeat mindset. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting which is a form of what to expect in a couple of weeks. I love this ward Bloomington is my other home. the people here are amazing I love them so much. The corn is tall and all the college students are moving back into town. I knew that that would be a sign of my leaving, and now it's here. I really wanna stay and serve and for this last week it's all coming out. Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois.

All are against me (from August 5, 2013)

Dear Family I have had a rough week. It is not easy to stay focused at times when every single person out here is telling you how little time I have left, and people wanted to speak with us. I'm not sure if I have adequately expressed my love for this time to be a missionary. I have cried every night this week in my prayers because I have a matter of days left in my life to have a name badge on my chest that bears the name of my master. It is with tender feelings that I can write this email because lately I have hated going to the library for the fact that I again am reminded how little time I have left. I understand that you are all excited for my return but I need right now is not all the flashy celebrations for a returning missionary but of encouragement. I'm trying to soak in all that is being offered me here. I'm trying to train missionaries how to be disciples for the Lord. I just feel as Helaman of old in Alma 62 "44 Helaman did take upon him again to preach unto the people the word of God; for because of so many wars and contentions it had become expedient that a aregulation should be made again in the church. 45 Therefore, Helaman and his brethren went forth, and did declare the word of God with much power unto the aconvincing of many people of their wickedness, which did cause them to repent of their sins and to be baptized unto the Lord their God. 46 And it came to pass that they did establish again the church of God, throughout all the land. Here at the end of my mission I realize that I do feel like the sons of mosiah in Alma 17.. " 11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be apatient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good bexamples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls. 12 And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God. 13 And it came to pass when they had arrived in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, that they aseparated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their bharvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken. 14 And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a awild and a hardened and a ferocious people; This is a ferocious people who are glad to take sin as their form of enjoyment. I'm grateful for those that have been brought to the light. Gerber Flores is the great example of that. I'm very pleased with how I have grown and what has become important to me in life. So sum up my time here in the Midwest I would have to stand with Ammon in Alma 26 '1 My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we astarted from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? 2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? 3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how amany of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made binstruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. 4 Behold, athousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God. 5 Behold, the afield was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the bsickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your csheaves! continued.... 30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our ajoy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. 31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the afruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are bmany; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us. I love my Savior, he lives. The tomb is empty and he has commissioned me to preach until they plant me on a plane and say "we'll cya later" At night my prayers are full of gratitude for every single day that I have here... My prayer echoes that of Ammon in Alma 19:14 "he fell upon his knees, and began to pour out his soul in prayer and thanksgiving to God for what he had done for his brethren; and he was also overpowered with cjoy".. I'll be home before you know it. Just pray and do some missionary work yourselves would ya? I love you all and have a great opportunity to speak this sunday for 15-20 minutes on whatever I want in sacrament meeting so that'll keep me busy. Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois

in the last days (from July 29, 2013)

Hey Family SO i'm just sitting in the library where I have sent dozens of emails throughout my mission and wondering where the time has flown. I can't wait to be home at tiheymes but this mission experience is amazing. I have times and moments with members who will give me all kinds of council and what not about going home and some of it is good but most is just a bunch of garbage... hahaha they love to give me a hard time. I got to play 18 holes this past week and it was amazing... the ball still goes right where I want it to so that's a good promising sign. It's om my mind but I try to control my thoughts as far as what I think about during the day and wow it's harder then I thought to not think about home and what I should be thinking about as far as getting people closer to Christ... don't worry i'll stay on task. SO hey we have a trainers meeting tomorrow in Naperville so today we are driving up to the mission home and will eat there and sleep there tonight and then have the meeting tomorrow and then drive back in the afternoon so our p-day is basically shot... sorry this was short I was emailing a bunch of friends and what not earlier I love you all and I will make sure not to be thinking about hojme too much elder gon

Great day for a baptism!! (from July 22, 2013)

Hi Family Gerber Flores was baptized on Saturday and it was wonderful. We had the font all filled up with nice warm water and it was just picture perfect. We had President Clay do the baptism, and had bro Davis give the talk on baptism all in Spanish. President Clay said the baptismal prayer in Spanish first and then in English to make sure that we knew he said the words correctly. I loved to look on Gerber's face when he came out of the water. Clean and ready to serve. Elder Clark and I gave a 6 minute lesson of the Restoration to everyone that was there during the time that they were changing into their church clothes. It was powerful to testify of revealed truths that Gerber had accepted into his life. Bro. Moore gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost all in Spanish and wow it was just a powerful experience. So Elder Clark and I had a bit of a slower week, except for the baptism. Some of our best contacts weren't able to meet but that's ok we just went and found some less-actives that needed some service. It was really hot this week. It is awful wearing a tie and black slacks in the heat. The Sisters in the ward are doing great. I'm just so glad that we don't have some pile sisters. These honestly are the best sisters that I've ever served around. Last week I did get to play 9 holes and ironwood golf course in normal and it was alright.. the member that we went with didn't have the best clubs, and I hadn't played in a year so a 44 was the result. Hey i'll take it. I get to play today and the ISU course in town which I hear is actually a really good golf course so i'm excited. SO not to be super trunky or anything but after discussing a few things with Coach Carter I need to get into some golf tournaments quick when I get off the mission so that I can some good tournament experience and get my name out to the coaches in the state. I'll also be an assistant golf coach at the high school. So if you love me then I would like to send in a few tournament ideas ok so basically I must play in a few amateurs that are at courses that I have played in the past. back to missionary stuff. We have zone meeting this week at the church here in Normal and we'll have Pres. Fenn and the assistants there so i'm excited for that. I got a call from Elder Herrin who returned home on Friday and called me on Saturday while I was driving to the church to fill up the font for the baptism. I gave him our address so he may pay you a visit and tell you a few things of me haha. I am grateful for all your letters and everything that you have done to have me on this mission. Your money is well spent i'll tell you that. I love you all and want to stay here longer. I love the spirit and know that it's telling me to go to work harder than ever so that's what i'm going to do. Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois

7 years of searching... humble as ever (from July 15, 2013)

Hey Family I love serving here in Bloomington, this place has helped shape me into who I am today. The ward is so good and the people are amazing. Bishop Goodman is such a loving and wonderful example to me as to how a bishop should run a ward. So we had transfers on Tuesday and there are some new changes that have taken place. We now have Sister Malachoska and Sister Baldridge here in the ward covering the east side of town. They are two young but energetic missionaries. Sister Malachowska is 21 and from ogden and Sister Baldridge is 20 from Boise haha. The ward is very excited to have them here in town and it's great to see that they aren't going to destroy the work that we have set up for them. On Thursday we set them up with Michelle who came to church this last weekend, we made the handoff and wow they set a baptismal date with her for August 10th. Yea we've had 2 investigators that we have had get dished out to other companionships. SO the biggest thing is that Gerber Flores is ready for baptism. We had 2 great lessons with him this week and he was interviewed on sunday and is ready for baptism this Saturday. I love Gerber. SO he is from Guatemala and has 2 children and a wife back there Joshua 18 and Kimbelry 16. He hasn't been back there for 7 years. He said that he came here looking for something that he wasn't going to find if he stayed back in Guatemala. He is a good educated man but here he has been getting just a bunch of side jobs like right now he's a cook at Olive Garden. He was basically in tears this last lesson when he said that he has now found the reason why he's here in America. We talked of eternal families and that just clicked. Elder Clark and I knew that we had to tell him that he will need to go back to Guatemala and tell his family what more the Lord has for them, and he really wants to do that. I'm going to continue to stay in touch with him and make sure that he gets his family going in the gospel and that he sees the true happiness of the temple. Well last night we found another Mexican family that wants us to come back and teach them so yea we'll do that tomorrow. I just wish that I knew Spanish. Yes I'd love to go to the ward picnic and talk with people when I get back. I can golf later on.. I'm actually going to go play with Elder clark and another member at like 1 today. Not sure what else to say just been doing to work and I love doing it. Everyday I take off the name tag at night and realize what a privilege it is to have it on. I tried to extend my mission but they wouldn't let me do it. We have some good referrals to check up on and some good potentials that we are going to try and make into new investigators this week. I love you all and I'm doing great here in Bloomington it's the best Elder Gonzalez going strong

This is Communism I tell you (from July 8, 2013)

Hey Family SO there are certainly some crazy changes with the new mission. Some things that I like and some things that I despise like the plague. So President and Sister Fenn are both from Salt Lake City and have always lived there. President Fenn is the CEO of Century Link which used to be Quest. He is a very cutthroat business centered guy. He's all about the numbers if you know what I mean. Sister Fenn is the daughter of Bruce R. McConkie. She never says anything.... just a really quite person. So on Tuesday the came to Peoria and talked with us and the Assistants came. For 3 hours we just got yelled at about obedience and other stuff on his mind. He's a great guy just a different philosophy about certain things. They have a 19 year old daughter and a 16 year old son living with them in Naperville. So Elder Clark and I have been working hard getting 3 people to church and setting Gerber's Baptismal date to July 20th now.... he's ready. We picked up an investigator this week while walking around at night who used to date a member back in the day who is now on a mission in Mexico. Michelle is her name and she writes him like every week..... that's a good foot in the door. We taught her at the church on Saturday and then had her to sacrament meeting with us on Sunday. She's going to do great. SO on Friday we woke up in Peoria after driving there on Thursday night, and we woke up at 3:30 in order to get 5 of us ready and out the door to be in Naperville by 8. It was a long drive with all of us packed in a ford fusion. the meeting was ok not the best in my standards really. the missionaries a very casual and just not the same. President Fenn wants 300 baptisms between now and the end of the year. That's not going to happen. He is expecting that to take place and the mission just isn't near that logistically and there's a pricetag to be paid if that is going to work and it's the faith and spirituality of the mission, and from what I saw it's just not going to happen. I'm not trying to say that I don't have faith but that is 50 baptisms per month and in june they had 15..... not looking good. I was a little frustrated with what was discussed... lets just say that this mission is behind us Iowa missionaries by a ways. So I'm getting a bit excited of what life will be like on the homefront be please be assured that I have full attention to the mission field. Hillary Chaney is her name SO yea the new mission will be cool. we are getting sisters in the ward tomorrow and that will throw a wrench in things for us. The zone is splitting and I'm going to die off as a DL which is good because I can institute some good fixed principles into some heads before I head out. Hey take care a do some good work. Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois Chicago West Mission

Down to the wire (from July 1, 2013)

What up :) Hey there good family. This week was wonderful with lots of good times. On Tuesday we went to the Nauvoo Temple for one last time as a zone. It was remarkable. President and Sister Jergensen were there and it was the last time that I will see them until back in the homeland. Nauvoo is a very sacred place for me and it was wonderful to be there the day that Joseph and Hyrum started for Carthage back in 1844. The spirit was very strong there and I'm glad that I have been able to serve here in this special ground. God bless America, God bless the Pioneers for making great sacrifices for us. I went on exchanges with the elders in Pontiac in our area and then the next day after district meeting i was with the Morton elders which is my old companion elder Pope. He got to meet our wark mission leader Bro. Kimball who was part of him conversion back in Arrlington Virginia. We taught a man named Tom who was a very interesting man who knows that there's a higher power, but doesn't believe in Christ so this is going to be quite the challenge to get him to open up and feel the spirit. We have officially been transferred to the Illinois Chicago West Mission and wow this is going to be a trip. Tomorrow we spend like the whole day in Peoria getting to know President Fenn and then getting interviewed by him and I'm excited for that. On Friday I will spend like the whole day up in Naperville at a Mission Leadership Council and that will be cool to see all the missionaries up there. I'm going to see if I know anyone that is in the new mission that I know from back home. I'm not sure that I can remember who i know that is in that mission but i'll find out. The indian Family that Elder Clark and I taught are headed back to india for 2 months and that is a shame but we'll go find someone else to teach and baptize. Gerber Flores from Guatemala is all set for August 3rd and we had such a good lesson with him on Wednesday. We didn't have a Spanish translator with us but we did teach him the Doctrine of Christ the best that we could and he understood it and wow that was amazing. He knelt down and the end of the lesson and prayed in Spanish to know if the message we shared using the Book of Mormon was true and if he should be baptized on August 3rd. After his prayer we stood up and he pointed to the goosebumps on his arm and with watery eyes looked up and knew that his prayer was answered. I'll never forget that sweet spirit in the room. He came to church. I love this missionary experience and am glad that all these wonderful blessings are taking place in my life. I have had a couple of letters come in from some girls back in the valley who haven't written me my whole mission and now they wanna talk mmm potentials? Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois

Just living life..... and broke as a joke (from June 17, 2013)

Hi Family It's a good day here in Bloomington with lots of sunshine and temps in the high 70's so it's all good there. Although today is p-day we are doing some service for a member who is in charge of this organization called Project Linus. They make blankets for hospitals and help a ton of children out that need really cool blankets. SO we are moving a ton of stuff from there office to the Marriott Hotel where they are having their big conference this week. so we are emailing from their office which is really cool. Elder Clark and I have been working hard this week, but just haven't been seeing the success that we would like to see. Tons of people fell through on their appointments, but thats just life here in Illinois. flaky as crap people. We did have zone meeting this week in Peoria and that was good. They made a big emphasis on using PMG to help members know How to share the gospel more effectively. Something that Elder Herrin and I were doing up in Ames and that was working beautifully. This week will be the last time that I get to see President and Sister Jergensen before they head home next week. We are having a goodbye zone conference in davenport and that will take up like all of our day this wednesday. We are getting another set of sisters in this ward in July at the next transfer meeting and so that is really going to suck.............. with sisters it's either feast or famine and i'm feeling a famine in the land Elder Clark is doing good, he doesn't know how to teach which is tough to work with but its all good. I didn't know how to teach when I was first out so I"m working with him and all of that . He was one who didn't really want to come out like a year ago but felt that it was the right thing to do and so I"m helping him to open his vision and see things as they really are. We haven't worked with the Indian people as much this week but when we did we got 2 new investigators out of it named Renju and Mohon. they are roommates right now and it was a good lesson that we had with them, just that they are going to take some work, because they are so laidback and won't take things as serious. We'll have to change up our pitching routine with them. There is a special broadcast going out to all the world this Sunday at 5pm here and it's coming from the Marriott center with the prophet and some Apostles to all the new mission presidents. I'm excited to see what changes they will make so what new things we as missionaries will do. For now I"m just doing one day at a time and making sure that Elder Clark is getting trained right. I love yall and hope you have a great week. Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois

My Last Blue Bundle of Joy is Coming!!! (From June 3, 2013)

Hey Fam I can't believe that I've been in Bloomington for 6 weeks already. I'm really excited to be training for the next 12 weeks and to be under the direction of a new mission president. I'm not sure how this new guy is going to be so I'll just have to break him in and get to work. Yes it rained like everyday this week and it sucked so bad. I hated it because it just slowed down everything. Several of our appointments that we had fell through because of the rain and not being able to meet at the park. On Tuesday night we were in a tornado watch and it was nuts, I've never seen it rain that hard. It was like someone was taking a bucket of water and just tossing it at the window it was a ton of water. Elder Virgen has been a cool guy but he just isn't the best worker and although he had been here since Christmas he didn't know anyone and I've never had to have a companion like him before. I don't mean to talk bad about him but I'm just excited to get someone who is more motivated to work hard. We do have Taylor who is progressing well and did come to church this week with Mike who is the boyfriend of Taylor and she is liking it. We are going to teach her on Tuesday evening and then we are going to go and hit golf balls at the driving range on Wednesday with Mike and I'm going to be making some deals with him and see if we can get some more lessons in. I'm super excited to hit some golf balls and see what I still have in me. So schools out.... any plans on going on vacation or something? I"ll tell you my plans for the summer..... work the Lord's work hahaha exciting huh? So I'm still district leader and we are adding 2 new areas to the district and so we are going from 6 elders to 8elders and 2 sisters which is going to suck... I have all the respect in the world for sister missionaries but my goodness I've been stuck with prob the laziest my whole mission, so I'm hoping that they actually do something. Tony knows what I mean. well I don't really know what to say other then Im trying hard and I'm learning everyday. I love you all and I know that I'm to be out here for a few more months and just wreck this place... we have a new ward mission leader who is going to help us out a ton Elder Gonzalez Bloomington Illinois