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