TWO MONTHS OUT! BOOSH!

On Saturday I hit my two months out on the mission! WHOOO!!!!!!! Can you believe how fast time flies?! What better way to celebrate it than by going to the temple?! We got to see Bailey, a recent convert, and Seth, a less active, go to the Temple for the first time. It was so amazing to see these two young men perform baptisms for the dead. When Bailey baptized his grandpa the Spirit was so strong in the room and you could just tell that he had accepted it in the spirit world! It was so amazing to be there. I didn't think that I would do the baptisms, but I did and I did the entire family folder for the guy that was baptizing me! It was so special and I did the baptism and confirmations in French so now I have down everything in the temple, except sealing, in all three languages! So, good news, we had decided to call Elizabeth to see how she was doing and we got her machine, but she called us back so we saw her on Thursday...and she told us that she is still interested in the Church!! It was just that her family was being really unsupportive of her and thats what made her cancel her baptism. SO, we got Elizabeth back!

I had to eat fish this week; oh my gosh, it was the worst thing ever! We went to do service for the Theodors, who are less active, and we were helping them clean their basement because they are moving. That took awhile so they gave us lunch. They are Haitian so I was nervous for the food...it was fish. In Haiti they don't eat any meat on the week of Easter which I guess is a Catholic thing. I chose the tiniest piece of fish and took tinny tinny bites and washed it down with rice and water. I really wanted to go home and brush my teeth afterwards but we had lessons back to back so I couldn't and we smelled like fish the rest of the day, it was so gross!

We are trying to find new people to teach so we have been going through our former's list and we went to this one former's house and it turns out he's been dead for two years! The people that live there now are Jehovah's witnesses and they invited us in to talk to them and man are Jehovah's witnesses odd! We had Easter dinner with Meghann, Seth's mom, and that was nice. It was so funny, every one wanted us over for Easter! Meghann was feeling sick so every one was like, "If you can't go there come to our house!" They really love us here in Cornwall. We had Easter Lunch with the Hynes and that was nice. Their son Chris was there and he is less active right now. He was really nice and he showed us pictures form his mission. We had three investigators at church! Leanne, one of our investigators, brought her husband Matt! I was so happy to see them there as a family! You just feel this joy and like your heart is going to explode of happiness when you see things like that! I love being a missionary, it is truly the best thing ever! Missions are hard but they are so worth it! Well, I think that is all for this week. I love you all so much, be safe, happy and remember the Lord loves you!

Love Sister Gonzalez

Another Rough Week

I made Chiles Rellenos for the Hynes!

At the District Activity!

This week was a bit rough at first but it got better as it progressed. We started a new transfer on Wednesday! We had zone conference on Friday which was great. I got some amazing training and it really helped! It is also so nice to be around a group of missionaries. Tomorrow we have to go to Montreal which will be fun. We also get to go to the temple on Friday! WHOOOO! We are so excited! I loved General Conference so much, it was so amazing and inspiring! I loved Elder Holland's talk; it was so powerful! To start conference off with him just really set the bar! Do you remember Elder Zwick from the seventy? He came to the MTC while I was there and spoke to us so it was cool hearing from him again. I really loved that talk about the four minutes, it was really amazing! We were also so excited to see Elder Andersen talk! We were hoping that he would mention us in his talk. Also, President Uchtdorf's talk was so inspired! Steven, a recent convert who is struggling, was there for that talk so hopefully he really listened and recieved help.

This is a Sugar Bush!

This is me enjoying the product of a Sugar Bush! ;)

Three months until my birthday! Ahhh I am going to be an old lady soon! haha. ;) We also had zone training which was really good! I love zone training! We are going to stop seeing Loretta for now, the ward mission leader and the bishop are going to talk to her and then tell us what is going to happen with her because we can't teach some one when they don't have that desire to change their lives. It is so sad to see how Satan has a hold on these people and how he controls them. We had a really good lesson with Leanne and with our other investigators. The work here in Cornwall is coming along slowly but surely. This is such a hard area. Even Elder Andersen told us that, but I know the Lord sent me here because He knew that I am strong enough for this mission. Ahhhh! Missions are hard but they are so great. I love being a missionary, even when it is hard!

 

Love sister Gonzalez

Falling on Ice...

My district and me!

I have been here for an entire transfer! Wooo! This week was all over the place, we had some really good experiences and some not so good ones. We got to go to the Sugar Bush, which was really fun. On Thursday we had our studies at Meghan's house. On our way out I noticed that there was a chunk of ice. When I saw it I thought, "Oh, I should be careful" but at the same time I just figured it wasn't that big and that I'd be ok. I was so wrong because after I thought that I fell on it, and right as I fell these kids where walking and were like, "Oh, wipe out!" It hurt a lot, its funny, though, because I was more concerned about my clothes being dirty than being hurt. ;) My right leg was so sore and it still feels a little weird. That experience was very humbling, though, because I had been going around saying that I had never fallen before and then I did fall. It also reminded me of sin, we see it but we figure that it is small so we think it's ok and that we'll be fine but then we fall and get hurt. It was definitely a learning experience for me.

Sister Rios and me with the goofy Elders

I also stared feeling sick that day and it just got worse. On Sunday we were fasting and I felt pretty sick but I wanted to fast anyway. During Gospel Principles class I felt so tired and like I was going to pass out. Sister Hynes came up and gave me a hug and she was like, "You have a fever. Are you alright?" She gave me an apple and some Tylenol and while I was praying to break my fast I heard her talking to some Brothers. She told them I was sick and they should see if I needed a blessing. Brother Lupien and Brother Biliadou gave me a blessing and I started feeling a bit better after that. After church we went and did our visits like usual but I was feeling really bad so we went home at 7 so I could rest. It was so hard for me to do that because I did not want to rest, I wanted to keep working. In the blessing I received, though, I was told that it was ok to rest so I just thought, "Ok, the Lord doesn't ask us to run faster than we have strength." I went home and slept and I have been feeling so much better. This week was so humbling for me, realizing that missionaries are mortal and even though I want to keep going sometimes I can't and it's ok.

This week has been good but also rough. Kelly doesn't want to see us any more, Loretta is going back to old habits, and Elizabeth called today to cancel her baptism. I don't know what we are going to do with them. Its hard not to get sad, but sister Rios and I are trying to stay positive and remember that we need to teach those who will receive us. On a happy note we had a district activity today which was really fun.