Photo Bombed!

(This is Sister Landen. She was in the missionary program that I watched that helped me decide to go on a mission.)

This week was such a great week! We had zone conference on Friday and it was just so amazing! I learned so much. We learned that we don't need to just be doing missionary things and how the means should not become the end, so that was super powerful. There was also a training about how we need to talk WITH people not AT people. It was just so amazing and powerful. It was my first Zone Conference! At the end there was time for testimonies and a lot of the missionaries that are going home, bore their testimonies and it was just so great to hear them. One elder talked about obedience and how it is key in missionary work. All of the testimonies were just so great.

(This is St. Joseph's Cathedral)

We had such a good week with our investigators! One of our investigators came to church! She is the one who had issues with women and the priesthood. We had a lesson with her on Saturday which went well and then we had another lesson with her on Sunday with Brother Holland, a high council man from the stake. She got a blessing and it was just such a powerful lesson, we read her the family a proclamation to the world and that really helped her. At the end she said, "I don't even know why I cared about that. I am just going to let it go." I know that it was the Spirit confirming to her that the Priesthood is the authority of God and it is not men they just get to hold it. We also had a really great lesson with Lois last night. We taught her about prophets again and she totally accepts that we have a living prophet today! Lois is so golden! The work here in Cornwall is going great! Transfer calls are this Saturday! I can't believe that this transfer is almost over! For Zone Conference we stayed the night at the sister training leader's apartment so we wouldn't have to drive there really early in the morning and that was super fun! We didn't get much sleep because it was so hot in the room. Sister Rios had a nightmare and she woke us up and then told us about her dream which creeped me out but over all it was super fun being with the sisters! This week was so great! I love being a missionary! I hope that all is well with everyone!

 

Love, Sister Gonzalez 

2 Weeks in 1!

(Week 1) Oh man is it May already! Time just flies when you are on a mission! I am done with training this week! I am no longer green! We get to go to the Temple again because Sister Sheedy, a Recent convert, is going to get her endowments! We are so excited for her and that we get to be with her! We have a new investigator, her name is Louis and she is so awesome and so ready to hear the gospel! She accepted the invitation to be baptized! She doesn't have a date because she didn't let me finish the whole question but the important thing is that she said yes! Whooooo! This week was just so good we felt so good and motivated we had zone training meeting this week and it was so good they talked about our purpose, the restoration and the doctrine of Jesus Christ and how they are all tied together; it was so awesome. I love zone training meeting! They also talked about how if our investigators aren't keeping commitments it's because we aren't helping them enough; that was so powerful and eye opening.

Also this whole no bread and no sugar challenge is so hard! I have done really well in the no bread department but the sugar is so hard! Sister Rios started to cry and was really upset so we went and got ice cream. Then at this family's house we had cookies, and yesterday I had pie. So you see I am not doing very well with the sugar and once you fall off the bandwagon it is easy to stay off. So it has been such an eye opener for me about how hard it must be to give up addictive substances and live the word of wisdom and how easy it is to fall. But this week no sugar! Also we got on the bikes this week and it was fun but it is also so scary! I am so happy and I am doing well! I hope every one has a good week I love you and i pray for you!

Love sister Gonzalez 

P.S. I got English tags! So now very one will stop thinking Hermana is my first name! (Week 2) Also, Louis set a date for her baptism! July 5th! The day before my birthday!!! We are just so excited and happy to be teaching her, she is truly ready for the gospel! Last week Loretta was M.I.A. Well, on Tuesday she called us and asked for scriptures to read and to set up a time to see her! It was so great, we saw her on Thursday at Kelly's house. It was his birthday so we sang happy birthday to him and Sister Rios gave him some chocolates. He looked really sad but I think we helped cheer him up.

Carrot Cake

This week was really good. We had exchanges on Monday and on Tuesday and we visited old Montreal, which was fun! Sister Cutler (my grandma;) and I came back to Cornwall and Sister Rios and Sister Sherwood went to Lasalle. Sister Cutler and I are like the same person, it is crazy! She went into the MTC in February last year, was in the two week program, had the same teacher as me, AND her district leader and mine were brothers! How crazy is that?! Oh, and she was studying English and French to be a professor so that is pretty cool. We had fun on exchanges, I l learned a lot form her, and her French is so good! Exchanges are like vacations on the mission.

We exchanged back on Tuesday night and that night Sister Rios and I made a carrot cake for Elder Coulmbe since it was his birthday on Wednesday and it was his last birthday before he goes home. He "dies" at the end of this transfer. The carrot cake turned out so good! every one loved it. The zone leaders were there and last time they were there Elder Rangle made cheese cake so I was like, "you always come on the right days to get fed"! Elder Coulmbe was really happy with his cake since it was his favorite. Sister Rios and I tried really hard to make it a surprise and we succeeded!

We did a lot of service this week. We helped the Theodors again to finish cleaning out their basement and we helped Taylor pack up some stuff so she can move back to Kingston. That was on Friday and that day we did not eat at home once! The Merpaws took us out to breakfast because they are going on vacation and wanted to say bye, the Theodors gave us lunch, and we had dinner with the Hynes.  The Hynes are so good to us they always come out to lessons and feed us and they give us rides. On Saturday we went to volunteer for the race to find a cure for MS but it was raining like hard core and sister Rios is sick so sister Mcintyre made a mothers call and took us home. I told sister Rios to take a hot bath because she was cold and I made platanos fritos and aroz con leche. It turned out really well!

We have a new investigator! Her name is Louis she is a referral from another investigator, Anne-Marie. The lesson was super awesome! She is so ready for the gospel! This is why referrals are so important because these people are more accepting to the gospel and they have that support. Mom, do you remember how you told me to look for Hispanic people? I was thinking about that and that they would not put two Spanish speaking sisters together for no reason, when I remembered this story I heard about these missionaries that went through the phone book to find people of certain trades so they could become a ward and get a chapel. I went through the phone book to find some Hispanic names and I found some! Sister Rios and I went to go contact them. One of them wasn't home and the other one said no, but we still have more names to contact so pray that these people will receive us and want to hear about the Gospel! That is basically all that happened this week. It was a pretty good one. I love being a missionary and I love being here in Cornwall!

 

Love, Sister Gonzalez

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.

Master, the Tempest is Raging

Do you know the hymn master the tempest is raging? That hymn helped me a lot this week. I'm getting better at talking to people! On Sunday, Sister Rios and I helped the primary with an activity. For the activity we were time travelers. I played a Nephite who saw Christ and Sister Rios was Mary Magdalene. the primary kids loved it! Oh, on Thursday night we had dinner with Sister Sheedy. We were talking, and I mentioned that I'm Guatemalan so she told me that that reminded her of this quote from a movie, "it's because of my Guatemalaness isnt it?" It was so funny! I'm totally saying that now! Someone was telling us that missions are like 2 minutes in the Lords time, and that that is why they are so important and why we need to make them count because it geso by so fast.

This area is not an easy area. It's really hard, actually, but that just means we have to give it our all! Investigators aren't falling into our laps and we don't have baptisms every week, but that doesn't mean we aren't working hard and doing our best. Every night when we get back home and we are just so tired I know that it is because we did our best. Even, though, days are hard and sometimes things don't work out, I know that this is the most important thing that I could be doing right now. I know that "these afflictions are for but a small moment and that if i endure well I will inherit the kingdom of God." D&C is so great, especially as a missionary. The scriptures really just mean so much more when you put your name in them. It's like the Lord is speaking to each of us personally.

Kelly and Loretta made some great progress! On Tuesday, they were asking questions and being more involved! Oh, and they didn't smoke while we were there! Elder Rangel and Elder Culombe gave the training and it was great! Also he can't say Gonzalez, which is pretty funny. Canadians in general just can't seem to say Gonzalez. Also, I have been called Sister Gomez so many times, it's annoying! There was a really bad snow storm on Wednesday, and I have never seen snow fall like that! Here, the snow falls like its trying to attack it's nuts! We went to DQ and got blizzards to celebrate Sister Rios' 9 months out and I was like, "Sister Rios, are we Canadian now? Eating ice cream during a snow storm?! haha!" There are so many crows here, and I was telling sister Rios that they are bad luck! We went to go visit a less active who lives in a nursing home, and while we were waiting we struck up a conversation with this guy, Bernie. It was so amazing, and you could tell that he really needed that. AH it's just so amazing how the smallest things can be great blessings! Seed planted! Also, on Saturday we are having one of the 12 apostles come and speak to us! So exciting!