Happy 19th Birthday Elder Gonzales!

Cher famille:

J'espère que c'est ça va si je peux écrire à vous un peu en Français.

Merci beaucoup maman et papa pour vos messages! Je suis très heureux de vous écouter et de vous parler!

Vraiment, c'est très bizarre que je vais avoir dix-neuf ans demain!

Donc, c'est très bien ici-bas; parfois, il a été un peu difficile, mais, ça va aller, c'est la mission. Comme j'ai dit avant, je n'ai plus faim parce que nous avons achetés beaucoup de la nourriture maintenant de ce qui est merveilleux. L’œuvre missionnaire est une grande bénédiction et je suis très content d’être ici.

Well, I'd write more in French, but writing in English is faster and I'm running out of time. The days fly by it seems, seeing that it has already been a month since I've been here in Adidogomé, and two months altogether in Africa. I guess I say that now, but I've got a looooong ways to go.

The French is coming along quite nicely; I still struggle understanding people when spoken to, but at least now I'm more capable of sharing my testimony, teaching the people and expressing myself.

The weather over here has changed and apparently it's now the "winter" season. In the morning and at night it actually gets pretty chilly; that, or I've just acclamated to the heat so much that anywhere from sixty to eighty degrees feels really chilly. Oh man, coming home is sure going to be a shock to my body.

On New Years, I had a cold and a slight fever due to the season change. Before I continue on that, Pres. Morrin came over New Years day as well. While his wife went over how to handle medical and situational emergencies, each member of my district had an interview with President. I'm so glad that I was able to speak with him because it really helped me out. We discussed how I've been, how I'm handling the many stresses, along with my effectiveness and so forth.

Also, towards the end, he offered to give me a Priesthood blessing. He blessed me with good health, to be patient with and to understand the behavior and culture here and the ability to be able to express myself in French. Two days later, I was healed from my sickness. I've become so much more patient and tolerant to the way that things are around here and how I'm treated, and it's blowing my mind on how much French I've learned since then and how much I've been able to say.

I honestly believe that your prayers on my behalf have certainly added an incredible amount to my welfare. Not only that, but since you've been demonstrating your faith by reading the scriptures so often, it has also been generating an amazing abundance of blessings for our family.

I'm so unexplainably happy to be able to write to all of you. Quite honestly, it always fills my spirit with hope and strength.

Oh, by the way, I recieved a letter from the Seidels and a package from brother Phipps today. It was so great! The package was really small and it took about two months to get here, but it had bag of chocolate, a bag of laughy-taughy and skittles. It costed $25, which is really expensive considering it's small size and weight, but it was still super awesome.

Well, I'm afraid I have to leave right now, but it has been so nice hearing from you and I genuinely hope that everything continues to go well for our family. Tell Jacob that I'm really proud of him, he's super awesome and he's doing an absolutely great job and tell the girls thank you for their absolutely wonderful messages and to keep them coming!

I love you all so much and I'll write to again soon :)
Avec amour,
Elder Gonzales

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!  I'm a little behind on emails because I wasn't able to write on Christmas.

 I had a really buff guy, who I'm pretty sure was drunk, ask me for money because he was hungry and wanted to buy anana (pineapple). I didn't give him any money though because a member who was working with us just pulled out a coin and handed it to him and we left.

 The people who are homeless are legitimately homeless. They live on the dirt streets, have absolutely nothing besides maybe a blanket and the one pair of clothes they're wearing, and are starving, alone, and hurting. It makes me feel terrible that there's little to nothing that I can do for them.
 Well, as for what we eat, we sometimes only eat two meals a day, which consist of bread, lemon grass tea mixed with hot chocolate powder and maybe eggs and friend bananas in the morning, and then a huge pile of rice and one piece of chicken with a mixture of vegetables, chicken powder, and tomato paste for both lunch and dinner. Yes, I'm hungry all the time. But, I've started getting used to eating less so one big meal usually will do it for me.
  Sometimes we have something called pat which is cornflour mixed with boiling water. Once thickened, you make a huge ball that can fit in two hands. You then put some kind of spicy sauce that I don't know how to make but it has spinach, fish, and really spicy peppers into a bowl. Once the meal is ready, you wash your right hand, dip it in clean water, take a piece of intensely hot pat, dip it in the sauce with a piece of fish and voilà, bon appetit.

 Thankfully we got our allowance and went grocery shopping at the super market so we don't need to worry about not having food anymore; that, and the members here feed us a ton all the time so that really helps us out. It's actually not too bad, its just towards the end of the month that sucks. But yeah, c'est pas grave, ça va allez.

  As I've been reading through the scriptures, I've been finding a ton of amazing things that help me a lot throughout the day. The only way I've been able to really learn French the best is by reading the BofM. Every time I do so, I'm more capable of hearing, understanding and speaking French.
  Thank you, by the way, for praying for me. Although, I'm having a really hard time with the language; I don't mind not being able to speak as much as I'd like, it's just not understanding what people say that's really difficult. People talk to me all the time and speak so ridiculously fast and I just have to tell them sorry, I don't know what you're saying.
  My companion expects a lot out of me and demands that I speak French all the time. Which, is really hard, because when he talks to me, I seldom understand due to his crazy-heavy African accent. During lessons, he generally has me lead it out and he has me approach people and present our message. As difficult as it is, at least I'm getting better and I'm actually able to see my progress which is extremely nice.

 Well I just wanted to let you all know that I love you and I hope everything is still running smoothly. I miss you all so very much, but don't you worry cause I'll be home sooner than you know it. It's crazy, I've already been here for two whole months. Not only that, but I'll be 19 years old in eight more days which is also pretty crazy cause honestly, I don't even really feel like a man haha.

 

Please pray for me that I'll be able to have more love, charity, and patience. I'm trying so hard to develop these attributes because believe me, it's been pretty dang hard.

But hey, I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!

By the way, thank you so much for all that you all did for me. I wish I could take the time to write each of you a paragraph of everything you've done to make my life such a wonderful gift; however, I'm afraid I've gotta bounce.

PS -- took me two hours just to reply to two messages haha But keep sending them because I love hearing from you!!
Have a fantastic week!
Avec Amour, votre missionaire, fils et frère,
Elder Gonzales

Out of the MTC and currently in Togo!

Well, it has taken me 50 minutes with this terrible internet connection to get on myldsmail so I could write to you all. I'm in a computer pub, if you will, and I had to pay 1,500 CFA for ten hours worth of connection. Which is great, because that's approximately 3 US dollars.

  I'm currently in Togo and I have a French-speaking companion from Cote D'Ivoire (or Ivory Coast) named Elder Dioulo. Thankfully he speaks enough English to help me understand what he's saying when I don't know what he's saying, which is all the time.

 The French here is very hard to understand, but there's something I've learned while in the MTC: When a bird lands on your head, shew it away before it builds a nest. So, the moment a thought of discouragement arrives, I get rid of it from my mind right then and there. I'm really glad I picked up this trait right away because if I hadn't, there would be no way I'd be able to have the Spirit. And if I didn't have the Spirit, I couldn't learn and wouldn't be able to teach the little that I know in French.

 Speaking of teaching, I taught three people my first day basically right after I arrived. Teaching here is actually really great because the investigators understand me when I speak with the Spirit. By the way, contacting is not in anyway an issue because if we chose, we could easily talk to hundreds of people a day because there are thousands of people out and about doing their thing. It's also nice here because people listen to what we say and always want to learn more about the church.

 Before I left, I prayed to go on a mission where I'd have the most success; well, I sure got it. I'm so happy that I've been called to serve here in Benin. Despite being a run down, almost third-world country, this place is full of love, faith, joy, and moto's (motorcycles). Seriously though, thousands of moto's pass us by each day. It's pretty crazy. But even if I nearly get ran over by a moto every day, the work is wonderful. Don't get me wrong, the work is hard, but it sure brings me a great amount of joy.

 Everywhere I go, the children, and sometimes the adults, call me out and say, "Yovo! Yovo! Ca va / bonsoir?" Yovo, by the way, basically means "white man" in the Togonese language. The majority of people here have never seen a Hispanic American so people are always interested in meeting me. I really wish I knew how to make solid conversations because I'd love talk to and share the Gospel with even more people.

 Please keep praying for me so I can continue to have a good attitude and that I'll be able learn this language! If I can, I want to learn in two months time; however, it may end up taking three. Either way, I want to speak French in the shortest amount of time possible so I would genuinely appreciate some extra faith from you all.

I'm so glad that you are continuing to read the scriptures every night. Remember that it is so important to have family and personal study. It may not seem so at times, but I can promise you that reading the scriptures, pondering the messages and praying to know if it's true is absolutely critical to know the truth and to have the capacity to come unto Christ. I've restarted from the beginning in my French Book of Mormon and I'm to read it entirely before the end of my training which is three months time. So, with that in mind, I'll issue a challenge for you all to read the BofM cover to cover. I know that by doing so, it will help me and yourselves to become better missionaries and fellow disciples of Jesus Christ.

 If you're able, please do all that you can to help and serve others, especially non-members and the missionaries. It's so important to step out of our comfort zones just as Peter the Apostle stepped off the boat so he could walk on water to Christ. In the field, the greatest success we've ever had is when the members of the church helped us by teaching with us or giving us referrals. So please, will you render missionary work and do all you can to see to the needs and concerns of these people? We've all been given talents, so let us not bury the wonderful blessing of the Gospel like the frightened servant but unreservedly share the truths we know to be true with others. It is hard, but the more you do it, the easier it will become and it will bring others many wonderful blessings.

 Anyway, like I was saying, everything is going very well over here and I'm happy as can be. 

 I hope you know that I love you all so very much and you're in my prayers continually.
A la semaine prochaine,
Elder Gonzales

First ripped slacks!

 My first ripped slacks that tore while wrestling one of my zone leaders. Note to self: Don't wrestle in slacks, or at all because I'm a missionary and should not participate in contact-related sports. I figured out how to sew fairly well because of a couple other incidents so hopefully I'll be able to fix it.

 It is very hard for me to not be able to be there for you all to help our family in every way I could. However, I'm in the Lord's hands now, and tomorrow I fly out to Benin where I will begin the proselyting and serving portion of my mission.

 This scripture in Mosiah 2:41 describes three things: The Doctrine that God is our Heavenly Father, the Invitation to keep His commandments faithfully to the end and to remember that "these things are true", and the Promised Blessings that follow by doing so, which include "blessings in all things, both temporal and spiritual" and "they may dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness."

 I'll invite you all to read on your own Alma 50:20-23. These scriptures really pertain to the scripture in Mosiah. I also think that this scripture can really relate to us in our time of hardships. However, despite all that we have to suffer through, I know that as we do as these scriptures direct and remain faithful to the end that everything will be okay. In fact, more than "okay" because we'll be blessed in All things. The Lord is aware of us and will deliver us from our sorrows and pains. All we need to do is continue to rely on the Atonement and place these burdens on Him who suffered alongside us.
Indeed, we are blessed!

I love you all so very much,
Sincerely,
Elder Gonzales

"We have so much to be thankful for."

How blessed are we to live in the promised land. Never take what you have for granted. Based off of all that I've seen these past few weeks, we have so much to be grateful for.

Last week, when we went to the temple, I had the priviledge of being one of the missionary's escort while going through an Endowment session in French. It was such a great experience!

But oh man, did we celebrate Thanksgiving. We had an awesome breakfast which consisted of a crape, a huge chunk of pineapple, and eggs.

For lunch, we celebrated Thanksgiving and had mashed potatoes and gravy with a side of onions and green peppers as well as glazed carrots, which were fantastic, and grilled, boneless chicken. This was probably by far the best Thanksgiving meals I've ever had only because this was the best meal I've had since I've been here. We also had sugar cookies, a pack of icecream, and a slice of cake. Best enjoy this while I can because I probably won't be able to celebrate Thanksgiving next year.

 After lunch, we were able to watch the movie Meet the Mormons from the projector in the chapel. That movie was actually really great! If you guys have an opportunity to go see if, you really should go for it. This movie is a really great means in which the church can show what it is that we

truly worship. It portrays members throughout the world who are just normal people who love and serve God, Jesus Christ, their families and others.

As much as I've liked it here in the Ghana MTC, I'm also really grateful to finally be out of here in less than two weeks.

Will you please continue to pray for my and the other missionaries who are learning the language, that we may continue to have success in our labors and that we may have the strength to continue to press forward? Once I get to Benin, I'll have to say good-bye to English for a couple years and so a little extra help and faith will truly mean the world to me.

I'm so grateful to be out here, having left everything behind for a short while to serve God and His children in Africa.

 Je vous aime, ma famille! Je parlai avec vous semaine prochaine! Aussi, bien jour de reconnaisance!

 Avec amour, votre frère et fils,

 Elder Gonzales

 P.S. -- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

I miss you all very much and I look forward to seeing you all again. But, before I do, I got a couple years of precious and sacred work to do.

"Still going very well"

Well, it's been difficult learning French and it has been pretty frustrating, but my district and I are making our way through. I've been able to speak and read in French really well, but hearing French from the people here and trying to respond when they talk to me is hard because I sometimes have a hard time understanding them due to their accents. But, everything else is still going very well and my district along with my companions help me out a lot.

Life is still going very well here in the MTC, I'm fed super well and I love the food; although, I am starting to miss American food a little bit. I get my clothes washed once a week (sometimes I have to wash my clothes in a bucket). We have PA (physical activity) time every day so I get to play soccer a lot with the African elders which is super fun and I'm acclimating to the humidity fairly well. I haven't gotten sick yet, which is awesome, but I did have a small cold for a couple days last week. Here's something really cool, I got to meet one of the Seventy sometime last week! I'm afraid I forgot his name but it was really neat to meet him and shake his hand.

 As a representative of Jesus Christ, I would encourage you all to continually keep praying and studying the scriptures as frequently as you are able. I know that God loves us and He cares for us very dearly. Never forget how much our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ loves you. Never lose hope and always have trust in Heavenly Father. I know this is a sacred work the Lord has for me to do. Despite how difficult its been, I know God will provide me a way to learn French so I can serve His children here in Africa.

Here are a few chapters in the Book of Mormon that I thought would be great for you all to read: 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11 and 27.

 

Avec amour,

Elder Gonzales

 

P.S. Tell my friends on FB to send me an email or two.

First P Day

It's only been a few days and me and the other U.S. elders are getting used to the heat; if fact, we actually are starting to like it. The MTC has AC in all the rooms and so it's nice to get some fresh, cool air every now and then, but we usually end up turning it off because we get really cold.

French is coming along really great; over the past few days I've been learning how to make casual conversation, how to pray, and how to teach/testify in French. I can really feel the Spirit working with me and the other elders who are also learning French because when I had to testify to one of our teachers to see how much I've learned so far, the Spirit brought to my rememberance of all sorts of things that I've read in the scriptures in the past. I wasn't even regularly studying the words I said and I was still able to speak the words clearly and with great pronounciation. Tell you what, the Spirit can do some pretty amazing things through us.

I went to the Accra Ghana Temple today and I was able to go through an Endowment session. It was really great, although, I kept dozing off during the session cause the French-speaking African Elders woke me up at 3:30 a.m. this morning as they were getting ready for the day. Usually the Elders get up around 5:00 a.m. before the sun rises at 6:00 a.m., but we were supposed to get up early (for the U.S. Elders) at 5:30 a.m. to go to the temple and come back for lunch, but the others got up extra early and decided to slam the door and yell just like they do every day. Its actually fairly tolerable (except when it's 3:30 in the morning), once you get to know them; besides, ever since I got over the jet lag, I don't even sleep in past 6:00 a.m. anymore.

Accra city is absolutely ridiculous! The place is jam packed with people! Hundreds of merchants stand in the middle of the street during traffic with huge baskets of merchandise on their heads selling said merch while hundreds of other people are walking everywhere else. And if you think Utah driving/traffic is bad, then you haven't seen the worst of it. There are definately cars here, and  everyone drives very aggressively. But despite all the craziness and the weird stares we white boys recieved constantly, we made it to the temple safe and sound and we had a great experience. We were also given three pairs of garments for free at the distribution center across the street from the temple which is SO NICE!!!

Well anyway, I just wanted to let you know that things are going so great over here and I absolutely love it. Learning French can be a bit frusturating at times, but it's all a part of the process. Me and the other six U.S. Elders, along with two African elders are in a study group named "Abinadi" and we are as cheerful and happy as can be. Well, I'm out of time so I've got to go.

Je vous aimez avec tout mon coeur et je prier pour vous tout les jours.

Take care and I hope things are going well for you guys!

 

Avec amour,

-Elder Gonzales