Good Week Last Week!

January 26, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

We had a new missionary meeting on Tuesday with the Mission President. It was awesome!! They talked to us about being better at planning and how to better prepare ourselves for the day. We also talked about the Atonement and how to best use it in our teaching. I learned so much.

I am finally starting to get to know everyone and people are getting more comfortable with me. It is nice to kind of be able to get to know them and show my personality a little bit more. I have met so many nice people here. It's awesome!

Umm last week we started talking to this guy named Jorge. He has had a rough life. He has been a member his entire life but fell away when he was 11 because he got into gangs and drugs. He actually was a gang leader here in Lodi! But just a while ago his wife left him and he spent time in jail.  He came to church two weeks ago and came and talked to us. He wants to turn his life around and knows this is his last chance. He has tried going to other churches in his life and has never felt the same in any church but ours. He is such a cool guy we have visited him and he is going to turn his life around. We know it!

The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families so much!! It helps strengthen relationships and gives us guidance in our everyday trials. I know that the message I am sharing with people will change their lives if they choose to accept and live it. I love the work we are doing out here.

That's about it for this week. I have a lot more, but no time to type it all out.

Love you all!!! Thanks for the love and support!

Elder Gammell

Hit My 2 Month Mark Today!

January 19, 2015

Out at a Service Day in Galt

Dear Family & Friends,

Hey everyone!!!  Hit my two-month mark today! Can't believe that.

We did so much this week. Hah, so on Tuesday I went on exchanges with the zone leader. That was really cool. We went out and talked to so many people... in English! Ha-ha it was nice to have a day of work in English. We had a couple of really great lessons. One of them was an investigator named Freddie. He is a really cool guy. But we were kind of teaching the importance of the Book of Mormon and prayer. The spirit was so strong! I shared a scripture in Alma 32 with about faith and I could tell it really hit him hard. He knows he is going to be baptized just not when. Too bad he is one of the zone leaders investigators and not ours.

Us at a service project

We did allot of service this week. Of course we shoveled some more horse poop like always hah. Then we dug some trenches for a farm out in Galt. 

Yesterday we went to Woodbridge and helped a lady move some wood so they can burn it. Then she fed us chilidogs and they were so good! Hah it is awesome to see how much service means to people. It is amazing. 

I have had kind of a hard time with the Spanish this week. It is kind of discouraging when I want to say all these things but I just don't know how to. I know I have only been out for a couple weeks but I just want to know it already! Hah Elder Padilla and me made some more language goals for me and we are going to be diligent in speaking as much as we can.

This week read all of Mosiah and I am starting to get into Alma now. I love the stories in the Book of Mormon. Alma is such a great example to me. He has that great change of heart and then he goes out and do’s the Lords work fearlessly and without hesitation. I want to be like him and bring people to God and that is why I am out on my mission.

Love you all!!!

Elder Gammell

We Have Been So Busy Out Here!!!

January 12, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

This week has been great!! We have been so busy out here!!! I don't have a lot of time left so the letter is going to be short this week.

We are working hard and doing so much!! We did a lot of service this week!!  We moved a ton of wood and shoveled some more horse poop!! Hah it was great!! People really appreciate us helping them out. Service is a great way to show love and that you care for people.

We are probably going to have 3 baptisms in the next month!!!! So that is so exciting!! We have one investigator and she was living with her boyfriend and she really wants to be baptized but they have to get married or she needs to move out. So we fasted for her on Sunday and guess what!?  On Wednesday night her boyfriend proposed to her!! Hah, it was awesome!! So probably next month we will baptize her!

Everything is great out here!! The Spanish is coming along slowly but surely!! I pray for the gift of tongues all the time.  Hah, Thanks for all the prayers! I need them and so do all the other missionaries so keep them coming ;) Heavenly Father loves all of his children. He has a plan for all of us! I know it. He knows us and knows how to help us if we let him. Keep in touch with him through prayer and he will bless you!

Love you all!!

-Elder Gammell

I Made It To California!

January 5, 2015

My Trainer: Elder Padilla
from El Paso, TX

Hola Family & Friends,

Well I made it to California and it is awesome here! So much has happened this week so it is going to be kind of hard to say everything.

My new companion is Elder Padilla. He is from El Paso, Texas. He has been out for 17 months and he was fluent in Spanish before the mission so he helps me out a lot. He's a cool guy. We get along really good. These next three months are going to be fun and we are going to get a lot done.

I am in the Lodi 4th branch. Yesterday I got to go to church and meet everyone in the ward. They are all so nice. Everyone is so helpful and willing to do like anything for the missionaries. It definitely helps us out! I love the town we are in. It is really nice! There are like no cops patrolling around here because nothing really bad ever happens here I guess. Everybody says it is just a really nice area.

We live in a member’s home. So it is just me, Elder Padilla, Elder Snow and

Elder Behan. We get a whole house to ourselves!! It is great! It was really dirty when I got there but this morning we all deep cleaned it so it is nice and clean now. My bed is so soft and comfortable! I sleep so good every night but the nights are so short here. It is like as soon as we hit the bed and fall asleep we are waking back up to get ready! Its crazy how fast time flies here.

So basically the day here goes like this:

Wake up

Play basketball

Eat breakfast

Shower and get ready

Personal study, companion study, 12-week program, and language study

Lunch

Service

Go out and Do visits and find people

Dinner

Go out again

Be back by 9

Daily planning

Go to bed

Ha that's it. Oh ya the other day we did some service at a horse ranch and we shoveled a whole bunch of horse poop hah. It was pretty funny because

Elder Behan was freaking out. He hated the smell. It was fun though. We also chopped a bunch of wood and hauled it to a part member family's house.

Well I have learned so much this week. My testimony of the power of prayer really strengthened this week. Being new and trying to learn a language is a lot of stress and pressure. So I have had to rely on prayer and talking to Heavenly Father to help me out. I have felt the peace and love from Him every day.

Thanks for all the love and support!!

Elder Gammell

At the Mission Office visiting with the AP's