We Saw So Many Great Miracles This Week!

August 31, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

We saw so many great miracles throughout our work this week. It's so cool to see how the Lord is working right alongside of us, supporting us, and preparing the hearts of those we are teaching. We saw huge progress forward with couple of our investigators!

We were able to meet with Remember several times this week. He is still going through a lot of stuff. We are trying to help him to continue to read in the Book of Mormon. We shared a few different scriptures on charity this week with him and he really liked them. He had us write them down for him so he could look them up.

Kimberly was having a tough week. We went by Thursday night and had a great lesson with her and her husband. She really recognized the need for her to be baptized and she is so excited for it now. So her baptism should be coming up on the 19th of September! She has such a great spirit with her and she is always so happy. We are so excited for her!

We met with this young couple named Jeff and Courtney this week. We taught the restoration and really focused on the Book of Mormon with them. It was such a powerful lesson! They were asking great questions and it just felt like everything was flowing. They understood the need for the restoration and what sets us apart from all the other

churches. We left them both with a Book of Mormon and challenged them to start from the beginning. They took the challenge so we are excited to see how much they read together the next time we go by.

I was able to go on an exchange this week with Elder Compas. We had a great day! One of the coolest experiences was when we stopped by to visit this Mongolian guy that we have been teaching. He wasn't home but his wife was. She is a pretty strong Buddhist and hasn't been very interesting in talking to us before. But on Thursday she talked to us at the door for a good 15 minutes. She told us how she was so grateful that we are coming by and teaching her husband. He hasn't been religious his whole life and has struggled a little bit. She said she knows that we can help him change. We promised her that as he learns, they would feel Heavenly Father blessing in their family. We could tell the spirit touched her. She told us we are always welcome in their home. That is a huge step for them because before she wouldn’t even talk to us. Oh and guess what? Her husband came to church on Sunday! It was such a great surprise! He actually had a shirt on which was weird because every time we have taught him he hasn't ha-ha. He really enjoyed church and said he will come every Sunday that he can.

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday! Ha-ha it was the first talk I have given since my farewell in November. I was kind of nervous this time because I tried something new. I used to type out my whole talk word for word but this time I just went up with a few notes. I had never done that before so I had no idea what it was going to be like. Oh and get this. I was the closing speaker and when I stood up there was still over 25 minutes left in sacrament meeting! That made me just a little bit more nervous ha-ha. But anyway my talk was on the plan of salvation. I talked about these three questions:  Where do I come from? Why am I here? And where do I go after this life? Also how the knowledge of these things blesses our lives. I felt like I only talked for like ten minutes but ended up speaking for just over 25 minutes ha-ha. It felt so good to get that done!

Hey and we also had 4 investigators there in sacrament meeting so that was awesome! The members are really helping our investigators to feel welcomed and loved. It's been really cool to see.

The transfer ends next week! Crazy. I will for sure be staying in Carmichael so that is good news!

Love you guys!!

-Elder Gammell

August Is Cruising Right On By!

Pday unclogging the garbage disposal.

August 25, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

August is cruising right on by. This week went so fast! There was a lot that went on though. We have been working so hard to try to help our investigators to jump some hurdles that are keeping them from being baptized. It's been pretty tough because Satan is working on them constantly. Salvation isn't easy that's for sure. When we go through adversity and challenges it only helps us to grow. The people we teach are getting strengthened so it's a good thing ha-ha.

We were able to give a couple blessings this week. We get called into the hospital every once in a while and I love when we do. Every time we go the spirit is so strong and the people are very grateful for us coming by. I love the big smiles on their faces when we walk in. I also love when they have no idea who we are and they still let us give them a blessing. I know it makes a lasting impact on their hearts. It's so cool.

Ha-ha a member gave us a dart board this week and we put it up in our apartment. After we plan each night we basically play darts until it's time for bed hah. We are getting pretty good at it. I can't believe there's only two weeks left in the transfer! It's unreal. We have a zone pow wow this week so that will be good. The focus of it is inviting people to be baptized so I'm excited to see what happens!

I'm giving a talk next Sunday so I'm excited for that. It'll be the first time I have given a talk since my farewell hah. I'm speaking on the plan of salvation. It's a pretty big topic but I can't wait.

Sorry it's kind of a short letter this week. Love you all!! Have a great week everyone!!

-Elder Gammell

So Many Cool Experiences This Week!

Zone Sports

August 17, 2015

So many cool experiences this week. So I'll start right into them.  

On Thursday Elder Wright and I decided to tract this huge street that I had never been on. I prayed to know where to go and this street is what came to mind. So we started at the bottom and worked our way up. Hah I have never had the door slammed in my face by so many people. It was insane! Almost every single house someone would come to the door, take a look at us, and shut it before we could even say anything. We had others try to explain to us how we are wrong and how we are wasting our time. It gets a little old after a while. But then we finally had someone answer the door and actually talk to us. Her name was Courtney. She knows a lot about our church and knows members from our ward. As we talked to her we found that she has such amazing faith. It was funny she was trying to pump us up to keep working hard. She told us how much she really looked up to us for what we do. She said it inspires her to try to serve and love those around her. It was just what we needed. It really did give us the boost we needed to finish knocking the rest of the street. We got return appointment and went to see her last night. We had a great lesson and taught all about eternal families, temples, and church standards. Not the usual first lesson but that's just the way it went. Courtney and her boyfriend loved the lesson. They asked so many great questions. They want us to come back next week. Too bad they let us know they are moving away soon but hopefully we can plant a seed that they can take with them.

Elder Wright & Gammell
at Zone Conference

On that same street we ran into an older lady named Marci. She invited us in and we got to know her. Found out she is trying to start her family history work. Hah we were both like oh you have the right people here to help you do that! We taught about genealogy and families. Then we came back the next day with the family history consultant of the ward and started getting her set up. She is so excited! It was cool to see. We can't wait to go back and start the lessons with her.

Remember remember came to church finally! He brought his girlfriend too. They loved gospel principles and they asked a ton of questions. It was so cool to see them there. He is on date for the 5th of September. We are pumped for him to make that change in his life. He is ready.

We have been so busy running from appointment to appointment. It's been the first time I have had something like this on my mission. The other night we were running from their houses to our car. Then we would book it to the next person. It was fun though. I'd much rather have it that way instead of trying to figure out who to see all the time.

Love you all!! Have a great week.

-Elder Gammell

This Week A Lot Of Really Cool Things Happened!

August 10, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

This week a lot of really cool things happened. We had zone training so that ate up quite a big chunk of the first part of our week. We focused the training on conversion. It was cool to see the discussion that we had and how everyone has come to know Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father through many different experiences. We had one of the sisters that work in the office email all the parents of the missionaries in the zone and get pictures from their baptisms when they were little. It was cool because we put the pictures up and everyone was able to think back on their baptisms and the spirit they felt then. At the end of the training we set a goal as a zone to invite 711 people to baptism by the end of the transfer. We gave everyone a little notebook to keep track of all the names. It will be cool to see the miracles that come from this.

P-day sports with Elders Gammell, Wright and Witt

We went on exchanges this week with Elder Witt. We had an awesome day! I'll tell you a little bit about the highlight of the day. So we went to this apartment complex to knock on some doors and try to see some people we had met before. As we parked the car and got out we saw a lady sitting on the steps in front of her apartment a little ways ahead of us. We walked up to her and started talking to her. Her face lit up right when she saw us and that's when I remembered that we talked to her last transfer. The last time we saw her she was recently diagnosed with cancer and had a lot of trials in her life. She did not want to be talked to. It was different this time. She remembered me and said she was glad we came back. Then she opened up to us and told us about what she had been through. It was really cool because Elder Witt had cancer right before his mission. So he was able to connect with her on that. We testified about Gods love for her. Then we invited her to be baptized on September 12th. She said yes to it!! We were so happy!! We then invited her to church and challenged her to quit smoking. And she said yes to both of those as well. It's so cool to see how Heavenly Father prepares the heart of his children to accept his message. He also leads and guides us to those souls if we pray specifically for the opportunity to be given to us. It was such a big testimony builder.

Elders Gammell & Jenkins
We were comps for like 10 hours

Then later that night we were guided to a young couple fixing their car. It was funny because before we talked with them they saw us sprinting across the street and jumping through the gate to the apartment complex right before it closed. Ha-ha I think that softened them up so they would actually listen to us. They had some really great questions and we gave them a Book of Mormon. They loved the idea of a book that contained a record of the people here in the Americas. We invited them to be baptized as well and they said they would be if they read from the Book of Mormon and felt it was true. Awesome day right there. We will see what happens this week when we follow up with them on it.

If you're looking for a good talk to read look up, "True Conversion

Brings Happiness" by Richard G. Scott. It's short but packed with great stuff.

As always thanks for all the prayers. They really do make a difference.

Love you all!!

-Elder Gammell

It Was Another Great Week!

Cooking some burgers with Elder Snow

August 3, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

It was another great week! Elder Wright and I are working together really well. He's a really good missionary. Too bad I'll only get one transfer with him because he is going home in September. That means we have to work extra hard to get him one or two more baptisms to finish off his mission strong. We have a couple people who are really close.

Temple tour with Remember

Remember Remember is doing great. We were able to go on a temple tour Saturday night. It was such a neat experience. He had a rough day right before the tour and was ready to just relax. We promised him that any stress or worry that he had would disappear while he was at the temple. So we got up to the temple and he was just staring at it. He was kind of quiet while we walked past it to the Mormon center. We started the tour with a video that kind of explained temple a little bit. Then we went outside and the tour guides talked baptisms for the dead, the angel Moroni, and eternal families. He was soaking it all in ha-ha. As we were making our way back to the chapel I asked him how he felt. He said he felt incredible and he didn't want anyone to take the peace that he felt away from him. Perfect answer. So anyway we finished up the tour and headed home. He was talking about how he couldn't wait to go to the temple after he is baptized. It made us all so happy to hear that. He has a lot of things holding him up but he is going to get their one step at a time.

We found some new people to teach this week. So we are hoping that we can catch them this week and teach a couple of lessons. I have also been able to use my Spanish a couple of times this week. Which is always cool for me. I miss Spanish work sometimes but I know that I am where I need to be.

This week I have been studying in Alma a little bit. I was reading about when Alma and Amulek are preaching the gospel together. They are so fearless and have such a love for the people around them. It's cool to see that even a prophet of the Lord get rejected sometimes. I think at times as missionaries sometimes we get down on ourselves because we blame rejection on ourselves. It's important to remember that they still have their agency even if they did feel something. Their time will come. That seed just needs some time to grow.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Gammell