Seemed Like Everyone We Tried Talked To Was Too Busy

Broke out the bikes the other day.  Been a while.

September 28, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

It was a pretty slow week. Seemed like everyone we tried talked to was too busy, not home,  or they just weren't interested. But, we still did had some really great experiences!

So on Tuesday we received a text from a random number and it had someone's information. They wanted us to go stop by and see if they might be interested. So we went over to find the address. We drove down the street and couldn't find his house. The house numbers skipped over the one we were looking for. Then as we were just about to leave, we decided to walk up the street. As we were walking we found his house. The house numbers were way messed up but we made it. As we were walking up to the door there was a sign next to the doorbell that said. Do not knock! No unwanted guests. We are not interested in what you are selling or what your religious beliefs are. And a bunch of other stuff. Haha so we were like dang. We almost knocked anyways but we decided not to. As we were walking away from the house I looked on top of their car and spotted a bunch of papers in a protective sheet. Then as we passed I saw it was someone's birth certificate, social security card, and tons of other things they probably didn't want to leave out there. I looked at Elder Ross and said this might just be our ticket in. We walked up to the door and knocked. A girl about our age answered and we gave her the papers. She was so thankful that we did that for them. It was her little brothers stuff that he forgot on top of the car. He was actually the one we were headed over to see. Anyway we talked to her for a minute and found out that they had been to church and talked to missionaries before several times. She said we could come back again so we are very excited for that! Haha walking away we were so grateful that the Lord provided a way for us to get in contact with them!

Lunch Buffet @ Godfathers Pizza

We have been working with our members a lot more these past couple weeks. It's been cool to see the excitement for missionary work increasing in some of the members in our Ward. For example, we went and visited a less active lady in our ward and invited her to come out to a lesson with us. She had a great time and really enjoyed it. She was smiling and you could see it helped her out a lot. She told us how much she used to love going out with the missionaries. She wants to come with us more now and she came to church yesterday. It's cool to see that missionary work not only changes the people being taught, but it also changes us as we share the Gospel.

We had a great opportunity to go and teach the Mission Prep class this week! It was so cool. So we taught everyone how to use the pamphlets to teach the restoration. We had a few of them come up and role play being investigators as we taught. I had a really spiritual experience as we were sharing the first vision. I was reciting Joseph Smith's experience and the spirit just like came in and filled me. I have felt the spirit so many times sharing that but I don't know what it was about yesterday that it just hit me hard. I know the Holy Ghost touched the two that we were teaching because they both started tearing up. It's so amazing to feel the power that comes from sharing the message of the restoration. It doesn't matter if it is to an investigator or member. Afterwards they got to talk to us and ask us questions. Crazy to think I was in their shoes just a year ago. We are going to continue to help out with that class and I'm excited for that.

Preparing for Stake Progress/
correlation meeting.
And it takes forever!

It amazes me to see how much I have learned in these past 10 months. Wouldn't trade this knowledge or these experiences for anything. The privilege of sharing the Gospel and making an impact in the lives of others is something that I truly am thankful for. The blessings are endless. Even though times can be hard we can always find something to be grateful for. Our Heavenly Father will is always there for us. We just need to trust in

him and His son.

Espero que todos ustedes tienen una gran semana!

Mucho amor!

~Elder Gammell

We Had Some Really Cool Things Happen This Week!

September 21, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

In 2 Nephi 2:11 it says, "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." And we definitely saw that this week in our work. Satan works as hard as he can to stop something good from happening. Specifically with one of our investigators Kimberly, who was supposed to be baptized this Saturday. Unfortunately we are going to have to move it back a little bit. Hopefully we can get her back on track soon. It stinks to see someone that was so close take a few steps back. We know she will be baptized soon though.

We had some really cool things happen this week too. We ended up having 4 investigators come to church with us! It was awesome to see how the ward welcomed them and made them feel at home. They all had a good experience and hopefully will continue to come to church. We have a great teaching pool right now but we are really trying to find a family that is prepared to accept the gospel. So Elder Ross and I are trying to think of some outside of the box on finding ideas. We were brainstorming with some of the other missionaries to maybe try something new and see if it works. We came up with an idea to do a "free lemonade" stand and set up a table with copies of the Book of Mormon and pamphlets. So we are going to try it out here in the next couple weeks. We'll see what happens hah.

I swear I hit a new month mark every week. This week I hit 10 months! It's weird that I'm getting really closer and closer to hitting a year. I still feel like a young missionary haha. I guess not. It's all good though.

That's about it for the past week. Still loving this work and enjoying every second I have out here. It's been such a big blessing in my life. Even though there are ups and downs it's the most amazing feeling to see someone else's life change for the better.

Love you all!!

~Elder Gammell

Chasing some turkey's

September Is Going To Be A Great Month!

September 14, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

September is going to be a great month! Elder Ross and I are already seeing some amazing things happening here in our area. We are getting along really well and it is so easy to teach together. It's always cool when you have companion unity in teaching right off the bat. It's probably one of the hardest things to figure out and I feel like we have already built a good pattern. We have had some really powerful lessons recently. It's been so cool.

Video of Elder Ross passed out on the couch

right after planning the other night. Hah

We have been really focusing on getting the members involved in the work. We are receiving so many blessings from it. Something else that we are doing is making sure to give thanks to our Heavenly Father as much as we can throughout the day. It is so simple but the blessings have been incredible. I personally feel more trust from my savior just from recognizing his hand in all things. It allows him to pour even more blessings on us as we do this work. Here is an example from yesterday. We tried to visit a couple of referrals and didn't have any luck. We had a few more names to stop by and before we got out of the car we decided to say a prayer of gratitude. After the prayer we got out of the car and spotted this guy across the street walking out of his garage. We walked over and started to talk with him. He was young probably in his 20's. We got to know him a little bit and then he really started to open up to us. He had been going through a lot lately. His grandma was dying of cancer and we could tell he had a lot of other things weighing down on him. We shared some scriptures out of the Book of Mormon and testified that Heavenly Father loved him. And also that he would be with his grandmother again. The spirit was there so strong as we handed him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he promised that he would read it. We said a prayer for him and got his number so we are excited to give him a call this week to visit again. Then we got in the car and said another prayer of gratitude for guiding us to him. Then we started driving down the street and I spotted an investigator that we found when I first got to Carmichael. We waved to her and she recognized us and ran out to the road to stop us. We pulled over and got out to talk to her. She told us how it really was a miracle that we ran into her because she was thinking about us recently. It was funny too because we tried to go see her earlier that day and she had moved out. We talked to her and she was going through a lot as well. She asked us to pray for her and then gave us her number so we could set up another time to visit. It kind of stinks that we have to hand her off the the YSA ward but that's ok. We got in the car and said another prayer of thanks haha. It was such a testimony builder to me to see the miracles that happened to us just by doing something as simple as telling God thanks for everything. He really is in the details of our lives and guides us when we do what he asks.

Our investigators are all taking steps forward and progressing. Kimberly is still on track to be baptized on the 26th! Remember Remember is progressing forward slowly but surely. Jeff and Courtney are praying about being baptized! Marci is reading from the Book of Mormon. So things are going great here. I'm loving every second of my time out here. It's truly changing my life and it's a privilege to see the lives of others change around me as well.

Love you all!

~Elder Gammell

We Had Transfers This Week!

Elder Gammell & Elder Wright
BBQ at the end of fast Sunday always brings a big smile haha.

September 8, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

We had transfers this week!! I am staying in Carmichael again. My new companion is Elder Ross. He's from Willard, Utah. He has been out for just over a year. He likes to play soccer. He is diabetic. I can already tell we are going to get along really well. So I am excited for these next 6 weeks. Elder wright is going home this week so he is hanging out with us until tomorrow. He's been one of my favorite companions. We became really good friends and it's been cool to serve with him.


We had a lot of things going on this week! We had zone training so that took up a big portion of our week. It's crazy how much planning goes in to a 2 hour training haha. It is always cool to see when things come together and also when the spirit guides it in ways that you didn't plan on. We were really focusing on becoming The Masters Finders and The Masters Teachers. I learned so much from it as we looked at how Jesus Christ taught and the example he set for us. It will be cool to see the blessings that come to us as we try to become more like him in all we do as missionaries.

?, Tom, Elder Wright,
Kimberly and Elder Gammell

We were able to go on a temple tour this week with couple of our investigators. We took Kimberly who is going to be baptized on September 26th! And also Tom who is from Mongolia. We found him a couple weeks ago and have been able to teach him several times. They both had a great time. It is so cool to be able to take them to the temple to feel of the spirit and peace that is there. Kimberly felt so good while she was there and she can't wait until she can go inside. It was awesome to hear that from her!


We had a BBQ the other night in front of our Bishops house. It was so cool! There was like 15 non-members there. It was cool to just be able to introduce ourselves to them. Everyone had a good time and I feel like we will get some teaching opportunities soon from it! Keep you posted on it.


Love you all so much!!


-Elder Gammell