We Had Some Great Success This Week!

November 23, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

Elder Brock and I switched suit coats

Hey everyone. We had some great success this week! We were able to add a couple of really solid investigators. We also had an awesome new missionary meeting on Thursday with our mission president.

One of our new investigators in named Josue. He has been talking to the English missionaries for a couple weeks but they talked to him and he wants to be in a Spanish Ward. He came to church on Sunday and we got to meet him. He's a really cool guy. He works night shifts 7 days a week and he still made it to 9 o'clock church! Hah he was pretty tired but hey we were just happy he was there. We talked to him for a while and we have a pretty good relationship with him now. He invited us to come back later this week so we are really excited to get this going.

Getting colder her is Sac.

Another cool experience from this past week. About 3 or 4 weeks ago we were walking past this apartment complex and we saw this girl out back. We walked up to her and saw that she just looked sad. We walked up to her and asked if she was alright. She told us she was not in the mood to talk and basically just walked away. So we didn't really think anything of it. Well on Friday we were walking past the same apartment and she was out front this time talking to another girl. We didn't recognize her but as we walked up and started talking to her she reminded us that we talked the other day. Things were different this time though. She was happy to talk to us and her sister as well. She said she has has been going through a lot and the other day was just a bad one for her. We talked to them for about 45 minutes haha. We taught them the Restoration and they both accepted Copies of the Book of Mormon from us. She recognized it wasn't just a coincidence that we ran into her again. They are staying with a family that doesn't like missionaries I guess so we couldn't send the English Elders over to visit. But she told us anytime we see them outside to come over and teach them. Also when they move out and get their own apartment they said the other Eders can come by. Pretty cool little miracle. Just goes to show that we shouldn't give up on anyone. You never know when someone is just having a bad day. All we need to do is try and try again and the Lord prepares a way for something amazing to happen.

Only one week left in this transfer. Crazy that it's almost over. Pretty sure things will stay the same because we are in training. Never know though. Loving the area and my companions. They are great missionaries. Lucky to have them with me.

Found something really cool this week. I was studying in the Doctrine and covenants 18 and read in verses 15-16....

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

Our Ward dinner for la día de acción de gracias.

I was using a study guide for Doctrine and Covenants and it used a cool connection for this. It talked about how the souls we need to give our all for and labor with all our might to save is our families. If we all keep that goal in mind and nothing else, then our joy will be so amazing when we can rest in heaven with our families. I really like the connection he made. And it's so true. Satan is attacking the family and if he can make his way in then he can cause so much pain and sadness. Something we are challenging our investigators and members to do is pray as a family and ask God what they can change in their lives to be more protected and fortify their homes against the world. It's something we can all do individually as well. God will always show us what we can do more right.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Gammell

Elder James J. Hamula of the Seventy Toured Our Mission This Week

November 17, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

We had an awesome opportunity to have Elder James J. Hamula of the Seventy come and tour our mission this week. We had a great zone conference yesterday with him. It was 7 hours long!! Packed full of good stuff too! The main focus of the training was how we can keep the California Sacramento Mission "On Fire". I think it was just what all the missionaries needed. We have been working really hard and the finding has been kind of slow. He gave us great council on how to keep ourselves anxiously engaged in the work even when it's tough. The cool thing about the training was that it not only applied to us as missionaries, but every single one of God's children. I know we all go through times where we are on fire and also times when we are burnt out. When we just don't feel like our efforts are enough or it seems like the whole world is trying to drag us down, that's when we need to focus on our savior. We need to look to Him and nothing else. That's what will get us through those times. A story that I have grown to love on my mission is in Matthew 14:27-31. It's about when Jesus is walking on the water and Peter asks if he can walk out to him. Peter had great faith in taking those first couple steps but as soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus he began to sink. Then he quickly looked back and asked for help. That's when the savior caught him and brought him back to safety. All it took was looking to the Savior with faith. I loved the conference. It was a good boost and I can't wait to take it out into our work this coming week.

Last week we worked really hard to find some new people to teach. We found this guy named David. He has never talked to missionaries before! Which is crazy! Almost everyone here has talked to or has some connection to missionaries but he doesn't. He just moved here a couple years ago from Guatemala. He has a true desire to learn and come to church. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he is excited to read and study in it. We have a great feeling about him and we hope he progresses well as we continue to meet with him. We found several others that said we could come back so I will let you know if anything happens with any of them.

We have building our relationships with the members in the Ward and it's been so cool to see the progress. We have a few families that absolutely love us coming over. We are trying our best to help the members progress and start doing their own missionary work. That will change so many things here in our area if they do that.

My companions are doing great. It's so cool to see how much we have all learned together. Crazy that we are getting close to halfway done with the training. Time is cruising by. Enjoying every second of it though. :) we have a meeting this Thursday in Rancho Cordova for all the trainers and trainees. I'm excited for it! It's always good to receive some extra guidance and council.

I started studying more in the Doctrine and Covenants this past week. How have I gone my whole life without reading it all the way through?! I am learning so much! I'm excited to keep going with it.

Sorry don't have time to write too much today. Thanks for the prayers and support.

Love you all,

Elder Gammell

Jill Got Baptized This Weekend!

Jill's Baptism!  With Elder Ross, Jill, Elder Puckett and Elder Silva

November 9, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

Jill got baptized this weekend! It was awesome to see her take this step in her life. We found her just like 5-6 weeks ago and now she is a member. Haha she was prepared that's for sure! You never know when you're walking through a parking lot and stop to talk to someone what it can lead to. Her life is changed forever. You can see the difference in her already. After the baptism she bore her testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She knows it true. It's cool too because she LOVES family history! She is going to have so many names to take to the temple! I think she said she traced her line back to 500 AD so there's some great work for her to do. It was cool to go back and see some of the members from Carmichael. That was a great Ward.

Finally starting to rain in Sacramento

Elder Hoskin, Elder Brock and I worked really hard this week. Spanish is coming along well. Learning more every day. We found this awesome street in our area! We went there trying to visit a potential investigator and we ended up finding so many people there! The potential investigator wasn't home so we started tracting. We found this cool guy named Robert. Actually he found us haha. We were talking to this guy and Robert rolled up wearing a pair of roller skates haha. It was kind of funny. So anyways we started talking to him and he opened up to us. He lived with a Mormon family for a while when he was going through some hard times in his life. He had some great questions for us. We taught him about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. We testified of the truth of the Book of Mormon. He told us that he could feel that we truly do know that it's true. He was excited very excited to start reading it. We passed him off the to English sisters so we can't wait to hear back from them how he is doing. Then the next day we went back to this street and found two more referrals to send off to the sisters and we found three Spanish people that said we could come back and teach them! We are going back to knock the rest of the street and see what happens.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! I learned so much this time reading it. I took a little longer and I really tried to understand and take in everything. It was so cool to see how my knowledge of the Book of Mormon and my testimony grew so much! I learned and felt things that I hadn't before. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true. The words in that book are not from any man on this earth. They are straight from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They love us so much that they allowed the prophets to write those things down for us so we could enjoy the guidance and direction that we need to one day return with our families to live with them again.

Love you all!

Elder Gammell

Lots Of Great Things Happened This Week Right Here In East Sac.

After a long day of biking with Elder Hoskin and Elder Brock

November 2, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

New Apartment

Lots of great things happened this week right here in East Sac. The week started off really slow because we moved into a brand new apartment. It is so nice!! Haha luxury compared to the other apartments I've been in the rest of my mission. It's so much better living here with just the three of us instead of 5 elders crammed into one apartment.

We were able to settle in and get to work this week. Rode our bikes a ton so that is always fun. I love just being out on the streets talking to people. It's something That has really grown on me during my mission. At the beginning of my mission it really wasn't my favorite because it's kind of awkward. But now I feel comfortable just walking up and talking to everyone and that makes it so much more enjoyable. It's cool to see how people open up to us and really just trust us with everything they have been going through. It's eye opening to hear some of the things people are going through. For example we tracted into a man the other day. He definitely looked like he had been through the ringer. He was covered in tattoos and he just looked like life was beating him down. As we talked with him he told us all about how he has been trying to fight his way out of the rough situation he has been in all his life. He told us about how he was abused when he was little and about how his fiancé got shot just a few months earlier and they lost their baby that was on the way because of it. It was so sad to hear. We testified of God's love for him and shared some scriptures with him from the Book of Mormon. He said he felt peace with us and he really wants to talk to us again. Too bad we will have to pass him off to the English elders but it's all good. Living the gospel will change his life forever.

We found a lot of new investigators this week! We found this guy named Edgar. He was standing on the street corner. We stopped and talked to him for just a second. The first thing he told us was that he had met with missionaries before and he really wanted to be baptized haha. We were like hey we can help you with that. He gave us his address and he hurried and walked away. The next day we tried to visit him but it turns out the

address was wrong. We were so disappointed. But tonight we were walking around and we switched the numbers that he gave us up and ended up finding an apartment complex and we found where he lives! He wasn't home tonight but we are going by tomorrow night to see him. Hopefully things go well.

We also found a couple named Fred and Evalin. Evalin speaks Spanish and she has already read the Book of Mormon and she loves it! I have no idea how she isn't a member already. But we are working with them. They are thinking about moving soon so hopefully we can leave an impact on them and hope they stick around for a while.

Monster Macs for lunch!

Elder Hoskin, Elder Brock, and I are getting along really well. It's fun being in a trio. We are really trying to strengthen the Ward we are in. It's kind of been slow for a while so we are doing all we can to leave it better then we found it. Haha we are all working hard to learn Spanish. This is the first time I haven't had companions that are fluent so it's

different being the one that has to understand everything and do most of the talking. It's stressful at times but it's good for me. It's cool teaching people in Spanish because even though we don't speak the language perfectly we can still share what we know and the spirit can tell them it's true. That's the most important part. Most people don't even remember specifically all that we teach but they do remember how they feel.

I get to go back to Carmichael this week for Jill's baptism. She is so excited! I ran into her today at the family history center and she told me all about how she can't wait and she feels so ready for it. She really was a miracle find. It will be so cool to see her baptized.

I studied a lot this week about the character of Christ and his attributes. It's cool to learn more and more about who he actually was and all of the things he did in his life. My testimony has grown doing this. I think most people know who Jesus Christ is or at least they think they do. But when you go deeper into his life you can see the selflessness and the true love he had for everyone around him. It's something that I am really trying to focus on this week. I want to continue to develop that attribute more in myself.

Tomorrow I only have a year left of my mission which is crazy! A lot has happened in this first year and can't wait to see what the next one brings.

Love you guys!

-Elder Gammell