We Had Such A Good Week

Sac Zone

January 25, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

We had such a good week. We were able to add 5 new investigators which was really nice. Our teaching pool is growing but we still need more haha. It's tough because a lot of people are just too busy and they don't want to make time for us to come over. So we only end up getting to visit with them like once a week or once every two weeks. We are really trying to add some investigators that we can see more often so they can progress and move towards baptism.

We had an awesome lesson earlier this week with a part member family in our Ward! The mom and kids are members but haven't been to church in a while. And the boyfriend of the mom isn't a member. He has talked to the missionaries before and been friendly but never really picked up on the lessons. So anyway, we passed by on Wednesday just to say hi to them and see how they were doing. They ended up letting us inside and we were able to sit and really get to know them. Towards the end of our visit we asked if we could share a quick message before we left. Because the family hadn't been to church in so long we focused on the importance of the scriptures and specifically the Book of Mormon in our lives. We testified of the power the Book of Mormon has in bringing families together and providing us guidance and direction. We had the boyfriend's full attention. Then a scripture was brought to my mind in 2 Nephi 32. Specially in verses 3 and 5. In verse 3 it talks about how when we feast upon the words of Christ it tells us all things that we should do. Then in verse 5 it tells us that if we enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto us all things that we should do. We applied these verses to him and he was zeroed in on us. The spirit was so strong in the room. We could tell by his face that he was feeling it too and he knew the things we were saying were true. We didn't feel like it was the time to invite him to be baptized though. We invited the whole family to read the Book of Mormon every day together and also to pray to receive a confirmation or a reconfirmation that it was true. They accepted and we are going by tomorrow to follow up on how it went. If they really do keep that commitment I know the boyfriend will be baptized.

Cool story about one of the new investigators we added this week. Her name was Phyllis. She went online and ordered a Bible from http://mormon.org. We called her up and set a time to go by and give it to her. We talked a lot about it before and really wanted to give her a Book of Mormon too. So we went in hoping the somehow give her both. So we met up with her and we sat down at a table in her apartment complex. We gave her the bible and just started to get to know her and her beliefs. It was cool because as we got to know her, she wanted to know about us. She asked a few questions about missionary work and about our church. We were able to answer those and then we transitioned into a restoration lesson. It funny how it always just happens. She was so open about everything we taught. She had never heard of the Book of Mormon so we explained it to her really simply and it made sense to her. We invited her to read and pray about it and she gladly accepted. Then we asked her if she would be baptized. She told us she wants a couple weeks to read but said she would be if she finds out it is true! She is going to be gone for a couple weeks which stinks but hopefully the next time we see her she will have her answer.

I was able to go on several exchanges this week. I went on two team ups with the new missionaries in the zone Elder Fudge and Elder Seamons. Elder Michie and I also did exchanges with the Assistants. I really enjoyed all of them. It's cool how much there is to learn just from serving around different missionaries. It's always fun to get to know the other Elders a little better.

All the missionaries in the world watched a missionary broadcast this week. We received some training from a few of the apostles and members of the missionary department. They focused a lot on teaching repentance and baptizing converts. I really enjoyed it. I was reminded of the importance of the spirit in missionary work. Specifically in following the promptings of the Holy Ghost in teaching to the needs of our investigators. Also that as we do that the people will feel our love for them and more importantly God's love for them. So I have really been focusing on paying more attention to the promptings that come to me throughout the day. It really does make a huge difference.

Hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for all the prayers and support.

Love,

Elder Gammell

This Week Was Insane!

Elder Michie and I

January 18, 2016

Hey everyone!

This week was insane! Seems like there aren't enough hours in the day to get done what we need to haha. Which is a good thing. It's literally the busiest I have ever been on my mission. We have just been racing all over the place between meetings, appointments, and whatever else comes up. 9 o'clock creeps up on us so quickly here it is weird. My entire mission 8-9 o'clock at night has been kind of a pain. It is usually so hard to find someone who even wants to talk to us that late at night. We didn't have that problem at all this week. It was so nice haha.

Our area is doing really well. The stake here is really focusing on missionary work this next year. So they are getting all the members excited about doing their own missionary work. It's so helpful because we received so many referrals this past week! Yesterday we had an awesome missionary fireside in the Fijian Unit. A ton of members were there and the spirit was so strong. The unit was organized just 6 months ago so it's still kind of in testing stages to make sure it will thrive as a branch or a Ward. So we need to baptize in this Ward! President Martinez spoke at the fireside and talked about how the Fijian people are being prepared to accept the gospel and the importance of the members in our Ward inviting their friends and families to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He had all the members pull out their phones and type their name into a message and told them to send it to a number. As he said the number out loud, we realized what he was doing. He had all the members send their names to our phone. Then he kind of brushed it aside and later on in the fireside he invited a member to come up to the front and pray for a name of a person to be brought to the mind of each member that was there. As that member prayed the spirit was so strong! After the prayer president Martinez had them pull their phones out again and type in that name and send it to the same number. Then he told them what he did and now we have over 15 referrals to go see this week! He then called Elder Michie and I up to share our testimonies to close. It was so cool. We have our work cut out for us this upcoming week. I love the Fijian Ward! They are such great people. Huge hearts and huge appetites haha. We get to go to a barbecue today so I'm excited for that!

Here's a really weird experience I had this week in a lesson. So there is this couple that has been coming to church for the last couple weeks. The husband is a member and the wife is not. They texted us and asked if we could meet with them at the church for a lesson. So we did. We walked into the church and they were sitting on the couch with the lights off. We offered to go turn the lights on and she quickly told us not to. So we started to talk to them in the dark hallway of the church. As the lesson went on it just got weirder and weirder. She used to study satanism and witchcraft and that kind of stuff. I'm not really sure why she wanted to meet with us because she got so mad when we would say the word God or Jesus Christ. There was just a bad feeling there. We couldn't really teach because of it. She told us at the end of the lesson that she would like to keep meeting with us if we wouldn't use those words. Haha she may or may not have told me she wanted to strangle me with me tie after I told her we wouldn't change the way we teach. So needless to say we won't be seeing them again.

Anyway the work is going well. I'm loving my new area and all the people here. My mission is the best! Hope everyone has an amazing week.

Love,

Elder Gammell

Transfer Time Again - Got Called To Be A Zone Leader Again!

Sending off my boys

January 12, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

Posterity gifts

Transfer time again! Elder Brock, Elder Hoskin, and I are all going our separate ways. Elder Brock will be staying here in East Sac. Elder Hoskin is going to North Sac. to serve in the Rio Tierra Ward. I got called to be a zone leader so I am getting shipped off to the Sacramento/South Sac. I will be serving in the Sac. 1st Ward and Fijian Unit. I know where did Fijian come from?! Haha so random but I'm excited. It's a brand new unit and they are trying to turn It into a branch so hopefully we can help with that. Kind of sad to leave Spanish work again. I love the people and just everything that comes with it. It's always hard to leave but I know the real growth comes from continual change. I am really excited for this next transfer though. My new companion is Elder Michie. He is from Virginia. I will tell you more about him next week when we get to know him a little more. We served around each other in Carmichael so it will be cool to be companions. We have 27 missionaries in this zone so it will be fun! Tons of different languages here in South Sac. There is Marshallese,Tongan, Cambodian, Cantonese, Fijian, Hmong, Spanish, and ASL. It's pretty cool to see all the variety here. I am so excited to see what this next chapter in my mission has in store.

Del Norte Missionaries-Elder Hoskin and Elder Brock, Hermana Torres and Stout

It was hard to say bye to Elder Brock and Elder Hoskin yesterday. We got along really well and had such a good time together. I could tell they both were a little nervous about the transfer so I am excited to hear how they are doing.

Sorry it's going to be a short email this week. Tell you more next week. I'm doing great though. Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Gammell

Saying goodbye to the Ruiz Family

Saying bye to Hna Melix

Urgell family

Bustos Family

This Week Was A Long One

Christmas Temple Conference

January 4, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

This week was a long one. We knocked a ton of doors and not very many opened up for us. Which can get really frustrating sometimes. It definitely makes for longer days. We did have a few open up and we had great experiences with those people so it makes it all worth it. I'll just share a few of them.

Something really cool happened the other day in a Home Depot parking lot. Our Ward mission leader has been doing some renovations on his house and the other day he noticed how a bunch of Latinos always stand out by the entrance, waiting to see if anyone will hire them on for a job. He told us that we should go by and try to talk to them sometime. So we did. We pulled into the parking lot and there was about 20 guys standing there. It's always tricky trying to walk up to a big group of people to teach them. It goes one of three ways. We single out one or two of them and they listen. Or we get a little group of four or five to talk with us. Or we walk up and they all scatter in all different directions and it gets awkward hah. So anyway, we were able to single out a couple of them but they were pretty preoccupied with the cars passing by and trying to run off and get work. So nothing really happened there. But as we were walking away we passed a little truck with a Spanish guy sitting in there. He did not look like talking with us so we were just going to walk by but as we made it to the front of his car, I felt a strong impression that we needed to talk to him. So right away I turned around and walked around the front of his car and up to his window. We introduced ourselves to him and just started talking with him. His name was Antonio. He looked like he was probably 25 and had been through a lot. He opened up to us and told us about how he had been struggling. He had been baptized in a few other churches but fell away because of some wrong decisions he had made. He didn't say really too much but it was easy to see that he was at rock bottom and didn't know how to get out. We testified of God's love for him and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Then we asked him if he was ready to change his life around and feel forgiveness for what he had done. He broke down and started crying. We stood there silent as he cried in his truck. The Spirit was there very strong. After a while he looked up and said that he didn't think he was ready to change. We then shared Ether 12:27 with him. It was just what he needed. He asked us if we had a card with the church address and our number on it. We gave him one and testified that if he came to church he would feel peace and hope enter his life. He thanked us and we walked away. I can't really explain the feeling after we walked away. It just felt good. Like we did exactly what God needed us to do at that moment. Sadly Antonio didn't come to church but we hope that he doesn't push away that spirit that he felt. One day he will be there.

Another cool experience from this week. On Tuesday we were out trying to see some potential investigators. We found ourselves on a street that we have been working on quite a bit over the last 2 transfers. We had this little family we found last transfer that moved away. We saw that there was a new car in the driveway. So we felt like we should go and introduce ourselves to them. We knocked on the door and met his guy named Robert. At first he wasn't very interested in talking to us and said he wasn't religious. We asked him why he considered himself non-religious and he told us that he had studied all kinds of religious text and nothing ever really stuck out to him. So we took that and transitioned into the restoration and taught him about why there are so many churches and how Christ's true church had been restored through Joseph Smith. Then we showed him a picture of Jesus Christ visiting the Americas and we had him read the beginning of 3 Nephi 11. He was just amazed by it. It was kind of funny because he just kept reading and reading. He told us that he really liked it and he had a Book of Mormon but never read from it. We testified to him that the Book of Mormon was true and then challenged him to pray and ask God if it was. He accepted the challenge. And then we felt like we should invite him to be baptized. So we did and he said yes!! We set a date for Feb. 3rd and he told us he would work towards it. We were so pumped after that! Hah too bad we had to send him off as a referral to the English Elders in North Sac. But it's all good because we are all on the same team.

New Year's Eve was fun. We had a little get together with all the missionaries. We had a goal setting meeting for 2016 in the East Sac Zone. Which was really good. It's always good to set a vision for ourselves to help us strive to become better and work harder. After the meeting we ate a ton of treats and played some games so that was fun.

Only a week left of the transfer. Which is crazy. I feel like I am going to be transferred next week but we will see.

Love,

Elder Gammell

P.S. No new pictures this week. Sorry.