Semana 7

Hi everyone! It´s already been a week since transfers and this first week went by really fast. I said in the last email that we found another apartment, but no new missionaries came here so it´s just going to be me and my companion here and missionaries should be coming into the new apartment in five weeks when we have transfers again. It´s different not being in a trio but we´re doing very good. Me and my companion have a goal of getting 15 baptisms this month and I think we should be able to make it. We have at least one this week and possibly one or two more this week. We had another planned for this week but it fell through beecause the investigator didn´t attend church so we´re going to try to set another date. But whether or not we reach the goal, what´s important are the people, not the numbers. When we think about these goals more as individual people and not just statistics, we grow a greater love for these people, which makes us want to work harder and harder to help these people and to continue helping them after baptism.

The baptism we have this week is an investigator named J. He is living with his cousin CR who is a member and has been supporting him and teaching him. He had some problems in the past with drugs and stuff but he´s completely changed and is really happy. I remember the first time we met him, he had piercings in his lips and crazy hair and clothes, but now he´s taking out the piercings, cut his hair and wears a white shirt and tie to shirt. He just seems a whole lot more happier to; more friendly and he always smiles when we see him. It´s just amazing to see how the Gospel can change peoples lives and can make them happier. We can find happiness and joy in entertainment and things of the world, but it´s only through Jesus Christ and His Gospel that we can find true and eternal happiness and it´s just so amazing to see this happen in peoples lives as a missionary. 

Yesterday, we had an interesting experience. We were just walking and this guy wants to sit down and talk to us. We sit down and find out that he was really drunk and asked for help with a problem then he would randomly start talking in French to us then he called one of his friends on his cell phone and made me talk to them. He repeated himself a lot and so we were sitting there for a while and were finally able to go. It was really interesting and it just makes you think that the world is a lot different from where you live and everyone has different personalities and different ways of life.

I´m still teaching English on Saturdays and it going really good. We have two people that show up often. One is a manger at the grocery store we shop at on Mondays so we always talk to him when we see him at the store. They´re all really good and are open to hearing about the Gospel. I even offered to teach them the missionary lessons in english and they thought that would be really great. 

As a missionary you really learn the importance of using time wisely, setting goals, and planning. We do these things every day and without them, we wouldn´t be as successful as we are. I know this is going to help me too after the mission to use time more wisely in college and all other aspects of life. 

Spanish is coming along really well. I´m not fluent yet and I stumble every now and then but I can understand they majority of things and it will just get better and better. I´m going to set short term and long term goals for myself on where I want my Spanish to be and then how to achieve it.

Well I´m really excited for General Conference this weekend. On Saturday we´re going to watch the sessions in the Stake Center and then on Sunday we´re going to watch the sessions in our ward. It´s going to be exciting to hear what the prophets and apostles have to say. They always give us guidance. I know that if we prepare for conference and pray, we will get more out of it and it will be a better experience. 

Well that´s all for me this week. Hope everything is okay at home wherever you all are. Have a good week and hope to hear from you all soon!

-Elder Gomez