Hello folks,
So this was a crazy week full of trainings and meetings and really important things to do with minimal time to do them, but those weeks are fun.
We had a zone training this week. Elder Boekweg and I wanted to teach everyone about discouragement and why it is important to have the right attitude. So for a part of the training, we brought everyone outside and we had them play a five minute game of basketball. The catch was that we put small pebbles in one team's shoes. At the end, we talked about how the mission is like a basketball game in that we have to work together and achieve things but that all in all it should be enjoyable and edifying as well. Our zone has a lot of missionaries that are going home in the next 2 to 3 months and we want them excited and working hard until the end.
So far, I have been enjoying this Christmas season a lot more than the last. My area is a little better off economically than Cartavio so there are actually a few people who have put up Christmas lights. Our ward is a little stronger so there will be more Christmas activities. I live in a room of four people so we are always eating the Christmas packages that arrive. Not that I didn't love my Cartavio Christmas but I think that being more accustomed to the mission allows you to enjoy it more. Hope that you are all enjoying the festivities as well.
Merry Christmas (Happy Channukah, David),
Elder Gonzalez
Also, these are the 4 Elders that live in our room: Elder Lopez (Oaxaca Mexico), Elder Grant (Monroe Utah), Elder Boekweg and I.
Hey everyone!
This was another great week down here in sunny, baking, humid Chimbote. (Its been getting hotter). On Wednesday, we had a mission leadership council. That is a monthly meeting in Trujillo that all of the zone leaders go to. President and Sister Marler and the assistants teach us about the vision of the mission and then we transmit that to our own zone. To get to Trujillo in time we had to wake up at 4 in the morning. Did you guys know that there is no water in Chimbote at 4 in the morning? However, it was well worth it. We learned a lot about the importance of unity and how to stay excited about the work. That'll be great for this zone to hear.
Afterwards, we went and did a service project in a part of Trujillo called Esperanza. We went to an underprivileged school and helped the kids clean the grounds of the school and plant trees. President Marler planted a tree at the front and said that when it is bigger, we will come back and transplant it to the temple grounds in Trujillo. It was way fun to get to play with kids. Kids are always cute, funny, and filter-less. (One of them called E Boekweg a dirty, ugly, piece of trash, farmer.)
I hope that everyone is having a great Christmas season and I hope to continue receiving all of your family Christmas tree pictures.
Love you all!!!
We had a pretty insane week here in Chimbote. The mission has asked us to evaluate the rooms that our missionaries are living in and the places that they are eating at and make sure that they are all up to standard (not gross and that no one from the opposite sex lives there). We found a few problems and helped 2 companionships find a new room and move into it and 4 companionships find a new pensionista and switch. (Crazy week).
We also had a stake conference so big that we filled the chapel, the overflow, and the relief society room it was being broadcast into and a giant tent behind the church with a couple of hundred more. It was sooooo full.
We are starting to get excited for Christmas here. I still don't have any firm plans set but last week, Elder Boekweg and I bought a Christmas tree. Challenge: Could everyone who reads this, whether you know me or not, take a picture of yourself or your whole family in front of your Christmas tree and send it to me with your name and what state/country you are in? That'd be sweet.
Also, the Church is doing a sweet world-wide campaign called He is the Gift. If any of you haven't seen it yet, click .... HERE: http://www.mormon.org/christmas.
Have a great week and go exercise after all that you ate on Thanksgiving. Love you all.
Elder Gonzalez
