Having Some Great Experiences - Week #37

I've officially been out on my mission for 9 months.  That's so crazy to think!  We spent the first part of this week moving apartments which turned out to be a bigger ordeal than we thought.  The apartment we were moving into didn't have a couch, desks, and almost no basic furniture.  So we had to bring a lot of those things with us which was not easy with just the two of us.  We got the apartment all situated and it looks really good now.  We now live in a much better location and we also live in the apartment directly above the other elders in our district so it's nice having them around too.

This week Elder Parker and I worked really hard to get appointments with as many active members in our ward as we possibly could.  We are trying to find ways to motivate them to bring friends to lessons.  It seems like missionary work can be really intimidating and hard to follow through with, but working with members is the most efficient way for us to find people to teach.  We're hoping that soon it will pay off.  This week we had a dinner appointment with a single sister in our ward that has a non-member friend living with her who has never liked the missionaries so far in our ward.  She would usually avoid them when they were in their home.  Well, we were able to change that!  We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that she participated in the lesson, answered questions, and commented on how well she enjoyed that lesson.  The member that had us over to dinner made the comment, "I would trust you guys with any of my friends to share the gospel with them."  That's always something that we like to hear.  Hopefully more people will feel that way soon. 

City View

We had another Baptism in the YSA this week which went really well.  You could really feel the Spirit there as the girl who had just been baptized bore her testimony on the Savior.  She could barely speak and kept repeating, "I just feel so good! I don't know how else to describe it!"  Just being able to see that change in someone is motivation to keep moving forward, and to keep teaching.  I want everyone to be able to experience that joy.

This week we are making a focus on visiting the Cadets from the Air Force Academy.  They're really busy with finals coming up, but they're a big strength in our ward.  Many of them are preparing to go on missions or recently returned from one.  Hopefully some good prospects come from visiting with them.

Elder Parker BBQing in the Snow.

I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater

A new companion and its finally getting warm!

Elder Gillingwater, Elder Haskell, and Sister Moss

Transfers were crazy!  I got to see so many missionaries that I love which was great, but so many that I've served with are headed home so it's sad to see them leave.  So here's some information on my new companion Elder Parker in case I haven't shared anything about him yet.  He's from Louisiana which is really unique (I've yet to have a companion from Utah).  He's been a member for almost 3 years and he's really funny.  He loves to work hard but loves to play hard too.  He's a great guy to work with and we get along really well.  

So my old area, the Academy Ward, has switched back to Elders serving there.  They're now a biking area again which has created a dilemma.  They now live outside of their area because I'm living in the most convenient apartment for them.  So my companion and I are going to be moving soon.  We will be moving to a recently vacant missionary apartment near the church building that we meet at.  It's a pretty gross apartment, the sisters that lived in it before left it a disaster, but we'll fix it up really nice.  Plus we get to live above the other YSA elders which is going to be a lot of fun!  That will happen later this week.  So I guess I will have to say goodbye to my apartment.  But this new adventure should be really exciting!

Elder Mogle and Elder Gillingwater

So the Young Single Adult wards in Colorado Springs have this rule that they don't want missionaries working with Less-Active members.  If someone is YSA age and does not attend church regularly, they send their records back to the family ward and advise us to only work with people on our ward roster.  With our current lack of investigators, we're left with pretty much only teaching active members in our ward.  Also, I keep getting sick and we do not get out as much as I would like.  At times, it feels like it can be unproductive, or that we could be doing something more productive, but it's really great to work with the members in the ward.  It helps develop trust with them and we're hoping we can get some member referrals out of it.  When we teach a lesson to an active member, we always leave them with the commitment to invite a less-active member, or a non-member to our next appointment.  So far, that hasn't happened yet, but there are a few prospects that will hopefully be keeping us busy soon.

Elder Gillingwater and Elder Guerrette

It's finally warmed up here, which I've really appreciated.  Hopefully it stays that way.  I'm glad I get to serve around such wonderful members who are so strong in the Gospel.  Their testimonies help strengthen mine every day.  I'm grateful for all of your support and prayers.  I know that if we continue to do the Lord's work, we will be blessed with the Spirit of Conversion.  “The good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15) We have the seed of the gospel word.  It is up to each of us to set the priorities and to do the things that make our soil good and our harvest plentiful.  We must seek to be firmly rooted and converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. - Elder Dallin H. Oaks

I know I can be converted to the Gospel everyday and I serve the Lord to the best of my abilities.  I love this work, and strive to do better everyday so I can fulfill His eternal purpose.  I love you all so much and will talk to you all soon!  Have a great week!

5 Things That Made Me Smile:

1. I started working out again! That's always a good thing!

2. Elder Reimer's trainee is really funny.  He's got a great testimony and drive to work hard.

3. Elder Parker has some great object lessons for when we teach.  So far they've worked really well!

4. One of the members took us out to eat for dinner since they had signed up on our calendar, and another member paid for all of our food.  So now they're taking us out again this week.

5. One of our recent converts gave us chocolate bunnies, for a reason I do not know. They're massive and now I have a giant Hershey bar, and a giant bunny.

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater

A Roller Coaster Week and it was Awesome - Week #36

My District at Lunch

This week was a roller coaster and it was awesome.  Some really amazing things happened.  My companion got to go to the Temple this week for being out on his mission for a whole year.  Since he was gone all day, I got to go on exchanges; which I am definitely not a fan of.  My companion for the day was supposed to be my previous companion, Elder Low, but due to some changes they made, I also had my trainer Elder Haskell as my companion.  I got to be in a tri-companionship with them which was awesome!  I couldn't have asked for a better situation.  Not only did we work hard, but we had a great time doing it.  Definitely my favorite exchange I've gone on so far.  It was great to spend the day with some old friends.  My companion Elder Guerrette had a great time at the temple and I was glad to have him back at the end of the day.

There was a miracle story in our District this week.  The sister missionaries had set up an appointment with a member in their ward and asked them to bring someone to the lesson.  He brought a friend and as they taught him, he was really touched by the Spirit.  He really enjoyed the message of the restoration and has accepted a baptismal date.  It's so exciting to see how missionary work really progresses when members and missionaries are working together.  We also had a great weekend preparing for conference.  We watched all the sessions on Saturday without a problem.  On Sunday, we were invited to watch conference at an investigators home which we were really excited about.  This way we could make sure to answer questions if they had any.  Well the first session kept freezing and we maybe caught 25% of it, but the second session was great.  It was a really great experience and I hope they really felt the Spirit when they heard the messages shared.

We also had a great dinner Sunday night.  We had lamb and it was really good.  We made "Resurrection Rolls" where you cover a marshmallow in melted butter and cinnamon sugar, then encase it in bread dough.  Just as Christ was sealed in a tomb, when you opened the roll when it was finished cooking, the marshmallow was gone.  It had been "resurrected".  It was a fun activity.

So here's the sad news.  My companion is getting transferred.  We got the call on Saturday night.  I'm really bummed since we got along so well.  I'm really going to miss him.  That also means that I'm staying in my area again; which is great because I love serving in the YSA ward.  It also means that I get to continue living in my apartment for another 6 weeks.  That will bring the grand total to 10.5 months in one apartment.  I'm pretty sure that's a record.  Elder Guerrette is going to be in New Mexico (as far away as possible).  My new companion is Elder Parker, and I've heard he's pretty cool.  I've met him a few times, but now I will get to know him better.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I had such a wonderful Easter.  I loved the package mom sent, but it doesn't replace family.  I'm glad I will be able to Skype next month for Mothers Day.

I love our Savior, His atonement, His resurrection, and our Prophet and leaders.  It's such a blessing to hear from them and to know of their love, especially when we may feel alone at times.  I love you all so much!  I'd send more pictures but my camera just died while uploading them.  So you'll have to settle for the one picture I was able to get.  I'll send more soon.  Have a great week!  Happy late birthday Jarett!  I will talk to all of you soon.

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater

Week #35 Spring Break In a YSA Ward Makes for a Tough Week

Zone Conference Photo

Boy did we have an interesting week this week.  The week started off with a Zone Conference which took a really long time (8 hours).  They're not normally that long but pretty close to that.  We had a lot of discussions about getting referrals from members which is something my companion and I are really trying to work on.  We're hoping that we can get more involvement with the members in our ward for finding people to teach.  This week was Spring Break for all of the Air Force Cadets and for the College students.  The two other sets of missionaries in the YSA were really struggling to find people to teach this week since everyone was gone.  But we pulled through this week!  We had lots of lessons this week with active members and we were inspiring them to do their own missionary work and I think it's going to go over really well.  We were busy all week and I'm really grateful for that.  A slow week on a mission is a nightmare.  On Friday we got a text from our Zone Leaders telling us that we were going to go on exchanges with them that evening.  I may have already mentioned this before in an earlier email but I'm not a fan of exchanges.  To me it just makes everything really awkward because I don't know the people in the other ward and I'm only going to be there for a day.  So I went into their area Friday night and we spent Saturday helping 3 family’s move into their ward one move right after another.  I thought my fingers were going to fall off!  But we wanted to make sure the new members knew who the missionaries were. That took up most of our morning but the real treat was being able to go to a baptism.  An investigator the Sister Missionaries in the YSA have been working with was baptized and those are always a special occasion.  We spent the rest of the evening teaching active members in their ward.  The family we had dinner with that night were excited to hear that I was from California.  They really miss it there.  I miss that California Sunshine too!

I was so glad to be reunited with my companion again Saturday night.  We found out that night that Elder Reimer (Missionary in my district that was in the MTC with me) is going to be training a new missionary next transfer.  We're really excited for him and that's going to be a lot of fun!  One of the Sister Missionaries in our District had to go home for medical reasons so they brought in Sister Barker.  She was actually in the MTC with me too (I just never saw her there). So we have 3 missionaries in our district who have been out for a little over 8 months.  That's pretty cool!

Well, transfers are this week so I'm nervous that something might happen and either my companion or I will get transferred.  Neither of us wants that to happen.  We're finally getting things going in our ward; we don't want it to end yet! But next week I'll be able to let you know what happens.

I love you all so much!  It's always great to hear from you.  Have a wonderful week and I will talk to you all soon!

5 Things that Made Me Smile:

Denver Temple

1. This week, my companion get's to go to the Denver Temple since he's hitting his year mark on the mission.  I get to go on exchanges with my previous companion Elder Low.  Long time no see. 

2. A less active member invited us over for pizza the other night but had tricked us and got us New York steaks instead... I wasn't complaining on the change in plans!

3. It's great to see many members in our ward trying to find opportunities to have missionary experiences.  A lot of them seemed like they would be really dedicated to helping us out.

4. We had a fluke snow day this week where it snowed 2 inches, but it was gone by the next morning, glad to know Mother Nature is on my side!

5. I have a new nickname in the YSA, instead of people calling me G-dub, they call me Johnny Bravo now.  I prefer Elder Gillingwater though!

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater

The Air Force Academy Chapel Looks Like Something from Star Wars - Week #34

Me in front of the Chapel

Hey Everybody.  Things are going great here in Colorado Springs.  The snow has almost all melted off the ground so I'm really excited about that.  One thing that I'm not so excited about is the fact that this week is Spring Break for all of the Air Force Cadets.  That means that there is a lot less people in town this week.  With our Ward consisting mainly of college students, it's a pretty detrimental blow to the work for the week.  Anticipating a rough week, we scheduled as many lessons we could with members in the ward (Active and Less Active) and we have a full week of lessons planned.  We're hopefully going to quadruple the amount of lessons we normally teach this week.  I'd say that's the best way to spend a Spring Break!

Statue of General Henry Arnold

I've been reading the Doctrine and Covenants this week and a recurring theme is present in a lot of the early sections of the book.  The field is white and ready to harvest, and He's asking us to thrust in our sickle.  Over and over this is repeated.  I know how important the work of bringing others to Christ is and I'm grateful for the opportunity to focus wholly on this cause.

This week we had dinner with a high councilman and his family.  It's weird having dinner with little kids again!  They had a friend over and you'll never guess where she's from?  Chico, CA.  She graduated from Pleasant Valley High School and her dad was the Bishop in 3rd ward for a long time (Bishop Montgomery).  She also said she was roommates with Sister Bowles in college.  Small world!  I thought that was pretty cool.

I got to teach several cadets at the Air Force Academy this week which was great and I got lots of pictures there.  The Chapel they have at the Academy was built in the 60's but I swear it's straight out of a Star Wars movie.  It's great to work with so many wonderful people.

Elder Reimer

I've got to go.  We've got a lot of things to get done today before our Zone Conference tomorrow.  Clean our car, get haircuts, etc.  Hopefully we will have some free time in between to do something cool.  Have a great week everyone.  I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you again. 

5 Things That Made Me Smile:

1. Often, my companion and I will start saying something, singing something at the exact same time.  It's funny how in sync we are!

2. This week was Elder Reimer's birthday.  I got to spend the day with him since we were on exchanges together.  It's fun being with one of my MTC buddies.

3. The singles ward had a Dr. Seuss themed activity this week, Green Eggs and Ham.  Green food is not that appetizing.

4. I got food poisoning this week from some Chinese Food and missed District meeting because of it.  Elder Guerrette put the Sister Missionaries in charge of conducting, and I guess it was the shortest District meeting they'd ever had.

5. We got to do service this week for a woman who has a mild form of autism and she was so sweet! It felt so good to help her!

Recreation Facility

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater

Work Doubled this Week - Week #33

Castle Rock

Well today marks 8 months on my mission! It seems like a really long time but when I think about it, it's just flown by!  Every time I hit a month mark it feels like I'm doing a countdown.  Not a countdown for when I come back home (I'm sure that's what you all are doing), but a countdown for when I get to go to the Temple again!  I get to go back in 4 months and I'm so excited.  That seems like a long time but 8 months has felt like nothing so I'm sure it will come sooner than I think.  In two months I get to Skype you all again for Mother's Day. Isn't that exciting?  We've got some good things to look forward to in the near future!

So this week has been great.  The amount of work we have been doing is doubling the work we were doing the week before.  We have more people we're visiting with, more service, and more dinner appointments.  I got some amazing news this week too.  I got to meet with the Investigator I was working with when I was serving in the Academy Ward who was going through legal issues.  He ended up being charged which halted his progress towards baptism and I wanted to see how he was doing.  When we met with him he told us how he was pretty bitter at first, but as he started reading scriptures and praying more he realized how grateful he was for this growing opportunity.  It occurred to him that he had an opportunity to learn so much more now and really focus on growing his testimony.  He accepted the fact that it was going to be another 2 years before he could be baptized but was still eager to take that step.  My companion and I were so happy to see that he had not given up.  We left that appointment feeling like he was headed in the right direction. Well, the next day we got a call from him.  The judge released him from his probation and he can get baptized!  He just needs an interview with our Mission President, which should go well because he already emails our mission president frequently.  I think they're on a first name basis.  I'm so excited for him.  He's really wanted this and has had a rough time trying to overcome those trials he's faced but a broken heart and a contrite spirit can really make a difference!

My companion and I are so similar it's crazy.  We're always on the same page and get along so well.  Even the young single adults in the ward have taken notice.  Usually when a companionship goes this well, our mission president shakes them up, so we really hope that doesn't happen.  I'd like to keep a companion for longer than 6 weeks if possible.  My companion is nervous that he'll be made a Zone Leader at the end of this transfer.  So keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't happen.

Castle Rock Up Close

So today I'm in Castle Rock again.  The other Elders in our District had to come up here for a doctor’s appointment and since its P-Day we figured we'd ride up with them and spend the day up here.  Plus, we get to save on our miles for the month.  We're limited to how far we can drive in a month and whenever we can save on miles we do it.  So we'll probably play sports up here.  I love playing volleyball.  I found out I'm not terrible at it and play pretty decently so it's pretty fun!

We got a list from our Ward Council of people they want us to start visiting and we've been going down that list this week contacting them and trying to schedule times to meet with them.  We were only able to get in contact with one of them which was sad.  We met with him after church and got to know him a little better.  Hopefully we'll get to talk to the rest of those people!

Thank you all so much for being so supportive.  I love hearing from you all.  I love serving the Lord and know I'm right where I need to be.  Please send the Stephen's family my best wishes.  You're in my thoughts and prayers.  I love and miss you all so much.  Have a great week and I'll talk to you soon!

5 Things that made me Smile:

1. Hearing the great news about our investigator from my last area.

2. My companion had to take a sick day this week (vomiting) and so I got most of the apartment really clean during that time.  It's nice to live in a clean home!

3. I got a letter from Ashley Fogleman this week.  It's good to hear from a friend back home!

4. We had two dinner appointments this last week.  Both of them were with the same family in our bishopric.  They're amazing cooks so I'm glad they're willing to feed us!

5. The YSA is just so much fun.  The people are great and I love serving here.

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater

Daylight Savings Time, Oops Late For Church - Week #32

Hello from the Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission

Gotta love Daylight Savings Time!

Hey everyone!  So I got some not so good news this week, my Drivers License is pretty much permanently lost on a Military Base.  Unless one of their workers finds it and turns it in there's nothing I can do.  So, hopefully I won't need to drive anytime soon!  I did get some good news this week.  An Apostle is going to be visiting our Mission.  They haven't announced who it will be but they'll be coming in May.  I'm so excited; I was really hoping an opportunity like that would happen while I was here.  My companion, Elder Guerrette, is convinced he's coming to tell us about when we will get our iPad's.  For his sake, I hope he's right.

So our ward has a lack of investigators, which means that most of our time is being spent finding people to teach.  We really rely on referrals from members in our ward because tracting for a Young Single Adult ward isn't all that practical.  "Hello!  We're the Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are there any members of your family between the ages of 18-30 who are interested in hearing our message?"  Don't worry; we probably wouldn't say something like that.  We're here to teach everyone, we just like to joke about it.

Do We Really Get More Daylight?

So Daylight's Savings got the best of us yesterday.  We got up, got ready for church, and were studying expecting to leave around 9:15 for Ward Council, only to discover it was actually 10:15 and we were an hour late.  Our Bishopric thought it was funny and figured that's what had happened to us.  I wish we had known about it beforehand.

I forgot to share this story last week but I thought it was pretty sweet.  During our fast and testimony meeting last Sunday the Bishopric had asked my companion, Elder Guerrette, to share his testimony and introduce himself to the ward.  When he got up to speak, he started off by saying "I'm going to bear two testimonies today".  He shared his first testimony as a missionary.  After he finished, he pulled his name tag off and started his second testimony with, "Hi, my name is Josh, and I come from a broken family, but my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ will always be there for me."  It was really sweet and everyone came up to us to introduce themselves and compliment him on his words.  Sometimes, especially in the ward we're serving in, people can forget that Missionaries are real people with real trials and real testimonies.  If we work together, we can invite others to receive that Eternal joy of an Eternal family.

As I said before, we don't have many people we're working with so this week has been pretty slow.  But we've got a couple plans for this week to help keep us busy and working hard.  Whoever they are, if they're ready to learn and they live in the Colorado Springs area (between the ages of 18-30 of course) we will find them!

I'm glad to hear you're all doing well!  It's always great to hear from you so keep writing!  I have to keep things short today since we're headed out soon so I will have to send pictures later this week (they take a really long time).  I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers!  They're definitely helping, and I can notice a difference!

God is Great!

Elder Gillingwater