Mission Pics

Elder Gurksnis

Limon, Guatemala

Watching General Conference.

Long and rough week.

Somewhat of a long and rough week this week.  I'm struggling with my companion.  I'm trying to teach him what I need to teach him as a trainer but he doesn't want to learn anything.  It's just really frustrating.  And he's just  rude with people to the point where Dianna (my mom in the mission) isn't going to cook lunch for us anymore and where a lot of members have stopped working with us. 

Another tough thing was we had planned this big ward activity to do family trees for their family history and about 30 people had commited for sure to come but not a single soul came.  After paying like 60 quetz of my own money for supplies and planning a ton that was really super rough. 

As well as basically the ward here… I miss the leaders I had in my ward at home!  They are loving and supportive and sometimes it's very different here.  Ughhh its hard not to be negative but it's frustrating.  

But I read an article my mom had sent me a while ago that reads basically that the church is lead by all volunteers (we don't have a paid minister or anything… all the leaders volunteer their time).  They are imperfect men and women. Except His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, God only has imperfect people to work with.  It must be frustrating but He deals with it.  Therefore, so should we....

I really took that to heart and am really trying to apply it.  I feel like I've thought of some good ideas and revelation to start this week to help this ward.  Trying to stay positive this week so it can all work out!  

On a better note, I was able to baptize M on Saturday.  He has made a complete 180 degree turn in his life.  It's amazing to see how the gospel is changing him.  

Love you all

Elder Gurksnis

 Notice the difference in M's countenance!  This is before.

This is at his baptism.  So amazing how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes people.  Sometimes you can see it just by looking in their eyes.

 MTC district reunion at Elder Anderson's conference.

Missionary food.  Don't be jealous.

God Never Let's Go

Welp, a decent week.  We had the chance to baptize Armando who is the son of Paty and brother of Dalia and Aura who were baptized with Elder F and I.  He's really really autistic and has a lot of problems so we didn't know if he really needed to be baptized.  But we realized he knows the difference between good and bad so he was baptized Saturday.  

This coming Saturday, we have the baptism of M!  He's an ex alcoholic who drank every single day but since the very first day we visited him he hasn't had a single drink.  Truly a miracle.  We also have some solid other investigators who we've been teaching but M this week!

This week on Wednesday we'll get the chance to hear from the apostle Neil L. Anderson in a conference for just our mission.  I'm pretty excited!  This morning we were in a meeting for all the newbies and so I had to go with my comp.  It was something with signing a visa or something. A man walked in and told us that Elder Anderson had just arrived and it was pretty funny to watch everyones eyes and how fast their hands opened their backpacks to get their scriptures out lol.  

Ive been reading a lot about the atonement of Jesus Christ lately.  Something I read in a talk from David A. Bednar is that sometimes we make the mistake of thinking the atonement is only used to make bad people good.  But just as equally it's used to make good men, better.  Although a huge crucial role of the atonement is to help people really turn their lives around, those already walking in a fairly straight path need it just as equally to progress and learn to become more like Christ.  I encourage all of you to learn and take advantage of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ has made for each of us.  Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Gurksnis

p.s. Read this great story.

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.  In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door and flew into the water not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.  His mother was looking out the window and saw the two as they swam closer and closer together.  In utter fear she ran toward the water yelling to her son as loudly as she could.  

Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother.  It was too late.  Just as he reached the dock, the alligator reached him.  The mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs.  An incredible tug-of-war began between the two.  The alligator was much stronger than the mother but the mother was much too passionate to let go.  A farmer happened to drive by and, hearing her screams, grabbed his gun, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.  

Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived.  His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal.  On his arms were deep scratches where his mother’s fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.  The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma asked if he would show him his scars.  The little boy lifted his pant legs.  And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, “But look at my arms.  I have great scars on my arms too.  I have them because my mom wouldn’t let go”.

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars too.  No, not from an alligator or anything quite so dramatic, but perhaps the scars of a painful past.   Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret.  But some wounds are because God has refused to let go.  In the midst of your struggle, He’s been there holding on to you.  He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way.  Sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations.  The swimming hole of life is filled with peril and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack.  That’s when the tug-of-war begins.  If you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful.

Tradition - Burning a tie at 6 months

Austin Family!  The ties are gorgeous and I've already eaten all the trail mix!  You guys are awesome!

6 Months

Cha boi is at 6 months today!  I'll be sure to send some pictures of me burning the tie tonight.  Fastest 6 months of my life that's for sure!  I can't imagine how everyone says it goes by faster after a year because this time has gone by unexplainably fast.

Welp we had a really solid week this week!  Mariela was an investigator who will be baptized this coming Saturday and was really struggling. Long story short she is going to be baptized although her mom is going to kick her out of the house and she has no job or no money and a 6 year old to take care of.  Imagine the faith that she has in order to move forward and get baptized.  That's pretty incredible.  She now has something lined up but regardless she's an incredible person.  

We also put baptismal dates with others this week including M.  M was an alcoholic who drank all day every day.  Since the first day we met with him he has completely left alcohol.  He's having many health problems right now but he's overcoming it and hasn't had a drink in 13 days.   

I kept this week short because of some other people I want to write but i continue to see miracles in this area because of the faith of some amazing people.  

Have a great week!

Elder Gurksnis

Training and Corrupting… muahahaha!

To start with my funny moment of the week I woke up Tuesday and took off my shirt to go take a shower and passed by the mirror and naturally couldnt pass by the mirror without stopping to look and I realized I had a 6 inch long stick bug taking a nap in my chest hair.  So that was a classic freak out and honestly wished there was a camera rolling.

First off, shout out to my dad who has a birthday today!  I know how lucky I am to have him as a father and he knows how grateful I am for him.  So be sure to call him or write him to say how awesome he is!  Love you pops.

Well, had my first week as a trainer!  It was different to say the least. At first when I was told last Sunday that I'd be training, I was a little worried.  But most of my worries and doubts have since left.  It's just A LOT of responsibility especially in my area.  Our ward just doesn't help us out very much.  I have a ward mission leader who hasnt served a mission.  Not much help from that department.  I have a class to teach every Sunday on my own as well.   With Elder F it wasnt too bad because we both were able to work together with ideas and we always had the same ideas and were good friends and were always there for each other.  But to be completely honest my companion came as a less active recent convert so naturally doesnt know much about the lessons or the mission haha.  So its difficult really having to do literally everything in our area.

At first my new comp came somewhat errogant and a little prideful (as did I and the majority of missionaries who enter the field). But after making him try to teach the majority of the lessons a few times, he realized he's got a ways to go, he humbled down a little bit haha.  Now he has a desire to learn and is studying hard so I'm proud of him!  We are different... lol.  Which again is challenging because Elder C and I were buds for the most part and Elder F and I were super tight, but I still love him and am trying to be there for him and teach him well.

So my cool experience for the week was this: so we worked our butts off this week!  Elder F and I had baptized a lot of people in our last change and had constantly looked to find new solid investigators but didn't find too many.  So our difficulty this week was finding new people.  So the end of the week we had had a ton of lessons and new investigators and we showed up to sacrament meeting and realized that none of the people that had committed to go to church were there.  I was really down... just kind of doubting myself of how I'm gonna help this area with really not much assistance... as well as train and do all this stuff on my own.  About half way through sacrament meeting I just kinda closed my eyes and said a really heartfelt prayer.  I asked to be able to feel Heavenly Father's love in that moment and be confident in myself to be able to know that I could do it.  I was almost to the point of tearing up when I said amen.  About 5 seconds later someone from behind tapped me on my shoulder.  I looked back and one of our investigators, Martha, who we weren't expecting to be there, had walked in and sat down during my short prayer.  She had this big smile and her and her son waved at me and I waved back at them.  It was honestly such a spiritual experience and I know it was Heavenly Father answering my prayers and thanking us for the work that we had put in that week.  Even though it was just two people!  I also began to be more and more thankful when I looked around and saw Fredick sitting with his girlfriend and her family who we'd been trying to activate and how awesome he has been in the last few weeks.  As well as Molly and Milagros in the pews as always continuing to endure and be some amazing converts.  As well as Kevin who got to pass the sacrament this week.  And seeing Paty and her daughters, who couldn't pay their light bill this month, filling out a tithing envelope was quite a tear tugger as well.  She is awesome.  I really didn't realize that I could do this on my own until I was asked to do it on my own this past week and I feel we did a really good job.  My prayers and my studies are now better because i have to be on my A game always. I realized how many blessings I've seen in my time in Limon as a missionary and it was just a great experience.

Well anyways I hope all you have a great week! 

Tough week of goodbyes

Hey everyone!  Short on time this week but everything's going well! Welp my time with Elder F ended all too quickly and he had a change.  He is now a zone leader outside the capital in Chiquimula :(  Really bummed because we are great friends and a super solid companionship I felt like.  We had a few rough days like any companionship but we were really great buds and I wouldn't hesitate to say he'll be my best companion in the mission.  I also had to say goodbye to Elder Turley and Elder Farr in the changes meeting which really sucked to be honest.  That's the pretty crappy part about the mission.  They were my two best buds in the mission and now they're going home and I just feel pretty limited on friends now.  I teared up pretty good saying bye to both of them because I guess I got really close to them these past months and really respect and look up to them.  But I guess that's just the mission.

So I didn't have changes but I'm now training a brand new missionary named Elder C from Puebla, Mexico!  Not really sure how I feel about it yet other than I just feel a ton of pressure.  Being with a companion that has time and experience, you both contribute equally. But now I know I'm basically going to have to do everything for our area for at least the first 4 weeks.  He came in pretty prideful like they all do lol. He's definitely not the most normal guy in the world. But I know Heavenly Father put us together for a reason and I'm going to try and train him well to be a great missionary as well as learn what I can from him.  It's a new but scary opportunity and I would definitely ask for all of your prayers to help me out! 

Anyways I love you all and hope you have a great week :)

5 1/2 months

Baptism of Paty and her two daughters.

Valentine's Day with Elder F.

"Can you help us change like we've seen our brother change?"

Welp we had a great week this week!  This past six weeks with Elder Funes have been the fastest of my life its ridiculous how fast the weeks go by.  I have a feeling that I could have a change this change and go to a new area.  We'll see.  But either way, Elder Funes and I had a lot of success together and worked super hard.  

I was reading the Liahona (church magazine) and read something i thought was funny about choosing the right friends lol.  This one girl shared, "I was trying to change my friend so much but she wouldn't and ultimately I just stopped being her friend... and my testimony grew SO MUCH!" hahah then it said "From: Margaret Denise K. Bountiful High School".  That friend just read that in the Liahona and everyone knows it's her!  haha! Like, what the deuce Margaret?? lol

Anyways... we baptized Paty and her two daughters this past saturday and it went great.  When they were confirmed yesterday Paty started just bawling and it was very spiritual and cool to see the impact the gospel has had on her life. 

The coolest thing this week really has been Fredick, who was my first baptism back in November.  He is so animated and awesome.  He goes with us every day from 3 to 7 to be with us to teach lessons so he can learn and prepare more for his mission.  We were talking about it and realized that we were gonna be on missions at the same time together and how awesome that is.  At first I didnt really know his whole story and transformation.  But he opened up to us this week and told us how he was in a gang before and everything.  Never killed anyone, but robbed and dealt weed and just a ton of stuff and I had no idea.  He has been sharing the gospel with his family and we started teaching his sisters this week.  The coolest thing was when they asked us, "Can you help us change like we've seen our brother change?"  That was maybe the most satisfying moment of my mission so far.  His sisters are freaking awesome and I have no doubt they'll be following in the footsteps of Fredick soon.  

I was reading an article this week lying in bed talking about the grace of Jesus Christ by Brad Wilcox.  Christ's suffering for our sins was more than just a big favor for us. He gave us an opportunity.  An opportunity to be able to repent and live forever in His presence.  We don't earn our way into heaven, but by living the commandments, we practice living in heaven.  If you bring a person that commits big sins with no desire to repent to church camp, would he feel comfortable?  No. He would be begging to get out of there.  It's the same with Christ in Heaven.  We need to try to be like Him.  Live like He did so that when we get to Heaven it feels like we belong there. We will be able to remember everything we did on the earth on judgement day.  How comfortable will we feel?  Will we feel excited and happy because we repented and always tried to walk the path of Christ?  Or nervous and scared because we never did.  Our job on Earth is to try our best to become like our Savior and Redeemer.  We will never be perfect as He is but thankfully He doesn't require us to be.  He just asks us to try and to do better tomorrow than we did today!  

Have a good week yall!

Elder Gurksnis

Living the gospel is not just for Sundays

Hit 5 months today!  Whatssss gooood back in the united stizates? 

We had another solid week and the baptism went great with Kevin this past Saturday.  It went great!  His aunt Dianna (my mom in the misión) and I, did a song after his baptism... a mix of Spanish and English that was super tight of "Oh My Father" (O Mi Padre).  It was a special baptism and almost the whole ward was there for it.

Me and Elder F are doing great.   He's a great companion and probably the companion I'll learn the most from in the mission.  Right now the only hard part is I'm just kind of sick of this junior comp thing and taking orders.  Its a big test of patience but I'm learning!  But that's a small problem compared to what a lot of companionships go through.  And for the most part were solid and having success.  Paty and her two daughters will be baptized this Saturday which will come up to be 6 pretty amazing converts in one change.  In our mission that's just unheard of unless it's one big family. But I'm just grateful for what we have right now and our obedience that we're striving for and the work ethic that we have together.  Because of that, when we teach, the spirit is so strong.  Every night I'm absolutely dead exhausted but I can never say "man, we could've done more today". 

My quick spiritual thought for the week.  So missionary work here is obviously completely different than what it is in the states.  The problem here is there are so many inactive members of the church, but at the same time all the active and involved ones are incredible. The amount they sacrifice for the church and how they ALWAYS put Heavenly Father first is inspiring.  So I would just leave you with a thought of, How active are you, truly? Are you truly converted to the gospel?  It's easy to go to church every Sunday.  But I've realized that's not really the meaning of being "active" in the gospel.  I went to church almost every Sunday for 19 years of my life but looking back now, I realize I wasn't "truly active" nearly enough.  Being active to me really means sacrificing and ALWAYS putting Heavenly Father first and always growing and strengthening your testimony in any way possible. Daily. Not just Sundays.

I hope everyone is doing great!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Gurksnis

Walking miles everyday and playing soccer = calves for days

Build your faith and let Him be your rock.

Another solid week.  We baptized Molly and Milagros Saturday and it all went great.  They are some super special people who without a doubt will be active for life.  Elder Funes also had permission to go back to his old area afterwards to baptize two people from his old area in zona central.  That area is so cool and its kind of like New York with all the people!  

We have also been working with Kevin who is a 14 year old cousin of Dany.  He has had a strong testimony for years but his mom hasn't ever given permission for him to be baptized and its been a long struggle in that family because she has very deep Catholic roots.  She began by not even talking to the missionaries or acknowledging them, to letting them in their home to be friends with Kevin, to interacting, to finally on Monday night, we had a family home evening with them.  We watched the Joseph Smith Restoration video and shared our testimonies with her.  Everyone was crying just because the spirit was so strong and Kevin is such a special kid.  He expressed his desire to be baptized in front of everyone.  His mom was just different.  She just had a totally different look in her eyes.  She said she was sorry for being so hard on Kevin and she just needed some time.  So this week we have two visits with her and Kevin believes that this Saturday he's gonna make a final effort and we all really have faith that it'll happen. Not only that she will give permission for Kevin but that she will begin to progress in this gospel.  On Monday night before we went over there I honestly had my doubts, but I read Ether 12:12 before we left, "For if there be no faith among the children of men, God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith."  Elder C and I had been struggling to get her to budge at all so I had my doubts, but reading that verse changed my outlook.  Elder Funes and I had faith and it was an incredible experience.  He finally had permission to just go to church this week and I know its only a matter of time before he's baptized!  

If we have faith in Christ, anything is possible.  Since the time of Christ's death, man has put so many restrictions on Him saying that miracles and prophets and visions are a thing of the past.  But I know that with faith, God can do whatever he wants to do.  I know that God loves His children living today just as much as his children before the time of Christ.  I know that He has called a prophet for us today to guide us in a time of much confusion and wickedness because He loves us and wants us to walk with Him.  I know that Joseph Smith, a 14 year old boy, saw God and Jesus Christ and restored His church on the Earth!  All because of faith.  I have faith and know that Christ lives.  Build your faith and let Him be your rock.  

Have a great week!

Elder Gurksnis

Change is Good

So this past Tuesday we had changes and my new companion is Elder Funes!  He was companions with Elder Konold before me, my buddy from the MTC.  How crazy huh?  Shoot.  I thought Elder C and I worked hard .. this guy is insane! haha We have not lost a minute of time during the day.  He's an absolutely incredible missionary.  It's been awesome because with Elder C he was just super difficult and I didn't get much say in what we did.  But with Funes we've been coming up with some awesome ideas and just working our butts off.  There's not a more committed missionary in the mission that I can promise.  haha It's a little difficult at times when he tells me that I have to say "Elder" and then the last name or can't use "vos" which is like the informal way or kind of slangy way to talk here.  Little things like that.  But I can't really say "no, your wrong" cause he's right but its a little difficult at times. He's very formal and not super outgoing during the day until we get home at night and then he loosens up a bit.  But he's a great companion and I can't even tell you how much I've learned from him just in these past 6 days.  

With Elder C I learned a lot about my personality and how to deal with people that you don't get along with lol.  But he was all about numbers and I couldn't stand it.  With Elder Funes we both have a love for our ward and for the people and we do what's right.  During the day I'm exhausted, but when we get home at night its just kind of "wow we had a good day today."  The hardest thing is not spending a lot of time with Dany and Dianna who are my family here because again we just don't waste a minute of time. But I know that we're working hard.  We had 7 investigators at church this week!  Can you believe that? We're baptizing Molly and Milagros and we have 5 other baptismal dates right now!  I've seen so many miracles this week.  We simply contacted this one girl for a few minutes and she said she would go to church.  We passed by her house at 7:30 Sunday morning to bring her and her dad said she wasn't there and had already made previous commitments.  We were somewhat disappointed. We showed up to church and there she was, in the pews waving to us.  It was amazing. Our success is incredible and I know its all because of the Lord and He's blessing us for our hard work and obedience.  I hope you all have a great week:)

Love Elder Gurksnis

How many Guatemalans can you fit on one bus?

Feliz ano nuevo!

I'm really short on time this week, so this is gonna be a short one...

New years was nuts!  There were fireworks EVERYWHERE and little mini bombs and smokers going off. It sounded like a warzone haha but it was way awesome.  Guatemala celebrates big time.

We have two new baptisms coming up!  There names are Milagros and Molly.  Milagros is the grandmother and they're pretty incredible.  Molly is the smartest 12 year old I've ever met.  Everything we teach her she just understands it and puts it into other words that not many 12 year olds could do.  I have no doubt that they will both be great and active in the church!  

I also hit my 4 month mark this past week and I can easily say that a 4 month span has never affected my life in a better way than this.  Not even close!  I love this work.  Although it's often difficult, I've matured, learned, and grown closer to my Father in Heaven!  No one is more grateful for that than I am.  

I'm worried and nervous for my new comp and what he will be like but regardless were gonna continue the work!  Hope everyone has a great new year!  Don't forget to make goals.  Spiritual goals will keep you growing closer to Christ.

Love,

Elder Gurksnis

ps. I got a package from the Smith's and a letter from my Grandma and Grandpa (Brand) today but I haven't even gotten them home yet and had the chance to open them.  But I wanted to thank you so much for thinking of me! I love you all!

Bringing a little Texas to Guatemala.

Sam's caption when he sent this picture: "Jimmerloving Gangbanger on the bus."