Part 2 - Week 2

Wow what a week. We had quite a succesful week and it went by fast and was great! 

Ill start with a couple funny things. Elder Cardenas is super skinny and he wants to get big. I gave him a few excersises he could do. The next day he was bugging the crap out of me and Elder Flygare. We got back that night and he asked what he can eat to get bigger. I told him my secret is... grapes... he went out and bought literally five pounds of grapes and he just pounds them down every night hahahaha I constantly laugh while watching him eat grapes but he has no idea why hahah

So this week was succesful because we taught 41 lessons in one week which was the most in the mission this week! We worked super hard and it felt great. We had 9 investigators in sacrament meeting and are teaching FIVE different families right now who ALL have super awesome potential and are progressing. Truly incredible. I am sad that changes are next week and theres a very small chance Ill be here to watch them progress. But theyre all pretty amazing. 

One mother in particular has been an investigator for quite a while now. We were teaching her this week and I felt inspired to tell her the conversion story of my dad. He took a long time to commit to baptism because he felt he needed to know every single thing about the gospel before he was baptised. There was apparently even a picture of him in the mission home and under his picture it said ¨Baptise this man and go home two months early¨. Haha! Then a senior missionary couple started teaching him and the elderly man told him although hed been a bishop and had held multiple different callings, he was still learning something knew every day about the gospel. He was then baptised soon after. I told her that story and she committed to baptism. Pretty special. 

My scripture I wanted to share this week was Alma 5:60 ¨And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you and if you will hearken unto His voice he will bring you into His fold, and ye are His sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you...¨ I love this scripture. Although at times in our lives we may feel far from our Heavenly Father, he is always calling out to us with open arms. He is our shepherd and we are His sheep. The bible says ¨what shepherd having 100 sheep would not leave the ninety and nine to find the one that is lost.¨ If you are lost, he is searching for you. Ive experienced this in my own life many a time. Especially in this last year or so. He loves you and will always be ready to accept you back into His fold if you seek after Him. 

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Gurksnis

Back in Guatemala...

Welp! Im back. Crazy to be back after being away from Guatemala for over one year. First let me just say I´m doing great! I love being back in the mission. It´s really an incredible feeling.  My spanish is all coming back and I already feel almost back to my normal mission self.

President Crapo thankfully put me in a trio with two zone leaders Elder Flygare, who is my buddy from the MTC who is going home in two weeks, and his companion Elder Cardenas.  Our area is called ¨Quatro de Febrero¨ which is the name of the main colony we work in.  We have seen so many amazing things already.

The first couple days were some of the hardest days ever to be honest. I was a little homesick, but the anxiety I had from doing a complete 180 of my daily life was insane. I´ve never had anxiety before or stress like that and it was almost unbearable. The mission is already so different from normal life, plus a lot of the things I remembered about the mission had changed. The way we work and the weekly routine. Not drastically but it was just another thing that was different and made it more difficult. I definitely thought at one point that there was just no way that I could do this.

Wednesday night I prayed so hard. I just prayed that my head could clear and I could focus again on what I came back to finish and what I am to accomplish as a missionary. I prayed that I could leave all of my personal problems and focus on the people that I was suppose to be serving.  It was difficult, but then I read in the Book of Mormon Alma 7:11-12 ¨And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind. And this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people... That he may know according to the flesh how to succor (comfort) his people according to their infirmities.¨ 

Although those first 2 or 3 days I felt as if no one could really understand what I was going through, it was then that I realized, again, that the Savior always knows our pains and afflictions. He understands them better than we ourselves understand them. I woke up Thursday morning and all the anxiety and stress was gone. I felt totally back to normal and accustomed to the mission again.  I was honestly maybe the most thankful that I have ever been in my life, that God answered my prayer. 

There´s honestly so much I want to share with you all.  But my time is limited so I´ll end with one last spiritual thought.  I read this week as well in Mosiah 15.  Verses 7-8 prophecy of the Atonement and Crucifixion of Christ. It says, ¨Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up by the will of the Father... and thus God breaketh the bands of death...¨  

Jesus Christ did not want to suffer the pain that he suffered.  He asked His Father to ¨let this cup pass from me¨.  But he says ´nevertheless not my will, but thine be done´. One thing that I feel I can be proud of in these past few years is always trying to do what the Lord wants me to do. I knew how difficult it would be to come back but I know doing what I want to do isn´t how I become closer to my Heavenly Father, but by doing His will for me.  

I love Him with all my heart. And I know this year will be tough at times, but I know 100% that this is where I´m suppose to be. I can´t wait to continue to see the miracles that will happen in this next year.  I know this church is true with every ounce of my being. I know I am on the Lord´s errand doing His work.  I love you all with all my heart! Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Gurksnis

Some quick family pics before Elder Gurksnis headed out.

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!