Address

Mailing Address:
Elder Gabriel George
Peru Cusco Mission
Av. de la Cultura 2417
Frente de Urb. Santa Ursula
Capilla Mormona
Cusco, Peru

E-mail
gabriel.george@myldsmail.net



Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A Testimony that Made Our Elder George Giggle! Too Cute!!

March 30, 2015

I´m old.  That's all I can really think to say right now.  I really don´t feel any different but I feel a little different.  I 'm not making any sense, but that's okay.  It is weird to think that I have been on this earth for 19 whole years.  That's a pretty long time.  I have been thinking a lot about how I have used these 19 years, and maybe, I didn't live up to my potential for those 19 years.  I have made a vow to myself that I will be better tomorrow than I was the day before.  If I can do that I think that I could be a pretty cool, good, and handsome dude!! ;)  But really, I do want to be better tomorrow than I am today!!

This week was pretty good.  One really funny thing happened during church yesterday.  It was fast and testimony meeting and as usual, we had to go first or nobody would have gone up there.  So I went first and my compy after me.  It was really spiritual.  Then one of my favorite little primary girls got up and said, "I know that the church is true.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  Some people say that the Mormons are dumb or stupid.  But they are just a bunch of liars.  In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."  That was her testimony.  It was soooo funny and really cute.  She is 8 years old and has a pretty dang good testimony if you ask me.

Anyways, we are working really hard with a few investigators in our little ward and little branch, well, they are growing really fast.  We have so much work that needs to be done here.  The missionaries before us lost the trust of a lot of the members and we are working to gain that trust back.  And they are helping us in this great work.  They are learning that it is the work of the members with the help of us and not our work with their help.  They are learning that we leave, and that if a recent convert´s only friends are the missionaries they will most likely not be a very active person for very long.

Anyhow, I love being a missionary and love teaching the gospel.  It really is a fun "job."  I don`t have a lot of time this week, so sorry for the lame email.  It will be better next week I promise!!

Love Elder George

5 Questions Answered ♥♥

Like I have said before he is not much into answering questions.  So once in a while I will send 5 and hope that he answers.  Out of the once in a while that I send them he "once in a while" will answer!

Kelly George
To Gabriel George Mar 29
1 - When are transfers?

2 - Do you ever play the piano?

3 - Are you still getting my letters?  The handwritten ones?

4 - Would you like me to send more pictures?  If so do you want me to send hard copies in the handwritten letters or do you want me to attach them to emails?

5 - Dad is wondering if you would like us to write something different.  Do our letters fulfill your needs or do you need us to do something different when we write?

6 - Is there anything else I need to know to make your days on your mission better?

Just listening to the girls as they watch youtube and heard, Would you look at that?!?!   There is a channel called "Good Mythical Morning."  Have you seen it?  If not they can hardly wait to show you when you get home.  I have to admit they do make me laugh sometimes!


Reply, Reply All or Forward | More
Gabriel George
To Kelly George Mar 30

1. Next  Monday
2. Every Sunday in both wards - all 4 songs.  HUGE  SHOUT OUT to our beloved Sister Allen (his piano teacher)!!!
3. Yes most of them.  I am missing a few thanks to the office of the mission.
4. I like any pictures I get in letters - handwritten or in Email.
5. Your letters are the best.  And yes, I print them off every now and again.
6. I am doing really good!!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

I am Thankful For. . . .

March 23, 2015

His title for this email was WOWOWOWOWOWOW

Well I am practically 19 years old.  That is pretty old if you ask me.  All the members think that it is funny that I am still 18.  I am the 5th youngest member in one of our wards and so they all make fun of me saying that I need to go to Primary where I belong.  Sometime it can get annoying but I have just learned to laugh it all off.  This week I have decided to write of things that I am thankful for so here goes.

I am thankful for the mission.  I am thankful for Peru.  I am thankful for people here that love me and will help me out when I have a bad day. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon.  I am thankful for Idaho Falls.  I am thankful for my family.  I am thankful for my friends.  I am thankful for the Atonement.  I am thankful for friends. (The 2nd shout out to friends - - does that mean he is twice as thankful for them as he is his family?  Na!)  I am thankful for some little experiences that I have been blessed with here, like when this little girl told me that my sisters were lucky to have a brother like me (I really didn't cry that hard).  ;)  I am thankful for my Mission President.  I am thankful for the days that I can shower with hot water.  I am thankful when our phone works.  I am thankful for when the sisters in my district are in their room before 9:30.   I am thankful for when I can fall asleep before 10:30.  I am thankful for the friends that I have in the mission.  I am thankful for Puno.  I am thankful for all the letters that I have gotten. (Sometime I bust one of those suckers out on a bad day and then it isn't such a bad day I am just a little more "trunky".)  I am thankful for when our investigators come to church.  I am thankful for when our investigators read the Book of Mormon.  But most importantly I am thankful for YOU!  I am thankful for each and every one of you.  I am thankful for all the support I receive and have received.  I am thankful for the example of our Savior.  I am thankful for my practically perfect life and all the people who are part of it!!

This week was really good.  We are seeing a lot of progression in our little ward and branch.  We have a found people who are ready for this message.  So our investigator Richard, well he is my favorite.  Like I said before, he is with the police and well yeah, he is a police.  He used to just call us George and Garcia but the family who gave us the reference I think, explained to him why we are called Elder.  He thought that we were really offended and thought that we wouldn't come back to teach him.  It was kind of funny.  He gave me the most heart felt apology that I think I have ever received.  He said that he wanted us to keep teaching him and that he would call us "Elder."  We explained the importance of that title and we hope he knows that we are his friends.  But before that, we are representatives of  the Lord.  He told us that he realized that and would call us Elders.  We are teaching a lot of people of the same religion and they are tough investigators.  But I am learning so much about following the spirit.  If we follow the spirit then we will know what to say and how to say it so that they can understand.

Love Elder George

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Becoming, Goals, and A 5 Year Mission

March 16, 2014

What is new?  Not too much.  Lots of weeks feel the same, but then, when I really look back, I can see the changes.  I can see the changes for the better.  I can see the blessings.  I can see the Lord's hand, and most importantly, I can see the miracles of the Lord in my life.  I can see my testimony growing and changing.  I can see myself becoming a "different" person.  Before the mission I really didn't want to change.  I didn't want to be a different person when I came home.  In reality, I am still the goofy, silly, wild Elder George - - but a much better Elder George.  When you give your life or maybe just two years of your life to the Lord He know how to make you a better person.

This week was a really good week.  We have 4 Normas de Excelencia (Standards of Exellence - goals set by the mission president for the mission).

1% attendance impovement every month
12 Familias contacted in the streets
20 referencias
3 new familias taught every week
and 1.1 baptismos every transfer

(Sure am glad those Spanish words are so close to the English words.)

These are actually pretty big number that we are talking about.  If we could fulfill all of these, that means that you are like, well, the "perfect" missionary.  We are really trying to comply with all of these and it is harder than you think.  We will continue to try to be as good of missionaries as we can be.

We taught 4 new people yesterday.  It was a really, really, good day.  We taught a guy named Richard.  He is with the police and that makes things a little more complicated.  He works a lot but was able to come to church yesterday.  Yesterday was all about missionary work.  We, the missionaries, give talks every 3rd Sunday.  My companion gave a really good talk an the blessings of a mission.  I talked about how we can apply the gospel of Jesus Christ to our lives after baptism.  One thing that I have learned in the mission is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Anyway, before our lesson with Richard, he told us that we needed to sit down because we were going to be surprised at what he was going to say.  He proceeded to tell us that he was thinking about withdrawing from the police to go on a mission.  He was right we were surprised.  He isn't a member and he really doesn't know that much about us and he wants to withdraw and go on a mission.  This is a big decision in life.  We proceeded to explain a little bit more about the mission.  He asked if there was a option of how long because he wanted to serve a 5 year mission.  We explained a little more and he is very content about the whole thing.  He told us that he was going to make time each Sunday to go to church.  It is really amazing the power that the Sacrament has,the change it has on the hearts of the children of men,, and the faith shown by those who love Jesus.

I love you all and hope that you are having a good week.  Keep reading your scriptures and know that I am praying for you!

Love Elder George

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Hard Week - Passed Out and Conked My Head

March 9, 2014

In all reality this was one of the hardest weeks of my mission.  These are the kinds of weeks that you have to work harder than you have ever worked in your life.  Give the Lord EVERYTHING that you can possibly give.  Work so hard that you just lay down at 10:30 and think that you are going to die.  The days where you just have to think, while standing in the street, "All I have to do is put one foot in font of the other so that I don´t just sit on this curb and cry."

Anyway, in Puno, everything is calm.....  Calm, in the sense of, I am in Peru and everything is a little more crazy than America. We are always talking to dunks and that is a new thing for me.  Well, it isn't that new, I have been here for 5 months, but it is still a little weird.  Their Spanish is just different that "normal" Spanish.

So I have been reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and I got to a part that I love more than any other part of the Book of Mormon.  It is Alma 26.  Go read it.  The whole chapter!!

This week, the 3 district leaders in our zone, had a meeting with the Zone Leaders, and we just talked.  I have been having a really hard time with 2 elders in my district.  They are not super obedient.  I have been praying to know what to do.  The zone leaders explained that we are responsible for our districts and the elders and sisters in them.  It is weird how inspiration and revelation work.  It just comes.  I have also been thinking really hard about what I can do to help the district be more excited about the work.  Our number have been really low the past 2 weeks and tonight in district meeting I just don´t know what to talk about.  If you have any suggestions hit me with them.

This week, something kind of funny/kind of bad happened.  A lady in our branch needed a blessing and she called us so we zipped on over there to give her the blessing.  She doesn't have anything too bad, just wanted a blessing so that she could feel well enough to go to work today.  She asked me to give her the blessing.  It would be my first blessing in Spanish.  A little  scary for me at the time.  Everything was going good when I passed out.  I am 99.9999999999999% sure that I just had my knees locked.  She was just laughing when I woke up.  My companion was right there with her.  The first question they asked my was, "Are you ok?"  Really a dumb question.  "No, my head hurts really bad."  Haha, I just fell flat on my back.  I am all good now.  Looking back now it was something to lighten up my week.

Well that is just about it!!  LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder George
Elders Garcia and George - He didn't tell me who this family is but I love them because they are taking care of my boy.
The picture makes me happy because he looks happy!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Training and THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!

March 2, 2015

HELLO!!

Well what a week it has been here in Puno!  I sure do love Puno!  I will be really, really, sad when I get a change!  It has kind of become my home here in Peru.  It is weird how your body changes and you just start to think of this place as home.  I mean it will never be HOME home, but it is home.

So this week I went to Cuzco on Tuesday morning.  So there is my Tuesday in a nutshell - BUS!!  Haha, so ya, Tranzela is the bus agency that we use and I am starting to get to know the attendants and everything.  They are really nice people actually.  They get lots of business from the missionaries.  Every 6 week (transfers) it is a hay day for Tranzela!!

Anyway, on Wednesday, we had our training.  So at 3 in the afternoon we headed over to the office and were expecting a huge training from President.  President came and he was sick as a dog.  He looked about as bad as he felt I think, poor guy.  He had been in the hospital and the doctor told him that he couldn´t do anything.  He told us that his "children" are so important to him and that he had to at least come and shake our hands.  He is a really good man!  SO, we got our training from the assistants, and they did a really, really, good job.  It wasn´t anything like I was expecting.  They just talked about leadership.  There was really no "training".  They just explained that leadership in the church is not really leadership.  It is just being a really good example and that is how you lead. Being a leader really is just being an example.  That means that I need to be more obedient.  A more consecrated missionary.  The most important thing is I need to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

So I had to get back to Puno somehow.  Thursday was travel!!  How fun, right?  Another 8 hours on the bus.

Friday was a good day.  It was a day filled with visits to leaders and people from the ward so that Elder Garcia could get to know them.  Not very eventful really, and so I will tell you about Elder Garcia.  He is a short little guy from Columbia.  He is 21 years old and has just one change more than me in the mission.  We will finish the same change.  He is a really hard worker which I am really happy about because that is when the work goes the best.  We will try to help our two little sectors.  Haujasapata is the ward, and they are struggling a lot.  The have about 30 people come and it is just 2 big families really.  It should probably be called a family group.

Saturday we had our baptism and everything was ready to go.  We had talked to President Asqui and he said that he would get the font started in the morning and that it would be ready by 5.  We headed over to the church at about 2:30 - 3:00 to start getting the water heated up.  The heater was not working so we went to go check on the water because we figured that Franky could just be baptised in cold water.  That was not the case.  The church just didn't have water hot or cold.  There was like 5 inches of water and ya, that was the problem!
A good friend of ours who has served in Puno told me once that Peruvians
do not smile in pictures.  But I believe that both of these fine young men were very happy!

Elder Garcia is from Columbia and he has a great smile!
Elder Garcia, Franky, and Elder George - HANDSOME, HANDSOME, HANDSOME!

We ended up just having our baptism on Sunday and everything worked out.  While we were changing Franky just kept saying how happy he was and that he always wanted to feel like this.  I explained to him that he wasn't my first baptism, he was my first convert.  It is more important to have converts than baptisms.  If a person is converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ they will stay active.  That is my week in a nutshell.

Love you!!

Elder George

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Carnival vs The Celestial Kingdom

February 23, 2015

AHHHHHHH we have changes today!!  Is that what they are called in the US of A??   I actually really don't know what they are called because sometimes when I translate something directly it is really off.  But changes just mean changes.  New compies, new leaders, and lots of stress.  Well, we got a call this morning that the changes would not be in our emails but, that we would have to wait until 10ish and call the Zone Leaders, and they would have the changes.  It was a really, really, long morning!!  We waited, and waited, and waited!!  I found out that I need to work more on my patience!!  But anywho, 10 rolls around and we called, and of course, there were 10 other sets of missionaries calling, and so, we waited a little more!!  We finally got the message.  Elder Enriquez is going to Juliaca and I am staying here but I have to go to Cuzco tomorrow for training.  I am the new District Leader.  Talk about STRESS!!

Anyway this was a really wild week in our sectors.  This month there are carnivals, just not the carnivals that you are thinking of with all the cute little rides for the kids.  Nope!  Just wild parades and what not.  Kids running around with "spray"
This is the spray.  Kinda like silly string but. . . 
not really!
and water balloons.  Carnival was in our sector this week and that made it kind of hard for us to work.  We had to be really careful in the streets because there are always kids who are up on their roofs with water balloons and they think it is real funny to hit the missionaries.  But we still worked hard.
Carnival mask on Elder George
We have our investigator Franky.  He is 16 years old and really excited to be baptized.  He will be baptized this Saturday.  We've had a lesson with him just about everyday for the past 2 weeks.  He is reading the Book of Mormon and is following through with all of his commitments. He is a really awesome young man and is just the little bit of spirit that I've needed.  We have a lesson with his mom this week and we are PUMPED about that.  We always like teaching families whole, and not just one person!!  It is much better when you can teach a whole family because, when you baptize a whole family, they have the opportunity to go to the temple and be sealed FOREVER!!!

When we were in district meeting, one of the elders said, "Ya, I like to imagine my investigators in the baptismal font."  I decided that I was going to be a little sassy and said, "Ya, well, I like to imagine them in the Temple."  And then, of course, Elder Enriquez says, "Ya, in my mind, I think of them in white in the celestial kingdom!"  At first I was laughing, just thinking of it as a joke.  But in my personal study I was thinking about that.  If all missionaries had that mind set, that we are literally offering these people eternal life, not just baptism, we would really have more success.  So I have started doing that more and thinking of these people not only in the baptismal font, but in the celestial kingdom.

I have been reading Jesus the Christ and have learned so much.  It is hard to understand sometimes but the doctrine is so cool!!  My testimony of the Savior has been strengthened so much and I can see myself growing as a person.  I have a greater appreciation for Jesus and his atoning sacrifice and love for us!!

This is my week in a nutshell and I don't really have anything more.  Love you all and hope that you all have as good of a week as me!!

Love Elder George!!