When I Get Drafted

San Benito "Resaca City"
it was a crazy few days at the beginning of the week, drove to the valley for transfers, pretty sad leaving messinger but im now with frandsen. he is from Lehi Utah and also a big swimmer, he wants to be a dentist and he loves cars and candy hahah. he's honestly a blessing from the lord, this area is amazing. we went to this active members home for dinner my first day and i almost cried.. literally.. they asked me to say the prayer and i got all nervous for some reason. I guess its been a while since ive been around a family like that.. i cant even explain it.. it was awesome. being in beeville is like living in a tent with barely enough water each day, coming here was like a culture shock lol but its awesome!! theres just elder frandsen and i and then 4 sisters in our district and we all live in san benito the rest of our zone is up north. we drive a car, i really miss riding my bike (stephanie). we visited this guy who just casually told us about how his weekend was and how he snorted some coke and had a seizure,, he took it as a sign that he is getting old lol.. San Benito is a trip and he came to church on sunday!! this place is called resaca city cause there is a big resaca in the city, its just a body of water, thats it lol. we had this bomb lesson with a family come to find out they knew where beeville was cause they were sent to prison there. you know the people here are great and very welcoming. theres lots of santa muerte and weird encounters we've had since ive come here. frandsen said that he has never had so much of it until i got here and also the amount of food that is coming our way. miracles on miracles!! we had a media referral for a women that wanted a book of mormon so we went over saturday and met her. her name is georgina and we talked to her and gave her the book and then bam! she came to church the next day and loved it!!:)
so we've been running around to meet peeps and members and then while going around we got a crazy angry phone call from a member and her investigator boyfriend and it was all crazy, drugs were mention and long story short we saw her later that night and she kneeled before the lord and poured her heart out it was great! everyone has their struggles. and its important that you know where to turn to. my compa has this thing where he knocks down wasps nests as part of doing a good turn daily. lol we stopped by this members house and they had one lol. it was hilarious.
Isaiah 48:10 look it up!!
found out Shemone and Samia were baptized in Beeville on sunday. super sweet!! messinger called me and we talked about it for a bit. the mission is the best!!

send letters yo, missionaries love letters.
Elder Raul Gonzalez
200 W La Vista Ave
McAllen, TX 78501-2131

Big House Burger if you ate the whole thing it was free, if not you had to pay..

i had to pay:/

Elder Sierra and i, he's a stud!!

Final Beeville branch FHE, the man in black is Louie

San Benito Dream

Elder Seth Anderson went home this last week:/

the only swimming we can do

dem rims doe

so sick lol

Franny

mission dream (blessings)

old resaca.. cool right?

pre wasp smack 

lol these are all over here

Give Me Fuel - 3/20/17

first things first we got a call last night before we went to bed and i found out im being transfered to San Benito in Harlingen. its about 3 hours south of Beeville, we honeslty couldnt sleep at all last night it was no bueno. change is weird but its good for you hahah.

we went out to visit pebbles and another potential family and got rejected, so sad. weighed myself and found out im 165 im losing weight for some reason even though we eat like 5-6 times a day. we've been working a lot with the non member husband of a very active women and he's coming around. its so awesome to see how just loving someone being there for them can go a long way. we went out to Berclair after district meeting to visit this mansion that someone told us about, the Berclair mansion was built in the 20's by 5 sisters and they were all single and lived in there together. the town of Berclair is a small town very very small town. we went by to visit the a counselor and his wife. we kinda felt that they always were just pushing us away and never wanting to be around us for some reason.. well we swung by their house and they were there and so we did some service for them and ate their extra food and the wound was healed. miracles do happen guys! you see a lot of weird things. we came across this man walking down the street, he just got out of jail and was carrying a dead hawk. it was pretty strange and then we were riding our bikes down another road and we saw a deer carcass.. pretty weird but its beeville. we also found out my old comp Elder Gunderson is coming back to the mission tomorrow!!:) yay!! we also met this cool guy named Jason and he accepted a baptismal date and had another visit with Manuel, we are really trying to find more and do all that we can. what matters most to you? the mission is so awesome we were having dinner a a members house and just remember the first time we ate there when we got to beeville. theres a purpose behind everything. idk what else to say other than a change of heart is forever life changing. what more can i do, what more can i give. i once had an interview with presidente torres and during the interview he threw his hands in the air and said that people think he's crazy and that its true " i am crazy" there will always be opposition. Lamen and Lemuel thought their father was a visionary man, he was a prophet of god. life is good involve the lord more in your life. there was this quote that i read in the teachings of joseph smith that i liked and it said " The faithful do not murmur in affliction, but are thankful for God's goodness" just keep that in your mind and heart. also we had to go to corpus for Messingers bike and we stopped by portland on the way back. I miss being with my papi (Anderson) in portland

Berclair Mansion

Inside

The Sisters

Shemone and Samia

Portland

Kite boarders and refinery

Dream home 

 Portland again 

 triste im leaving 

 Bro Cherry's baby 

 Orale 

 Most Sick member!!

the walk from the church to our apartment 

 Beeville art museum 

 crusin down washington

Soul Sacrifice - 3/13/17

we've been having bomb lessons with The Squad. (Shemone, Sequoia, Eric and Samia) They are awesome and they were all interviewed and passed! we also went by Lorenzo and he was jamming out to some corridos. what a great guy. we found this guy named Ray, and a member texted us saying they met their new neighbors and invited us over to eat and meet them! yay!! member work! lets go!! we did our usual service at the Scotts and helped the Cervantes do some genealogy. they are excited to find out about their ancestors. Hmno Vasquez from Ed Couch was up here he is the counselor down in Weslaco. he was working up here and it was good to sit down with him eat and just hear how things are going. this one night after a day of set things it was now 8pm and we had no set plans. so we set out to find. knocked a few doors. we placed a book of mormon then finally we turned down a street we've never been on. see this house and go to it. thanks to the spirit, we knock the door and this guy opens up we have some small talk and then he lets us inside. they are the Massey family. come to find out theyve been to the LDS church before in Alamo texas but moved and lost contact. the son (John) believed that God would soon send another prophet to guide the people here on earth.. we taught the restoration and it was one of the most spirit filled lessons. Heavenly Father is merciful. we had a zone conference and we talked about The Law Of Sacrifice. Change your heart and your mind will change. we also learned about the deep symbolism about the tabernacle in 1 Samuel. its kinda crazy how we as a district had just watched a animated bible video about Samuel and then in zone conference we talked exactly about the video we just so happened to watch. the mission is like a burn offering to the lord. what are we willing to give to him. an offering like Abel, or Cane.
we came home at the end of the meeting and made a list of what we would give as a "burnt offering". we put a variety of things on our separate lists but i know the lord will provide and lift our burdens as we continue in his vineyard. Stand strong like Nephi and dont let opposition push you over. the spirit has filled my heart in the exact moment opposition tries to run over. im so thankful for the tender mercies from the lord. we are also focusing a lot on staying loyal to Jesus Christ, keeping your focus on the mission and not being a ramera. our mission president told us, if you cant be loyal to jesus christ what makes you think you can be loyal to your wife or husband in the future.

we had stake conference this weekend it was awesome to see all the old Portland homies. Eric was baptized after!! andale!!!! whooo!! we are honestly so grateful to be instruments here in beeville and just in general thankful for the blessings the lord has given us. we found 3 potential families. Met this woman named Pebbles we are going to start teaching her and her family. Pebbles reminds me so much of my sister Mica. The way she talks, they sound the same. Before we left i said.. Pebbles did you know youre awesome.. we could see the spirit in her eyes she was so happy.. and we are super excited to visit them. I really love my sister Mica. honestly visiting people i really try to instantly think of them as my friends or family members. it just helps me love them even more. but yeah my sister Mica is awesome! we'd always talk about our days and just be homies. i really cherished the letters she would send me updating me on my family and really helping me endure. it made me cry reading her testimony and just seeing how much she appreciated our talks. She's a genuine friend i'll always have. I know she's rooting for me and all the other missionaries out here. give her a big hug for me if you ever see her. I know God lives and everyone has a purpose. I literally know without a doubt.. I feel like im living in a dream.. everything is so great, even the hard times are great! im so grateful for this opportunity. I strongly invite all that are able to go, to go on a mission. you'll never regret it.

getting their new pros shoes

Eric and Rambo

work in progress

Eric was so pumped!!

The Squad

Pre Splash

Por Ti Volare - 3/6/17

went out to the driving range last pday, it was a pretty good bonding moment lol. during that day i was sitting at my desk just praying in my heart while i was looking over some things and for some reason i felt , idk like as if the spirit was gone and i was just talking to heavenly father telling him that i truly just want to do whats right. thats all.. well in that moment i looked at my companion and had the craziest deja vu and since then ive had it a lot. i know our heavenly father never leaves us, even though sometimes it feels like we are all alone and you pray and you feel that nothing is helping. I feel that is when our heavenly father trusts us most. he trusts to make the right decisions regardless if the spirit prompted us. we all have our agency to do whats right so take action and do whats right. He trusts you. we were sitting in our room folding our clothes at the end of the night and deja vu hit me again.. i wanted to cry cause it was something i had a dream about. I know God lives. He is so merciful and we are so weak but through Him we can be made strong. Im super thankful for such a willing companion to work things out. you always hear stories of missionaries fighting and not agreeing with things and their unity is just awful. if it wasn't for open communication and just humility we both probably would've killed each other by now. Messinger is one of my best friends.
On wednesday we were at the scotts doing service. messinger had to climb on the roof of the great and spacious building to spray some rain guard... well while we were there we got a text from the APs telling us they wanted us in Mcallen thursday morning at 9:30am and that we would spend a day and a half in mcallen. so we live 3 hours from mcallen so we prepare everything to leave early that next morning. oh we also sang at a nursing home, it was pretty depressing but it was good hahaha. we then visited michelle to help her prepare to be baptized on saturday. the next day we got up super early to make our way to MLC in mcallen. we get there and it was awesome to see Barnett and other mission homies. President gave lots of good trainings that really changed my life, idk it was just a spiritual overload! that evening we all got directions and we blitzed Mission Zone, messinger and i went out and found some dope people, we met this historian that has been looking to read the book of mormon, and we found other families. it was so fun just being in a random part of the mission following the spirit. we literally knew nothing of the area. then we spent the night in the APs house with the harlingen leaders. the next morning we had a dodge ball tournament, zone vs zone. SINTON ZONE won!! we won 2 pies haha it was a slaughter and even presidente Torres played. well at the end of mlc we were waiting for the truck we came in to come back because the office took it to the shop to get the TIWI fixed. well we waited forever then finally at 4pm it came and then TIWI fell off so they told us to go back to the shop to fix it. we went back and it took 2 hours to fix it and just remember we had a 3 hour car ride to get to beeville. well after it was done we started heading for the freeway and just as we are about to get on.. the TIWI falls off.. so we turn around go to the shop and its closed:/ orale!! so we are told that we are going to have to spend the night and go to the shop in the morning. while this is all going on we are trying to get someone to go interview Michelle.. we thought we were going to be home.. so we are figuring stuff out and meet up with the APs. they then drop messinger and i off in a neighbor hood to go visit a potential. so just remember we literally know nothing about anything all we have is an address and the spirit. on the way to the address we come across this guy who was outside, super cool guy that was interested and then we make our way to the potential. knock the door and this lady opens it, cant really hear us and then we hear someone say "close the door" so then the lady slams the door and we are like well alright whatever, so we leave and the APS were going to pick us up so we walk to the meeting point and and its like 9:25pm and just as we get there we start talking about the day and what we could change and then a cop car pulls up and turns on his lights and gets out, and then a camera guy gets out with him. we both start laughing cause we have no idea whats going on. like where did you come from.. haha and then the cop asks us what we are doing, i look at messinger like is this guy serious.. well officer we are just here waiting for our ride. the guy was pretty chill and we asked if we were going to be on the show COPS cause he had a camera guy with him so maybe, but then 2 more cop cars show up and theres lights everywhere and people are coming out of their houses and im just like man where are those APs cause we need to get out of here haha everything was fine, the cops had just gotten a call that there was people knocking on doors asking the people inside if they were home alone. it was crazy hahah. later that night we find out that michelle passed her interview and she was super pumped!! well we finally leave the valley saturday morning close to noon. and on the way up we get a text from michelle saying that she doesnt want to get baptized anymore and just wants nothing to do at all. come to find out she got anti-ed pretty hard, like way hard!! ooohh el diablo. it was a crazy way to come home!! :/ later that night we were reading in first nephi in the chapter where his bow broke,well after nephis bow broke his brothers murmured and were all grumpy at him..and nephi kept a good attitude and made a new bow and asked his father where he should go to hunt.. and that literally was us.. man our main plan just went out the window.. we asked heavenly father where should we go to find those people who are prepared.. and last night we were headed to the hospital to visit a couple members that are in there and we stopped at this street and this pitbull kept barking and barking and then this guy opens his door and says hey give me a minute, comes out and just talks to us and wants us to come back.. ahh it was such a blessing. there was this story that i came across that i want to share with you guys.. ahh its good.

3 Nephi 5:13
"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life"

On one occasion during a severe storm, a ship was in distress, and a rowboat went out to rescue the crew of the fishing boat. The waves were enormous, and each of the men at the oars had to give all his strength and energy to reach the unfortunate sailors in the grim darkness of the night and the heavy rainstorm.

The trip to the wrecked ship was successful, but the rowboat was too small to take the whole crew in one rescue operation. One man had to stay behind on board because there simply was no room for him; the risk that the rescue boat would capsize was too great. When the rescuers made it back to the beach, hundreds of people were waiting for them with torches to guide them in the dreary night. But the same crew could not make the second trip because they were exhausted from their fight with the stormwinds, the waves, and the sweeping rains.

So the local captain of the coast guard asked for volunteers to make a second trip. Among those who stepped forward without hesitation was a nineteen-year-old youth by the name of Hans. With his mother he had come to the beach in his oilskin clothes to watch the rescue operation.

When Hans stepped forward his mother panicked and said, “Hans, please don’t go. Your father died at sea when you were four years old and your older brother Pete has been reported missing at sea for more than three months now. You are the only son left to me!”

But Hans said, “Mom, I feel I have to do it. It is my duty.” And the mother wept and restlessly started pacing the beach when Hans boarded the rowing boat, took the oars, and disappeared into the night.

After a struggle with the high-going seas that lasted for more than an hour (and to Hans’s mother it seemed an eternity), the rowboat came into sight again. When the rescuers had approached the beach close enough so that the captain of the coast guard could reach them by shouting, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called vigorously against the storm, “Did you save him?”

And then the people lighting the sea with their torches saw Hans rise from his rowing bench, and he shouted with all his might, “Yes! And tell Mother it is my brother Pete!”

its time to think outwardly and not inwardly and consider what our heavenly father wants of us. i know God lives and the more you disobey the more miserable you will be. be happy and do whats right and your happiness and peace in this life will forever increase.

Drive

Punk Rock Bowl

Scotts Great And Spacious Building

Woop

Pozole (my favorite)

MLC games

Pre Blitz

Barnett and Valdeezy (I miss my son so much:/)

the Torres graveyard, bikes of missionaries sent home.

Camera guy

Cop

Kerplunk - 2/27/17

well.. we were visiting Alicia and her nieces and nephews, well the cable guy was fixing some stuff in the living room where we were all sitting and we taught the kids how to pray and they all prayed.. near the end it was just a Q and A and then we looked at the cable guy and asked him if he had any questions..... he then went off on asking the most solid questions one after another and Alicia was testifying and everything.. the spirit filled the room it was amazing and the sister missionaries are now working with him. something came to my mind during this week and its "always be a nice dog willing to learn new tricks" as the mission goes on some people get into a routine of things and almost have a mental break down when opposition comes their way. try new things. the Lord always provides a way. i went on an exchange with elder mcloughlin in Robstown.. and wow that was an adventure. its ghetto and reminds me of Mercedes. we had a few lessons in spanish and honestly those lessons made me super happy cause we never find anybody that speaks spanish in beeville. while on that exchange i got a call from my companion. im not sure if you guys remember but a few months ago messinger and i were working with a couple named Michelle and Charlie and they progressed and wanted to be baptized but they werent married.. and then lessons slowly fell and so we dropped them.. well messinger got a call from her of michelle saying " hey guess where we are at? we are at the court house and we just got married. come over tonight" so messinger went over and they want to be baptized and they came to church on sunday ahh it was such a miracle!!:) the next day there was a funeral for the sister that passed away. the whole sacrament room was filled there was well over 100 people. messinger and i were just imagining how crazy itd be if there was this many people at church. it was really sad though and reminded me a lot of my grandma passing away, i almost wanted to cry but i know my grandma and the sister are doing great things!! i really am grateful for the plan of salvation. on saturday it was a crazy busy day. we went out to the scotts to help unload 500 sheets of drywall into their house they are building.. 500 SHEETS!! it was a little tough but fun! that took a while, we then came home and got ready for the baptism of MARIAH, ISAIAH and ANGELINA. Isaiah is 11 and has down syndrome..i sat in his living room and went over on what was going to happen in the baptism and after i was kneeling down show him..he just gave me a huge hug. he was just so happy and excited. while he was waiting to be baptized he gave his sister Angelina a big hug after she was baptized.. so precious. they are so great! our bodies were beat from the drywall. i just hope and pray to continue enduring in the spirit doing all we can. on sunday the Cervantes family was all confirmed together! to be honest it was my first time confirming someone. i always had my sons do it before so they could experience it as a greenie. But it was such a great experience. Im so grateful to have been a part of it. later Moises the father got the priesthood.!! do things out of love.

I didnt know Beeville could be beautiful.

this is Rambo

giving Haygen a fade again

the boys

:D

YAY!!

Issac

pre bautismo

look at all those sheets

mejor amigos

also dont be surprised if in every picture you see that elder messinger and I are wearing the same tie. we have been wearing the same one for the past few weeks until someone says something about it hahaha.