Anthrax 4/17/19

irst things first, Shontell the mother of The Squad in Beeville, was baptized yesterday!! AH
earlier this week elder frandsen and i were eating with a couple members and we got a phone call from a random number and it was The squad.. ah i wanted to cry they just called to see how i was doing. Shontell was the final member in their family to be baptized.
so diabetes is a very common down here. like very common and we were talking with this guy and he was explaning to us how he had a high blood sugar earlier in the day and he was waiting for it to go down. i just felt that i should ask him how high it was.. and he said. "oh it was 500" my compa and i were blown away! woah!! errrrr hold up what!!
3nephi5:13 we have been call to serve!! go get em!! we've been running around everywhere. we were talking to this women an daughter at the resaca and this random guy with sun glasses and a beard walks up and gave us 2 gatorades adn walked away. we tried to talk to him but he just left in his car. we blessed this mans haunted house and were antied pretty hard, something i learned a lot this week was the power of the spirit when its telling you to get the heck out of there. this man"healed" our investigator and was just going crazy on us it was nuts. another day we were driving to a bunch of citas and as we were driving passed the resaca i saw this woman sitting at the park alone with 2 kids, something just told me to hurry and stop the car and go talk to her and thats what we did, eeerrrr! stopped, walked casually to the park and as soon as we walked up she told us to go away, but we insisted that she take a card. she did and then she just burst into tears, we then talked about the importance of woman and mothers, and just our purpose in life. she cried and wants to come to church! what a blessing to be a part of that. we are really trying to help this branch turn into a ward and theres about a handful of priesthood holders we are working with that through some miracles in their lives have started to come back and even feel desires to come. its pretty interesting this reactivation work and just watching it happen. seeing someone that hasnt gone to church in a long time, finally come back. i jump for joy as if it were an investigator!! and thats exactly what happen on sunday!! please go to church. im grateful for my mom coming over my hair when i was a kid before i went to church.

a story just came to mind that i want to share of an experience i had when i was 16 or 17. i woke up from a nap one day and got a message on my phone that one of my favorite bands (Anti-Flag) would be coming to utah and that it was going to be Free, you can imagine how awesome that was. well the day came for the concert and of course being the only punk out of my friends i went alone, took the train and was just super pumped for the concert. i finally get there and the opening bands are pretty alright, they were utah local bands but then finally the time came and Anti-Flag was going to come on stage ahhhh i was so pumped so hyped!! immediately a circle pit opened up and there was just people going everywhere.. wells something about me is i LOVE circle pits. Anti-Flag was playing and i just jumped right in, and just having the time of my life, im jumping on peoples shoulders and everything is just going great!! well as im jumping this guy decided to go the opposite way and hit people with his shoulder... and while i was in the air, he totally got me in the gut. i lost my breath and fell to the ground, i got up to try and get out of the pit but i couldnt, people kept pushing me back in. i tried and tried and i for reals i thought i was going to pass out cause i couldnt get any air. i tried again and denied again people just pushed me back in.. and then finally i did all i could to get out, yes i had to throw someone out of the way to let me through but i made it outside finally and was able to breath... at times in our life some times we get caught in a mosh, or circle pit. we try and try to get out but nada. we are gasping for air and then you remember that you came alone.. i just want to let everyone know that there is a way out of the mosh, you have to work for it and really lean on the lord for help. but dont be the guy that just flops on the ground and gives up.., Dale Gas, you got it:) have a great week!!

Sanny B Dream

I thought it was a squashed shoe.. ended up being a squashed turtle.

Groovy, baby

golden texts

Your Problem, My Emergency 4/24/17

Amelia stepped into the waters of baptism on saturday!! it was dope and then friday night we found out that another investigator from some elders in the zone was going to be baptized on saturday so there was a bunch of people there and even quite a few investigator families.

so when i first got here i was looking over the registro at the names of the people and decided to call this brother Phipps who my compa had never met but there was a number so i thought id try it out.. well he picked up. he lives out in the middle of nowhere and we've been trying to get in contact with him so we could go over. well finally we were able to meet him in his home the first thing he said was " how did you guys find me? Ive lived here 20 yrs and you guys are the first people from the church to visit me" my heart sank and we ended up having the best time with him. found out he was baptized cause he got drafted to go to vietnam and his mother was worried for him cause he had never been baptized and so he went around trying to find a church that would let him be baptized and the lds church was the one, he's been inactive for over 40 yrs but said that we will be seeing him soon in church.

theres also this other brother, brother V who is struggling with money and we thought hey we have a bunch of canned food at our apartment we could bring it to him so he can have something to eat so we did that. the next morning we just banged on his door and ran. ahh we felt great about what we did. we visited him later in the week and he said hey do you have anything to do with some food that was dropped off at my house the other day, we didnt say anything. he said well i wanted to thank whoever it was but i cant really eat most of it.. '-' dangit haha

so we've been meeting lots of people from this street wild olive and when we go to meet them they arent at home well we stopped to go visit someone and as we were at the door we saw 4 cops come screeching around the corner and go to this complex across the street and start banging on the door of this apartment and then finally they just kicked the door down and went into the house guns blazing that was all going on while we were trying to have a lesson lol. the person in that apartment ended up not being home.

saturday was a day of miracles so it was a sisters birthday in our district and she said that she has always wanted to catch a frog.. well later that day we were out contacting and we were walking across this field and this man was walking towards us with a gas can and we start talking to him and he immediately tells us that he's been dying to get baptized, he's read the bible but he cant find anyone that will baptized him and his family.. elder frandsen and i look at him like woah.. where did you come from. he said i live on WILD OLIVE...(orale, we believe that, that is why we have been finding people that live there is so we could find him) well we taught him the first vision and church and the next day he brought his kids and wife. alright back to saturday it was like 8:40 at night we were swinging by a LA real quick and set up a time to go later and on the way to our car we found one.. a Toad.. we we grabbed it raced over to the san benito chapel cause thats where the sisters were and as we were walking up there was a woman looking into the window and we say hi and then she asked us, when are your services? i want to go. this woman is named joanna and is living with a LA and has kids yeah the next day they all came to church!! oh my goodness.. i really cant explain all of this.."eye single to the glory of god" our attendance has gone up almost 30 people this transfer and we are on the verge of becoming a ward. the work moves on with or without some people. I truly know god lives and that he is still a god of miracles through the things that ive seen and experienced here. D&C136:29
If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.
its not just something for missionaries though, anyone can see miracles. have joy and just be good and feel good. I truly know that joseph smith saw god the father and jesus christ and because i know that he was called as a prophet, i then believe that the prophets and apostles are called of God and the things that they say are to help guide us. word of wisdom, the gospel of jesus christ and the plan of salvation. Disfruta la vida.

Pan Dulce for breakfast

weakness, Golden Corral

#spotted

dinner in the sun

Amelia!!

Sanny B

You're so Vain

had some crazy pday activity last week on a ranch. but all the elders mainly played horse shoes, which is actually a really fun game. we were really trying to focus this week on finding people so we fasted and yes through the help of the lord we were able to find quite a few people but one of the most memorable ones was last night, we were still going through the registro to get in contact with people and we came across this guy named Serafin who we have never met. well he came outside to the gate where we were and he was like (in spanish) i havent gone to church in like 30 years, where is it around here, and we told him where it was and he said perfect well idk if my catholic wife will go but i'll try and go then i asked him for a tortilla and he asked, are you guys hungry, of course hermano so then he let us in and we ended up talking to his 15 yr old son named Antonio, and he was open eyed the whole time and just continued to say"this is nothing like the catholic church, this is so interesting" and so we went over the restoration and plan of salvation and he was just mind blown and just so pumped. it honestly was a miracle and we felt so blessed to be a part of that, immediatly after we said a prayer of gratitude. earlier in the week, Frandse, Luque, and Del Angel burned a tie cause they all hit their 6 month mark, how exciting!. ive been getting lots of nightmares lately and wake up in tears cause all of my dreams are me being home. its awful. so i asked my mission president if i could never go home and he said no.. ah que triste.. well we've been working a lot in Rio Hondo which is a city 15 minutes away from San Benito. we came across someone on the registro again we wanted to try, knocked the door and this older women opened and explained that her son and daughter in law used to live with her and her daughter in law and grandaughter were baptized but they had moved to san benito. she then gave us the address and started to have a lesson with her and just then, guess who rolled up, her son. ahhh it was a miracle, he gets out all pumped his name is Kenny and invited us over the next day. we go over the next day and have a bomb lesson with the family, they are the Prather family. super loving and awesome!! another miracle this week, frandsen and i went to visit a former and as we were pulling onto the street of the former i saw a lady walking her dog in her front yard and something told me to talk to her, so we pulled up and started talking and within 3 minutes she invited us over to dinner and brought out her husband to meet us! ahhh woahhhhh!!. we also got antied pretty good, it was a great week. its warming up but its still good.

Horse Shoes.

missionaries love donuts

some cup thing

we were playing prophet says (simon says) 

and of course there was candy lol

Sanny B Dream

lol ties

my hair in the morning..

6 de Septiembre

the mission is like a good book, the more and more you read it just gets more interesting and intense and crazy closer to the end. so the elders here got a bale of ties before i got here and so we had to dispose of all the ties. the back seat and truck were full it was bad. we had a bomb district meeting and i shared a story of when chris and i went to rose wood one morning to skate board, we wanted to drop into the 7 foot quarter pipe.. and we were all pumped and amped to drop in and i went first and just went right onto my stomach, it was awful and i look up and chris is just laughing his head off and crying cause it was so funny and i got up and went for it again and got it. and chris laughed the whole time and never wanted to try after seeing me fail. lol we went to los fresnos cause the sisters were having a baptism and i saw elder barnett and my grandson elder flanary. i feel like when i got here i jumped onto a bucking bronco. we are slowly taming the best. real quick. Sequoia from Beeville was baptized!! and sad news.. our bishop passed away i just found out:/ we've been seeing a lot of opposition which is good, lots of negative people and rejection. idk why but it just lights me up even more like i feel like im on fire, elder frandsen and i are having a blast!! Ive really been coming to learn how important it is to do something when youre told. the lord is so merciful. we are so blessed in so many ways. it was about 8:40pm and we were waiting for an investigator to show up for a cita and we decided to knock a few doors. we knock this door and this woman opens and right off the bat says that the missionaries visited her in the past once but never came back and invited us back over! andale!! we also had an all of a sudden mlc which was good where we talked about gratitude, patience, dont compare and amor. saturday morning we went to golden corral with the 2nd counselor bro ford and stuffed our faces before conference, oh it was wonderful. this weekend was crazy!! ahh conference was so good. being on a mission is the best! i wouldnt trade this for anything. i honestly wouldnt mind serving for another 2 years. knowing that this is the only time i can serve the lord like this makes it so much more precious each day. san benito is dope!! I know God lives and that he knows my heart, with faith you can see miracles.

lleno

mijo, y nieto

Rio Hondo museum.. lol

Resaca City

Searching for Elders

5 Months Left

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