Tears for Tetuanui and Tummie Troubles

Well Elder Tetuanui will be transferred out of this area in a few hours and I will receive a new companion. Elder T was an awesome companion and trainer. He was always happy, always smiling and just someone absolutely everyone loved. He was a great example and I am truly going to miss him. We have no idea where he will be transferred to until later today and I have no idea who my new companion will be. However, I did receive a call from the Assistants to the President on Saturday night and found out that I will be the Senior Companion. This will be interesting. I'm still a very new missionary. I am actually still not greenie busted and just got done with the training and now I will be a Senior Companion. It is a little humbling but I know as long as I have the faith I will accomplish all that I need to. On top of this we picked up 7 new investigators this week! It is soo soo amazing! We are teaching 2 families and a few other individuals and now it is up to me and my new companion to make sure all these precious souls gain a testimony and come unto Christ. Its a huge mantle when you think of it and I only pray that I am prepared well enough. 



Oh to my parents I have to ask. Do you know the Mochizuki's? According to them they lived downtown Farmington about the same time we did.

I had the most humbling experience on Sunday. About half-way through my 8 hours of church my stomach started to feel like a sponge being wrung out. As the class got longer and longer it got worse and worse. By the end of church I was undeniably sick. We had people to see however, because Elder T was being transferred and we needed to get him places to say his goodbyes. While we ran around It only became worse and I became very dizzy and nauseous. We got to dinner at 5 and we got into the house and it really began to get bad. The lovely family had made at my request Tortellini with Steak Sausage mixed in and home made bread. I tried to act normal and composed for as long as I could but on my 3rd trip to the restroom the father could tell that I was not ok. I came out of the restroom to the family counseling with elder T  with hushed voices if they should just make me some Chicken Soup instead. I quietly had entered the room behind the father so I just said that I would love that if they wouldn't mind and then took a seat to keep from passing out. This is when it got the worst as I sat there and the family cheerfully tried to make my soup from scratch the pain became enough that I began to cry a little. That was a little humiliating. Well they made me the delicious soup and upon taking one bite I couldn't take anymore. I was just too sick. Well The sickness lasted about 24 hours and now I am alright. I ran for 30 minutes this morning and have since ate a few full meals so It was just a stomach flu but boy do I never want to get sick like that on a mission again. Being sick when you don't have a home or a place to go to to rest is the absolute worst. Thank goodness I had good members to help me out that night and a caring companion that was prepared enough to handle it well. 

Well we have had the opportunity to teach the M family which is a part member family whom has grown to have a strong relationship with us. We taught the first lesson and they were extra receptive to it. There are just so many miracles around that family that I can't believe the changes that have occurred. We still have a great deal of work to do yes but I just have such great hopes for the family and just Love them to pieces. 

Well we have a busy day today with transfer meetings but I love you all very much. I am so excited to be a missionary I just love love love all these people and It means the world to me that the work keeps progressing. I didn't ever think I'd fall into it this deep this fast but I just don't care about anything else it seems like as much as I do that these people understand our message and are changed by the atonement of Jesus Christ and his love through the message we share. 

Peace! 

P.S. Does anyone know what scripture is on my missionary plaque? I remember someone asking me what I wanted but I was too stressed to  pick so I wondered if someone had picked for me or if it was just sadly blank?

Santa is a Polynesian

The last 3 months I feel like there is an experience I have with the Polynesian cultures around every corner. I mean my companion is from Tahiti. The ward mission leader in the Morgan Hill Ward, Brother Almodova is from Hawaii, My first Zone Leader was from New Zealand. They are just everywhere! I haven't really taken the time to explain who the character Brother Almodova is yet and would like to take the time to do so now. So as I said Brother Almodova is a Hawaiian. He is the most missionary minded member the church as EVER seen I can assure you. He works as the head of security at a high end casino a few miles from my area and he is just not afraid to do anything. At the casino he will hear someone spread a rumor about Mormons and will walk over and just correct them right there on the spot, answer all their questions and make sure they understand the correct idea of what the church really is. It is awesome. Everytime we eat at their house we also get extremely authentic Hawaiian food like "Laulau" which is pork cooked in taro and tea leaf. They keep thinking I won't like what they make but I always end up loving it. Bro. Almodova also has a real thing with me where every time we leave his house he will just laugh at me when I say by parting goodbye and kick me out his door. We still can't figure out why he does this. He's just a character. 

Well we had a very interesting and exciting week again. Just so much is happening now and things are really looking up. Tell Beau that his fasting worked cause we are surely finding people to teach! Do you remember the story of the man who was having a seizure and we helped out his wife and in result were an answer to a sincere prayer in a time of need? Well we got the family to begin the lessons with us on Wednesday! They have in the past pushed against the church every time the church pushed in the slightest that they should investigate and because of that miracle we have gained a relationship with the family and we will be teaching the wife and the 3 kids all the discussions. They've been trying to come to church but the devil is just working on them so hard. They end up all getting the flu one week or pink eye the other. This Sunday they all showed up and they looked so good and so happy and Elder T and I couldn't be happier. While I was blessing the sacrament however we noticed that there was something happening with the family as the prayer was half-way through. The husband had another seizure in church. We got a paramedic out of the congregation to check his breathing and all half-way through the sacrament and someone to watch their kids and we had them of course go home. We hope they will not become frustrated and they will continue to try. We surely won't give up on them. 

We picked up another investigator this week. It is the daughter of  a less active who unexpectedly appeared in church a few weeks ago. We went over and she has a lot of doctrinal concerns and just feels so overwhelmed by what she doesn't know that she doesn't come to church. Well we are now working with her to reactivate her and teaching her 10 year old daughter in hopes of having her baptized in the coming months. 


Well I would love to say much more but I have run out of time. You all have a very Merry Christmas and be filled with loving kindness to all around you. 

--Elder Gemperline

The spirit won't heat the water...

Hello Everyone! 

Our water heater broke about 10 days ago. I am getting so good at lighting the pilot light in the morning and taking a 1 minute still pretty cold shower. They said they would order the part but because of the holiday things have not come through as they said. Patience is a christ like attribute. Plus it gives me an excuse to sing Foreigner in the shower. It's as cold as Ice! I'm willing to sacrifice! 

I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving Holiday! It is now time to pull out all the Christmas music! My thanksgiving wasn't  too different from what I had imagined it would be. I spent it with the Perey family which is a Philippine family that was baptized back in August and whose oldest son I baptized in October. They had lots of family and friends over and there was more food than I've actually ever seen in one place I think. While eating and talking to cousins and uncles and all sorts of people I realized I was the only white person in the room of 35 people for Thanksgiving in California and was hit with a little truth bomb. It was pretty cool though.

Thanksgiving was also awesome because everyone was home! Though no one wanted to schedule us for appointments and lessons we got a hold of some people who have been avoiding us since before I even got here. We built a lot of relationships and gave out a lot of invites and even talked to many many people who were out on the lawn playing some Turkey Bowl Football. We were challenged as a district by our District leader to Tract for a good solid 30 minutes that thanksgiving day. It is NO FUN AT ALL TO TRACT. I hate it cause it usually accomplishes nothing and is extremely awkward. We accepted the challenge though and crashed into families homes having thanksgiving dinner who we had no idea who they were. No amazing stories came out of it other than just some yells of disapproval but we did at least find a potential.

I had also the opportunity this week to go on exchanges with Elder Holmes my Zone Leader. He has been out for just 9 months and is already in such a high leadership position. He is a very kind and thankful Elder and never ever leaves a bad impression with anyone we meet on the street. I learned a lot from him like how it is important that we don't think that there are lessons at all in PMG but just truths people need to understand. We created great lesson plans for people and had an amazing spirit driven study session. We made some good contacts and I am really looking to improve myself especially since I'll most likely loose Elder T in 2 weeks. Elder Holmes had a camera bag that fit his Scriptures perfectly. This morning I went out and bought the same one and am just so happy with it. I now have a small convenient way to carry around things. 

I've had some amazing sushi this week with Elder Tetuanui - King of sushi of course being from Tahiti. I will probably miss good sea food like we have here when I go back to Utah. 


I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to serve these people in Temecula California. I'm thankful for the great many people who help us in small ways each day. I'm thankful for a loving supporting family at home whom send me letters every week and a patient building companion. I am thankful for a body which is capable of doing so much and a mind that though I think is degrading in spelling, grammar and understanding the world around me is growing continuously in regards to spiritual things. I am thankful for my Heavenly Father's love. For Christ's infinite atonement that allows us to grow and become better people. For his love that I feel every day as I strive to feed his sheep. I am thankful today for the guidance of a living prophet, for the Book of Mormon and for the spirit of truth and promise. It is a marvelous miracle to be on this Earth with so many strong and valiant people who are trying to better themselves and each other and I say so in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, Amen. 

It's Christmas Time. I'm going tree hunting. 

--Elder Gemperline

p.s. put whatever pictures you want on the blog. I'm just sending back whatever the heck i take. 

Death by Hot Dog

Hola!

It sounds like a fun Thanksgiving party occurred without me in my family. I'm sorry to hear that I missed it but I'm sure things were just as happy without me. I've had enough food in the last week anyway to have me covered for 3 thanksgivings. Maybe you caught the Subject of this email? Well after writing last weeks letter I was approached by 6 other Elders in the library and they told me I needed to do the Triple Dare Fire Dog Challenge. There is a restraunt here called the Hot Dog Shoppe. It has the most delicious over priced hot dogs. Well they have a challenge where if you can eat 2 1/2 lbs hot dogs and a basket of fries plus a coke in 45 minutes the meal is free and your picture goes on the wall. Did I mention these hot dogs are cooked in Ghost Pepper powder and smothered in Javenerio (I don't know how to spell it) peppers? It was one of the hottest things I have ever eaten and I got about 3/4 done before time was up. I lost 20 bucks and don't know how I will eat for the rest of the month but it was definitely delicious and worth it. Elder Kempton who is the other Elder who did it with me was actually trying to finish and came so close to throwing up and was crying for most of the 45 minutes. It was a great bad Idea. 



I had the opportunity to meet with an Elder who had previously been in my area of Morgan HIll and Red Hawk. He asked about a family who Elder T and I are working on and when I told him that the wife had passed away and the Husband was coming to church he started crying. He was distraught to know that she had passed away but even more so he was crying tears of joy because this was the first area he served in as well and he had been offering prayers from the beginning of his mission that this gentleman would come to church and have his heart softened. He is now progressing with the lessons Elder T and I have with him, slowly, but it was an answer to this Elders' sincere prayers and it was touching to see this first hand. 

It's been a rough transfer. All our appointments are always falling through almost no matter what we do. We attribute it to the time of the year but there has to be more. We continue to try our best to work with the members to get friends and people we know of to church and to take the discussions. We have a lot of people standing on the almost there cliff, it is just a matter of seeing who will fall first. We got a call earlier this week that we will be receiving 80 more missionaries in the next few months and my area will be split in 2. This will definitely give each ward the individual focus it needs. Elder T and I always make the joke no man can serve to masters and no missionary can serve 2 wards. As a result of this influx of missionaries however, we are desperately looking for housing. The lord will provide a way. 



The other day we walked into a scheduled Recent Convert lesson with a family and we walked into a house with 30 people shooting each other constantly with nerf guns, literally screaming around corners and jumping off the balconies of the giant 3 story home trying to get each other out and hit each other with nerf swords and axes and everything imaginable. It was clear we weren't going to get a lesson in so I played on their extremely nice hand made Ukulele for 30 minutes. It was really the only relaxing part of the entire week. It is very disappointing to not be teaching as much though. We are trying our best and still helping some people have better lives in the small things we do though so I feel good at the end of the day. 

I love you all and hope you continue to find joy in what you love. 

Elder Gemperline

I will Go I will Do

I have this thing with having too many things in my pockets, especially when wearing slacks. The keys to the car have this giant clicker button to lock and unlock the car and I always hate having to carry around a large set of keys. Well I decided early in the week to take the clicker off and keep it in the apartment and just carry around the key. It was a great Idea until we locked our keys in the car. We got a ride to the apartment 6 miles away from the people who we had just eaten dinner with which was very kind of them and broke in through the windows of our apartment. Fast forward 2 days and Elder Tetuanui and I find ourselves looking through a locked window at keys sitting on the floor of the car yet again. Boy I think I need to pick up my marbles. Twice in one week. Never again. On a more serious note. We have had a pretty good week in that we got in and have really managed to rally the wards to do missionary work. We spent the week visiting a lot of key members of both wards just asking them to invite friends to special events or visiting with quorum presidencies about what we can do to help them achieve their goals while at the same time what they can do for us to achieve our goals. We got a lot of referrals out of it and needless to say we have a ton of potential in the wards now. We have 6 or 7 people that are just on the verge of really taking the lessons and really making some progress. We pray and try to live worthy that we will have the blessing of each of these people who are so close to the most important thing in this life coming and finding it. It really has been a few weeks of just planting seeds. On paper it looks like we've not done much but in reality its been a pretty successful week.  For instance we were told simply by a member that they had a neighbor who had lost his wife a month ago. We stopped by the house called the man by name and told him we were representatives of Jesus Christ who would just like to share the message that Families can be together forever even after death. He said he would love to hear it and we set up an appointment on Monday. He seemed genuinely excited and like he was almost surprised to see us there. What a promising seed.  We had an awesome Primary Program on Sunday. This one little boy would throw both arms in the air and scream " I will GOOOOO i will DOOOOOOO!" everytime it came to that line of the song. The whole ward was on their faces laughing so hard, some even crying at how cute and commanding he was. After it was over the bishop went up and said "Surely as a bishop I will always go and do as the lord wants, but even as the savior needed the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane I need people to help me, and a certain young man up here on the stand is first on my list cause he will surely go and do and get things done." It was an awesome joke and like the highlight of my week. One of my favorite sunbeams in the ward also faceplanted it off the stage which, though bad, was totally awesome too. :) Hope you all are enjoying that lovely fluffy stuff. I have to endure this awful 70 degree weather. Boy do people think I am weird around here.  Love you all, Elder Gemperline Taylor Gemperline

12:10 PM (1 hour ago)

Tomohawk attack on Greenie!

I have heard a lot about the new curriculum and found that it goes hand in hand with basically very long drawn out missionary discussions. I wish I had the new curriculum in Seminary so that I would be a little better prepared for the mission. I had to find most of that stuff out through personal study and Mission Prep classes but it is now going to be taught everywhere how exciting! 

We got to attend a Chili Cook-off Halloween Party for the Morgan Hill ward on Friday night between the 2 baptisms. It was so so so stressful trying to figure out where we needed to be and talking to who. Our goal was to make sure we introduced ourselves to all the non members who had been invited but it was just a mess of about 350 people everywhere and to make it better they are all in costume. Woo! Well we survived the night. Contacted a few key people. Ate really good chili and in the end had a good night. 

This next week we are trying really hard to figure out where to focus our efforts to get another baptism for this transfer cause new transfers start TODAY! Sadly one of my apartment companions is leaving :( he was my district leader and good friend Elder Goble. It was extremely unexpected cause he is both only half-way through training a greenie like me and he is in a leadership position so it really doesn't make that much sense but it is what President Cook decided so there surely must be a good reason. We are also pretty excited to see who the new Elder will be and have an arsenal of nerf weapons waiting for him back at the apartment. TOMOHAWK THROW! - seemed appropriate because we live 6 miles from the Pechanga Indian Reservation. 

We get to go to the temple next P-day! Super excited to go to the San Diego temple. It's the coolest temple ever except for the Bountiful Temple. 

I have shin splints a pulled calve muscle and athletes foot all on the same leg so I will need to start figuring out how to take care of myself I guess. :) it definitely isn't anything I can't handle though and reminds me of good times playing lacrosse. I do love the fact we have to run every morning though, I know i have said that before. 

I made the mistake of leaving my scriptures on top of our car and driving away. An hour later while walking down the street a car pulled up and we recognized it as the Magee family in our ward. They were holding my scriptures out their car window and I couldn't figure out how in the world they had them. I Suddenly realized what had happen and felt so foolish and embarrased. It was a miracle they happened to see them in the middle of an intersection and snatch them up though. Especially that it was members who did so! The coolest thing is the only damage we found done to them was no damage! What a miracle. I will be more careful in the future for sure. 

Miss the mountains, miss the cold, miss Pink Floyd. Love where I am. :)

Elder Gemperline

Halleluja

Greatest thing happened this morning as we got into the car to write letters. I turned on the car and the MP3 started playing and it was turned up extremely loud for some reason and instantly it just started blasting HALLEELLLUJAH!!!!! It was pretty funny. Tradition now to listen to the Hallelujah chorus on our way to check emails. 

Well this week was a great week for me. I don't know why cause it didn't result in as much success as we were hoping but for some reason I was just happy all the way through it. I have been running 4-5 miles every morning and am coming down with a horrible case of shin splints. I need to go get a wrap for them but as I walk around and feel the pain in my shins I love the fact that I'm going to be in the end stronger. The same day I was feeling rather sick because I had eaten a 1/2 pound giant hot dog cooked in Ghost Pepper Powder the night before but I was so happy (and it was sooooo delicious. If i can eat 2 + a basket of fries + a soda I get my picture on the wall. I think I might do it.) So as I walked around the streets wanting to throw up and having a horrible headache I was so happy. This happiness hit me about Saturday morning. The week before that I was having a horrible time with homesickness. Then I just started focusing on my work Saturday and something happened. That thing that happened is i just developed a Pure Love for everyone I come in contact with. Those people who we teach I just love to death and hope so very much I can be a good enough missionary for them. For instance here are a few examples.

It was late at night and Elder T and I were out of people to visit. We were walking around looking for people to contact which is usually fairly unsuccessful after dark. We were marveling at some awesome Halloween decorations and as we came to every corner I felt like I really needed to know in which direction the spirit wanted me to go. I would say a little prayer at every corner and eventually we ended up in a col de sac and I figured I was just being silly. We could hear kids screaming up the street. We went up and saw a younger woman with 2 children, trying to get them out of their car seats. I said "Hello, we are missionaries from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and we are walking around looking for people that we can help as well as that will listen to our message that families can be together forever. Would you like to hear it?" She looked back and without hesitation said yes. I froze. I couldn't comprehend that simple word "yes." I thought that maybe Elder T was playing a trick on me and this was already a member. After stuttering for about 20 seconds I got her name and number and address and she said to call in a few days to set something up since she was busy that weekend. We will call her later today to set that up. 

Another family I absolutely love is the Gutierrez family. They are a Mexican family from Guadalijara or however you spell it. They are the most devote Roman Catholic family I think I've ever seen. Two of their daughters work full time at a convent down the street. They however have one little black sheep who was converted by  her boyfriend and is now serving an LDS mission in South Houston. We went over to visit the family and they speak a little English but not too much. Enough that we can communicate clearly. and they said they loved us and enjoyed the peace of mind they brought about who their daughter is and what she is doing. They invited us to dinner Saturday night so we accepted. Upon arriving saturday night they told us the Hermanas or Spanish Speaking Sisters were invited as well. As they said this they walked into the room and Elder T and I just laughed. For the next 2 hours the entire dinner was in Spanish and Elder T and I just sat awkwardly filling our faces while the Hermanas did their work with the family since they spoke spanish and related better. I couldn't stop smiling at the awkward situation and the love I had for this family that reminded me constantly of my fathers family. The food was AMAZING and as authentic mexican as you can get. I never have eaten so much in my entire life. They are an awesome family. 

Well The weather has finally cooled down as well. it's now basically always 68 degrees which I think is lovely. Elder T with his Tahitian brown skin is freezing and it makes me laugh. I met a Jehovah's Witness missionary yesterday at the library with a cool shoulder bag I told them I wanted one and they said they would try to get one for me then meet me here right now at the library to buy it off her. She didn't show up and now I am quite put out. haha I wanted a smaller bag that can hold my materials but not so big that its a hastle to carry around. Well love to you all.

Taylor Directs Traffic

How de doo de! It's still smokin hot! .. well kinda. Last week it cooled down to a high of 72 and felt absolutely glorious. I was walking around feeling right at home and my Tahitian companion was shivering in his big Leather Jacket. It was quite the sight. He's tall. If you didn't notice. He really is. But this week it is climbing again and we have been told the forcast is for 100 again tomorrow and we are more than half way through the month of October! This is just a little too hot for poor old lil old mountain and cold loving me, but I assure you I will survive. :D

This last week I had a really cool experience. I have been trying hard to drop by and talk to a Less Active Part Member family in the ward. We talked to them 2 weeks ago and they said to come back cause they were having family issues. The next time I visited I asked why we hadn't seen them coming to church for so many years and the father told me to come back the next week and he would finally sit down and talk with us. Well the next week (being this past week) we went and tried to get a hold of them almost everyday, but each time to no avail. We finally approached the door wednesday and it was already open with just a screen door blocking the front. We called in to see if anyone was home. The mother appeared out of no where and looked pretty ill and panicked. We asked if we could help her with anything and she said no, her husband is just asleep and she doesn't need anything. I was afraid we had just woken up the husband so I said oh no! DId we just wake him up!? and she replied we had not because he was just sick and resting, not actually asleep. I felt bad that he was sick and felt prompted to again ask if we could be of service. She said no but I persistently asked a third time. She said finally giving in that she really really really needed to pick up the kids from work but didn't want to leave her sick husband alone and asked us if we could watch him and help him if he needs it while she takes 10 minutes to pick the kids from school. We gladly accepted and she brought the husband out onto the front porch. 

The husband was not just sick. He had been hospitalized for 3 or 4 days because he had a major seizure. He was drugged beyond belief. He was sitting in his chair in the garage and he was rolling his head around on top of his torso and couldn't keep his eyes open. He was constantly chanting under his breath and it was the closest thing I've ever seen to a possessed being. Before we could tell his wife that it was a bad idea that we watch him because of liability issues she was in the car and gone to get the kids. Elder T and I just stood there like idiots praying in the back of our heads "Please don't let this man die!!!" We tried to make conversation with him but he would not answer any of our questions but instead interrogate us with questions like "Who sent you." and "what do you want from me." He was extremely paranoid. He kept telling us not to surround him. After about 15 minutes of this he suddenly just jumped up and started staggering like a L4D2 zombie across the street. Elder T tried to tell him to stop and he just screamed no! I got in front of him and he shoved me out of the way. It was clear we could do nothing to stop him so we directed traffic around him. Upon reaching the other side of the street he ran up some steps and opened the door and called inside. A terrified owner of the house, a lady in her 50's, was trying to stop him as he burst through and said "These men are trying to follow me!" I explained to her what the situation was and we got him sitting down and his wife showed up and Elder T and I went home swearing to never agree to watch over sick people again. We were definitely protected that day from a horrible fate. 

Sunday comes around - 4 days later- and we are in Ward Council. The bishop expresses that he talked to the wife of this family the night after our experience for a very long time about what could be done for her husband and so forth. They got acquainted and the missionary opportunity is now golden because she is indeed not a member. He also told us that after his visit he called the wife's mother who is a member and the mother of the wife told the bishop that the wife had told her that we were an answer to a prayer. The wife had had enough. She couldn't do it anymore. So she knelt down for one of the first times in her life and prayed that there would be a way that she could get her kids and her husband would also be alright. When she had said amen there was a shout from the other room and she got up walked to the door and saw 2 elders, A tall brown one and a short one with glasses, standing there at the door. Elder T and I had no idea of what had occurred in that moment. It is amazing! Prayer Totally Works.

Peace Love and Joy. Just like all the tacky wall decorations say.

No girls to Date?

Well this week was good. I'm starting to get significantly more tired. I feel like I am sleeping well despite the lumpy bed and snoring companion. It gets especially hard when we get up at 530 to shop at Walmart on P-day like today. Conference of course was amazing! All the Elders (20) who were in the stake center were freaking out at the new announcement. We all think it is super cool and super scary and mixed feelings just everywhere. Many are afraid that because girls can go out sooner there will be no girls to date when they get back from their missions. Quite a silly proposition but so it goes for men of this age.

The lord watches out for his missionaries! He really does, due to their faith, their purpose here or the prayers of those around the world I know not what to credit it to but I've seen it. Just a small thing that happened this week was that I was stopped having dinner with an elderly couple in our ward at Chipotle by a rough looking man in his upper 20's. Looked a lot like shaggy but with a full beard instead of just a goatee. He had some very strange questions for us about Pre-destination and other really deep doctrinal bible things that we believed that matter not that much. We got his address and he invited us to breakfast to discuss our answers since we were currently more or less indisposed. While this was happening I was not with big ol' Elder T' but I was with Elder Foster and it was our first time out without a senior missionary. In other words, he got to the mission field the day that I did and both of us were kinda lost. haha him more than me since he didn't know the area so I basically was flying solo for the 24 hour period. Well we both felt horrible about the situation and when we went to bed we prayed that no harm would come to us when we went to this man's house. 5 minutes after our prayer we got a text saying that this man was very ill and going to the hospital so he would not be meeting with us. After relaying the story back over to our senior companions at the end of our exchange Elder T looked at the address and instantly said "OH, Elder! That's the bad house on the corner!" I guess his last companion had been attacked by these same people earlier that year and they were very hostile to the church. 

The weather is finally cooling down! Woooo! It might even rain this week which is surprising cause I hardly ever see a cloud in the sky. I hope you all are doing well and hope school is going well for those of you at the University of Utah! Hit me up with that collab! You know who you are. Same with you people at Smith's who may be reading? Lets just include everyone shall we!

Well I am happier than I have ever been I do believe. I know I am where I need to be and I'm with some of the worlds greatest people here as well. In fact, Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles recently visited my mission and told us all that we were the best looking group of missionaries he had ever seen. We wear it proud here in Carlsbad California.

Hey Everyone! 

Week 2 here in Temecula was a success. Elder Tetuanui and I really got down to working on our street contacting. It is a lot of fun to meet all sorts of different people. Some of them super nice offering you water and beer cause it's so hot and getting in return an awkward look with a reply that water would be awesome. Some of them not so polite and lets just leave it at that for the sake of mom's sanity. (Just kidding Mom). Not much special actually happened last week. There are a few highlights of course though.

I did get to go on exchanges yesterday with our district lead Elder Goble. He is a 1 eyed skater from New Mexico and American Fork. He was less active all his life till he decided to prepare for a mission. We taught a scripture reading group in the Pauba ward with the youth Sunday night which was super cool. The youth here are exceptional and I respect them deeply for what they deal with. We read 2 Nephi 2 and talked a lot about the fall of Adam and answered lots of hard questions about the conflicting commandments given to Adam and such. Because it was the beginning of October we decided to give them a little proof that big foot exists using the scriptures as well. We had them all pretty spooked but then assured them that it was by no means church doctrine and we were just having a little fun. The next day we asked some parents we stopped by if their kids had asked questions about big foot and they said they surely had ;P

If you would like more accounts of what I teach and people I meet then send an email to lisagemp@gmail.com saying you want my more detailed emails. 

The lord keeps sending people our way as long as we keep working and trying our hardest. On the toughest of days there is always at least 1 experience that makes it all worth it. Always someone you meet that benefits from me being there. I love it. I was kinda concerned that I was not going to get into missionary work as much people say you do but I'm sure starting to realize how it all works and it is pretty awesome. I hope all of you are safe at home. I had the best sushi I've ever had the other day here because Elder Tetunanui really needed his monthly quota of raw fish. 


Take care all! 

Elder Gemperline

Taylor's in Temecula with a Tahitian

I am in Temecula CA in the Redhawk and Morgan Hill Wards! My companion is a Tahitian who had to come and learn English because his primary language is the language of love... French. His name is Elder Tetuanui and he is 6'4 and very brown. He never stops smiling and I absolutely love him. We live outside our mission area so we have to commute to the area everyday. Therefore, we have a full time car and don't die in the sweltering 103 degree weather! The apartment is actually a lot nicer than I had expected and I am very happy living there. I remember complaining at home that my room was too hot at 73 degrees and now I am super happy if my room is 77 or 80.

The people here are awesome! The members try so hard to help push along the missionary work in the area. Because of them we have a very large teaching pool and I have baptism's already set up and I've only been here a week. The first few nights here I actually wasn't fed cause there was a glitch in the dinner scheduling but I knew how to get along and we were given some food by a non-member family who we helped move. They were going to Thailand and had no need for it so it fed us. This happens a lot and the lord really does watch out for his missionaries. The meals I have had with members have been SUPERB! I don't know why. Just really really good culinary people in So. Cal I guess. The members really just make this area the jewel that it is. They invite their friends to take lessons and to come to church. They teach with us and help to back us up in what we preach and testify and it is powerful. Who were the bishops that sister Jones wanted me too look for again? 

I've had a few experiences of course that I would love to tell you guys about. I have entered this mission field with confidence and most people I meet are surprised when they find out. The first experience I would like to share is probably the coolest experience as of yet. Elder Tetuanui and I were having a hard time and it was my second full day in the field. I was frustrated because he had a number of people cancel appointments on us including dinner. Well Elder Tetuanui said that he wanted to visit one more house, the house of Phil and Lilly, before we went to find dinner for ourselves. We knocked on the house door and this older man answered the door and just had this look of surprise and shock as he beckoned us quickly to come in with the exclamation "Oh! It's you! Good!" We were not expecting this because Phil had in the past told the missionaries that he didn't want the lessons anymore and was not going to accept the gospel. Well we went in and he sat down and explained that he had truely been expecting us and that he was contemplating recently about going to church and praying to heavenly father for help. Phil had been living with his girlfriend Lilly for years and she had recently had a hard time with Colon Cancer. Because they were not married her sister came and took her somewhere else she could better be taken care off and no one let Phil know where that was. He is now heart broken and has decided perhaps the church is somewhere he can go to feel better and make new friends. We didn't have to say a thing to convince him of this. We simply just had to be in the right place at the right time and the Lord had prepared Phil to come to church and seek him out again. We hope that he will continue to do so and will be checking up on him frequently of course. 

My address will from now on be 

Elder Taylor Gemperline
451 W Bobier Dr. 
Vista CA 92083

It will never change so please feel free to write! I love you all!

One more week

Hello everyone! I am in my last week here at the MTC and am going a little crazy. Nothing new at the MTC though so don't worry. We'll finish our lessons and role plays by Saturday and I have "In-field Orientation" scheduled for the entire day tomorrow. I guess it is just a class where they tell us about what the field will be like. It shouldn't be TOO bad right? I'll be flying to the San Diego airport on Tuesday very early in the morning. I am super excited to get out of the MTC but Extra super excited about finally being out in the field. I honestly feel like the most prepared person of the people I know going with me to Carlsbad California. I am however finally beginning to get nervous. Well Ciao! Stay safe. Love from Elder Gemperline.

One Week at the MTC

Hey everyone! 

I'm in the MTC and have been here for a week and 1 day now. I am with an exceptional group of Elders in District 37A. We managed to get into the most recently renovated building so that is pretty lucky, but for some reason... they really don't like to stock the paper towels. I have a companion Elder Chapman from Pleasant Grove. He is a really good kid who can tune into the spirit better than most young men I've meet. He is also going to the California Carlsbad Mission. We all have great teachers: Brother Roberts and Brother Sikahema who have very different ways of teaching but who are both extremely effective in preparing us for the field. We do many many role-play situations as you would expect in the MTC and it is always fun to go in, think you're doing good, then they ask the perfect question to just snag you and stop you in your tracks. All this is part of the good ol' learning process though. 

I am really getting sick of the food here. I desperately need to get a salad at every meal to take the guilt of eating so badly off my shoulders. I do love the gym time though. It's like the best part of the day. It is kinda fun to get up every morning and put on that name badge and a tie. Makes you feel so professional and refined. I'm having a hard time not using sarcasm as they have asked us to stop using. It's just so easy to break old habits leeeetttt me tell ya. CRAP I just used sarcasm again.

We got to see a devotional/ fireside presented by Elder Kipishcke. (I can't remember how exactly to say it) who graciously let me use one of his general conference seats back in the spring. His wife can barely speak English and she was SO funny. SO SO SO funny. Her son was in the MTC at the time and was sitting on the front row right below her which made it even more funny because he was so embarrassed. She at one point got so excited that she almost pulled the entire stand off the front pullpit. Elder Kispishcke himself talked about repentance and how it is the least known thing in all the mission world. It needs to be taught more than it is and it is by crying repentance more than anything unto the people that missionary work best progresses. 

Well I only have 2 more weeks here and it is off to Carlsgood!!! ... I mean Carlsbad!!! It will be renamed Carlsgood when we are done with it :D. I thank you all for your prayers to the missionaries. Peace all good people!

Well the time has come. This will be the last post I personally make in this blog cause I head on into the MTC in the morning and I will be handing all responisbilites of updating this blog to my dear and loved mother. :) I am very excited to go. I'm currently just getting the last of the things I think I will need to take with me as well as hoping and praying my bags aren't over the allowable weight limit of 50 lbs. It would be a lot easier if my dad hadn't broken the scale.. hahaha kidding he didn't break the scale. The scale was just broken one morning. Anyway... I will be set apart in a couple of hours and i'm truely looking forward to everything. It is great to be moving on with life. To have the opportunity to serve and though I of course am emotional cause of all the lasts I am having for 2 years. I'm just too overjoyed to be going to really be sad for more than a few seconds. Well wish me luck and pray for all the missionaires! Next post will probably be my first few experiences in the MTC Provo. Love you all!

Was looking for a background to my blog. Found this. I think it was pretty sweet.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYpE1EkEvQQgUuYXlIENNZZmD4pcGZX8ulv_5rI3ffytymuLKsqErMgL0EI3t4MMuD62iyACyPwT-YecEH92GN-zcuJYB3rFLDn-u4yT2-QLev0mlrgW8nx4bUZqYLH4QA8jYi7wsrgVU/s1600-h/angels_bear_you_up.gif

Temple

Hey everyone, so I had the great opportunity to go through the temple this last weekend and recieve my endowment. I just wanted to say that I am so very grateful for this beautiful life here on earth. It is such a special and simple blessing we all take for granted everyday. I'm also so very grateful for the restored gospel which I have been so lucky to recieve and accept and all that it helps me with in life. It's really cool that we have houses of the lord here on the earth that we can visit and feel so greatly his spirit and love. I can definitely now see why it is so important that I go on a mission and invite others to come unto christ and visit the temple for themselves and find the great joy that comes with all of it!

Hola! This is my first post in this here missionary blog! Here I will have my wonderful mother post letters and mission pictures while I am away for those who want to keep updated on what is going on. Hopefully it turns out well!

I'm super excited to be heading out to California Carlsbad English Speaking mission in just a matter of weeks! It will truly be a unique experience for me. I've done most of the shopping and preparing I need to and i'm just collecting the last little loose items left that are required. I need to get back to setting up the blog but I'll post again a few times before I leave!