Photo 1 is the four Chandler Spanish elders, our bishop from Spain (my role model) and our Guatemalan ward mission leader
Photo 2 is our awesome English ward mission leader
Photo 3 is my companion and another recent convert (from Puerto Rico)
Photo 4 is of our recent convert and the companion who went to Mexico

Dear Family,
This week was even busier than the last. And it has been a blast! The most recent news has to do with transfers this Wednesday. Since Christmas up til now there have been 4 elders in our Spanish ward, and each companionship also has an English ward. We were told on Friday that they are taking our English wards from us, confining us to Spanish ward, removing one set of elders and replacing them with sisters. That really put us on edge all weekend because it meant there would be more changes and we had to wait until last night to find out. Turns out that 3 of us 4 elders are leaving...and I'm staying! I'll get a new companion on Wednesday and will just be working in Spanish for at least the next transfer. I'm excited that I'll stay because we have had a lot of success this week in Spanish that I didn't want to leave. But it's sad that we're handing over our English ward because we were given two new English investigators on Saturday who are super interested. My companion and I were running around all day Saturday driving to lessons and the best lessons we had were with a 16 yr old who wants to be baptized and a 30 yr old who asked us so many heartfelt, sincere, and quality questions. It amazes us because we don't feel that we have changed much in the way we work, except with an increase of faith, and suddenly the Lord decides to shower us with blessings. I know that all we need to worry about is giving our 100% to the work and the Lord will use us according to His own will and pleasure to bring about His designs.
Wednesday was one of the best days of my mission so far. Lunch hour came and we were right by a Mexican restaurant/store that we hesitated to visit, but decided we would take a look and come back Monday to buy anything we liked. So we went in, walked to one of the shops they have, and the store attendant started talking to us, asking us how we knew Spanish, then talking to us about religion. About 15min later, in walks the ward mission leader of Tempe's Spanish ward. He freaks out to see us talking to his friend the attendant and helps us get her contact info to refer to the Gilbert elders. But he grabs us all and we had a lesson right there in the middle of the restaurant. That whole hour made us feel like a little part of God's great plan. We just felt to take a look inside the "Mexican mall" and He had made all the arrangements for this lady to have the opportunity of eternity. We are on the front lines of missionary work and even we don't really know what God has up His sleeve. It's honestly a privilege, a blessing, and a blast.
Congrats to Jessi for passing the school year in seminary. Stick with it. Do you have the new edition of the FSOY? I love it even more than the previous one. Summer here is pretty hot, but people are always offering us bottled water. The heat hasn't bothered me too much yet, although I am in a car area. People like staying inside so there's less people out and about. It's fun being down here though. And we're working for the greatest cause of eternity :)
Thanks for the update, Erin. Dennis is a hero. He's always got something. That sounds like a solid name, it'll be famous in no time.
Carrie, what's the recipe for oatmeal burgers and when is your baby due? Tyler, how do you go about teaching English as a second language? Does anyone know where my CDs are? I would still love to have my 2009 EFY and the BYU singers.
I love you all so much. Thank you for your support and prayers. I pray for you all as well. Have a great week!

Hugs to all,
Elder Joshua Gathro

Too good to be true, and yet the truth.

Hey que tal? Really good week with disappointment, success, learning, and fun. Oh and heat too. It's over 100 every day, but still preferable to Florida heat. We had a lot of good little stories, too many to share. But something really exciting was what happened yesterday. Background info: President issued the standards of excellence this week for our mission. And if we were consistently achieving those standards, there's no doubt it would be excellent, haha. But bottom line, God rewarded our efforts this week with enough new investigators to hit the goal. And they all came yesterday. Sundays are usually a bit slower for work because we have less time to proselyte, but we used our lunch (we were fasting) to go visit a few people, and the first one we visited was a lady recently met, with a lot of potential. She was at the point of getting baptized ten years ago and tore up her image of the Virgin Mary. But days later her 1-yr-old baby died, giving her the thought that God was upset and she was scared to join the Church. Now with struggles in her family, she is eager to learn and is so sincere. She says that her son is doing drugs and she feels like crying all the time. We relayed to her promised from the Lord that the Gospel will bring her family peace, happiness, understanding, comfort, stability. My companion and I talked about it afterward and agreed that as we were helping her to see the glorious vision the Gospel offers, it almost seemed too good to be true...and yet it is the truth. How wonderful! There's no problem, no challenge, no dead-end in life that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot fix. I love being able to feel confident as I teach that to others. It's not me making people promises; they are promises from God that will all be fulfilled. I know that is true. The other new investigators are a family we met on Friday and they came to church! They actually know a family who just moved out of our ward and became interested in the church from talking to the member family. It was a thrill having them there and seeing them learn. They really loved it, too. Our lesson in Gospel Principles was the atonement. I leaned over and asked the father if he's heard that word before. He said he hadn't. I asked, "What do you know about Jesus Christ?" "Well He died on a cross, and...I don't know. I just saw a movie once." It really surprised me. I realized it was the perfect lesson for him that day. In primary one of his kids got a handout that says "Does this choice draw me closer to Jesus Christ?" And the ward shared really heartfelt testimonies of the Savior. I think he and his wife really got the impression that we follow Jesus Christ. It will be exciting to teach them, although we've only got another week before my area will be trading English wards within our zone. With or without seeing them be baptized, it's a thrill to help others understand the role of the Savior in their lives. Well I don't really have time for much more. I'll have to tell you about Joe one of these days. We ran into him again this week. It's classic. We crashed a Catholic baptism after-party this week. That was kinda interesting, too. Carrie, what's the recipe for oatmeal burgers? Tyler, how do you go about teaching English as a second language? Does anyone know where my CDs are? I would still love to have my 2009 EFY and the BYU singers. Happy Birthday to Erin and Dennis! Have great week, everyone! Much love, Elder Joshua Gathro

He's got our back

Family, I loved talking with you all last night! It was pure joy to hear your voices and see your faces (for some). I don't know about you all but I enjoyed it a lot more than the Christmas phone call and being able to talk with you more individually. You all bring a lot of happiness into my life. Thank you. There are several things that happened this week that I didn't tell you all. First off, we had a few minutes before a lesson so we decided to knock just a few doors. The eighth and final was answered by a sweet lady who invited us in the moment she opened the door. She said that missionaries had come by a long time ago and now she feels far from God and a bit angry at him because of family situations. But she was very friendly and surprisingly interested. Although she works a lot she says she wants to learn more and committed to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon. She works two jobs and on the day we knocked, she was only home between 2 and 4pm; we knocked at 3pm. It was a miracle encounter that we hope will go all the way to baptism. Wednesday afternoon we were visited some people in a trailer park when rain actually fell from the sky. And the rain also stirred up a huge dust storm that blew through Chandler. A man saw us out there and called for us to come inside while the worst of it blew over (the Lord is protecting us, Mom :). We had to leave his house a few minutes later though for an appointment and we jogged to the car as a huge dust cloud in the sky seemed to get move closer. It was pretty exciting, we caught our flee on foot on film. Then we found out yesterday that the other Spanish missionaries' investigator had prayed for rain Wednesday afternoon, just before the storm and when the weatherman hadn't predicted it at all. Pretty cool, huh? That investigator has decided to be baptized. Our investigator from Puerto Rico is facing some hard times with her daughter and wants to wait a bit longer before getting baptized. We are a bit worried but believe she'll take the step in the near future. Friday night was seeming somewhat action-less but we got more than we expected. While walking down the sidewalk we ran into a man who claimed to be the richest man in the world (he was carrying groceries just purchased from the corner gas station). He also asserted that he wrote the Book of Mormon, and purposely included errors in spelling to get a good laugh out of it. He then said that this was his planet, and welcomed us to it. My companion asked him why he had stopped us, and he said "Because I choose the appointed time." It was probably one of the most wild street contacts of my mission. After that we started heading back to the car, cruising the sidewalk of a main road. We heard someone from one of the cars shout something at the same moment that my older companion was hit with a 40mph water balloon! I told him that it barely missed me; clearly an act of God, haha. Aside from being a little shooken up, my companion was fine. The balloon had bounced off and splashed on the road. Fun friday night. We're having a blast down here. I love the people and I love the work. I love each of you as well. Best of luck this week with all your many activities. Don't forget to give sufficient time to scripture study and prayer. Adios! Elder Joshua Gathro

Taking life by a yard may be hard, but by an inch it's a sinch

Hello, hello, hello, I'm reviewing my week chronologically to know what to share. First off, I now have a Mexican soccer jersey! Vivan las Chivas! It was a dream come true. My birthday was wonderful as well. Thank you again for cards and letters. I'll write you each back in the coming weeks. For lunch we went to Del Taco and the cashier (he and I have become friends) gave me a birthday churro on the house. The family that fed us Tuesday night made a birthday cake with candles and had a candy gift for me. It added even more flame and sweetness to the day. Wednesday was transfer meeting. Even though none of us were leaving, President asked us to be in attendance. It turned out to be a strong source of spiritual strength and unity. My visa-waiting companion was asked to say a few words because he is leaving in 2 weeks, and he called me out on my 6:30am wake-up smile. He isn't sure he wants to leave for Mexico just yet because he loves it here too much, but he knows God will place him where he belongs. Wednesday night we taught a couple who are friends of our recent convert and the husband is a hoot. In Spanish, Sunday is "domingo" and sleep is "dormir". Well the husband said that to him Sunday is "dormingo". Then later his wife was offering a prayer over some food and she said, "Oh Lord, thank you for this food." The husband interrupted and said, "You're welcome." We fought to keep from laughing. There is an investigator we have that can't get baptized right now because she can never get work off, it's a terrible work situation. We visited her this week and another lady was there with her whom we had yet to meet. It turns out that she is our investigator's former LDS neighbor who visits regularly. It was so relieving! In ways we felt all alone with this situation - in continuing to spiritually feed our investigator as we wait for the miracle. When we realized that there is someone else who cares for this lady it gave us more energy and excitement to maintain faith. Don't forget that often we're not the only ones working to better the lives of others. They have family and friends and always a Father who is caring for them. He has a plan. Friday we had a mission-wide Book of Mormon readathon. It was spiritual, unifying, uplifting, faith-instilling, and too quick. We were asked to look for a few things and one thing that amazed me was the priority Nephi gave to doing the Lord's will. They were always talking about the Savior and motivated to please Him. A good lesson was how Nephi never complained, he was faithful in everything. Such a man. There is a lot for me to learn from him. This weekend was great, and we've seen real progress with a particular investigator from Puerto Rico. She had a dream of wearing baptismal clothes and it's been weighing on her mind for a couple weeks. An absolute miracle!!! She wants to be baptized this month. We're not without gratitude nor excitement :) We are good to go on Skype next Sunday. Due to your church times and ours, as well as the time difference, it seems that the best time to Skype will be around 4:30pm AZ time, which is 7:30pm FL time (we don't do Daylight Saving). I hope that works well. Send me a letter if it doesn't and I can call at 2pm FL time, but not by Skype. If there's no letter I'll plan on calling you around 7:30pm to ask for your Skype info then we'll get going with face time. If you want to do a sibling conference call with Skype that's fine, but I believe it costs some money. Otherwise I'd at least like to give each sibling a phone call. I'll leave that for you all to arrange, sorry. Tyler, congrats on graduation! You must feel pretty accomplished, and you are! Same to you Carrie, way to go! I love you all and "I cannot say the smallest part which I feel" (Alma 26:16). Have a great week, all! Elder Joshua Gathro

My family loves me!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! For each birthday wish and comment! I couldn't resist opening the CD and scripture case, or the ATM lapel pin. I love em. And the Dove chocolate didn't stand a lasting chance. Ben's little riddle I thought would never end, classic. Thank you all. I love you! I don't remember a lot of little happenings this week but all in all I feel good about it. An investigator of ours was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday (the confirmation in Spanish was a spiritual experience for me). She is sooo happy and excited about the Gospel. She loved every minute of it. And after the baptismal service, 5 of us Spanish missionaries went to Village Inn with our now recent-convert and her member friend. It was quite the treat, just a lot of fun to enjoy the food and company. She will be a solid member. We actually have a lesson set up tonight with her non-member neighbor. She's already doing missionary work :) Aside from that, one of the biggest miracles this week would probably be finding Pedro. We planned in some time before a lesson to go tracting in a certain area. We didn't put a whole lot of thought into it (which may have been the trick, so that we didn't interfere with the Spirit by our own designs), but we pulled over and walked to an apartment complex that looked good and just knocked a random door. A man opened the door and warmly greeted us. We told him who we are, what we do, and he wanted to listen. We had to set a return appointment, but we talked with him a bit there at the door. It was the only door we knocked during that time and it was as if we knew exactly who to visit. In reality we had no idea, but Father knew who to have us visit. When we went back for the lesson, he was waiting for us outside and was attentive and interested throughout the entire lesson. He asked us great questions and when we invited him to read in the Book of Mormon, he was ready to read a chapter right there, even though we had already taken 45 min. We stopped by him yesterday and he said he felt really good after talking to us on Friday. He seems to be well on his way to progressing in the Gospel. It was a miracle we found him. We could each feel that God gave us a bit more divine help in the lesson. Transfer calls came last night...I'm staying! My companions are too. Oh yeah, the companion waiting for his visa got word this week that he'll be heading out in May. But God's giving me another chance to make a difference here. It was a relief for me. And that means for sure we'll be able to Skype home in two weeks. I'm not sure what time will be best; we have church(es) from 12:20 to 4pm, and we're 3 hours behind Florida right now. But I can give you a call before Skyping, and I'll have more info next week. For Jessi, mostly on preparation day we play sports like football or basketball. Soon we'll probably have more inside activities because of the heat. And today we're chilling in our apartments to pack for transfers or write letters or make videos for our soon-to-be-airing sitcom "The Zone". Our apartment is actually pretty nice, two bathrooms and showers is pretty luxurious for missionaries. Although, we had a knock at our door at 2:20am this Thursday from our downstairs neighbor because our water-heater broke and water was leaking into his house. We got it all fixed but it was something out of the norm. Well, I love you all! I know Jesus is the Christ. He is the One we follow and represent. Have a great week! Elder Joshua Gathro PS- Mom, you should have a photo sent to you by Amy Hansen, it's just one photo that has me and a lady and gentleman, and I think her son. It would have been from March 25. Do you have that one?

Hey Mom and family, Some fun things from this week. I tried giving myself a haircut (not too bad). We helped a less-active member with his yard work and he just had us shovel dirt around. It was so classic! I loved it. We taught a lady from Veracruz, Mexico and she has a crazy accent really hard to understand. It was still a good lesson though. We had another incredible lesson this week with an older gentleman who has Parkinson's disease. He is super friendly and very willing to listen. We asked him a lot of questions at the start and found out that he's had things pretty rough recently. We testified to him that he can have more happiness in his life and improve his relationship with God as we listens to and accepts our message. We began to explain the Book of Mormon and before we even invited him to read it he said, "I'll read it every day." Then after some more conversation he said that he will read, ponder, pray, and try to apply what he reads. He even offered to pay us for a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was a very spiritual experience; the three of us were asking questions that the other had in mind. The Spirit was definitely directing our thoughts and words and touching the heart of this man. At one point during the lesson he shouted "Look!" and held out his hands. Up until that point he had been shaking profusely because of the Parkinson's. But from that moment on he didn't shake at all. It was a neat experience to witness. We'll see him again tomorrow! Our investigator getting baptized on Saturday has continued to progress. She wanted to take the three of us out to lunch last Saturday before attending a baptismal service. It was really fun and amazing to hear her feelings about the Gospel. She has read almost the entire Gospel Principles book (except for 5 chapters as of Saturday) and was so excited watching someone else's baptism. I asked her what she pictures her life will be like after baptism and part of her answer was, "I'll be able to have the Holy Ghost with me and help others learn about the Gospel too." Her Catholic family thinks that she doesn't know what she's doing. But with full confidence she said that they will see the changes for good within her. It's an absolute miracle and such a joy to see her cheerfully embracing the Gospel. Remind me to send photos from the baptism. That reminds me, Mom did you ever get the photo I had sent to you about 5 weeks ago? Could you email that to me? That was the day our investigator was confirmed. We had a delicious Colombian meal last night for dinner. The sister even made Colombian lemonade and let us try something called "yucca." Also I found out that they eat arepas there as well as in Venezuela. The weather is steadily heating up. It hit 100 this week, which really isn't too bad compared to 100 degrees in Florida (in my opinion). But it will still be interesting to see what it's like with another 20 degrees added on. Pray for me :) I wish I knew more about European history. If there is room to keep the notebook that would be great. I might take another history class in the future. For the scripture case, I realized that those scripture cases get expensive and I can make a case of my own for free. If you find one cheap though, send it my way. I have a triple combination and the Bible separate. They look just like my English scriptures just with a little bigger dimensions. The two CDs are probably with Carrie in one of the blue bins downstairs. Also, there is a possibility that I'll be transferred a week from this Wednesday. So if you anticipate things arriving after Tuesday, send it to the mission home and I'll get it when the Lord sees fit. Thank you for your email, Mom. I love you all!!! Elder Joshua Gathro