Staying in Santa Rosa

Hey everyone what´s goin on? So I didn´t get transfered even though I thought it was going to happen. I thought I was gonna get sent cause Elder Hopper is in his last transfer and if I didn´t go I was gonna be here for another one after that. Basically it means I´ll be here in Santa Rosa for a total of 6 months which doesn´t always happen very often. But hey ít´s all good. What have you all been up to? Sounds like things are going well back home. Oh and before I forget yes mom I got your conversion story, thanks! It was awesome!!
So yeah I´m still here in Santa Rosa with Elder Hopper and he goes home the 7 of March or something like that. I feel kinda weird being here cause I thought I was gonna get transfered but I guess there´s still some stuff here for me to do. We´re doing well though. We´re slowly starting to teach more people and getting busier which is really nice. We got a new zone leader, Elder Taggart, who trained my MTC comp Elder Banks. Pretty crazy connection but he seems like a good guy and I think he´s gonna help us out a lot. There´s also a few other Elders that just got transfered here so it´s been fun getting to know them a bit. Besides that not much has really been going on. We just started teaching this lady named Rita who is super cool. She seemed way interested and we think that she can progress really well. She said she wanted to take her time and all this stuff though so it might be a little longer road with her but that´s ok. I think she just needs to pray and get her answer and if she does that she´ll be good to go. Besides that not too much new has been going on. It´s gotten insanely hot to where we don´t see to many people in the street anymore so the way we´ve been doing contacts has changed a little bit. Sorry but I gotta get going. We´re running a little late and we gotta get to an appointment. I love you all and hope everything is going well. Know that I´m well and doing just fine. Con amor,
Elder Gaughan

Transfer??

Hola familia, ¿cómo están? Everything´s going pretty well here. We´re in the last week of the transfer if you couldn´t already tell by the subject. We still don´t know who goes and who is staying though. We´ll find out who all is getting transfered on friday. The next email you get from me I might be in another place, but then again I might not. We´ll just have to wait and see.
Personally, I´m doing just fine. No health problems really at all so you can stop worrying about that. Everything here is perfectly fine, just a lot of walking and a lot of heat cause we´re in the middle of summer.

The work is still going pretty well too. We´re teaching a few people and of course looking for more. No one is really progressing though cause they haven´t come to church yet. But we´ve only been teaching for one week and the big goal this week is to get them all to church. We recently got a ward mission leader which is way cool cause we´ve been working without one and it´s a lot harder. Our ward mission leader is awesome though, Hermano Arce, was the ward´s bishop before the one that we have right now. Super cool guy and is really excited to work and help the ward grow.
Besides that I can´t really think of what else has been going on. Sorry this email has been pretty short, it hasn´t really been a very eventful week. Nothing crazy really happened or anything. When is Avalon getting married? Tell her congrats for me. Oh and tell daniel congrats for me too! That´s so awesome what he´s doing. Tell him to keep it up and keep his eyes on the prize!!!! Well I can´t really think of anything else. I love you all! Hope everything is well! Con amor,
Elder Gaughan

An Investigator Baptised

Here are a few pictures of one of Nick's Investigators, Celia, at her baptism..

Keep Going & We'll be FINE

Hola familia cómo están? Things are going fairly well here in Santa Rosa. It´s crazy to think that the new year has come and gone already. It´s weird to think we´re already in 2010. Have you guys made resolutions yet? How are Mike and John doing? I haven´t heard from them since christmas. If they´ve been sending me emails I haven´t gotten them. How´s everything going back home? How´s the ward doing? To be honest with you not a whole lot has been going on out here. We´ve been doing a lot of contacting and trying to set up things with the members to invite their friends but it´s proven a little difficult with the holidays and everything. A lot of people have been out of town and others had crazy schedules and stuff so it´s been a little tough. Hopefully as things come calm back down and get back to normal we´ll be able to find more people. It´s kinda funny cause we´re told that the holidays are normally a good time to find people but it didn´t really work out for us for whatever reason. It´s all good though. We just gotta keep going and we´ll be fine. We have interviews with President Detlefsen tomorrow so that´ll be good. I wanna see what he thinks about it and what advice he has. Besides that I can´t really think of anything. Oh there´s one member that we have here named Lorena and her husband, Juan Cruz, isn´t a member. It´s crazy cause they remind me of you guys a ton. Like their story is really similar to yours and I really wanna work with Juan but he´s always working. Seriously the guy is never home. It´s ok though, we´re gonna find a way to get working with him and it´ll all be good. Well I gotta get going but I hope all is going well with you guys. Let me know what´s going on and how everyone is doing. I love you all,
-Elder Gaughan

P.S. There is a new mission address posted to the right for those of you who have been waiting for it!

Update and PICTURES!!!

Hey everyone? How´s it going? How is everyone? Well I´m just gonna say from the start that this one is probably gonna be pretty short. Not much has really happened this week and I just talked to you all a few days ago. It was awesome talking to you! I loved hearing your voices and hearing how everyone is doing! It sounds like you all are keeping busy which is always a good thing. That´s awesome news about Daniel! Oh man I was so happy when I read that! Tell him congrats for me and let me know where he is going as soon as you know! Hopefully he comes here! Haha that would be insane and super unlikely but hey there is a one and a million chance.
Not a whole lot has really happened this week. We´re still trying to work with the members but they flake on us sometimes which makes it kinda difficult cause we only have like 40 active members as it is. Oh when I was talking about working with the missionaries earlier I was just talking about helping the missionaries. Like give them references, go with them to appointments if they ask you. Just help them in whatever way you can. You guys don´t know how much you can help missionaries. References are the best. Knocking doors is no fun and it´s really ineffective. We still do it, but if we can work with members it´s a ton more effective and it makes the lessons a lot more powerful when a member is there too. So just help when and how you can. They´ll appreciate it a ton.
Besides this not too much is going on. We went by Alejandro and Nadia the other day and they actually have a few references for us so hopefully we´ll start working with them soon. They sound like really awesome people and hopefully we can start teaching soon. Oh we went on splits yesterday with some other missionaries from our district and I was with Elder Veliz. He´s from Chile and doesn´t speak any english. He understands quite a bit but doesn´t really speak it at all. He´s awesome though and it was really good practice for my spanish. I kinda hope that my next companion is latino so that I can get a lot better. It´s always better when your forced to speak the language rather than have to force yourself. It´ll help me anyway. I can´t really think of anything else to put. I´m doing well and hopefully we´ll start seeing success soon. I love you all and hope everything is going well. Con amor
Elder Gaughan

This picture is at the baptism of Alejandro

Elder Gaughans zone at the Christmas conference