Week 82: Revere, MA

     Hello everyone!  So much has happened this week.  My last 2 days in Bridgeport were so memorable.  Elder Warner and I saw incredible things happen with our investigators.  As I reflected on leaving, I realized how many people we had taught and how many people I had grown so close to.  I am so grateful for all the experiences I had in Bridgeport and all the people I was able to meet.  Leaving Bridgeport was sad, but arriving in my new area Revere, MA has brought a lot of motivation with all the work to do here.  My new companion, Elder Pulu, is a friendly giant from Oakland, CA.  We have a great area with great members and I am excited to serve here.
 
     Here's a little more about Elder Pulu.  He is from Oakland, CA.  He is 27 years old and was an ESL teacher before his mission.  He is Tongan and has been on his mission for 10 months.  He is a great missionary.

     Because of some unforeseen circumstances, Elder Pulu and I will not have a car in our area this transfer.  For the past 5 days we have been hitting the streets!  We hope to get bus passes ASAP so we can travel farther.  Our area is rather large so we definitely have our work cut out for us!  Even with this new challenge, the Lord has already blessed us with several investigators who live really close to our apartment building.

     Our most progressing investigator right now is a man named Leonid.  He is a middle aged man from the Ukraine!  He speaks fairly good English and is a really good guy.  His biggest struggles right now are the language barrier and word of wisdom issues.  But, he attended sacrament meeting this week and we hope to see some big miracles in his life!

     This week we were able to have dinner with our member, Brother Clapp.  He has been a member for about 2 years and his wife is a non-member.  Recently she has been attending church with Brother Clapp.  She was taught by missionaries in the past, but lost interest because she felt as though she was being pressured into being baptized.  She was born in China and has no religious background so things were moving too fast for her.  We were able to set up an appointment with her for this week and we are excited to work with her.  We will see what happens!

     Our zone here, The North Shore Zone, has so much potential and Elder Pulu and I hope to see great things happening all over very soon!  To get things started, we are going on exchanges with all our zone members.  I really am excited about my new area and getting the work going here.  Thank you everyone for your support and love!

Love,
Elder Gutierrez

Saying Goodbye to Elder Warner - January 17, 2018

Elder Warner and I

Saying Goodbye to Nyeisha Tobin

Saying Goodbye to the Daniels

Saying Goodbye to the Ochoa Family

Goodbye Ochoa Children

Surprise Birthday Party from the Trumbull Sisters and Sister Goose

Last lesson with the Abilomes

Birthday Cake with the Abilome's

Saying Goodbye to Marjorie and the Boys

The Bridgeport Crew

Reunited with Elder Clements

Tony Collazo's Sealing in the Boston Temple, our recent investigator from Worcester - January 20, 2018
Elder Clements, Tony Collazo, Elder Asay, and Elder Gutierrez

Reunited with Elder Asay, Elder Gutierrez, and Elder Clements