Our 2024 Gonzales Christmas Card!

Dear Family and Dear Friends,

This Christmas season, we find ourselves reflecting on the tremendous blessings we have experienced this past year. This year in many ways has been challenging--John worked to establish himself in his career field after graduation last December. Sarah took new risks in building her mentoring business by creating an in-depth certification program. Both John and Sarah made significant efforts to improve their health and other aspects of living. While some of the fruits of these labors have not yet actualized, we can see the miracles, support, and transforming power of Jesus Christ gifting us with hope and love, and greater and greater abundance. Here are some of the fun things we have experienced this year.

Near the beginning of the year, John said he wanted to be able to play Zelda on the Nintendo Switch. We didn't have a Nintendo Switch and definitely couldn't afford one. Miraculously, however, a close friend let us borrow his Nintendo Switch, and another close friend let us borrow Breath of the Wild. Then a third close friend let us borrow her switch, and her game of Tears of the Kingdom. We finished both games in a matter of a few months, (John even cried at the touching ending of TOTK) and they have truly been very enjoyable. We are currently playing Hogwarts Legacy.

One of Sarah's best friends was due to have a baby boy in February. Surprisingly, she asked both of us to attend the birth--Sarah as a support and John as photographer and videographer. Neither of us had ever attended a birth prior to that and it was definitely one of the most beautiful and spiritual experiences of our lives. Isn't life phenomenal? We were also blessed to attend the baby blessings of two other close friends, and they asked John to be part of the blessing ordinance. Quite a tremendous privilege!

In February we took a trip to Tucson, (thanks to Sarah's mom for gifting it to us).  It was really fun. We found one of the best Indian restaurants we've ever been to (a little hole-in-the-wall place). We watched movies and stayed up just chatting and deciding what we wanted for this year. This trip really gave us some time to reflect and choose to relax and have more fun. (It was a tough month because John had not yet found employment). We decided that we would choose more into gratitude and let go of worrying as often. I can see this trip really set the tone for the remainder of the year.

Soon afterward, John started working at Gilbert School of Music. He teaches individual and group piano, voice, guitar, and ukulele lessons to students of all ages. He loves many aspects of his job, and is learning more skills and getting out of his comfort zone. He also still teaches and is expanding his private students as well.

In March, John threw Sarah a surprise birthday party. He conspired with several friends of mine who helped him with food prep and decoration. I was quite impressed with his efforts and his ability to keep everything a secret. A whopping 30 people came!  He babysat for some friends of ours but it was really a ruse for them to work together with their girls to make me two delicious cakes and a photo collage in the form of the numbers  of Sarah’s age.

We were asked to be leaders of the Activity Days boys ages 7-9. We meet twice monthly and do things similar to cub scouts. It is a ton of fun, and it's awesome to have seen the boys grow throughout the past year. So far, some of the activities we have done include making paper airplanes, hosting our own version of the Olympic games, learning Morse code, having a music and drum circle night, making armpit fudge, learning safety and first aid, and having a Summer pool party.

In April, John got a new nephew, baby Lowe! We went to the baby blessing in Idaho, and it was such a lovely family reunion. We love John's family very, very much. We used it as an opportunity to camp (since camping in the AZ summer is not fun), as well as an opportunity for Sarah to catch up with some Idaho friends she hadn't seen in ages, and to eat at Grandpa's Southern BBQ.

In May, John's choir Arizona Saints Chorale had a concert where (like always) they give the proceeds to charity. They do this twice a year, and John's Christmas concert is next week, where they will be debuting one of John's original Christmas compositions--Fear Not, Mary! Thus far, John has finished writing 15 original compositions, including 5 choir pieces, 5 instrumental-only pieces, and 2 religious solo pieces, and 3 art songs.

We also found a really cool place in downtown Phoenix called Roosevelt Row. It's an outdoor art vendor fair that's open late at night on weekends (because it's cooler at night in the Spring). There are also lots of really chic restaurants. We took the train up there and back and had a wonderful time.

One of John's voice students invited us to a party she was throwing for Mother's Day for her entire neighborhood. She had been practicing with John to sing with the band and perform at this party. She called it a 'Mamacita' party, and it was on a ranch with a Nortena-type band, a taco truck, and lots of dancing.

We were very generously invited to attend a Diamondback's game in June by some dear friends in our ward. We love spending time with these people and they are HUGE diamondbacks fans. They even gave us a hat and had us drink out of one of their many souvenir cups. Unfortunately, the D-backs lost that one game, but they really did have a great season.

John and his brother Jacob have continued creating their podcast The Be Good And Do Good Podcast about each week on their respective missions. In June they celebrated a year since it started, and they really do love that time getting together and reminiscing. At the year mark, they have had 500 'views.' It's really funny because at least one hundred of those views were for the episode entitled '50 bug bites, and 3 dog bites, and no rabies.' We think the random people who tuned in might have been expecting something different.

For the 4th of July, our bishop asked us to dog-sit while his family went on vacation. His dogs had recently had a litter so we watched about 8 dogs in total. We didn't want the dogs to get scared of the fireworks, so we took our camp chairs and sat in the air conditioned enclosed patio where they lived, and watched an old movie, with the dogs in tow. It was a fun summer outing.

Also during the summer we had the privilege of nannying some amazing children while they were out of school. We played games with them at their house, took them to parks and libraries. We went to the splash pad and the mall, and on some days, when their mom got home, we all went swimming. We will never forget our great adventures with our dear, dear friends.

Probably one of the greatest highlights of the year was the Trefflich family reunion. It is always an exciting adventure when all 9 of the Trefflich siblings get together, each with their spouses and children. We all stayed in some air BNB cabins in a remote forest town north of Los Angeles. We had meals together, swam in the community pool, had a talent show, etc. The brothers and brothers-in-law all played a rousing game of golf. (They said John was the best despite him only having played one other time before.) The small church branch, which probably has twenty people on a good day, were surprised to see more than 30 people walk in to their sacrament meeting. They needed to get out some more bread! A wonderful time was had by all!

We upheld our tradition of watching the Olympic opening ceremony as well as the Olympic games. This year there was understandable controversy around all that, but we didn't let it taint our love of the games as well as honor the tremendous work of the athletes. Go Peru and Go USA!

This year we have continued working our shift in the temple laundry, though we have changed from Friday evening to Wednesday during the day. The temple laundry is such a fun place to work. We have made so many wonderful friends, and who knew you could get a workout while going to the temple!

At the beginning of the year we learned that some Youtubers/Podcasters The Super Carlin Brothers, who we're huge fans of were coming to Los Angeles in October. Gratefully, we don't have to pay for a hotel when we visit LA so we decided to go and see them. We had the unique opportunity to meet them personally, and then listen to a live recording of their podcast Through The Griffin Door. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, and such a fun evening. We laughed so much and our voices were hoarse from screams and from cheers. They really are just as great in person as their online personalities make it seem.

John has taken up bowling a little bit this year. We found some bowling shoes a while back that are just his size for only $10, and the games at our local lanes are only $4 each. So he's gone about four or five times. He really enjoys bowling and has even started learning about the technique through videos. He bowled a 180 in October. Sarah's not that great, but she did beat John at a $1 game of mini-bowling last week at Scheel's (a local sporting goods store with several games and a Ferris Wheel).

For Halloween we dressed up as Nintendo Switch Controllers--John was blue and Sarah was purple. It was a really fun costume, and instigated some enjoyable nerdy conversation. We went to the Trunk or Treat of our previous ward in Chandler and got to see so many of our old and dear friends.

For Thanksgiving we were invited to our dear friends' home. The hosting couple invited their friends and co-workers, and we knew several of them from their wedding and previous parties. We made some super tasty stuffing, homemade rolls, and sweet potato casserole that were a hit by all. One woman from Kenya came and celebrated her first American Thanksgiving. She brought traditional Kenyan food that was phenomenal. Sarah ate a ton of that as well as a lot of the Boursein cheese on the charcuterie. Isn't it one of the greatest holidays?

Three special baptisms happened this year. We were teaching with the missionaries one day and when we went outside met a kind gentleman who seemed interested in meeting with us. He set up an appointment and John attended. He immediately decided that he wanted to be baptized and, after several weeks of prayer and work, asked John to baptize him. We are very happy that he is part of our church family. We also had the privilege of attending the baptism of a dear friend who had been studying the gospel and attending church with her family for about 18 years before she decided that she wanted to be baptized. She has such a supportive community. There were almost a hundred people there. Lastly, another dear friend decided she wanted to renew her commitment to Christ and be baptized by an immersion water baptism in her own church, and she invited us to attend. We felt honored to be with her and her husband for this special moment in her life and listen to the preaching of the word and the singing of the beautiful songs witnessing Jesus and His salvation.

If you've gotten this far in our letter, we'll consider that a Christmas gift (and maybe even a Christmas miracle, lol!). Thank you so much for being a special part of our lives, and helping us get through the beauties, struggles, gifts and lessons of another year. Christmas is upon us, and the end of the year marks our 7th wedding anniversary. While life can bring all sorts of unexpected events or even chaos, there is no doubt that we are tremendously blessed, that we have a God in Heaven who is watching over us, and that His tender care guides us in every way.

Thank you so much for making it with us another year, and we pray that Christ's grace, love and mercy fill your heart with peace and happiness, and you find yourself closer to our Savior and your loved ones this Christmas.

Forever friends,

John and Sarah Gonzales