"As I learn more Spanish, English words look funny sometimes"

January 26, 2009
Dear Family,
It's going great here! This last week has gone by so fast. I finally started studying really hard instead of fairly hard and it is paying off. Spanish is coming easier to me now and so is gospel stuff. I can feel your prayers.
Oh, and by the way, there really isn't anything of mine at home that I want protected...so go ahead and fight it out. Ha. I don't know why I cared about so many things back a couple weeks ago. Most of it is small and insignificant in the eternal perspective. I hope you all can forgive me for my shortcomings.
On my email, I will do short ones on Mondays but the main chunk will be in letters. As I learn more Spanish, English words look funny sometimes. Thanks Erik. You're an example to me, too. Mom, that's good that you're serving. Just remember when times get rough to just keep plowing. We will never get everything done so remember that. Tell Tim that I sleep on the bottom bunk and that the tree of life is no more. It's divided showers now, which is nice.
My first two Sundays have been way nice. It's nice and slow. We watched the Joseph Smith Restoration movie last night. It was way good. It seems like every couple days they always have a speaker or a talk or just something that really picks you back up to keep you going strong.
Justin, your car looks awesome! The weather looks like it has been nice there. It snowed a couple inches last night here in Provo. That fireside sounded real good, Ash. Cassie is such a sweet girl and Chad is way cool and nice. The MTC is an amazing place. It's weird that we hear almost nothing here. I heard from one of our speakers that Obama's inauguration went safely and I heard from someone who made the super bowl, but that's all I've heard from the outside world. Tell Erik and Justin to prepare well spiritually for their missions because even then you won't be prepared.
It's so nice to feel the spirit here almost 24/7. Twice when we were teaching the first lesson to practice investigators, I have had the spirit direct me to certain scriptures or say something I didn't even think about until it was out of my mouth. In John 3:16-17, I thought of it in a way I never had before. The Lord came to Earth to know how pain, hunger, sadness and all those other emotions felt so he could help us through our trials.
Thanks for the quotes dad. I love them. Oh, and by the way, I owe 20 dollars in tithing to the Bishop. So if you could take that out of my funds that would be excellent. There is so much stuff and not enough time to write it all. Maybe ya'll can see my journals when I get back. I feel like I'm growing older every day here. The days pass slow but the weeks pass quick. Thanks for supporting me on my mission. I heard from one elder that his family doesn't support him at all here. His dad doesn't even like him anymore. Thanks for loving me and I love you all. Sorry for my randomness. I will try to organize better in the future.

Love,
Elder Gray

P.S. How are you all?

(A note from Chris' family....here's Elder Gray's email. eldergray@myldsmail.net)