a letter from the deep reaches of south texas

Hey,

Things are going great here. The weather has cooled down a bit and its
starting to feel a little bit like fall. It was in the sixties for a
couple days when it was raining but it is back up to the low nineties
now. That still isn’t bad at all though.

Roger Gonzalez got confirmed yesterday. His friend, Brother Hack, did
the confirmation.

At the base I finally saw someone in basic training that I knew, sorta.
His name is Mike Haligarda. He ran the 400 and 800 for Canyon View. He
came to our gospel principles class. At first we didn’t recognize each
other. But we started talking and he said he was from Cedar City. He
asked me if I knew Chris Gray. I replied, “Yeah that’s me.” He said he
didn’t even recognize me now. I guess 20 more pounds and a suit and tie
wasn’t what he was used to seeing me in. We talked about track for a
bit and he mentioned how their team didn’t like me because I would
always beat Braden. Ah rivalry :) It was a funny experience.

We had an interesting experience with a member the other day. We
brought her to a lesson with a blind lady. The lady that we were
teaching told us a story about how when she lived in Mexico, one of our
Bishops had given her a blessing that healed her. Then she mentioned
his name. The member then started crying and said, “Era mi padre.”
This man that had given the investigator a blessing so long ago in
Mexico was the member’s dad that had died a couple years ago. So the
member started crying and then things got weird. The investigator said
“The power of your father’s healing is in your hands. Come put your
hands on my eyes and head so that I may be healed.” Then she actually
got up and did it. She put her hands on the investigator’s head for a
couple seconds and then sat back down. The member then asked for a
priesthood blessing for both of them. So we gave them both blessings
and then left. Then the next day the member mentioned to us that she
thinks she has some healing gift. We decided to call the Bishop to
inform him of what had happened. All in all it was a very weird
experience. It really fortified my testimony about how the priesthood
really works and is from God. There was not a good feeling in the room
when this experience happened but there was a good feeling in the room
after we had given them both real blessings.

I am really looking forward to conference this next weekend. It is so
great that we get to hear from our leaders of the church. They always
have great insights on how to live a gospel filled life.

I was wondering if you all are still taking Reliv. If you are, could
you send me some? I feel like I need a little more nutrition.

Yo se que Cristo es nuestro Salvador. El es el Salvador del mundo.
Solo por medio de El, seremos feliz en las eternidades. Se que Jose
Smith fue el profeta que Dios elige para establecer su iglesia en la
tierra de nuevo. Tambien, se que nuestras problemas ayudanos crecer.
Paso a paso, podemos llegar a ser perfecto, como Jesus. Se que las
familias son eternas. Os Amo Mucho!

Con Amor,
Elder Gray