Monday, January 18, 2010

Don’t stumble over this rock, leap off of it.....

Hey,
Things are going great here. Elder Himes and I are doing very well
together. We are having a baptism on Saturday and we are super excited.
I'm not sure if I told you all about her before so I will tell you
again. She is 12. Her dad is the only member in her immediate family.
He is deacons quorum adviser so he is super awesome. He is a stay at
home dad now that he has retired from the military. The mom works for
Frito lay, I think, up in Dallas so she flies down once or twice a week
for a couple days. She is catholic. She will be coming to the baptism
though. Desiree is doing very well. She got a calling on Sunday. She
is the YW personal progress adviser, or something like that. She is so
happy and we are way happy for her.

This week we had ward conference. Church was only two hours long though
since we still don't have use of all the rooms. They found mold and so
they will be replacing some sheet rock in the section of the building
that got flooded. It is supposed to be all done and usable by next
Sunday. The new stake center for the Kyle stake is making good progress.
It should be done and ready to move into by the end of the year,
possibly the beginning of December. Everyone in Buda is excited since
the building will be a little closer to them. The rumor is that the
north part of the ward will be put back into one of the Austin wards.
It’s just a rumor right now though, nothing has been said officially.
The stake president gave a good talk at ward conference. He basically
talked about helping and finding the lost sheep. He shared a great
story. It went something like this:

One day there was a man walking along the beach. He saw up ahead a
little boy bending down, throwing something, taking a couple steps, and
then repeating the same process over and over again. He was curious to
see what the boy was doing. He approached and saw that the little boy
was throwing starfish from the sand and back into the ocean. He asked,
"What are you doing?"
"I’m throwing the starfish back into the ocean. You see, the tide is
going out and they are going to dry up and die if I don’t do anything.”
The man replied, “Son, there are miles and miles of beach. You can’t
possibly make a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the
ocean. “Well I made a difference for that one.”

I do know that we can make a difference. No matter how small it is, we
are still helping and making the world a better place.

I am so glad to hear that Erik is doing well. Erik and all of us should
remember that these trials are for our better. They are molding us into
whatever the Lord needs us for later on in life and the eternities.
Don’t stumble over this rock, leap off of it and gain more ground than
you could have before. And remember Erik, as far as recovery times and
such, the doctors will tell you things according to what they’ve seen in
the average person. You are not average. You are awesome and I know
that you will be back to normal before long. You all are in my prayers
and I love you all more than words can express.

Love,
Elder Gray

P.S. Speaking of rocks, we played disc golf all morning and it was
pretty muddy. I tried to jump off a rock and over a stream but I
slipped and fell in. Luckily it was only a couple of inches deep and I
landed on my feet :) I didn’t get a very good score either but it was
fun. Thanks for all your emails and letters. I think I have gotten
at least one from all ya'll in the family pretty recently. Good luck in
Track Ashley, good luck in YW mom, good luck in work and all that dad,
good luck in soccer Justin, good luck in recovery and everything Erik,
and good luck in life I guess to Brooke and Tim.

No comments:

Post a Comment