Following the Spirit

Hey,

Things are going well. I haven't received my shoe package yet but it should arrive today I'm guessing. I put a bike patch on the bottom of my shoe and it worked well for a couple days :) Then the hole just got bigger and bigger. Ha so it will be nice to get some more shoes soon. We had a really good week and found a couple of really solid investigators. They were all found when we were really focusing on trying to follow the spirit too. It was awesome. One of them is stuck at home all day and loves to read. She said that she would probably finish the Book of Mormon in a day or two. We are teaching her tomorrow and are super excited. Also, we found another guy when we went looking for a former investigator. Those people weren't home and so we went across the street and started talking to a guy in his yard. He is a very humble person and so he is willing to continue to learn. We just saw a lot of blessings this last week.

Cheyenne is still waiting for her Grandpa to be healthy enough to come down. Her baptismal interview is tomorrow. We still don't know when she will be baptized......hopefully soon. All our other old investigators have stopped progressing and so we are still focusing on finding.

Our ward has about 17 ward missionaries now. Just a week ago the bishop called seven new ones. We are excited to have a bunch of active members helping out with the work. There is going to be a big focus on bringing people back into activity in the church.

How are things going at home? Is everybody excited for the summer? Any fun plans? I am excited to talk to yall in a couple weeks. Time flies. It feels like I just talked to you all the other month. I love you all and hope that you have an awesome week.

Quote: "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice The Gift"

Love,

Elder Gray

Holy Soles

Or is it "holey" shoes? ha ha...Elder Gray is working hard in the Texas Heat. We are loving the idea that Missionary Mall's 2 year wear guarantee will send a replacement for free. Yeah!

Becoming...

Hey,

Wow those Prom pictures look great. I recognized a couple of faces but wow you all have changed a bunch. Good job on your running Ashley. I know you are working hard and its paying off. Congrats on your arrow of light and turning 11 Justin. I hope you had an awesome birthday. Good job Erik for keeping on with normal life. I don't know how I would have handled all your struggles. You are a stud. I bet you like eating solid food again :) I sent off the shoe pictures a day or two before I received your letter. I appreciate the labels and stamps though. I will definitely use them.

At this last zone conference we talked about a lot of things. We talked about becoming Preach my Gospel by studying it constantly. I made a goal to do a couple activities from it every day. Also, President Cutler gave us a lot of good advice about future families that we will have. I don't think he meant to bring it up but that's just kind of where the discussion led to. It was a super awesome and spiritual meeting.

Our area is doing well. I am getting to know the members even better now and have developed some good friendships. Elder Hawkins and I are also getting along very well. Cheyenne is just waiting for her Grandpa to get the OK from his doctor so he can fly from Utah and baptize her. Nathaniel has just kinda disappeared so hopefully we can get in contact with him soon.

I really love being on a mission. It has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know that this is the Lord's work. Thanks for everything. Love you all.

Love,

Elder Gray

PS Thanks for all the pictures. I did a little bit of math and figured out that you could send me about 7000 pictures before my in box is full. So if you ever worry about sending too much, don't worry. You could send a movie and I'd still have plenty of room. Haha don't though ;) But I do enjoy every picture. Oh and I did receive my shirts in the mail. Thanks!

Baptisms

Hey,

This week was a lot of fun. Elder Hawkins and I got a lot of work done. Nathaniel is set to be baptized on April 25 and Cheyenne Gamble was supposed to be baptized today but she needed to push the date back. She will be baptized this month though. We are going to talk to her today and hopefully get another baptismal date set. As a mission we have been pushing to find more new investigators. In our zone, we doubled the number of new investigators from the previous week. It is really awesome to see the changes as we all push forward. The work that we do right now is a mixture between all the categories (part-member families, referals, less active members, tracting, etc...). But I would say we do a little bit more knocking than anything else. Our district leader, Elder Eaton, has been sick for the last week so we have been exchanging a lot with them lately. They only live a mile or two away from us.

I love you all and I am super grateful for your support. Have the best week ever and thank you for that Easter package. I really am enjoying it.

Con Amor,

Elder Gray

Make every day a good one!

Hey,

This week has gone by pretty quickly. We had a pretty good week. We had transfers on Thursday and my new companion is Elder Hawkins. He is an English elder. He has been out since July. He lived in Provo and went to Provo high then UVU. He played snare drum on the drum-line for Provo high. He likes electronics and even made an MP3 player out of an old NES controller. It is pretty cool. He is probably 3 inches taller than me. He is a lot of fun. I've known him for a little bit because I've served around him before.

We spent the morning with an awesome guy from the ward. He is less active because his job is always taking him out of town on Sundays. He is a salesman for Vitamix blenders. We went geo-caching. It is really fun. You all should try it out sometime.

General Conference was really awesome. I liked a lot of talks but President Uchtdorfs talks in the priesthood session and in the regular session as well as President Monson's Sunday morning talk were some of the best. I really liked learning about patience and the Lords master plan. I also liked Elder Bednar's talk. Some of the things he touched on, particularly being an agent that acts, is something that we learned from him when he came to our mission.

One thing that I would suggest for your question about the new ward missionary..... I don't think it matters too much what he is doing as long as he is able to feel like 'he' is making a difference and he is feeling the spirit as he helps others. I hope that helps. Just follow the spirit and I'm sure you will both do great.

I am happy to hear that you all are still doing great. Remember the Alamo (or at least your missionary by there). Haha but seriously if you get some time, read the story of the Alamo. That story is filled with brave men who put it all on the line. I love you all. Keep on keepin' on and make every day a good one.

Con Amor,

Elder Gray

PS If you could send 3 white church shirts that would be awesome. Wrinkle free if possible. I will send you the pics of my shoes asap.

Transfer Week

Hey its transfer week

I'm staying but my comp is leaving

more soon

love ya

Dear Justin,

I have baptized millions of people. Haha just kidding no I think 12. That's how many me and my companions have helped to get baptized. I'm not exactly sure how many I have actually got in the water and did the actual baptism. Texas is great. I love the barbecue and brisket is my favorite thing to eat here(and the Mexican food is super spicy and good. The hottest temperature I have been in is about 105 degrees. It was about that hot for two months last summer. And its humid. That is so awesome that you are getting your Arrow of Light. You will be glad that you took the time to get that when you look back on your life. Good job at everything else. You and everyone else at home sound like you are working hard at the things you do. Love you.

Love,

Elder Gray


Dear Ashley,

Wow good job at all your stuff. Way to try something new. I don't think I would have made it in choir if I would have tried but I wish I would have at least tried. Way to push yourself in school. Keep it up and I know that you will do awesome. Also that is really awesome that you have that Christlike love for our brother Erik, running for him and such. Bryson is an awesome guy. Tell him I said hi and that I approve ;) lol. Is he still doing track?

Anyways things are going awesome here in Texas. I really like this area. I have loved all my areas though. The ward is highly functional and so we can get a lot accomplished. We are still trying to get more people excited about the missionary work but that will come with time. Keep it up and I love you.

Love,

Elder Gray

Dear Erik

I'm doin' hecka good. Lol. I'm a little sad that I'm losing my companion but its ok because its what the Lord wants. That is so sweet that you finished your radiation treatments. Sometimes I try and burn myself with my radioactive super-vision but it doesn't work so I don't know what its like. Sorry I can't empathize but I know that only someone tough like you could still be having this great of an attitude. Good luck in the elections. I will vote for you if I can send this email as an absentee ballot. You are an awesome example to me Erik. Keep it up and I love you and I'm praying for you. Remember to floss in between the toes :)

Love

Elder Gray

Dear Family,

I'm sorry I don't have too much time but I want you to know that I love you all and I hope that all goes well. I am doing well and I will be sending pics of my broken shoes soon. Thanks for the letters and all the extras in the letters and for your love and support.

Love,

Elder Gray

"...Make the days count"

Hola,

Esta semana pasada fue divertido. Yo fui a dos areas para los cambios. Fui a los barrios Cedar Park y Lake Austin. Lake Austin es un barrio español. Los lideres de la zona sirven allí. Hablar en español por un día fue divertido. El barrio Cedar Park es ingles. Aprendiò mucho en los dos intercambios.

Aprendimos muchas acerca de la expiacion todavia. Nuestro paquet que leemos es lleno de buenas charlas. Una cosa que yo aprendí esta semana es: Porque Jesucristo fue perfecto, no necesita hacer la expiacion por su propia salvacion, porque Él ya fue salvado. Con o sin la expiacion, el todavia es salvado. Pero el hizo todo para que podemos ser salvados. Entonces, la expiacion es unicamente para nosotros. Todas las cosas que tenemos que hacer para regresar a Dios, aprendimos en la iglesia.

(Thank heavens to google translate:
Hi,
This past week was fun. I went to two areas for change. I went to Cedar Park neighborhoods and Lake Austin. Lake Austin is a Spanish neighborhood. The leaders of the area served here. Speaking in Spanish for a day was fun. The Cedar Park neighborhood is English. Learned a lot in the two exchanges.
We learned a lot about the atonement yet. Our package we read is full of good talks. One thing I learned this week is: Because Jesus Christ was perfect, no need to make atonement for his own safety, because he was already saved. With or without the atonement, he still is saved. But he did everything so that we can be saved. Then the atonement is only for us. All things that have to do to return to God, we learned in church.)

I remember that you had a couple questions in your letter to me this last week, dad. I'm sorry but I forgot it back at our house. But a little info about the area (because I think that might have been what you asked) is: We cover one ward. It is an english ward. All the spanish people that we find, we refer to the zone leaders. The spanish ward covers the whole stake boundaries. We basically cover the southern half of Pflugerville. We do live with the bishop. He was called to be bishop on the first or second Sunday that I was here. That is really awesome that everyone is doing well. I am excited that dad got that project over at the ball fields. Is it the new ones up by the middle school? Also we do have enough copies of the BOM to give out to people but thanks for the concern. But that would be cool to get a couple of them with your testimonies in it to give away to people. Great idea! Also just fyi. I bought a gps a month or so ago and we have a Ross in our area so I might buy some more pants and shirts there in the next couple of weeks. Also, strangely, my big toe on my left shoe has almost worn all the way through. I believe that my warranty at MM covers that so I was wondering if I needed to send a pic or the whole shoe.....

I love you all and hope for the best. I hope that you all succeed in your endeavors and that Erik will continue to recover. Tell Erik he is a stud and to keep pushin' all the way through his recovery and beyond. You are the best family. God bless.

Con amor,

Elder Gray

P.S. Please tell all the young women thanks for the letters. I enjoyed reading them. Also tell the track team to work hard and that I wish them luck during this next season.

"Don't count the days, make the days count."

-Muhamed Ali

p.s. oh by the way the house that we live in has 3 chihuahuas so its pretty awesome.