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His brothers holding up his Welcome Home sign! Waiting to see Chris step off the plane.

With Bishop Allred.

And President Schmutz.

nos vemos en dos dias (C u in two days)

Howdy ya'll,

Well here it is. Your last email from me. I don't have too much to say that hasn't been said already. My mission was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. So many great memories. I just thought that I would share my favorite song from the spanish hymn book. It sums up what our mission is all about as servants of God. It isn't in the english hymnbook, just fyi.

Placentero Nos Es Trabajar #88 Himnos

Placentero nos es trabajar en la viña del gran Rey Jesus, y honroso nos es predicar, a Su pueblo Su ley y su Luz.

Por Su luz, por Su luz, placentero nos es trabajar. Por Su luz, por su luz, moriremos en El sin pesar.

La palabra de Dios escuchad con ahinco, lealtad y fervor. Para siempre jamas recordad Su pureza, verdad y amor.

Con amor, con amor la palabra de Dios escuchad. Con amor, con amor, la bandera de Dios empuñad.

Oh Hermanos adios, pues adios! El momento de ir vino ya. Si guardamos la fe_en el gran Dios, nos veremos aun mas alla.

Mas Alla, mas alla, oh hermanos adios, pues, adios! Mas alla, mas alla, moraremos con Dios en amor.

Google translate:
It is enjoyable work Hymns # 88
Pleasant we are working in the vineyard of the great King Jesus, and honored us to preach to His people His law and His Light.
By His light, His light, pleasant, we are working. By His light, light, die in Him without regret.
Hear the word of God with zeal, loyalty and fervor. Never forever remember his purity, truth and love.
With love, love, hear the word of God. With love, with love, take up the banner of God.
Oh brothers goodbye, because goodbye! Came time to go now. If we keep the fe_en the great God, we will even further.
Beyond, beyond, oh brothers goodbye, then, adios! Beyond, beyond, we will dwell with God in love.

Well I don't know what else to say. I will expound on whatever you want me to on Wednesday. Love ya'll

Love,

Elder Gray

Exciting Week

Hey!

Well this week is gonna be exciting. Our area is being combined with Boerne 2nd ward to make one big Boerne area. Elder Sherwood is leaving and Elder Bertoch and Elder Gardner are gonna stay and receive another district leader companion. On Thursday we will receive the other Elder. So for about five days we will still have 4 elders here and then I leave and It'll be just the three of them here. On Thursday I get to go with the departing missionaries and go to the temple and have some type of dinner thing at president's house. Then on next Tuesday I head down to San Antonio to leave early Wednesday morning. Its gonna be confusing coordinating all of that but we'll figure that out. I just thought you'd like to know my crazy schedule for this next week.

The work here is still progressing. We are going to teach Carolina and baptize her as soon as she's out of the hospital. We have had a couple more investigators drop so we are back to a tiny teaching pool again. I bought some cool goodies from the candy shop here in town. You will love them ;)

I agree with Clinton, I would like that layover in the airport so that I can be a missionary for a couple more hours.

I love you all and am excited to see you soon.

Love,

Elder Gray

PS I am so glad that the NCAA thing went through!

Dear Justin,

I remember Egypt day. That was a lot of fun. We made these cool wigs out of yarn and I looked like a girl ;) Good luck with your tonsil surgery. I guess I will be there so I will wish you good luck in person next week. One thing I want to do when I get home is watch some of our dvd's in Spanish. Like finding nemo, shrek, etc....You wanna join me?

Love ya,

Elder Gray

Dear Erik,

Darn. Now I have to learn that song. (I saw Three Ships by Jon Schmidt) Its a sweet song. Another cool music artist that I've ran across on my mission is Paul Cardall. He has some sweet piano music. I don't know if he's made any sheet music for it though. Keep working hard, especially in seminary.

Love,

Elder Gray

Hey Ash,

Its great to hear from ya. Footlocker sounds like a lot of fun. I remember all my xc friends always had such a great time. One of my mission buddies is gonna play football at Mt. Sac. I hear its a pretty good school. That's so awesome about Brandon. I remember him. No one could pronounce his name :) He is a really good kid. I'm surprised that he wasn't a member already. Great job for setting an example. Out here I have seen that a good friend's example is what usually starts it all for people getting in the church.

Keep it up. I will see you next week

Love,

Elder Gray

Pictures....

I love it when I receive a memory card in the mail.... just wanted to share some of his pics!







Does this mean they have been working hard doing missionary work and playing hard on P days? Looks they like had a neat adventure exploring and caving.

Understanding Heart

Hey,

This week went fairly well. Its getting colder here. The other night it got down to 31 degrees and we've had a couple of other nights just as cold. I like it. I got my "trunky papers" in the mail last Wednesday. It was my flight plans, info about baggage, stuff about sending my bike home, and a couple other things. I think the only thing I will need from you all is a bit of money in my account. I am really grateful for all that you have helped me with so far. Thanks! I will send a memory card home in the mail today. Since I forgot to bring my papers into the library I will also include anything else I need to tell you.

We had exchanges this last week with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Howell and spent a day in his area. It was actually the area that the Ellingsons live in. Didn't see them though. I enjoyed working with him. He came to the MTC the same time as me. He is really a bold but nice person so it was nice to get an honest opinion of what I needed to improve on.

We have an investigator who is in the hospital right now with pneumonia. We went with a recently ordained elder in the ward and gave her a blessing. As soon as she recovers she will be ready for baptism. She just moved from Colorado and her daughter is a member. She called the bishop a little over a week ago and asked to be taught by the missionaries. We are excited to teach her soon. Also in her neighborhood we found this Mexican guy who is pretty interested. The spirit was really there and I was able to talk a lot better, in Spanish, than I ever could have done on my own. We are gonna teach him again on Wednesday.

We had a great lesson in elders quorum yesterday. The big thing I learned is to ask our Heavenly Father for an "understanding heart"(just like king Solomon asked for). Oh and also in sacrament meeting we had some great talks on being grateful. I learned about how the most likable people are the ones that express gratitude the most often. Also a lady by the name of Sister Graham shared a story about Rulon Gardner, the greco-roman wrestler (greco roman is a style of wrestling). Because of a miss-communication he missed the weigh-in for the Olympics by about 20 seconds and was disqualified. He didn't get bitter. He worked hard for four more years and came back and beat that huge Russian guy. This Russian hadn't been beaten ever and hadn't even had a point scored against him in the last decade. Rulon beat him. I don't remember what the story had to do with gratefulness but I liked it nonetheless.

That is awesome you went to that Jazz game. The night they played the spurs we went to a dinner and the member had a jazz shirt on. I don't know if they won or not. I really enjoyed that talk by Justin. I will have to remember that story. Thanks for the HS football updates. Too bad for Hurricane. I dunno if I told you already but we have a member from Hurricane in the ward.

Well that is all I can think of. I love you all and hope for the best. Keep on being awesome and I love you all.

Con Amor,

Elder Gray

Only Scratched the Surface.....

Hey!

How are you all? I'm doing great. We had to take Elder Bertoch to the doctor earlier this week. He has had the flu and it wouldn't go away. So when he went to the doctor they give him 3 different prescriptions. After that he has been kinda out of it. We are still working hard though. We were able to find a great family to teach last Monday. They live in a complex that is full of Mexicans so we were surprised when we found someone that spoke English and even more surprised when they let us in to teach them. We are going to teach them again tonight.

Also some of the recent converts that we are working with are doing awesome. Andy is awesome. She always wants to help us with stuff like Christmas shopping and other things. She has a great heart. Her kids, Bryce and Logan, are really cool too. Logan is 2 or 3 and is the cutest little kid. I'll have to take some pics of their family before I leave so I can send them to you. Speaking of pictures, I need to send another memory card home. I'm sorry I haven't for a while. I will soon.

For Thanksgiving we are going to visit a couple of members. The Johnstone family is going to give us our main meal. They are a cool family. Blake is going to turn in his mission papers in the next couple of weeks.

I read a scripture the other day at the end of Jacob or one of those other short books. He talks about how his life has passed away as if it had been a dream. I feel like my mission has been similar. Looking back, two years is a long time. Its a whole tenth of the life that I have lived so far. But then it feels like it was only yesterday that I left. It has been a great experience. I have learned so much and made friends that I will never lose. I feel like I have learned to be a better friend as well. The greatest thing by far that I have learned is the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. I have gained so much from his sacrifice. I understand him so much better and I'm sure I have only scratched the surface of what he has to offer. My mission means everything to me.

As the weeks wind down I am excited to start another chapter. But this chapter is going to end with a bang. Don't worry, I will work until the moment you see me. I'm pretty stoked to talk to all the people in the airports. It'll be fun. I love you all and hope for the best.

Love ya,

Elder Gray

P.S. D&C 10:5

( Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.)

Honest Truth Seeker

Hey,

We met an awesome investigator this week. He is an honest truth seeker. We went into a gated community and hurried to the first house before we got kicked out. The first door we knocked on he let us right in. He was on the phone but we waited until he was done. He only had about ten minutes so we did a quick restoration lesson. He was really intrigued and wanted to know more about us and was willing to pray and ask.

We also had a really awesome fireside on Sunday about member missionary work. I sent the attachments of it so I won't go too in depth in the email. But it was an awesome fireside. The members that came learned a lot. So did I, for right now and when I get home.

Our area is probably 20X40 miles. Most of it is pretty concentrated in Boerne, Fair Oaks, or the Dominion. But, rich people (like George Strait and half the spurs team) live in the Dominion so it is heavily guarded and they won't let us in the community without an appointment. We have a car. I don't think I will ride my bike the rest of my mission. With my bike, the mission will help me send it home. I just have to pay them some money. My clothes are holding up good enough. I will be fine the rest of my mission. I don't know how much I have on my debit card but if I have $100-200 that should be plenty in case there is some fee or something that unexpectedly comes up. That's cool if you look at my planners and letters. I guess you already have but go ahead and dig through whatever you want.

Sorry this isn't too long. The library is really busy today and they aren't being very patient with us. Plus, we are burning cds of the fireside for the ward members. So anyways I hope everything goes well and that you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Gray