Progressing

Hey,

Well another week has passed by and I'm still here. We had a really good week with our numbers. We taught 29 total lessons. Usually we have around 20-25 I believe. We also had a bunch of new investigators. Sadly a couple have dropped off already. If they're not elect, we just have to move on and later on down the road they will be ready. We receive a couple referrals from they ward members. The other week we received eight from one lady in the ward. We have been able to contact two of them. One was interested and the other wasn't. We are also trying to visit some recent converts in the ward each week. Sadly, all the ones that were baptized this last November and December are inactive currently. But with some hard work we can bring them back.

On Saturday we did something that was a little scary, to us at least. There is a part member family in the ward that needed help vacuuming their house. The mom was in the hospital for surgery. Her mom was coming over to help around the house but is allergic to dogs. So they needed their whole house vacuumed to get rid of the dog hair. The husband wasn't doing it so she called some sisters in the ward to help. The sisters couldn't do it right then so they ended up calling us to help. So we went over there when nobody was home and vacuumed the whole downstairs. The husband wasn't home so we were afraid he was going to show up any minute. He doesn't like the missionaries because they weirded him out a while back. Apparently they would always sing him a song when they came over and he thought that was weird. So anyways we were really glad that he didn't walk in on us when we were there. He would not have liked that at all.

So anyways that was the excitement of the week. Oh also Randy, the guy that came with his two kids last week, came with them again this week. They really enjoy church. They are all progressing and learning tons. We are going to commit them for baptism when we go over on Wednesday.

Os amo.

Con Amor,

Elder Gray

P.S. Cheyenne got confirmed yesterday. She asked me to do that too so it was pretty cool

Awesome Sunday

Hey,

We had an awesome Sunday. Five investigators came to church. That is more than we have had in a long time. Four of them were surprises too so that was even better :) One of them came with two of his kids and they liked it. The other one that came was one that we had basically done all we can. We decided to just put her on the back burner for a couple weeks, but then she showed up to church so now she is back in our sights. Cheyenne was baptized yesterday. I got to baptize her so it was a pretty neat experience. She had originally said that she wanted her home teacher to baptize her so when she said she wanted me to, it was a big surprise. Everything went off without a hitch. We had a really good week overall. Lots of lessons, new investigators, referrals, etc.....

That's awesome to hear about the family and all the things going on. Good job at state! Are you going to Albuquerque? I am proud of both the boys and girls teams. Hard work always pays off. It seems like teams with a good medley or 4x400m are well balanced teams and do well overall. I'm excited that Justin gets to march with his team in the opening ceremonies too. That was always fun to do.

Well I hope you all have the best week. Stay safe and stay cool ;)

Love,

Elder Gray

Visualize Success

Hey,

Thanks for the pics. They are great and funny. It was really awesome talking to you all on Sunday. I really enjoyed hearing about Justin's, Erik's, Ashley's..........just everyone's accomplishments in all parts of life. Good job! You all make me proud to be part of this family.

So not to much has happened since we last talked. As you know, Cheyenne is getting baptized on Sunday. Everything seems to be pretty much in order and ready for that to happen. We have an awesome new investigator. We were knocking on some doors and we ran into a lady that we work with when we go to the thrift store to volunteer. She let us right in. She is looking for direction in her life and she is pretty awesome.

I'm sorry I don't have too much time but I hope you all have an awesome week. Good luck at state and run/cheer your hardest :) One thing that I found really helps is to visualize success. Visualize yourself running the best race of your life and passing people and so on. I guess everyone has their own things that work but that worked for me. Os amo muchisimo.

Con Amor,

Elder Gray

Perfect love casts out all fear

Hey,

My week went really great. I enjoyed translating your Spanish. It was good. Did someone help you or are you just awesome at Spanish now? ;) (It's called "google translator" ha ha...I typed up a letter in English and had google translator turn it into Spanish for me to send to Chris. LOL)

That's awesome about Ash and Erik getting elected. They will do awesome. I am very happy for Erik recovering so well and being able to do more things. I know that the Lord really blessed him. He blesses all of us so much.

Speaking of blessings, someone just moved into our ward that is pretty much prepared for baptism. She just needs to get married and so most likely she will be baptized at the end of the month. Her husband is pretty awesome. He is a super good chef and he works for a video game company (W.O.W. administrator for Blizzard Entertainment). We are super excited for her but right now her fiance hasn't expressed much interest. Hopefully that will change soon. Also, Cheyenne will be getting baptized on either this Sunday or next Sunday. We are talking to her tonight to finalize that date. She had her interview last week and she passed. She is a sweet girl.

This week I was reminded of something really important. First of all that perfect love casts out all fear. I was having a hard time talking effectively to people lately. Then when I realized what it was that was holding me back, it made all the difference. Also, another thing, If you want something to get done, just do it. At times we sit there passively and wait for things to happen. But time and time again I have seen that we get so much more accomplished when we make things happen.

♪Happy Anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary, haaaappy anniversary♪

I love you all and look forward to talking next week. Stay strong

Love,

Elder Gray

P.S. Hey transfers are next week. Also, I was thinking that 8 o clock (7pm your time) Sunday night would be the best time to call. Is that going to work? Let me know real quickly if that won't work.

P.S.S. Yes its starting to get hot here. Low 90's and humid

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!