Pictures:

Delicious goodies that I got!

Me eating some smarties

Where we sleep/get dressed for the 4 of us

Our Kitchen

The middle room with the fireplace thing. . . (the old ladies own this so we can only walk through here... :p )

Our outside where we sleep sometime if it's too hot

Where we study. . the board of people who are getting baptized these upcoming weeks

Other part of our outside (where we workout most of the time)

Elder Marchant, and Christ (where I put my clothes)

I bought myself a flag of my team here in Córdoba. (ps. I think im going to send you guys one of these flags. Also, one from the rival team (The Talleres))

where we put our bags

My comp and his clothes (sorry kind of blurry)

Letter #31

1. General Conference

I am so excited to hear from our prophets and apostles this upcoming weekend!!!!! WOOOHAHHOHOOO! I was sitting in church yesterday listening to our branch president talk about how we´re not going to have church next week.... And i was like..... Wait..... why not? then i realized.... Oh Yeah!!! General Conference! Im excited to hear what President Monson has to say to the world. What we need to do to stay clear of Satan and his temptations. How we can better our relationships with our families. How we can be more spiritually pure and clean. How we can get more out of the Sacred Scriptures etc. I can´t wait to hear what everyone learns this next week! If you have a chance, read about the first general conference that we have had. It is in Mosiah chapter 2! This week, me and my comp are planning on doing 100 contacts each! So basically Im goign to be talking to every single person that I meet. Because really, I can bet money that the prophet will say something that the person will need. We can always bet on the prophet. :)

2. Zone Conference

This week we had zone conference! It was way super exciting to hear all the different talks from the President, his wife, the assistants and some of the Zone Leaders. We learned that if we want to be really successful, we need to not only have member lessons, but have the lessons inside of the members house! If we contact 100 people, 1 person will progress.... but if we contact 100 people, have a lesson with a member, 10 of them will progress. If we contact 100 people, have the lessons in the member´s house, 70 of them will progress to their baptism..... That is a substantial number! So basically, we told all of these numbers at our ward council meeting, and the members are pumped now!!! So You´ll be hearing a lot about all the people whoa re going to start progressing here pretty soon!

3. Familia Lescano

The familia Lescano are definitely my favorite family here in Jardín. We went to their house the other day, they told us that they were doing pretty bad.... So we went back to the pension, prayed, got the together forever video, went back to their house, prayed, watched it, prayed again. After the Final prayer, they got up and hugged.... hugged for the first time in 6 months!! That hug lasted about 3 minutes. then their kids went up and hugged them... everyone started crying.... etc. I know that God was in there, listening to that lesson, guiding my comp and i on the things that we needed to say. I know that the Spirit touched the hearts of the parents to really realize that their family isn´t supposed to end at death, but has a purpose and should last forever. If God is so preoccupied over families, I know that it is one of the best things that will bring me happiness. I am grateful fo rthe family that I have and how much they do for me. I also know that all your prayers answered this families prayers, so i want to say thanks!!

4. Letters! and packages!

I received some letters and some packages this week!! Woohooo!! Its so fun to hear from you guys, keep sending them!! and if you´re too lazy to write by hand, our mission president gives us permission to write whoever we want through our email! so this is mine:collin.gray@myldsmail.net

5. 200 days.

My sister Cassie told me that I have 200 days in the mission.... That is definitely weird. I hope you all have had a safe 200 days at home, growing, living, experiencing, loving, caring, and most importantly, doing what Christ would do. I love you all and cant wait to see you in 530 days more!

With loads of love,

Elder Gray

6 Months Down!!

Letter #30

Hey!!! this week was pretty amazing!! definitely one of the best weeks in my mission! And, also, it was one of the saddest in my mission.... :P But you to experience both of them to truly know what they both mean.

1. Belgrano Lost.

So yeah.... I found out that my team her ein Córdoba lost 2-0 to Independiente.... Bunch of crap.

2. We found Yesica

We went to bouwer to see if we could find some people. So yeah. we went there, talked to a couple of hte members, got 7 references. contacted them. and put a baptismal date with Yesica :). Shell be baptized the 7th of april. :)

3. Found Matias

Elder Melerio (zone leader) and i went around one day finding people. So knocked on this one guys house, he invited us in, asked me if i was from Brazil.... (heck yeah i am!) and then taught him the first lesson. He was basically teaching himself that our church was true! It was an amazing lesson! Then he said he wanted to be baptized.... and asked us if he could be.... (uh.... YEAH!!!) so hes getting baptized the 7 of abril.

4. Darío

This week we were going to have a baptizm with Darío.... but, he denied that the church was true and such... so we´re working with him to be baptized the day of general confrerence. PLEASE pray for Darío. he really needs help getting his answer to know taht the book of mormon is true.

So yeah, we have two or three baptisms coming up. It was a great week! I hope you all had fun in Saint George and i cant wait to see all the pictures you took!! :)

Elder Gray

Letter #29

Wow!!! I cant believe that Jamison is already home as well! Its crazy how time flies.... Especially since this transfer is already over and I have my new comp!! His name is elder Holtby and he is from South Jordan. And supposedly he lives really close to Gretchen.... But I dont remember him. haha. but yeah. He´s been living with the assistants for almost a year so hopefully some of his work and teachings will rub off on me.

Happy Birthday Logan!! I hope it was great and I hope you have a great second year!

Happy Birthday Tiff!! thanks for writing me this week...... not.... but its all good. :)

Happy Vacation family!! I hpe you have a great time in St George.... where it is still freezing right?

Happy Winning Real!! One of the members in my ward right now told me that Real beat the Galaxy the other day so it is fun to hear that :) And supposedly they have a player from Salta Argentina! it will be fun to get back to watch them play again :)

Happy Knee Mom!! Sounds like you are doing good. and it sounds like marci had a good time talking with you when you were drugged! hahaha

Happy Indexing mom!! Keep up the work. you dont know how many souls are thanking you in heaven for progressing their work.

This week nothing to big has happened... We invited a lot of people to church this week! like ten or so.... but..... it turned out to be the same ol church without anyone there.. It sucks not being an example for the zone when im supposed to be the one gettting everyone excited to get peopel to church... but then i cant get anyone there... :P but its ok. I just need to have a little more faith! Because it says millions of times in the bible of all the stuff they couldnt do because of the lack of faith. My goal this week..... FAITH!! in everything that i do!!

Other than that, the most exciting thing this week was transfers.. Elder Montalban is in Villa Allende. Elder Bryant, Marchant, and I stayed here in Jardín/San Carlos. and elder Holtby is here now. 

I feel like John the Baptist preparing the way for someone else much more important to come and be the example for all the people.

Dont have much more to say this week other than i hope you are all safe!!

Elder Gray

Letter #28

Galations 6:11

  11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.

That scripture will sum up about all that I am going to write you..... A LOT!! because a lot has happened since the last time i wrote you.

1. Hna Lopez. this week we had the opportunity to meet Hermana Lopez.  she is the mom of an inactive member in our ward that we have been trying to reactivate. So we started talking to her and she invited us in. so we sat down, and started talking about her life and such. she told us all about all the misisonaries that have visited her throughout her life and she remembers all of their names. She told us two stories in particular that I thought were really cool.....

a. One day about 20 years ago, they were eating dinner as a family and they didnt have much to eat, just a couple slices of bread. And it was two days before Christmas. There was a knock at the door and it was one of her favorite elders in the ward. She invited him in, and she invited him to eat. He said ok, and sat down. she gave him some of the bread that her kids were going to eat. the elder said to give the bread to her kids so that they could eat and be filled. The he asked them if he could give the blessing on the food. she said of course and so he gave the blessing. During the blessing he asked that the lord would provide enough food so that every person could be filled for christmas. then after the blessing they started eating. The elder stopped, looked at the kitchen table and said, hermana, give some of those Papas Fritas to the kids. The hermana was like what? what papas fritas? she turned around and saw that there were french fries made on the kitchen table. so she went and got them all and they started eating. then they finished and the elder said, hermana, go get the french fries and bring them. the hermana turned around, confused by what she saw, and saw that there were more french fries than before and she served them. After about 2 mores times of doing this, they finished eating, and the elder said his goodbyes and left..... The next day, Christmas eve, she had an interview with the bishop. She told the bishop this story, and the bishop said.... hmmmm.... who came with the elder? The hermana, realizing now, looking back tot he day before, that the elder did not have his companion with him.... The bishop said that was interesting, and grabbed a letter out of his desk and gave it to her.... The Hermana opened it up and started reading. It was from the Elder who she had been visited. It said that he was sorry that he could not visit her before he left but he had to be emergancy transfered. It was dated the 22nd of December....                   So yeah, I just thought that was a cool story.

2. Hna Lopez. The second story

One day, she invited the elders over for dinner. They came and started eating. Once again not having much to eat. so after the prayer, they started eating... One of the elders smelt something, *sniff*, he said, wht is that? It smells like my moms homemade bread that she always makes. then there was a knock at the door. There was a old man, holding a large bag. the man gave the bag to her, and said that he hopes that she has a great christmas! then he went and walked away. She brought the bag to the table and opened it up. At once, the elder started to cry and realized that it was the exact same bread that his mom makes to give out for christmas, with the same wrapping and everything. They ate it all and left. then the elder got to call home for Christmas. He started telling his mom this story when his mom stopped him, and told him a story. she hadd been making the Christmas bread for everyone to give out when there came a knock at the door. It was an old man. He asked if he could have one of the breads, and she, feeling that she needed to do it, said of course and gave it to him. He then left....               Another really cool story that I thought was cool. Just to let you know, the Elder was from the US too.

3. Dario. We had been contacting a lot, like usual, when elder montalban and i had the feeling that we needed to go see a man named Dario. So we went to his house. He was there, let us in, and we started talking. He kept asking us if someone sent us.... liek his mom or someone. we just said no, and that we had a feeling that we needed to come see him. He then started crying and telling about how his wife left him and his daughter and he was praying to god that us missionaries would come by and help him. BOOM. The spirit was so strong. Oh man, So yeah, we have him getting baptized the 24th! :)

4. Pie de E Montalban. We were playing soccer on thursday and elder montalban kicked a pole with all of his strength (the ball was there too), and needless to say, his foot is huge!! :) its cool looking.

5. Hna Lopez after. Hna Lopez also got robbed this week.... But she said that the only thing that they left was her triplet and it fell open to DC 122(i think) where it talks about Joseph smith and peace be unto thy soul. she is full of cool experiences!!

6. Pension. We are moving!! we found a pension tht is reallllllly nice and cheap. so were moving this week!!  woohoo.

7. Contactos. me and my comp made our goal of contacts!!

8. Reading. Im in Omni is my personal reading and its cool to see what is going on in there :)

9. Servicio con el auto. Yesterday, edler m and i were walking back to our pension where we stopped and helped a bunch of guys lift a car on the back of a trailer..... Priesthood Power Baby!! :)

10. Last thoughts. I love you all!, and i hope you have a great week :)