Letter #49

Wow.... I am old.

Hello everyone! I´m glad to hear from some of you to see how you are doing. For me its always fun to hear something that brightened your day, because many times, it also brightens mine.

This week was really good here in Rio Ceballos! We had a lottttt of lessons and a lot of new investigators. We also had 2 baptisms!!! :D Hopefully I will be able to send you some photos of it but it seems like to me the computers here dont want to cooperate with me. :P

But yeah, overall, this week was really good. We of course had some difficulties, but we overcame them with a lot of help, and a lot of prayers. So thank you all for the prayers you send in my direction. They are well needed and well appreciated.

1. Alvaro! Alvaro (9)  was baptized this last Saturday!! :D It was a really nice baptism and there were a TON of people there (im thinking over 100). 

2. Lourdes! Lourdes (8) was also baptized from the ward this Saturday. She is so dang cute!

3. Ruth. Ruth was at the baptism and it was supposed to be her baptism as well. But she said she wanted to wait.... So we repected her decision and so we are just waiting for her to say yes, I want to be baptized. At the beginning of the baptismal service she said that she would never want to get baptized.... But after the baptism and the confirmation, the Spirit was so strong there, that she almost said that she wanted to be baptized right there.... So im thinking by the end of this week she´ll have the desires to be baptized. :D All we can do is wait.

4. Flia Garcia. We visited the Flia Garcia this week and taught them about the plan of salvation. They received the message really well and we´ll be going to visit this Thursday when the family can all be together.

5. Flia Martinelli. The Martinelli family invited me over this Thursday for a Birthday lunch. So I think it will be really fun! Then a lot of other people invited me over for dinner and such so I know we´ll be eating a lot that day. haha

6. Soledad. Yesterday we went to go visit Soledad and help her build her house! But when we got to her house, she came running up to us and said that a couple of other guys came and helped her build it. So now we can go visit her whenver we want! She is really interested to find out about the Restoration and the Authority and such. It should be a good lesson :D

7. Florencia/Graciela. After Soledad we went to go apologize to Graciela (mom of Florencia) because she didnt´like that we were coming by to visit florencia and pushing her to a baptism. So we went over and apologized to Graciela and now she LOVES us! She wants us to come by and start visiting the whole family! :D haha I know, that when we humble ourselves like a child, and apologize to those whom we have wronged, the Lord will touch their heart and they will accept the apology.

8. Flia Medina. When we were visiting Soledad at her house, there were a couple of the guys who were helping her there. Then one guy ran past us and went to his house. So, we decided to go visit him. When we knocked on his door, he opened the door and said that he didn´t want anything to do with us. he didn´t want us to pray with him or his family. But after a couple of minutes talking to him. His wife (who was in the background the whole time) told us to come in and take a seat. So elder Goates, said ok and ran into the house before the dad said no. haha So yeah, we took a seat and started talking to them and after 30 minutes (and sharing the Lesson 3), we have a lesson set up with them this Tuesday.

9. We also got contacted by a couple. We were coming out of Graciela´s house after we just apologized to us. Then this young couple contacted us in the street. They asked us if they knew of a Good Christian Church that they could go to.... I looked at my companion and he looked at me and I said, "uhhhh.....Yeah, I know of one." Then we presented ourselves as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And after a good little conversation with them, we are going to be going to visit them Tuesday.

Really, here in Rio Ceballos, we are seeing a lot of miracles. I know that God lives, and that he really loves us. He wants us to be successful and to have a good life. His purpose, his work, and his glory, is to bring to pass the eternal life and immortality of man. All we need to do, is keep his commandments.

I know that there really is a law irrovocably decreed, that when we receive a blessing, it is because we have kept a commandment of him.

I hope you are all are recognizing and sharing the blessings that you receive.

I love you and i hope you all have a great week.

Elder Gray

Letter #48

Wow!! A lot has happened this week! I am really excited to tell you what blessings our Heavenly Father has given us this week here in Rio Ceballos.

1. We have 2 baptisms this week!! woohoo! Ruth and Alvaro are getting baptized this week and also there is an 8 year old getting baptized in the ward. So we have 3 baptisms! :D

2. We found Florencia. So we went to lunch one day and we decided to ask for some references from the Hermana with whom we were eating. She told us that she didn´t have any non members to visit but she did know of a member that is inactive that we should visit. So of course, Me loving the non actives, said that we should go visit them. And so we did! We went and visited the family and we ended up finding out that all the kids are not baptized.... And yes, there is 6 of them, with 5 over the age of 9. So we talked with one of the daughters who´s name is Florencia. Florencia is 21, she basically bore her testimony to us that she knows our church is true because she felt the spirit when we were just talking to her to get to know her. She said that she wants to get baptized in three weeks so we´ll be baptizing her around my birhtday! She has been reading the pamphlets that we have left her and she has started reading the book of mormon as well.

3. We found the garcia family. So after we visited with Florencia one day, we decided to knock some doors to see if that neighborhood was just the place for us to be. We found hermana Garcia who let us in to say a prayer with her. We got in the house, said a prayer, and then after an hour of talking with her, she said she would read the book of mormon every night with her husband and talk about being baptized in the church. WOW.... I really know that God loves me and answers my prayers. I am really greatful for all the prayers that you all send in my direction as well. The are well needed and appreciated.

4. Carlos is being baptized!  Carlos, the man that I was teaching in my last area is getting baptized and he invited me to come and help him get baptized! So the 4th of August ill be traveling to my old area to help Carlos get baptized (he has a fear of water). I am glad that I am reaping the white field.

5. Melani is being baptized! Melani, the girl who I taught in my last area, is being baptized as well this week. So this week is going to be an amazing week for us elders here in Rio Ceballos, Unquillo, and Salsipuedes.

6. My mom turned 52! :D Feliz Cumpleaños mamá! te amo, y espero que éste año será un año de prosperidad y mucho éxito! Voy a enviarte un paquete con algo de acá! :D

7. We taught another inactive family and they are now helping us find a ton of people!. His name is Chango Funes.... Definitely the coolest guy I know here in Argentina. He sings for a national band and has a huge testimony of the church. He invited Florencia over to his house to have an Asado (barbeque) without telling us elders. But now we know and we´re going to share the spiritual message tonight. Im way excited to start working with him to turn Rio Ceballos into its own stake!

IF you ever get the chance to help the missionaries in any way, PLEASE help them. I know that the members have more affect on the investigators than what we will ever have.

I love you all, and I hope you are all safe!

Love,

Elder Gray

Pictures!

Letter #47

Hola!

We received transfers this week and I´m being transfered again!!! I only had 6 weeks in Unquillo but I guess the Lord needs me here in Rio Ceballos. Rio Ceballos is just like Unquillo but a LOT bigger. And now I have a new companion Elder Goates. He is from Holladay Utah. He has 14 months in the mission so I am excited to see what I can learn from him.

So yeah, today i woke up and said by to a bunch of members and investigadors here in Unquillo and I went to Rio Ceballos. The members here are awesome! The made me a bunch of cake, gave me a bunch of socks, and one of the members here gave me some really nice pens.

Some other cool stuff happened this week.

1. I chemically burned my feet.... Yeah.... hahahah I was washing the floor with some clorox stuff and my comp told me if i put my feet in there, the stink from my feet would go away... So, of course i had to try it.... And i ended up burning my feet, and i had to stay in the pension for 3 days because i couldnt walk good. But im okay now. no worries.... And my comp was right! My feet dont stink anymore! :D

2. We found a chosen girl. We were headed to lunch one day to the Flia Zarzur. We got right up to their door and some guy yelled at us. "Elders! How are you guys?" .... it was melani´s dad and he told us that he was inactive but he wants us to baptize his daughter melani. So of course we say we would. We started teaching melani and she will be getting baptized the 28 of july! Im sad that I wont be able to see it, but at least I might receive the blessings of it ;)

3. My companion almost killed another dog.... hahahaha he basically did the same exact thing as last time but this time it was with our neighbors dog.

4. My companion got a call from president and president was asking him if he thought I should be put in the office. And needless to say, I was almost the Secretary to the president. haha

Yeah, this week i dont have much time but ill try to send you some pictures!!

I hope all is well with you all!

Elder Gray

Letter #46

Hola gente. Hoy día es feriado acá en Argentina porque es día de Independencia :D Woot Woot.

Today is Independence day for Argentina. So there is no one outside at all.... haha but cool. I still can´t believe i´ve been here for 10 months already... man the time has flown by fast.... Some big news has happened this week.

1. We´re putting in a pool!?!?!? Legit. I was hoping for a hot tub, but a pool it just like a bigger one i guess :D

2. Steve Nash is going to the Lakers..... So I have one of two options.... I can stop being a Steve Nash fan, or I can start being a Lakers fan..... hmmm......... I think i´ll start being a Lakers fan. (you´re welcome Jeff) there must needs be opposition in all things right?

But cool. Yeah, this week was kinda slow, but we did find 15 new people this week that were willing to listen to us. The only difficult part here in Unquillo is finding the people in their houses so that we can teach them. Because all the people here work in Cordoba and they dont get home until the weekend, so most of the appointments that we do have are on the weekends. And if we start teaching a mom and her kids, we wont be able to talk the dad until the weekend. So things are a little difficult here in Unquillo but its all part of the mission. What can I say, I love it!

Here are some highlights from this week.

1. My comp almost killed a dog.... hahahahahah. LLOOONG story. but to try and make it short. My comp was contacting a lady on the street, and this dog came up to me. I started petting it, and stuff, then it layed down right behind my comp. So my comp finished talking to this lady, then started to turn and walk towards me. But he didn´t notice that the dog had laid behind him and so he accidentally kicked the dog WAYYYYY hard. it was hilarious. My comp still doesn´t like to talk about it. ( I like to make fun of him ).

2. I started studying about the 12 tribes of Israel with my comp and we´ve been learning a lot! I´ll be sure to put in a lot about our studies next week.

3. I had a Mini Misionero for a day. Yeah, it was pretty cool. "Elder" Dominguez, from Arroyitos, came to help us elders out for his break from school. So instead of sitting in his house, he came and was a Missionary for a couple days. It was way fun to help him find out what missionary life is like and how he can learnt o become a good missionary and start practicing and preparing now.

4. we had 9 appointments in one day..... It was legit :D

5. The ward had a dance and they invited us to come to it. We went and brought some investigators. The investigators were dancing and singing to kareoke while me and elder Labra talked to the members and set up some appointments when they can come and help us out in the lessons. It was an awesome party thing that they did.

6. Hno. Romero made me Milanesas for my 10 month mark on saturday. They were delicious.

7. We had our Ward conference. I always love being able to vote President Monson as a prophet. The spirit touches me every time. There were a lot of good talks from the stake and really good testimonies from pioneer members here in ARgentina. One guy from our ward was one of the first bishops in Argentina.

But yeah, other than that, we had a kinda boring week. Not to much to tell. Our investigators didn´t show up to church because of some family problems so we´re going to see how we can help them out this week so that they can come to church and feel the spirit that is there.

I hope you are all safe from the fires that are happening in Utah!! Happy late 4th!!

Atentamente,

Elder Gray

Letter #45

WOW!!! This is an exciting week.

1. Im going to complete 10 months! wow... a lot has happened since 10 months ago. For one, Im fatter. For two, I can speak a bit of spanish now. For three, my knowledge of the gospel has increased ten fold.

2. I am almost twenty! Wow.... Im old. (My birthday is August 2nd, so if you send me a birthday package now, it will get to me by my birthday :) ) Hint hint wink wink nudge nudge.

3. We had emergency transfers.... So im not companions with elder Diamond anymore.... Supposedly some of the elders that were supposed to come and replace the elders who had finished their missions didn´t arrive. So as a mission we are down 20 elders. So to make sure that all the areas had enough elders, we had to make a few changes. I am still in Unquillo, but now i have a new companion. His name is elder Labra. He is a chileano! WOOT WOOT. I <3 chileanos. He is actually supppper awesome. Definitely one of the coolest elders in the mission. He barely speaks any english so my spanish skills will be put to the test these next weeks.

4. We found 18 people last week that are new investigators. and we found 3 families! woot woot. So hopefully we will be baptizing a TOOOONNNNN of people for my birthday. that would be an awesome present.

5. I got sick again this week.... Bummer. I had to take a couple hours off of each day and stay in the pension to sleep and take some pills... but im ok.

6. I received a Freaking awesome package!! Cassie sent me a package and it had a lot of cool things in it. One thing that especially caught my attention was the STEVE NASH JERSEY. wayyyyy legit. Love ya cass :)

7. Matt got his mission call. WAYYYY legit as well. I cant wait to hear about all the cool people he meets in his mission and the experiences that he will have. I really know that he will learn a lot because I, as a missionary right now, have learned more than i could ever learn in any other place. Forth Worth wont be able to handle Elder Williams.

8. My computer doesn´t have a place where I can send pictures so hopefully i will be able to switch computers here soon and send you all some photos.

9. One of the investigators we were going to have died.... :( We received a reference from one of the members about an old widow that lives alone. So we were planning on going by to visit her today... Then last night we received a text from the member who gave us the reference, and we found out that she passed away.

10. We found a man that has a lot a faith.... hahahahahahahaha (long story). but basically we were teaching a man and whenever we´d ask him a question, he´d answer it by saying, "i dont know, but all you need is faith, and i have a lot of faith." Now elder Labra keeps talking about faith and making jokes about him. I love Elder Labra.

Well yeah. Thats about all that happened this week!

I hope you all are good and well and happy and stuff. Keep reading the BOM!

Love Elder Gray