Monday, November 19, 2012

Letter #65 Alma 37:33-35 Goodbye Rio Ceballos! Hello Alta Gracia!!!

Wow.... This week was the best week in my entire mission. We had a lot of miracles happen. And I feel like I received a lot of blessings that I definitely did not deserve. I really know that God loves us and wants us to be happy and successful. And at times, I feel like he blesses us just because of that. Just out of his love.

This week we had a baptism! Natividad was baptized!..... Finally haha. but really, her story is a miracle. These last 4 and a half months I have been working with her so that she can get baptized.... but the only problem was that her mom didn´t ever let her do it. So we decided this week with the bishop that she needs to be baptized asap. So.... we went to work. Elder Goates and Elder Cogo went to the grandma to see if we could baptize her. The grandma wanted her to be baptized and so we told her that we already had all of the baptism prepared and that it would be at 6 on saturday.... She agreed and said she´d plan everything so that they would be there. We ended up changing the time of the baptism to 3 on saturday because at 5 we had an activity for the obra misional. So while we are at lunch we end up getting a call from the bishop saying that the mom went to the house of the grandma, and locked Natividad inside so that she couldn´t get baptized...... So bummer... we didn´t baptize on Saturday.... But hey! We did baptize her on Sunday :D So yeah, she was baptized and confirmed right after so that there wasn´t any problems.

This week we received transfers and we found out that Elder Goates and I are leaving.... I am now here in Alta Gracia (where the parents of the President of the mission live) and Elder Goates went to a place called Leones. We were eating an asado with the bishop when we received the calls.... So the bishop was pretty sad. But on Sunday they let us share our testimonies and how the mission has changed our lives.....

I know that the mission is the best decision I have ever made in my life. I have loved every good and bad experience that has happened to me here. I have grown a TON since i´ve been here. I have learned Spanish. I now have a beard. I learned how to play soccer better.... but most importantly, I have learned more about my Savior and what he has done for me.

At lunch on Sunday, the Hermana Perez asked us if we could go to the choir practice one last time to say goodbye. So at 6 we showed up at the church and after a half hour of waiting and writing each other.... We went to find out what happened with the choir practice. We ended up finding out that half of the ward had prepared us a farewell luncheon dinner thing. It was AWESOME! They had us sit in these chairs in front of everyone and every single one of them ended up sharing their testimony of how their family was changed through us. ALL of the young men have now decided to serve missions.... When I heard that I couldn´t stop crying. I really felt in that moment I had completed the whole mission. If I can help one person to go on a mission, my two years here has been well spent. I encourage EVERYONE, that means for the men 18-25 and the women from 19, and the older couples to please.... consider serving a mission. there are no greater blessings received than here on the mission. I hope that all of you will think about the blessings received from serving and that you will consider receiving them.

The ward ended up giving us a lot of recuerdos.... (i dont know how to say that in english, but its stuff they give you to remind you of Río ceballos). There was a lot of ties, shirts, and a pillow case that has all of the wards signatures on it.

All of the families told me that I have to return and that my family has to come visit them.... So Mom and Dad.... Are you coming to pick me up from the mission? :D The bishop here in Río Ceballos is waiting for the answer. haha

He also wants me to come live with him for the summer.

Man... I love Río Ceballos.



Now I am here in Alta Gracia and I have high expectations for this place. My new companion is Elder Gardner. He has 21 months in the mission and is from minnesota. He is an awesome elder and I am way excited to be here with him.


I hope all of you can share the love of the Savior with someone else. Please do it.

Elder Gray

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