Pictures!

Statue of San Martin in Alta Gracia

Hno. Barrosa, aka stud

Jesus Statue

JOSE!!!!

Graffiti

Graffiti

Abril hiding fromt he camera

A collage we made.

Elder Marchant

Elder Bryant

Elder Holtby and Me in the background

Some graffiti by our pension

Our pension last transfer. (Elder Marchant, Me, Elder Bryant, and elder Holtby)

BOUWER, an area in my area

Letter #36

Hello Family!!

Im glad to hear that you are all warming up a bit. here it is getting a bit chilly. So chilly that I actually have to sleep with sweats on so that i dont freeze! In the morning when we wake up, we have our sweats on, we go make breakfast, then we go shower. After we are done showering, we go get our white shirts and ties on, then throw the sweats on on top of them. then we go upstairs to where we study, and we end up making a hot cave with all of our heaters. its really fun :) You open up the door to our study room and you get hit with a huge wall of hot air. It feels like you are walking into a sauna.... but its just dry. Its really fun nonetheless! :)

This week has gone by really quickly. We have had a lot of success this week with working with the members. We had a lot of member lessons this week. We are supposed to have 20 lessons a week. We usually get 4 lessons with members, and 16 without members.... but this week, we got 12 with members and 8 without!! IT was a great week for us this week :) We found Mathias again!!! He has already read all of the book of mormon! he a chosen for sure. We have an appointment set up with him this week and we will see when he will get baptized!

This week I have been studying a lot about the plan that God has for each and every one of us. Its amazing to think how much God really loves us and how much he puts in our paths. Just this last week, Elder Holtby and I really started to realize how much God really does watch out for us missionaries. I have been praying a lot lately so that i can see the work of God in my life and how I am using that work to improve the lives of others.

We had a lesson with an inactive family this week and whenever we go and visit them, there is always this lady who is there with the family who hates us missionaries. We always try to be nice with her, and be respectful, but really, I get so angry when i try to talk to her about anything. We started talking one day and we got into a discussion.... a mildly heated one.... and during the whole thing I was just quiet thinking about how I was going to turn this discussion around. Then Marta, the wife of the inactive member, started to defend our religion. It was really cool! Marta is not a member and usually doesnt like to talk about the church. But today, somehow, the spirit touched her, and she started to defend us missionaries against her friend. She testified that she knew that we were representatives of Christ and that we were always so nice to her and her family. I of course, started to tear up a bit. It was really another answer to my prayer.

I know that we should always preach the gospel, and if it is necessary, we should use words.

It was fun to see the pictures of your trips! Im excited to see how big Lily and Logan are when I am home! :) Logan is huge!

I sent you a bit of pictures. Ill try to put what they are.

I love you guys and pray that you are well.

Ill be talking to you all soon!! :)

Con amor,

Elder Gray

PS. Somehow, make sure that Steve gets to the JAZZ. We will never lose a game. :)

More photos:

These Pictures are right before they were about to play football!

Letter #34

Me oh my! What a week that we have had here in Barrio Jardin!! Yo y Elder Holtby tuvimos que discursar en la iglesia ayer! Por lo menos discursamos bien. Muchas personas de la iglesia estan listos para servirnos, y ayudarnos con nuestros investigadores ahora. I talked about how we can serve our leaders in the church..... So i basically just used chapter 13 in PMG. If you all have not read preach my gospel, please go read it! It is awesome!! My comp talked about prayer and keeping the sabbath day holy. It was a really good talk! Church here is really fun. There are about 30 people in the congregation, and all of them are taking notes or something so that they pay attention. It was really fun to see the whole ward listening to see what they could improve on.

I really love church. Being here in my mission has really helped me see why we need to go to church. Its like recharging our spiritual batteries for the week. Just like with our Cell phones, if we dont charge it, we will run out of batteries and we wont be able to do all the cool usual stuff that we can do! During the week, I feel sometimes that my spiritual battery is running out, but then sunday comes, i partake of the sacrament and renew my covenants, and I am spiritually uplifted by the classses and talks that there are.

It sounds like all of you are having a fun time! Lily and Logan sound like a blast. It makes me want to play in the play dough with them. How big are they now? Im guessing they are getting pretty big!

My interview with the President went really well. My comp came out of his interview looking really worried and he told me that president wanted to see me and that he was really mad.... So i was like, oh crap, whatd i do.... I walked in and started talking to president. President, I heard from my comp that you are mad at me.... He looked at me with a confused look, then he hid a little smile, Then he said, Yes elder, I am really upset at you right now.... You didnt bring me any facturas (basically a little donut thing).... hahaha.... oh man, I was in big trouble.

So yeah, I sat down, had my interview, and he asked me a lot about my family. How is your dad? How is your mom? how are your sisters and brother? I was actually suprised at how much he knew about you guys. He asked me if there was anything wrong with any of you. So i just told him that you are all doing fine. He asked me about how I think that I am progressing as a missionary. I told him that I am loving the mission and that every day is a new and exciting day where i have an opportunity to learn something new. At the end of the interview he told me that he was proud of me and that he was expecting me to grow into a great leader here in the mission. Then he stopped for about a minute.... and thought. Then he told me that at the end of every interview he stops and listens for the spirit to say anything to him. He told me that the spirit was very pleased with me and that God was very pleased with my work here in the mission so far. He also told me, to tell mom and dad that I am one of the best missionaries that he has out here right now. That definitely made me feel good, and of course I started getting emotional and of course i started to cry. I totally felt the Love that the Savior and our heavenly Father have for me. I was thinking a lot during that week if my mission meant anything to our father in Heaven, and I was asking him in my prayers if my work here was good enough for him. This interview was definitely a huge answer to my prayers. I am really excited for the next year and 5 months to expand and to find out what type of man i turn into. I cant wait to see where my mission takes me!

This week we taught a lot!! We had a lot of lessons with members and with less active members and a LOT with investigators with the members in the lessons. We also had the opportunity to teach Belen, the mom of Abril (cute little girl who just got baptized), and Belen is amazing!! She is definitely going to get baptized the 28! Hopefully i will still be here in Jardin to see it....

Yes! Transfers are this week! I really hope i get to stay here in Jardin one more transfer so that I can see the people I have been working with progress to their baptism. If not, then I know that im supposed to be where I am going to be.

I was reading in 1 peter 2:11-til the end of the chapter. It is a really good section of scripture! I encourage you all that you can read it prayerfully and with a heart open to receive and act upon what the Spirit Directs.

It also rained A TON this week! We got wet multiple times and im pretty sure that one of my shoes  got destroyed.... :P pucha!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Congrats for Aly White and Jeremy Holland!

Love,

Elder Gray

ps. I dont suck at punctuation, this computer just doesnt have all the buttons..... :P

 

Letter #33

Family!! Happy Easter!!

I heard that Wyatt dominated the egg hunting game! Way to go Wy! Congratulations Marci on the new boy Collin Jeffrey Catron :) (CJ has a nice ring to it right?)

Dad, watch your back. There are many melquisedec priesthood holders who live around us that would love to come help you. if not, call Brent Castagnetto. (ps, tell him to write me).

but yes, happy easter. It was an amazing week for us. For Catholics here it was the Santa Semana (Holy Week), and they arent allowed to eat meat for the weekend to santify the holy day. so a lot of people were willing to receive us. We found one man named Carlos who is the dad of one of our recent converts. He is probably about 60 (about as old as dad right? ;) ) he is awesome. He was testifying to us about the apostasy and how he knew that the church of the catholics wasnt true. and so we taught him about the restoration  and we will be visiting him once again :)

We baptized!!!!! Wooohoooo!!! 10 weeks here in Jardin and all the prayers, tears, work, sweat, steps, doors knocked, members called, fasts, etc. have payed off. Abril, the cute 8 year old got baptized and her mom, Belen, has now committed to baptism for two weeks from now. Abril is such an example to her family :)

Jose can also get baptized pretty soon! we will have to check with president today about that! (we have interviews today) (and so yes, i am sitting in a little cubby with all of my suit coat and slacks and such on. man we look good)

But the bad news of the week was that I was sick for half of it... again.... I got a really bad fever and I was in my bed for about 2 and a half straight days just reading the Bible and BOM. It was a fun reading experience. Genesis chapter 17 is actually really cool!! To all the Bishops, Stake Presidents, and Auxillary leaders, USE YOUR COUNSELORS! They are defnintely there for a reason. Sometimes they can be the biggest help to you and to the people whom you are called to serve.

I hope you got all of the PIctures!! Love you all and be safe! Remember that God is just two knees away.

Love Elder Gray

 

 

Sorry everyone the Pictures haven't/didn't come through yet so hopefully we'll get them soon! =)

Letter #32

Conference!!!! Oh my goodness it was amazing. Us elders started cheering when president Monson walked in to the first session of General Conference. Ive never felt the spirit stronger from cheering because of something happening on tv. We watched conference in the Barrio Maipu church. The members also came to watch it with us. The elders who speak english, had the opportunity to watch conference in English in a different room, and of course i took the opportunity. I love President Monsons voice in english better than spanish. but for the Sunday morning session, I did watch the first part in spanish because we had one of our investigators in there watching it. Good ol Jose got up early, washed his pants, ironed his shirt, and waited for us at his door to come pick him up. It was an amazing sight to see the 76+ year old man, recently recovering from getting hit by a car, wobble to the Taxi door. (of course we helped him) Such a testimony builder to me. He is a investigador who cant get baptized for a little while because of a couple of little things. And we also had Abril come too! She is the cutest 8 year old in the whole wide world! She is so smart too. It was such a spiritual moment for me to see her is her sunday dress, sitting with her grandma, waiting for conference to start.

So yeah, Us elders watched conference in English. We cheered when the prophet walked in. And, we also cheered when one of the seventy dropped major cain on writing letters. He finished talking about how the people need to write more hand written letters to us missionaries, when all of the elders started cheering. I wish i wouldve had the moment on camera. :) I loved all of the talks that we could listen to. But there was some of the talks that we didnt get to hear beucase there was a solar storm and so the satelites were down for a half hour or so each conference.... :( bummer. but i cant wait to receive the liahona when we can read the modern day scripture that we received. I know that we have a living day prophet who leads and guides this church with all of the restored keys of the priesthood. I know that God loves us. He wants that our families are back with him.

I also loved Elder Bednars talk about the priesthood. if you get a chance, please go read it. I know there is a difference between the power of the priesthood and the authority of the priesthood. we all need to better ourselves so that we really do have the power of the priesthood.

Me and my companion were talking about our grandmas and how they both live in that little subdivison that i think is called tithing hill place. so we were wondering if they knew each other. and apparently they do :)

I love you all and i hope you have a great week! Keep watchiong the conferences over and over and keep the messages in your heart!

Congrats to Jessie Willes for getting engaged!! Make sure to send her a present from me :)

Love you all, know that I am always praying for your success.

Elder Gray

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 :)

Letter #27

Sorry everyone! His letter didn't come through until about one in the morning today! So we're glad we got one this week. (=

Mom,

Mission life is just great!! We had a hard week this week, but I sincerely think that the Lord is going to bless us for our labors this next week!

I contacted 36 people this week, and not one person let me in! But its ok. Better luck this week.

So here are a couple things that have happened this week.

1. Elder Bryant and Elder Montalban only have 6 months left. yep.... they only have that much time left... so elder bryant burnt some of his pants!!! woo. i think i put a picture of him with them. it was a fun night. but elder bryant and i decided that we are going to celebrate with some sushi. but were waiting until i have 6 months on the mish (which is only is a week or so)... crazy!!

2. all of our lessons fell through. we had 32 legit lessons this week that we could have had! ..... but we didnt have them.... because they all fell through. we would pass by the people, and for some reason, NOONE liked us this week and said that they were busy, or that they didnt have time for us. but it doesnt matter to me. MORE TIME TO CONTACT!!! woo! which led to more rejections.... but i dont care, the more i get rejected, the more i am like Christ. he got rejected by his own people... so when if i get home, and you guys start rejecting me, i wont care, because im more like Christ :)

3. an inactive came to church! One miracle that happened this week is that one of the REALLY inactives came to church this week. it was amazing!! Dont ever give up on the inactive members. really, they just need a reminder of why the got baptized. 

4. I got whipped. One night, when i was talking to Elder Larson on the phone outside, I was really startled when elder B and elder M came running out at me, and started smacking me.... im not really sure why they did it, but im going to get them back somehow.... anyone have any ideas??

5. I had a great dream. one night i dreamed that i was playing soccer for arsenal once again. and i did a bicycle kick! and i woke up and my feet were in the air against the wall and my head was hanging off the side of the bed..... scary, but soooo real. dreams really do come true!!

6. painted a school. this week, our zone went and did service for the governor. we painted a school and met him and hung out with him and such. it was really fun!

7. got an assignment. the zone leaders gave me an assignment to call every district every other night and ask them who they have coming to church, what they are doing about them, and such. so basically, i have the whole zone mad at me because i keep bugging them about everything! but i dont care, whatever to get them thinking about the big picture right? :)

8. had a great dinner. the inactive member who came to church, invited us over for dinner that night and we talked with her family and her nonmember niece and sister.... so yeah, we will be teaching her here pretty soon. :)

9. I owned the argentines in soccer this week. every thursday we have a soccer night and we play with the neighborhood kids. i OWNED them. my team never got sent off the field. i probably had 30 goals and i made 6 kids fall.... good times. i didnt realize how good i was doing until some of the kids started calling me messi.... boo yeah.

10. i have 90 percent for my fasting!! Booyeah, a step down from last week, but still, 90 percent. :)

Everything is good here, just a little harder. "but that that dont kill me, will only make me stronger."

Les amo, espero que tengan un buena semana. Aguante Argentina! por favor, orar para que yo tenga muchas lecciones esta semana! :)

Un Abrazo muy grande!

Elder Gray

Letter #26

Hola Familia, y los otros Choros que estan mirando a mi carta semanal.

Whats up.

first of all, like usual, i love you all. thanks for all your prayers and support from home!

second of all.... the top ten weekly things

1. 91% I am at 91% of the stuff that im trying to give up!!! it was a really good week, and i think the lord knows of my work trying to leave this stuff behind. so he blessed us with a couple more people that we are going to pass by and teach! love it :)

2. Talk. I gave a talk about the Commandments in Sacrament yesterday. The best part about it, is taht it rained that morning, so NOONE came to church. there were probably 15 people in the sacrament meeting. so giving a talk wasnt to bad, it reminded me of some of my lessons in my old area with the huge families that they have.

3. My Blister. OOOOOO my blister.... I had a HUGE blood blister on my foot this week, so basically the whole week, i was walking like a we-tawd trying to avoid walking on my foot. So my ankle hurts now... but whatev, its the life of a missionary.

But yeah, back to the blister. I popped it yesterday!!! woo. It reminded me of that youtube video tiff showed me that one time of some guy popping a huge zit on his back that kept pussing for like 30 minutes.... and it was all gooey and chunky and stuff.... good times. (now you all have a nice image in your head :) youre welcome)

4. My watch. I bought a watch from elder Bryant!! guess how much it cost me...... youre all wrong. i got it for free :) boo yeah. "patrick star, you are one smart shopper". Its actually really legit, its all white and i love it. maybe ill send a picture of it home right now.

5. My ipod. I am probably goiung to buy an ipod from elder bryant too.... (in case you havent already sent me mine)..... so yeah, let me know. beacuse he has taylor swifts christmas album on it, and it is REALLLY tempting to buy.

6. T-swift. Like i said, i found out that his ipod had taylor swift on it... so its been a really good taylor swift christmas this last week :)

7. Maxi. We had another lesson with MAxi, and hes oging to give up on drinking!! woo!! but then he asked us a lot of deeper questions... that i wont go into with you all. but yeah, hes going to buenos aires for his vacations for two weeks so we wont be able to talk to him for a while. hopefully he keeps it all clean!

8. Jose. he also, gave up on drinking!! and we found out for sure his age, 78..... he is the most in shape dude i ahve met and hes 4 times as old as me! i love this man. but he is taking his vacations at his daughters house so we wont be able to teach him for a week or so.... keep Jose and Maxi in your prayers!!

9. Got rained on. "I look like i just got rained on."-Julian Smith. If you havent heard of this quote, go to youtube and search Julian Smith, expensive haircut, and the watch the video. That will explain everything.

But yeah. We sleep outside because one of our fans is broken..... Pucha! So yeah, we were sleeping outside when we woke up in the middle of the night because we were getting wet.... but me, in my still sleeping mode (mom knows what im talking about), didnt realize that it was raining. So yeah, i wake up, look around, realize that the other elders are running inside screaming like little girls, and elder montalban is screaming and saying something in spanish, and then i go back to sleep. then i wake up in probably half a minute and realize that i am getting rained on. i grab my mattress, run inside with the others, and then we continue to sleep inside.

10. Got rained on. Yeah, like the one before, i got rained on. But this time I was sleeping INSIDE!!! I woke up, felt wet, looked down to see if i peed my pants, confirmed that i didnt, then felt water drip on my head.... yeah, our roof is leaking ....so i got rained on outside, and inside in the same night. Welcome to Argentina :)

11. OH, and i started to read the scriptures out loud again.... I think this will help a lot with my accent and with my speaking abilities, and its also good to go throught the book of mormon again :)

I hope you are all counting your many blessings! Remember when you have a bad day, turn to christ, because he literally SUFFERED everything that we haves suffered/are suffering.

love you all, be safe, read the scrips, search for ways to better your life!

Mosiah 28:3
 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not ^abear that any human ^bsoul should ^cperish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure ^dendless torment did cause them to quake and ^etremble.

Letter #25

Hello fam and friendzzzz,

how are you all doing? this week has been a lot better! we found a lot of people that we are going to start teaching! and it was all in one day. definitely a blessing from the lord. So a LOT of things happened this week.

1. Flia Rojo. The Red family moved! So us elders went and helped them move into their new... living quarters... yeah. it was pretty fun. we got there at about 1030, and didnt get home until 530. it was a longggggg day witha  lottttt of stuff.

2. Maxi. We found Maxi!!! So in Area Jardin, there is barrio Jardin, Barrio Chino (which really means china town), and lots of others. But there is another place called Bouwer, which is 30 minutes away from all the others.... (its kinda like our ward, how most of it is in jordan willows, then there is us) So we went out there for an entire afternoon just to find people. The first door we came to was a woman named Marta. After her we knocked a few more houses, left some Restauration pamphlets, then decided to head down a road that was pure mud (definitely being guided by the spirit). So at the end of the road is a house, we knocked it, and Maxi comes from behind the house and asks us if we want some water......  HECK YEAH WE DO!!!..... so we get invited inside, then we talk about his life and how he wants to have a family, he was evangelist, hasnt been to church in a while, wants to change churches.... badabing badaboom, we are teaching him. then we get to talking about baptism, and he says he was never baptized in the evangelitst church, but was baptized at the age of 7 in the catholice church..... "how"..... "they put water on my head"...."do you think it would be good to be baptized the way christ was?"...."I was just thinking that 5 seconds ago and yes".... badabing badaboom, he will get baptized in a month or so. we didnt put a date because he didnt want one at the moment. it was a legit contact.

3. Marta. We walked up the first house, i tripped, fell on my face, looked up and there was a lady staring at me with her kids. so yeah, "uh, hola". then we start talking to her and she says she has no time for us because saturdays are the only day she has free to do all the stuff for her family and to spend time with her family. so we say "ok, is it ok if we come in for 5 minutes to have a prayer with your family?" "yeah, sure". bada bing bada boom... were in the house, and 50 minutes later, after a discussion, we leave. boom. love it. I love this work, all we need in 5 minutes and the spirit will testify of what were doing.

4. Jose. we have to postpone his baptismal date because he didnt come to church :P pucha! theres a longer story behind this, but, im not going to share it.

5. 76%. Im at 76% for my fasting!! i just hope i can get above 90 by the last week!

6. Asado! Were having an asado this week witht he stake president!! Boom, free food, free meat, free leftovers, free free free free. im not going hungry mom, in case you were worried.

7. Polleria. we live in a polleria, a place that sells chicken. so i have been eating discounted chicken the last week. it is delicious!!! :)

8. Pension. we were told by the pres that we need to clean our pension.... because its been being used by missionaries for about 30 years or so, and its old.

9. Chess. I beat elder Montalban in chess the other day!!! WOO!

10. Valentines Day. Happy Valentines day to all! Know that i give you all a kiss! (here in Argentina, they only kiss....)

Love you all, have a great, safe week!

Elder Gray

Letter #24

Family and friends,
 
First of all.... Im going to be an uncle again! Woo. you better name
it after your favorite person in the whole wide world!.... aka me. if
not, you can name him Steve Nash, id be ok with that.
 
Second of all, Elder Montalban heard that i played soccer my whole
life and he wants to have one of the jerseys that i wore as a
remembrance of me. So if you can send me all of my jerseys, please do!
:)
 
Third: this week. and whats been going on.
 
1. Elder Montalban has been sick! This week elder M was sick with the
flu, and then a cold. so we were stuck in the pension from tuesday
till thursday. :P
 
2. I was sick! I got sick for the weekend.... So friday till sunday
morning, elder M and i sat on our beds and talked in spanish while
playing chess and listening to music. needless to say, my spanish has
gotten alot better and his english has gotten a lot better as well.
 
3. There was a mini tornado here!! is was intense!! This last p-day,
we were walking to the church to play futbol and it started raining.
then we got to the church and started playing a little bit when the
storm really hit us. So we ran inside and waited it out. after it
calmed down a bit, we went and finished our game. the field was
flooded, but thats not going to stop 6 latins and 3 gringos from
playing futbol!! it was serioulsy one of the most fun times ive have
playing futbol yet in my life. and thats a lot of games.
 
After the game, we were walking back to our pension in the flood from
all the water. so actually we werent walking, we were kinda rafting
with the soccer ball.... we didnt break any rules dont worry! :) and
we did snap a sweet pic of us making a pyramid in the river in the
street.
 
ps, i think this is where elder M and i got sick.... but it was worth it!!
 
4. so yeah, the mini tornado hit. and Hogar 3, a little village in our
zone got destroyed... and all of the people were homeless. so this
whole week, with any spare time that we have had, we have been
building houses for them....
 
Its kinda sad. but the area president, president arnold came and
visited us! i did get to shake his hand and see that the general
authorities still come and help out a lot! It really was a big
testimony builder to see the 6" 5 president lifting up roofing on top
of the roof that we just barely built, while his wife was with the
other wifes helping them clean and cook.
 
5. I learned how to do a magic trick with a coin and so now i can
really entertain the kids here.
 
6. We have a baptism coming up with a man named Jose! He was recently
hit by a car and he broke his legs and his fingers. but just 3 weeks
later, he is wakling around the house, coming to greet us at the door,
and making us mate that we cant drink. did i mention that he is 72?
yeah, this guy is a stud. But he cant understand my spanish.....
pucha! but either way he is goign to be put into the water the 25 of
feb!
 
7.I learned a new trick with the futbol. its pretty legit...
 
8. I met the branch! they are legit. we have an rm in our ward, and
she loves to try to help us with everything. so we think we are going
to have her come visit our investigators with us this week.
 
9. We are going to contact a ton this week! So hopefully my english
wits with my spanish words, combined witht he spirit will do the
trick! :)
 
10. I received a package from Dylan! So i have been eating delicious
chocolate goodies this week. thanks Dyl! :)
 
I love you all and hope that you have a great time this week. Remember
there are three things that will keep you spiritually strong your
entire life. 1. Daily prayer 2. Daily scripture STUDY. 3. going to
church every week.
 
im going to add a number 4, ENJOY LIFE! :)
 
Elder Gray

Sorry this picture is from a week ago. He sent it later in the day so I forgot to put it up. This is Collin and Natalia the girl he baptized.

Letter #23

Mom!!! and family. crazy stuff happened this week.

1. My dear friend Zachary Buttie Rasmussen is now home because he has to get knee surgery. be sure to tell him Te qiuero mucho and that i can´t wait to seem him back with his plack on. this really is the best place to be.

2. I was transferred to my second area. I am here in Barrio Jardín with elder Maltaban. He is from Chile and we haven´t gotten to talk much because today has been crazy!! (this is why the letter is so late).

3. It rained like crazy today! I got to this new area and I guess god was a little sad that I left 20 de Junio/La Madrid, because it poured like a mad-man! It was fun to be knee deep in water walking down the street after playing a good game of soccer. but all the day we couldn´t leave the pension because of the other elders that were there.

4. Like i said, im here in Barrio Jardín. which means garden... and the people here are sooooo rich!!! and there is a soccer stadium 6 cuadras (dont know how to say it in english) from our pension.... and of course it has to be of the ugliest team in Córdoba.... freaking Talleres! I am from the team called Belgrano and we hate the Talleres!! God is funny. first he puts me in the zone that has the stadium of Belgrano... and i learn to love the celeste shirts and such.... then he sends me to the heart of Talleres, their rivals.....

5. My second counselor gave me a Argentina jersey before i left!! legit... speaking of which, do you still have all my jerseys? if you could send them in my next package, that would be AMAZING!!! everyone makes fun of me because i only wear my germany jersey.... but whatever! Gotta Represent!!

6. Les pido que pueda enviar mis cd´s. the one that has all the talks of that one guy... cant remember his name.... but its the talks with garbage digger.... and the mission i missed... life is a rollercoaster etc.

7. I can actually talk pretty good! I can hold on to a conversation for about 15-20 minutes now.... and if its about the gospel, then more! The only thing i lack is the slang here in Córdoba... there is a lot!! and "thats not the language they taught me at the MTC" -The best two years. so yeah, im just starting to learn all the slang with my new comp!

8. I am on day.... 13 of my fast!! I am close to completing my second week and its crazy how much more is happening in 20 de Junio right now.

9. We live with 3 old ladies... so it is kinda like what that website said. you have a lady who lives with you.... but she doesn´t cook or clean for us.... PUCHA!

10. I can feel a big ol chest cold/cough coming on.... boozer.

11. I complete 6 months in March!! not february. I think the fumes from the maté were getting to me last week....

Moroni 9:6..... and Mosiah 28:3...? i think. These are some scriptures that really impacted me this week. I still need to learn how to be good with the scrips though...

I hope everyone is amazing! I know that there will be hard times... but if you just work and work and work, you will get through it.

Tell the ward i said hi and that i miss them! Thanks for all their love and their prayers!

And cassie, Cuidate con este chango. Vos sos mi mejor amiga!

ps... what is the address for Shayla?

 

Moroni 9:6  

       And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor ^adiligently; for if we should cease to ^blabor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

 

Mosiah 28:3

      Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not ^abear that any human ^bsoul should ^cperish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure ^dendless torment did cause them to quake and ^etremble.

Letter #22

So mom.... how much do you love me? is there any way i can get a new camera? :) just a little cheap one that takes pictures. I think elder Larson is getting mad at me for asking to borrow his all the time... but whatever!! :) Here is what happened this week:

1. I was in a fight (sort of):

I was in the fight, not in the fight. We were playing soccer at hte church this last week with a bunch of investigators and kids we always play with. Then they didn´t play anymore because they were so tired. So i just said that we were going to play basketball. Then the kids formt he villa decided that they were going to play soccer on the whole court, even though we were already playing on one half of the court. So then one of our investigators got pissed and stole their ball and told them to start playing on the other side. then the villa kid got mad and hit him in the arm. Then our investigator hit him in the face... then a brawl... blah blah blah.... we split them up... then this huge 40 year old dude came out of nowhere and hit our investigator in the face and gave hima bloody nose.... so we called the cops.... etc.... and so on and so forth. now we aren´t playing soccer anymore!! haha

2. I had a baptism

We baptized natalia this week! she has two brothers on missions right now. one of them is in Mesa, Arizona (where elder larson lives) and he visited his family and sent elder larson a picture of him and his mom. So natalia received a letter from her brother. then there was a part of the letter that was in english and her brother said that she needed to go to the missionaries sot aht they could translate it. so she was on the street and elder larson, and elder ferreira passed by. elder larson read it and it basically said, " this is my sister. these are her needs. please teach her." it was really funny. so elder larson just said that the letter said that he loves her and that they were goint o start coming by more often. long story short, she is now baptized!! haha :) i wish i could send you pictures, but the computers here dont work that good. so next week hopefully.

3. I started a 40 day fast

I started a 40 fast of things that keep me from having the spirit! its going pretty good right now.

4. Elder Richter got sick. next week

5. Adrian and Veronica are freaking out at us. next week

I hope you are all good! ill talk to you next week!

Letter #21

I MISS STEVE NASH!!! Mauro always is talking about Kobe, and its really annoying... boozer.

but anyways

1. Yes!! I got robbed by a guy with a freaking huge revolver. it was probably a .45.... but whatever. So really what happened it that i was on intercambios, which is when I switch companions for a day and i go to a different area to work. So i was in Uriturco, and we went to pass by a member family that is inactive. so we were going to go visit them and it was raining really bad so NOONE was outside. we were walking to this house and we passed by a guy. being the normal missionary that i am, i said HOLA! and we kept walking. then we stopped in front of the member´s house and my comp was telling me a little about the family. but then i heard some distant spanish behind me, my comp turned around, and so i was like huh? so i turned around, and it was the guy that i said hi to!! I was about to say como le va, when i looked down and saw that he had a huge revolver pointed at me..... UHHHH..... so, my mind started joggling a bit. I was thinking, oh crap, what is he saying... all i heard was that he wanted my watch, and my bag... so i was like ok, if you want my watch, you´re going to have to take it off of me. soo... he did. haha then I told him that all i had in my bag were books, but I didn´t come to my mind that i should just show him that there we only books.... Dummy me. So yeah, he stole my bad and my watch. but not my ring, or my wallet... haha idk...

All this time when i could´ve died, i wasn´t scared for my life, because i knew where i was going. I love having the knowledge of the plan of salvation. It was kinda cool too. I was reading my patriarchal blessing just before that happened and I read a little part that says, "I bless you with a testimony as you consider the plan of salvation and what it means in my life.".... so at this moment, i really did know what it meant to me. but hopefully i wont have to be reminded again but gun point... haha

2. Recently, with the 5 baptisms, we´ve been finding a lot of new people to teach. its way amazing to see all the people who randomly talk to us and then start crying three sentences into the conversation. But i know that they see us as representatives of jesus christ. And its always sad to see the people say that they dont feel worthy to talk to us or to go to church. but then the spirit tells me to tell them that that is the type of peopel the jesus preached to. he only preached to the sinners and the ones who needed to repent.

3. I went on splits with Elder Cardenas so that i could get to know some of his investigators that he is teaching. All the day we were talking about how we are going to plant some deep doctrine on one o fhte investigators that we have. So before that appointment , we passed by a inactive member and he dropped some DEEP DOCTRINE on us.... it was intense. haha

Its amazing to me when a man studies so hard in the deep doctrine, that he forgets the doctrine on the surface, the doctrine that will bring him eternal life.

4. other than those two that is about it here in Córdoba.

5. Good luck to Zack, Jeff, Shayla, and everyone else that is leaving soon!! :) Im a little mad that Shayla will get home before me... :P ahah but then again, i get more time here in the best place in the world.

I love you all, and i hope you have a great week!

Elder Gray

Sorry it's later than normal! (=

Hola Familia!

Tuvimos un bautismo!!! Boo yeah. The work here is booming right now. but we did only have 2 investigators at church again. A lot of the people who promise us that they are going to come, end up going to the river that morning to play.... :P

1. But yeah, Daniel Tissera was baptized!! He is awesome. He reminds me a lot of dad. Big, Strong, Good with words, has a funny chuckle, and is always giving advice to his kids.

2. And I had that opportunity to talk to his mom about the gospel as well last night. We went over to her house and talked to her about the baptism and why she didn´t go. she said that she would cry to much......... And? haha but yeah, she said that likes the changes that she is seeing in the life of her son and his wife. so we invited her to be baptized. She ate it up! I love when I can see the gospel touch an investigator´s heart and tell them that they need to be baptized.

3. I saw a wicked dog fight. yeah, it was legit. Max would´ve live a minute out here.

4. Haha, one of our investigators had a baby! and guess what they named it? Ian Collin Trevor Gonzalez!!!!.....

Totally kidding, his name is Ian Gonzalez.

5. Thrice this week we have been invited over to investigator´s houses to make an american breakfeast. so yeah, us elders (mainly elder richter), cooked pancakes and french toast. Except they don´t have syrup here so we put dulce de leche on them.... not as good. :P

6. I received two packages!! One from the fam. and one from the other fam in Colorado! Thanks a lot guys. Now elder Cardenas knows what beef jerkey is like.. SOOOOO delicious.

7. We had a fútbol friday these last two fridays and a lot of kids showed up. And Mauro, one of our recent baptisms, got robbed! so he had to track them down on his moto and get his phone and stuff back.  But yeah, its fun playing fútbol here, and even more fun playing basketball because all they ever do is pass it to me! I feel like an allstar here.

8. An elder returned from his mission in Chile here. he came with us today to one of our members home to have an american breakfast. Graciela is my mom here in argentina. I love her, without her, i think i would die from starvation. I am not excited to leave this area to go to a different because I know that i won´t have here with me whenever I want. :(

9. Elder richter and I had about 18 contacts at one time! it was pretty legit.

10.  We started teaching an english class!! It made me feel a lot better about my spanish when i heard them try to say the alphabet. haha and by them, I mean Mauro, because he was the only one who showed up.

But other than that, the life here in Córdoba is the same! I hope you all have a great week! Remember the Importance and Significance of your baptism, because there are some people in the world searching for the true church but they just don´t know where to find it!

Love you,

Elder Gray