November 26, 2012

Hello Family!!

So I had some really cool things happen to me this week! So first off this last Sunday I taught the class of the young men and the class of the youth and sat on the podium with the Stake President!! Hahaha it was really cool! So something was sad when I went to teach the young men I was like who knows the plan of salvation and no one knew it! It was really sad even the bishops didn't even know it! So I taught that as a lesson! And it was really good you could definitely feel the spirit there! I really liked it! I talked to one young lady in our ward that was caught smoking! So we went to her house and there was her and her young sister that is 15 that is really strong in the church! Then the young women’s president! Since we were in 3 we can go into any house! So we went in and I was like we are going to share a message and I picked a scripture 3 Nephi 18, 24 and read it that it talks about how we need to be examples for other people and we got talking about how that applies to us! It was a really emotional message! When it got down to it Morris was crying everyone else was crying I shed a few tears out of my left eye but that is about it! But that was really good this young lady that is 16 said that she is going to turn here life around so that makes me happy!
Sad thing Morris he left me he was transferred to Rio Iguaçu area some where close to Curitiba! But it was cool  because I got to ride the bus to Curitiba with him! Because I will pick up my new companion Tuesday! Why Tuesday? Well I am going to be training a new missionary! Ahhhh I really don’t think that I am prepared to do that but we will have to see! I don’t know anything about him! But today in Curitiba I will be staying with Elder Sudweeks and his companion and receive training on how to train the newbies! Haha I will have a son in the mission! (That is a missionary thing when you train some one!) Well that is about it! OH about baptism’s well we didn't have any! All the people here are really, really week! They are just super lazy! I think with my new companion we are going to find a lot of new people to teach! Which will be super good! With that said I really want you guys to go to the temple a lot put my name into the prayer box and always pray for me that I can train this new dude and really help him be a super good missionary! Well that is about it! I hope that you guys have a great time and have a great week! It was really cool to read your emails I really liked them! Well love you guys take care!!

Love, Elder Gray

November 19, 2012

Well hello my family!!

So this week was really interesting!! So we are now in a threesome me and elder Morris and elder Black which is our district leader!! It kind of sucks because we have to take care of two areas now at least they are side by side so that is not that bad! But the companion of Elder Black he went home. Elder Barros is his name he was a really good elder he just did something’s that ended up costing him his mission! Which is sad because we got along really well! So after he left Wednesday we have been in this threesome! It has been really interesting to see how the teaching goes and how it is kind of a mess for us because like all of us want to talk but you have to be patient and wait your turn! We taught a lot of people this week and we marked some dates with some people so that is cool! I think one of them will get baptized this Sunday! Well I really hope that he will! So my time with Elder Morris is going to come to an end here in a little bit! We will have a transfer next Monday I really hope that he wont be transferred that would be so cool if we could stay together for Christmas! I would really love that if we could!! Well so about this week nothing really cool happened like it’s been kind of boring normal stuff! Let me think about what was cool and crazy that we did this week....... well really nothing! We did clean our house and it does look a ton better after that one Elder left the house really has been staying cleaner!! Oh I know what is cool that we did this week so we had to clean out our freezer so we cleaned it out and we made a snow man out of the ice that we took out! That was funny we put it on our neighbors door step! It was super funny it scared her hahaha!! But besides that really nothing has been happening! We have been working a lot in the other area so we have been far away from are area!! But yah that is about it I hope that you guys have a great week I love you guys so much take care!!!

Love, Elder Gray

November 12, 2012

Well hello my family!!

Well about this week there was nothing super special because like it rained a ton this week!! Let’s start off by talking about last pday so it was awesome! After I got done emailing we went to the shopping mall where it has the bowling alley! So me and Morris get there and we are looking around for it and we find it and it doesn't open till 4 so we were like hey are you hungry so we went to the food court and we ate at Burger King! Oh my gosh it was so good! It was food from heaven it was just like the burger king in the United States it was so good! So we ate there and after we played some air hockey and then I found a massaging chair and I was like I am totally going to pay to use it and so gave it two bucks for 5 mins! That was so good it felt so good, I could of sat in that chair all day long it was so awesome! So it finally got to be 4 so we went and played! It was really interesting because the pins here are on like cords so that was a little bit gay! But oh well it was still super fun!!
During the week nothing super exciting happened it was just work and more work! I am really getting tired of the weak people here! Like it is absolutely impossible to bring people to church! You do like everything that you can and they still don’t go! But this next week I am going to get them! Even if I have to tie them up and throw them over my shoulder and carry them to church! We had two people that went to church with us! ONE was really cool this lady named Bianca she went. Elder Morris and his other companion have been teaching her and her family for a long time now and we got there on like a Friday out of the blue we were like do you want to go to church with us and she was like ya if you guys are going to be there and I was like duh we will be there it was funny! But she went! I felt really bad for her! Because this week in church it was super dry! Like it was so boring from class to the sacrament meeting it was so boring! Like the only word to describe it was dry!! Like sacrament meeting people are all over the place some in the front a lot in the way back like five in the middle! I think this next week I am going to ask bishop if I can have like 2 mins and I am going to get them to move up to the front because it looks horrible it looks like everyone is separated and not together!!
That is really all that has happened this week not a ton but I really hope that next week is better love you guys I hope you guys take care and that you guys have an awesome week together! Love you guys!!

Love,

Elder Gray

November 5, 2012

Hello my family!!

Oh my goodness can you believe that hump day is over and gone with! This week passed by so fast like oh my goodness I really can’t believe that I am emailing home again! Haha oh well so lets start off by talking about this week so it was really good! So last Sunday the 30th or the 31st I don’t remember what it was so we were there at our lunch appointment with the members talking having a really good time and then walks in this other lady and her mom which are also members! They came to hear our message well it was my turn to give the message and I thought I will talk about the plan of salvation in the form of soccer because all the Brazilians here play soccer! So there I went I got to the end shared my testimony with them and that lady that walked in started to cry and so we talked and turns out that her dad is not baptized and he doesn’t want anything to do with the church! And when this family talks about church he yells and sometimes beats them! And she was crying telling us this story and l was listening and I felt like I need to say lets do a fast this week and that we will fast for her dad so after she got done crying I proposed it and I promised that if everyone did then something will happen and then promised in the name Jesus because that is what I was feeling. But like that message that time was so strong like so moving with the spirit like I almost broke down into tears because I was feeling the spirit so strong! It was awesome! Well this Sunday that lady got up and bore her testimony and was talking about that message and how you could feel the spirit so strong there, then she said these two elders that we have in this ward are special they are servants of our Heavenly Father you can see that  just looking at them, you see this light they bring peace and hope into your life. Wow when she said that the spirit really testified for me that really this is who we are as missionaries! It was so awesome to hear bear her testimony! What else was cool,  a less active girl that we are helping her return and helping her family be members  she shared her testimony but she said that we are like angels sent from Heaven. Over all this Sunday was super good it was just filled with the spirit!
So I made a division with other elders this week and I was with one Named Elder Barros, (he lives in our house) we went to this house of members and I asked him hey who is that and he said that is that girls boyfriend and was like really is he baptized and he said no and I was like have you tried teaching him, he was like a little bit and I told him watch this! So they were leaving I got up off the couch like pinned him into the door, I was gentle I asked him are you baptized and he was like no and I was like why not? And he said I don’t know! Then I was like look do you have faith? And he was like kind of and I was like what does faith mean?? And he was like a force and I was like that is good and also it means that you believe in things that you can not see! And he was like oh that makes sense and then he says I have always wanted a book of Mormon and so I was like buddy you have luck today I have one left in my backpack and its going to be yours so I marked some parts and then asked him to got to church and this Sunday he went. I talked to him and asked him if he read and prayed and he said I haven’t missed a day yet of reading and praying since you last talked to me! Then I asked him have you asked to know if the book of Mormon is true? He said yes then I asked did you receive an answer and he was like yes then I felt like I should ask him to be baptized so I did! So he will probably be baptized next week! It was really cool! I loved it!
So we had lunch on Saturday it was sick what this family does! Like the brother comes walking in with meat alright that is normal they are going to grill it that is even better so his wife marinates it and then her daughter was like I want a piece so his wife rips her off a piece and she eats it! It was Raw!! I saw this, looked at Morris and almost said to him what the crap! It was so bad! Like there whole
family ate raw meat even their like 2 year old daughter like I almost died it was so nasty I could not believe it! Was so nasty! I really didn’t want to eat after that but oh well!
For hump day me and Morris weren’t even together I was on division so but we order a pizza that night and partied a little bit it was super fun. Its sucks because we didn’t take a picture of the pizza! The pizza was the biggest one they had it came out to about 25 dollars well they delivered it to us and well it came with soda! And that soda was coke! Which we can’t drink but we thought oh well we payed too much for this pizza we took the coke and drank it with the pizza it was so good! Like in the end hump day was good! Hahaha
Well I love you guys I hope you have a great week I got to get off because we are going to go bowling in the shopping mall I will take some pictures and send it to you! Love you guys have a great week!

Amo, Elder Gray

Elder Gray, Elder Black, & Elder Morris