June 3, 2013

Hello family!

 Well wow I got to say wow! My mom talking in church I really never thought that day would come and I won’t be there to see it when it happens! :( But I am 100% sure that it will be an awesome talk, for as my dad talking we will have to see hahahaha jk dad you will do great! Well mom I have not heard about this broadcast thing! I don’t know what it is or anything but that would be cool, will it be for everyone or just for the missionaries maybe I hear about it tomorrow from the zone leader in our zone meeting! That would be super cool maybe he will reveal when the 2nd coming will be! That is cool about how Casey Madsen getting married tell here congrats for me hahaha that is cool that you met the brother of who will be the mission president here. Hahaha well that is cool to hear that everyone is doing very well!

 Well this week was pretty cool a lot of cool experiences happened and it was awesome! Well let’s start out that ELDER GRAY baptized again for the sisters missionaries. they prepared this kid that is the son of one recent convert and I went there did the interview and he was like I don’t know any one in this ward that could baptize me Elder Gray do you want to baptize me I said sure why not. And Eliton da Silva Santos was baptized this Sunday by me it was super cool because he was super prepared to be baptized and you could see the light in his eyes after it was so awesome. After the meeting the sister missionaries bishop calls me over in front of my companion and Paulo and starts speaking to me in English and chewing me out about how this is the second baptism that I have done in their ward and I shouldn’t baptize more people I should have their ward do it. I agreed with them a little bit.... then I said to him the sad thing is that he doesn’t know the people here and no one went to visit him and help him become member of the church it was just the sister missionaries and his mom... so bishop this is your problem maybe you should listen to the sisters and read the report that they give to you every week so you can do this. He wasn’t too happy about that but I really didn’t care because I was right and he comes out of no where calling me out that I am wrong in front of people that is just wrong. But I just got to wipe this off because it was just an ignorant bishop. After, we gave a blessing for Sister Johnson because her foot has been really been hurting her and she is wearing a boot.

  That family that lost their son is going so so well! They are wanting to be baptized and get married and go through the temple! They are an awesome family I love them so much I have fear that I will get transferred on the 10th and won’t be able to see this because here in Brazil it takes awhile to get married. But I will ask president if I can be there on that day! I would love to see them be baptized and they want me and elder Stout to baptize them. This week we did a fast with them it was so cool because that is a great idea and they were so awesome the both of them went from one lunch to the other one and they said they felt the spirit so strongly during that. I know that they will marry and be baptized they are so awesome I will be so happy for them if they marry and baptize! Funny thing this week so Paulo he got in a car wreck like 8 months ago and he never repaired his car because like car insurance doesn’t exist here but it’s on the drivers back side. and what happens is that when there is a lot of people in there it weighs the car down a lot and when you hit a bump it makes a really bad sound like the metal frame against the  tire and last night he hit a bump an it kind of cut his tire and I was like Paulo do you want me to make it a little bit better and he looked at me and was like you don’t know anything about cars and I was like I know very little and what I know can help. so we pulled off and I was like I will need a hammer to pound out this dent and that so we went to some ones house and was like hey can we borrow your hammer and they are like what and Paulo said the American here is going to try and get the dent out and I looked at him wow your super funny not. We got a hammer. I told him we will have to take the tire off to get a better angle at it, Paulo didn’t even know where the jack was at in his car so I had to get his jack out jack the car up take the wheel off and then I went at it! I made it better it’s not perfect but definitely better. And put the tire back and everything and we hit a bump again and it made just this little sound and he turns to me and was like dude your man you should be a mechanic. It was funny because even elder stout was doubting it! But this week was good I really liked it! But yah well family take care have a good week and keep reading! hahaha love you  guys!

Love, Elder Gray

May 27, 2013

Well hello family!!

 Well what cool things happened this week, well  remember that lady that I talked to that her son died well we passed by there again and taught her about the restoration and how it is really important that we  know what church is true. Well so what happened is that we went by we taught and it was super good we were like there for 2 hours because they had so many questions that they wanted answered so we answered and marked another day we will  pass by. That day and we watched the movie with them together forever and we struck a home run on that movie with them it was so so cool! We invited them to church and what happened they came it was so so cool I loved it! The rest of the week we worked are buts off running behind things of the district like material doing interview for them and then talking to a lot of people I really liked this week it was super awesome this letter wont be so long because there is not a lot of detail in it. Today we went to the center it was super cool I bought a Brazilian basket ball jersey it is super sick I will have to take a picture of it for you guys! We went to a park called Parque Tanguara and it was cool but a lot of the water things like fountains weren’t working but that is ok but it was cool. We went with the zone leaders which is cool because they are super cool we have become really good friends it sounds like all of you guys are doing great that everything is going very well for you guys and that its all cool sorry for the short letter I just don’t have a lot to write about for this week I promise that next week will be a lot better love you guys have a great week!

Love, Elder Gray

May 20, 2013

Hello family

Would you look at that it is pday once again and I have this privilege to send you an email. This week was super cool when Saturday came I did an interview in Campo Comprido of one young lady there and she passed and at the end she was like Elder Gray I want you to baptize me and I said of course if you really want me to! Also on Saturday we decided that we would fast after having a super light lunch, fasted to find new people that are ready to hear are message and God answered! We went to church and there was a couple and we talked to them and it turns out that the brother is a member just less active and his girlfriend isn’t they live in Campo Comprido but because of some things they want to be in the ward caiua. I had the wonderful chance of talking to his girlfriend named Christina and she had a book of Mormon in her hand and I was like I am reading and I was oh wow that is awesome and she said I am in Heleman and I am liking the book a lot and I asked her did you pray about it and she said yes I have and.... she said well I have had a lot of dreams but I want a feeling and I was like alright how are you asking.... she said well I am asking for him to show me and then I said lets try it this way, lets ask him specifically and then lets listen to what we received and she was like that is a great idea and I was like oh ya I know! Then Sunday night we were making our contacts and I saw this lady in her gate and I felt very prompted to go and talk to her and so I did and introduced our selves and shared with her how we teach people how they can have more peace and happiness in this life and then she said well I am needing one of these messages and I was like great!!!! And then I asked what is happening in your life right now that you are needing to feel comfort in your life?? And she was like well its been 4 months since my five year old son died and I am really missing him and I want to know what he is doing (In that moment I just wanted to spill out the last part of the 2nd lesson but I let her finish before I said anything but it was super hard!) and then she went on to saying I hear so many things from other churches and I don’t know what to believe in and then I asked her so what do you believe is happening and she said I believe that he turned into a little angel and is happy! I was like great because right now he is very happy he is sitting in a place right now super happy and hoping that you guys are happy. And he is hoping one day you guys come and live with him again. Then I asked her Lucimar what are you willing to do here in this life to live with your son and your family forever and she told me and elder Stout that she was willing to do anything. I was so happy in that moment to look into her eyes and she this light of hope that I know can turn into a bright beam of light! We talked about the book of Mormon and it turns out she had one that she got from one of her friends that she use to live by and the interesting thing is that she actually was reading parts of the book of Mormon that day and it was so awesome we marked some other parts for her to read and then said to here when you know that these things are true will you follow the example of JESUS CHRIST by being baptized and she said yes I will. In that moment  I invited here, I felt the spirit so strong and I knew that she is going to receive answer and that she will be baptized and then we marked another visit with her for Wednesday! I was super happy what happened it really grew my testimony that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and loves enough to send the answers for us when we are needing them! OH and yah this week was really interesting I have to resolve a lot of conflicts with elders in my district! Named Elder Hill and Elder Pantoja they just keep arguing and it so annoying so Saturday I had to go there after then interview and put them back on the tracks again to start going that was not that fun like I get super sad at this like elder Pantoja is 25 years old and Elder Hill is 21 or 22 and they are fighting as if they were little girls in elementary school! But in the end all went well and things are going better well things here in Brazil are going good just kickin it like usual and doing my work about the mission getting divided well that is a good question I don’t know what mission I will be in like for me I want to go to the south mission that is where the center of Curitiba is and I want to be able to go there at the end of my mission and buy a lot of things! But we will have to see how this works out but me and elder Stout are doing great. Yah it sounds like that all of you guys are doing great that things are going good for you guys well I love you guys take care!

Love, Elder Gray

May 6, 2013

Well hello family,

Well wow looks like things are going to change in the Gray house hold! I think that would be an awesome idea if the girls moved out and fend for them selves a little bit! I am pretty dang sure that their social life would go up too, looks like Easton is killing it out there on the field. Looks Like mom and dad are doing great and just livin the good life! well this week was interesting so I got a call Wednesday night about like 9 at night and they were like Elder Gray you have been called to be district leader so that was super cool that I am district leader again it will be a good thing because that means that Elder Stout is going to have to start to fend for him self a little bit more when I take care of the district like tomorrow Stout will be here with a different Elder and I will go to another area and he will have to well grow a pair and really get thing done, this week was cool we had a cool things happen we found a catholic family they are good the mom and dad and older sister are like super catholic and doesn’t look like they will change any time soon but there is a girl that is like 15 years of age and she is super good she has read until Moisah in the book of Mormon and we gave her the book this week like she is like loving it and she wants to go to church but her parents wont let her go to church which is super sad. But she is awesome and she gave the book of Mormon to her friend to and they read their Book of Mormons together and they love it that is super cool! I also had a testimony builder this week, so it came Sunday and we went by our investigators houses and none of them were there and we get to church none of ours are there so I said a prayer to my self and asked God look I would love it if some one came today please bless me with that at least. The meeting started and I got a little impatient and was like well that is crap then out of no where this less active guy and his girlfriend (not member) and her sons come walking in and sat down and it was so, so, so cool it is cool because like obviously God hears all of are prayers but he see also if we are patient and I learned that I need to pray and ask God more things and wait patiently to receive the answers that was super cool I really liked that a lot! Then the rest of church I felt the spirit a lot and it was an awesome thing I loved it made everything better and to put the icing on the cake Paulo will be our new WARD MISSION LEADER!!!! So that is really going to help us more in the work that we are going to do here! We are going to take fire to this area really find the good people and put the ward in line and get things back on track how it should be done! Just good things are happening I like that and what next week I got mother’s day!!! Yes that is going to be awesome cant wait till mothers day it will be so much fun to talk to you guys again! Besides all that there is nothing that is really cool. Well today we went to Jardim Botanico here in Curitiba which was super cool I will have to send pics next time I took a lot of pictures! That was fun we went with the zone leaders because they are my friends we got the power 4 hahahaha. Things are getting good! Well Family have a good week take care I love you guys!!

Love, Gray

Elder Gray & Elder Reese

April 29, 2013

Hello family

Well we got a baptism! Hahahaha yah, yah well we didn’t get to baptize the dad but we baptized the son. There was a cool thing that happened also this Sunday I gave the Melchzidek Priesthood to Paulo! That was a really cool experience also! So Sunday was super, super, super hectic like everyone forgot about the baptism and Paulo had the clothes of my companion in his car and Paulo had to leave and take this lady home that was sick like I don’t like this lady at all she just uses the church to pay for things and she doesn’t have respect for any one and she is like Bi-polar and I really don’t like her! But in the end it all worked out which is a good thing! well what happened at the ordination of Paulo so he got back late and the Stake President left and was like well I am not going to wait here and all this stuff it was super annoying and it just goes to show that the leadership here is super lame! But Paulo came in, me, a stake councilor, the bishop and his like 2nd counselor walk in to! The stake dude was like Paulo who would you like to give you the priesthood and he was like well Elder Gray and I was like oh yah! But everyone else in the room looked sad and deceived but it went well I really liked it first time giving priesthood to some one was super cool! Well this week was a little hard for us not a lot of things went our way! Like everything that we planned fell through and Elder Stout became like super shut off like he isn’t talking as much any more and that makes me a little bit worried! But I will see if I can figure it out! Also I was thinking how many real friends do I actually have and I thought to my self I really don’t have that many here in the mission and in my personal life and I decided that if someone that says good things in front of me and then when I turn my back they talk bad about me its over I wont be their friend anymore! I also read that article in the Liahonna about friends and that made a lot of sense and I will put that to work! But I will see how this week goes will be interesting to see if we can find some more people that we can teach and that we can invite to be baptized and help them enter in the right pathway! Oh yah about that dad that didn’t get baptized well I was talking to him last night and he said that the church is way to basic for him that he is on a totally different spiritual level and I started laughing super hard because it’s super funny because he can’t even like rap his mind around the simple things! He has a problem about the people on fast Sunday that get up there and bare there testimony sometimes about the same thing! and I was like well why don’t you get up there and bear your testimony about something that you know that is true and he was like what and I said it again and he was like no there is no way! And then I started to laugh even harder and asked him do you know the Book of Mormon is true and he was like yes I do and I asked him how do you know that is true? You haven’t read it you haven’t prayed about it so there is no way that you can really know it’s true! And he was quiet and I was like it is a little hard to be on a different spiritual level when you don’t even know that the basic things of our church is true! So we will see if he will read it and actually start progressing in his life! But that is good to hear that dad got back safely and that everything is going well for him and for the rest of the family! I can’t wait to talk to you guys here in a little bit it will be so much fun! I love you guys to death have a great week! Love you guys!

 Love

Elder Gray

April 22, 2013

April 22, 2013

Hello family!!!

So I will start off by today so we went to the center of the city today it was super cool, I like going there! Mom you would love it, it has a lot of those cool old buildings and the girls would love the outlets that they have here! Its sweet I bought a Nike jacket here you will see that on the bank statement also but it was totally worth it I have been keeping my eye out for this and I haven’t found it until today it is a yellow and green jacket with the Brazil symbol on the front and the on the back it has Brazil in green letters it is super sick it will go really well with my blue soccer jersey that I have! Its funny there a lot of parks in the center of Curitiba that people go and put blankets down and sit there and take naps there is some homeless people there that they build there little huts! It’s kind of funny there are street performers and it’s really cool there I could have stayed there all day!! What week is mother day any way?? I really don’t know how it is going to work out this time we will have to see because if I get transferred I will have to talk to members there in another area and here I think I will go to Paulo’s house and you will be able to see him! But beside that I really like elder Stout we are like the best of friends we are always laughing just having a great time and it super fun! The area is doing alright it is a little tough at times because we invite the people to be baptized and they are like yah I will and then they don’t want to mark for a date! But it’s going alright I think that we will have the baptism of that dad and son this week but they need to get moving the dad is being slow! Sometimes I just want to take there AGENCY away from them and make them get baptized! Because they know its true but there like I don’t know I don’t know and it starts to get a little bit annoying! After awhile but it happens but I know it will work out! Besides that this week has been good we had lessons with members so that was super cool! We are really trying to find more people that are good that want to be baptized and that are ready to follow! But it seems like these people are hiding! Something weird that happened this week is that Saturday I was not happy! Like it felt like I was just empty inside and it was just not my day that day and it made me sad because I am never like that usually I am super happy but Saturday it just went and I wasn’t happy I tried to think of why I was feeling like that and I really couldn’t think of anything that could of made me sad that day! I don’t know but know I am doing great! NO I have not been sick my tooth paste ran out so I went there and I bought enough toothpaste to last me the rest of my mission that is why your were seeing the pharmacy but no I am doing great haven’t ever been better! But that is awesome to hear that all of you guys are doing great that everything is going well and that you guys are being very blessed! Well I love you guys take care!!! Have a good week Dad you be safe alright!!!

Love, Elder Gray