August 19, 2013 57 more days!!

Hello family!

 Well where do I want to start this week! Well it was a great week! Kind of it was good until the assistants called and were like we are going to do a 3 day division with you guys and I was like 3 days! Wow it was a long three days I will tell you that! I noticed something that I can not really stand being around fake people! Wow I was with this elder and it will go unnamed. He was being so fake like I knew him before and he was super chill and super easy to talk to then he came to do a division with me and he came all with his nose high and proud and I really didn’t like that! I told him too, I was Elder come on dude great you’re an assistant but that does not mean crap to anyone. And he was like what and I was like look here in the mission yah its cool if you’re an assistant but after the mission you go back to being nothing and no one is going to care what you were on the mission! So you can stop with this attitude thing! Well I don’t think that he liked it that much, but I really didn’t care because it’s true! Like when I became ZL I kept being the same person that loves everyone that plays around with everyone and when it is time to be serious I am serious! Well after the division my comp comes back all hot shot and that like thinking he is a million bucks but whatever I just won’t care anymore about what people think of themselves what they think of me! I am here to teach people and help them to come unto Christ and help them to get baptized! haha it will be funny to see what happens at the end of this transfer if I stay ZL if I don’t I won’t care one bit to tell the truth I will just know that the Elder that I made a division with just got his pants in a wad about something that is true! But oh well! Well this week was cool because we were told by President Fernandes to get 5 names of young men that can serve a mission that are less active so we did and we went by all of them! Well one of them lives out of our area but we found a new one looking for the other 4! Well last Monday night we found 3 of them and I was like alright let’s share a message with them! I looked at my comp to share it and he started saying something that I don’t remember but they weren’t really paying attention so I was alright its time that I step in and I got them in a huddle and I was like what do we look like right now and they were like a team and I was like you are right we are team and I am needing every single one of you guys to be my best players right now! and shared a Alma 34: 31-32 and I was like look are object right now is to help people come unto Christ and help them repent and prepare to find God one day! Look for us to do this, I need you guys my players the people that I can count on! They were like yah that is right they got all excited and I was like as team mates here we got to have goals to get done 1: read the scriptures every day, 2: pray every morning and every night, 3: GO TO CHURCH!!!! And they all accepted these goals and it was so cool to see them catch a little bit of the fire! Well during the week we followed up on these young men and what were they doing, they were completing the goals I was so happy filled my chest with joy! Well it came to Sunday one of them showed up and I was like hey where are the others  and he was like I don’t know! and I was like alright well we got to go find them and so we went  house to house found them woke them up they got ready and we went to church together! It was so cool we all sat on the same bench together during sacrament meeting and it was awesome! The ward looked and were happy because these are young men that they haven’t seen in a while! Oh how that day was so great! Another thing! About the fast well it was awesome I felt great! I am super happy to see that Dad is doing better that things are starting to turn over for him it feels me with joy! I knew that you guys would come through with me on the fast when I started my fast a during the fast I felt really close to you guys obviously in spirit but it was really cool! Guys I love you guys so much and I am so very thankful to be part of this family! Well it’s weird to think that I will be 21 this week! Hahaha I am old that is weird to think! McCall thinking that I would turn 22!!! That was funny when I read that today! What will I do on that day I really don’t know but we will do something fun! I think I will get those 5 young men together and we will go to a pizza parlor that night and spend time with them! Ha-ha it will be fun I will take pictures! Ha-ha love you guys have fun this week take care!

Love, Elder Grayzão!

August 12 2013 64 days left!!

Hello family!!

 Well first thing I want you guys to know that I love you guys and that I am always praying for you guys! I want to tell you about my goals that I made going into my last 12 weeks of my mission that started well 3 weeks ago! One of those goals is to fast every Saturday before I get home, and to finish D&C and the Book of Mormon and maybe the New Testament if I have time I want you guys to know that these last three weeks my testimony about fasting has really grown I know that is a sacrifice and that GOD accepts it and that he listens and attends to the needs of the people! IT was cool this Saturday I got my companion and we fasted for you Dad and his girlfriend that is leaving for a mission this week. When I was doing the opening prayer for the fast I felt at such peace I know that everything is going to be alright that the Lord is caring, and that he will take care of us! I want to challenge you guys all of you guys to go to the temple this week and puts dads name in the prayer roll and then fast with me this Saturday for him! I promise in the name of Jesus Christ that things will get better if we all do this! That means Saturday after lunch we start and then we go to Sunday right before lunch! Will it be hard oh yah it’s not easy, but it is worth it!!!! And that I know! 

   Well this week was pretty cool for us we found some new people to teach and they look like they have a lot of potential and they are on date with baptism and we just got finished teaching then the lessons and continue having spiritual experiences! I made a division with Elder
Bestenlhener this week I don’t know how to write his name but something like that, it was really cool I got to see some people that I taught there in Samambaia and it was a lot of fun! Elder Best he is super funny I love him we are so totally going to be friends after the mission! Hey and about his cousin leave that with me you never know we would have to start writing each other but to BF & GF I don’t know she didn’t even write me this week! But it’s all good! Well my comp Elder Hogge said somethings that I didn’t really like this week but that is ok I just shook them off and we went to work! But the mission is going good President Fernandes he is getting better for the most part we will see how he goes! But this it for this week love you guys take care!

Love, Elder Grayzão

August 5, 2013

Hello family!!

 Well look at that I really don’t have that much time to talk today because it took forever sending the zone stuff this week! Well we had that meeting with president on Friday it went a lot better than what I thought it would have gone! I think that he learned that if he wants to be respected and loved then he cannot come out just burning people now his wife is a little fire ball but she will get better! But things are going well for us we have some dates marked but they are not super firm or anything yet! Well this week was a little bit hard for us we walked and walked and walked even more but that is ok it will all pay off in the end! but this week my comp fainted it was super funny we were at a sister s house eating lunch with her family and we were talking about what she does for work and she does that Chinese acupuncture and a message therapist and I was like that is cool I was like so you know where all the pressure points are and she was like give me your hand and she tried and then tried my other hand I was not feeling any pain at all and then she is like here in your leg and I was like nope you neck nope your back nope she was like well your body is just tough I laughed then my comp was like me and he stood up and she grabbed his hand and then she was going at it and next thing we know he just falls like he got knocked out or something like that it was really funny, but it is alright he came back and now we are all happy it was a good experience and that! Loved it! hey I got to go but I am good I think that it would be best to use this birthday money to buy clothes and also it is not worth it to send a package because I will be home before it even gets here hahahah but I love you guys and yes I bought new shoes on my card and some food because we are using the bus a lot well I love you guys sorry for the short email take care!

Love, Elder Gray

Elder Gray and Elder Morris

Elder Gray & Elder Black

July 29, 2013 Only 78 days left!

Well hello family! 

So this week went by kind of slow we walked a ton! Holy crap! Everyday I was just hammered and would wake up just in pain! Buts it’s all good it is just part of being a missionary! Well this week we found some people that we marked dates with them so that is something good! I came here in Paranagua and gave a talk this Sunday it went very well I talked about Pres. Monson talk in Conference in the priesthood part!  Wow this ward has more women than men, the elders quorum here is super weak so my goal is to find more men and baptize them because this ward is a little weak. Members here are good I really like them! Today I am here in Samambaia with a family that I loved here just kickin it with them its super good to see people again I will have to pass by the people that I baptized later on or maybe another p day I love it here the weather is great we have the sun, the cold left and its back to normal.! Funny things this week is that we have an island in our area and one night we were walking across the bridge to go to the island and my comp was like dude those people are speaking English and I was like dude there is no way why would an American want to come to this island that is super ugly and he is like dude listen so I listened and what do you know they were speaking English there was whole bunch of them I was shocked so we talked up to them in front of a catholic church and we were like are you guys Americans and they were like yah we are from Texas and you guys, I was like I am from Utah and he is from Washington and they were like what are you guys doing here so we explained that we were missionaries etc. they were in brazil to see the POPE, fricken pope I don’t like him! But it was cool talking to them! and then this dude walks out and tells these kids hey they don’t believe in the virgin Mary in Portuguese and they asked what he said I told them and they were like you guys don’t believe in the virgin Mary and I was like no! And they looked at us really funny I started laughing hahaha and then they had to go and they went smoking in to the Catholic Church! It was super funny because if you look at it Catholics they don’t have to do anything really for them everything is cool! I am super glad to be a member of the true church where we have standards that help us become better people! hahhaa! But that is it for the week I will talk to you guys later! Love you guys have a good week!

Love, Elder Gray

July 15, 2013 92 days left!!

Hello family!!

 Well where do I start??? well I want to start off saying that I am very proud of Jarrett and Jennica to go and serve missions and I know that they did a great job on their talks I will miss them but like that hymn says God be with you tell we meet again! Well there are going to do awesome and there are going to see a lot of miracles happen in this time! I am very grateful for this time that I have had on the mission it has taught me a lot of things it has made me different has opened my eyes on other things! I know the mission is the place to be at for everyone that wants to serve!

  Well are week was good we had a dude that came to church saying that he wanted to be baptized then after his interview he was like no I won’t be baptized I will stay in my church! Hahahhaa but this guy had problems so that is ok! NO those 2 kids didn’t come to church to get the holy ghost that is annoying! But we will get them there this week! Why did they not go I don’t know my comp that went to get them with a brother in the branch just said to me that they just can’t come today! But our week was interesting I made a division with Elder Vojtek he is from Argentina he is cool but he doesn’t speak at all! Like it was 24 isolation it almost killed me I went and asked questions and he was like yah its cool! I almost died! It was super nice to get back with elder Gomes, talking about transfers well this next Monday will be transfers I think that my comp will go he has had 6 months here. We found some people to teach this week none of them are those ones that are firm that they are like oh yah I totally want to receive an answer about these things! But that is ok we will just have to find them this week! Well this next Sunday we are going to have another baptism with this lady named Legislaine she is part of a family that everyone is members but her! Her mom recycles trash and her house is so so nasty like mom you would puke if you went in it! Also we have a family night there tonight and we are going to make some food there with them I am not excited at all to eat in that house!!!! But this lady she has turned her life around which is so cool she use to drink coffee and drink beer and had a huge problem with the law of chastity but she stopped it all and wants to be baptized so that is super cool! I love how the Lord works in people’s lives and how he can change them. But that is about it I really don’t have anything else to say but I love you guys take care!

Love, Elder Grayzão

July 8, 2013 Only 99 days left

Hello family,

 Well where do I start off?? This week was a good week we did a lot of work this week and this week was super busy I was worn out at the end! Well so we saw President Fernandes and Sister Fernandes this last Thursday! So we got up at 5:30 went to the church to catch a private bus and then we went around picking the rest of the zone up in this bus we didn’t get to Curitiba until 1:30 in the afternoon! We ate lunch and then we had the meeting just with our zone! Well I don’t like them that much to tell you the truth! They just aren’t President and Sister Cordon. I really didn’t feel any love from them for us! They just got up there and started burning people about things and it was not cool  because I was just looking at my zone and they were just not satisfied it’s alright though I thought to myself well I only have 2 1/2 transfers left with them then I will be going home! After their meeting we had interviews with president, well it was my turn I went in there and he was like where are you from elder? I told him Highland, Utah. He said oh the factory then laughed; ( there is a joke that missionaries from Utah are from the factory because there are so many from Utah). Then he asked how much time do you have on the mission and I told him that I have 1 year and 9 months and he was like so you’re basically going home and I was like well I guess you could say it that way, then that was it for the interview! Not cool! Well we left Curitiba at like 6 at night and we didn’t get home until 12:40 at night! Yah I was super tired because I didn’t sleep at all in the bus ride so I was pooped! Then the next day you’re up at 6:30 again! Me and my companion found some really good people on Saturday to tell you how good we found this family that is super, super, super, super poor like they make the homeless people in the United States look rich! And they had two kids that wanted to be baptized so we baptized them this last Sunday! Hahaha it was super cool! it was a bummer because the parents couldn’t be there because they were going to go to work to get money to support their family but they promised that they would go this Sunday and watch them receive the holy ghost so that will be cool! The baptism was awesome! Really things are going very well for us here and this it for the letter this week I hope that everything is going good with you guys there! Love you guys take care!

Love, Grayzão

July 1, 2013

Hello Family

Well were do I start well this week was really good to tell you the truth! I loved it! We had zone conference last Thursday and I was leading it. At first I was super nervous but after the first prayer it all came to me and I felt calm and it went good, we gave training about the missionary manual and how we need to have more interviews for baptisms! It was really good and it was the last Conference of Pres. Cordon and Sis. Cordon I gave them our house number and told them to call it and talk to you guys to have them over for dinner mom if they do call you I want you to go all out on them because they deserve it and I really am going to miss them a ton. After the conference I had to make a division with an assistant I thought it was going to be really annoying but it wasn’t I went with elder Barkdull it was cool because what happened we didn’t have a plan for them because they told us that they weren’t going to stay with us then out of nowhere there were like we are staying. So we started going me and him and I was like elder because we don’t have a plan let’s pray so that we can be guided by the spirit to the people. so we went and we found new people that we marked dates with them and it looks like it they are going to be baptized so that will be super good. it was really good the division with Elder Barkdull, and mom yes I did get your package it was so good the beef jerky was gone in like three days hahaha that brand is a ton better than that other one that I don’t remember the name of it! I am not sick I just have this tickle cough that is super annoying. I noticed that when I chew gum I don’t cough as much so that was great that you sent me gum! haha after that the Branch here had a party it was funny it is their hill billy party it was good because they brought a ton of people that are not members and we were there teaching and it was going great. Sunday that dude that we baptized the first week that I got here brought his brother and we taught the brother and marked a date with him for this Sunday hahaha you just got to love baptisms! Hahahahah then today so we all woke up and went and played soccer at the church and then me and elder Crook went to a Mui Thai class which was super cool! I was surprised that I can kick so high! Then after that we had the zone over for a barbeque and we played volley ball it was good I can just see me tomorrow I am going to be so sore. Hahaha it was a super good day! Hahaha well can you believe Colton Ferre will be home in a little bit that is so cool! My day will come hahaha actually I am not worried about that, things are going good here. I have kinda gotten use to the Branch and how they are all closed off that is their problem and I will let them fix that! But I am good. The new president is Pres. Fernandes and Sister Fernandes, we will get to know them this Thursday that will be fun hahaha! That is it for the week take care love you guys!

Love, Elder Gray