Baptism!!

This week was great! As you all know, last week I was saying that we had a baptism scheduled for Sunday. Well, good news, we did have it, but at first they were just going to have our Bishop baptize them. But then on Friday night they had their interviews and they decided to have another elder, one of the zone leaders…and ME do the baptisms!!! I could not even believe it! So, yep I got to baptize Yuri Agues on Sunday the 22^nd of February. It was awesome! I couldn’t believe I was getting this opportunity so soon in my mission. There are many elders that have been out over a year and haven’t been in the water. So I feel very blessed and very lucky. It went well and the two people we baptized are doing great. We went over there yesterday and they are like new people! That just shows how amazing this gospel is and how important it is in our lives!

I want to apologize to all of you who have sent me emails and I haven’t responded directly to you. I got so, so, so many emails this week I could not believe it! I got 29 new emails! You love me too much! Ha ha. But that took me quite some time to read all of them. Thank you all so much! I LOVE getting the mail from all of you and hearing all of your stories!

This week we went to this Japanese restaurant. It had a big conveyor belt thing and they just put food like crazy on it and there were a few different kinds of sushi yuuummmmy! And just a ton of very, very good stuff! So we got to eat as much as we possibly could. And the very best part? It was only $6.50!! That is cheap! For as much sushi and amazing Japanese food as you can possibly eat! Oh, it was awesome! I loved it. Elder Hildebrandt and I are going to go there after our weekly planning session on Friday for lunch. I love it!

This week we did some door knocking and like usual some more street contacting. The door knocking is so annoying though unless we can get inside because they just say ‘quem em’ through the box thing and we don’t even get a chance to say anything. It’s so nice when we can follow someone in the door.

My new comp is really cool. We get along great. I’m still learning new things everyday. Well, I hope all is well back at home. Continue to work hard. I love you all so much!

Elder Gray

New Companion!

First of all I just want to say thank you all so much for all you do for me! Really it means the world to me! And I love hearing from you. I’m sorry I can’t write individual emails to everyone every week. I wish I could, but we only get one hour and that’s just not long enough.

Anyways everything is going pretty good. My comp and I are still sick, so that’s no fun at all! I feel worthless! I need to get better so I can get back to work. This week was pretty exciting week though; it’s transfer week and the big news is…I’m not being transferred, BUT…my companion is! He is going to Oeris to be Zone Leader! Pretty awesome! He is really excited, mostly because he will have a dryer! How lucky! Ah, I would KILL for a DRYER! (Don’t take for granted such little tiny things!) Anyways, so I will be getting a new companion tomorrow. His name is Elder Hildabrandt and I hear he is a good kid and a good hard worker. So I’m stoked! It should be a great experience for me.

The baptism we had set for the 14th was changed to the 22nd because of her having to work. But she and her son are still going to be baptized. It’s so awesome! I am very, very lucky to have this opportunity to have a baptism so soon in my mission. The mission here is not like missions in other places....like Nicaragua where they are baptizing something like 400 people a month! No, no, here the average is about one baptism for a missionary per year. The people are just too stubborn. But they are awesome and I love our investigators and members.

This week we got to hear from Elder David A. Bednar. THREE times! It was incredible. He is so amazing! I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to know all he knows! All three times we heard from him he just did open question and answer time, the first time with the members and investigators, the second time with just us missionaries (AWESOME!!!) and the third time with young single adults. They were all really great and we all learned so much. He is so smart. I could really feel the spirit in the room with us while he was there. I loved it!!

Everything is going just great. I love hearing from everyone! It’s so awesome. I have already run out of time, but I really hope you all have an amazing week and continue to work hard and study and pray like none other! I know that prayer is an unbelievable opportunity to become close with our Heavenly Father. I have come to find the truthfulness of that more and more each day when I am trying to say new things that I can’t in Portuguese, but He is there and loves me and I know that! And he is helping me every day with this language!

I love the gospel! We are so, so lucky to live in this day and age to know of the truthfulness of these things. I love you all so much and miss you. Have a wonderful week! Don’t forget to pray, pray, pray!

Elder Gray

A baptismal challenge! How cool is that?

Well, it’s already been another week! Sometimes I feel like the time just goes pretty slow, but then I look back and I just think wow I feel like I was just sitting at this computer yesterday! The time warp on the mission is pretty crazy! Days feel like weeks, but weeks feel like days!

This week was pretty good. There were for sure a lot of ups and downs throughout the week though. The beginning of the week was really tough actually because all of our appointments and people we had scheduled to teach bailed on us! It was so frustrating! Then to make things worse, our favorite family, the Ages Familia, they got their car stolen. And when that happens here, well you are pretty much out of luck. They found it two days later completely ripped apart and totaled. I felt so bad! They are such an awesome family they did not deserve that at all! I just hate it! I wish there was something I could do to help. But there is just nothing we can do. It’s really sad.

But...on a good note, even though they have gone through this hard time, last night we marked Ineida (the wife) and their son, Yuri, for baptism!!! How cool is that? We are so happy for them. We are really hoping they keep working hard and pray with all their hearts. That and reading the Book of Mormon is so vitally important! They are scheduled for baptism on Feb 14th. So I really hope they continue to progress so we can get them baptized.

It is still really cold here. I want it to warm up soon! My fingers are numb right now. And we are inside. I find it so weird that they don’t believe in heaters. It’s crazy! My companion says you just get used to it, but we’ll have to see about that!

Have a wonderful week and do not ever forget to read and pray! Every Single Day! I have come to find so much how very important that is in our daily lives. Praying is such an unbelievable gift that we get to have to be able to communicate with our Father in Heaven. Do NOT take this for granted! Sad to say before my mission I didn’t pray nearly as much as I should have. But I have repented for that! And the blessings come much more as you pray day and night! I know this is so, so important!

I love this gospel! It’s such a comfort to me knowing that I will live with my family in eternal happiness! IF we endure to the end. So work hard! ... As will I!! I love you all. Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Gray