Transferred!

I have been transferred! Too many problems with my other companion. This week’s letter isn’t going to be long so I apologize. I only have 8 minutes left here because I had to write all the big details of what went down with my comp to mom and dad ha-ha. Now I’m in Setubal, and I’m loving it already. It is an awesome place. Please feel free to write!!!

Elder Robby Gray
Rua Dr. Luis Terceira Macedo e Castro
N 6 R/C Dto.
2910-586 Setúbal
Portugal

There’s my new address! Please write!! I hope all is going good for you back home! I will write a much bigger better letter next week for sure, so look forward to that. I just wanted to get my address to you.

I have met about 4 families so far and they are absolutely AMAZING! This place is just awesome! I really look forward to what is going to happen here. There is huge potential. And the ward is huge. A BIG change from Tavira and I’m excited because it will be a great experience without a doubt.

Thank you all!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Miss you Tonz!!
Love Elder Gray

(Please keep me updated on Grandpa) My prayers are VERY much so with him and grandma. LOVE YOU!

HOT HOT HOT!!

Rule number one: Don’t ever visit Portugal in July. Rule number two: If you ever do visit Portugal, find a place that has air conditioning. IT IS SO HOT! I sit and sweat! Gross! Literally, I can just sit in our study room in the middle of the day and if I don’t get the fan right next to me I sweat. It’s gross! I don’t like sweating at all. We go to appointments and sit there and teach and you look at everyone around you and they are all sweating. Beaming, gross wet sweat stuff, running down people’s faces and what not. Wow, gross!! It’s really humid right now too. I pretty much carry the fan around the house with me, where I am, it is too. It’s like my little pet, keeps me company ha-ha. Night time sometimes is horrid. It’s just so hot even with the fan right next to my bed blowing right on my face; it still doesn’t do the job. Not to mention the fans here are horrible! They should really learn how to make fans work. So this week things have gone back downhill again. Me and my comp are just not working out very well. Its not as bad as it was, I have come to the conclusion he is bi-polar. Yup. I’m not kidding, I think he is, because last week he acted so cool and what not and pretended to be my friend and stuff like that then the other night he just wigged out and things got pretty bad. I don’t think I have ever been so angry with someone in my life. But it’s also weird cuz you can’t just walk away from it. So we sat there and argued for like 3 hours and just tried to figure stuff out. Eventually we kind of did. It’s just crazy. But I will be able to make it to the end of the transfer, patience. But the good news is we do work hard. Things in that factor are good. We don’t talk much, it’s really boring, but the work is going good so that is all that matters. Like for instance...we marked Koky for baptism!! August 15, same day as that little girl. :) I’m way stoked; I am bummed though cuz I’m pretty positive I am for sure outta here, so I don’t get to see them happen. I could have had my 2nd baptism, but not now, so I’m sad about that. But Koky is getting baptized and that’s all that really matters. So this week I got a Mt. Dew!! Some of you are probably like whoopdy doo…..NO, it’s a big deal! A missionary whose family came to get him, well, his brother brought me a Dew! It was amazing! First one in over 8 months. Okay, I loved it! J Just a happy moment for me. Also this week, I jumped on…..then back out of a moving train ha-ha! It was intense! I had to cuz my comp didn’t make it on, (he is not athletic at all). I jump on to make the train...he can’t, ha-ha, SO I have to jump out! It was really movin I tell ya. Imagine some kid running as fast as he can, and then some other kid jumps out of a moving train...well it probably wasn’t so smart ha-ha, but hey it was one to remember. Yes, of course I ate it. I slid about 10 feet on my back, but I had my backpack on so nothing got ruined. I was a bit worried about my pants but they pulled thru ha-ha! It was crazy! Don’t tell my president k....ha-ha! J One thing that is funny about Portuguese people, whenever we read in the Book of Mormon or anything, we ask someone to read...like hey will you read Moroni 10:3 to 10:5 please? They do but then after they read 5, they just keep going. They don’t stop until you say so. So we really have to be on our toes and right when they say the last word of what we want them to read I say “ta bom!” Like okay! That is good. Ha-ha It’s way funny. They just don’t pay attention I guess to the numbers or something, it happens A LOT, ha-ha, it’s pretty funny. Our member Irma Cabral, even after I tell her to stop, she just keeps reading like whispering, it’s way funny! It’s like she just doesn’t want to stop so she pretends to stop, like out loud, but I can always see her lips moving as she keeps reading, ha-ha I love it! Well I’m out of time. Time always seems to fly by when its internet time! But I love you all so much. Thank you for everything!! I’m so grateful for the plan of salvation in my life. What a blessing it is to know that we will all be able to live together again. Please tell Grandpa I love him very much, and no matter the circumstance of this scary situation, please let him know that I know without A DOUBT, I will see him again. I love you Grandpa. Thank you all for your support and love. I LOVE YOU ALLLove Elder Gray

Fresh Start

So, I’m starting over. I have been slacking lately on writing EVERYONE that I could or should be, because of the lack of good that has been going on here right now. I have really been struggling with my new comp. I talked with our Mission Pres, who is new by the way, and he is pretty cool so far. He is way nice and he tries to be funny so that is pretty cool. I don’t get jokes yet though in Portuguese, ha-ha. We had this big huge annoying ordeal of a bunch of different interviews and what not, then Elder Rodrigues and I just went and took a sit down, and I just put him in his place, (to make things simple). We talked about the stuff that is going on and why it’s not working and why we are always so mad at each other. We figured out what the problems are and now we are working at it. So far it is better, things are running smoother. It’s nowhere near perfect, but now I am not debating going to the top of the building and jumping. (I’m just kidding, mom). I thank you all for you patience and help. So now I wanted to start new and just try to stay always positive and always write positive, and try not to leave anyone out that wants to know about my life here in crazy Portugal! (It’s in Europe for those that don’t know, I didn’t....) ha-ha, BUT...there is a rule, if you don’t write me at least just saying that "you are at least reading the letters," I won’t continue to send them to you, cuz I don’t want to send them to those who don’t read them or care to get them, so if I don’t hear from you soon, I won’t bother sending you the big email each week, so let me know if you want me to continue sending the group email to you. Thanks. :)

Okay, so this week, because we are making things a bit better, things are going a bit better. First of all, our investigator Koky. He is a stud! He has been coming to church EVERY WEEK since we first started talking to him, which is a big deal! For all of you that have cars or a church about a 2 min walk away, or even a bike, he doesn’t. He has to walk about 40 minutes to church everyweek, and I tell you it is HOT right now! July is the hottest month in the summer. And he walks!! There and back, that just goes to show that he cares. So I love it!! We are going to have a compromisso with him tomorrow, Thurs. We want to extend the invite to be baptized so I really hope to see that go well. The last few people I have seen after being asked to be baptized, they stop everything and don’t want anymore lessons, so its really scary, this opportunity to extend this commitment with him, is NOT very common here. Other missions they may do it daily, weekly, or monthly even. But here it’s a new story, so it’s very tough. I would LOVE to see this go thru though. He would be an awesome addition to our little tiny branch here in Tavira.

I found out on Sunday, there is a little girl that is 8 yrs old and getting ready to be baptized. Her whole family are members, but her dad doesn’t have the priesthood, I don’t know why, he also doesn’t take the sacrament, but hey, he is in church, so that is good. She decided she wants ME to baptize her! Pretty cool huh? But, the downfall, I may not be able to, because transfers are on the 6th of August. Her baptism is on the 15th. And because of all this that happened with me and my comp I will prob get transferred this upcoming transfer. So I guess we will see what happens. But either way it’s really cool to me that she picked me. When I told her, and the family I may get transferred and not be able to do it, but that if I don’t I would love to, the little girl, Andrea, looked up at her mom and said, very quietly, she is very shy, she says, "But mom, then who will baptize me?" Wow! Talk about getting hit in the heart. Maybe it wasn’t all that big of a deal. But when she said that, in Portuguese thank goodness I understood it, well it just hit me, and I really right then, well I kind of felt like the grinch when his heart begins to grow. (You know in the cartoon it busts out of the little box!) (yes Kiley, I’ve seen it, surprised?) ;) ha-ha, But really, that’s how I felt. I felt my heart grow for that little girl. And I loved seeing her little bit of concern because she really wants to be baptized. It was just really cool for me. It helped me have a good day.

Okay a quick few things to people, Deanna, Congrats on the marriage! I’m so happy for you! I saw a couple of pics and you looked Gorgeous! And I also got a pic of Nikki and Mr. (Elder) Allen!! What! Oh my, that is so funny! Way cool tho! Now I wish I would have gotten to know him a little better...ha-ha! That is way, way funny! I couldn’t help but laugh!! You go you two! Tell him hi for me ha-ha.

All of you, thank you. Thank you for all you do for me, thank you for your prayers and thoughts. I really appreciate them. Please continue to pray and fast for Grandpa. I know he can pull thru but he also really needs our prayers. I will continue to check on him thru the blog-site. Thanks for keeping that going good. It’s really good way for me to see his progress. Thank you, thank you!

I Love you and miss you all so much! Have an amazing week! Sorry this was so stinkin long. I hope you pulled thru and didn’t give up. Or just saw from the beginning and saw how long it was and said "ehhh...I’ll read it later," whos guilty??? Jason? Ha-ha, just playing! I love you all so much! Thank you for all you do. Don’t be shy. WRITE!!!!!
I Love You,
Love Elder Robby Gray

Checking in on Grandpa

I just got on today for a minute to see the progress of Grandpa. I'm so grateful things are going well. And I'm thankful for you posting the info on the blog site. That makes things really easy for me to be able to see how things are going. So thank you for doing that.

I know that the church is true. I know it, and because of that knowledge I know that Heavenly Father is there for us. He is listening intently to our prayers. I know that without a doubt. I'm really thankful for the knowledge we have about the Gospel because it brings so much comfort to us in times of hardship and times of need. Thanks again for all your support and help. I appreciate all of it very much.

I love you all and miss you tons.
Love Elder Gray

Hard Times

Well things are pretty much feeling the same here. There just isn’t that much to report about because of my comp and this whole ridiculous situation, things are not progressing much at all. I’m having harder times getting compromissos to go through. It’s weird. Things are just getting harder and harder with this guy. All he does is sleep too. It’s really annoying; anytime we get home at anytime he goes to sleep. So, I work on the area book a lot and call people and try to set stuff up as he sleeps. He is killing this area. I really like this area but because it is so small it’s hard with this kind of comp. I need someone cool to get thru it. It’s really tough. I try to be normal and what not but it really doesn’t work. I’m trying tho.

Our investigator Koky is doing really good. He has been coming to church every week which is awesome. I’m so happy he is coming, I think in our next visit I want to extend the invite to be baptized. The last person that was baptized in this area was like 3 years ago I think. It’s been a while, and that person is already inactive, sad stuff.

We only have about 10 people at church every week. We have a family that seems to be going a little in active so I set up to go over there and have family night with them every week, I think so far it has been good. They came to church the next week smiling and happy to be there so that made me feel good. Whether I had anything with the fact that they came or not, it was just good to see them there. :)

That is about it, I’m about out of time so I will wrap it up. Thank you for everything. I appreciate the letters so much.
Love You! Elder Gray

Grandpa Gray Hospitalized

I can’t believe that about grandpa. How sad. I will be keeping him in my prayers for sure you know that. I’m glad you will be keeping an update regularly; I will for sure be getting on email probably every day for just a few minutes to keep myself updated. The blog thing is a good idea, a good way for me to be able to go see how Grandpa is doing.

Starting today, I’m going to work harder. I’m going to be a better missionary. I feel the spirit telling me that if I just work harder. Look at the positive things, things will work out. I have to be patient with my new comp. So far I am really, really struggling. But dad like you said this is absolutely nothing compared to what Grandpa is going thru. I really hope he pulls through. Please keep me updated on ALL the details and what’s going on. I will work extra hard for grandpa. I’m going to keep him deeply in my prayers.

I am so grateful for the plan of salvation, for that knowledge. We are so, so blessed to know that if things don’t work out the way we really, really hope, we still have hope, and our faith. And I have my faith in Heavenly Father that he knows best and I just try my very hardest to know that everything has a reason.

Please continue to keep me updated on Grandpa. I will be checking email again tomorrow to see updates. I will give a quick update just how things are going here, the new comp, like I said is seriously hard. And I thought my last comp was hard. This is a new story. But I don’t want to complain so I will just keep to myself and move forward. Thank you for everything. I Love You All. Keep your heads up and keep Grandpa in your prayers. Tell him hi for me please. And that I love him. I will be back on tomorrow to see new news.
I love you.
Love Elder Gray