Its pretty crazy to me it’s already December! (tomorrow) But it’s just crazy!! Its weird to me that Christmas is coming so quickly. I will be getting a new companion right before Christmas, which will be interesting. I just hope he is cool!! We got invited by a member to stay at their house for Christmas so that’s probably what we will be doing. I’m not sure what we will do the whole day, but I will probably know more as time goes on I guess...I feel like the work is slowing down just a little bit here cuz we have baptized all our investigators that were just progressing so well! So now I feel like we just have no investigators! I mean we do, but it’s just strange not having all those that we DID have before.
We had a lesson with our investigators Manuel and Cristina and it was really good! They are determined to QUIT smoking! I love it! Manuel said that on November 30th, (today) will be the LAST time he smokes. I just really hope he does it. I know that it will be very hard, much harder than he expects. So we are hoping and praying for him and her too of course. So they are progressing and it’s really awesome. I just really, really hope they can quit and get married so we can get them baptized! They are just awesome, awesome people. I feel like they pretty much already ARE members! They always come to church and participate and everything, they come to ALL the activities and it’s all just really good! But they are not married and have LOTS of stuff they need to settle before they can be baptized. They are really incredible tho, and very, very nice to the missionaries which we just love! :)
So a couple of days ago, on Saturday we participated in this thing called "mãos que ajudem" (Helping Hands) At first we were thinking that it was going to be super boring and hard to get thru the day cuz it was also going to be for 6 hours. But I tried to just go into it with a real positive attitude which was hard, cuz my comp was determined that it’s going to suck. So I was just trying and trying to just be like, “well, let’s just give it a go and try to have fun.” And in the end it was fun!! We stood in stores and handed people bags right as they walked in and said, "Would you like a bag to help fight hunger?" And it was fun cuz of course we are Americans so we probably sound funny cuz of our accents and what not so we just had fun with it. I would actually love to do it again! So it was a good experience. :)
Well I hope you all have a great week! And how about you write me my bruthas! Slackers......
Ha ha ha!!! I LOVE YOU!
Love Elder Gray
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
On My GAME!
To those of you who are Ping Pongers......I hope you are practicing, cuz, I’m not, but no one here can beat me! (Just had to brag a little.) Ha ha! I have only played now 3 times on my mission but I tell ya, the skills don’t just go away like that! Jason, Jeff, Dad, you three especially better be practicing, cuz the lord has blessed me with extra skills! I just don’t lose! Okay, not true, I do sometimes, but only once or twice in many games, ha ha! We played ping pong today for p-day with the other Elders close to us, (our Zone leaders,) and I only lost once. It was so FUN! A few days ago, on Fri. we were in Cascais for a baptism of a little girl that Elder Davis taught for a while. We got there early and there were some people around and I saw a ping pong table and I asked, “who can play?” Elder Davis was like, oh man, Fabio is really good you’ve got to play him! So I did, spanked him! I ended up playing lots of games that night and I only lost twice. So I hope ya´ll are practicing, Cuz I’m not! But I still got it! Ha, ha Okay enough of that. I don’t mean to be too big headed, I’m just keeping the Gray family tradition of good ole Ping Pong champs going on over here on the other side of the world! Ha! I love that game! Okay so this week was pretty hectic. We actually didn’t get a whole lot done. We had about 3 lessons fall thru which bothered me cuz that isn’t REALLY common in this area so I was just like what the heck man!? And we went to Cascais which is far away. Far, far, away, but it was a great trip, and we had a lot of fun, and Elder Davis got to baptize a girl he had taught. It was his first time getting in the water! Pretty crazy! But it’s Europe. I can’t say much I only have 1 in the water experience too. But our week went by pretty fast. There were just a lot of random things that happened. We had a Christmas type thing program where President Torgan came and we as the choir, and he sang some Christmas songs. It was really good. He also sang a solo a few times. He is quite good. He has a VERY powerful voice. I wish I would have had my camera so I could have recorded it, but maybe I will be able to another day. We had a pretty good lesson with a less active member that went pretty good. She is just having some problems right now and we are trying to just be there for her, so I hope things will get better soon for her. We were in Church yesterday and we were about to start Priesthood meeting when Bishop comes up to us and says, “hey this little girl needs a blessing, she is sick.” So we got some oil, I did the anointing of the oil and Elder Davis gave the blessing. He did a really good job. Before the blessing, we asked her if she believed in Jesus Christ and she said, “Yes.” Then we said, “Do you believe that he can heal you?” She says, “Yes I do.” So then we gave the blessing. After church Elder Davis came up to me and says Elder Gray…..the little girls mom came up to and said that she is fine. She felt 100 percent better. WOW! Talk about power of the priesthood eh!? It was awesome! When he told me I was like oh my goodness really?? And I walk around the corner where I see a bunch of kids, and she is playing and laughing with the rest of ‘em! I knew she was sick before too, I could see it. She didn’t look good and she wasn’t talking and she was teary eyed. It was really sad, but it was awesome to see her heal so quickly!! Talk about awesome and a quick answer to a prayer! I would say that was the highlight of my week. Just seeing the joy in that little girl of feeling better so quickly just made my day. I know for a fact that the church is true! I know that through our Savior we can get through anything if we just have the FAITH! Faith, faith, faith!!! I Love You! Have a great week!Elder Robby Gray
Monday, November 16, 2009
Up's and Downs
Well we have had a week of ups and downs. It started off about as bad as it can possibly get. I got super, super sick, like I thought I was just going to pass out and die! I don’t know what happened to me. On Monday I was fine all day until about bed time, I was reading the Bible and out of no where I got a little nauseous, so I decide to go to bed. Well I couldn’t, and didn’t sleep at all the whole night. I have said that many times before but this time, I really actually did not sleep. I kept thinking I was going to throw my brains up but it just kept not happening, not happening, so 7AM rolls around, and I call the Zone Leaders and tell them we can’t have District Meeting cuz I’m sick and haven’t slept yet...Finally at about 9AM I say a prayer, and man I tell ya, I can testify that God loves me. I have NO doubt that he was looking over me and knew that I needed to get back to health and so he helped me out. I fell asleep and slept till about 3 or 4PM then got up kind of, not being able to walk for more than 12 steps from the bathroom and back without feeling like I’m going to pass out, so I just laid around all day...But I was doing a bit better and not feeling as bad as I was, the next day was a little better, and I got some of my energy back which was good. But it wasn’t till about Friday that I felt 100 percent again. But thank goodness it wasn’t a whole week or longer thing eh?! Flip!
In the midst of me feeling like crawling in a 6 foot hole, we had some really good lessons! We also had a dinner appointment with Helio and Sonia. I tell ya, if I come back to Portugal someday, which I plan on....They are some people I need to bring something. They are the NICEST people I have EVER met. I can’t even believe it! They feed us GOOD food and then Sonia just empties out their whole kitchen into a few sacks and makes us take it home! It is SO nice. She LITERALLY empties her kitchen. We are in the process of writing a Thank You note to them. She also gave us a pan! Ha ha, cuz well, we don’t have jack for cooking, so she helped us out a bit, very nice! They are a huge blessing to us here in Setubal.
We also had dinner with Bishop Santos´ family. They are also AMAZING. They are really nice and very fun! We played some magic games with them which was a blast! I did that "bang, bang, bang, click, click, who died" game. (Thanks Scotty) and they LOVED IT! NO ONE ever figured it out. And I didn’t tell. My comp got mad tho cuz he thinks he is all hot shot and knows everything so it was hilarious! On Saturday we had a lesson with Val again. It was great! We invited her to come to church again, telling her she has failed us not coming in the past. Then we compared going to church like first trying a food. I talked about how I thought I would NEVER ever try Sushi in my life! NEVER! But then I did and now its one of my FAVES! And well, hey she came to church! It was awesome, I was way happy to see her! I don’t know yet what she thought about it, we haven’t talked to her, but at least she came. A good start!
We had our lesson also with Iris again. She is studying also with the Jehovah Witness people, Urrgh. But don’t worry we slammed everything they had to say. Ha, ha, just playin, we did it all in a very nice way. But still let her know the TRUTH, and showed it to her, and proved it to her! We were with her for almost 2 hours and every minute was great cuz she is so into all we say and teach, it was just great!
So, that’s about our week! Pretty interesting I would say! And now, tonight here in a couple hours we are going to dinner with our investigators Manuel and Cristina! It is Christina’s B-day and they invited us to dinner with them!! How flipping cool are they!? I know! So I’m pretty stoked I tell ya! We are also going to some place to have a pizza buffet with Bishops family! Woop, Woop!! I hope you all have a great week and remember who you are!
I just finished reading the book My Heritage, and there was a part talking about remembering who you are, and I just loved it because my pops always said that, and he couldn’t be more right. We need to always keep that thought in mind. Who we are and why we are here and what it is we are DOING. What are YOU doing? What are YOU doing to bring others to Christ?? Hmmmm? The most important work in Missionary work is, the work, also it is the MEMBERS! So do your part. And remember to pray and stick close to your Heavenly Father! He is waiting to bestow his blessings upon each and every one of US! I LOVE YOU ALL and I hope you have a great week!
LOVE Elder Gray
In the midst of me feeling like crawling in a 6 foot hole, we had some really good lessons! We also had a dinner appointment with Helio and Sonia. I tell ya, if I come back to Portugal someday, which I plan on....They are some people I need to bring something. They are the NICEST people I have EVER met. I can’t even believe it! They feed us GOOD food and then Sonia just empties out their whole kitchen into a few sacks and makes us take it home! It is SO nice. She LITERALLY empties her kitchen. We are in the process of writing a Thank You note to them. She also gave us a pan! Ha ha, cuz well, we don’t have jack for cooking, so she helped us out a bit, very nice! They are a huge blessing to us here in Setubal.
We also had dinner with Bishop Santos´ family. They are also AMAZING. They are really nice and very fun! We played some magic games with them which was a blast! I did that "bang, bang, bang, click, click, who died" game. (Thanks Scotty) and they LOVED IT! NO ONE ever figured it out. And I didn’t tell. My comp got mad tho cuz he thinks he is all hot shot and knows everything so it was hilarious! On Saturday we had a lesson with Val again. It was great! We invited her to come to church again, telling her she has failed us not coming in the past. Then we compared going to church like first trying a food. I talked about how I thought I would NEVER ever try Sushi in my life! NEVER! But then I did and now its one of my FAVES! And well, hey she came to church! It was awesome, I was way happy to see her! I don’t know yet what she thought about it, we haven’t talked to her, but at least she came. A good start!
We had our lesson also with Iris again. She is studying also with the Jehovah Witness people, Urrgh. But don’t worry we slammed everything they had to say. Ha, ha, just playin, we did it all in a very nice way. But still let her know the TRUTH, and showed it to her, and proved it to her! We were with her for almost 2 hours and every minute was great cuz she is so into all we say and teach, it was just great!
So, that’s about our week! Pretty interesting I would say! And now, tonight here in a couple hours we are going to dinner with our investigators Manuel and Cristina! It is Christina’s B-day and they invited us to dinner with them!! How flipping cool are they!? I know! So I’m pretty stoked I tell ya! We are also going to some place to have a pizza buffet with Bishops family! Woop, Woop!! I hope you all have a great week and remember who you are!
I just finished reading the book My Heritage, and there was a part talking about remembering who you are, and I just loved it because my pops always said that, and he couldn’t be more right. We need to always keep that thought in mind. Who we are and why we are here and what it is we are DOING. What are YOU doing? What are YOU doing to bring others to Christ?? Hmmmm? The most important work in Missionary work is, the work, also it is the MEMBERS! So do your part. And remember to pray and stick close to your Heavenly Father! He is waiting to bestow his blessings upon each and every one of US! I LOVE YOU ALL and I hope you have a great week!
LOVE Elder Gray
Monday, November 9, 2009
Never Knowin'
Subject: Never Knowin’.....You may ask why? Well it’s because you just never flipping know what tomorrow is going to be like on the mission! Ha, ha! Things just happen, whether good, or bad, they just happen. For instance, we have this investigator named Iris and now also her mom Rosa. They are awesome! The girl Iris is 16 and I’m pretty sure she has the hots for me cuz she always seems to get shy when I talk to her, ha ha! But she is really cool, and she asks really good questions, so...we decided to see if we could teach her mom, and she was like “well, yeah sure,” so we marked a day to go over, (yesterday), and we taught them both and the lesson went SO good! I loved it. They asked very good questions, her mom seems very interested and very attentive. There is nothing like it when your investigator is actually paying attention to you when you are talking, its awesome! I really enjoyed it.
On Saturday, we had our lesson with Valmira, or Val...and her sister Lucienne, and it was good, about average, but we marked to go back again. We want to get her to come to church, but so far it’s a bit hard, but we will stick with it! Can you believe I passed my hump day?! WOOP, WOOP! Mom...What was with that big huge shirt? Ha, ha you think I'm FAT or something!!!? It’s an XL! I'm not fat thank you! But it was a pretty funny shirt, maybe I should wear it next time we teach that girl.....ha ha! Thank you for all the stuff all ya’ll!
Okay, so now the most exciting part of our week. Remember our two people we are teaching that I’m pretty sure I've mentioned, Manuel and Cristina? Well they both smoke, and the other day we were walking to an appointment, and they pulled up behind us and asked us if we wanted a ride, so we were like “yeah sure,” and as we get in, Cristina turns around and says, “I quit smoking!” She didn’t have a smoke after our lesson on Tuesday and hasn’t since!!! Man, I couldn’t help but smile, it was awesome!! It just made my day! Well actually it just made my week!!! So that was really cool.
We have a new Bishop, and I tell you, I could not be happier! Our old Bishop was cool....but he didn’t care a lot about us and what we had going on and all that, I mean we haven’t even been to his house once since I've been here. Pathetic. BUT NOW...I’m sure you remember when we went to the house of those people that just made me feel like I was back in America? The most amazing family I have met on the mission? YUP, its him, the dad! He is awesome! Bishop Santos. I’m stoked, I already KNOW that he will do AWESOME! Elder Davis said that he came up to him and said, “Elder Davis, I know you only have about a month and a half or so, but before you go home, we will see miracles.” WORD!! I’m sure he has some plans and I can’t wait to see how things go!
On Sunday we had the baptism of, like I said last week, André. We were hoping to get his mom dunked too, but she just hasn’t figured out when yet...so we will just see how it goes. I know she will be baptized tho, so it will just be a matter of time. We gotta give her some time. So yeah, we had a pretty good week. Went by fast too which seems to be common lately. I guess that’s how it is when you have a comp that you like and get along with, and not just PUT UP with. :) I hope it continues! Ha ha, cuz I’ll be killing him, he goes home RIGHT before Christmas. So I’m really praying that I get another good comp cuz whoever it is next is the one I will be with for Christmas. So, pray for me! I LOVE YOU! Love Elder Gray
On Saturday, we had our lesson with Valmira, or Val...and her sister Lucienne, and it was good, about average, but we marked to go back again. We want to get her to come to church, but so far it’s a bit hard, but we will stick with it! Can you believe I passed my hump day?! WOOP, WOOP! Mom...What was with that big huge shirt? Ha, ha you think I'm FAT or something!!!? It’s an XL! I'm not fat thank you! But it was a pretty funny shirt, maybe I should wear it next time we teach that girl.....ha ha! Thank you for all the stuff all ya’ll!
Okay, so now the most exciting part of our week. Remember our two people we are teaching that I’m pretty sure I've mentioned, Manuel and Cristina? Well they both smoke, and the other day we were walking to an appointment, and they pulled up behind us and asked us if we wanted a ride, so we were like “yeah sure,” and as we get in, Cristina turns around and says, “I quit smoking!” She didn’t have a smoke after our lesson on Tuesday and hasn’t since!!! Man, I couldn’t help but smile, it was awesome!! It just made my day! Well actually it just made my week!!! So that was really cool.
We have a new Bishop, and I tell you, I could not be happier! Our old Bishop was cool....but he didn’t care a lot about us and what we had going on and all that, I mean we haven’t even been to his house once since I've been here. Pathetic. BUT NOW...I’m sure you remember when we went to the house of those people that just made me feel like I was back in America? The most amazing family I have met on the mission? YUP, its him, the dad! He is awesome! Bishop Santos. I’m stoked, I already KNOW that he will do AWESOME! Elder Davis said that he came up to him and said, “Elder Davis, I know you only have about a month and a half or so, but before you go home, we will see miracles.” WORD!! I’m sure he has some plans and I can’t wait to see how things go!
On Sunday we had the baptism of, like I said last week, André. We were hoping to get his mom dunked too, but she just hasn’t figured out when yet...so we will just see how it goes. I know she will be baptized tho, so it will just be a matter of time. We gotta give her some time. So yeah, we had a pretty good week. Went by fast too which seems to be common lately. I guess that’s how it is when you have a comp that you like and get along with, and not just PUT UP with. :) I hope it continues! Ha ha, cuz I’ll be killing him, he goes home RIGHT before Christmas. So I’m really praying that I get another good comp cuz whoever it is next is the one I will be with for Christmas. So, pray for me! I LOVE YOU! Love Elder Gray
Monday, November 2, 2009
Andre's getting Baptized!
Can you believe it!! In 3 days I have been away from the place I love for a year! But I have developed a new love, Portugal, in its very new and VERY different ways. Very different! And nothing like the good ole US of A. Wont lie, I miss my home, I miss Utah, I miss Snow...I could go on for quite some time, I guarantee if I was not here I wouldn’t have this funky skin problem on my fingers that just wont seem to go away...Speaking of which, mom yes I did go back to the doc. Wanna know what he said?? That I have to STOP washing my hands! UGGHH Are you joking?! He was like Elder, do you wash your hands often? I was like well yeah, pretty often I do, I don’t like the dirtiness in this place...and he was like, yeah well, STOP. Straight up… Just stop. What?? It was crazy. So I don’t like it at all. I always have to just use my left hand now. So.....Jeff, I may be a Lefty by the time I get home! Ha ha!
But ...Portugal is really a great place. Like I was saying, it’s my new love. The people here are awesome; I really LOVE my ward right now. It’s fantastic! I could stay here till like Feb or so! I really think I could. But I doubt I will be that fortunate to stay that long. That’d just be selfish huh....or would it? I have started to have a real great relationship with the people here that just keep growing. There are a few people in this ward that are so cool, I love it. Anyway, on Sunday we have a Baptism of a kid named Andre, and we will hopefully be baptizing his mom next Sunday! But she is still thinking about the date. It was cool talking with her cuz she said that she knows that it’s all true without a doubt. That she can’t deny It. It was cool to hear that as she had a big smile on her face. Then we had a lesson with André and I said Andre, do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that thru the power of God he translated the Book of Mormon? And he looked at me, and said, “yes, I KNOW IT.” I couldn’t help but smile! Its SO, SO cool to see a kid, that is 11 yrs old say I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true, man it’s awesome! That faith I tell you! I want it ha ha, but really it’s an awesome experience to see people accept the Gospel and have them realize the true “GIFT” that it is in our lives!
We had a really, really neat experience with a new investigator, we went to this members house, her name is Lucienne from Brazil, she is really cool, and we taught her and her sister Val. And her sister started crying as her sister (the member) bore her testimony. Man the spirit! When she started bearing her testimony I felt like everything around us had ZERO significance, and all that matters is this moment, right NOW. I just hope she felt the spirit and RECOGNIZED what and why it is. It was really cool; we are going back next Saturday. And I’m stoked. Anyway...I love you all. I can say that every week and it never loses its importance and significance to me. I can’t even explain one tiny little bit, how grateful I am for the knowledge of the Gospel, for Eternal Families. I talked to that girl, Val about eternal families, and how that I know I’m going to have my own family someday, and that I will have them forever! And I kind of started getting choked up! (I couldn’t be looking like a little girl in front of two Brazilian girls) so I cleared my throat and got hold of myself. Ha ha, it was a really good experience for me. I really love testifying about Families, because that is the MOST important thing in my LIFE! Always has been and ALWAYS will be!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL
Love Elder Robby Gray
But ...Portugal is really a great place. Like I was saying, it’s my new love. The people here are awesome; I really LOVE my ward right now. It’s fantastic! I could stay here till like Feb or so! I really think I could. But I doubt I will be that fortunate to stay that long. That’d just be selfish huh....or would it? I have started to have a real great relationship with the people here that just keep growing. There are a few people in this ward that are so cool, I love it. Anyway, on Sunday we have a Baptism of a kid named Andre, and we will hopefully be baptizing his mom next Sunday! But she is still thinking about the date. It was cool talking with her cuz she said that she knows that it’s all true without a doubt. That she can’t deny It. It was cool to hear that as she had a big smile on her face. Then we had a lesson with André and I said Andre, do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that thru the power of God he translated the Book of Mormon? And he looked at me, and said, “yes, I KNOW IT.” I couldn’t help but smile! Its SO, SO cool to see a kid, that is 11 yrs old say I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true, man it’s awesome! That faith I tell you! I want it ha ha, but really it’s an awesome experience to see people accept the Gospel and have them realize the true “GIFT” that it is in our lives!
We had a really, really neat experience with a new investigator, we went to this members house, her name is Lucienne from Brazil, she is really cool, and we taught her and her sister Val. And her sister started crying as her sister (the member) bore her testimony. Man the spirit! When she started bearing her testimony I felt like everything around us had ZERO significance, and all that matters is this moment, right NOW. I just hope she felt the spirit and RECOGNIZED what and why it is. It was really cool; we are going back next Saturday. And I’m stoked. Anyway...I love you all. I can say that every week and it never loses its importance and significance to me. I can’t even explain one tiny little bit, how grateful I am for the knowledge of the Gospel, for Eternal Families. I talked to that girl, Val about eternal families, and how that I know I’m going to have my own family someday, and that I will have them forever! And I kind of started getting choked up! (I couldn’t be looking like a little girl in front of two Brazilian girls) so I cleared my throat and got hold of myself. Ha ha, it was a really good experience for me. I really love testifying about Families, because that is the MOST important thing in my LIFE! Always has been and ALWAYS will be!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL
Love Elder Robby Gray
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