Me? Eat A Chicken Gizzard? A Foot? NNOOOOO!

This week we had some good experiences, some weird or funny, and some down experiences. I think that’s about how it is every week actually. Anyway, we had family night with this family, and we gave a spiritual lesson that went pretty good, we taught about Abinadi and the extremely awesome faith that he had and that he was willing to die and give up his life to teach the Gospel. Then we also talked about Alma, and how he baptized 204 people in secret, which is pretty amazing! We are out here trying to baptize and do the Lords work and we are NOT doing it in secret. We are trying to talk to every single person possible to bring the Light of Christ to their lives. But Alma had to do it in secret and he did a great job of it! It’s a great story and I love it, so we wanted to teach it and some of its principles.

Afterwards, they fed us, and my goodness it was NOT normal! I mean the food here that we eat at member’s houses is usually pretty interesting at times, but then there are sometimes, you get something just whacked! So get this, we ate chicken, but not like the parts YOU would eat, NO....I think they kill the chickens, send all the good and normal stuff to the states then keep all the nasty crazy weird stuff here, ha ha ha, just kiddin, but really its weird. We ate chicken liver, heart, feet, neck, gizzard...of which I’m not even sure what that is, but that’s just what I found when I translated the word they told me...ha ha, yup, crazy stuff if you ask me...chicken neck?? Chicken feet!!? And the HEART?? Yeah crazy weird stuff! So I was eating, then I moved some rice and saw a piece of meat and picked it up and it was a heart! Straight up heart! I don’t even know how to explain it, and then I see a literal FOOT on my plate, with the little claws on it and everything! I just thought about how that foot was probably walking around in that pen with all the other chickens and walking in its own poo and who knows what else.....I lost my appetite. I didn’t eat the foot...I couldn’t…....

On Saturday we had this activity at the church and the young kids sang and we had this little meeting and people spoke, it was good and we had 2 investigators there and the spirit was strong. I just hope that they felt it and will follow their hearts! But get this, right before the activity, a little kid that is like oh maybe 2 or 3 I’m not sure, was outside and all of a sudden someone said, "Oh my gosh look!!" And the little boy had his pants down to his ankles and he was just peein right there in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of the church! Ha ha, it was so funny! And people start laughing then he starts laughing, but then mommy spanked him ha ha! Man it was way funny! On a sad note, we have pretty much just lost a progressing investigator Maria do Carmo. We went over there and she was so, so different! It really made me sad cuz she just kept disagreeing with anything we said. We tried to teach her the importance of going to church and WHY she needs to go, but she just kept saying, I can stay home and do my own thing…..and I was just like we are not here to do OUR OWN THING! We are to serve and follow the Lords path! But yeah, it was just really sad and she didn’t really want to talk or anything. I was sooo bummed cuz she has a family of 3 daughters and a son, so I was hoping to be able to teach the whole family, but now it’s going to be very hard to do. We did get 8 new investigators this week tho, 3 of which are really good and I’m excited to teach them. Two of them have gone to church 2 times now and I’m loving it! A boy and girl, the boy is the son of a member Nilzete, and his wife. He is 26 and she 20, and they have been married 9 years. DO THE MATH!! Yup! That’s right. I couldn’t believe it! When I asked him, I said, "So how old are you two? And how long have you been married?" And he says, "I’m 26 and she is 20 and we have been married 9 years." I was like "oh yeah, 9 months?" And he says, "No, no, 9 years" I just sat there. I was nearly speechless. I couldn’t believe it! I said, “dude I am 20 and I can’t imagine being married right now, I’m way too immature!” Ha ha, it was pretty funny, I couldn’t believe that!! The last few weeks, we have made some choco chip cookies for people, and man they are a huge, huge hit! We have now gone to 2 different members houses to teach them how to do it. It was funny but pretty cool they just love them! They don’t have these things here!

Well I hope you all have a good week and that things are going great for you. Don’t forget to SMILE. A smile to someone can just change their day! So if you just see someone not smiling or a little unhappy, go out of your way to make them smile. I have learned here that lots of people seem to be cold and don’t talk much, but even just a smile, can go a long way. You don’t even have to say a word, just show the happiness that you have in your life, because it’s thru that that people start wondering why you are happy all the time. People notice, I know that for sure! So just smile, smile, smile and be happy! Life is too short to not be happy. So smile, and see what happens. :)

The Church is TRUE! I know it with all my heart! I am so happy to be out here and serve, yes there are LONG days and HARD days, but if we just keep going everyday, we will be blessed. I am grateful for the opportunity to be out here and serve the Lord. I love you all and I wish you all a great week!

Love,

Elder Gray