Well I would have to say the highlight of the week is that we have someone marked for baptism! It’s a bit iffy and hard to say what may happen. But we are praying and hoping for the best! It’s this lady that is like 50 something years old. She is super nice but she can talk you ear off. We had a lesson with her and we were teaching her the importance of Baptism and how she can be completely clean of all her sins and of everything she has done. It was a great lesson and the spirit sure was strong. And I also just know that she was feeling it too, its just she is really nervous because she doesn’t know enough. And we were just like ummm well we are here to change that! And we just kept telling her that we would like to set a date for baptism and she is like "oh I dunno. I don’t know enough, I need to know EVERYTHING first." I was like "Lady, I don’t even know everything." Then we just explained how she can be baptized and continue to learn, she just has to have a good feeling about it and know what we are teaching is true, then she can continue learning from there. So finally she is like "Well Okay." It’s going to be a bit hard, she is marked for the 16th of May, which is a little while away, but its for a good reason cuz she is getting surgery this week and will be in Lisbon all this week and next week so we cant even get to her. So after she gets back we will continue to teach her and I just hope that everything goes awesome and she gains a testimony of the Savior! :)
So a little about our investigator Adilson, the one from Brazil. He seems to be progressing very much and very well, it’s just that he is nervous about the commitment and about knowing for sure what he needs to do; even tho we and he know what he needs to do. Its just tough cuz he is also visiting lots of other churches and talking to lots of other people so it’s just kind of hard cuz he has so many different things going thru his head. The last time we met with him we invited him to read 2 Ne. 31 and he did and he liked it, but the only thing was verse 14...He said that verse 14 makes him scared. Which makes sense! It should! So we talked about that then he had some other really good questions about the reading and what not. One of which was pretty tough for us to answer. BUT, the Spirit was there helping and guiding.
His question was about "Speaking in a new tongue" I think that’s how it is in English..."New Language"...I dunno..But about that and what does it mean. I know that some churches actually do something like that where someone stands up front and blabbers on trying to speak Chinese or something, and some other guy is translating what he is saying. So we had to explain that it wasn’t that and then we just gave him our vision of what it means. And at first I was just stunned, like I have no idea what to say....But then I just was thinking for a second and just started talking and came up with like 3 different great explanations! It was awesome! I have never been asked about that before so it was a good opportunity to rely on the Spirit to guide me. It was really neat and a great experience for me. And by the end I was like "Does that help? You have more questions?" And he says "Nope I don’t, that all makes sense." So it was just awesome! Now also remember I had to come up with all this in a new language ha ha! Pretty intense moment I would say. But yeah, it was really cool and we had a great lesson with him. I really want to get him baptized, but its just he has so many doubts and so many things that make him feel NOT worthy or something. So we just need some time with him. But we will just keep on going day by day! :)
The downside of this week is that we didn’t get anyone in church. Well any investigators. Its so frustrating. I hate when I give our numbers at night and I have to say zero for investigators in church. It just makes me feel bad and like we didn’t do a good enough job that week. But I guess on the other hand it’s a booster to make us have a BETTER week the next week. So we are hoping for a better one this week. Its just tough cuz on Saturday and during the week our investigators all said that they would go and we can go pick them up and stuff, then Sunday comes and it’s like they died. Its lame! But its also life and we just have to keep going and keep trying with a SMILE. :)
I hope all is going good for you all back home. I want you all to know that I am so grateful for the Savior in my life. We all know how UN-perfect I am, but through the Savior and his Sacrifice for me. I can be free. I can be Happy from all the wicked things in life. And that right there brings us true happiness. This world that we are living in sure does try to get to us, make us think that this and that is better and just things of the world will bring us happiness. Well I know cuz I have seen both sides of the river. And I know that when we do what is right and keep ourselves disciplined and do what is right, we really do find happiness, and NO ONE can ever take that away from us. I am grateful for my family and for my friends. I know that I have been SO blessed with an AMAZING family and UNBELIEVEABLE friends, all of them. Thru good and bad you have ALL been there for me and I’m SO grateful for that! I love you all so very much! I hope you all have a great week and I hope you guys are getting some sun over there, cuz we sure are!! Miss you and LOVE YOU!!
Elder Gray
Showing posts with label Adilson from brazil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adilson from brazil. Show all posts
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
My Ensign Story
First of all this week, we marked then had to unmark a kid for baptism. He was marked on Tuesday for Sunday. But then they had to talk to their dad about it and he won’t let him be baptized cuz he says he is not old enough to make decisions for himself. He is 10 yrs old. A great kid ready to be baptized for sure, but now a bit of a hold up. So we are working on the other family members. They are ALL so ready and just need to take the steps to baptism! The other problem is the mom, Regina is not married. I guess they have just never thought about getting married. That’s crazy to me, they have 3 kids! Like why not just get hitched? But they have never even talked about it. Crazy! So that is a bit of a problem because in order for her to be baptized they have to get married. But as of now we are focusing on the oldest one Adilson. He is 18 yrs. old so he CAN be baptized, he just isn’t sure yet. He has doubts like everyone does, so we are continuing to go over there and meet with them about twice a week. I really want him to get baptized and I think that he will, I believe that he will, he just needs a bit more time, which is hard to have with President Torgan. He is all about baptizing YESTERDAY, so it’s hard when we have our Zone Leaders breathing down our backs all the time about WHEN is our next baptism and stuff like that. It makes things kind of stressful and at times questionable, but we are trying and doing our best to get some baptisms here.
We also have our other Adilson, the one from Brazil. He is doing way good and progressing. He had to work yesterday so he couldn’t come to church which was a bummer, but we still had 4 investigators in church! :) Whoop!! That is still way good, but we are WANTING like 8! So we still have some work to do no doubt!
I made "Ensign Story" my heading because I am in the middle of what could be one of those stories that you read about the missionaries in the Ensign ha ha, it’s quite awesome. In a way I just want to wait till next week to tell you ALL about it cuz that would give me more time to see how its going to unfold. But, I will tell you what I know from what has happened so far. Yesterday I was sitting in church just about 5 minutes before our meeting was about to start, and the Branch President walks up to me and says, "Elder Gray, there is someone outside wanting a Book of Mormon!" Now that right there is crazy enough! So I run out there and greet this Portuguese guy named Rui. Awesome fella, older man about 6 feet tall I would say, so I start speaking Portuguese (of course) and he says, "Do you speak English?" So I said, "Yes I do" and so he speaks English....kind of...haha, but he loves to speak English, he prefers it over Portuguese. Anyways, so he asks me if he can have a "Bible" and I said, "Well, actually we don’t have a Bible right now but I can get you one later on if you would like, but we have this book called The Book of Mormon." and he says, ”Umm what is the difference?" So I explained a little about the difference and where the Book of Mormon came from and all that stuff and he said, “Yeah sure I’ll take this one.” So I give him the book and I say, “Hey our meeting is about to start right now if you would like to come in.” He couldn’t...sadly, BUT he gave me all his info and was like "I would like it if you would come to my house and talk with me." So of course I said that we would love to! So he told me to call him sometime this week. So my plan was to call today later on after P-Day. But get this, so I’m sitting here writing an email to someone, (our internet store is right next to our church) and I look out the window and see him walking with someone towards our church and I watch him to see what he is doing and he goes, looks around the corner sees that the door is shut and turns back around. So I KNEW that he was looking for US!! So the guy he was with was almost looking at me in the window so I pounded on the window and the other guy saw me and I pointed to Rui so, his friend pointed to me....and he looks up and I wave and he makes a gesture like "I need to talk to you!" So I jump up! And I run outside and talked to him. He says, "Hey, listen I would like you to come to my house? I want you to talk to me and my wife. But she is not prepared, so call her today and talk to her, you speak Portuguese right?" and I say, "Sim" ha ha and he says, “Okay call my wife and tell her you talked to me and you want to come over." So I say, "Okay I will call her today!" And he says, "Yeah, I would like you guys to come over tomorrow." Awesome! Then he says, "I want YOU to come, because you are cool. And we need more cool people like you in Portugal." Ha ha ha!! Funny huh! So I say, "Yeah me and my companion can came over." He says, "Sounds great!" Pretty cool, right?! I know! I am stoked! So we will go over there most likely tomorrow and see how things go. This guy is really nice and cool. I guess he is a retired Doctor. So maybe we will be going to a mansion!! (Which in this country means a house.) Ha ha!! So, I will give you the updates next week and let you know how things went! But man I tell ya.....speaking to someone like I was doing in ENGLISH was SO, SO, SO weird!! I don’t know why. I had a serious problem. I wanted to speak in Portuguese to him and I would keep saying stuff on accident in Portuguese and he would just laugh and I’d be like "Oh! Duh I mean....." So it was really funny. But cool too, ha ha!
Guess what? For those of you who know of course how being CLEAN is important to me, my companion is the CLEANEST comp I have had yet!!! I love the kid! And not just cuz he is clean, he is awesome! We are having a great time together, I think he is my favorite companion so far, AND he is super clean. I love it! Man it just takes so much pointless stress off my chest! Ha ha, I only had to do the dishes twice this week and it was only cuz I had to like RACE him to the sink to do them. But I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my STUPID fingers and this skin thing I have going on here is STILL irritating me. (Yes mom and dad I still have it.) But I have an appointment with a doc in a week or so. But it’s worse....... AHH! But yeah, he respects that fact and how it royally sucks having to use gloves to do dishes. He is legit and we are having a great time and doing great work!! :)
That is about it for the week! I hope you all have a great week and everything goes well and you are all HAPPY! Don’t forget to smile! I love you all so much and miss you tonz. This is the Lords work I am doing and its great! I am loving it and I am trying to live up to every minute I have out here serving the Lord! There are souls to be saved!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!
Love Elder Gray
We also have our other Adilson, the one from Brazil. He is doing way good and progressing. He had to work yesterday so he couldn’t come to church which was a bummer, but we still had 4 investigators in church! :) Whoop!! That is still way good, but we are WANTING like 8! So we still have some work to do no doubt!
I made "Ensign Story" my heading because I am in the middle of what could be one of those stories that you read about the missionaries in the Ensign ha ha, it’s quite awesome. In a way I just want to wait till next week to tell you ALL about it cuz that would give me more time to see how its going to unfold. But, I will tell you what I know from what has happened so far. Yesterday I was sitting in church just about 5 minutes before our meeting was about to start, and the Branch President walks up to me and says, "Elder Gray, there is someone outside wanting a Book of Mormon!" Now that right there is crazy enough! So I run out there and greet this Portuguese guy named Rui. Awesome fella, older man about 6 feet tall I would say, so I start speaking Portuguese (of course) and he says, "Do you speak English?" So I said, "Yes I do" and so he speaks English....kind of...haha, but he loves to speak English, he prefers it over Portuguese. Anyways, so he asks me if he can have a "Bible" and I said, "Well, actually we don’t have a Bible right now but I can get you one later on if you would like, but we have this book called The Book of Mormon." and he says, ”Umm what is the difference?" So I explained a little about the difference and where the Book of Mormon came from and all that stuff and he said, “Yeah sure I’ll take this one.” So I give him the book and I say, “Hey our meeting is about to start right now if you would like to come in.” He couldn’t...sadly, BUT he gave me all his info and was like "I would like it if you would come to my house and talk with me." So of course I said that we would love to! So he told me to call him sometime this week. So my plan was to call today later on after P-Day. But get this, so I’m sitting here writing an email to someone, (our internet store is right next to our church) and I look out the window and see him walking with someone towards our church and I watch him to see what he is doing and he goes, looks around the corner sees that the door is shut and turns back around. So I KNEW that he was looking for US!! So the guy he was with was almost looking at me in the window so I pounded on the window and the other guy saw me and I pointed to Rui so, his friend pointed to me....and he looks up and I wave and he makes a gesture like "I need to talk to you!" So I jump up! And I run outside and talked to him. He says, "Hey, listen I would like you to come to my house? I want you to talk to me and my wife. But she is not prepared, so call her today and talk to her, you speak Portuguese right?" and I say, "Sim" ha ha and he says, “Okay call my wife and tell her you talked to me and you want to come over." So I say, "Okay I will call her today!" And he says, "Yeah, I would like you guys to come over tomorrow." Awesome! Then he says, "I want YOU to come, because you are cool. And we need more cool people like you in Portugal." Ha ha ha!! Funny huh! So I say, "Yeah me and my companion can came over." He says, "Sounds great!" Pretty cool, right?! I know! I am stoked! So we will go over there most likely tomorrow and see how things go. This guy is really nice and cool. I guess he is a retired Doctor. So maybe we will be going to a mansion!! (Which in this country means a house.) Ha ha!! So, I will give you the updates next week and let you know how things went! But man I tell ya.....speaking to someone like I was doing in ENGLISH was SO, SO, SO weird!! I don’t know why. I had a serious problem. I wanted to speak in Portuguese to him and I would keep saying stuff on accident in Portuguese and he would just laugh and I’d be like "Oh! Duh I mean....." So it was really funny. But cool too, ha ha!
Guess what? For those of you who know of course how being CLEAN is important to me, my companion is the CLEANEST comp I have had yet!!! I love the kid! And not just cuz he is clean, he is awesome! We are having a great time together, I think he is my favorite companion so far, AND he is super clean. I love it! Man it just takes so much pointless stress off my chest! Ha ha, I only had to do the dishes twice this week and it was only cuz I had to like RACE him to the sink to do them. But I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my STUPID fingers and this skin thing I have going on here is STILL irritating me. (Yes mom and dad I still have it.) But I have an appointment with a doc in a week or so. But it’s worse....... AHH! But yeah, he respects that fact and how it royally sucks having to use gloves to do dishes. He is legit and we are having a great time and doing great work!! :)
That is about it for the week! I hope you all have a great week and everything goes well and you are all HAPPY! Don’t forget to smile! I love you all so much and miss you tonz. This is the Lords work I am doing and its great! I am loving it and I am trying to live up to every minute I have out here serving the Lord! There are souls to be saved!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!
Love Elder Gray
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