The Work Goes On

You aren’t the only ones with bad weather I promise! It’s been really gross here. Really windy and rainy. We were going to go to the zoo today, but not now because of the rain. So we are going to go bowling. But everything is going good. We got a new investigator named Wallace. He is from Brazil. We taught the 1st lesson and he loved it! The spirit was seriously so strong in the room that day I loved it. I didn’t want to leave. We made a time to go back on Saturday so I’m really excited to go back. I’m praying that he will open his heart and hear our wonderful message we have for him.

On the down slope, we lost our friendly Chinese investigators. They started talking to the Jehovah’s Witnesses again and they told them to stay away from us. Really, really sad. They were such great people, but we will continue to pray for them always.

We had a street meeting on Easter Sunday. It was really good. I really enjoyed it. I think that is a really good way to help my Portuguese, too. And it’s fun working with all the members and getting them to do some missionary work. At first I went off with a non-active member named Sergio. He is awesome! But he is just really lazy. But we went off and I said hi to this guy and shook his hand, but he kept walking. Then Sergio grabbed his hand and I started talking to the guy and he was like, “No, no thanks,” but Sergio wouldn’t let go of his hand! It was so funny! Sergio was like, “No sir, this message is really important for you.” It was awesome! What a good missionary he was that day. We didn’t actually get any info from the guy, BUT we at least were able to plant a little seed and give him a pass along card.

Everything with Elizabete is going pretty good. She is such an amazing person; we have family night with her, so we are really excited to teach her and her boyfriend. Hopefully we can get the spirit to be really strong this week for them. But we will always continue to keep praying for them.

Well that is about all for this week. I love you all so much! Keep working hard and keep praying! Remember who you are and why you are here. Make everyday count to get you going to the temple.

Love you,

Elder Gray

No transfer, but a crazy week!

Well first of all, I did not get transferred. So I have some more time here in Cacém. So feel free to send mail to my apartment! :)

Anyways, crazy story about last night!! So we are walking home and it’s a little past the time we are supposed to be out, but we were walking home from an appointment, so it’s okay. We are walking and all of a sudden we see these two kids beating up on this kid! I couldn’t believe my eyes! They were probably about 17 or so and the other kid was probably 15 or 16. But the kid was on the ground and these kids are just beating him like nothing I have ever seen! So Elder Hildebrandt and I yell at the kids to stop and leave the kid alone! They looked up at us and just started yelling and swearing at us then came running up to us, and we were just like, “uh oh, what have we just done?” But they weren’t real big so I wasn’t too scared. We could take em if we had to. (haha Just playin.) But so they walk up to us and just start yelling at us. Of course I couldn’t understand it, but they were swearin and just yelling at us. They were pretty drunk I’m sure. I could smell the alcohol on their breath. But then the one kid gets right in my comps face and is just yelling and yelling and I’m like that is enough. So I go over and push the kid and just said stop! That is enough! Go home! The kid did NOT like that very much and he pushed me back and when I stepped forward he swung at me!! But I kinda saw it coming and so I dodged it in time and then I lost control not thinking, just totally like reaction to this and dodged this kid’s fist then just took a big swing right to his nose. I know I shouldn’t have but it just happened SO fast! He fell back onto his butt then stood up with a bloody nose, looked at his friend and said, “Let’s go.” I think that sobered him up a bit. So they left. Then we went to the kid that was getting beat up and called the ambulance and had to wait for like 20 minutes. Ridiculous! And they hauled him off and then we had to give descriptions of the other kids. Then we finally got to go home. Crazy, crazy, crazy night. I could not believe it!

Anyways back to normal life. Our Chinese friends that we found a couple weeks ago are doing really well. They are such great people! We had so much fun teaching with them. They really pay good attention and are very attentive. We got them a Book of Mormon in Chinese and they were really excited for that and they said they would read it and ponder it and then pray about it! I am so excited to go back and see them. We also got to set up seeing them two times a week which is really good for them and for us. We are also going to invite them to General Conference. I hope they come because they have such great potential!

We also have this lady we teach that is very new. We have been there one time. Her name is Afra and she is a single mom with three kids. She is very interested and she is really nice. And she loves to help me with my speaking the language, which is really good for me!

One of the Elders named Elder Gasser is going home in two days. That is just crazy to me. I feel like my day for that is FOREVER away. haha Well it is. But he was an awesome kid. He was really fun and I got along really well with him. I hope to see him in the future.

So today we are going to play soccer again. I’m pretty stoked. It’s really fun and it’s a good workout, but the bad news is this morning we also went running, and I rolled my ankle twice!! I hate cobblestone! Argh! It made me so mad! It hurts! But I took some ibuprofen and I am hoping I will be able to play! I will just have to warm it up. (I hope.)

But everything is going really well. I am excited for our investigators and their progression. I will let you know about them more next week. This week was really windy which is pretty sad after the amazing, amazing weather we were having a couple weeks ago. But I hope it will shape up soon! Especially today for soccer. But I hope you all have a wonderful week! Keep strong in the gospel. It’s such an amazing thing that many people take it for granted. Love and LIVE the gospel in your everyday life! It’s amazing to see the change in the people here. I love the gospel; it’s so amazing! We are absolutely blessed to have a living prophet who we get to hear from this week. I am really looking forward to conference. I hope all of you are too. Listen hard! Take notes! Ponder it. Then pray!!!

I Love you all so, so much! Have a great week; can’t wait to hear from you in the future. Keep up the great work and remember to pray always.

LOVE YOU ALL!

ELDER GRAY!!

P.S. Oh ya...about the drunk kids beating up the kid and us fighting them, well...APRIL FOOLS!  :-) haha!

P.P.S. Dad, you got me good! I was sad about the Sami. I’m glad its not totaled. Good story. Well written. Haha!

Seven new investigators in two days!

This week was another great week! The top story of the week is we got 7 new investigators in 2 days! It was so awesome! Cuz I dunno much about other places in the world, but here normally we only get 2 or so new investigators a week. So it was so, so cool!

We contacted a Chinese woman on the side of the street and we ended up teaching her and her husband! Then we went to this kid’s house we have been teaching a couple times and he had 3 friends over and all his friends seemed more interested than him. It was really cool so I hope that will all keep going good. We have some good potentials for this week too, so hopefully the numbers will continue to climb.

Well, transfers are here. This Tuesday we find out if we are getting transferred, so I will let you know next week if I get transferred or not. I think I will be...but I’m not sure. It could go either way you just never know. I would like to stay, but also going would just be another new experience for me!

This week I studied really hard in the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon! I study it every day for at least 45 minutes. I love every single second of it! I write down everything I learn and feel. It is so beneficial. If you are not reading in the Book of Mormon, please do. It is so amazing! I learn so, so much every day; new stuff all the time.

Couple funny stories… One of our investigators went to our chapel like 3 times he said on Monday trying to get a hold of us...we were like, “Why did you go there?” Well he thought we lived there! haha! I guess that is pretty common here.

Also this week we had interviews with President Terry and we were all sitting in the chapel waiting for our turn, when a cell phone goes off right by Elder Peterson and he looks at it and says out loud, “Who’s crappy phone is this?” just as Sister Terry stands up! Ha! It was SO funny! We all just started laughing so hard! I was like, “well you sure aren’t going to be zone leader Elder Peterson!” It was way funny.

Scotty, wanna know how to say party foul? It’s ‘falta de festa’, but be sure to say the s in festa like shh. It doesn’t actually translate perfectly, but ya, I still say it all the time. Haha!

I got a letter in the actual mail yesterday! It was a good day! Thanks Dad!! Feel free to send more mail mail. Actual real mail is fun cuz we check the box everyday, but there is nothing ever in it. So when there is, it’s like a big party!

Well, I gotta go but I am so grateful for my opportunity to serve our Lord. How blessed are we to have the opportunity to spread the word of God every day. Please pray for the people here to have soft and open hearts, so they can hear the wonderful message we have to share with them about the wonderful gospel.

I am so grateful for all of you! I’m sorry I don’t get to write more personal mail, but only having one hour each week is tough as I’m sure you understand. But thank you so much for continuing to write even if I don’t have the time to write you back personally so much. Thank you all so much for all you do for me. I feel your prayers in our work every day. Continue to live the gospel and pray always! I Love you all so much. Thank you for the support. I appreciate it more than you could know!

I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Elder Gray

Missionary Work is Amazing!

This week just flew! It was a good week though, except for last p-day, which was not too much fun. We had to clean our apartments. ALL DAY. It turned out to be a big test from President Terry, a test set up for us to all fail. And well, long story short, yep everyone failed. We were told to stay and clean, so we did. We cleaned good, very good. (You know me...haha.) I cleaned, my comp not as much, but our place looked so good!

This week I had a pretty cool “understanding of the language” moment in a lesson we taught. We taught a member, Francisca, and we were talking about how we came to find the church is true. And when she told her story I understood like 90 percent of it!! I loved it! I just felt so good! But...well, it’s not always like that, but I think it’s getting better, just VERY slowly.

But I just want all you to know things are going well. The work is slow; it’s Portugal...this isn’t Utah or anywhere in the states for that matter. BUT, missionary work is missionary work and it’s amazing! Hard, but amazing!! The things I have already seen out here are just fantastic. I love our new members that we baptized last week. They are like totally different people and always so happy. I love going over there. It’s always a fun experience with them. I have just seen so much growth in them.

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for all your support. Have a great week. Keep praying and smiling. I love you.

Eu sei que o evangelho é verdadeiro! Eu sento estes coises em minha coraçao cada dia! Sou muito grato por minha familia e por meu muitos amigos. Continuar estudar e orar cada dia ta bem?? Eu amo-vos muito!! Tenha um muito bom semana!

Elder Gray