Twelve New Investigators!

This week was really good! We are even impressed with our own numbers and how everything went. It was just awesome! For the most part everything went through and worked out as planned! Of course there were a few things....but can’t complain. One thing that was just awesome was that we had 12 new investigators this week! We felt like we were just rolling them in! And it’s also crazy because this week was transfer week and I got a new companion! So because of transfers we lost a whole bunch of working time, but yet we still had a great week, with over 20 lessons! (Here that is not very common.) So it was way sweet!

Since I have been here we haven’t really been able to get any investigators to go to church. Well I just changed a little about the way I go about inviting people to come to church and basically poured out my heart about how important it is to go and if we do, we will be SO blessed! That goes for all of us, members, and non-members everyone! SO, we had 5 investigators in church! I was just so thrilled! Then, better yet, our testimony meeting was just AWESOME! I loved it so much! Not to be boastful, but 3 different people talked about me and something that I had taught them earlier this week and how it has just changed something about them. It was really cool for me to see that I AM making a difference. It really made me feel good!

Remember how I said a few weeks ago, when our branch was having a HUGE problem getting to church at 10:00, that I talked about it and basically told them it’s not good to be late? Well this one guy, Fernando, gets it and now the last 2 weeks he and his family have been at the church on time, so it was awesome! We have this in-active member that we went and visited last week on Sunday. We had a great little lesson with him and I just started asking him "why" he isn’t going to church, "what" is the excuse and things like that. And he was saying how its just hard cuz he gets home from work as a bouncer, (this guy is HUGE,) at like 9 in the morning and said going to church is just hard and he has a hard time staying awake in the meeting so he just goes home. So I taught him about sacrifice. I taught him about blessings and I told him that it’s a sacrifice to go to church. Of course it’s just EASIER to go to bed. But we need to give our all and give just 3 hours of our WHOLE week to the Lord. I also told him how I am out here for 2 years! Imagine that! Away from my family and friends that I LOVE, for 2 years dedicated to the Lord and bringing the Word of God to as many as I possibly can! As I was telling him these things I just felt the spirit so strongly testifying how important this work really is, and I could tell HE knew too. He was just kind of quiet and not saying too much. I was basically just testifying to him and telling him how I know that he needs to go to church and do HIS part in this world so he can be saved and inherit Gods kingdom. The funny part of this, well this guy like I said is a BIG man! His arm is like, bigger than my head ha ha, but....he came to church yesterday, AND he bore his testimony! Then last night we passed by his house and I just said how great his testimony was and how strong the spirit was in the chapel today, and he said, "yeah it was, I couldn’t not stand up even tho I haven’t been to church in a long time and I thought it would be weird." It was so neat to feel his spirit; he’s like a big Teddy Bear. (But just don’t anger the Teddy Bear cuz this cuddly lookin teddy bear could snap me into like 7 pieces with one quick judo chop! Ha-ha, but yeah, it was incredible!) There were also others that bore testimonies that were amazing too! It was just a GREAT testimony meeting. A girl 15 years old, bore her testimony and this girl is just always happy and smiling. She is so fun to be around. She is just one of those people that are always smiling. Someone said that to her at school once, and she said to them, "Well we are here to be happy!" It’s so true, so be HAPPY!

One last thing that I have started teaching our investigators that I really enjoy. We know that God has SO many blessings for us but he is waiting for US! He cannot bestow his blessings upon us without US first doing OUR part! I know that that is so true! If we will just do our part which is tough at times, but we can get thru it, we will be SO blessed! I wish I could say this in Portuguese; it seems to make more sense to me ha ha. Like "God has so many blessings for us, but he has to WAIT for us." Get it? I dunno that’s kind of how it sounds translated. But I love to teach it in this language cuz it sounds much better. Okay so a quick bit about 2 of our new investigators, they are just awesome! Two of the 5 that came to church, they are not related, but two separate investigators. Maria do Carmo, and Adilson. They are so awesome! We only taught Maria do Carmo once, on Friday, and on Sunday she came to church! It was really awesome. I was so happy! I will give more details later after we have taught her more. :) But Adilson is from Brazil and we have taught him a few times and we are also teaching him English. He has been doing for the most part, all that we ask him to do, so it’s awesome and he is progressing like crazy. On Sunday morning I called him to make sure he was coming to church, and he didn’t answer so I was all bummed but I called one more time like 10 minutes later and he said, "Yeah I’m on my way! I was in the shower when you called the first time!" Ha ha ha! AWESOME!!!

Well to end off the email, I got a new companion this week like I was saying. His name is Elder Bradshaw, also from Utah. He is kind of shy...but he is way cool! He is 6 foot 3 tho so he makes me feel tiny. :( Lame ha ha, but so far we are working really well together, having success, and we are having a really fun time! And it’s only the beginning! :) So I’m really excited for our time to serve together, it’s going great!! :) Have a great week!! I love and miss you all so much! Hey Good news!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!
Love Elder Gray

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

Two Baptisms AND Two New Investigators!

This week we got 2 new investigators that are just GOLDEN! The guy, husband, is pretty much ready to be dunked! He is in the prime! And his wife has some more doubts that we have to figure out, but I’m way, way excited to see the future in them! This sunday, we had stake conference, and we, the choir sang like 5 songs and it was really cool! The spirit was truly so, so strong! I love the influence that music has on the spirit and how strong you can feel the spirit thru music, it’s awesome!

This week was really good! Especially because of the 2 baptisms we had! So that of course is ALWAYS exciting! The baptism of the kid Felipe, he is 14 and a friend of a recent convert part member family. They are really cool, they have problems, but hey who doesn’t. But Felipe’s baptism went GREAT! We asked...well more like told him, haha, to have Brother Weverton baptize him. We, (well me at least) think it’s very important to have the ward members baptize the people because they will always stay there and be there in the ward. It’s a bit of a bummer cuz im pretty sure he was planning on having me baptize him, which I of course would LOVE to do but its better to have a member do it. And it’s just as awesome seeing them be baptized as actually doing it. So I loved it of course. And it was an AWESOME experience for Brother Weverton because he is kind of new, a recent convert,well kind of. He was only baptized back in like April or May I think, but he is probably one of the strongest members I know. He is 21 and getting ready to serve a mission! So it was WAY awesome to see him do the baptism. I could see how happy it made him so I was very happy to have had him do it instead of me cuz I got to see an awesome light in 2 people! I loved it.

The other baptism of the 9 yr old kid Pedro was okay. He has some water phobia or something so he was trippin out. But we got it done with and he came out happy as ever. :) His dad baptized him. Missionary work is goin! The biggest part of missionary work is the members. The members are a huge part in this work!! I never knew the importance in that before my mish. When there are members involved things always go so, so much better! And the people here are pretty good, but they still have lots of work to do and we are working with them on that, so it’s all good.

Every week in Priesthood at the beginning of the meeting, the Elders talk about anything they need or what not, so this week we talked about how ALL the members should have a Book of Mormon to give away, so we asked who has one...and about 95 percent of ‘em raised their hands, and we were like WHY??? What are you doing with it?? How long have you had it? Get RID of it! And ask us for more next week haha!! So, it was cool and I think we got the point across. I am REALLY hoping that there will be lots of people that say they need more books next week. That would be awesome, and if not, we will just get on their case about it haha!

Yesterday, Sunday, was a great meeting. It was really spiritual, especially because the choir sang. Music is huge in bringing the spirit, and I LOVE IT I tell ya! I know I can’t sing well. It’s not easy...haha, but hey everyone else is good so it makes up for me. ;) But it was great! The songs are always songs I have never heard before let alone then having to sing it in Portuguese!! Flip! I pretty much just have to listen to the person next to me and try to sing the same note as him, haha! I’m going to make my kids take voice lessons. :)

The weather here right now is great! Still kind of hot actually, which is really weird! It should be getting a bit more chilly no? Yeah, but I love it. At night it does get pretty chilly so we sleep real good now...except for the crappy beds :( Not much we can do about that though....Anyway, there is my update.

I hope you all have a great week. I’m so thankful for all of you! Thank you for your support and love for me out here on my mission serving the Lord. There are times where I just wonder what I’m doing here?! It’s a hard work, a very hard work, especially this Language. I thought that by this time of my mission I would be pretty much fluent! HA HA! No!! It’s still hard, and can get VERY frustrating, but I know that the Lord is there for me and helping me every step of the way. I don’t know what I would possibly do without the Savior in my life. For our knowledge about the truth is amazing. Im so grateful for all we have and for the truth we know. I’m so grateful for the Gospel in my life. I know that I’d be lost without it. Thank you all for your examples to me and being there for me thru all the good and bad. I love you!!!!
Love Elder 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