A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS

Christmas was great! It sure was nice talking to the fam, that’s always exciting! Here, they celebrate Christmas different...Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve, which seemed really strange to me at first, but it turned out to be really cool and lots of fun. We went to a member’s house at about 5PM or so and hung out, and waited for the rest of the people to get there, played games whatever, then we had dinner which was alright. Dinner at home is always amazing, so I guess I’m spoiled...ha ha, but it was fine. So we had dinner, then at midnight they all opened all their gifts. They did a secret Santa kind of thing tho which was really funny cuz every time someone would go up and get their gift for whoever they had and then they would describe that person. Then they would all guess finally who it was and everyone would jump up and say Paparazzi, Paparazzi! And they would take tons of pictures! It was really funny every time, and lots of fun to watch the madness! Ha ha! After dinner and presents and all that good stuff we just hung out talked and played some games, so it was a good night and lots of fun. :)

Then the next day Christmas! We went to our friend Pedro’s house! He and his family are just awesome! They let us just hang out with them and have lunch and just chill. Christmas day here they just hang out and relax. So that’s what we did! And we talked to our families! It was a good time. :)

I have a feeling I am going to get transferred here in a few weeks, and I’m kind of scared cuz this area and this Ward is just amazing! That’s it, they are just amazing here! I could stay here another 6 months! Sheesh! I would like to stay one more I think, but it’s not up to me obviously, but we will see. I’m just kind of nervous that next I’m going to go to some little branch of 20 people, ha-ha. But no matter where I go I know it’s where the Lord wants me so I will go with a smile with a bunch of GREAT MEMORIES of good ole Setúbal! :)

So this week is going to be a new year! Wow pretty nuts eh!? 2009 is gone! It’s really weird to think that I have been here in Portugal this whole year! That my friends, is a pretty strange feeling! But it’s good too!

Well this week was pretty much one of the fastest weeks ever, I can’t believe it’s gone already, I feel like it was all just one big day! I feel like I’m out of stuff to talk about cuz Christmas was the highlight of the week! Anyway, things are going good, the Holidays were great, but now its time to get back to work! I’m excited for it! This transfer we are focusing on finding new people, so pray that Setúbal will open their hearts for us! I know there are people ready for the Gospel! We just need to find them. :) Thank you all for everything you do for me, thank you for you support and love. I love you!
Happy Holidays! LOVE ELDER GRAY

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!
We had an Earthquake here in Portugal! Sadly I didn’t feel it, neither did my comp, we were dead asleep! It happened at about 1:30 in the morning, but it was a 6.1 Earthquake on Wednesday night that lasted about 30 seconds! Man that is just crazy! I wish I would have felt it! The next day we went up to the church to meet a member Pedro, to help him with some stuff, and he said, “Did you guys feel the earthquake??” We were like what? Then he told us about it and how he thought his brother was just shaking his bed. So they sit up and flip the light on and everything is shaking! Crazy! Then that night we had a lesson with a member and he told us also about how his whole house was shaking! It was just crazy, I couldn’t believe it! It kind of scared me cuz I swear an earthquake would just knock down these apartments like nothing!! There isn’t much to them, so I feel like they would just crumple up and fall! I would have to say that is the event of the week! I think the earthquake jumped our house...because it sounds like it was a pretty big one!

This week we had the privilege of attending a wedding! It was way fun! A member, Luis got married and we had this big huge party at the church. We had been at the church all day helping Pedro get ready for it the day of, and the days before, so it was way cool. We had a blast. They had music, people singing, so it was really fun!! Trunky moment...ha ha just kidding!

We have this member, named Anna. She is 17 and she was the girlfriend of the boy that died a while back, Tiago, in that car accident. But she was baptized cuz of him, but her mom was very against the whole idea. She didn’t like anything about the church or any of that. But at the funeral of Tiago, she came of course and felt the spirit present there, then came to church the next week, and the next, and well she comes all the time now and loves it. She has even been coming to the activities and everything and participating. It is really awesome, I love it! She still doesn’t really want to talk with us. But it’s a start! She enjoys church and the people and everything so it is really awesome. I am planning on talking to her soon to see if we can stop by, we will see. :)

So last Sunday, get this....We had a lunch appointment with these members, and the Grandpa was there and this Grandpa is very funny and very random, you will see why. I could tell many funny stories of this guy, but this one is for sure worth it. So we are sitting on the couches waiting for everyone to get there and for everything to be ready and we see the old man walk in all slowly, and he.....walks around the whole table and he LICKS every single fork!!!! HAHAHA! It was so funny!!! Me and the other Elders were just like that did NOT just happen!! Man it was SOOO funny! Awkward tho too, cuz we didn’t know what to do. He just licked them all then sat down! And just sat there staring at the stuff on the table for like 10 minutes! So when we sat down, (we didn’t really want to say anything) but it would be funny to be able to see a video of us, cuz all 3 of us at one point or another wiped off our forks the best we could ha ha ha! The whole time eating for me was a bit weird tho. I touched as little of that fork as I could. It was just weird! Ha! But way funny!

So Elder Davis my old comp is now gone, he will be on the plane tomorrow. Pretty crazy, it’s weird to see people go home that’s for sure! I always feel like I have SO much time! I know I won’t feel like that when the end comes. Time does seem to go pretty fast, and I’m loving it for the most part. I’m kind of stressing a bit with some stuff right now, but I will be good. I just want to keep going and work hard. I think the next few weeks should be really good. I am really going to try to work even harder and try new things and just be better. I am grateful for my mission. I am. But it’s very hard. I want to be that Missionary that I know I can be, and I’m working at it, the mission is a huge learning process that is for sure, but I am enjoying it. It is good and very rewarding I know that.

I am really grateful for this time of year. I have always loved Christmas. I am so thankful for my Savior, and all that he has done for me. I am not perfect, but I know that thru the Savior and with his help I can be the BEST that I can be. If I can just give the best and most of me, he will fill in the rest. I love my Savior. I love my family and friends. And I thank you all for all that you do for me. Thank you for your support. I miss you all, and I love you!! Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Make it the best one yet, and remember WHY we celebrate Christmas. Be more giving this year and serve others. Go out of your way to find someone ELSE that needs a little help, or a little gift, or some food, anything. Please, show others the joy that YOU have that has come thru the Gospel. Share your love with others. I want to hear some stories of what you have done next week to help someone ELSE that you normally wouldn’t have. Whether it be helping someone on the side of the road, or buying a bum some food. Just DO something! And tell me about it. I am really thankful for the Church and its teachings and I know that we can all do something more to show our happiness and love to others. This is my "convite" to all of you who read this, during this season. I love you all! Now get out and do something for someone!

I Love You! Merry Christmas!!
Elder Robby Gray

Tripple Companionship

Hi Fam!
I’m sorry I have to be quick this week, we have a pretty busy day and not full time for internet, but we had a good week this week. We had an awesome singing thing at a store where our choir sang Christmas songs and it was awesome! We had a ton of people standing watching. It was a lot of fun, and I tell ya, the spirit was really strong. I know that the spirit works thru music! It is incredible.

So I gave this lesson the other day to a member and his wife, and I talked about prayer, and at first I was just going to read a scripture and that’s it, and just say how it's important to pray cuz they just wanted a quick thought. But then I just kept going and talked about how important prayer is and I felt the spirit come and take me away and I was just teaching things that I had not planned at all! That is always such a great experience and I love it!!

So we have a new companion, we are doing pretty good, he is a cool kid, messy tho, he’s kinda gross, but hopefully I can teach him some things, ha ha. He has only been out about 7 months. So it’s going to be a bit different now there are 3 of us! It’s cool tho and I’m excited for this transfer. Anyway I’m sorry this letter is kind of short, I promise next week will be much better! :)

I love you all so much! Have a great week and remember WHY we celebrate this time of year! LOVE YOU!
LOVE ELDER GRAY

No Snow Here

Hey there Family! Thanks for the e-mails! Just letting you guys know that NO, there is no snow here, at least in my part of the mish. Up in the other mission area in Porto there is some but not a whole lot. Here there isn’t any, so I’m sad. It’s going to be weird having a Christmas with NO snow. I just got an e-mail from my friend Alan, he is in Russia and he said it just snowed over 4 feet!! WOW!! Then they plowed it and all the snow around him was taller than him! He is short, but still! Pretty awesome I think. But yeah, it’s not way cold yet. It’s just perfect right now for a light sweater or a little coat. But hit January and it will get way more cold, then in February, I don’t look forward to that, BBRRRR!!

Just so you know, I get my new comp tomorrow. We will be in a triple, cuz my actual companion goes home right before Christmas, but transfers are tomorrow. Our new Mission President does it kind of different, where we don’t even know about transfers until the middle of p-day which is the day right before. What if I’m enjoying my p-day cuz we had something planned and he calls and is like Elder, you are being transferred. That would suck cuz then we only have the rest of that day to pack. It’s pretty lame cuz we need TIME to pack and what not. Oh well, its okay. So yeah, I’m sure I’m staying here. I will prob be transferred next transfer which is about 6 weeks from today. Sometime in January, just so you know. :)

We had a really good lesson with our investigator Iris and it went really well. I asked her a couple of weeks ago to write down any of her questions or doubts on a piece of paper and bring it to church and I told her she would get an answer. She (I found out yesterday) had written down 5 questions like 3 weeks ago, last week she didn’t come to church cuz she was a little sick, but then yesterday she came, and we went and taught her after church, and she told us she has received answers to 3 of her 5 questions, which is awesome. I was way happy to hear that it is working and she is getting her answers without us having to do anything. She just comes to church and is getting her answers from the speakers and the lessons.

On Tuesday we had the baptism of a member, it was actually Bishops daughter and it was way fun, it was also her Birthday so there was a huge party and stuff with tons of food and we had some dancing and music and everything. It was really fun. Anyway I hope ya´ll have a great week! I miss you and love you all. HAPPY HOLLIDAYS! Feliz Natal!!
LOVE YOU!
Love Elder Gray

Maos que Ajudem.....Helping Hands

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

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

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

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

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

I Learned a Respect Lesson This Week

We marked one more person for baptism!! Woop, Woop!! He is 11 yrs old and we are also going to mark his mom soon too!! His dad WAS a member...Yeah...WAS. He got excommunicated, I don’t know the story, but he has been coming back to church lately so I would like to get him back into the right way of things. I think he feels like he doesn’t belong. Which in a way I can understand, but everyone can be forgiven, the Lords arms are always stretched out to all. Hopefully we can do something about it. We will have to have an interview for him with the Stake President I think it is, but so far things are good.

The kid that is getting baptized next week is named André. He is a cool kid and he gets along really well with all the people in the ward. Dad, you mentioned how I am seeming to go ABOVE the quota of missionaries in this mission, well yes I would agree also, and I AM loving it! I do love this area because of the great success we are having! It makes me so happy and feel good cuz President Torgan loves it! So he loves me haha! If getting lots of baptisms is sucking up, well I am NOT ashamed haha!! :)

We are hoping to mark 2 other people for baptism. A couple and they are really incredible, I love them! I love teaching them! They are just great people! They are so nice and they love us! So that’s always good news. When we teach them, they are very, very attentive so it makes me feel like every SECOND is so worth it! They just soak it all in! It’s quite nice, but the problem is, they live together, and are not married. Ohhhh boy,that’s never a good sign, so they either have to get married, or promise and commit to the Bishop that they will not sleep together until they do get married. Hmmmm....So I don’t know what’s going to go down. But I see GREAT potential in them! And they are giving us dinner tomorrow! Woop, Woop! So, we are praying for their progression.

A couple of not so awesome things, first of all, I burned myself TWO times this week! What the flip right? Once on my thumb that went pretty much all the way up my thumb, and another on my finger! That’s just how GHETTO our stuff is. We have one and a half hot pads, so if you are not extremely careful you get burned! Party foul eh?! The one on my thumb hurt way bad but its calming down a bit now tho, haha. That was just the party foul of the week. But get this, so yesterday we are sitting in Priesthood meeting, and there are these two guys that are sitting behind us, and they TALK, TALK, TALK the whole flipping time! So after about 5 or so minutes, it was kind of funny cuz right at the same time me and my comp turned around and stared at them, like uh, duh dudes shut up...then he was like “Oh my bad guys sorry,” so we turn back around and try to listen again, and they start talking! Again! So after a few minutes I’m just like this is ridiculous! AND not to mention the guy that was giving the lesson is a NEW guy, well pretty new, and he is shy, so I’m just like you have GOT to be joking! So I turn around and I’m like guys....stop please! Again he is like “Oh, ok sorry, did they stop? NO!! So I just kind of ignored it cuz I didn’t want to be that mean Elder person...haha, but it just made me realize, and I want to apologize to anyone who I have ever disrespected when talking or giving a lesson or anything of the sort. It just really, really bothered me and I know I have probably been that kind of disrespectful at some time, so I’m sorry.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week, and remember to think about others. I would have to say that is my message for the week. BE RESPECTFUL!! Especially you men to your wives. I saw a guy yell at his wife the other day, and it SERIOUSLY bothered me! I didn’t feel it was my place to say something, but it bothered me a lot. So, you all, think, before you speak and get out of hand. I know I have learned a lot on my mission and one thing is respect. If everyone would just respect others this crazy horrid world would be a much better place. So we need to be the bigger ones and start that.

I am really grateful for the things that we are taught in the Gospel, and I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to be here on my mission and learn these things first hand. Thank you all for your patience with me at any time. I’m sorry to those of you I may have wronged. Most importantly, lets remember who WE ARE, and WHO and WHAT we stand for each and everyday. I am extremely grateful for my family and my friends. I couldn’t live without them! I love you all very much. Have a Great Week!! And SMILE!! Love you.
LOVE Elder 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

Conference Time Again

I just wanted to write a little letter this week because my time is cut a bit short, so I’m just writing a quickie to my direct Family! Anyway, this week was good, Conference was great! It’s kind of hard to stay focused after a while here though because its a HUGE marathon. All we do ALL day is watch ALL of the sessions! Man, its pretty tough. But it was really, really good! I LOVED the priesthood session, I always do, it was so good! Dad I also, loved the one about fathers and sons, it was so good. I always love priesthood session, I feel like I always get so much out of it!

This transfer, my trainer is going home. It’s pretty crazy! I remember like it just wasn’t that long ago he was saying he only has 8 months left. Now he is there and going home! It’s pretty crazy how the time goes on the mish! I can’t believe I am at 11 months! TODAY!!! Wow, it’s just crazy. But then again I feel like I’m never going home ha ha! I’m not even HALF way! But close. ;)

Lately, we have a big Mosquito problem that is super, super annoying. I hate them! I think once it gets a big colder they will go down a little.

This week, hopefully tonight, we are going to mark a kid for Baptism!! Woop, Woop! Im way stoked! He seems very ready. But we’ve just got to make sure the desire is truly there. I’m really excited for him tho. Things are just going great and I will let you know next week exactly what goes down! I love you all so much! I pray for each of you every night! I am so, so lucky to have each and EVERY one of you in my life. Truly I’m almost jealous of myself. ;) haha! I love you! I know that without a doubt that the church is true. And I love it with all my heart! I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have, especially about Eternal Families! It is just so, so important to me and I’m so happy to know that we WILL live with our families forever! I love you all so much! Choose the Right! :)
Love Elder Gray

What Subject Title This Week?

Not gonna lie I’m getting tired of trying to think of subjects every week! I just sat here for like 2 minutes trying to think of what to have as my subject line. Why is that even necessary?!? Anyway...Sorry about the lack of the group mail yesterday, Monday, the myldsmail account thing was not working for some reason I have no idea why, so I got on my g-mail and got to respond to a few e-mails, but we are doing a little today so we can write everyone, because on my g-mail I don’t have everyone’s addresses.

Anyway, this week went by pretty good, kind of slow tho. I got really sick for a couple days. I have no idea why or what it was. I just pretty much took whatever pills I could find in the house. We don’t have any money so I couldn’t afford to go to the pharmacy. But I'm’ feeling a little better now. I had zero energy for a couple of days and some other stuff too, but I have my energy back, but the other stuff, like headaches, stuffy runny nose, congestion, all that doesn’t seem to want to leave quite yet I guess. But I’m better than I was so its okay I guess.

The other day we watched a film with a family about the pioneers. And some of the stuff they went thru, and it was a pretty old movie and not that great, but it still somehow was spirit filled. The room was for sure full of truth. Its crazy what the spirit can do to us. I love it when I can feel the spirit. I mean I LOVE it. Its an amazing feeling when you actually recognize it deep within your heart. And even by just watching a good movie or something. It really is awesome. And I love feeling that reassurance every so often that just keeps pushing me and telling me to keep going keep going YOU KNOW this stuff is true so share what you KNOW! That’s what just makes me want to go, go, go. The fact I know that it is true. And I can’t deny it so I have to share it! And the beauty of that truth brings people and I can testify that it brings ME the most happiness and the most peace ever.

Families are eternal. That is so, so important to me. If there is ONE thing I am to be out here for, it would be to share with Portugal that Families are FOREVER, and we KNOW that. I can’t even express my appreciation and my LOVE for that fact! I don’t know how to put it to words. Yeah, I may not be the PERFECT missionary, or person, but I KNOW, that these things are true and there is just no denying that fact and I am so, so grateful for it, because I LOVE my family. I LOVE them. And someday I will have a wife of my own, a family of my own. (weird to think about) but....it will happen, and the knowledge that I have that I will live with that love of my life and with my family forever.....How can someone NOT know that and live their lives?! So, that is why I’m here. To help, to teach, to serve, and be the best I can be. I am so grateful for what we have! We are truly so, so blessed. I know that WITHOUT a doubt in my mind. And I love you all so much. Have a fantastic week!!! Keep smiling and keep praying! Get close to Heavenly Father. He is waiting to hear from you. :)
Love Elder Gray

Happy Birthday!

I have 7 flipping minutes!! I have to apologize. But I had some people to write back to that wrote Happy Birthday to me. If I missed someone I’m sorry...Thank You now for writing to me! Haha! Okay, so my new comp is where I will pretty much leave you this week. He is a flippin stud! I am loving it!! He is, want to know the best part? He is normal!! Ah and I FEEL normal again! He isn’t gross and he doesn’t try to be funny when he’s not, he is just awesome! We are getting along GREAT, so I’m just loving every day.

On Sunday, 3 of the young kids that were just recently baptized received the priesthood! I was sitting in priesthood class, when they came and got me and I went upstairs and they were like Elder Gray, Edmilson has asked if you could be the one to give him the priesthood! I was like uh oh…..haha, because of the dang language! Which is still stinking freaking hard! Very frustrating by the way.....but it went okay...Bispo helped me out with the beginning with the words I don’t know then I gave the blessing guided by the Holy Ghost!! It was awesome because I felt the spirit just take over! I was so, so nervous at first, but then the Spirit just calmed me down, and it just went really nice. I loved it.

Okay NEW NEWSSSS!!! P-day is CHANGED!!! I will now be doing E-MAIL ON MONDAYS!!! Did you hear that?? I, Elder Gray will now be doing E-MAIL on MONDAY. Monday is now our new P-day. SO....Write me on SUNDAY!!! Ha ha!LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Love Elder Robby Gray

Love This Area!

I realized today is my dogs b-day, haha! How old is he? I don’t remember. ANYWAY, this week has been fantastic! Time is just flying by here in Setubal. I am LOVING it here, I don’t EVER wanna leave! These people are like a huge blessing to me I love it! We are always busy with lessons too, and we get fed so much lately its insane! We have been fed TEN times in the last TEN days!!! What? Its nuts! Way cool tho! I have come to LOVE rice! haha! Its weird, I have come to love some things here that I didn’t love quite as much before. Like onions, I know weird, but I love onions. Okay, okay, enough pointless talk.

SO our baptism on Saturday went great! The water was cold tho! We had a problem with the font. But the kid was a champ about it. It was cold, but everything went as planned and just great! It was awesome to see another baptism here! We have a few more people that are "potentials" that are probably headed right in that direction. We found this new investigator named Odete. She is incredible! She is pretty much already ready to be dunked and we have only taught her two times! She came to the baptism, then the next day came to church and cried and cried. She just LOVED it. And every time we talk with her she is just ALL smiles and LOVES everything we teach! It’s incredible! So I really hope within the next 2 weeks or so we can mark a date for her! She is 51. She is really awesome. I love teaching her.

We had this lesson with a less active member, and we were talking about the after life and how we will all have perfect bodies again, and she at first was like I don’t want my body back...(cuz she is really big), haha. We were talking about the spirit world and stuff and she said, “but I have a fat spirit too.” haha! It was just hilarious. She is really funny.

So one of those 10 dinner/lunch appointments we had was with Helio and Sonia. They are incredible! Helio is a recent convert just waiting patiently for the time to pass to where he can take his family to the temple. It’s awesome! They fed us, then after Sonia grabbed this big bag and just chucked SO much food in it! So we didn’t even have to do our shopping this week. All we had to get was Mayo. Awesome! Oh, then he drove us home and stopped by a store and bought us this amazing Portuguese bread and TONS of juice! They are so, so nice! I am in the process of writing them a thank you letter.

My new companion is going to be Elder Davis. I have heard really good things. AND MOST OF ALL....I hear he is a CLEAN person!!!! YAYAYAAYAYAYAY! What a relief! Ahhhh! I am way stoked. I hear that he is funny and just a cool kid. He is from Florida. YAY an American! Haha. I am already about out of time...Goodness! But I love you all! And most of all I love this work and I love this church! And I know that it is true! And I’m very lucky to be apart of this wonderful work to bring souls unto Christ!!I LOVE YOU!
Love Elder Gray

Fastest Week of my Mission

I am pretty sure I just had the FASTEST week of my mission. I can’t believe its Wednesday already. I think I said that last week too, but this week is even more so! I can’t believe it! But its just cuz stuff is going so well right now! We had those 3 baptisms. They were incredible. Everything went just PERFECT! And the brothers are all just doing great! We went and saw them yesterday and it was fantastic! The middle age one that at first was kind of the one falling behind, well now he is the one just eating up everything we give him! I love it! At the end of the lesson we say, “so is there anything we can do for you guys?” And he says “YES,” so we are like ok, “what’s up?”...and he says, “come back!” We say, “yep of course...when?” He says, “Sempre!!” Haha, it was awesome, I loved it! Then we went to a dinner appt. that went really well. We have had a dinner appt. every day so far!!

We had lunch on Sunday, then dinner on Monday, dinner again on Tuesday, we have dinner again tonight, tomorrow we have appointments for lunch AND dinner! It’s just crazy! I think we have one on Friday too but I’m not sure exactly. Its crazy, it’s almost like I’m in the states!
Oh yeah, and at the baptism I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and it was really good, went really well. Okay kind of, it was hard, but it went alright. Oh, AND we have another baptism this week! On Saturday again, this kid named Wilson. He is progressing a bit slower then we’d like but at least he is ready and going for it. We for sure have to keep going and helping him. It’s really awesome though.

This ward is just fantastic! I could stay here the rest of my mission!! I guarantee there is no better area than this one here in the Lisbon mission. I love it here. I will be getting a new companion here next week. I hope it will be someone way cool! And someone CLEAN for goodness sakes!

So on Sunday and Monday, we met with this family, Familia Santos. They are the COOLEST family! They are way normal and just fun! AND when we ate with them.....They had ICE! Whoa!!! ICE, what? No way! OH yes I ate it up! I had probably like 25 pieces of ice, haha!! It was amazing. Another one of those “Little Things” that you just don’t realize how good it is till it’s GONZO for 2 years! Like Free Refills! Goodness don’t you guys take that for granted! It will be nice to have that back someday....haha!

So church this week was really great. Spiritual as normal, and it was fast and testimony meeting and there were a lot of talks about the plan of salvation because of the boy that died. It was tough, but very spiritual. That is what I got out of it. I’m still having a hard time understanding this Portuguese stuff. What is Portuguese rated on the hardness to learn scale? Its GOTTA be pretty far up there, right under learning a new alphabet or something. J Jenn, Scotty, tell little Gracee happy big number 2 for me haha!! I expect PICS soon. (Again) :) Thank you all for everything! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
LOVE ELDER GRAY!

Adventurous Week

This last week seriously flew by! I can’t believe I am already sitting here writing this e-mail again! It was very eventful, very good, but also very sad. A young kid in our ward, 17 years old, awesome, kid, one of those that you just know will be at church and he is just always smiling and happy and what not, well he got in a car accident on Friday night and died. He was with his older sister, the driver, and his 2 other brothers and his girlfriend. The car that they got in the accident with hit their car right at his door. The back left door. He didn’t have a chance. I heard that he broke every bone in his body. So, so sad, I couldn’t believe it. He was really an awesome kid. But, I know its life, things happen quickly and very unexpectedly and sometimes very tragic and super hard to deal with. I felt so bad for the family. His sister was driving and is still in the hospital. She broke a few bones and her hip. One other brother is in the hospital but will be fine, and the other is fine. He walked away without a scratch. The family is still having a hard time. I couldn’t help but feel the most for the girlfriend though. I left my “best friend” back home to serve my mission for these two years, but I know I will return and see her again. This tragic accident has left his girlfriend barely able to walk. She is so torn up, I just felt so bad. I felt so helpless.

Sacrament meeting this week was the best sacrament meeting I think I have ever attended. The spirit was SO strong it was really incredible. The chapel was chuck full of people and the meeting was about an hour and 45 minutes long. Our choir sang, (which I’m in) uuhhhhummm, thank you, thank you, (doesn’t mean I’m good by any means...) haha, but the spirit there was incredible. We sang a song about Trust in God. It was awesome! It was pretty hard to sing though cuz me and everyone else was choked up or crying. It was tough but truly amazing.

The funeral was on Tuesday. We only got to see about 30 minutes though because we had to go to Lisbon for me, I had a doctor appt. that couldn’t be changed. Lame! But the half hour we saw was awesome! There were 2 great speakers and some amazing hymns and what not. It was great. I heard by the end of the funeral like at the cemetery there were over 400 people there! WOW! It’s like in this place everyone is just one big family. It was incredible to see the love and support from so many people.
Okay, so on a happier note, we may have lost one, but we are gaining 3 on Saturday! (Members, that is.) We have 3 baptisms on Saturday which I’m SUPER stoked for! They are 3 young guys, 17, 14, and 9. They are such cool kids and I have seen so much progression out of them it’s incredible. It’s mostly incredible to see what they are willing to give up to be a member of Christ’s church. It’s truly a miracle being able to see peoples lives change for the best here. I love it. I can’t imagine being on one of those missions where they baptize like 10 people a week. Wow! I’m just grateful for what I have. Chega. ;) We talked to the 3 boys last night about who will do what and stuff and they said they wanted both of us to baptize them, well one of them, and we were like uhh it can only be one of us, haha. The 2 oldest kids will be baptized by members here, and the young one, my comp will baptize. It’s his last transfer so it is an awesome way to go out I’d say!! Anyway, that’s about it for the week! It was quite the adventurous week. And it was good. Thank you all for everything. I LOVE YOU!
Love Elder Gray
Oh and also, next week we have one more marked for baptism. We really hope it will go, but his desire is a bit lacking. So we have more work to do. :)

This week was very good! We had some ups and downs as usual, always seems to go that way. We had this guy Antonio marked for baptism, but he decided not to be baptized. He said he just isn't feeling anything. Ugghhh. Party Foul. He leaves today for Angola, so hopefully something good will come of him in the future. BUT, we marked 3 kids of a member. They are awesome!! I'm so stoked! They love church! I love teaching them too cuz they are all so atentive and what not. I love it! So they are marked for baptism for Sept 5th. I cant wait to see them be baptized! We still have lots of work to do with them tho. So we will hope for the best that everything goes smoothly.

Last p-day, we went to a Castle here in Setúbal and it was awesome! So beautiful! The view was just amazing, right above the ocean! It really was an amazing view. The castle itself isn't very cool, its just the view that sells it!

This week we got 6 new investigators! Woop Woop! It was tight! We found a family of 5. They had been taught before, but got in a little tussle about money with Bishop so they left. But we are hoping now that they will find the truth, not want money.

So this last Sunday was amazing. We had a really good church meeting that went really well, a good show. Then after church, we had lunch with the 2nd counselor Douglas. He is from Brazil and he is so awesome! He is probably my favorite in the ward. He is way way cool and me and him actually somehow found a lot in common. It was way wierd in a way cuz he is like 26 or so, so he is like, OLD. haha!! And I'm not, and it will stay that way.... ;) We just talked for like 2 hours about just stuff and it was way fun. We talked a bunch about music and missions and life and growing up, for him, not me cuz I don't wanna grow up....haha, but it was just really cool to get to know him better and just have fun with him.

Later, we had a lesson with some new investigators we have been teaching that we found thru a member, Vagner. That went really well but was really fast cuz we had to go to Choir. Haha, yup I am in a choir! What? Ya, no, weird. I can't sing. I knew that before, but now I really know it. Notes going up and down and tryin to follow it and sing in portugues, its like an impossible double task, haha! But its cool and way fun because of the people we have here. So I just try to have a good time. I'm kinda learning how to sing but learning how to read notes doesn't change the fact of someone just isn't a singer, haha, oh well, who cares.

On monday, we met with Rafael, he LOVES the missionaries. He charishes havin us over, so I told him if he only smokes 5 cigarettes in one day, we will come over again, and he said, "OK I will try, I will try!!" It was pretty funny. I feel so bad for that horrible habit. But I know that with the right desire and will of heart, and trust in the Lord, its quittable.

Yesterday we had interviews. They went really, really well. President, I think really likes me, he told me some stuff in my interview that just really opened my eyes, and after saying some of the stuff he did, he was like Elder, I have not said any of that to ANYONE else today. I was all wide eyed and like whoa.....Cool. It was really really cool. Our new President is so awesome! He has an incredible desire to do SO MUCH GOOD! I cant wait to see what the future holds!

Well I'm sadly down to 2 minutes. I just want to close saying how much I LOVE you all. I am so greatful for you in my life. Thank you for all you have done for me. I miss you and LOVE you so much!!! Have a GREAT week!
Elder Gray

Grilled Chicken

Well this week wasn’t real eventful, I wasn’t feeling well a couple days and my comp also a couple days...but we are feeling better now. One thing that was pretty awesome, in church this week, we had.......107 PEOPLE!! WOW! That is a TON! Can you believe it! I couldn’t, it was really, really cool. It’s like 100 more people than my last area! Oh I love it. I love this ward. It is so, so awesome! There are younger guys too about our age that are so cool and way fun! We are probably going to hang out with them and play sports or something next p-day. It is way awesome. Church is way fun and cool cuz there are just so many amazing people here!

We have a really ghetto house and my bed is like sleeping on a wood slate, but this place is really amazing. I love the people, and there is still more to know! I still don’t even know them all yet! But it’s really fun and I’m really enjoying my new, more ghetto, but awesome area! We have this guy, he is a member and his name is Rafael, wow he is crazy, he was on hard core drugs before he met the missionaries so his brain is totally shot. Sad and he quit, but now he is back on cigarettes. But we are working with him. But its really hard cuz it’s hard to even have a normal conversation with him cuz he is just not all the way there much at all. But I would love to see him got off the cigs so we are trying. He just loves the missionaries, so we just give him company! :)

In Bela Vista, the really ghetto place here, we teach this family and everytime, we kill at least 4 or 5 cockroaches as we are sitting there talking. GROSS!!! I wonder seriously...how do some people live that way? Ewww!

So every Saturday, we have street meetings. They are way fun. We just go to this big open area where there are always a ton of people and just make contacts for like an hour and a half. It’s a good learning experience and it’s good for my Portuguese cuz I have to talk to people one on one without my comp to help me with the language. So it’s always pretty cool. Last week, I gave out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon. I know that the spirit is always there to help me along with the language, even when I don’t feel like I am speaking well at all, I know the spirit is always there to help so I just try my best.

So right by our house, on the way to our chapel, there is this place where I always see a chicken or rooster. So one day I see the chicken and its loud and really annoying and I was like man I would kill that thing! Well then, the next day on our way home from church, there was a guy outside grilling. HAHA!! And there was no loud noises coming from any chicken or anything….hmmm...haha! I thought it was way funny! Pretty strange things happen here I tell ya. Well I hope you are all doing awesome. Remember your prayers! Remember to read the Book of Mormon. I am SO grateful for the Book of Mormon. I LOVE that book! I love to read and learn everyday! I just finished it again, and I CANT WAIT to start over! It’s just an amazing book to read and we can always learn new things!! Every time! I thank you all for everything you do for me.
I love and miss you all.
LOVE ELDER GRAY

Hard times, spiritual times, fun times, sad times

Hi everyone,

This week has for sure had its ups and downs. Some very hard times, some very spiritual times, some very fun times, some very random times and some very sad times.

Some of you may not know, but my wonderful Grandpa passed away Monday. This time was very hard for me, that being I am on my mission and can’t be there at home with everyone. But I know that without a doubt, if Grandpa could tell me, he would tell me that I am exactly where I should be right now and there is nothing better that I could be doing.

During this hard time, I have REALLY thought about the Plan of Salvation and what it REALLY means. Before, I knew what it was, I knew that God has this wonderful plan for us, but I have never really had anything to "try" that faith of mine until now. When I found out that G-pa was sick, ever since then I have taught the lesson of the Plan of Salvation really from my Heart. Not just because I knew the facts, rather now I teach it directly from my heart. And I also know now that Grandpa is going to be with me always in my lessons, and if I am having any tough times, he will help me through them. I know that without a single doubt in my mind.

I really know that we are so, so blessed to have this knowledge of the Gospel and the knowledge of eternal families. In my lessons to people I have always expressed my deep love for my family and how important I know families are, and the fact that we KNOW, we KNOW, that we can live with these families for ever. It’s SO marvelous! It’s such a huge blessing to have that knowledge!! How lucky are we?

Whenever I meet people that say they don’t believe in God or in anything at all and they think this life is all there is, I’m like, “Wow!” I just wish so, so badly that they would accept the wonderful message we have for them! If they only knew! But that is why I’m here; to try to bring those wonderful sons and daughters of God to this knowledge.

So many times here in Portugal, we get rejected. The people here are not the most open people, that is for sure. But every time we get rejected, a piece of me feels like it breaks, because they JUST had the chance to come to know the truth, but they rejected it! It’s really hard for me to make contacts or knock on doors because of how VERY much we get rejected, but it has been prophesied that "there are more elect people here in Portugal than the missionaries can handle." And I try very hard with faith to remember that as I am out on the street talking to people and someone finally says, "Hey ya, why not, sure, pass by sometime," I just get this BIG smile on my face. And something inside of me grows. What a blessing it is to be able to spread this Gospel to all the people in the world!

This is truly an incredible work. Missionary work is VERY hard, but so amazing. It is much harder than I expected. Coming into it, I was like, “Oh bring it on; it can’t be THAT hard.” HA! Wrong. It is hard. I can’t deny that, but a wise cat once said, "I never said it would be easy, I just said it would be WORTH it."

We have this investigator named Antonio who was marked for baptism, but then we found out he was leaving to go back to Angola. But the day before he was to leave, we found out he is now leaving on the 25th, three days after his baptismal date! WOW! God is a God of miracles! That was really awesome for us. So we are trying to get him prepared. We know that his flight plans were delayed because Heavenly Father wants him to get baptized. He has some things that he needs to leave behind, so we are working with him, but we are hoping he can do it and get baptized. He is in our prayers.

Yesterday we had Zone Conference. It was really, really good. There are a couple of my good friends ending their missions with this next transfer. They are good friends to me, so it was kind of hard, but they shared AWESOME testimonies, so it was really good. I really enjoyed it and the spirit there was super strong.

Well, I’d better wrap this up. I hope you are all doing awesome. I thank you all so much for all you do for me. I love you all SO, SO much. Don’t forget to pray. Heavenly Father wants to hear from EVERYONE. (How would you like it if you gave your child all he could ever ask for and he didn’t ever talk to you? So, so, so many blessings everyday and you don’t hear anything back? Think about that next time you forget to pray.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! ALL OF YOU!!

Love,

Elder Robby Gray

Transferred!

I have been transferred! Too many problems with my other companion. This week’s letter isn’t going to be long so I apologize. I only have 8 minutes left here because I had to write all the big details of what went down with my comp to mom and dad ha-ha. Now I’m in Setubal, and I’m loving it already. It is an awesome place. Please feel free to write!!!

Elder Robby Gray
Rua Dr. Luis Terceira Macedo e Castro
N 6 R/C Dto.
2910-586 Setúbal
Portugal

There’s my new address! Please write!! I hope all is going good for you back home! I will write a much bigger better letter next week for sure, so look forward to that. I just wanted to get my address to you.

I have met about 4 families so far and they are absolutely AMAZING! This place is just awesome! I really look forward to what is going to happen here. There is huge potential. And the ward is huge. A BIG change from Tavira and I’m excited because it will be a great experience without a doubt.

Thank you all!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Miss you Tonz!!
Love Elder Gray

(Please keep me updated on Grandpa) My prayers are VERY much so with him and grandma. LOVE YOU!

HOT HOT HOT!!

Rule number one: Don’t ever visit Portugal in July. Rule number two: If you ever do visit Portugal, find a place that has air conditioning. IT IS SO HOT! I sit and sweat! Gross! Literally, I can just sit in our study room in the middle of the day and if I don’t get the fan right next to me I sweat. It’s gross! I don’t like sweating at all. We go to appointments and sit there and teach and you look at everyone around you and they are all sweating. Beaming, gross wet sweat stuff, running down people’s faces and what not. Wow, gross!! It’s really humid right now too. I pretty much carry the fan around the house with me, where I am, it is too. It’s like my little pet, keeps me company ha-ha. Night time sometimes is horrid. It’s just so hot even with the fan right next to my bed blowing right on my face; it still doesn’t do the job. Not to mention the fans here are horrible! They should really learn how to make fans work. So this week things have gone back downhill again. Me and my comp are just not working out very well. Its not as bad as it was, I have come to the conclusion he is bi-polar. Yup. I’m not kidding, I think he is, because last week he acted so cool and what not and pretended to be my friend and stuff like that then the other night he just wigged out and things got pretty bad. I don’t think I have ever been so angry with someone in my life. But it’s also weird cuz you can’t just walk away from it. So we sat there and argued for like 3 hours and just tried to figure stuff out. Eventually we kind of did. It’s just crazy. But I will be able to make it to the end of the transfer, patience. But the good news is we do work hard. Things in that factor are good. We don’t talk much, it’s really boring, but the work is going good so that is all that matters. Like for instance...we marked Koky for baptism!! August 15, same day as that little girl. :) I’m way stoked; I am bummed though cuz I’m pretty positive I am for sure outta here, so I don’t get to see them happen. I could have had my 2nd baptism, but not now, so I’m sad about that. But Koky is getting baptized and that’s all that really matters. So this week I got a Mt. Dew!! Some of you are probably like whoopdy doo…..NO, it’s a big deal! A missionary whose family came to get him, well, his brother brought me a Dew! It was amazing! First one in over 8 months. Okay, I loved it! J Just a happy moment for me. Also this week, I jumped on…..then back out of a moving train ha-ha! It was intense! I had to cuz my comp didn’t make it on, (he is not athletic at all). I jump on to make the train...he can’t, ha-ha, SO I have to jump out! It was really movin I tell ya. Imagine some kid running as fast as he can, and then some other kid jumps out of a moving train...well it probably wasn’t so smart ha-ha, but hey it was one to remember. Yes, of course I ate it. I slid about 10 feet on my back, but I had my backpack on so nothing got ruined. I was a bit worried about my pants but they pulled thru ha-ha! It was crazy! Don’t tell my president k....ha-ha! J One thing that is funny about Portuguese people, whenever we read in the Book of Mormon or anything, we ask someone to read...like hey will you read Moroni 10:3 to 10:5 please? They do but then after they read 5, they just keep going. They don’t stop until you say so. So we really have to be on our toes and right when they say the last word of what we want them to read I say “ta bom!” Like okay! That is good. Ha-ha It’s way funny. They just don’t pay attention I guess to the numbers or something, it happens A LOT, ha-ha, it’s pretty funny. Our member Irma Cabral, even after I tell her to stop, she just keeps reading like whispering, it’s way funny! It’s like she just doesn’t want to stop so she pretends to stop, like out loud, but I can always see her lips moving as she keeps reading, ha-ha I love it! Well I’m out of time. Time always seems to fly by when its internet time! But I love you all so much. Thank you for everything!! I’m so grateful for the plan of salvation in my life. What a blessing it is to know that we will all be able to live together again. Please tell Grandpa I love him very much, and no matter the circumstance of this scary situation, please let him know that I know without A DOUBT, I will see him again. I love you Grandpa. Thank you all for your support and love. I LOVE YOU ALLLove Elder Gray

Fresh Start

So, I’m starting over. I have been slacking lately on writing EVERYONE that I could or should be, because of the lack of good that has been going on here right now. I have really been struggling with my new comp. I talked with our Mission Pres, who is new by the way, and he is pretty cool so far. He is way nice and he tries to be funny so that is pretty cool. I don’t get jokes yet though in Portuguese, ha-ha. We had this big huge annoying ordeal of a bunch of different interviews and what not, then Elder Rodrigues and I just went and took a sit down, and I just put him in his place, (to make things simple). We talked about the stuff that is going on and why it’s not working and why we are always so mad at each other. We figured out what the problems are and now we are working at it. So far it is better, things are running smoother. It’s nowhere near perfect, but now I am not debating going to the top of the building and jumping. (I’m just kidding, mom). I thank you all for you patience and help. So now I wanted to start new and just try to stay always positive and always write positive, and try not to leave anyone out that wants to know about my life here in crazy Portugal! (It’s in Europe for those that don’t know, I didn’t....) ha-ha, BUT...there is a rule, if you don’t write me at least just saying that "you are at least reading the letters," I won’t continue to send them to you, cuz I don’t want to send them to those who don’t read them or care to get them, so if I don’t hear from you soon, I won’t bother sending you the big email each week, so let me know if you want me to continue sending the group email to you. Thanks. :)

Okay, so this week, because we are making things a bit better, things are going a bit better. First of all, our investigator Koky. He is a stud! He has been coming to church EVERY WEEK since we first started talking to him, which is a big deal! For all of you that have cars or a church about a 2 min walk away, or even a bike, he doesn’t. He has to walk about 40 minutes to church everyweek, and I tell you it is HOT right now! July is the hottest month in the summer. And he walks!! There and back, that just goes to show that he cares. So I love it!! We are going to have a compromisso with him tomorrow, Thurs. We want to extend the invite to be baptized so I really hope to see that go well. The last few people I have seen after being asked to be baptized, they stop everything and don’t want anymore lessons, so its really scary, this opportunity to extend this commitment with him, is NOT very common here. Other missions they may do it daily, weekly, or monthly even. But here it’s a new story, so it’s very tough. I would LOVE to see this go thru though. He would be an awesome addition to our little tiny branch here in Tavira.

I found out on Sunday, there is a little girl that is 8 yrs old and getting ready to be baptized. Her whole family are members, but her dad doesn’t have the priesthood, I don’t know why, he also doesn’t take the sacrament, but hey, he is in church, so that is good. She decided she wants ME to baptize her! Pretty cool huh? But, the downfall, I may not be able to, because transfers are on the 6th of August. Her baptism is on the 15th. And because of all this that happened with me and my comp I will prob get transferred this upcoming transfer. So I guess we will see what happens. But either way it’s really cool to me that she picked me. When I told her, and the family I may get transferred and not be able to do it, but that if I don’t I would love to, the little girl, Andrea, looked up at her mom and said, very quietly, she is very shy, she says, "But mom, then who will baptize me?" Wow! Talk about getting hit in the heart. Maybe it wasn’t all that big of a deal. But when she said that, in Portuguese thank goodness I understood it, well it just hit me, and I really right then, well I kind of felt like the grinch when his heart begins to grow. (You know in the cartoon it busts out of the little box!) (yes Kiley, I’ve seen it, surprised?) ;) ha-ha, But really, that’s how I felt. I felt my heart grow for that little girl. And I loved seeing her little bit of concern because she really wants to be baptized. It was just really cool for me. It helped me have a good day.

Okay a quick few things to people, Deanna, Congrats on the marriage! I’m so happy for you! I saw a couple of pics and you looked Gorgeous! And I also got a pic of Nikki and Mr. (Elder) Allen!! What! Oh my, that is so funny! Way cool tho! Now I wish I would have gotten to know him a little better...ha-ha! That is way, way funny! I couldn’t help but laugh!! You go you two! Tell him hi for me ha-ha.

All of you, thank you. Thank you for all you do for me, thank you for your prayers and thoughts. I really appreciate them. Please continue to pray and fast for Grandpa. I know he can pull thru but he also really needs our prayers. I will continue to check on him thru the blog-site. Thanks for keeping that going good. It’s really good way for me to see his progress. Thank you, thank you!

I Love you and miss you all so much! Have an amazing week! Sorry this was so stinkin long. I hope you pulled thru and didn’t give up. Or just saw from the beginning and saw how long it was and said "ehhh...I’ll read it later," whos guilty??? Jason? Ha-ha, just playing! I love you all so much! Thank you for all you do. Don’t be shy. WRITE!!!!!
I Love You,
Love Elder Robby 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

Hard Times

Well things are pretty much feeling the same here. There just isn’t that much to report about because of my comp and this whole ridiculous situation, things are not progressing much at all. I’m having harder times getting compromissos to go through. It’s weird. Things are just getting harder and harder with this guy. All he does is sleep too. It’s really annoying; anytime we get home at anytime he goes to sleep. So, I work on the area book a lot and call people and try to set stuff up as he sleeps. He is killing this area. I really like this area but because it is so small it’s hard with this kind of comp. I need someone cool to get thru it. It’s really tough. I try to be normal and what not but it really doesn’t work. I’m trying tho.

Our investigator Koky is doing really good. He has been coming to church every week which is awesome. I’m so happy he is coming, I think in our next visit I want to extend the invite to be baptized. The last person that was baptized in this area was like 3 years ago I think. It’s been a while, and that person is already inactive, sad stuff.

We only have about 10 people at church every week. We have a family that seems to be going a little in active so I set up to go over there and have family night with them every week, I think so far it has been good. They came to church the next week smiling and happy to be there so that made me feel good. Whether I had anything with the fact that they came or not, it was just good to see them there. :)

That is about it, I’m about out of time so I will wrap it up. Thank you for everything. I appreciate the letters so much.
Love You! Elder Gray

Grandpa Gray Hospitalized

I can’t believe that about grandpa. How sad. I will be keeping him in my prayers for sure you know that. I’m glad you will be keeping an update regularly; I will for sure be getting on email probably every day for just a few minutes to keep myself updated. The blog thing is a good idea, a good way for me to be able to go see how Grandpa is doing.

Starting today, I’m going to work harder. I’m going to be a better missionary. I feel the spirit telling me that if I just work harder. Look at the positive things, things will work out. I have to be patient with my new comp. So far I am really, really struggling. But dad like you said this is absolutely nothing compared to what Grandpa is going thru. I really hope he pulls through. Please keep me updated on ALL the details and what’s going on. I will work extra hard for grandpa. I’m going to keep him deeply in my prayers.

I am so grateful for the plan of salvation, for that knowledge. We are so, so blessed to know that if things don’t work out the way we really, really hope, we still have hope, and our faith. And I have my faith in Heavenly Father that he knows best and I just try my very hardest to know that everything has a reason.

Please continue to keep me updated on Grandpa. I will be checking email again tomorrow to see updates. I will give a quick update just how things are going here, the new comp, like I said is seriously hard. And I thought my last comp was hard. This is a new story. But I don’t want to complain so I will just keep to myself and move forward. Thank you for everything. I Love You All. Keep your heads up and keep Grandpa in your prayers. Tell him hi for me please. And that I love him. I will be back on tomorrow to see new news.
I love you.
Love Elder Gray

Hard Week

This week was pretty good, we got transfer calls, my old comp is gone, and now I’m with the Elders of Olhao till tomorrow. But I’m really not happy at all about my new comp. I know who it is. Its worse than before. I feel like I deserved to get a new GOOD comp. Worse? I am having a really hard time having the faith in the fact it must be for a good reason. I’m really stressing about it. He is Portuguese which is the only good thing and the fact my Portuguese will improve, but he is super boring and well I won’t go way into it cuz I hate being negative, but I’m not happy. I’m having a hard time. I thought sunshine came after rain. I don’t know, its just not good. I know I need to be positive, but I’m not perfect, so I’m a bit down right now and I’m sorry.

This week we went to the house of a inactive member named Maria Cabral. She is so, so funny, and we also visited Senhor Joao. He is hilarious! So I really loved it. They are just really funny and its fun to be over there. We had this candy lesson thing and he just was acting like a 10 year old it was so awesome. He isn’t a member and it’s fun going over there. We also taught Irmao Pinto again. I really enjoy teaching him because I seem to always be able to feel the spirit in the room and he pays good attention too. We talked about the importance of having the spirit with us and he seemed to really like it and enjoy it. It was great!

Last week we had lunch with Casal Nelsons, we had enchiladas! Oh my goodness!! I miss good food! But I have really grown to love rice! Anytime we eat anything with rice I get all excited cuz there are so many types, I love it! Portuguese food is pretty interesting. The longer I’m here the more I start to like it too.

Anyways well that’s about it for this week. Sorry it’s not a lot. It was just kind of slow with Elder Clark packing and we did a lot of time at the chapel working on this member book thing we are doing. So we didn’t have lots of lessons and stuff. Thank you all for everything. You are all an inspiration to me.
Thank you so much.
Love Elder Gray

Ponte de Piedad

Sooo..this week has been interesting in a few ways. I have some pretty funky things going on with myself. I have some crazy weird thing going on with my hand. Almost like a super dry problem and it has caused this big crack in my ring finger, so typing with it hurts, I don’t get it. I have been using lotion and stuff too, I don’t know. I need to go to the pharmacy place but I’m just a slacker when it comes to that stuff. I have never liked going to a doctor or anything like that, and it costs money, its just weird cuz its humid here! It should be the opposite, but it is SO, SO HOT! My goodness, I sweat like a pig! It is GROSS! Thank goodness you all don’t have to see me this way. I feel nasty. Ewww, wet nasty grossness!! But it’s still better than the cold. I sleep with a fan hitting right on me every night, its just so hot! And of course there is no a/c here. Duh!

So this mail is a bit late I know, its cuz we went to Ponte de Piedad, in Lagos. SO, SO COOL! We went with the Casals, the married couple missionaries, AND...the best part, so we go down these super long stairs and there are these boats there where tourists go and stuff and you can go thru caves and what not, but we were like oh man lame! we can’t do that. Missionaries can’t go on boats. But...The Casals were like are you guys allowed to do this? I was like no, but, maybe we can call president and ask. So I called president Terry and he said yes! What?! I could not believe it, so we did it! We went on a boat ride and got to check out these crazy cool caves and stuff! It was so, so much fun. I loved it! I was just wishing I had a more fun comp that would say more than just like ya...oh ya, uh huh..oh. Like come on!! Uh Boring! But I had Elder Nelson there with me, so it was ok. Then after that we went to Sagres, it is the furthest point west in the southern end of Portugal. Pretty cool! Hot, and we walked a lot! Then we played basketball which I was not planning cuz I only had my flip flops, but we met up with other elders and played b- ball, so I played in my flip flops, totally worth it. It was a blast! But now...Ouch. My feet are killing me. I split open my right foot. So it really is no fun.

Okay so now some weekly stuff. We met this girl, her name is Tania. Her mom is a member, but very inactive. She hasn’t been to church in like 15 yrs. She was the one that got in contact with a member dude that lives close by, so we were like oh cool she wants to talk! Ok! SO, we go over there, turns out her daughter, Tania, is having a problem with visions. Her dad died 10 years ago, but she said that he is coming to her and she can see and talk to him, and he is telling her she needs to kill herself so she can be with him. Wow. When I heard that I was just wide eyed like what? are you serious?! She was crying and could barely even talk. I couldn’t believe it. She said she just really wants him gone and it’s really scaring her. Yeah, I’m sure! She is 15 by the way. So I was just dumbfounded like what on earth do I say?!?! Right now, think about that, what would you say? Well it was hard for me for a minute. But then I said, “first we can give you a blessing if you so desire,” then I thought for a minute, gave her a Book of Mormon, and said, “look, read 3 Nephi 11, then read Moroni 10.” Then I explained the very importance of prayer afterwards. So we left that with her then told her we can talk more at church. She didn’t come that week, she was sick, but then the next week, this week, she came. And the first thing I asked her was about her reading and if she was praying and she said with a big smile, yes I am. I then got this big smile and I was like good!! Keep going! Then I asked about her seeing her dad thing, and she said it has not happened since she started reading! AH, how cool is that! I was so, so happy! And it was just kind of cool cuz I was the one that thought of what to say cuz my comp just stood there with air in his head so it seems, he didn’t say a word the whole time. Uhhggg! But, ONE more week and I get a new comp! :) But ya, so that was really crazy. I hope she comes this week too and she continues to progress.

Yesterday we had an awesome lesson with a less active member named Irmao Pinto. Stud! but very, very mixed up in stuff, and old. BUT, he was really confused why we cant drink wine. Jesus did, so he thinks it’s totally fine. Another pretty tough question, because of the fact Jesus did, he just holds to that. SO, I just went off, it was really cool. Honestly, I don’t really remember exactly what I said. I really feel that the spirit just came in and took over 100 percent! Whoa! he was paying such good attention too I was loving it. And the Portuguese wasn’t feeling so hard either, so I KNOW without a doubt I had the spirit with me guiding me the whole way. Missionaries are so blessed to be able to have the spirit! BUT Satan is STILL here and working super duper hard on us. I know that. So we have to be constantly on our knees asking for strength.

It really is rewarding when you are doing what is right! The blessings come in like a heavy river flow. I really am so, so grateful for the gospel, for the gift of the Holy Ghost. And how amazing is this work, I love teaching. I love it. I always look forward to all the lessons we have. They are always such a blessing for us, because lessons don’t happen too often at all...but it’s really amazing when we have one. I love this work. And I know without a doubt it will continue to go forward! Thank you all for all you do for me. I love the letters! I would like more to the apartment tho, you are ALL slackers on that one. Except mommy and daddy. Especially not dad :) I love em. And mommy likes to try to make me fat. :/ ha-ha, but thank you so much! (Jason...Are you still alive??)I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Have a great week! Love Elder Gray

Sand World P-Day

Ola minhas amigos!! Tas fixe?? So...This week was pretty good, a bit slower than last week, but we for sure had a few really good lessons and what not. We have this couple named Jefferson and Jucileia, they are from Brazil. Brazilians are awesome!! (Josh you are lucky to be going to Brazil!) Anyway, they are way fun to talk to every time we go over there. Lots of times we talk about English, they really want to learn English so every time we go over we teach a little bit of English then give a lesson. It’s really awesome. They are really fun. I just hope they will read and pray. They do pray a bit but not quite the same way, they are Evangelical, so I think their prayers are repeated prayers. And I haven’t quite figured out how to go about that yet. But I will soon. I think it would be hard to be told you are praying wrong and need to change it, so we are just giving it time till the right moment arises. But so far so good, we asked them to read Alma 32 yesterday, so I really hope they take it serious and find the time to read. The people really like to make up excuses for not being able to read cuz they have NO time. Granted, yes I know time is hard sometimes to find, BUT I also know that everyone has at least a couple minutes for our Father in Heaven so I’m never a big fan when people say oh I’m just too busy. Ahhh, NO, your not. It’s just not a big enough priority, but we will just keep working at it.

The other day we were going thru the cell phone and found a number of some dude named Koky and we were like who is this? So we just called him and he said we could come over so we did and he ended up being just a total stud! So I’m way stoked to teach him more. We have a big activity thing on Saturday and he said he would come so I really hope he does cuz I think it will be an awesome experience.

Last p-day we went to Sand World. WOW! Talk about an amazing place. I couldn’t believe all the talent of the art there! There was some really cool stuff. I went nuts with pics that’s for sure. I think everyone did, it was way cool. For sure a good p-day! Last week in church, we had some visitors from England! That’s not too common, so because it was fast sunday everyone bore testimony and during the meeting Elder Clark translated for them, but then he got up to bear his testimony so I figured I might as well try to translate for them. Man I tell you what, translating is HARD! It’s very tough and I did just ok. Not too great. I kept saying stuff in Portuguese but then realized like duh, you are supposed to be translating! Ha, ha, it was just really weird, but way fun. Cool new experience for me. My first time being a translator! And I don’t want to do it again. Just playin. Well at least not for a while, tho it was cool to see what it was like, and that its hard!

So guess what...I’m learning the piano!! (Kiley, you better step up your game ;) ) I have learned a couple of hymns, not too well, BUT I can play one FULL hymn with both hands! Ha,ha! Cool eh?! I started by just teaching myself, and was doing alright, but then a couple days ago as I was playing, a girl in our ward, (she is like 21 and she is also learning the piano, but she is way, way ahead of me) She walks in a sits down next to me and well pretty much just started giving me pointers and started teaching me! It was pretty awesome! So I started another hymn that is more complicated and I’m getting it down! So I really am hoping to keep myself going and keep learning more, cuz I LOVE the piano! So that was really fun. We will see how that goes. :)

Well that’s about it for this week...thank you all for all for everything! I love the letters you send, even just the little itty bitty ones!! I love em! Thank you so much! I’m so, so grateful for all of my family and wonderful friends. I know I have been very extremely blessed. I am really thankful for my opportunity to be out here and serve my Heavenly Father in Portugal. Missionary work is amazing. How lucky are we to already have the knowledge of the truth?! I am so, so grateful for everything we know and the comfort it brings. I know the church is true without a doubt! I love you!LOVE Elder Robby Gray

A compliment on my Portuguese!

This last week was actually really good. From the day I got here in Tavira to now, I have already seen a difference. I think I had a few techniques that Elder Clark just never thought of….weird, since he goes home in 22 days, ha-ha. I am enjoying the teaching that we do. It’s really amazing, I love it! I love to teach! There’s not much like teaching the Gospel to someone who has no direction in their life, pretty amazing.

We have an investigator named Carlos, he was born with no legs. And he asked me about that the other day, if God is such a great God then why don’t I have legs. Wow! That was really tough to answer. I really had a hard time with it. But I tried my best to explain, and he seemed to agree and understand. We are trying to get him to come to church but getting people to church is SO tough. It is so nice when we have more members to help and invite people. There are just so few, and more than half of them don’t care much to talk with the missionaries I feel like, so we just keep going and try to get into their house. Sometimes I feel like I may be annoying, but hey, they need to do more! Do their part! Like Preach My Gospel says...about the members helping out! So we are trying.

We had Zone Conference this week, it was really good! It was President and Sister Terry’s last one! We are getting a new President. It feels weird and kind of scary. But I think he will be a great guy.

We went over to a less active member’s home, and after a little bit of talking he asked me, “how long have you been in the country?” I said “well, almost 5 months.” His eyes got huge and he was like, “wow Elder! Your Portuguese is amazing! You speak very, very well!” I couldn’t help but smile. I loved it! I love to hear that. But I am STILL having troubles understanding people. I can say nearly anything I want for the most part, but boy it’s tough to understand some people!

Last night we had a ward activity and we played The Price Is Right. O Preço Certo. It was way fun actually. I didn’t think it would turn out very good but it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it! The members all really enjoyed it too. Now we just need to get our investigators to come to our activities! That’s the next step.

Well, things with my comp are going fine. It’s boring, but it’s going okay. I entertain myself and things go fine, ha-ha, but we are getting along okay. We had our house checked last night by the Casals, which means “the married.” The Elder and Sister couple down here in the Algarve, and they were AMAZED about our house! They said they have never seen something so, so clean! I loved that. Being clean really does pay off I tell ya!! I’ve got to get on to a couple other e-mails, so thank you all for everything! I love you all so much. Have a great week!


Love, Elder Gray