Seven new investigators in two days!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Elder Gray

A Miracle With the Language

This week was pretty good, but the work seems to be slowing down a little. Everyone bails on us with our lessons we set up! It is so, so frustrating! The people here just don’t know how to keep their word. We call before the lesson, then later when its actually time, they aren’t home or just don’t have the time, or they have to leave...They just come up with all these excuses! BUT, it was still a good week!

The Agues family, the boy I baptized and the mom that was baptized too, well they are doing amazing! I LOVE going over to their house 3 times a week. It is so awesome! The mom, Eneida is just so amazing! She is still continuing to progress so well! I love going over there because she is always so excite to hear what we have to teach that night. They are an absolute amazing family. They are from Cabo Verde if I didn’t mention that earlier.

So last week we went and played Futebol. Soccer in English...and it was really fun. Even though I’m not the best at it, we had a really good time.

This week we had divisions and I went to another area with an Elder named Elder Hatch. He is kind of new also. He was in the group above me in the MTC, so I knew him before and he also doesn’t speak much of the language. We had a lesson that night and he started talking about prayer and faith and the Holy Ghost, but then started to stumble on his words then went blank. So, I took over and just started talking about how important it is for us in our lives. Then the girl that is a member asked me if it’s still possible to have the spirit with you even if you are sinning. I gave her the story that Elder Uchtdorf gave in one of his talks about the airplane going off only 2 degrees. I don’t know how I got through it cuz I don’t know nearly enough Portuguese, but I did. And I ended up talking for an hour and 10 minutes. I could not believe it. It was so amazing though. I could really feel the spirit. I told her that story and how it’s like that with the spirit. If you just go off the straight and narrow you may start going further and further off the path so its RIGHT NOW you need to get back on the right path so you don’t get way off to the point where its nearly impossible to get back on. It was really a good lesson and I really enjoyed being able to say all that in Portuguese.

Now don’t be fooled, I don’t speak very well. It is so tough! Portuguese is so hard. Not gonna lie, sometimes I feel like I’m progressing, but then others it’s like I don’t have a clue what to say or what’s going on. It’s really difficult at times and very frustrating. Learning a new language is not easy. I have gained a whole new upmost respect for all the missionaries around the world who are learning a new language. But I am keeping my head up and I am going to keep going at it until I get it! Then once I get it! I will keep going until I perfect it!

Also this last week, kind of a funny story, we had a run in with a very drunk guy that I could not understand a single word. No one could because he just slurred everything he said. But somehow we talked to him for 15 minutes and we just kept saying how we have to go but he kept talking. So I just finally said, “Can I get a picture with you?” I just totally changed the subject from who knows what he was talking about and yup, I got a picture with him. He totally looks like a dude from the circus he has a big huge mustache and crazy clothes, and....a pass along card from me! :-) In my picture he is holding up the card too. It’s awesome. It was a funny night. I just wish I could have understood anything he said. Someday.

So a little about the church here, it’s pretty awesome. The members are all awesome and they LOVE the missionaries. But...not enough cuz we can never get them to help us with lessons. Getting members to help is very good for the teaching, but it’s so tough here because everyone says they don’t have time. Ever. But I think it’s not that they don’t have time.

So, here is my little lesson to all of you today. Don’t ever say you don’t have time for something so small and something that doesn’t take long at all, especially when it has to do with the church. If you say you don’t have time, it means you don’t care enough. That’s that. So care. And make the time.

Eu sei que nossa igreja é verdadeiro. Eu sei temos um profeta este dia. Eu sei nossa igreja é unique verdadiero igreja em na terra. Sou muito grato para todos os meus amigos e por minha familia. Muito obrigado por sempre a ajudar-me. Eu amo-vos.

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything. Work Hard. Pray. And remember who you are and who you stand for.

Thank you for everything! Thank you for your support.

Elder Gray

Life is Good in Agualva

This week has mostly been just beautiful! The weather has really shaped up. I put on a short-sleeved shirt yesterday and I felt like a new man! This last week was also really good as far as the work goes. We have a new investigator named Negrinho who we met just as we were about to head home. We were just making a few more street contacts when I saw this guy holding a big guitar bag. I was like oooh!! Let’s contact the dude with the guitar! So we did and he turned out to be the coolest guy!! He LOVES to sing, especially in English, so he came to our English class on Wednesday and we helped him. Then the next day we went to visit him and he was like, “Let’s go to the park and I’ll play the guitar and you guys can sing!” I was just like, “Oh boy, me sing? Who is this guy kidding? This white boy can’t sing!” BUT...sure enough we did! And long story short, we sang Celine Dion. HA! Don’t make fun okay? It was so funny and I felt like so, so awkward, but since it was in English it didn’t matter. And all the other people walking by seemed to enjoy it.

We then we had some guy walk up and he was like, “I love music!!” So we ended up singing with him and we gave him a pass along card.

It was way fun, but not something to speak of in the states. Haha! But as they say here in Portugal, if it’s English, it’s “tight”. Sometimes I have seen like hard-core gangster dudes thinkin’ they are so tight and they are listening to Beyonce! It’s hilarious!

Anyways, another fun story, last week we went bowling and I decided to see if I could do bad...then good. Is it bad to hustle on a mission? Haha. So anyways we made our teams and then made a bet that whichever team loses has to buy the winners ice cream. So, the first game I just chucked the ball as hard as I could, which is no way to do well. I did horrible and the others were all like, “Have you ever bowled before?” And I was like, “Oh, once or twice.” 

But then, the second game I actually tried and beat every single one of them! Ha! I loved it! I got 145, which isn’t like way good, but it’s pretty and good enough to beat everyone else and we won and got ice cream. It was so funny cuz after the first game the other team thought for sure they had it in the bag. It was a blast!

One more quick story. We have this other investigator named Clayton. What a good guy! He is Brazilian and is separated from his wife, but has a daughter and when we went over there the first time he was with his daughter and we taught the first lesson. It all went great. So, we went back two days later and found out that his wife had fled to Spain and taken his daughter with her! Oh, he was so distraught! He was shaking like he was freezing cold. I just couldn’t believe how upset he was. I felt so sad for him. So we tried to comfort him and just be there for him and he totally opened up to us so much about his life and his problems and worries. Now remember this is only the second time visiting this guy and he had already opened up completely. WOW! How amazing is that? So, we told him we would pray for him and his daughter, then we had a good prayer with him before we left.

We came back about three days later and while we were there, there was a knock on the door. It was his daughter! I have never seen someone go from not so happy to so, so happy in a second! I couldn’t keep the big huge smile off my face. It was so awesome, I loved it!

Well anyways, I gotta go, it’s that time again. Thank you all for everything!!! Have a great week okay?

Love,

Elder Gray

Missionary Work is Amazing!

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Gray