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