A Lot Happening This Week!

The week just flew by again, just like I thought it would...it was really good tho! I will find out today if I get transferred, and if I do, I will be gone tomorrow, which is sad to think about cuz I really do love my area here. But I have had my share that is true. We DID have our Baptism of Ines on Saturday! Whoop! It was AWESOME, and it went SO good too, also the confirmation. I will start with the start....of the week. :)

We taught Ines on Tuesday, and we had to be just straight up with her to be SURE 100 percent that she is ready. And it went really, really well and I could tell she was for sure ready! We taught her about how important it is for her to STAY on the right path and do what’s right. I loved it. We taught her at our 1st counselor’s house with Pedro too, so it was good cuz we had two other people to help testify the importance of STAYING in the church and NOT drifting away. Sometimes it can get hard and sometimes, people start to doubt their testimonies. Its THEN, when they need to get on their knees and get back in line and ask for help. I have already seen many people who were baptized fall away from the church, whether it be 1 year later, 6 months later, or 15 yrs. later, who knows, but the fact is, NO ONE is perfect. Everyone has doubts, but it’s what we do THEN that counts. It’s the way we ACT when we are feeling doubtful. If we do NOTHING....Nothing will happen. But if you TRY and you ACT, things will happen for the better and life will be happy, happy, happy! I have NO doubt about that! I have taught many times about the importance of ACTING. And it’s just SO true. We wont get anywhere without acting. Things don’t just happen for us. We don’t become FIRM in the gospel, in the church without ACTING and making our way THERE!!! So ACT and pray! That is basically what I told her, and what I’m telling YOU. We can all improve and be better. And there is no feeling greater than when we are doing our very best. Then we had one more lesson with Ines on Thursday. We had just a couple other things to teach her like fasting and obeying the law, and just a couple things like that and it ALSO went just perfect. She was an awesome investigator, she also asked a LOT of questions, which shows me that she cares and that she really wants to know! Then, of course we had the baptism on Saturday. Right before her baptism, she still had in her nose piercing, and so I said, “hey you ought to take that out now,” and she said, “OKAY, no problem,” and she took it right out. No questions, no complaints, nadda! It was cool! I have seen lots of people all sad about taking out their piercings and stuff but she was just like “OKAY” done! It was awesome. Her friend, a member, Gerson baptized her and he did a GREAT job. It was really spiritual, and it was his first time baptizing someone and he afterward was telling me, (he is 16) how grateful he is for us teaching her and giving HIM this opportunity to baptize her. He told me how strong the spirit was after he baptized her and he was shaking cuz he felt so good. NOW THAT is what I’m talking about!! Yeah, I kind of wish I could have baptized her, its always awesome getting IN the water too, but I tell ya, that hug that he gave me afterward and those feelings that HE felt too...well it just doesn’t get much better!
So I got to see TWO people have just AMAZING experiences! I was very, very grateful for the opportunity I had to be the one to teach her and see her baptized. It was incredible. That’s what missionary work is all about. :)

So get this, funny little story...We were at dinner with Pedro’s family, and we are sitting at the dinner table eating, when the little girl, Miriam said, “I am going to marry Elder Gray!” ha ha! Everyone was like huh? That was random! She loves me, but she doesn’t like my comp now or my last one, so its funny. She is always calling me a DOLL too. She is 6 years old, so I guess I’m going to have to wait a little while, ha ha! (Jenn, it’s the little girl you talked to on Christmas.)

OH!! I almost forgot! YOU ALL WILL NOT believe THIS! I still don’t really. I, ROBBY, SANG at the baptism. WHAT!? Yeah, it was so weird! I guess I did pretty well, I know I don’t sing but Ines wanted me to sing so bad for some reason with Gerson. So Gerson and I sang "Love at Home" for the closing song. It was crazy. One thing that was pretty interesting tho, is like...I wasn’t nervous. I mean, I kind of was but not really. I thought I would choke and die cuz I NEVER sing in front of people, so it was quite the interesting experience, and it went okay I guess.

Sorry I’m going kind of out of order here, but hey I’m keeping things interesting...So on Sunday! The Confirmation of Ines was great! Pedro did it and he was super nervous, but he got thru the first part just fine and gave a GREAT blessing! It was an awesome opportunity for him. He will be leaving on his mission here in February to Belgium. He did a very good job, and we got to stand in the circle.

Also at church, it was really funny, there was a little family sitting right in front of us, and a little girl saw a little spider, and I figured she would freak out like most people do, but instead she says, "MOM! LOOK! Awww...Mom he is going to starve to death!" Ha ha ha ha!! It was so FUNNY! She said it like 5 times, she was so worried that this little spider was going to starve to death! Ha ha, I loved it. Normally people just kill em! But no, she wanted to feed the poor little guy. HA HA! So anyway, we had a great, great week! :) A great week for me to end all my time here in Setubal. At least I’m pretty sure...I will know later today. I love YOU!! Have a GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!! Miss you!
Love Elder Gray