The Work Goes On

You aren’t the only ones with bad weather I promise! It’s been really gross here. Really windy and rainy. We were going to go to the zoo today, but not now because of the rain. So we are going to go bowling. But everything is going good. We got a new investigator named Wallace. He is from Brazil. We taught the 1st lesson and he loved it! The spirit was seriously so strong in the room that day I loved it. I didn’t want to leave. We made a time to go back on Saturday so I’m really excited to go back. I’m praying that he will open his heart and hear our wonderful message we have for him.

On the down slope, we lost our friendly Chinese investigators. They started talking to the Jehovah’s Witnesses again and they told them to stay away from us. Really, really sad. They were such great people, but we will continue to pray for them always.

We had a street meeting on Easter Sunday. It was really good. I really enjoyed it. I think that is a really good way to help my Portuguese, too. And it’s fun working with all the members and getting them to do some missionary work. At first I went off with a non-active member named Sergio. He is awesome! But he is just really lazy. But we went off and I said hi to this guy and shook his hand, but he kept walking. Then Sergio grabbed his hand and I started talking to the guy and he was like, “No, no thanks,” but Sergio wouldn’t let go of his hand! It was so funny! Sergio was like, “No sir, this message is really important for you.” It was awesome! What a good missionary he was that day. We didn’t actually get any info from the guy, BUT we at least were able to plant a little seed and give him a pass along card.

Everything with Elizabete is going pretty good. She is such an amazing person; we have family night with her, so we are really excited to teach her and her boyfriend. Hopefully we can get the spirit to be really strong this week for them. But we will always continue to keep praying for them.

Well that is about all for this week. I love you all so much! Keep working hard and keep praying! Remember who you are and why you are here. Make everyday count to get you going to the temple.

Love you,

Elder Gray

Sort of a slow week, but a good one

This week was really good, we had quite an interesting experience. (But don’t worry it’s not April Fools anymore) We were teaching our little Chinese people again and we were teaching them the 2nd lesson and when we got to the spirit world part, the guy just stopped us and was like, “whoa, no, no when we die, we are dead. That’s it!” It hit me like a ton of bricks! How would you like to live your life thinking that once you die you are dead. And that is it. It was just so weird to me. He wouldn’t budge on it either. But he listened to us and we extended some reading for him to do. I just really hope he reads then prays with a soft heart and with real intent so he can come to find the truths.

Oh so this week and the next, well like 3 weeks, we are doing service week in our district and came up with point system for all our stuff we do and one of them is clean someone’s dog. Well, we did it! We cleaned a dog! He was not very happy about it though, that was for sure. It was really funny. He just whined the whole time! BUT he was so clean after and actually smelled good! That’s not common here for a dog to smell even half-way decent. It was pretty awesome!

We also taught the 2nd lesson to Elizabete and her boyfriend with a little story example thing we came up with and they really liked it a lot. Her boyfriend usually doesn’t listen to us but he really liked it and now we have a return appt with him! I’m so stoked! Elizabete wants to be baptized but can’t because she lives with him. So we need to get them married!! But marriage here to these people is like pointless. Their attitude is, “Why get married when you can just live together?” Arrgh! So frustrating!

So last week we went to Sintra, very beautiful place, try looking it up on the Internet, see what you can see if there is much, it is just amazing! There is so much cool stuff there. I took tons and tons of pics there, so it will be fun for you to get my next picture card. I take lots of videos too.

Conference was this week as you all know. It was SO good! We watched only the Saturday morning session on Saturday night here, then watched ALL the rest on Sunday. LONG DAY, but a good one for sure. The talks were all so good! I love conference; you can get so, so much out of it if you just try! Don’t sleep! I wish I could go back in time and watch all the past conferences they are so awesome! If you slept, shame on you! But I’m not one to talk too much because I wasn’t real good before my mission. But you are all adults now so listen carefully: Take notes! I know it’s over by now, but if you slept I would invite you to go back and read them when they come out in the Ensign and pay attention this time.

Well that’s about it for now. Was a good week, not a real ton happened though. I hope you all have a wonderful week! LOVE YOU!!

Elder Gray

No transfer, but a crazy week!

Well first of all, I did not get transferred. So I have some more time here in Cacém. So feel free to send mail to my apartment! :)

Anyways, crazy story about last night!! So we are walking home and it’s a little past the time we are supposed to be out, but we were walking home from an appointment, so it’s okay. We are walking and all of a sudden we see these two kids beating up on this kid! I couldn’t believe my eyes! They were probably about 17 or so and the other kid was probably 15 or 16. But the kid was on the ground and these kids are just beating him like nothing I have ever seen! So Elder Hildebrandt and I yell at the kids to stop and leave the kid alone! They looked up at us and just started yelling and swearing at us then came running up to us, and we were just like, “uh oh, what have we just done?” But they weren’t real big so I wasn’t too scared. We could take em if we had to. (haha Just playin.) But so they walk up to us and just start yelling at us. Of course I couldn’t understand it, but they were swearin and just yelling at us. They were pretty drunk I’m sure. I could smell the alcohol on their breath. But then the one kid gets right in my comps face and is just yelling and yelling and I’m like that is enough. So I go over and push the kid and just said stop! That is enough! Go home! The kid did NOT like that very much and he pushed me back and when I stepped forward he swung at me!! But I kinda saw it coming and so I dodged it in time and then I lost control not thinking, just totally like reaction to this and dodged this kid’s fist then just took a big swing right to his nose. I know I shouldn’t have but it just happened SO fast! He fell back onto his butt then stood up with a bloody nose, looked at his friend and said, “Let’s go.” I think that sobered him up a bit. So they left. Then we went to the kid that was getting beat up and called the ambulance and had to wait for like 20 minutes. Ridiculous! And they hauled him off and then we had to give descriptions of the other kids. Then we finally got to go home. Crazy, crazy, crazy night. I could not believe it!

Anyways back to normal life. Our Chinese friends that we found a couple weeks ago are doing really well. They are such great people! We had so much fun teaching with them. They really pay good attention and are very attentive. We got them a Book of Mormon in Chinese and they were really excited for that and they said they would read it and ponder it and then pray about it! I am so excited to go back and see them. We also got to set up seeing them two times a week which is really good for them and for us. We are also going to invite them to General Conference. I hope they come because they have such great potential!

We also have this lady we teach that is very new. We have been there one time. Her name is Afra and she is a single mom with three kids. She is very interested and she is really nice. And she loves to help me with my speaking the language, which is really good for me!

One of the Elders named Elder Gasser is going home in two days. That is just crazy to me. I feel like my day for that is FOREVER away. haha Well it is. But he was an awesome kid. He was really fun and I got along really well with him. I hope to see him in the future.

So today we are going to play soccer again. I’m pretty stoked. It’s really fun and it’s a good workout, but the bad news is this morning we also went running, and I rolled my ankle twice!! I hate cobblestone! Argh! It made me so mad! It hurts! But I took some ibuprofen and I am hoping I will be able to play! I will just have to warm it up. (I hope.)

But everything is going really well. I am excited for our investigators and their progression. I will let you know about them more next week. This week was really windy which is pretty sad after the amazing, amazing weather we were having a couple weeks ago. But I hope it will shape up soon! Especially today for soccer. But I hope you all have a wonderful week! Keep strong in the gospel. It’s such an amazing thing that many people take it for granted. Love and LIVE the gospel in your everyday life! It’s amazing to see the change in the people here. I love the gospel; it’s so amazing! We are absolutely blessed to have a living prophet who we get to hear from this week. I am really looking forward to conference. I hope all of you are too. Listen hard! Take notes! Ponder it. Then pray!!!

I Love you all so, so much! Have a great week; can’t wait to hear from you in the future. Keep up the great work and remember to pray always.

LOVE YOU ALL!

ELDER GRAY!!

P.S. Oh ya...about the drunk kids beating up the kid and us fighting them, well...APRIL FOOLS!  :-) haha!

P.P.S. Dad, you got me good! I was sad about the Sami. I’m glad its not totaled. Good story. Well written. Haha!

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

Baptism!!

This week was great! As you all know, last week I was saying that we had a baptism scheduled for Sunday. Well, good news, we did have it, but at first they were just going to have our Bishop baptize them. But then on Friday night they had their interviews and they decided to have another elder, one of the zone leaders…and ME do the baptisms!!! I could not even believe it! So, yep I got to baptize Yuri Agues on Sunday the 22^nd of February. It was awesome! I couldn’t believe I was getting this opportunity so soon in my mission. There are many elders that have been out over a year and haven’t been in the water. So I feel very blessed and very lucky. It went well and the two people we baptized are doing great. We went over there yesterday and they are like new people! That just shows how amazing this gospel is and how important it is in our lives!

I want to apologize to all of you who have sent me emails and I haven’t responded directly to you. I got so, so, so many emails this week I could not believe it! I got 29 new emails! You love me too much! Ha ha. But that took me quite some time to read all of them. Thank you all so much! I LOVE getting the mail from all of you and hearing all of your stories!

This week we went to this Japanese restaurant. It had a big conveyor belt thing and they just put food like crazy on it and there were a few different kinds of sushi yuuummmmy! And just a ton of very, very good stuff! So we got to eat as much as we possibly could. And the very best part? It was only $6.50!! That is cheap! For as much sushi and amazing Japanese food as you can possibly eat! Oh, it was awesome! I loved it. Elder Hildebrandt and I are going to go there after our weekly planning session on Friday for lunch. I love it!

This week we did some door knocking and like usual some more street contacting. The door knocking is so annoying though unless we can get inside because they just say ‘quem em’ through the box thing and we don’t even get a chance to say anything. It’s so nice when we can follow someone in the door.

My new comp is really cool. We get along great. I’m still learning new things everyday. Well, I hope all is well back at home. Continue to work hard. I love you all so much!

Elder Gray

New Companion!

First of all I just want to say thank you all so much for all you do for me! Really it means the world to me! And I love hearing from you. I’m sorry I can’t write individual emails to everyone every week. I wish I could, but we only get one hour and that’s just not long enough.

Anyways everything is going pretty good. My comp and I are still sick, so that’s no fun at all! I feel worthless! I need to get better so I can get back to work. This week was pretty exciting week though; it’s transfer week and the big news is…I’m not being transferred, BUT…my companion is! He is going to Oeris to be Zone Leader! Pretty awesome! He is really excited, mostly because he will have a dryer! How lucky! Ah, I would KILL for a DRYER! (Don’t take for granted such little tiny things!) Anyways, so I will be getting a new companion tomorrow. His name is Elder Hildabrandt and I hear he is a good kid and a good hard worker. So I’m stoked! It should be a great experience for me.

The baptism we had set for the 14th was changed to the 22nd because of her having to work. But she and her son are still going to be baptized. It’s so awesome! I am very, very lucky to have this opportunity to have a baptism so soon in my mission. The mission here is not like missions in other places....like Nicaragua where they are baptizing something like 400 people a month! No, no, here the average is about one baptism for a missionary per year. The people are just too stubborn. But they are awesome and I love our investigators and members.

This week we got to hear from Elder David A. Bednar. THREE times! It was incredible. He is so amazing! I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to know all he knows! All three times we heard from him he just did open question and answer time, the first time with the members and investigators, the second time with just us missionaries (AWESOME!!!) and the third time with young single adults. They were all really great and we all learned so much. He is so smart. I could really feel the spirit in the room with us while he was there. I loved it!!

Everything is going just great. I love hearing from everyone! It’s so awesome. I have already run out of time, but I really hope you all have an amazing week and continue to work hard and study and pray like none other! I know that prayer is an unbelievable opportunity to become close with our Heavenly Father. I have come to find the truthfulness of that more and more each day when I am trying to say new things that I can’t in Portuguese, but He is there and loves me and I know that! And he is helping me every day with this language!

I love the gospel! We are so, so lucky to live in this day and age to know of the truthfulness of these things. I love you all so much and miss you. Have a wonderful week! Don’t forget to pray, pray, pray!

Elder Gray

A baptismal challenge! How cool is that?

Well, it’s already been another week! Sometimes I feel like the time just goes pretty slow, but then I look back and I just think wow I feel like I was just sitting at this computer yesterday! The time warp on the mission is pretty crazy! Days feel like weeks, but weeks feel like days!

This week was pretty good. There were for sure a lot of ups and downs throughout the week though. The beginning of the week was really tough actually because all of our appointments and people we had scheduled to teach bailed on us! It was so frustrating! Then to make things worse, our favorite family, the Ages Familia, they got their car stolen. And when that happens here, well you are pretty much out of luck. They found it two days later completely ripped apart and totaled. I felt so bad! They are such an awesome family they did not deserve that at all! I just hate it! I wish there was something I could do to help. But there is just nothing we can do. It’s really sad.

But...on a good note, even though they have gone through this hard time, last night we marked Ineida (the wife) and their son, Yuri, for baptism!!! How cool is that? We are so happy for them. We are really hoping they keep working hard and pray with all their hearts. That and reading the Book of Mormon is so vitally important! They are scheduled for baptism on Feb 14th. So I really hope they continue to progress so we can get them baptized.

It is still really cold here. I want it to warm up soon! My fingers are numb right now. And we are inside. I find it so weird that they don’t believe in heaters. It’s crazy! My companion says you just get used to it, but we’ll have to see about that!

Have a wonderful week and do not ever forget to read and pray! Every Single Day! I have come to find so much how very important that is in our daily lives. Praying is such an unbelievable gift that we get to have to be able to communicate with our Father in Heaven. Do NOT take this for granted! Sad to say before my mission I didn’t pray nearly as much as I should have. But I have repented for that! And the blessings come much more as you pray day and night! I know this is so, so important!

I love this gospel! It’s such a comfort to me knowing that I will live with my family in eternal happiness! IF we endure to the end. So work hard! ... As will I!! I love you all. Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Gray

Teaching a Great Family

First of all I just want to thank everyone!! For all of your support! It really means so much to me and it helps me to keep on going every single day!

The work is going pretty good. The language on the other hand, man, it is so tough! I can’t understand a word anyone says! They all speak so fast its crazy! But I know that I will get it. I have faith in the Lord and I know that through him, anything is possible. He doesn’t ask of us to do anything that is not possible, so I just keep going every day and work hard at it.

The people here are great though. They are patient with me not being able to say what I’m trying to say to them very fast. They are really awesome. The people on the streets, however, are sometimes a whole different story. You get ignored so much! Even if all I want to do is say a friendly hello, they tend to not say a word back. Sometimes when we are making street contacts we have to literally step in front of their face and say Boa Tarde! And I try to be really outgoing and outspoken (even though I can’t hardly say what I want to.) But when we try to be outgoing with them they usually at least say hi back. But then when they find out we are from the church...they don’t want anything to do with it. Sometimes we get people that literally run away from us. Kind of sad I think. They have no idea what they are missing out on!

The mission is an amazing thing. I have already come to find that. Mainly with the investigators that are progressing. We have this family, I don’t know their last name, sorry, but it’s hard to remember even just their first names! (And it doesn’t help that they have like 5 names!) But anyways, the husband, Jose Carlos, is a member. He was baptized last year and now we are teaching his wife and 3 of his kids and his son’s girlfriend! It’s awesome! His wife is dong really well lately, she is reading and praying. We talked about baptism yesterday and she got like way into it. So, I hope we will soon extend the commitment for her to be baptized and that she will accept!! I pray for her and their family so much. I know the gospel has already blessed their lives. Ineida (the wife) really has just been so much happier lately. It is just awesome!

Well I have already run out of time. But I will write again next week and fill you all in on a bit more about my crazy life right now! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to pray, pray, pray! 

LOVE,

ELDER GRAY

Short and sweet this week

Sorry, but I only have six minutes to write! Lame! I am trying to write like fast short letters to everyone but anyways, I will really try to make more time next week, I promise.

First off, here is an aerial photo of our neighborhood. Our building is the one with the little Red 'A'. That’s where we live. It’s made of concrete, so it’s freezing! Haha.

A quick note about a family we are teaching. They are so awesome!! I love them. I really look forward to going over there to teach them. They are working hard and doing their best to do what’s right and they are reading the Book of Mormon, too. It’s awesome! I don’t understand hardly a word...but I do feel the spirit there and I bear my testimony often and talk about the things I feel are necessary to say at certain times. And they seem to understand, so I am progressing. I do know that. But it is for sure tough because sometimes I don’t understand ANYTHING THEY SAY; they talk super-duper fast. Party foul! But they are amazing and they help me a lot and correct me and tell me better ways of saying things and what not. It’s cool. They are great, great people.

My comp and I get along great! He is very helpful to me, so I know I was blessed with an awesome companion! I am very lucky.

Love you all so much and miss you! I will really try to do better next week.

Love,

Elder Gray

I made it! I'm in Portugal!

Hello, hello, hello!! Oh my goodness, it’s about time I get to write [with a computer]! It feels like it’s been so long!! I actually don’t have that much time to write today, so it’s going to be pretty basic. Sorry.

OK, first things first… My P-Day is Wednesday, so that’s when I’ll be writing. The address for sending packages is the mission home, which is:

    Portugal Lisbon Mission

    Rua Jorge Barradas 14C

    1500 Lisboa

    Portugal

My new address of my apartment that you can send letters to (and please do!) is:

    Rua Almeida Garrett Nº4, 2ºA

    Agualva - 2735-423

    Portugal

Please spread the word!

[Editor’s note: The apartment address above is correct. Those little o's in the first line are correct. They are the Portuguese equivalent of the 'th' in 4th or the 'nd' in 2nd. - Brent]

OKAY...so everything is going good! It’s all been so, so busy!! It’s way cold though. The food…well is very not that good, so I please ask a few things. Top Ramin! It’s light, very quick and easy. Also maybe like easy Mac ‘n Cheese. My comp. eats ONCE a day! It’s crazy! I eat much more! Also....please, please...HOT COCOA! It’s SO cold here; they don’t believe in heaters!!!! Our apartment is so cold.

My companion, he is amazing!! I love him. We get along awesome. He is a huge snowboarder!! He’s way cool and very obedient. I love it cuz it helps me be very obedient, too! Our mission president is so awesome!!! He is for sure the most spiritual guy I have EVER met. At times I wonder where the water keeps coming from, from in his eyes...that doesn’t happen to me. haha 

I really like my area. It’s all just apartments, no houses at all, it’s crazy. They are all made from straight concrete. NO insulation! So, ya we freeze 24-7. I could never ever live here. (Well, except for the next 2 years of course! Haha) They don’t believe in heaters or air conditioners cuz they think the breeze of it can make you horribly sick and die. It’s the weirdest thing I have ever heard of!

About the language, uhhhh, I do not understand anything. It is horrible. It’s so frustrating!!!! I want to just be able to talk! But I do bear testimony and sometimes teach some principles about certain things in the lesson. Last night I taught about the atonement twice. It went pretty good, I think. It was really cool and I did enjoy it. I can only understand the very basics...but, oh well, it will come! 

Sorry, I gotta go. I love you all so, so much! I’ll update you more next time. Feel free to keep writing and send mail and stuff. Maybe send a letter to my comp, too. He hasn’t had real mail since last April and it was a Dear John. But he said it was good riddance. Anyways, I love and miss you all muito!!

Love,

Elder Gray