Transferred!

So the news is in. And I am being TRANSFERED! I am going to the ALGARVE! It is the furthest south of the mission! I hear its way cool down there so I am excited; the only problem is...who my comp is, I met him. He is a huge goober. And I hear from 2 other people in my district now that he is so, so boring and does pointless work. So, I’m kind of sad about that. But I’m going to have one of my favorite people in the mission in my district.

Dad...you were very close! I’m going to Tavira. It’s very close to Olhao. I hear good things about Tavira but I didn’t get my new address. I go down there on Thursday (not Tuesday) so I’m pretty excited.

Everything is way, way hectic right now so this email is not going to be real long and stuff but I just wanted to let you all know I am leaving. I will give you my address next week. So if you have anything to send me, wait one more week to send, cuz I will give you my address to my appt. I know I will be there for a while.

Today we are going to Fatima! I’m not sure what it will be like but I know that it will be awesome! I am way excited. Today is the day where there will be tons of people there too. So I’m stoked for it, it will be way fun.

We had our fast with Elizabete, at first she didn’t seem to know much about an answer. But yesterday, we asked if she has been thinking about her fast and what she needs to do, she said...I got an answer. My eyes just went HUGE!! I was like YES!!! But then we were like what is it....she says, “It’s good,” that’s it. So she doesn’t expound much on stuff, but the news is, she got an answer. She knows she needs to be baptized. But it’s just a matter of when. She is so awesome! I will really miss her. Then, I asked her son Edivaldo, what he thinks and he said, “yeah, I really like it”. I asked him if he wants to be baptized and he said “yup, I think I do.” WOW!! I was amazed! At first, this kid joked about everything, joked about prayer wouldn’t pray, he would laugh at others while they pray, but then BAM! He finds the truth and how prayer is not just talking to your self. He and his mom pray together often. It is amazing. I will really miss teaching them and seeing them progress every day. But I am going to try the best I can to keep in touch with them.

Well I’ve got to go cuz we have to leave for Fatima, but next week I will have my full hour and be able to write more specifically about my new area and let you know how that is. I miss you all and love you all so, so much! Thank you so much for your love and support. It means the world to me! I LOVE YOU!
Love Elder Gray

Today we are going to the beach! I’m so stoked to see the ocean! Of course we can’t go swimming or anything like that sadly, but, we can go to the beach, not for too much longer tho cuz as soon as it gets warm, we are not allowed anywhere NEAR the beach. Cuz everyone is....can you guess it? It’s Europe, yup...they are all naked so we have to stay away. I’m glad we are going today while we still can so I can see the beach!

This week just flew by! I really feel like it was 2 days ago that I was just writing a letter. I think that’s a good thing right? But we had a really good week. Not much success, but it was still good. We are still teaching Elizabete and her son. Last night we talked about her testimony and how she feels about baptism, well she is still pretty hesitant so we have to keep working with her. She is only so skeptical about it tho cuz of living with her boyfriend. That is a big problem and I am sure it would be way hard. But we told her to keep praying about it and we also told her we would like to fast with her, if she wants. I was really suprised that she was pretty open to the fast idea, when before a few weeks ago we taught about fasting and she was like WHAT! Are you crazy? I have to eat! So it was really cool last night when I got too see a bit of an attitude change in her showing me that she does care and we are not just wasting time. When I talked to her about fasting I feel like the spirit just took me away. I know that I said just exactly what it is that she needs to hear. Not anything we had planned.

I know that the spirit works thru us. We didn’t even plan on talking to her about fasting at all. But the spirit told me the time was now to talk to her about it. So I did and I am so glad I recognized the spirit and followed the spirit. Sometimes it’s hard to follow the exact promptings of the spirit, but when you do and recognize it, it’s an amazing experience that I love!

This week I just realized for the first time how hard it is for some people to pray. It struck me strange, cuz its never been hard for me. I went on divisions this week to another area and we taught a new lady and we asked her to pray and she said “what? I can’t pray!” Then we explained the process of prayer and how you just speak from your heart. Speak from your heart. Speak from your heart. Is that really hard to do? It just amazes me when someone has never really prayed. But she did pray and it turned out just great. The only challenge is to get her to do it on her own now!

Well, thank you all for all you do for me! I appreciate even just those little tiny letters! I love them! I am so grateful for the wonderful friends and family I have. I am blessed beyond belief! So that’s why I’m here giving some back to who gave me ALL.I love you all so much. Thank You!

Love Elder Gray