This week we had some good experiences, some weird or funny, and some down experiences. I think that’s about how it is every week actually. Anyway, we had family night with this family, and we gave a spiritual lesson that went pretty good, we taught about Abinadi and the extremely awesome faith that he had and that he was willing to die and give up his life to teach the Gospel. Then we also talked about Alma, and how he baptized 204 people in secret, which is pretty amazing! We are out here trying to baptize and do the Lords work and we are NOT doing it in secret. We are trying to talk to every single person possible to bring the Light of Christ to their lives. But Alma had to do it in secret and he did a great job of it! It’s a great story and I love it, so we wanted to teach it and some of its principles.
Afterwards, they fed us, and my goodness it was NOT normal! I mean the food here that we eat at member’s houses is usually pretty interesting at times, but then there are sometimes, you get something just whacked! So get this, we ate chicken, but not like the parts YOU would eat, NO....I think they kill the chickens, send all the good and normal stuff to the states then keep all the nasty crazy weird stuff here, ha ha ha, just kiddin, but really its weird. We ate chicken liver, heart, feet, neck, gizzard...of which I’m not even sure what that is, but that’s just what I found when I translated the word they told me...ha ha, yup, crazy stuff if you ask me...chicken neck?? Chicken feet!!? And the HEART?? Yeah crazy weird stuff! So I was eating, then I moved some rice and saw a piece of meat and picked it up and it was a heart! Straight up heart! I don’t even know how to explain it, and then I see a literal FOOT on my plate, with the little claws on it and everything! I just thought about how that foot was probably walking around in that pen with all the other chickens and walking in its own poo and who knows what else.....I lost my appetite. I didn’t eat the foot...I couldn’t…....
On Saturday we had this activity at the church and the young kids sang and we had this little meeting and people spoke, it was good and we had 2 investigators there and the spirit was strong. I just hope that they felt it and will follow their hearts! But get this, right before the activity, a little kid that is like oh maybe 2 or 3 I’m not sure, was outside and all of a sudden someone said, "Oh my gosh look!!" And the little boy had his pants down to his ankles and he was just peein right there in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of the church! Ha ha, it was so funny! And people start laughing then he starts laughing, but then mommy spanked him ha ha! Man it was way funny! On a sad note, we have pretty much just lost a progressing investigator Maria do Carmo. We went over there and she was so, so different! It really made me sad cuz she just kept disagreeing with anything we said. We tried to teach her the importance of going to church and WHY she needs to go, but she just kept saying, I can stay home and do my own thing…..and I was just like we are not here to do OUR OWN THING! We are to serve and follow the Lords path! But yeah, it was just really sad and she didn’t really want to talk or anything. I was sooo bummed cuz she has a family of 3 daughters and a son, so I was hoping to be able to teach the whole family, but now it’s going to be very hard to do. We did get 8 new investigators this week tho, 3 of which are really good and I’m excited to teach them. Two of them have gone to church 2 times now and I’m loving it! A boy and girl, the boy is the son of a member Nilzete, and his wife. He is 26 and she 20, and they have been married 9 years. DO THE MATH!! Yup! That’s right. I couldn’t believe it! When I asked him, I said, "So how old are you two? And how long have you been married?" And he says, "I’m 26 and she is 20 and we have been married 9 years." I was like "oh yeah, 9 months?" And he says, "No, no, 9 years" I just sat there. I was nearly speechless. I couldn’t believe it! I said, “dude I am 20 and I can’t imagine being married right now, I’m way too immature!” Ha ha, it was pretty funny, I couldn’t believe that!! The last few weeks, we have made some choco chip cookies for people, and man they are a huge, huge hit! We have now gone to 2 different members houses to teach them how to do it. It was funny but pretty cool they just love them! They don’t have these things here!
Well I hope you all have a good week and that things are going great for you. Don’t forget to SMILE. A smile to someone can just change their day! So if you just see someone not smiling or a little unhappy, go out of your way to make them smile. I have learned here that lots of people seem to be cold and don’t talk much, but even just a smile, can go a long way. You don’t even have to say a word, just show the happiness that you have in your life, because it’s thru that that people start wondering why you are happy all the time. People notice, I know that for sure! So just smile, smile, smile and be happy! Life is too short to not be happy. So smile, and see what happens. :)
The Church is TRUE! I know it with all my heart! I am so happy to be out here and serve, yes there are LONG days and HARD days, but if we just keep going everyday, we will be blessed. I am grateful for the opportunity to be out here and serve the Lord. I love you all and I wish you all a great week!
Love,
Elder Gray
Showing posts with label investigators. Show all posts
Showing posts with label investigators. Show all posts
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
A couple of New Investigators
Okay so this week was another good week! Our numbers weren’t quite as good as last week, but they were good considering we had zone conference. They are way better than they were in the past from the other Elders here, so I’m happy about our work right now. We have TONZ of lessons that are planned fall thru, but its still going great!
One of our golden investigators that was SO ready to be baptized had to leave to go to Brazil. So that is a big bummer for sure. But its okay, I think she will for sure be baptized, just a matter of time. I hope things go well for her cuz she deserves it, she is awesome and very nice.
Last week, we found a new investigator named Deborah, she is just awesome! She lives basically everything already that we teach her and she likes everything that we teach. The only problem is that she believes that the Sabbath Day is on Saturday cuz that’s how it’s explained in the Bible. So it’s a bit of a stepping stone. We just had a lesson with her on Friday, and we were teaching her, and she just said out of nowhere, "hey look, I’m not going to change my religion, but I really like to hear about your religion and stuff too." So that kind of ripped my heart in two. I was sad, but we will continue to teach her and we will continue to pray for her and we will see what happens. Only God knows. But I know that I will do ALL I can to be sure what is supposed to happen, happens.
We have this other investigator named Didi, she is nice, but she is very, very stubborn. She just also likes to just hear our views on things, but we had a really cool lesson with her the other day that was a good experience for me. We were talking to her and she would just kind of shake her head and laugh sometimes and I was just getting frustrated cuz I was like ummm, that is not cool. I am BEARING my testimony to her and she laughs cuz she is like not agreeing with what I say, so I said, "wait, stop, let me finish." And I just bore a big long testimony of what I KNOW, and that I KNOW these things to be true. She just sat there and thought, quiet, so then we finished with a prayer right when I was done so we could leave her with her thoughts.
This week, guess what we got!!! We got a MICROWAVE!! Whoop! Whoop!! Yeah, I haven’t had a microwave in a long time, like over 6 to 8 months, so I love it!
On Saturday, we had a GREAT day! We found, get this, SEVEN new investigators!! In ONE day! It was so awesome! We were knocking at about noon, and I was all discouraged cuz mornings knocking here are so hard cuz everyone is ALWAYS asleep! But we just continued to keep going, and we knock this door and this kid about 15 opens it and lets us in to talk with him and his brothers! So bam, we got 4 new investigators! And it was an awesome lesson! My favorite part was when I got to start talking about the Book of Mormon, one of them, that is 22 yrs old, was like how can I get a copy of one of those? (as I had one in my hands) and I just reached out and put the book in front of him, and he got this look like what?? And I just said here, it’s yours! And he was like Wow...thank you! So it was great, I really hope they read and pray about what we taught them. We have our next lesson on Saturday same time, so we will see!
My new companion is funny, we are getting along just fine. I guess he thinks I’m pretty funny cuz he is Mr.Giggles, so we are having a pretty good time. Oh! Also on Saturday, we traveled out to Alanquer, it’s an area kind of far from us but its part of our area so we take the bus. But we have a member that lives out there named Brenda and she is awesome! She is 15 and she has the biggest desire to serve a mission, so she is always willing to walk with us and help us out, so we went out there and did some work with her and found this lady, man she was so sweet. She was hanging up her clothes outside on her line as we walked by, and SHE talked first to us. Not us to HER! It was crazy, that usually just doesn’t happen! And we started talking to her about what we do and why we are here and how we are Disciples of Jesus Christ, and once we said that she started talking about the Savior and how she says that she has visions about him and how he is crying everyday because of the iniquity in the world. It hit me, wow, She is so right. You know that the Savior cries because of the horrible things we do in this world. Think about it, we are all his brothers and sisters! Imagine if your brothers and sisters were at war and killing and all that worldly stuff. It truly is sad, and as she was talking about all this she began crying too and it got me choked up too. It was a great spiritual experience. I gave her a Book of Mormon and told her we will pass by again soon. She was so sweet. I have 100 percent confidence that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can and WILL bless her life so much. After that great experience, well we kind of got lost, not literally but we had walked into this foresty place that was just really awesome and beautiful so we just kept following the trail to see where it lead, well it went nowhere and we ended up at the top of this hill by a house. So we jumped the wall and snuck around trying to find our way out and some guy saw us and said, "Hey!! Where did you guys come from!! What are you doing here on my property?!" And sweet little Brenda was like ummm, we are lost and trying to find the way out.” He said, “oh, okay,” ha ha! It was funny how that worked out, and it made me think, how often do we get upset at someone or something before knowing WHY or WHAT? Think about that next time you see someone "Lost".
It was a great week for us last week. We’re praying for one just as great this week. I miss you all. Keep your head in the right place. GO TO CHURCH. Feel the spirit there testifying of its truthfulness. I love you all so much. If I love the people here, that I barely know, and want the best for them and their salvation....Imagine what its like for those of you even CLOSER to me. I LOVE YOU!!! Have a great week and SMILE!!
MUCH LOVE, Elder Gray
One of our golden investigators that was SO ready to be baptized had to leave to go to Brazil. So that is a big bummer for sure. But its okay, I think she will for sure be baptized, just a matter of time. I hope things go well for her cuz she deserves it, she is awesome and very nice.
Last week, we found a new investigator named Deborah, she is just awesome! She lives basically everything already that we teach her and she likes everything that we teach. The only problem is that she believes that the Sabbath Day is on Saturday cuz that’s how it’s explained in the Bible. So it’s a bit of a stepping stone. We just had a lesson with her on Friday, and we were teaching her, and she just said out of nowhere, "hey look, I’m not going to change my religion, but I really like to hear about your religion and stuff too." So that kind of ripped my heart in two. I was sad, but we will continue to teach her and we will continue to pray for her and we will see what happens. Only God knows. But I know that I will do ALL I can to be sure what is supposed to happen, happens.
We have this other investigator named Didi, she is nice, but she is very, very stubborn. She just also likes to just hear our views on things, but we had a really cool lesson with her the other day that was a good experience for me. We were talking to her and she would just kind of shake her head and laugh sometimes and I was just getting frustrated cuz I was like ummm, that is not cool. I am BEARING my testimony to her and she laughs cuz she is like not agreeing with what I say, so I said, "wait, stop, let me finish." And I just bore a big long testimony of what I KNOW, and that I KNOW these things to be true. She just sat there and thought, quiet, so then we finished with a prayer right when I was done so we could leave her with her thoughts.
This week, guess what we got!!! We got a MICROWAVE!! Whoop! Whoop!! Yeah, I haven’t had a microwave in a long time, like over 6 to 8 months, so I love it!
On Saturday, we had a GREAT day! We found, get this, SEVEN new investigators!! In ONE day! It was so awesome! We were knocking at about noon, and I was all discouraged cuz mornings knocking here are so hard cuz everyone is ALWAYS asleep! But we just continued to keep going, and we knock this door and this kid about 15 opens it and lets us in to talk with him and his brothers! So bam, we got 4 new investigators! And it was an awesome lesson! My favorite part was when I got to start talking about the Book of Mormon, one of them, that is 22 yrs old, was like how can I get a copy of one of those? (as I had one in my hands) and I just reached out and put the book in front of him, and he got this look like what?? And I just said here, it’s yours! And he was like Wow...thank you! So it was great, I really hope they read and pray about what we taught them. We have our next lesson on Saturday same time, so we will see!
My new companion is funny, we are getting along just fine. I guess he thinks I’m pretty funny cuz he is Mr.Giggles, so we are having a pretty good time. Oh! Also on Saturday, we traveled out to Alanquer, it’s an area kind of far from us but its part of our area so we take the bus. But we have a member that lives out there named Brenda and she is awesome! She is 15 and she has the biggest desire to serve a mission, so she is always willing to walk with us and help us out, so we went out there and did some work with her and found this lady, man she was so sweet. She was hanging up her clothes outside on her line as we walked by, and SHE talked first to us. Not us to HER! It was crazy, that usually just doesn’t happen! And we started talking to her about what we do and why we are here and how we are Disciples of Jesus Christ, and once we said that she started talking about the Savior and how she says that she has visions about him and how he is crying everyday because of the iniquity in the world. It hit me, wow, She is so right. You know that the Savior cries because of the horrible things we do in this world. Think about it, we are all his brothers and sisters! Imagine if your brothers and sisters were at war and killing and all that worldly stuff. It truly is sad, and as she was talking about all this she began crying too and it got me choked up too. It was a great spiritual experience. I gave her a Book of Mormon and told her we will pass by again soon. She was so sweet. I have 100 percent confidence that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can and WILL bless her life so much. After that great experience, well we kind of got lost, not literally but we had walked into this foresty place that was just really awesome and beautiful so we just kept following the trail to see where it lead, well it went nowhere and we ended up at the top of this hill by a house. So we jumped the wall and snuck around trying to find our way out and some guy saw us and said, "Hey!! Where did you guys come from!! What are you doing here on my property?!" And sweet little Brenda was like ummm, we are lost and trying to find the way out.” He said, “oh, okay,” ha ha! It was funny how that worked out, and it made me think, how often do we get upset at someone or something before knowing WHY or WHAT? Think about that next time you see someone "Lost".
It was a great week for us last week. We’re praying for one just as great this week. I miss you all. Keep your head in the right place. GO TO CHURCH. Feel the spirit there testifying of its truthfulness. I love you all so much. If I love the people here, that I barely know, and want the best for them and their salvation....Imagine what its like for those of you even CLOSER to me. I LOVE YOU!!! Have a great week and SMILE!!
MUCH LOVE, Elder Gray
Monday, January 4, 2010
It's a NEW YEAR!
I hope you all had a great New Years! Ours was pretty good. Our ward had a huge party with music and dancing and we hung out till midnight then went home, and right as we left we saw a whole bunch of fireworks going off in the distance so it was pretty cool! But yeah that’s basically it, nothing too special, but we had fun.
This week we got a new investigator! His name is Otavio, and we taught him on Saturday night and he said that he would come to church the next day, but on Sunday, it was raining WAY hard. So he didn’t come. There were a TON of people that didn’t come to church cuz of the rain. It's pretty crazy, but they don’t have cars here like we do in the states so not every single person and their dog has their own car, so they walk everywhere they go, but when it's raining they don’t leave the house. So there were quite a few people home from church on Sunday. But, we still had 2 investigators there so I was happy to see that!! One of which is the girl Ines that we are trying to get baptized but her mom doesn’t want to allow it but we are trying! I know that if she really puts her heart to it, and really wants to be baptized she will. :) I have no doubt. It just might take a little more time than normal.
We had a lesson with our recent convert Andre that was baptized not too long ago, and we taught his mom too, she is not a member, yet. So we had dinner with them and then we left a message, and right after I get done talking, Andre was like "hey wait I have a message too!" He ran out of the room and came back with his Bible and opened up and read in Genesis and left us a little message too! It was AWESOME! I loved it! He is 11 yrs old and to see that was just awesome because he is so young but yet he is reading and loving the Bible and the book of Mormon! Talk about a great example for his mom! Way awesome! His mom, Sonia, said she would give us a date for her baptism on the 13th. The 13th is her Birthday, for some reason she has to wait till then to give us a date. hmm....ha ha, I dunno why, but when we try to mark a date for her she is like no, no I will pick the date. So we are waiting (im)patiently, haha! I hope she plans on this month….but we will see. She is totally ready she just needs to commit!!
I think I will be getting transferred here in about 2 weeks, well about 3, and I’m a bit nervous for where I will go. I would like to stay here one more, but I’m just not sure that will happen. I have been here for a long time! And I’m lucky for it! It’s a great place and the members here are awesome. But we will see. So, if you were planning on sending me mail, don’t, not to my apartment at least, unless you send it like tomorrow, in other words, Jenn and Amber...(cuz they are the only ones who write!!) Send it within this week. :) Hopefully I stay one more transfer, but I am not really counting on it. I have had my share of this awesome area, it’s probably someone else’s turn.
Things are going pretty good. Me and my comp have been sick but are feeling a bit better. I am doing better...my comp is getting worse tho. It always seems to be that way; one person gets sick for about a week and then when one starts to feel better the other gets sick. I tell ya, it’s horrible for the work!! Ahhhh...... It’s Life! Well I hope you all had a great New Years!! And I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Make 2010 the best yet!! I love you! Miss ya!!
Love Elder Gray
This week we got a new investigator! His name is Otavio, and we taught him on Saturday night and he said that he would come to church the next day, but on Sunday, it was raining WAY hard. So he didn’t come. There were a TON of people that didn’t come to church cuz of the rain. It's pretty crazy, but they don’t have cars here like we do in the states so not every single person and their dog has their own car, so they walk everywhere they go, but when it's raining they don’t leave the house. So there were quite a few people home from church on Sunday. But, we still had 2 investigators there so I was happy to see that!! One of which is the girl Ines that we are trying to get baptized but her mom doesn’t want to allow it but we are trying! I know that if she really puts her heart to it, and really wants to be baptized she will. :) I have no doubt. It just might take a little more time than normal.
We had a lesson with our recent convert Andre that was baptized not too long ago, and we taught his mom too, she is not a member, yet. So we had dinner with them and then we left a message, and right after I get done talking, Andre was like "hey wait I have a message too!" He ran out of the room and came back with his Bible and opened up and read in Genesis and left us a little message too! It was AWESOME! I loved it! He is 11 yrs old and to see that was just awesome because he is so young but yet he is reading and loving the Bible and the book of Mormon! Talk about a great example for his mom! Way awesome! His mom, Sonia, said she would give us a date for her baptism on the 13th. The 13th is her Birthday, for some reason she has to wait till then to give us a date. hmm....ha ha, I dunno why, but when we try to mark a date for her she is like no, no I will pick the date. So we are waiting (im)patiently, haha! I hope she plans on this month….but we will see. She is totally ready she just needs to commit!!
I think I will be getting transferred here in about 2 weeks, well about 3, and I’m a bit nervous for where I will go. I would like to stay here one more, but I’m just not sure that will happen. I have been here for a long time! And I’m lucky for it! It’s a great place and the members here are awesome. But we will see. So, if you were planning on sending me mail, don’t, not to my apartment at least, unless you send it like tomorrow, in other words, Jenn and Amber...(cuz they are the only ones who write!!) Send it within this week. :) Hopefully I stay one more transfer, but I am not really counting on it. I have had my share of this awesome area, it’s probably someone else’s turn.
Things are going pretty good. Me and my comp have been sick but are feeling a bit better. I am doing better...my comp is getting worse tho. It always seems to be that way; one person gets sick for about a week and then when one starts to feel better the other gets sick. I tell ya, it’s horrible for the work!! Ahhhh...... It’s Life! Well I hope you all had a great New Years!! And I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Make 2010 the best yet!! I love you! Miss ya!!
Love Elder Gray
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