Some Random Pictures from Portugal

Sister Terry, Elder Gray, Elder Croshaw, President Terry

One of the first cool things I saw after arriving in Lisbon.  Don't know what it's called though.

One of the first families I taught. They were way cool, but they moved to Holland right after I got there.

This was the cutest little girl!

Torre de Belém

http://www.archiplanet.org/wiki/Belém_Tower

Inside Torre de Belém (This place was really cool)

On top of Torre de Belém

Torre de Belém

My first big rain storm...and no umbrellas. We were soaked!

This is a really cool place called Quinta da Regaleira. The missionaries go here often on P-Day.

http://www.pbase.com/lmrp/quinta_da_regaleira 

In the dog house at Quinta da Regaleira

Hangin' out at Quinta da Regaleira

Missionary Weights (there are water jugs in the bags)

I finally found a caffeine-free Coke! I called it the "Glorious Burn!"

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

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

My MTC Christmas

Christmas was pretty awesome! Thank you for the package, I loved it! We had Elder David A. Bednar on Christmas Eve and Elder Holland on Christmas day. It was so awesome! When Elder Bednar walked in we were singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," and when we saw him everyone started singing louder and the spirit filled the room like nothing I've ever felt before. I got the chills for what felt like 2 minutes! I just stood there singing full of joy and happiness and just really felt the spirit. After his amazing talk, we all got to shake his hand! How cool is that?! When I shook his hand I was just like...WOW, that's one powerful dude! Seriously, it was so awesome! Elder Holland was really good too, and I felt very good and I'd say we were really lucky to have them both come. I liked the Christmas card you sent, it was funny! I'm glad you had a good Christmas. I thought about you all a lot but I got thru it, and thank you for so much support. It really helped me to keep going.

Today we are going to the temple to clean. It's closed for cleaning till January 2nd so this will be our last time to be in the temple before we leave. We are supposed to get our flight plans today, so I will send you that info soon, and then I'll get to call home from the airport and hopefully get to chat with a few of you!

I'm glad Christmas was good and in 2 christmases I'll be back there with ya again. I miss you, and I love you!

Elder Gray

Merry Christmas!

Ola Familia!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! This is my Merry christmas family letter. Be sure to read this to Jeff, Jenn and Jase since they don't live there, and tell them Merry Christmas for me!
We get our flight plans this week! WOAH! Holy Cats! Santos Gatos! I can't believe it! I don't know portuguese! Who do they think they are sending me out in the middle of NO English!??! Aaahhh Freaky! I can't believe it, and it's totally insane and I'm freaking out, but then again, I'm ready to get out of this spirit prison and start the real work! It's gonna be WICKED SWEET!

Tonight we had a fireside and it was really good. He told tons of scripture stories and I wrote them all down so I can look them up again later. I love looking up scriptures! Oh, and guess what!? I finished the Book of Mormon this week!! That felt so good! I read all of Alma in ONE week! Pretty crazy huh? Pretty sweet huh?!

This last week was pretty good, kinda frustrating but not too bad. It was fun getting out of here to go to Costco to get my contacts and glasses. We got newb's this week so we get to know them better because we are the zone leaders and get to show them around. It's time for me to go do our service project for the day. We got the best service project in the whole place! We love playing on the big mat we're supposed to put away after we stack chairs. Muito divertido!

Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Elder Gray

We did Temple Sealings!

I got some nice cards and treats from some of the ward members and Mike and Amy. Please tell them thank you so much. I wish I had time to write everyone, but time in here is short. So Please express my thanks.

The speaking "no English" is going ok for me but this week was actually really tough, and I did not do very well when I taught the first lesson. I was really frustrated yesterday.

We got to go to the temple today though, and I felt much better after that. We did a sealing session for the first time and it was awesome! Elder Bell and I were very lucky to sit with a family, a mom, dad and son, and his new wife of about 3 months, and the dads mom. It was so cool and they were such awesome people. Then we found out the son went to Brazil and speaks Portuguese! So that was awesome to talk to him. He gave us some good tips and pointers. The temple sealing is so awesome! I seriously just felt at ease and happy the whole time we were there. :) It made me way excited to get married! I can't wait to be able to take my wife to the temple someday! I just know thats going to be the best day of my life!

I know now more than ever before how important that little picture is (in my room that mom gave me) that says: "I will make the choices today that will take me to the temple tomorrow." HOW TRUE! I just loved today!

SEND ME PICTURES!! I want to see my family!
Love you all!

Elder Gray

My Hamper, ha ha ha

So far this week has been really good! One of my best friends is here and I got to see him last night! It was so good to see Devin. I was so happy, it was the best night ever!

The week has flown by and we've been speaking strait Portuguese, and I don't feel any smarter! Ha ha! We had to teach the first lesson in Portuguese, talk about tough! I feel like with just the casual talking I'm doing ok, but when it's time to teach...Nao Bom! (not good)! But I'm pushin thru doing what I can to get by.

So...my hamper broke! It was a "piece" to begin with, so I had to buy a new one. It's AWESOME! I never thought that happiness could come through a hamper, ha ha ha. It's on a hanger, so it hangs up and its got a "dark" section and a "whites" section! It's totally WICKED SWEET!!

Everything's going just great...feel free to send peanutbutter bars, brownies, more goop...:)

Elder Gray

Scriptures

I can't believe I've been in the MTC a month now! It's crazy, but awesome. This last week went by so fast! Yesterday we started speaking Portuguese only. It's so cool, but hard for sure! The zone leader calling is going just great! A few more meetings and stuff, but good so far.

Dad, I liked the stories about your mission and learning the language because I can relate to it all. Thanks for the scriptures to look up. I am really growing to love the scriptures! I look forward to morning MDT (missionary directed time) cuz I love to read my scriptures. I'm just about to start in Alma. I feel like I'm learning a lot every time I read. I just love it. I wish I had even more time to sit and read the scriptures. Thanks for all the inspiration and words of wisdom.

Elder Gray

Learning a language is tough!

Tomorrow I have to give the opening prayer and it has to be in Portuguese, so I'm really kind of nervous. I think I am going to try it without looking at my card, but I'll probably have to peak. Pretty cool though, I guess.

I think it is just hitting me like today how hard it will be to teach out there in the mission field. We taught the first discussion today to our teacher (he was acting as an investigator) and it's pretty hard. Takes a lot of practice, that's for sure. Like it's hard in English, but on December 5th it's all Portuguese from there! It's gonna be pretty crazy and probably confusing and of course very hard. But bring it on, right? Gotta learn somehow!

Elder Gray

P.S. This is a picture of me trying to "escape" over the famous MTC wall.  ;-)

Portugal-bound Missionaries

Goop!

Hey mom, thanks for the goop! All my companions loved it, too. (Good thing you sent such a big box!)

We're pretty much into full-blown classes every day. We just have one classroom and two teachers that teach the gospel and Portuguese, too. So like two birds with one stone. But ya, we're learning the language pretty fast. It is so hard! Next week we have to teach a whole lesson in Portuguese; I'm so scared!

Thank you so much mom for everything. You're the best!   

 

Miss you, love you!

Elder Gray

Well, I'm Here!

Dear Family,

Well, I don't even really know where to start. I still can't believe I'm gone. I feel like I should be coming home soon, like I'm at Youth Conference or something. But so far everyone seems really cool and nice.

Well, I gotta go to bed. I have to get up really early! I love you all so much; can't wait to hear from you!

Love,

Elder Gray

My Mission Call