Como estan? I had a real good week and I'm loving every minute of the mission!
Elder Martell and I room with Elder Stermetz and Elder Peterson. Elder Petersen served in Afghanistan and he has a ton of personality. He keeps it interesting around here and in class. Elder Stermetz has a whole lot of patience and is an extremely hard worker. Elder Martell and I memorize a scripture a day and we told Elder Stermetz yesterday and he's working overtime to catch up with us. Our old district leader, Elder Reed, and his companion, Elder Dastrup, are now the zone leaders and our new district leader is Elder Michie. His companion is Elder Hobson, who know every story about Christ it seems like. That's our whole district. Only eight of us now.
Our task this week was to help someone move, teach them how to pray, and talk about family. So, all week we've been focusing on vocabulary and phrases to help us. Each day for Spanish study I try to do some grammar (verb conjugations, sentence structure, etc.) from a book we have, memorization of new vocab and scriptures, and then I practice it. Just like in the mission field, we do contacts where we share a quick message with somebody. We have goals each day and week as a district to have a certain number of contacts. It isn't all about numbers, its also about the quality and sincerity.
Yesterday we gave our last lesson in English. From now on, we only teach lessons in Spanish! The investigators had a lot of questions yesterday so the lesson was mainly about their questions and needs. We, as missionaries, always have a lesson planned according to their needs but we teach what the Spirit directs us to. If we prepare the best we can and have faith, the Spirit will guide us and bear witness to the investigators of the truthfulness of our words if they are receptive.
Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the twelve apostles, spoke to us last Tuesday! I'll just start going over his talk by saying that it was the best talk I have ever heard. It's amazing how he spoke to so many missionaries but at the same time he spoke directly to so many things I needed to hear. It was extremely strong and the Spirit was pouring out of him! He talked about how so much is invested in us as missionaries and we should never look back on any part of our mission with regrets. He told us that we had better come home from our mission with at least one convert, (and in his powerful tone) he said- "and that better be you!" If we come home and want to talk to him about "the old days" of the mission with our tattoos, dreadlocks, or beards then he will "punch us in the nose!... Well, not really.. that isn't a very apostolic thing to do, is it?" But he said he would be extremely mad! That had everyone laughing. He said that the heart of the reason for Preach My Gospel (which is what missionaries use for guidance, lesson plans, and to better prepare us) was that some of the missionaries weren't soaking in the Gospel. They would just recite what they had to but Preach My Gospel is to first convert the missionary, who will then bring others unto Christ. "If we are going to teach His Gospel (Christ), then we are going to teach it his way!" and "his way" is Preach My Gospel. What really touched me that had my eyes blurry for a little bit of his talk was when he said "you do not have the right to be anything less than what children think you are." he was going to bring his grandchildren up to the stage to use them as an example, but the couldn't make it because of end of the year school things. The point is that they look up to us a whole lot and it got me thinking about my niece, Gracie! She's probably the only one out of Eliza, Kate, and her to realize what is going on so it really made me think of her and how I am recommitting myself to working the hardest that I possibly can. He went over many other things but he closed with when Peter became the great apostle we know him to be. It was when Jesus appeared to the disciples after he had been crucified and Peter jumped out of the boat to meet his friend and Savior on the coast. Jesus asked Peter, "Lovest thou me?" three times and the last time Peter said- "Lord... thou knowest that I love thee." Jesus then said to Peter, "feed my sheep." When times get tough on the mission I'll remember that I love Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, so much and I need to do the best of my abilities to feed his sheep.
I was reading in 3 Nephi and a few verses really stuck out. IN chapter 18 verses 18-20 it says, "Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you."
Se que por medio de oracion podemos hablar con nuestro Padre Celestial. Si preguntamos Dios con corazon sincero, podemos sentir el espiritu. A traves de la oracion podemos recibir dereccion en nuestras vidas y estoy muy agradecido por la oracion. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.
Gracias por sus cartas! Estoy muy agradecido por sus amor ye amo ustedes mucho!
Elder Gregory
P.S. Dad, Elder Petersen was wondering about where your dad was stationed, all he did, etc.
Could you check my spelling and correct any parts that don't make sense? I had to type this really fast.
