I think I'm just going to send the emails to you dad because its easier to just hit "reply" so if you can send it out I'd appreciate it.
This week flew by! Probably the highlight of the week was L. Tom Perry coming to speak last Tuesday. It was amazing to be in the presence of an apostle. He spoke mostly of the Book of Mormon and started with a whole lot of scriptures that I still haven't finished looking up yet. One line from his talk that I really liked was that "the Book of Mormon is the greatest missionary." He told of an experience (which i'm sure some of y'all have heard) of when he went to Martin Harris' gravestone as a deacon and an old man met him and his deacons qourum there. To summarize the story... this man had worked on Martin Harris' land and one night Martin Harris called the boy in to talk to him. He asked about him and his family (he knew they were LDS) and what they thought of the Book of Mormon and also about the testimony of the three witnesses in the front. The boy gave a short answer and then Martin Harris told him powerfully that he could never deny the truthfullness of the Book of Mormon. L. Tom Perry worded his talk in a way that was exteremely powerful and the Spirt was strong.
My companion, Elder Martell, and I had a pretty adventerous couple of days last week. Last Sunday he used some contact solution that isn't meant to be directly on your eyes but is supossed to soak your contacts for atleast six hours to clean them. I don't even know all the terms for it but it was pretty much like he put acid on his eyes instead of him thinking the solution was ok to put on his contacts right before he put them on his eyes. (Sorry that is probably really confusing.) But all through the day his eyes were killing him and bright red. He couldn't see real good but he said he would be fine so we didn't think much of it until that night and it wasn't better. We gave him a blessing then our district leader and him went to the ER. They washed out his eyes that night then the next day Elder Martell and I went to the eye doctor. He's fine now and there wasn't any permanent damage so we're grateful for that. It was awesome to get off the MTC grounds for a little bit and see that there is still a world out there! JK
A district left last week and there was this Elder named Elder Bown who is going to the Houston East mission (Spanish)! He had a strong southern accent but he was raised in Utah so I guess its meant to be that he serves in the South! Him and I clicked really well and he'll be an amazing missionary. We got a new district a day after they left and so we aren't the newest district in the zone anymore!
We gave our first lesson in Spanish a couple days ago with some missionaries on our floor and even though we stumbled through it at some parts, we made it through. It was a huge relief to get the first one out of the way and it'll only get easier as we practice. Elder Martell is quick on learning Spanish so he's been helping me out a lot. Our task at the TRC (Teaching Resource Center) last Thursday was to meet somebody, get to know them, ask about their family, share a brief testimony on families, say a prayer, and schedule an appointment in Spanish. We did that twice then we taught a lesson in English for half an hour.
We have three missionaries from our district going to Guatamala this Tuesday to finish their MTC weeks at the one in Guatamala. They are all awesome missionaries. One is Tongan, Elder Otuafi, who has a really strong testimony and soft heart. Another's name is Elder Mickell who is a scripture wiz and loves the Lakers so we joke around with each other all the time. Another's name is Elder Forsyth who is real regimented and speaks clear and to the point which I like. All three of them are so easy to get along with and they'll do amazing in the field.
Well time's ticking.. its on 2:00 left right now so I'll share something brief.
I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. He knew all the strugles he was to face and knew that the Gospel, through him, was to be restored. Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father both appeared to him and gave him this high and sacred responsibilty to lead us back to our Heavenly Father and live happily in this life and the next.
40...38...35... Ok better go! Love y'all.. Keep writing
Elder Gregory
