Well, this week was an emotionally, spiritually, physically draining week. But somehow I still wake up each morning with enough energy to make it all the way through the day with a strong drive and desire! I can definentely testify that the Lord works miracles for his missionaries to continue the work.
This week started out with me getting sick for the first time on the mission! I ate some bad sandwich meat before we went out to prosylite. A few hours after I ate it my stomache wasnt feeling too good and we were knocking a door. I started feeling a litte dizzy and I said a quick little prayer for Heavenly Fathers help through whatever was going on. I thought through what I was going to do if I passed out and there was a brick wall fence that I decided to lean on. I planned it all out and next thing I knew I was on the ground with Elder Davis and the less active talking to me to see if I was all right! I had passed out! But, I had a really good landing from just sliding down the wall so Heavenly Father guided me down to keep me safe for sure. Anways, we went back to the house, I rested for a day and a half, and I was perfectly good to go out after that! So, my first time of being sick in Chile! Im really careful about that sandwich meat now!
Presidnt Humphrey and his wife came out with us to meet an investigator, Manuel, who is trying to stop smoking. His wife is a recent convert and he said that he would be a member no doubt if he could stop smoking. We went over last Thursday and President gave a really good spiritual thought and committed Manuel to baptism. He set it for a week and two days away. We went back over on Saturday all together and President Humphrey gave him a blessing and the count of 7 days started! (To be bapitized, you have to stop smoking for atleast seven days before being baptized.) So, President gave him gum to chew when he gets the temptation and committed him to read a verse in the Book of Mormon everyday. It was really strong.
So, Sunday came around and we were waiting and waiting for him at church but he never came. He already has three church attendences so he can technically be baptized fine if he doesnt go but we really wanted him to go for the Spiritual strength. We left sacrament meeting to go get him. We got to his house and we rang the buzzer but nobody answered. The lights were off and we looked inside. The table was covered with beer bottles and the patio was covered with cigerettes. They had a party the night before for a birthday party with their family. We wanted to believe the best but it wasnt looking too good. We tried not to not think of it too much to get us down that day but we had it in the back of our minds. So, we went to the appointment with them, which was the last one of the day. We walked in being prepared for the worst but hoping for the best. After talking for a little bit, they told us they didnt drink at all! A huge wave of relief went over us. Then we asked Manuel how he was doing with the cigerettes. He gave us a thumbs up! He didnt smoke at all! All those wine and beer bottles and cigerettes were from the company that they had the night before. It was amazing.
I might be writing this story a little early because he hasnt made it throught the week without smoking yet but I wanted to share this story because Manuel withstood the temptation and we are so proud of him. I know he has 6 more days to go but we know he can do it!
We talked about how Satan always tries to tempt us before strong spiritual experiences, like Joseph in the grove, but he also tempts us after to try to belittle the spiritual experience. We might not be hand to hand combat everyday but this war is so real. We are in a war with the advesary and he knows our weaknesses. The Lord will strengthen us to overcome all the temptations if we have faith in him and show our faith.
This is what I wanted to share this week! Everything else is going amazing. We have cambios today so I made it through my first cambio ( first 6 weeks.) I fogot the cable for my camera so Ill post a picture of my first zone next week!
I love yall and keep praying to our Heavenly Father and he will give you the strength through hard times and temptation!
Elder Gregory
Week Update! July 19, 2010
Hey everyone! Its been beautiful here and its heating up a little bit. Maybe I´m speaking a little too soon because we aren´t technically out of winter until next month but I´m enjoying the clear sky and sun. Its still chilly but its real pretty.
Our investigator pool is becoming a lot more defined. Its really nice to have a few of your main investigators progressing and going to church. One of the best feelings and sights is to see an investigator you have been working with all week, walk through the doors to the church on Sunday. Its almost like all your hardwork has paid off. Of course, the ultimate goal is more than church attendance but its still a really amazing feeling.
On Sunday a member in the ward asked us to go up to the Bishop after Sacrament Meeting. We went up to him and a couple were talking to him. They asked us "how long does it take to get baptized?" Those words are amazing to a missionary. We told them it would only take two weeks because they had already attending church once. So, things are looking really good next month. We have a lot of work to do these next couple weeks so that we can see through all these baptismal dates that we have next month.
I think I´ve said before how amazing our Bishop is. He does so much and he´s so loving and serving to the ward. Something that I really thought was awesome this past week was that we saw his room that he makes his own bread! Chile consumes so much bread and the people who make them are kind of secretive about their recipies. So, the Bishop (Bishop Chavez) is testing out different recipies and we buy bread from him each time. I think it's so awesome because its really something that I couldn´t see happening too much in the States. He lives about 2 minutes away from where we live and we all live really close to the Church. I´ve said it a lot but I´ll say it again... this ward is amazing. Everyone is so willing to give us references and love treating the missionaries to lunch. Elder Davis mentioned the other day that you would find more people willing to give lunch to the missionaries here than you would find someone who wasn´t able to. I appreciate it so much.
We did service again this past week and this next week we are going to do a Mesa Missional. This is where we set up a table with copies of the Book of Mormons and pamphlets and talk to as many people as we can about the Gospel. We are doing it with the Elder´s quorum and there are tons of return missionaries so it should be really good.
Here´s a few more pictures! Love yáll! Chao!
Elder Gregory
Week update- almost a month here in Chile! July 12, 2010
Well this week flew by. I guess the newness of everything is waring off a little bit so my brain isn't flying at 100 mph anymore! We played some soccer this morning with some Elders from another zone and 4 Elders from my zone. It was on a smaller indoor court and it was pretty fun. After that we went to the mission office, grabbed an American-like burger, took a shower, and now Im here. So, once I finish emails it will be pretty much time to head back to work!
Yesterday at church our ward mission leader, Miguel, came and found us in class to tell us that our President and his wife were there in our building! We went and talked with them for a little bit and introduced some recent converts and an investigator, Micheal, to them. It was an awesome surprise. Presidnt Humphrey is so involved in wanting to meet investigators and members. He wants to come out with us next week to visit one of our investigators who is trying to stop smoking so he can get baptized. He had some great advise for Micheal, who we have been trying everything with to have him recieve an answer to his prayer to be baptized. He said to tell Micheal to pick a date that he feels comfortable to be baptized and to think of some things that he can do and have us do to have him prepared for that day. We did that and tomorrow we´ll find out the date he´s picked and what we can do for him. Its an amazing idea because our baptismal dates have kept dropping with him and we dont want to drop him because we really love him and know he is close to recieving that answer.
I went on a split last week and I´m going on another one tomorrow. Im sure I've said this but I love doing splits because I like seeing different teaching techniques. Everybody has their own way that works for them and I'm still trying to find out what mine is so this is a great opportunity to see what I like about how other missionaries teach.
The Spanish is getting a little better. Or as I say to everyone who asks, "Estoy aprendiendo poco y poco cada dia!" Elder Davis and I are talking in the streets in Spanish a lot more and it really helps.
We had a service project last Saturday and I´ll add a few pictures if it works of it. Also I took a few pictures of my sector, just so yáll can sort of get a feel for Chile!
All right, its almost time to head back to work and Ive got a couple more things to do before 6!
Love,
Elder Gregory
Yesterday at church our ward mission leader, Miguel, came and found us in class to tell us that our President and his wife were there in our building! We went and talked with them for a little bit and introduced some recent converts and an investigator, Micheal, to them. It was an awesome surprise. Presidnt Humphrey is so involved in wanting to meet investigators and members. He wants to come out with us next week to visit one of our investigators who is trying to stop smoking so he can get baptized. He had some great advise for Micheal, who we have been trying everything with to have him recieve an answer to his prayer to be baptized. He said to tell Micheal to pick a date that he feels comfortable to be baptized and to think of some things that he can do and have us do to have him prepared for that day. We did that and tomorrow we´ll find out the date he´s picked and what we can do for him. Its an amazing idea because our baptismal dates have kept dropping with him and we dont want to drop him because we really love him and know he is close to recieving that answer.
I went on a split last week and I´m going on another one tomorrow. Im sure I've said this but I love doing splits because I like seeing different teaching techniques. Everybody has their own way that works for them and I'm still trying to find out what mine is so this is a great opportunity to see what I like about how other missionaries teach.
The Spanish is getting a little better. Or as I say to everyone who asks, "Estoy aprendiendo poco y poco cada dia!" Elder Davis and I are talking in the streets in Spanish a lot more and it really helps.
We had a service project last Saturday and I´ll add a few pictures if it works of it. Also I took a few pictures of my sector, just so yáll can sort of get a feel for Chile!
All right, its almost time to head back to work and Ive got a couple more things to do before 6!
Love,
Elder Gregory
Julio 5 2010
The weather was awesome this past week. Yesterday it started raining again. It seems like the pattern is that its really stormy, windy, and rainy for about a week then its amazing for a week. So, we love and take advantage of those sunny days while we have them!
My companion, Elder Davis, is a district leader so I was able to go on a few splits this week while he did interviews. There are so many strong missionaries here in Chile. One, Elder Law, is only over a year in and already training. He really taught me a lot by just the short hour I went out with him. We went in to a less active lady's house, inviting her to church, and she was so strong in not wanting to go to church because it was just a hassle. I thought it would go nowhere and her mind was already made up but Elder Law spoke with her about how the little things like attending church, reading scriptures, and praying leads up to the wonderful blessing and opportunity of living with our families forever. She had a total change of heart and when her son came in at the end of the discussion, she made him go to church the next day and put her foot down. In the one short lesson, she changed from a inactive sister to, what seemed like, a strong leader of the church. It was awesome.
We got a new mission president! His name is president Humphrey and is from California. Him and his wife are really nice and amazing. We had a short mission conference last week so I guess you could say I had two first mission conferences of my mission. One with President Chavez and one with the new President Humphrey. We have our interviews with him tomorrow so I think we are the first zone to. My zone is awesome too. Our zone leaders are from Argentina and Chile so they both really only speak Spanish. They are both real cool and the one from Argentina has 3 weeks left. (Ian, i told him you served in Resistencia and he said that's the hardest mission in Argentina for some reason that I didn't understand.)
Ive learned that you always need to start with numbers, but they definitely aren't everything. If you love the people, the numbers will follow. Im trying to do my best to realize that because I thought that was amazing advise. For example, there are soooo many inactive members here in Chile and there are barely any numbers involved in reactivating a family. But, any smart missionary knows that the numbers will follow if you get that family going again and ask for references from them. So, the number one thing to do before you meet a person is to love them. I learned this, this week because of a few complicated situations with some investigators we have. We were sure that we had two baptisms locked in for this month but after talking with the Bishop, he doesn't want these two to be baptized. Hes afraid one of them might keep living in sin after because of the situation she is in. The other is a little girl who wants to be baptized but the Bishop was afraid that her inactive parents were never going to take her to church after the 3 weeks that they have to attend. Its all a lot more detailed from what I know, and then even more detailed of what the Bishop knows so all we can do is love them and hope that it all falls into place. Ive also gained a lot stronger testimony that callings, like Bishops, are inspired.
Anyway, keep the letters coming and I love hearing from y'all! Enjoy the wonderful summer in the states for me!
Love y'all!
Elder Gregory
Me in front of our house
Right after Chile had won a soccer game and Concepcion went crazy in celebration.
The other is where I put my books and I just like to show that the little figurine of Nephi that Dad gave me is standing up top!
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