October 11 2010

Hola familia!

Today we went by the zoo! Everyone kept telling us that it was really small and to not expect too much. From a few members they told us that all they had were some birds, a cat, and a stray dog that got in! But, actually it was pretty fun and it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. We went as a district and had a good time.

Well, we are working hard. This cambio hasnt been the best one of my mission but atleast we are working hard and trying. Im really grateful for the part in Preach My Gospel (a guide for missionary work and missionaries) that says what an effective missionary is. There is nowhere in there about how many baptisms you have and how many new investigators each week. Basically what I think it comes down to is if you are satisfied and the Lord is satisfied with your work at the end of each day.

We have a few possibilites for next Sunday to be baptized so we are going to work hard to see that through. Of course as missionaries we are only here to help, encourage, and teach. We arent here to make decisions for people. We couldnt do that even if we wanted to.

We taught two classes in church the other day. The first was for 20 minutes to the ward about the Book of Mormon. We read the introduction of 1)What is the Book of Mormon 2) How to know if its is true. 3) Why it is important to know. I think it went well and we had a few members ask for some to give to their friends. We taught the second hour to the investigator and new members class. We spoke of the Law of Chastity because the teacher doesnt like teaching that one too much. Before the mission, it would have been really hard to have to adress that subject so many times to so many different people and now its no problem. The Lord has to tell his people the way it is and so as representatives of Jesus Christ, we have to do the same about certain things.

Not too much else has happend. Im loving the mission and Im filled with joy that I can be here serving the people of Chile by bringing them the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I cant believe I will hit 6 months this week! Ive heard it a ton of times that the mission flies by but now I can really testify for myself the mission really does fly by!

Through difficult times, I think one of the best, or the best, thing that you can do is be filled with gratitude. So I want to share a little bit more of what I am thankful for as I did a little bit last week.

Im so grateful that the Gospel is restored on the Earth and that we have our agency to accept it and follow Jesus Christ. Im eternally grateful for what our Savior did for us so that we even have an opportunity at all to accept the Gospel. With his sacrifice, we have the chance to better ourselves each day. What Jesus Christ did for us is the basic doctine of our religion and we can show our gratitude through accepting, loving, and thanking in our conversations through prayer with our Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ has provided us a way to have Eternal Life and I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity to share this message.

Love yall!

Elder Gregory