Hey!!! (10.31.11)

This past week we found an amazing kid! What happend was that we were in a small town about 15 minutes away from Coihueco by bus and we wanted to pass by a house of an investigator but we decided to knock on a few doors before we did. On about the 10th house we knocked, a 15 year old kid came out the door and said, ¨come in!¨ We sat there sort of surprised and then he asked us, ¨Thats what you want, isnt it?¨ We said, ¨Of course!¨ and we walked in and taught him! He already has 4 Books of Mormon and had read a lot of it! He is really smart and it was an amazing blessing. We got a baptismal date for him and hopefully he comes to church this next Sunday!

They told us about transfers yesterday. What happend was that all week I was telling myself that I was staying in Coihueco and I was completely convinced that I was staying. After reporting numbers to the zone leaders last night, I decided to hop in the shower because it was a really hot day and I was sweating all throughout the day. While I was in the shower, I heard my companion answer the phone and he spoke really properly so I was thinking, ¨Noooo!!!!¨ because I knew it was the mission president and he was going to tell me I was going to be transfered. I got out of the shower really quick and got the phone and President Humphrey said that I was being transferred.

So, I am headed to ¨Talca Centro¨ to probably finish my mission there. Im really excited! If I could pick anywhere to go in the mission, it would be Talca because its the only major city in the mission that I havent worked in yet. Im excited but a little bummed Im leaving Coihueco because I grew so much here. Today Ill have to say bye to everyone. Thats the hardest part about transfers!

I love yall!

Elder Gregory

Hey! (10.24.11)

Hey! A pretty quick week! I have sister missionaries in my district and so last Saturday I went over with my companion to teach a few lessons with them. It pretty much took up all day since we live so far away and we traveled both ways but it was definentely worth it. The second lesson, we taught an older lady that is reading in the Book of Mormon and she read about baptism. She told us all that she would really like to be baptized! That is such an amazing thing for a missionary to hear! A sister that is new in the mission invited her to baptism and she accepted! It was really good for this sister because she is really home-sick and has been thinking about going home for a few weeks but her companion is doing a great job keeping her animated. Having success always makes things better too.

Well, I officially realized that in some ways, I am being trained by my companion! Being 18 months in the mission, I sort of get a feel if people want to listen to us or not and I always figure that when people are in big groups, its really hard to have someone interested. Its that way because if one says they dont want to share, then the rest just sort of follow and say the same thing. But, we were walking in a small town and it was a nice day outside so tons of people were outside. My companion and I saw that there was a big group outside on the lawn in the grass, enjoying the day. I sort of thought twice about going to talk to them but my companion decided that we should go talk to them. I went over and we did a normal contact, and the owner of the house came and let us in and we sat with the family on the lawn and taught a lesson! There were about 7 of them there and they were all interested and at the end of the lesson, I wrote real fast to get the addresses of all of them. We got some return appointments and everything. It worked out great!

My companion is really good about following the promptings of the Spirit and that experience is proof! I learn a lot from him.

I love yall!
Chao!

Elder Gregory

Hola! (10.17.11)

Hey! This week we worked a lot on finding new investigators. I told my district that we were going to have a little competition to see who could do more contacts and get more investigators. We counted each new investigator as ten points and each contact as a point. We ended up having 176 contacts and another companionship had just barely more than us and they beat us by 7 points! We are going to have to buy them an ice cream today because that was the prize! It was pretty fun but in the end it was really just to get the district animated to find new investigators and it really helped.

Sunday morning we went out to go pick up a few investigators but they werent able to go so we went back to the church just praying for a miracle of a random investigators showing up or something, and it happend! A kid that I had met the day before playing soccer showed up with his member friend! He is a Jehova´s witness but doesnt go to church so he really wanted to come! Also, a friend of another less active that we are trying to active came! We have to get them on track to baptism because neither one of those kids have baptismal dates but atleast they came to church!

I am attaching a few random pictures. One of when I borrowed a jacket that was really tight and my companion got a picture real quick. Another picture is of me and a member that came with us to an appointment, fighting with umbrellas out on the highway as we waited for the bus. The last is me out on a soccer field that we played on as a branch last week!

I love yall!
Elder Gregory

This week! (10.10.11)

(Sorry family! I love you but I just have time to write this one quick one this week!)

It was honestly one of those down weeks of the mission. I have been talking a lot about a young matrimony these past few weeks who are leaders in the Evangelical church. They were progressing soooo much and were excited to be baptized as Jesus Christ was. I went over last Wednesday on a mini cambio and they came out with toooons of doubts. I answered them with both the Bible and Book of Mormon but in the end, they didnt want to interpret the scriptures from the Bible the same way as I did so I stuck with the Book of Mormon. I threw it all on the Book of Mormon of if it was true or not. I told them if they could prove to me that it was false, I would drop everything and go home to the United States that day. They told me that they knew that it was impossible to prove that it was false but that they were happy with the Bible and didnt want anymore scripture. We went over two days later and they told us that they didnt want us to come back. Thats just a little bit of what went on but it was rough.

Every Sunday night we have to report numbers to our leaders and I thought I was in for some hammers from my leader because we had a hard time getting people to church. He could tell in my voice that I was being hard on myself so instead of doing as I thought he would, he said that I was an amazing missionary, doing an amazing job as a leader, and that he loved me a lot. That helped so much more than anything else he could have said. I really am grateful for my leaders here in the mission.

I love yall! I could write more but we have to get in the shower really fast and go meet up the Branch President to do visits in thirty minutes! Again, I love yall and I pray for yall! Thank you for all the prayers!

Elder Gregory

La semana (10.3.11)

We just got finished playing some soccer with the zone so Im pretty worn out. Conference was awesome! We went to the stake center in Chillan to watch it with other missionaries. Conference really is the closest to vacation a missionary gets! They set a room for us aside for english so I was able to watch a few sessions in English. We were expecting five investigators, but only one came in the end. That was a little bit of a bummer but I just have to keep thinking of next Sunday!

This conference I really tried to write down what the Spirit whispered to me instead of just notes of what the speakers said. I really felt like I recieved a lot of personal revelation. In a few talks, it was repeated that when we repent, the Lord remembers our sin no more. That really impacted me, especially when President Packer said it. I started thinking about that and the significance of it and figured that if he remembers it no more, we should try to do the same. It is not necessary to talk about past sins and especially the sins of others or to bring them up. I guess I started thinking about that a little bit because there are tons of people who feel so comfortable around the missionaries that they confess to us all our sins! I now try to catch them before they do and talk about repentence.

Our investigators are doing good, but like I said, they didnt go to church so we are going to have to be firm with them. The young couple that are amazing named Mauricio and Gissel, didnt come and were committed as well as two others. We arent getting down because it was just one Sunday but it was an amazing opportunity to listen to the Prophet.

I love yall! Chao!
Elder Gregory

Happy Birthday Becca! Happy Birthday Emily!