Some really awesome miracles happend this past week. The first was that we had a baptism! It was really just a technical baptism because it was for a 9 year old kid that got baptized when he was 7 by accident. So, he got baptized on Saturday morning by my companion (his first time to baptize in the mission!) and he got confirmed yesterday, Sunday! He is a really good kid named Axel that has been at church almost every Sunday since I have been here in Coihueco. Him and his family were really happy.
The second miracle is that we had an investigator come to church, named Viviana, that lives 20 minutes away from the chapel by bus. We went to pick her up in the morning and she was all ready to go so we walked out to the highway to get a bus but there were no buses passing by! (The locomotion is bad Sunday mornings.) We waited for a few minutes and a white car flew by then slowed down and stopped in the middle of the road way in front of us. The car came back in reverse and a 25+/- woman rolled down the window and asked if we were going to the chapel in Coihueco. We said we were and she told us to get on in! We jumped in and as we drove I talked to her and she lives in Santiago but she comes to Chillan sometimes to visit family. She was invited by a friend to come to church here in Coihueco. She is a convert of a year and got baptized when her boyfriend, who was a member, died. So, during sacrament meeting, Viviana had a friend to sit by to answer her questions while Elder Haacke and I gave talks. It all worked out so well and Im sure if she hadn´t come, we would have gotten to church atleast 15 minutes late. Valentina, the lady that picked us up, told us that she felt something special when she was with Viviana and she told us to call her up for her to come down when Viviana gets baptized!
Another miracle is that we were walking yesterday and a couple called us over that were in the street. We went up to them and they told us that they wanted to hear a message from us and gave us a time and day to come over! That is the first time that has happend in my mission! So, we will see what happens tomorrow!
I was on a mini cambio the other day and I went back to that sector from where that drunk guy kicked me. Appearently I am famous around there because everyone heard about it and its a small town so news spreads quickly. The man went to the hospitol a few days ago for a heart problem and almost died! A lot of people in that small town said he got what he deserved! That was pretty shocking to me but I really do feel for the people that harm a servent of God.
It was an awesome week. Im loving the mission, my companion is awesome and learning quickly, and thanks to the Lord we are having some success!
Love yall
Elder Gregory
Como anda (8.22.11)
This past week we were planning on two really good investigators to be at church, but they didnt come! Its a bummer when you are waiting at the door and they dont end up coming but we have this next week to animate them to go to church next Sunday. But, we did have a few other investigators in church and they also went to a family home evening we did in the church on Sunday. We shared a message about the importance of being a child of God and the significance of that and then we played some games. The Young Women from the branch were in charge of the games and we played hot potato with one of my baseballs and everyone loved that. We also played bingo and everyone had a good time. There might not be many people in the branch, but those that are there every Sunday have really strong testimonies and make it known through their example.
Like I have said the past few weeks, we have been working in a small town about 15 minutes away. Everytime we finish a day there we feel like it was such a productive day. We get in doors because they are so nice, or they havent had missionaries pass by over there for a long time. They accept baptismal dates, but its a little harder to get them to church. We are going to try to go pick them up now and have breakfast with them before church this next Sunday.
My companion is learning really quickly. We have been practicing how to teach the message of the Restoration of the Gospel a lot during our studies and we have been going back and forth when we teach it a lot more. He invited someone to baptism for the first time and they accepted! It was awesome.
Oh, we are probably going to have a baptism this Saturday that came from nowhere. Appearently a boy that is 9 now got baptized when he was 7 because they messed up and didnt have his birthdate correct. So, he is going to be baptized again! My companion is going to baptize him and it will be his first time to do it in the misssion!
I love yall!
Elder Gregory
Like I have said the past few weeks, we have been working in a small town about 15 minutes away. Everytime we finish a day there we feel like it was such a productive day. We get in doors because they are so nice, or they havent had missionaries pass by over there for a long time. They accept baptismal dates, but its a little harder to get them to church. We are going to try to go pick them up now and have breakfast with them before church this next Sunday.
My companion is learning really quickly. We have been practicing how to teach the message of the Restoration of the Gospel a lot during our studies and we have been going back and forth when we teach it a lot more. He invited someone to baptism for the first time and they accepted! It was awesome.
Oh, we are probably going to have a baptism this Saturday that came from nowhere. Appearently a boy that is 9 now got baptized when he was 7 because they messed up and didnt have his birthdate correct. So, he is going to be baptized again! My companion is going to baptize him and it will be his first time to do it in the misssion!
I love yall!
Elder Gregory
Hey! (8.15.11)
Well, my companion´s names is Elder Haacke. He is from Bountiful, Utah and he is ready to go! Missionaries come out from the MTC with so much energy and I love it! He really wants to learn the language and has been stressing about it a little bit but we are studying hard. He also just wants to be a good missionary and companion so I respect him a lot.
We have been working in a small town named Talquipen about 20 minutes from here. We have been getting in a lot of doors. For example, last Wednesday we were there contacting. We contacted a lady, named Cristina, and she said no at first because she already had her religion. I said that was fine and I asked if we could share something about Christ real quickly (anything to get in the door!) We shared something real quick of about 15 minutes and left. We kept knocking and we got to an end of a street and the door of the last house was open with a lot of people going in and out. I thought that they had visitors so we would just contact it the next time we came to that town. But, I dont like leaving houses unknocked on a street so we knocked anyway. An older lady let us in and we taught a family of four in there. Appearently they are grandparents and have 3 daughters that live all close to them with all their families. We shared of the Restoration and Book of Mormon, and left them one. We went back on Saturday, and we went to the same house. The lady that we had taught for 15 minutes, named Cristina, came out and said that her parents were busy but she brought us over real quickly to her house. I really am never nervous when I teach lessons but when she brought us to her house, I got pretty nervous! She was a totally different person and was completely interested and askes us tons of questions about what we do and what we believe. We shared of the restoration with her and she was completeley receptive. She said that something that she loves about us that no other religion has, even hers, is that we are humble. I just told her that we are instruments in the Lord hands so that is why we have to be humble. So, pure miracles are happening over there in that small town! We also got in 3 other doors.
We had an investigator come to church that lives right down the street. We were not even able to teach her all week because she goes to the hospitol a lot but she called me up Sunday morning and told us that she was going! It was a miracle because it is really rare that investigators go on their own for the first time! We went and picked her up and walked with her to church and her little daughter loved Primary and said she wants to go back next week!
I found my camera! It was at another missionary´s house and I had left it there when I went to do a mini cambio or something.
I love yall!
Elder Gregory
The pictures of me and my companion when I picked him up in Concepcion and where we went with th young men and young women this morning to hike around.
Vamos, vamos, vamos! (8.8.11)
Well, we got cambios, transfers, this morning! My companion, Elder Rasmussen, is headed out to the zone thats furthest north than any other named Curico. I dont know who my companion is because I will be training! That means my companion will be fresh out of the MTC. Im really excited. Im not sure if it will be a latino or from the United States or what but we will see tomorrow!
Some bad news is that I lost my camera. Im pretty sure It fell out of my backpack somewhere here in centro last Monday. My memory card was in there too with 600+ pictures so all we have now are the pictures that I have sent home. Oh well, they were the most important!
This past week we found tons of people! We really havent changed how we work too much but one thing that we did a lot better is inviting people to baptism in the first lesson. We have put a lot of baptismal dates and I´m pretty sure the Lord blesses us with people because he sees our desire. When I got here to the mission, there was a huge focus on teaching the Atonement (the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his ressurection) and baptism the first lesson. Now, we do whatever we need to do for the needs of the people obviously so I personally love teaching of the Restoration of the Gospel. It really is our unique message so the Spirit is so strong when we teach it.
The branch here is struggling a little bit because the Elders qourum president, a returned missionary named Arturo, is going to go live where he studies. He has to come back every weekend travling anyway so it makes sense but there is barely any priesthood! The President is really good but he has two councelors that have problems of their own in the home and are a little older so the President has to do a lot himself. So, we have to reactivate, baptize, and do our part as priesthood holders.
I love yall! I hope yall are doing good!
Elder Gregory
Some bad news is that I lost my camera. Im pretty sure It fell out of my backpack somewhere here in centro last Monday. My memory card was in there too with 600+ pictures so all we have now are the pictures that I have sent home. Oh well, they were the most important!
This past week we found tons of people! We really havent changed how we work too much but one thing that we did a lot better is inviting people to baptism in the first lesson. We have put a lot of baptismal dates and I´m pretty sure the Lord blesses us with people because he sees our desire. When I got here to the mission, there was a huge focus on teaching the Atonement (the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his ressurection) and baptism the first lesson. Now, we do whatever we need to do for the needs of the people obviously so I personally love teaching of the Restoration of the Gospel. It really is our unique message so the Spirit is so strong when we teach it.
The branch here is struggling a little bit because the Elders qourum president, a returned missionary named Arturo, is going to go live where he studies. He has to come back every weekend travling anyway so it makes sense but there is barely any priesthood! The President is really good but he has two councelors that have problems of their own in the home and are a little older so the President has to do a lot himself. So, we have to reactivate, baptize, and do our part as priesthood holders.
I love yall! I hope yall are doing good!
Elder Gregory
Another week! (7.25.11)
We had an activity in the church on Saturday for the mission work! It was combined with the Elders qourum. We had them watch some videos and we all went out and contacted in the plaza for a few minutes. Everyone loved it and it was a lot of fun! I went out with a fourteen year old recent convert and when we came back, I saw two kids standing outside of the gate of the church. I asked them if they wanted to come on in to see the church and they came in! They stayed for the end of the activity and then we played some soccer after. I got their names, addresses, and I invited them to church. They came the next day with their neigbor and stayed all three hours! So, we saw immediate results of the activity for the mission work!
I did a mini-cambio (where we do an exchange with another missionary for a day) on Thursday. It was in a house of four missionaries so before we went to bed we were talking about doctrine of the church. One thing really struck out to me that I want to share with yall to finish this up...
We were talking about how eternal, powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, etc., that our Heavenly Father really is. It is something really hard to wrap our mind around but we got to talking about how he can have whatever he wants. But, there is one thing that he really wants more than anything. The one thing that he wants more than anything is the love of his children. We have our free agency so he cant make us love him. How do we show love? The Savior said, ¨If ye love me, keep my commandments (Si me amais, guardad mis mandamientos).¨ So, that is why it is so important for us to share the gospel so that people actually have that opportunity to know what the commandments are very simply and have council to help them keep those commandments. I know he loves us more than we can imagine. Thats why he sent his Son, who never disobeyed him, to suffer and die for us.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
I did a mini-cambio (where we do an exchange with another missionary for a day) on Thursday. It was in a house of four missionaries so before we went to bed we were talking about doctrine of the church. One thing really struck out to me that I want to share with yall to finish this up...
We were talking about how eternal, powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, etc., that our Heavenly Father really is. It is something really hard to wrap our mind around but we got to talking about how he can have whatever he wants. But, there is one thing that he really wants more than anything. The one thing that he wants more than anything is the love of his children. We have our free agency so he cant make us love him. How do we show love? The Savior said, ¨If ye love me, keep my commandments (Si me amais, guardad mis mandamientos).¨ So, that is why it is so important for us to share the gospel so that people actually have that opportunity to know what the commandments are very simply and have council to help them keep those commandments. I know he loves us more than we can imagine. Thats why he sent his Son, who never disobeyed him, to suffer and die for us.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
Update (7.18.11)
Fidel got baptized yesterday! It was awesome! This branch is small so any baptism is a huge deal for the branch and everyone is really excited about it. The Stake President came for sacrament meeting and he stayed for the baptism too. My companion baptized Fidel! I was excited for them. Fidel tried to get me to baptize him but we didnt have time to go grab my clothes so my companion had the privlege. ( I have no clue how to spell that word anymore.) Elder Rasmussen and I gave talks in sacrament meeting also. I spoke on how to befriend recent converts. Its sort of a little bit of what I talked about it my last talk in Los Volcanes so I just pulled some stuff from that.
I did a mini cambio last week and went to Chillan with another Elder for the day. We were in a small town and a drunk, agressive guy came out of a house and he followed us. He wasnt making too much sense but I stuck out my hand to shake his and he tried shaking my hand as hard as he could. I talked to his other friend there who wasnt wasted and then we tried to walk away. The agressive, drunk man came running after us and so we walked a little quicker and when I wasnt looking, he kicked me super hard! He tried to kick the Elder that I was with but I gave him a heads up and he dodged it. The man was kind of mad that he missed him so he came running after us and we finally got away! It was pretty crazy and it was a small town so there werent too many places to run to but he finally went away. So now the count in the mission is being kicked twice, having I dont know how many things thrown at me and pushed into a wall once in the mission! I think I would have been a little bit more nervous if I wasnt a missionary but I just stay mellow because we have the Lord´s protection so its no big deal.
We pretty much baptized our only investigator so we will be contacting a lot now. For some reason, I am really excited to! I love finding the chosen so we have to show our diligence and the Lord will bless us!
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
I did a mini cambio last week and went to Chillan with another Elder for the day. We were in a small town and a drunk, agressive guy came out of a house and he followed us. He wasnt making too much sense but I stuck out my hand to shake his and he tried shaking my hand as hard as he could. I talked to his other friend there who wasnt wasted and then we tried to walk away. The agressive, drunk man came running after us and so we walked a little quicker and when I wasnt looking, he kicked me super hard! He tried to kick the Elder that I was with but I gave him a heads up and he dodged it. The man was kind of mad that he missed him so he came running after us and we finally got away! It was pretty crazy and it was a small town so there werent too many places to run to but he finally went away. So now the count in the mission is being kicked twice, having I dont know how many things thrown at me and pushed into a wall once in the mission! I think I would have been a little bit more nervous if I wasnt a missionary but I just stay mellow because we have the Lord´s protection so its no big deal.
We pretty much baptized our only investigator so we will be contacting a lot now. For some reason, I am really excited to! I love finding the chosen so we have to show our diligence and the Lord will bless us!
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
July 11, 2011
Last Wednesday we got up at 6:15 to go to Concepcion. It was for leadership training and the assistants and President gave us a lot of good council. They told us a little bit about how to do baptismal interviews better, about key indicator numbers, how to do district classes more effectively, and a lot of things that helped. Us four from the zone got back to our sectors in time to work the whole afternoon there so I was happy about that. Its amazing how when you are assigned to a position that has to do with being a ¨leader¨, the love for the people you serve grows a lot more. That definentely has happend.
Fidel, an investigator, is doing amazing and he wants to get baptized next Sunday. A recent convert family has helped him a lot and they care for him since he comes from a rough background. Also, another investigator named Barbara is doing really good. She is ten years old and wants to get baptized but her mom will only give her permission when she sees a change in her. When I saw Barbara this past week for the first time, I felt that I had already known Barbara from somewhere. Its really hard to explain the thoughts and emotions that I felt but I really feel a big resposibility to help Barbara get baptized.
Here are a few pictures from Los Volcanes! There are pictures with a lot of great families from the ward and some converts and investigators.
I love yall!
Elder Gregory
Fidel, an investigator, is doing amazing and he wants to get baptized next Sunday. A recent convert family has helped him a lot and they care for him since he comes from a rough background. Also, another investigator named Barbara is doing really good. She is ten years old and wants to get baptized but her mom will only give her permission when she sees a change in her. When I saw Barbara this past week for the first time, I felt that I had already known Barbara from somewhere. Its really hard to explain the thoughts and emotions that I felt but I really feel a big resposibility to help Barbara get baptized.
Here are a few pictures from Los Volcanes! There are pictures with a lot of great families from the ward and some converts and investigators.
I love yall!
Elder Gregory
First week in Coihuec (7.4.11)
I love my new sector! I get here on Tuesday and I was so excited. I really feel like this is where I need to be and it hit me as we took a bus in on Tuesday. The town is small and there is a plaza in the middle that is the center of everything. The chapel is there at the plaza so everyone has seen the chapel before and they recognize the church. There were 35 members at church yesterday and it was fast and testimony meeting so about everyone gave their testimony! The branch president, Presidente Pacheco, is about 30 years old and his brother just got back from a mission and is now the elders qourum president.
There really arent too many investigators but there are some really good converts. One investigator, a friend of a convert, Fidel, went to church for the first time and loved it and wants to get baptized! He comes from a rough background so Im sure he feels something different in the chapel that he hasnt felt before. My companion, Elder Rasmussen, is a humble missionary. He is about 11 months into his mission and he is from Utah. He is a shy person so I really want to help him open up and express himself more. He is obviously here on the mission for the right reasons and wants to be a better missionary so Im really excited to try to help him. The relationship between the Branch President and the missionaries hasnt been too good lately so I really want to work on that. For a branch to grow, its so important for the missionaries and branch president to be able to work together well.
I really feel that I can help this sector out a lot and Im really excited. It brings joy to me to think of what this branch could be by the time I leave here and even after.The sacrament room is really small but I like to envision all of the seats full and have an extention of the church be in conversation because there is no room for everyone! That will take a lot of working with less actives and finding really good people to be baptized into the church who will endure to the end!
I talked with my last companion, Elder Jack, this morning and he told me some bad news. The investigator that we were working with and was close to baptism named Oscar, had two heart attacks and maybe a stroke so now he has no short term memory at all. If he walks five steps down his street, he forgets what house is his. He now remembers nothing about baptism and church. Its really unfortunate but the Lord is in control so he will judge Oscar on the desires that he had.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
There really arent too many investigators but there are some really good converts. One investigator, a friend of a convert, Fidel, went to church for the first time and loved it and wants to get baptized! He comes from a rough background so Im sure he feels something different in the chapel that he hasnt felt before. My companion, Elder Rasmussen, is a humble missionary. He is about 11 months into his mission and he is from Utah. He is a shy person so I really want to help him open up and express himself more. He is obviously here on the mission for the right reasons and wants to be a better missionary so Im really excited to try to help him. The relationship between the Branch President and the missionaries hasnt been too good lately so I really want to work on that. For a branch to grow, its so important for the missionaries and branch president to be able to work together well.
I really feel that I can help this sector out a lot and Im really excited. It brings joy to me to think of what this branch could be by the time I leave here and even after.The sacrament room is really small but I like to envision all of the seats full and have an extention of the church be in conversation because there is no room for everyone! That will take a lot of working with less actives and finding really good people to be baptized into the church who will endure to the end!
I talked with my last companion, Elder Jack, this morning and he told me some bad news. The investigator that we were working with and was close to baptism named Oscar, had two heart attacks and maybe a stroke so now he has no short term memory at all. If he walks five steps down his street, he forgets what house is his. He now remembers nothing about baptism and church. Its really unfortunate but the Lord is in control so he will judge Oscar on the desires that he had.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
Leaving Los Volcanes! (6.27.11)
After seven months in Los Volcanes, Im leaving. Im headed to a small town really close to Chillan, the city Im already in, and I hear that it is a small branch named Coihueco. Im pretty excited to be in a small town and branch because I never have been. My companion is named Elder Rasmussen. When we went to go play paintball a few weeks ago, we played with the zone that I am heading to and he was there on the bus. He was sitting by himself and I decided to sit by him and he was really quiet. We talked a little bit but he was little timid and I was thinking that it would be cool if I could get to know him more. Well, now he is my companion!
My talk went well, I think! I spoke on retention and I split it into three parts. The first is what the members have to do to help the converts and less actives. I took it from a talk from Elder Ballard and he says that they need to do three things- 1)Be an example 2)Informal teaching, and 3)Integrate. The second part was what the members need to do to stay active themselves. I spoke on not critisizing leaders and to just live to always have the guidance of the Holy Ghost. The last part I spoke on was of why we do it. I said that we need to do it because we love them. I shared some examples and I closed with the example of Chirst washing the feet of his disciples. It says in the first verse of the chapter that he ¨loved them till the end.¨ I repeated that a few times. I was happy that I was able to talk my last Sunday because it was my way of saying goodbye to the ward! Los Volcanes is a great ward and Im really grateful that I was able to serve there.
We were at lunch last Friday and we got a phone call from the zone leaders. They said that we needed to go to the hospitol to give a blessing to a man and they gave us his name. They didnt give much information but we were going to go after lunch. I got another call a little bit later from the other zone leader and he gave me the full story. It was a man who was suffering from depression and was in the hospitol because he went to the third story of the mall and jumped to commit suicide. He lived through it and was in the hospitol unable to move. We went and gave him a blessing and he wasnt able to talk but just able to barely move his head up and down and move his eyes. The Spirit was strong as we gave the blessing and it got me thinking the rest of the day. I was thinking of how it would be without the knowledge that I have of the Gospel. If I was depressed, where would I go? The Gospel of Jesus Christ heals if we are willing to accept and act.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
My talk went well, I think! I spoke on retention and I split it into three parts. The first is what the members have to do to help the converts and less actives. I took it from a talk from Elder Ballard and he says that they need to do three things- 1)Be an example 2)Informal teaching, and 3)Integrate. The second part was what the members need to do to stay active themselves. I spoke on not critisizing leaders and to just live to always have the guidance of the Holy Ghost. The last part I spoke on was of why we do it. I said that we need to do it because we love them. I shared some examples and I closed with the example of Chirst washing the feet of his disciples. It says in the first verse of the chapter that he ¨loved them till the end.¨ I repeated that a few times. I was happy that I was able to talk my last Sunday because it was my way of saying goodbye to the ward! Los Volcanes is a great ward and Im really grateful that I was able to serve there.
We were at lunch last Friday and we got a phone call from the zone leaders. They said that we needed to go to the hospitol to give a blessing to a man and they gave us his name. They didnt give much information but we were going to go after lunch. I got another call a little bit later from the other zone leader and he gave me the full story. It was a man who was suffering from depression and was in the hospitol because he went to the third story of the mall and jumped to commit suicide. He lived through it and was in the hospitol unable to move. We went and gave him a blessing and he wasnt able to talk but just able to barely move his head up and down and move his eyes. The Spirit was strong as we gave the blessing and it got me thinking the rest of the day. I was thinking of how it would be without the knowledge that I have of the Gospel. If I was depressed, where would I go? The Gospel of Jesus Christ heals if we are willing to accept and act.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
this week (6.20.11)
This week went flying by. We had one investigator, Oscar, good to go for baptism this next 25th but unfortunatley he didnt go to church yesterday so he cant get baptized that day. (An investigator has to attend church atleast three times before his baptism.) But, we are going to see if he can get baptized the 26th after church. Soledad, Felipe´s mom, wont be getting baptized anytime soon probably. After having an intense lesson a week and a half ago we have just been going over a few times but not too much. We went over last night and I asked her what she thinks of getting baptized this Sunday. She said no. I asked her what she would do if the way her family feels about the church never changes. She said that she would get baptized anyway so I asked her why not this next Sunday! She said no. So, that pretty much sealed the deal with Soledad, atleast for when Im here because Im probably headed out of Los Volcanes in a week. But, an investigator named Pamela went to church for the second time in a row. She is really good but the only thing is that she goes to a house that she is building in the country on weekends sometimes. She didnt go yesterday to that house because it was raining really hard so that was a blessing!
We have been teaching a family of five and they know an amazing family in the ward, familia Orellana. We had a family home evening last Monday night with both the families and it went really good. Richie Orellana, a returned misisonary, teaches extremely well and so he taught the lesson and it was really good. He basically taught the Restoration of the Gospel and of the importance of a prophet, twelve apostles, and the priesthood. We gave each of them a Book of Mormon and they were really grateful for that.
Ill be giving a talk next Sunday about retention and Im pretty excited about it. Actually, my companion was assigned the talk but he talked to the councelor and he passed it to me. I think Elder Jack wants to see me drop some hammers before I leave! Of course I will do it with love but I really want to say some things that I have seen over the seven months that I have been in the ward here. At night before I go to sleep, I like to read church books that wouldnt necessarily be books that I would read during my studies but still help a lot. Ive been reading the teachings of the Prophet Brigham Young and a qoute just jumped out at me. It basically says that one of the first steps down to apostasy for a member is when they critisize their Bishop. That is honestly a huge problem here. The Bishop really does what he can but members go inactive for what their leaders do a lot of times. In the end, they wont have that excuse at judgement day! But anyway, Im going to talk about some things like that and do it with love because this is an amazing ward. Ive grown a lot here. I still dont know if I am headed out next week but its really likely. Ill know next Monday.
I really am grateful to be a missionary. In my letters I try to show how it is in the mission field as much as I can. Its not all flowers and butterflies! But, it really is an amazing experience. As we always teach in our lessons, if we dont have opposition, how are we supossed to grow? I thank the Lord for the blessings as well as the opposition. To say that these are the best two years of my life would probably be a little inacurate, but to say that these two years are the hardest and most rewarding two years of my life would be the truth.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
We have been teaching a family of five and they know an amazing family in the ward, familia Orellana. We had a family home evening last Monday night with both the families and it went really good. Richie Orellana, a returned misisonary, teaches extremely well and so he taught the lesson and it was really good. He basically taught the Restoration of the Gospel and of the importance of a prophet, twelve apostles, and the priesthood. We gave each of them a Book of Mormon and they were really grateful for that.
Ill be giving a talk next Sunday about retention and Im pretty excited about it. Actually, my companion was assigned the talk but he talked to the councelor and he passed it to me. I think Elder Jack wants to see me drop some hammers before I leave! Of course I will do it with love but I really want to say some things that I have seen over the seven months that I have been in the ward here. At night before I go to sleep, I like to read church books that wouldnt necessarily be books that I would read during my studies but still help a lot. Ive been reading the teachings of the Prophet Brigham Young and a qoute just jumped out at me. It basically says that one of the first steps down to apostasy for a member is when they critisize their Bishop. That is honestly a huge problem here. The Bishop really does what he can but members go inactive for what their leaders do a lot of times. In the end, they wont have that excuse at judgement day! But anyway, Im going to talk about some things like that and do it with love because this is an amazing ward. Ive grown a lot here. I still dont know if I am headed out next week but its really likely. Ill know next Monday.
I really am grateful to be a missionary. In my letters I try to show how it is in the mission field as much as I can. Its not all flowers and butterflies! But, it really is an amazing experience. As we always teach in our lessons, if we dont have opposition, how are we supossed to grow? I thank the Lord for the blessings as well as the opposition. To say that these are the best two years of my life would probably be a little inacurate, but to say that these two years are the hardest and most rewarding two years of my life would be the truth.
Love yall!
Elder Gregory
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