Hermana Cassie Joan Gray: SNOW DAY!!!!

Hello family and friends!

Oh my goodness, yes you heard right, we had a SNOW DAY! What in the world! I was so super happy though! Snow made me so much happier. Which is weird cause I HATE snow but hey it was fun for a couple of days.

Well just so you all can hear about the crazy madness. . . so basically Tuesday we woke up did studies than wrote emails and what not.

So we start proselyting at about 3:00 and this night we are supposed to go to Angels for dinner. So we get a call from President Chamberlin (the branch president) and he is like you need to be home at 5:00 because a snow storm is coming. haha. Oh man do they take these things so literally. ANyways so we end up going to Angel and Judith's at like 4 because Angel is leaving the next day for South Carolina. . and they are seriously so amazing. They bought us pizza and we just talked to them for a while. We are currently teaching Judith with Angel gone so hopefully she can realize the importance of the gospel and change while he is making changes in his life. So literally we have to be in by 5 so we drive home and just do studies and what not this night. Write in our journals to catch up and what not because sometimes you have no time to write which is totally a bummer because I want to remember EVERYTHING! So we just studied and what not, planned for the next day.

So than Wednesday we wake up and no joke there is an INCH of snow!!!!! SO FUN!!!! We LOVED it! But it was even more hilarious because it was an ALL CARS GROUNDED day. So we couldn't leave the apartment in our cars. . . so basically we couldn't go out. Crazy sauce to me. But it was really fun. We watched like all our gospel dvds that we had that are approved from Eprhaim's Rescue to like the REstoration video. And we still had forever. We didn't feel bad watching them either because half of them are in total Spanish so it was language study. :) But it was fun. We talked and got to know each other better. Then we invited sister Caldwell and willey over for dinner (sister training leaders) and so Hermana nord and I decided to walk to walmart to go get some flour so we could make banana muffins. So we walked there and Hermana Nord fell on ice. It was hilarious! I about died laughing for a good 5 minutes. Then this guy rolled down his window and was like you girls are brave, beign in the snow like that. And we were like we are from Utah this is normal. And he was like you are still brave. . haha. So then we get to WAlmart and no joke there is literally like 20 people in ALL of walmart. I am dying laughing. I can't believe this one inch of snow kept so many people from going out. It is crazy to me. And supposedly we might get snow again this Wednesday which would be real crazy. But it was a fun day. Kind of get to relax a little bit. =)

Thrusday we tried to make up for all the people we missed visiting because of the snow. This day we had a really neat experience! Nancy one of the less actives here we always try to visit and she literally avoids us a lot of the time or just says she is busy. So we were like we should just see if she wants us to quit bugging her for a while. So we pull up deciding we are going to share proverbs 3 with her. Anyways we go up to her door she already has it open and she tells us to come in and sit down. So we do obviously. We share our message and she literally bursts into tears at the end and is like. "I prayed to know what I need to change in my life because I know I am not where I am supposed to be right now. and I knew Heavenly father would send you here to tell me, and your message is exactly what I needed to hear. I need to change my life and start reading the scriptures again." It was really intense and really a neat experience to see this happen in her life. We are now starting to visit her 3 times a week and read the book of Mormon with her. =)

This week was also hard because we ended up dropping Arelis. =( I was super sad about this. Basically she says she can't believe in anything more than the bible at this point in her life and she doesn't believe we have a living prophet. It got a little heated at that point but it died down when we bore testimony so that was great. She is a great lady though and one day she will hopefully join the church. =) She does make me laugh though because she has a 19 year old son and she pointed at him one day and was like girls what does he lack? and we were like I don't know. . she was like Jesus. . .he lacks jesus! haha. I was dying laughing. She seriously is hilarious. and than this week Ilda. . . oh man she got so bundled up to go outside to get the snow. She had like three jackets and a scarf and a hat that says "Jesus is my boss" I was laughing pretty good at that. She seriously makes my day. It was hard to drop them but it is necessary and maybe with us not visiting she will realize when we come again what a difference the spirit is. =)

WE found a family!!! Craziest story. so we were walking one day and we saw these two girls climbing a tree and Hermana nord was like we should talk to them. Anyways one of them is 8 years old and lived in the house. Her name is Natasha. Anyways we gave her a Mormon.org card and then we were like we'll stop by a different day. Then we did and her mom kind of wanted to avoid us but she was like mom listen to them. So we went in and just did a CCE and as we did that the mom opened up and was like if my husband wants to do this we will. So we set up and appointment for yesterday. So we go to stop by last night to do an FHE with them. And we go and the little girl saw us before we got up there and already had her doors open and was like my parents are sleeping so we are like ask them when we can come back. So then the mom comes out and is like come in and then Jesus the dad comes out too. Then we find out he is a MEMBER!!! What the!?!? Big shocker there! haha. But he is a member, he was baptized in Mexico at 15 and was super active, went to the temple and what not. Then somehow he ended up going to jail and now just hasn't been back. But he is like I want my daughter to learn the teachings fo the gospel and to go to the youth activities. And if my wife wants to be baptized I am all for it. Then he was even better because we asked the wife a question and she tried to dodge us and make him answer and he was like they asked you. You should answer. He was all for it though and I think the wife was a little shocked. But they are going to start taking the lessons so hopefully we can make some progress come from this.

Hermana Nord keeps telling me (I told her how in my blessing it said I would be a big influence on the less actives and get them reactivated) and she is like no joke there has been a difference in the less actives since you got here. They all are wanting to change again. It was just crazy sauce! So we found a part member family to start teaching! Go us! Hopefully we can get them activated, that would be a grand miracle!

As a companionship we decided on having 7 baptisms this year with one being a family and then hopefully in reality 2 families. =)

It also amazes me how much people trust the missionaries right off the bat. I have had people tell us the craziest things on my first encounter. Like I went to jail, or I had serious depression and tried to kill myself multiples times, or just that there spouse was abusive or seriously. . .what people trust the missionaries with amazes me. I still can't believe it. But it really is a blessing from the lord how people just naturally trust you. =)

Funny story, or at least I think it is. So after we dropped arelis we decided to go get some hot cocoa from the gas station and also use the bano. And so we get our hot chocolate and some guy buys it for us! How awesome is he! He is a member and attends the singles ward. He was like Can I buy your hot chocolate? It was so nice. But than this lady we are walking out and she walks with us and is like you girls need to be careful. . cause that there was just weird. =) Haha. All the people seriously have so much love for us. It is incredible. They always are giving us warnings. I don't know how many times we've been told. .. "now you girls don't go downtown even if your church wants you too it is just dangerous!" I just think it is so great how even just random people are looking out for our safety. =)

Estaban is one of our progressing investigators. He is really neat. He is 19 and from Guatemala. He is awesome. He was so great though. He calls us Saturday night and is in a panic and is like I need you to meet me at Wendys. I guess all the people in his apartment were drunk and one was threatening to kill him. (he doesn't drink or smoke or anything! Bonus for us!) and so he was like I need somewhere to stay tonight do you know anyone? and we literally helped him find somewhere to stay that night. It was incredible to me though just how the lord literally had him call us first. How much he trusts us when we have only talked like maybe 5 times total. it is just a miracle. And it made me laugh because the only thing he brought with him from his house was 2 BOM's (English and Spanish, we give then an English one in English class so they can practice) and a little restoration pamphlet. it made my day! He is the greatest! =)

I said a prayer in sacrament yesterday! Go me! =) It really was a great experience. I literally didn't know how to say something in the middle of my prayer and it was so neat to feel the Holy ghost bring words to my mind and know what to say. I was so touched. It was a neat experience. =) Afterwards President Hamilton (stake president) came up to me and was like your Spanish is really good. Everyone has been saying that to me lately which is surprising because I don't feel like it has improved at all. But apparently it is really good. =) Sometimes I just don't know what to study though so it makes me frustrated. I figure if I for sure read a chapeter from the Libro de Mormon I am good and then just try to practice something. Mostly right now I am focusing on teaching the discussions in Spanish. I just do little role plays to myself. haha. =) Awkward, but true. ;)

And a member at church told me I looked like I lift weights because I look really strong! Go me! haha. =) Strong muscles!

Love you all, hope you have a great week! Work hard, remember the Lord Loves you! =) And so do I!

Love you,

Hermana Gray

GO BRONCOS!!!! =) I'll be rooting for you!