Transfers are in...=)

Hola familia!

Esta semana fue un poco dificil pero esta bien. Estoy muy animado por esta semana y pienso que esta semana estara muy bien. :)

Well. . . Transfers are in. . ..

We received a call from President Baker yesterday around 3:00 (it would have been later but he called the other hermanas and we were still in the apartment so he just talked to us too).

But the verdict is in and I am. . . . STAYING! =)

Hermana Nord is being transferred to Glouster and I am going to have Hermana Newman as my new companion! =) I am happy and sad at the same time. It will be super sad to not see Hermana Nord all the time but it will be a good change. Another opportunity to learn and grow and become an even better missionary. I have only heard wonderful things about Hermana Newman so I am excited. Although I do feel a little bad because she is coming to this area and we are STRUGGLING. which is probably why she is coming. . . Hermana Newman to the rescue! Because this week was rough! :/ Hermana Johnson is training a greenie and staying in the area so she'll still be in the apartment (and I won't be the youngest anymore! wahoo!). And Hermana Sahleen is being transferred to VA beach (which apparently is incredible too because it is the only (I think) other Spanish branch in the mission!). She is going to love it. It is a little triste to see them leaving though. The apartment will definitely be a little different but I am excited to have this change.

Now this past week!

Well. . . . It was just a little rough. So we have been trying to do the "escalator method instead of the elevator method" which is great. . but basically we started off the week with a few progressing investigators and then we got dropped by ALL of our investigators. . minus two that aren't really progressing too well. I feel a little bad for HErmana Newman coming into the area where we basically don't really have anyone investigating. But we are going to change that! =)

It was super sad though. We went to visit April and Carlos and she was like. . .well we started going to my dad's church and we aren't really interested anymore. Brutal. . . it's gotta hurt. But all is well. Then we tried visiting Rafiel and Lucy Maria and they dropped us too. They were like we just aren't interested right now. And basically we just went and visited all of our investigators within like two days and it was like repeat story after repeat story. We just got rejected and rejected. So that was lame. But we have a potential that we are hoping to visit this week and get her interested. Her name is Sondra and we met her at the baby shower. We tried to visit her this past week but her kid was sick and we ended up just talking to Miriam (the one with the baby) who had just had her little baby! So we had the chance to see him!! HE IS ADORABLE!!! Such a cutie!

Although we may have gotten a little more than we hoped for because we definitely saw some boob action going on and that was just plain awkward. haha. We were like hopefully if the elders stop by she doesn't do this. It was hilarious.

We had an excellent lesson/visit with Jesus, Miriam and Natasha this week. They seriously are so adorable. So Hermana Nord and I both chipped in and bought a frame and framed a proclamation to give them at their baptism. And they are so cute. So our lesson we did we just read the proclamation with them and talked about the importance of the family.

Then Miriam proceeds to tell us how the night before they had done an FHE with her mom in Mexico. . they just had her on the phone. Anyways. . they had read part of the proclamation with her about the importance of being married and how it is what god wants. And now her mom is going to get married to her boyfriend in Mexico!! How amazing are they!?!? Just the greatest little missionaries! =) And Natasha was like I shared a scripture on baptism with her and why we should be baptized! They just are on fire! I love them so much! So adorable. We had to call and tell them Hermana nord is being transferred because they wanted to feed us dinner this week so now we are having dinner with them tonight and doing FHE with them. =) They were a little sad we are being separated as a companionship but they are just too wonderful. They are the greatest little missionaries.

So Friday night we had our first noche de hogar as a branch where the missionaries were in charge (with our ward mission leader). . anyways the challenge was for all the members in the ward to bring a friend who isn't a member and we invited all our investigators. It ended up being a total bust!! =( So sad. But it was fine in the end. No investigators showed up. . well false Esteban showed up but I will get to that in a minute. haha. So no investigator showed up but we just did what we had planned anyways. We did a chapel tour and then we played "stomp" (the balloon tied to your foot and try to pop it game) with everyone and then had refreshments. It was a super small amount of people but it was really fun still. Hopefully our next activity will be a success. .

Now onto Esteban. haha. Where to begin!?!? Oh goodness. So basically he was like I don't want anything to do with you etc etc. Then he hasn't stopped texting us or calling us everyday. So we basically just ignore them all (because they are really random and just weird). Anyways he texted us one day and was like I really want to talk and explain to you why I chose not to be baptized. . So we were like okay that's fine. He was like I want to set up a cita with you. But we didn't really have a night open because it was super busy the nights this past weekend. So we were like if you come to the branch activity Friday night we can talk to you after for a little bit. Anyways so he shows up at the activity (which was good) he AVOIDS us the whole time. haha. and then leaves like 20 minutes early. So we were like that was weird. So then as we are leaving the branch activity with the other Hermana's (we'd driven together). We are walking to our car and Hermana Johnson was like isn't that Esteban's car. So we look over and were like no. (because it wasn't) But she was like that was what he drove in today. I KNOW IT. So then immediately my mind was like "he is going to follow us" and Hermana Johnson thought the exact same thing. So then we both just get in the car. So we drive to the exit and just wave to esteban when we leave and he turns on his car and leaves at the same time. . uhhh... creepy!

So Hermana Johnson just turns into driving NINJA and just like I still don't know how. But she made EVERY GREEN LIGHT and seriously if that was his intent there was NO WAY he was going to be able to make it.

Who knows what his real intent is though. We are definitely going to try to avoid him for a while though and we are thinking if he wants to learn again we might just turn it over to the Elders. I personally think he just really likes Hermana Nord. So it will be good with her in a new area and I think he will leave us alone for a while. I think he has interest in the church but not at the same time. Who knows though. Hopefully he will come back to the church for better reasons. =)

WEll this past weekend was stake conference! It was SO SO GREAT!

Saturday night session was INCREDIBLE! It was really neat. All the missionaries along with President and sister Baker (they spoke) and then president Hamilton gathered in the high council room and we said a prayer together. It was SO incredible. The spirit was SO STRONG. Then the conference started and the missionaries were in the foyers waiting. Then when sister baker stood up to speak the organ started playing called to serve and the missionaries walked in singing called to serve and we stood in front and finished the song. Then sister baker and president baker stood and gave a few words about how as members we need your help with the work and that we can't do it without you. And president Baker was very direct and was saying "these missionaries are giving up their own lives, their families, their friends, schooling, and much more to be here to help YOU do the work. And they need you do bring them people to teach" it truly was a GREAT start to kick off the night. No joke there were so many people in tears just to start off.

Then of course they gave so many great talks. The challenge the stake president issued was for each person to think of a name that they could share the gospel with. It was really great and I know MANY people had names that they had come to their mind. It was a really great start.

One of my favorite talks was by president mcmin and he just talked about the importance of sharing the gospel within our family and it was truly a great and excellent talk. I also loved President Hamilton's talk where he said "Family doesn't take away the importance of the individual." I just thought how true that was. These men are truly inspired of god and I was so blessed to be able to hear such excellent talks from each of them! =)

Sunday we also had the chance to hear from L. Tom Perry over broadcast which was neat. I don't know how they are doing your stake conference but our Saturday night session was all the stake presidency and stuff tehn sunday was a broadcast from the church. It was really great though!

To end the Saturday night session we also sang "army of helaman" with all the youth. It was super good. I love that song and it just brings you so much happiness knowing you can share the gospel with others! =)

Saturday afternoon I also had the chance to learn to cook some mean meals from Hermana Castillo. She taught us how to make some meatballs and tacos durros and some salsa and some rice. (basically a Hispanic meal.... haha. you would think a couple of meals but NO!). It was super delicious though. And she was SO excited to share her talents with us. And she just felt so special and important. I just love making the members know that we love them so much and that we need their help in the work. It was so excellent to get to know her better. She was just telling us her whole life story and how she was reactivated into the church. It was just really neat. =)

Well. . . not too much else is happening in the life of this missionary. =)

I hope I can bring you some exciting stories next week and that you all have an excellent week! I love you all so much! =) Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Gray

~your favorite missionary~

this is a sweet girl in the branch who is deaf. She is so stinking adorable. =) Her mom is recently baptized in January and moved here in February.

haha. . .I totally forgot we played a joke on Hermana sahleen and Johnson this week. We made the apartment look like it had been broken into. =) They FREAKED out for a minute. But we were right there so nothing drastic happened (aka. . they didn't call anyone!) We just started laughing and they were like. . you didn't! And we just couldn't help it. =)

Gets them for jumping out at us all the time and scaring us half to death! =)

This is dear sweet Abuelita who waves to us each time we leave. I just love her so much

How we can tell if a spanish person lives there. =)

And I forgot!!!

We had breakfast at IHOP with angel and Judith on Saturday morning. .. they are both moving to S. CArolina. They already did. =( 

SAD DAY! They left sunday and won't be back for a long while. I was sad but happy for them. They just need to stay active. . well angel does nad Judith needs to be baptized! They need an eternal family!

Angel also was hilarious and was determined to give each of us a hug! haha. He gave us all a hug. And then he also kissed me on the cheek. He likes me the most. . . I know it. ;) I think it is because I didn't know a whole ton of Spanish and he loved to help me with it. haha. =)

My new motto

me and Emily (hermana Castillos daughter) making meatballs