Well.....
I think we have reached the "7days of famine" is what I am going to be calling it.
Last week we were just reaping in blessings, and getting and seeing so many miracles... and this week was just ROUGH!!! =)
but I can't really even complain... it was rough, but now it's over. One day at a time is the motto in my life. :)
Overall this week wasn't too bad, mostly just frustrating. But I'm over it.
We started this week out with a pretty decent time. We have a tradition each monday we go to a place called 'surf n spoon'! So delicious. It is this little frozen yogurt place and it is the bomb diggity. =) And a professional surfer and his wife own it. . and they have the most adorable little family. So we are obsessed. One day we will convert them.... even if it takes our dedication of becoming regulars at the shop. :)
We decided to buy T-shirts though (it's that good!), and he told us he would post us on insta. So if you look at their insta... there are some cool sister missionaries on it. :)
Although... we are a little sad because today is the last monday they are open. They are only open weekends for the winter because of the tourist season not being good. But they are closed on sundays! :)
Tuesday... that was the LONGEST day of my life. It officially became like 2:30 and we both were dying... it was just a turtle of a day. But we, well I decided I couldn't live that day without stopping at a gas station and getting a DP. (yes, still an addict!) so we decide to head in to the station. and the guy at the register when we are checking out. "did you go to the MTC?".... why yes, yes we did. ;) He had been a recruiter for the marines in provo so he learned a little of the church. We had a short conversation with him, in which he asked us if it was general conference or something.. haha. So we call the sisters and tell them they need to go to the gas station and convert this man. Then they were like.. 'what gas station?'... we tell them the kangaroo. and they both are like... wait. We just were there. haha. So funny! =) Maybe he will be converted one day. :)
The day wasn't too bad after that. We did some repairs on our driveway. I went and bought sand bags to fill in this pot hole, the mission office told me to. So that is nice. Now we can just glide right on in to the driveway and not have to take a far left and bottom out. :)
But we went to dinner with the Bruce family that night! Oh goodness day was made. It was really neat to see them share their experiences with missionaries. They are both converts to the gospel and I really loved hearing them tell their conversion story. I also was so touched because they truly thanked us for being missionaries who want to be missionaries. They told us that they can visibly see our desires to serve! =) They both were telling us how excited they are that now we have four excited missionaries in the area and they can tell we are going to do some great things here. Which is such a wonderful compliment! I just love this fam. They are so neat! :)
And it was hilarious because Sister Bruce asked us if we had been the ones to drop off this Halloween treat (we started a boo in the ward). . And of course we both are like ummm.... 'no'. Definitely caught us. So hilarious. My horrible door bell ditching skills are still in tact. No worries there. :) Reminds me of the time when we door bell ditched treats to the Vonks... and I tripped... . then we had to door bell ditch it again.... and then that lady followed us in her car and yelled at us.... haha. oh goodness... Why am I such a horrible door bell ditcher?? :)
They also came with us to a lesson after that we had with Eduardo and Fernando! It was a great lesson! We ended up just talking all about baptism and the importance of this covenant. I was just super bold. Eduardo has been saying how he has recognized something different about our church (he was a former investigator), and it has never left him. But he didn't accept baptism in the past because of things happening in his life. He said he wants to be baptized but needs a for sure answer. And I basically told him straight up that in the past when he had accepted a date then rejected it because of certain things happening that was satan working on him. We told him that if he wants an answer he has to be doing the 'Big 3' (church, prayers, scriptures).
We must have been the right amount of bold with a lot of love because he was at church yesterday. He came to Spanish Sacrament meeting and I think he really enjoyed it. Carlos, one of our investigators, also came. The Spanish group or meeting here is really interesting. Because basically it is the missionaries and Torin, and maybe 3 other people that speak Spanish, including the investigators. But it went well and the spirit was strong. Hermana Johnson gave a great talk on the conference talk given in Spanish... the one about acting now. it was good.
English class is still one of my favorite things in the world. We talked about he body and health and what not. It was fun! We played name that body part and pinned body parts to a cut out body. It was fun. We also did head shoulders knees and toes with them. Maybe next week we will send a short video clip. It is so fun! :)
We also met a less active lady that we didn't know about. We caught her just in time. She was leaving for a doctors appointment but we set a return appointment for Wednesday. So whoot whoot!
The rest of our week was stressful. We have this rule that has been reinforced recently based on confusion. So we are adjusting. But as a mission we can no longer teach a person of the opposite sex without a third female present with us. So that made our week hard. We have currently 26 investigators (all still pretty new investigators). But of those 26, 20 of them are male. So we definitely need some help with getting people out with us.
Our main problem was that this weekend is apparently a teacher day or something so everyone has school off. So basically the whole ward was out of town. There was a point when we started at the top of our ward list and started calling straight down. haha. After twenty members.... (another 9 that we already knew were gone) we were just plain frustrated. But all is well. We rescheduled and this next week we will see miracles.
Although we were blessed and had two investigators at sacrament. There is a reason for this rule and I am not sure why yet... but we will have miracles from being obedient. :)
Friday we did some service and helped Sister Groppel move some boxes to her storage unit. It was really fun. And it helped that the 'payment' we received was duck doughnuts (which should make it to the west coast... they're that good). We had lots of fun doing service and I know mom enjoyed getting some pictures of us serving! :)
Hermana Johnson is just the greatest in the whole world. During companionship inventory she starts tearing up telling me how much she admires me and the missionary I have become. We had the chance to live together in the News and we got to become great friends there. And now we are just over the top friends =) It was so sweet of her though. She is so wonderful.
This week overall was super good and crappy all in one. I guess that is the life of the missionary. :) I am excited this week should be really great. We of course have Halloween, we have interviews with President Baker tomorrow, we have our social media split on Saturday (whoot whoot! So excited to have that day over... stressful but then I am also really excited to have it!). Then the next week will bring my year mark....
Where in the world does time go???
I was studying the talk that Quentin L. Cook gave in Priesthood session this last general conference. It was SO SO GOOD!!! Wow! He is BOLD! Loved it! Look it up if you haven't.... cause you are missing out!!! But there is a line that I just LOVE in it he says,
"It is heartbreaking when we profess belief in these goals yet neglect the everyday conduct required to achieve them."
He was referring to a temple marriage, missions, temple endowments, etc. But I just admire this quote. It is so true. If we want to have our dreams and goals achieved we need to be doing those things NOW that can make those worthy goals and dreams come to pass. I know that as we align our lives more with God's will that we can achieve our goals and dreams. Heavenly Father wants us to succeed. We need to do those things NOW that can help us.
Start with the small things, reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, and going to church. It only takes a small action repeatedly to change your life around. :)
I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week!
Be smart, make good choices!
Watch out for crazies on Halloween!
Love,
Hermana Gray
P.S. I can't wait to meet my new niece/nephew (.... I think niece.... final answer. ;) ) next week through photos and what not! I am excited! CONGRATS Marci and Jeff! :) And Jeff, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!!!! =)