Hermana Cassie Joan Gray: Welcome to the World Alisa Jane!

Hello Family and Friends, and the wonderful new addition to the fam Alisa! :)

I can't believe that this year has just flown and that Alisa is now in the world... I remember hearing the news from Moo that she was pregnant clear back in the day and thinking... November/October will never come! And now we are here.... CRAZY!

This week has just FLOWN!!! It is really scary how fast time is going.... I am just in shock! haha. This week felt like it was two minutes. I am also scared to say I only have 4 transfers left.... That is RIDICULOUS! Anyways... on to happier things... this week!

This week was really excellent! Monday we went and had some fro yo at Surf N' Spoon. They are only going to be open weekends from now until March or something. So we went as a last P-day celebration.

This week we ate dinner with a member and his wife was leaving town. It was an older gentleman, kind of like grandpa gray. He is just a hoot. But we asked him what he was going to do since his wife was leaving town and he was like "I'm gonna raise hell!". haha. Only cute grandpas can say that and be so stinking HILARIOUS!

Tuesday we had INTERVIEWS with President Baker. We drove all the way to E. City and had a great time with him. Interviews are the weirdest thing... I feel like you prepare so much for them and then they are 12 minutes of just heaven, they go so stinking quick though. :)

It was so fun to have the chance to talk to President Baker for a little bit. We are blessed to see our mission president and wife pretty frequently on the mission but still... it is never enough!

My interview was really great though! It was hilarious... he said the opening prayer and in the middle of it the stake president's phone rings (we were in his office).. and after the prayer he says, "well that's annoying.". I about lost it.

I had the chance to just talk to him about the area and my companion and home life. It was really great. It is amazing to me how much you can cover in twelve minutes. It is great though! He always makes you feel so special. He thanked me for being a missionary he doesn't have to worry about. And then he also thanked me for being a Preach my gospel missionary! It was a really excellent interview. I enjoyed it. :)

After interviews our member took us out to lunch at a Chinese buffett. And it was so funny because she comes back to the table and is like 'some elders are here'. . sure enough it is our District Leader, Elder Muncy, and then his companion Elder Holland. haha. It was even more funny because we were supposed to have district meeting after interviews in E. City but the sisters originally had a service thing scheduled on that same date with a less active member. It ended up falling through. So our district had 'district meeting' in the Chinese restaurant. haha. Whoops. We really had it on Friday like normal it just happened we all ended up at the same place.

English class was pretty fun this week! We set up a fake grocery store and made them 'shop'. Before we went over each of the items and had them repeat the names. . so I am saying 'Grapes" and they would repeat.. but they all said "Graps"... haha. Oh goodness, I was laughing so hard. Normally I can handle myself pretty good in those situations but I was laughing too hard that Hermana Johnson had to take over. They all thought it was funny that I was laughing so hard. :) They are the best though.

We had the ward trunk or treat this week. It was a decent turn out. Not too many people but enough that it was still pretty good. We decorated our trunk pretty great. =) Kyle, a recent convert, showed up dressed as a missionary. It was funny. The members were all confused for a minute and were like 'when did we get elders?' and then they realized it was kyle. But we all thought it was pretty great. :)

We had a couple of pretty great lessons this week. We had two with Rosenburg and Carlos. We taught them the restoration. It was good and they both have lots of potential!

We also had a GREAT lesson with Eduardo... also really frustrating! But more so just exhausting. We ended up finishing the gospel of jesus Christ with him. We focused a lot on the Holy Ghost and just the importance of a testimony. we re-taught a little of the Restoration too! We set him with a baptismal date for the 22 of November! So we will see. He has lots of doubts about the book of Mormon but he is trying to read and pray! We are hoping to help him better understand it and gain a strong testimony. He is really doing good though! He came to church yesterday and also brought one of his roommates. So that was great. :) He really enjoyed church and was super excited to come. It was even English sacrament meeting.

The testimonies were excellent and it was great to see so much fellowship among the members. A few of the members directed their testimonies directly towards them and shared pieces of their own conversions. It is amazing to me to see that a language barrier doesn't stop the spirit. I think that is one of the most powerful lessons I have learned on my mission.

Saturday we also did our Social Media Split! So if you check out the hash tag Mormon you might see me on there.... who knows?!? :)

But it was really neat. We were with members throughout most of the day. We also had the chance to do a bunch of service. We cut down some branches, I used a machete. =) We also changed a wind shield wiper... yes... shocker... I do know how to do that. ;) We pinned a quilt.. Fed some chickens, which brought some great memories of times at Chrissys' house. We heart attacked a member who is less active and gave him a cake, he was so sweet and sent us the nicest text to thank us. (we are bad door bell ditchers... he wasn't even home and knew it was us. haha.). It was just really fun! We took some members to a few lessons also so that was great. The spirit is a great testifier of the truth. It is really fun to take English members to Spanish lessons. Interesting to say the least but really unique and fun! =)

Scary moment of the week because Halloween was this past week:

We both felt inspired to go to this one investigators house that has been avoiding us. So we are like okay done will do. Pull up are saying the prayer. Mind you my eyes are shut.... a tap on my window about scares me half to death. But it is a little boy and we are like... "what the?" It reminds me of those scary movies where the kids are the messengers and their eyes are glossed over! Sketch. He just told us she was busy. haha. But I about had a heart attack! =)

Halloween was fun! We had to be in early for safety and what not. So we chilled at the house with the other sisters. Played some games, ate pizza, took some pictures. :) We are so funny. Mostly we just talked. We all said we were going to go to bed early.. like 9... yeah definitely went to bed at the normal 10:30. =)

You only live the mission once.. you may be short on sleep but these friendships are created now. :)

I thought it would be fun if I shared a little of what I studied each week. Right now I am focusing on general conference and this week specifically I was focused on Linda K. Burton's talk from the women's session "Prepared in a manner that never had been known".

It was EXCELLENT! Read it! Super wonderful. Focused a lot on the temple and the importance of preparing now.

I loved when she compared life to the ten virgins. And how we need to prepare NOW. And how oil only comes drop by drop. We have to start getting our oil replenished NOW or else we won't be ready when the Savior comes. =)

"I don't think there is anyone, especially among those with tender hearts, who doesn't feel sad for the foolish young women. And some of us just want to say to the others, "Can't you just share so everyone can be happy?" But think about it. This is a story the Savior told, and He is the one who calls five of them "wise" and five of them "foolish"."

How powerful is that?!? The Savior is the one inviting us to prepare now. He is the one who gives us the spiritual power we need to be sustained. We need to prepare now, drop by drop. Taking it one step at a time. We also need to be prepared to enter the temple doors. I love the part that quotes Elder Nelson, "Because the temple is the house of the Lord, standards for admission are set by Him. One enters as His guest. To hold a temple recommend is a priceless privilege and a tangible sign of obedience to God and His prophets."

I would like to invite all of us to prepare now to enter the temple and for those of us who are at the age of the temple I invite you to be worthy and keep a temple recommend. We need to continually prepare drop by drop. Start with the simple things and change your life around!

I hope you all have an excellent week! I know that this week was full of miracles for me, I hope you look for the little miracles. =)

To make a side note... this week I will hit a YEAR in the mission!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!? Where does time go?

Don't forget to celebrate this week, November 6th. Crazy that it has been a year. Mission time is WEIRD!!!

I love you all so much! Only a short 6 months and I will be in your presence again.

Love you,

Hermana Gray

Welcome to the world Alisa! Can't wait to meet you and Lexi! =)

and give all of my other nieces and nephews a squeeze!