Sister Gray's Mission: Planting Seeds

Happy turkey days!!

I hope y'all had a great October. I hear its getting chilly in Utah? That's funny to hear because yesterday it was 90 degrees!

This week in Fort Worth SOOO many miracles happened!

Tuesday was sort of lame. You don't get to do much for holidays when you are on your mission. We spent the day tracting looking for new investigators with little success. Most of the day it rained so knocking doors was a little frustrating. Both me and Sister Gorley were frustrated and were ready to give up and go to the church for studies when we turned the corner and found..... a pecan tree!

Who knew Texas had so many nut trees? We both laughed and picked more pecans and decided that we could knock a few more doors. As we did so we were able to share more messages and set up 3 appointments.

We had dinner with some members and headed home. We aren't allowed out on Halloween night (for safety reasons) so we spent the night watching more training videos and shelling pecans.

We truly are the coolest missionaries in the area.

Wednesday we were assigned as leaders in a mutual activity. It was a photo scavenger hunt. Me and Sister Gorley were in charge of a group of beehives and deacons. The goal of the competition was to be the first team to take pictures doing all of the assigned activities. Some of the activities were things such as talk to bishop and share a message with him (missionary advantage), 6 person pyramid, act out a scene from the book of Mormon, etc. At first my group was less than excited to be there, or to have the missionaries lead them. But, as we all know, Sister Gray is rather competitive and was not willing to give up.

It took a couple of minutes but soon everyone was having fun and participating. Sister Gray and Gorleys green beans (team name we were given) were the ultimate winners.

Thursday was spent doing service and meeting families. We helped a less active family build a retaining wall to prevent further flooding in the house. It was time well spent.

Friday we had the opportunity of meeting with a 76 year old lady to teach her the restoration. The lesson went great, the spirit was present, she committed to baptism. We walked out of her house with smiles on our faces and great hope for this sweet old lady who was ready to hear our message.

I would like to share something that she shared that touched my heart. She told us that several years ago (10 or more) some young Elders knocked on her door. They shared a quick message, gave her a Book of Mormon, and asked if they could meet with her again. She stated very politely that she wanted nothing to do with the Mormons. No one had knocked on her door until we did. It was at this point of the story she started to tear up. She said "I don't know why you are here, I don't know why I said to come back, I guess I'm just ready to listen now. I'm ready to learn more. I still think about those elders". Irene wasn't ready to learn 10 years ago. Yet because those elders talked to her, shared their testimonies, when she was ready she knew it to be true.

Seeds of faith were planted 10 years ago. I have the privilege to grow that seed. We are excited to see her grow and to enter into the waters of baptism.

Saturday. Boy oh boy was Saturday a fun day. We spent the morning tracting and then went to a members house to help paint their house. It was really fun actually. We loved talking with Sister Snyder and talking about our missions and our families. We were painting the entry way to her house which is really tall and has these weird little cut outs in the wall for decorations (I assume?) Anyway, I was up on the ladder (super high I might add) painting the trim when all of the sudden the ladder starts to tip. Not knowing what to do I jumped onto the little cut out edge and tried not to die.

Sister Snyder was in the other room and didn't see anything happen but when she came out she was laughing and giving me praise for climbing onto the cut out. So that is the story about how I almost died because of a stupid ladder. I think Sister Snyder sent pictures to Mama Gray and I am assuming she can attach them to this email.

Overall this week was really good. Missions are awesome and I love being a missionary!:) I hope y'all have a great week and I will talk to you soon!:)

- Sister Gray

pictures:
1 and 2 are photos we took when we were bored today
3 what we look like every movie night