Sister Gray's Mission: The Christmas Cheerleaders

Hello friends and family!

This week has been rather hectic. With transfers this week it has been filled with excitement, anxiety, and denial. Sister Gorley will be leaving to serve in Mansfield. We are both really excited for her but, we do not want her to leave. She has been the best companion. We have SOOO much fun serving together. We have had the opportunity to grow as missionaries. We are convinced that we will serve again near the end of our missions. We are looking forward to that day. I will be staying here in highland village to lead out the area. I am nervous and excited all at the same time. My new companion is sister Burns. I will meet her on Wednesday, and we will be together for atleast the next 7 weeks (yay for long transfers). It will definitely be a new adventure.

To start things off, on Tuesday we had our big zone conference. It was incredible to see so many missionaries in one place. We were all crammed into a small church gym filled with big smiles all anxious to see what the day would unfold. We started the conference with a 5 minute training that consisted of President telling us he loved us, and that he didn't want to give a training for Christmas. It was truly the best gift we could have received. We then watched a movie as a zone. It was called the errand of angels. It was a great movie all about missionary work (go figure). As it showed scenes from to a young sister missionary serving in Germany, we couldn't help but laugh as we related her trials, mistakes, and misfortunes, to the ones we have all experienced.

After the movie we participated in sister Whiteys favorite family Christmas tradition, which so happens to be my favorite family tradition. Gingerbread houses:) we gathered around small tables and talked as we worked on our houses. Sadly, I am no architect, and my gingerbread house turned into a homeless shelter (2 years in a row this is happened, it's a talent I have acquired). As President surveyed the houses he stopped at our table, looked me straight in the eyes and just laughed. That was a good time haha.

My favorite part of the whole conference was our talent show. Each zone was required to provide two talents. Something y'all need to know about the Lewisville zone..... We have zero talents. None that are interesting to other people at least. We spent weeks and weeks trying to come up with a talent. Sister Chisholm is an incredible singer and wrote an amazing song about the savior to perform but we needed one more talent. I kid you not, the DAY before the talent show, our zone leaders marched in to P day with smirks on their faces and a bright idea. The only thing they could come up with was cheerleading. We spent all day Monday practicing our "talent show".

With the Elders excited and the sisters upset, we were ready for the next day. We showed up to the conference only to be compiled into a small classroom to finalize our plans. Little did we know, the Elders spent WAYY too much time thinking about this. We went on stage, we performed, sister Whittney laughed so hard she cried. No one dared to look at President Whittney. We found out later that he thought it was interesting and unique. Over all it was a great conference. My favorite part of each zone conference is the amazing testimonies that are shared from the departing missionaries. You can feel the love they have for their mission, you can tell that they gave it their all.

Wednesday we were invited to attend seminary with the sophomores. We had the opportunity to bear our testimonies about mission work and the hand of Lord. We were able to share how we came to know that we needed to serve a mission. It was a cool experience to ponder and think about what made me have the desire to serve a mission. So I thought it might be cool to share that with all of you:)

Growing up as a little girl I always knew I would be a missionary. I wanted to wear a tag, and I wanted to go and serve someone each and every day. I wanted to make a difference in the world. But as I grew older, life got hard, my faith was tried, and I had no desire to serve a mission. I barely had a desire to go to church. The only reason I did so, was because I have very head strong, persistent parents who made me go. At the time I was not thankful for this. In fact, it caused many issues with the relationships we had. Yet they were determined to keep me active, and for that I will forever be grateful. My desire to serve a mission came when I saw and heard my brothers serve their missions.

As I heard about their trials and their hardships, I kept wondering "Why? Why would you stay out?" I decided that I needed to take my questions to the Lord. I decided to pray for guidance and help. As I asked for help, peace, and direction I was given the distinct answer to prepare to serve a mission. It was then confirmed through a blessing. I knew that my father needed me to serve. I gained my desire when I was in the MTC (sadly it took me a little while to find my desire) while staying at the MTC I was given confirmation that this is where I am supposed to be at this time in my life. It was a lesson in faith, that's for sure. Now I know without a doubt in my mind that this is where I a, supposed to be. Serving a mission, in Texas, surrounded by the people who love me. What a wonderful feeling it is.
Friday we had a mini exchange. Due to interviews with President we started the exchange at 10 and ended at 4. I had a small taste of what it's like to lead out an area. It wasn't too bad, we had lots of fun visiting with the several different members. We spent most of the day providing service for a less active member. It was a good exchange. It was fun to see the hidden confidence I had in myself. It's interesting because I feel like I always doubt myself but I have come to realize that when I doubt myself, I am doubting the Lord. Which is not good. Always have faith in the Lord and he will deliver, I am starting to see that first hand. We spent the rest of friday night at a house party singing Christmas carols with investigators. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday we put together a youth activity with the elders in our zone. We all gathered together and played chair soccer. It was a huge success! We had multiple youth bring non-members friends and we were able to gain new investigators. Including a former investigator that we have been trying to contact for the last month. It was a lot of fun. We also met with one of the best families in the ward.

We had dinner with them and their kids surprised us with homemade hats and scarves. It was such an incredible gift. It was even more meaningful because all day Saturday it rained. And it rained hard! We decided as a zone to go Christmas caroling to our less active members. We spent 2 hours out in The pouring rain. By the end of the night we wre soaked. All the way through all of our cpats, hates, scarves, dresses, suits, everything. We were drenched. It was such a fun experience to see the joyful look on people's faces as we sang in the pouring rain with smiles on our faces.

Overall this week has been good. It's been hard to be away from home during the holidays and away from cooper coming home from his mission but this is where I need to be. There is someone here in highland village who needs to be taught. I am determined to teach them. Have a great Christmas week and I will see a lot of you on Monday! Love y'all!

Love,
Sister Gray

PICTURES
Me and Odin in the shirt that a member made for us. We have a zone phrase "absofruitly" and a companion phrase "sí se puede"

Our cute companion shirts

The sweet family that made us Christmas gifts:)

Welcome home coop:) proud to have served with you for a little under 3 months.

Truly the best companion and trainer I could have ever asked for.

My way of preventing sister Gorley from leaving... I stayed in there for a solid 30 minutes.

My first zone

Gingerbread homes

Me, my mom, and my grandma