Sister Gray's Mission: Near Miss.......January 22, 2018

Hello!

I cant believe another week has gone by. I feel like I am still stuck in last week. Time flies when you are on a mission. This week has been a fairly good week. We have been running around like crazy. Its been great.

Tuesday we spent most of the day continuing to help Sister Aleman move. She has been super stressed out so us being there is really helping. She finally just looks at us and asks "I don't even know what to pack and what to not pack. Just do whatever you think is best". We cleared out an entire shed and dumped it. Being the short missionary... I had to climb into the top of the shed and clean it out. I pulled out 6, I repeat, 6 dead lizards. It was not my favorite part of the day. We had fun though. It is cool to see how simple acts of service make a big difference to some people. As a reward sister Aleman gave me a present. She had found an old ukulele in the attic and she wanted me to have it. After a good clean up and tune its in good working condition. I am excited to learn how to play it more and continue that skill. We spent the rest of the night running around to different appointments.

We had the opportunity to watch the announcement from President Nelson. I am thankful for living day prophets and the guidance we receive them.

Wednesday was one of the best days. We had the opportunity to eat with a really cute family. They have a return missionary who served in Peru. We were all laughing because he is 6 foot 8. The parents had me stand next to him to compare the size difference. After dinner, Sister Needs laughed really hard. She said "Hold on, I have to go get something!" she was laughing super hard as she walked back into the room with one of her sons shoes. He wears a size 16. I am a size *8 and a half. She had me stand next to it and oh boy was It funny. she took pictures and sent it to literally everyone in her family. We had a blast. Afterwards we had an amazing lesson on the good Samaritan. The spirit was so strong as brother needs shared his testimony about the story. He related the good Samaritan to the plan of salvation and the need for the priesthood. it was incredible. It was hard to not cry but we were all overcome with the feelings of the spirit.

After our dinner appointment, we had the opportunity to help with mutual. The ward had set up a mini MTC. They each received a name tag, a companion, and were sent to different training sections. We taught the financial station. Teaching the youth on how to budget your mission money and how to spend wisely. Something that I am still not good at. One of the youth asked how often we eat and we proudly said that we don't eat out very often. In the previous week we went out once with a member (Which you will hear about later). They then asked the elders how many times they had eaten out. They very proudly responded with at least 5 meals. Differences between elders and sisters, right there. We were able to bare testimony to everyone at the end of the conference on the blessings of missionary work. it was a great activity.

Thursday around 8:30 our water pipes broke. Sister Peterson sent us a text saying that we might need to live somewhere else for the next few days. We started looking around and started to get really concerned when a nearby neighbor (Who isn't a member) came over and patched it up for us. As a thank you, sister Peterson offered to help us make them a pie the next day. We spent all morning with her making a homemade blueberry pie. She fed us lunch and we were on our way.

We were finishing up our studies in the apartment next door when we received an alarming text. Sister Peterson was having a gall bladder attack and couldn't move. She needed help with her two year old son. We raced over to help. We helped to situate her in bed and gave her apple juice mixed with apple cider vinegar. As we waited for the attack to stop she asked us to help Joseph (her son) get into the crib. Normally Joseph wont have anything to do with us. But, for some reason he came right over to me and held my hand as we searched for his blanket and binky. At one point he kept getting distracted so I ended up picking him up (I know I know, against the rules but just hang on) I found his blanket, wrapped him up, and laid him in his bed. He instantly fell asleep. Sister Petersons attack stopped and she apologized for me having to hold her child. I told her that there was absolutely NO REASON to apologize haha. I miss holding children. No worries though, I repented from holding him and all is well. The only sad thing is, now every time Joseph sees me... he begs me to hold him It breaks my heart. Now I know why they ask us to not hold children.

Saturday was sooooo crazy! our zone had 2 baptisms that day and it was filled with craziness. We were able to meet our investigator Karlie at the first baptism. The young man being baptized was a close friend of hers and she was glad to see him make this choice. She could see the happiness it brought him. The baptism was a little rocky if Im being honest. The building we were at didn't have the best font. The water was lime green and freezing. the water heater broke so there was no warm water. When he walked into the font he was giggling because it was so cold. It wasn't the ideal baptism to have an investigator but she felt the spirit and was happy to be there. We are meeting again with her soon to talk more about the importance of baptism.

Saturday night the family we were eating with decided that they wanted to go out. So we all piled into a small white bug. Not a lot of room but hey, it was a dang cute car. As we were driving some guy ran a red light and nearly killed us (I'm sure my mom is freaking out right now about reading this but hey, I'm alive to tell the tale). And when I say "nearly" I mean I could have poked the passengers eye with my finger, that's how close they were to us. Sister Bush screamed. She didn't even see the car when she screamed. She screamed because she said that her steering wheel decided to turn. She wasn't the one to turn to car. We were truly protected by the lord. It was really funny when the guy who ran the red light walked into the restaurant with his head down. He wouldn't look at us. It was hilarious. But yeah, kinda almost died this week.

Sundays are really crazy now. We start our day off at PEC at 8, we leave that meeting and go straight to correlation meeting at 9. We finish around 10:15. we have just enough time to go to the bathroom before we have to greet people at the doors at 10:30. Church starts at 11. We usually end up talking to people until 2:30. We have lunch until 3. Due to appointment in the evening we had to do studies until 4. We had a few contact attempts to do in the far part of area. As soon as we walked outside BOOM. Downpour. We said a prayer and started driving. It is kind of scary driving in Texas rain storms, you cant see anything. We made it safely to the area and had successful contacts. We went straight to dinner with the Penningtons.

After our meeting with them we had a family home evening with a less active family. While we were talking with them we were able to get to know them better. Sister Johnson asked about our lives previous to the mission and what made us come on missions. As I was telling her about where I was from she cut me off and asked "oh please tell me you had a rebellious stage. People from Utah have the best rebellious stages". I kind of laughed and had to think about it. Anyway, one thing led to another and she asked if we had ever done anything crazy with our hair in our rebellious stage. Sister Burns laughed and showed pictures from when she dyed her hair purple. I stated that I have never had crazy colored hair. Sister Johnson literally pulled me off of the couch and took me into the bathroom. She then proceeded to dye my hair blue and red. No worries though, it wasn't permanent. Just weird. But that is Sister Johnson. I will send pictures, it looks cool.

This week has been a really good week. We have been busy. We have been very effective. I am thankful for the things that I am learning in this area. My testimony has been built and my faith has been tried. Luckily I have the Savior to rely on during the hard times. I know he will never leave any of his children comfortless.

I hope y'all have a great week this week. Stay warm, and stay safe. I am thankful for all of the love and support I receive from each of you. Love yall!:)

Love,
Sister Gray

PICTURES:
Making me feel really short
My new hair
Small foot, big foot
Our pie
It actually snowed in texas.... kind of.