Hello cute family and friends!
I can't believe another week has gone by. I owe y'all a good email this week so I have been working hard on what to tell y'all. First things first. I LOVE MY MISSION. I LOVE being a missionary, I love the people I work with, I love Texas, I love everything.
This week has been absolutely amazing.
As I have told you before, me and my companion white washed into this area. It's a little haunting when you white wash into two massive wards. Not knowing where you are, who you are with, or where the work stands, was slightly discouraging. BUT, with the amazing companionship of the holy ghost I have felt peace and comfort through every step. I have learned so much in these past five months. I truly have become more converted to the Lord and personally that has been one of the main focuses of my mission. I have confidence that the Lord has assigned me to serve here in Fort Worth. Specifically in the Roanoke and Trophy Club ward. I have faith that the Lord hears and answers prayers. I know this to be true, due to the multiple prayers that have been answered. Even the small and simple prayers that you say just to make you feel better, those prayers are heard and they are answered. Let me be straight with you... missions are HARD. Having a companion that doesn't want to work SUCKS. Working in a dead area with no support from the ward SUCKS. BUT. I know that I was called to serve in Highland village for a reason. I was provided those challenges so I could grow. Due to the trials that I have had in these past five months, I have had to give everything to the Lord. Alma 23:7-8 talks about laying down "weapons of rebellion". Now, we know that in this scripture it is talking about the people Ammon and his brother have converted. As they were converted, they gave up the things that were holding back the powers of heaven. The only way to unleash the powers of heaven and to truly feel of God's love was to lay down their weapons of rebellion. I have come to the realization that I must lay down my weapons. I must give the Lord my all. I must do all that he asks me to do, and I must become the missionary he has destined me to be. I'm sad that it took me five months to figure this out, but, I am just glad that I figured it out.
This week has been a crazy busy week. Filled with lots of running around, hand shaking, introductions, and new friendships. We have the opportunity to be in two wards that want to do missionary work. They want to share the gospel. They want to become Christ-like missionaries. We have the privilege of helping them do so. As we help with this process, we too are becoming more Christ like.
Monday was a crazy busy day last week. We are still sort of lost wherever we go but with the handy dandy use of technology we can sometimes find our way. We spent Monday getting haircuts, doing laundry, visiting our zone, and getting COMPLETELY lost. Overall it wasn't terrible. We have a wonderful family that lets us do laundry at their home. As we found out about this, we had never met this family. We had only communicated through text. As we pulled up the address we were on our way. With laundry bags in hand we knocked on the door and a lady answered. She looked rather confused (which should have been our first clue) she asked if we were there to do laundry. We looked at each other and cautiously said "yes?" . She opened the door and let us in. As we were standing in the doorway she chuckled and said "you know, the missionaries usually do their laundry at my ex husbands house. They have never done it here before:. Now we are completely embarrassed. We apologized for the mix up and she just laughed. She told us the new address and the gate code (everything in trophy club is gated). As we walked back to the car, me and Sister Booth were bright red. We closed the car doors and bursted out laughing. The best thing about this story? She was totally letting us in to do our laundry!! She had no idea!! Haha, that just shows how amazing these wards are. We finally made it to the right house, and learned the rules of the house. This is what Sister Highfill said to us as soon as we set foot in her house "we have one rule here. If you break it? You can't come over anymore. You must eat at least two snacks while waiting for laundry. It's a requirement. And you must stay for at least an hour and tell me about your week and your families. Other than that, you are free to do anything." So basically we have a mansion to hang out in on Mondays. It has a gorgeous grand piano, a full movie theater (yes we totally watched the restoration in it), and a dog named Bucky that takes naps with you (my new cuddle buddy). It's amazing how generous the people here are.
After finishing laundry we met with our zone to play basketball and volley ball. We were so excited to be there to play sports when we walked in and realized that we are the only sisters in our zone. Our zone has 4 sets of elders and 1 set of sisters. It makes for an awkward district meeting. Anyway, it was fun to play sports with them and beat them at volleyball.
Tuesday was spent in a district meeting. We have 4 people in our district. The zone leaders and us. So basically we get to give trainings every week because there are so few of us. I was given the assignment of teaching about finding and it was good. Later on, I found out the reason I was asked to give a training on that was because the zone leaders had to give a training to our zone the next Friday during a zone conference. We spent the rest of the day following up on less actives, new move ins, and potential investigators. We had dinner and we went to our correlation meeting. Brother Arostegui is our ward mission leader and he is fantastic. We had a great meeting filled with lots of inspiration and laughter. He served his mission in California and he says that he hated correlation meetings because they were always too serious. So, he always cracks dad jokes throughout the meeting. The best part is, he is from Uruguay and has a thick accent. So usually we just end up pity laughing at his joke because we don't understand him and then he catches on and we really start laughing then. He is a good guy.
Wednesday we visited with lots of new members and less active. It's incredible to see that people will actually let you in when you say "We are new in the area, we just came today hi " it also helps if it's raining really hard and Sister grays hands are blue. They pity let you in. BUT, they let you in:) Wednesday night, we met with a family who was recently baptized into the ward. The smith family. Oh my goodness do I love them. They are hilarious, fun, pure Texan people. We stopped by to visit with them and introduce ourselves. Everyone in the family was baptized except for the mom. We are working with her and she is progressing towards a baptismal date. We are proud of her and her progress. We laughed all night as we talked about their conversion story, how brother and sister smith met, and other random facts that brother smith would tell us. It was a great night.
Thursday was a great day. We met with another recent convert. She is 71 and she is the cutest lady. She is five feet tall and has an attitude. She gave up smoking after 40 years to join the church. She started her new member lessons and wanted us to be there. She sits in between us so if we misbehave she will whack us. Literally. She is awesome:) she also refuses to call us sister Booth and sister Gray. Its weird to hear someone call me by my first name after not using it. Im not sure if i like it. The highlight of our day was helping in a mutual activity. The activity they were having was battle of the sexes. Sister Booth was in charge of keeping score, and I was in charge of running the game on the laptop. First of all, I haven't used a computer in 5 months. Second, I am seriously bad at technology. The kids got a kick of me stressing out over what to do. Overall it was a great activity and the youth really trusted us. Our main focus this transfer is to gain the trust of the members, especially the youth. We are slowly accomplishing that goal. The small things are what makes it happens. Asking kids how their day was, what sport the play, telling them they look cute. Things like that. They will always open up and talk with you. Plus, a good way to gain the trust of the priests.... beat them in a game of lightning while wearing a pencil skirt. They think it's hilarious and they want to be around you more.
Friday was zone conference. We spent all day in trainings with President. It was a great zone conference and I learned a lot. At the end of zone conference something CRAZY happened. They gave us smart phones! What!! Yep, that's right the Texas fort worth mission has smart phones now. It's sooooo weird having it! I feel slightly apostate when I use it. It's such a great tool though. I know that after my mission I will have better technology habits because I am learning great habits here:) so we spent all day Friday learning how to use a smart phone. Something that I have noticed is, President Whitney won't train us on how to use our technology. He expects us to follow the spirit and to use it wisely. To figure it out and work as a companionship to make a plan on how to better use our technology. It has done wonders.
Saturday we met with SOOO many people from the ward. We met with both bishops, relief society President, young woman's President, and ward mission leader. We were bouncing around everywhere taking notes, asking for focus families, anything. We are so busy it's amazing! Lots of people to go see:) we were able to attend the adult session of stake conference with our recent convert Natalie. Elder Brent Nelson was in attendance and he came over to shake our hand and introduce ourselves. He loves missionaries and he loves recent converts. It was a very cool experience for Natalie. The meeting was wonderful and just what our recent converts needed to hear. We have been working towards the temple with lots of them and the Dallas temple President was there and he gave a fantastic talk on the importance of the temple. It was an answer to our prayers. As we were exiting the building, I saw a woman walking with her head down. The spirit whispered to me, "she has nice hair, doesn't she?" I smiled and told her just that. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and gave me a warm embrace. We sat together and cried. She told me how hard her day had been and how she felt as if she was the ugliest person in the world. She felt like she couldn't bear the burdens that were laid heavy on her shoulders. We shared of our love for her and her Heavenly fathers love. We gave her one last hug and told her that we would meet with her soon. As we were driving home my heart was pounding. I feel as if for the first time, I have seen someone the way that Christ sees someone. I never EVER want to lost that feeling.
Sunday morning we had a meeting with Bishop Hames. He told us that he wanted to give us bishops blessing. We had no idea what that was but we agreed and we showed up. He explained that a bishops blessing is a priesthood blessing given to the missionaries serving in the area, given by the bishop who holds all of the keys for that ward. It is to combine the missionaries efforts and the wards efforts into one to bring more of God's children to the message of the gospel. Cool right? As we sat in his office receiving these blessings, the spirit was strongly present. I know without a doubt that I am called to serve in this ward at this time. I know that there is someone here who needs me. I don't know who it is, but I will find them. So to all those missionaries who are reading this email (if you have even read this far, I know it is long) I strongly encourage you to go to the presiding bishop and ask for a bishops blessing to help further the work with his help. I promise you it will make a difference and you will feel mode connected to the ward.
Alright. I know this has been long but I owed my parents a good email so there it is. Don't expect a super long one next week:) to end this email I want to share some good news that I just found out. Due to transfers and the craziness that happens there. The group that I came out with will be coming home 1/2 a transfer early (that's how the dates work out). So I will be flying home February 21st 2019. Which means on Wednesday I will only have one year left of my mission. I am sad, excited, and confused all at the same time. I absolutely love being a missionary and I love the calling in which I hold. I will dedicate the next year of my life to my savior Jesus Christ and do all that I can do help bring his children closer to him. I love you all and I can't wait to hear how your week went:)
Love,
Sister Gray:)
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| Sister Booth and Sister Gray |
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| Last time seeing Emily in the Highland Village area |
