Zone Conference - October 29, 2018

Hello my friends!

This week was a pretty slow week. I mean, things are still going really well. We are super, super busy but things are still going great.

We had the second ward halloween party this weekend, it was a total hit. Last week we attended the other wards party and we were totally reprimanded for not dressing up. They were all super disappointed that we came as missionaries. SO, we were not about to make the same mistake. So we decided to dress as best as possible, so Sister Naea went as a cat:) I went as a hippie:) we had a bunch of fun. All of the youth came up to and were making fun of us and wanting to be around us. It was a lot of fun, we had a few non-member people show up.

We had zone conference this past week as well. It was absolutely incredible. I learned so much, I had a really awesome experience with this conference. Our zone has really been struggling lately with charity and love. There has been a lot of drama lately. SO, one night earlier in the week I was up late thinking. I couldnt really sleep so I was just pondering. I was getting a little uneasy about having a zone council and setting new goals. I was so easy about that I knelt down and asked God if he would help me with it. I was expecting something like " you will be fine just go to bed". Wrong. 100 percent wrong. I was simply told to go read. So I did. I spent the next 3 hours studying and searching for an answer. I recieved some powerful insights and was prepared for the council. I was SOOO nervous, oh my gosh. Yet we gatherred together are started to make plans. I won't go into details about what was said at the meeting but I will say, I have never been more scared to speak in my life. Things were discussed, and let me tell ya. The spirit was felt. I have never felt the spirit more present in a council. We set some amazing plans as a zone and we are actively working towards. 

We had an amazing lesson this week with the Chibuzor family. We showed up to teach them the restoration and we walked into something I have never seen before. We walked in to an apartment that had nothing in it. No chairs, no table, there weren't even beds. Just a pile of blankets used every night. We walked in as they were finishing up dinner, a few bananas with a scoop of peanut butter. Very humbling experience. We sat in the floor gathered in a circle and preached what we knew to be true. Sitting in the circle together made me realize how blessed I really am. As we talked, we felt impressed to invite them to baptism. We did as prompted and they were so excited. All 5 of them are on date for the 24th. 

I feel so blessed to be were I am. I feel blessed to be doing what I am doing. I am so thankful.
I hope y'all had a great week. 

Love,
Sister Gray

Happy Halloween 

A Cat and A Hippie

Sunday - day of no rest - October 22, 2018

Y'ALL.
Oh my goodness I don't even know where to begin. This week has been a spiritual whirlwind. It has been phenomenal. It all started with Monday night...
So, we left the church on Monday after having a great preparation day. A few of us got together and decided we were going to eat Habenero peppers. If any of y'all haven't done this.... don't do it. It was incredibly spicy and hot and it melted my insides. All was well though, we each had fun. We left the church and went to a lesson with Joy. We taught her the word of wisdom and the law of chastity and all things went great. She agreed with what we had taught her and is getting more and more excited for her baptism.
After Joy's lesson we went to go and read the scriptures with Ryan. I have said this before and I will continue to say it, the book of Mormon changes lives. It was one of the best lessons I have had as a missionary. We read in 1st Nephi about Lehi and his dream of the tree of life. At the end of the chapter we were going over the symbolism and she was just smiling. Afterwards we asked her how she was feeling and she opened up. She shared that she found out that the book of Mormon is true. We went through the steps... if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph smith is a prophet, which means the priesthood is restored, which is means it's on the earth today and so forth. The light flicked on and she knew what she had learned was true. We set a baptism date with her that day. November 14th couldn't come quicker:)
We had the conference with Elder Holland on Tuesday. It was incredible. I know for a fact that he is a called apostle of the Lord. The power he speaks with only comes through the power of the holy ghost. He screamed repentance to us reminding us how important out calling is. It made me think about how long I have been out. 13 months is a really long time but I would stay out forever to continue holding my title as a missionary. I love being a missionary. I love the things I have learned and I love the Lord. I learned so much in this conference and I am grateful.
Fast forward to Sunday. I know I have said this before but Sundays are the biggest lie. It is not a day of rest. It is the busiest day for a missionary. We start our meetings early in the morning and don't leave the church building until dinner time at 5. Yesterday we were expecting a slower Sunday, we were expecting one investigator at church. We were excited, she was a referral from Las Vegas and she is pretty solid. We had a lesson with her earlier in the week and taught her the restoration. She enjoyed it and has enjoyed reading the book of Mormon. We showed up to sacrament meeting and we had not one, not two, not three, but SIX new people at church this week! We were running around like crazy. We didn't know what to do haha. We had to herd kids to primary, herd investigators to class, and teach primary kids what it's like to be a missionary. It was amazing. We feel so blessed to be in this area. We received transfer news last night and me and sister Naea will be staying in the Carrollton area for another 5 weeks. We are really excited and look forward to being here and continuing the work.
Y'all, I love being a missionary. It's so much fun. The things we see, the people we talk to, the spirit we feel, it's amazing. I love my calling and I cherish it. I will work my hardest for the next 4 months and represent Christ the best I can. I sure do love y'all. Have a great week.
Love y'all!
Sister Gray


Sister Naea is a great comp haha
Sister Naea went as sister Gray for our Halloween party this week
Our investigator Mr. Lee surprised us with some doughnuts out of the blue
Sister Naea doesn't believe me that my eyes change until we got a picture of them green

Crazy Girls

Halloween costumes?  How would one Know?  

Doughnuts! ! 

Pretty Green Eyes

Grumpy Gus?

2 in 1 - October 15th

So apparently my email last week never sent so... you get two emails!
This week was really really good! The weather has officially turned. It has been super cold and rainy all week. Things are going great with the people we are teaching are doing well.
Joy is doing fantastic. She is super stressed out but she realizes that when we come over she feels less stressed and is happier. We identified that as the spirit and she just laughed and said "duh! I know!". She is fantastic:)
Christine is doing amazing as well. We had a super spiritual lesson with her this week's. She asked us how long we had been out and she was amazed at how long we had been out. She started crying and said that she was so sad that we hadn't seen our families for that long. So, she sent a picture and text to our moms:) it was a very spiritual experience and she now knows a part of the feelings we feel. It was amazing. Shout out to my mom who bore testimony to her through text. It made her cry.
Ryan is doing great, we are setting a bap date with her this week. We read with her over skype and she really enjoys the scriptures. She is going to the Elder Holland conference tomorrow for the youth and she is actually looking forward to it.
Honestly all went well. I am so thankful to be here on a mission. It is blessing me so much. Thank you to all who have supported me along the way. I sure do love y'all.
Have a great week. Be safe. Remember who you are:)
Love y'all.
Sister Gray

Last week's email:)

As my mother would say....Holy crap Batman! Conference was so great! I absolutely love conference but watching conference as a missionary is like 8000 times better. We watched the Saturday session of conference at the stake center. Not a lot of people were there so it was basically just us and the Elders in our district. We all just sat around and ate jelly beans and oranges. We were so amazed by the announcements that were made. All of the missionaries are pretty excited about the 2 hour block. We are always trying to get people to come to church but they are always intimidated by 3 hours of church. We think it will help with attendance.
Is anyone else pumped for the 12 NEW TEMPLES??? I started crying as soon as he announced them. I know this is what God wants. As a missionary we don't have the opportunity to attend the temple as frequently as we would like but... most of y'all do. Please take President Nelsons challenge and attend the temple frequently. It will bless your life dramatically. I love that he pointed out that attending the temple will not only bless your life but those on the other side of the veil. Be a missionary. Help others come closer to Christ. There is no reason to why those living within 30 minutes of a temple do not attend the temple regularly. Always and forever put God first. Get past your fear of going. Stop procrastinating. Just go.
We watched the Sunday sessions with Ryan. We talked with her about prophets afterwards and hope they bless our lives with their knowledge. She is progressing well and her testimony is growing. She will have an opportunity to attend a youth devotional on the 16th where Elder Holland will be speaking. We are so excited for her.
Not only is Elder Holland speaking to the youth but he will be speaking to all of the missionaries as well. We will get to meet him and shake his hand that same morning. It will be all of the missionaries in the Fort Worth Mission as well as the Dallas mission. It shall be interesting, there is a rival between the two Dallas missions. They are simply jealous of the true Dallas mission which is Fort Worth 👊.
We went on exchange this past week and I got to spend the day with my favorite human ever. Sister Keller came to be with me. The dream team was back together once again. We had so much fun and we didn't fall asleep until 5 a.m.... let's just say it was a really long day that day. Yet, we had fun and we accomplished a lot.
We are working with a lady named Alma (it's predestined). She is married to a member who hasn't attended in a while. She invited us over and we helped her through some of her trials. She made a comment about how peaceful she feels at church. It made me ponder about how I feel at church. Since we are over 2 wards we usually start our Sunday morning at 8 in meetings and attend church all day until we leave for dinner at 5. Sometimes it is very draining and we start to lose focus during hour 4. It made me want to focus more on the reason to why I am here. Why I am on a mission but also to why I am at church. I'm not coming for the people or the social interaction but I'm coming for Christ and to come closer to Him. I invite all of you to ponder your church attitude and culture and change the things that could be improved upon. It's life changing:)
Well my loves. There is still a lot to do this P-day. I hope y'all have a great week and that you remember the things we have learned this past week. I sure do love and appreciate all of y'all.
Be safe, remember who you are:)
Love y'all!
Sister Gray


Pictures
Dream team
Dream team part 2 cause Naea is my other half haha

Dream Team... Sister Gray and Sister Keller

Dream Team 2...Sister Gray and Sister Naea

Big Eyes - Big Hair

Testimony Meeting - October 1, 2018

Hello!

This has probably been one of my busiest teaching weeks of my whole mission. NO COMPLAINTS. Oh my goodness it was so much fun. We literally had to run from each appointment to the car and speed away to make it to the next. It has been positively exhausting in the best way. 

Things are going great with Joy. She is still on date for baptism and she came to church again yesterday. Its always interesting having investigators at church for fast and testimony meeting. You never really know what is going to happen and who is going to say what. Its like a terrifying surprise. Some testimony meetings are exactly what the person needs to hear....others...not so much. For instance... once upon a time we were teaching someone and he decided to show up to church for the first time on a fast and testimony meeting. We sat with him eager for him to take the sacrament for the first time. The spirit was strong, all was well, we had made it through more than half of the meeting and everything was working in our favor. Thats when things changed. An older gentlemen approached the stand and began to give a 20 minute talk on polygamy and why we should bring it back. Throughout the entire talk we simply leaned over to him and whispered "We dont do that"...."We actually don't do that either"....."So...how was your week haha?". 

It was so embarrassing. Eventually the meeting ended and we had no clue what to say to him. He stood up, shook our hands, and said "Ill be back next week". We had no clue what that meant but we went with it. Time travels on and I am transferred. I see an old companion and transfers and I ask how this investigator was doing. Turns out, he found the true church, he was baptized, currently holds the priesthood, and is raising his family in this Gospel. My mouth dropped. What was said next is what made me cry. God is so good. I was informed that his turning point in conversion was that first testimony meeting. As that older gentlemen was giving his testimony the spirit whispered to our investigator that the church was true and that it held imperfect people. I know God prepares his people and that nothing will stand in Gods way. I love being a missionary.

We had so much fun last night with Ryan oh my goodness I love her. Last night we skyped her and somehow we got onto the topic of pancakes. Moral of the story is we were like "Hey we are gonna go make pancakes, can we bring them over to your house and read the scriptures with you?" and she said yes. SO we made pancakes last night at like 8 and went to her house and ate them with her. We had a great lesson over the scriptures and she is progressing quite nicely. The scriptures make a huge difference in someone. It isn't hard to decide and see if someone is reading the scriptures. Their whole countenance changes. 

 
We met with an awesome lady this week. Her name is Jermarilyn. She went to her friends baptism and felt an overwhelming spirit. She wanted to meet with us and come to church with us. We met with her for the first time and all went well. The spirit was strong and we knew she was feeling it.
Things are also going well with Christine. We are super excited to have her watch conference. We think it will be a huge blessing to her and it will answer a lot of her questions. She decided that the reason she isnt praying is because she is scared to receive her answer. So we are working with her on that. I personally believe that she knows this is where she needs to be but isnt ready to make the change. 

GREG GOT THE PRIESTHOOD YESTERDAY! We are so proud of him. The next step with him is the temple and we are super super excited to go with him. Greg has such an amazing testimony and it has been great to see him grow. 

Well everyone. I hope Y'all enjoy conference this week. There will be some incredible changes that will come forth. Be prepared haha. I am thankful for the prophet and his inspiration. 

Love Y'all,

Sister Gray


Pictures!
Us eating a brisket quesadilla.... Thanks grandma! :)
Sorry we don't take too many pictures here:(
Love y'all!

Brisket Quesadillas