HOLY! 4 months down!

These last few months have been some of the best months of my life. They have also been some of the worst. Lots of faith building trails!:)

We had the amazing experience of taking someone to the temple. It was her first time back in several years. As we sat in the temple you could see the happiness and the joy that she felt as being in the Lords house. We were truly happy to experience that with her. The whole experience was great... except for the fact that we almost died on the way home. The freeways here are SO CRAZY. Everyone drives at like 90 miles an hour and everyone texts and drives. It is terrifying. Worth it. Sister Burns was really sick afterwards so she came home and went straight to bed. I made her some soup to see if that would help. Its funny because at home I loved to cook. It was fun, easy, and it tasted pretty good. But as a missionary, you dont have a lot of food to mess around with so you make what you can with what you have. We made chicken noodle soup with potatoes, broccoli, noodles, and some carrots. It turned out pretty good and we have had it for left overs the past couple of days. Honestly though that today was the best out of the week. We accomplished a lot.

Later in the week we were able to meet with a less active family. We had a family home evening that lasted for 2 and a half hours! They talked our ears off. It was a really good interactions though. At the very end of the lesson the Dad of the family turned to his son who had been talking the whole time and said "You have been talking all night, talk to God boy, Pray!". I was dying. I had tears streaming down my face.

Last night we had an unusual experience. As we pulled into our driveway we saw this cute little dog in our path. No collar, no clue whose dog it was. We talked with the Petersons to ask where it came from and they had no idea. They were going to call around the following morning to see if they could find who it belonged to. She asked if we could keep him with us for the night. We accepted. We called her Ginger and she slept over. She was well trained and well behaved. She loved to cuddle with us and was an awesome companion. We were sad to see her go but it was fun to have a pet for less than 12 hours!

We have been able to teach primary the past couple of weeks. They called one teacher to teach a class of 12 five year old. 12! With no assistant to help her. So we have been helping out while she has been single teaching. Yesterday the lesson was "follow Jesus Christ by choosing the Right!" to start the lesson off, the teacher played a game. follow the leader. Easy enough right? She calls the first little girl to the front of the class and invites her to do something. The little girl comes up, thinks about what to do and BAM slides down into the splits. Without doubt, hesitation or anything she was just down. The best part about it? watching 9 others kids try to do it!!! Oh my goodness the three of us were crying. Sister Johnson had to excuse herself to go to the bathroom. It was so funny we still crack up about it sometimes.

Seriously through being a missionary is awesome. You learn so much. You learn to follow the promptings of the spirit and learn to act upon the promptings we feel. Saturday night (I apologize for the random order of nights Im trying to finish my email really fast haha, my bad) We were driving around our area following up with contact attempts and all. Anyway, we were driving to our last contact attempt when I randomly started driving somewhere else. The next thing I know, I am on a different street in front of a less Actives house. I dont even remember driving there but then all the sudden I just stopped the car and there I was. We have tried to get in contact the past couple of months with no success. But, as we knocked this week they finally opened the door. They invited us in and we were able to set up another appointment, It was such a blessing from the lord. I am so thankful for the spirit and the guidance it provides me.


Anyway, I know my emails have been lame the past couple of weeks but this work is amazing. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a missionary serving at this time. I am thankful for all that everyone has done to support me. Have a great week!

Love Y'all!
Sister Gray


PICTURES!


Temple day
A balloon picture station we helped create at youth conference
Ginger snuck onto my bed while sleeping
How sister Burns woke me up from a nap in the middle of a migraine (silly string is never a good thing)
Tired little ginger :`)

Temple Day 

Sister Gray and Sister Burns
at a Young Women's activity

Sister Gray and Ginger taking a nap

It is NEVER a good idea to wake Sister Gray
up from a nap with Silly String

Tired Little Ginger (Spoiled Little Ginger)

Celestial lizards - January 8, 2018

Hello!
One week down into the new year, and boy did it go by fast. This week was not the most exciting week. We spent basically all day every day out tracting. The weather this week has been a little better than weeks before but not by much. Today has been the only day that we can go out without a coat on. 

To start this week off we had the amazing opportunity to go to the temple. We woke up bright and early in order to attend the first session at 7. Being in the temple was something that I have really needed over the past couple of weeks and I am thankful that the temple is so close to me and my mission (its technically not in the Fort Worth Mission but that is ok).

We spent the morning there and crashed in the car on the way back. Sister Pennington drove us and she gladly let me sleep in her car for the hour drive back to the apartment. We spent the rest of Tuesday in Denton meeting with our sister training leaders and getting to know some sisters within our mission. It was a very fun time, but it left no room to write emails, or do any of the usual P day activities.

Wednesday was a usual Wednesday where we begin tracting at 11 and finish at 4:45. At first it seemed really intimidating to be out and about knocking on doors for so long but when you are working on finding new investigators the time seems to pass by quick. We had some success as we were out and about and by the end of this week we have found 6 new investigators, and placed several different Book of Mormons. Tracting is hard, but on a good week it is successful.

Thursday we had our zone conference. It was a great meeting filled with lots of training from president. We spent literally all day there. From 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. we were learning about things we can do to better fulfill our missionary purpose. Overall it was a good day.

Friday nothing really exciting happened so we are just gonna skip it haha:)

Saturday, we spent at a Less Actives home helping her pack. We have been meeting with this member for several weeks encouraging her to come back to church. Throughout the several weeks she would usually turn us down and change the subject but at some point something changed. We have worked with her and she has officially decided she is ready to go back to the temple. She asked us if we would attend with her. We feel truly blessed that she wants to include us as during this special moment. As we were with her on Friday she was sharing with us her viewpoint on several different spiritual subjects. At some point during the discussion, we hear a cat start to meow REALLY loud. 

The member stops for a moment and screams "Did you catch me a lizard? Did you kill it?" she proceeded to stand up and find the loud cat. She laughed and brought back a GIANT lizard that her cat had caught for her. she looked at it for a couple of seconds and determined that it wasn't hurt and took it outside to release the poor dude. As she came back in she said "at least I will have lots of little lizard and bird friends in the afterlife. I've saved their lives too many times". She has had a really hard life and isnt close to her family so she looks to little things to fill that void. She has officially put me into her family (My comp is still earning her way in). She and I have become really close over the past 2 months. She moves in a couple of weeks to be closer to her mom and to grow that relationship. Im excited to see their friendship grow.

Sunday we had the opportunity of teaching the 5 year old about choosing the right. There is a special place in Heaven for all of the Lords primary teachers. They are super heroes. It was a good experience and I definitely learned a lot.


Anyway, thats all that really happened this week. Not too much but hey! I still have 14 months for new stories right? I hope y'all have a great week this week!

Love,

Sister Gray



District Meeting

Name Tags

Sister Burns won Sister Gray a frog at Walmart

Sister Gray and Sister Burns

A Year of Light - January 2, 2018

Happy New year! Officially 2018.

This week has been filled with adventures, lame parties, and amazing experiences. To start off I am going to be very blunt. This has been the hardest/lamest week ever. It has been very hard to stay positive with all of the trials and hard aches that have happened this week. There has been lots of disappointments, lots of sorrow, and there was a lot to learn.

Christmas day was an amazing experience. I have heard a lot of people say "Christmas as a missionary is truly the best". I have to agree with that. The day started out with the opening of Christmas gifts. We gathered together as a companionship and took turns opening presents. Most of the ward members here knew that transfers were coming and how hard of a transition it was going to be so they spoiled us with gifts. After our present adventures, we spent the morning with the petersons opening gifts, playing with new toys, and overall just having a fun time. We spent the rest of the afternoon with the Penningtons. They were in need of new family pictures and asked me if I would take them for them. It was freezing outside and the wind was crazy. After the whole thing we got maybe 2 pictures with everyone smiling, eyes opened, with no hair in their mouths. It was a miracle haha. As always, talking with the family was great. It was interesting that just last Christmas I was sitting at home talking with Cooper who was only half way through his mission. It felt weird to be on the other side of the computer screen.

Due to Christmas being on Monday, Tuesday was our p day last week (and this week). It was nice to relax after the holidays and stay inside during the freezing cold weather. We spent the day with our zone playing basketball. Most of you already know that I am pretty terrible at basketball and extremely clumsy. During the middle of a game of knockout I shot the ball, hit the rim, and it went flying. Trying to save myself from "getting out" I ran after my ball and tripped on the gym floor. I slid into the wall/door of the gym and gained a pretty righteous bruise on my wrist. At first it didn't look bad.... but then as the days passed it almost looks like I was abused haha. Sister Bergeron (mission nurse) called after seeing a photo asking a series of questions to see if it was seriously injured. Near the end of the conversation she merely just laughed at me and told me to stop playing basketball. Little does she know that I won that game of knockout 👊👍.

Wednesday was spent finding. All day. This week has been the coldest week as well. It has been misting, freezing, and humid, all at the same time. The only nice thing about finding out in the cold is the fact that people will listen to you. After being shut down from our door approach we were walking back to our car and the same lady came out and yelled to us to come back. She made it very clear that she didn't want to talk about Christ but then proceeded to hand us hand warmers and told us to stay warm. That is the definition of a Texas Christian.

Thursday was... interesting. Basically it was a giant trial. One bad thing happened after another. Something that I learned this week is that every trial we receive we can learn from. We have been really struggling this week as we have been finding investigators but as we continue to work hard and diligently we are being rewarded. It has helped me to become a better person and a better missionary. I am learning to be grateful for my trials and I am loving the experiences I am having. Even if they are difficult. I am learning to find joy in the little things.

This week has been hard, long, cold, and frustrating. But I know that I am supposed to be working hard in this part of my life. I know that I am doing everything I can to be an effective missionary and I know that God realizes that. Heavenly father is there, he loves each of us. He wants us to be happy, he wants us to succeed.

I am excited to be a missionary for the whole year of 2018. I am excited to start this journey and give my all as I continue through my mission. Most missionaries call this year, the year of
Have a great week everyone. I love y all!
Love,
Sister Gray


PICTURES
Temple day
Freezing little Smurf (someone said we looked like smurfs)
Me jumping into the new year
My slightly broken wrist part 1
My slightly broken wrist part 2
Fav kiddos

Dallas Temple

Temple Day

Jumping into 2018

Maybe broken wrist day 1

Day 2



Favorite kids !

HoHoHo - Dec. 26, 2017

Merry christmas everyone!

I cant believe how fast these past three months have been! Its absolutely crazy! I have learned so much and there is no where else I would rather be then here.

Not much has happened this week. We spent most of this week attending Christmas festivities with the members and meeting their non-member families. It was a great experience that had a great output... for the missionaries we referred them to.

That's ok though, we planted quite a few seeds.

We spent most of Christmas helping out with the family we live with. They invited us over for Christmas morning and it almost felt like home. I spent the rest of the afternoon taking family pictures for a couple family members. It was really cool to be apart of their families as we did this.

I have a new found love for photography. We spent the rest of Christmas day with the Snyder family. They have truly welcomed us into their home. We helped prepare, cook, and clean up dinner.

Afterwards we played games and charades. Overall it was a Christmas well spent.

I hope everyone has a great week this week and a happy New year!

Love,
Sister Gray


Pictures:
Christmas eve with the Curtis family
Me trying to overcome my fear of horses
Me and my new companion sister Burns
Post Christmas package opening

Curtis Family

Sister Gray overcoming her fear of horses

Sister Burns and Sister Gray

Christmas Morning

The Christmas Cheerleaders - Dec. 18, 2017

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

Sister Gray and Odin



Sister Gorley and Sister Gray with cute companion Shirts

Family that made them hats and scarves

Welcome Home Elder Gray !



Best Companion and trainer ever ! ! ! Sister Gorley

Sister Gray's attempt at stopping Sister Gorley
from transferring

 

My 1st Zone



Gingerbread Houses at the Christmas Party



Sister Gray's Grandma and Mom and herself

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree. . . . Dec. 11, 2017

Hello!


Merry Christmas! I can't believe that the holidays are here. To be honest it's been kinda hard being here on a mission during the holidays. But luckily the Lord looks out for us during these hard times.

This week we had our first baptism. Jesse was baptized! We were able to give the talks and to be there to help guide him through the process. It was truly incredible.

The highlight of our week this week happened last night. We spent all Sunday visiting families, talking about Christ, visiting new investigators and running around like crazy. We were driving home and we felt absolutely drained. Our hearts were hurting. We felt really homesick, we were just ready to be done. We came home to see a 6 foot Christmas tree filled with Christmas lights and a present. We pulled in with tears in our eyes and felt completely loved. We put our tree up in our room and opened the present. It was filled with different ornaments including basketball ornaments for Sister Gorley and tootsies rolls for me (at stake conference they announced that we love tootsie rolls). It totally lifted our spirits and we felt complete love. I am so grateful to be serving in a church where the people love you and will help you when you are in need.

I'm sorry my letters have been so short lately but there just isn't enough time on Mondays. I will start a big email today and hopefully by next Monday it will be good and long. Have a great week everyone!:)

Love,

Sister Gray


PICTURES:
Our Christmas tree

Jesse
When you hit the point on your mission where you stop doing your hair and makeup.
2 minutes in a rain storm

Oh Christmas Tree

Sister Gorley, Jesse, Sister Gray 

Sister Gorley and Sister Gray
Cuties with or without make-up ! 

Rain Rain go away! ! 

Breath, Eat and Sleep Missionary Work - Dec. 4, 2017

Hello cute friends and family! This week has been such a good week! I dont have much time today to write (We are being kicked out of our apartment again so we are on the run). So I will share a quick story that is super embarrassing but totally reflects what I do every single day.

SO when I first put in my mission papers, literally everyone told me "wow you are going to be so tired! All you do is work, work, work!" I know that I was going to work while being on a mission and I knew I was going to be tired. I did not know just how tired I would be. This week was absolutely exhausting. We didn't get back to the apartment every night until 9:30 and barely made it to bed by 10:30. Due to the lack of sleep we were receiving (both of us) we were literally walking zombies.
One night we were laying in bed talking about a lesson we would be giving the following day about faith. It was 10:50 and we were still planning (we were in bed, no rules broken) we finally finished and drifted off to sleep. 

I woke up the next morning feeling like I was still completely exhausted, almost as if I hadn't gone to bed. Sister gorley woke up with a huge smile on her face and asked "do you remember getting up last night?" Slightly confused, I responded with a firm head shake no. She burst out laughing. This is what she told me "you woke up around 3:45, sat up on the side of the bed and began teaching a full-blown lesson on faith. Including extending commitments. After you finished your full 20 minute lesson, you climbed into bed and fell asleep." She then told me the complete lesson that I had taught, and with a few modifications.... It was a good lesson plan! We used it to teach Amber and she loved it! Sometimes sleep walking is good! 

So yeah! That was my funny missionary story for the week. Everyone here is putting up Christmas decorations and they go all out. Almost every house has something Texan, it's hilarious.
I hope all of you are taking the invitation to light the world. It's such an amazing opportunity and it brings such an amazing spirit into your life. Please do it. Have a great week everyone, I love you all. 

Love,
Sister Gray


PICTURES:
Stake conference with the wall family:`)
Texas Christmas decorations
My cute comp and I off to the ward Christmas party
Christmas party

Sister Gray's second Family the Wall's.
They were our backyard neighbors and now live in the Stake
Sister Gray is serving in.  AWESOME ! ! 

Christmas Texas Style

2 Cute Sister Missionaries Sister Gorley and Sister Gray 

Photo Op of Sister Gray