The Very Beginning - June 4, 2018

Aaaaahhhh!

That's all I can say about this week! This week has been so crazy busy. We have been working with Donna a lot this past week to finish preparing her for her baptism. We are so excited that she is making this step! She has grown so much the past three months.

I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to be with her the whole time. I have such a love for her and Phillip. As the weeks have gone by it has been fun to see the change of heart between both of them. We actually found Phillip and Donna through an unusual way. Phillip grew up going to church. Throughout the years he fell away but always knew he needed to come back. Years later, his mom passed away and he didn't know what he should do. He knew his mom was active so he called the temple asking for help. The temple then called us! Somehow his records were lost and we had no idea he was even here!

So, we came over and introduced ourselves. They agreed to meeting with us and that's how it all began! We have grown so close with them. Phillip has already said that we are adopted in and we can't get out. He loves us too much, so does Donna. My heart was happy as he stood in the congregation yesterday as they announced him receiving the priesthood. I have never felt more joy. I love the people I have met as I have served.

Recently, we have been sharing with the members of our ward our "ward mission plan". It's a plan that enables the ward members to help in every aspect of missionary work. Finding, teaching, fellowshipping, everything. As we have shared this plan, the first step to the plan is to fast and pray for missionary opportunities.

As we have shared this with families, we have committed them to start doing so. To pray for personal opportunities but to also pray for the growth of the Decatur ward.

Omni 1:26 says: And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.".

Many of y'all know that this is my all time favorite scripture. Why? It lays everything out. What we need to be doing with our life here on earth. Continue to fast and pray, I have such a testimony of these things. I have seen the affects of the prayers on our behalf.

Over the past 3 weeks, our bench at church has been filled. New investigators are coming forth. Less active members hearts are softened and we are able to help them feel the spirit once more and partake of the sacrament. All because of faith, fasting and praying, and offering our WHOLE soul. Not just a part, our WHOLE soul as an offering to him. Turning our lives over to the Lord as we seek guidance and help.

If you are not praying for missionary experiences daily, I invite you to do so. Take part of the most amazing work there is.

I promise that if y'all will do this that the Lord will do his part. He will provide you with opportunities to serve. Sometimes you plant seeds. Sometimes you harvest. Sometimes you are simply preparing the soil. Whatever it may be, take part of this amazing work. There is so much joy when our brothers and sisters return to the fold, or enter into the fold. So much joy that you can not comprehend. Trust me, I've felt it. Put in the effort, the outcome is worth while.

I know that this gospel is true. I know that it has been restored to the earth today through a living prophet. I know that President Russel M. Nelson is a prophet today and that he truly is the mouth price of the Lord. Listen to his counsel. Our Father in Heaven loves each and every one of us. No matter the mistakes we have made, the things we have done, the words we have said. He loves us. He sent his Son for us. We will live with Him again.

Love y'all,


Sister Gray


P.s. I'm super lame and didn't take any pictures this week:( my bad!

Bring your Swimming suit..... May 28, 2018

Happy Memorial day everyone! 

I hope y'all enjoy this festive day. We don't celebrate holidays very often as missionaries but it is still a good holiday. I don't really have a lot of time today but it was such a good week! 

This week an amazing experience happened. I am really grateful for our Heavenly Father. I LOVE that we have a chance to talk to Him daily. I have really used that this week. I have prayed so much over the past week. It's crazy. It's been incredible.

In Mosiah 18, it talked about sacrifice. Sacrifice, obedience, and faith brings forth the blessings of Heaven. 

As a missionary you sacrifice soon much. Your time, your feelings, your everything. I didn't think I could do it. Sometimes you want to give up, but you can't. I read that scripture this week and realized that if I want to do something to help my investigators progress. I must sacrifice more. It didn't make a lot of sense but I decided to try it. I made a plan, set goals, and prayed for confirmation. I set 3 different sacrifices. A physical, mental and spiritual sacrifice. No soda, or snacks. A missionary mind all of the time. To read Jesus Christ everyday to learn more. As I began these sacrifices. It became harder and harder to keep them up. I feel like I had no support (even though I did). I have prayed harder and harder every day. 

This week I saw the fruits of my labor. We had 3 less active families return to church, 3 investigators at church. We felt really blessed. During second hour, our investigator Donna, came up to me and said " looks like I'm going swimming." I was really confused but just agreed and said "man, I wish I could go swimming!" She laughed at me and said "no Sister Gray, I am gonna be baptized." I freaked out. It was crazy. I have been praying for that since I came to Decatur. I felt so much love from Heavenly Father when she told me that. Not love for me, but the love God has for Donna. I am so incredibly blessed to be here.

I'm thankful for y'all. I really am. I will talk to you soon. 

Love y'all.
Sister Gray


Messing around at the museum
Baby frenchies
Cooper the frenchie.
Kim, our returning less active
Sunsetssssss

Playing the piano at the museum

Reading at the museum

Perm anyone?

Cooper the Frenchie

Kim and Sister Altini

Sister A and Sister Gray 

Beautiful Sunset

Oh Deer.....May 21, 2018

Hello!

I feel like time needs to slow down because I can't keep up with how fast it is passing by. I don't even remember half of what happened this week due to how fast it has flown by. I guess that is just what happens though. We have had a pretty great week.

 
We started this week out with a challenge. We sat together as a zone and issued a challenge. Our mission has been struggling with finding lately, so we made a competition. We decided we were going to give away 148 Book of Mormon, out in one week. We started determined, and worked hard. We delivered our part. Sunday night we received a call from one of our zone leaders asking how many books we had given out. Sheepishly we responded with one book. A loud scream was expressed for we accomplished that goal. It was a great day. We needed one more book and we were able to pass that out. It was a goal well accomplished. 

So with that being said, we spent most of our week out tracting. We have had some pretty interesting interactions. One lady said "I'm mad at my husband, he is an atheist, yes, I will listen to your message about Jesus." It was really funny. She actually accepted a book of Mormon. The trick to successful tracting  is to be happy while you are doing it. No one wants to talk to you if you look like a miserable turkey dying in the Texas heat. Trust me. 

We had a great lesson with Donna this week. She loves the Book of Mormon! We had prayed for what to teach her and we were prompted to just show up. As we did she exclaimed that she had read 2 Nephi and it talked about baptism and answered a lot of her questions. We had a really good discussion about it and she was really excited about baptism. The following day we were asked to teach second hour in church. The lesson was on baptism. She walked in the door and saw the word "baptism" on the board. She laughed and said "super subtle Sister Gray, super subtle." We chuckled and exclaimed that it was the next lesson in the series. We had a good lesson and she is starting to realize the signs that Heavenly Father is placing in front of her. I'm very thankful for Heavenly Father.

We also had the opportunity to go and provide service for a new investigator. Let me tell you. This lady is a hoarder. I don't even know where to begin. She is the nicest lady ever. She asked us if we would help her get her house in order. Let me break it down a little. This lady has 6 cats, 8 dogs, and about 15 donkeys. She is a heavy smoker, and she smokes in the house. The whole place hasn't been cleaned out in about 12 years. I had the job of climbing the ladder (sure put the short one on it) and cleaning the ceilings from cobwebs. It was basically like swirling cotton candy. Brown, sticky, cotton candy. It was worth it when she accepted a Book of Mormon. 

I think all of you know how much I love animals. The ward here has found out this little fact. After a dinner appointment the member said "can I take you to my house? I have a surprise". We said sure and headed that way. When we pulled up, 2 dogs and a deer came pouncing to the car. We get out of the car and this deer just comes up and starts checking us out! This deer was named baby and she is freaking adorable. It was so much fun. An item has been checked off of my bucket list. Who would have thought that I would meet a deer on my mission. 

I will close with this....this week was brutally hard. The hardest I have yet to see. Yet, the only reason I made it through was the fact that I can lean on the Savior. I can lean on Him as I struggle, as I hurt, and as I battle. Sometimes I'm not leaning. Sometimes I truly am being carried. It's like that old poem "footsteps in the sand". The only way to get through life is for you to lean on the Savior. To trust in Him and to rely fully on Him. I am so grateful for Him. I'm so grateful for this gospel. I'm thankful for the things that I know and the truths we are given. 

I love all of you so much and I am thankful for everything y'all do. It means so much. I truly feel the love and support from each of you. Thank you. 

I will talk to y'all soon.

Love,
Sister Gray

Sister Gray and Baby

Baby

A bucket list checked off

Sister Gray Loves Animals 

Angels in the Cookie - May 14, 2018

Hello my loves!:)

I hope y'all had a great week, this mothers day week. It's crazy that we have made it this far! To be completely honest, I never thought I would make it this far haha. I felt incredibly blessed to see my family. Although it was heartbreaking to hang up, it's refreshing to see their bright faces as they continue to tease me 1195 miles away;). All jokes aside, it was very inspired that we see our families twice a year. It provides encouragement, peace, comfort, and a good laugh at the most needed times. 

This week we had a really good week! I want to share a cool experience we had this week with a less active member. We were driving through town when we received a call from a member I had not met yet. He asked us to meet him for lunch. We always say yes to a lunch invite;) we met up and sat around a small table talking and getting to know each other. About half way through the meal he admitted that he had no idea why he asked us to lunch. As we sat and talked he shared several different spiritual experiences. Tears were shed, the spirit was present, hearts were reminded. As we were finishing our meal the waiter brought our check, and a few fortune cookies. We continued talking and the brother said that he knew he needed to meet with us and feel the spirit. We all agreed and began to eat our cookies. We asked each other what the fortunes said. I read mine, as did sister ' Alatini. The brother picked up his fortune and started crying. He handed it to me and said "read". The fortune said, "angels are all around you bringing you good words. You must listen." Shortly before reading the fortunes we asked this brother to come back to church. To partake of the sacrament, and to feel of God's love. What a spectacular experience we were able to be apart of.

We had another amazing opportunity this week as well. We received a referral this past week to give a Book of Mormon and a Bible to a woman named Cindy. We drove to her house and knocked on the door. She opened the door and immediately let us in. We sat around a small table and began to talk. We found out that she had been going through a rough time and was looking for comfort. We gave her the Book of Mormon and began to testify how much comfort it has brought us. As we taught she listened intensely. She was entranced by the history of the Book of Mormon. We invited her to read Moroni' s promise. As she did, tears strolled down her face. After reading she said that she had finally felt peace. True peace. With the invitation to read, pray and continue to find peace was exactly what she needed. After that lesson I have continued to ponder the reason behind the Book of Mormon. Living in the Bible belt, many people go out of their way to disprove the Book of Mormon. Yet, no matter the accusation, the assumption, or the excuse, I have always known the Book of Mormon is true. I LOVE that I get to share that with others as I serve the Lord. Someone once asked me, what's my favorite part of being a missionary. I can say without a doubt that my favorite part of being a missionary is that I am set apart to teach. I am set apart to represent Christ. I am set apart to share what I know to be true, to invite others to find out for themselves. I LOVE being a missionary.

Thursday we had the opportunity to go to a lecture with Grace in Denton. It's a 5 part lecture series on Joseph Smith. She really enjoyed the first lecture. It has answered a lot of her questions (and a lot of mine to be honest). It has been really fun to learn together:) Grace also came to church and we celebrated mothers day with her. She let me call home from her house and she absolutely loved talking to my family. 

Well everybody, this was a short and sweet email but I saw most of y'all yesterday so I think that makes up for it:) I sure do love y'all!

Love,
Sister Gray

PICTURES:
Closest thing to pleasant grove I will ever get for the next 10 months
We get bored when we clean the old museum, we thought we would stage something
Grace told me that she saw this fabric and new it was for me. It is a pillow made with all of the names of Jesus Christ.

Closet thing to Pleasant Grove for awhile !

Museum Pictures

Museum Pictures 

Sweet Grace and the pillow she made for Sister Gray 

Two Sister Missionaries in a Little White Truck - May 7, 2018

Hello!

Welcome to May! I can't believe it's already here, mothers day and all. I feel like it was just Christmas but the heat tells me otherwise haha. It has finally started to warm up here in Decatur. We will be over 90 all of this week. I'm excited but also ready for fall again haha. Oh well! This week has been pretty good. We had transfers on Wednesday and I met up with sister Alatini! Sadly, sister A will be finishing her mission at the end of the transfer, she is dying. I am not ready to kill a companion! Sister A is from Oakland California and is the most laid back person I know. She is Tongan and has a killer sense of quiet humor. I'm glad I get to spend the next 6 weeks with her before she heads off to see her family.

This week some major things were revealed to me. The spirit is seriously the best teacher. Many of y'all know that I have terrible insomnia. If I'm lucky I will sleep for a couple hours a night. Lately I haven't been sleeping at all. My body was so dang angry that I wasn't sleeping. I kept praying for help and for rest but I wouldn't receive any. Finally one night, after laying awake for a good 2 hours the thought came into my head, maybe you should read your scriptures. I climbed out of bed, turned on a flashlight and read until I fell asleep. I woke up with my head on the desk, flashlight in hand, and my scriptures wide open. I had slept better that night (at my desk) than I had the rest of the week. As we drove to our lesson with Donna and Phillip I was still thinking about it. We sat down and began to teach. Halfway through the lesson Phillip stated that he has bad insomnia and is having a hard time sleeping. I asked him what he did when he woke up. He said that he gets up and watches t.v. I told him that I had been having similar problems and I was impressed to read my scriptures. I invited him to do the same. The next morning we received a text confirming that the scriptures were what he needed to sleep fully through the night. The spirit over came me and I realized that the reason I wasn't sleeping was because I needed to have the same experience Phillip needed. Now we both read our scriptures when we wake up and it helps both of us. Funny how Heavenly Father works huh?

We have had some interesting service activities lately. We helped this lady on Friday clean her house. She kind of treated us like maids though. She told us what to clean and then sat down to watch t.v. and drink coffee. We didn't quite know how to handle it. The worst part about it is, she smokes in her house. So the whole place just stinks. We left the house and we smelled just as bad. It was in our clothes. BUT, it was good service and she really needed it. Hopefully next time she will help us and not just expect us to do it haha. 

We also helped a family in our ward clean and gut a camping trailer. Afterward they invited us to dinner. Half way through dinner, Lia, the little girl asked if I liked bugs. I happily said no, no I do not. She then raced from the table and grabbed her dad's bug collection. He collects bugs and plasticizes them. I was thoroughly creeped out. Lia finally convinced me to hold some up for a picture. I hope y'all like it. I didn't. After that some of their chickens escaped and they asked if we would help wrangle them together. We laughed and joined in. Chasing chickens trying to grab them. 45 minutes later I finally caught me a chicken. I've never been more proud. We decided we would take pictures and carry on our way. 

We had two investigators at church this week. It was a different meeting, we received a new bishopric. Near the end of sacrament meeting Grace commented on how she felt as each member stood up and bore their testimony. It was amazing as we identified that as the spirit. Later on, she said that she was glad she meets with us and knows us. We are glad to be with her too, that's for sure. 

Well, that's all for this week. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to be here. I know I say this every week but the mission is the best. I have had so much fun and I have grown so much. Thank you for all of those that sent letters this week. They were much needed haha. Since this email is a little short I thought I might share with y'all a poem that was made for the Decatur missionaries.

Two sister missionaries
In a little white truck
Driving through Decatur
Praying for some luck!


Bouncing all through Bowie
And sliding through Slidell,
After Denton district meeting,
We will visit Grace Corbell!


There's an alien in Aurora,
And nothing much in Rhome,
We talk a lot to strangers
We call them on the phone.


Sometimes people feed us,
Usually they dont.
Some people forget Decatur,
I'm pretty sure I won't.

Love y'all. I will see you soon :)
Sister Gray


PICTURES:


Transfer day
Sister A and her trunky packet
Creeped out by crawlies
My very own chicken
Sister A: "it's almost like we are on a beach with this sunset. Oh wait. We are in Texas. Never mind."

Saying Good-bye to Sister Bowes

Sister A and her Trunky packet

Yucky bugs! !

Kissing a Chicken?

Sister Gray's personal chicken 

Beautiful Sunset...maybe not a beach, but beautiful

Transfers, Transfers, Transfers - April 30, 2018

6 weeks have come and gone!

I can't believe it! We received transfer news this morning. I will be staying here in Decatur. My new companion is Sister Alatini. She is pretty awesome. We had a great week this week! So many amazing opportunities. I have seen a pattern this week that has been great. I will get to that soon:) 

This email will be rather short this week because I only have like 30 minutes to write but I will try to be fast in typing! We had some pretty cool miracles happen this week. We had a large amount of time to fill on Tuesday. We felt impressed to go over a list of less actives and pray to see who we should visit. We felt prompted to go and visit a less active couple. As we pulled into their driveway I was feeling a little nervous. I'm not sure why but I was just jittery I guess. We knocked on the door and a man answered. He let us right in. His wife came and joined us and we began talking. We were sharing scripture, talking about God's love when the wife began to cry. She said that a relative had passed away that morning. They both were in tears as they sat together and mourned their relative. We were able to bare testimony of the plan of salvation and provide comfort. As we were leaving the home the wife gave us a hug and she whispered to me "you were sent by god.". It brought tears to my eyes. I am so grateful for the spirit and it's leading power. I'm also grateful for the chance that I have to bring comfort to others as they go through hard times. Im sooooo thankful for the knowledge we have and the chance we have to be with our families for forever. And I am really thankful for my can of mixed nuts that I call family:) they make me so happy and have taught me so much. 

 
We met with Donna and Phillip this week and had a great lesson with them. Donna has been really sick so it was a short lesson but it was powerful. We also met with Grace this week. She has had a cactus growing in her front yard for 10 years that has grown massive and mean. I asked her if she wanted me to remove it. She laughed and said "baby, no one can remove that thing. I've tried for years.". I took that as a challenge. Once again I endured another "slave day". I clipped all of the stems of the cactus and began digging. An hour later I removed half of it. Another hour later the "Texas weed" was retrieved. It was so big that it's remains filled an entire trash can. I felt accomplished and I impressed Grace. Later, when she had family over she was talking to them about the Mormon girls and their hard work. It was fun to help her. 

Sunday was probably the best day of the week. We started our day by attending the bishopric meeting to discuss the needs of our investigators, less actives, and people we are concerned with. Afterwards church started. As we walked into the chapel we were surprised by one of our former investigators, Mary, showed up for church. She had been having a hard time and realized that she needs God in her life. She knew exactly where to find him. We sat with her and comforted her as she explained some of the trials she is going through. Afterwards as we were leaving a member came up and said "Hi! My friend wants to see you!". That's always a good sign. That's when we met Ryan. She has been less active for years but she said that she read the entire book of Mormon in 7 weeks. She said that she wants to learn the lessons and also her boyfriend wants to as well. I'm pretty excited for it. We are meeting them for dinner this Wednesday. I think all will go well:)

I am very thankful for the growth that has happened in this area. When I first got here, we had 2 investigators. With only one progressing. Now, we have three investigators who are progressing, 2 returning less active families, and 5 new investigators who are working in progressing. I'm so thankful for Heavenly Father and the support He gives his missionaries. It's hard to be on a mission. It's frustrating, tiring, disappointing at some times, and incredibly hard. But, it's the most amazing, uplifting, hilarious, spiritual, and incredible thing I have ever done. It's also the most rewarding thing I have done. 

This week has been great. I'm excited to endure another. To start new on another transfer. I look forward to writing y'all soon. I am thankful for the support you show me. The letters, and emails each week truly help me through the hard times. It's something I look forward to.
Until next week. 

Love y'all!
Sister Gray


PICTURES
My best friend Logan
#sharethebook go look is up
Twinning at church
Dinner with the Gobers

Sister Gray and her best friend Logan

#sharethebook 

Twinning it at Church

Dinner with the Gobers

Cute Sister Missionaries
Sister Gray and Sister Bowes

Officially Joined - April 23, 2018

Hey y'all!

I hope you have had a GREAT week. This week has been the lamest week ever my goodness. But, all is well in Zion. A few cool miracles have occurred this week that I would like to share.

 
This past week something I have been praying for is how to get more involved with the youth of this ward. The youth here are...interesting. They are more closed off than the youth I usually work with. I have really been struggling. My answer came in a totally unexpected way. We attend mutual every week and encourage the youth to bring their friends. This past week was a combined activity, which we were very excited for. Nothing beats having all of the youth together. We didn't know what the activity was until we showed up. We started opening exercises, and they herded us outside. Once outside I knew exactly what we were going to do. Water Volleyball. I was so excited. We were all given towels and split into teams. At first the kids were a little uneasy about two sister missionaries playing (in skirts). After we hit a couple of miamaids with a balloon.... all fears were melted away. We all had fun playing and laughing at each other. Near the end of the activity, the war began. Everyone was dashing for balloons and throwing them at each other. This is where we decided it would be best we "sat out". That idea was shot down quite quickly. A priest, deacon, and beehive, chased us. Finally we were surrounded and the war was unleashed. We drove home very wet that night. 

The next Sunday we were assigned to give a presentation to all of the youth. Afterwards many of the youth came up and showed us the pictures they had taken of us and shared with their friends. We laughed at how ridiculous we looked and explained that they were doing missionary work! They were proud of themselves for the achievements they had while embarrassing their missionaries. They said that we have officially joined the Decatur ward. I take that as a success. My prayer was definitely answered. We have made HUGE progress with this ward. They have started to trust us more. Trust is everything in missionary work. 

This weekend we helped Grace with her yard. She had a knee replacement a while back and hasn't been able to keep up her yard. So she had us do it. (I finally thought I would escape "slave day"....boy was I wrong!). We spent most of the day weeding, fluffing dirt, trimming tree branches, and spreading dirt. It took us a good couple of hours. As we were bagging all of the weeds (4 big black bag fulls) every time it would get near the top I would climb on the bag and push it down. Grace thought it was hilarious. She said she needed a picture to send to her daughter. After we finished with service we sat down and read from the book of Mormon. I LOVE THAT BOOK. Oh my goodness. It's 10 out of 10. Grace is building her testimony, slowly but surely. I have a firm belief that she will be baptized within the next year (seems forever away but really it's close). Grace joined us at church and she was very interactive. She had lots of questions, and comments. We were so grateful she came.
We also had a great lesson with Donna this past week! We had planned to invite her to baptisms because she has grown so much! She fed us dinner and we sat down for the lesson. As we continued to go we both felt that we should wait to invite her. Immediately afterwards she said with a firmness in her voice "I know I will be baptized. I know it's true. I'm ready. I just need to wait a little bit longer.". At first I was a little disappointed, but then I realized that I am on the Lords errand and He is in charge. He has a plan for Donna and He knows what will help her best. Im confident in that.

 
We received a bunch of rain this week. I LOVE the rain. It makes me so happy. We spent as much time as we could outside in our rain jackets, and umbrellas. It was fantastic. Im thankful for the rain. Alright well I know this letter is pretty lame but it's all I got haha. I will talk to y'all soon. Mothers day is just around the corner, and so are transfers. Geez another 6 weeks have passed, I'm old! We live next to a movie theater and we pass by it every day. Every day we look at the showings to see what's playing. I don't know any of them. I have officially been out long enough to be out of the world. Its fantastic. I love it:) until next week!

 Love y'all!
Sister Gray:)


Pictures!
Helping grace outside
Grace said we needed to take "serious farmer" picture
The picture we sent to graces daughter
Rainy day pictures
The face we made when our dinner appointment cancelled as we pulled up in the driveway
Water volley ball

Professional garbage stomper !

Helping Grace

Sister Gray and Grace

Serious Farmer Picture !
Sister Bowes and Sister Gray

Rainy Days 

Beautiful Sister Gray 

Rainy Texas Days

Sad Sister Faces

Youth Water-volleyball activity