Another week goes by...- December 17, 2018

So I am officially over emailing haha. So my apologies for not writing too much. To be honest, all of the days are blowing by so fast that it simply seems like they are all merging together. unfortunately today I did not plan accordingly so.... I only have a few moments to write.

Our zone got together today and we have been playing basketball all day. It has been really really fun. We have a great zone this transfer and we are all really good friends.

We had our mission Christmas conference this past week. It was fun to be together with a lot of our mission friends. Its also slightly bittersweet due to the fact that over time you don't have the opportunity to meet everyone so there are a lot of strangers. It was still really fun, the conference was actually held in one of my last areas so it was fun to drive around and see where I had once served. 

We watched a movie for the conference called Christmas for a dollar. It was adorable and we were all really happy with Presidents choice of movie. I would highly recommend watching it. We also made gingerbread houses! This year me and Sister Larsen decided to tag team it and make a temple! It was really fun! We had a giant talent show and it was fun to see the different talents in the mission.
We also watched the departing missionaries give their departing testimonies. It was cool to see my trainer stand up and bare her testimony. 

Things are going great with the Chibuzor family. They will be baptized this Saturday. I look forward to it. 

I sure do love y'all. I am excited for Christmas and the chance to see y'all. 

Be safe. 

Love,
Sister Gray 

Please note p. Whitney photo bombing our pictures
My mom, and my baby
Some fun Christmas photos in ugly sweaters

Mission Christmas Party Gingerbread houses

Tag team effort

Sister Larsen and Sister Gray with their "Temple"
and Pres. Whitney Photo Bomb

Sister Gorely - Sister Gray's trainer

Sister Larsen (granddaughter) Sister Gray (mom)
Sister Gorley (Grandma)

Christmas Fun

2 Cute missionaires in "ugly" Christmas Sweaters

Cross-eyed Sister Gray 

Yeah it's almost Christmas !

What a Week? - December 10, 2018

Hey y'all!

I hope y'all had a great week this week. We had a great week here in Carrollton. It sure has been a busy one. We had lessons every single night this week. It was awesome! I love being able to stay busy. We are teaching Ryan her new member lessons and they are going great. We are going to the temple this week on Tuesday with her to do baptisms for the dead. I am super super excited. I actually haven't done baptisms for the dead since I was home. I have gone to the temple a few times but I haven't had the chance to do baptisms. I am really excited. 

We are also teaching Joy her new member lessons. Teaching Joy can be really interesting sometimes. She has two kiddos that are crazy and love the missionaries. They jump all over us while we are teaching. It's really fun though, she is making us Nigerian food tonight and I am making her banana bread and we are doing a swap. Pray for me, Nigerians like things spicy. It should be a lot of fun. We are going to the temple with Joy next week. Again, I can not wait. 

This Wednesday Sister Whitney decided she wanted to come spend some time with me before I go home (only makes me slightly trunky when the Mission President's Wife decides to bring up going home, what do you do haha). We went to district council, we went to lunch, and we went to a service project. It was really fun to be with her and to talk with her. She doesn't get to go out with too many sisters because of her crazy schedule but she wanted to come out with me so that made me feel special haha. 

On Friday we had our ward Christmas party for the Carrollton 2nd ward. It was a huge success! We had lots of people there and it was a great missionary opportunity. I absolutely love the Christmas season as a missionary. It has its ups and downs like any other season but ultimately I love this time of year. People are usually Christ-centered and that makes it easier for us to talk to them. 

Saturday was an amazing day. President Willy, the stake President in the Carrollton stake called us and invited us over to his house for an early lunch. He had called everyone in the district and invited them. He catered Hard 8 (which is a Texas known barbecue place) and we had a few important guests there. Elder David Harris of the seventy joined us. We all gathered around the table and ate wonderful food and had great conversation. After eating, we were trained by both President Willy and Elder Harris. I was spiritually re-boosted. It was amazing. That same night we had stake conference, the adult session. The rules for attending the adult session of stake conference are simple. You have to bring someone you are teaching. That's It! So! We brought Christine and she LOVED It! We learned so much and the spirit was strong. 

Sunday again was the busiest day for us. We had to find rides for 8 people to come to church. With much trial we were able to find everyone a ride. It was funny sitting in our row of people with a family of six, a family of 3, Christine, and a little boy who decided he wanted to sit by me. It was quite the site. Afterwards elder Harris requested to shake the hands of those we had brought. What a wonderful meeting that was. 

Afterwards we had a lesson with the Chibuzor family. We taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ which lead into a discussion on baptism! They had a date for the 24th of November but it had to be moved back. Ultimately that was a good thing and we are glad that it happened. We had a frank discussion with them on the importance of baptism and they want to move forward. They even picked their own date. They will be baptized on the 22nd of this month. I am so excited. They are amazing people with great faith. 

Well y'all. I am so grateful to be here, so grateful to be a missionary. I love doing what I do and feeling what I feel. I am sad that my weeks are becoming short but I am glad that I am here doing what I need to. I hope each of y'all are participating in the light the world challenge. It's a marvelous program. 

I sure do love y'all! 

Love,
Sister Gray


Things from the nativity
Ryan when she got her recommend
Our Christmas tree

Nativity Sets at the Stake Event

Another display at the event

Our Christmas Tree

Ryan got her recommend

Preparation People - December 3,2018

Hey y'all!

Here is the big news! My new companion is *drum roll please* 

SISTER LARSEN!!!!!!:) 

Okay y'all but for real, she is the literal best. She is totally pre-trained and she is killing it. She is from Roy Utah and she is actually a convert of a year and a half. That's right, she has only been a member for a little over a year and she is out spreading the good word. How amazing is that??? She is so much fun and we get along great.

Here is a quick spiritual story... 

Last Sunday when President called me and asked me to train I was able to see a list of all the new missionaries. We were on the phone with the office elders discussing the new missionaries. They asked me who I thought I would train. I told them confidently that I would train Sister Larsen. They both said that they thought I would train Sister Livingston. I told them that only time would tell. Later that night we talked with another set of Sisters both saying I would train Sister Livingston. I still stood proud that I would train Sister Larsen. We arrive at transfers and I went into my meeting.

After an hour or so of training we met for breakfast with the new missionaries. We met our companions. Sure enough, Sister Larsen was called out to be my trainee. I have a firm testimony of inspired callings. I know that God calls and directs his work. I have been praying for Sister Larsen since September. I had a feeling I would train and I knew that she would come in time.

We have had so much fun these past few days. We participated in a huge stake event. The event gathers over 10,000 people each year. Basically what happens is everyone in the stake brings their Nativity scenes and they set them up. Over 400 nativities in one building with various music performances. All of the missionaries sang for two of the days. It was a beautiful event that happened over 4 days. It was incredible.

We also had a mission conference this past week. Elder Bednar came and spoke to all of us. It was AMAZING. He basically led a giant discussion. He asked us questions, we responded and it was amazing. I felt the spirit so strong. I even raised my hand and sparked a discussion, it was amazing to sit there and have a conversation with an apostle.

We talked about having a discussion filled and founded on love. He stared me in the eye and said "I can feel your love for me, the Savior, your family, your companion, and the gospel. I can testify that the Lord loves you too." I am still in awe.

I love feeling the spirit and I know that God loves all of us.

Hannah had her baptism this week and boy, was it a struggle. We arrived to the baptism that the Elders had planned and they had changed the time without telling us. We laughed and just did studies until it started.

Hannah arrived and was so excited to see us. She cried, I cried, we all cried. She forgot underclothing to change in to so we ended up running to the store to buy her some dry under clothes. It was hilarious. The elders were so embarrassed and they thanked us like 800 times. We are a pretty tight knit group. The baptism was good, the spirit was so strong.

We are continuing to teach Maria. We had a great lesson with her and reminded her of the love Heavenly Father has for her. I love her so so much. We meet with her tomorrow and I am so excited.

Well y'all. I have had a great week. I am super excited for the holidays. I love Christmas. I hope you all take a chance to participate in light the world this year. It will be great.

Have a great week y'all.

Love,
Sister Gray

Stake Nativity Activity

Stake Nativity Activity

New Missionaries

Sister Larsen and Sister Gray 

Lunch ? 

Big Eyes !

Oh Baby Baby - November 26, 2018

Hey Y'all!

Man oh man, this week has been a week of emotions. This week has been amazing but also it has been the longest week of my entire existence. So lets get right into it:)

Thanksgiving was this week and I hope you all enjoyed it. I will be honest, turkey day is my favorite holiday but on the mission its almost like a death wish. We had over 6 families want us to come and visit. 

We were really really excited but also slightly terrified. I don't know if we count this as a tender mercy or something really sad but I woke up Thanksgiving day feeling like trash so we didn't do too much.

We basically went to half of the appointments and then we came home and did our weekly planning. It wasn't too bad. We had a lesson that night with Holly. She is absolutely amazing. She has finished all of the lessons and is anxiously waiting for her baptism in December. It has been so much fun teaching her and growing close to her family. 

We also received some exciting news this past week. We were teaching a girl named Hannah a couple of weeks ago. She is absolutely amazing, unfortunately she had to move to Lewsiville. We were pretty sad but we knew it was for the best. So, we did a pass of lesson with the Elders and she has been meeting with them regularly. ANDDDDDD..... she is getting baptized this Saturday!!!! We are so excited. '

Because she is still in our district we will still be able to go to her baptism because we taught her most of the lessons. I am so proud of her and her decision. 

 
I was informed by my Father that my emails have gotten shorter and shorter.... I apologize. I have some exciting news. 

Last night President Whitney called me and asked me to train a new missionary for my last two transfers. I am really really excited for this opportunity. I am also completely terrified. I have done some training in the past and it is really really fun, its crazy that I will end my mission as a trainer. I am pretty excited. 

SO Yeah. I will be staying in the Carrollton area for the rest of my mission. I cant believe how fast time has traveled and I cant believe that I am almost done, 12 more weeks. I cant wait to make it count. 

I am so grateful for all that you have done for me. I am deeply grateful for all of you. 

Have a wonderful week and stay safe. 

Love y'all. 

Sister Gray

My cute District

I promise we actually do missionary work 

Sister Gray and Sister Naea

Two for One - November 19, 2018

Hey Yall!

What a great week it was this week! So much has happened and it has been really awesome.
We spent most of this week with Joy and Ryan. Since they were both getting baptized we were with them a lot. 

We met with a part member family this week. They are seriously the cutest couple in the world. They are trying to get back into church. With this happening, they decided to feed us. We told them that we don't really get a lot of bbq because everyone thinks we get that so they want to switch it up.... which basically means that we get pasta every night with a few casserole dishes. Its awesome. Anyway, 

Maria and Shawn said that they wanted us to have some good brisket so they bought brisket at a joint outside of the mission and brought it to us. It was amazing haha. After dinner we had one of the coolest conversations I have had in a while. I have been studying peace lately and I have been reading from a talk titled "Peace a triumph of principles". 

It talks about the impact peace has and how even in a world of anger and sadness there is still peace. I felt like I needed to share this with Shawn and Maria. We proceeded to have a conversation focused around God's will and his plan. 

Maria had been praying for peace that same morning and Shawn had lead a bible study that same day about peace. It was incredible. At the beginning, Maria wasn't ready to meet with us but after that meeting she wanted to meet with us and we set up a lesson for Wednesday. I feel very grateful for the chance I have to help others, especially through my studies. 

Ryan and Joy's baptisms went so well on Saturday. Basically the entire ward came. I have never been more proud to be a missionary. I loved watching my two friends enter into the waters of baptism. To make a covenant with Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for everything I have been blessed with and I'm thankful for my family. 

Have a blessed thanksgiving y'all.

Love,
Sister Gray

Short and Sweet - November 12, 2018

Hey my friends!

This is gonna be really short and lame but this week has blown by!
We had two baptism interviews this week which means that Ryan and joy are set on track for baptism this saturday!!!! Yayyyyy!!!! 

We also had a pass off lesson with the Elders this week for Hannah. The lesson went great! We talked about baptism and we set a date with her. We feel really grateful that she moved somewhere in our zone. We have the opportunity to attend her baptism. 

We spent all day Thursday home being really really sick. It's bad enough when one companion is sick, but when both are sick it's really bad haha. So we just crashed all day. 

We had interviews on Friday and they went really well. We learned a lot about planning and it's importance. I'm not great at planning so it really helped me. 

We spent all day Saturday in Euless. The sisters there are having a hard time with finding so we decided to stay the night and help out. It was really fun. 

Well yeah, that is about all I have right now. Sorry this is so short. Not too much has happened besides the intense planning for the people we are teaching. I am grateful for the chance to be a missionary and learn. 

Love y'all! 

Sister Gray


Breakfast in Euless
The mission conference

Sisters ? Naea, Gray, Keller 

Elder Holland Mission Conference
Texas, Fort Worth Mission

Watermelons for Pumpkins - November 5, 2018

Hey Y'all!

I hope y'all had a great week this week with the Halloween holiday. Honestly Halloween as a missionary in the Fort Worth mission is kind of super lame. We aren't allowed out proselyting after 5 so it means that unless we have appointments... we have to stay in. It really is kind of lame. So, because most of the people we are teaching have kids we didn't have too many appointments. We spent the night at a members house talking with their non-member family. It was fun, afterwards we had a Skype call with the some other sisters. It is always fun for us to do those. 

We were going to carve pumpkins as a zone last week for Halloween but we got distracted and played volleyball a little too long. It was still really fun though, we bought a watermelon to carve since I am allergic to pumpkins. We got a text on Tuesday asking if we would come and carve pumpkins with Ryan and her family. We were super thankful that we didn't carve the watermelon early because that meant we had something to do with her! We had so much fun with her as we talked and taught and carved. It was so much fun. Ryan has a set date for baptism on the 17th. She is literally the cutest person I have ever met. 

We attended young woman's with her this past Sunday so she would feel more comfortable and meet more girls in the ward. She came up to us after the block and said that she had a great experience at church and that she was even more excited to be a member. I'm thankful that God works in mysterious ways. One of the turning parts for her was a song we had sung in sacrament meeting.. a secret prayer. She loved it and it answered some of the prayers she has been asking. I love that heavenly father is actively helping his missionaries with the people we are teaching. 

We had exchanges this week. I went to Euless to the Tongan wards. It wasn't too exciting. The sisters didnt' really have anything planned so we spent most of the day contacting Tongan people and planning. It was still fun to be in someone else's area. I haven't done that in a while. As we were exchanging back I witnessed the biggest lighting storm I have ever seen. The sky was very angry and it was lit up all night. It was really cool. 

I feel very blessed to be in this area. The members here are seriously so awesome. They spoil us sometimes haha. For example, we walked into second hour for one of the wards and a faithful member walked up to us. His name is Bro. Moala. He is a convert from Tonga. He has a soft spot in his heart for sister missionaries. He came up to us and shook our hand. He was the most sly person I have ever met. As he shook sister Naea's hand he slid some money in her hand, we tried to give it back and he simply said "Don't take away my blessings sisters. I love you". we were amazed. little did we know that he slipped a 100 dollar bill in her hand. We tried again to give it back but failed. I am thankful for the generosity of the members.

I love y'all so so much. Especially those that muster through and read the whole email. y'all are true friends haha. Have a safe and a blessed week. I appreciate all of the emails and the letters that you send. They make my whole week better and it helps when things get hard. 

Love y'all. 

Sister Gray

PICTURES:

So we had no food in our apartment because it had nothing in it to start and a member decided to give us stuff to make pizzas. She totally followed the spirit because we never told anyone that we had nothing. god is good.


Our beautiful watermelon and terrifying pumpkin


This is Douglas. we do service at a rehab center and they had a Halloween party, we were in charge of painting faces. so, we drew a star on his face and he is our best friend. I miss being in health care but Heavenly Father has provided me a way to still work with my friends in the homes:)

Watermelon Halloween

Pizza for Dinner

Douglas, Sister Gray, and Sister Naea