Good 'Ol Dallas - Sept. 10, 2018

Hello hello Hello!

Oh my goodness. This week has been crazy. I don't have too much to say this week except for... boy oh boy do we have our work cut out. We showed up to our area and we had absolutely no history on anything. We are starting fresh:) 

This area is super super crowded and populated. There are lots of cars:)

Saying goodbye to Decatur was bittersweet. I hate leaving the people I love so much. Yet, I know that I did what I needed to do and it was my time to leave. So here is a bunch of sappy pictures saying goodbye. 

The first day in Carrollton was pretty crazy. We felt like strangers here and it's an odd feeling. We spent most of the day going through a really long list of white washing guidelines. We met with our leaders and we got a better idea of this area. It turns out that the previous sisters didn't do much here... so we have a lot of work:) we prayed for help and we set goals and made plans. We met with every one in our area book and we found 3 new investigators out of it. All this area really needs is work. It's a fruitful area, it's full of people ready for the gospel. 

We found this amazing lady named joy. She listened to us and was excited to learn more. She actually came to church yesterday! She brought her two kids and it was so fun to sit with them. We have a lesson with them today at 5 and I am so excited. 

The wards here are good. They aren't too big... yet;) they created the Carrollton Second ward from 3 different wards. So it's just a little baby ward right now. It's filled with really young families. Most of our area is apartment complexes so there are lots of newlyweds with small families. I have never seen so many babies before in my life. 

It's weird being in this part of Texas. Dallas is right across the street. We actually live outside of our mission and we go to church outside of our mission as well. The people here are not very friendly and tend to keep to themselves. It's great! 

Well... I sure do love y'all. I look forward to writing more next week.

Love,
Sister Gray

Deep in the Heart of Texas? - September 3, 2018

Hey y'all!

Happy labor day! I hope that you enjoy it. Because quite frankly... It means nothing for a missionary. The only thing it means is I don't get any letters today and I can't send a package home. Which kind of stinks because I am getting transferred! I have been assigned to the Carrollton 2nd and 4th wards. Carrollton was adopted into our mission a little over a month ago. It used to be apart of the Dallas mission but we stole it:) I will be white washing into this area and my new companion is Sister Naea. I don't know a lot about her except that she is going to be my companion haha. Its crazy because I will be spending my year mark in the Lewisville zone. I started my mission in the Lewisville zone and now I have the chance to serve there once again. I am completely terrified to drive in the crazy traffic of Dallas. Decatur never really has any cars. Its just dirt and grass. Carrollton is the opposite of that. It will be a crazy adventure that I am looking forward to.

This week was good. We kind of did a little bit of everything this week. We did some service, we taught some lessons, we tracted, things like that. It was all good though. We helped Grace this week with some sewing projects. She has been making hot pads for those that helped her with her surgery. We made over 30 pot holders. It was awesome, we would read the scriptures as we sewed. Grace is closer and closer to baptism every visit. She has such a love for the Lord and I admire that of her. She knows transfers are this week and she knew that I would probably be leaving. Last night we went to read with her and near the end of the lesson she asked if we could pray and she just cried. She hates when missionaries are transferred. It will be hard to break the news to her tonight. I am not looking forward to it. 

We are still working with sister Runyan daily. She is still reading and praying everyday. In fact, when we ask her who's turn it is to pray she always pipes up when it is her turn and gets all excited. I have never seen such a dramatic change in someone. Someone who wouldn't look me in the eye, wouldn't carry a conversation, and wouldn't even acknowledge God. She has flourished into this brilliant, loving, sarcastic, spiritual human being. All of this came due to the Book of Mormon. It has been such an enabling and powerful influence. I love that book with all of my being. 

I have also seen it's amazing influence on Crystal over the past 9 weeks. As we have been reading with her she is more sincere in her prayers. She is finding principles to apply in her life. She is just fantastic. I love her. I am saying goodbye to her tomorrow and it's like leaving a piece of my heart.
On a more fun note... After dinner yesterday as we were walking out to the car I noticed that the members we were eating with had a bunch of chickens! I made a comment about them and Quincey, a 16 year old told me he needed to show me something, he then proceeded to show me how to put a chicken to sleep. If you tuck a chickens head under its wings, and pull it's legs straight. When you do that it puts them to sleep and they will sleep until you wake them up. It was hilarious. 

We had a really good week this week. I'm excited to go explore in this crazy journey of a mission. Love y'all. 

Sister Gray 

Pictures
Saying goodbye.
I will send more next time:)
Love y'all

Welcome to Texas Y'all -

Hello Hello!

Another wonderful week has passed here in the great area of Decatur. I have had the great privilege of serving in this are for 6 months. It's crazy to think that I have spent a third of my mission here in the boonies. I truly love it here, which means... I will probably be leaving shortly. As soon as we fall in love with an area.... President moves you:) he is funny like that. So, that being said... I will find out next week whether or not I will be staying here or whether I will be adventuring off to another part of Fort Worth. Pretty exciting news I tell ya:) 

Man, this week has been one for the books. I feel like every strange thing that could possibly happen.... happened. Decatur is full of strange people. That being said... lets tell a fun story!
Decatur is extremely small and only has like 3 places to eat within a ten mile radius. Casa Torres (best Mexican food I have ever consumed), IHOP, and chili's. There are a few other fast food chains around but no where to go and sit down and have a (decent) meal. Yet, the members love to go out and eat with the missionaries. 

I think on average we have eaten out at least twice a week since I have been in this area (fort worth forty pounds... here I come/am lol). This past week a cute little old lady took us to Chili's. We showed up and it wasn't too busy, just a few tables with families but not too crowded. We sat down and ordered. We were in the middle of our meal when we were very much.... interrupted. A man (24 or 25 years of age) walked over to us. He was wearing a marines shirt, swim trunks with sharks on them, and no shoes. He rushes over to us and looks at our name tags. He then exclaims "y'all are my people!"He then proceeds to give sister Young a side hug. Looks over towards me and says "you my people too!" 

He gives me a hug from behind and latches on. Here is a tip for those who are rudely hugged while with an older lady... if he attempts to hug you from behind, DO NOT CRINGE AND PULL YOUR HANDS UP. It simply locks you when you do. So here I was being hugged by some stranger and I was completely defenseless. He finally detached and comes to sit with us. Still confused and in shock none of us knew what to do. 

Thankfully the manager on duty was a big burly guy who escorted this man out of the restaurant and called the police. To make things oh so much better... this guy (who was forced to leave) was still on the property. We were sitting by a window in which he decided to come and press his face against and motion us to come out. We sat in the chili's DYING. Oh my gosh it was so funny. No one really knew what to do so we just kind of laughed off the awkward encounter and let the manager pay for our dinner haha. He said we had a rough night and simply just needed to go home. We called the zone leaders shortly after we left and we all just died laughing on the phone. Ah man, the people we meet here. They're great:')

The next awkward encounter we were lucky enough to have a member with us! We were in the upper part of our area in a far away land called Bowie. It's a super small town. We had dinner with a single lady there and she asked if we would accompany her as she went to meet those she would be ministering to. We happily agreed and off we went! We stopped at the first house, a guy answered the door, beer in hand, no shirt, smoking a cigar. We all were just awkwardly standing there but carried on. After we had said hello he just said "I'm gonna have to get back to you..." and shuts the door. It was great. So, we carried on to the next home. 

We knock on the door and we heard my least favorite words to hear when you knock on a strangers door.... come in. We stood there for a second and cautiously opened the front door and yelled knock knock. He said "come in! I'm on the pot! We just stood by the door and waited for like 20 minutes! Sister potter couldn't contain herself and was crying because she was laughing. FINALLY this guy walks out and we talked to him. He was higher than a kite y'all. His eyes were more glazed than doughnuts. It was so fun to have a conversation with him in which I truly believe he won't remember. We left and booked it to the car to continue laughing and crying. It was awesome. Basically the point of that story is.. if you live in the country it doesn't matter who is at the door (or what you are doing) call and let them come in.

This is more of a silly email this week but there are still great things happening with the forty day fast. Scott is progressing great towards his baptism. I love teaching him, he soaks all of the information up like a sponge. Lynn, a recent convert from my last area went to the temple this past week and I was so proud:) sister Runyan came to church yesterday and she enjoyed It! We set a date with her to attend the temple. We are really excited because she has never been there. We were able to talk with a guy who just walked into church yesterday. He was deaf but had a cochlear and we had sooooo much fun talking to him! At the end of our meeting and discussing I signed "bye, it was nice to meet you " which opened another 45 minute conversation about sign language. I have forgotten so much but it was fun to sign with what little knowledge I have. Ugh, so many miracles. So much fun. We spent a lot of time this week knocking doors and quite honestly we have just had too much fun. Be goofballs with your companion, it helps a whole lot. 

One last thought. Probably my highlight of this week. We are continuing to read with Crystal every night. We are in 2 Nephi and none of us are great at interpreting those chapters. After one lesson she sighed and said "what is the point of this?" We had a great lesson with her on how the book of Mormon is currently blessing her life. We committed her to kneel and ask God if it was true. The next day we called and she told of her experience. As she knelt in prayer she had just opened the prayer and before she even asked the question, she had an overwhelming rush of the spirit. She said "I know without a doubt it is true. Nothing will shake that". My heart felt warm as she spoke those words and it built my testimony. The book of Mormon changes lives. It changes people. Its changed me. 

This week was great! I love being a missionary, it is the greatest gift. The greatest opportunity to learn. 

I sure do love y'all!
Sister Gray


Movie night
You have to take a picture when you see your best friends name on a sign!
It was me and Sister Young's mooniversary
Us celebrating Hals 2000 miles

Movie Night

Mason Street

Mooniversary

Mooniversary

Celebrating Hals 2000 miles

Thanks :) - August 20, 2018

Hey y'all!

This email will be pretty short this week but I just wanted to thank you to all those that gave me a wonderful birthday. I have never felt more love than I do right now. So thank you for all that you do.

This week was one of the best. We were able to teach Scott again this week and it went so well. He showed up to the lesson on Friday and he poked his head into the room and said "I have a surprise for you!" Turns around and his wife walked in! We taught the lesson and the spirit was so strong. We asked Scott how he was feeling about his baptism and he turns to his wife Katie and says "hey babe did I tell you that I'm getting baptized on September 1st?"

She just gave him a blank stare and was like "no.". She was totally good with It! In fact now she is praying to know for herself so she can be baptized as well. It was pretty great. Such a miracle. They came to church on Sunday and it was truly amazing.

Well my friends, I am sorry this is so short and so lame but I love y'all. Talk to you soon.

Love,

Sister Gray

P.s. totally went tracting on my birthday. It was great.

Love y'all!

Birthday Cake for the Birthday Girl 

Birds and Lizards at your birthday party

2nd birthday cake

Birthday Soda

Opening birthday presents

Sister Young and Gray 

Busy Schedule - August 13, 2018

Hello, hello, Hello!

What a great week! So many marvelous things happened this week. There isn't time to rite! We have had a jam packed day today.
We have spent a good chunk of time this week focusing on finding. You don't have anyone to teach if you don't find them right? We try to accomplish every aspect of missionary work everyday. Seems like that's something your should already be doing but man is it difficult! For example...this is our schedule for tomorrow.

6:30-7:30 exercise
7:30-8 daily planning
8-9 shower, get ready, breakfast
9-10 personal study
10-11 companion study
11-11:30 drive time to Runaway Bay
11:30-12:45 service and Lesson with a less active
12:45-1:15 drive time to Decatur
1:15-1:45 lunch
2-3:15 lesson with Scott
3:15- 5 tract/follow-up with less active members in alvord
5-6 dinner
6:15-7 lesson with ava
7-7:30 mutual with ava
7:30-8 missionary correlation meeting via Skype
8-8:30 Skype call to read book of Mormon
8:30-9 phone call with a bee hive in a less active family to read the book of Mormon
9-9:30 text ward mission leader, update area book (if needed), ward fast reminders and miracle Facebook post
9:30-10:30 journal, pray, retire to bed.


Having a busy schedule is the best thing ever. It prevents missionaries from becoming homesick or unhappy. When you are busy you don't have time to sit around and think about your life problems. It's great! I'm very thankful for the work we have to do and I am very excited to continue to work here in decatur:) 

Ok... I know I talked about this last week but being in a technology mission IS AMAZING. oh my goodness. We spend a good portion of our day in lessons via Skype or Facebook messenger. At first it seems a little hard to teach because the person you are teaching isnt physically there but then that moment passes, the spirit comes, and the lesson is amazing. I am so thankful for the tools we have to teach this message! We skyped a lady named Cindy this week and we had the first discussion with her! It went so well, the spirit was definately there. We were able to testify of the truthfulness of the book of Mormon. We plan on seeing her again this week. 

We are having great success with s. Runyan reading the book of Mormon. We had the opportunity to give talks in church yesterday. We told sister Runyan that she needed to come because I made a joke in my talk that would only be funny if she was there. She laughed and said she would come. Saturday night rolled around and she said she was still coming, Sunday morning at 7 we called her and she said she was still coming, Sunday at 8 she called us and told us she wasn't coming. 30 minutes later we convinced her to come. We sat up on the stand and were anxiously waiting for her to come. Nothing else really mattered to us as long as she came. And she did!!! We were so excited! We were able to Skype her layer that night to talk about it. She had a good time and she is starting to feel more comfortable every time she comes. We then read the book of Mormon with her. Ever since we started skyping her we have asked her if she would pray at the end of the lesson. Every time she has answered no. Last night when we asked her she immedisstely answered yes. I was so excited my jam literally dropped. She laughed and said the most humble prayer I have ever heard. You could tell that she was trying so hard to have a relationship with her father in heaven. I am so grateful for her. She has truly become a life long friend. 

We had a great meeting with Scott this week. We met and taught him the plan of salvation. He was filled with questions and comments. Pur lesson lasted almost an hour and a half due to the questions and the comments he had! He talked more than we did! It was so amazing. At the end of the lesson when we asked him how he felt he felt at peace. We immediately identified the spirit that was testifying to him that what we were telling him was true. At the end of that, we had the strongest impression to invite him to baptism. So...we did. He said yes and he wants to find an answer so he can know for sure this is where he will be. We invited him to be baptized on september 1st. We love working with him and he has such a great desire. Pray all goes well. 

Well my friends, I hope y'all have a safe week this week. It actually hasn't been too hot. It's been raining all day today so we have had lots of fun playing in the rain today. I hope y'all enjoy the pictures. 

Love y'all.
Sister Gray


PICTURES
Ok... so most of these are from our Skype lessons so sorry if we look funny Skype and messenger don't always take really good pictures so none of us look good haha.


Grace comes home tomorrow but we were able to skype her and see her:)
Lessons with S. Runyan:)
Our lesson with Cindy
All of the clouds look like this. It's so beautiful!
Rain shenanigans from today
Other rain shenanigans from earlier this week.


Love y'all!

Grace

Skype lesson with Sister Runyan

Skype lesson with Cindy

Texas Clouds

Rain looks 

Sister Young and Sister Gray 

Sister Gray and Sister Young 

Face to Face - August 6, 2018

Hello my friends!

What a week! 

We had such a good week I don't even know where to begin so I guess I will just start? 

We have started a ward 40 day fast. Every day for the next 40 days someone will be fasting for missionary work in the Decatur area. It has been 5 days and boy have we seen miracles! It has been absolutely great! The very first day of the fast we recieved a call from a member saying that he had talked to a coworker about religion. He invited him to meet with us and he said Yes! So we taught him the first discussion on Wednesday. We were at a local park and it seemed like Satan just did not want to meet. There were so many distractions but the spirit can solve all of those problems. The spirit was so strong in that lesson. He accepted the book of Mormon and was excited to read it and learn more. It was such a good lesson.

Another miracle we were able to see this week was some amazing growth in a less active member. The Fort Worth Mission was announced a Facebook mission 2 weeks after I had arrived to the field. At first I was disappointed because I think Facebook is lame and I didn't like the idea of social media as a missionary. This week changed me. We have been working with a lady named Linda. She is a very closed off person but we have worked so hard to get her to open up! I talked a little about her last week. Something tremendous happened!!! We went over to visit her and help her clean her house on Friday. She sat and chatted while we cleaned. Halfway through the cleaning she began to ask questions about things that were going on at church. We told her and had a great gospel conversation afterwards. Near the end of our visit we invited her to church and she said she would come. As we were walking out of her house I decided to be bold and remind her that we love her dearly. So... As we were walking out of the dear I just yelled "bye Linda! We love you!" In which she responded "love you too". Y'ALL THAT IS BIG NEWS!!!! We were so excited. 

We immediately got into the truck and thanked Heavenly Father. We Skype her every night over Facebook messenger and read the Book of Mormon with her. She enjoys it and it is really helping her. I'm glad we have Facebook and that I have a tool to communicate with those I care for. 

The last thing I want to share with y'all is something on a more serious note. There is so much destruction, turmoil, sadness and war around us. It's encircles us in these last days. I have such a strong testimony of this restored gospel. I know without a doubt that the things which I am called to testify are true. If you are not reading the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY you have some serious repenting to do! The Book of Mormon is the true word of God along with the Bible. It is the most correct book on this world and it is filled with the most truth. You need to be filling your spiritual battery every day with the Book of Mormon. Do not simply read this book. You need to apply the scriptures to your life DAILY. Find the principle, learn the truth, apply it to your life. It isn't that hard I promise. Let me give you an example....

2 Nephi 5:16-
And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.

What is the principle? Don't compare yourself. Do what you can with what you have and you will be blessed. Amazing things happen when you apply the scriptures to your life. This book will bless your life. Please please read it. It will provide protection and comfort. Read it individually, read it as a family, read it with your companion. Use it in every aspect and strive to learn more about it. I promise it will help. 

Alright my loves, I will write again soon. I enjoy and love each of you. Have a fantastic week and stay safe in the heat.

Love y'all!
Sister Gray

PICTURES:
#oneWORDtheWORD
Yes, we celebrated Harry potter birthday (S. Young loves him)
Y'ALL. I CAUGHT A LIZARD IN OUR APARTMENT
Now I am a professional LIZARD catcher. Lmk if y'all need help ;)

Cute Sister Gray 

Sister Gray and Sister Young
Happy Birthday Harry Potter

Professional lizard catcher !

Lizard Lover

Sister Gray and Young

Sister Young and Gray 

 

Blown By.....July 30, 2018

Hey y'all!

This is gonna be a super lame letter but I'm pretty sure 90% of y'all don't read it and are just here for the pictures... but, for you cool 10% I greatly appreciate y'all. 

Transfers were this past week. Sister K has been moved to Euless! She is really excited to serve there and has her work cut out. My new companion is sister Young! She is from Riverton Utah and has been out 5 months! It's weird being older than your companion in mission age. I was filling out my new calendar for the next two months. It was bittersweet seeing my one year mark on that board. It makes me feel like I just want to die a bit. Time flies I tell ya.

We went to lunch this week with a bunch of our young women. We are teaching a girl named Ava. She is 14 and has had a really rough time. Her family situation kind of stinks and she is trying to find a way to improve her relationship with Jesus Christ. So, she started coming to church with her friend! We decided to get a bunch of the girls together and go out. We had a lot of fun talking with them and being friends with them. Near the end of the meal we shared a brief message with them and we invited all of them to church. Ava approached us afterwards and said that she was really grateful that she met with us. She said that she had been praying for friends her age that were good Christian people. We happened to be an answer to her prayers (even though we are 19 and she is 14... oh well). That is such an amazing feeling. 

We have been working with a less active member for the last few months. When I first met her she did not want to talk to us AT ALL. but, her husband had passed away earlier that week and was in need of company. We stayed for a little while and tried to start a conversation. It didn't go very well, lots of awkward silences. Yet, no matter how many times I tried to convince myself we didn't need to drive 30 miles to visit I would always feel prompted to go. Now, almost 5 months later, she has committed to reading the book of Mormon with us every night. We call her every Sunday morning to invite her to church. So, yesterday, we called about an hour before church and she simply answered saying "oh good, I thought you forgot about me. I'm glad you still call. Come over later?" And hung up the phone. This is HUGE Progress! We went to visit her later that day and she finally opened up. She talked with us about her husband, her dogs, how she met the missionaries, everything. That's when we committed her to read with us. She was a little nervous about it but accepted. Now we FaceTime her everyday to read the word of God. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON Y'ALL. Ugh, it's so good. It has such a powerful affect on others. 

Man, this gospel is so amazing. My last experience (which is part of the reason why this email isn't super long) today, the sisters in Denton lost their wallets this week and had zero money to buy food. I found out about this yesterday and was really concerned. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father what I could do to help. My answer was to look at how much money was in my account. Sister missionaries receive 150 dollars every month for food, toiletries, and all that fun stuff. When I first got to Texas, I received a very strong impression to budget my money and save as much as I could. So I did just that. It's kind of hard to budget when you only have 150 dollars (especially when you have never ever budgeted before). Over the course of 10 months I have budgeted enough to have a spare 150 dollars in my account at all times. That being said, I looked at my account and knew what I needed to do. 

So! 

We met the sisters this morning and we went shopping. As we left Wal-Mart we were walking back to the truck when we saw an older gentlemen struggling to change a flat tire. I have no clue how to change a tire folks. Yes, my dad showed me, yes, my older brothers showed me, no, I don't remember any of it. Out of impulse I ran over and asked if he needed help. He was a little confused why I was there but I ended up taking over and figuring it out. We sat and talked as we were putting the new tire on (I think it's called a doughnut?) Turns out the guy is a southern Baptist preacher and that he has preached for over 60 years. He asked me what I was doing with my missionary work and we had a great time chatting. I finished tightening the tire (the little screw things that I don't know what they are called) and he asked if I would pray with him because of my service. So here we are, huddled in a small circle in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot praying. It was awesome. As we walked away I felt so happy and I was glad to be a help to someone. Plus I learned how to change a tire:) life skill woohoo!


Alright y'all. Thanks for all you do. I hope y'all have a great week and you stay safe.

Love y'all. 

Sister Gray


PICTURES:


Hermana Enriquez:')
Sunsets in Texas never disappoint
It's a good thing we fly home together... otherwise I would have been a whole lot more sad
I don't like meat too much but man oh man does Texas have good ribs and brisket
Sister Young

Sister Gray and Sister Enriquez

Sunsets in Texas never dissappoint

Saying good-by to Sister Keller 

Sister Gray and Keller at the Decatur sign 

She loves her some BBQ

Sister Gray and New Companion Sister Young