What a Wonderful Christmas!

Date: December 26, 2012
Area: Long Island
Companion - Sister Lewis



Querido Familia,

I have been truly blessed! This Christmas was BY far the BEST Christmas EVER!! Thank you everyone for your sweet cards, gifts and family Christmas Cards! I love them all! This Christmas on the mission has been the absolute BEST that I have ever had. It is so true that when you loose yourself in the work and do not focus on yourself but on others happiness is when you find "TRUE HAPPINESS". I am so thankful and feel truly blessed to be here in NY at this time serving my mission. There is NO other place that I would rather be right now then serving the lord 24/7 in the sacred grounds of New York! I love this gospel and I love this work, it's no wonder they call it the best two years :) In my case I wish I had 2 years! Life is so short, and we just have to make sure that we make sure to make the BEST out of each and every day, because we never know when our time is up. Reminds me of a Country song, "Live like you were dying!"


This week....it seems like everytime I get here to email my mind always goes blank and I forget what I wanted to tell you..We had a funeral that we as missionarys had the opportunity to sing at. We have attended 2 funerals here in the past month. It really puts into perspective what things are really important in life, and the most important thing is THIS GOSPEL! This gospel is the thing that ties families together not only for this life, but for the life to come. For the Eternitys! Without the sacred ordinance of baptism we Can not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Something that made me a little sad at the funeral, was looking at all these people who were attending the funeral that did not have that knowledge of the gospel, it is amazing to me that when we know that we will once again see our loved ones after this life we can have a perspective of hope, it makes such a difference. I just love this gospel, it really is the "Good News", and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share this message with the people of New York, and I will continue to do so even after my mission! This is just the BEST!!


So this week we had a gift exchange with all for of the missionarys in our zone, and that was pretty fun! I just love love being around other missionarys it just gets up pumped :) Anyways so on Christmas Eve we had what is called the Christmas SPECTACULAR!! It was with ALL of the missionayrs in the ENTIRE mission! We have probably the most TALENTED mission in the world :) I love it so much! The missionarys put together this program that was the entire day long! They chose 2 missionarys to give talks, one Elder and one Sister. I was asked so speak along with Elder Denton ( Go Arizona Missionarys) haha but really it was humbling to be able to speak of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and of his Mother Mary and her sacred Calling. Just as Mary had a sacred calling so do we, especially as missionarys we have the calling to bring people closer to Christ. Through Faith, Repentance,Baptism, Reciveing the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the end. I feel so incredibly blessed to be here! We also each individually recieved a letter from the First Presidency. I loved that!


Do not have much time left, the computer is going to kick me off :) But Sunday was the best! Wendy, Rey and Anderson all recieved the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was such a spiritual experience and really to be able to see them and their faces beaming with joy, and then to see them be able to partake of the sacred ordinace The Sacrament.

This Church is True! God Lives! Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!
I love you all and am more than thankful for your love and support!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love Hermana Gray

Funny note : My mom did not recognize me on the phone when I called home, I was speaking in spanish....she thought someone had the wrong number and hung up! haha Guess my spanish is improving :)


Being an Example

"The theme for this conference is so appropriate: 'Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations' (D&C 115:5). I see the light shining in your faces. That light comes from the Lord, and as you radiate that light, it will bless you as well as many others."

James E. Faust, "Your Light—a Standard to All Nations," Ensign, May 2006, 111

Topics: Example, Light of Christ

    

Oh what Joy!! This is TRUE happiness!! Happy Happy HAPPY!!

Date: December 19, 2012
Area: Long Island
Companion - Sister Lewis


Dear Family!

SO much has happened I do not know where to begin! Surprize!!! We had a wedding and 3 baptisms!! YAHOO!
Where to begin....where to begin! My brain is just frazzled with happiness and joy I can hardly think! Here we go! From Baby Showers, to wedding and baptisms! It was WONDERFUL week to say the least! Alright well on Monday and Tuesday it was just busy busy busy! Trying to run around trying to get birth certificates and marriage license! Basically all week we were planning the wedding! bah! It was all worth it though! ok so after running around here and there! por aqui and alla! We had to get a translation of the birth certificates which was going to be a nightmare, because the company was going to charge us a million and half dollars (not really but they were going charge a lot) we were trying to work here on a budget....so we called a member of the ward and they said to call Hermana Chavez, because that is EXACTLY what she does :) So we went over there and she had it done the next day! Phewww we got that done :)

So Tuesday....we had the opportunity to make some papusas with Wendy! Now Wendy is from Honduras, and so she taught us the way that the people of Honduras make papusas! Man let me tell you...making papusas is not easy...lol but its SO worth it! They turned out SO yummy! We really had a fun time making these papusas! I love hispanic food :)

So Wednesday was good! We had the opportunity to go and visit a recent convert and we were able to share with her the visiting teaching message. I absolutely LOVE how organized our church is. I love that us as Women have the opportunity to build up the kingdom of the lord by visiting teaching. Seriously it makes the biggest difference! Then after that we all went to the church where we had a baby shower for Sandra, it turned out really nice and all of the sisters were really supportive. I am seriously so blessed to be in this area at this time, we have a wonderful ward.

Alright....so Thursday! We ate at the familia Mercados. They are my FAVORITE Peruvian family ever! Then that night we we were going to have a lesson with the Familia Mendoza, talking about baptism. Rey the husband was still a little unsure and thought that he needed more time. So anyways we had the lesson and talked about requirements for baptism from Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 and also about faith. Wendy and Anderson said that they wanted to be baptized however Rey was still a little unsure. We told him that this was his decision and that he was the only one that could decide. So they Elders came over to interview them and Rey went first. We stayed and watched a church film with the family until the other ones could be interviewed. When Rey came out we were about to leave when Hermana Majano said, "Hermanas come here, Rey wants to tell you something." My heart was pounding...I did not know what to think...Rey then said with a big grin on his face, " I am getting BAPTIZED"! Say what?!?! Oh man I was like in Shock! You have NO IDEA how happy this made me! The Familia Mendoza were going to take this important step in life as a family! The spirit was super strong as it was in the lesson that we had before hand. It is really neat to see that when the spirit is there, what a difference it makes. We all know that we are not the teachers, but it is the Spirit that teaches and bears testimony and witness of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Alright.....moving on! To put it short we had the wedding on Saturday along with the ward Christmas Party! It was SO much fun! I have to say that Hermana Lewis and I are pro-wedding planners! Consider it my job when I get back! haha JK but seriously thats what I felt like this week, it was perfect! We bought Wendy a Boquet and she loved it! She said to me,"Hermana Gray you were an answer to my prayer, how did you know that I wanted a boquet" haha There seriously is NO greater joy than making other people happy! Really!! When we are constantly thinking about ourselves is when we are not truly happy, but we can be happy when we loose ourselves and GO TO WORK! :) Just like President Hinckleys Dad said :)

Sunday Sunday....Sunday was the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!! Seriously so many emotions..I can not quite explain it all, but I sure am happy! Alright so we had sacrament meeting....5 minutes before I was asked to sing a solo...hm Ok :) Gladly! lol I guess they liked the solo that I sang for the Stake fireside...Welp that was fun! It was such a neat feeling to see Wendy and her family in the congregation! Then we had the baptism....Words can not fully describe the feelings that I had. Wendy was so cute in relief society she was counting down the minutes till her baptism. Everyone gathered in the room for the baptism. The other sisters had a baptism his name was Justo- he is the sweetest most humble man that I have ever met. It was a happy day for all of us! After the baptism I asked Wendy how she felt, she said, "Happy"! I AM HAPPY!!! There is NO other way to describe it! I am HAPPY!

Being on a mission means everything to me! I have never felt so much joy in my life as I have being on a mission. Being able to see the changes that people make through the loving power of the atonement, the sacrifice of our savior Jesus Christ. I can not think of a better way to be celebrating Christmas than to be here in NY serving my mission teaching about our savior Jesus Christ. I love this gospel. I know that this is the ONLY true church on this earth that has the fullness of this gospel. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY way that we can receive those sacred ordinances to make it back to our father in Heaven. I love the Book of Mormon, it is the Key Stone through our religion. We can and will find so much happiness through reading it. Every page teaches us of our Savior Jesus Christ, and through reading it we can find the strength to get through everyday.

I hope that you all have the BEST Christmas! I am so happy to be spending it here in NY :)

I love you all!

Hermana Gray

P.s. Allen Ranch Young Men and Young Women - Thank you SO much for all of your cards it meant the world to me!

(2 Nephi 25:26) And we atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our cchildren may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins.

My Heart is Full!

Date: December 12, 2012

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Querida Familia!

I looooooooooooooooove this work! The other day I shouted to my companion, I've never been this happy in my life!!!! Seriously the mission brings Sooooo much JOY! Sometimes I can hardly stand it lol. Hermana Lewis and I were talking and we were talking about all of the different types of people that we have met on the mission. I have met happy people, but I have never met anyone as happy....as a Mormon!

Seriously its SO true though. This gospel brings SO much joy! Chelsea and Garrett I just read your mormon.org profiles. You two are such a good example to me! I am incredibly blessed to be in the family that I am in. I love you all with all my heart. I am continually being impressed by your example and love for the gospel and true desire to do what is right. Thank you for all that you do :)

Ok...so this week was well.....simply amazing! The Lord has really blessed my companion and I. It is amazing how when we are obedient the Lord blesses us. Really it is as simple as that. We obey- He blesses. So sometimes I wonder why we as children of God are not always obedient. Well...we are indeed human. And that is where the Savior steps in. He makes up for the rest!

Monday was fun! We made ginger bread houses! Needless to say.....our Ginger Bread house was well....nothing short of AWESOME :) It was a lot of fun and it is so neat to be able to get to know so many missionary's! We have some of the hardest working, dedicated and diligent missionary's that I have ever met! I may be biased...but the NY NY South mission is the best :) Anyways we had a wonderful lesson with Wendy and her family on Tithing, and Wendy is just so willing to do whatever the lord asks of her. She is so humble, really I have learned a lot from our investigators and just people here in NY, there are some incredible people here who are just trying to do what is right. I feel extremely blessed to be serving here in NY at this time in my life.

Alright Tuesday...so on Tuesday I had the wonderful opportunity to go on exchanges with the English Sisters. I had the pleasure to work with Sister Smith. I absolutely love her! I served around her in Jamaica and I just love being around her. She has this happiness about her that is JUST contagious! She has a heart of gold. We were able to attend institute where Elder and Sister Hardy were able to teach and they taught about the work for the dead in the temple, particularly baptisms for the dead. It was really a neat class. Made me miss taking institute classes. I just love love the senior couples here, they remind me of you Grandma and Grandpa Gray and Peck, since you both served/ are serving missions. Both are such wonderful examples to me.

We were able to have a lesson with this man about tithing the next day. He talked to us about some hard things that he had been going through financially and he talked about how he payed his tithing and that is the only thing that saved him. Then I had the privilege of going to go and teach a lesson with one of my EFY girls! You have NO idea how happy that made me! I felt like I was an EFY counselor again. It made me SO happy to see that she is still doing well. You never know what kind of difference you can make on someones life.

On Wednesday we had another sweet opportunity to go on exchanges with the Elders. At first I was a little bit nervous...not sure exactly how this was going to all work out. However it ended up being my favorite part of the day. The Elders are excellent teachers and I really learned a lot. So we recently found this sweet family....bet you can guess where they are from. El Salvador! Ha just like everyone else in this area...and I love it! Anyways we had a really good lesson about the restoration and the proper priesthood authority. In the middle of the lesson the father was not understanding about authority and the wife said, "Don't you get it? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...is the ONLY church that has the proper authority to perform baptisms!" ha I just love teaching! I never thought that I was a good teacher...or even liked teaching. However on the mission it is something that I have found a passion for. I have been truly humbled as I have seen the lord use me in a way to help build up his Kingdom here on this earth. I have found that as I have humbled myself the Lord has blessed me by showing me my weaknesses and helping me to develop them to become strengths.

Alright so along with this really neat day that we were having we went to go and look up a referral. When she wouldn't answer the door we decided to go upstairs to knock on the door of the family that lived upstairs. ( there are like 4 family's that live together in one house here in NY) well this sweet girl named Liony age 18 let us in. Her and her sister sat down and listened to our lesson. The 18 year old sister told us how she had been in 2 major car accidents and how she was in a coma for 3 weeks, and that she recently just learned how to walk and talk again. Can you talk about MILAGRO?!?! Miracle! She also had brain surgery....It really is a blessing that she is alive. Funny note- The mom popped her head in and said, " Are you guys Mormon?" I said you bet we are :) haha she then told us how she used to meet with the Missionary's in the Dominican Republic and how she went to church all the time. My companion then asked her if she was ever baptized? haha she said YES! say what?!? lol we just are finding these lost members all the time. haha Anyways we were able to teach them the restoration. At the end of the lesson we asked her how she felt about the things that we taught her. She said," I feel that everything that you are teaching me is true!" Then in her closing prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for bringing her the truth that she had always been searching for! We brought her the Book of Mormon the next day and she is so excited to begin reading it with her sister!

Sunday Sunday Sunday :) Let me tell you! It was great!! Wendy and her whole family came again! They are progressing and doing really well. They are the familia Mendoza- they could really use your prayers. SO please pray for the familia Mendoza! Ok so we went to go and pick up the family of Laura ( the new family that we found) We got there and they were all ready for Church! So cute! The little girl Laura LOVED church! Ha it made me so happy!! We had the entire left side of the chapel full of investigators! It is so neat to know that you are doing something to build up the Kingdom of God :) Missionary work is just AWESOME!

Sunday night we had a fireside! It was a Christmas fireside that all of the Missionarys in Long Island put on. There is just something about Music that allows the spirit to testify. The whole room was full of the spirit..also not to mention PACKED! We have some TALENTED missionarys!! Hermana Lewis my comp played the Violin. ELder Hall played the Organ and piano and Elder Kim. We had some awesome solos and duets. Yes I was one of them...I sang a solo ha :) Glad to know that I can still muster up something, but really the lord has blessed me. and I can not do ANYTHING with out him. Felt like I was in L.I.G.H.T again!

Christmas is coming! May we be thinking about what gift we can give Christ this year. What can we do better this up coming year than from the last. How can we be more converted?How can we be more giving? More Charitable? More Loving? How can we be a more devoted disciple of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I love you all! Thank you for all the love and support! May our thoughts be turned to Christ :)

Love,
Hermana Gray

p.s one of my favorite scriptures for the week.

3rd Nephi 19:25

"And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his acountenance did smile upon them, and the light of his bcountenance did cshine upon them, and behold they were asdwhite as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof."


Are we doing what we can, so that we can say that the Lord is Smiling upon us? :)

Happy Happy December!! :)

Date: December 5, 2012

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Hola Familia,

Como Estan?! Espero que todo esten Bien!! How art thou? I am wonderful!! This week was incredible!! Well I mean every week is incredible! Alright...where to start. Well on Monday we were able to take some lovely pictures of our District our little "Family" on the mission. So that was the first highlight of the week :) The elders bought Santa hats and everything! It was wonderful! I just LOVE this time of year more than anything! There is just something about the Christmas Spirit! People are a lot more giving, a lot more humble, full of more Charity.. the list could go on and on. Wouldn't it be neat if the world had a Christmas Spirit 24/7? All year Long? Its like they said last night in the Devotional.....we shouldn't need a Christmas season to have a little bit more Christ in us, I hope that we can all strive to keep the spirit of Christmas all year long! :)

Miracles? They happen ALL the time! All around us...we just need to know where to look :) Alright so we had the privilege to have President Interviews this week. Man I feel like it was JUST yesterday that we had president interviews....and that was 3 months ago! It is such a wonderful experience to be able to talk to your mission President and to be able to hear him say that you are doing a great job and that he is proud of you. It gave me just a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father feels about us when we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. When we are on the right path. I am so excited for the day when I can walk up to Heavenly Father and to hear him say, Well done thou good and faithful servant! I hope that I can always do the will of my father who is in Heaven. For that is what Christ did. He always made sure that he was doing the will of the Father. I think that it is so neat that we have the privilege to talk directly to our Heavenly Father through prayer...we are so blessed to have prayer by which we can talk to our Heavenly Father ANY TIME and ANY WHERE and that we can know that he is listening! He wants what is best for us and so he has given us a plan. A plan of Happiness, by which if we are willing to follow it, then we will find more happiness than we have ever or could even imagine. His plan is perfect...we are the ones who sometimes stray...but we can become more and more like our savior through repentance. We are so lucky that we have the opportunity to repent ~ or CHANGE for the better through the loving power of the atonement. I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to partake of the Sacrament - to start over for the week, and try harder to be the person that HE wants us to be.
So we met this lady Carol while we were knocking doors late at night. She said that we could come back the next day. So we came back the next day and we were able to talk to her about the message that we had to share about our savior Jesus Christ and that through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can make changes to become the person that HE wants us to be. She was able to express some trials that she had that were going on in her life. We explained to her that through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can become happy! We also were able to talk to her about the Book of Mormon and that through this book is where we can find peace. She really like the message that we shared. The said that she never felt right going to the Catholic Church. It was a church that she grew up in but that she pretty much only did it because of Tradition. She said that she felt that something was missing. We made an appointment to come and talk to her the next day and assigned her a chapter in the Book of Mormon. When we got there the next day she said that she had read the entire chapter and she felt like it was speaking to her. It is amazing to me how the Book of Mormon and the spirit have the ability to teach things that we as human can not teach, but through the help and power of the spirit we can bring the message to the hearts of his children.

We had some INCREDIBLE lessons with Wendy and her family this past week. So Wednesday we had set up an appointment to go and teach Wednesday. We brought Hermana Velaquez with us and when we got there Wendy was not there. At first we thought that she "juked" us, and that got me pretty worried. However her neighbor was there, so we were able to talk to her and teach her the Plan. At the end of the lesson Wendy walked through the door. She mentioned to us that she had completely forgotten. She then sat down and we reviewed the last part of the plan. She then expressed some of her feelings to us about how She is SO ready and that she is willing to get married so that she could get baptized, even if Rey does not get baptized, because she said that she knew that it was HER time! She knows it is true! We had her read Alma 32:16-21 where it talks about faith. This was by FAR one of the most powerful lessons that I have had on my mission. The reason being was simply because of the power of the Scriptures and the testifying power of the Spirit! She had to pause half way through reading the scripture, her face got red and it was really neat to see how the spirit was really working on her. We did NOTHING! It was all the spirit! It is VITAL to have the spirit with us as missionary's, especially as we teach!

We were able to have another really neat lesson with Wendy and Rey.... We had the Majanos come over with us. THey were able to bear strong testimony about the importance of marriage and all the blessings that are awaiting them! We asked Rey if he was going to marry Wendy, and he said YES!!! Oh man I do not think that I have been that excited in my life about someone getting married! ha Everything inside me was jumping up and down. I had to restrain myself from Jumping up and down :) I am SO Happy because this is the next step that they need to make in order to obey the commandments so that they can then enter into the sacred covenant of Baptism.
Church was another Miracle!!! Ok so we had a meeting before church with all the leaders. So finding rides for our investigators was a little bit of a struggle because everyone was already at church- who would normally give our investigators rides for church. Hermana Lewis and I were trying our hardest calling everyone that we knew. ( I felt like a chicken with its head cut off!) haha but anyways about an hour before church our investigator Rachelle called and said that she wanted to come to church. So therefore we needed to find another ride. We called EVERYONE that we could and no one was able to go and pick up Rachelle and her family. Then the thought came to my mind to ask Wendy (our golden investigator) to go and pick up Rachelle and her family. At first I was a little hesitant but then my companion said, "Herman Gray, why don't we go and have Wendy pick her up?" Brain waves? haha The SPIRIT! So alright here I go! I called Wendy a little Nervous, because I wanted to make sure that her and her family got to church alright...didn't want to burden her with about job. However when I asked Wendy....she responded OF COURSE! Like with out hesitation. I was then a little worried that they would not get there on time..I saved them a seat. And right when I was praying they walked in! HE answers our prayers! Rachelle was a little nervous about coming to church, she did not know what to expect. However the moment she walked in she said that she felt peace. She said that this church is different, there is just a wonderful feeling here. Her little boy Angel was like " Mom are we coming back next week!?"

Heavenly Father loves us SO much! This Gospel is True! May we all remember what this Christmas Season is REALLY about! Its about "Christ". Did you just LOVE the devotional last night? We are so blessed to have a living prophet President Thomas S. Monson. I love this work! I know that he has a plan for each and every one of us. May we try to see what we can GIVE this year at Christmas instead of Receive! I promise that you will be happier!

I love you all!!!

Love Hermana Gray


“We realize in these precious moments what we feel and know in our heart—that Christmas is about the Christ.”

Though some of Christ’s gifts to us will be given only when our time on earth ends, President Uchtdorf emphasized the many gifts that the Savior gives every day. “He promises to be with us, to come to us when we need comfort, to lift us when we stumble, to carry us if need be, to cry, laugh, mourn, and rejoice with us. Every day He offers to take us by the hand and help transform ordinary life into extraordinary spiritual experiences.” ~ President Uchtdorf

Feliz Dia de Chicken?

Date: November 28, 2011

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Happy Late Thanksgiving!!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! I forgot to tell you one of my HIGHLIGHTS from last week :)

One of our investigators asked me where I was from? I then responded that I was American and that I was from Arizona. Then I asked him why he asked. He said that I had an accent and that I sounded like someone from Costa Rica!! Oh man you have NO idea how happy that made me feel! I always wanted to have some sort of accent so that I could sound native when I speak..Glad to know that I actually sound like a Hispanic when I talk :)
Well you may be wondering why I put Feliz dia De Chicken...ok so usually they say " Feliz Dia de Pavo" Like Happy Turkey Day when we are talking about Thanksgiving....However its funny because most Hispanics do not eat Turkey...but rather they eat lots and lots of Chicken :) So one of our investigators called it Chicken day :)
Monday was wonderful! We had a family home evening with two Dominican lady's from the ward, we were able to talk about Temples and the importance of Family's and how we can be with out family's for the Eternity's through the sealing powers of the temples. I am SO thankful for temples and the knowledge that I have that through temples we can be sealed for time and all eternity to our loved ones :)
So on Wednesday we were able to go and teach the Mendoza family with a member named Helen. She is this cute little Peruvian who just got here like 2 months ago from Peru and is staying with her family here until April. ( I decided that I love Peruvians) but anyways we were able to go and teach Wendy and Rey who I had been talking about and we were able to review a little bit about the Restoration. We asked Anderson the 13 year old boy what he remembered about the Restoration from when we taught it the first time. Anderson remembered everything in detail! He is such a smart kid! We then were able to watch the video to review it and the spirit in the room was SO strong! Everyone could feel it. I always get teary eyed at the part when Joseph Smith's Father gets baptized and when he leaves the water and Joseph Smith gives him a hug. I can feel how Joseph Smith felt when he knew that he could bring and give the BEST thing that we can give to someone. The Message of the true restored gospel on this earth. Missionary Work seriously brings SO much joy! I have never been happier than I have been on my mission!! The holy ghost was the teacher! They were able to feel it. After the lesson we asked Anderson if there was anything else that we could do for him and he said, "Actually YES! You can assign me another chapter to read in the Book of Mormon!" Seriously?! well we will gladly do that! Man its no wonderful Heavenly father says that we need to become as little children to enter into the Kingdom of God. They just get it! It makes sense to them and they are humble,submissive, they are teachable!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day! I think that on the mission you are able to realize a lot more the blessings that you have in your life. I am SO grateful for my testimony in the gospel. Its something that is like my anchor that keeps me going when times get hard. I know that I can always turn to my Savior for ANYTHING! I know that we have a purpose on this earth and that Heavenly Father has a plan specifically for me! Guess what?! He has a plan for you too! Yes I am talking to you! Whoever is reading this email- YOU! Heavenly Father knows and loves you individually! He loves you so much that he has given you many tools in this life to make it back to him. Such as the Gospel! We are SO blessed to have the message of the restored gospel! He has given us a body, and sent us down to earth so that we can have experiences! So that we can learn, and that we can make choices that can and will lead us back to the presence of our Heavenly Father! HOW LUCKY ARE WE?!?! Sometimes we do not realize how blessed we are! But if we take time to "Smell the roses" per say or just look around us we then can ultimately realize JUST HOW BLESSED WE ARE!
We were able to go and play football, for the Turkey Bowl! IT was super fun! We played Football with like 3 Zones! I know what you all are thinking...YES I PLAYED FOOTBALL! was I good? well....that's another story...aha but I played and MAN I am sore!!!! My companion and I could not walk for a good 2 days after! haha We had the pleasure of having 3 turkey/chicken dinners that day! The Hispanics sure are taking good care of us missionary's!
We had a really good lesson with the Zelaya Family and the Lee's ( a couple in the ward who came with us) and we talked again about the importance of marriage and eternal familys and how our ultimate goal is to make it to the temple. We had another lesson during the week with Mirna and Denis Zelaya about the restoration again and the Word of Wisdom. It made me SO happy to hear that Denis has been obeying the word of Wisdom for over a month now. He has made significant changes and it was from when we started teaching him. He is so solid! Denis said the opening prayer. There is just something about when an investigator prays...they are so sincere and you can tell that they really mean what they are saying. He prayed for understanding of the Book of Mormon....and much more. These people are so humble and have really taught me how to be more humble and to recognize the hand of the Lord in all things. Mirna came to Church on Sunday! She just loves going to church and the way that she feels when she is there!
We invited Wendy and Rey to get married! They know that they need to get married before they get baptized! We set a date with them to get baptized and they are more than excited!! Wendy is so down and really excited! She is reading in the Book of Mormon, their whole family is coming to Church! They are progressing! It feels wonderful! It is amazing to see that through the atonement of Jesus Christ and that through our obedience to the commandments we really can start to see that light..shine through someone's countenance. There are many people that say that us as members have a light....and I have realized more on my mission where that light comes from. Really that light is from Obedience! When we are obedient we allow the light of Christ to shine through us and our countenance appears brighter.

We are all literal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. I think that when we all come to realize that, then we begin to see and notice our TRUE potential! We began to see that we have been sent here that through our obedience we can ultimately one day become like our Heavenly Father. As this Christmas season approaches may we all remember our REAL purpose for being here and let us remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas. To Celebrate the birth of our Savior, our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

I love you all! Keep being the amazing people that you are! You mean the world to me :)

Con Amor,
Hermana Gray

“It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring ‘peace on earth,’ because it means—good will toward all men.” 3 President Thomas S. Monson

Feliz Dia De Pavo! aka Happy Thanksgiving!

Date: November 21, 2012

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Querido Familia!

I love you so much! Man the mission just keeps getting better and better! I am able to learn new things every day. I am so thankful for each and everyday that I have on the mission and for the chance that I have to better myself and to apply the atonement daily in my life. I love the people here in New York, I have learned so much. I feel like I am in school like summer school like super speed!

Well this week was amazing just like the others! So much is has been going on, I do now know where to begin. Perhaps we can begin with last Monday. So we had a Family Home Evening at the Bishops house with Wendy Rey and their family along with Mirna and her Cousin Denis two other of our investigators. We were able to talk about Eternal Marriage, Eternal Family's and Temples. That through temples our family's can be sealed together for the eternity's. I showed Wendy a picture of a temple and she loved it! I am so thankful that we have the knowledge that through temples is the way that a Loving Heavenly Father has provided for us so that we can be with our family's, not only in this life, but through the eternity's.

We went over to Wendy's this week, and we were asking her how she was doing, and she said Bad. We then were trying to find out what was wrong and she had told us that earlier that day she had gotten in a car accident...she then said that it got her thinking....she said," If I were to die today, then I would not be ready to meet God, because I am not baptized!" she is SO ready! She knows what she needs to do and is so willing to do it. She is so humble and knows that there are some changes that she needs to make in her life and she is more than willing to do what the Savior has asked her to do. We shared a quick thought with her and then assigned her a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read for the next time that we came. We assigned her Alma 22. The next time that we went over there she was SO excited to talk about the chapter that she read. She said that she read it three times she loved it so much! She also said that she read it to her kids and her boyfriend. She loved that this king was more than willing to give up EVERYTHING to get to know the Savior. It made me think about what things in our lives can we give up to get to know our savior a little better. What things can we do to better align our will with that of the lords will. Her little girls are so cute! she said that they kept asking, "Is today Church? When are we going to go to church? I think that is adorable!

We received a referral from the English Elders earlier this week so we decided that we were going to go over there to meet her on Wednesday. Her name was Rachelle, when she saw us she invited us right in. She said that she wanted to know more about our Church. She said that she was actually on her way to the church, because a friend of hers or family member was going to receive a priesthood blessing. She said that she had just been on the phone talking to her sister about our Church when we knocked on the door, she said," I do not think that it is a coincidence that you came over here today!" She wanted to know what made our church different than all of the other churches. We then explained the Restoration, and then showed her the Book of Mormon. She said Tell me more about that Book! I want to know more! Rachelle has a lot of potential, she has a desire, and having a desire is the FIRST step, just like it talks about in Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 we need to be humble and teachable.

I am so extremely thankful for the opportunity that I have to grow. I love that we are able to make our weaknesses strong just like the lord promises in Ether 12:27

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their aweakness. I bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my cgrace is sufficient for all men that dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make eweak things become strong unto them.

The lord wants nothing more than to help us. I am so thankful that through the healing power of the atonement we are able to become more and more like our savior through the sacrifice of our Savior. I am thankful for the positive and silver lining in every situation. Really there is always a positive to a negative. Look for it! Try it! The lord gives us trials so that we can be made stronger! It is amazing how much happier we can be if we would just look for the good in things. Look for the good in people! If we choose to focus on the good in people then that is what we will see. No one is perfect, but we are all striving to be better. I love that everyday we can strive to become better than we were yesterday. We are so blessed to know that through the cleansing power of the atonement that we can become our best selves.

I am SO thankful for the scriptures and for the opportunity that I have to study out of them in the morning. I am so thankful for the words of the prophets both from times of old and from our modern day prophets. They are truly inspired. I am so thankful for this past conference and that we are able to read and study from the talks that they have given. It is really neat that we can apply the teachings of the prophets in our daily life. We are so blessed to have a Living Prophet President Thomas S. Monson and to also have 12 apostles just like the Savior had when he was here on this earth. The lords knows us better than we know ourselves and so if we turn to him we can become better. We can do what he wants us to do.

I know that I am supposed to be here in New York at this time in my life. Meeting the people that I am meeting and teaching the people that I am. I am so grateful for all of my companions and they chance that I have to learn. I am grateful for a loving family who supports me. I am grateful for my parents who have raised me with the knowledge that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and wants nothing but the best for me. I am So grateful for the knowledge that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through a prophet Joseph Smith. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon, a book that has changed my life for the better. I am so thankful that I can turn to it and it can lead me to an answer of a question that I had, it brings comfort. I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost that helps me understand the truths and principles that are found in the Book of Mormon. I am grateful for a Living Modern Day Prophet who is here to lead and guide the Church Today. I am grateful for a Father and Brothers who have the priesthood and are living worthy to have it. I am grateful for all of the wonderful people that I have been able to come in contact with in my life. Whether you know it or not you have made an impact in my life! So thank you! I am thankful for all of my friends, who have helped shaped me into the person that I am today. I am grateful for my testimony and for the testimony's of everyone else, who have helped strengthen mine. I love this gospel! It is is TRUE! It is the ONLY way that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again someday.

I could go on and on about what I am thankful for....but I am afraid this emails would never end....Thanksgiving always makes me think about what I am really thankful in my life. What are you thankful for?

Well Family, its that time. But may you always remember how much your Father in Heaven loves you, and how he wants only the BEST for you! Keep being amazing! Look for the silver lining in every situation. Look for what you can learn, I promise you, its there! Heavenly Father loves you, He has created a plan for you! I love you!

Love,
Hermana Gray

Eat some Turkey for me! Ill be eating some rice and beans haha jk!

"A grateful heart … comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives." President Monson

November Happenings!!!

Date: November 14, 2011

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Dear Family,
Well this week has come and gone. I cannot believe it! It was a
wonderful week as always! Time on the mission is a weird thing; it
comes and goes within a blink of an eye. I better stop blinking or it
will be over before I know it. It’s like my zone leader said, “You
have a year and a half to do your mission, and a life time to think
about it.” So I better make sure that I am doing my best do magnify my
calling as a missionary and be the kind of missionary that the lord
would have me be.


I hope that you all had a good week this week I know that I sure did!
Ok so on Monday we had a wonderful lesson with our investigator named
Wendy and her novio Rey. They were all so excited to have us over
there; they had everyone sit down listen to us. Wendy at the end of
the lesson began to express some of her feelings that she had been
thinking about concerning to baptism. She said that her and her novio
“boyfriend” who she has been living with for 5 years want to get
married, because she knows that in order to be baptized we need to be
married. She expressed that she loved church and that she feels good
at our church. She also told us that she had attended many different
churches in the past but always felt like something was missing. She
felt that when she came to our Church that – that hole that she had
felt was then filled. We called them on Sunday to remind their family
to get ready for church and the little boy named Anderson was like we
are all getting ready to go! Oh this made me so happy to see their
entire family in church sitting together. It was the first time that
Rey had come to church and he said that he loved it!!


We had another good lesson with Denis and the Family Zelaya. They are
progressing very well and continuing to read and pray about the Book
of Mormon. They are soaking everything up like a sponge I love it!
They just love learning!!! We had the opportunity to be accompanied by
Sister Nelson – President Wife. She served her mission in Chile years
ago. She is incredible, a she teaches boldly and with love. I learned
so much from her. We were able to teach this really good lesson with
this sweet Dominican lady named Ester! She is so humble and really
likes what we teach. She says that she has been searching as well and
gone to many different churches but never felt that peace that she is
looking for. She said that she felt good however when she talks to us
and when she reads the Book of Mormon.
We were on our way to an appointment one day and had a couple of extra
minutes and so we decided to go and stop by this sweet lady from El
Salvador named Lila. Her husband had never been there when we teach
but she always listens. Her husband happened to be there and he
invited us right in to teach both him and his wife. We had a really
powerful lesson on the atonement – the beautiful sacrifice of our
Savior and what we can do to show that we appreciate the sacrifice
that he did for us. After the lesson we asked the sweet couple if
there was anything that we could do for them. The husband then went on
telling us that we have done enough. He said that there have been lots
of different people from all sorts of religions that have wanted to
come over and teach him and his wife. However he never felt good about
it. He said that when he met us, he HAD to let us in. There was
something that he felt when he talked to us. He thanked us for the
message that we share. He said that he is interested in the message
and wants to learn more and more about our Church. You should have
seen the look on his face when I gave him a free copy of the Book of
Mormon. He was excited to read it and learn about our Savior Jesus
Christ.


This church is SO true! If we want to know more about our Savior Jesus
Christ we should read the Book of Mormon. Our Savior is everything! It
is amazing the miracles that we can have in our life if we would but
just choose to let the Savior in. He is there knocking on our Hearts,
it is just up to us to let him in. We can be healed with the love of
our savior if we would just choose to use the atonement. We can become
better people, we can develop more love, more charity, more humility
if we would just ask for it. The lord will bless us with opportunity’s
to better ourselves if we just ask. There are so many blessings that
are conditional upon our asking. Prayer is real, I know that no matter
how big or small – the lord listens and answers EVERY one of our
prayers, because HE LOVES us! I am So thankful for this Gospel and for
the Chance that I have every day to better myself to go to the lord in
daily prayer, humble myself and ask for his help. This church is the
Lords Kingdom on this earth. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that
he gave us his only begotten son, so that through him we can be made
clean and be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father and be
with our families again for eternity. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints makes sense and I Love it! I am so thankful that I
have the opportunity to be a missionary here in New York at this time
in my life! It is the BEST!!

I love you all! Take care and don’t you be eating too much Turkey the
next week 

Love
Hermana Gray

"Our understanding of and faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ will
provide strength and capacity needed for a successful life."

Richard G. Scott, "He Lives! All Glory to His Name!" Ensign, May 2010, 77
Topics: Atonement, Faith

This is why I LOVE being a Missionary!!

Date: November 7, 2011

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Querido Familia,

I just hope that you know that I LOooooove being a missionary! There is honestly nothing like it! Honestly I have never been happier! and I have been pretty happy throughout my life haha. really though I am sure that any return missionary would agree that there is nothing that can compare to the feeling we have as missionary's. I love everything about missionary work! I love my studies in the scriptures! I have always loved reading my scriptures, however something about being a missionary and being able to study for your investigators and trying to figure out their needs and being able to study not for yourself but for others. Just something about that is so rewarding.
So we had a really really good zone conference the other day. It is so weird time is flying....seems like it was just yesterday that we had zone conference. Anyways we were really able to talk about the atonement. Just when I think that I have a grasp as to what the atonement is, my eyes are opened and I am able to learn SO much more. Really everything else is just an appendage to the atonement as Joseph Smith says. We were really able to study ALma 7:11-14 and it is amazing how much time that we can spend on just one verse of the scriptures. There is so much more than what is written on the page. I could spend a whole personal study on one scripture. It really is amazing how much that we can learn from the scriptures if we would just take the time to not only read them but to really search the scriptures. If we could study the atonement we not only learn about our savior but we can really learn about the true love that he has for each and every one of us. He sacrificed more than we can even begin to comprehend. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and am MORE than thankful for all that he did for me.
So we have been teaching this incredible family the Zelaya's. They are from El Salvador....just like everyone here haha. We pretty much live in Mini El Salvador! Anyways we have pretty much been going to their house everyday and our angel member Juan has helped out a ton. So its so cute every time that we go over there they all are anxious to hear the message and they are always piled on the couch eager to learn and always have our two seats set up in front of them. It is really neat to see how much of a desire that they have. They are reading in the Book of Mormon and are continuing to want to know more, and this brings me so much joy!
funny note - So ....We do a little bit of teaching English as well as a our lessons with the Zelaja Family and they are just wonderful! ok so we had taught them some frases the other day. So yesterday after church we asked them what their favorite part of the week was and they said " When you sisters taught us How to do Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes in English!" oh man that just made my day.

Ok so we were looking up formers the other day and we came across this lady named Wendy. We have been trying for the past couple of weeks to go and see her but she has always been busy. So finally this past week we were able to see her. We were able to meet with her and her whole entire family! It was amazing and her husband Rey- totally understood proper priesthood authority. It was really neat to see that little light bulb go on and he understood and said " That makes sense". Its right that is one thing that I absolutely LOVE about this gospel is that it just MAKES sense! All of lives questions can be answered through this gospel. Especially through this book that we have that is SO special. Really it is. The Book of Mormon. There are people who died for this book, this record and we have it at the tip of our fingers. Sometimes I have to ask myself am I taking full advantage of the Book of Mormon. Am I reading it as I should, am I applying everything in the scriptures as Nephi teaches (1st Nephi 19:23) I sure hope so.
I think that we can always be doing better in this life. That is something so beautiful about the gospel is that we can constantly be improving. If we are not reading the Book we can start today! Its never too late. Now is the time to prepare! Now is the time to read. Now is the time that we are kinder, have more charity, are more patient more loving. Now is the time that we can start opening out mouth and sharing this GLAD news of the gospel! Now is the time to prepare to meet god! ( ALma 34:32-34) Not tomorrow but now! We were learning about a lot of really neat lessons in Zone Conference and in reference to our Companions as well. There are so many times where we might find ourselves thinking..." if only my companions did this, or if only they did that" but really we ought to be THANKFUL that our companions, wife or husband, or companion on the mission or our best friends. We ought to be thankful that they are not perfect! Because if our companions were perfect, then where in the world would the learning take place. How would we be able to better ourselves? Maybe they are supposed to teach us to love more,or to have more charity or patience. Whatever lesson it is we ought to be thankful that we have the chance to learn that from them :)

Well the miracle UPON miracles happened just yesterday! ANA RIVAS GOT BAPTIZED :) :) This is something that has been in the process for more than a year! There have so many missionary's that have been working with Ana. Me being one of them. I had the opportunity to work with Ana for 3 transfers. She is absolutely INCREDIBLE! I do not think that I met anyone as humble as her in my life. Everything worked out! She is in Jamaica so I was able to go back to see my branch in Jamaica and watch as Ana was able to make that covenant with her Heavenly Father as she entered into the waters of Baptism. I have never seen a baptism SO packed before. There are so many people that love and care about Ana. There were so many missionary's that have been apart of her conversion. It just goes to show that the Lord knows what he is doing. He has his timing and he has everything done in his way. I have never felt the spirit so strong. At that moment I just got this overwhelming feeling of Joy.

THIS IS WHY I AM A MISSIONARY HERE IN NY NY SOUTH at this time!! Oh man I just love it all!

To top off all this joy as I then was able to return and make it in time to see people at church in my ward I walked in and the two little girls of Wendy came running up to me "Hermana Gray Hermana Gray"!! They had such a good time at church and Denis and his cousin Mirium came to church! They told me how much fun that they had in primary! Wendy came up to me and gave me the biggest hug and told me that she felt good here and that she also enjoyed everything!


I am HAPPY, but I am a different happy than I have ever felt. I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves each and every one of us. He has a plan for us and he gives us experiences in our lives so that we can learn from them and grow. There are people in this life that you are supposed to meet and that are put in your lives for a reason. We can learn something from everyone if we just take the time to look for the good in people. Prayer is real and Prayer is powerful. Heavenly Father answers our prayers because he loves us! I know that God lives and that this church is God's Kingdom on the earth!


I love you all! I hope that you had a Happy Halloween! And are getting ready for Turkey Season! :)

Love,
Hermana Gray

"This is the spirit of serving God. This is the spirit of putting Him first in our lives. Though we may not necessarily forfeit our lives in service to our God, we can certainly demonstrate our love for Him by how well we serve Him. He who hears our silent prayers, He who observes our unheralded acts will reward us openly when the need comes." ~ President Monson

A week of Miracles :)

Date: October 31, 2012

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Something about Snow in October just doesn't sound right?... haha but it happened :) Man its cold!

Well this week was nothing short of a week full of miracles. Monday we went bowling as a District...lets just say I may need to warm up my bowling skills :) ha the last time that I went bowling it was with my EFY kidos at BYU. Man I miss you guys! Anywho that was super fun!
Tuesday we had the opportunity to do a service project. we were able to go and pick up peoples leaves off their lawn. It is amazing to me how much fun service can be. Just like you said Dad, " If you are ever feeling bad about yourself, then go and serve someone and I guarantee that you will feel better." Its so true! Service is the coolest thing. and it gets even cooler when you think about what King Benjamin says when he says in Mosiah 2:17
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the bservice of your cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

I think that it is so neat, to think that when we are serving others we are ultimately serving God. Thats why missioarys are so happy! Because they are serving god. There have been SO many people out here that say, "Now if youre from Arizona what in the world are you doing out here? ha Well I love the Lord, that is what it comes down to. I love the lord, and so I want to serve him. It all comes down to Obedience. At times children when they first begin to learn about obedience, they first obey their parents, maybe for fear of punishment. However I think that one of a parents dreams is to someday have their child obey them because they love them. If Love was our motive for everything, I think that this world would be a better place altogether. Love is so important. It needs to be our motive. Love as missionary's is something that is key. Just like Elder Holland says, that if we teach with love, we need not wonder what to say. If our investigators see that we truly do have a love for them and are only interested in their benefit and interested in making THEM happy then they will be able to see that change and want to keep commitments and progress.

So about two weeks ago there was this lady from Puerto Rico came to visit the church, because she had found it in Puerto Rico and became a member. So while she was visiting her friend she decided to bring her friend Ana to Church. Anyways she had wanted to take us to lunch so we met with Ana and Julia at Panera Bread. (which was delicious) Anyways we were able to talk to her and clear up some of her misunderstandings about the church. She said that we were easy to listen to. It was really neat to see how she changed throughout the time we were talking. At first she was really stand offish and wanted NOTHING to do with us as far as missionary work went. However by the end of the lunch we had, Ana ended up inviting us over for Dinner to eat at her house :) Its amazing to see that when the spirit is there, it can testify of truth and soften someones heart.

So about two weeks ago we were knocking doors and we were trying to look up a member of the church who was less active, who is the only member in her family. When her son Will answered. ha the Minute he saw us he said, " Aww you are the church people huh? Don't try to make me go to church. haha we told him that, that was not why we were here. lol but that we had a message about Christ. We told him that we were missionarys and that we were here for a short time period of a year and a half to invite people to come closer to Christ. He was about to let us into the door as he started to open the door and then quickly closed it. Ha lets just say that he was not going to let us in for a second. Well brightside....This week we were in his area again so we decided to go and see if his we could meet with his mom. His mom quickly let us in and was excited to see us.As soon as Will her son saw us he quickly went and hid in the back room. We then began talking with the mom and she explained to us that she had not been to church in a while but would come if someone invited her. As were talking with her Will snuck in haha and so we invited him to sit down. His mom was like yeah you need to talk to him about God :) We were able to teach the first lesson and it was really neat to see how his heart changed and how he was able to soften his heart and listen to the message that we had instead of criticizing :) He was really interested and had a lot of questions.

Alright I know that this is what you all have been waiting for! The Miracle of MIracles! SO.... one day Hermana Lewis and I were walking. And quite frankly we were lost. So..Hermana wanted to take a picture by this Brentwood sign and so we did. Then this little cute guy named Juan from El Salvador walked up to us and asked us if we wanted a picture together. So we said sure! So he gladly took our picture. We both noticed that he had a fortaleza de juventud pamplet "for the strength of youth" pamphlet in his hands. So we immediately asked him if he was a member and he was. I guess he just had not been to church in a long time.

Milagro 2. So we have been struggling to find members that are available to go out and teach with us during the day. So I was praying that we would have a member with us the next day. I knew that someone how the lord would provide, but I was not sure exactly how. So that next morning after going through calling about everyone on our list we were about to give up. Then all of a sudden the thought came to us to ask Juan. So we called Juan and he said Sure I would love to!

Milagro 3. So later that day we were able to teach an AMAZING lesson with Juan and this family that we have been teaching and the spirit was so strong and they were all very attentive and wanting to know more. ok so here comes the good part. After our appointment we were walking with Juan - talking to him trying to get to know him. And he told us that he has not been going to church, but that he was reading out of the Book of Mormon and praying. He knew that he needed to go back to church, he was praying that he would some how find/come in contact with the missionarys again so that they could invite him to go back to church. He then went walking that day and he ran into us lost Hermanas :) He said that he knew that God would answer his prayer and he did.

Pretty Much Juan was our miracle this week! He has helped us so much. He even called us to offer our investigators a ride to church, and then wanted to go teaching with us later that evening. So we called him and told him that we did not have any set up appointments but that we were going to go and look up people to teach. He said no problem. So I knew that we were going to get into a door I just had that faith and said that I was going to do everything that I could. We met with Juan at this one house and we knocked on the door. This sweet guy answered and I asked if we could come in for a minute. We then were able to teach a powerful lesson with this man and his sweet wife. side note - another miracle, we did not have any more book of Mormons because we had given them all out last week. And so at the end of the lesson Juan whipped out a Book of Mormon to give them! A Miracle?? I think so :)

We all have miracles that happen to us everyday. We just have to take the time to look for them. I promise you that if you count your many blessings you can and will find those little milagros ( miracles) in you life! Try it. I dare you :) Its amazing what miracles you can find if you just take the time to look for it.

Moroni proclaimed that Jesus Christ did many mighty miracles, that many mighty miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostles, and that a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever must be a God of miracles today (see Morm. 9:18; Morm. 9:9).

I know that this Church is True. I know that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! I know that we can find out for ourselves that this church is true, if we would just take the time to read and meditate out of the Book of Mormon and pray about it. If you have not tried it, Try it :) You will see so many blessings!

I love you Family!
Have a Happy Halloween!!!

Love,
Hermana Gray

Another week on the Island :)

Date: October 24, 2011

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Dear Family,

Where to begin…the week’s just keep getting faster and faster! I cannot believe that October is pretty much over!! This week was wonderful! I mean how could it not be? The mission is just incredible! We have been doing a lot of less active work which has resulted in finding more people to teach. We visited this lady named Marcia and were talking about the importance of the Book of Mormon, when this man walked in and so we invited him to sit down and talk to us. He was really neat and had a lot of good questions. I love to see how the lord really does prepare people to hear this gospel.

We do what is called 2x2x5 here on the mission. This means that when you go to a house and they are not there then you knock 2 doors to the left 2 doors to the right and then 5 doors right in front of it. Anyways we have seen a lot of good come from that. So we were knocking doors and this sweet Dominican lady answered the door. We told her that we had a message that we would love to share with her about Jesus Christ and families. She invited us right in. We were able to have a really good lesson about the atonement and the sacrifice of our savior and talked about what that meant to each of us individually and what we can do to show our love and appreciation for our savior. She loved our message and invited us to come in and visit another time. Her little boy kept running in and saying stuff like “I know who Jesus is.” Ha he is adorable!

So I do not know if you remember the family that my companion and I found like a week ago. If not it’s ok…ha but anyways they are an incredible family and I have seen how prepared they truly are to receive the restored gospel. So my companion and I found them however they were in the other sisters area so we are not able to teach them. However one of the Hermanas has been really sick and had to stay home so I went on splits with Hermana Nay and we were able to teach this family J this made me super happy! Anyways so we went over there to teach them and they invited us right in. It was so neat to see an entire family sitting on the couch ready to hear the message that we had to share. We read with them out of the 3rd Nephi 11. Before my mission I never really quite understood why missionaries always assigned this chapter for people to read, but now I understand exactly why it is the perfect chapter. The reason is because it talks about when Christ came to the Americas and established his church and when he taught the people the way that we need to be baptized and he gave them the priesthood authority to do so. Right after we read that part the father of the family paused and said

“Well this means that I need to be baptized “– ha you have no idea how happy this made me inside. When someone comes to accept the message of the restored gospel and they come to know for themselves that it is true…there is no other feeling like it! We invited their whole family to be baptized and they said yes when they come to know for themselves that it is true. The spirit was super strong in that lesson. Without the spirit we cannot teach. It makes such a difference when the spirit is there, because the spirit testifies of our savior Jesus Christ and he testifies of truth- allowing the investigators to FEEL. Because if they do not feel for themselves that something is true, then they are never going to know!

We were able to visit Hermana Bonilla. She is this lady who is got to be in her 70’s or 80’s and she is paralyzed waist down and has some sort of Handicap. Anyways I have never seen someone so strong in the church. She has such a strong testimony and even though she can hardly move and when she does move it hurts her she still does everything that she knows she is supposed to. She also has something wrong with her hands where she has a hard time picking anything up. But she still presses on. She could easily have the excuse….” Oh I can’t go to church because I am paralyzed waist down…but she doesn’t! She comes to church EVERY single week because she knows of the importance of it. She likes the way that it makes her feel. Not only that, she reads from the Book of Mormon EVERY SINGLE DAY! This lady has really given me strength. She has a faith very firm in our Savior Jesus Christ and knows that through him ANYTHING is possible!

We had an amazing stake conference yesterday- and they talked about the importance of Gospel in Action, the Scouts program and the Young Women’s Program and Personal Progress. They talked about how important it is for us to accomplish them. There was this priest who bore testimony of the Scout program and how close he has gotten with his dad because of it. I am so grateful for you dad in teaching to your sons the importance of obtaining their Eagle. And helping them achieve their goal and mom for always making sure that they were working on it. Mom I am also thankful for you making sure that us girls all have worked on our personal progress. I am thankful for you example, and I am so happy that Me, Chelsea, Alyssa have all achieved our personal Progress award and now little Courtney has the opportunity to work on it. It is not just a program but something that will help us in our lives. Something that will help us to set goals and achieve them! I love this gospel so much and am thankful for it. The church is so incredibly organized and it amazes me! The only way back to the father is through his son Jesus Christ. He died for us so that we might live!

I am so thankful for the scriptures and the opportunity that I have to really immerse myself in the scriptures and learn from them. We are so blessed to have a living prophet today who leads and guides us. I know that this Church is True!

Thank you all for your examples and support! You truly are the best!

Much Love ,

Hermana Gray

My favorite chapter for the week Alma 58! Talks about the Stripling warriors J you should read it!! I love verse 58!!

Always Faithful Obedience

"At times we may rationalize that the Lord will understand our disobedience because our special circumstances make adherence to His laws difficult, embarrassing, or even painful. However, faithful obedience, regardless of the apparent size of the task, will bring the Lord's guidance, assistance, and peace."

Bruce A. Carlson, "When the Lord Commands," Ensign, May 2010, 39

Topics: Obedience, Faith, Courage

Long Island!! Stand a little Taller :)

Date: October 17, 2011

Area: Long Island

Companion - Sister Lewis

Dear Family,

Well Transfers came....and I got transferred! I thought that the hardest goodbyes would be from my family and friends back home....however saying goodbye to Jamaica Queens and my investigators there was super hard. The members become like your family, they love you so much and will do just about anything for you! I am so thankful for the opportunity that I had to serve there, and for all of the miracles that I saw and that I was able to be apart of bringing people closer to Christ and proclaiming the atonement. The atonement is real and I am SO thankful for the sacrifice of my savior and for the chance that I have to repent on a daily basis so that I can become more and more like my savior Jesus Christ. It was the hardest thing to say goodbye to those three little girls, I have gotten so attached to them. Ha little Stephany said that she was going to get me a lock and lock me to the ground so that I wouldn't leave :)

Well I have been transferred to Long Island and blessed with a wonderful companion Hermana Lewis. She is from Utah and a wonderful missionary! I am excited to be able to learn from her and be able to apply those tools to become a better missionary. Along with being Transferred I failed to mention that we have been asked to OPEN a brand new Area. This means that this is an entirely new area for the sisters. So just like baking a cake we have to start from Scratch! We have zero investigators, therefore we have a LOT of work to do! The work must go on :) so we are doing all that we can to be able to find new investigators! We as missionary's really have to be humble and ask the lord how HE wants things done and as to where and what we need to do in order to accomplish those things. It has been a time more than ever where I have been brought to my knees in prayer asking the lord what "His will" is for this Area in Long Island.

So this week we were driving (no more riding buses or subways for now) and we saw this lady walking so we stopped the car and started talking to her. She was from El Salvador and we asked her if we could come by and visit with her some time this week. She said that we were more than welcome :) So her name was Hildalia and we went over to her house the next day. While we were in there we began talking to her and then she called in her two daughters and her husband to come and listen. You have NO idea how happy it makes me to teach the whole family :) We asked them if it was ok if we could begin the meeting with a prayer. They said of course - we then proceeded to teach them how to pray, after doing so I asked the dad if he would pray. Usually it is a struggle to get investigators to prayer- because they feel uncomfortable, however the whole entire family begin repeating and they all said a prayer. It was the coolest feeling ever, the spirit was so strong. During the lesson the Dad out of no where said, "Do you sisters really believe that you were sent here from God?" I quickly responded boldly " Yes, I KNOW that I have been sent here by our Heavenly Father". Then the wife said, " Well of course they were, why else would they leave their familys?" :) We watched the Restoration and then afterwards the little girl Natalie asked me, "Does God really hear and answer every one of our prayers?" I told her You bet he sure does! She thought that was really neat and was excited to read the Book of Mormon.


Heavenly Father loves us so much that he has given us tools- such as the Book of Mormon, Prayer, Prophets, Familys and so much more. Heavenly Father has his hands stretched out waiting for us to reach up to him. Just like President Monson said, "Its better to look up!" We need to have faith that God will answer our prayers, I know that he does. I have seen so many miracles and acts of faith on the mission. If we have faith that God will answer our prayers he will! Prayer is real and I have no doubt that our Loving Heavenly Father cares about the tiny details of our lives, he wants to be involved we just need to do our part and ask him. There are many of our investigators who feel that their prayers are not being answered, however some of them do not know how a prayer is to be answered. My advice is this- after you say a pray we need to take the time to listen, just like a telephone call if you call someone and just talk and then right when you are doing talking you just hang up....there is really no point. We need to take the time to listen just as our Heavenly Father listens and pay attention to how we feel. Also another way that the lord answers prayers is through the Book of Mormon. Through the Book of Mormon we can recieve our own personal revelation. My challenge for you - if you have a question ask god, then open the Book of Mormon and start reading!

" If you want to talk to God Pray, If you want God to talk to you, read the scriptures"

One of my favorite quotes! Well I have already seen so many miracles here in the week that I have been here in Long Island. The lord really does prepare these people here and leads us as missionarys to them. I feel so blessed to be a missionary doing the lords work.

I love you Family! I hope that you all had fun in Mexico :) I think that it is awesome that you got to go to Church in Spanish! ( Its the best language in my opinion!)

Keep being awesome and Remember who you are :)

Love,
Hermana Gray

“Our Heavenly Father has placed an upward reach in every one of us. The words of scripture speak loud and clear: ‘Look to God and live’ (Alma 37:47). No problem is too small for His attention nor so large that He cannot answer the prayer of faith. Prayer surely is the passport to spiritual power. You can pray with purpose when you realize who you are and what Heavenly Father wants you to become. You will not find it difficult to approach Him with your sincere prayer as you remember the words of the Apostle Paul, ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?’ (1 Cor. 3:16).”
( “Your Celestial Journey,” Ensign, May 1999, 96.)

Miracles DO happen!

Date: October 10, 2011

Area: Jamaica, Queens

Companions - Sister Lambert, Sister Hughes

Dearest Family,

First of all Happy Birthday Mom tomorrow!!! And happy BIrthday Alyssa in like 4 days! I love you both and hope you know how amazing you really are :) I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family, I love each and every one of you! I love love telling people that I am the Oldest of 7! Its funny to see the type of reactions that I get from people. Thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me to love the lord and to always put the lord first, I know that If we put the lord first that everything else will work out how it is supposed to :) ( 3rd nephi 13:32-33) one of my favorite scriptures!

Okay so this week was just wonderful! I went on Exchanges last Monday- Tuesday. So I was able to work in Richmond Hill with Sister Fifield. She is an incredible missionary and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I had to work and learn from her. I just love people! Everyone has something good to give. We can really learn from everyone, it we just take the time to stop and think, think about how you can learn from someone and apply those things into your own life. I really learned about listening from her. Sometimes as missionarys we get in this robot mode.....ha where we just want to get the lesson done and everything covered. However if we just take the time to listen to people we can come to understand and recognize their own needs and then alter and change the lesson according to their needs. Also when we listen we are able to follow and rely on the spirit more. It is incredible to me how much our Father in Heaven really does love each and everyone of us and how he knows exactly what our needs are. He loves us more than we even can begin to comprehend and he wants NOTHING but the best for us, I know that for a fact. I have seen that in my life. I have seen the lord direct me in my life, when I go to him and seek his advice in honest, heartfelt prayer. I can feel of his love.

Ok so at the begining of this transfer we were talking as companions and we decided that we wanted to find a family to teach! So we did what we like to call this "Celestial Finding". So what we did was we drew a picture of a family, and we made it specific, we wanted to find a Mother & Father with 4 children and we wanted on of them to be a girl :) Also we did not just want to find any family, however we wanted to find a family who were bien prepared. Ok so we drew the picture of the family and stuck it on or door. Then we made specific goals in order to be able to find this family. Along with that, everytime that we prayed we made sure to say a second prayer SPECIFIALLY for this family. I have never prayed SO hard and SO much in my life!!! Honestly I was wondering if I was going to see this family while my time in Jamaica. We worked our hardest - we made sure that whenever we saw a mom with a stroller that we talked with them among a lot of other things.

So this last week it happened! We were looking up some potential investigators when we decided to look up this person named "Paul". Ok so when we got ahold of this person to our surprize it was a family! A Family with A Mother A Father and FOUR little kids, and one of them was a girl! You have NO idea how happy this made me! PRAYER IS REAL! I have no doubt about that! It is amazing how the lord works. The lord does answer prayers- maybe not in the time frame or in the way that WE want, however I know that he DOES answer. He loves us SO much so he answers. He is just waiting to bless us, all we have to do is ASK! Mom just like you say " It never hurts to ask" :) Same goes with our Heavenly Father. I am SO excited! oh I forgot to mention...not only did we find a family, but they were VERY prepared. The mom whose name is Monica - well ALL of her family are members EXCEPT her! This family moved from Utah Provo that is haha a year ago and were taking the dicussions from the missionarys and going to church in provo! I can not believe it! THey even invited us over the next day and wanted us to teach them ;) We had the Gonzales family come with us and the made instant friends. They had READ from the night before! They KEPT commitments! AH you have no idea! ha keeping commitments as a missionary means SO much! Ok the story even gets better! They ALL came to church oh and not to mention her sister who is a member was visiting from Utah was there and also able to help with the lesson. Even though I am sad that I am not going to get to teach them, I know that everything happens for a reason, and everything happens on the LORDS timing :)
'
So this last week was what I like to call "La Semana De Milagros". We talked a lot about miracles in our Combined District meeting - and miracles are spiritual manifestations. When the spirit is there! My companions every night take the time to recognize the miracles that happen in our day. I want to challenge you to do this. Whether it be with your family, or with your spouse, or just by yourself. Take the time to recognize the miracles in our life. They do not have to be anything big - it could be that you got home safely, that you were able to talk to someone new, that you got to eat breakfast :) However big or Small take the time to recognize those miracles and tender mercies in your life! Count your many blessings :) Youll be able to realized how much the lord has really blessed you!

Family I love you! I am SO grateful that we have a living prophet today President Thomas S. Monson, May we never forget how blessed we are! Take the time to thank Heavenly Father for what you have for he has given us all :)

Have the best week ever! I can not believe its october! Live up every moment - time goes too quicky! I leave Jamaica tomorrow! I am excited to see what the lord has in store for me next and what people I can help come closer to christ! :) I love the mission!

Love,
Hermana Gray