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.)