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