Welp folks...I am going to BROOKLYN :)

Date: June 18, 2012
Area: Flushing Queens - Transferring to Brooklyn
Companion - Sister Allen


Dear Family,

I hope that you all enjoyed fathers day and Dad I hope that the family made it special for you! I love you dad with all my heart and am ETERNALLY grateful for all of the eternal truths that you have taught me and the love that you have for the work of the lord and sharing your testimony. You have truly been an incredible example to me and all of us children. So THANK you :) I love you muchisisisismo!!!

This past week has been amazing as always. Many different miracles have happened and prayers answered....not in the way that we expected but they were answered. I love love this gospel so so much and am so thankful for the principles that it teaches us to live by. Ok so we were able to teach Manuel Lopez about about faith and watched the movie, Finding faith in christ. I thought before the mission that I really understood faith. Believing in something that you can not see. However on my mission I have come to realize that, that is JUST the beggining of faith. Faith is SO much more than that. To simply HAVE faith is NOT enough, however we should ultimately have faith in Jesus Christ. He is the one that makes everything possible. ANYTHING and EVERYTHING is possible through the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the one that helps us get through our days. HE is the one who loves unconditionally. It is Us the ones who sometimes fall away, however his arms are ALWAYS stretched out still. He is just waiting to convert us in time of need. He is waiting for us to REPENT and make those changes neccesary so that we can becoem closer to our father in Heaven and one day make it back to live with him in his prescense. I am so grateful and words can not fully express how I feel about my savior Jesus Christ. However this is a HUGE reason why I am out here on my mission. I LOVE MY SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

Fun note- So on Tuesday night I recieved an unexpected phone call from President Nelson. I was asked if I would train another new missionary. Sure thing :) I am excited and extremely humbled to be able to train another missionary. I have learned SO much from Hermana Allen and I know that I am going to be able to learn SO much from the other sister missionary. She is from Las Vegas I cant wait to meet her tomorrow! All of these experiences are helping shape me into the missionary that the lord wants me to be.

Ok so Thursday we were able to go to the temple with Alexandra Ayala and Manuel Lopez both recent converts. We were able to go with the flushing branch. I never thought that you could grow to love someone so much in such a short amount of time, however I have truly come to LOVE all of the members in the flushing branch. They are SO incredibly humble and just want to serve the lord. It was really neat to be able to go to to the temple and to do baptisms for the dead for the first time with Manuel and Alexandra. It is so neat to be able to see recent converts participating in the great work of the lord.

We had a fathers day BBQ on Friday night which was a HUGE success. There were quite a few people there who were not members whom the ward members invited. Hermana Allen and I sat at a table with these people. There was this one lady named Jackie who kept asking about our beliefs and said that she was going to come to church next Sunday. She was able to see the standards of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She started talking about baptism and we explained to her that we believe in the age of accountability in having one when at the appropiate age ( age 8 and older) be able to choose whether or not they wanted to be baptized. She really liked that, and told us that is the reason that she never baptized her children as a baby. She was excited when we began talking about baptism and is really excited to learn more.

It was strange saying goodbye to everyone yesterday. Like I have said earlier I have truly grown to LOVE all of the people here in Flushing. It is weird on the mission its almost harder for me to say goodbye to the people that I teach then it was to say goodbye to my family back home. You just get so attached to all of these people and you also desire more than ANYTHING their salvation and you just want to truly helpe them through the atonement and the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ.

I know that My redeemer lives. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ performed the atonement so that ALL of us if we obey can make it back to live in the prescense of our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ with our FAMILYS. I know that baptism if the GATE way by which we enter to make it to Eternal Life. I know that Joseph Smith was called as a the prophet of the restoration. I know that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know that this is his WORK!

I lOVE being a missionary!

I love my family!

I love this gospel!

Love,
Hermana GRAY

HAppy birthday Jocelyn, Amanda Walker and Lindsay Olsen! I love you!

 

 

Be Happy!! and live the commandments! Mosiah 2:41

Date: June 11, 2012

Area: Flushing, Queens

Companion - Sister Allen

Querida Familia,

This week has been wonderful! Time passes WAY fast! I know that you are probably sick of me saying that....but it does...I can not believe that a YEAR ago I landed here in the blessed land of NY! It has been by FAR the BEST year of my life :) And I have had some pretty good years. haha Anyone who is thinking about going on a mission.....do not THINK anymore! Just GO AND DO! (1 Nephi 3:7) You won't regret it!

Ok so Monday as you can see we went to the METS game :) It was pretty fun! It was really neat to be able to see old companions and hang out with other missionarys that I have served with. The mission is simply THE BEST! Monday night we were able to meet with Tito and Maria. We were able to teach tito the first half of the plan of Salvation. I am and will be forever grateful for my savior and the atonement. I am thankful that time and time again he forgives me. I know that I am not perfect....in fact FAR from it. However I know that through my savior Jesus Christ I can become the person and the daughter that he wants me to be. If it was not for the sacrifice the infinite atonement the plan would not work. However I am thankful that our Heavenly Father loved us enough to send his only begotten son, to die for us and pay the price of sin, so that we might have a way to make it back to him. I am and have been learning SO much from my mission, and I have a LOT still TO learn. I am just thankful for the opportunity that he gives me to be here for this time to serve him.

We also had the opportunity to teach Tito the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that we have as God's children to Obey the commandments that he gives us. I know that every commandment is given to us for OUR benefit. They are designed to make us happy! I know that we have a modern day prophet who leads and guides this church. I know that we have the scriptures to help us, The Bible and the Book of Mormon are the word of God. How blessed are we to have them. I am thankful that I have been taught by incredible loving parents to read and study from the Book of Mormon Daily. I feel so blessed.

We have been doing a lot of "finding" this past week and have had the privilege of finding some really cool people. The other day we went to go and look up some people. They were not home so we went to our next plan. When we were walking we saw this lady sitting on her porch so we asked her if she had a couple of minutes. We ended up teaching her the Restoration. She loved it. We invited her to be baptized and then she told us that she had been baptized as a baby catholic. We then showed her the scripture in Moroni 8

11 And their little achildren need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the bremission of sins.
12 But little achildren are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a brespecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

We explained to her that we are to be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority from God, and at the age of accountability which the lord has told us is at age 8 and above. She then told us that, that made sense and that she would pray about it. She was MORE than excited to read the Book of Mormon. She asked us if she had to pay and when we told her that it was free her eyes LIT up! We were able to help her little son age 8 gave the closing prayer. I absolutely love it when children pray, especially for the first time. It is so humbling and I love the fact that we have the opportunity to pray to our Father in Heaven and ask him for help or answers to questions. Heavenly Father loves us and is just Waiting to help us, however a LOT of the blessings that Heavenly Father has prepared for us are conditional upon our asking. I love this gospel!

Sunday was another wonderful day! We were able to go to the Carpintero's house for dinner. They are amaizing! THey are the BEST! (not to mention they are mexican so they cook the BEST food) :) The rest of the night we were looking up people. We came across this lady and began to talk to her. She immediately told us that her father is a member and would ALWAYS take her to church. She said." I love the Mormon thing"! haha I am so excited to be able to teach her this next week. She had the CUTEST kids little kids.

I love this gospel for it is the thing that TRULY brings us JOY! If we want to be Happy OBEY the commandments :) Its as simple as that. Its like this we need CPR - Church, Prayer and Reading! We need to do what the lord asks of us and we will ALWAYS be happy :) I love MY mission! and am ETERNALLY grateful that I have the opportunity to be here in NY serving my savior for a year and a half. I would NOT rather be doing ANYTHING else! This is HIS work and it wont stop until he says its done!

I love you all! thank you for your love and support!

Les Quiero Mucho!

Hermana Gray



"The attributes by which we shall be judged one day are all spiritual. These include love, virtue, integrity, compassion, and service to others. Your spirit, coupled with and housed in your body, is able to develop and manifest these attributes in ways that are vital to your eternal progression. Spiritual progress is attained through the steps of faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, including the endowment and sealing ordinances of the holy temple."

—Elder Russell M. Nelson,

June?!!? Where is the time going?

Date: June 4, 2012
Area: Flushing, Queens
Companion - Sister Allen


Querida Familia,

Another week has come and gone. I feel like I JUST got here and now in three days it will have been an ENTIRE year since I first set foot here in the blessed land of New York! It is wonderful! I love it here! I am and will forever be Eternally Grateful for the choice I made to serve a mission, to serve my savior Jesus Christ for a year and a half. The time is short, I wish I had more time. This last week has been absolutely marvelous! Lets see.....

Wednesday- We were able to teach English Class. We had two students this time. They started asking questions about Where we came from? Where are we going? and what our purpose was on this earth. Hermana Allen and I had the privilage of teaching the Plan of Salvation. I absolutely LOVE teaching the plan of Salvation. It has got to be my favorite, the reason being because it really does answer ALL of those questions. It also lets us know why we are here, and what we need to do in order to make it back to live with our Heavenly Father. One of my Favorite Scriptures answers this question. In the Book of Mormon ALma 34:32 "For behold, this alife is the time for men to bprepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of cthis life is the day for men to perform their dlabors.". How blessed we are to know why we are here. I know that Heavenly Father has a purpose for each and every one of his children. I know that he loves us and that he wants NOTHING more than for us to return to live with him. I am so thankful for the gospel- the teachings of our savior Jesus Christ in my life and the knowledge that I have to know that he died for me. This knowledge makes me want to be better! To be the type of person that my Heavenly Father would have me be. I am thankful for my savior and am so thankful for the love that he shows me and that I am able to repent every day. I am also humbled to be here on the mission and to be able to put into practice the things that I learn, and am thankful for the lord and his forgiveness.

We were walking going to look up people, when we began talking to this girl. It was really neat to see how she recognized that we were servants of the Lord and she congratulated us on our hard work. We were able to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she was MORE than grateful :)

SUPER FUNNY NOTE- Ok so the other day the Elders gave us a refferall. There was this guy that came up to the Elders and asked if they were the Mormons. He said that he had studied with everyone else except for us, and he said that we were next. So we went to go and look up this referral. We knocked and he peeked his head out and asked us if we were the Jehovah Witnesses, to which we replied no. Then he quickly asked if we were the mormons and we said YES! He smiled and said COME on in. (Now you have to understand this man looked like CAPTAIN HOOK! He even talked like him and had looooooong curly hair) Ok so we went inside and quickly found out that he spoke more english. So we asked him if we could come back in like 40 minutes.... He said, " are you going to prepare?" haha something like that :) So we called the English ELders and then came back with them. When we knocked on the door the second time and he answered saying "HI YAAA" and stood there in a NINJA pose :) So we left him in the hands of the blessed elders and we went on our merry way :) They said that they had a VERY interesting lesson with him :)

We were able to teach both Alexandra and Juliana the importance of prayer and DAILY scripture study. I have SUCH a testimony of the power of prayer. It is REAL it works! If you aren't praying I invite you to pray. There is nothing more satisfying that getting down on your knees and offering a sincere heartfelt prayer to your father above. My testimony of prayer grows more and more every day in the mission. As I am able to see the hand of the lord in my life. I know that Heavenly Father Loves each and every one of his children and that he wants us to succeed. That is why he has so lovingly given us the Book of Mormon. How blessed are we? There are people that died for the Bookf of Mormon, and I think to myself sometimes am I taking FULL advantage of the Book of Mormon? Am I reading and searching through its pages to see what I can learn from it? He has given us the FULL ness of the gospel. I know that the fullness of the gospel has been restored through a Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that we have a LIVING modern day prophet today! Do we listen and heed to his counsel? He has given us Temples! The closest place on earth to Heaven! Are we attending the temple as often as we should? There are so many things that I need to do better, and I am SO thankful for the atonement and the opportunity that we have to go to church EVERY Sunday to partake of the sacrament and to renew our covenants which we have made.

This is HIS WORK!
This is the TRUE Church!
I love being a missionary! There is nothing greater :)

I love you all
Muchisimo amor,
Hermana Gray

(p.s. Ill get pictures next week! We are heading to the METS GAME :)

As you seek to live the gospel and doctrine of Christ, the Holy Ghost will guide you and your family. ~ Elder M. Russel Ballard.


Miracle- I found out that this girl that I talked to the other day when I was on exchanges- I talked to her and got her information and then I set up an appointment for the other sisters to teach her because I was on exchanges and not serving in that area.....anyways I recieved a text the other day saying that the girl that I talked to is getting baptized the JUNE 17th!! You never know what seeds you plant :) Talk to everyone! THe lord is preparing the hearts of many :)