Last Week the Transfer!

Date: July 30, 2012

Area: Brooklyn

Companion - Sister Delong

Querida Familia,

I am Happy! Following the gospel of Jesus Christ makes us Happy! Its simple as that. I am so thankful that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is Simple! We need to have Faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, Repent Daily, recieve Baptism, recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost and Endure to the end. I am so so thankful that our loving Father in Heaven has given us stair steps to making it back to live with our Heavenly Father. We all are subject to the Fall, we all sin and when we do so we fall....we distance ourselves from our Heavenly Father. However we have a loving Heavenly Father who has given us a way to change repent and come closer to our father in Heaven. The gospel just makes SENSE! Heavenly Father is so smart! End of story.
Alright so....We were able to go and eat at the Peruvian Family's house with some of the other missionarys. We were able to share with them the message of the restoration. They are so prepared! They went back to their country.

So this Saturday we were able to have a Mini Mission thing. We traveled all the way to bushwick and we met up with the ward there. It was so much fun! We took this girl named Amaly she is 16 years old. We first headed off to the Street Sweep. On the way back to Midwood I fearlessed this man from the Country Holland. He said that he likes how Bold you missionarys are. I told him, because its TRUE! We have to be bold. This is THE ONLY MESSAGE that will bring people happiness not only in this life but in the world to come. It is the VERY thing that makes it so that Families can be together after this life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ = Happiness and Eternal Life! We then were able to go and look up some people. We then had the ward BBQ and there were some people there who were not members whom with we were able to associate. After that we went back to Bushwick to drop the girls off. We took two other of the Future missionarys young women with us because the other sisters had an appointment. I asked the three young women if they now wanted to serve a mission. They all responded, "After today I think that we all say YES!" That made me happy! When we experience missionary work we are Happy! Go and Try it! I invite you :) Go out with the missionarys and tell me if you are not Happier afterwards :)

Church was wonderful! The Bonilla Family has been helping us a lot with the Cuautle Family. When we went to go and pick them up for church on Sunday they were already walking to their house to come and pick them up as well :) We are praying that they are able to come to church next week. After church I had the honor of playing the piano for a Baptism in the English Branch. It was for Lana, she is amazing and just walked into the Church one day and three weeks later she was baptized. She is Russian :) After church we were able to and teach Maria Jose the Recent convert from Ecuador.

Funny note- So we were starving.....and I was secretly wanting Cerviche de Cameron ( aka Shrimp Coctail). Hermana Delong and I were praying for a Dinner Appointment because we were STARVING and we did not have anywhere to eat... so the story goes on. So we went to teach Maria Jose and her Mom who is not a member was there named Brenda. When we got there I went up to Brenda and asked her if she knew how to make Cerviche (knowing that she was from Ecuador) and she said YES! I will prepare it for you now :) haha So we were able to teach Maria Jose and her mom Brenda also listened in. We were able to teach her the Gospel Of Jesus Christ, we talked a lot about Baptism and Brenda her mom was listening intently. Afterwards Brenda Kissed both Hermana Delong and I on the Heads and said," You sisters just illuminate...you have a light you have something! I feel so good when you are here!" We then told her that it was the spirit! We are excited to continue teaching her. She said that we could come over whenever we want. She has really opened up a lot.

I love this gospel! I know that this is the ONE AND ONLY true church with out a doubt. Through this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ we can return to live with our Father in Heaven as Familys. If we do our part, by having faith in Jesus Christ, Repenting Daily, Recieve Baptism, Recieve the Gift of the holy Ghost, Partake Worthily of the Sacrament and Keep the commandments for the rest of our lives! I love this work! This is the Lords Church!

Thank you for all your love and support!

Love mucho!
Hermana Gray



“[Jesus Christ] is the center of all that we do, all that we hope to be,” Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles says. “All of our dreams and future aspirations are centered in our belief in Jesus Christ and our willingness to know what His teachings are and to strive to keep His commandments.”

Where has July gone?! Donde se fue?

Date: July 23, 2012

Area: Brooklyn

Companion - Sister Delong

HOLA Familia!

This week has BEEN INCREDIBLE!!!! It all started out with Miracles! So Tuesday night all of our appointments fell through. So we went to our backup plan which was to go and visit this man and family named Valentine. When we knocked on his door and his little girl answered. She then said that she was going to go and get her dad. Valentine then came to the door and we were able to talk to him for a little bit, he started to make another appointment with us, but then he quickly decided to let us in. We then were able to sit down with him, his wife and 5 children. We were able to talk about faith, the spirit was so strong. This family has truly been prepared by the Lord. Its just like in 1 Nephi 13:24 "For behold, aangels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory." They are so so humble. They do not go to any church right now and and claim any religion. We then set another appointment for Friday. We gave them all restoration pamphlets and told them we were going to come back Friday. It was so cute Rosio, the mom told her kids Nili, Noeli, Aaron and Marlene that they needed to study the pamphlet because las hermanas (us) were going to ask them questions on it. haha So that was the Cuautle Family :)

Friday we were able to go to the Cuautle Family's house. I had called them the day before to see how their reading was going and if they had read. Valentine said that they had read and that all of the kids have also read. You have NO idea how happy that made me!!! Ok so we went to their house with Hermana Bonilla. We were able to teach them the Restoration of the gospel. The spirit was super strong and we were all able to bear simple testimony's. The children totally understood the restoration and the Apostacy along with the authority. We were able to watch the movie the restoration and the kids loved it. Each kid went around and talked about what they liked from the movie. Little Aaron the 10 year old boy said that he loved that Joseph Smith had a specific question and he had faith that the lord would answer. Then he prayed and Heavenly Father was able to tell him that NONE of the churches were true but that the TRUE church the Church of Jesus Christ was going to be restored. They were all glowing after the movie. You could tell that they recognized the truth. Every time that I teach the restoration it strengthens my own testimony of this gospel and that it TRULY is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That our church is the ONLY church that has the authority to BAPTIZE and do other saving ordinances so that we can return to live with our Father in Heaven. I know that through Temples we can be with our family's FOREVER!! I know that this is the Lord's Work, and I am SO glad to be apart of it. So we invited the entire Cuautle Family to be baptized and they accepted with ease. Valentine, Rosio, Noeli (13) Nili (12) Aaron (10) and Marlene (9) all accepted to be baptized August 19th! I wanted to shout for joy, I thought that my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I know that they have truly been prepared! I am SO so excited to continue to work with them.

Saturday we had service! Sunday church. The Cuautle family was going to come to church, however they had to go to the hospital all night, they had an emergency with their 1 month old named Gustavo, however they called us to say that they would not be able to come but they are going to all come the next week. Church was amazing! I love love church, and am so so thankful that we can take the sacrament every week. We were able to go and see the Montoyas. We were able to go and see Maria Jose with the Bishop. ( she is a recent convert that moved from Ecuador) we were able to talk about the Plan of Salvation. I just love love teaching the plan! Really I love everything about the mission! Everything about this gospel! It is TRUE! Read the Book of Mormon, I promise you, you will know that it is the WORD of God! I love the Book of Mormon, it has truly helped me in everything in my life. I love being a Mormon! haha its the best way of living!

Heavenly Father loves us!

Jesus Christ is our Savior!

The TRUE church has been restored!

I love you all!

Love
Hermana Gray

When hard trials come, the faith to endure them well will be there, built as you may now notice but may have not at the time that you acted on the pure love of Christ, serving and forgiving others as the Savior would have done. You built a foundation of faith from loving as the Savior loved and serving for Him. Your faith in Him led to acts of charity that will bring you hope.~ President Erying

Loving life and missionary work ;)

Date: July 17, 2012

Area: Brooklyn

Companions - Sister Delong, Sister Cahill

Querida Familia,

HAPPY 13th birthday Courty Shorty :) You are a teenager! Stop growing up haha I love you!
This was another WONDERFUL busy week! Full of changes and fun! Alrighty...so the last Monday night we were able to go and look up an investigator and while knocking on the door Jeffrey who we were looking for came walking up the stairs and then told us that he had actually been wanting to talk with us. It was really neat to see as we followed the spirit what things he needed to hear.
We had President Interviews this week. I felt like it was a PPI :)

President Calderwood is simply incredible and I am loving learning from him. I know that he truly was called by our Heavenly Father by a Living Day Prophet. It was really neat to be able to talk with him about some of my goals that I have as a missionary and to be able to have him give me advice so that I can become the missionary that my Father in Heaven wants me to be. I know that he has been called here to the New York New York South mission at this time for a reason. I know that we are going to see GREAT and Marvelous things come to pass. He truly is amazing! ~ Dad he reminds me of you.

Wednesday night we were able to go to a Family Home Evening. The familia Bonilla invited 2 non members over to their house and we were able to teach them the Restoration of the Gospel. It was so helpful to have them in a members home and to hear both Hermana And Hermano Bonilla bear witness and simply yet powerful testimony of the Restoration and of the Book of Mormon. It is the IDEAL situation when a member invites a friend over and then invites the missionary's over. They then are able to have a instant friend and support when the missionary leaves. I invite you ALL who are reading this to invite a friend over to your home and then invite the missionary’s to teach or have a Family Home Evening :) I promise you that you will feel the spirit of missionary work and that you will be happier! TRUST ME :) Missionary work makes you happy! Why do you suppose that all of the missionary's are ALWAYS SO HAPPY? :)

On Thursday we were able to go and have exchanges. Hermana Delong stayed with me and Sister Faiva (who is Samoan and Hawaiian). We were looking up a bunch of people knocking doors the whole time. Then when our last appointment fell through we went to go and look up this Lady named Lucia who I had talked to in the streets like 3 weeks ago. So we went to go and look her up and she was there. She let us in and we were able to teach Her and her son named Luis (age 13)and her daughter named Jazmin (age 9). We were able to teach them the restoration. It was a powerful lesson and it was really neat to see how the spirit worked on each of them individually and how their hearts were softened. We asked Jazmin if she wanted to know if its true and she shouted OF COURSE :) Lucia was thrilled when she found out that church was in Spanish and full of hispanics :) I am SO excited to be able to teach them.

Friday we had a member have his farewell party! His name is Jeffrey and he is going to Salt lake :) I am so excited for him and his family. It feels like it was yesterday I had my farewell party. Saturday night there was a wedding! There is a member who was baptized in this ward here 10 years ago from Peru. She is the only member in her family and so she FLEW out here from Peru to get married in the church because her fiance now husband is not a member and she wanted to set a good example for him. It was such a neat experience to be able to see her still strong. She is going to feed us this week :)


We taught Maria Jose again, and it was such a wonderful lesson. We were able to talk a little bit more about the Plan of Salvation. She is so amazing and strong. She just recently moved here and the first thing that she did was she went and found the missionary's. That's us :) Sunday was great except for the fact that they took Hermana Cahill from us. A sister missionary went home so Hermana Cahill went to flushing with my old companion, Hermana Allen. So now it is JUST the two of us!

Yesterday we had MEGA ZONE CONFERENCE! It was amazing! we talked about the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ and implementing it more in our teachings. President Calderwood is SO inspired and I loved the workshops that the Assistants gave, Elder Hall and Cabanilla. They talked about the Book of Mormon and how it really does answer the questions to our souls. Last night we went looking up people and we were tired.....and just about to go home when we decided to knock ONE MORE DOOR. To our surprize an ENTIRE family of 7 let us in. We taught them all. IT was a different lesson than normal, however we were able to implement the gospel of Christ and the questions of the souls . He had a question about infant baptism so we turned straight to Moroni 8 and talked about how infants have no Need to be baptized and that they are alive in Christ. It was really neat and they invited us back.

I know that this gospel is true! I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much that he gave us familys and prophets and this beautiful gospel. He loves us so much he gave us other scripture. Another testament The Book of Mormon, and through it we can come closer to our Heavenly father than ANY other book. This is the true church!





I love you all!!

Hermana Gray

“You may sometimes be tempted to say, ‘Will my influence make any difference? I am just one. Will my service affect the work that dramatically?’ I testify to you that it will. You will never be able to measure your influence for good." —President Thomas S. Monson

Loving the Work! Happiness!

Date: July 9, 2012

Area: Brooklyn

Companions - Sister Delong, Sister Cahill

Querido Familia,

This was another wonderful week :) I can not believe that we are in JULY already....where is the year going? I remember celebrating new years in Brentwood! Well Familia I hope that you all had a wonderful week :) Well I know that you just heard from me so there is not much to report on....Wednesday night we were able to go and eat at the Familia Jimenez ( they are Dominican which makes them ten times cooler) Hermanas son named Jeffrey is getting ready do go on his mission in about a week so we were able to talk to him about the mission and Preach My Gospel. He is so excited! It is so neat to be to be able to see the fruits of missionary work. It all started by a missionary talking to her and then it lead to her and her family being baptized. Now her son is going to go and serve a mission for the lord, for 2 years. I love the quote from President Monson....Someone onced asked "How do you get all of these young people to go on missions? To which he replied..."We just ask them." Serving a mission for my savior has been BY FAR the MOST rewarding thing that I have ever done. Really I feel SO honored and blessed to be able to be serving a mission for this short time. It was really neat to be able to talk to him about his mission. He is SO excited! I remember when I first got my call and I wanted to tell the WHOLE World :) I could not WAIT to get out to teach the humble souls of NY. I am so happy to hear that Megynn Caffall is on a mission. Megynn you are going to have the time of you life I love you! :)

This Saturday we were able to go and meet Maria Jose and her family. Maria Jose just moved here from Ecuador and she is a recent Convert. She is the ONLY member in her family. We were able to go and teach her mom. It was a wonderful lesson and the spirit was so strong. I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that talks about if the spirit is there, that both the learner and the teacher are both edified. The Spirit is EVERYTHING. With the spirit there miracles happen. The spirit is the one who brings the message to their hearts. It was so neat to be able to see the fruits once again of missionary work. Maria Jose loves the gospel of Jesus Christ and you can really see how she truly has been converted. You can see as President Calderwood says, "That the doctrine of Christ has truly sunk deep into their hearts." We are truly converted when the doctrine of Christ sinks deep into our hearts. He also told us to not go home until we are TRULY Converted! I love this, because that is what we ourselves as missionary's need to convert ourselves. Sister Nelson would always say often your greatest convert will be yourself! I feel that I have changed a TON on my mission through our savior Jesus Christ. I know that it is only through our savior Jesus Christ that we can change. I am so thankful that our Savior Jesus Christ died for us and made it possible to make changes in our lives to become more and more like him. I am thankful that he can forgive us through the atonement Jesus Christ. I am FAR from perfect, however I know that I can be made perfect through our savior. He loves us. He wants nothing more than for us to return to live with him again. That is why he has been so merciful to give us this PLAN. The plan of Salvation. It is the PERFECT plan. It just makes sense. I love the plan and am so thankful for it. I can not express my gratitude for my savior. I love him.

Well we are off. But I just want you to all know that I know that I know that My Savior Lives. I know that he loves us . I know that the Book of Mormon is truly the Word of God and that when we read from it everyday we will be safe. The Book of Mormon has helped Me SO much in my life and I know that we can turn to our Father in Heaven for guidance and that he can answer us. I know that he hears and answers our prayers. Prayer is real. He is waiting, to hear from us. I love this gospel more than anything! This is the lords work.

I love you!!

Keep being amazing! Always remember how special you are in the sight of the lord :) Never ever forget that!

Love
Hermana Gray

“Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments,” he encourages. “There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us. My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.” ~ President Monson

Happy Independence Day!

Date: July 4, 2012

Area: Brooklyn

Companions - Sister Delong, Sister Cahill

Dearest Familia,

I hope that you all had a WONDERFUL 4th of July! Ours has been wonderful :) We started out by going to Nathans Famous Hot Dog eating Contest :) It was HUGE, and there were a MILLION people there. The winner ate like 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. I hope that you all enjoyed the traditional ward party. It is crazy to me how time flys, especially on the mission. I remember last year on the forth of July I was in Jamaica with Hermana Alvarado and we watched the fireworks from the roof :) Alrighty Lets get down to business.


It has been so much fun getting to know all of the members here in Midwood, they are incredible! We had a dinner appointment at the Montoyas. Dad I thought you would be proud :) I ate a Completo ( Chilean hot dog). So we were able to meet with the Quispe Family and we read with them the story of King Lamoni and his conversion story. We talked about desires and what we were willing to give up to meet or achieve that which we ultimately desire. We also were able to talk about the importance of the sacrament. I am eternally grateful that we have the opportunity and blessing to attend church every Sunday. I am thankful that I am able to start over the week new and feel clean again. I just love teaching and testifying more than anything. I love teaching and bearing testimony because I find that my testimony grows and my ability to teach also increases. I remember as a little girl learning that your testimony grows every time that you bear it and so I naturally would try to bear my testimony as much as I could. I am MORE than grateful to be on a mission and for the opportunity that I have to bear my testimony with every person that I talk to. I love love talking to people on the train and bearing simple testimony that God is Real and that he loves us. He hears and answers our prayers and that he he just WAITING to bless us.


SATURDAY!!! We were able to meet our New Mission President. President Calderwood. He is from Virginia! We met with the ENTIRE mission on Saturday and we were able to meet President Calderwoods ENTIRE family! They are the sweetest family. It was really fun to get to know him and his wife. President Calderwood is INCREDIBLE! I am MORE than excited to learn from him. Dad he reminds me a lot of you. One thing that he said that I loved was the fact that our love grows....it multiples. It is like a Parent when they have their second child, their love does not split in half, however their love grows. I have seen that time and time again ( well I am not a parent) However, with every new investigator that I teach I am able to instantly love. Something that I have really learned on a mission is how to love. How to love someone completely different from you. To love someone with a different back ground and different styles of doing things. Another example is all of my companions. I truly love each and every missionary that I have had to serve with. I have found that my love or my capacity to love has grown! I love people!!!


Well this week has been nothing but fun :) We were able to meet with Oscar again, we had to reset his baptism date but he is still good. He is so excited! There are people all around us who are waiting to hear the gospel and to accept it. We also were finally able to meet with Eli. She is a sweet humble lady who really likes reading from the Book of Mormon. I have seen the power of the Book of Mormon manifest in the lives of the people I teach and also in my own life. I recently just finished the Book of Mormon again and am going to start it over again :) I have truly seen my faith grow as I have read and truly studied From the Book of Mormon I have also grown closer to my savior Jesus Christ. I invite any of you reading this to read from the Book of Mormon, even if it is just one verse. I promise you that you will grow closer to your Savior and that your faith in Jesus Christ will grow.


I love my MISSION! I love my investigators, the members, EVERYTHING :) I am Happy! :) I hope that you are too!


Love you muchisismo!


Hermana Gray


When hard trials come, the faith to endure them well will be there, built as you may now notice but may have not at the time that you acted on the pure love of Christ, serving and forgiving others as the Savior would have done. You built a foundation of faith from loving as the Savior loved and serving for Him. Your faith in Him led to acts of charity that will bring you hope. ~ President Henry B. Erying