Conference


Date: October 3, 2011
Area: Jamaica, Queens
Companions - Sister Lambert, Sister Hughes

Dear Family!

Another week in the mission that has absolutely just floooown! Honestly I do not know where the time has flown. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was here in the library, and now here I am again! Wasn't conference just amazing?! I am so jealous that you were able to go to Utah in Salt Lake and watch it live. We are so incredibly blessed to have living prophets on this earth today. Men whom are really inspired of God to tell us the things that he wishes that we would know. I love President Monson isn't he just the best.

    
I was thinking the other day back to my days in seminary which I loved! Kyle, Garrett, Alex and Alyssa you are SO lucky to be in Seminary. I miss seminary. Take advantage of it, because those 4 years in Highschool sure go quick! Also memorizing those scripture mastery scriptures helps more than ever on a mission. Ask any missionary. I loved Elder Scotts talk about the scriptures and really how important the scriptures are. I have read the Book of Mormon numerous times before the mission, but it is really neat to see how the Book of Mormon truly comes Alive on the mission. The storys are so real and I love how they can all be applied to missionary Work. Seriously EVERY word of the Book of Mormon is SO inspired and can be used in everyday situations. I love how bold and powerful the words of the scriptures are. I love how powerful and incredible of a missionary that Alma was. I hope that I can be a missionary like Alma. The scriptures are true, and if we find the time to truly immerse ourselves in the scriptures we will be blessed in more ways than we can imagine. There are so many people that say that they do not have time for the scriptures, however they find time to do other things. No need to mention them - we all know what are our own little

" Time waisters". If we would spend more time in the scriptures our knowledge of this gospel would increase immensely. And we would be more confident in sharing this gospel with others. My invitation to you is to find in your life what that "time waister" is and instead of doing that thing, immerse yourself in the scriptures. Have a little study journal and think of how it can apply to your life. Really the words are powerful and we can find so much comfort in them that we can not fin anywhere else.

    
This week has been a week of learning. I have learned more than ever that we HAVE to rely on the spirit and the lord 120%! With out the Lord we are nothing! But with him we are everything! Relying on the spirit is Vital - for we can not do ANYTHING without the guidance of the spirit. I love what was said in conference about prayer. There are so many blessings that the lord is just WAITING to give us. However there are SO many blessings that are conditional only to our asking. If we ask we shall recieve! Its as simple as that. Prayer is real. I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of EACH AND EVERY one of us. No matter how small we may feel at times or how unimportant we are never that way to our Heavenly Father. He loves us! He loves you! He knows you and wants NOTHING but the BEST for each and every one of his children. We are each literal sons and daughters of a Loving Heavenly Father.

    
I am so thankful for my mission. I love my mission! My mission means the WORLD to me! I want everyone to have and experience the same joy that I have! If you have not read the Book of Mormon I humbly invite you to do so! Pray about it, put it to the test like our apostles and prophets have said. This church is true! This is real, I love being a member of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"! There is NO better way to live!

I love you family!

Have fun in Mexico! ( think of me when you are eating mexican candy and tanning on the beach! ) haha I love you! Say hi to my fellow Mexicans :)

Love you

Hermana Gray

P.s. always remember " Its better to look up" ~ President Monson

                                 General Conference is Coming



Date: September 26, 2011

Area: Jamiaca, Queens

Companions - Sister Lambert, Sister Hughes

Dear Family,

How are you? My week has been absolutely wonderful! Have I ever told you how much I LOVE the mission!?! Well I do :) Seriously it is like the coolest thing ever!! I can not think of a neater thing than being able to share this sweet message of the restored gospel and the atonement - the sacrifice of our Savior to the people here of New York. Honestly this is a privilage and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for this opportunity that I have to be here blessing the lives of the people here in New York!

I have been truly humbled this week as my companions and I have focused more on the atonement. The atonement is so real and I feel so blessed to be able to teach the people here of New York about the sacred sacrifice that our savior made for us. We have been trying to build our investigators faith in our savior Jesus Christ. One of our investigators does not truly believe that Jesus Christ died for him. And this just breaks my heart. As a missionary I hope that I can do my best to explain and to let people know that Jesus Christ did in reality die for each and every one of us. He suffered more than we can even begin to comprehend. But that is the beauty of the atonement.

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. 12 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.
 13 Now the Spirit ^aknoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the ^bflesh that he might ^ctake upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

Through the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ we can become more like him. We are all imperfect, and it has been made aparent to me on the mission that I have a LOT to work on. There are so many areas in which I need to improve- however I am SO thankful for this opportunity to truly humble myself and let the lord mold and shape me into the person that HE wants ME to become. I also have been studying Charity - the pure love of Christ. I am so thankful for the opportunity that we have to learn things and have these experiences in our lives and I am so thankful for those hard times - because in those hard times is when we become more humble and allow the lord to work through us to help others and also to better ourselves. Without Charity we are nothing- as it says in the scriptures. However I am so thankful for the PERFECT example of Charity - our Savior. I have fallen more and more in love with the scriptures and the chance that we have to learn from them to ultimately become who the Lord would have us become. I love the scripture that everyone reads when talking about Charity- Moroni 7:45-48

 45 And ^acharity suffereth long, and is ^bkind, and ^cenvieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily ^dprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
 47 But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

 I love that if we want to have more charity all we have to do is ask for it. And when we ask for more charity the lord does not just automatically give us charity, but what he does is put instances and opportunitys by which we can use charity and inturn develop charity. I have seen such a big difference as I have prayed for Charity and the lord has truly blessed me with opportunitys and I have seen an increase. We can do that with any christ like attribute and I love that. If we want to be more kind, more meek, more submissive, more humble- all that we have to do is ASK! If we ask the lord  with a sincere heart he will grant that unto us.

    Did you just LOVE the relief Society Broadcast??!! It was like BETTER than Christmas! Ha I was SO excited?!?! My companions were like Hermana Gray Calm down :) I can NOT WAIT for conference! We are so blessed to listen to the words of our dear prophet and his apostles and other leaders. To be able to listen to what the lord would have us hear. I invite you to invite everyone to watch General Conference. Go to Lds.org and watch it! You will love it! Invite a friend, it can bless their life.

I am so thankful for the atonement - our saviour and all that he did for us. For without the saviour none of us can make it back to live with our Father in Heaven. Christ is the way and the ONLY way. I am so thankful for this gospel and the chance that I have to share it in SPANISH with the people of NY!

I hope that you all enjoy confernce! 5 days in counting :)

Hope you all enjoy it at the conference center! I am jealous :)

Always remember that you are loved and that you are a Child of God!

Love,.

Hermana Gray

“The commandment given by the Savior was to love others and yourself. Am I secure enough in my love of myself to laugh at myself, to admit mistakes, to graciously accept a compliment? Am I secure in my love of others to smile and say hello to a perfect stranger?”

James E. Faust, “The Value of Self-Esteem,” CES fireside for young adults, May 6, 2007

Topics: Love, Charity

LOVE NY

Date: September 19, 2011
Area: Jamiaca, New York

Companions - Sister Lambert, Sister Hughes

Dear Family,

Ok so not much time and so much to write. Where to begin. Well on Preparation day my companions and I went to Flushing. Which is like an entirely different world. ha Chinese people EVERYWHERE! We went to eat some Sushi which was absolutely delicious. Althought poor little Hermana Hughes I know would beg to differ :) Anyways then we were able to go into Manhattan on Wednesday because one of my companions had to go to a doctors appoinment. Well lets just say it was wonderful! I love love Manhattan. I even finally saw a Taxi with a Mormon.org sign on it. It was wonderful!  It amazes me how literally people come to New York from ALL around the world!!!

As you can see from some of the pictures we were able to do an amazing service project on Thursday. We were able to go as an entire mission to New Jersey. As you know about 2 weeks ago we had a hurrican come through here. As New York did not get too damaged, although New Jersey got destroyed! So we met up with the missionarys in New Jersey - recieved our Mormon Helping hands t-shirts and got to work. ( I have secretely ALWAYS wanted one of those tshirts haha ) anyways we were able to help out and split up into groups. So we were paired up with some of the New Jersey missionarys and were assigned a house. We were to help this man Carlos. He lives in the basement of his mothers house and during the hurricane his ENTIRE house had been flooded with water up to the top. It was heart breaking, he lost EVERYTHING! We worked for over 12 hours getting EVERYTHING out of his house and putting it out on the lawn and also we broke his walls down with hamers and tore furniture out. It was such a humbling experience, and just was another reminder how much material things do not matter, but that the gospel does and that if we hold strong to the gospel we can ultimately be happy- even when things like natural dissaster happen. He began asking questions about our church and what we did as missionarys. Carlos was such a humble man and more than thankful for our help. It was a wonderful experience and really taught be about humility as Carlos was the perfect example of humility.

We have met some really solid people this week. We have found this building that we like to call the "Miracle Building". The reason being because almost every single apartment that we know had let us inside. We were able to teach a lot of first lessons- it was been a wonderful week!

We were able to get the little girls to Church this week :) We were able to take the bus to church. The little girls LOVED it! They are ages 12, 10 and 8. I love those girls SO much! They said that they wanted to be missionarys and even took our name tags. When people would ask Esfany what her name was she would quickly respond - " Hermana Gray"!

Well be strong! This gospel is true! Not much time left but know that I love you! and if we always hold tight to the iron rod we will be blessed! This church is true!

Love Hermana Gray

Lovely Jamaica :)

Date: September 12, 2011

Area: Jamiaca, Queens
Companions - Sister Lambert, Sister Hughes

Dear Family,

I hope that you had a wonderful week :) I know that I sure did. The mission is seriously amazing! Honestly there is NOTHING like it! There is NO greater joy than that of bringing others unto christ, really there isnt. I have love love LOVED personal study time on the scriptures. I have learned more than I ever thought I could. Especially out of the Book of Mormon it is incredible!! I love being able to study for more than just to study, as we know that on a mission you are always doing things for others. You plan for your investigators, you pray for your investigators, you study for your investigators. We are always in the service of others, and I love it! Dad I always remember you telling us kids that when we feel bad for ourselves to go and serve someone else and that it would make us happier! Well that is 100% true! Whenever I get down about an investigator or whatever I just do as President Hinckleys father said , " Forget yourself and go to work" It is really when we loose ourselves in the work when we find ourselves and I have seen that so many times on the mission! It is so neat that we have the opportunity to sit and talk with and teach people everyday.

I love being able to contact people especially on the bus. I am in like EVERY country all at the same time. One person gets on the train and I talk to them and they are from the Trinidad, then another France, and then another Russia,Spain, Italy, Mexico, Iran, Iraq...and the list goes on and on. I feel so privilaged to be able to bring this gospel to the whole world really :)

Ok so during this week we had the opportunity to go and visit Hermana Munoz - She is an 84 year old who is not doing too well health wise. So we go and visit her a lot. She has a home care attendant that is always there so we were able to teach her the first lesson and teach her about Joseph Smiths experience. When we told her that Joseph Smiths prayer was answered - which was him wanting to know out of ALL of the churches which church was true. She began frantically searching the bible and the Book of Mormon for the answer. Ha then we were able to tell her that his answer was that NONE of the churches were true, and that he needed to restore the same church back onto the earth that was here while Jesus was on the earth. She loved it! And she said " I am going to read the Book of Mormon, even before we asked her! She is excited to meet with the missionarys in Brooklyn.

We were able to teach this family of 6 kids the Gutierez family. They are the funniest kids and have the attention span of.....well ZERO! haha so you can imagine how this lesson went... it was so funny and all of the kids had soooo many questions. We were in the middle of the lesson when all of a sudden the little boy Bryan got up and got the door and said that
there were two Elders here....we were super confused--haha and the Elders from Little neck showed up.. Turns out that we had our areas confused and it was actually their area. It actually worked out perfectly because we had to run to another lesson and so they were able to finish it :) I love that family!

We had a really good lesson with Armando about the Word of Wisdom, we took away his cigarettes and coffee. He is doing good and continuing to come to church on Sunday so that is a wonderful sign.

On Saturday they had a little Carnival/booth fair thing for September 11th memorial in Richmond Hill. So we were able to set up a booth with Book of Mormons and the "I am a Mormon" Sign and able to give away cards. Dad I found a Family from CHILE!! They were SO nice and they said that they actually had a Book of Mormon and that they once had missionarys over at their house. So I got their information and am going to give it to the Elders in Richmond hill!

We also were able to have a lesson with Ana Rivas about Sacrifice, we read from our heritage and talked about all of the sacrifices that they had to make. The spirit was SO strong in that room and I know that everyone felt it.

Sunday was lovely! Church was wonderful! We had a high council man come and talk and we had two baptisms. They were both from the primary...One of them was this little boy named Alex who Hermana Alvarado and I had taught all of the lessons to. It was such a spiritual experience. I love seeing little children entering into the waters of baptism. I love being able to feel how much their father in Heaven really does love and care for each and every one of his Children.

Okay well I do not have much time. but I want each of you to know how much I LOVE YOU!

This is his work and his glory! This church is God's Kingdom on the Earth, I feel so blessed that the lords trust me to teach the people of NY!

Keep being amazing!!

I love you
Hermana Gray

“Faith precedes the miracle. It has ever been so and shall ever be. It was not raining when Noah was commanded to build an ark. There was no visible ram in the thicket when Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. Two heavenly personages were not yet seen when Joseph knelt and prayed. First came the test of faith–and then the miracle. Remember that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other. Cast out doubt. Cultivate faith.”
( “The Call to Serve,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 48–49.)

Tranfer Three

Date: September 06, 2011
Area: Jamaica, New York
Companions - Sister Lambert, Sister Hughes


Dear Family!

Man oh man! Time needs to sloooow down! Time on the mission is a funny thing! It just goes WAY to fast! I still can not believe that I am on Translado Three!! Ok so we had transfers and I recieved two new wonderful Companions! Hermana Lambert and Hermana Hughes! They are both from Utah and I LOVE THEM! I was a little nervous having to take over the Area - Jamaica! But I know how to do one thing! And that is to Work Hard :) And they are ready to work too!


Ok so first adventure of the transfer :) We were getting on the Subway and Hermana Lambert proceeded to "fearless" ( that means just talking to anyone and everyone we see and give them a pass a long card or such) anyways so she began talking to this lady and she was from Bangladesh and she was a Muslim. Before we knew it this lady insisted that we came to her house for lunch! Hahaa So what do we do?? GO over there of Course :) hehe So we follow this lady and we are in Rego Park and she leads us into her humble abode. She then told us to sit down while she brought us some food! Boy was I scared....as to what food she was going to feed us :) Well I felt like a little kid in Elementary School on the Cartoons where they just SPLASH some goo on your plate! Yup thats what It was! Some mushy noodles stuff with some sort of Raisin thing inside....haha and then she gave us some hot dog buns that were put in the toaster! haha oh man My companions and I just laughed as we tried to swallow down thing mush thing.... Too good! Dad you should be proud! I ate the ENTIRE plate :) haha Prayer works thats all I have to say! We then were able to share with her about the Book of Mormon. I am not sure she quite understood the fact that we were missionarys nor understood our message, however we read from the Book of Mormon and she was MORE Than happy to listen and have us over :) oooo let the fun begin!


This week was Just INCREDIBLE if I do not say so myself! Full of teaching and finding! We had more members present this week than any other week on my mission which was wonderful! Member work is the KEY!!!! I absolutely LOVE my ward! They feel like my family :) They seriously just take SO good of care of the missionarys!


We were able to teach Armando again this week and he wanted to know how he could feel the same joy that we felt! Well Baptism! He is so excited and is continuing to read every day! He came to church on Sunday all by himself!


So you remember those three little girls and their dad whom we were teaching!?! Well we were able to teach them twice this past week and invited them to be baptized and they accepted! We had a family home evening this week with the girls. and one of the girls name is Ruth Mary and she is 12! I have never met a 12 year old with SUCH A high level of comprehension of the Scriptures! This girl has got it down! She is always like "PLEASE PLEASE let me explain!" This girl is amazing! She always makes sure to help her sisters when it comes time to saying th prayer. I love the fact that we are all able to kneel down as a family with them and pray. There is just such power and unity when we are all able to kneel down and pray. It shows humility and I have SUCH a strong testimony of prayer. I have seen miracles on my mission from Prayer and this week was NO exception!


We taught 19 lessons this week, and along with that we had 11 new investigators and currently have 8 baptismimal commits. The Ap's called us last night and we were so scared that they were going to take one of us out of the Tree-o, because one of the Sister missionarys has been sick. I felt my heart sink when I saw that the call was from the Ap's. Then they asked if we could put it on Speaker phone...My heart was pounding... Then They proceeded to congratulate us...I was confused!?! But they just wanted to say good job for working hard this last week, and that we were leading the mission! haha Man that was a Relief and much better feeling :) I absolutely LOVE my companions!


Ali Fredrick if you read this I have a companion Hermana Lambert that is seriously YOUR TWIN!! haha its weird!.... I keep wanting to call her Ali :)


Well this week was amazing! Jamaica is what we like to call the "promise land" here in New York! The people here are so humble and are being prepared to recieve this wonderful message of the gospel! I love the work and I love my family!


Keep being amazing and always remember that you are a child of god :)


I love you!
Hermana Gray



~ "We knew that our purpose was to gain a physical body, to overcome trials, and to prove that we would keep the commandments of God. Our Father knew that because of the nature of mortality, we would be tempted, would sin, and would fall short. So that we might have every chance of success, He provided a Savior, who would suffer and die for us.”

Thomas S. Monson, “He Is Risen!” Ensign, May 2010, 88

Earthquake and Hurricane in the SAME week!!!

Date: August 29, 2012
Area: Jamaica, Queens
Companion - Sister Alvarado


Dear Family,

So last year I was in a Tsunami in Hawaii, and this year and EarthQuake in New York and a Hurricane! Man I wonder whats next :) haha Oh the adventures in life :) They are just wonderful! Life is an adventure and we always have to be ready to take on whatever knocks on our door :)


Alright So Kyle guess what?! The earthquake happened on your birthday. So we were eating lunch at a members house Hermana Pratt from Columbia. When all of a sudden the table started to shake...then the floor...and then the house! Ha I was SO confused! Ah My heart was pounding like crazy! Everyone was so confused! Lol we talked people who were walking outside and asked if they felt it. Yes everyone felt it. Everyone that were in the Stores in Jamaica Avenue were scared and ran out of the stores! :) haha oh man this was just hilarious :)


So the next day we had exchanges with Hermana Fifield. We began knocking doors early in the morning and no luck. However its always that last door that will get cha :) So we were just about to head back to the apartment to go and eat lunch when we decided to knock one more door. To our surprize he let us in. His name was Donald and we were able to teach him the first lesson. He along with many had already been pondering the question as to why there were so many differerent churches. We were able to answer that question for him. He then said, " From the Earthquake yesterday everyone was super scared! And I know that you two missionarys coming to my house is a sign and I know that the Book of Mormon is my guide!" ~ Golden!! ha We invited him to be baptized and he happily accepted. We gave him the Book of Mormon and he was MORE than excited to read it! I am excited to keep working with him :)


We were able to have a really good lesson with Armando this week on the plan of Salvation. We were able to also have Hermano Celso with us teaching. He is a return missionary and was able to answer a lot of Armando's question. Armando was very happy to have that knowledge that he was going to be able to see his family and those who have passed on after this life. The spirit was SO strong in that room when we were able to bear testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon. There is something so empowering when someone comes to know of their true idenity. When we know that we are literal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father...something changes and we realize that we indeed have a purpose on this earth life.


Well as you all know there was a HURRICANE here in NY :) So we were not allowed to leave the apartment Saturday or Sunday. It was kind of an interesting experience. We were all safe and nothing happened to us - we are so protected as missionarys! Anyways at first I began thinking oh it would be a nice day off. As much as I love resting, it is SO much nicer to get out and WORK! For we all know that the secret to missionary work is WORK WORK WORK! However Sunday was a really really neat spiritual experience.


We were able to get ready as we normally would but with a different thing in mind. I wanted to make sure that I looked my best, and it was not to impress anyone or to just look good, however I was dressing up for the sacred ordinace that we were able to partake of which is the sacrament. The Elders were able to bring us the Sacrament and bless it as we partook of it. The sacrament is really such an incredible ordinance, something so special that the savior instituted himself. After the elders were able to bring the sacrament us four sisters were able to have our own little testimony meeting. And honestly it was one of the most POWERFUL testimony meetings that I have ever been in! My purpose was made known unto me again. I love this gospel! I am so grateful for the Priesthood and that we were able to partake of the sacrament.I feel bad for those who are less active because they are missing out on the most beautiful thing that we are able to partake of. This Church is real and is lead by our Savior himself. I have no doubt that this church is Gods Kingdom established on this earth!

This Church is TRUE!!


I love you all :)
Hermana Gray


One of my favorite scriptures for the week!


I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite agoodness and bgrace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end. ( Moroni 8:3)


Viva Jamaica! Let Transfer 3 begin :)

Last week of transfers

Date: August 22, 2011
Area: Jamaica, Queens

Companion - Sister Alvarado

Dear Family,

Alright first off I want to say HAPPY 17th Birthday Kyle :) I can not believe that you are that old! haha I hope that you have the BEST birthday ever tomorrow! I love you!!

Ok so this week was fantastic! Well lets see so we were finally able to teach this family who have been really welcoming and nice to us. When we told them that we had transfers coming up they got really sad. They said well if the lord wants you to stay you will stay :) So they are 7th Day apentist and the father Samuel had a LOT of questions that I do not know the answer to. But What I do know is... So it was really neat because I had opened the Bible to a certain scripture to answer one of his questions. However I was prompted by the spirit to not answer that question but to just bear plain and simple testimony of what I knew to be true. After both Me and my companion did this, he was silent. And He had completely forgotten the chain of questions that he had. We then invited him and his family to Church and surprizingly he did not object but said that if him and his family could, that they would love to. Also With our previous lesson with Samuel he said that he would not accept ANY other boook besides the Bible. So I was a little bit hestitant to ask him to read the book of Mormon. However when we were leaving I had the strongest impression to give him the Book of Mormon and ask him to read it. So as prompted I followed. And to my surprize he thanked me and said that he would lOVE to read it. There is SUCH great power in the Book of Mormon. There is NO other book, by which someone can get closer to Christ. I have truly fallen in love with the Book of Mormon on my mission. ( for anyone that knows me I am not much of a reader) ha but sometimes I cant put that book down!

So we were able to have a lesson with this Lady Mirium. She was contacted the transfer before I got here in May and my companion has not been able to get a hold of her. However we were knocking this one apartment building and right as we were leaving we say Mirium!! My companion and I got really excited and she said that she would LOVe to have us come over and visit tomorrow. So we came over the next day and she was SO excited she was talking to her Sister who was in El Salvador when we got there. So she handed me the phone so I was able to talk to her Sister in El Salvador. Her sister was SO excited that we were there and also the fact that the Temple in El Salvador was being dedicated :) So we were able to talk with Mirium and she said that she has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and that it gives us peace. She said that when it gets dark that she has a hard time reading so she asked us if we could read outloud from the Book of Mormon! Gladly :) So we read with her in 1st Nephi 18 about Nephi building the ship and his brothers and how wicked they were. Ha She loved it! It was also really neat to be able to stop and think about how we could apply the scriptures to our own personal lives.

We were able to visit Guido Gallardo our little less active cute guy from Chile! ha As always he took us Grocery Shopping! Love him! Anyways we were able to talk to him about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon :) Invited him to church again as usual. Anywho- So....He showed up for Church on Sunday! Honestly that IS A MIRACLE! ha I do not think that he has been to Church in YEARS! It was SO good to see him at Church!

Jose Martinez was able to recieve the Priesthood on Sunday! Honestly it was the coolest thing. I was able to feel on a small scale the Love that our Heavenly Father has for him and I know that he is SO pleased with his decision to be baptized :) Were going to the temple with him this week to do baptisms I cant wait!

Well Family my time is up! But I love you all and am So thankful for a family that is so supportive! I am thankful for the way that you have raised me mom and dad to love my scriptures and to truly gain my own personal testimony that He lives! I know that Joseph Smith saw the Father and Jesus Christ. I know with out a doubt that the Book of Mormon is True! I know that we can pray to a Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers! I love you all so much!!

Love

Hermana Gray

"If we will hold fast to the Church's proclamation on the family, we will see that we hold the jewels, as it were, that can enrich so many other things. Let the world go its own way on the family. It appears to be determined to do that. But we do not have that option. Our doctrines and teachings on the family are very, very powerful, and they are full of implications for all the people on this planet."

Neal A. Maxwell, "Insights from My Life," Ensign, Aug. 2000, 7