Hi everyone!

Chillin on Firth Avenue

This week was pretty normal I guess. We had a surprise meeting with some people from Church Education Services. The Church wants to test out a new education program in Laredo. The idea is that the youth would come to the Church twice a week after school and get help with homework and additional topics. The local Ward would call someone to help run the program in that unit. The missionaries' job was to contact all the youth in the branches and invite them to try it out. They CES seemed really excited about it.

Another sunset 

This Sunday we took a little field trip up to the Priesthood meeting in Laredo to get 3 members of our Branch sustained for the Priesthood. Two of them are recent converts. That's going to help out a lot in our little branch. 

President Torres came up for the Priesthood meeting since he technically presides over the District. He played soccer with the missionaries this morning. He plays hard; nailed a missionary right in the gut with a ball. I didn't play though. I'm usually on the bench with a straw hat and a ukulele on account of my ankle. I sprained it on my very first P-Day and the thing still hasn't healed yet. 

It was a pretty good week. Talk to ya'll next week!

Elder Gray

Another Comp

Bueno.

That's a fat tie.

On Wednesday of last week, we got a surprise call from the assistants that I would be receiving a new companion the next day. His name is Elder Monnett (mo-NAY) and he's pretty cool. He plays a lot of instruments; it's nice to have someone playing the piano at Church. Because all last week I was in a trio, we only worked in my area half the time. It's nice to be working in my area full time again, but we've had to catch up a lot. It's fun work though.

This week we visited a member who was staying at the Hospital. We got to wear masks and gowns and we also got to read him a few scriptures. He took this awesome photo of us.

On our way back to Zapata we got hit with a tropical storm. It got so bad our President told everyone to go home early. We did, but we live an hour away. It was pretty hard to see the entire way back, but the constant lightning helped out.

Hasta next week,

Elder Gray

Roping and Chiropractic Health

Earning my Texas State Citizenship

Hello everyone. Beautiful week, no?

One of the District Presidency owns a chiropractic practice, and offers free back adjustments to the missionaries. We all got our backs adjusted then laid on a water-bed massage. I feel like a new man, especially since by back has been hurting lately. I highly recommend it. 

I guess the big news is I stayed in Zapata, just like we thought. After Elder Anderson went home we figured they would bring in a new missionary. But guess what? They didn't. They moved me into the other Elders' companionship. So now there are three missionaries for the entire county. Being in a trio is pretty fun, only downside is that I'm the designated driver. Because our areas merged our pool of people, we are teaching virtually double, and we have been busy driving all around town. It's good work though. 

We also had the opportunity to baptize in Falcon Lake. He was baptized next to some ducks.

Love you all!

Elder Gray

Goodbye

Happy Monday y'all,

This past week we had a family history night again. We have it at the Church on Wednesdays and it has been great! We mostly help people build their tree on FamilySearch. We helped one investigator find history on his great-grandma, which his family had been looking for for 20 years. It's a great opportunity to introduce people to the Church.

Our final study sesh together!

Elder Anderson is going home! We've been working on packing all his stuff and this weekend has been full of goodbyes. He was a great trainer and more importantly: he ended his mission with a total of 90 ties. Not bad at all. Tomorrow he goes to McAllen to fly back home. We are supposed to find out today if we are getting transferred and who our new companions are, but so far we haven't heard anything. I'm sure you'll hear all about it in the next post.

Got some Great Dane slobber on my face.

Lots of little things have happened this week as well, an elder we live with got 30 pounds of snacks in the mail. We picked some lemons on Saturday, and ended up with 8 bags full. We had a district drum circle and jammed out. I learned how to take really fat ties and skinny them.

Can't wait for next week.

Love,

Elder Gray