Surprises

Hello!

This week we had surprise interviews! It was a good thing though, we got some additional training from the AP's, and during the interview, we talked about how we can build up the ward where I am. I feel like I got some new ideas from him. Lately, instead of knocking doors like crazy people we've been going to the members and inactive members and asking for people to teach. It's going pretty well, and I think people like helping us out. 

My Patronus: The Chihuahua

Another surprise was this Sunday when a lady we had never seen walked through the door. She was investigating the Church, and we showed her around and sat with her in Church. We set up a time to go teach her later this week. Usually, they don't come to us! A nice surprise though. 

Did you know I've officially been out over 6 months? It's true. 

Elder Gray

Meetings

Bueno,

This week I went to my first leadership training! We drove down to McAllen and heard from President Torres and the office. It was really good, President talked about how good last month went and how we can make April better. January was a pretty bad month in terms of baptisms so President trained everyone on how to fully give your heart to the Lord. We did this and last month the mission baptized triple what we had the previous month. It was super cool. I hope it keeps going! Our Zone was selected to play a musical number so we made one and practiced it on the drive down. We had 5 of us singing a Spanish mashup of two hymns accompanied by three ukuleles. It was rad. I'm sorry that I didn't get any pictures or video, maybe we'll do it again.

Last weekend was Conference, which most the missionaries watched at the Stake Center. It was really good of course. I learned a lot and I took notes for once. A family brought food and fed us between sessions on Sunday, which is always appreciated. 

My companion and I decided that knocking doors and basically trying to do the work by ourselves isn't working. There hadn't been any results, so we had to change something. We are going to be working with the Ward a lot more, and quit trying to do missionary work by ourselves. I'm excited, we're going to talk to the Bishop today about how we can help.

I forgot to take pictures of us, but I found a really cool dog. Enjoy.

Hasta luego, ya'll

Elder Gray

Corpus Christi

Can't actually be ON the beach, but it's a nice view

Confirmed! I'm in Corpus Christi now!

Elder Meza and myself

Man this place is awesome. I'm in the Corpus Christi Central area, which I guess most people call The Bay area. It's huge and about 4 times as densely populated as my last area. There's a downtown area, which you can see in the picture. Haven't been there yet since we ran out of miles but we plan to! The Ward is awesome, they definitely take care of us. Our ward mission leader bought me a new helmet when I lost mine. The Bishop took us to Whataburger. A member owns a restaurant where we can eat for free whenever we want. Lots of meal appointments. I love it here, and I can't wait to work with the ward.

My new companion is Elder Meza!! An absolute gem. This Elder moved to the U.S. from Mexico about 3 years ago. He's been on a mission for even less time than I have, making us a pretty young companionship. But it don't matter, we're still tearing it up. He's trying to learn English and I'm trying to learn Spanish, so it works out perfectly. I've talked more Spanish with him than at any time in my mission so far, which is good since Corpus is predominantly English. We've been working hard and I know it will be a great transfer. 

Love ya'll,

Elder Gray

Branch Social and a Quick Move

Another end of transfer, where rules go out to the window.
Nah we're still obedient.

El Maestro Asador

This past week we had the Branch Social at a ranch and it was a huge success. Elder Chris manned the barbeque and I wore a straw hat. Lots of people came for the food and stayed for the games. 

On Sunday, I gave a talk at Church and then we went up to Laredo for a District meeting. President Torres laid out the requirements for Laredo to become a Stake and each Branch made plans on how to achieve it. Under his guidance, a ward in Mission split this past week so he knows what he's doing.

After the meeting, all the missionaries gathered 'round as President pulled up transfers. He told me I'll be going to Corpus Christi as a District Leader! I'm pretty excited. I love Zapata and it's going to be hard leaving all the awesome people here, but I love new experiences as well.

 

I'm sure you'll hear all about it in the next post.

Love, 

Elder Gray