In Ohio!

Here I am in OHIO! First few days in the Field! Looks like I won't have time to send pictures but then again I haven't really taken many either. I still haven't unpacked everything.... I apologize in advance for sloppy typing. 

So my first area is Dayton. My guess is it's about 40 square miles so we get a car. I'm the designated driver because my trainer, Elder Brown, is from a small town somewhere 30 minutes south of Salem Oregon and isn't comfortable driving on big streets. It's cool that Me and Dad's trainers are both "Elder Brown's". Elder Brown speaks good Spanish and can teach well. I can learn from him. Elder Brown has been a tad homesick because he's last companion just went home. But I've helped knock it out of him with my desire to work and to be exactly obedient. 

MY first few lessons I just sat there like a dumb fish because I couldn't speak anything. BUT my Spanish comprehension is noticeably improving. Our Spanish branch is crazy small, especially compared to what I'm used to back home (I think I counted 32 people total, including me and Elder Brown).

   

I really like our Mission President, He's a really great guy. I'm excited to work under his direction the next 18 months or so (I've been told that this is about the half way point of his mission).

   

Everything isn't as peachy as it was in the MTC but I'm excited to Work! I know that The Lord will build us up a hundred fold higher than we can build ourselves, we just have to pray for His will, not ours. Well, time is up. LOVE YOU. Have fun Skiing! Hope work and school is going well! Oh and yes I did see Sister Love. (his Aunt Donna’s niece) We got a picture together. I'll send it if I have time. Thank you for all the letters and prayers! 

 

ADIOS. 

- Elder Kevin

Travel Plans

  WOW. 6 weeks went by pretty quickly. I'm going to make this email pretty short so I can use some time to send a few pictures. I did write a letter that should get there tomorrow or Wednesday. (**At this point he accidently sent the letter! Good thing it wasn’t really that short! And then Hallelujah actual pictures!)

  Sorry, didn't mean to make it that short, I accidently sent that first part without finishing. Anyways... What have I been doing the past 6 weeks? lots of good things. Studying the gospel all day every day! Eating buffet every meal every day! (surprisingly, I've stayed about the same weight, maybe gained 1 or 2 pounds according to a scale I used last week) Playing about 50 mins of basketball 4 or 5 days a week! Me and my companion have had a room to ourselves the past 5 weeks. We've had the best teachers in the world (Malachi Hopoate and Kelsey Gurecki). My district is dandy and I'm healthy and happy. So no need to worry about this elder. I've been having some of the best experiences of my life. It has definitely been some of the longest days, but the shortest weeks. And the longest weeks, but the shortest month. Time flies.

   A few details about my travels to OHIO! :D MY flight leaves at 7:15 AM but I have to get up at 3 AM :( I’ll probably call around 6 AM. I'll send a picture of my companion’s Itinerary (I don't have mine with me at the moment but they are the exact same, obviously).

  Oh, quick shout out to everyone that has sent me Letters! THANK YOU! I'm sorry that I don't have time to respond to all of them each week! But I Love you All!

   Thank you for the St Patrick’s Day goodies. They were fantastic. They'll make for good munchies on the Plane. Oh and MUCHAS GRACIAS for the banana bread. I forgot to pick up the package so I didn't get it until today. Had I known it was our top of the line chocolate chip Banana bread I would've waited for the mail man to drop it off. But I'll still enjoy it nonetheless.  (**We hope it’s good. We had it sent same day delivery on Friday, but he didn’t get it until Monday.)

   Last thing. Me and Elder Fivas met the happiest guy in the world last week during our P-day temple session. We were sitting waiting for the session to start when this old guy sat next to me. He was breathing heavy from climbing the stairs and didn't say a word. He just sat next to me and patted my knee for a good 30 seconds. He had wind blown white hair and just smiled for the whole session. IT WAS GREAT. I just want to put him in my pocket and keep him forever.  Random story I know. But it's good to Be positive. Smile. We have the gospel in our lives and we know Who our Savior is, that's worth a little hope and rejoicing each day. :D

 LOVE YOU. ADIOS!

-Elder Kevin Graf

(Yeah, the cousin picture! Elder Graf and Elder Graf. And doesn't that missionary in the background look like Matthew?)

(We are so grateful he's had such a great companion.)

Gift of Tongues

There is never enough time! P-days are ironically the only stressful days here. I've seen Christian (his cousin) here a couple times! Our classrooms (where we live for 12 hours a day) are actually in the same building! But I've only been able to talk to him for a few minutes because our schedules don't have anything in common. His P-days are tomorrow, Tuesdays.

It's been so good to get your letters and support. Dad I love you. Mom I love you. Krysta I love you. Erin I love you. Camille I love you. Rachel I love you. I've been meaning to write home, I will do it next week. And if my emails ever come to a blunt end then understand that I probably ran out of email time. (We're not forced to follow the 30-minute limit but I really try to. Someone wise once said, "Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles")

So we got our travel plans a few days ago! (Unfortunately I can't give you details because I don't have them with me right now) But here's what I remember: Yes I can call from the airport. My flight leaves at 7 AM Wednesday on March 20th, so I'll call before then (probably around 6:30 am - I'll give you more details next week). But we basically fly from Salt Lake to Atlanta Georgia for a one hour lay-over, then from Atlanta to OHIO! I believe I'll get to Columbus around 4 pm OHIO time.

Well, I must still be in the "honey moon phase" here because I still love it here. I really have no complaints. I've been working on my ability to have charity, and it's easy to enjoy each day when you're not thinking of yourself, when you really try to spend all of your time and studies for the purpose of benefiting someone else. I Love this Gospel. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and Christ. I know He lives and directs this church. This Church is Awesome. Thanks for all the support I've had from everyone that has sent me letters and packages. The Spanish is coming more and more each week! We aren't perfectly fluent but we're able to pray and teach in Spanish (our Sunday meetings are entirely in Espanol - pretty fun) Sometimes I accidently speak in Spanish. It's great. Elder Fivas said I even spoke a few words of Spanish in my dreams a few nights ago! The Gift of Tongues is real. It's as real as you want it to be as you work for it! LOVE YOU ALL! Mom and Dad I will send pictures next week!   

- Your son and brother, Elder Kevin Graf

Almost 4 weeks down and 2 more to go!

Still no roommates! It's just Me and Elder Fivas (who is good and recovered now, we just had a follow-up appointment today and they took his stitches out and he's good to go).

Thank you for the package this week! Rachel's letter made me so happy! I love the lion! I named him Bo and he sits on my desk by my bed.

So, crazy story. An Elder in my district has been suffering from deep depression and mood swings. Friday, during our quiet personal study hour before lunch, he completely lost it. The room was dead quiet when he got up, quickly slid his desk to the other side of the room, picked up a chair and swung it at the window, putting a big crack in it. His companion actually intercepted him before he got to the window so he didn't get a full swing at it. His companion half tackled him to the ground and sat him there while the zone leader came in and gave him a priesthood blessing. Throughout the blessing the Elder got less and less tense until he was relaxed. Meanwhile, EMT guys were called into our room and many of the sisters were in tears because of the shock of the whole situation. The Elder was calm and the EMT guys merely walked him to the office. A few hours later he came back, apologized, explained he has severe anxiety (which was probably set off by new medications he was prescribed), then explained that he was headed home. An hour later he was packed and gone. So now there are only 5 Elders and 6 Sisters in our district. He was a really nice, witty, smiling guy. He just lost control for a mere 60 seconds. But now he is home where he is able to get the treatment he really needs. Our district has been praying for him and we'll continue to write him letters.

But now for the cool part. The day after, many of the sisters were still shaken up because of the incident. They all ended up requesting priesthood blessings. So, all of us 5 Elders laid hands on each of their heads and gave them a blessing of comfort. The Spirit was strong and it was an incredible experience. We are now closer than ever. We are our own family here in the MTC. The coordinating sister, who meets with all the sisters and happens to be in our district, said that in each blessing each of the sisters' questions/ needs were answered! How incredible! Because none of the Elders had any foreknowledge of their personal struggles. I gave two blessings because there is one more Sister than the number of Elders. One of the Sisters I had blessed later told me that I had said EXACT phrases and words that are in her patriarchal blessing! My testimony of the priesthood and Heavenly Father's love for us is currently through the roof.

Thus we see that by trials often come even greater blessings. It really was best that the Elder receive the treatment he needed at home. And now our district is so strong and solid.