Elder Kevin Graf: Fantastic Mix of Emotions

This week was a fantastic mix of emotions. Here's the play by play!

Monday: What a nightmare of a Pday. We had a zone "fun" day where the whole zone went bowling. Not bad, but at the end of it we learned that some elders needed a ride home. We were already pushed for time and we didn't have tons of miles on our car but we couldn't leave them stranded. So we drove them through Cincinnati and dropped them off. We didn't fill up on gas before we left because we were supposed to have sufficient miles to get there and back no problem. Oops. On the way back we noticed that the freeway was in stop and go traffic. We realized that it was very possible that we could run out of gas in that slow moving traffic so we decided that we needed to fill up before we got back on the freeway. What ensued was probably 2 hours of the greatest frustration in my life. We could not find a gas station to save our lives. The GPS led us astray several times, and the people we asked didn't give us very helpful advice. With time slipping away, the day getting dark, and 3 miles left on our car we finally stumbled upon a gas station. We made it home with no time to eat dinner and just grabbed our bags and went out to teach some of the best lessons I've ever taught on a Pday. What a test of patience and temperance, but Heavenly Father rewarded us by the end of the day.

Tuesday: My Birthday! YAY! Me and my district went to Red Robins for lunch to celebrate. I ate like a King! Our morning schedule was a little different because we had taught someone that morning. So we were making up for our language study in the afternoon when we got a text on the phone. Elder Gibb read it to me. He then told me the number and I recognized it as dad's phone. It blew my mind. I have no idea how you got our number but that definitely threw me for a loop for a minute. You probably weren't supposed to do that but thanks for the birthday wishes, haha.

Later that night we taught our baptismal candidate, little Jonathan, about the commandments and prophets. It was pretty sweet. At the end of the lesson I finally felt like the spirit told me that I had done my part in preparing him for baptism and that he was ready. Really quite special. It was kind of a sigh of relief and also excitement at the same time.

That night we also had a fantastic turn out for soccer. We play at 8 at night on Tuesdays. We begin and end with prayers. We're also thinking of giving a chapel tour before we play so that we can turn some of these soccer players into gospel investigators!

Wednesday: President called together all leadership missionaries for a sweet council meeting with several big mission advisors. It lasted almost all day - like 8 hours. But it was a once in a mission opportunity to receive some great training. Our mission is really good at finding investigators and involving members, but we need to work on becoming more powerful teachers. So the training was all about how we can improve our teaching and really bring the spirit into our lessons and change lives. I loved it. It was basically a third of the mission gathered together. So it was fun to see all of the other Spanish elders that I know. Basically all the junior companions were paired up for the day and stayed out in the field, some pretty funny stories because of that. I'll get to them later if I've got time.

But on the way home we got in a 4-car pile up on the highway. Pretty exciting. All the pictures I took were on other missionaries' cameras (Because mine was in my backpack which was stuck in a bent trunk after the incident) :( But I did take a couple pictures with my camera this morning so I'll show you those. Our car didn't have it as bad as other cars so we were able to drive away. But we're still working on getting the repairs done. Basically what happened is that we were in stop and go traffic approaching Cincinnati. We pulled to a stop behind a black van. But the two cars behind us didn't. So yeah, we got rear ended... twice. Each impact was only a second apart. Both impacts slid us into the black van that we were parked behind. But neither the four of us missionaries nor the drivers of the other vehicles were injured. It really wasn't a bad accident because the other drivers weren't going too fast. A police officer saw the whole thing happen because he had just finished reporting an accident that had happened on the other side of the highway, haha.

But we eventually get back to the church and explain to Jonathan's mom why we were a little late. But Elder Carranza gave him his baptismal interview and he got the green light for baptism. So once again a crazy day but it ended on a really high note.

Thursday: Thursday was a little slower but we did get to teach a couple members. We also taught English class, which is pretty hilarious sometimes. I can only imagine what Hispanics think of us as we try to learn their language as well.

Friday: Friday we had a sweet lesson with a guy named Edgar. He's my age and super humble. We taught him really well about the Restoration and the spirit was there. He probably would've been our next baptismal candidate if he hadn't just texted me 5 minutes ago and told us that he's dropping us. It still hasn't hit me yet, but I'll probably be super bummed about it later today because of it. We'll have to try to see him and his brother again and talk to them about it. It's really hard when people turn away from something that we know will change and bless their lives for forever. But they do have their agency, something that is absolutely essential to our eternal progression.

Saturday (and Sunday): BAPTISMAL DAY! Woooo! Jonathan entered into the waters of baptism at around 1:45 p.m. and on Sunday he was confirmed the newest member of our branch. I have never headed and prepared a baptismal service before, and it was quite a roller coaster of coordinating. Members were cancelling on things last minute. So I frantically put together a program the night before and prepared a talk. But the morning of the service I learned that half of the branch was expecting to give talks, even though I had only specifically assigned one of them. But with some calls and rearranging and reprinting of the program it all worked out so that well before anyone showed up we were ready to go and we enjoyed a sweet spirit filled service (Hispanics have a different watch than the rest of the world and so all of our church meetings and services naturally start at least 20 minutes late, no exaggeration). It was such a sweet experience. Especially to see one of our members, who is preparing to serve a mission, baptize little Jonathan. As a rule of thumb we have the members perform the ordinances because members are critical and can provide better, longer lasting fellowship. It was also great because most of the branch was able to come, so lots of support.

That night a senior couple took us out to dinner at Olive Garden. We closed out the night with a couple sweet lessons as well, because of which a less active came to church Sunday. Woot!

So Saturday and Sunday were super super awesome. The branch is doing really well right now and I feel blessed to be a part of it. But there is still so much work to do. There are so many people that need what we have. We need to match the vision of our leaders and see our area of the vineyard double (vision of President Hinckley and of our local Stake President, Pres. Greenhall). There are about 750,000 people in our Cincinnati Stake, and only 3,300 are members. Lots of work. And Work it surely is. It's not easy to put ourselves out there but It's what the Lord expects and requires. These are the days where the Lord is asking everything from us. These are the days that He is hastening His work. These are the days that angels are working with us (D&C 86:5). These are the last days that all the ancient prophets testified of. We are the church, the very body (Ephesians 4) of Christ, and our brothers and sisters are relying on US. Make this day different than yesterday. What will you do different this day? How will today be different than yesterday? Act, don't be acted upon.

Love you all so much. Have a fantastic week. Church is True :D

- Elder Kevin Graf -