Sorry the email randomly sent half way through, here's the
complete one....
Over the past few days I knew transfers were coming but I
never gave it a second thought. I knew, just knew I was going to stay in this
area, especially because Elder Gibb was so set on the fact that he was leaving
this transfer. Boy were we wrong. We are getting doubled out, which means that
WE ARE BOTH LEAVING! I couldn't believe it! At first I was completely
shocked, because we had been doubled in together and surely they wouldn't
do that to this area again. So I've been a wild mix of emotions. This
morning I didn't know what to do with myself haha. I was just pacing
frantically around the apartment. I was in complete disbelief, also
angry, and also excited for the unknown. We just said goodbye to M…
and C… about an hour ago. I hope we can somehow make it back for their wedding
and baptism. I'm completely torn apart that I'm going to have to say
goodbye to E…, J…, and all the members. Part of my worry is that we won't have
any time to say our goodbye's to everyone. Leaving Dayton was harder than
leaving home, and leaving Ohio River will be even harder than leaving Dayton.
To all of you at home I know that I'll see you again. But these people that
I've been serving I may never see them again. But I know that this is the
Lord's work and that He takes care of His vineyard. I know the branch will
be okay, after all they still have Elder Carranza here for at least another
transfer. So anyways, this transfer just completely caught me off guard.
But I know that the Lord knows what He's doing. His ways are higher than our
ways. I know that the best thing to do is just to get to wherever my new area
will be and get busy and work hard and love the people there just as much as
I've loved the people in the past.
Oh, just remembered, KRYSTA HAPPY
BIRTHDAY LAST TUESDAY! YAY! Do something exciting, like fly all over America. Oh
wait, you already do that. Well, you'll think of something.
Well, here's my week in a glance:
Monday: Read in the Book of Mormon with M…
and C…. It was pretty amazing actually, we were reading in the Isaiah chapters
and they still found things they liked. Found a guy named O… and taught
him how to pray. Taught a less active's husband named L... He's been pretty
stubborn about changing but he told us how he feels different
when we come over. It was cool to tell him that it's not us, but the
spirit that he was noticing.
Tuesday: Exchanges with our English zone
leaders. I went with Elder Kimball (the guy that was in the news
paper) and Elder Gibb went with Elder Anderton (Elder Kimball's companion
that's also in a picture in the article). It was a good exchange and I
learned some good simple things from Elder Kimball. He's just himself and is
genuine and real with everyone and anyone. We were lucky enough to find 9 new
investigators that day.
Wednesday: I conducted a district meeting on
using the Book Of Mormon in teaching (something I really want to get good
at) and then after we all ate pizza as a zone. But just to reiterate, I LOVE
THE BOOK OF MORMON. I know that we cannot dedicate enough of our time to
studying it. My faith in what's possible grows every time I read from it
and I know I grow closer and closer to my Father in Heaven and my Savior
because of it. The prophets in the Book of Mormon gave up everything to
dedicate themselves to the ministry and discipleship of Christ. They
loved it more than anything, more than riches and kingdoms and all the
things the world could offer. I to recognize that my time as a missionary
is short and sacred and I want to leave with no regrets. We
can't ever be timid about our testimonies if we ever want to see miracles in
our lives. So after District meeting we left and committed C… (a nonmember
nephew of Hna. E… M…, be her facebook friend if you can find her haha) to read
the book of Mormon every day and he accepted. He has things to change and I
know God will help him through the repentance process as he invites God's power
into his life by opening up and studying the pages of the Book of Mormon each
day, and I know that this can be the same for each one of us as well. We then
taught the youth of the branch about the language of Faith versus the language
of Doubt as shown in 1 Nephi chapter 3. Laman and Nephi were in the exact same
situations and did the exact same things. Both went back to Jerusalem, both
helped build a boat, and both hiked through the wilderness. The only difference
is Faith. One more experience this last week. Elder Carranza's companion was
sick and he needed someone to go with him to help conduct a baptismal interview
in another area. Elder Gibb stayed with his companion and I went with him. It
was hard because we had some good lessons set up but we had to cancel
everything. I was reluctant at first but in the end I decided to just trust
that everything would work out for the better in the end. And it did. The
interview went well and we still had time to teach that night (Thursday night)
and we had some good lessons. In this way I felt like I could relate to Lehi
because I had to make a sacrifice to leave everything and trust in the
Lord's calling that things will work out (kind of similar to how I feel about
transfers haha). But, after the youth we went to E…'s family. She's been
feeling unsure about what to do recently and wants to recognize God's answers
to her prayers. She really opened up to us again and we were able to give her a
blessing of comfort. It's going to be hard to tell her goodbye tonight. After E…
we went to a less active named E. H. and committed him to read 10 verses a day.
He's a good kid, about 15 years old. We were working with his mom to help her
set a goal of getting to the temple.
Thursday: This was the day that
we helped the other elder's out with the interview and that took most of the
day but then we were able to come back and give an investigator named I… a copy
of the Book of Mormon. We then went to a part member's home and taught them
about the sacrament and committed them to come to church. (They didn't make it
though because of a work conference, grrr). But E… is making some cool changes,
he's a lot more open to us now and wants to learn more.
Friday: Valentines Day! LOVED the package,
chocolates are going to make me fat, I hope I can pack most of it with me to my
next area. But thank you for putting that together, You're the best! And who
better to spend Valentines with other than Elder Gibb?! We've been together for
just about all of the important holidays. But what we did this day was weekly
planning as a zone and then we ate dinner with Hna G…'s. She fed us the best
"carne asada y salsa verde." After Hermana G…'s we went and
taught M… and C…. M and C also fed us after the lesson with some of the world's
all time best "tomales". To say the least we had been stuffed
once again, and long story made short, Elder Gibb puked it all back up by
the end of the night, thanks to a little extra push provided by an unexpected
punch to the stomach by one of the primary kids. Quite a hilarious experience.
Elder Gibb felt better after anyways. I however just had to make sure that I
exercised really hard the day after.
Saturday: Made cookies for J… and E… and J... We
taught C… again and committed him to come to church. In the evening we had a
big "Noche de Hogar" (Family Night) with the branch. Me and
Elder Gibb taught a simple lesson on prayer. It was a good short lesson about a
particular boy named Joseph Smith (or in Spanish, "Jose" Smith) and
how his humble prayer has changed the world. I know Heavenly Father lives, and
because He loves us we can communicate with him through prayer. I know that he
answers every sincere prayer, but the answers may not come while we're on our
knees. At least for me it's been my experience that Prayers are often
not answered as we kneel by our bedside, but rather as we get up and
get to work. We closed out the night by teaching L… and his wife and
committing them to family prayer. I love being able to tell people about the
blessings of family prayer, it's something that I'm very grateful that I had
growing up.
Sunday: Sunday consisted of branch council,
church, and then visiting the M… family and a few other less actives. The M… family
is such a great family. Hermana E… is the grandma and she is the sweetest lady
you could ever meet. She's always feeding us and making sure that we're warm. M…,
her daughter, is a champion and G…, M…'s brother, could kill somebody. I never
want to get on his bad side, he's a pretty strong guy, probably should be in
the NFL. But he's actually a nice guy and we got to meet him for one of the
first times yesterday. We talked with the family and read some of Moroni 10
with them. We left their crazy and fun home and went to see R…, a long time
less active that is the biggest teddy bear in the planet. He's just doing the
best he can to provide for his little boys and it was a sweet experience to sit
down with him and begin reading chapter 1 of the Book of Mormon with him. We
closed out the week reading with Hermana H…. It's been a little frustrating
with her because she wants to come back to church but has been struggling with
other things. But as we've been reading with her she's been changing, her
prayers have become more and more sincere each time we've come by.
So that's about my week. There are probably a
lot of typing mistakes but do your best to make sense of it all. This is what
we do. We get to spend all of our time serving and teaching others and it's
been the greatest growing experience of my life. I love these people and I'm
excited to see what the next transfer brings!
Til next week!!!
Elder
Kevin Graf
