Last week we did two exchanges. I did one with my district on Wednesday
and then on Saturday both me and Elder Garcia did exchanges with the zone
leaders back In Ohio River! I got to see everyone again and it was so cool!!! It
was so much fun!
Happy story: M… and C… got married and early the next
morning C… got baptized!!!
Sad Story: I didn't get to be there. The elders were
confused about the scheduling of these two awesome events and there was
some miscommunication about which weekend it was planned to happen. So I
thought it was this past weekend but it really was two weekends ago. Yeah,
I'm pretty bummed I didn't get to be there. M… and C… also asked why I
wasn't there and I had to explain it to them. Quite frustrating but it was
still awesome to see them again. C… has such a new light in her face, the
spirit is so cool!
Happy story: E… got those scriptures you sent her and they're
awesome! The Elders took them and engraved her name on them and she loves them!
It was so neat to see her with her kids at church, which was actually
stake conference. She continues to be as solid as ever.
So yes, the World cup is huge right now. President Porter is
letting Spanish missionaries watch 30 minutes of any game that we can get into
an investigators house to see! It actually worked because it helped us get into
a house and meet a family that we had never really met before.
Soccer works magic! We got to see Mexico score their goal to beat Camerun.
It was pretty fun. Also I don't know if I already told you but President lets
me get on ESPN, the Latino version, for a few minutes every week. And all
the members know that Me and Elder Garcia like sports so they give us
updates every once in a while. And the updates from home always complete the
picture. So, even though I was willing to give up sports for these two years it
looks like that's not going to be much of a sacrifice haha.
There was a part of Stake conference that was really neat. A
member of the Stake presidency was speaking about families and covenants and
our relationship with God, when he asked all of the primary kids to stand up.
That got all of their attention and it was an effective way of quieting all the
background noise that exists in a family centric church such as ours. He
then told them he was going to begin humming a song and invited them to join in
singing with him when they recognized the tune. He hummed the first few notes
of "I am a child of God" and then paused... It was pure
silence for a second but then recognition of that familiar hymn began to
manifest itself, little by little, as each primary child joined in and
began singing. Their soft crystal clear voices distilled
everyone and the spirit that filled the stake center was amazing. It was
like they had made a call and Heaven answered. The impromptu choir
only sang the first verse but I wish that that brief moment had lasted
much longer. It really was quite a spectacular testimony of the
simple fact that God is Our Father, that He lives, and that we are His
children and He loves us.
I love this work and I love all the people I meet. I'm grateful
for all the relationships that I'm forging. All with members, companions, and
investigators, and most importantly, with my Savior and my Father in
Heaven. I know they live and I know that the Gospel has been restored and that
we are guided by men who are chosen by God and given authority to act
in His name. And I'm grateful for what the spirit teaches me. It teaches
me about the atonement a little bit each day. Have a fantastic week!!!
Elder
Graf
