Follow Promptings and Talk to Everybody

Sorry this is coming in late. We took a break because Brother R… is going to quit smoking and so he wanted to spend some time with us missionaries to help him stay away from it. So he took us all out to lunch and we had a good time and now we're back!

It was pretty great this week because we went on two exchanges. One with my district and the other with our zone leaders. As it worked out I ended up leaving Norwood on both of them so I got to spend two days in a car! Between zone conference and exchanges I felt like I was hardly in Norwood last week. Unfortunately we didn't have anyone at church yesterday. Our investigators are having a hard time keeping commitments so we are going to be super bold this week. Sometimes Hispanics like to ride the fence as long as they can and not commit to one thing nor the other. So sometimes being bold helps. 

Zone Conference. Was. Sweet! President Porter gave us round 2 of his discourse on the Doctrine of Christ. We took lots of notes :) but all of mine are back in the apartment so I don't have anything too specific to share... sorry! The conference was actually a confirmation of what I had studied the week before. It was a lot about how we follow the Savior and keep His commandments because we love Him. He talked about how it is our choice to exercise faith or fear. He talked about how promptings almost always come two-fold. The spirit will influence us to do something good, while the adversary will present us with a doubt or an excuse not to. (2 Nephi 32:8-9). Every time we follow the spirit, our faith in Christ increases. Every time we don't act, doubt fear and unbelief increase. This really helped us this week to follow promptings and to talk to everybody.  A simple example is when we were on the bus Saturday. I felt prompted to talk to this lady; she seemed to have an extra light in her face. I had this following conversation in my mind:

"I need to talk to her."

"No. There isn't time. Our bus stop is coming soon. I won't have time to say much of anything..."

"You need to talk to her."

"I'm not even sitting by her. I'd have to get up, walk over there and sit right in front of her and that will be awkward..." 

"You were prompted to talk to her."

"It's so much easier to just be lazy and ignorant, but fine. I'll do it. How am I going to get over there? ....... Aha!"

So I reached into my pocket and pulled out a mint and held it up so Elder Garcia could see. He indicated with an outstretched hand that he wanted it so I stood up, walked over and handed it to him and then sat down in a different seat, one next to the lady and started to talk to her. Smooth as butter right? We rode past our bus stop just long enough so that I could invite her to learn about the church and give her a pass a long card. That was it. Victory! No noticeable miracle of how she's going to get baptized or anything but it was a small win that increased my faith in Christ.  

I've embraced the awkward moments a million times before where I have just gotten up and have obediently moved myself to talk to someone but for whatever reason, in that moment, my faith was perhaps waning and I needed an excuse to change seats. But as soon as I decided to just do it, God came in for the save and showed me how. For Nephi it was the same. God asked him to build a ship. Why would he ask a guy who has seen nothing but desert his whole life, and knows nothing about boats, to build a ship? Nephi's response is awesome. He didn't ask why, he asked how. Sometimes we need more blind faith. When God prompts us we don't always need to know why to act, just how. That's when the Red sea will split and the way will be made clear before you. Ask and do the HOW and God will eventually teach you the WHY. I think there is also some principle to be learned in how God provided the way only as soon as I committed to act. He has done it for me many times before. Despite my weaknesses He's helped me find excuses to talk to people when I've needed them. But the bottom line is if the spirit prompts you to act will you act? The more you act, your impressions from the spirit will be stronger, easier to recognize, and more frequent. You will be able to recognize God's guidance in your life more fully. After we got off the bus it was confirming to know that Elder Garcia also had the impression to talk to that lady. I explained to him that that was the real reason why I handed him a mint, not just because I think his breath smells bad but as an excuse to nonchalantly get up and talk to her. It really is neat to have spiritual promptings like these throughout each day in the mission. Just another testimony that this is God's work and that he'll guide us if we focus and listen and respond. 

It was also really neat to see the way a member named Brother R… followed the spirit yesterday. Before church he was prompted to bring two things, an extra tie and his old missionary plaque. When he got to church he was surprised to see a returned missionary friend that had come to pay a surprise visit to the Norwood ward. Brother R… was prepared to welcome him back by giving him the extra tie he had brought. Then in Elder's Quorum, the Elder's quorum president learned just a few minutes before class that the person teaching wasn't there. As he was walking down the hall towards the classroom he was brainstorming ideas of what he could teach. He decided on the topic of revelation and began leading a class discussion. He asked a question to the class similar to, "Do any of you have an experience that you could share about an important time where you acted on revelation?" Brother R…, as if he expected the question, responded, "I do. I guess I somehow knew what you were going to be talking about today." He reached into his pocket and tears began to fill his eyes as he pulled out his old black missionary nametag. He held it up and said, "I haven't carried this in my pocket for years but I felt like I should bring it today. This was what was most important to me." The Elder's Quorum president also began to cry as he bore testimony of the reality of continuous revelation. A first time church attendee in dread locks and baggy pants was puzzled. He didn't understand what we were all feeling. He posed the question, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" We then proceeded to teach him for the first time about the spirit. Pretty neat to see revelation at work. 

Well this is getting too long so I've got to sign off now. We find out if Elder Garcia needs surgery or not this Wednesday! We are also going to go to a Cincinnati Reds game on September 8th with the entire mission! I know nothing about baseball but it's going to be a good time!!! When we found out we were going we ran around our apartment screaming :) We are going to buy Cincinnati hats :D  

Love you all!

Elder Kevin Graf

A foggy day in Norwood.

Unfortunately the no littering sign in isn't very effective. Norwood's parks are always trashed.

We were walking along and I noticed the similarity between this lady's shirt and Elder Garcia's hand so we had to get a picture of the two. I always tease him about having an unchangeable "thumbs up" haha. 

Thank you, I love you.

We have Zone conference tomorrow!!! I'm so excited. I'm going to go buy a new study journal today just to make sure I have enough pages to take notes. (I only have about 3 pages left of my study journal) I would cry if I ever lost my study journal, more than I would if I were to lose my daily journal. It's kind of like my study journal has doctrine and revelation, and my daily journal is the account of what we do each day, more of the monotonous stuff. So study journal = small plates. Daily journal = large plates. And it's the small plates that contain the things of more spiritual matter and the large plates are more of a secular history. So the difference is really history verse testimony. And to me testimony is more valuable. And now I'm just rambling... But, point is that President Porter is so inspired and I heard from other missionaries that this conference is the best one he's ever given so we're just psyched out of our minds. Unfortunately Elder Garcia's hand is still in a cast and so he won't be able to write anything. So he is dying. He says he wants to record president with his camera haha. Anyways, we don't worship President Porter but we sure do love him. 

But as far as last week goes we worked pretty hard but I think we need to get a little more creative. We need to try new things to help our investigators get over the hurdles they have that are keeping them from coming to church. C… has to practice a men's dance for a "quincenera" (birthday party as big as a wedding for girls turning 15. HUGE in Hispanic culture as you already know) for the next 6 weeks and practices are only on Sundays during church, grrrrr. And C…, N…., L…, and R…. need to stop drinking and getting wasted on weekends. And the G…'s need to change their work schedule, as do J… and V…. I realized last week that we needed to involve the members more. When you involve the members things just go better. Members don't realize it but they make all the difference. We taught J… last night with Brother S… (Both are such amazing people). J… is super humble and just has the best spirit ever. He asked for work off Sunday and so we'll pray that his boss gives it to him so that he can come to church within the next couple weeks! And Brother S… is a bit of a goof but he has a big heart for people to. He only speaks broken Spanish but when he shares his testimony the spirit comes so strong. He has to pause as he searches for words but that actually just allows the spirit to sink in even more. It goes to show that, so long as we are trying, God's grace applies. As we just put forth our best effort, God makes up the rest. He couldn't speak perfectly (nor can I for that matter) but the spirit comes anyways and testifies with great power. After the lesson all three of us just kind of sat in the car in silence for a moment. Brother S… labeled it "basking in the spirit." I’m going to really miss the frequency of such spirit filled experiences after my mission. I've heard that being released from missionary service is the worst day of your life in a bittersweet way. So I won't think about that too much and I'll just soak it up as much as I can now.

We also taught the restoration to a group of working Hispanics that all live in the same apartment. We refer to them as the "N… gang" because that is the name of one of the guys that lives there. And that's easier to say than to list half a dozen names when we are planning at night and studying for them in the morning. They are good people that are looking for a better way of life and just need some help changing. They didn't come to church yesterday but they have come a few times. But it was cool to finally have a chance to sit down and teach a solid lesson to all of them last Friday evening. We were all in a circle and we had their sober attention when we taught about Joseph Smith's first vision. It's moments like these that I love being a missionary. Leading up to it, we had taught in good unity and the spirit had testified so beautifully of the reality of God's answer to Joseph's humble prayer. As I spoke the words of Joseph's First Vision (I get to say it because ironically my companion doesn't have it memorized in Spanish yet) the spirit just filled the room. I love it when it does that. It does it every time. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love us. And He does answer our every sincere prayer. Especially in time of need, He will answer us immediately and help us as we ask for it. 

We did our best to lift some spirits that hung low last week. A member named Brother R… fell off a balcony 17 years ago and broke his back. He's been on heavy pain and depression medication ever since. He was at a low point last week and needed some company, so he took us out to Buca di Peppo and we just kind of spent some time with him. He is an incredible guy that'd give the shirt off of his back for anyone. 

This caused me to really dig into the scriptures and study about the Atonement over the past few days. By doing so I really have grown in my love and gratitude for our Lord Jesus Christ. I can't express how rewarding my studies have been over the past few days as I've focused it on studying the questions "What is the Atonement? And, what does it mean to me?" I can’t explain exactly how it's deepened how I've felt because words just don't do a good enough job, and personal revelation is something that won't mean nearly as much as it does to anyone except to the individual whom experiences it. I just want you all to know that I do know that Jesus Christ is the very greatest manifestation of God's love for us. (John 3:16-17 and 1 Nephi 11:16-23) He is our Brother and Greatest Friend (John 15:). He is our Living Redeemer and Savior of the world. I love Him for the blessings and happiness and healing and strength that He made possible for all of us through His atoning sacrifice. I will follow him because I do love Him. This was something that my recent studies have helped me to emphasize. Before I thought I was obedient to increase my Faith, which is still true, but now I feel that obedience is a means of achieving a higher purpose. Many people see us and ask, "Who are you?" Essentially they ask, "Why are you here? Why do you serve a mission?" So, Why do I serve a mission? Why do I try to live such high gospel standards? Why do I wake up early and work tirelessly day in and day out? Why do I step out of my comfort zone and talk to so many people? Why did I learn another language? Why am I here? I'll tell you. Because I. LOVE. GOD. I love Him because He first loved us. He sent His only Son. He created a perfect plan of happiness for all of His children. And He revealed that plan and the fullness of the gospel to us in the latter days through a modern day prophet of God. What does The Atonement of Jesus Christ mean to me? It means Everything, absolutely everything. I will follow Him because I love him. Obedience itself is not the end purpose, rather it is love. I now see keeping God's commandments not only as an opportunity to be happy and get blessings, but now I see it as the best opportunity I have to say "Thank You, I love you". 

And I love you all too! You are the best! Have a great week, as you get ready for another new school year! Gross, luckily I get to wait a little longer before I have to do that again :)  

Elder Kevin Graf

P.S. We made a Spanish cake called Tres Leches Cake and Holy smokes its delicious!!! Just thought you should know. I'll have to make some for yall sometime :) 

Members are Just Great and the Church is True

Tell Camille Happy Birthday for me!!! Dating and driving, what a crazy stage of life she is entering in to. I feel like I will have to re-learn how to do both of those after my mission haha. I'm not sure but I could see president leaving me in this area for the rest of my mission. Exciting stuff with the rest of the family! I think we forget how cool it is to do the simple things, like family gatherings, youth camps, or even driving around. But when you're a missionary every once in a while you have to remind yourself that those things existed and will exist haha. That's why I mentioned that I'll probably need someone to teach me how to drive again. After walking for several months, which I actually enjoy, you forget what it's like to be in a vehicle haha. Simple things like that.

Sorry this is going to be a super short one! Things are going well! They really are! Little miracles have been happening. One of our investigators told us that her husband, who has ignored us in the past, is now talking about bringing the family to church! We also had a good handful of people come to church yesterday. Unfortunately the G…'s and C…. weren't a part of that group but we'll get them there next time, they are just going through some opposition, which is to be expected as you get them closer and closer to baptism. We taught C… the Word of Wisdom and Sabbath day last week and he accepted them both and overall has been doing great. (Granted he didn't come to church yesterday so we'll have to remind him to do that next Sunday haha) But he will probably be baptized by the end of this month! It was also super cool to sit down with this guy named M….  M… is a smart, talented, and well off man that hasn't been to church in a few years. But we talked over the phone and met up with him at the church Wednesday evening and we just talked. He told us that he wants to come back. And, well, he did! He was there at church yesterday! We also had a couple other less active members come yesterday that haven't come in a while so we are super happy about that. It's ironic because at the beginning of church there was no investigator and no less active there. I was thinking, "Oh great, nobody is here." But God was like "don't worry, they're coming, they're just going to be 15 minutes late." And so it was. About a quarter after everyone came. It was quite a relief to say the least. Anyway, life is good. My companion and I are good, a little under the weather but good :) And of course the members are just great and the church is true and you love me and I love you too :D You are in my prayers!

Until next time!

Elder Graf 

One of our investigators named V… is studying to become a chef and he made us some bomb crepes before we taught them about the atonement :) He and his dad are the coolest people ever. 

We had Spanish zone meeting a week or so ago and we all signed this Shredder 350. It is symbolic of us shredding our doubts about the limits of Spanish work and exercising the language of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! YEEHAW!

We had dinner at the Bishop's (Bro Bishop is the second counselor, not the bishop, really confusing I know). They had this parrot thing that bites you! It was on my shoulder for 5 seconds before it bit me right in the skin of my neck. Pretty terrifying experience actually. The bird made like he was going to leap from me to Elder Garcia but Elder Garcia just screamed, flailing his arms and ran away. So it didn't land on him, but Elder Garcia had scared it so bad that it pooped a little bit on him. haha