Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

Transfers are tomorrow and guess what?!?!?! We're not going! Haha Elder Garcia and I are staying together another transfer here in the good ol' suburb of the Great Cincinnati known as Norwood. So when this transfer is all said and done that will be 6 months, 24 hours a day, that Elder Garcia and I will have been together. That's a quarter of our mission with the same dude. We are either going to be best friends or worst enemies by the end of it haha. It will be great marriage prep. :) Basically the only companion that Elder Garcia had been with longer than 1 transfer was his trainer.  I told elder Garcia that when you're married it's not just like you can get up and move homes or switch companions every month and a half. So we're obviously both in it to learn something haha. But at the same time it makes sense. We need to finish what we've got going here. Despite getting on each other's nerves here and there, I feel that we are the right mix to get things stirred up here. We have come to love the area and we LOVE the people here, both members and investigators, and they trust us. We were telling an investigator named N… about the possibility of us getting transferred and N… told us that if either one of us goes she won't let the missionaries come by. And L… (her daughter) said she wouldn't get baptized haha. They said it mostly jokingly but we feared that to some degree they might be serious. So we basically had a discussion about not being converted to us, but to the Lord. We reminded them that the spirit is the real teacher that testifies of the message. We are just the messengers, and any missionary can deliver the message by the spirit if he or she has a pure heart. (I love D&C 112:28 that talks about that, "But purify your hearts before me; and then go ye into all the world, and preach my gospel unto every creature who has not received it")  Regardless, seeing as how we are both staying, they have no excuses. Muahahah! :) Hopefully this transfer we will be able to help them, along with the others that we've been working with, overcome their obstacles and help them on their way to a lasting conversion through baptism. We're going to help someone take that step this transfer. I just know it. I couldn't tell you who it will be exactly but I feel that the Lord is going to let us reap a little of what we've sown in this area if we stay unified and serve with faith in Christ.  We'll keep you posted. :)

Well, I actually took quite a few pictures last week. So I'll cut this email a little short so that I can send them. :D

But... before I do that. Just know how much I love you guys. You're awesome, every last one of you. I pray for you but I don't have to think about you too much because I know that the Lord is taking caring of us. He always has been. I know that it is because of the gospel in our lives that we have been so blessed. I am so grateful for the Savior and His atonement. I have felt of His love in my life and it is something much bigger than I am, that's for sure. It is a powerful feeling that you get every once and a while that reminds you that He is still there for you, and always will be. It envelops you with a peace and an assurance that all will end well as we just do our best. I'm so grateful for the scriptures that bring the spirit to testify of this truth: that God lives. He will work miracles in our life as we learn to trust Him. That is perhaps one of the greatest things that I've been learning; how to live with faith in Christ. The more we lean on Him, the stronger we get. (Philippians 4:13) I know He lives! I leave you this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen :)

Cuidense, hasta la proxima!

Elder Kevin Graf

Gathering before the game

Me and Elder Taylor before we went into the stadium. He's a goofy one.

A member from the Ohio river branch that drove the other elders.

We sat near the top, haha. You have to get cheaper tickets when there are over 200 of you.

A pic of the river during the 6th inning.

We found a booth to print a "first game" certificate haha.

We each added a Spanish twist to our names. Hence I put Carlos for a middle name.

Batter batter SWING batter.

Look at that handsome squad :) I love being able to know everyone in there, lots of good buddies, including Elder Fivas and and Elder Taylor and Elder Garcia.

This is Brother Kevin Stanford. He's now our ward mission leader and he's awesome. He takes us out to Red Lobster every now and then. We love him. He's super fun and goofy.

So Elder Garcia thought he was for sure getting transferred out so he started taking pictures with all the people we visited sunday night. And while the cameras were out I just went ahead and snapped a few myself. So you"ll see a few of the people that we're teaching.

The Bishop family had us over for dinner. It's the same family that has the lovebird that attacks you haha. We were on exchanges and after the lesson they took this photo of us and posted it on Facebook. Fun picture!

Saturday we did a soccer tournament. We had several investigators there and it was a fun time. 

Oh, How We Have Changed

Cincinnati Reds game tonight! Everybody watch it! It can be a mandatory family home evening activity :) We bought Cincinnati hats and they are sweet, but we probably can't bring them to the game :( All well, it will be fun! Hopefully we'll be able to bring our investigator C… as well. He was planning on it but we haven't been able to find him the past couple days haha. So we shall see.

Let's start with the end of the week and work backwards shall we? (Matthew 19:30) So, by the grace of God, our beloved and most wonderful investigator named J… came to church yesterday!!! Wooooo!!! And what's more is that, even though he could only stay for sacrament meeting, he had a great experience! We were blessed with another really powerful fast and testimony meeting and the members bombarded him after the meeting. It was great. If we can help him come to church consistently now he will be well on his way to a lasting conversion, possibly the first Norwood Spanish branch president.

So, in other news, Brother R… deserves a word or two. I believe I have mentioned him quite often but that's just because he's a great neighbor to have and he feeds us like 3 times a week. He has a family book that goes back to the early 1600's! Why does he have it? Well, because God lives and He inspires men to act in order to fulfill His purposes. And so it was with one of Brother R…'s great great great ancestors, who one day felt that a record of names and dates and locations would be needed. He acted on that prompting and began a book of birthplaces, names, marriages, funerals, and important events for his family. How cool is that?! The record was written in German, but Brother R… has since had it translated into English. And just last week we helped him make a digital copy of the whole thing. What a gold mine for family history work! He and his cousin now have a combined total of something like 50,000 names that are getting prepared for temple work. This is the hastening of the Lord's work, and who can stop it? Not anyone with a puny arm hehe. "How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints." (D&C 121:33) 

Testimonies are so powerful, and the more we share them the stronger they get. We had a really neat Spanish zone meeting last Wednesday. We talked about the basics. We had a simple training on a few fundamentals of missionary work, things like planning, studies, and the spirit. After the training we had a testimony meeting. Let me tell you, there aren't many times where I have felt the spirit so strongly. We sat in the chapel of the church, only 16 of us. We were congregated as fellow missionaries who have grown to become brothers because of the cause that unites us, and for the sacrifices we've made to serve. We each bore testimony of how we have changed, and oh how we have changed. Our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has grown, and it will continue to be tested, tried, and proven true. And not only have we changed, but the mission has as well. Spanish work was collapsing in these states, and in the former Columbus mission it has become an afterthought. But as of last week, the Spanish zone broke the record of number of people at church on Sunday with 36, more than any English zone in the past in this region. That's 36 people's Faith in Christ increased, one of which was our man J… :)

Church is super true and so is The Book of Mormon. Amen :D

Elder Kevin Graf     

This is us and J…, the most solid recent convert I've ever seen. He was baptized 4 months ago and just received the Melchizedek priesthood yesterday. His plane for the National reserves training leaves in 30 minutes... :( he will be missed.

Let Your Light So Shine

So yesterday we didn't email because it was Labor Day and President realized that that would be a great day to find people. So, we found people. In fact, as a new mission record, in a single day we found 276 new friends that are willing to investigate the restored gospel. Pretty amazing what you can accomplish if you are unified and work towards a common goal. 

Yesterday also marked a pivotal time in my mission, as it was the first day I had ever ventured to try "menudo", which is a soup of blubbery chewy chopped up chunks of cow stomach. I had heard all sorts of horror stories about how "menudo" could be the best or worst thing you've ever experienced, depending on how it was prepared. So I was a little apprehensive about it at first but it actually turned out to be really good! Rubbery, but tasty :)

We are working hard every day. But we have a good time to. Especially last Saturday when we had a member baptism. But it was a Spanish member baptism, so naturally a big birthday party followed. After the party we took a picture attached below. We make pretty good super heroes. Also as of yesterday we are back on bikes! Elder Garcia is now in a splint and he feels comfortable enough so we dusted off the old wheels and are back in business. We feel like we are going to be super effective now. Yay! 

We just took an email break and played some basketball in the gym. We played with a Norwood ward recent convert named J…. He is a young and super funny black guy that should be in the NBA but he's going into the marines and leaves next Monday. We are going to miss him. He's always got a big grin on his face and his positive spirit is contagious. He was baptized within my first transfer here by the English elders and he has just caught fire ever since. He's received the Aaronic priesthood, been to the temple for baptisms, passes the sacrament, and he just told us that he is going to get his patriarchal blessing this Thursday! He comes from a very humble background and was just one of those people that was waiting to hear the truth. It's so neat to see how the gospel has magnified the bright spirit and talents that he already had. And perhaps even more so it's neat to see how he has changed this ward. A big smile goes a long way. God has each blessed us with talents and He wants us to let them shine. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) 

This scripture came up during gospel principles class on Sunday and it confirmed a personal impression I had earlier. I was asking myself what I could do to become a more powerful instrument in the Lord's hands and this phrase came to me clear as day, "let my love show through you."  I am realizing that one of the biggest things we can do for people as followers of Christ is simply to just get out of the way, hold nothing back, and let His love show through us. 3 Nephi 18:24 teaches us that Christ is the light that we are meant to hold high and proud. We are to do as he did, which means love as he loved. "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do... "

I leave you my testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that His light will fill our lives as we trust and follow Him. We have every right to be happy because we know in whom we trust. We know that mistakes, struggles, discouragement, depression, illness and trials aren't the end of it. We have second chances and new beginnings. Opposition becomes opportunity. We have healing and strength and power through the atonement of Jesus Christ, every day. The mission has helped to teach me at least that. That the atonement doesn't just apply at times of sin or error, it applies each and every day. We can become better, healthier, cleaner, and happier every day, because of Him. All good things do come through Christ and His gospel, which I know for myself has been restored to the earth in these latter days. 

Well, as we used to say in Florence Kentucky "Love ya'll!"

Elder Kevin Graf

P.S. Cincinnati Reds game next Monday! Woooo!