People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

   So last night was interesting. Brother Johnson, an orthopedic surgeon, invited us over for a delicious dinner. His wife made enchiladas and they were fantastic. To amuse us while the final preparations of dinner were taking place he showed us pictures from operations that he had performed in the trauma 1 center. Let me tell you, I have never seen such graphic images of bodies completely obliterated and torn up by cars and lawn mowers and such. Without hesitation he showed the same pictures to his 4 year-old daughter who said nothing more than, "That's an owie." Yup, they were pretty nasty owies. It was intriguing but I think I'll pass on being a surgeon. I'm not uneasy about the blood and carnage so much as I wouldn't want the liability and stress of a lifetime's debt of schooling. But the mission has allowed me to talk to people of many different professions and for this I am grateful. I still don't give much thought to it, but I do think the medical field is always interesting. So even though I don't want to be a surgeon I imagine I would like something in that ballpark. So biomedical engineer still might not be a bad way to go... I would get to converse with doctors and design robotic arms and artificial hearts and stuff...

It's good to have a nearly native companion. He's teaching me how to properly kick a soccer ball and President is letting me get on ESPN for a few minutes each week (the Latin version) so I can follow the world cup. So yeah, I’m pretty excited. This will really help me connect to the Spanish people that much more. I asked one of our investigators for a good salsa recipe. That's something I really need to do more often so that when I come home I can have a fantastic compilation of the greatest Hispanic dishes. Where else am I going to get this opportunity?! Once you've had the authentic food there is no going back. I remember when we had our last supper at Cafe Rio. We might need to find a taco stand when I get back haha.

So the weekend was awesome. But before I tell you about the weekend I've got to tell you this: on Memorial Day our mission had the goal to set a new record of finding 100 new people to teach in a single day. We found 234! How awesome is that?! Yeah, we're pretty awesome. I feel like we are the 2000 stripling warriors and President Porter is captain Helaman and you are the covenant families back home and Antipus is our Bishop and the Army of Antipus is the Norwood Ward. And when we work together we "administer death to all those that oppose us." Hahahaha. Read Alma 56 and 57, they are awesome chapters. But back to the weekend...

Saturday we gave a chapel tour to a family that we've been helping with English and homework for their kids. At that same time a member family (the Z…'s) were hosting a party for their two year old daughter in the church gym. And when I say party, I mean the whole bit: music, food like you wouldn't believe, decorations, games, people from all over, and a piñata. Hispanics make any English organization look as boring as watching grass grow. (And that is true doctrine that became a topic of discussion in ward council the following day haha). But it was perfect because after the chapel tour, brother Z… invited the family to come in and participate. They were a little timid but they liked it and they got to meet some of the members. They couldn't go to church yesterday but they are planning on coming to church next week!

Sunday we brought an investigator to church! It was the first time in months that a Spanish investigator had been to church so the members were getting pretty excited and missionary work became the theme of testimonies during fast and testimony meeting. His name is C… and he's 17. We've become good friends with him. It's honestly just a blast to talk to him and get updates about the sports world. That's something that President and the Spanish zone has really been working on. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. People have to trust us and genuinely know that we are their friends before they will realize how important the gospel can be for them. So C… has been coming to soccer nights and we finally invited him to church. He lives really close to us so Sunday we walked with him to church and he really liked it. He could only stay for sacrament meeting but he wants to come back next week! It was such a powerful testimony meeting. Some soon-to-be recent converts stood up and gave some very sincere testimonies about how welcomed and loved they feel in this church. That is our work: we are to love people into it. That is really something I'm learning. But Elder Garcia came out to the foyer and translated for a little bit so that I had a chance to share my testimony to. It was a really neat meeting. After church we had another great lesson with J… and V…. We shared with them the importance of baptism and the sacrament. By the end of this month J… should be done with his hospital visits (at least temporarily) so they will be able to start coming. We are super excited for what's going on! Thank you for all your prayers. I love being a missionary and I'm so grateful for my family! CONGRATS TO ERIN! Tell Krysta I expect a report on her cruise and tell Camille and Rachel to stop growing. Amen.

Hasta la proxima semana!!!

Elder Graf

"Look at 'em, they happy."

Lots of good things have been happening and I couldn't be happier. I Love this work, it's lots of fun. It stretches you and pulls you and puts you out of your comfort zone, but you grow and grow and you love how you change. Something that put a smile on my face was last week right after we finished emailing. Before we left the library some guy came up and wanted to talk to us. Four white shirts and ties stick out like sour thumbs so this guy wanted to find out what we were about. He wanted to test our Bible knowledge more than anything and wasn't really that interested, he just wanted to argue so we weren't going to spend too much time with him when a wonderful black lady came to our defense. It was awesome. She said, "Look at these boys, they know what they doing. Look at 'em, they happy. And, they got skills. You should see them play basketball. They got talent, they real." Haha I loved it. We signed her prayer book and left them with mormon.org cards. 

That same day I had a really neat experience on the bus. It was the end of the day and we were exhausted. The bus pulled up to our stop and thankfully there weren't any bikes on the rack so we were able to board. I swipe my pass and we sit down at different seats so we can talk to more people. I sit down and start talking to this lady and before we even mention anything religious she says to me, "You know what? I felt something as soon as you stepped on the bus. As soon as you walked on I just felt this peace, kinda like this tingling feeling in your chest." It was an eye opener for me. I was just thinking, "Wow, God really is preparing people." I testified to her that what she felt is the spirit and that the spirit testifies of truth, and that we as missionaries share some very special gospel truths that will bless her life for forever. She accepted to receive the missionaries and I scribbled down here number before jumping off the bus. We were only on the bus for 3 minutes but I know that those 3 minutes will change the opportunities that that lady will have to learn the gospel and it changed my testimony of the spirit that is alive in this work. 

Last week we had a super revelatory Zone Conference. President Porter taught us about the doctrine of Christ and how it needs to be alive in our daily lives. He taught us how we are no different than investigators. We need to do something that will increase our faith in Jesus Christ each day. We need to repent and make changes every day. We have to commit ourselves to God and make ourselves accountable by continually turning our thoughts to Him. "What does God want from you?", he asked. "Everything that you don't want to give up." Obedience and Sacrifice are sister covenants. In order to be obedient you must put everything on the altar of sacrifice. Fulfilling the Baptismal covenant isn't an event, it's a process. A process of burying the old and becoming new and alive in Christ. A process of laying down fears, laziness, pride, unhealthy habits, shyness, disobedience and whatever imperfections there may be, and rising up with faith, trusting in God, hard work, love, hope, kindness, humility, and all other Christ like attributes. The result is a greater outpouring of the spirit, which is evidenced by love, comfort, and strength in our lives. He quoted his dad telling him, "Son, God loves you enough that you're going to learn. You can learn through obedience or you can learn through sufferings, but you're going to learn." So let us take the initiative in seeking God and bringing our weakness to Him, and "watch how he will deliver you, how he will transform you." "You will fall. You will either fall into sin or you can fall onto your knees, but you're going to fall, so you might as well follow the way the Savior has laid before you." He is so inspired. I love that man! Another point that he made that I loved comes from Alma 7:11-13. He pointed out how Christ's mission was that "He went forth suffering". He didn't have to but he chose to that He might know how to succor us perfectly. He pointed out that we are His representatives and as such we will suffer. And what's more is that we are to submit joyfully. That is the price of Discipleship. But Grace and Miracles and Change are available to us because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Grace is not only a redemptive power, but it is also an enabling power. It is a power that gives us strength beyond our own. And the way we apply the atonement is by living the Gospel, The gospel simply is the best way to go, it is the answer that makes everything right in our lives and I Love it so much! 

So yes, zone conferences are pretty sweet around here. President Porter is going to be an apostle someday. 

On other news, we are teaching this father and son named J… and V…. They work on Sundays so coming to church is going to be hard for them. but they are reading the Book of Mormon and we had a sweet lesson about the word of Wisdom last Sunday evening and they accepted! They are such humble awesome people, and very promising to, they just need to come to church! Also, pray that this family that we are getting to know will accept the gospel! It was a total miracle how we found them but I'm out of time! 

Love you all tons. I'm doing great. Que tengan una buena semana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Graf

There was a big festival going on downtown called "taste of Cincinnati" so the bus routes were changed and by the time we realized it and got off we found ourselves in a nice spot to snap a quick picture of the city! It is definitely getting warmer and so climbing hills is sweaty hard work but it's good for the legs :) 

Norwood

This transfer was absolutely bizerk. Completely crazy I tell you. More than half of the Spanish zone got shuffled around, except for Elder Foote of course, who is still in Dayton and will complete 1 full year there. Elder Carranza, who we all thought was finally leaving the Ohio River branch, actually stayed in Kentucky with the same branch, he just replaced me as Elder Arveseth's companion in Florence. Elder Carranza is still a zone leader even though he's not companions with the other Spanish zone leader, Elder Thompson. Elder Thompson received a new companion named Elder Benavides, an English assistant that is going into Spanish work on his last transfer of his mission. They will also be working with the Ohio River Branch. Elder Brown finished his mission. In his final testimony at transfer meeting he talked about me and him in Dayton together. He testified of how he had always felt that someone was walking with us and supporting us the whole time. He testified of how he now knew that it was the Savior and how he knows that this is the Lord's work. Really powerful. It really struck a chord with me because I can remember and relate to his words as a first hand witness.

     As for me, I got transferred to Norwood with Elder Garcia. Norwood is just on the other side of the Ohio River and North of Cincinnati. Actually, my area basically covers much of Cincinnati and I'm emailing right now from the public library downtown Cincinnati. This library is HUGE and I just so happened to be the lucky winner of reserving a seat right next to a wanna-be-singer. Quite distracting. You never can know what you get with people down here. Downtown Dayton was pretty ghetto but downtown Cincinnati blows it out of the water. Norwood is probably one of the sketchier and more rough corners of the mission. We've been advised to avoid certain areas in the evenings. We were on foot for most of the week but I just got my bike fixed last Saturday. YAY! So we're feeling pretty mobile and effective right now :) In fact, in some instances we proved that we are quicker than the bus. We were running late for a ward social Saturday night. We were at the bottom of the map visiting a member and we had some good ground to cover to make it on time to our destination which was at the top of a giant 2 mile hill that we didn't want to bike up. We hurried to a bus stop and waited and waited and waited for like 30 minutes. We decided that it must have broken down so we were mounting our bikes and getting ready to ride away when we saw the bus come around the corner. "Yay!" we thought, "We won't have to bike there". But the bus pulled up and we couldn't get on because the bus already had another bike on the bike rack and it can only carry two. Dejected, we began pursuing the bus on our bikes with the intention that if we at least stayed on the bus route we might be able to catch a bus that would come up from behind us. After a few hills we lost the first bus but we kept pedaling hard and to our surprise we after a couple miles we gained sight of the tail lights again. We ended up catching the first bus right before the big hill and right after the man with the other bike had gotten off. We boarded the bus and everyone celebrated with a smile on their faces. The bus driver herself was quite surprised to see us again. It was a fun time zipping through the city. Long story made less long, we made it to the social and had a chance to meet many of the members.

   Elder Garcia is my first native companion! Well, almost. He's a young guy from El Paso Texas. His parents are from Mexico. We've had a great week together. He's super girl crazy but as we are able to stay focused we are going to see lots of fun times and success together. He's just the companion I need right now. He's got lots of energy and he's a good worker. Before transfer meeting we were talking to each other about how crazy it would be if we were companions, and, well, it happened! He was asked to give a talk this Sunday and he did a good job. But because he was giving a talk I was left to myself to translate for my first time ever! We don't have a Spanish branch here. That is our objective, to lay the foundation for a Spanish branch. This area was just opened a couple months ago (opened up by Elder Arveseth actually). So far there are 2 Spanish families that attend, about 9 people total. We are working out of the English ward so we have to translate everything for the 3 hours of church services. This is really going to grow my language skills. Speaking a language and translating it in live action are two totally different things. So for Sacrament meeting I sat out in the foyer with a headset and a microphone as I translated the meeting to the Spanish members with headphones sitting inside the chapel. It was a little rough but not bad for my first time. For the next class we taught a Spanish gospel principles class, something that we'll be doing each week. For the last hour I sat next to one of the brother's in Elder's quorum and translated the class for him. This had made me appreciate the times where you can just sit and relax and listen.  It is definitely work. But I love it. I love the Spanish people. English people are so robotic while the Spanish culture is so full of life. 

   Well that's all I've got time for. I'll update you more about this area next week. Until then Have a Good one!

Elder Graf

Here is Elder Garcia! We bought some chiken and steak fajitas from a local hispanic shop and we brought it home and cooked it up for lunch. THE BEST LUNCH THAT ANY MISSIONARY HAS EVER HAD IN A MISSIONARY APARTMENT. It was super good to say the least.

Here's a grafiti wall we walked past on our way to meet a member.

Hot Potato with Transfers!

I'm being transferred!!! I'm super sad because I'm going to have to leave this amazing area and amazing branch and amazing people. Hopefully I'll be able to come to C…'s Baptism in June!

I'll have to tell Elder Arveseth about the scriptures that you have in the mail for E...  E…, by the way, is going to the temple this Saturday with the branch!!!!!!!! I'm so happy for her. She's also bringing her nonmember daughter so she can walk around the outside of the temple! That family is a miracle. I love them so much and I'm going to be sad saying good-bye to all the members... again. But, I'm also always super excited for what the future has in store! I'll let you know next week! This transfer is huge! Tons of people are getting moved around, even Elder Carranza is finally leaving this branch!

But it was a fun time to talk to you all yesterday! You are great!!!

Here's my letter to President. Sorry there are no pictures today, but I'll have a lot to send next time because I'll be taking as many as I can today!

"Thank you for the transfer. It was very challenging at times, but I feel like I am more like Christ because of it. I feel that I leave this transfer as a better leader, more loving, more understanding, and more patient. My faith in the Savior has grown as well. We saw miracles with E…'s baptism, and other blessings are in the works for future baptisms in this area. But, interestingly enough, it wasn't the miracles that increased my faith, rather it was the times of trial. This was a lesson I learned. It wasn't the happy times that changed me. It was the times of distress that I learned how to rely on the atonement for strength, because there was nothing else that could have supported me. I know that challenges are all a part of God's carefully designed plan. I learned how to rely on the Savior more than ever before. In my most sincere moments of prayer is when revelation came in its clearest form. I love my Redeemer and I love this work. I love Elder Arveseth and I'm grateful for all the experiences we had together.”

Elder Arveseth and I grew close together and the both of us learned so much and grew a lot. We ended this transfer with some really good discussions between us.

Love you all and talk to you next week to tell you where I end up!!!

Elder Graf