Wow I can’t believe how fast this week has gone. It’s been a crazy week for sure but it feels like I wrote my last email yesterday. But on Tuesday the Mathews family who’s inactive took us out to lunch at this place called Torres mochas and it was sooooo good. I stuffed myself to the brim. I ordered a burrito filled w fajita meat and the rice and beans are super good. But it was funny because Sister Mathews was telling me how her son thought I looked like Tom Holland and it was just funny cause people tell me that all the time but it was just so random and funny.
Later that night we met a Hispanic family and it was my first real experience talking in Spanish w somebody and it was cool. I struggled a ton and only understood a few parts of it but it was good for me. The father’s name was Adrian, his wife Laura, and their daughter Anita (Ana for short). They were Baptist but they were super cool and fun to talk to.
We met this lady Shalonda a couple days ago. She’s new to Paris and doesn’t know many people but she said she gets home from work every day at the same time and said we could come over any day. She’s super cool and when we read a few scriptures from the book of Mormon w her and she said, “I’m gonna have to buy one of those books of Mormon sometime” and we told her we could give her one and it was just super cool cause she wanted one before we offered to give her one. She’s really cool and has a lot of potential and I’m really excited to see how she progresses. She said we’ve been a blessing in her life and it was so cool that she would say and feel that when we’ve only talked w her 2 times.
Another day we had dinner with the Lasleys and they have 2 kids Ty and Grace ages 4, 2. When we were about done w dinner ty was hitting a pillow with his toy sword saying “missionaries go hoooome!!!” It was kinda awkward but it was really funny haha. But after dinner I did an exchange with Elder Thompson and it was quite the night… we met like 3 people on the same street and it was crazy and 2 of them had some potential for sure. After that, I had my first experience with a Bible Basher. I’ve never been bashed before but I was definitely not looking forward to it. This guy kept like interrogating us and it was making me so mad. Elder Thompson was really good about everything but I had to hold it all in. This guy literally said “it says in the Bible that baptism is essential to get to heaven but it doesn’t say it’s necessary.” What the heck is this guy talking about!?!? ‘Necessary’ and ‘Essential’ are synonyms!!! Ugh it was making me so mad especially because we knew all the scriptures to back us up but he said it had to say word for word in the Bible for it to be a fact. But when we’d show him something that says it WORD FOR WORD he said we were interpreting it wrong and that “I’m sorry guys you really need to study the Bible more. I’m begging you” I was SOOOOOO mad. But we walked away and Elder Thompson handled it pretty good despite my comments (that were factual and not derogatory).
Thursday we had interviews so we drove down to Gilmer and met with President and Sister Seitz. It was pretty cool and they gave me some good insight and things to think about. President told me before we ended the interview, ” be kind to yourself Elder Grubbs. Be kind to yourself” He said it so powerfully and it was just so special. He said its important to know where you want to be, but if you constantly focus on where you’re lacking, you’re never going to progress. You have to look back and see how far you’ve come. It was just exactly what I needed to hear and it was really special. Sister Seitz expressed some similar feelings but said “don’t compare yourself to other missionaries that have had more time to practice and experience more. They all started where you are right now and you can’t expect yourself to know as much as them when they’ve been out for so long.” She also always says “it’s always hard before it’s easy” she emphasizes how important constant practice and effort is to progress.
Friday night Elder Brubaker and I forgot about English classes and we had walked over 3 miles in the opposite direction of the church and had to run back and caught the last 15 minutes of class. But classes were so fun because there were like 12 people there which was awesome! And then there were 2 adults in the back w their 2 kids. We were teaching them how to say things like “what is this? This is a pen” and such things like this. When the mom in the back was called on, her son kept whispering the word in English to her to help her and it was so cute. Everybody could hear him but his parents were struggling to remember the words and then he would just whisper the answer. It was so cute and it was so fun to be with everyone and laugh and joke around.
Saturday morning we did service at Barbs. She has a horse, pigs, and a couple cows. So we went out there to help roll out some hay and then pulled a ton of weeds. It was sooooo hot but we did a lot for her. We found 2 different sliders. One was a wolf spider that had its baby’s all over its back and it was super big. Then the other one was thus massive yellow and black slider called a zipper spider and we put a grasshopper in its web and it covered the whole thing and attacked the grasshopper. It was so cool to watch. But there are definitely some scary sliders and bugs out her in Texas. You can’t tell in the pictures but the zipper spider is about 7 or 8 inches long from one leg to the other. It was huge and scary.
That night the Clarksville elders had a baptism and it was really cool to see Nick and how he’s been progressing in the gospel. He’s really quiet but he’s really cool and has been talking w the bishop about getting the Aaronic priesthood. After the baptism, we played flag football with the youth. It was soooooo fun but super exhausting. I haven’t played football in a while but it was sooo fun. I scored a couple touchdowns and shocked some of the guys and leaders so it was way fun haha. There was only a few ripped shirts and scrapped knees. I was definitely bleeding after but it was so fun. But I woke up the next day and I haven’t been this sore since football sophomore year. Every muscle in my body was sore and I couldn’t believe it. That night we were walking home and there was a car accident. Nobody was hurt thank goodness but one of thr cars was probably totaled. I got to call 911 for the first time and it was sick. Also last week at the park some kids came up to us and asked some questions and we talked to them about the sculptures. One kid had a skateboard so I got on and did an Ollie for him and it was way cool.
Sunday was soooo good because it was fast and testimony meeting and the spirit was so strong. One kid went up and shared something that was super cool. I can’t remember where he got the analogy from but it was really cool. He said the Bible is like a dot on a piece of paper. There’s an infinite amount of lines you can draw through this dot. This is representing all of the interpretations and versions of the Bible that are in the world. But there’s another dot on this page, and it’s the book of Mormon. There’s only one line that can be drawn to connect the Bible and the book of Mormon. He went on to bear his testimony on the book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. The principles and lessons found inside are so sacred and profound. I can bear my personal witness of the truthfulness and miracles of the Book of Mormon. I promise you that as you read the book of Mormon and make it a daily habit, you will see blessings and miracles in your life that you didn’t have before. There are countless amounts of small blessings in my life that I have recognized that some may consider insignificant but mean everything to me from the book of Mormon. It is such a powerful tool given to us from our Heavenly Father through the prophet Joseph Smith.
I hope everyone is doing well and make sure to keep me updated on all your life adventures! Thanks for making it this far and reading about my experiences in Texas. I love you and wish you all the very best. God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good! And Muchos Besos!!
Love Elder Grubbs
