Another busy week in Rowlett. Tuesday was definitely the best. We had zone conference and I got to see so many friends!! It was a blast and good to see some missionaries I haven’t seen in awhile. It’s crazy how fast you build relationships with everyone. It was sad listening to the testimonies of the parting missionaries. It’s crazy who is already leaving and who has already left.
After zone conference we went in exchanges and I was with Elder Wait who went to bountiful high. One of their members came out to some lessons with us and he was hilarious. He’s from Tonga and talked about how he served his mission in downtown LA and he was the only member in his family. He has 4 sisters and 6 brothers and when he went home they all got baptized including his parents. Any free time he had on the Mish he would just read the scriptures. Even on Pday. He read the old testament 4 times and the new testament 7 times! That’s just wild.
Wednesday we had a lesson with Celia. We taught her in the past but she reached out saying she wanted us to come back. We just read 2 Nephi 9 because she wanted to and it talked about baptism and she knows she needs to be baptized. It was just cool teaching someone who reached out to us and wants us to talk with her rather than trying to find people all the time.
We did some street contacting and started talking to this 20 year old kid and then his little brother (age 3) walked up with him. We talked about English classes and stuff but the little boy kept pointing at things and asking “Que es eso?” Which in English is “What is that”. It was so cute. I pulled out one of our cards and he asked me what it was. I pointed at our card and said “Es Jesucristo” and then handed it to him. He grabbed it and looked at it a lot. He was so adorable.
Thursday was insane. We did some comp study outside but it started to sprinkle so we walked across the street to braums and the second we got inside it starting DUMPING. It was a cool little tender mercy
That night we had such a cool miracle. This may sound kinda dumb, but I know God definitely has a sense of humor and blessed us. We had about an hour left of our night and we never have time to fo FB so that was the plan. But we decided we wanted to street contact for a bit and then do FB the last 30 min. We just drive around hoping to be prompted where to go. I then had this idea. Elder Dawe and I had this game last transfer where we tried to find a certain car in a certain color. So I just blurted out, “We are gonna look for a red Toyota Rav4, and when we see one, that means God wants us to get out and talk to the first person we see” so we drove down a few streets and just decided to start heading back for FB but still look for the car. Sure enough we pulled up to a light and there’s a red Rav 4 parked at a gas station. We were dumb founded. So we skirt over there and walk in to the gas station. We felt awkward so Elder Spencer grabbed a drink to buy. The guy at the front counter started talking to us and asking questions. We talked to him for about 45 minutes and it was so cool. He talked about how important family is and education. I explained how we believe the same things and have self reliance classes and what not. He was super cool and we gave him a living christ and later texted him the Family Proclamation too. It was funny cause he said “as soon as you guys walked in, I know the conversation would go 1 of 2 ways” then just said how we basically could bash him and come up with scriptures for everything and tell him he’s wrong and everything. OR that we would be open and just have a good conversation. Which is what happened haha. But he was super cool and told us our parents taught us well so shout out to my Mom and Dad. So that was a super cool miracle! God sure works in mysterious ways 😉
Friday we had dinner with this slightly less active member Omar. He had an insane story. Basically his family was converted when he was 12 because his grandma was a member, but when he got older he got into some gang things and it was just really bad. He had a huge scar on his neck and he told us he got into a fight and the other guy pulled a knife and stabbed him in the neck (sorry that’s kinda gruesome) then later he got shot in the back but the bullet went through, hit his rib and ricocheted out, without hitting any organs or anything. Then in prison he started reading The Book of Mormon and grew his testimony. He had to stay in his cell for 23 hours and then only got 1 hour to leave. So he mostly just sat in his cell reading the book of Mormon. He totally turned his life around and has a super cool testimony of the Book of Mormon, especially the story of Alma. It was cool cause we planned a message to share and talk about, but we didn’t have to do anything because he already started talking about it. It was crazy cool.
Then we had a lesson with Juan in little Mexico. At first he made it seem like he wasn’t interested and said he already has his church. But then just out of nowhere he said he still wanted to read the Book of Mormon we gave him and that life was just super hectic and to give him a few weeks. He told us he’d heard a few things about the “Mormons” and so we had some more questions like about Joseph Smith. A lot of people think we’re not Christian because Christ came to the America’s lol. He was like “People say you guys aren’t Christian but your church name on your name tags says ‘Church of Jesus Christ’ and that’s all you guys talk about” I chuckled a bit and explained how Christ is the center of our church and stuff. It was pretty cool because everything just totally changed and he said he still wanted to know truth and liked that we said only God can tell him if something is true. He said he didn’t want to judge our church based off what other people said and he wanted to read from the book of Mormon before he meets with us so that he understands more. It was a pretty cool visit.
We had a lesson with Xander and Miley who are 9 years old and weren’t baptized just because of Covid. Their parents are members but are separated. They are constantly at soccer tournaments so they can never come to church. But they’re really cool and it was a fun lesson. They couldn’t meet until like 8:30 so they were very sleepy towards the end of the lesson. I felt the spirit super strongly because I could just testify simply and powerfully so they would understand. I just hope they felt the spirit too.
Saturday morning we did some Zone service which was super hype but soooo hot. We were digging some trenches because they were getting some goats next week. We were there for 3 hours and didn’t even get halfway… it wasn’t even dirt, it was packed in rocks with a little dirt and a lot of clay. It also had 2 layers of weed cloth that were worn down and would just fall apart. It was terrible. Then I was digging around a bush and got stung by a wasp which is never fun, but Texas wasps are no joke. It hurt a ton but I just kept digging and oddly it didn’t swell up until the next day. My arm just looked like a balloon. But don’t worry, I got my revenge. They ended up not wanting the bushes so I took a pickaxe and went crazy tearing it up and killed like 3 wasps nests. Everyone was standing back because they didn’t want to get stung. But even when all the wasps flew out and around I just kept hacking at the bushes. Justice was served 
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Then Elder Siggard had to leave because he’s flying out to Peru. I’m definitely gonna miss that guy. He’s been in my district every single area I’ve been in which is crazy. But I lived w him for my first 2 transfers and its been fun reminiscing about all the transfers we’ve served together in.
We had a dinner lined up Saturday night with the Guzmans that are from the northern part of Trujillo Peru which is exactly where Elder Siggard is going. But he ended up having to leave early so he didn’t join us for dinner. So Elder Spencer and I enjoyed a nice 2 course Peruvian meal haha. Then we had a lesson with Marcia and she made us dinner too and I was dying. I’m trying to lose weight!! But it’s a good problem to have I guess haha.
Sunday was super good! One of the primary kids said, “You look like Tom Holland but younger because your face has that stuff” He then proceeded to tell me that I looked younger because I was still going through puberty and have acne. It was a nice backhanded compliment (emphasis on the backhand) but still a compliment I guess.
For dinner we had Quesabirrias which are like cheese fried tacos. They were divine 
then English classes were a blast! Everyone there is so funny and it’s so fun teaching them. It’s also a good opportunity for me to speak more Spanish and not just gospel terms cause that’s like all I know haha.
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Spiritual thought
Elder Holland gave a talk in 2004 titled “Abide in me” where he says
“abide” is not a word we use much anymore. So I gained even more appreciation for this admonition from the Lord when I was introduced to the translation of this passage in another language. In Spanish that familiar phrase is rendered “permanecer en mi.”Like the English verb “abide,” permanecer means “to remain, to stay,” but even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of “permanence.” The sense of this then is “stay—but stay forever.”
A few days later I listened to a different talk that referenced John 15:10 which says, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” As we are striving to keep the commandments we will be encircled in the love of our father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ. But that leads to the question, “Isn’t God’s love for us infinite and unchanging?” Yes! His love doesn’t change at all no matter the decisions we make, or sins we commit. But to further answer that question I reflected back on 2 Nephi 5. I have recently restarted reading the book of Mormon and the other day I just read about when the Nephites and the Lamanites split up. The Lamanites are then cursed because they did not hearken unto the word of the Lord. In verse 20 it states that the curse was, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. As we choose to follow him and hearken unto his words, we will be in his presence. The Lord’s love is still unchanging and infinite, but when we listen to him and follow him, we can abide in his love and in His presence. It’s so important that we bind ourselves to Christ and like the word “permanecer” we stay permanently with him. I know that as we choose to abide with Christ, and abide to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, we can abide in his love.
I love you all and hope this week is amazing!! I just want you to remember that your Heavenly Father is aware of you. He is aware of what you’re going through, and he sees who you can become. He is literally our father in Heaven and he wants you to talk to him. So please talk to him. Pour out your thoughts and feelings to him. He wants to help you, you just need to ask. Muchos besos! And remember, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!
Love
Elder Grubbs
P.S. I saw the ugliest Kia Soul in my life
Also some pics w Elder Christensen and Elder Speyer
