Hola a todos! Yo sé que es tarde… pero está bien! Started the week off fantastic on Pday with Elder Reed saying, “You’re surprisingly athletic Elder Grubbs”. Gee thanks Elder… haha but that night we visited the Merino family because Hermana is super sick with cancer and probably only has a couple months left. So we stopped by and shared a quick message.
Tuesday we had zone conference and it was so fire!! Definitely one of my favorite zone conferences. Sister Seitz said that our worthiness ties back to our willingness. So when we fall into temptation or a make a mistake, it’s because we don’t have the willingness to comply with the commandments thus leading to unworthiness. I thought that was a cool thought. Then President talked about Knowledge vs Intelligence. He said intelligence is the application of the knowledge we obtain theough righteous acts. He then referenced D&C 130:18-19 which says,
“Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.”
He then tied Knowledge to diligence, and Intelligence to obedience. He quoted Elder Bednar who said, “Obedience isn’t transactional, it is transformational” President continued and said that it’s not about what you know, it’s about what you do with what you know. That rather than having a “To do list” we should have a “become” list. Instead of just accomplishing things, change your focus to see the transformation after you apply your knowledge. I really enjoyed their trainings and these were a few things that stuck out to me.
We did some service for the Philips and one of their little boys was playing w a broken piece of a clay pot. He decided it would be a good idea to rub it all over the car and make drawings. Needless to say, their van which was probably a 2018 Toyota was scratched all around the car… Just looking at the damage I couldn’t help but cringe. Hermano Philips didn’t seem to care but I’m sure he was pretty upset internally haha.
We went on exchanges and I started talking to these 2 people sitting on their porch (In Spanish obviously) and the chick goes “Holy crap you know Spanish too?” (In a little more colorful language) but it was funny. We talked to them for a little bit and they asked us a few questions. They said I sounded like I had a Brazilian accent which was kinda funny. They speak Portuguese in Brazil so idk what that says about my Spanish lol but hey I’ll take it! Better than sounding like a complete gringo The other dude was pretty cool though and his mind was blown when we talked about the spirit and how we can recieve revelation through feelings and stuff. It was pretty cool to see him reflect on past experiences where he felt the spirit. He didn’t want us to keep coming back but I think overtime he’ll be able to recognize the spirit more.
We taught our friend Mike who is like totally ready to be baptized. We talked about Covenants and at the end of the lesson I asked him if he feels ready to make these covenants with God. He said spiritually he is totally ready but like physically doesn’t know what to expect for a baptism and stuff. But next time we’ll go over that stuff and hopefully set a date for him!
Thursday was crazy busy. We had a lesson in the morning with our friend Maritza and she’s really going through it rn. Her husband is really against religion so she can’t come to church and he won’t let her kids (grown) stay at the house if they needed to and just causing a lot of problems. She said she’s prayed for like a year now that he will have a change of heart and go to church with her but nothing has changed. He lost his job last week too. Then on top of everything her sister has cancer and had an operation the day before our lesson. She just feels super alone and kept asking where God was during all of these trials she’s going through. I tried my best to console her but ultimately I didn’t know exactly how to help her. I felt super sad and I’ve been praying a lot for her but would also appreciate it if y’all could pray for her and her husband too.
We had 2 lessons with the Rojas kids (Xander and Miley). We had one good lesson and then they had a family problem and their older sister in the YSA asked us to come by again to help bring the spirit. So we went back and taught them about the Holy Ghost and it was a super good lesson. They opened up to us too and I think they feel more comfortable around us which is good.
Elder De la Cruz from our ward just left for the MTC and then to the Colorado Denver North mission! So I’m super stoked for him.
Saturday our dinner was at the stake center for the Bishop’s mother-in-law’s wedding. She’s known for being late (more so than Standard Hispanic Time) but the ceremony was supposed to be at 4 and dinner at 5. We got there at 6 and they hasn’t even done their vows or anything like that haha. But we eventually got dinner and they had a live band and everything! It was such a cool vibe and it was just fun to experience everything. We didn’t really do a lot of dancing but I will say that the little dancing we did (including the conga line) I felt very judged haha. But I’m white so idk what they’d expect.
Twas a good week! It’s crazy to think the transfer is already half over. It’s gone by fast but also some moments have been very slow haha… but all is well. I hope everyone is doing fine and dandy and please let me know of there’s anybody I can pray for! Muchos besos! And remember, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good
All my love
Elder Grubbs
Pics:
○Saying goodbye to Elder Thorngren
○Elder Wait and myself featuring The Elder Dawe
○All the Dallins at Zone Conference
○Vid from the wedding
