Wow a whole week and a half! Honestly it wasn’t too bad. The worst part about it is just getting messages/emails from friends and not being able to respond. But Monday and Tuesday felt pretty normal. The other Elders were dying though haha.
Last Monday we had Zone Pday and it was literally so fun. Almost everyone participated which made things so much better. We played makeshift baseball with a bat and blitz ball and shoes as bases. It was so dumb but one of the funnest things I’ve done at zone pday. We also played volleyball which I love so that was a blast and then we carved pumpkins.
Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Flint who’s in his first transfer. He’s got a girl back home and we spent a lot of time talking about the difficulties of that situation. Got some serious flashbacks… but I just tried to help him as best I could haha.
That night I actually had a super cool Facebook miracle. So we were doing facebook at Braums and I had messenger open with this guy I had just messaged the previous day. I hadn’t said anything about being a missionary and just asked how he had been doing. We decided to go order some candy bar mixes so hopped in line. I felt my phone buzzing and looked down to see that I accidentally had called him. I hurried and tried to hangup but it wouldn’t work so I just restarted my phone. When my phone turned on I looked at our messages and it didn’t register that I had called him so I was very relieved. But then maybe 20 seconds later he calls me back. So he knew I tried to call him earlier. I didn’t know what to say or anything but I answered it and he was super cool. I just told him I was a missionary and asked to share a scripture. I shared Moroni 10:4-5 explaining how if we have questions we can ask God and he will answer us through the spirit. He was pretty cool with everything and said I could call him back this week. When I hungup he texted and asked me to send him the scripture I read to him. God sure works in mysterious ways, but that was pretty cool.
On Thursday we had a lesson in the morning with Juliana (She’s the one that all her kids are baptized but she isn’t) She is a super sweet lady and it was fun talking about 3 Nephi 11 because she read it when we invited her to! She had some good questions and it was such a good lesson. Then we talked about school after the mission and she asked why people in our culture get married so young lol. It was a funny conversation.
We had a lesson with Mike and he’s all ready to go for baptism! I’m sure excited for him! He bought his first white shirt last Sunday but said he still needed to buy some ties. So after the lesson I gave him my tie. (I was really excited to give it to him)
Friday I got sick AGAIN which was not very fun at all. I hate staying in the apartment all day. I just wanna get out and work. Plus it was the ward “Dia de los muertos” party and I had to miss it 🙁
Saturday I felt a ton better though and we had a fun day. We went out to Royce City for dinner and stayed out there to hit some people taught previously. There happened to be a little flee market type thing on mainstreet in Royce so after dinner we spent some time there talking to people and street contacting. It was fun and Elder Reed and I bought some cool rings. We passed a tent that said “Free Bibles” and we went back to talk to them. Didn’t know if they’d totally bash us or be nice lol but we went for it. They were super nice and gave us little pocket ESV New Testaments. Then we passed a Boy Scouts stand and the leader in charged immediately asked if we were eagle scouts. I said, “Well of course!” and he shook or hands and talked with us. It was a lot of fun.
On our way out we saw 2 statues of Alvin and Theodore from Alvin and the chipmunks. We took a few pics and then had the genius idea of going inside and asking how much we could buy them for. Cause who wouldn’t want a giant Theodore in their apartment?? They unfortunately were not for sale… But apparently “Joe’s Meat Market” was owned by this hispanic family! We talked to them in Spanish and it was so fun! They are literally the nicest people. They have us free tacos too! They literally asked what meat we wanted and made them fresh for us. Some of the best street tacos I’ve every had for sure. They were soooooo nice and we talked about God and their believes and what we do as missionaries. They said we can come back anytime and they will feed us. It was just so cool and amazing to talk with people of a different culture and see how loving they are even though they’ve never met us before. You could just feel the love of God in the room because we loved them so much and they loved us and we all love God so much!!
Monday was interesting not having Pday but it just felt like the week kept going. Sunday night I usually think ‘Wow it’s already Pday again’. So monday wasn’t bad at all. We had district council and the Zone Leaders came up from Heath to join us. Afterwards we went on exchanges and I went with Elder Vandever. We had some really good talks about our district and the mission in general. He said something to me that really hit me. I always have feelings of inadequecy and he reassured me. He wasn’t even trying to reassure me, he just was explaining things he’s seen but it made me feel worthy. He said, “I’ve noticed a trend with President Seitz. He only chooses missionaries who are deeply converted to the Lord to be District Leaders.”
That night both Zone Leaders stayed over and rather then splitting them up, we decided to split the couch apart and bring both pieces upstairs with our beds. It was so tight, literally the only walking room was by the door and it was a 2×2 ft square. It was so fun with all 6 of us though. We stayed up pretty late talking but it was a lot of fun.
Yesterday we went to Panera bread for some studies and through Elder DeSpain (Now Sawyer) we found out there’s a bakers dozen of bagles for like $7.50 on Tuesdays. Elder Reed went up and bought some. The chick at the register was pretty cute and by the tip he gave her I knew he thought she was cute too, She then asked for a name for the order and he goes, “Sam. Thats S A M.” I literally started laughing but tried to hold back. We get back to our seat and I was laughing so hard. Me, “I’m glad you told her cause I’m not sure she knows how to spell Sam.”
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Spiritual Thought:
This week I studied the talk “The Great Commandment-Love the Lord” by President Benson from April 1988 after reflecting on my thoughts and feelings from last week’s zone conference. For anyone that doesn’t know, my favorite talk is “The First Great Commandment” by Elder Holland. So I was excited to read this talk. I love these talks because every single thing we do traces back to love. The reason we do everything we do is because we love the Lord. It ultlimately comes down to, do you fear God or do you fear men? John 21:15 “Lovest thou me more than these?” Do you love God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength? In his talk, President Benson says, “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place.” That’s not always the easiest thing to do, but when we put God first, he will always provide a way for things to work out. He also quotes Joseph Smith who says, “Whatever God requires is right,” It’s hard to always trust in God. But when we do, he will do everything in his power to bless you and endow you with his power and protection. I am grateful for a merciful God. For the atonement that allows me to change and be forgiven. I am grateful to have a Father in Heaven that wants nothing more than my happiness. I love the Lord. I love him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. I invite you all this week to ponder on how much you truly love the Lord. Are there things should or shouldn’t be doing that will allow you to love the Lord more completely? I know that as you make these necessary changes in your life to love God more, you will not only see more blessings in your life, but you’ll be able to feel his constant unchanging love for you more abundantly in your life.
I love you all and I pray that we can all become more converted to our loving Heavenly Father and his son, and our savior Jesus Christ. Muchos Besos, and remember, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.
All my love
Elder Grubbs
