Hello hello! This week went by so fast! It seems like everyday we were just so jam packed. But Tuessday we got to go to the temple which was so good! I was really excited to go and see the new changes. It felt so good to finally go to the temple again. This week was just filled with learning and spiritual experiences! With the temple, institute, and general conference it was so cool!
Institute was really fascinating. We listened to the talk “The First Great Commandment” by Jeffrey R. Holland which is atually my favorite talk! But this time we listened to it comparing Christ and Peter to the relationship between a parent and their child. Brother Richins talked about this one family that charged their son rent while he was living at home but then when he moved out they gave it all back. This is similar to the story of Peter and Christ. The fishermen couldn’t catch a single fish and then with Christ commanding them to toss their nets on the other side they were able to catch 153 fish. This allowed for the son to learn responsibility but then was given extra support as he moved on to the next part of his life.
We talked about how the apostles used the Savior almost as a crutch during his earthly ministry. But the true growth that would take place wasn’t until Christ left. It can be compared to learning to ride a bike. A parent can hold the child on the bike and push them all they want but the only way they will actually learn is to let go of them and let them learn. Similarly, Christ helped them understand what they needed to be doing, corrected them when needed, but let them grow on their own.
Relating to raising a child we talked about Christ’s example of teaching his apostles. Throughout his whole earthly ministry there is a common pattern that can be found that Christ uses to teach people. He doesn’t chastize or degrade, but also doesn’t let them wander without guidance. He always provides a question and allows them to figure out what they need to do. For example, Elder Holland tells the story of Peter and Christ. He asks, “Peter, do you love me?” 3 times. Rather than condemning him, he reminds him of a few days earlier when he was asked a similar question 3 times. Christ didn’t point out exactly what Peter did wrong. He asked a question and allowed Peter to figure out what he needed to do. Teaching is really listening and discerning so you know what questions to ask. Teach them the doctrine but let them fail and govern themselves. In order to teach your children you have to be an example to them. Just as Peter did, when we are given correction and it finally ‘clicks’, we must move forward and never look back. In preach my gospel it says, “you cannot convert people beyond your own conversion”. Relating to parenting, you cannot teach your children beyond that which you do. You must learn to hit your knees and study the scriptures long before you have kids. You can’t rely on raising your children to direct you towards God to establish that relationship.
We also discussed how we need multigenerational disciples. Just as the word clearly states, we need disciples multiple generations. Parents must raise their children in righteousness and raise them to be disciples of Jesus Christ. When someone leaves the church on average it takes 7 generations to come back to the church. Best case it takes 4 generations. That is ridiculous! We talked about how important it is within our generation to stay close to the Lord because 47% of 18-30 year olds leave the church. This is the highest demographic of people leaving the church.
Thursday night we met with Leon again… He is the evangelist from the Church of Christ that we had a lesson with last week. This time he had 3 more anti articles and tried to convince us we aren’t Christian and continued to discredit the Book of Mormon. I was pretty frustrated at this point and he even singled out Sister Wood and basically attacked her verbally. Last time we talked about how the Book of Mormon gives us clarity on what happens after we die. He printed out a little diagram and had a bunch of scriptures to show us the Bible has everything we need. We then tried to explain that the Book of Mormon help answers questions the Bible can’t. He literally told us the Bible may not give us the complete answer to our questions but it gives enough. We were like, “Bro what?” So we whipped out James 1:5 “If any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God, THAT GIVETH TO ALL MEN LIBERALLY, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.” God literally promised us he would give unto us answers LIBERALLY. So through the power of the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of ALL things! He also tried to bash us on the name of the church too. He’s like “well in Acts 11:26 Christ calls the people Christians not saints!” I’m like Okay buddy, “turn to Ephesisans 1:1 and 4:12” when Christ literally refers to the people as saints. It was so pointless talking to him. He wouldn’t let us talk very much and just shut us down with everything we said. We told him our purpose as missionaries and left. He tried to act all innocent which was so annoying because he’d say stuff like, “tell me where it says____ in the Bible!” and then claiming he wasn’t using any tactics to prove us wrong and blah blah blah. Waste of an evening. Gotta love good ol’ Texas.
Friday was pretty crazy too. We had to put together all of the Stake President Reports that each companionship sends us so we can talk with President Rhodus about their wards. It always takes forever so that was kinda boring. But later the STLs asked us if we could help them with somebody that’s moving. We were told “It will only be loading boxes that have been packed”. Per usual, there was an assortment of furniture and lots of other things that needed to be moved. We walk in and the first thing they say, “Lets start with the piano.” In my head I was like, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’. They were in a trailer so the front porch couldn’t fit the piano through the door. So we had to take it around to the back door and down the stairs. I don’t know if you have ever moved a piano before but they are HEAVY! It was easily 400 LBS. the problem with a piano -or at least this specific type- is that it’s awkward to hold onto and lift. So Elder Bullock and I were the only ones that could move it. I took the bottom end of the piano as we took it down but Elder Bullock had to awkwardly stradle it and move down as we went step by step. It was so freaking heavy and then to top everything off there was a little plastic piece that looked almost like a wheel chuck at the bottom of the staircase. The grass was pretty long so we couldn’t see it. Holding the piano I stepped down onto this plastic piece and rolled my ankle. Luckily I had my boots on so it wasn’t too bad but it still hurt like crazy. Then we had to carry it to the front of the trailer and up into the uhaul. It was a nightmare. Then afterwards we had to put in a lot of other furniture and boxes. They had a big dog but didn’t really clean up after it or at least her dog hair because there was hair EVERYWHERE. When I mean everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE. It was so gross and the whole house smelled like wet dog. But needless to say we helped them load everything and they were very grateful. My back hurt so bad after and honestly still hurts but sometimes it jus b like that 
That evening a huge storm came in right as we were driving home. It was raining sooooo hard and it was crazy windy. When we got home we were told a small tornado touched down and tore a few trees down about 2 miles from our apartment and 1/4 from the church. I didn’t see any news about a tornado hitting but if it did that’s sick. Sadly no pictures though. We started playing basketball on Friday nights and inviting our friends to come play! We do it down at the Stake Center because there’s a full court and its actually a gym floor instead of carpet. When we got down there we realized the power was out. We called a few people to come check it out but a few other buildings on the same road didn’t have power either so there was nothing we could do. Our frind Tyquan came to ball up which was sick because we haven’t been able to have a lesson with him 4.5 months. We all set up our phones with our flashlights on and just played in the dark lol. It kinda sucked because we could barely see the ball but it was still fun.
Saturday was so fun! I love general conference and I have been so excited for it! There were some amazing talks that were given. I loved Elder Haynie’s talk about Prophets and it was perfect for Amelia! I really enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf’s talk as well. Even though I’m not a parent yet it was cool to hear all those things especially in conjuction with our Institute class on Eternal Marriage & Families. Elder Yamashita’s talk was super cool too! Him and a few others talked about patriarchal blessings and it was just perfect for Austin since he’s getting his on Easter! I has had a lot of questions about it and I think the speakers covered everything he was curious about. It was super sad not having Elder Holland give his talk though. I was super excited to hear him speak. Some members in the YSA thought that he was probably supposed to speak on Saturday night but because him and his wife have covid he couldnt speak. Which would give a reason for the session ending so early as well. Sunday morning we watched conference at President Freeman’s house and Amelia came too! Out of all the talks she loved President Nelson’s talk! Even though she’s still struggling with prophets and a living prophet, she loved his talk and definitely felt the spirit as he spoke. It was also interesting to see the pattern of conference. A lot of people mentioned contention and even quoted President Nelson from his previous talks. It amazes me how inspired he is and always knows exactly how to guide us during our latter-day trials.
My favorite talk from this conference was probably Elder Vern Stanfill’s talk on Perfectionism vs. being perfected in Christ. I loved how he said, “We are measured by our devotion to God.” We don’t need to live up to the world’s standard of perfect or even compare ourselves to the efforts of others. The Savior perfects our efforts. This caused me to reflect on something I have studied in the past and maybe have mentioned in a previous email. In 3 Nephi 12:48 it says, ” Therfore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in Heaven is perfect”. Which at times can be discouraging if we are mistaking perfection in Christ with perfectionism. Christ knows we are going to make mistakes. He knows we are going to fail. But he expects us to give it our all. ‘The Lord loves effort’ as President Nelson has taught us. Flipping to D&C 67:13 it says, “Wherefore, continue in patience until ye are perfected.” Bear with patience thine afflictions and they shall be for thy gain. As we endure to the end our Father in Heaven will rescue us and bless us for our patience and long-suffering. He loves you and wants so badly for you to come back to him.
I hope you had an amazing week and conference weekend! I hope you have written down what the Spirit had taught you while listening to conference. Ponder on what the Lord desires of you. What does he want you to be doing? Where does he want you to be? and Who does he want you to become? I love you all and pray for your safety and success. Muchos besos. And remember, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good 
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All my love,
Elder Grubbs
