Another week down in Mckinney! This week was definitely a lot faster than last week. Hallelujah. But on Tuesday we had a super cool experience! We were just walking down a few streets trying to find people that speak spanish. We got to one house that we both felt like we should knock but as we started to walk towards the door, this guy sitting in his truck in front of the house hollered out to us. We walked over and started talking with him. His name is Tommy and it was a very interesting lesson. We talked about the Restoration and he just kept looking back and forth at us. About mid lesson he stopped and said, “I’m sorry if I’m looking at you weird, I just can’t believe it. I had a dream a few days ago that I was talking to you guys. I remember his white shirt and glasses (pointing at Elder Hansen) and I remember you and your blue sweater (pointing at me).” He told us how he had this dream where he specifically talked to us and remembered it very vividly. But he didn’t know what we actually talked about in his dream. He was just so caught off-guard. But he really liked our message and wanted to meet with us again. He can’t read Spanish very well so we’ll have to go back and give him an English Book of Mormon but we gave him our number and it was just super cool!
On Wednesday they sent me my flight plans! I hate that! That is so weird! I’ve still got like 2.5 months left. But Wednesday we had a decent amount of service as usual but a little storm came in so the food pantry closed. We were taking the other Elders with us since they don’t have a car. We all got some legos to build together on Pday but since we were together we just did a group comp study and built our legos haha. It was a ton of fun. The rest of the day was pretty mid, just doing the same old stuff and not very much success. That night I talked with an Elder in our District that has been struggling a lot lately. I talked to him about peace, joy, dealing with grief, and just some of my experiences. As I was talking to him, words just came to my mouth and in my head. It was interesting how the conversation took a turn and we ended up talking about covenants. I’d like to share some of the thoughts that came to my mind as we were talking.
As I have talked about in multiple previous emails, covenants are not just a “2-way promise”. Our covenants open a door to a completely different relationship with our Heavenly Father. As we make these covenants, we come closer to God and Christ as our Savior. The closer we are to them, the safer we are. Our covenants anchor us as we draw nearer to God. In rock climbing there are anchor points along the wall or cliff you are climbing. As you climb higher, you are able to clip your rope onto these anchor points so if you fall, these anchors will catch you. Our covenants are like these anchor points. Sometimes it may feel pointless having to attach ourselves to the wall when it seems like it would be much faster to keep climbing rather than to stop and clip ourselves in. However, these anchor points are vital in allowing us to get to the top safely. It is impossible to climb the cliff of life without slipping. Time and time again we stumble and fall. Often times we slip in the same exact spot over and over. Rather than starting from the bottom and working our way up every single time we fall, we can clip into our covenants. We climb, but when we slip, we are caught by the anchor. Without these anchors we cannot make it to the top. We WILL slip, we WILL fall, but these anchors catch us. They give us another chance to keep climbing. The anchors will not go anywhere. D&C 82:10 “I, the Lord, am bound” When we make these covenants, God never changes. He never walks away. It’s all up to us whether we use these anchors or not, whether we choose to turn to our Heavenly Father for help or not. We are here on the Earth to learn how to trust in him and grow closer to him. This covenantal relationship is necessary to live in the presence of God after this life. Christ also taught the importance of covenants. He set the example for us to be baptized with the proper authority. We all know that Christ was sinless. He didn’t need to be baptized or receive a remission of his sins because he didn’t have any. But he was showing us the importance of our covenantal relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Friday night we had a lesson with our friend Charlie. He is 19 and came to the US pretty recently. He lives with his cousin Joseph. Idk how old he is but he’s married and has 3 kids so he’s quite a bit older than Charlie and he has talked with missionaries for about 10 years. We went into the lesson expecting to talk about the restoration and answer any questions Charlie had from last time. We ended up having like a 2.5 hour lesson with Joseph talking most the time and just asking us questions. He asked us about homosexuality, medical marijuana, and a few other very difficult questions to answer in English let alone in Spanish… Our brains were fried by the end of the night. But it was actually a pretty good lesson and we helped them understand the basics and the main things that our church believes in.
Saturday was crazy packed with service. It was the Global Youth Service Day so the whole stake met at the church and the JustServe coordinators were there and had a bunch of rotations for the youth to do. We were put on the painting station. They had pajamas they were giving to the elderly so they were painting the cardboard boxes that the pajamas will go inside. It was a lot of fun walking around talking with people and seeing other missionaries too! We also helped our Branch mission leader move from their house down in Allen up to an apartment in Mckinney. They basically had us help with all the big stuff like the couches, tables, nightstands, armoir, TVs, etc. It was fun except their apartment was on the 3rd floor… They didn’t have a moving truck or anything either. So we had to pack everything into their mini van and another member’s Tacoma (a small truck).
That night we also had 2 crazy miracles! We went to the drycleaners to pick up my suit, but it was closed 🙁 but we decided to walk around and street contact downtown. Literally nobody there spoke Spanish so it felt completely pointless but we decided to walk around a little bit more and head back to the car. We turned the corner and some guy rolled his window down and hollered out to us. It was Tommy! He had to keep driving but he said he was gonna text us soon! So that was super cool being able to see him again. We knew that that was the reason we went to downtown. So we went back to the car and put in the address for one of our friends. The address I put in took us to the wrong road and was like a 15 min walk away. We decided to just get out and street contact a little since we were already there. It was a neighborhood of pretty nice houses which isn’t a very big indication of Hispanics. But we kept walking and saw one lady outside sweeping her driveway. We started talking to her and had a great conversation. We bounced back between English and Spanish. She barely speaks Spanish here in the US and her kids don’t even know Spanish. But we shared a scripture in Alma 5 and talked about the atonement. She really liked it and even though she’s content w her church she said she needed it and enjoyed our message. She thanked us for what we’re doing and then she turned to me. She looked deep into my eyes and said “You especially. You have something special. God gave you something to share.” It was a really powerful moment honestly and I almost started to tear up. Just those simple words comforted me and made my whole week.
As I studied Sunday morning I was very enlightened with a new perspective. I listened to the talk How Firm Our Foundation by President Nelson from 2002 and compared it to his recent talk about The Temple and Our Spiritual Foundation. Quoting his 2002 talk he tells this story:
“About two decades ago when a temple was to be built in Mexico City, architects faced a great challenge. Because Mexico City is situated on a basin over water, some of its buildings settle and become tilted with the passage of time. Construction of a temple there required a special foundation. Two hundred twenty-one large, reinforced concrete piles were driven more than 100 feet deep into the ground. Onto those pilings, steel straps were anchored and fastened to a unit that can be adjusted if need be to keep the building level. With this unseen but sure foundation, that temple today stands steady and straight.”
Similar to the Mexico City temple and eventually the Salt Lake Temple, each person needs a firm spiritual foundation. However, like these 2 temples, each person requires a different foundation. All have the same purpose -to keep us firm, steadfast, and steady in our conversion to Jesus Christ. the Salt Lake temple needed a foundation to protect it from earthquakes, but the Mexico City temple needed a different foundation; a foundation to prevent settleing and to keep it level. As temple foundations are, we too are alike. We all need a steafast and firm foundation in our Savior Jesus Christ. However, there is no foundation that is “one-size fits all.” We all deal with different struggles, afflictions, temptations, etc. This is where covenants and person revelation come into play. As we hold fast to our covenants, (or in other words: as we lean on our relationship with Heavenly Father and trust in him) we receive personal revelation for our own specific challenges. Just as the foundation for the Salt Lake Temple is different from the foundation of the Mexico City Temple we too have different spiritual needs. The things we struggle with are different. We build our foundations differently, but all keep us on the covenant path. We are all on different roads, but all leading back to our Father in Heaven. I have a testimony that our Father in Heaven knows us and loves us all individually and personally. He will help us and guide us to strengthen our own personal foundations. As we choose to rely on him, we will be able to see his hand in our lives more abundantly.
I love you all so so much! Thank you all for your birthday wishes. I feel very loved and appreciate it more than you know. Always remember that your Heavenly Father is aware of you and your challenges and loves you so so much. Muchos besos! And remember, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!!
All my love
Elder Grubbs
