Buenas tardes!! This week was pretty good! We had Zone Conference on Tuesday!! It was fun to see all the homies and people I’ve served with. Sister Seitz talked to us about high love and high expectations. It was such a good training! If you truly love someone, you will have high expectations for them. God loves us exactly how we are, but he loves us too much to keep us that way. However, these high expectations are based on God’s perspective not ours. It was a really good training and caused me to ponder on a lot of different things
That night we had a lesson with our homeboy Jose Cruz. He has talked with missionaries a bunch before . He’s super cool and even said he wanted to cook us some food sometime! So I’m excited about that. He’s a cook at a restaurant in Frisko so he’s got some experience. But we had a cool lesson with him and read 3 Nephi 11 with him and talked about prayer and our connection to God.
Wednesday was park your car day which was really fun! We just biked to our service downtown at the food bank. While we were doing service it start POURING rain! It was crazy! But luckily it stopped by the time we finished so we didn’t have to bike in the rain.
Thursday we went on exchanges! I went with Elder Allgaier in their area which is a bike area. He came out with me so it was fun talking about how much the mission has changed and stuff. It was probably one of the best exchanges I’ve had. It was so fun!! We just have the same humor and it’s so funny. We were biking for awhile and I was parched so after a few stopbys we swung past dutchbros and got some chocolate milk. Bad idea. I got a large which was massive. I drank it all and felt so crappy but had to bike 30 more minutes to dinner. It was the worst, I thought I was gonna puke. Thankfully I didn’t and we made it to dinner drenched in sweat. They made Pad Thai which was actually really really good. They had a 6 year old son and he was hilarious. After dinner we played soccer with him and it was so fun! They like mountain biking so I talked with them about a few trails in Utah I would ride and they told me about their adventures in moab. Aparently there’s a really good mountain bike trail here in McKinney so who knows, maybe I’ll check it out 
After dinner we had a lesson with their friend Ania. She texted them that morning saying she wanted to be baptized haha. So we talked to her about baptism and what that meant. She has a really solid understanding of the Gospel and atonement, it’s super cool. The problem is she lives with her grandma who is kinda crazy. Her grandma will just steal her money. She also said she’s kicking her out when she graduates. So Ania will have to leave within a few months and we have no idea where she’ll go. So they’re waiting to figure out what happens until they put her on date for baptism. She’s really nice though and super prepared.
Saturday was kind of a crazy day. We started the day off with some service helping this one guy Greg. He owns a non-profit food bank type thing and so we unloaded a truck in a parking lot and sorted everything and then handed out stuff to people as they drove through. It was a lot of fun but definitely exhausting. After that we went straight to a member Suzeth’s house. She is pretty inactive but wants to come back. This was the first time I’ve met her in person but it was a really good lesson. We talked for like 2 hours and answered all her questions. She has forgotten a lot of stuff so we basically just taught things she didn’t remember. That lesson was all over the place!! She is so unbelievably scatter-brained 
it’s just one question after the other. But it was good and we got her to commit to reading the BOM everyday and come to church!!
Then later that night we went down to an apartment complex to do some stopbys and inspired knocking. We pull up and see 2 dudes in white shirts and ties… hmm… so I yelled out “Is that the Mormons?” It was the APs Elder King and Elder Esplin! I love those guys so much. It was fun to see them and talk for a sec. Crazy that we ran into them.
We had a lesson set up for 8:30 w our friend Abñer. He called us around 6:30 and asked if we could share a message with his cousin Ander. He got in a car accident about 2 years ago and is paralyzed from the waist down so he’s in a wheelchair. I guess he has been having a rough time lately and Abñer wanted us to share a message with him. Abñer isn’t even baptized and is already inviting people to meet w us!!! It was just a video call lesson but it was cool cause Ander lives in Guatemala! We shared a message about peace, hope, and God’s plan for us. I felt prompted to share a few experiences with some trials I have dealt with in my life. It was a powerful lesson and Abñer was super grateful.
Sunday was good. Church was good except Abñer was out in the foyer the whole time and then left after sacrament meeting so we didn’t even get to see him and he didn’t meet any members which was like on of the biggest reasons we wanted him to come. But we had a really good Elders Quorum lesson on the talk “Just Keep Going- With Faith” from last conference. We discussed D&C 82:10 and it was super good. Definitely go listen to that talk if you haven’t already!
We had dinner at our Branch Mission Leader’s house Hermano Aguilar. We played this scripture Trivia game which was super fun but really hard to understand the questions and the options cause it was all in Spanish. It was a blast though. Then he walked over to the couch and beckoned all of us to come over. He then continued to pull out some shoe polish and shined all of our shoes! He is literally the best!!
After dinner we had a lesson with Brittain at the park. He is on date to be baptized on the 10th of June!! We talked to him about faith and read Alma 32 together. He’s a super smart kid and loves the scriptures and church so much it’s so cool to see.
Today we went to Top Golf since it’s in our area! I haven’t been there in so long but it was so fun!!!
I also found out that our friend Amelia that I was teaching in Tyler went to church!! She’s not ready to meet with the missionaries again yet but aparently she went up on fast Sunday and bore her testimony!! That literally made me so happy!! I know she’ll eventually come full circle and see the importance of covenants. It is the best feeling ever watching people change and experience the joy that comes from the Gospel.
This past week I read the talk “Jesus Christ- The master healer” by President Nelson from October 2005 and I’d like to share a few quotes that I liked.
He says, “I recognize that, on occasion, some of our most fervent prayers may seem to go unanswered. We wonder, âWhy?â I know that feeling! I know the fears and tears of such moments. But I also know that our prayers are never ignored. Our faith is never unappreciated. I know that an all-wise Heavenly Fatherâs perspective is much broader than is ours. While we know of our mortal problems and pain, He knows of our immortal progress and potential. If we pray to know His will and submit ourselves to it with patience and courage, heavenly healing can take place in His own way and time.”
“When sore trials come upon us, itâs time to deepen our faith in God, to work hard, and to serve others. Then He will heal our broken hearts. He will bestow upon us personal peace and comfort. Those great gifts will not be destroyed, even by death. Real joy awaits each of usï»żâon the other side of sorrow.”
I am so grateful to have a prophet on the earth today. How amazing is it that we have someone with the priesthood keys to commune with God and guide us through this wicked and tumultuous world?
This life is full of hills and valleys. We often find ourselves wondering why we have been given the trials we are given. God knows us personally. He understands what needs to happen in order for us to grow. We are never alone. We were never meant to face our challenges alone. God wants us to turn to him. To trust in him and rely on his plan. He sent his son Jesus Christ to perform the infinite atonement. Because of him we have the opportunity to repent and become worthy to live in the presence of God. There truly is peace in Christ. I love you all dearly and pray fervently that you feel God’s love for you each and everyday. 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
