Howdy Howdy! This week up here in McKinney went by pretty fast. After P-day last week we went over to our friend David’s house for a lesson. After we got talking for a bit we asked him if he still had the Book of Mormon we gave him. He said yes but hesitated for a second and then said, “I do but my daughter took it and has been reading it.” We both looked at eachother and were like, lets go!! So hopefully next week we’ll have a lesson with both of them! But we read 3 Nephi 11 with him and it was a really good lesson. Usually it seems like he just kind of nods and agrees with what we say but this lesson he seemed to actually be engaged and added a few thoughts which was cool.
On Tuesday we had a lesson with our inactive member Suzeth. She really wants to come back to church but is really embarrassed because she hasn’t been in so long and has forgotten a lot. It’s basically like we’re teaching an investigator because we pretty much just teach the lessons but a little faster and answer the questions she has. One thing she has been caught up with is why bad things happen to good people. We gave her the best answer we could but she still feels like if there are trials we don’t necessarily have to go through; that there are lessons people can learn with out going through those specific trials. I tried to explain that we are often given trials just so that we are drawn back to our Heavenly Father. Like I have said in previous emails, God always gives us trials we can’t handle because it draws us back to him. With His help, we can overcome any trial we are given. I also shared D&C 122:7-9 about Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail.
She always has tons of questions and each time we try to answer them, another question comes up. This time she said, “One of my friends is Jewish and she is super nice! Where did they come from? Are they in the Bible?” We both looked at eachother then back at her and in perfect unison we said, “Well… they killed Jesus..” she gasped in disbelief and was like “What?!? How did I not know that?” So then we explained that technically the Roman’s were the ones that killed Jesus but the Jews rejected him as the Messiah or the Savior of the world.
That night we had a lesson with Brittain which was pretty good and then we headed to a trailer park for a lesson with our homie Jose. We parked at the trailer park and said a prayer before we got out of the car. As soon as we said amen there was a dude standing right outside Elder Hansen’s window and scared the crap out of me. His name was Pablo and he was super drunk. He talked to us for like 20 minutes and kept drinking his beer but spilled it all over his face and shirt. He also pulled out a blunt and smoked that too. It was wild.
Wednesday morning we did service for salvation army. As we were leaving we saw a drinking fountain outside the dumpster. Obviously we had to take advantage of this opportunity. So we brought it home and gutted out all the inside to make it lighter. Now we just need to find a way to mount it on our wall. We also did service for the McKinney food pantry. Elder Allgaier and I got to take the pallets out of the truck which was super fun. I’ll include videos below.
For the night we planned to go to an apartment complex to visit an inactive member. As soon as we got there Elder Hansen realized that they moved awhile ago and we didn’t even need to be at the apartment complex. We decided to try and talk to some people since we were already there. There was a couple working on their car on the other side of the complex. So we walked over and started talking with them. The man has been here for a few years but his wife has only been here for 5. We shared a message from the Book of Mormon and she really enjoyed it! She has to work on Sundays so she said she couldn’t come to church when we invited her. But we gave them our English Class info and they were really excited about that. It was cool to see the Lord work with our imperfect efforts to help his children in need.
We had a lesson with Abñer which I thought went well. He has been taught 100% of the principles so we don’t have anything to teach him. The spirit was so strong and we invited him to be baptized on June 17 but he declined 🙁 He says that baptism is a big step and he wants to make sure he’s ready to make these covenants because he doesn’t wanna mess up. It was hard to hear because Abñer is literally so ready for baptism. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and has come to church a bunch and everything. So hopefully soon he’ll come to realize that he can rely on the atonement and make this necessary step in his life.
Thursday was honestly pretty boring at least during the day. We had like a 2 hour phone call with Suzeth that felt pretty much pointless but good for her I guess. We street contacted like all night which was exhausting but we talked to a few cool people. We knocked on one door and this lady opened the door and knew we were the “mormons”. She knows of us but hasn’t met with missionaries before. She is very strong in her church and wasn’t interested but said she really appreciates what we do. After talking with us for a second she asked a few questions and then said she was going to read a little bit in the book of mormon she already had. She dind’t want us to come back or anything like that, but she was just curious about what the BOM is about. So that was SOOOO cool!! I’m praying that she will feel the spirit as she opens the book and reads it. But she also told us where some more of the hispanic community which helps a lot.
We talked to 2 different guys that night and had some interesting conversations… One guy would not stop bringing up the virgin mary (Cause he’s catholic and they pray to the virgin mary). Then this other dude was insane. He tried to tell us the word “soccorer” or in english to succor which we read in Alma 7:11-12 meant something else. He said there is a bomb hidden in the earth called succorer and when it goes off it’ll blow up the whole world. So that was a fun convo… But we went to Wendy’s at the end of the night and it was sick. I ordered a 4for4 (goated) but when they gave me my meal they gave me 10 spicy nugs instead of 4. God is good my friend, God is good
Saturday morning we helped a member move some mulch. It was a ton of fun and then they got us pizza after. Elder Allgaier and I just talked to their 3 year old son Owen the whole time. He was so funny! Then his Dad told us a story about his wife. So they went camping one day and she got attacked by mosquitos. They got in the car and were driving when another mosquito that was inside the car, landed on her leg and bit her. Obviously she was very upset and annoyed and yelled out “holy h*ll” and little 3 year old Owen was in the back carseat. So Owen will casually say, “holy h*ll” and it is so funny. When his dad was telling us the story Owen said it like 4 times it was terrible but so cute at the same time haha.
Sunday was really good cause Brittain and Abñer both came to church! Abñer came a little late but a member found him in the foyer and brought him in! Sacrament meeting was super cool because one of the speakers was a return missionary that had been home for about 4 months. He shared a few stories from his mission and it was really cool. It was just what Abñer needed to hear. After sacrament meeting a ton of our members all swarmed him and introduced themselves. It was so cool! Abñer stayed for 2nd hour too! It was really cool to actually see him in person for the first time too.
This week I have been studying in Helaman and I’d like to share a verse that stuck out to me. This is in chapter 10. So at this point the Lamanites have turned to God and repented of there sins while the Nephites have been caught up in their pride and are turning away from God. Nephi right now is teaching the Nephites and trying to preach repentance unto them. Nephi takes time to ponder on how he can help them. The Lord speaks to him and gives him the sealing power. Then verse 12 says:
“And behold, now it came to pass that when the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land, and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord which had been spoken unto him, concerning their destruction if they did not repent.”
I love that as soon as he received council from the lord, he didn’t hesitate or waste anytime, but immediately acted. Rather than heading home he turned around and chose to serve his fellow men. Nephi is such a great example to me of urgency and diligence. The gathering of scattered Israel is the greatest work we can be a part of. President Nelson has stated that we need to turn our focus to finding our Heavenly Father’s lost sheep.
I love you all mucho!! Hope you had a fantastic week!! 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
