Holy cow this transfer has gone by so fast!! Transfers have been switched to Fridays now so we get transfer news on Wednesday night. This week we were super busy and it was a really good week! On Monday after P-day we talked to this guy Jose that was on his porch. We asked him about his work and whatnot and he told us that he had talked with missionaries years ago back in Mexico! He didn’t remember very much but it’s always cool to see people that have talked or met with missionaries in the past. Maybe in the Spirit World or the Millenium I’ll be able to meet other missionaries that taught the same people as me. Especially years down the road when people I have taught find missionaries again and get baptized.
Tuesday was crazy!! We had interviews up in Melissa so we stopped by Buccees on the way there. We were walking around and I saw Elder Hansen talking to someone that looked really familiar to me. As I walked up I realized it was Oliver Ault! The Aults are in Paris where I started my mission and their son Oliver was on a mission in Canada at the time. Brother Ault was the ward mission leader so we got super close. Oliver’s little brother Abram was there too and it was really good to see him. I was kind of amazed how tall his is and how much he has changed! But I guess it has been like over 18 months since I was in Paris. Granted I’ve changed a lot, but not height wise unfortunately… A new senior couple just came into the mission! They are Elder and Sister Lechiminant and they’re in our district! It was super fun having them in District Council. I’ve had a senior couple in my district 3 out of my 5 areas and it has always been a blast. Sister Lechiminant is from Singapore but went to BYU Hawaii and then served a mission in Singapore. Elder Lechininant is from the states but served in Singapore. He was her District Leader 
hahha I couldn’t believe it when he told us that. He was like, “yeah we dated on P-Days” and then his wife slapped him lol. They introduced themselves and after stating that he just turned 61, Elder Lecheminant then stated that his wife just turned 35. With a chuckle, his wife retorted, “Nice try but you’re still sleeping on the couch”. We all died laughing. It was so funny!! And then she apologized and made sure we knew it was a joke haha. Interviews were super good! Sadly since we were last and the Seitz’s had a meeting right after I only got an interview with President Seitz. But I got to call Sister Seitz and do an interview over the phone which is better than nothing! Elder Allgaier and I found these matching JC Penny ties on P-day so we both wore them to interviews. President said he was glad we only paid $1 for them because they “weren’t even worth that” lol.
Wednesday was literally INSANE. We do 4 hours of service spread out through the day with the M2/7 Elders (Elder Thompson & Elder Allgaier) which keeps us pretty busy but then after dinner we had a crazy night. We went over to Suzeth’s house (The inactive member that wants to come back). It started off kinda sporatic just talking about our lives and things we did back home. She asked if we had girlfriends and Elder Hansen just looked at me and laughed. She was like, “You have girlfriend?” so I laughed and said, “did”. Then that led down a whole other rabbitt hole explaining what happened and how I feel about the whole situation. I haven’t talked about that stuff for awhile so it was interesting thinking about it all and how I’ve changed. While we were talking, Suzeth’s older sister Liz stopped by and sat down to talk with us too. She isn’t a member but has gone to church a few times. She doesn’t really know much about what we believe. The first thing Suzeth said was, “Did you know they believe we can be together forever and live as a family for eternity?” So we talked a little bit about the Spirit World and how it works and then they asked about baptism. We talked about the Catholic practice of baptizing infants. We read through parts of Moroni 8 (of course) and explained to them in simple terms why we don’t do that. First of all, baptism is for the remission of our sins. We know that babies are pure and are incapable of committing sin. Thus, there is no reason for baptism. Second, Christ is our perfect example, shouldn’t we do everything we can to follow him and what he did? Well, he was baptized by immersion, don’t you think we should do that too? Through modern revelation we know that the age of accountability is 8 years of age. Does this mean a child can fully comprehend the gospel and the significance behind baptismal covenants? Not neccessarily, but it does mean that they are old enough to know right from wrong and can make decisions on their own. If Christ was perfect and never made a mistake, why was he baptized? Because he was showing us the path back to Heavenly Father. Without baptism we are unable to abide in the presence of God. Finally, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river. Why is this important? The distance between Nazareth and the Jordan river is approximately 150 miles. Would Christ just walk 150 miles for fun? No, he knew that John held the Aaronic priesthood and held the priesthood keys or proper authority or authorization given by God to perform the ordinance of baptism. So we need to be baptized by someone who holds the proper authority given by God! Also a cool miracle, as were talking there was this guy that pulled up to their house and neither of us knew who it was. He got out of the car and he was wearing a Utes tshirt haha so i knew he was a member. I got up and talked to him. He is in the Frisco YSA but came over here to play some pickleball. He drove by and stopped to see if we needed a member for our lesson! How cool is that? We told him we were just teaching an inactive member so he left but it was cool that he stopped to see if we needed any help. After that conversation, Liz asked me a few questions about my previous girlfriend which led to us having a different conversation than Elder Hansen and Suzeth. He basically ran through the Plan of Salvation and answered her questions while Liz was talking to me.
She opened up to me a lot and explained some of her past with her husband and their 2 kids. She had questions about Divorce and how God feels about it especially with a temple marriage. I explained to her that it’s kind of like a last resort, but often times when abuse and other situations in the home occur, divorce is necessary for the well-being of the family and God understands that. That led into the Atonement and we talked about how people change. Saying that people never change because of a few choices they’ve made in their lives, regardless of how severe, is limiting God and the power of the Atonement. Liz explained that her and her husband were married legally but her in-laws want them to be married in the Catholic church. Even though her husband “is catholic” (isn’t very active) he doesn’t want to get married in the catholic church and they didn’t want to have to go to a ‘confesesion’ and what-not. She started crying and explained that her 8 year old son had never been to church and she feels terrible for not going in so long but they don’t really know where to go to church because her in-laws and everyone look down on them in the Catholic church for not being married in their church. She said she just wants her family to be a part of something without being judged. I explained some of the things we do at church and then asked her this question, “Liz, why do you think I’m here?” She looked puzzled so I asked, “Why do you think I’m here in Texas as a missionary?” Obviously she knew that we teach people about Jesus Christ. But I explained that our purpose is so much more than that. I explained, “From a worldly standpoint, serving a mission is a complete waste of time. We sacrifice 2 years away from family, friends, relationships, our old lifestyle, college, money, etc, and pay our way the whole time. There is absolutely no reason why we would throw all of that aside and come out here. The reason we do this Liz is because we know it’s true. We don’t go around talking to people and expect them to believe us. Honestly, we don’t want you to believe us! What we want you to do is to ask God yourself. We want you to grow your personal relationship with him and see his perspective of all the blessings you can receive by following him.” She got emotional and began to cry. I tried to help her understand that God wants her family to be together. God wants to hear from her. God wants to hold her and tell her everything is gonna be okay. I felt the Spirit so strongly as I testified to her. That is the best way to grow your faith and testimony-to share it. I love being a missionary and I’ve enjoyed teaching people, but I haven’t felt like I did in that moment in awhile. Most times when you teach people it’s trying to persuade them to listen to you. But the most joy you feel doesn’t come from persuading people to listen to you. It comes from teaching and testifying with all your heart to someone who is completely humble and meek and yearns for knowledge and peace and hope. It felt so good being able to do that.
We started teaching Suzeth around 6:15-6:30ish and ended the lesson around 8:40 because we had a video call lesson with Abñer. So we hopped in the car and had that lesson with him that ended at like 9:40. So Elder Hansen and I were teaching for like 3 hours straight, it was crazy! Our lesson with Abñer was really good because he told us a little bit about his past and things he struggled with. It helped us to see why he doesn’t feel ready to be baptized but also a little discouraging because he is totally ready and those past mistakes don’t disqualify him for baptism. If anything, his baptism will help him relieve those burdens he has held on his back. So we’re also worried he may be holding something back or that there is something he won’t tell us. But please keep him in your prayers. He is so humble and loves the gospel and has such a strong testimony and love for the Lord. He’s so close!!!
On Thursday we went on exchanges so I went with Elder Thompson to their area. We did some service for Linda and basically just planted a few trees and put them in bigger pots and did a little weeding. The day went by kinda slow because we just biked around and nobody wanted to talk to us. We didn’t have a dinner appointment and our only lesson fell through… so the day was kind of a drag. Then to top it off I had a leadership call at 9:30 that didn’t end til after 10:30. I was EXHUASTED afterwards.
This email is already pretty long so I won’t go into more detail. The weekend was good but nothing special. We did talk to this one guy Jose and he was super nice. He apparently didn’t have a good experience w missionaries in the past but I’m convinced those were J dubs. Everybody hates them out here haha. But we had a super good conversation and he said our Spanish was “casi perfecto” so I was pretty stoked about that.
We were also street contacting and as we walked up to a door a guy across the complex waved at us. So I walked over and chased them down. They were 2 guys that talked with missionaries in Mexico and went to English classes! So they were super friendly and wanted to talk w us! They had to leave but were super excited to meet with us! So that was super sick. Abñer came to church again! And then he brought his friend Manuel!! We’ve never talked to him but we were excited to see him bring somebody to church! I love you all and hope you have an amazing memorial day and 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
