Elder Tyler Grigor : I'm so grateful to be on a mission.

Elder Grigor sent 17 pictures home this week. He is becoming quite the little photographer!!! They are at the bottom of the email.

I got the package and I loved it. My best moment I will share shortly. One thing I am loving about Bolivia is the weather! My Spanish is coming along really well and I can pretty much talk with anyone and I understand too. It’s awesome!!

So ya this week was interesting. I will start with my awesome story last Monday night. So we had an appointment planned and of course when we got there they were busy. That has been happening quite a lot lately. So as we were walking we were thinking of who we could go visit and I kept thinking of different families but none were sticking. But this referral that we got kept coming into my head. His name was Percy. I didn’t want to go because it was on the other side of the zone and didn’t want to go that far so I just kept ignoring the feeling to go there but it kept coming back in my head. So I finally decided just to go and visit him. We go there and he said that he didn’t have any time but after talking for a couple minutes he said come in. We ended up talking for quite a while and taught him about Joseph Smith and invited him to pray to receive an answer from God. He told us that he thought he had already received his answer. He told us a story that before we had come to his house he was out on his porch smoking ( we still have to teach him the word of wisdom haha) wondering why his life was going so bad right now and why he was having so many problems and he was asking for an answer from god. In that moment we knocked on the door to come visit him. That was really a testimony builder for me in the power and influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives and how he is able to direct us to people who are waiting and ready. It’s crazy for me to see these miracles happen in my life and I know without a doubt that it was the spirit who directed us to that house and put that thought and his name into my head. I told him and bore testimony that this was no coincidence and that we were guided by the spirit to come to his house. Right now he has a date for baptism. Maybe it won’t be his time with me or with my companion but I know that this was the time that he needed to talk to the missionaries and we have at least planted the seed for him. That was one of my favorite experiences this week.

Tuesday kind of blew.... chunks. I wasn’t feeling too well and well I was vomiting just a little so I slept and we didn’t go out and work that day. Then Wednesday we had a Zone conference which are always super awesome and give us great desires to go out and work and to be awesome missionaries. I learned quite a lot from the assistants and the president. There are a few rule changes now and we aren’t supposed to wear backpacks anymore and we have to carry around a handkerchief and the plaque always has to be on the right side ( if it’s a clip on ) those are the only changes I think.

Then the rest of week was pretty normal and we just went out and worked. Right now we are struggling finding new people to teach and the investigators that we do have are really not progressing so it’s pretty hard and it’s tough. One of the hardest parts for me is seeing all the success of the other missionaries and all the success they are having in their areas and it makes me kind of jealous. I really don’t like comparing myself with others but I’m kind of competitive and want to be the best missionary that I can be. I know that numbers aren’t what make a great missionary but it sure helps to kind of have that evidence that you are out working and getting lots done. Right now we are just doing a lot of walking from one investigator to the next finding out they are busy and we should come back another day. Then we go back the next day and they say the same thing. It’s frustrating at times but I know that everything is happening for a reason. It’s kind of weird why I am so happy all the time, I mean these last few weeks have been rough. We haven’t had lots of success and baptism dates and everything is falling through and nothing seems to be going right yet somehow I always have a desire to go out and find more people to help and teach as many as possible. With the failure I’ve had lately I find it strange that I’m usually in a good mood. That’s the power of the mission I guess.

Well I am very optimistic that everything with turn around for the better and that we’re going to start to have lots more success if we keep doing what were supposed to. I’m so grateful to be out here in the mission and for the support of everyone at home, I love you so much mom and dad and I hope you have an amazing week.

Love Tyler