Happy New Year

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year

Well this week was pretty great, it was hard to work because of all of the holidays and the fact that lots of our investigators went on vacation but it was pretty fun. I loved talking to you guys on Christmas. I’m really happy that that was the last time I have to do that. I wish that I could have said goodbye to you guys properly but I don’t really know what happened I guess the internet just cut out.

On Christmas after internet we went to lunch and then went back to talk to my comps family because they were supposed to be on after lunch but they never showed up so we have to wait and he is going to talk to them this week on New Year’s Day. At least that’s the plan. We also went to the plaza and sang and it was working at first, lots of people came and were listening. We had a couple of missionaries contacting the ones who came up and looked interested and shared a Christmas message but then a mime came and took all of our fans L so we went to another little plaza and it worked out a lot better. People clapped after we finished a song and asked us to sing in English and when my comp was contacting they even asked him when the concert would be. They thought we were just warming up. I guess you could say we sang like angels. It was pretty awesome, most of the missionaries from the two zones were supposed to come but there were only like 10 of us but it was still really fun.

A cool experience that happened this week the day after Christmas. We were knocking on doors for a long time because none of our investigators were home or had time.  We tried to contact and well it wasn’t really working out too well. There were lots of people who just shut the door on us or said that no one was home or said they would come right down and then never did. Right when we were pretty discouraged and didn’t really want to keep knocking we decided to knock on one more door before going to an appointment. The dad answered the door and was super interested in our message about the prophets and the Book of Mormon and the restoration. Then he told us that it was really weird that we found him because he is hardly ever home. He is a taxi driver and only came to drop off his kids and give them something to eat. He was going to leave again but he was really grateful that he stayed home. Like I have experienced many times the Lord always blesses us after our struggles. We now have a new family that we are teaching and someone who is really interested in learning the gospel.

Another crazy thing that happened, the sisters called us Saturday night at 10 saying that they needed to leave their house at that moment because the owner of the house where they live left and they were left alone with a guy. So the next day we had no idea where they would go because they had been looking for house for a long time and hadn’t found anything yet. Being nice I decided that they would go to our house and we would go stay at another elders house close by who have extra beds for a couple of days while they look for a new place. But the thing is now they want to stay in our house and want us to go find a new place. I hope they are joking, we just got into that new house and we don’t want to leave. Plus it is super far away from the sister’s area. Hopefully they find a new place soon. So this week might be little crazy with moving things around and finding a new house.

Well, this was my week more or less, hope you guys had a great one, love the pictures, looks like you’re having lots of fun. Can’t wait to see you guys again. 

Love you

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor sitting under his flag with family pictures. LOVE IT! 

Christmas in Sucre, Bolivia 

Handing out Christmas gifts 

P-day fun

Love my companion

December 22nd, 2014 

Family,

So I don’t have much time to write today, there were lots of things that I had to do for the zone. I was trying to translate a talk in Spanish and after about half an hour of playing around with it and translating everything I erased it by accident and lost it all. I still have the original that I printed out but lost the rest. So I just wasted like a ton of time so that was lame. I will figure it out later though.

Anyways, we had a great week this week. Elder Callahua is super awesome and we are getting along great here. I’m really hoping that I stay with him until the end of my mission, after like a week we’ve already became great friends. We just spend the whole day laughing and making jokes and having a good time. It doesn’t even matter if we have appointments fall through because that means we can just keep talking and having fun. I was kind of bummed at first about the transfer but I know that it was exactly what I needed. We are being obedient and finding new people and everything is going great.

Sorry this is so short but I will talk to you guys on Thursday. I’m so excited to be able to see you guys again. Talk to you soon!!

Elder Grigor 

Elder Grigor in Sucre 

That is one tired missionary! 

You just have to take a nap wherever you need to! 

Love that he captured so many pictures of Elder Grigor sleeping

Transfers came and I am staying in Sucre.

Hey Family,

So we had the transfer call last night. We were waiting for the transfer and my pensionista from Colcapirhua called me and told me that the elder who was there was coming to be my new companion. I was kind of sad because I wanted to hear it from the assistants but she told me. My new companion is going to be Elder Callahua ( Kai-ya-wa) is how you would say it in English. He is from Peru and will probably “kill me”. That’s what they say to the companion that sends you home. I think we will be together for at least 3 months and then I will be done. I think he has just over a year in the mission, I’m not exactly sure but I’ve heard he is a great worker. I don’t really know him that well but I’ve only heard good things so I am excited about that. He was here in Sucre in the area right next to where we are so he is basically just coming back to where he was like 4 months ago which is good because he will know everything about Sucre and will be able to visit some families and converts here in Sucre. I’m excited, I kind of thought that I was going to leaving and that my comp would be staying but I guess this is what the Lord wants and I am ok with it. It will be fun to spend Christmas here in Sucre.

We had a good last week together here is Sucre. I have really learned to love my companion and I will really miss him a lot. He’s a great guy and I have seen a big change in him since the first time I met him at the beginning of this year.  I think we finished off pretty strong. Although we aren’t seeing lots of success with investigators and baptisms we have seen the increased help of the members in the ward and I think they have grown to trust us. We are also having more success with the less active members here in the ward. With two different families we were able to do service and help them; with one on P-day we went out with the dad and son to play outdoor racquetball and created a stronger friendship with both of them. I think through these small things it brought them to church this week.  Both of the families came this Sunday and were blessed by the Lord. I felt really happy when both of the families walked in and felt that what we are doing here has been worth it and that we have been helping the ward. Sometimes it’s easy to think that we haven’t really done much because there are no baptisms, and I was kind of thinking that for a while but I have realized that it’s not all about that. I am really happy with the ward and for the opportunity that I have to stay here in Sucre and work with these amazing people.

Funny experience.  While walking down the street there was a family that was getting in the car and they were looking at us funny, as we got closer the younger brother who was probably about 16 stuck his head out the window and I thought he was going to ask a question or something about us but just told me “hey my sister likes you” and started laughing. So did I, my companion said that we should go back and knock on their door. I’m thinking about it…. Hahaha.

Well this was week here in Sucre. There are so many more things that I would love to write you guys but the time is running out. I’m really excited to talk to you guys next week, I will be really trunky that day. I am going to try and keep it between 30 and 40 minutes though. So just be prepared. Love you guys, talk to you soon.

Elder Grigor

**Elder Grigor's memory card had a virus so no pictures this week. Hopefully we will get some pictures next week. 

The best part of the week.

December 8th, 2014 

Hello Family

Well this week was pretty great, on Tuesday morning we went off to Cochabamba for a leadership training meeting. We got there early and had some time to go to the temple which was great because I hadn’t gone in a really long time, after that we went to Rodizios and that was super awesome. We have to go there when we come back. It costs like 11 dollars, I love it. We also had some time to go and visit some families and converts in old areas. It was really great to go see all of them and catch up. The meeting was also really great, most of the day Wednesday we were there with the president, he taught us again about the atonement which is one of my favourite principles. When we came back and had our zone meeting we were given some time at the end for people to come up and bear their testimonies about the atonement and the importance it has played in their lives. That was a really special part and I think everyone felt the spirit really strong and everyone left just a little more motivated. 

Another awesome thing that happened this week was the baptism of Jessenia. I don’t think I ever told you guys about her, we found her looking for a less active member about a transfer ago. We taught an awesome lesson and we both felt she was going to accept the gospel. Then we found out that she lived in the area beside us. We gave the referral and they continued to teach her and she was baptized this last Saturday. She also invited us to her baptism and we were able to be a part of that, so that made me really happy. Especially knowing that maybe we haven’t been seeing too many results here in our area but that our work is paying off. All of this happened for a less active member and when we found out he wasn’t home so we just talked to the other people in the house and it turns out that she was ready to accept the gospel. That was probably the best part of week. 

Everything is going great here. I got the 3 packages so I’m glad that they made it here. Everything is all packed up ready for Christmas, I already took out the stuff I was allowed to open and ate most of it already haha. I really enjoyed watching the videos and seeing all of the pictures. Thanks for sending that. I’m glad that my package got there also. I was kind of worried that is wasn’t going to make it. And I won’t be able to send pictures this week because it’s not working for some reason but I will try next week. I’m really excited to talk to you guys. Just 3 short weeks. Love you guys so much, thanks for everything, have a great week!!

Elder Grigor

"We went to the 7 waterfalls today as a zone. The water is

 kind of dirty though because it rained a ton here last night"

“ corred de tal manera que lo obtengais”

Hello Family,

Well this week just went flying by, it’s weird how the time never changes but sometimes it just seems like it goes by faster but it’s really not. 

So this week we had our zone conference here, the assistants and the president came down and we had a great time with them, almost the whole day we were in that meeting. There were lots of great messages. The president talked about “sweet repentance.” Basically just how sweet it is to repent and the need we have as missionaries to teach that well to our investigators. I really enjoyed that, then the assistants talked about goal and inspiring people. Like Michael Jordan and George Albert Smith and how they had weaknesses they were able to overcome them with proper goal setting and hard work. At the end all of the missionaries who are going home this transfer (2 weeks) and the ones who are going home in January gave their last testimonies and then I got trunky because the president said we aren’t going to have another conference until February and that is when I will have to give my last testimony before going home. It’s going by fast, that day is going to get here way to fast. Until now I feel very satisfied with my work, I hope I can finish just as strong as I started. 

Well my companion and I have been working really hard lately. I am really happy with what is happening in our area right now. We are finally seeing the fruits of our labor, in these last couple of weeks we have seen many people prepared by the lord and ready to hear the gospel. But like most it’s hard to get them to church. I think that is our biggest struggle right and we are going to see what else we can do to bring investigators to church. But I really do feel like the lord is blessing, we have been praying and trying to find a family to teach and through a member we found out her son was inactive so we went to go visit. He has his wife, 3 kids, and a niece who aren’t members. We went to visit them and they received us well and were really interested in our message about the Book of Mormon. I feel the lord answered our prayers and this family is ready to receive the restored gospel. Our goal is to reactivate the Dad and have him baptize his whole family. That would be the greatest. I’m happy to be here in Sucre and I am loving the mission more than ever. The thoughts of home are slowly creeping in but I’m trying hard to fight them off, I just really want to finish strong. And like Paul says, (I only remember it in Spanish haha) “ corred de tal manera que lo obtengais.”

I love the mission, I love the people, and I love you guys. I can’t wait to talk to you. I haven’t gotten the packages yet but we are going to Cochabamba tomorrow so it should be there. I’ll let you know next week.

Love you Fam. 

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor- 2 thumbs up! 

Love our "white giant" in Bolivia 

He bought the soccer shoes that he is wearing for $30- he got

 a great deal because no one in Bolivia has size 13 feet. 

"Sassy Selfie" - this coming from the guy who never liked taking

 pictures before his mission. We have loved getting pictures from him

 almost every week his entire mission. The only time he hasn't sent 

pictures is when he can't upload them at an internet cafe. 

I liked being there.

November 24th, 2014

Hello Padres,

¿Como están? I’m just kidding am not going to write in Spanish, although it would be pretty cool. I actually love speaking Spanish; I hope that I don’t lose it. I’m just going to have to go to Spanish wards and go to Spanish sessions in the temple. I sometimes don’t realize that I am just huge white guy but I feel like I am just a little Latino who speaks Spanish all the time. I think that because people always tell me that I speak really well and that I don’t really have an accent. I’ve had many people ask me if we speak Spanish in Canada and are always shocked when I tell them that I learned here in Bolivia. It makes me feel good.

Well this week was really great, we had almost the whole week to work and there was nothing that we really had to do. Just take an elder to the bus terminal and buy his ticket but that was like nothing compared to what we usually have to do. We did a couple of exchanges with the missionaries also to see how they are doing and help them out. I was with Elder Pachas from Peru, who speaks perfect English so the whole day we just spoke in English and got each other a little trunky but it was fun, we had a great time together in his area. I really like doing exchanges to get to know the missionaries better and making friends.

So as a zone we want to go to the seven waterfalls and we made the goal to have at least 50 lessons with members this week as a zone because that has been one of our week points. To be honest we tried probably the hardest we ever have to teach with members and it just seemed that nothing was working out. When we had members to come with us the appointments fell through, and when we really needed them at appointments they cancelled on us. But I guess it’s the effort that counts, luckily the rest of the zone had more luck that we did and we were able to teach 52 lessons with members this week. We are really happy with their work and what we want is to teach even more this week with members and to keep getting  better every week.

Everything is going pretty well here, the work is pretty hard in Sucre. I was looking at my numbers from my other areas and they were almost double of what we have here, we still don’t have anyone who is ready to be baptized, we are working really but we just haven’t seen the fruits quite yet. I think the next transfer is when lots of people will finally be ready. I probably won’t be here though. But oh well, whatever happens I’m happy with the way we’ve been working here.

This week we are going to have our zone conference so I am excited for that, the president will be coming down to teach us. It should be another great week. Well I hope you have a great time in Maui, love you guys

Elder Grigor

"Well these are the only pictures that I took this week, on an 

exchange we were walking and I noticed that they had Canada 

written on the door. But to my surprise the whole avenue was called 

Canada and the whole neighbourhood. I liked being there." 

 "Also we were knocking doors and I saw this. It says "abogado" which

 means lawyer. Something interesting about Bolivia is that doctors,

 dentists and lawyers don't really make that much money." 

We just really need to DO it.

November 17th, 2014 

Sup dawgs,

So this week was pretty tough to be honest. We tried really hard to get lots of work done but there are always things that come up. Like one morning we had to go pick up an elder from the airport and send him to Potosi. We got there at 10 to pick him up and send him off but his flight had a 2 hour delay and no one told us, so we just had to wait there and then he got in around 1230. That took away our whole morning. We also had stake conference here in Sucre this weekend. It was pretty awesome, except for on Sunday morning there was no electricity. We were supposed to start at 10 but we didn’t get started until 11. During that hour we weren’t sure what to do. We were trying to keep the spirit and one of the sister’s came and asked me if we could make a little missionary choir and sing for a little bit. So I gathered everyone up and we sang for about 45 minutes. It actually went by pretty fast and I think it helped pass the time pretty effectively. The President and his wife were there too and decided to come up and join us, it was a pretty fun time.  I really enjoyed stake conference. I just love all church meetings. My perspective has changed quite a bit since I’ve been here on my mission. I didn’t used to care as much as I do now. I’m excited to go back and be able to bear my testimony to everyone. Here also they had all the future missionaries bear their testimonies who are about to go out. That made me think about my call and I realized that it has been 2 years since I got my call. It was November 15^th, 2012. It’s gone by fast.

So this week our zone wants to go to the seven waterfalls. We are going to make a goal of 50 lessons with members during the week for the whole zone. Looking at the numbers of the zone we realized that there are many who have struggled with having lessons with members, ourselves included. Since I’ve been here in Sucre the maximum we have had is 38. I take partial responsibility for maybe not emphasizing as much as I should have the importance of working with the members but I think everyone will work extra hard this week to work with the members, Then once we know that we can do it we will just keep building and getting even better. I know that is what we need here in Sucre more than anything. Having the members involved will change a lot. Saying it is easy, I think we have been saying that we need to do it for over a year and a half almost but now we just really need to DO it.

I think this week should go a lot smoother. We don’t really have anything that will take up our time, there are no conferences and no one to take to a new area so everything should be a good and I think we will have a whole week in the area to just work hard and be focused. At least that is the plan. Well I love you guys.

Hope you guys have a great week, we’ll be talking soon.

Elder Grigor

The Elders made a cake for a sister missionary for her birthday

"A funny sign that means " I'm an offender because I don't have

 proper road education". They put that on all the cars on top of giving

 them a ticket so that everyone knows that they are bad drivers." 

Elder Grigor and his companion 

Elder Grigor in Sucre 

Always with a smile on his face being goofy! 

A castle the zone went visit 

It's so beautiful in Sucre, but one thing 

Elder Grigor misses is the snow in Canada. 

 Elder Grigor usually finds something to jump off of. 

Love the two thumbs up 

They look a little big for the windows :) 

Companionship love

I love how Elder Grigor is as tall as the doorways in Bolivia 

Elder Grigor with his zone in Sucre 

I just need to accept his will and everything will turn out great

Hey Family,

So it has been pretty hard to get into email today. We went didn’t go to the one we usually go to because it’s kind of near the city centre and we didn’t want to go all the way down there but we totally should have. We went to like 4 other places and they were all full and when we finally got in the internet wasn’t working so we came to another one and now I am finally in but it’s kind of slow so I am just writing in Microsoft word until it loads up. I will probably do this more often now because then I won’t have as many spelling mistakes.

Well this week went by super-fast. It was pretty complicated with the transfers though. Usually everyone from outside who has a transfer to Cochabamba goes by plane and it’s really easy because the secretaries buy the flights and we just have to make sure that they get on safely and it’s not a big deal. But because of “todos santos” there were no flights and we had to rent out a huge bus and send them in that. That was just a big pain in the butt and we didn’t have enough money but we made it work out. They got to Cochabamba really late though; I hope that’s the last time we have to do that. Flights are way easier. The good part though was that by Thursday when we had to go to Cochabamba there were lots of flights and there were no problems. I loved that trip, when we got there we went to Rodizios and it was delicious. We are definitely going there when we come down. It costs 80 bolivianos a person which is like 12 dollars for all you can eat meat and the salad bar is the bomb. We will be going there in December also when we go back to Cochabamba. After we went to the post office to send off some packages, I sent Lauren’s to the house. So it should be getting there in about 3 weeks, while we were leaving we passed by a little store and it looked really familiar and it just happened to be the store of some of converts from Villa Graciela. I never knew where the store was though. We went in and they were really shocked that I was there because I didn’t tell them I was coming. That’s when Isabel wrote to you on Facebook. I was there with them for about half an hour. It was really good seeing them again. Then we went and visited some of my companions converts and went to the dentist. It was a really good day.

On Friday we had our leadership conference and we woke up early to go play dunk ball at a little kids court by the house we were sleeping in, it was a good time. The conference was great and I was really inspired to know what to do with my zone to get better this transfer. One is to work harder with the members and really plant that into the zones mindset especially when we do exchanges. I know that is something we have to work on and get better, I think the problem is that most people just get comfortable working on their own and it’s a little bit of a hassle sometimes to get the members to help us, but I know it is something that we really need to do if we want to see better results in the work of salvation. I am really happy with my zone, they are working hard and we are seeing results from that, I know that we will keep it up in this transfer. 

I am really happy with everything that is happening here, we are going to keep trying to be positive and I know we will see the results. It’s going to be a great week. I was studying this morning from the Ensign from October and I really liked the message of the jade cabbage and was studying about that. I know I am not the best servant and I have many weaknesses but I know that the lord has a great plan for me. I just need to accept his will and everything will turn out great. 

Love you guys lots, hope you have a great week. 

Elder Grigor

"We ate pizza for Elder Jacobson's birthday"

"When we went to Cochabamba for leadership council we went to a place called Rodizios and it was delicious. 

Just like home. I was the last one with little piece of wood with the green up :) "

"This is where we play dunk ball, the rims are like 8 feet, it's awesome."

Elder Grigor and his companion making a cake

This is where he studies each morning

Elder Grigor's room

"The shower is still small, but it's way nicer" 

The gospel needs to be taught to all the ends of the earth

November 3rd, 2014 

Hey Fam,

Well this week were transfers and I’m staying here in Sucre with my companion. Well I kind of thought that I was going to be staying here so it wasn't a big surprise. This is however my 7th transfer as a zone leader which is really weird. I’m like the oldest one. I don’t know why I have been a zone leader for so long but it must be for something. I’ve seen most of the people from my group go up after me and drop before me. But I love it, I would be totally fine to be a zone leader for the rest of my mission. If I could have a wish though I would go to Villazon and train to finish out. I would like to just have no responsibilities and totally focus on just teaching but well see how it all turns out. I’m really anxious to find out the next transfer, even though we are just starting this one. I’m happy to stay with my companion for one more transfer though, we are getting along really well and enjoying the area, so it should be a great transfer. 

This week was pretty busy for us, we just had lots of random things to do that didn't leave us lots of time to work. We moved houses and are now in the bishops house. He  built a 3rd floor on his house and it’s pretty cool. There are two rooms and a bathroom and a kitchen and a huge terrace type thing. But he hasn't quite finished yet so we are staying in another room until he finishes it. He said that probably this week it will be done so then we will move our things up there. I will send pictures of it next week. So I also have some bad news, my memory card has another virus or something on it again and it won’t let me send pictures anymore. It says that it is formatted and it can’t read it. The same thing that happened before, I’m going to try and fix it but until then I am going to use the other memory card  that i have, so i cant send any pictures this week. But I will be sending pictures for sure next week. I promise. 

So this week was pretty tough for us teaching wise, there were lots of temporal things that took us away from our area and from working. When we were in our area we also didn't have much luck, I feel like we are failing in something but I don’t know what it is. Things just seems to be falling through a lot. But we are seeing lots of new doors open and new opportunities and are really optimistic for this transfer. This week I had the opportunity to do an exchange and we had a really great time, he is a great missionary and has a great love for the people there in Santo Domingo and there are many people waiting and ready to hear the gospel. I understand a little bit better that the gospel needs to be taught to all the ends of the earth.  We had to walk about 10 minutes to take a bus for another 30 minutes to get out to one part of the area where we spent most of the day. I really enjoyed it. 

This week will be another crazy week, tomorrow are the transfers and we basically direct everyone who is going to Cochabamba and coming from Cochabamba so we lose a large part of our day doing that, it should be a fun time. On Thursday we are going to a leadership conference in Cochabamba and we get back on Saturday so we aren't going to have much time to work here this week but we are going to do everything possible. Well this was pretty much my week, and what will be happening. 

Love you guys lots.

Elder Grigor

*We got pictures this week (November10th) that were supposed to go with this email. 

Going on exchanges

Elder Grigor's temporary home until their new place is ready 

"We carved a pineapple and watermelon for halloween. It was awesome"

Painting their new home

If you don't have a ladder...you just stack furniture!

Good Attitude = Good Day!!!

Hay Fam, 

So me and my companion decided that we have been complaining a little to much about the area and how it’s been pretty hard for us.  Then we remembered a  talk that we had that was really great. It is called the Importance of the Messenger, (if I translated that correctly) by M. Russell Ballard. He basically just says that there is no such thing as a bad area, or a bad companion. It’s just all about the attitude, if you have a good attitude then everything will just work out. So we decided to share that with the zone and then put it into practice. That afternoon all of our appointments fell through but we just decided to think of the silver lining or what it was that we needed to do and try to be positive. We met a lady and asked if we could share a message and she accepted. We talked about the restoration and focused on how it could bless her life. At the end we asked if she could say the prayer. She just totally expressed herself and started crying about her family problems and how she was so happy that we came to talk to her. I know that we were guided there, somehow we showed up at her door and we had a great lesson. It really worked, good attitude = good day!!! 

We also had the opportunity to go out with a young man preparing for his mission.  We weren't having much luck so we asked him what he wanted to do and he said we should knock on a door. We knocked on it and also had a great lesson with a lady called Yolanda. She was very excited and asked us where the church was and when she could come. The members really make all the difference. If we wouldn't have asked him maybe we never would have found that lady. I need to work with the members more. I’m saying this now, make sure that I go out with the missionaries when I get home. Don’t let me be lazy. Sunday afternoon = missionary time. 

We really had a great week, everything is getting better here. I am loving my area and this week is going to be super crazy. We just have tons of service set up and we are moving to the bishops house. I’ll be sending pictures of our new house too. It should be a little more private and hopefully the shower is a little taller. We made that special request. Hopefully it will happen. And then it’s transfers this Sunday, I don’t think either one of us with be having a transfer but who knows. Maybe something crazy with happen, the president didn't say anything in my interview, sometimes he mentions it. I might be staying here until I go home, who knows. I don’t think they will leave me as a zone leader for so long though. I’m like the oldest one, but I would be totally fine if I did. I love being a zone leader. 

Well it is almost time for me to go. I hope you guys have had a great week and have a great one this week.  Love you guys lots, thanks for the letters and pictures, they make my week. I’m trying not to be trunky, after internet time is always the worst. I miss you guys lots. We will get to talk pretty soon, I am excited for that!! Well tata for now

Elder Grigor