We got to go to the TEMPLE!

April 21, 2014 

Hello Ya’ll

Well this week was much better. We got to go to the TEMPLE!!! That was my favourite part of the week, I finally got to go after about 6 months, it made me appreciate it a lot more and it will probably be about 3 months at least before I go again unless they send me out of Cochabamba. But I’ll be here for at least one more transfer after my companion leaves, probably two, and then who knows. But the temper was great, we had to be there at 6 am so we woke up really early but it was totally worth it. Then we had a little zone conference after, which was also great. I just love being with all the missionaries and with the president. It was a good time. When we got home my companion was complaining about a sprained ankle and how it hurt to walk so we had to stay in the house the rest of the day, I wasn’t too happy about that but oh well, it had to be done. The rest of the week we were able to work normally and we had a great time. 

This week was great because we worked a lot with the members. And the work was a lot more effective, they we able to introduce us to less actives that we didn’t know and many of their friends who are interested in the gospel. We just need to find the way to work with them all the time, it’s kind of hard when they are all working but it’s going well. There was one reference we had received from a member who used to live in England and apparently knew me somehow. I was trying for the life of me to figure out who it was or where they lived but I had no idea. Finally through asking around a member was able to take us and we found him. I couldn’t figure out how he knew me until his daughter walked out and it was a girl who we had been talking with weeks ago. I guess she had told her dad about us because he knew a lot about us. We started speaking in english and he told me that he had lived in England for about 15 years working and that he went to our church often and really liked what they taught but never got baptized. He was really excited that we came to his house because he wants his family to learn about the church also. I know that the Lord is always preparing people in different ways, and everyone has their own time, hopefully this will be his time!!

For Easter this week we didn’t really do much, the tradition here is to just eat a lot of food. So on friday we ate lunch and I was stuffed from that, then another sister gave us about 3 plates of food. We were dying, then we went to another house and they gave us another full plate of food. We tried to say no but they wouldn’t let us. It was tough. I was so full that day that I didn’t eat dinner and I don’t think I ate the next morning. I was so stuffed it was ridiculous!! 

This morning we decided to get up early to hike to mountain behind where we live. We left at 4 am and got back at 9 am. A member said it was really cool so we went up with him really early. It was pretty fun but right now I’m really tired. But it was worth it. What else did i do... 

There are many more things but I’m running out of time, I hope you all liked my package, I’m really glad it made it safe and sound. I was worried because it was just in paper but it seems like it got there safely. Hope you all like it.

Love you lots

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor outside the temple 

Early morning hike up the mountain 

Always posing! 

Elder Grigor- love this hat. 

It's becoming a feature in a lot of pictures.

I used my new socks for nothing!

April 14th, 2014 

hello padres!!!

Well I have some bad news, my memory card got a virus and it did the same thing as before and erased all the pictures I think. There is a guy in my zone that said he knows how to fix it though so I’m going to try and do that today. There is also another guy who has a ton and said he would just give me a new one. It’s not a big deal because I only started using that one when I first got here to Villa Graciela so I don’t have too many pictures but I’m going to try and recover them. So that kind of sucks because I couldn't take any pictures this week but I should be able to soon. 

But ya other than that I had a pretty good week. It was pretty busy though. Tuesday was pretty normal and we didn't have much time to work going off to the offices and what not. But ya it was pretty good. Wednesday was the only real day that we were able to go out and work all day. We didn’t really have much success though. Lots of appointments were falling through and we were kind of disappointed until a young man in the ward names Jonny called us and said that he wanted us to come over, what we didn’t know is that he invited 5 of his friends over to hear the gospel. So we were able to teach a bunch op his friends about the restoration and they all really enjoyed it and one even came to a baptism that the other elders had on saturday. It was awesome, because our whole day was just kind going lame and thanks to him it all turned around. 

The next day my comp woke up in pain because he tried to take out an ingrown toenail the night before and screwed up his toe so we had to go to the clinic so that they could take out his toenail so that was fun. After that he had to rest for the rest of the day and the next so that his toe could heal so we weren’t able to go out and work which kind of sucked. I just want to go out and work but it’s kind do hard when my companion keeps getting sick, but now he’s finally better, the only problem is that he goes home in 5 weeks so he’s really trunky and sometimes it’s hard to get him focused and to keep the rules but it’s going alright.

This week was honestly just pretty tough, we had lots of appointments fall through and with my companion not being able to walk for a few days kind of made things difficult. I guess every week can’t be great but it just gives me the desire to work even harder this week to find those people that we can find and prepare them for baptism. I know that everything will get better this week and that we will be able to complete our goals. I’m changing a lot in that aspect, at the beginning of my mission if we didn’t complete our goals I just kind of moved on and focused on the next week but now I’m actually sad when we don’t meet our goals and when I don’t meet my personal goals and makes me want to work even harder to complete them the next week. I don’t know if I actually met all my goals in a week before. It may sound weird but my goal is to meet all my goals for once. And then keep doing it consistently. 

Well the mission is going good, and going fast, the time is flying by. I have lot of hope for our area, there are lots of people who are prepared to hear the gospel, my companion just has to stop getting injured so that we can go out and teach them, but I have no complaints, everything happens for a reason. 

So a random story about socks. Dads present for his b-day made me think of something, I don’t know if I told you guys or not. So the zone leader conference in March my comp sent some clothes with the zone leaders to the elder who was here before me. He didn’t have room in his suitcase so he left a bunch of stuff. So anyways my comp got all his stuff and put it in a bag and what I didn’t know was that he put my socks in By mistake. All of them except for the pair that I was wearing, so I didn’t have socks so about a week. But I called the elder and he said he would send them back in the mail or with the president because he was down at that time so I thought I would just wait and I wore the same socks all week hoping they would come back soon and not wanting to use a new pair of socks. But they didn't come, then the next week the same thing, I waited but they didn't come. I waited for about a month (washing my socks once a week) hoping that the next week they would come. I finally gave in and used a couple new pairs of socks and the elder just called me saying that my socks showed up and now he’s finally sending them back. So I used my new socks for nothing. Anyways that’s my sock story, I’m definitely my dad’s son. 

Love,

Elder Grigor

The Lord is preparing the hearts of his children

Well my week was pretty long. Probably one of the longest weeks that I have had on my mission. My companion was still in bed pretty much all week. It’s the first time he had surgery and he wanted it to heal good. I think the reason he was a little freaked out too is because they took out his stitches this week but I think they took them to early and he still had big holes in his stomach. Well not really but the wounds hadn’t closed fully and he wanted to make sure that they closed good. So we didn’t really get much work done this week. When I had time I did exchanges with other elders to come and stay with my companion while I went out and worked.  We still didn’t really have much time with conference and we had a zone leader meeting the whole day Wednesday so I worked a little on Tuesday and then Thursday and Friday but now he’s doing a lot better and we should be able to work a lot this week. I forgot to tell you but they called us for transfers last night, I’m staying with my same companion and in the same area so no changes for me. Just transfers for a couple people in my zone. 

Well the meeting we had on Wednesday was great. I love getting together with all the zone leaders and learning from the president in a different way. That was a great day, I learned lots in the conference. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the role of the Holy Ghost.  Then we did something a little different.  About half way through the conference they told us that now we had to put into action what we had learned: to go out and teach with the Book of Mormon and testify of the Holy Ghost. So that’s what we did for about an hour in downtown Cochabamba. At first I was kind of worried about going out and teaching because everyone says that it’s one of the hardest areas to find and teach and the people don’t really want to accept the missionaries.  But all I had to do was change my attitude and my mindset and talking with the people was easy. Every person that we talked to was kind and listened to us, there wasn’t one person that said no, I think sometimes we lose that mindset in our own areas and we are sometimes nervous but if we’re confident there will not be many who say no. I am trying to use that mind set in my own area to talk with everyone and testify of the Book of Mormon and the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives. 

Another cool story that happened to me this week was when I was on exchanges working in my area. We were walking by a recent converts house and I thought we should check up on him because we heard he had got in a fight and wanted to see if he was ok. His mom came to the door and said he was ok and that he was resting. We asked if we could talk to her (I had never met her before) and she said she was busy and that we could come back on Monday (today). She said she wanted to receive the lessons to prepare for her baptism along with the rest of her family. That really surprised me and I was quite thrilled.  She also came to conference yesterday. I have no idea what happened and what caused a change in her heart but I know the Lord is preparing the hearts of his children to hear the message of the restored gospel according to his will and his timing. I am grateful that I was able to be guided to that house to know that more of his children are ready at this moment to accept his gospel. 

Well this conference was great. However I did miss the first half hour on Saturday because the satellite wasn’t working so we went to another chapel about 10 minutes away. But right now I’m downloading the audio onto my flash drive so I am going to listen to them this week. Well I had lots of favourites but I think my top two are president Uchtdorf from the priesthood session about if we are sleeping through the restoration or not and also Bishop Gary Stevens- the one who talked about the olympics and how this life is our time to put everything that we have learned into practice. I could talk a lot about all of them, I can't wait to be able to listen to them again and read the words in the upcoming Liahona. If you could send me one in english that would be awesome too. 

Well that’s pretty much my week, lots of fun, loving the mission, liking my companion and all is well here in Bolivia. Talk to you soon.

Love you guys,

Elder Grigor

"We played an April Fools joke on an Elder. We gave him

 a fake package filled with rocks and other fun stuff." 

" Fattest cat ever, his stomach almost 

touches the ground when he walks" 

Elder Tyler Grigor 

Classic picture with 2 thumbs up.

Spent my 1 year like a king

March 31, 2014 

Whatwhatwhatsup!!!!

Hey y’all, hows it going eh?

Well my week was quite interesting, I’ll start from the beginning. So remember how last Sunday I told you guys that my companion just slept all day because he wasn't feeling well? Well soon you'll know why. So Tuesday was normal and we were able to leave and teach a few lessons, but then we had to go to the offices and then we had ward council so we didn’t have a lot of time to do anything. Wednesday we had a doctor’s appointment to see what was up with my comp so they did an ultra sound and we found out that it’s a boy!!!! ha just kidding, but they did so an ultra sound and they found out that he had two stones in his gall bladder that were blocking up some stuff so that wasn’t too good. Then we had to go see other doctors and we were in the hospital and clinic almost all day trying to figure out what was wrong with him. They told us that he needed to have surgery. So the next day (Thursday) we had to go to the hospital in the morning and we were in there all day waiting until his surgery at 7 but I came prepared and brought my movie’s and dvd player so I wouldn't be too bored. So I just relaxed all day watching movies while by companion waited to go into the butchers. Plus my son Elder V. in one of the secretaries now so I told him to bring me fast food  because I couldn’t leave, so that was awesome. I just relaxed and ate like a king. So my one year was pretty relaxing I must say. It kind of sucked how it all happened, but for me it was good, my companion not so much, but he’s feeling a little better right now. 

Then the next day we had a zone conference and it was kind of important that I went so I got a member to come stay with my companion so that I could go to the conference. It was totally worth it, and it was nice to get out of the hospital for a little. But what I had forgot is that we had to give a class in the conference so I did it by myself, the president said it went well so that’s good, I was pretty nervous for that. Then I went back to the hospital and my companion was watching soccer so I tried to keep busy until basketball came on.... that’s my weakness. Its been so long!! I miss that. Saturday we were finally able to leave and then I went with another elder because his companion was sick so we left the sick and went to work in his area. Sunday my companion went to sacrament meeting and then went home. Then in the afternoon I left with a priest in the ward who is super awesome. I think I told you about Jonny. He has brought 9 friends into the church since he got baptized 9 months ago. He also asked me to give him the priesthood on Sunday so that was a great experience. I have never done it before but I think it went well. So the whole day sunday I was with him teaching. He’s already a missionary it’s crazy. He just turned 16 but he could already be a missionary. 

But ya that was pretty much my week, didn't really do too much, I was just in the hospital and left for maybe 10 hours total to work but this week probably won’t be much better. We have a zone leader conference on wednesday and general conference so well see if we can get some work done. Well I love you guys, thanks for the pics, I’m sending home a package today so you’ll probably be getting it in about a month I think. 

Love you lots

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor riding in the back of a truck

Elder Grigor with his usual thumbs up :)