We have 2 more baptisms this week

Dear Family, 

I am getting along great with my new companion, at first I wasn’t sure if we were going to get along or not but he is super funny and we’re getting along great. He is really crazy, probably one of the most crazy companions I have ever had but that’s why he is so funny. We are having lots of fun together. 

This week was really fun, we had our leadership conference this Thursday so I got to see all of my mission friends who are in other cities. It was fun to be all together and also just to have a little break from working haha. A little break or change in the schedule is good once in a while. We learned lots in that conference, one of my goals that I have is to be able to talk to more people in the street while going to appointments. Sometimes we are just focused in getting there and forget about all of the people we are walking by every day. After the conference we had like an hour before our dinner and nothing to do so we just decided to go and do some street contacting. So that’s what we did and we were able to talk and help to a lot of people just in that little amount of time. It’s definitely something we need to do more. 

This week has been really good, we have spent most of our time visiting Ivan and Kevin who are going to be baptized this Saturday. Ivan is an investigator that we have had for about 4 months and he is finally getting baptized and Kevin is an investigator that we have had for about 3 weeks. It is quite amazing the difference between the two. One who progressed very slowly and the other who progressed really quickly. This week we also started our intercambios that we will be doing with the whole zone this transfer. I stayed in my area with Elder M. and we had a great day. We had a very successful study and then we worked hard all day Saturday. Although many of our appointments fell through we were able to find a few new people to teach and have quite a few lessons. I love intercambios because they give me the opportunity to learn from new people and to make new friends. Everything went well with Elder M., there are a few little things about obedience that he could improve that I tried to help him with, but other than that everything was great. I really see a lot of potential in him, and I know he can be a great missionary.

Something else we just started is a Spanish test for the North Americans. Before it was only for the latinos who were learning english but now it’s for us too. Every 3 months we have to take an exam about the missionary lessons more or less. It’s kind of cool, there are only 18 missions doing it. We had to do it today for half an hour. It was pretty fun. 

And well now we are off to go eat and go play soccer like always. Thanks for the pictures and the emails, I really enjoyed them.  

Hope you guys have a great week. We will be talking soon. 

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor playing pool on his p-day 

Elder Grigor- always giving us a great pose! 

Elder Grigor at leadership conference with all his mission buddies

The Lord works in his own time.

Sup dawgs, 

Well I loved those pictures and the stories about Moroni’s Quest, I would have loved to have been there. I don't know why but I just really love activities like that. When we went out to BC for trek, that was one of my favourite camping experiences. I still remember that, I’m sure that will be the same for all of the youth who participated in that activity.

Well I also had a great week. I watched Elder Manayay go home and then got my new companion, Elder Terceros. He is from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, like my first two companions and he is great. He has 13 months in the mission and he is 25 years old, so I have still never been older than one of my companions. Maybe one day I will be. It should be a fun transfer, I think I will only be with him for a transfer and then I should be going somewhere else but who knows. With the new president things could change, we’ve already been seeing a few little things change so maybe I’ll be here for a little bit longer, but I’m ready for a change. I think after this transfer I will be ready. 

We also got poured on this week, well mostly yesterday, we were going up to villa el mar which is like 30 minutes straight up the mountain and it gets tough at some points. It started to rain a little and we didn’t think anything of it. As we reached the top it got harder and harder and when we got to the house where we had an appointment we got soaked. Luckily they were home and let us in and we had a great lesson and the rain had stopped. Right as we were leaving it started to pour again and we were absolutely soaked and about 45 minutes away from our house. So we just kept working but the other appointment we had fell through so we decided to go home and change so that we wouldn't get sick. Then we went out and finished the day. That is the most wet I have ever been on my whole mission. I wish I would have taken a picture but I forgot. It was a fun time. 

A great experience that we had this week was with Gregoria Meneces. She is the mother of a Andrea, Isabel, Cristian, and Veronice who were baptized about 2 months ago. At first she wasn’t too interested in the message that we had to share with her and tried to avoid us when we came to teach her kids. We invited her to join us and come to church but she always had something else to do. We decided not to persist too much and knew that her time would come and well that time came about 2 weeks ago when she showed up to church. And then did the same yesterday. We were kind of shocked that it had happened so fast. We went to visit her yesterday and she told us a little about her story of the struggles she has had to go through with her husband leaving and having to raise her 5 kids alone. She told us that when we came to teach them that is when her family needed it more than anything. She knows that we were sent from God to help her in the time when she needed it more than anything. She told us that she is ready to make the commitment to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to be an example for her kids. The Lord works in his own way and in his own time, and that is what he did with Gregoria. It honestly happened a lot faster than I thought but I am so glad it happened and that through us we could bring peace and happiness to a family in need. It’s experiences like these that just erase all of the tough times and rejections. 

I hope this week will be just as good as the last and that the Lord will continue to guide and direct us in our path. I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for the great example that you give to me. I couldn't have asked for better parents, you guys are the best. 

Love you so much. 

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor and his new companion 

Elder Grigor giving the usual thumbs up! 

Elder Grigor and Elder Terceros

A miracle from the Lord

Hello Family,

Well I have a lot to tell you guys!! I’ll start off with the transfers. Last night they called us to tell us the transfers and surprise I am staying here!!! My new companion is going to be Elder Terceros, I really know nothing about him, when I left Uyuni he went there so I have never met him before. I think he has about a year in the mission, I’m not sure. I hope I am older than him, all of my companions have been older than me age wise so I think it would be fun for once to be older. I will be going to pick him up from the airport tomorrow morning. I think he arrives at about 11 with the rest of the missionaries. Then we will be in a  trio for a little with Elder Campo until he goes and gets his companion on Wednesday. He is going to train so we will have a greenie, that should be fun, maybe we will play a couple of tricks on him to freak him out. It should be a good time. I’m excited for my new companion. I will probably only be with him for 1 transfer and then I will leaving to another area, at least I hope I will be leaving.I’ll be ready for a change in about a month I think. I love the area and the ward but it would be nice to go out and meet new people and a new scenery. 

Well this week we mostly just went around visiting recent converts and members and saying goodbye to people. It was Elder Manayay's last week so that was how we spent it basically with a few fun activities in between. On Wednesday it was Bolivia’s birthday so we had a little party in the chapel where every organization made some typical food from Bolivia and the kids danced and we sang the national anthem so that was fun and then on Saturday we had a talent show. We acted out the story of Abraham and Isaac and the sacrifice but we made it a little bit more funny. We acted out as if the angels would have shown up late and what would have happened. I was one of the angels and brought two irons to revive him. I forget what they are called but it’s those electric things they used to revive people in the movies and all that, I’m sure you know what I mean. It was really funny and everyone enjoyed it. We had lots of fun there!!

Something awesome that happened this week was the baptism of Alejandro. I know that it really was a miracle from the Lord. I will tell you a little bit about his story. About 8 months ago Alejandro was invited to church by his friend and really enjoyed it and wanted to be baptized but his parents wouldn't give him permission because they are from a different religion. But he never gave up on his desires to be baptized. We decided to go visit him a couple of weeks ago to see how he was doing ands he said great because his parents were going to give him permission to be baptized for his birthday on August 3rd. He said that was his birthday wish and what he really wanted so his parents finally gave him their permission. So we prepared him and did everything we could so that he could be baptized on August 9th. After so much time and trying to talk with his parents and get permission he was finally able to make his wish come true. I know the Lord has great power to change the hearts of the people and hopefully through Alejandro we will be able to share the gospel with the rest of his family. 

Well that has basically been my week in short. Everything is going great here and I know I am going to have lots of fun with my new companion. I love you guys so much and I hope you guys have a great week. 

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor tying a rope to a fence 

Holding on for dear life! 

Elder Grigor celebrating Bolivia Day 

Elder Grigor at the Cochabamba Temple 

Elder Grigor with Alejandro at his baptism 

Two thumbs up from Elder Grigor 

Elder Grigor in the minion suit. Love it! 

Giving a little hug to the minion. 

We have electricity!!!

What what whats up!!!

Well I will start with the bad news, I forgot my camera today so there won't be any pictures unfortunately, I will try to use my companions to at least send a couple of picture to you guys. 

Now the good news, we finally have electricity!!! It was 11 days without electricity but it’s all good now. We had a member come over and just do a quick hook up but it looks awful and not professional but it doesn't really matter, I'm just happy that we have light now and that I can have a hot shower. 

This week was kind of tough, we did splits one day and me and Elder Phillips both got sick so we just slept the whole day. I haven't gotten this sick since I came back from Uyuni, it was really weird and just came out of nowhere. Good thing we were on splits though so at least our companions could work. But I'm feeling a lot better now, it's just my comp that isn't feeling well now. 

So this week will be our last week together, I will be saying goodbye to Elder Manayay this Saturday. That is when he goes to the hotel and I’ll be in a tri for a couple of days until my new companion gets here next Tuesday. They will be telling us this Sunday, so I'm kind of excited for that to see who will be coming to the zone and who my new companion will be. This week might be kind of hard to do lots of teaching because my comp just wants to say goodbye to people all week but he is way less trunky than Elder Gomez so that’s good. 

We had a baptism this week!!! I will try and send some pictures later, first I am going to explain the story of how we found her. So my first day here about 5 and a half months ago we were walking in the street and we wanted to buy some Pilfrut (juice in a bag) and decided to contact the lady in the store. She didn’t seem too interested and said we could come back another day. When we came back she wasn't there and we just talked to her younger sister Zulema (who we baptized about 2 months ago). So talking to her older sister again didn't even really come to my mind because she wasn't really interested and we had invited her to church and she never came. But one day my companion invited her to join us in the lesson and she just didn't pay attention and it was hard to keep her concentration. I really don't know what changed in her but over time she started paying more attention and reading and coming to church and accepted a date for her baptism. In less than a month she was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. In her testimony after her baptism she said that before we came she didn't believe in God but over time and with the lessons she had come to realize that he really does exist and cares about her. I learned many things about her conversion. One is to trust that the spirit can and will change the hearts of the people who are waiting and ready. Another thing is to never give up on someone or think they won’t accept the gospel like I did. We just need to keep inviting and inviting and maybe one day they will accept!!

Well that was the best part of my week, it was a great experience and hopefully we will have one more baptism to finish off strong with Elder Manayay. I will definitely miss him. I think he has been one of my favourite companions and has really taught me and helped me a lot. I will be sad to see him go. 

Well that was basically my week, hope all goes well.

Love you guys lots!!

Elder Grigor

Baptism of Zulema's Sister 

Elder Grigor looking so much older in this picture! 

Elder Grigor trying to be a little shorter.