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!