Hello everyone! Sorry that I have not written in a couple of weeks. I will catch all of you up. So 2 weeks ago was a slow week. Not a lot happened in the work. It was really, really cold. But that Saturday we had a special meeting with Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Scott D. Whiting. That was one of the coolest experiences ever. Hearing the testimony from an Apostle is the most spiritual thing ever. There is no doubt in my mind he is called of God. I also got to shake his hand!

This last week has been one of the more fun weeks of my mission. We had a Christmas party with the zone and President and Sister Tateoka. My district preformed Feliz Navidad and it was one of the funniest experiences of my life. We had no idea what was going on. 

As for the title of my email, I will be leaving my area! I am soooo sad. I love it here in Hayesville. These have been some of the best months of my life. I am grateful for all those people I have met and the relationships I have built. I will never forget my time here.

 I had exchanges with Elder Morrison, who is Elder Woodruff's trainee this week. He was called as a English speaking missionary but changed to Spanish. That was a really fun day together. He and I are very similar people. 

I am so grateful for my time here in the mission. I know that I am here in Oregon for a reason. The relationships you build with people while you are out serving the Lord are some of the strongest relationships you can build. 

I love all of you. I will send an email from Newberg next week!

My new home

OSM with Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Scott D. Whiting

                                                                             

Transfer day. I'm leaving Hayesville. I love Elder Robinson. Going to miss him

 

I am going to miss my bro. Elder Robinson

Buenas días a todos. Les quiero mucho y espero que todo está bien.

Well this week finally came to an end! It may have been the longest week of my life. Us Elders were extremely blessed last week with 5 new people to teach. That may not seem like a lot but you know, we aren't in Colombia anymore getting 14 news a week. 

Well that being said we dropped all but one of those. They were progressing really well until the third lesson and then they just stopped being interested. It was really sad. One of them we had to drop was because he was only 17 and his parents didnt approve. We were able to testify and invite him to always remember the way he felt when  he heard the First Vision. This was the boy we put on date. I hope one day when he's older he is able to be baptized. 

This week was slow for the work. It is getting really cold out and that means everyone is indoors. So then if we knock doors, they just look out the peep hole or the window, see two well dressed men with name tags and they ignore automatically. It makes me sad that people have such hard hearts sometimes. Saturday was awesome though! We had the day of service and we got to work. We went around to less actives, people going through hard times and less capable people's homes and cleaned yards.There were about 15 people at the beginning and by the 6th and last house there were 7 including 4 missionaries. The ward mission leader was very happy to have me there because some of those bags of leaves and garbage and junk were really heavy. Like I had a hard time picking some of them up. But anyways, it was awesome. We saw a man missing a leg trying to sweep up his leaves so we all pulled over, cleaned his yard for him in probably 1/100 of the time he could've done it and the Hermanas were able to share a message with him.  We ended up cleaning the Elder's quorum Presidents yard for him while he was at the temple. He expressed his gratitude with his testimony on missionary work and service at church. 

So here's my invitation to all. Go out of your way and serve people. You never know what people are going through. And service doesn't have to be something huge. It can be a simple smile, high five, or giving someone a piece of gum. It ranges to yard work, cleaning cars, or shoveling snow. Your service to someone will make there day. We may think that we are too busy to help out or that our needs are more important. But that is NOT how the Savior thought. He expressed his love by serving always. And that's the purpose of this life. Becoming like Christ. I promise to you that if you put others first, all worries, needs, wants, desires will be covered by the Lord. He will bless you for serving. 

Mosiah 2:17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God

 I love all of you and I truly hope that you act on my invitation to serve others. You will see more happiness in your lives.

Con amor,

ÉLDER GRAYBILL

11/12

I just got called to stay here for another transfer. This week was really slow. 

Tuesday we had our book of mormon class. 

Wednesday we tried to pass by a lot of people but no one answered. It is getting really cold here. 

Thursday, we had weekly planning.

Friday we had district council. 

Saturday we had correlation.

Sunday we had dinner. We ate dinner at Alexios house and then we went down to stayton. Today we have just hung with the zone leaders and the woodburn elders. 

 mom, will you make that more interesting I can't type right now. 

11/5

Hello everyone, it's me, Elder Graybill.

Just wanted to check in on all of you. I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and got lots of good candy.

This week went by super-fast, kind of like every other week here in the mission. Tomorrow I complete a total of 8 months! Crazy to think I have done as much time here already as the time I spent serving in Colombia.

This week we witnessed some great miracles.

Tuesday, we had a Book of Mormon class. We didn't have a super good turnout but it's ok because the people who did come were able to read and feel the Spirit! The Book of Mormon has so much power. There was a statistic given that 21% of converts say that they read one chapter or less before knowing it was true. It is such a great tool that we have to help others receive the restored Gospel of Christ.

Wednesday was Halloween. It was so cold here. I wanted to just hide inside. But it's ok. I lived. We were able to talk to some of the people we are teaching and see how they were. We had to be inside early so we weekly planned instead of doing it Thursday.

Thursday, our lessons dropped through and nothing really was going for us. We walked and talked with a lot of people, knocked some doors, but nothing really came out of it 

Friday was the same thing. We had District council in the morning, then we got home and went to work. I was really getting down. I love this area and I really love the ward. I don't want to leave here. But it gets discouraging not seeing the success we hope for. We contacted a guy named Manuel. (He had a little interest)

Saturday, we drove down to Stayton, which is like a 25 min drive. We worked there in the morning and found a guy who invited us back next Saturday. He is super nice and we hope he will be there next Saturday. 

Sunday we had church. None of our investigators were able to come. We ate lunch at Alexio's house with a bunch of people and it was super fun. Alexio is our ward mission leader and he is just the funniest guy. 

We left his house and did comp study. We planned on dropping by one of our investigators. We shared a couple of scriptures with him and told him he needed to pray about baptism. As we left, we saw that Manuel's car was outside his apartment so we dropped by to say hi. We ended up teaching the full first lesson and it was super cool. He expressed some concerns about his life he had, and we just reassured him that through the Gospel, all that can go away. After I shared the First Vision with him, he started to tear up, I then shared Moroni 10:4-5  with him and invited him to be baptized. He let the tears flow and he couldn't even speak. He just started to nod and we set up the 22nd of December. It was so cool to see the Spirit working inside of him! It was truly an answer to my prayers.

I am so grateful for the Gospel. The fact I have had 2nd chances to change and better myself is amazing. I love all of you and I hope you all have a great week.

Read Ether 12:4 when you get the chance. 

Elder Graybill

                                     Me and my "greenie" Elder Robinson from West Jordan, Utah

Oct 29

This week was a blast. Monday we had a super awesome lesson with a couple we are teaching. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was super awesome. Tuesday we had Zone Conference and we received some really good advice from President. It was super sad because Sister Tateoka wasn't with us because her Father was getting ready to pass away. And you can tell President was having a really hard time without his wife being there with him. It was super sad. Tuesday night we started exchanges with the Woodburn Elders. I was with Elder Woodruff and we got some work done!! It was probably the most interesting day of my life. It started out with the Jan Ree Elders trying to break into our apartment at 7 am. It scared me to death. Then we got to work and we made it a goal talk about the Book of Mormon in every single one of our street contacts. We met a guy named Exie who is a pro MMA fighter. He showed us some of his fighting videos and he showed us some techniques. We thought he was going to try and take Elder Woodruff down. Then we had some young homeless dude on the street yell at us that he worshiped Satan. But right after that, we shared an awesome message about the Book of Mormon with a man. About 30 minutes later, we were walking and a pit bull runs out of his house, right at me and Elder Woodruff. Elder W ran and I kinda just froze up. I did not know what to do. But the dog stopped like an inch away from me and just stared at us. I was terrified. Our lesson fell through that night so we went out contacting. We found a drunk man who is less active. He started to yell at us and I thought he was going to pull a knife so I was getting ready to tackle him. But he took the Book of Mormon instead and said he would pray. He was a nice guy. 

Thursday nothing interesting happened. 

Friday same

Saturday same

Sunday we had Stake Conference and it was cool because President Tateoka spoke and gave a really nice talk on the Spirit. It was exactly what our investigator needed to hear.

Today we went mini golfing with the Woodburn elders and it was super fun. 

                                          Kiezer Elders: Robinson y Graybill
                                          Woodburn Elders: Briggs y Woodruff

Oct 22

Hello everyone,

This week was a true blessing for my companion and I. Lately, we have been struggling to find new people who are interested in our message. But, last Sunday a man came to church with a member. His name is Oscar and he is really nice. He came looking for some guidance in his life and he heard that by living in accordance with our Gospel standards you can receive blessings. Well, he is absolutely right haha.

So we met with him on Monday after pday. And we taught him the Restoration. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to pray about Joseph Smith. Then we met with him again on Wednesday. Tuesday, I had exchanges with Elder Briggs, our District Leader. I love being around Elder Briggs. He has become another best friend added to my long list of friends. haha. He really helps me feel the Spirit. He knows how to work really hard, but have a lot of fun while doing it. I learned a lot from him that day. So after exchanges, I mistakenly forgot my wallet in Woodburn, which had my license and my Tiwi card. So Elder Robinson and I got to walk around all day. In total, we walked about 15 miles. We were dead tired by the end of the day but it was all worth it.

We called to cancel our appointment with Oscar because he lives in Stayton, which is a 30 min drive from our house and there was no way we could have walked there. But, he said he found a job here in Salem, and that he would meet us at the chapel to be taught. The Lord blessed us there. We were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation and at the end, he told us he wanted to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. It was so cool!

Thursday was weekly planning and we got a good planning session in. Friday we had a district meeting and also did some more finding. Saturday we were able to meet with Oscar again and teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We really emphasized baptism and extended the Baptismal invitation. He said he needs to be baptized, but wanted to pray about it first. He came to church the next day and I asked him how his reading and praying went and he just smiled at us and said, it was really good. We are meeting with him again tonight to set an official baptismal date. When you work hard and just put your trust in the Lord, the Lord will bless you. I truly have a testimony of that. Also, the talk that was given during sacrament meeting may have been the most spiritual talk I have ever heard in my life. It truly hit me deep. Which also shows that the promise made in Ether 12:27 is true when the Lord promises he will make your weak things become strong. I'm not very good with the whole Spanish language thing, but I am able to understand almost everything. 

I was reading and I don't remember where I got this quote, may have been a talk or something but it says this, “After baptism, all members slip off the path—some of us even dive off. Therefore, exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, receiving help from Him, and being forgiven are not one-time events but lifelong processes, processes that are repetitive and iterative. This is how we endure to the end. “ (Elder Dale G. Renlund, "Choose You This Day". October 2018)

We all have the chance to come back. So do it.

I love you all  

Oct 15th

Good day Hermanos and Hermanas. So this week went by pretty fast so I will try and give you a quick update of what happened. 

Monday:  we found this kid named Juan. He was super cool and really open to our message we taught him the Restoration and he accepted another appointment.

Tuesday:  we spent the whole day searching and talking to everyone. It wasn't super successful but I was able to practice my Spanish. 

Wednesday:  We had a book of Mormon class and it was really good to get some less actives there read and share testimonies. Juan dropped us and said he wasn't interested. I think it was his family.

Thursday: we had weekly planning and we had a really good lesson with a new investigator. At first he wasn't open at all. After the lesson, he opened up and allowed us to come back another time.

Friday: we had District Council and it was really good. Elder Briggs is really in tune with the spirit and gives great council. That night we had a Noche De Hogar with the ward. We shared a spiritual thought and then played kickball. It was awesome! 

Saturday: we had correlation and then we found a new desire to teach. 

Sunday: church and finding. We then finished the night with dinner at Alex’s and had a great time. 

That's a wrap on this week. 

If I haven't talked to you in a while, email me! 

I wanna hear from you guys!

Love Elder Graybill 

Oct 8th

Hello everyone! This week was a quick one. Had to say goodbye to Elder Heiner, who has become one of my best friends. I stayed with the Woodburn Elders for Tuesday and Wednesday. We worked hard together and it was a blast. I love Èlder Briggs and Elder Woodruff.

We met a man named Job and we started teaching him. At the end we asked him to pray about what we just taught and he looked at us and said, "I will, and you guys are so full of the Spirit." It was a really cool experience. Then on Thursday, I went up to Newburg and picked up my comp Elder Robinson. We sat through the training meeting and got back and got to work.

Friday we had district meeting, and it was really awesome. Elder Briggs is our new district leader and he brought some new fire. He gave some good ideas to apply to our areas. 

Saturday was conference and we watched the first session with a less active member and they made us breakfast! It was super cool. Then we went and watched the second half with Javi. He has been taking huge steps with re activating himself.

Sunday we stayed at the church like all day. We did our studies, watched conference, and then went and found some new people. 

Cool experience, I dropped a guy who wasn't progressing, but felt a prompting to go back by one last time. So we did, and his son answered and was super interested. 

Hope you all had a good week. 

Oct 1st 2018

The transfer is over, and I am going to train next transfer and I am a little nervous. Anyways, life is going well. We had a lesson with Arturo, a man we are teaching, and it went fairly well. We went in with the plan of teaching the Restoration, but the Spirit lead us to teaching more about the Plan of Salvation and the Family Proclamation. I felt prompted to share Moroni 10:4-5 at the end. He read it out loud and I told him to think about what it meant. We sat in silence for 5 or 6 minutes. He finally answered and said he needs to pray and find out if it is true or not. This is exactly what the message is. He then said "everything that we had talked to him about earlier was going over the top of his head, but after reading that scripture, he felt peace and comfort and that he needed to listen." It was really cool!   We struggled on finding new people. We had 14 lessons set up with people with interest and they all fell through. But we worked with some less actives this week and saw a lot of success. Javier was baptized like 4 years ago, but he hasn't been to Church in like 8 months. And before that it was 2 years. He came this last Sunday and he said he really felt the spirit and wants to keep coming to Church. We also met with another less active and she invited us to keep coming back every Saturday. So this next Saturday we are going to go and watch the first half of general conference with her. Then we will go over to Javier’s and watch the second half with him. Also Elder Heiner is going home along with Elder Beard (my first comp) and Elder Stringham. So that's really sad for us here but happy for them, they've been great missionaries and are ready for the next step in life. Since our area is huge, 2 stakes in size, we had some long drives with nice country side scenery. It's truly amazing how beautiful this Earth is. God has blessed us. 

Today for pday, Elder Heiner and I went to this old school bowling alley, and it was so cool. It's like one of those that you see in the movies. Then we had lunch with the Woodburn Elders. 

That's it for this week! Love y'all 

                                                Members that feed the Elders are the best

                                                   Dogs...You love em or hate em

                      Keizer Elders Graybill and Heiner. Heiner is going home this week to Ogden, Utah

Sept 24th

This week went by and I don't remember really anything. 

Monday: we did that hike and then just walked around and tried to contact people. 

Tuesday: more contacting and then I started a exchange with the Disrtrict Leaders trainee. His name is Elder Woodruff and he is from Arizona. He is super cool and is doing well.

Wednesday: Elder Woodruff and I had a very successful day. We taught a lesson and she wants to learn more. And not just that, apparently there is 7 of them who want to learn! The Lord blessed us with that family find.

Thursday: we had zone conference and received some good things from President. He really got everyone excited 

Friday: we did more finding trying to get more people to teach. 

Saturday: we had a ward party and The lady we are teaching came with all 7 people. They had a great time. I was super happy to see them there getting to know everyone in the ward. We plan to really get the ward involved with them this week. 

Sunday: we had church of course, and that was nice being able to take the sacrament. Marta didn't show up but her parents did come and they enjoyed it! They want to keep coming back. Fun fact, Martas dad and a member know each other and the member has been inviting him for years, but he never has come. When they saw each other at church, Martas dad said it was a "sign from God" that he met us and then came to the church his friend had referred him to. Super cool experience!

Today we've just hung with the district and bowling. 

I love all you and hope you have a good week. Remember to do something nice for a family member or friend 

Elder Graybill sorry the pics are blurry 

Sept 17th

So I have bad news for you all. Christian was not baptized. He wants to wait and check out other congregations and see if there is a better fit. 

We are staying in contact with him and sending him scriptures. He knows this church is true but is just a little nervous that's all. We have the faith that he will be baptised soon. But more prayers are better, so if you all could pray for Christian, that would be great!

I went on exchanges with our District Leader Elder Stringham. It was super awesome. He is a super cool Elder and I learned a lot. He works really hard but very smart. Every event is well thought out and pondered. 

We did a lot of finding for future people who have interest. This week we will be focusing on getting them lessons taught. One of them is named Marta and she is super cool. She is showing interest in the Book of Mormon and wants to know where it came from. 

My scripture from this week is Alma 32: 21 and 27

21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true

27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words

Today we did a super cool hike to a waterfall and took some cool pictures.

I love all you. Hope you have a good week 

Hello everyone!

This week went by super fast. We found this new investigator named Gredel. She is super nice and said she would start praying about the Restoration and and Joseph Smith. We follow up with her tomorrow. Christian is doing awesome. He passed his interview and is really, really excited to be baptised. It's this Saturday at 6. He is becoming friends with everyone in the ward. It's really cool to see everyone support him.

Elder Heiner and I were having a really rough Saturday.  But the night finished really strong, we pulled up to a referrals house as he was pulling out. He stopped and saw us and then he got out of his car. He took us in his house and we set expectations. He seems to be really solid and wants to learn more. He invited us back for next Friday. 

We also found a new person to teach, and it turns out she's a member who moved here from Mexico but hasn't been active in years. She came to Church yesterday and wants to reactivate herself. 

Today we went mini golfing for p day and it was really awesome. I won! 

Èlder Graybill 

                                                 Pizza and Wild Cherry Pepsi = Happy Elders

Sorry guys but this week was really short. We focused on working with the members and less active members. We had a fireside about missionary work and how the members can be more confident in sharing their testimonies. They each received their own "mission call" Each call had about 3 or 4 things from something called 101 ways to do missionary work. It was cool to see everyone in the ward come together. 

We found this man named Ruben who had a lot of questions about the purpose of life. We shared with him the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration. He didn't seem interested after that at all so Elder Heiner and I were really discouraged. But 2 days later he texted us and asked if he could come to Church and meet with us again. So that was really awesome! The lesson to be learned from that is you never know who is going to be open to hearing about the Gospel. So share it with EVERYBODY. You never know if they will accept it right then or if it might take 40 years. President Boyd. K Packer said something along the lines of, as missionaries we aren't just planting seeds, but also watering dried up seeds. We all chose God's plan to come to this earth. It has been a good reminder. 

That's pretty much it this week. Christian is still progressing and is really excited to be baptized. He called his dad the other day who is a pastor and told him the news. His dad was happy for him which is great. Christian told us he wants to help convert his family. 

Les quiero mucho

I love Elder Heiner, but I don't understand the bent thumb?

This week went by super slow for me. I think it's just getting the hang of a new area. So I'm in the Keizer, Oregon area but I actually cover a part of Salem and a city called Hayesville. We split the area with the Hermanas and they get the better part of the area of course. 

There are so many Latinos here and it's awesome. Elder Heiner is from Ogden Utah and is going home in 5 weeks. So I'll be getting a new companion next transfer, and there is already rumor that I might be receiving a trainee. Elder Heiner is super cool though. He is funny and knows how to work. We have an investigator who is being baptized on the 15th of September, his name is Christian. We came into this area together and the first day we met with Christian. His original plan was the 29th of September but we moved it up. He felt waiting wasn't the right thing to do. And we agreed. He told us he is excited to be baptized and to be the example for his family. He wants to help convert his family. He is the youngest of the group and we told him he was like Nephi and that made him happy to be compared to a prophet of the Book of Mormon. Yesterday in church, he told everyone in priesthood to come to his baptism. He is super solid and we love working with him. 

Other than that, Latinos are Latinos. They either say they're too busy with work and that they never have time or that they want us to come back, and then when we do they ignore us. I love em all. 

I cannot believe this transfer is over already. It literally seems like yesterday I was in the Salt Lake City Airport. This week was a blur. I was only with my companion Elder Beard for a full 2 days. 

So after pday, we had dinner with Hermano Harmon. He is a fire fighter and had some of the craziest stories to tell. We shared the Restoration with him and invited him to share it with a co-worker. Then we had exchanges with the zone leaders.

I was with Elder Eldredge. He speaks zero Spanish. It was a very interesting day to say the least. We went down to Bend to teach 4 lessons. All 4 fell through. We got to Tinos, thinking he was going to be solid but he wasn't there. His family said he hasn't been home for like 3 days. So that was sad. We picked up Elder Klima from his apartment and brought him to Redmond because he and Elder Beard needed to be in Newburg for District Leader training. 

So Wednesday, I was with Elder Smith that day working in an English Area. We found two new people for them to teach that day and we walked like a total of 15 Miles. I haven't done that since my days in Colombia haha. Having a car is so nice. So then Elder Beard and Elder Smiths comp got back at like 10:15 because it takes so long to get here from Newburg. 

The next day we had weekly planning and it takes forever. So we worked from like 4-9 and not much happened. 

Friday we had our last District Council for the transfer and then I had exchanges with the Madras Elders. I was with Elder Justesen, whom I previously thought was Riley’s doppelganger, but actually he looks nothing like Riley. My first glance of him made me think he looked like Riley but he doesn’t. Elder Justesen and I worked with some people being taught and we invited one to be baptized. He said he wanted to and he would continue to pray about it. That was really awesome!

Saturday, Elder Beard came up and got me and we worked in Madras. We met 3 really cool guys named Francisco, Lennon, and Frank. They weren't ready but hopefully a seed was planted and one day it’ll grow. 

On our way back we got calls from President. "Elder Beard, you will be receiving a trainee for this next transfer and Elder Graybill you are leaving for Keizer and you will be with Elder Heiner.” So yeah, I'm leaving Redmond after 6 weeks here. 

Sunday was super sad. I said goodbye to everyone and it was really hard. I'm all packed and ready to go. I leave tomorrow morning at 5 for Keizer. I'll give an update next week. 

 The scripture for this week is Jacob 4:6-10

 Love you all…

Week 5

Hey guys! 

So today was a sad day here in Redmond, Oregon. Our Zone Leader, Elder Oswald was sent home for Medical Purposes to get a surgery done. He has a lot of acid that is being produced that is destroying his insides. He was one of my better friends here in the zone. But, I know the Lord has a plan just like He did for me.

The start of this week was super rough. Literally everyone told us to go away. But we were in Bend on Friday, and the Zone leaders down there gave us a referral to see a man named Tino. We went and dropped by his house to see how interested he was. We sat down with him, and he says he needs to get closer to Christ and he feels our Church is the best way. We explained the Restoration a little with him and he was very receptive. We are going back tomorrow to teach him. We are super excited for him!!!

This week started off way hard. It was starting to seem success was impossible in this area. But it ended off well. We have 4 new people to teach and they all seem super ready. The Lord has blessed us dearly as we continue to work. 

Antonio is still doing very well. He has a few things to work on before Baptism.

I can't believe my transfer ends next week, time is flying. I am grateful for all of you and your prayers and examples for me.

Elder Graybill :)

Week 4

So today I hit 5 months in total so that was exciting. This week has been pretty hard because no one wants to hear our message. I think we talked to like 30 Jehovah's Witness that would just tell us we were dumb and that we have just changed doctrine. 

The most exciting thing that happened was I went on splits with Elder Aguirre and we taught a less active member. She expressed she wasn't interested in teaching and then we taught her the plan of salvation. We forgot the most important part of the whole thing, The Atonement.  As I turned to Elder Aguirre to let him know we forgot it he pulled out his tablet and showed the Because Of Him video. The spirit was super strong. After we testified, she expressed she has felt the urge to quit smoking so she can be sealed in the temple with her husband. So she set a goal to start coming to church and slowly stop smoking. The power of the message of the atonement is amazing. Everyone read 3 Nephi 12: 5-12 it's good stuff. 

Love y'all 

Elder Graybill 

This week was not that exciting at all to be honest. A lot of contacting but not a whole lot of success. But it is ok, we continue to work hard and that is what matters. This Sunday, I had the opportunity to speak in sacrament and I was so scared. Like terrified. I do not like speaking in front of groups at all and usually I am speaking in english. But I had the Spirit on my side and my message was able to get through. My topic was service and the importance of it. Preach my Gospel really had my back haha. Antonio, our investigator, is still progressing. He comes to all of the events our branch holds, and church. Yesterday he showed up in a suit and was looking really good. In his broken english, he said, "I am getting ready for baptism." It was super cool that baptism is on his mind. other than that I don't have much to say to you guys this week.

Also, if you guys get the chance read Moroni 7:42-48.

I am loving life here.  Love all you guys. 

                                                       Some views from last night

                                                              Elder porter and I

So this week went by fast. Like really fast. I look back at the days and it seems as if they were all blurred together. To start off, Wednesday we were up in Madras which is about 35 min away from here. We workers hard contacting all day and met some really cool people. But it got to a point where I was getting really discouraged because of all the people who just shut us down. As we were driving out, we met a man named Juan Garcia. He told is to come in and we talked, we taught a little about the Restoration and about what us church members do. He invited us to come back so all the hard work from that day ended up paying off. Thursday and Friday to be honest I have no idea what happened those days. I know we worked hard and I was super tired every day. Saturday we were back in Madras and same thing. Met a lot of cool people who all believe in Christ but don't think religion matters. But on our way out of the city, we saw this guy on the side of the road with his hood up, checking on his engine. Elder beard and I looked at each other and yet we kept driving, 30 seconds later he turned to me again and said I think we should turn around and go back. I replied saying I was about to say the same thing. So we turned around and asked him if he needed help. He said he was fine but was grateful for our offer. We gave him a pass along card and asked him what his name was…Gregorio. Elder beard and I have been trying to get a hold of Gregorio for the whole time we have been here. Coincidence I think not. I know the Lord had a hand in that while scenario today for p day we haven't done much. Just cleaned the apartment and hung out with the zone leaders

Howdy, 

I am in a place called Redmond, Oregon and it is 30 minutes outside of Bend.  We cover 6 areas and so we can drive an hour in either direction and still be in our area.  It is about 95 degrees everyday and is hot!  I thought I was going to escape the heat! But this place is a perfect mix between Southern Utah and the Canyons.  The farmlands are amazing.  My favorite place is a small town called Madras because it is so beautiful.  

My comp's name is Elder Beard and he has been out for 21  months.  He is super obedient and a super hard worker which has made this week great.  We have one solid investigator named Antonio who should be getting baptized in the next month.  The Latinos here speak very fast and it's been hard to catch on.

President has said he may need me in the English speaking area and if that's what he needs, I will be OK with it.  President Tateoka is the most inspired man I have ever met.  I love Oregon.  I actually have a dishwasher AND a dryer so that is really handy.  My district is the best because I have Riley's doppleganger so it feels like home (haha). 

I love you and hope you have a wonderful day!

Elder Graybill