Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week.

This week was good. Elder Morrison and I started off on Monday working with a less active member. We were able to give him a blessing and establish that we wanted to do a family home evening with them. He agreed and we are going back tonight to try and set a firm date. Tuesday, we had interviews with President and Sister Tateoka. This is always nice. President is such a cool man and I am grateful to be in his mission right now. He has helped me out in a lot of ways. 

Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Feik. He is in the Dayton ward and the McMinnville YSA. He is from Eagle, Idaho and played football. He is a really cool guy. We had a successful day of work. We talked to a lot of people and set up some lessons for Elder Morrison and I. 

Thursday we had weekly planning and so not a ton happened. We had a couple lessons fall through with Ariel and his family and we were getting nervous that we were going to be dropped. Also, I woke up super sick on Thursday and so we had a slower day.

Friday we had District Council and we had a super spiritual discussion. I felt impressed to invite the District to really focus on The Book of Mormon this week. So we set a goal to place at least one every day. Already, our area has seen results from this challenge. 

Saturday we had a long day. Just rain and cold and me being sick haha.

Sunday. The best day of the week. Being able to participate in the Sacrament and really focus on the Savior. Ariel and his family came to church and they were able to have a good time. Ariel participates in class and is very attentive. After church we had a lesson with them and we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hanny, the wife, has been a little bit hard to work with. She wasn't so sure about being baptized. But, they went to the temple on Saturday and saw a video on the plan of salvation. This really delivered a powerful message to Hanny. So when we talked about baptism again, Hanny was ready and was willing to accept it. The whole family will be baptized on March 16. 

I know this church is true. I have seen some of the hardest of hearts soften as the Spirit works within them. There is no denying that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the Son of God. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Oregon. No matter how hard it gets, how tired I am, and no matter how rainy and wet it is, Life is good. 

1Peter1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:  

D&C 6:36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.  

Our trials are shaping us more then we know. And we will be rewarded with countless blessings. So don't give up in any of your trials. Know that the Lord is on your side.

Love ya,

Elder G

Does it get any better than this? 

Would you like to hear more about our Savior?

My Dashiki pose

Wait, I'm confused. Did you say yes? 

Dab

What is he doing?

Hombres jovens guapos

Hello everyone! I don't have a ton of time to write, as you all probably know by now, we are able to call the family weekly if we'd like and I was able to talk to my mom and dad. And my bro Colton! That was really nice. Colton sounds like he has grown 10 feet. His voice is a lot deeper.

So here is a quick wrap up on this week. We walked around a lot and tried to talk to as many people as possible. But not a lot of people wanted to hear the message sadly. But it's ok. Elder Morrison and I are determined to find 5 new people this week. We know it can happen with the Lord's help. 

Ariel’s family arrived here in Dayton safely this past week. They're the nicest people ever. We were able to meet and teach the Restoration to them. It was cool to see how happy Ariel was about them listening in on the message. We moved Ariel’s baptismal date to the 16th so that he and his fiancé can be married the 9th. I'm super excited for them to take this step in their lives. 

(Some things Garrett shared with me on the phone yesterday about the Espindola Family. Ariel came to the United States ahead of his family to find a job and prepare a home for them. Garrett wonders what in the world could have brought him to a place like Dayton, Oregon. They are from Bolivia and there are 4 members in the family, dad, mom, daughter (8), and a little boy (2). Ariel was a pilot in Bolivia and is working on earning his wings here. Ariel told Garrett that he knew of the missionaries in Bolivia, yet not enough to investigate. Upon his arrival here in the U.S., he visited the temple and watched one of the movies and was moved so much by what he felt that he knew he needed to be baptized.)

Elder Morrison and I are getting along great. He and I are the same person to a T. So it is super nice having him around. 

I'll get more out next time 

Sorry for the extremely short email. 

This week was a good one folks! I have a new companion and he is super cool. Elder Morrison, who has been out for 2 months, is from Cache Valley, Utah and he is a stud! His original call was English speaking but President changed that in the mission home. He has caught onto Spanish very quickly. We had a really good lesson this week with Ariel again. We were able to decide on a baptismal date for him and he was super excited! March 9th!  His family is joining him here today and he is pumped. He hasn't seen his family in months and he is excited to introduce them into the Gospel. He was sharing with us that he sees his son as a missionary one day. "I want my son to be helping other people like you are helping me" he said that to us before we ended our lesson on Thursday. I also had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. And we had a successful day. It started snowing really hard and we of course had to keep walking around. But It didn't even slow us down. We were able to get 16 TTI  ( teach testify invite) which is a lot if you don't know haha. I was able to get some good training to take back to the district. 

Also, Elder Morrison and I experienced a miracle this week. Yesterday as we were walking, we found an unopened box of little Debbie snack cakes on the ground. So, we were blessed with lunch yesterday.

Oregon has been really cold lately. So I'm not enjoying that. 

I love all of you and I hope love is treating you well.

1 Nephi 3:7 "I will go and do as the Lord commands....."

Élder Garrett Michael Graybill
615 Ferry St. Dayton, OR

Still find time for sushi rolls

Bus vs Car

So this weekly is going to be short. I have limited time to write today. Like 10 minutes here and there.

So transfer calls came and I am staying in Newberg and I was called as the District Leader so I'm the DL over the Assistants. Scary!  I'm excited for this next transfer it's going to be great. My new comp is Elder Morrison. He's super cool. He was in my district in Hayesville. He came out an English elder and was switched to Spanish in the mission home on his first day. He's been out for 2 months and I'm super excited.

Ariel is continuing to Progress. We had a super spiritual lesson with him on the commandments. His family comes on the 11^th of Feb. We are planning to get them married and baptized in the next 6 weeks. 

My spiritual thought for this week is:  2Nephi 32:3 "Feast upon the words of Christ"

My invitation to all of you is really dig deeper into the Book of Mormon this week. As you do this, you will find more peace in life.

I love all of you… keep being cool

Élder Garrett Michael Graybill
615 Ferry St. Dayton, OR

(L-R) Elder Long, Elder Szoke, Elder Graybill, Elder Jones, Elder Rasmussen, Elder Hinck, Elder Wadsworth, Elder Anderson.