"Hope is believing and EXPECTING that something will occur."

Dear Family,

 

How are you?

Good I hope!

 

Things have been going great! We're finding a lot of people who are interested! We've got about 10 people we've been able to find in the last few weeks who want to meet with us and learn more. The only problem is that all of these people have the same issue... they are all so busy! It's crazy. We're finding people just fine, we're just struggling to get them to become progressing investigators because they are so busy with so many other things. That is one way that Satan is really working on the people in this area. They have so many things demanding their time that they can't make time for us. But we're praying hard that miracles will happen and things will open up in all of their schedules.

 

Rosa is doing great, Kaylee is doing great! I don't have too much to update you on about them but they are amazing as usual!

 

We were able to see Robin again last night! We talked to her about the apostasy and she totally agrees with it. She's planning on coming to church not this week but the next. She's pretty busy too so it's hard to sit down and share a full discussion with her but we're sharing it with her bit by bit.

 

It's been a good week but you always have those days that can be rough. You have those days when everyone you plan to see including your back-ups end up not being home or cancelling on you.

At the beginning of the week I was studying 'hope' in preach my gospel and one line really struck me, it says,"[hope] is believing and expecting that something will occur." It was the 'expecting' that really hit me. As a set apart representative of the Lord I have the right to expect the Lord to place prepared people in our path if I'm worthy, obedient, and I seek His guidance. Well with that perspective I was determined to just expect that the Lord was going to lead us where we needed to go and He would give us people to teach and talk to. And He has!

At one point we were having one of those days when everything falls through. We were at a total loss of what to do so we pulled over and said a prayer. I received an impression that we should tract a specific street. This street was one that a referral we received lived on but the address ended up being wrong. We got a phone number for this referral but he ended up not being interested anyways. Well in Preach my gospel it says about referrals that "perhaps you have been led to this person because someone else in the home or neighborhood is ready for the gospel." So I knew that we could expect someone on that street to be one of the elect of the Lord. We received that referral for a reason and we were determined to find out why.

Well the second door we knocked on Travis answered the door and we offered to share a message with him about the restored gospel. Well he accepted and said he had time right then to talk. Moments like that always make me laugh because the look of shock on our faces that someone actually said yes was priceless. Sometimes people say yes and all I can think is "what? really? are you sure?" and then I look at my companion and our faces seem to say "ok now what?" haha

So we started talking to him about the Book of Mormon and briefly taught him the restoration. It was amazing! He said we could come back and that he thought his wife would be interested as well! It was amazing!

 

We've also been tracting a lot this past week and we had a really cool experience. One day while we were tracting we kn0cked on a door and this young man opened. He was probably about 15 years old. We asked him if we could share a quick message with him about the Book of Mormon and he said yes. We've started introducing the Book of Mormon using the pictures in the front of the book and so we did that with him. We were able to give him a copy and invite him to read and pray.

Then at the house next door we had another young man open. He was probably 16 and he also said yes to hearing a message about the Book of Mormon. We also invited him to read and pray. It is amazing to me how open and receptive the youth are! They are so incredible. I could see the light in these young men's eyes as we testified of Christ. I hope that they will read and pray about the Book of Mormon and that someday they will want to know even more. I honestly think the youth are the key to sharing the gospel. The youth in our ward are so good about doing that. They are fearless. They invite their friends to church and mutual and talk to them often about their beliefs. They amaze me!

 

Oh and an update on Sister Hardy, she's doing well they did the procedure on Tuesday. She said that they did find a stone and they got it out. Right now she's just recovering. No news yet on if she is going to come back out.

 

I hope all is going well back home! I love you all so much!

 The Kingdom of God or nothing!

Love, Sister Gregson

What Of Now?

5-12-14
Dearest family,

 

It was SO good to see your beautiful faces yesterday!

crazy to think there is snow up there! We're getting hot and humid down here YAY

 

I don't really know what to say since I just talked to you yesterday but I'll fill you in on a couple more things that happened.

 

We finished teaching Rosa the plan of Salvation and it was incredible! She was so intrigued by the spirit world and doing work for the dead. She never knew what happened to us after we die so for her it was new but it made sense to her. We showed her many scriptures and that really helped her. She was so fascinated because she kept saying "It's all right here and I never knew." We committed her to pray about it and promised her she would find the truth. She shared a neat experience with us that she had recently. Her daughter graduated last week and Rosa went to visit her. It was kind of a last minute rush to get everything done so she could graduate and Rosa told us that at one point she said a prayer with her daughter the way that we taught her. I was so glad to hear that! Rosa has come such a long way! She prays so beautifully! We invited her to church this week but she did not come. It's still the whole "but I'm catholic" thing. It's tradition and culture and it's hard for her to do anything else. Her faith is growing though and I'm so grateful to have the chance to help her with that.

 

We've seen so many blessings lately. The spirit has really been guiding us these past couple weeks. Whenever something falls through or we end up with an open time slot we pull over say a prayer and without fail the Lord always has somewhere for us to be. We've really been going through the old records in our area book and we've been able to find some really amazing potential investigators! We've been tracting a lot which in the summer is actually really great (even though i'm melting) because people have a lot more sympathy for you. They'll give you water and sometimes let you inside. It helps us have a chance to talk to people more. We're seeing so many small miracles lately. The Lord has really been placing us in the right places at exactly the right time. It's incredible!

 

We got a new investigator this week! Her name is Janica. She used to talk to the sisters a little but just got to be too busy. Well we talked to her for a bit and we were able to set up an appointment with her for this week! Hopefully I'll have more to update you on about her for next week!

 

Like I told you we dropped Dorisette last week but she actually called on Wednesday and wants us to come for a lesson this Wednesday. We'll see if there's anything more we can do for her.

 

We're meeting with Kevin our other new investigator today.

 

And that's about all my brain will bring to memory today.

 

Here's a funny story for ya.

So we were out tracting/contacting and we were walking past this pond. Well about maybe 40 yards from us were these ducks. Now the thing you have to understand is that every time we see ducks Sister Quist always warns me that almost every duck she has passed on her mission has started to chase her. Well none had started to chase us yet so we just laughed about it. Well now back to these ducks at this pond. The minute they saw us they bee lined/waddled towards us as fast as they could. It was the funniest looking think I've ever seen. Sister Quist started to freak out. I was just standing there in shock wondering if these ducks were really coming to chase us. Well they were. I just kind of stood there and they came up to me and just sort of started nipping at my skirt. Not very intimidating but really funny. So we just sort of power walked down the street and after a while they got too tired to attack us anymore. So i can't say that I've been chased by a dog yet but I have been chased by a duck.

 

Well it really was so good to see y'all yesterday! I love you so much and I'm so grateful for you!

I'm sad to be coming up on the end of my mission but I promise I'll work as hard as I can!

I have loved my mission so much and I wouldn't trade this time for anything.

This gospel is true! We are so blessed to know the truth.

I wanted to share this quote that I read the other day about our pre-earth life. I can't remember which prophet said it but I love it!

 

"I was there! The Prophet Joseph said I was there on that glorious day when the Father called all of his children into the great council. What a vast throng that must have been. The memory of that day is gone, obscured by the veil. But surely it must have been a time of great rejoicing, of overwhelming emotion. How did I feel, I wonder, when I watched Lucifer, son of the morning, step forward. “Here am I,” he said. “Send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind.” Everyone? Could that be possible? “One soul shall not be lost,” he boasted; then he added the condition for such a feat. “Surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. "What my reaction was to such terrible audacity I cannot help but wonder. And what thoughts filled my heart when our Eldest Brother stepped forward with marked contrast in attitude and bearing. “Father, thy will be done,” he said. And the condition for this? “The glory be thine forever.” I was there and saw it all; and, according to the Prophet, I sanctioned it. I sanctioned the choosing and appointing of Jehovah as our Savior. When the rebellion erupted under Lucifer’s urging, how valiant was I in my stand? Did I sanction the Savior with heart as well as voice? The apostle John says the battle was won by the blood of the Lamb  and the word of their (the followers of Christ) testimony. Was my own testimony a weapon of power? Oh, how I long to remember, to pierce the veil and see myself in those premortal days. But wait. I stand now in the present. What of this day? Do I sanction my Savior here? The war is not yet over but merely moved to mortal battlegrounds. What of the weapon of testimony here? Do I wield it with power in His cause? Of what worth is previous valiance if I falter here? He is God, the Son of God. I sanctioned his appointment then. What of now?"

 

I love this quote! I've wondered that same thing so many times- what was I like in the pre mortal life and how strong was my testimony then? Well what does that matter if it isn't strong now, if I'm not valiant now?

 

Love you!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

Welcome to Texas

 

Happy Cinco de Mayo

​Family Dear,

How'r ya'll?

How is the beautiful Utah weather?

I love this time of year in Texas because all the magnolia trees are blooming and the bluebells are out!

It's been another crazy but great week.

Things are finally starting to settle and I think we're about back to normal missionary life!

We saw a lot of wonderful miracles this week!

On Monday night we took Rosa on a church tour and she loved it! Sister Howard and Esther were able to be there too and they helped us a lot! Rosa thought it was so facinating. She got especially excited when we showed her the family search center! We're already planning on taking her in there to get started on her family history. We were able to take her from room to room and tell her about our meetings . The best part was when we took her into the sacrament meeting room. It's amazing to do church tours because when you walk into the sacrament meeting room immediately you feel the spirit. It's like this giant wave of the spirit just washes over. It is so tangible in that room. I know that Rosa felt it too. It's always a good reminder to me of how sacred the sacrament is. Sometimes it's hard to feel that when there's all these kids screaming or your anxious to see if your investigator will show up but the sacrament meeting truly is one of the most sacred meetings in our church.

It was so good to take her on a tour because now I think she will feel more comfortable coming. Something that really hit me as we told her about our church is how we truly try to emulate the savior by focusing on the "one". It's amazing to think that the Bishop and other presidency leaders know all the names of the people they serve. They try to help and love people on such and individual level and that's how it should be. That's how the Savior served and that's how we serve.

Kaylee is doing great as usual! She's made it to 2 nephi chapter 9 now. We're getting into the Isaiah chapters but she is determined to continue to read on. She's not letting that slow her down. Her thirst for truth and her diligence is so inspiring to me.

I had two exchanges for this past week. Normally I like to spread them out but with Sister Hardy being to sick they all got pushed back to the last week in the transfer. The exchange was awesome though! I got to serve with my old companion Sister Davis for 24 hours and it was so good to be with her again! We saw so many miracles. Sometimes Heavenly Father likes to reserve the best miracles for exchanges. We were doing some tracting and we knocked into a woman named Camille! She is amazing! She is christian and has strong faith in God. We were able to talk to her about the Book of Mormon and we invited her to read it. She was actually really excited. She has a good friend from Puerto Rico that is a member of the church and she really admires him. She said she would start reading the Book of Mormon that night. Unfortunately she and her family are about to move to Florida in the next week or so but hopefully we'll get some missionaries to her over there!

We had a lesson with Dorisette. She wasn't able to read in the Book of Mormon this week. It was pretty disappointing. Well we decided to read with her instead of teach the lesson we had planned so we began to talk to her a little about the background of the chapter we were going to read and we got on the topic of why the Book of Mormon is necessary. She told us it is hard for her to understand why we need it because from reading the Bible she already knows without a doubt that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. She doesn't feel as though she needs "more". It made me so sad because I know there IS so much more that she could learn, feel, and know. We shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon with her and she could see the sincerity and because of that she recognizes that the Book of Mormon is more important that she is now able to comprehend. I knew we were kind of at a stand still with Dorisette and that now was the time the Lord wanted us to drop her. It's what we have been praying and fasting about for the last 2 weeks and it didn't feel right until that very moment.  I asked her the question "what more can we do for you Dorisette?" her response was that she needed us to "continue to pray that I will be able to read the book and that I will recieve a witness that it is true." She said she would continue to pray and to read. She told us that for her it will take time and that answers have never been immediate for her. It was a good reminder to me that testimony and conversion is not and event or and instant outcome, it is a process and it's different for everybody. Dorisette believes that she will one day know about the truth of the Book of Mormon and she truly is trying, but we all recognized that it would take her some time. At the end of our discussion she said that closing prayer and it was so beautiful. I know someday she will be able to find her answer. At the end she gave me a big hug it was hard knowing that we weren't going to see her much anymore. I don't think either one of us really wanted to stop our lessons but we both knew for some reason that it is what was necesary and what is best for her progression. I just hope I did everything for her that the Lord needed me to do.

One of the great tender mercies of this week is that we had dinner with the laurel class and they made us homemade cafe rio! haha I can't tell you how many times in a week (as ridiculous as it is to admit) i think "boy i wish i could eat some cafe rio right now."

We also got to teach a lesson in Young Womens about missionary work which was really fun! We have some incredible young women and they are some of the best missionaries I've ever seen! For the month of May they are going to be "missionaries" They get a companion and they will be assigned to a family in our ward who they will teach the discussions to as if they were investigators! I am so excited for them to do this! It will be a really neat experience for them and for the ward members too!

So they just barely changed the Tomball ward boundaries and sadly Patricia is no longer in our area so we had to give her to other missionaries but the Lord knows best. I hope she'll be able to find the truth she's looking for.

Here's an entertaining story for ya. After church yesterday we were talking to the Bishop in his office and at one point my purse fell on the floor and just about everything fell out... doofus. Well i thought I got everything back in it so we then went to mission prep. Every sunday we go to mission prep and help the youth with their teaching. Well after mission prep we walk out to the car and I'm fishing through my bag for the keys and they are nowhere to be found. As we walk up to the car I notice that our phone is sitting on the arm rest in the center of the car. Ah man. So we go back into the church building to knock on the Bishops door and there's no answer and it's locked. We left our car keys in the locked office and our phone is sitting in the locked car. Luckily we had a member there with a phone and to make a long story short a few hours later we got our keys back. I can't help but laugh because I feel like it was the perfect and only appropriate way to end this crazy transfer. I'm certain a few people in heaven were laughing at us.

Anyways the transfer is over and as far as we know it looks like Sister Quist will be staying here! It's crazy to think that I'm probably going to end my mission in Tomball but I'm just trying not to think about those things.

As far as an update on Sister Hardy she is doing well. She got home on Monday of last week and she has her procedure scheduled for the 7th of May!

Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers!

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

Love, Sister Gregson