Houston We Have a Baptism!

Hey family! How's life?

I can't believe that schools already starting up again! We have college students EVERYWHERE now here in college town.

 

Tomorrow is my 6 month mark... what?! It has gone by WAY too fast I just need it to slow down a little. Transfers is this week and I can't believe I've been in Bryan for 6 weeks already! I'm pretty sure Sis Hutchings and I will stay here together at least for another 6 weeks so we can finish her training! She is doing great! Every week she improves so much! She has really started to open her mouth and I know she will be so blessed for being so courageous!

 

Life is Texas is great as usual! We've been so blessed this week!

 

Jaelynn and Tony both came to the mutual activity this week so we had the opportunity to go with them! They loved it! The ward has done such and incredible job of helping them feel welcome and invited! It's amazing to see how the youth have really stepped up! They are going to be such great missionaries.

 

We had a really great lesson with Jaelynn this week. Like I've said before she is a young girl who has been through much more than she should have at that age. She has had a hard life. This past week we gave her the talk by President Uchtdorf called "Your Happily Ever After" This is one of my favorite talks. I remember when he gave it I felt like he was speaking directly to me. I know it is the perfect counsel for Jaelynn as well and I can't wait to go back and see what she thought as she read it. I love this girl so much. She is such a loved daughter of God . He loves her so much. I feel His love for her literally serge through me every time we meet with her. Every day God helps me feel his love as we meet with the wonderful people of Texas.

 

Emily and Tony came to sacrament meeting on Sunday and they had their interviews on Saturday so they will be getting baptized on the 31st! I am so happy for them! They are so incredible. They are some of the most humble faithful people I've met on my mission so far. They put all their trust in the Lord and they want so badly to serve him in any way that they can.

 

Charles is doing really well. We had the coolest miracle on Monday night when we saw him and Mary. He still doesn't believe the church is true so we were still praying for a way to help him. He told us he had been really sick for weeks now and hadn't been able to go to work because of it. He's been in a lot of pain. Well of course when we heard that our first question for him was if he would want a Priesthood blessing. He was pretty hesitant, but as we explained it to him little more he said if we sent the Elders over they could give him one.

 

Well as we sat there I felt that we needed to get the Elders there that night, right then and there. So I asked Charles if we could call the Elders and have them come over.

 

He said not tonight maybe another night. I told him I felt strongly that he should get one tonight but he didn't want one. That didn't sit to well with me, but I didn't want to press it so we continued on with our lesson. They whole time all I could think was "This blessing needs to happen tonight" But I felt helpless about it because I didn't want to pressure Charles into it.

 

Well about 15 minutes later there was this knock on the door and Charles looked through the peep hole. I wish you could have seen the look of shock on his and Mary's face when he said "It's the Elders!" I could have given those Elders a hug I was so excited (but don't worry I didn't). Well to make this story short Charles got a blessing and it was incredible! The spirit was so strong and I was praying so hard that he would feel it. I know he felt something because of the look on his face after the Elders left.

 

The Elders told us later that they were at a light about to turn right when Elder Field randomly said "turn left." After a minute they decided to stop by Mary and Charles's  place.

Coincidence? I think not! Miracle? Without a doubt.

 

Mari is doing really well, because she is 25 we are handing her over to the Elders in the singles ward. It's sort of sad that we won't get to teach her, but the Elders are awesome and I know they'll take good care of her and for some reason or another they are the missionaries that are supposed to be teaching Mari.

 

Life is so good! I just feel so blessed. This gospel is incredible and every day I feel more and more grateful that I was able to grow up in this church. It has blessed my life in more ways than even I know. It blessed the lives of so many people who are searching for the truth. I love that what I'm sharing with people is true, pure, perfect happiness. I know this gospel is true. It is the greatest most important part of my life and I love sharing that with others.

 

I love you all so much! Thank you for the support!

 

The Kingdom of God or Nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

Temple Trip

 

 Cool clouds

 

 Us with the Bryan Ward Elders at the Temple



 

 Sister Htching and I with Elder Field,who is leaving the Bryan Ward



The Kingdom of God or Nothing!

Hey Family!

 

How's life?

 

Life is great in Texas!

This week was amazing! We had the great opportunity to go to the Temple again and it was so wonderful! I love feeling completely consumed in the peacefulness of the Temple.

 

We saw many great miracles this week!

We have a new investigator named Mari. She is so great! When we went up to her door we were originally expecting to talk with a less active in our ward, but Mari is the one who opened the door and informed us that the less active member had moved. Well we weren't going to give up that easy so we decided to introduce her to the Book of Mormon. After we got to talk to her for a time we asked if we could come back and tell her more and she agreed. Well this week we had the chance to go back and teach her the Restoration and it was incredible. She hasn't had much background with religion. She says that she's not sure there is a God, but she is not comfortable saying there isn't a God. She sees God as someone that created us but doesn't interfere with our lives, he just kind of watches on the sidelines. What's wonderful about God is that he isn't one to watch from the sidelines. He is very much involved in our day to day lives. He loves us and helps us and protects us. Every day! She is darling and I can't wait to go back and share more with her!

 

Unfortunately Emili and Tony didn't come to church yesterday. They accidentally slept through it. (tony set the alarm for 8 pm instead of 8 am, poor kid). We called and called and they didn't wake up until noon. We were so bummed because in order for them to be baptized they need to have come to church at least 3 time and they've only been twice so we had to bump their baptism to the 31st of August. Now they are more determined than ever to be baptized. They were pretty sad when they heard we had to change the date, but they are so strong and so amazing. I just can't imagine the joy that Heavenly Father feels when his children are baptized because its the first step they take that gets them closer to returning to live with Him. If Emili and Tony endure to the end Heavenly Father gets two of His children back! I bet that makes Him so happy.

 

Jaelynn is doing great! We re-taught her the Restoration this week and before we left we gave her the Young Women's theme and challenged her to read and say out loud every morning "I'm a daughter of Heavenly Father who loves me and I love Him." She is such and incredible girl. The gospel just makes sense to her. As we taught her she said "Why don't more people know about this?" My only thought is that Satan is good at what he does, he can deceive people in so many ways, but you know what? Heavenly Father is even better. He will always win. Nothing can stop His work from progressing. I am so grateful to be out here helping more people to know about this great truth!  

 

I love being in Bryan. Every day there is a moment where I know that this is where I'm supposed to be right now. We had a really tender moment with a member yesterday. She is one of my favorite members in Bryan. She was recently reactivated and has really had a hard life. Yesterday we went to visit her because something pretty tragic happened to her this past weekend. We talked to her for a time and had decided beforehand that we would sing 'Be still my Soul' to her. She loved it. Before we left she mentioned how grateful she was that we had come into her life at this time. She feels like we're some of her best friends. In every area there are those people you meet that you feel as though you have always known, and were meant to meet. She is one of those people. It always amazes me how much love I feel for people even when I've only known them for a short time. I think it is one of the greatest blessings of being a missionary. I have learned so much about loving others. It is key to missionary work, and to life as a child of God.

 

I'm so grateful for all of you! I love you all so much and I hope you are all doing well!

Don't forget that having this gospel in our lives is living with the best life we could ever know! I know that is true! I see it every day in the people I meet.

God loves you and so do I!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

Life Is Good!

Hey family!

How's life? I can't believe that the summer is almost over! You'll never believe it but I've almost made it through my first Texas summer! It's really hasn't been too bad this year though.

I can't believe Josh is turning 7! Tell him Happy Birthday from Aunty Em and that I love him to pieces!

 

Oh and yes I got the package thank you lots!

 

I can't believe how many miracles we've seen lately...

This week was incredible! Emili and Tony are doing so well! They are still planning to be baptized on Aug. 24th. This past week they came to a baptism we had at the ward and they loved it. They recognized the spirit. They are so sensitive to the spirit and it has really helped them through their process of conversion.

 

We talked to them a lot about Temples this week and the work we do for the dead. Emili lost her mother a few years back and it really caused her a lot of pain in her life. When we told her that someday she can be baptized for her mother and be sealed to her she got really excited and said "That's what my mother wants." They are incredible and I love them so much! I am so grateful to have been able to come to this area and have the chance to meet with them every week.

 

We also had exchanges this week and some amazing things happened! We went to visit Mary - one of our less actives in the ward. The last time we went to see her she was very stubborn about coming to church. Sister Hutchings and I pretty much felt like there was no way we could get her back, but Mary has a grandson living with her whose name is Charles. Now Charles is a really cool guy, he has had a very hard life (drugs, alcohol, jail, you name it) but a few years back he decided to turn it all around. He was the one who originally let the missionaries in the door, but it was his grandmother Mary that joined. Charles doesn't believe in the Mormon faith. He has taken the lessons plenty of times, but he doesn't believe it's true. Since we started visiting Mary we knew that part of the reason we were there was for Charles. Well this past week we went to visit and I've been thinking long and hard about how we could get Mary to church. As we sat there talking to her it hit me "we need to talk to her about family history work" So I asked her if she'd ever done her families work. She said no. I asked her if she had ever wanted to... She said "well I don't know" We explained how she had family waiting for her to do their work and all the sudden her heart completely softened.

 

Charles was sitting with us as we talked to Mary about this so we turned to him and asked him what his thoughts were on temple work. He said he didn't believe it. Well we decided to teach him the plan of salvation. He's been taught it before so he knew pretty much the whole Plan. After we finished we asked him "what about the plan seems wrong to you?" He didn't have an answer. We asked him if he'd ever prayed to know if the things he'd been taught were true and his response was no. So we committed him to pray and he accepted.

I hope he will! We're going to go see him again this week.

It was so incredible. I wish I could explain what a miracle it was that Mary and Charles opened up to us like this.

 

Our other investigator is Jaelynn. She is amazing. She is 14 years old and she has had a very hard life. Right now she lives with her Grandmother who is less-active. This past week we had the chance to teach her the Plan of Salvation as well. She has such great faith and everything we've taught her so far has made so much sense to her. One of my favorite things to talk about when teaching about the Plan of Salvation (especially to youth) is that they are sons and daughters of God. To have the chance to tell them that God is their Father and that He loves them is such an incredible opportunity. I often think about the Young Women theme that says "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us, and we love Him" There are a lot of people (Jaelynn included) who don't feel loved. What a wonderful thing it is to know that God loves us. What a wonderful thing it is to know that Christ thought we were worth giving His life for. And what a wonderful thing it is to share that with the children of God who don't know it.

 

Life is so good.

I love it. I know I say this every time but I love being a missionary. There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now than right here in the heat of Bryan, Texas. It's hard, but it's worth it.

 

I love you all so much and I hope all is well at home!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

Look where I tracted!!

 

My new trainee

 

 Joan

 

 My and my firstborn

Last picture with Sister Schellhous

 

3 generations! (That's Sister Schellhous' firstborn)

Eric and Vida

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Drought Comes the Storm

Family Dear,

 

How are you! Of course Chelsea was the one who got to meet Jimmer...

I look forward to hearing if she gets a golden spot on Grandma and Grandpa's fridge.

 

Life is so good.

 

This week was a crazy week.

It started out really rough. Every appointment fell through and no one was home and I could tell that Sister Hutchings was getting really discouraged. As a trainer whenever something goes wrong you feel like it's all your fault so I was trying really hard to find people we could talk to and teach. It was one of those weeks when you question your ability as a missionary and as a trainer, but whenever there is a rough spot there are always miracles that come after!

Without fail! God is so good to us! And I always remember what Dad said "Enjoy the Difficult"

 

After a very rough 2 days we had Zone Conference so we had the great opportunity to hear from President Pingree and he always says the right things. The spirit was so strong that day and it always feels so good to be in the presence of so many missionaries. We had to drive down to Tomball (my last area) for the conference and it's about an hour and half drive. But the drive is so lovely, it's all through the country so there are green fields full of blue bonnets! I got to see my old Zone and Sister Schellhous. It was so good to seen them all again, but it was so hard to leave them.

 

That night is when all the miracles began. During our conference the AP's talked about how when we receive a referral who isn't interested the Lord still sent us to them for a reason. Either there is someone on their street or someone they know who is prepared for the gospel. We that night a family we had planned to visit wasn't home so we said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to tell us where we needed to be. I had gotten a pretty strong impression so I asked Sister Hutchings if she had had any promptings. She was pretty hesitant so I told her what mine was. A few weeks prior President Pingree had given us a referral named Alicia. She seemed interested at first but has been avoiding us since. My impression was to go and visit her next door neighbor. We'd never seen him or talked to him, but because of what the AP's shared I knew that's where we needed to try. When I told that to Sister Hutchings she looked shocked and told me she had had the exact same impression. So of course we went straight there! His name is Rufino and when he opened the door he was so excited to see us, but the only problem was that he spoke Spanish. Luckily a few weeks ago Elder Myers had given Sister Schellhous and I a Spanish door approach that we could use so I was able to ask him if he would be interested in having the Spanish Missionaries come teach him more about Christ. He was so happy to accept!
 

It was such an amazing experience. I don't know how things will pan out with him, but it was a testimony to me that not only do our leaders receive revelation for our mission, but that when we act on what we learn the Lord blesses us. Also that as a companionship you truly receive inspiration for your specific area and it's important to recognize your companions thoughts as promptings from the spirit.

 

There are many other blessings we saw this week but the last one I will share it about Emili and Tony. We were finally able to meet with them again this past week and we had the great opportunity to set a baptismal date with them for August 24th. They were so happy when we asked them to be baptized on that date. Every time I have the privilege of asking that question I get that feeling of insignificance compared to what the Lord allows me to do as a missionary. That probably doesn't make sense so let me explain. There is great weight and significance in asking someone to be baptized. It's not just getting baptized, it's starting on that path that leads you to live with Heavenly Father again. As an imperfect daughter of God what right to I have to ask such an incredible question to someone? Truly I feel I don't have the right, but what is amazing is that the Lord allows us to do it anyways. He puts His trust in us, and allows us to participate in His great work. I can't express how truly grateful I am that he has allowed me to be a missionary and to help aid in his work. What I love about Heavenly Father is that he sees us for what we can become.

 

I feel so incredibly blessed to be here. I have fallen in love with the people here  and every day I feel so blessed to have met each and every one of them.

 

I love you all so much. I love this Gospel. I love Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. The gospel it true.

 

The kingdom of God or nothing!

 

Love Sister Gregson

 

Beautiful Texas! 

 

Hello Bryan Texas!

July 29, 2013

 

Hey family! What's up?

 

It's amazing how fast the time flies! I can't believe I've been on my mission for 5 months! Every day goes by faster and faster and I really wish I could slow it down somehow!

 

Things are going well. As I said last week we've really been praying hard to know how the Lord needs us to work in this area specifically and we're starting to figure it out. Right now we do a lot of less active work. Our ward list is huge so we've basically been going through it doing what we call a ward cleansing. Basically we're figuring out who is a member, who is less active, and who has moved because since the ward is so huge nobody really knows... crazy right?

Along with that though we knew we also needed to be finding people so we started to knock on 3 doors for every door on the ward list that didn't answer. We've been able to meet a lot of great people that way both members and non-members.

 

Now for the awesome experience we had this week! So Sister Hutchings is awesome! She is such a great missionary, but her biggest fear is talking to people. I've been really praying to know how best to help her overcome these fears because she truly is amazing and I know once she opens her mouth she'll realize she doesn't need to fear because the Lord will speak through her. For every door approach i ask her if she'll do the talking and she says declines a lot (she gets really nervous). I kept thinking and thinking of ways to help her out, and so I've been making her practice teach a lot during our companion studies (which she hates, but she tolerates it:) ) Well the other morning to her dislike I had her practice handing out a Book of Mormon. Well here comes the cool part...

So we went to visit a member on the ward list and they ended up not being home so of course we went to knock on 3 doors. The first door we came to as we walked up I asked Sister Hutchings if she would do the talking. She said no so I decided to say "well I'm not going to say anything" (just so you know we love each other and she has a great sense of humor so I joke with her all the time that I'm just not going to talk, but this time I meant it!) So we knock and this woman (Gaila) answers the door. I waited but Sister Hutchings just stood there (not out of stubbornness, but just out of fear). I could see that she didn't feel comfortable talking so to avoid an awkward situation i just went ahead and began introducing ourselves. What followed was amazing! I got through about 1 sentence and then i lost my voice!!! Completely gone! So Sister Hutchings immediately picked up where I left off (like a pro) and began talking to this woman. Then Gaila said "I have to leave but do y'all have any literature I could read" Well my voice was still gone, but Sister Hutchings knew what to do. She pulled out a Book of Mormon and introduced it to her and bore her testimony of it! Gaila was really excited about it. She said "I need to know more about Christ so I'll add this book to my studies." It was so cool! I was so proud of Sister Hutchings! The whole time I kept thinking "the lord works in mysterious ways" It really was like Heavenly Father was saying "Sister Gregson be quiet, Sister Hutchings needs to do this!" and so he took away my voice! It was the coolest experience.

Right after we walked away from that house I got my voice back.

 

Sister Hutchings and I had a good laugh about it, but we also recognized what a blessing it was. When we talked afterwards I asked her how she felt and she mentioned that it wasn't as hard as she thought. I know we both needed that experience! She's been trying harder to open her mouth and she is so incredible. She is a much better missionary that she gives herself credit for.

 

Things get better and better with each day that goes by. It didn't take long for me to really truly recognize that this area is where I need to be right now. We've met a lot of less actives that I love so much already. The ward is incredible. They have been so welcoming to us. They keep us well fed, and well taken care of.

 

I'm so grateful to be here. This gospel means more to me that I ever thought possible. With each new area I've had to regain my courage to open my mouth and be bold in sharing the gospel and it has really helped me to grow and come to know my Savior and Father in Heaven on a much deeper level. I was reading some scriptures on courage today and one of the passages simply said, "Be of good courage, and do it." I'm realizing more and more that courage is simply knowing that God is constant and keeps his promises. We don't always see clearly the path he has created for us, but he walks arm and arm with us down that path and we don't need to fear where it takes us because he is the one that can see the full path. He is the one that is leading us down it. And if it's the path that he has created then is can only bring goodness and blessings into our lives.

 

I love you all so much!

Keep fighting the good fight!

 

The Kingdom of God or Nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

White Wash Training AGAIN?!? Aye Carrumba!

July 22, 2013

 

Well so you've heard the news... I'm white wash training again! What?!

 

It has been an exciting, sad, crazy, overwhelming (in a good way) week!

 

Sister Schellhous and I were certain that one of us would leave so we were really sad the whole week. Then on Tuesday night we got the news that I'd be leaving the area. There were definitely tears shed. Not that I'm wasn't willing to go where the Lord wants me to be but because I was so sad to leave my ward, my investigators, and Sister Schellhous. I have loved the Parkway ward so much and Sister Schellhous has become one of my closest friends. I have love each of our investigators so much and it is so hard to leave them, but luckily on Wednesday night I got to say goodbye to most of them. I know they will accept this gospel someday (hopefully soon!) They are amazing people that I feel as though I've always known. I feel so blessed to have had them be a part of my life even if it was only for a short time.

 

As hard as it may be I know this is part of the Lords plan for me. I know that the new Sister in the Parkway area is needed for a reason and she is going to help our investigators so much! Sister Schellhous was nervous to train but she is so ready. She is one of the best missionaries I've ever met.

 

My new companion is Sister Hutchings from St. George Utah. She's 20 years old. She is great! She's a little shy, but there's no better cure for shyness than going on a mission!

 

As you know my new area is College Station, home of the big college campus! It's pretty exciting around here. This area is completely different from Parkway! It's HUGE! And the missionaries here call it the exile of the mission because it's the farthest away. It was an hour and a half drive from my previous area. I'm now serving in the Bryan 1st family ward (Bryan is the city). So far the ward seems really missionary oriented and they told us they've been praying for Sisters for a long time now. I feel unworthy to be an answer to their prayers but I know the Lord is going to help us. I hope I can fulfill this calling the way the Lord needs me too.

 

The ward has about 600 members but on average only 214 attend so there is A LOT of reactivating to be done. I'm starting to realize that each area is different. We've said a lot of prayers asking Heavenly Father how he wants us to specifically fulfill our work here. I keep thinking of the scripture that says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and He shall direct they paths" I definitely need his direction right now so I'm trying to put all my trust in Him.

 

Right now we've only got a couple investigators. First there's Tony and Emili. Tony is 17 and Emili is his mother. They are great! They've been taking the discussions for about a year now and then they moved to our area so we got them as a referral. Yesterday we talked to them about baptism and they really want to be baptized. The missionaries that have taught them previously have prepared them well.

 

And our new investigator is Alicia. She is actually a referral from President Pingree and we're planning to start teaching her this week!

 

That's all I have to report for this area so far! I'm so grateful for the experiences I had while in the Parkway area, and for the people I met. It was a really hard place to leave. Some of my fondest memories of my mission will be from that area and with those people. I'm looking forward now and trying to really focus on this area. I want to keep working hard. I am grateful to be here and it's always humbling to be in the position of a trainer. Sister Hutchings is a great missionary and I can't wait to watch her grow!

This gospel is amazing. I love it more that I can express. I love being out here and serving the Lord! Everyday I feel complete and pure joy. It is a privilege to serve my Heavenly Father, and His son Jesus Christ. I hope and pray I can become the missionary the Lord wants me to be.

 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your words of encouragement and for all the prayers!

 

I hope all is well back in SLC!

 

The Kingdom of God or Nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

PS here's my new address...

Riverstone Apartments #46

2301 Broadmoor Drive

Bryan, TX 77802

 

PS I forgot my camera cord so you won't get pics until next week.

There is a pic of Sister Hutchings and I on the Mission blog though!

 

Don't Go Over There, They Have Black Licorice

July 15, 2013

Hola family!

 

How is life? I am so excited for Mike and Alisha! Finally the boys are coming!

Life has been so good here in Texas!

 

We've seen so many blessings this week!

 

This first is Este Jean. Este Jean is a former investigator from back in 2009. Last week we were looking through our area book and saw her teaching record so we decided to stop by her home and visit her. She welcomed us right in and we got to sit and chat with her for a bit. She mentioned that she believed that Joseph Smith had seen God the Father and Jesus Christ, but "I just couldn't give up my coffee and tea." So our first lesson with her we talked a little but about the Word of Wisdom and what she had gotten from the previous missionaries is that we didn't drink those things because we believe they mess up our brains. So we were able to reteach it to her. It was really cool because once we explained that a big part of following the WoW is obedience her entire outlook on it changed. We don't always know why the Lord gives us a commandment, but we do our best to be obedient to it. Once we explained it that way she was like "Well yeah, you've got to obey God's commandments!"

Then this past week we met with her again and the spirit was so powerful. Este Jean is so prepared! After we shared the first vision with her she said, "I feel tingly" we asked her what she thought that meant and she said "truth." It was incredible!

 

I love her so much and she's one of those investigators that from the get go i knew I was supposed to meet her. She is hilarious. You would LOVE her sense of humor! At one point we were talking about the good and the bad in the world and she was talking about being an example to her family who aren't Christians and she said "It's like i leave a little trail of chocolate kisses for them to follow that lead towards Christ." and then she said talking about the bad "Don't go over there they have black licorice, come over here to the good side we've got chocolate." I thought her analogy was spot on because I'm not much of a fan of black licorice myself. I doubt dad liked it much though.

 

One of my other favorite experiences from this week was the lesson we had with Eric and Vida. We finally were able to finish teaching them the rest of the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and as I sat there I felt this immense peace that I only feel when I'm in the temple. It was so powerful. Eric and Vida are so prepared for this gospel. They have such great faith and I know they've felt the spirit in their home as we've gone to teach them. They too are one of those investigators that I feel like I've always known and loved.

 

I'm so grateful that I have the chance to be out here doing this work. The gospel is the best. We have transfers coming up this week and I'm not really sure what will happen. If I had my way Sister Schellhous and I would stay here in this area forever. She is the most incredible companion and I can't imagine being with anyone else. Plus our investigators right now are really progressing and I have grown to love them so much. It will be hard to leave them if I have to go. But of course the Lord knows better than I do where I need to be.

 

I feel so immensely blessed to be out here doing this work. Everyday is a joy. Missionary work is such a privilege and everyday I'm more and more amazed that Heavenly Father would allow us to be so blessed as to be able to serve missions. He is too good to us.

 

I love you all so much and I hope all is well at home!

 

The Kingdom of God or Nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

Sister Schellhous

Sister Schellhous and me

 

 For YW's we made cookies and delivered them to some investigators.

 

God Bless Texas...Oh Yeah, and the USA!

July 8, 2013

Hola Familia!

 

How was your 4th? I was thinking about how I was going to miss the Holiday fireworks this year but the great thing about Texas is that you don't need to even leave your front porch to see a full on firework show. Either the big fireworks aren't illegal here or everybody breaks the law (heck it's Texas so who cares I guess)! Our whole neighborhood was lit up until about 2 in the morning. It literally sounded like we were in a war zone all night! It was so fun. The entire horizon was full of fireworks!

 

It's been an incredible week for Sister Schellhous and I. We've really seen how the Lord keeps His promises. We had a meeting with President Pingree and he taught us all about the difference between man's ways and God's ways. In missionary work you set a lot of goals that seem pretty impossible, but he talked about how with the Lord nothing is impossible, if they are the goals set by the Lord they will be accomplished as long as we do our part. We've been really prayerful about our goal setting this week and we've seen this promise fulfilled. We've been trying to get outside of the car more so we'll park in one side of the area and walk to appointments or just around and contact the people we see on the street. One of our goals was to open our mouths and talk to EVERYONE that we saw and it was amazing how when we started doing that we met so many great people. We've gotten a lot of new investigators just by getting out of the car and walking and we feel so blessed. The Lord truly places people in our path when we do everything we can to find them.

 

One of our new investigators is Loushay. She is incredible! She is an 18 year old that we found while tracting and she is very wise and mature for her age. She has a great love for Jesus Christ and she loves him so much, she just lights up when she talks about how he has blessed her life. We are really looking forward to talking more with her about the gospel!

 

Our other new investigator is Darlene and she is awesome! It's amazing because we go in expecting to teach, but we come our learning just as much from them as we hope they learn from us. Darlene has been through a lot in her life and she recognized early on that even when everyone and everything around you fails you the Lord NEVER does. Everyday I'm amazed at how lucky I am to have the chance to meet these people. They open up so willingly and let us into their lives. Everyone goes through struggles in life and everyone needs the Lord. There are so many good people in Texas who love the Lord so much and I feel blessed to hear their testimonies as well as share mine.

I feel so lucky to be able to share my testimony with others every day. It feels so good. This gospel is so wonderful and i love it so much. I love being a missionary so much and I know I say that all the time but it seems like the longer I'm out here I love it more and more and I'm so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to do this work and to be here in Texas with such great missionaries and such a great mission president.

I can't even put it into words, It's just wonderful.

 

Now for an update on Joan...

When we went to visit her this past week she told us that she wanted to get baptized, but she wanted to be baptized in her church. She mentioned that the last time she went to her church it just felt like going home. Well Sister Schellhous and I were heartbroken. It was really neat though as we both sat there listening to her we both had the impression that instead of convincing her to change her mind we just needed to listen to her. As I sat there I wasn't sure what to say, but I remembered a quote from Elder Holland that I'd read in PMG that morning that says, "When we listen with love we won't need to wonder what to say." And so we sat and listened to her. It was amazing. She opened up to us more than she ever had before. After we had been there for a time i had the thought "well we're dropping Joan, what do we do now?" and Joan decided to show us some pictures of her husband and family who have passed on and I had the strongest impression that we needed to keep visiting her because her family needed us to. When I mentioned it to Sister Schellhous afterwards she had had the same feeling as we looked at the pictures of Joan and her husband. I think Joan was worried about telling us that she wanted to get baptized into her church because she really loves us coming and seeing her, but we told her we would still come and visit with her because we love her. She was worried that she would have to give us the BoM back but we told her of course she could keep it. I think in her heart she knows that it's true and I hope that someday she'll be ready to accept it.

 

There are so many other things that I wish I had time to say! We have been so truly blessed and I can't thank the Lord enough for every minute I get to be here.

 

I love you all and I hope you have a great day!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

 

This picture right here just goes to show you how great my zone is! :)

This was our July BBQ we got to play some ultimate frisbee so we all look kind of sweaty, but isn't it a sharp group? I love them so much!

 

Deep in the Heart of Texas...

Hi family!

Are YOU enjoying the heat? sounds like you guys are experiencing a heat wave! It's pretty funny because in all your letters you write about how hot we must be down here but it's really not bad. It hasn't gotten humid yet  so I think it's cooler here right now than it is for you in Utah! Right now it's 90 degrees and it feels great, there's always a steady wind so it keeps us pretty cool while we're tracting plus Texas has way more clouds than Utah.

 

People here start celebrating the 4th of July like 2 weeks early. Every night we hear and see fireworks going off it's pretty great! I can't wait to see what's in store for us on the actual day!

We're celebrating today by having a BBQ with our zone!

 

Life is so good here! We saw a lot of wonderful miracles this past week! 

 

We got to meet with Sam (a new investigator) and he is awesome! We met him outside when we were tracting his street and got to talking to him. He knew missionaries years ago when he was growing up he was always really impressed with them. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said "give me ten days and you can come back and see me". So we did and when we called him the night before we met with him these were his exact words, "I don't know if I'm a very good candidate for conversion because I've only gotten to 2nd Nephi"

 

Whhhhaaat? That's farther than any of our other investigators haha!

 

I am so grateful for those two missionaries that he knew years ago that helped to prepare him to meet with us today! It just goes to show that you never know how you can affect someone's life.

 

He is so cool! He had a lot of wonderful questions about the Book of Mormon and we had a really great lesson with him. We invited him to church and guess what? He came!

 

It was so exciting because we were giving the talks in sacrament meeting and so we were up on the stand. I was praying so hard one of our investigators would show and then walked in Sam. Me and Sister Schellhous were beaming when we saw him walk inside. I'm sure the congregation was wondering what was in our milk that morning because we probably looked like a couple of giddy fools. He really enjoyed church and said he would most definitely come again!

 

We finally got to meet with our other new investigator Brenda and she is amazing. She has been through so much in her life and she completely opened up to us and laid it all out. She mentioned that she doesn't just open up to any one but that she really trusted us. It was neat to think that she would tell us all that. I know it's because she felt the spirit. She lost her father to cancer too and it was amazing as she described her experience. It was like she was telling me my own story. I was able to share my own experience with her and I felt so connected to her. I know I was supposed to meet Brenda. She has such great faith in Christ. She knows it is him that has gotten her through all the trials she has faced in life. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and she already believes it is true so we are so excited to see this gospel bring even more joy into her life. Before we left she looked at me and said "I want to share something with you", She said "You are a beautiful young woman and your Dad is so proud of you". It felt so good to hear those words. The spirit was strong and I'm certain Dad wasn't too far.

 

We're still teaching Dolores, Joan, Jerry, Joel, Eric & Vida, Veeda, Melissa, and Christine and they are all so great! We're having a hard time getting them to church though, I know that part of each one of them knows that this is the truth that we are teaching them, and I know someday they will be prepared to accept it.

 

On Friday we got to go to the Temple again and it was such an amazing experience. Every time I go I love it more and more. We have such and incredible Zone and I've learned so much form each missionary within it. They are the kind of missionaries I want to be and I feel so blessed to know each one of them.

 

I love being on a mission. Every week flies by too fast! I feel so blessed to be out here with so many incredible people. Every day there is a new learning experience and every day there is a miracle. There are so many good people in Texas and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to know so many of them. Missions are the greatest! Don't get me wrong it's definitely hard, but it's a good hard. It's the kind of difficult that I could never regret having to go through.

 

I hope all is well at home! Go out and serve someone this week for me! whether it's a member or not look for opportunities to help someone! You won't regret it!

Love y'all lots!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

 

This is what a real Texas breakfast looks like! We have a member in our ward (Sister Rushing) who fed us this amazing meal, Grits and all!

 

All the sisters in my zone. They are awesome! The blond one is Sister King the one that Chels knows.

 

My zone at the temple. They have become some of my best friends! 

 

 

The Lord Knows Where His Sheep Are!

Family Dear,

How are y'all doing?

Life is great here is Texas! It's hot but it's not as bad as I thought it would be yet! We are outside tracting a lot but we've been keeping pretty cool! It seems like whenever we start to feel real hot the Lord sends a cloud or a huge gust of wind to help us along. That or one of the people we knock on hand us a cold water bottle on the way out. People here are so nice! The other day we were sitting in the car looking at the map trying to decide where to go tracting next and a know came on our car window. This guy who lived down the street was out working on his lawn and he had seen us walking around his neighborhood so he brought us over some cold Gatorade! It was so nice! Southern hospitality is the best!

 

Houston is really cool because it has the most strange landscape I've ever seen! There are cactus because it's so hot, but then you have all the tropical plants, palm trees, and flowers because we're near the coast. Then we get all the beautiful southern flowers like the magnolia trees! But then you have all these huge forests of every kind of tree you can think of everywhere! All it's missing really is some mountains.

 

This week has been wonderful! We found a new investigator one morning while we were out contacting a street in one of our areas. Her name is Veeda (this is a different one so right now we're teaching two - Vida and Veeda). Veeda was out watering her lawn and we started talking to her and she invited us inside. She is from India and has been in America for 15 years now. She is very religious but she mentioned how she has felt fairly lost recently and doesn't feel like her prayers are being heard. We told her we could help her with that! She said whatever it is we believe it must be true because why else would such young people be out sharing their religious beliefs. What was really cool is that she told us that the day before she had been talking to her son about changing religion. She wasn't so sure about it because she is 51 and she didn't think it would make sense to change, "but" she said "I believe that you were sent to me from God." We are excited to teach her because it will be very different from our normal teaching. She is Hindu so she doesn't know who Jesus Christ is. We get to start at the very beginning! We also got her a copy of the Book of Mormon in Hindi which is really cool!

 

Another miracle happened having to do with our investigator Joel. I'm not sure if I've told you about him but we tracted into him and he has some member friends so he wanted us to come teach him. He really believes what we've taught him so far is true. But here is the miracle. So one night when we stopped by Joel's house his son Sadot answered the door (Sadot is probably about 26) He was really nice and friendly to us and I had the thought "I wish we could teach him too." After that we never saw him again because he doesn't live with Joel. Well we were out tracting and contacting the other night and you'll never guess who was outside of his house working on his car! It was Sadot! When we walked up to him he said "I know you guys!" At first we didn't recognize him so we were a bit confused and then it came and we realized it was Joel's son Sadot! We asked him if he would like to learn more a long with his dad and he said "well on Monday I'm going to go see my Dad to talk about it" so we're hoping and praying he'll want to take the lessons too! I know it was no coincidence that we found Sadot!

 

There have been many other blessings but my mind is a little to fried right now to think of them!

 

We got to watch the World Wide Leadership Training last night and it was amazing! I feel so lucky to have been able to be a part of that! The spirit was so strong throughout the entire meeting! It is truly amazing how the lord is hastening his work and not only will missionaries be accountable in moving that work forward but every member of the church will be! I hope y'all get a chance to watch it because there is so much that each of you have been called to do to help with this work. You don't have to have a call to be a missionary! Go out and do some work!

 

Every week I spend here I love it even more! The time seems to go by faster and faster every day and I'm trying to soak up and enjoy every minute. I feel so blessed to be here in Texas and in the Parkway area. I don't know how I got to be so lucky as to have the Pingree's over my mission. They are the most loving, happy, childlike, humble, Christ-like people I have ever known. Even in the short time I've known them I have learned how to be a better missionary and Daughter of God.

 

Anyways everything's great down here in the South! I hope y'all are doing well!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

PS Did you know that James Taylor is going to perform with the mo tab in September!!!!? You guys should definitely go, I'm so sad I won't get to see it!

 

 

 

 

 

Difficulties Are ALWAYS Opportunities!

June 17, 2013

Hola family!

 

How's life? Good, I hope!

 

This week has been the best of my mission so far! We saw so many miracles and blessings!

 

On Friday we had the great opportunity to hear from Elder Christoffel Golden of the Seventy. He gave a talk in the most recent general conference and he is AMAZING!

There were a lot of things that we learned from him but I'll share some specifics...

 

He talked to us a lot about setting our goals with faith. We need to counsel in the Lord with the goals we set and have faith that we can accomplish them with His help. He told us to find out what God wants in this area and do it. This was really applicable to me and Sister Schellhous at the time because we have set some pretty high goals for this month that were high but we felt they were inspired so we knew they were right. The other thing that Elder Golden mentioned was that when we keep our promises the Lord honors His promise to us. We really tried to exercise our faith in the Lord and this past week we were able to reach the goal we had set. But it wasn't from any power of our own. We couldn't have done it without the Lord's help.

 

One of my favorite things he said to us was that our greatest talent we have as a missionary is virtue and obedience. That is all the power that God requires of His missionaries. It doesn't matter if you are shy or outgoing, if you're good at talking to people, or you're good with words, all the Lord needs of His servants is for us to be obedient and virtuous and he will qualify us for His work.

 

He also talked about the spirit and how usually (when we are righteous) the first thought that comes to the mind is from the Lord so we need to act on it. He mentioned that we may not always see the consequence of making a right decision but at some point we will. Sometimes we need to follow a prompting that might not have an immediate outcome. Sister Schellhous and I really wanted to work on following the first thought. We had some miracles happen because of it! At one point we were saying a prayer before we were going out to tract and I heard pretty clearly in my head "go see Alice." Alice was this really promising woman we met that we haven't been able to get a hold of since the first time we met her so eventually we just had to drop her. We went to see her after i had that prompting and she was home! We got to set up an appointment with her.
 

On the same day we were doing something else and we felt prompted to go see a less active woman. We went straight there and we found out she was getting ready for a garage sale and we were able to help her get some stuff priced. Because of this she seemed a lot more welcoming to us. It's been amazing how we've seen all the promises that Elder Golden gave us have happened.

 

Since He came and spoke to us Sister Schellhous and I have tried really hard to do the things he challenged us to do and change they way we did our work before and we've seen so many blessing since then. We now have 12 investigators, 5 are progressing, the rest we're excited to go teach this week! But we've found so many people who have been prepared and we feel so blessed that the Lord has placed so many people in our path. We don't feel we deserve it, but we've been trying so hard to be obedient and virtuous so that we can accomplish the work the Lord needs us to do. It's been really humbling. We didn't find all these people on our own and we definitely aren't the ones teaching these people. The Lord lead us to them, and he's allowing us to be the vessels through which his word can come. I really feel so undeserving to have so many blessings but I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be a part of this work.

 

I'm so grateful to be a missionary and to know this gospel. Life is so good.

I can't believe how fast my mission is going by. I wish I could slow down the time. I have learned so many wonderful things and met so many wonderful people. How did I get so lucky?

 

I hope all is well at home! I love you!

 

The Kingdom of God or Nothing!!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

 

 This is Lorena! One of my new favorite people on the whole world. She is the recent convert that recently moved out of our ward.

What's wrong with this picture? (hint, look at what he is, what he's roasting, and what is on his shirt)



 

Flowers

 

 Funny sign that makes me and Sister Schellhous laugh. Not only is the kid wearing the most hanious outfit but we always read it as "slow children playing" instead of "slow, children playing"

 

The sky in texas is the most beautiful sky there is!

 

 

 

Here Comes the Humidity!

June 10, 2013

 

Hello family!

 

How are you?

 

Things are wonderful here in Texas! As you already know we had transfers and me and Sister Schellhous got to stay! We were so happy! We have seen so many miracles this week!

 

It still hasn't gotten too hot, but maybe I'm just getting used to the weather. We've had quite a bit of wind and rain to keep it fairly cool here! You'd love the summer here mom! There are lilacs trees everywhere! They have the most beautiful flowers here! And the sky is huge!

 

We have 4 new investigators and again we've found them all through tracting! It's amazing how there truly are so many people prepared, you just have to find them!

 

First we have Eric and Vida, when we tracted into them they said we could come back but that they would be non-committal. We didn't think we would get too far with them because of that but our first lesson with them was amazing! They have so many questions. They are catholic, but they have questions about life that the Catholic church can't answer for them. They are very interested more particularly in the Plan of Salvation so we get to go back and meet with them again! It's amazing how prepared they already are! It was so wonderful to be able to sit down with them and talk about the gospel and they truly want to know more. They had some great questions and the spirit was so strong as we sat with them sharing and testifying.

 

Then we have Christine, I think I already told you about her but we went to visit with her again and she had read the Book of Mormon and loved how it coincided well with the Bible.

 

And our fourth one is Joel. We tracted into him and he mentioned that he had some friends who were Mormon. We gave him a Book of Mormon and then this morning we went to go see him again. He let us in and we got to teach him the first lesson. He is amazing, it already make sense to him that we would need a prophet on the earth today and we're really excited to go back and see him again this week. After we shared the first vision with him he said "I believe you guys!"

 

We are so grateful that the Lord has let us meet so many amazing people. We're not sure if we'll be the missionaries that bring them to baptism, we hope we will be, but we feel so fortunate just to be able to share the gospel with them.

 

Our other investigators are doing great! We didn't get to teach Joan because she had a doctors appointment but we talked to her briefly and she is doing really well!

 

Our last lesson with Dolores was pretty rough, 2 of her autistic sons were home this time and so she was really distracted the whole time. We're going to try a different approach and see if we can share more simple short lessons so she can stay focused.

 

Melissa is awesome! We get to teach her the Plan of Salvation this week and we're excited to get to know her more.

 

And Jerry is great! He has been doing so well reading the Book of Mormon and he always has such great insight! Sometimes I think he is teaching us more than we are teaching him! It feels that way with a lot of our investigators. They are so amazing and I learn so much from them each time we see one of them.

 

As you know on Wednesday we got to teach the youth for mutual. It was really cool! We talked to them about how they can do missionary work, and how they can prepare for missions. We did some role playing and then left the remaining time we had for them to ask us questions. It was a lot of fun!

 

It's been an awesome week! I'm excited to work with each of our investigators and how we will be able to help them grow closer to Christ. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here on a mission! With every lesson we teach I wonder how I got so fortunate to meet these people. I love my Texans! They are such good people.

 

I hope all is well at home!

I love you all so much!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

Love, Sister Gregson

 

 

Hey Ya'll

June 3, 2013

 

Hello family!!

 

How are Y'all doing today? I hope all is well! Life is as great as usual here!

It's starting to warm up be we've been so lucky because there has been a lot of wind to help us keep cool. Did I mention that they have the coolest thunder storms here? and they happen all the time! It's so much fun!

 

I can't believe I've already been out for 3 months! It's crazy! It has all gone by way too fast! I can't believe I only have 15 months left. It's so true that time on a mission is gone before you know it!

Transfers are this week but hopefully me and Sister Schellhous will both be staying here together. Sister Pingree has told us to be prepared to train just in case because I guess there are 14 English Sisters coming out this week! But I hope I'll get to stay with Sister Schellhous because we work so well together and I love being her companion.

 

We saw a lot of progress with Joan this week. We finally feel like she understands the importance of what we are teaching her. We finally got to give her the GIANT copy of the Book of Mormon that we found at the book store and so now she can start reading which I really think will be key to her being able to move forward. Like I've said before she is one of the most loving people I have ever met and i am so grateful to have the chance to spend time with her and talk about the blessings we have received from the Lord. Each day I am more and more amazed by this gospel.

 

We've really seen some great things happen since we started doing the AP's challenge to contact 10 people a day outside of tracting. A lot of our appointments this week got moved or cancelled so we did a lot of tracting and contacting. First that day we contacted Kim. She was outside her home gardening and after we introduced ourselves and talked to her for a minute she said "go ahead, teach me, I'm listening." So we started to teach her about the Restoration. She was so kind and accepting. She agreed with a lot of the things we said! We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and she was actually really interested and excited to read it. We're hoping to go back and see her either this week or the next.

 

That same day we tracted into Crystal who let us right into her home. We got to sit at her table and teach her about the Restoration as well. She had a lot of questions and we tried our best to answer them. It was amazing because normally we probably would have been at a loss as to how to answer her questions and what scriptures to use, but it was amazing how the spirit provided us with the answers we needed to give. We're hoping to go back and see her as well. She is amazing and she has great faith. It's really cool because we really could feel such a great spirit in her home!

That same day we met Alice and she was so sweet, she believes in God but she doesn't really know a lot about him so she said she would be willing to have us over so we're looking forward to getting to talk with her more.

 

Like I said a lot of our appointments fell through this week with our investigators so a lot of our time was spent contacting and tracting but it really was amazing! We were able to give out a bunch of BoMs and talk to a lot of amazing people. It's so wonderful to meet so many of God's children! It's amazing the immediate love you feel for each of them. Of course we got a lot of rejection, but we also saw a lot of kindness too.

 

With Melissa we went back to see her on Thursday and she wasn't home so we didn't get to see her which we were pretty sad about, but then on Saturday we were tracting (and we weren't anywhere near her house) but all the sudden this car pulls over and we hear someone yell "Hi girls!" we turned and saw Melissa in the car!! She told us she had been living with her in-laws for the last few days because their AC stopped working. We set up another appointment for this week! She is so awesome!

You'd think after she pulled away that we had died and gone to heaven. We knew it was no coincidence that she happened to drive by that street, and we felt so glad that she would stop the car and talk to us instead of just driving by.

 

Now for a story that had me and Sister Schellhous laughing for hours (which might sound weird after you read this because it might not be as funny for you as it was for us.) We had dinner at our Ward Mission leaders home and they have 4 little girls. After we finished dinner and our spiritual thought I was playing with one of his girls (Brook) who is 4 years old. She was admiring one of the pass-along cards with Christ on it so I gave it to her for her to keep. She was so excited. After that she started trying to tickle me so I would poke her in the stomach and she'd laugh so hard. It was great... until she threw up. But amazingly enough she caught it all on the pass-along card. She looked up at me with the saddest most sorry face. I think she felt bad for throwing up on a picture of Jesus. After a minute she told me she was going to go wash it off so i watched her walk to the kitchen and wash the card under the sink water. I was trying so hard not to laugh. (I'm going to be the worst mom) When we got to the car I told Sister Schellhous what had happened and we laughed so hard our stomachs hurt! She told me I had "poked the puke our of a little girl" Needless to say it was the hardest I've laughed in a long time and it felt so good. Moral of the story is don't poke your kids in the stomach right after they've eaten.

 

On a more spiritual note..

I love being out here. The gospel is truly amazing and I'm realizing more and more how grateful I am to have it. It's amazing how so many people think because we're so young we can't "know" what it is that we share everyday. But I can tell you I do know that this church is true. I know it with all my heart and no one can ever take my faith away from me. We've come across a few people that try to argue with us and it takes every bit of me to keep my mouth shut and let them speak. I want so badly to tell them all that I know and how I know it. But I've realized i need to be humble and testify where I can and share the love of God with others the best I can.

 

I feel so lucky to be out here and I really can't believe how fast it's going. It's amazing because I was so scared to come out and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to talk to people, especially when contacting. But it's amazing how the Lord qualifies us for the work because it's crazy to me really how easy it is to just go up to someone and begin a conversation. I never thought I could see myself walking up to people the way we do and yet here I am doing it all day long, and I love it! I love being a missionary!

 

I hope all is well and I love you all so much! Thank you for all the love and support!

 

The kingdom of God or nothing!

 

Love, Sister Gregson

 

Weird thing about Texas #5: apparently ceramic frogs or dogs in the garden is the thing to have.

speaking of frogs I accidentally stepped on one last night and it was the weirdest feeling. Luckily the frog was alright, but it gives me the creepers just thinking about it squishing around under my shoe.

Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow

Family dear,

 

Hello! How is life? Man do I miss the cool Utah weather! it's not too hot yet, but it's starting to get worse. It's so funny because everyone we meet (that isn't a member) just tells us "just stay inside with the air conditioning and you'll be fine" unfortunately that is not something we can do. Hopefully we won't scare people when we knock on their door and they see two melting young girls on their front porch. Maybe they will have more sympathy... or maybe they will still not open the door :)

 

This week was incredible! I have so much to say! Me and Sister Schellhous saw so many amazing miracles!

 

At the beginning of the week we had our interviews with the President! He is amazing. He told me everything that I needed to hear! He's so funny. He told me that he put me and Sister Schellhous together because we both have such pure hearts. He said the only thing he was worried about with us is that we'd get translated and wouldn't be here anymore. I had a good laugh at that! He kept repeating that he felt strongly that the Lord is so happy with the work that we've been doing which is something we needed to hear. He knew that me and Sister Schellhous had been a little discouraged because we've been working SO hard and not really seeing much success. But he made me read a part in Preach My Gospel that says, "your success as a missionary is measured by you commitment..." It was something I needed to be reminded of. He was so kind and expressed so much love and confidence in us. He told me he's already seen a lot of growth in me, apparently I'm a lot more confident haha! I'm so grateful for him and all that he does for our mission. I'm lucky to get to be a missionary under his counsel.

 

In that same meeting the AP's did a lot of work with us on how to contact and also how to involve members. Elder Myers (AP) watched both of our practice teachings and afterwards came up to us and gave us some really kind compliments. He said we teach as if we are seasoned missionaries and he said he can tell that we're out here for the right reasons and we love the people we teach. Were were so grateful for the things he said. 

 

Like I said a lot of our prayers were answered that day. We were so worried that we were doing something wrong or that we weren't very good missionaries even though we'd been putting all our efforts in the work and it was humbling to have those things said to us. It made us want to work harder to live up to the kind things they said about us.

 

One of the challenges the AP's left us with was to contact 10 people a day outside of tracting and use a list of questions they gave us which has some really great ideas! We've been doing it as best we can everyday since and we've seen many miracles! We've been able to teach the first lesson to so many people outside of our investigators because of it! I always thought it would be so scary just to walk up to people but it's incredible how easy it really is! The Lord makes us the servants he needs us to be.

 

One of our favorite moments this week we were out contacting and in our neighborhood there is this huge bayou and there's a trail that goes around it that's probably about a mile around and as we were walking back to our house this woman was coming from the bayou trail and coming towards us on the side walk. As soon as she saw us she stopped and turned around to go back around the bayou again! haha can you believe that. She didn't want to talk to us so much that she straight up turned around and walked around it again. Well at least we can say we helped her live the work of wisdom a little better by forcing her to walk another mile around the bayou. At least her dog was happy :) She kept looking back to make sure we weren't following her. We had a good chuckle about that.

She's missing out!

 

This week we've started to see some of the fruits of our labors!

 

First we got to teach Melissa the first lesson in more detail. I don't know if you remember me talking about her but we tracked into her a few weeks ago and she was the first person we met that was willing to let us teach her right there and then on the porch. She's fairly young and has one daughter who is probably about 6, and she also has a few foster children. She is active in her church and has great faith. We found out (long after we met her) as we were looking through our area book that her husband met with missionaries back in 2010! coincidence? I think not! definitely a miracle! He didn't progress because he struggled to understand why there is a need for a modern day prophet, and Melissa has had some of the same questions but she is really open to it all. It's amazing that she is the one the Lord is working through this time and it's a miracle that she was the one who opened the door and not her husband. They are amazing though! It seems as though they are already members of the church! We can't wait to go back and teach her more! What was cool about our visit with her that day though is that we stopped by at random to see if she was home and she mentioned how that morning she actually had picked up the pamphlet we left with her that morning! coincidence? I think not! She's awesome and y'all would love the way she decorates her house! I plan on taking pictures so you can see!

 

We also got to FINALLY teach Dolores! and it was great! She was really receptive to the first lesson and she wants us to come back. She's really impressed that we would leave our homes for 18 months to be here and it made me realize just how crazy I am! :) She is wonderful though. She said she loves us because we remind her of her daughters! We are so excited to go back and teach her more!

 

Joan is doing great as well, she wants to get baptized! So we're going to do all we can to get her ready! We're still not sure that she understands everything quite yet, even when we are pretty direct, but we'll keep working on it!

 

What's cool about these three investigators is that we found them all through tracting! So like I've said before, anyone who says you don't see much success with tracting Joan, Dolores, and Melissa are your proof that you can! What President Pingree told us at the beginning of them mission (that tens of thousands are ready) has been proven to be true. We've met quite a few people who we know are ready, it's just a matter of them choosing to accept the message!

 

We taught Jerry again on Sunday and he is so great! He knows the Book of Mormon is true and he wants to be baptized but like I mentioned before he has a few things to take care of before he will be able to so we're doing everything we can to help him. What's great about Jerry though is that we can be pretty blunt with him when we need to be and he takes it so well. He knows what he needs to do.

 

I don't remember if i told you about Amador already but he is a referral we received from some of the Elders who basically stopped him in the parking lot and asked for his address so he really had no idea who they were or what they were all about so when we visited him the first time he wasn't even really sure why they wanted to send us there. But he is really cool he was willing to let us come back and the first time we talked with him we saw so much potential in him. Sister Schellhous actually envisioned him getting baptized, sealed, and coming to church with is family in the few short minutes we met with him. We felt such promise with him but when we tried to visit him the next week he didn't answer the door and we knew he was home because his car was there. We tried back again a few days later and same thing he was home but he didn't open the door. We were so sad. That was one of the things that happened that made us discouraged. So we went back last week and he opened his door! We straight up (but in a loving way) asked him if he really was interested to know more of if we were just going to be a bother to him and he stopped us pretty quick and said he really was interested he's just had a rough week. So we get to go see him this week and we are really excited!

 

We've seen a lot of blessings and our prayers have been answered. We're starting to realize the miracles that have happened and are happening and people are finally opening up to us! I guess the trick is to not give up on them when you see that promise in them. It might take them a while to see that they need what we have to share, but many of them do see it!

 

This week has been really fun because me and Sister Schellhous have been trying to implement family history in our tracting and contacting and it's amazing how many people get really excited about talking with you when you bring up family history. The spirit of Elijah is strong in the world today and we seen that proven through the people we've talked to about it.

 

Life is great in Texas! Love you all!

 

The Kingdom of God or nothing!

Love, Sister Gregson

 

PS here are some weird things I've learned about Texas...

1. Every ones front windows are always covered, it makes it awkward to knock on doors because we can ALWAYS tell when they are staring at us through the window...

2.  Men (even the very unhealthy heavy ones... in fact I would say mostly the very unhealthy heavy ones) never wear their shirts(except for the members). I can't tell you how many times we've been put through a little bit of a shock when a shirtless man opens the door... OH MY put on a shirt! haha

3. everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has dogs, which I'm fine with because i love dogs, but poor sister Schellhous hates them...

4. everyone in Texas has a second living room in their garage. They will have like full on couches and a flat screen TV, some of them a bar. And they'll all sit out and chill in their garage. So I think we should turn our garage into something cool like that when I get home. We could start a new trend in Utah.

5. THE BUGS ARE HUGE! Literally they are dinosaur bugs. We killed a nasty cockroach today. It was gross. Really gross. What's worse is that most of them fly too. Gross.