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.