Adios Bryan!

12/30/13

Hello family!

 

It was so good to see you on Christmas!

 

Well we got the sad news last night... I'm getting transferred out of Bryan. We were all really sad about that. I was really hoping to stay in Bryan which I've come to love so much and to stay with my two wonderful companions whom I love so much. But all good things must come to an end right? Well except eternal families etc. :)

 

Anyways I still think that the hardest part about a mission is leaving the people and the area's that you come to love but if there's one reoccurring theme throughout my mission it's that the Lord sends us where we need to be and I know I'll end up loving my new area just as much as I've loved every single one of my old areas.

It makes me laugh when I think about how I first felt about coming to Bryan. I was so sad to leave Parkway and I remember just pleading with the Lord in my prayers that I would learn to love Bryan and be able to move forward and now here I am so sad to leave Bryan behind! But I'm ready for whatever comes and wherever they send me! I just wish I could take Sister Davis and Sister Funk with me! They will do awesome though! I can't wait to see what miracles the Lord works through them in Bryan!

 

Shelby's been out of town so we haven't seen her but I got to say goodbye to her before she left. Still no word from her Aunt but once they get back from their vacation we're going... or I guess Sister Funk and Sister Davis are going to go try and visit with her and hopefully help ease some of her concerns.

 

We saw so many miracles this week and there are so many coming! I just wish I could stay here to see them but I know I'm needed elsewhere.

We taught the "first powerful lesson" to our new investigator Brenda and it was great. She is this quiet, humble, beautiful black woman and she is amazing. She was looking for truth and stumbled across Mormon.org and after looking over the website she requested a visit from some missionaries and we were the lucky ones that got to visit her. The lesson went well. She is very sincere. At the end of our lessons we always ask the investigator to pray and she was really hesitant at first. She wouldn't pray. We didn't want to pressure her but the spirit told us to keep encouraging her to say the prayer. It's really important that the investigator is able to pray after the lesson because we can share our testimonies with them and pray for them all we want but they won't find out the truth until they ask God themselves. If they're willing to pray in that moment we know they will be more willing to pray outside of our visits. And not only that but it wasn't that we wanted her to pray to check something off our teaching list, but we knew that the Lord wanted to hear from her. It was a chance for her to rebuild that relationship with her Father in Heaven.

She finally agreed to pray and she said such a simple, sincere, powerful prayer. She accepted and soft baptismal commitment. We asked if we could set a date but she wants to wait. She is excited to meet with us again.

It was really neat getting to sit in that lesson with Brenda and my two amazing companions who I've come to love so much. Our teaching flowed so well together and we knew it was the spirit working through us. I have loved being able to train because I get to see these new missionaries grow. Sister Funk and Sister Davis have become such incredible teachers. I get so into what their saying that sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm helping them teach too.  They have beautiful testimonies and I'm so grateful for the chance that I had to learn from them. Really and truly each Sister I've had the privilege to train has truly trained me.

 

We also have two other new investigators that we're looking forward to working with. Pam and Geraldine.

Pam has investigated in that past but she's really going through some struggles. She has cancer, is taking care of her grandson because her daughter is in jail, and is trying to move so she is just trying to cope with all of that right now.

Geraldine is awesome! She is this loud, excited, and again beautiful black woman! She was so excited to talk to us. She has already decided that she's putting us on the calendar twice a month so we can have some time for "Jesus talk."  I think the Sister will have some great stories from her.

 

We also saw many miracles come from our meetings with the less-actives.

Miriam is one of our less-actives that we recently re-activated and she has been faithfully coming to church! This past Sunday she even brought her non-member boyfriend to church. It is so wonderful to see the changes she's made in her life. It isn't easy for her to say the least. She has a lot of things and worries demanding her time but she's made the effort to come to church a priority.

 

We also met with Belinda again this week. She and her husband joined the church a while back and her husband has become pretty anti. They haven't been active in years but we recently started teaching her the discussions again. All she wants is to be sealed in the temple and have an eternal family but because her husband struggles with the church she knows it's far out of reach. She really opened up to us this past week and told us everything she's feeling and going through. She was reduced to tears. The whole time she was talking I just kept praying that we would know what the Lord wanted her to hear. That he would help us know what he would say to her if he were sitting next to her. It's an amazing thing to be a representative of Christ because he can't be here with her physically but he sent us there to be with her in his place so we have the right to receive inspiration to know what the Savior would have us do. It was incredible to see how the Lord worked through us. We knew what to say because the spirit provided us with the words. Actually let me change that we didn't know what to say but the Spirit provided us with the words. We were able to promise her that if she would come to church, read her scriptures, and pray the Lord would soften her husbands heart and she would be able to receive the blessings she desires. We promised her that if she relied on the Lord he would allow miracles to happen in her life that she thought were never possible.

Yesterday she texted us and said that she talked to her husband about coming to church and she said he was much more open. I wish I could convey to you what a miracle this was. He even was the one who woke her up so they could get to church. This was a complete 360 for this man. I can't wait to see the miracles that come from her faithfulness. I know if she does what the Lord has asked she truly will be blessed and one day her and her husband and children will be sealed in the Temple. I know it.

 

There are so many other wonderful miracles happening here I wish I had the time to tell it all. I'm so grateful for the people of Bryan Texas and all that I was able to learn from them. I love my mission and there's nowhere else I'd rather be and nothing else I'd rather be doing.

 

Hope you all have a happy New Year! Thank you for all of your love and support!

 

Love, Sister Gregson 

 

Me and Shelbs

 Me with Sister Briano, the BEST old lady there ever was in Bryan



Christmas Breakfast