Week 17/104

July, 4 2016

Heylo Eberyone!

Happy Independence Day! What a wonderful reminder of our freedom to
choose how we worship, and the great country that we have the
opportunity to live in. In the words of a Biblical prophet, "Choose ye
this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve
the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)

We met our new mission president this week. President and Sister
Christensen are so awesome! We met them as a zone, and we each had
about 5 minutes to individually sit down with them. I'm gonna miss the
Toones, and I'll admit that I was worried I wasn't going to connect
with them as well as did the Toones. But that is not the case! I know
for a fact that they have been assigned here to administer and to
connect with each missionary who is in this mission. I am so excited
to work with them for the next 20 months!

We had such an amazing miracle this week! For the past month or so, we
as a mission have been praying every night for the opportunity to put
families on date. We have had multiple opportunities to extend the
commitment, but none said yes. Last Sunday, however, was the beginning
to a different story. We were waved down by a man driving past us as
we were biking. He told us he, his wife, and his family of seven
children just moved in to our area, and wanted us to teach them. A few
days later, we visited their house, and found out that he is a member,
but the rest of his family was not, and two of his kids were old
enough to be baptized. We taught them the Restoration, then asked them
if they would be baptized. They said yes, unable to hold back their
smiles. They are preparing to be baptized on the 27th of August! Like
I said last week, God is a God of miracles.

There's nothing like being put in a humbling situation like training a
new missionary, then being able to see the blessings that come from
the work we are putting in. I have felt so lifted and guided by the
Spirit of the Lord. I know it's because of my faithfulness, and
because of your prayers on my behalf. For that, I will be forever
grateful.

Love,
Elder Grover

1. Elder Pavlakos and I
2. An incoming dust storm. Prettiest thing I've seen yet!
3. The alert on our phone that warned us of the dust storm. It's
pretty melodramatic. :)