Felix Ano Nuevo

Happy New Year Family! Party hard (in a Mormon way)! First off, that video of the twins is like sad and hilarious at the same time, but man it was great to see, I cracked up! Igual Mom, I am super happy that I got to Skype with you guys. It was fun and marks yet another quick passing of my mission. I can't say I've matured too much spiritually yet, but I'm afraid I'm going to be boring and not as active when I get home - active physically. Tell the girls that I love them tons. 

So this was a great week. We broke the record in the branch for the attendance. Yes, we had 82 people there. It was super sick!!! I felt so satisfied because my companion and I worked super super freaking hard for that. It was incredible, I am super pumped! Next week should be good as well and now the Branch President says he'll buy me any food I want until I can't eat anymore. Yes! Best prize ever.

This is a picture of the branch in La Verde.

So my companion is super baggy right now. It is normal. He only has one week left until he goes home, it blows my mind. When I first met him, he had less than a year out on his mission, super weird! 

Oh another awesome missionary story, so we were ending the day and then I get a call from the Stake President who says, "Elder, I just got called from the branch el asistants who has an Elder passed out and like dead. So I get worried and I call the asistants who get over to that house super quick. Well come to find out everything is because the Elder passed out because of a pill he took and then fell asleep. He is a really, really, really heavy sleeper. So the member freaked out and called the Stake President. But the best part was this: the elder passed out after saying a prayer while teaching an evangelical. After the prayer, when the elder fell down, the evangelical exclaimed, "WOW, HE REALLY FELT THE SPIRIT!" And to make a long story short, my companion was ticked because he didn't get to eat tortas and fries because this elder had passed out. Hahaha!!! 

Have a great new year everyone.

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Christmas Visit

We were able to Skype with Elder Grant yesterday. He is doing really well. It was wonderful to hear his voice. He was at a member's home and using their computer. What a blessing modern technology is. We were able to talk with him for about 70 minutes. He is happy and loves the work. He loves his companion and is pretty sad that he is going home next week. We were able to talk to Elder Quiroz for a few seconds, too. Grandma and Grandpa Erikson came to the house to visit. Collin was greatly surprised by that. He talked about his excitement to go to the temple with the first family he baptized last December. He got a little emotional taking about them. We were able to hear the rain falling on the tin roof. Wow it is loud. And, we ended by having family prayer, offered by Collin in Spanish. What a wonderful blessing! His visit was definitely the greatest gift of this Christmas!

Merry Navidad

This week has been great because I have been biking. It made me feel like a real missionary, well that and because I get to teach the youth in the branch. There is no teacher so I get to do it. jaja

This has been a great week for spiritual experiences. Finally my zone didn't have emergency changes so we are finally settling in as a zone. Our biggest problem is that many missionaries only want to have fun and play and never work. "Work" is an important new addition in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. We all need to learn to work hard. I wrote an epistle this week because I was feeling like Paul. It is called WHY I AM A ZONE LEADER. It talks about working hard because I was called to serve The Lord, who I love! I work hard every day to show him my love. Then I put in the words of the modern day Moses, Brigham Young, that if a man goes on a mission looking for the honors of men or the dumb things of the world, his mission is in vain. It was longer than just this and then I gave it to the Elders in the zone because that is only four others besides us. They seemed to respond to it and are doing a little better. 

The sister missionaries are great! (Side note from Mom: President Ruiz calls Elder Grant's zone "The Relief Society" because it is made up of the Zone Leaders, two sets of District Leaders, and then all the rest are Hermanas. Collin told his dad that he thinks The Lord is preparing him to have only girl children. He loves working with the sisters!)  our zone will be doing two dances and then we will sing some songs for our Christmas party. 

That's all I've got. Thanks everyone for all and I love you. I wish you all a Felix Navidad y ano nuevo!!!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Not your Average Sunday Meetings

Well this week has been interesting and has been super, super, super busy! Sometimes I feel like I am just ding some babysitting of missionaries and we are trying to open an area, it is good to be back in La Verde. The Branch is excited to have me back, I am sure. We had an activity that was really successful. Because of the activity we had 50 people attend church. They stayed for all of the meetings - incredible! That never happens in the big wards. In reality it was a great little adventure. We played Minute to Win it. That was super fun. But at the end of Sacrament I could really feel the Spirit, even though it wasn't that reverent there. It was great because it was all fun. It was funny to see the little kids running in to ask their dads to tie their shoes because they wanted to play soccer for primary. It was funny and I loved it.

I wish I had more to write but most of our time has been spent trying to motivate missionaries. We'll find a way.

Love you guys a ton!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Moving Again!

To answer a couple questions. (Mom asked if he attended church at the Las Palmas building in Reu because you can see it on Google Maps and about the Christmas package) No I haven't gotten the package. I will go check the Mission Office today.  Yes, I go to Las Palmas and I live in a place called Pedregal 2 so it should be easy to find. But, I'm changing areas, not like areas, but I am going to start working back in a place that I have already been. La Verde. Not sure how I feel about it but if it is what The Lord desires then I will do it and without complaining. I know The Lord will always provide a way. 

It is kind of a long story on how the whole thing happened. I am going back there as the ZL, along with Elder Quiroz. The Elders will still be there. It is just that this poor little branch needs a lot of help to become a big ward. This is the desire of the Stake President and the mission Presidente. The Lord, right now, is trusting a lot in us. It is going to be a great experience and with faith and dedication it is possible. 

Interesting experience this week in which I kept very calm. I was in a meeting with the assistants and the nurse when BOOM my comp and I get a call from one of the DLs that his companion just hit the ground and wasn't responding. So what happens? Well, one of the assistants and I literally go running across town to get the pickup and race over to their house. He was being checked out by the nurses and we was just mumbling. I was super nervous. But, then we found out it was an act and he was wanting to go home. Presidente, who has the keys, said no to that so the missionary is now getting help from some people. Sometimes, other missionaries can make my head hurt. 

The great part of this week was the Christmas Devotional. It was an incredible night, I love the Spirit every time the prophet talks. 

Well, thanks for all the support you give me! Love you all, merry almost Christmas in 16 days! Yay!!!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Driver's Ed - What?

Oh this week has been such a bomb adventure! I have done so little and so much. Today I bought an orange juice and guess what! They threw a turtle egg into it. That was cool and tasted like orange juice.

Well this week, we had a baptism, which rocks! I love that. She was such a happy little girl. Also this week, on Thursday, we got called into a meeting with Presidente and he never told us what it was about or anything. Well, we went all nervous like to the meeting and BOOM! When we walked in all it was about was Driver's Ed. FREAKING DRIVERS ED!! I DON'T EVEN DRIVE IN THE MISSION AND I NEVER WILL! I was in a meeting for 6 hours. But on the bright side, I got delicious apple pie that was pretty sick. Other than that, it was probably a huge waste of time. Jajaja 

I didn't get any turkey, but to tell you the truth, I didn't even know it was Thanksgiving. So, I wasn't worried about that at all. I am still in the same area with my same companion who is going to end his mission this month and it's going to be cool. He is from Chile. He's a good missionary and I'm going to hate seeing him go. I love working with him.

Also this week, we did a lot of eating because it was my companions birthday. Also, we found a gym. Today was a super fun p-day because we played baseball. That was exciting! It was hilarious because no one knows how to play. So I, being the white kid with the baseball experience of a nine year old, was in charge. Basically,  I invented my own freakin' sport. It is pretty dang cool, if you ask me. If I had to put a name to it, it would be called "Superawesomebrutalkickbuttball." And then we played frisbee. I pulled my hamstring in the most pathetic way ever and then we did yoga. HI FIVE FOR THE MOST ATHLETIC ZONE WHATUP!!!

Well, that's all that happened this week. Love ya all. Bye.

Con amor,

Elder Grant