October 7, 2013

Dear Fam!

 

Hopefully I don't delete this again.  But things are going pretty good!  I went to the Doctors today and he said he thinks its just a pulled muscle where my quad meets the top of my knee and I also have some fluid in my knee. but he just said to take it easy take a bunch of Ibuprofen and stretch. He said he didn't notice anything bad.  I was SOOOOO relieved, I am going to Brazil no matter what!!!    I see him again in two weeks.  He was a cool guy.

 

Lexi emailed me and I was able to email her back!  It was awesome to hear from her and see that thing you sent me. Ha. I miss her!  She needs some good friends, or something.  I hate hearing that shes lonely cause i know how bad that can suck.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI!  That gun is soooo sick! It's like the one from COD.  IDK what youre wining about.  I think  it's just your thing you do...ha.

 

Well conference was AWESOME!  I loved the Saturday session WAY more than the Sunday sesh.  I wish they would've flipped it cause I know NOBODY watches it on Saturday. My comp didn't even know the sat sesh existed till he got on his mish. HA.  Their was a ton of great talks about MEMBER-MISSIONARY work.  We missionaries are so lucky to have them reinforce that right now.  The members here are great tho, they feed us, come on visits and help a ton!  We went over to a families on sunday and they fed us breakfast and lunch during conference, felt just like home, their were two crazy kids, one little girl younger than bells kept trying to climb on me...AWKWARD!   But i liked Hollands talk on Saturday night about Depression, I felt that one was really inspired! for ppl that felt how I did a year and a half ago.  I feel that conference helped us out a lot!  My brazillian comp is only 18, he came out in march and he is on fire and wants to work, I get along really well with him.  We got the Fire from conference I think we needed.   Im really excited for this week.

 

The work here is really slow, their isn't a ton interested, and the ones that are, seem to be SUPER busy.  It's tough, like we almost had all zeros for our stats this past week,  we visit a ton of less actives and have members help out, the members are so willing! So we all fasted for the area this week and we are already seeing results! I had an AWESOME experience.  Later last night we had to go pick up some stuff  PR cause my comp is DL and we came back to the apsartment cause the ZLs needed to pick them up and after we gave them the Records we had ten minutes before Language Study, so we decided to go out and go to this families house that Ive really wanted to get a hold of, he was my first contact and  we went there and knocked then knocked again and we were walking to the car and I was like I really feel like we need to ring the doorbell,,but it was late my comp was like naw lets go, we got to the car and I was like dude i really feel it, he was like is it the spirit? and i was like IDK! idk when hes talking or if its just me, so we sat for a sec then we went back up to the door and rang and sat for a couple seconds, then a car pulled up....IT WAS HIM! we were in the car about to leave, we would've driven right past him!  The spirit didn't say wait, he said ring the door bell cause he knew how we would react and it would cause us to wait longer. We talked to this guy, hes 19 and his twin brother is on a mish in Mexico. Hes a really cool guy! It went pretty well.  Ive been praying sooooo hard to recognize the Spirit this past week and studying it in PMG.  Cause that's how you are supposed to do the work, by the Spirit!  I remember what President Monson said about the Spirit, he said to find out if it is the spirit then act on it!  And that's what was going through my head when we were in the car about to leave!  So it felt soo good to see that finally pay off!

 

The Lord's timing is perfect, if theirs anything ive learned in my life it's that.  It doesn't mean you wont get frustrated or discouraged while waiting on the Lords timing, but we can have Faith that if we are doing our best, the Lord will provide, Like nephi said, the lord provides a way for you to do what He has commanded!  It is so easy to get discouraged, im constantly getting discouraged out here but we can know that  "He does visit his Children in their afllictions" Whether its a struggle we are going through or like me, trying to recognize the spirit,(which i suck at) as we do our best, we can trust that the Lord will bless us...IN HIS TIMING!

 

Thanks Bryson, We just read that thing in the hand book the other day about how visiting family is completely against church policy....oops! Ha.

 

well i miss you guys a ton! Go Cougs! 

 

-Amo Voces!

 

-Elder Grondel III

 

 

September 29, 2013

Hey Family!

I just wrote you a long email and somehow deleted it. it took me forever. gosh dangit.

Well this week has been crazy, I finally got a pday!  Im in a place called springmountain, its the springmounatin stake and im in the windmill ward, each ward has their own missionaries, its pretty cool.

It s awesome to hear Bryson is home!  Thats crazy.

So our area is really spread out, we have a car which is a blessing because my knee was dying with just the little walking we weve been doing.  This week was alot of visiting less actives and finding people.  FINDING=Tracting.   

Tracting is pretty tough.  Missionary work sperates you so much from the rest of the world.  It's weird going from the MTC where everyone is a missionary to the world where noone is a missionary.  And now we are the weird ones.  It's hard accepting the fact that you are gonna be a "weirdo mormon" to everyone else for the next two years. But its the only way to do the work.  I have so much to learn! I wanna work hard but i have no idea how to work so that's annoying.

I hope Jake get's better!  HA. root canl is tough. Be strong dude and get back on the field!  I love showing little kids the pictures of Bella cause they love all that dressup stuff too, they think its funny.    Keep up the good work Caleb!

Olivia BOYS ARE STUPID....IDK why noone ever figures it out.   LOVE YA!

Thats annoying Tenino has to be like that.  Levi was a beast when I watched last year!

Well  our place is really nice! we have a gym and went there three times last week. Ill try to send some pics. 

I have no idea what im doing most the time, my two senior comps just tell me what to do most the time.  I love it here but I wanna go to Brazil and get going in potrugeuse and stuff.  My brazillian comp is helping me a ton with the language.

It's a hard transition, I dont know what im doing most the time, our ward mission leader is a good guy but he can make you feel like an idiot alot.  Our Elders Quorum leader is a BOSS, he is like DAD and Zach Abott combined!  He stresses hometeaching and that helps out alot!  

The members are AWESOME! Weve been fed really well and had a ton of fast food.

Well  sorry its shorter, i cant remember what all I put in the last one that I freakin deleted.

Whats lexis address?

MISS YOU GUYS!

Amo Voces!

-Elder Grondel III

September 19, 2013

Dear Family!!!

IDK if any of you had guesses or anything but we all just got our temporary reassignments!

I will be serving in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission!!!

Im the only one in my district going there, but that kid we saw in Seattle (Elder Fry) who is going to Goiania with me got reassigned to the same mission! I guess we are just meant to be together.

But I have to be at the travel office at 430AM.  My flight leaves at 840AM and I arrive there at 858 (i guess its an hour difference...or just an 18 minute flight, JK)   

So if I call it will be at around 730 there, cause if I call in Las Vegas I might not have much time if they are there to pick me up on time.  I might call you when I get there too and that would be at 9.\

Is this the same mission the Wildes live in?!?

Amo Voces!

-Elder Grondel III

September 17, 2013

Dear Family!

Well another week has flown by!  Weve committed both our fake teacher investigators to baptism. Ha. Wouldnt have happened in real life, but it's a good confidence booster!  We get reassignments or visas in two days! we are all pretty excited to get a "new" mission call or head straight to Brazil, noone has got there visa yet tho.  They will let us email when we find out so we can tell you where we are going and when we can call, so I will let you know when I can call you guys.  If youre even there, maybe you'll be geting Bryson!  I cant beleive hes done...crazy! 

Thanks for the pictures, dang DAD, youre living like a champ. Thats sweet.  That is the coolest helmet Gerritt!!! You look like a fricken rockstar on skates! That'd scare me!  Ah. I miss home! It's tough sometimes, all the time but the Lord has really strengthened me out here and kept my mind from wandering too much.

I couldnt read the whole letter today cause I dont have enough time, but I read part the parts about the kids and football :)  That's awesome for Jacob! Ive been praying for him. Just keep your head up, you will come around and figure it out, itll just take one hit and your addicted!!!!  Im so excited to hear Tumwater is killing everyone, they looked really good at the camps, their line just looked young and a lil small but they mustve figured it out!  They always do!

Caleb thats so tight! I bet those high school coaches were crying knowing that youre leaving to TumH20 next near!  Just keep working hard(Sprints are good) but dont lift weights with your legs too much cause you can hurt em and hurt your back, and it could mess youre growing up so you dont grow very much. like me.  Youre gonna be an animal.

Hey Levi, I remember every year I'd start out sloppy and timid, and then towards the end of the year I couldnt get enough of the helmet smashing bonebreaking physical contact.   Seems like youre picking it up faster than me!  Keep it up!

Oh Olivia!  middle school is way different dont get caught in the drama...it's just weird.

Bella! my friend (a sister) who saw youre picture said youre very pretty!!!  Yes you are!  I miss ya!

Well we had a day of only speaking portuguese yesterday and it was pretty dang tough!!! But we all did alot better than we thought, at least I did.  It was awesome!  I dont wanna do it again for a while tho.

Meu Joelhos(knees) were killing me the other day, it was just my left one for a while and then one night this week it felt like they were about to explode!  They felt better a day or two later tho, I can still feel some pain a little so i have been careful when playing volleyball. I dont really feel taller but im crossing my fingers its growing pains!  Elder Carter and I weigh ourselves every Sunday and I was 227 in my slacks and shirt, im trying to keep the fat on as long as possible.

The guy who came to the devotional this Sunday(Rob Tanner i think) helps make the Church movies, like 17 miracles, the testaments and the latest one ephraims rescue and he showed us an 18 min clip, theirs was a kissing seen...the whole room went insane! haha. It was funny. He said everyone in the testaments was LDS except Cohor, He said they couldnt find someone bad enough to play him. Ha Fun Fact. But ephraims rescue looks really good! He talked about the pioneers and he talked about one guy who was sent to find one of the pioneer companies and it was in the winter and when he went out he ran into two guys who were coming back and they said they were looking for that same company and they couldnt find them, and the guy who was sent said he was still going to look for them, and the two guys said, "We couldnt find them, what makes you think you can find them?" and the guy replied "because the prophet told me to go find them"  He related that to a mission, in that we are called by a prophet of God to do his work, and like Nephi said, God will provide a way for us to do whatever He asks of us,

That helped me especially because Ive been thinking late because we are about to leave about how crazy our message sounds to people and how people will except it, we just gotta temos fé!!!!  I cant wait to get out there, im ready for doors to slam and people to spit on me! I'll do it all with a smile on my face and Christ's name above my heart!

We had an experience this week when we went to play voplleyball across the street we could here this "Truth" yeller across the road before we even got there.  And I just stared at him, I wanted to rip him to pieces.  He had his poor old submissive wife there handing out pamphlets too.  On our way back, the cops had come and were just standing there and he wasnt yelling as loud,  but it was just a big group of missionaries and we were all quiet waiting for the light to change and he was just preaching away and it made me sick so I started singing "nearer my god to thee" (thats my favorite song right now). and then this Sister next to me joined in and then an Elder behind me then we were all singing it! HA! This dude was soooooo pissed! We were way louder than him, and He was like, "why dont you start singing praise to the man!"  but then the light changed ha.  He turned to the cops and was like "why dont you tell them to be quiet?" and they just shrugged thier shoulders.... HAHA.   What a great moment.  The spirit was strong.

Well I love and miss you all a ton! Try not to completely forget about me when Brycey gets home!

Amo Vocés!

-Élder Grondel III

September 10, 2013

Dear FAMILY!

Ya I think that is something I am really trying to get over is "just surviving" through this time.  I did that for awhile when I was working at They Valley and it was Awful! I cant "just survive" through this time! This is the Lord's time, you don't just survive through it, you grow and learn how to become a great tool in the Lord's hand and learn a ton more other things that Bryson would probably know about! But Im really trying to put alot of effort in, Ive been trying to be the first one out of bed, cause the alrams go off and we all just lay there and turn them off then fall back asleep, ha its no good, so i have been getting up and try to get everyone going in the morning.  Those 3am mornings for the valley i think really helped me.  I think these high school guys are waiting for their mom to come in and drag their body to seminary...theirs no mommas here. 

Well thanks Dad for the motivational stuff! i shared it with the Elders last night, the CU thought about thinking before acting and remembering who we are and what we represent, I think we all needed it, myself included. So we talked about changing and how to do it and i think it went well.

We had a fake lesson with a progressing investigator weve been teaching, its our teacher, but its still kinda cool because they act like someone they knew on their mission and we get to hear the story after we are done with them.  But it went 55 min! she was like crying and everyhing, its only supposed to be 45, oops. But she wasnt reading or doing anything and was never interested so we had a heart to heart, ha. sounds lame but we learned alot through it, The gift of tongues is real, in my lessons sometimes words pop into my head and I can understand and speak what I want too...most the time It doesnt work that way...but sometimes. HA

Im learning Patience, I get so frustrated with people and my way nof coping with that is not saying anything and ignoring everything and it sorta helps, we had our accountability interview with our Branch this week and it was a little rough. And our new district leader interviewed us. weird. hes 18 so it's weird sometimes.  Theirs nothing I hate more than someone calling me out on something that they always do.  But im learning humility patience and all that other crap.

The Spirit here is really strong! I love most of the devotionals, some are like lullabys and put you to sleep but most are really good. 

So the BYU game...AGGHHH!!! My companions and I were walking to dinner and we heard the band playing before the game, so I started running to the cafeteria...It was so PAINFUL.  Luckily the game was postponed so the whole time the game was going on we were in class(all 3 hours) and its on the side closest to the mountain so I didnt hear anything...I wouldve died!  Later tho my comp and I went to the other side of our building, (we are on the top floor of the tallest building) and we looked out some different windows and we could see the lights and could barely make out the jumbotron through the trees, thank goodness those trees were there, I wouldve been able to watch the replays on the jumbotron from where I was if there wasnt that tree there...NAO BOM!

I saw Tyler and he told me about the TBIRD game! Thats so awesome to hear!!! Im surprised Jake didnt get more playing time with a score like that! Thats AWESOME he got in tho, i remember my first time on the varsity field...you feel like youre playing in the Super Bowl and the whole world is watching!!! I'm getting chills just thinkin bout it.  Thats cool he played a ton on JV! Jake! Be MEANER THAN A JUNK YARD DOG! Its hard but youve already had hurt your kneee and had some painful head problems...so youve already experienced the worst outcome and you survived! it doesnt hurt much worse than that when you throw your whole body into someone....actually. it feels pretty dang good!!! 

Im so pumped for you Caleb! It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that counts! Thats what I lived by and thats what i think of when i see you play sports, youve always been the fighter, ever since you were born! Miracle Baby!  Ya its tough, but for me could already see where my friends were going so thats what helped me.  But enjoy it while it lasts! Middle school ball is some fun stuff! Its a bunch of scrubs, lie me.

Keep workin at it Levi! ive lost to Black Hills by worse so dont worry!  Just have fun! I wish thats one thing I wouldve tried to do more...HAVE FUN!!! You arent playing for a Super Bowl...yet!

Gerritt is gonna be an animal, keep working hard bud!

Bella is doing pre-school?!HA. Her teacher better watch out, shes gotta a challenger for whose in control of the class.  Miss you Bells!

I mis Lex!  I wanna email her and tell her when I go to the temple or when i go to the field for gym so I can wave...but thats not aloud!!! I just have this hope that maybe oneday when im crossing the street she will drive by or something. Ha.  Livvy! vanna just told me youre posting on instagram al the time and that youre looking like a teen! what?! NO!!! ha. keep working at dance!

well my knee has been bothering me, especially after volleyball, so I hope it's alright.  I just hope its like growing pains or something. ha. My comp says he thinks im taller!  My legs are skinny! maybe thats cause i sit in a chair all day. IDK.

HAHA. thats funny about the bathroom. Well its  good to hear some good ol urinal talk! Glad someone remembers us!  

 I will know by next friday whats happenin.  Either I will  get my visa or get reassigned to a diff mish until my visa comes.  

Amo voces!

-Elder Grondel III

September 3, 2013

MTC MAGIC!

Thats crazy, my buddies who live their say the san diego temple is by far the coolest.  What a "hard job"!     I can feel the Spirit more when we teach and during devotionals, all the Sunday devotionals have been bomb, we had Neil L Anderson from the chorum of the Twelve come to our tuesday devotional and it was cool, we had good seats. I love him! but I have to say I was hoping for a Jefferey R. Holland pre-game pump up speech.  They kept us in for a bit after the devotional cause it was lightninging..?  and when they let us out it was pouring rain so my comp and I ran, he did xc so it was hard to keep up, ha, i was dying!

ABOUT TIME they got some technology!!!!   That's aweomse. I love their house im glad it's staying in the fam.   I love the new rooms!!!!!    Bellas room is awesome! so cute! my buddies loved that picture.  Caleb destroyed my room.... haha.  jk it looks great!  very spacious!

I got an overview of the BYU game from a member of our Branch Presidency after our sunday meeting, he said BYU was on their own 13 and it was 4th and 9 and they went for it?!? and then he threw a pic?! why didnt they punt it and trust their defense?!  Texas will be tough! We got some new neighbors in the room next to us, a bunch of Hispanics who are speaking Spanish stateside, they are pretty cool dudes...they are always working out...theyre tiny..ha. but they call me Elder Swoll...it's tight.  But one is from Texas and is always wearing a longhorns shirt so I give him crap about the game this week! BYU 35 Texas 31 thats my guess.

Ha! I love seeing big schools get beat by the underdogs.  I wonder if Wimberly played in the Oregon State Game! That's so cool!  Dang, I liked clowney, I hope he picks it up. Thanks for the update! keep them coming!

Thanks for the package and all the extra stuff!

I'm trying to work hard, but it's...hard!   We got moved to a new building today and we lost our favorite teacher!  It sucked, everyone was sad, he is a cool guy. but I traded ties with him and the one I got is THS Football colors, its kinda wrinkled but I HAD to get it.

We will get a new teacher starting tomorrow.

The language is sometimes better but then sometimes i feel so behind. We started TRC this week, and it wasnt like what they made it out to be.  It's alright tho.  

Me and another Elder who also loves Jefferey Holland went and watched a movie of one of his devotionals on Sunday and it was soo good! It was called Missions are Forever.  He talks about how much a mission can and should change you.  He said the biggest dissapointment is to see a missionary come home who "Just didnt get it."  I'm really trying to dive into the missionary mindset, I can't wait till im outta here and actually doing missionary work.  He also said that the reason they ask us to be so obedient is not because they wanna be mean old men, hes hilarious. But he said it was because this is Gods Work, and it can only be done with the Spirit, and to have that Spirit and the authority and power that comes with it, we need to be Obedient!!!  It's so hard, I hear everyone say it, but you really have to manage your time adn focus really well here.  

My companion, Elder Carter is freakin awesome. He is so Chill, unless we play Sports, we all get competitive, especially the younger right outta high school kids and it can be harsh.  I'm glad Ive gotten better at staying calm and realizing how silly it is, especially when thiers sisters playing(no offense Mom, but they suck),  to get to competetive...I hope I dont get too soft out here tho.   Ive lost a couple pounds...what happened to the MTC 15?! Im probably the only one whose lost wait here...I havent worked out very much... Im trying to find a balance between staying fit and not losing too much and just forgetting about it and focusing on the mish, We are given more workout time in the field so I hope that will make it easier! 

The new companion in our tripanion ship is now the District Leader...(we change DL every three weeks...at least thats what they said...) but he has poor word choice sometimes...haha, but hes gettin better at it! I dont always get along with him but we talk and try to not piss eachother off too much... He is a hard working Elder tho!

Well Im so glad to here about Bryson!  Makes me jelous...haha. I feel like its been two years for me..can I come home too?  JK i cant wait to get out and start teaching! only 2.5 more weeks!  havent heard anything bout my visa.

But my expected departure date from the MTC is Sept 23...the day before Bryson gets home.  Crazy!

I miss y'all a ton!!!  I love the photo book! I look at it all the time!  Everyone wants to marry my sister. I told them she is dating a massive football star at BYU. ha.  Can I get a pic of Bryson and I to put in there?!

Amo Voces!

-Elder Grondel III

August 28, 2013

Hi there familia! 

I miss you guys a ton.  It's nice to hear you got Lexi moved in and everything worked out, miracles really do happen.   Landon seemed to be doing really well the day I saw him.   I hope he continues to be tearing it up at Tmobile.

I wanna hear about what's happening with everybody, sports and all that jazz.  It's been tough this past week. The days are SOOOOO long but the weeks are fast....some times I wanna call it good and go home and sleep.  We get like no sleep here because with our schedule we dont even get the opportunity for 8 hours of sleep, the most we could get is 7.5 but we dont go to sleep till like an hour after bedtime so its like 6.5 hours of sleep every night.  I saw Hunter and Tyler and they seem to be doing good.  Im trying so hard to stay positive and not just look at it as "doing my time"

We atched Elder Bednar's "Chrarcter of CHrist" Devotional and it was sooooo good!  When we want to turn in and feel bad for ourselves and pout, we need to turn out and help others, like the Savior did! He is such a great example for us, I love learning about him and his life!

I feel like ive never had this much trouble in a leadership position before.  We have a great group, but people try and correct me sometimes or take over and I just wanna freakin rip their head off.  It's hard to listen to an 18 yr old. you know? and in a week or two we change district leaders so I just hope I can have the patience and humility I need.  I have alot to learn in those areas!!!

I got so mad yesterday, we were teaching this "investigator" and I couldnt say the things I wanted to cause i suck at portugeuse and so I look like I ahve no idea what Im doing, I thouight I was learning alright but apparently not!  i feel so handicapped with teaching in portugeuse because I have things to say and i just cant say them in the language....aghhh!

I know that i need to pray and ask for help and have faith.  I know Heavenly Father can strengthen us!

Since that one Elder left, his companion is now with us in a tripanionship.  he is from vancouver,wa and is a little different, and has very different views on things so it's hard sometimes. He is a great worker tho, he is like almost fluent in the language!

Our district is great but I really wanna get my visa and get the hek outta here, I wanna send my temple clothes home or to lexi or can she pick them up from here? Ive used them alot but I wanna make sure i get them home before I leave, I might add some other stuff too. I think a backpack would be nice!!! please :)

 

Thank you so much for the package and all the stuff in it!!! I got one from gma and gpa as well so I got tons of snacks...its awesome.

Our district loves beach volleyball, which is awesome! my companion is super athletic. He is gonna try out for cosmo or BYU soccer after his mission.  he tears it up in volleyball.  He is a super cool dude.  hes not like a very deep guy, he reminds me alot of Easton in the things he does and says...like an Easton without the innapropriateness, if that even makes sense or is possible. haha. The Spirit can be very strong at times, but lots of the time I'm too tired to feel it. The devotionals are very good.  If that Elder hadnt left last week He wouldve definitley left after this sundays devotional.

We had a new teacher and she was very pretty, and lot's of us were awing at it and i guess it bothered the sisters and it was brought up in the leaders meeting with the Branch presidency! haha. so i talked with them later and apologized to the Sisters and talked with the Elders as well. awkward.

Im dreading hearing the fans from the BYU game in the next week or two...I need outta here! Weve been to the temple a couple times. Its nice...you can see the Stadium from there :)

This girl I knew at BYU is here and she has had to wait another two weeks on top of the total six because she got a stress fracture in her foot..haha.I could kinda relate to that. She has her visa and everything too! 

Thanks Dad for the Pics! It's cool to see whats going on. I like that motivational stuff! I wish I could print it off.

Well I got this nasty cold and it has been destroying me, It makes me tired and annoyed easier! My Comp gave me some cold medicine.

Weve been able to look at our mission really close on the computers here and ours is Probably the biggest mission in Brazil, it's like field after field...theirs nothing there!!!   Except for in Goiania, It's a big city. i cant wait!

We really learned about how simple to keep the doctrine, it is like teaching a child, i think youve said that before but Ive really learned about that and teaching a person not a lesson.

well  AMO VOCES!

-Elder Grondel III