Elder Gray's Mission: October 2014

Monday, October 20, 2014

Hi! Hi!

Hey Everybody!

Sorry about last week. We got here and I was able to read through a couple of emails and get a reply off to my Dad just before the connection took a really long nap. Our efforts to bring it back to life were vain.

Things are chugging along nicely here in Calavi. My companion and I are still all by ourselves and it's fantastic. I would describe Elder Lukonga as an African version of Weiyi... but black and not Asian. It's been really really nice to be able to goof off and joke around with somebody that has the same sense of humor. It also means that we spent half of our time at the apartment laughing.

However, despite the tons of fun that we have we can still call ourselves efficient missionaries; even with the massively monstrous double-sector that we have to take care of. Having two sectors means there is always something to do and somebody to teach.

This last Saturday was a bonus. We put together a mini service project and showed up armed with shovels, rakes, and other gardening tools and performed a total makeover to one of our investigators yard. He's a really nice old man who relies a lot on his family. When we started he tried his best to convince us to stop, but we won him over. All of the work was made worthwhile when we saw him bright and early Sunday morning for church.

Have an awesome week!

-Elder Gray

Pictures 10/20/2014. . . . Soccer and Bugs

Soccer Dudes!

Oh Yeah!

Serious Soccer Dudes

The Latest method of catching gross bugs

After receiving the pictures of the bugs, this is the conversation that took place between Elder Gray and his Dad. . . .

DAD:

Dem are BIG bugs. I would not be happy with critters of that size free range roaming the bedroom while trying to sleep at night.
Suspect the buggers are big enough that they are not very quiet as they forage around the flat.

Shuddering and shivering going with your old Dad – even if you stepped on them they would make a mess requiring hazmat cleanup on isle one.

Ick!

Dad

Reply from Elder Gray:

If you're unfortunate enough to wake up in the middle of the night and you turn off the fans so there is no noise... you can hear them.
Hundreds of them. What's scary is after we tape them to the walls...
bigger ones come and eat them. We find nothing but wings/legs.

Stepping on them makes a loud POP sound. Like popping a plastic bag.
It's kind of cool.

Dad’s Reply to Elder Gray:

Ok - now this is some info that Mom needs to post on your blog.

Icky, icky, icky!

Dad

Just another thing to put on the list of cool things that you can do with duct tape....

Pictures from 10/20/2014

Elder Lukonga in the apartment

Elder Gray, Florence and her daughter Light

Light

Elder Gray and the Primary President

Elder Lukonga, Branch member and Elder Gray

Mama Clarion, Joren, Elder Gray, Ronaldino, and Ashley

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Elder Seidl shared some pictures (Thanks!)

No letter this week, just some photos that Elder Seidl sent him that he forwarded to us. I will take what I can get. Thanks Elder Seidl for sharing.

Everyone said the same thing...."He has hair!"

Walking in the mud!

They look pretty happy doing what they are doing! (whatever it is)

Monday, October 6, 2014

Great letter and 3rd in a row!

Hey Everybody!

This week was a little bit of an adventure. We got the call from the assistants early last week that confirmed our suspicions. Elder Seidl was shipped off to Cococodji and left Elder Gray and Elder Lukonga all by themselves. The entire week was spent walking around his sector trying to remember who, when, where, and what to teach. Our already really really big sector just got doubled. On the bright side, we won't have any downtime!

It's going to take a bit of time to figure out how we're going to juggle the two sectors and their individual schedules. We're going to try our best to split up with the members to cover as much ground as possible. We're looking forward to the challenge. I'm really excited for the chance to be in an apartment with just me and my companion.

Things are going really well over here and the Lord has definitely blessed our efforts. We're still working with two families, one of them came to church yesterday. We arranged for a Member family to pass by and pick up the second. Thanks to just a tad bit of contacting, we've been able to fix appointments with two new potential investigators too.

Something off subject but still worth mentioning: We went the entire week (minus Thursday) with water! It's amazing how the small and simple things that we take for granted can be so easily be made beautiful blessings the minute we no longer have them.

Have a great week!

-Elder Gray