November 20th, 2012

Thank you so much for all of your love and support.

This week was really rough. We had a lot, and i mean a lot of visits fall through and we did a ton, and i mean a ton of walking this week. I am learning to work things out in my head better and also to ponder the scriptures. . The mission teaches so much and gives you a chance to build and nourish relationships with all kinds of personalities. 

 

We found a really special family this week that went to church and we marked a baptism for saturday. So at the end of the day, we had a tough week, but the fruits at the end were very sweet.

I love you guys a ton and hope that you have a great thanksgiving. The Lord loves you guys so much. I know he loves me. He is happy when we do what is right and He feels sad when we do what is wrong. He gave us the spirit so that we could know what is right always.

I love you guys!

-Élder Grondel jr.

November 12, 2012

Gente do céu!

This week was very interesting. Our house emptied and filled with all new elders... and actually the entire zone haha. only 4 elderes stayed and 6 elders arrived. The other companionship here got white washed so they passed a pretty rough week, but they are good elders and have energy to do the work. My comp is a super star. Super humble and he inspires me to open my mind more to possibilities. His faith is outstanding and he is basically Elder Martin all over again. So i feel like as i respect and serve him, i am also making up for how i treated elder martin. This week we lost a day because of the zone counsel, but we still had outstanding numbers and we found some really special less active families that are part members. We had a really neat experience on sunday with a brother from floripa. He lives there but came to videira to give a training. Also, he spoke in sacrament meeting about how grateful he is that he had enough courage to read and pray about the book of mormon and after, enough courage to be baptized, go on a mission, and be sealed with his wife in the temple. it was exactly what our investigator needed to hear.

After the meeting i thanked him personally and he pulled us aside to talk for about 15 minutes. Dad, mom... the Lord inspires people to pass along his words. I have been praying for weeks and yesterday this brother answered my questions, doubts, and gave me new ideas for the work. Coupled with the desire of my companion... I really feel unstoppable. The Brother said: "Your nametag has two names and that means you are never alone. You never stand alone or testify alone. there are many callings in the church that bring us close to Christ but not one will bring us closer than the calling of an Elder. When an apostle receives his calling we don't call him aposlte (blank) we call him Élder..." He bore his testimony to us and I knew that he knew i had been waiting for these answers. It was amazing.

I love you guys and i miss hearing from everyone.

It was 33 degrees celcius yesterday and it's only going to get better as the year rolls on. QUE bênção e maravilha! I am with an american comp but as always, we don't speak english and we don't plan to. We are very excited for this transfer and everything is looking up :)

 

Amo muito vocês!

-Élder Grondel jr.

November 5,2012

Hey so i don't know if i already told you that i love you guys...

But i do. I love all of you. This week was really tough, because we had an emergency transfer... my comp and another elder in our house got transferred. So me and Élder Alcântara worked together this week and we had to cover the whole city. So it was pretty intense. But we had a good week and got some serious work done. Unfortunately, as with all of the transfers and all my comps, i didn't realize how much i liked them until they were leaving. Elder Banner is now one of the assistants and the other, Elder Hillstead, is now a zone leader. I think these were two successes in the zone. also, another elder is now training, and the best part, Elder Mollenhauer went home, but baptized a family on his last saturday and then confirmed them all on sunday. That is a victory for all of us.

Also, we had a cool esperience. One companionship was not making a lot of contacts so i felt inspired to call and challenge them- 10 contacts today... but something strange happened. they accepted the challenge and i promised them if they made 10 they would find someone prepared to hear our message. And you know what? They found one and he is preparing for baptism... Dad, i have that same thought - "why didn't i think of that?!" but in the end we are all winners. We are a team and we will be blessed as a team. WE NOT ME! It was very special to know that the Lord inspires us and guides us. The church is true. It is so truy :)

Love you all,

-Élder Grondel jr.

October 29, 2012

Oi meus queridos e preferidos,

This week we decided we were going to take our work to a new level. 100 street contacts. yes, this isn't the door to door on a road, this is stop someone, talk, and contact. I felt a lot of pressure to reach our goal during the week. we had fasted that the lord would soften the hearts of the people here, so we knew that we had to do our part as well. I am pleased to say that we made 109 street contacts! On sunday though, it was like this- we had 81 contacts and i was in sacrament meeting. one of the speakers asked us all to think about something that we want, right now... i thought "to find and teach someone to help him/her be baptized." then i thought... why? why do i want to make 100 contacts? why do i want a bunch of lessons? baptisms?... for president? to tell people about how many people i baptized on my mission? or because i love my savior and my heavenly father so much that i will strive to their work? ... i had to look in the mirror and give myself a gut check with that question- Why? De verdade Élder?

we were watching the best two years and the elder slacker that became good was talking about numbers and how they aren't as important as something else. he said- "it's all about the work" Maybe it's not baptisms, maybe it's reactivation or helping the ward. We have to be about doing good all the time. I am learning daily. I have a notebook i carry with me of revelation i receive during the day. it is so neat to look back and see how the Lord has taught me and responded to my questions. i love the book of mormon. i really do! haha. :D

Good week, our zone got a bunch of baptisms this month so we are very happy. The assistants that came taught us that we need to be worried about the success of our zone and not so much our area. "if you take care of the zone, the Lord will take care of your area." I have always been bad with rejoicing in others successes. i remember when rand went cold the year i went to state and how that affected our friendship, but i have done the same thing. maybe not verbally, but in my mind i have had a battle going on. My pride is a monster that threatens to destroy everything that i do. My pride makes me scared, angry, unmotivated, greedy, thoughtless, and worst of all- selfish. this work cannot be about me. When i find joy in the success of others, the Lord will find joy in my successes for Him.

THE CHURCH IS TRUE, THE BOOK IS BLUE... AND JESUS IS A MORMON!

Abração,

-Élder Grondel jr.