January 7, 2013

beloved family,

i cannot believe that corynn already got back from her mission. i cannot even imagine all the changes. the world just keeps getting more complicated- brady in college, returned missionaries, weddings, and so much more is making life change completely. i feel like on the mission everything is still paused. 

 

i have had some cool experiences these last couple weeks-

1- we were walking on the road and an older guy with a 4-5 year old girl stopped us:

him- "hey elders how are you?"

us- "we're good. are you a member here? we still don't know everyone."

him- "Yes, but i live in rio grande do sul. im just here visiting this little one"

me- (speaking to the little girl) "what is your name? (stéfani) nice to meet you stéfani. are you having fun on your walk with grandpa?"

... him- "im here father..."

me- "oh... :)..."

2- we made a contact and the lady invited us in. we sat down and a guy came into the living room:

us -"how are you?"

him- "i'm good thanks! how are you young men?"

us- "we're doing well. im élder grondel and this is élder emerson"

him- "nice to meet you my name is alexandre"

me- "right on. so alexandre you live here with your mom?"

him- (a little confused) "my wife."

me- "... so have you... like... uhh... lived here... for a long time?" ... :)

it just goes to show that we need the spirit to discern. am i right?

So we have been working a lot here with less actives and we went to a house this week and met a family that seems very solid and very much okay. as we continued talking, the story unraveled ( gosh i hope i spelled that right). This lady was t - oed feel me? the church nearby is under construction so everyone has to go to the stake center (7-10 minutes in the car... and a bus passes every sunday too). she said she wasn't going because the church was far and she was tired. then i asked, if the church wasn't being renovated would you go? she said yes, but the husband was hesitant. we continued talking and that is when she opened up. she said she doesn't want to go the stake center because their are people there she doesn't want to see, things happened in the leadership, and their are too many fake people. she talked about wonderful people in other churches and how it would be better to be in one of the humble churches closer to home with REAL people. she went on and on about how the true church shouldn't have jack mormons or pride. then she went on to say: "on judgement day God isn't going to ask if you were a mormon because if He only means to save the mormons, he will save less than 5% of the population."

--> you guys asked- "what is one of the coolest experiences that you have had on the mission?" this is one of them^ because my companion and i were cool, calm, and collected. we were able to respond with power, with authority, and we were literally lead by the spirit. i have never felt something like that before the mission. we were able to answer and make them think. we called them to repent. we didn't defend ourselves, we defended the Savior and His church. Some of the best experiences have occurred during rejections because we were able to bear testimony of truth. bear testimony of the book of mormon. bear testimony of joseph smith and the power of prayer. i know that the church is true. and i know that my redeemer lives.

i love you guys so much!

-Élder Grondel jr.