Hey there y'all!! It's been another great week here in the state of Texas! So I'll definitely write more this week than I would have last week 'cause I have a lot more time. So first I have to add on to last week: it SNOWED!!!! A ton!! Dallas got about 12 inches in a 24-hour period (I think). It was nuts; I felt like I was in Utah or something. It was really awesome. I'm sending pictures. It was really cool. We ended up walking the day it snowed due to the fact there was a few inches of snow on the sidewalks as well and our bikes would not have done well (aka I would have hurt myself ;) ). It was a lot of fun. though, and Elder Hardy and I had a sweet snowball fight.
First for the really exciting news: AJ and Cindy are getting baptized!!! They are set to get baptized on March 6th and we are really excited for them. They are really awesome and I love them!! Johnny and Glenna are way excited too and they can hardly believe it. AJ and Cindy have been loving church and are really fitting right in. They have already started to make some really good friends in the ward and they are going to continue to be great. It will be so exciting to see them get sealed in the temple as well. We are so stoked for them!!
Lawson has decided to quit smoking and we're helping him do it. hopefully we'll get him to quit smoking by the end of the month with the program we are using for him. it's called "The Stop Smoking Program" and it's been used by missionaries and the Church since 1983. It's a really cool system and I've talked to a few members who have used it and they said it works really well for them. We are really excited for him and we hope this will help him progress and eventually be baptized. We want it for him and he wants it too but it's hard for him to truly know that because of the environment in which he lives. We know this will help and hopefully we can set a goal for him to be baptized this week.
We also got a chance to see Sydney this week and had some really good lessons with her. We are hoping to pin down a baptismal date with her soon but Jenny hasn't been there lately and she hasn't come to church since we've been teaching her so there's definitely a couple of bumps we have to get over first, but we'll get her there. She is so awesome and definitely wants it a lot but it's hard when you don't have the parents on board as much as you would like to.
We saw the Ramirez family again this week and she still hasn't had her baby yet. She's really close and should have had her on Saturday but we haven't been over recently enough to find out. Hopefully we'll find out this week.
Well I think that's it for me!! I hope y'all have a great week!! By the way, this week I find out if I'm getting transferred or not!! =O
Love,
Elder Grondel
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 34
Hey Y'all!! It's been another wonderful week here in the state of Texas! Because it's President's day, we are using a member's computer right now so I don't have a ton of time, but I'll write as much as I can.
This week went better than last. We were able to see Lawson and had an ok visit with him...he's kinds sitting on the fence right now and we want him to progress but it's difficult because of the environment he lives in. We're hopefully going to get him to quit smoking this week (keep him in your prayers!) and that should help a lot. We saw Beth this week but she isn't keeping her commitments, so sadly we may have to drop her soon. We don't want to, but sometimes it's what has to be done.
The really exciting news is that we found quite a number of people to teach. The first is a couple that lives next door to some members here. Their names are AJ and Cindy, and their neighbors have been working with them for 3 years. They went to Stake conference and loved listening to Elder Pearson speak, and have become really interested in the church now. They have come to church the past three weeks and enjoyed it every time. We are teaching them in Johnny and Glenna's home (their neighbors) and it will be really good. A couple days later, we found a family to teach!! The mom's name is Brandi, and she has two kids, Johnathan (18) and Ashley (13). They all seemed interested and excited and we should be seeing them with the father home tomorrow night! We really hope they will progress and we are excited to begin teaching them.
Well that's really all the time I have; Elder Hardy has to get on ;)
Love,
Elder Grondel
This week went better than last. We were able to see Lawson and had an ok visit with him...he's kinds sitting on the fence right now and we want him to progress but it's difficult because of the environment he lives in. We're hopefully going to get him to quit smoking this week (keep him in your prayers!) and that should help a lot. We saw Beth this week but she isn't keeping her commitments, so sadly we may have to drop her soon. We don't want to, but sometimes it's what has to be done.
The really exciting news is that we found quite a number of people to teach. The first is a couple that lives next door to some members here. Their names are AJ and Cindy, and their neighbors have been working with them for 3 years. They went to Stake conference and loved listening to Elder Pearson speak, and have become really interested in the church now. They have come to church the past three weeks and enjoyed it every time. We are teaching them in Johnny and Glenna's home (their neighbors) and it will be really good. A couple days later, we found a family to teach!! The mom's name is Brandi, and she has two kids, Johnathan (18) and Ashley (13). They all seemed interested and excited and we should be seeing them with the father home tomorrow night! We really hope they will progress and we are excited to begin teaching them.
Well that's really all the time I have; Elder Hardy has to get on ;)
Love,
Elder Grondel
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Week 33
Hey y'all!! It's been another week here in the fabulous state of Texas!! Things are still going good here, but the weather has been crazy!! One week it will be nice and sunny and around 70 degrees and the next it's back to cold and raining. I don't mind the cold that much, I just wish it would be consistent! It's not fun seeing it change every ten minutes!
Anyways, this week definitely was not as good as last week. A lot of our appointments cancelled and our investigators are simply disappearing. We were going to see Beth on Tuesday but she had to cancel so we scheduled another appointment for Friday and she wasn't there. We've tried stopping by a couple of times, but there really hasn't been any success. It's been really weird. Natasha cancelled her appointment Thursday and We don't have her number (we usually set up appointments through Trevor, but that's been weird lately too) so it's been hard to see her as well. We were able to see Lawson and Jeremy and a few others, but really the week didn't go all that great. It was pretty depressing.
As a district leader, I get to go on exchanges with the Elders in my district, and that has been a lot of fun. It's really cool to get to know them better and then help them with the people they are teaching and any problems they may be having with them. It gives me new experiences as well, and I have been loving it so far. It's definitely harder and requires a lot more time and effort, but it's worth it.
Well, I know it's short, but I promise to write more next week. Have a great week!!
Love, Elder Grondel
P.S. So the Church finally upgraded the e-mail service (the previous one was not that great) and is now working with gmail. As you can tell, my e-mail address has also changed. If you still send things to my old one, it's fine; it'll get to me all the same, but just an fyi it has changed.
Anyways, this week definitely was not as good as last week. A lot of our appointments cancelled and our investigators are simply disappearing. We were going to see Beth on Tuesday but she had to cancel so we scheduled another appointment for Friday and she wasn't there. We've tried stopping by a couple of times, but there really hasn't been any success. It's been really weird. Natasha cancelled her appointment Thursday and We don't have her number (we usually set up appointments through Trevor, but that's been weird lately too) so it's been hard to see her as well. We were able to see Lawson and Jeremy and a few others, but really the week didn't go all that great. It was pretty depressing.
As a district leader, I get to go on exchanges with the Elders in my district, and that has been a lot of fun. It's really cool to get to know them better and then help them with the people they are teaching and any problems they may be having with them. It gives me new experiences as well, and I have been loving it so far. It's definitely harder and requires a lot more time and effort, but it's worth it.
Well, I know it's short, but I promise to write more next week. Have a great week!!
Love, Elder Grondel
P.S. So the Church finally upgraded the e-mail service (the previous one was not that great) and is now working with gmail. As you can tell, my e-mail address has also changed. If you still send things to my old one, it's fine; it'll get to me all the same, but just an fyi it has changed.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Week 32
Hey y'all!! It's been another great week in Texas!! I know last week's letter was pretty long and I don't have as much time today so this one will be a little shorter.
First for the most exciting news: Carlos got baptized this weekend!! It was so cool to see how quickly he progressed in the last week and Elder Hardy and I were so excited to see him get baptized. He and his wife Kayli were way excited too and hopefully we will be able to see them go to the temple in a year! It was a wonderful teaching experience and he truly is one of the elect. He understood everything we taught and didn't have a problem with anything. It was incredible.
We saw Beth again this week and had a really powerful powerful lesson with her. She didn't show up to church this week but that's ok; she should be there next week.
Wednesday we saw Brother Johnson again and had a really powerful lesson with him. It has been really good for him and it was nice to see him again. That evening we went and saw Carlos and Kayli (awesome lesson) and I went ans saw Suzie and had an interesting lesson there. She's nice, but it will be interesting to see how that one progresses.
Thursday we had leadership and accountability (basically training on how to be a better leader) and it was really good. I learned a lot. Then I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and Elder Martin came with me and we saw Jesse and had a way good lesson with him!! We are going to see him again on Thursday and should start teaching his wife then, too!! It will be cool to see what happens. We also saw Lawson and had a good lesson with him. It's getting harder because we don't have a lot left to teach him and we need to help him progress. Later that evening we went and saw the Grassi's (recent convert family) and we will stert teaching them the new member lessons. It will be good. after that we went and met with a girl named Natasha. The grassi's have a son named Trevor who is dating Natasha and she is interested in the gospel. She was really open and it will be a really good ting to be teaching her, as Trevor was just baptized in October and hasn't been doing the best with his testimony lately. It will be cool.
Friday we planned...lame...and that evening we had a great time. We went on splits and I went and saw Carlos and Kayli (bomb lesson again) and Elder Hardy went and saw Jeremy and Sydney and Cody. It was a good night.
Saturday was of course the baptism. That evening we had stake conference here in Allen and Elder Kevin Pierson of the Seventy came and spoke. It was really powerful, as the evening session was just for the adults and so it was pretty quiet and he spoke with power. We went to both sessions the next day and it was really cool to hear from him two more times. He is such a good speaker and now I can't wait for general conference.
Well that's it for the week!! I'll hopefully have pictures from the baptism next week to send to y'all. Have a good one!!
Love,
Elder Grondel
First for the most exciting news: Carlos got baptized this weekend!! It was so cool to see how quickly he progressed in the last week and Elder Hardy and I were so excited to see him get baptized. He and his wife Kayli were way excited too and hopefully we will be able to see them go to the temple in a year! It was a wonderful teaching experience and he truly is one of the elect. He understood everything we taught and didn't have a problem with anything. It was incredible.
We saw Beth again this week and had a really powerful powerful lesson with her. She didn't show up to church this week but that's ok; she should be there next week.
Wednesday we saw Brother Johnson again and had a really powerful lesson with him. It has been really good for him and it was nice to see him again. That evening we went and saw Carlos and Kayli (awesome lesson) and I went ans saw Suzie and had an interesting lesson there. She's nice, but it will be interesting to see how that one progresses.
Thursday we had leadership and accountability (basically training on how to be a better leader) and it was really good. I learned a lot. Then I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and Elder Martin came with me and we saw Jesse and had a way good lesson with him!! We are going to see him again on Thursday and should start teaching his wife then, too!! It will be cool to see what happens. We also saw Lawson and had a good lesson with him. It's getting harder because we don't have a lot left to teach him and we need to help him progress. Later that evening we went and saw the Grassi's (recent convert family) and we will stert teaching them the new member lessons. It will be good. after that we went and met with a girl named Natasha. The grassi's have a son named Trevor who is dating Natasha and she is interested in the gospel. She was really open and it will be a really good ting to be teaching her, as Trevor was just baptized in October and hasn't been doing the best with his testimony lately. It will be cool.
Friday we planned...lame...and that evening we had a great time. We went on splits and I went and saw Carlos and Kayli (bomb lesson again) and Elder Hardy went and saw Jeremy and Sydney and Cody. It was a good night.
Saturday was of course the baptism. That evening we had stake conference here in Allen and Elder Kevin Pierson of the Seventy came and spoke. It was really powerful, as the evening session was just for the adults and so it was pretty quiet and he spoke with power. We went to both sessions the next day and it was really cool to hear from him two more times. He is such a good speaker and now I can't wait for general conference.
Well that's it for the week!! I'll hopefully have pictures from the baptism next week to send to y'all. Have a good one!!
Love,
Elder Grondel
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Week 31
Hey y'all! It's been an AMAZING week here in Texas! We have been so blessed with people to teach it's unbelievable. The Lord is recognizing our efforts and has opened the windows of heaven unto us. I’m going day by day to list the blessings that we have received:
Monday
We had P-day (which was excellent as always) and that evening we went over to the Thomsons in the 4th ward for dinner, and their daughter and son-in-law, Kayli and Carlos were there. Carlos isn’t a member, but wants to become one. We talked about it with him and they are moving to Fort Worth in a week, so we started teaching them last Monday and will get everything taught to him this week so he can be baptized on Saturday! It’s going to be way sweet! We are really excited and it will be good for the ward because they haven’t seen a baptism in a long time. Later that evening we went and had a lesson with the Loveless’ (the wife is less active) and had a really strong spiritual lesson there.
Tuesday
Tuesday rocked and that was one of the best days of the week. We went to transfers in the morning (I had to be there for some district leader training that morning) and there are a lot of changes in the mission that will hopefully help it take off. It’s funny; our former district leader, Elder Nate, was told that he was getting transferred and becoming a Zone Leader, and he went to the meeting and came right back to Allen to replace Elder Krammer. It was way awesome and I totally called it. Anyways after that we went over to a potential investigator’s home for an appointment. She has been flaky in the past so it wasn’t all that surprising when she wasn’t home; what was surprising was when she called 30 minutes later, apologized for being late, and told us to come back on over. It was awesome!! Her name is Salma and she has no real understanding of religion (she wasn’t raised in any particular religion) but she does believe in God and a little bit in Jesus Christ. She has to be taught very basically but that will be great. She’s unmolded clay right now, so it will be really fun and spiritual. We later had another appointment with Beth and the Spirit was really strong there as well. We taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation and she understood and was asking questions! It was really cool and we are so excited for her. We just hope she can come to church soon. That evening we went over to Lawson’s and had a really good lesson, teaching some of the commandments (tithing, fasting, ten commandments) and talked to him a little bit about the Law of Chastity and he said he knows it’s wrong, but Jen was in a tough situation and he’s not sure if he’s ready for marriage yet. We told him that there are plenty of young couples that do it and make it and that he definitely needs to pray about it. Hopefully it will turn out well for him. After Lawson we went over and taught Sydney and Cody another lesson, finishing up the Restoration. They both really enjoyed it and understood it, but they need to come to church. The problem is that they are really busy a lot on weekends, but hopefully we will be able to find a way for the entire family to make it a priority.
Wednesday
Wednesday was another good day. We had district meeting in the morning, which went well considering it was my first time giving training to other Elders. That afternoon we went and visited Brother Johnson, a less active in the First ward. We are teaching him the lessons, hoping it will help him come back to church; the problem is he has a disabled son and so he usually has to stay home to take care of him. It was a really good lesson, though, and it will be good for him. That evening, we went on splits because we were double-booked for appointments and had a god night. Elder Hardy went and saw a woman named Suzie, who became a new investigator. I went and saw Lawson again (it was the only time he was going to be able to meet with us again that week) and taught him the Word of Wisdom, which he probably won’t have any problems with. He’s been trying to quit smoking and has gone down from a pack a day to a pack a week and he drinks tea like crazy, but he should be able to stop that as well. Sweet tea and iced tea is the big thing down South. After Lawson we went by a potential investigator named Jesse and got in and taught a lesson! It was pretty cool. He’s a Baptist but seemed way open and willing to learn.
Thursday
Thursday was pretty boring until the evening. We had our planning session (which was boring) and we had a meeting as well at a senior center that was honestly a waste of time. We didn’t get out to do anything until the evening and that’s when things got good. We had an appointment with Sandra, but she wasn’t home, so we tried going by a few people to no success. We then went over to Chad’s (another potential investigator) and we taught the restoration. He had some questions we didn’t have time to answer because we had another appointment. We are hopefully going to see him again this week. After Chad we went and saw Kayli and Carlos again and had a sweet lesson there and eliminated most of the concerns about him being baptized. There shouldn’t be any and he will likely be good to go.
Friday
We did some service for a less active lady in the ward in the morning, and on the way back, I TOTALLY ate it HARD on my bike. I don’t even know how I fell, but next thing I know, I’ve got some gnarly road rash on my knee and on my elbow. I’m including pictures, so check it out. It still kills and I can’t put any pressure on it and probably won’t for a while. It was sweet. That afternoon we went over to the Youngs to day hi and see how they were doing. The evening went up and down. It was gonna be great—then everything punched. Then when we got with our ride, Ed, he took us back to his place to teach his roommate Jeremy and Jeremy’s girlfriend Olivia a lesson. It was really good and the spirit was strong there. We were really excited to teach them and hopefully it will turn into something really good.
Saturday
In the morning, I went to buy an ace bandage for my knee (it kept oozing everywhere) and after that we went to teach Carlos and Kayli again. Kayli was still asleep, but Carlos was up and it was a really good lesson. We started the Plan of Salvation and he really understood it and enjoyed it. That afternoon we went over to some of the members of the ward and met with the Bishop in the 1st ward to go over the ward list. It was really good. That evening we had dinner with the ward mission leader in the 1st ward and then went over to teach a lesson at Becky’s home. Becky is an active member who has been struggling with her testimony and we are teaching her the lessons to hopefully strengthen her. It was a really powerful lesson and it has been good for her. After that we met with Mike, and we started teaching him the lessons as well, hoping to help him come back to church. He is less-active but is a great guy with a good heart.
Sunday
As always, Sunday was extremely long, but really good. Lawson and Carlos came to church, and we got another potential investigator. Trevor is a 17-year-old who is a recent convert due to being a part of a part-member family and he is dating a non-member named Natasha, who is interested in learning about the church. We are planning on starting to teach her on Thursday, which will be really exciting. We had a good evening and a good time.
Well, that’s my week!! I know it was long, but that’s because it was excellent. I love you all and hope all is well!!
Love,
Elder Grondel
Monday
We had P-day (which was excellent as always) and that evening we went over to the Thomsons in the 4th ward for dinner, and their daughter and son-in-law, Kayli and Carlos were there. Carlos isn’t a member, but wants to become one. We talked about it with him and they are moving to Fort Worth in a week, so we started teaching them last Monday and will get everything taught to him this week so he can be baptized on Saturday! It’s going to be way sweet! We are really excited and it will be good for the ward because they haven’t seen a baptism in a long time. Later that evening we went and had a lesson with the Loveless’ (the wife is less active) and had a really strong spiritual lesson there.
Tuesday
Tuesday rocked and that was one of the best days of the week. We went to transfers in the morning (I had to be there for some district leader training that morning) and there are a lot of changes in the mission that will hopefully help it take off. It’s funny; our former district leader, Elder Nate, was told that he was getting transferred and becoming a Zone Leader, and he went to the meeting and came right back to Allen to replace Elder Krammer. It was way awesome and I totally called it. Anyways after that we went over to a potential investigator’s home for an appointment. She has been flaky in the past so it wasn’t all that surprising when she wasn’t home; what was surprising was when she called 30 minutes later, apologized for being late, and told us to come back on over. It was awesome!! Her name is Salma and she has no real understanding of religion (she wasn’t raised in any particular religion) but she does believe in God and a little bit in Jesus Christ. She has to be taught very basically but that will be great. She’s unmolded clay right now, so it will be really fun and spiritual. We later had another appointment with Beth and the Spirit was really strong there as well. We taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation and she understood and was asking questions! It was really cool and we are so excited for her. We just hope she can come to church soon. That evening we went over to Lawson’s and had a really good lesson, teaching some of the commandments (tithing, fasting, ten commandments) and talked to him a little bit about the Law of Chastity and he said he knows it’s wrong, but Jen was in a tough situation and he’s not sure if he’s ready for marriage yet. We told him that there are plenty of young couples that do it and make it and that he definitely needs to pray about it. Hopefully it will turn out well for him. After Lawson we went over and taught Sydney and Cody another lesson, finishing up the Restoration. They both really enjoyed it and understood it, but they need to come to church. The problem is that they are really busy a lot on weekends, but hopefully we will be able to find a way for the entire family to make it a priority.
Wednesday
Thursday
Thursday was pretty boring until the evening. We had our planning session (which was boring) and we had a meeting as well at a senior center that was honestly a waste of time. We didn’t get out to do anything until the evening and that’s when things got good. We had an appointment with Sandra, but she wasn’t home, so we tried going by a few people to no success. We then went over to Chad’s (another potential investigator) and we taught the restoration. He had some questions we didn’t have time to answer because we had another appointment. We are hopefully going to see him again this week. After Chad we went and saw Kayli and Carlos again and had a sweet lesson there and eliminated most of the concerns about him being baptized. There shouldn’t be any and he will likely be good to go.
Friday
We did some service for a less active lady in the ward in the morning, and on the way back, I TOTALLY ate it HARD on my bike. I don’t even know how I fell, but next thing I know, I’ve got some gnarly road rash on my knee and on my elbow. I’m including pictures, so check it out. It still kills and I can’t put any pressure on it and probably won’t for a while. It was sweet. That afternoon we went over to the Youngs to day hi and see how they were doing. The evening went up and down. It was gonna be great—then everything punched. Then when we got with our ride, Ed, he took us back to his place to teach his roommate Jeremy and Jeremy’s girlfriend Olivia a lesson. It was really good and the spirit was strong there. We were really excited to teach them and hopefully it will turn into something really good.
Saturday
In the morning, I went to buy an ace bandage for my knee (it kept oozing everywhere) and after that we went to teach Carlos and Kayli again. Kayli was still asleep, but Carlos was up and it was a really good lesson. We started the Plan of Salvation and he really understood it and enjoyed it. That afternoon we went over to some of the members of the ward and met with the Bishop in the 1st ward to go over the ward list. It was really good. That evening we had dinner with the ward mission leader in the 1st ward and then went over to teach a lesson at Becky’s home. Becky is an active member who has been struggling with her testimony and we are teaching her the lessons to hopefully strengthen her. It was a really powerful lesson and it has been good for her. After that we met with Mike, and we started teaching him the lessons as well, hoping to help him come back to church. He is less-active but is a great guy with a good heart.
Sunday
As always, Sunday was extremely long, but really good. Lawson and Carlos came to church, and we got another potential investigator. Trevor is a 17-year-old who is a recent convert due to being a part of a part-member family and he is dating a non-member named Natasha, who is interested in learning about the church. We are planning on starting to teach her on Thursday, which will be really exciting. We had a good evening and a good time.
Well, that’s my week!! I know it was long, but that’s because it was excellent. I love you all and hope all is well!!
Love,
Elder Grondel
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Emails
Hello everyone, this is Jessica, Doug's sister. I just wanted to make a quick reminder to everyone to send your letters via snail mail instead of through emails so that Elder Grondel can spend more time writing his weekly emails to all of us. I know that he appreciates letters from all of us and that he enjoys being able to have mail, have time to read them and have them to write back to us.
Thanks so much!
Jessica
Thanks so much!
Jessica
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