Boca Chica 11 - The Boca Chica "Beach Boys"

SICK picture from our run this morning. Reminds me of The Life of Pi with the boat and stuff. The DR has the best sunrises by the way.

 

Hey guys, I hope you all had a great week and that everything is going good back in the US.

 

First off, I have officially been out here for a total of four months now. It really only seems like I just got here, but at the same time it feels like I´ve been here for my entire life. "Time" is a lie on the mission and I´ve learned to just try not to focus on it, and just focus on the work and everything will turn out the way it´s supposed to.

 

So we have transfers this week and we got the call last night that my companion Elder Tate is leaving for the capital and that I´m staying here in Boca Chica and Elder Buehner is also leaving for La Victoria leaving Elder Gee and I, who both have four months, to run the area. So the "Boca Chica Beach Boys" are going into retirement. I also found out that I´m getting a Latin missionary from Mexico named Elder Mendez as a new companion.  We´ll be with each other by tomorrow morning. I´ve heard really good things about him and I´m stoked to be getting a Hispanic companion.

 

One of the pics from the temple visit last week with Elder Tate and I.

 

This week went really well. Our investigator that is progressing the most right now is Maria, who I wrote about last week. She´s been going to church for about 9 weeks straight now. I still remember when we first contacted her. Just looking at her, you would´ve never guessed that she would progress. When we talked to her for the first time about two months ago, she wasn´t interested at all and we taught her for a week and a half but she wasn´t going anywhere. So we left her for about 4 days and she came to church for the first time. We were really, really surprised so we started teaching her more and more and she has now done all the things she needs to do to be baptized besides marriage. And so these past two weeks we´ve been working really hard with her husband German to try and get this process going. She told us she started on it a week and a half ago, on the papers and everything, but usually it takes a long time because of the way the DR is set up. BUT SHE GOT HALF OF THE PAPERS THREE DAYS AGO AND SHE IS LEAVING FOR SAN PEDRO TO GET THE REST TOMORROW. So as you can guess by the all caps, we´re really excited for her cause it´s possible for her to get married and baptized these upcoming 3 weeks. It´s just helped my testimony grow so much to see the changes she´s made in her life and how much she loves the Gospel now. She´s already a strong part of the Ward and we´re having the church activity at HER house on Wednesday cause she said she wanted to. She´s become family to me and Elder Tate and I are both very excited for her.

 

Elder Tate and I again. I´m gonna miss this fool.....Everyone thinks I´m from Brazil cause of my accent and my look too - which is funny 'cause I´m as white as white gets.

 

During my time here, I´ve learned a lot. I´ve already changed so much as a person. My thoughts have changed from "what I want and what I need" to "what others are lacking in their lives". I´ve learned so much patience and love for everybody I see.  I found a scripture in my studies this week that really touched me. It´s in the Bible, in First Samuel 16:7 and it might not quote it completely right 'cause I don´t exactly carry my English scriptures with me. But it reads:

 

"And Jehova responded to Samuel "Don´t look at the image and grandness of stature, because I have forbid it, because Jehova doesn´t see how men see. Men look at what is in front of their eyes, but God looks upon the heart". 

Pic with two of our other investigators named Jose and Mary. Jose is CRAZY good at guitar and they´re both from Haiti. We´re just working on marriage for them too and they can get baptized but we´ll have to see because it´s hard for Haitians to get married due to discrimination and stuff here. But they´re such an AWESOME family.

 

I have come to learn out here - where a lot of people don´t exactly look like "church going people" - that is this true. A lot of the times, the image and quality of a person is not what´s on the outside. It´s who they are on the inside.  God loves EVERYONE. Not just those people that are perfect and doing what´s righteous right now. He wants everyone to have a chance to come back and do the things that are right. I know that He loves each and every one of us no matter our circumstances and that He wants to help us. We just have to do our part.

 

I love you guys and hope you all have a great week.

From the DR,

 

Elder Graff