Talking to Everyone - New House - Eating at a Local Restaurant

I was  just thinking about my time in the MTC recently. That place is amazing and I really do miss it. It has been more than a month now since I left the MTC, but for a while I called that place my home. However it is interesting to think, while they do try to make the MTC experience similar to the field, there really is no way they could even come close! Just thinking about that, I remember on a day when we were studying I accidentally marked my shirt with a pen. I instantly decided that I NEEDED to go to the dorm and change! Haha now our shirts are permanently stained a pinkish orange, and you just have to live with it.

So we had a lot of travels ths week, and I am going to try and explain them a little bit! Its been crazy! We had to go to Natalio which is 3 hours away for Pday so that we can be more effective, because we don’t have anything in our tiny little town to do on Pday. Then we found out we would have a Mission Conference in Encarnacion which is another 3 hours away. I am now realizing this is going to take super long to describe every travel we had, so I will just stop there and let you all know that I have been riding in a bus for a total of 42 hours in the past 8 days…  Everyday we have had some sort of travels. (Remember, being in a bus here is NOT VERY RELAXING! ;)  All these travels have definitely had some good impact on me though. I have been able to talk with people on the buses and people in terminals and in the streets and all over the place, and letting them know about the gospel. Many missionaries are afraid to talk to people just in passing, or to the people they sit with because they feel like it is awkward. Hate to say it, but I agree with them, it is awkward. But that’s okay! If it gets awkward, I have the excuse that I cant speak the language and I get to keep trying to understand them.

 

I kinda want to explain where I got this idea of talking to people. A lot of missionaries feel like it isn’t as effective to talk to people when you are not in your own area, because you will probably never see the person you talked to in a bus/terminal/street again. This unfortunately is probably true. However, a quote I heard in the MTC by President Thomas S. Monson has stopped me from ever thinking that way. I don’t have it word for word but he said something to the effect of, --every convert to the church, on average, will have run into 7 different sets of missionaries at 7 completely different times, before accepting the gospel –

I have decided that it didn’t matter if I was number 1,2,3 or 7. I will always talk to them if I can. I do not say this to you all, to make myself sound like a hard worker. I do this so you can all have a confirmation that all your love and support is not being wasted. This week as I have said, I have traveled a lot, and have gotten to know some other missionaries, and it saddens me to see that there are those who don’t work as hard as they could. Again, I want you to know, that the support you all give me so frequently, is going to a missionary who is trying his hardest to not let you down.

With the help of the Savior, I will NOT let you down.

This is a picture of our house that we just bought! So much nicer!!! Woohoo!

This was the first time the members haven't fed us for lunch! Since I am more than a month in here, I'd say the members are treating us pretty well! (Also since we never have to feed ourselves, we don't know how to cook so we went to the only restaurant in town!)

So It turns out the computer we used had a virus and gave it to my camera memory stick. Because of this I almost wasn’t able to show any pictures this week.  I was actually pretty sad about this for a while, because I had some good pics to show this week… However, thanks to my awesome mom I have an extra memory card! So we took some random pictures that don’t really relate to anything! But at least you can have an update on what I look like and know that I still am not fat… (I think)

 

Thanks again for reading. I really do hope these  letters can touch someone’s life out there. I write these letters trying to listen to the Spirit allowing it to guide me so that those of you who read can be affected. Hopefully my letters can somehow inspire, help you, or at least make you happy!

I really do love you all with all my heart.

Les quiero con todo de me corazón

Rau hai hu!

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Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

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They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

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Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Argentina Posadas Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
84130-0150

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Elder Taylor Graves
Córdoba 1243
Posadas, Misiones 3300
Casilla 12
Argentina