New Companion - Running With The A.P.s - Waiting For Phone Calls - Singing While Teaching & Testifying

​Here is a picture of me and my new companion in the new pension! Dont make fun of us because our wall is pink...

Got to go running with the Assistants early in the morning the other day! On the side of the river. Some of the most beautiful runs I have had are here in Argentina... (although nothing beats a mountain run!!!) This is Elder Magdeleno, and when I first got here in Argentina, I noticed he said something in English, like "hello, how are you?" I then told him "good job your english is really good!" He said "thank you" and then we went our separate ways. A couple hours later, I noticed he was speaking FLUENT english. He was pulling my leg the whole time. He is from Idaho, but his family speaks Spanish in the house...

 
​With my new assignment I have to wait for a lot of calls late at night, and the whole time we have to be dressed in church attire. This is me waiting for the last call to come! Missionaries get tired sometimes!!!!

The following blog entry is an entry from Taylor’s journal (written January 24, 2015)

A day in the life of Elder Graves...

Okay we had a pretty great experience this week! When we walked away from the it, I said to my companion "esa fue un experiancia que nunca vamos a olvidar" or that was an experience that we will never forget.

When this experience happened, we told each other that we were going to take special time in the night to count this story in our journals. Let’s just say that I have never come home wanting to work MORE. We usually come home SO TIRED, but today we really felt the love of Christ in our last lesson.

We were working hard today in the morning and had a couple lessons fall through, taught some people who didn’t really want to be taught. ;-) We had lunch with a SUPER awesome family (Familia Gutarza con el Hermano quien tambien se fue en su mision a Bahia Blanca). We ate Tacos! Then we had studies. We had a blast talking about new ideas for making contacting more fun. We are thinking about making a Bandera (had to ask my companion for this word) banner that would be HUGE and we would use it to teach the Plan of Salvacion. Then we left to go on divisions with two brothers from the ward. I went with Hermano Ruben Cabrera. He has 2 years in the church and has a huge testimony. We taught 3 really great lessons. After which we shared a good spiritual thought with the family Duante.

Afterwards we decided to go visit one sister who we invited to church but haven’t really taught her much yet. She is super funny and told us she really would like to go to church and have help to quit smoking. But we had passed by her house the other day and she seemed to have avoided us. So when we arrived she seemed very protective and defensive, but still we wanted to re-extend the invitation to the church next week. As we talked to her, her hija came and she was also with her friend. They didn’t really look like they wanted to keep talking.

Then we found out that the hija’s name was “Luz” or in English “Light”. We told them we wanted to sing the song “Lead Kindly Light” Or “Divina Luz” in honor of her name. We sang the song and it sounded pretty good. Honestly, I received an impression that told me we needed to sing for them. My companion thought it might be weird, but we still did it. When we finished singing we looked up from our hymn books and more than ten children had gathered around our feet to listen to us sing. They screamed and told us to sing again! We sang in English and then in Spanish the song “Nearer my God to Thee.” They were in shock with the English part and you could really feel the Spirit. Afterwards we started teaching the little children about the story about Nefi and how he learned the importance of keeping the commandments. When we started talking about the importance of obeying what our parents said, the two moms got excited. They said, “Listen to them kids! What they are saying is true!”

Finally when we finished our presentation of the story of Nefi, one of the little kids asked me if we would sing again before we left. I told him yes, one more time.

We sang the first verse of “I am a Child of God”. The Spirit was so strong confirming the truth of those words to me and my companion, but the children were simply enjoying the song. But when we sang, “Soy un hijo de Dios” and they finally understood the meaning of the song, the spirit testified to them also that the song was true.

The sister (Claudia) then told us she wanted to come to church with her family to feel that feeling again.

I realized today that experiences like that are the reason that I am here on my mission. Not necessarily to baptize or convert a million people, but to help people, families, feel the love of God and to help them know QUE SON HIJOS DE DIOS, that THEY ARE CHILDREN OF GOD.

Amo Este Evangelo

Well I hope you all enjoyed reading today! Thank you to everyone who is writing me! I feel bad because I can never respond to everyone the week they write me, but I always try to at least write them later on. So if you dont get a response right away, know that I still love you! ;)

Have a great week!

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

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

Pictures From Taylor's 1st Primary Talk (age 3) - Posadas vs Tacuari - Dario Preparing For Baptism - Committed To The Work Of The Lord

This is Taylor's Dad:  

Taylor was unable to spend much time writing to us nor was he able to send any pictures home this week :-(  He has been very busy in his new assignment in Posadas, Argentina

Kirsten (Taylor's Mom) and I have been reminiscing - thinking of Taylor (and our other children) when they were younger.  We watched  a home video this evening of Taylor practicing his first primary talk (3 years old) - all by himself (but practiced with Mom at home) about having faith in Jesus Christ.  He taught that if we just plant the seed of faith, it will grow "like a plant".    Taylor began his preparations to serve from a very young age.  We sure love him! 

In the absence of any new mission pictures, here he is preparing to serve a mission:

Scroll to the bottom for more pictures of 3 year old Taylor, preparing to serve.

Scroll to the bottom for more pictures of 3 year old Taylor, preparing to serve. 

 Here is Taylor's letter home:

Well I have to say that I am sorry because this week I will not be able to write very much to you all. I really wanted to, but I have really become quite busy recently and had to write a couple of urgent letters that took a lot of time!

This week we arrived in Tacuari which I found out really is a street name in Posadas, (the main part of our mission!) and really got to work. The potential for this area is phenomenal and we are really excited to get going. We already have someone who is preparing for baptism on the 31st, his name is Dario and would be an incredible addition to the Ward here! 

Well, I really have no time, but before I say goodbye for the week, I want to share something that Thomas S. Monson said when he become an Apostle of the Lord. In words something like this he said I now pledge my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said that with such power. I had the opportunity to listen to his talk when he was made an Apostle I realized something. I have pledged my 2 years to the Lord. How small is that. How small is that really. I ask my self, am I willing to put my WHOLE LIFE into this work? I hope the answer would be yes. That should be the journey for each of us, to be able to basically hand over our life to the lord, and tell him, as said  Jesus, not my will, but thine be done. Every day, we have the choice to do the will of God, or the will of our own minds, and I pray that we all have the opportunity to do  as the Lord would counsel us.

I apologize for not sharing experiences this week, but there really is not time and I have to go now, but expect lots of interesting things in the blog entry that follows!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

P.S.  I was going to add fotos! But the computer here isn't working with fotos! I will send lots next week I promise

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

Dear Brother's and Sisters...

Faith is like a seed...

If planted it will grow...

 

and grow...

I have faith in Jesus...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

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

New Assignment! - Missionaries Follow Street Sign Called 'Holy Ghost' - Finding Things To Smile About - Please Keep Praying For Rafael's Family! Your Prayers Are Being Answered! - A Family Reactivated & Children Baptized! - Saying Goodbye To Obera, Argentina And To Elder Venegas - New Assignment - Pray Always! Testimony Of Prayer

Well as missionaries, we are always trying to follow the Holy Ghost, and for at least this day, we were able to do so ;)  Espiritu Santo means Holy Ghost for those of you who don't know.

Haha thought I would start the blog with something funny. Me and my companion are always looking for a way to make the day a little brighter. Sometimes in the mission things can seem difficult, but if you find something to smile about, it is just that much easier to keep going. My companion and I have been talking a lot about the family of Rafael and how they are so important in our work. I asked you all to offer a special prayer for his family, and we can really see that the Lord is touching the heart of his mother because of your prayers. His mom (for the first time) accepted us and has grasped the fact that our church "makes more sense than the others" and that she fully supports the baptisms of her children. She even is willing to "consider" baptism herself. I don't know if I told all of you but, the family consists of 9 children and the 2 parents. This family would really help the ward grow here!!! Please keep praying for them!

While Rafael and his family still are in the process towards baptism, the Family Wolf has been reactivated in the church, and faithfully today are attending the outside of the temple of Buenos Aires. The children were baptized, as well as investigator of the Hermanas named "Gustavo"

 

 

​I am very excited for all three of them, and was happy to be a part of that experience for them.

 

I now have to say goodbye to this area. Just as things seemed to really get started, I have been called to serve in Tacuari Argentina for this transfer that is coming. My assignment is one different from what I am used to right now, and will need some adjusting surely. As I am a little nervous for this new assignment, I hope that each of you could pray for me so that I could be comforted, if you get the time. Saying goodbye to Obera also means saying goodbye to my companion Elder Venegas. This goodbye honestly will be a hard one. He has been such a good friend to me, and I will miss him.

 

 

​The Elder on top is from Ecuador and is named Elder Lopez and was visiting Obera, because his companion (my second trainer Elder Silva) just finished his mission.

I love you all and hope you know the reality of the power of prayer. Pray always.

 

 

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

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

 

Answered Prayers - Baptisms! - Mission Focus Is Building Eternal Families - Waterfall/There Is A God And He Loves Us - Don't Drink The Mate! - Family Miracles

Thank you for all of your prayers and the love you constantly are sending my way. I love that I always have an assurance of a great support system at home. Thank you for your letters and for reading my blog.

Though it has seemed difficult these past couple of weeks, the work is finally starting to show some real physical results! There will be 3 baptisms this week here in Obera and I was chosen by one of them to do the baptizing. Also we are teaching someone named Rafael. He is super awesome and is going to be baptized the 24th of January if everything goes as planned! He is 18 and is really learning quickly. The thing is, he has like 7 brothers and sisters who still don't want to listen to us, but as a group, me Elder Venegas and Rafael, we are going to really help this family become an eternal family.  

 

It is interesting to think about how I pictured the mission, before my mission. I thought the whole idea was to get lots of baptisms and teach lots of lessons. While those are things we want to do, the focus, or it would be, the main goal is to build eternal families. 

 

If you have the chance, could you please add to your prayers the family of Rafael. Thank you.

 

​While there was a lot of work going on this week, it being the week of the new year, the president of the mission granted another day of activities! We had the opportunity to go bowling, (yeah they really do have bowling here and yes I was surprised too) and then after we ate at Tihuanas and ate Shwarma (if any of you have seen the last scene of Iron Man 2 you will know what it is) and it is soooo good!

Then we got to go to this Waterfall! It was actually super awesome! (Still not Iguazu falls) but still super awesome! It is fun to have a little bit of time to relax and enjoy nature for a while.

When I was little (as I think about this, I feel like I have shared this before, but oh well!) me and my Dad would always go hiking. When we would get to the top of the mountain, or reach our end point, and see the beauty that we have here on this earth, he would always tell me, "Just seeing this view, these trees, these mountains, these waterfalls, or whatever it might be, is enough for me to know there is a God and that he loves us."

This statement has stuck with me until now and as I watched the beauty of nature, I thought a lot about that statement, as well as the scripture in Alma 30:40, 44.

 

 

​Okay more of a funny subject... haha here in Argentina a popular drink here (well more like every single person at every single moment drinks it) is called Mate or Terere. As missionaries, we generally aren't supposed to drink it if we are from a country that isn't accustomed to drinking it because it can really make your stomach upset. This is like the classic "Don't Drink the Mate" foto haha!

 

Well I don't have much more time today, but I want each of you to know that I appreciate the love that is shown toward my family. We as a family have experienced some of the most incredible miracles during my mission and they don't seem to be stopping. I know that those of you that have acted in service to my family are inspired by God and will be blessed for helping my family. Even those of you who show your love towards them in small and simple ways, thank you.

Love you all!

 

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

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

 

 

Christmas Devotional/Nativity/Sacrament - Ninjas - Christmas Dinner - Presents - Hug From Mom - Finding Blessings In The Small Things Around Us Despite The Struggles

I hope you guys don't mind, but I think this blog entry is going to be a whole lot of pictures :) This is my Mission President and his Wife with me and my companion at the Christmas devotional. That devotional was one of the most special experiences I have had in a while. I had the chance to play a part in the Nativity and after, we partook of the sacrament. It is something I have never done, take the sacrament on a different day than Sunday, but the spirit was so strong because of it.

Sometimes we have fun playing Ninja at bus stops, when the buses decide to just not come... :) (I'm taking the picture...)
​

  

​Even though I didnt get to celebrate Christmas with my family, The family Antunez "adopted us" for Christmas and spent some really special time with them and ate some amazing argentine meat!

  

​This is us waiting to open all of our presents (okay to be honest almost all of them were mine --thanks Mom and Dad for the packages!!!--) next to our "Christmas Tree" - 

(Clarification from Dad on the multiple packages :-)

Having heard that we may never be allowed to send him a gift, Taylor's Mom was determined to ensure that he had something to open on Christmas.  Before he left, she packed a Christmas gift in his suitcase with him...he had the self control to not open it until Christmas.  I am impressed.  Then we found out that as a family, we are allowed to send him a Christmas gift...so we did (the big one on the floor in the picture) giving him two to open this year :-)  We love him and are so glad that we were able to send gifts to him this year!)

​Okay this is my by far favorite present! My mom sent me a Hug! 2 hands, like the one you see here, and a string that would represent her arms! I love my mom!

​Okay this is my backpack and this is a present that Shauna gave me (its from Hunger Games) I am going to be wearing this little pin with me for the rest of my mission so I can remember my siblings and how awesome they are! (It was so fun talking to them this Wednesday!)

Me enjoying the sunset of Argentina. It is interesting how sometimes things can get really hard in life, or in the mission, but you can always find something to make you happy. Yesterday it was the sunset. My companion is really struggling to be happy, and having a hard time continuing working because we have had so little success in our area. Normally I wouldn't want to talk about numbers, but I kinda want you all to see how hard it has been here in our area - and that really my companion does have reason to be frustrated.  As a mission we have a goal to always try and have at least 4 investigators at Church on Sunday. While I have been here we have had 2 attendances total. (That is in 11 months).  We realized that our area was struggling, but we just decided to keep working, despite the lack of shown success. We really thought we were going to have somebody in church on Sunday but they didn't show :( but what really killed my companion is that the other Elders in our ward had 4 in church and the Hermanas, had 7. 

Sometimes it really seems like what we are trying to do isn't of much worth, but something that my mission president told me is that if when we get home, and lay down in bed, exhausted from all the work you have done, and feel like a missionary, then, you have done enough. I will keep working and do everything I can to be the best missionary possible!

I hope you all had an awesome Christmas!

Happy New year too!

 

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

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

 

He Is The Gift - Christmas - "My Missionaries = My Parents" - Snoring Newbie In Apartment

 He is the Gift – Christmas Video – #ShareTheGift - YouTube

 

I cant believe it but we are really in the season of Christmas already! I am so excited to have the chance to "Share the gift" during this Christmas season. I hope you all have had opportunities to share the love and peace that Christ brings to us on a daily basis. Please watch this video it is awesome!

As it is Christmas, I have been told by many missionaries that this was going to be the hardest part of my mission, but so far, I am loving it. For one, Christmas Eve I will be speaking to my family! Woohoo! and secondly, our mission president decided that he wanted us to really have a day to enjoy this Christmas. We aren't supposed to go out and preach, but we have to go out and do something fun for the whole day! We are so excited as a district and I am trying to come up with some fun ideas!

​As a district we set up the coolest Christmas party ever for the Barrio here in Obera! We decided to do a skit for everybody to watch and it was SUPER funny! I am not going to describe the whole skit, but just know that I was a rebellious Pokemon trainer, who didn't want to have Christmas Dinner with the family because I was too busy training my Pikachu.

 

Okay so I am going to switch topics again, I started to realize that truly every person has there missionary. What do I mean by that? Well I have been talking with lots of missionaries (lots of which are converts) and they always talk about "their missionaries", being the missionaries who helped them on their way to conversion. I started thinking about that and how really I have my missionaries in this life too. They are my Parents. I want to publicly thank them, for teaching me the gospel and teaching me to love the Lord. My parents truly were the best missionaries for me and I give thanks daily that they were willing to sacrifice so much, to help me gain a testimony.

I realize how wonderful my parents are every week by the letters they send me. They still support me. They still strengthen my testimony, and still are my missionaries.

My companion just received a letter for the first time in a very long time. When he started reading it, he was close to tears. I asked what happened, and he explained that his dad, for the first time in his life told him he loved him.

My Dad told me that he loves me everyday while I was there, and even now, he writes almost every day, even if it is just a short note to let me know that he loves me. I know that I was blessed with incredible parents and truly never could repay them for all that they have done for me.

Okay I know I am bouncing all over the place with this letter, but I have to explain another trial that I have gone through recently. 

A newbie just got here this transfer and he is super cool and is really excited to work hard. His companionship shares a house with us. Although he is a super great missionary and really awesome..... he snores.... a lot.... like louder than a chainsaw.... haha. For four straight days this past week I had less than 5 hours of sleep because of his snoring and that is not safe for how much walking and physical hard labor that we do. I started getting sick and my body started to get reaaally achy! I could barely turn my neck and it was getting hard to stay awake while walking... yeah. Finally we decided to call the mission nurse and she simply told me to start using earplugs and go to bed an hour and a half early. So I did that, and wow I feel so much better... to be honest I'm not really sure why I shared that experience, but I just thought it was funny!

Well gotta go now! Know that I love you all and appreciate all the letters that are sent my way!

Have an AWESOME Christmas #ÉleslaDádiva

 

 

This is me enjoying the wonderful "Christmas Weather"

 

 

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

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

 

Working Hard/Following The Spirit - Family Committed To Baptism - People Gather In The Street To Listen

Okay I just want everyone to know that this week me and my companion have really been working hard. Not only in the roads, but in our study sessions trying to figure out how to teach the most effective way possible. We have come up with some good ideas for finding more people and for teaching better with the spirit. It is amazing what can happen when the companionship is united in the teaching. Recently we put a baptismal date with a family because of the new tactics we are trying, like allowing silence if the spirit calls for it, testifying of what my companion says is true, and they are excited to be baptized! We have a lot of work to do with them but we will do everything we can to help them reach their goal of baptism!

As missionaries, we really are trying to "catch em all" so I thought this picture would be extremely appropriate :)

 

  

​I am not going to take a ton of time to write today because I still have to write my dad a nice long letter (its his birthday!!!!!!) but I wanted to include one of the coolest experiences I have had on my mission so far. (haha don't I always say that!?!?)

We got home from a zone meeting and realized we still had a little bit of time to go out and preach but not enough time to have a full lesson so we were going to just find someone and talk to them about the gospel in the street. We found someone sitting on a bench and started talking to her. We started talking to her about our beliefs and how we have a record that Jesus Christ came to the Americas and how we have a prophet in this day. As we talked, someone else came and started listening, and then someone else started listening, and people just kept coming! In the end there were 12 people listening to us preach about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. When I bore my testimony of the first vision of Joseph Smith, it was perfectly quiet, you could hear a pin drop. The spirit in that moment was so strong.  We asked the mini crowd who wanted a Book of Mormon and gave everyone who was interested a copy.  I don't know if any of them will be baptized in the future, but what I do know is that they know that I know this church is true.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying the snow while I burn my skin just by stepping outside ;) Haha! It really isn't that bad, i am pretty much used to it by now!

Love you all! But I gotta go!

 <3 Elder Graves/Ash Ketchem

--

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

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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4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

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