Monday 27 May 2013

My first baptism


Dear Family,
It’s always great to hear from home and read what’s happening. I love getting all the pictures and everything. Crazy that it’s been two month’s already, 1/12 finished the mission. Well, this week was pretty great. We went out as a zone last week and got massive pizzas and they were delicious. I always love p-day. Today we went up to Pairumani Park and played captured the flag and took pictures it was awesome, but my camera died...  I still took lots of pictures though.  I got all of the letters and packages on Tuesday night. I walked into my room and they were all over my bed. That was probably the happiest night of my mission so far. I broke the rules and stayed up pretty late opening them all and reading the letters and everything. It was so great!! On Wednesday we helped a family move their circus. Yes, circus. It took all morning until about 2 in the afternoon. I got so burnt because I forgot to put on sunscreen, I think I sent a picture. That was really interesting. After we loaded everything into the truck we all got on top and rode for like 30 minutes to where they were moving their circus. I had my first baptism this week. Her name is Jeanette and it was so awesome! Elder Valda baptized her and I’m glad because the hot water wasn’t working and the water was ice cold. But I directed the baptism all in Spanish, it was weird but I wasn’t even nervous being in front of lots of people and speaking Spanish, maybe when it’s a different language I don’t get nervous. Anyway, that was really awesome and our next is on June 8th. A lot of dates have fallen through for us. Probably like 10 since I’ve been here, it can be frustrating sometimes. Another big thing is permission; we have 5 investigators who want to be baptized but their parents won’t let them. Sometimes that can feel frustrating, but all I can do is keep trying my best and working hard.

 Love you guys.

Talk to you next week!!!

Elder Grigor

 

Loved getting packages from home!

Elder Grigor received his first package from home
that had this shirt in it from Banff.

Locked behind bars with no way out :(


Hiking in Pairumani Park, Cochabamba

The big delicious pizza!


The sunburn Elder Grigor got. Ouch!
 

Elder Grigor's first baptism. He thought it was Awesome!
He directed the baptism in Spanish.
The language is getting easier for him.
 

Monday 20 May 2013

Hike up to Cristo de la Concordia.

Elder Grigor went up to Cristo de la Concordia. The statue is just a bit higher and larger than the one in Rio de Janeiro, making it the world's largest statue of Jesus until 2010, when a larger one was completed in Poland. It offers a great view of the city of Cochabamba.
 
 
 
 
The climb.

The view

Elder Grigor with the Elders from his zone in front of the Cristo de la Concordia
 
Elder Grigor in front of the statue.
 

Just being Ty!

Elder Grigor and Elder Valda


Elder Grigor with a kitten.
 
Elder Grigor has been having a lot of nose bleeds since he arrived in Bolivia. On his way to this appointment to have a little operation to fix it, the taxi they were in was t-boned. No one was hurt- just a few smashed fenders. Thank goodness!

Elder Grigor. LOVE the expression on his face!
And those outfits are awesome!!!!
 
 

Not being able to go out and teach is not very fun!

This is a little part of the email that Tamara sent to Elder Grigor this week.
 
"I was driving to Costco on Saturday and I was listening to the radio and just kept thinking about why you were sent to Bolivia. I know there are many reasons, I guess I was just looking for some confirmation as to why you were sent to such a poor country where living circumstances will be challenging for you some times. I wasn’t feeling comforted by the radio so I turned on the conference CD that is always in the car. The talk that came on was an answer to my prayers and concerns. It was a talk given by President Eyring on the welfare program. The opening lines seemed to be the comfort that I needed.
 
“My dear brothers and sisters, the purpose of my message is to honour and celebrate what the Lord has done and is doing to serve the poor and the needy among His children on earth. He loves His children in need and also those who want to help. And He has created ways to bless both those who need help and those who will give it.

Our Heavenly Father hears the prayers of His children across the earth pleading for food to eat, for clothes to cover their bodies, and for the dignity that would come from being able to provide for themselves. Those pleas have reached Him since He placed men and women on the earth.

You learn of those needs where you live and from across the world. Your heart is often stirred with feelings of sympathy. When you meet someone struggling to find employment, you feel that desire to help. You feel it when you go into the home of a widow and see that she has no food. You feel it when you see photographs of crying children sitting in the ruins of their home destroyed by an earthquake or by fire.

Because the Lord hears their cries and feels your deep compassion for them, He has from the beginning of time provided ways for His disciples to help. He has invited His children to consecrate their time, their means, and themselves to join with Him in serving others.”

 
Then President Eyring quotes part of a hymn that I really love. It is so significant to the work you are doing on your mission. Every day will bring you great purpose and fulfillment as you think about this hymn and the impact you can have on the poor and needy. Your message will be a beacon of light to people that are looking for something to believe in. Your acts of service will lift them up and touch their hearts. As you serve it will not only bless their lives , but yours as well.


“Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?

If not, I have failed indeed.

Has anyone’s burden been lighter today

Because I was willing to share?

Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?

When they needed my help was I there?

Then wake up and do something more

Than dream of your mansion above.

Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,

A blessing of duty and love.

 

Even though his talk was on the welfare program I think it also relates to what missionaries do. You have consecrated your time, means and yourself to join Him in serving others. You will be such a blessing in the lives of those you serve and teach."
 
 
This is Elder Grigor's letter home this week:  
 
So awesome to hear about all the new calls and excitement of missionary work back home. I really enjoyed reading that conference talk. It really brings a new perspective to why I'm here. I haven't gotten any packages yet. I'm hoping they come this week. So now about my week since I'm running out of time. First some things I learned.

 

1. If you need to pee. Then you go whenever, where ever!

2. The louder your car is the cooler you are. Lots of people try to be cool at 3 am

3. Walls don't block out cool peoples cars very well

4. There is no right of way, if you want to go- you go!

5. Not being able to go out and teach is not very fun

6. Deep fried chicken and fried taste the same everywhere. ( I don't know if that's a good or bad thing )

  

So now I will explain a bit. I was walking home the other night and we saw a guy coming towards us and it looked like he was peeing and walking. I thought that was crazy so I did a double take. I regret that. Sure enough, he was walking beside a busy road and peeing. If that's not multitasking I don't know what is. 2 and 3 are pretty self explanatory. People have really loud cars and it's really hard to sleep sometimes because of that.  So we were going to my appointment for my nose and the taxi just decides to randomly turn while other cars are coming. We got hit. Totally t-boned the front of another car. Everyone was fine, it was more funny than anything. It wasn't really that bad. Just the fenders got smashed up.  I was busy reading and didn't even see it really happen but Elder Valda explained everything after. Then because of this little nose operation (there is a picture of me on the table ) I couldn't leave the apartment for 5 days during the day because the sun isn't good for it or something like that. So this week I did a lot of reading and studying of the gospel. All in all it was a pretty good week except for the whole nose thing and not being able to sneeze or blow my nose. That's basically the summary of my week. I will talk to you next week.
 
Love you,

Elder Grigor

Monday 13 May 2013

Getting accustomed to the culture.

This is a picture of Elder Grigor's shoes. He said that they look 
like this everyday! He also told us that he has to beat his pants 
at night with a stick to get all the dirt and dust off of them.

                                         "It's your road, and yours alone.
                                          Others may walk it with you,
                                          but no one can walk it for you.
Dear Family,
Thanks for the letters. I'm glad that the weather is warming up a bit. It's bad but it actually makes me kind of feel better that you had a tough week mom, because it helps me to know that I'm not the only one. Sometimes I think I'd be totally fine if I was back at home but its tough everywhere. Thanks for the quotes Dad I really love reading them and they are very helpful. So I told you guys lots yesterday but I am going to list a bunch of things I learned this week. 

1. When people want to get rid of something here they burn it. No matter when or where they just make a pile and light it up. 

2. Hand washing clothes sucks!

3. There is no point in cleaning your shoes every night because they are just as dirty the next day. Same goes for pants.

4. No matter how much bug spray you put on, you`ll still wake up with 20 bug bites. 

5. 8 hours of sleep is not enough.

6. Spanish is really hard.

There are many, but I don't have time to write 5 pages haha. I am doing good down here and slowly getting more accustomed to the culture and lifestyle of Bolivia. This week has been a great learning experience for me and I am looking forward to this week.
Love you guys and I'll talk to you next week!!

Elder Grigor
         The first picture was taken when Elder Grigor was still in the Peru MTC.
       Elder Hamblin is serving in Peru. He is a nephew of one of Roger's friends.
Peru MTC: Elder Hamblin & Elder Grigor

    An Elder squished in the bus. Just bodies and luggage!

Elder Grigor's teeny tiny bathroom.
When you turn the shower on it gets
the whole room soaking wet!

Elder Grigor's neat, organized desk- with a sign from
 his brother to remind him how to approach each new day!

Basketball in Bolivia.

Elder Grigor crouching down for the picture.
People call him the white giant.

Doing service in Colcapirhua

There are protests in the streets on a regular basis.
They shoot off flares and gather in large groups.

Elder Grigor's raw hands from hand washing his clothes.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

A mission is all about change



Elder Grigor on the Bus with all of his MTC group!




It was great talking to you guys on Sunday and I'm so happy I am able to write today. We have an hour to write emails right now.  I'm glad that it's warming up it's about time. It was good to see your pictures, crazy that Bryce is already in the MTC and Taylor is leaving soon. Monday is my official p-day so that's when you'll be hearing from me now. I'm still not sure how this whole phone thing next Sunday will work out but I'm sure it will be fine. My new companion is Elder Valda and I should be with him for about 3 months I think while he's training me- I haven't taken any pictures of the apartment or him yet but I will and send them next week. My first area is Colcapirhua just outside of Cochabamba, it's fairly interesting and the shower doesn't work so that will be fun. Today was just all orientation and then we came out to our areas so we will email then go eat and probably go to bed after that I think. Then we start working working tomorrow!!  I don't know what we are going to do yet but I'm sure it will be great. I still feel like I don't understand a lot of things that my companion and other people say to me but it will come. I can't wait for that day! I feel kind of lost right now, it's very overwhelming at the moment. But I think that is just because of so much change in such a short period of time, it's kind of crazy. Oh I almost forgot- we stayed in a hotel last night which was interesting and had the biggest pizzas I've ever seen. I should have taken a picture, they were about 2 feet by 2 feet, just massive. I got to bed around 12am last night and it was the worst sleep of my mission experience so far.  I should get used to that ,I'm sure I will have many more nights like that. I was so tired today, I'm glad that I don't have to travel tomorrow like some people. Elder Atwood is travelling about 4 days to get to his area just because they have to go back to his companions area and get all his stuff then take a few buses and planes to get to Potosi. Him and his companion are opening a new area up there, so that's really cool. I don't know if or when I will see lots of my friends from the MTC again but it was a fun 6 weeks with them.  They are all going to different in areas. Elder Gines is getting sent to an area that is going to become Santa Cruz South so I won't see him again which is sad because he was a really funny guy. I sat with him on all the flights and roomed with him last night, but the mission is all about change so I guess I should get used to that too. Well I'm sure this week will be full of great experiences and I can't wait to talk to you guys again on Sunday. Have a great week and I will talk to you soon. Love you!!

Elder Grigor

Monday 6 May 2013

Elder Grigor's Missionary Group in the Peru MTC

                            Elder Grigor is in the back row, second from the left.
                            

Arrival in Bolivia

We got a brief e-mail from Tyler today letting us know that his p-day had now changed to Mondays. We will hear from him on Mother's Day and then will get our first e-mail about Bolivia next week. We did get 2 pictures of Elder Grigor's arrival in Cochabamba.



Elder Grigor is standing right behind President Dyer.

Elder Grigor with Hermana Dyer and President Dyer



So it turns out that I don't get a p-day this week since technically
today is my p-day. So I can't respond or read any emails but I can next
Monday. I will get to talk to you guys Sunday. Today is just all orientation

and finding out our areas and companions so its kind of crazy. The President and Hermana dyer are great and I'm looking forward to getting to know them
better.


Love you so much!! Say hi to Justin and Dad and everyone.
Talk to you on Sunday

2 Phone Calls from Elder Grigor



 
Elder Grigor left the Peru MTC on Sunday, May 5th. He let us know in an email last week that he would be able to call early Sunday morning. As any normal parents of a missionary would do- we slept with a phone on each nightstand and woke up several times early in the morning awaiting his phone call. As the morning went on we thought that maybe he didn't have time to call. Roger went to his morning meetings at church and I told him I would text him if Tyler called. Roger came back home at 9:00 because he forgot a video he needed for one of his meetings. No phone from Tyler yet. His flight was scheduled to leave at 9:20 our time we assumed he would maybe call when he landed.

About 10 minutes after Roger left the phone rang. It was TYLER! His flight had been delayed 40 minutes and he had time to call home.  My heart started racing and I was quickly trying to use my shaking fingers to text Roger to come back home. As I was doing this Tyler let me know that he only had a minute to talk and that Dad probably wouldn't make it back in time. I told Tyler " I will take a minute" if that was all the time he had. We just wanted to hear his voice. We talked very briefly and then Tyler said he had 30 seconds left. He wanted us to know that he was doing good and that he loved us. He said he was excited and nervous to go out in to the mission field. Just as I thought he was saying goodbye one of the Sister missionaries gave him more money for the phone. He had more time. Love that Sister missionary!!!  I told Justin to text Roger to let him know that Tyler was on the phone. I kept asking Tyler how much time he had. Roger was in his meeting at church and as soon as he got the text he bolted out of the room and came home. He made it home in time to talk to his son. Roger was able to talk to Tyler for a couple of minutes which was so wonderful! We were so grateful for those precious few minutes that we got to hear his voice.

Tyler told us that he would probably have time again to call in the afternoon when he had a 4 hour layover in Santa Cruz. We came home from church and again as any normal missionary parents would do- we sat with the phone right by our side waiting for his call. Just as we thought that maybe he didn't have time to call, or didn't have any money on him,  the phone rang and it was Ty! We got to talk to him for 15 minutes. It was heaven. The best 15 minutes of our day. (Aside from the 10 minutes in the morning but that was kind of crazy trying to figure out how long we could talk and trying to get Roger back home). We got to hear him laugh - I have missed that so much, and he told us in more detail about some of his experiences that he wrote about in his emails.

He shared a funny thing about being in the airport with all the Elders and Sisters. They were saying that they were not sure where to go in the airport or what they needed to do. Tyler just said: " It's OK, I GOT this!" We had a good laugh about that one.

We told him that Bryce went into the Provo MTC this past week and he was excited to hear that. He is looking forward to emailing him and hearing about his mission experiences as well.

We asked him what his favorite thing about the MTC was. He said: "Oh there was so many, but if I had to pick a few things it would be Soccer and District meetings." He played soccer everyday for an hour during his physical activity time. For the first few weeks at the MTC he played basketball and volleyball. But then he tried soccer and loved it. Uncle Jorge will be so happy to play soccer and speak Spanish with Tyler when he gets back.

We love our missionary son and felt very blessed to be able to talk to him for the short time that we did. We are excited to be able to talk to him again on Mother's Day!

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Elder Grigor - time is coming to an end at the Peru MTC

Elder Crankshaw & Elder Grigor
Elder Grigor LOVES playing soccer!  

Elder Grigor with his district

 Elder Grigor & Elder Gonzalez

Elder Grigor with his district
outside the Lima Temple

Elder Grigor with the Sister's & Elder's
 
Elder Grigor & Brother Gonzalez- a teacher at the Peru MTC
 

Leaving the MTC on Sunday May 5th

Hi Mom and Dad!!

 
So just something quick I wanted to let everyone know-  I can't always write emails to everyone because I only have an hour. It's not that I dont want to, I just run out of time and try to do family first. So if you could put that on the website or something that would be good.
 
The first picture is of me and Elder Gonzalez who I went proselyting with.  The  second  is  of  me  and  Elder Crankshaw. The third is my district- Elder Gines in the blue and red jersey, Elder Atwood in red on the far left, Crankshaw in white, Feddock in white and Hatch in red on the right.   

 So sounds like things are going good there, that dictate thing on the IPad sounds really cool I can't wait to see what other technology is out when I get home. I haven't got any dear elder letters yet but I will be looking out for them. That's so cool that Joss is going to Spain too!! We can be the 3 Spanish amigos when we get back, that is going to be so awesome. Tell him congrats and good luck for me. So Elder Bednar last week was awesome, he came for 3 hours and we got to ask him questions in the meeting then shake his hand afterwards. I didn't get to ask a question though but it was still really cool, I would tell you all about it but it would take forever. He mostly just talked about faith and being a good missionary. This week has been great and gone by so fast, I've been playing lots of soccer as usual and I'm getting pretty good I think, its so much fun, I'm going to go play after I finish writing. Not much happened this week except we found out that we leave early Sunday morning so I don't have much time left here. We can call from the airport so I am going to try, I don't know what the best way to do it will be but I will figure something out. I'm excited to talk to you guys and then the week after on Mother's Day. Then in our district we gave everyone names from different movies like Toy Story and Disney and what our animal would be and just a bunch of stuff.  I will tell you all my names: legolas, ammon, hercules, cedric digory, luke skywalker, grizzly bear, donkey kong, thor, buzz lightyear, will turner, gale, and Bruce the shark. Well I will hopefully talk to you this Sunday. have a good week!!
 
love you mom and dad

Your hijo