Work in Tennessee

Hey Guys,

Sorry, this takes me a lot longer and I have to be a lot more brief now because I have to write so many more people... IT'S GREAT!

Some highlights from this last week are that we moved apartments so we no longer live in the ghetto.  It will be tough to leave 'my people' but it's just to risky to be worried about getting knifed or shot all the time.  My companion woke up with his hair in corn rows one morning!

That last part isn't true.

Also, I got a shamrock shake last week.  I liked it just about as much as I thought I would (I don't really like mint, so it was kinda whatever).  But now it's done and over with.  What a relief.  Now I can focus on baptizing people again.

Speaking of baptizing people!  Still no... but Elder LeSueur and I are stepping up our game.  We're going 3 Nephi 7:18 status this transfer and just getting it done.  Two souls WILL be brought into the kingdom of God on earth in the next six weeks whether they like it or not!

Incidentally, we taught two of our investigators this past week and they committed for baptism on April 13th.  They will need a lot of help though...

I've been reading the Book of Mormon for the I-dunno-how-many-th time now (not to brag, but I really just don't know how many this will make) and I've just been getting really impressed with Nephi again.  He's such an outstanding individual.  I really think that I'm more of a Laman or Lemual when I see Nephi's example.  His faith is just incredible.  Anyway, I've been thinking about how they went to get the brass plates.  Even though it was a commandment of God, He didn't make it happen for them the first time.  Or the second.  It was only after the third attempt that he was successful, and then only after killing a guy to make it happen.  I just think of how often we are faced with challenges from the Lord and we know what he wants us to do, but then we begin to question and doubt when He doesn't make things happen on our first attempt to accomplish it.  It reminds me of a talk that Elder Bednar gave missionaries once where he asked "Do you have the faith to follow Preach My Gospel to a T... and then fail?"  To develop really strong faith in the Lord, we have to continue to trust in Him even when he doesn't make things happen on the first or second or more attempts.

We might even have to break a few commandments along the way to make it happen...

Totally joking on that last part.

Follow the spirit.

Love
Elder Grabinger