What a week. Holy wowzers.

I'll start off with a summary. 

Got transferred to INDIANAPOLIS. Yes, I made it to the city! Not what I expected, president finally fooled me. It is the White River Branch.

Address => 6001 Beachview Dr. #283

Indianapolis, IN 46224 

My birthday is March 18. Mark it in your calendars or your missionary planner if you're a part of that missionary gang yo! Totally feel free to send me so many letters. ;D #teamIWILLWRITEBACK

Companion se llama Elder Thurston. He is from Provo, Utah. His mom es de Argentina though so Spanish is his first language. He speaks them both (English Y Espanol) perfectly though. Sorry I am noticing this goes in and out of Spanish/English. Bear with me. He has been out like 2 weeks more than me. We go home the same day though. (May 19, 2015)

The branch here is like..... huge. Hahaha. 

Anyways, Tuesday was the last night in South Bend for Elder Birch and I and it was like totally super sad because they were shutting down our area and we didn't want our investigators to just get lost in the shuffle. Hmph. ): We pretty much just went around saying bye to everyone. One of our investigators is like he busiest women ever and we legit like hunted her down at work in Michigan to say goodbye to her. Ha. When we went to say bye to Ichy and Hna. Hernandez and just that whole household it was SO SAD. They had a cake made that said. "Goodbye Elder Birch and Elder Groseclose. We love you and we will miss you." Talk about heartbreaking. Ichy, our investigator, was texting us during transfer meeting "No se vayan!!!" which is essentially "DON'T YOU TWO LEAVE!!!!" hahaha. 

It's weird being out of South Bend so fast. I loved the gente there.... ): But I'm sure I will be back in that branch someday further down the mission road. Perks of a Spanish Elder. 

SO, I am in the city. I really feel like I am just chilling in San Francisco, it's awesome lol. I am currently on the 6th floor of the Library and can see across the city. Oh there's where the Colts play.... Oh hey the Pacers play in that fieldhouse.... Hahaha, weirdness!!! I have missed tall buildings! Columbus had none, SB a good amount, but here is just like home! 

I am obviously still new to the area so I actually don't have a clue of anything that is going on BUT, we do have a baptism next Tuesday of a guy named Manuel.... so that's pretty sick. Ha. He's super cool younger guy. That will be nice. :) OH, and we had a lesson with people I had never met before but I TOTALLY had dreamed of their faces and the lesson we taught them, LAST WEEK. Like I already knew what they were gonna say. TRIPPY.

Hmmm... what else....we played lots of sports yesterday for P-Day and we did Junior Comps vs Senior Comps volleyball match and we won (JC's) in a tightly-contested matchup. I still got it going, feels nice. Hahaha.

Once I know the area more and the people I will be able to talk more about them.... but until then.... Cuidense mucho! Que tengan una semana de diversion ;) 

-Elder Guapisimo..... PERDON, Elder Groseclose

The view out the library window 

Ichy and family :)

Maria y Rafael. We set a baptismal date for April the day before we left. :)

Pedro! Found him tracting in SB. Love him!

Cake from Sis. Hernandez and Ichy when Birch and I double transferred.

Jorge! Investigator.

BRENDA. Love her. amazing!

Elder Birch and I 

Elders in my South Bend Branch 

Some elders in my district (Do-It-D!)

Quesadillas!!!

Touchdown Jesus!

WHOOF. Brutal! Got calls last night, WE ARE GETTING DOUBLE TRANSFERRED AND THEY ARE SHUTTING DOWN MY AREA. Wow. It was definitely a surprise. It's so crazy......

This week was just crazy. We had two exchanges so our area kinda just stalled for a few days.

We did teach Maria though and it was an awesome lesson and she is doing AMAZING. I am absolutely BROKEN to leave her behind. UGH. ): 

Everything else I am just completely flustered by because of this double transfer so I can't really say much...

I will share something cool that happened though:

So on Wednesday I was going through former investigators and I came by one from 2008 (6 years ago!!!) I decided to call the number and ask for the person. The person answered and I asked for Cesar and a woman, startled, said to me "Why do you need to speak to him?"

I proceed to tell her we are missionaries and that we spoke with him about 6 years ago and we wanted to see if we was still interested in our message.

"Did you not hear the news....?" She tells us.

I answer back that we are new missionaries and we just found his record and decided to call it. She proceeds to tell me that he was murdered back in 2012 and left behind 5 kids and she just begins to cry and pour out her heart to me in grief and after a while I interject and start teaching her about Plan of Salvation over the phone and I manage to set up an appointment. Today is the day we will teach her. What a miracle!

what up! Wednesday is 8 months. That's weird. So anyways.....

I emailed y'all on Wednesday, so even though it's 5 days later, not much has happened. Saturday I was on exchanges in Goshen so nothing really happened that day except that I got to to go to their investigators wedding! So I guess I can tell y'all about Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday :D

WEDNESDAY: We had District Meeting in Elkhart and then afterwards we had some freaking DIVINE Taco Bell. Then legit like EVERYTHING fell apart. EVERYTHING cancelled. OH MY FREAK it was AWFUL lol. I seriously hate getting cancelled on. BUT IT WAS FOR A REASON, we decided due to all the cancellations to visit Rafael y Maria whom he haven't been able to see in a while and oh my heck she is HILARIOUS! She was asking us if there is a scripture that talks about a day when Hell will burst because she believes that Hell bursted and everyone stupid lives in South Bend HAHAHA. We then showed her the picture of Christ holding a lamb and comforting and we asked how it made her feel and she goes; "It's so mysterious, I love it! You see Christ comforting the lamb, but you know in his head he is thinking 'You little lamb are what's for dinner' " HAHAHAHAHA SHE IS HILARIOUS. She tells Elder Birch that he has a light that lights up a room, but then has the power to destroy all the light if he wants, like what? Hahah! Love her! We will get back to her on Sunday....

Thursday was fun! We did Service at the food bank like always and got a hispanic guy Timo who works there to give us his address so we will see where that goes! We then ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. YES is all I can say. We then got rejected so hard by our investigator lol. Like, oh my gosh it was hardcore. Haha. Then Elder Birch accidentally drove the wrong way on a one way road. lol. We then read Joseph Smith History with Ichy and it was great! Well received!

SUNDAY. We had church, no investigators came, but it was still an AWESOME testimony meeting. Love the testimonies that were given. POWERFUL. After church we went to eat with Goshen elders at the Romero's and I seriously ate EVERYTHING in sight hahaha. It was delicious and I couldn't stop. They thought I had to have been sneaking food to their dog, Cosita (means 'little thing') because I ATE EVERYTHING. hahaha. That's what happens when I fast.... We then had another lesson with Maria y Rafael and it was PERFECT. Maria was ALL OVER the idea of an apostasy and totally understands it and totally gets it. After we watched the Restoration movie about Joseph Smith's story she tells us: "I feel it. I can't explain it. There are not words to describe the inspiration I feel. It's such a humble story, he can't be lying." Elder Birch and I almost DIED of happiness. It was amazing. On top of being hilarious, Maria just GETS IT! So much potential there! We then taught Ichy that night using the 2014 January First Presidency Message about setting goals. It says "The Best Time to Plant A Tree Was 20 Years Ago, The Second Best Time Is Right Now." It was a powerful lesson also and so we helped her set some goals to work towards and I am excited for that too! 

That's the week! It wasn't too full of teaching at all, but the lessons were powerful and I am so thankful! I am loving it here, but I miss you all nonetheless! I am so thankful to be a missionary, I am SO LUCKY, or in the words of Sis. Nehring: there is no luck, only BLESSINGS, therefore I AM SO BLESSED.

Have a great week! Espero que tengan mucho exito y que sepan que les quiero BASTANTE.

Se cuidan mucho :)

Elder Groseclose

Letters from Arturo y Ana and family 

Ichy (an investigator) on the far left, then her BF Ivan (Less Active), Noel (Ivan Brother, active), Me Elder Birch, Sis Hernandez (mother of the boys, active).

South bend :)

What a weird week. We were on lock down from Sunday until today (Wednesday). SO we are emailing today but we barely have any time. So I'll give ya what I can. 

Found some Adventists, taught them twice, got dropped.

Lots of snow so we haven't worked a lot. 

Our Investigator with a date for baptism has fallen back into smoking and so that's sad.

Not much has really happened, sorry this is lame. 

But look at me, I look cool.

HA.

Elder Groseclose

Human battleship

Indoor tennis

January 20

So like... my journal isn't in South Bend..... it is at the other Elder's apartment because I was on exchanges... so like I have no idea what happened this week. I will do my best to do it by memory recall, other than that, next week should be a much more exciting email!

So last Monday....

We cleaned the house I believe and it took forever because it was such a mess from the Elders that got double transferred out. It was pretty gross.... We then went about all our errands and played ball at the church! That night we taught a guy named Jorge at his restaurant Elotes y Mas and he gave us really delicious burritos! He is really really really fixed on the fact that God can NOT have a body like us. It's really hard but we are going back tonight and I hope it's productive! He really is such an awesome guy and I see so much potential if he can truly ask in FAITH for the answers and not walk purely by HUMAN thoughts. 

OH OH OH, I HAD PANDA EXPRESS!!!

Tuesday

SUCH A CRAZY DAY HAHAH. So I was on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders and we had, with the other Elder's investigator, service to help him move out of his house. We pull up and we see the guys wife standing there and so we walk up and ask where to start and she tells us "We can't go in until the cops get here." Ummm what the freak? What then followed when the 3 cops showed up was me living my DREAM! I was on like a real live edition of Jerry Springer/Cops/Maury. It was SO ghetto/ratchet/out of control. So the cops come and knock the door and this toothless guy opens it and marijuana smell comes roaring the heck out of that house and the guy is like "YOU CAN'T COME IN!!!!" and the cop proceeds to say "Ummm yes I can" and then accusations of people: Threatening to shoot babies, people attacking each other with knives and hammers, and also theft start flying out. IT WAS SUCH A HOT MESS HAHAHAHA. Turns out this guy who was trying to move out had people squatting his house and wouldn't leave and all this CRAZINESS happened, and here you have 4 Mormon missionaries standing there clueless thinking they were going to help someone move!!! I was like living a dream. Such a hot mess, I loved it so much. Nothing else on Tuesday is noteworthy compared to all that. 

Wednesday

Ummmm..... OH we helped someone move HAHA, but this one was normal! We helped Jorge (that guy up there on Monday ^) move one of his sons out and then went out to Breakfast with his family and it was nice. :) We taught Flor and she is progressing! It was awesome, she read so much and was loving sharing it all with us :) OH, we found a new investigator named Jorge (a different one) and he is from El Salvador and Elder Birch and I couldn't understand ANYTHING he said. It was comical to a point because like, seriously, those sounds could NOT have been Spanish. We both can understand Spanish almost perfectly but THAT was NOT SPANISH!!! Hahaha.... I have in my planner that we apparently taught another lesson too.... but I don't remember who to.... so yeah. OH WAIT YES I DO. We taught Ichy and set a baptism date for FEBRUARY 8TH. She has been investigating for a while and just needs to quit smoking and get married to her BF!

Thursday

Okay so we went and did service at the food bank, ate BWW, and NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED.

Friday

We met a guy named Salvador and he like talks alot and that lesson was a mess. I asked him one question and then proceeded to receive in return everything he has ever done in his life. Hahaha. We did teach Brenda with the Diaz Family and I felt like it was pretty powerful :) I really like this investigator! 

Saturday

Exchanges. It was like a pretty bad exchange and unenjoyable. =\ I spent an hour by myself in the corridors under a house at one point.... Don't even try and ask what happened. HAHA. 

Sunday

So we went to church and Ichy was there and her and her BF (he is a LA member) had an interview with the Branch President and it supposedly went well so there is hope there. :) We then had dinner with Elder Arranda y Hardester with the Martinez Family and had the first mole I ever liked! ( It's mexican food, not like the nasty moles that grow on humans...) We then taught Ichy that night and really just tried to get her fully committed.

So that's my week. I remembered pretty good ay?

I'm doing good, the work is slower but that is LIFE. 

I read "Our Search For Happiness" this week. Amazing book. I was obsessed. I recommend it to everyone! It's only like 100 pages and a good read. :)

Love you all

Elder Groseclose!

Apologies in advance for a lame letter....

Lots of technical difficulties today.

Let me just start by saying I miss the people in Columbus so much. I think about em daily, I am blessed to have them as friends!

Anyways, South Bend is way different! We teach a lot more and find a lot more investigators, but good luck baptizing them!!! Haha.

I legit only have 2 minutes left, SORRY!!!

We did find a 70 year old guy this week who investigated the church for a while 50 years ago! Real cool!

We are in a good stage of the work, I have lots of hope! I promise next week I will have more to share. So much happens and it's all in my journal so one day in the future you can all come read it with me one day! Welp.... just got more time but we are about to leave anyways.

I hate shoveling snow. 

Really awkward things happen as a missionary. This black lady told me to give her neighbors Jesus, haha! This lady growled at us through her window so we awkwardly just leave..... Timing happens that we always knock a door as the people pull up..... But other than all that, I AM DOING WELL. My spanish is doing wonderful and I am grateful for everything! Talk to y'all in a week, hope to hear from you :)

Elder Groseclose

 

I forgot to add:

We had that dream experience this week,

A guy that we teach tells us

"Last night I prayed for guidance from God for what to do in my life and now you two are here and that may be my answer." Say WHAT?! lol

Oh we also had that "We are gonna knock that door over that and that'll be the last one and we'll leave" on an unsuccessful street and then the guy answers and we teach him and set a return appointment. All those missionary cliches coming true!

New companion Elder Birch

Sister Hansen who was in my Columbus district and is now in my Elkhart zone up here

My house 

Catalina and David 

Arturo and I on our last night together

Herman y yesenia and their kids, a less active family that I reactivated

Got all my converts together for dinner my last night in Columbus 

Me and Norma 

Me and Karina 

Arturo and me

All my converts plus the pellegrino family

A picture karinas daughter drew for us 

OKAY OKAY. So we don't have much times on the computer here so this message will be a hot mess and I am sorry about that. SO…

This week has been absolutely insane. So crazy. So on last tuesday, it was my last day in Columbus so I had dinner at Arturo's house with him and the family and also Karina and Norma (all 3 of my baptisms together for my last night!) It was so special and awesome and I am so blessed to know them and have had the opportunity to be their missionaries! On Wednesday we had transfers and what I said happened, I got transferred to South Bend! I am now up here by Notre Dame. It's way way bigger than Columbus and way less white people, feel like I am back in California!!! My companion is Elder Birch and he is from Utah. He is WHITE and has been out for almost 17 months, or something around there. We have had zone meetings and weekly planning and all this crazy stuff so we still have yet to have a day to fully work together in our area! I'll get more into that soon…..

So on…. I think….. Thursday, we went by someones house and we walked in and were gonna teach him. I of course was clueless about the whole situation and all being new in the area so when this lady walks by the room we are in, I holler at her to come join us for the lesson so she does. She turns out to be flipping HILARIOUS and when we walk out Elder Birch tells me that it was a miracle because that lady usually NEVER wants anything to do with the missionaries. Yay me! Haha.

We also knocked into a family and we were just talking and I felt like just asking if we can come in out of nowhere and they said yes and we taught them. Haha!!!

Other than all that, IT'S DANG COLD. We live like 30 minutes from the church and when we got there on Sunday, the English wards had all cancelled it for the week and only Spanish Branch met. WELL, it got so cold and snowy and crazy (over a foot) that we ended church after Sacrament Meeting! We ended up not being able to make it home so we had to go 30 minutes the OTHER direction and stayed with the other Elders and we were stuck there ALL SUNDAY MONDAY AND TUESDAY! Elder Birch and I only had the clothes on our backs! It was crazy. True survival man business. No food, clothes, ANYTHING! We weren't allowed to leave the house! And then it was a 1500 fine if you drove a car in the weather! Indiana got SHUT DOWN! Bizarre. So new to me. And our car battery froze and broke and we had to get a new one. JUST A LITTLE SIDE NOTE, haha.

So, crazy week. We didn't really do anything….. BUT IT'S COLD….

-Elder Groseclose :)