Another week in the books. This week I will reach my "13 months to go" mark. Which is almost a year. Which is almost REALLY FREAKING CRAZY. It blows my mind. Like I can't have already been doing this for 10 months can I?

My week was definitely interesting. Our 3 "best" (progressing) investigators we couldn't meet with.

Luisa -> Super sick.... still ):

Hilda -> In the hospital

Francisca -> Wasn't at church and we planned to teach her there.

So those three were a big let down... But we did still teach this week.... but the people were a little...... different. HA. I am in love with hispanics, they are hilarious. Lets get this going:

MONDAY. Nothing

Tuesday. Pretty normal day. District meeting followed by a little tracting and then eventually having dinner with Roman y Mercedes. Great as always. Love hanging out with my little Chilangos! We then went to the church and just kinda explained Eternal Marriage to Manuel and it went great! 

Wednesday. What a freaking day bahahaha. Wednesday morning we had Leando and Marcela. The night before we had found leandro outside by his car AFTER we had already contacted Marcela at her door. She was interesting and talked alot but wasn't interested and then we leave and find Leandro and found out he lives with Marcela and so we set up an appointment with him for Wednesday. So the appointment was so dang.... interesting. Neither of them would stop talking. Marcela wanted to read the entire book of Revelations with us (???) and it was just a complete mess. It took us TWO HOURS TO GET OUT OF THERE. When we finally did we were practically running away bahaha. We have another appointment with them tomorrow but I will be on exchanges, bummer ;) We also taught this guy Fernando who legit told us for our entire five minute lesson that HE ONLY HAD 5 MINUTES. So he is a new investigator. We will see where he goes. The night was supposed to end with a member present lesson with the Castellon's at Hilda's house, but she is in the hospital! SAD DAY. So we instead went by her brother Juan's house and read all of Moroni 10 with him and ya, it was "meh".

Thursday. I am skipping all of Thursday except for our dinner with President Coffin. SO, we went with our branch president to Sam's Club for dinner because he is AWESOME and we hung out and just talked about his recent trip to Utah. Then..... lol..... We went to the Lara's family for some soup and with it they gave us a chile to put in it if we wanted to. So of course I wanted to eat it so I was dicing it and put it in my soup and it was so delicious and spicy and then I for some reason rubbed my nose during the dinner and my nose was on FIRE! IMMENSE PAIN, INDESCRIBABLE. I was DYING!!!! They got me an ice pack and I just sat there the whole lesson with a HUGE ICE PACK ON MY NOSE. They were dying laughing at me the whole time and I just felt and looked SO DUMB! They also made Agua de Pepino (cucumber water) and I drank WAY too much and got death cramps and along with my Chile Nose I just felt SO sick that we went home and I fell right to sleep.

Friday & Saturday. HAHAHA, I am just going to steal whatever my companion writes for these two days because they were so bizarre and he is so good at over exaggerating, so we will see what happens. 

Sunday. Normal church and then after we went and ate with Maria de Los Angeles and her daughter made food because Maria has been sick so we had enchiladas and chocolate flan with chocolate cake, yum!!! We then had the Why I Believe fireside which involved REAL LIVE HOOSIERS saying hilarious things. Quote of the night by this hilarious black women, convert to church, "Yeah, being a mormon is hard, I AINT EVEN MAD THOUGH." and "I don't talk with my family much, they aint got JESUS in their life!"

SO THAT'S MY WEEK. BYE I LOVE YOU

-ELDER GROSECLOSE

Attaching my comps descriptions:

1) Leandro y Marcela. We were tracting in La Esmeralda, an apartment complex in the north end of our area. We hadn't been having a whole lot of success. We knock this door, and a little Hispanic boy opens the door (couldn't have been older than about 4). "Hello! Are your parents home?" He looks at us, then slowly shakes his head. Small girl appears at his side (about 2 or 3 years old). "Ok. Can you give them this card with a picture of Jesus?" 

Before he grabs it, woman's voice from the other room yells, "Ven! Ven aqui! Ahorita!" Children run out of view, leaving the door open. Missionaries awkwardly stand there for a full minute, not sure what to do. Door then closes, seemingly of its own volition. We awkwardly leave the card in the door and walk away. I say to Elder Groseclose, "That was an awkward contact." 

And then Hispanic woman opens the door. We run back and talk to her (Marcela). She proceeds to talk to us for 20 minutes (which is super-long for a contact). After we leave, I say, "Ok, now that was an awkward contact."

We hadn't planned on staying that long, and we were now late for lunch, so we head towards our car. En route, we see a man (Leandro) half-in and half-out of his car, just kinda fiddling with something in his hands. He gets out of his car, and just stands there. Of course we talk to him; missionaries talk to everyone. He's very polite, and we talk for about 15 minutes (still super-long). He explains how we had been standing on his doorstep, and he didn't want to be awkward. New definition of awkward has been achieved. Also very clearly tells us how Marcela is NOT his wife, but then fails to explain how/why they live together.... Whatever. We set a return appointment for the next day.

The next day, the house is overflowing with small children. There's literally like ten of them running around. Marcela babysits children of graveyard shift workers. We start teaching Leandro the Restoration, and he doesn't seem to be grasping much. Then Marcela comes in. And dominates the conversation. For two hours. Just as a reference, a normal lesson is around 45 minutes to an hour. We're both exhausted at the end of this ordeal. Marcela told us about her religious beliefs (she's against idol worship and infant baptism, but doesn't think we need churches, nor that authority is necessary to cast out devils (??)), quizzed us about our Bible knowledge (and she asked why the rich man and Lazarus and Father Abraham... actually, I don't think it was a question.... I just don't know.), and attempted to read aloud the entire Book of Revelation (we cut her off at Chapter 3). Holy cow. We're set to return again tomorrow. BTW, Marcela and her husband let Leandro live with them because... I don't know. So, they're not together.

2) Antonio. We were able to teach Francisca before conference last week, but we still hadn't been to her house yet. We decided to try by and say hello. However, as Glen is probably familiar with, a lot of Hispanics don't tell you their address, they say, "Take this street and then turn right and then it's the last one on the left across from the hair salon." She did tell us, however, that she lives in apartment B. 

So off we go to try to find Francisca, and we find the house that matches her description. We knock it, and a Hispanic man (Antonio) opens the door. He's completely baffled when we ask for Francisca, claiming he lives alone. Awkward. We then transition smoothly into a regular door contact. He lets us in, and we teach him! His wife is going to move to Indy soon, he says, and it's hard for him to find time for religion, what with work and... sleep and... um... work....

He seems pretty interested, and says his wife is Christian and was asking him if there are any Christian churches in Indianapolis. To which we respond, Jesus Christ is in the name of our church. He wasn't there for our return appointment, but we're not giving up on him yet.

3) Fernando. Not super noteworthy, except that he explicitly says, "I'll let you in, but I only have five minutes." And throughout the entire five-minute lesson, every comment he makes is preceded with, "Well, I only have five minutes, but..." 

4) Reynaldo y Lourdes. First off, I always wanted to teach a Lourdes. Check that one off the list. Next, I'm pushing for a Pilar.

Anyway, we're knocking in these apartments near our place. A man (Reynaldo) opens the door and, after asking us what year our church was founded (1830), lets us in on account of us being "religious men." His wife Lourdes and assorted children are also present. Once we're sitting on the couch, he awkwardly asks us who/what we represent. Isn't that something you should ask before letting strangers into your house? Oh, wait: you did! Remember when you asked me what year our church was founded? That was right after I told you the name of the church. Whatever. Ask the same question twice. To each his own.

Things go relatively normally. Until, that is, I ask if we can begin with a prayer, and if they'd be comfortable if I offered the prayer. Reynaldo agrees, and I'm literally about a half-second from starting my prayer when Lourdes says, "Well, since this is our house, we'd like to pray in the way we pray."

Um, okay. Then why'd you say I could pray? Whatever. Okay, Lourdes; why don't you offer the prayer then? Reynaldo informs us that they pray standing up, so we stand. Then they both spread their arms, and Lourdes starts praying what seems to be a rather scripted prayer. And then they both make the sign of the cross. And in harmony recite the Lord's Prayer. And the Hail Mary. And then the sign of the cross again. And then a series of amens.

I could've been okay with the interesting prayer if the rest of the lesson hadn't been so uncomfortable. They told us that Jesus had established one church and that was the Catholic church, but they just couldn't seem to let us teach anything. They refuted our claim of an apostasy by saying that the popes continue in an unbroken chain from Peter. First off, where does it say Peter was a pope? Or that he ordained Pope Linus? And what about the time when there were three popes who all excommunicated each other? I successfully refrained myself from asking those potentially offensive questions. We're going back to them tomorrow as well. *Deep breath*

5) Reginaldo. Oh, man. I need some patience for this one. He had been taught by missionaries before in Maryland. Says most religious people don't like him "because I'm real with people. I don't hold back." Then goes off about how your church won't save you, God will save you. And you are the church, so you don't need a church (??). Multiple times includes the statements, "To be honest, I'm not interested in churches at all," and "If you come to talk about anything other than God or the Bible, I'm not interested. Don't you teach me about any book other than the Bible." And he wonders why the Maryland elders stopped by ONCE before dropping him.

We gave him more chances than the other elders did, apparently, because we taught him twice. The next day, we stopped by. In the interim, I had gotten sick and lost my voice. Poor Elder Groseclose had to take on a 75-minute encounter with Reginaldo single-handed. He's a trooper.

It ended with, "I don't want to be offensive, but we teach a message that is broader than what you're currently willing to accept. If you ever decide that you want to learn more, here's our number." Reginaldo countered with, "I pray every day to God that I will never change, and that I will never need anything more than the Bible." Needless to say, Reginaldo is no longer investigating the church. 

Bueno, la semana mia... Dejeme pensar un ratito en que paso esta semana.....
(So annoying because this computer won't let me put accents on my words... ^)

Entonces, the week overall was a really good one. We had our best numbers by far as a companionship, so that was good. Still want more investigators though.... NEED MORE PEOPLE.
Right now it is currently raining and it is absolutely gorgeous. The rain drops on the library windows seriously is entrancing.
Luisa and Tracy are still sick, and they don't want to risk us catching it from them, so we still haven't taught them. 

So Monday, oh my heck let me just say that we are such a slow group of Elder's because P-Day cleaning time was the longest time of my LIIIIIIFE. When it finally ended I was on an exchange with Elder Cozzens and he is our district leader. Been out 21 months so he is good as dead as a missionary.... But he is still a super hard worker so don't get that wrong! What happened on the exchange is nothing exciting or good enough to tell because I will prolly never work with those people again so ya. Ha.

TUESDAY -> Still on an exchange. Did a cool little study on integrity though and I was really thinking about the word. An item with integrity is something that does what it claims. Are we full of integrity? Do we always do what we claim we do? Something with high integrity can deal w/ more pressure and not collapse. Low integrity items crumble faster and easier. Another word for a person with integrity is someone who is "upright". So I found a promised blessing in D&C for what happens if we walk with more integrity in our hearts: 100:15  Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for aall things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly. We are promised that all with work together for our good if we have integrity, we can be comforted and need not worry. When we exchanged back, Elder Thurston and I had dinner outside because it was a nice day, with Hermana Mendez! She made chicken so I was simply ecstatic. I was then playing sword fighting and spear throwing with her kids, just being a complete fool to be honest. Haha, I am such a kid! We then stopped super quick by BK to get Onion Rings because I seriously was craving them for some odd reason...... The night ended with us going by Luis Mora and sharing a message with him. He would be so solid if he could just come to church, but work holds him back so much.

Wednesday -> Pretty much a morning full of just trying to find people and not really being able to! We did teach a man named Esvin though, but he was just visiting and is back in Chicago, so no clue there! We then had a great lesson about the BOM with Hno. Alonso with our investigator Hilda. It was really really good and she seems super interested (more on Hilda soon). Then..... the greatest thing EVER....... Arturo and Ana (from Columbus, my second baptism!)  came here to the City to visit! We went out to dinner and just had a great time talking! It was so much fun and it made me so so happy! I sure do miss them! I am so grateful that missions give us this awesome opportunity.

THURSDAY -> Had to take the car in to the shop because Elder Cozzens says he thinks part of it is broken (?) We were there for two hours and they tell us they can't diagnose a problem because it was rainy (?) So that was weird. I then had the blessing to get to eat at Church's Chicken and it was delicious! We then had weekly planning. Blah blah blah. Dinner with the Alonso family and it was funny just talking with them! We then had a LARC with Hno. Rios and then also with Roman y Mercedes. :)

FRIDAY -> Zone Meeting! It was pretty good, learned stuff, the usual. What I liked from it was talking about bringing members to lessons and having THEM give the commitment to your investigators. It was something we have done a couple of times and we have seen it be really effective, so it was nice to have it affirmed to us. Then, the absolutely MAGICAL lesson with Hilda w/ Hno. Castellon in tow. Walk in to the lesson, not expecting much to happen. Just expecting a normal lesson, but little were we aware of the machine gun blazingly good member, Hno. Castellon, ready to bring Hilda to tears! (Okay so really he just used the spirit but it was great nonetheless!) She loved the Restoration, and we were excited to teach her again. Hilda has issues with diabetes, blood pressure, and possibly other things as well. She says the doctors aren't sure what's wrong with her, and they're trying different things with no avail. She had heard about (and seen) miraculous priesthood blessings, and she asked for one because things seemed to be getting rougher. As we gave the blessing, I could tell she had begun to cry. At the end of the blessing, she seemed at such peace, tears silently streaming down her face. All she could manage to say was "gracias" over and over. So thankful Hno. Castellon recommended that we give a blessing! After that we just went by Juan Diaz (Hilda's brother) to invite him to conference..... but he didn't come.

SATURDAY&SUNDAY -> General Conference! So they go together! The two standouts of those two days (besides the talks!) 1) Roman y Mercedes making Chorizo and Milanesa for dinner. My two favorites, IN ONE DINNER! 2) Teaching Francisca again and she just being SO awesome! 

Francisca came to conference on Sunday. We taught her an hour before the morning session at the church. She really loved the Plan of Salvation. She said the "stuff up to death" sounds a lot like what she had believed. She told us she liked the mercy that was shown in the Spirit World and Kingdoms of Glory .We called Hilda as Conference was starting, and she was watching it as she had promised! We called her at the close of the Saturday Morning Session, and she told us she had loved it and couldn't wait to hear more. I'm excited for Hilda to progress. She's reluctant to accept a baptismal date because "I don't want to commit to something I might not be able to do." In my opinion, she just needs a little more time. It would be awesome if she and her brother Juan were baptized together... We'll see. :)

Conference Standouts:
When Christ blessed the people he didn't just say "You are all healed, bye!" He did it one-by-one. He knows us personally!
It is essential that we are in the EXACT path that Christ taught because no matter HOW CLOSE we can get on other paths, only one will lead to Eternal Life.  Matthew7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Lot more thoughts, but I will stop there! Hasta la proxima!
-Elder Groseclose

Going to try to do this super fast. But lemme start with this:

This morning I bought Kale. Some vegetable. I then steamed it and cooked it in garlic powder and olive oil. WHO KNEW HEALTHY COULD TASTE /THAT/ GOOD. Like it was dang amazing!

No, burping women is not next to me. Sorry to ruin that for everyone. 

Today is day 301, which means I passed 300, obviously.

Also, forgot to say last week, I am staying in my area. So is my comp. So we have another 6 weeks here. That's that.

LAST MONDAY: Normal preparation day. Nothing happened out of the ordinary. Exciting huh?

TUESDAY: So...... we had to wake up at 5:30 to take Elder Cuevas to the mission office because he went home. It was sad to do and he will be/is missed. We then were a trio for the day with Elder Golledge and just cleaned up their apartment because Golledge is leaving also (just transferred, not home). We had lunch as a trio at BWW with the best waitress ever Lucy. She loves us! We then picked up some Pozole from Hermana Mendez and it was delicious and we enjoyed it back over at our apartment over a rousing game of Scrabble, (I WON!) haha. That night we went with President Coffin (Branch President) to Sam's Club and had dinner there and then he bought me a mini-watermelon. :)

WEDNESDAY: Transfer Meeting! We got to go because we had Elder Golledge. That made me happy because I LOVE transfer meeting! After the meeting we went to Guanajuato which is like a mexican Costco, AWESOME. We had lunch there and I devoured a chorizo quesadilla and was just floating on a cloud the whole time. We then went by and read in the BOM with Juan and he is as amazing as ever, just really held back by his wife but we will keep trying! Ended the night with Roman y Mercedes :)

THURSDAY: We had district meeting and then after was Weekly planning. We worked in our apartment complex and got to teach Raul y Raquel (new investigators). Raul has a lot of potential! They are catholic but notice a lot of the things just don't add up so we will see!

Friday: I honestly don't remember Friday and I forgot to write in my journal..... I know we did a lot of walking and then eventually had a lesson with our Recent Convert Manuel and then he got us Hardees (Carl's Jr.) after!

Saturday: Nothing happened. Elder Thurston was sick and slept all day so I just lingered around the apartment.... We did eventually get out though and taught Juan's sister with Hermano Alonso. The lesson started rough, she was super distracted by her husband in Dominican Republic texting her and she kept ignoring us. She said she was with "the mormons" and her husband started emailing her anti by the Seventh-Day Adventist church until at one point she put down her phone and says "He wasn't texting me until you all walked in. I think Satan is making him text me because the devil doesn't want me to know the truth." The lesson then got really spiritual and awesome! So that's exciting! Then we went by the Lara family and had salsa verde enchiladas!

SUNDAY: Before church we had a lesson with Moises and Hno. Vigil came, Elder Thurston was in branch council so Elder Paxman came and did the lesson with me. It was alright. He's receptive none the less. Had Pozole for dinner with Maria de Los Angeles! Roman y Mercedes then went with us after to teach Hna. Francisca, a new investigator referred by a member, LOTS of potential there. She is super interested in genealogy.

Well, that's the week!

love you all, TAKE CARE!

Elder Groseclose

Some spanish Elders (the one with 4 of us)

and some english elders!

Golledge Thurston Me at Sams Club

FOR STARTERS: This is 100% real life. Burping lady is next to me AGAIN TODAY. Craziness. It's ludicrous.

Hna. means Hermana if that confuses you all later on.... 

So last Monday was of course Preparation Day and it was really weird because President Cleveland came to our Gym and did like a workout/basketball clinic with us. Like we actually ran lines and did push ups when we did something wrong and I was just so sore because I was totally not ready for this conditioning sports life again. One of the YSA (Young Single Adult) girls Jordan brought me a caramel apple pie for my birthday and it is actually the first time I have had apple pie and it was yummy! I also made my March Madness bracket this day and it's not doing too bad. Got MSU winning it all.

Tuesday. Mi Cumpleanos! In the morning we had district meeting and afterwards we (Elder Golledge and Cuevas and us) went to Buffalo Wild Wings (DUH!) for lunch. Absolutely delicious as usual. We worked a little until we eventually had our (my) birthday party at the church. Turns out mom, of course, sent a member a huge package of stuff so it was a full out party by Hna. Maricela. hahaha. She made some pretty good Mole and then we had some 3 Leches cake which is my favoriteeee. We ended the night eating some Tinga with Roman y Mercedes and they were super sweet and got me a really cool cologne for my birthday! They are fancy! Hna. Mendez stopped by for dinner and that was fun too. Earlier in the day we actually knocked her door and pretended to contact her like we didn't know her and that was pretty fun! "Do you attend a church mam?" "Yes I am Mormon" "WELL THAT'S AWESOME!". Ha. Also, while we were at the gas I contacted this other woman there in the parking lot and got her address and she seems interested. :) Her name is Dora for future email references...

Wednesday. Just a lot of tracting and finding potentials. We did have a great lesson with Luisa and her daughter Tracy though! So we almost had to cancel because we just could NOT get any members to come and magically Hno. Vigil texts us he can come right as we were about to cancel and I am SO glad he did. He did awesome in the lesson and kinda just took it over but it was okay because it was just what they needed to hear! The cunada (Zully, and cunada is sister-in-law) and her daughter (Hecyeni, pronounced Ay-en-E) were also in the lesson so they are new investigators! 

Thursday. We started the day by going on mini-exchanges with the ZL's and that was good. Just finding more potentials, hoping to be able to teach them eventually. Rest of the day was Weekly Planning until we then had a lesson with our recent-convert Manuel about service and then we went with him and his GF and her family out to dinner at a REALLY YUMMY mexican restaurant "El Mariachi". I got a quesadilla and some tacos and their quesadillas were these huge soft shells almost like a big apple turnover STUFFED with cheese and carnitas! They were SOOOO good!

Friday. Randomly some summer weather came and it was 70 degrees and beautiful. We did lots of tracting and find a new investigator named Moises! We haven't been able to find news for a long time so it was sooooo nice having the weather be nice enough to teach outside! Ended the night by having dinner with the McGrory family. :) I also decided to start collecting bottle tops this day that I find laying around because Hoosiers LOVE BEER.

Saturday: A lot of biking and walking. That made me really tired. We just found a bunch of more potentials. Eventually taught Juan and he is so solid and ready! Just held back on his wife. After the lesson he sent us to visit his sister in the same complex so we did and taught her! :) The night ended by us eating with the Lara family. :)

Sunday! Tracy, Luisa, and Hecyeni all came to church and they all loved it which was super awesome! After church we had a party for Elder Cuevas in the gymnasium. We ended the night by playing games and eating with the Branch President and family and it was just super fun!

SO THAT'S THE WEEK. Love you all, until next week!!!

Elder GROSECLOSE

YSA Jordan got me a pie for my birthday!

Cards from Liberty Lifeskills class :)

Mission Pres and Wife text.

Roman Y Mercedes and my present!

Branch presidents daughter 

Tinga! So yummy! 

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY! And tomorrow I turn 20.... No longer a teenager! Oh the craziness of life, eh? Currently I am sitting next to a woman who is laughing hysterically at her computer and keeps burping super loud and practically screaming "OOOOOOH EXCUSE ME!!!" and then proceeds to burp more and die laughing. It's a hot mess and it is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT through and through HOOSIER BRED INDIANA. WAIT, she just burped again. THIS IS GREAT. I am proud to be in Hoosier Capital USA! Sorry.... this is probably not the kind of stuff you expect in a missionary email, but my life is just so entertaining right now and I hope you are all at least part way enjoying this. 

Anyways, day 286. How exciting! 

Monday was a pretty normal preparation full of sports and non-sense. I for some reason had really bad neck and the Mission Nurse put me on 1600 MG of Ibuprofen to avoid "neck inflammation" which I must say sounds very alarming. We then had dinner with Roman y Mercedes and it was fun! :)

Tuesday. So after a 20 degree day of weather on Monday, Indiana decides to go full blown bipolar and Tuesday was a BEAUTIFUL 70 degree day. IT WAS BIZARRE. UPDATE: I think the man on my left is in a competition with the woman on my right because he just shook the library with a burp of his own. Anyways, back to Tuesday. The morning was pretty hard because my neck was in a lot of pain so I laid on the ground for studies and held my scriptures in the air so I wouldn't have to look down... For lunch we went to Hna. Mendez and ate outdoors because the weather was SUMMER. We had delicious empanadas and she was telling me about how she'll have to make me some weird food one day like eyeball fritters or Iguana tail lollipops. What a treat! We then went to the church with the other Elders were Hna. Maricela gave us some delicious emapanadas with some cilantro lime salsa, yum! I then went and played a little basketball with some of the youth in the branch and I completely balled out and showed them how white boys can ball and I proceed to school them at a game of 21. Yes. The night ended with us teaching Luis Mora who luckily (or God's timing....) pulled up right as we were about to leave!

Wednesday. District meeting followed by the obligatory Chinese Buffet lunch after. Devoured it of course. Dropped by our investigator Luisa to give her a kids picture book version of the Book of Mormon because she says her daughter always wants to read it! We then had dinner that night with the Branch President and his family (The Coffins) where the wife made super delicious chili!!! We have these new pass-along cards in our mission of the temple that they are building about 20 minutes out of Indy so we roleplayed with the Coffins about how to give it to a friend and it was cool!

Thursday. Decided to knock an area that has never really been knocked before and we find out why, no hispanics within miles. Haha. Weekly Planning day so not much happened. We had dinner with the McGrory family. Husband only speaks English and wife only speaks Spanish and it is just hilarious because they legit like don't really understand each other. We shared with them the temple cards and how to share them and ended the night with our Recent Convert Manuel about the temple!

Friday. YES. So we did service in the morning by carrying lots of heavy furniture for Hno. Chapital and then afterwards he took us to a HUUUUUUUUUGE Chinese buffet and it was SO DANG GOOD. Oh my hecccccck. So amazing. HIGH QUALITY, HIGH QUANTITY. Yes! UPDATE: Woman on my right takes the lead as she shatters the windows with an earth shaking burp BLAST. Ended the night with Roman y Mercedes talking a lot about the importance of the Fall of Adam y Eve. Pretty good discussion! They took us out to dinner at a place called El Ranchito and I ate tacos. So I was happy. YAY.

Saturday. Well we didn't have much happen BUT we did get stuck behind a train which I must say is unbelievably enthralling. I was just amazed at the enormity of said train and I was really just in awe. Just a train, I know, but I loved it. UPDATE: Yes, you know what happened. She even commented after this one "Yeah, that was good!" Good burp girl, great one! But we did teach Juan Diaz w/ his wife and the lesson was alright. She doesn't believe in religion and so it's hard for her and her husband proceeds to tell her "You won't be saved then!!!' and she says " Maybe not but it won't be for not attending church!" It was pretty juicy yet awkward to watch play out. He tells her that she'll know the truth through prayer and that she can have her own Joseph Smith experience! He is such a solid investigator haha.

Sunday was church and not much else. We ate dinner w/ Cumberland Elders at Maria de los Angeles' house and she made Panbasos. Delicious! We then went w/ Roman y Mercedes to visit the Lara family and it was a good spirit there and we talked about sharing the temple cards! :)

Well, that's the week! Take care everyone! HASTA LA PROXIMA!

Elder Groseclose

Day number Two Hundred and Seventy Nine. Sounds like a big number when I write it like that, haha.

I really want something deep and profound to put here before I start my weekly letter but I can't really think of anything. As a general update, it's warming up here which is nice. Hovering around 50. Perfect temperature because any hotter and the humidity starts to attack you. 

On Monday we had the usual, preparation day. Nothing too spectacular there. We played volleyball and chair soccer and it was just splendid.

Tuesday. lol. Can I just say that Tuesdays just blow. They are the day after P-Day so it's already a bummer because it's the start of a long week and then on top of it like NOTHING ever happens on Tuesdays. Bleh. So with that magnificent theme, we went to pick up the other elders and when we get there we find out district meeting was cancelled. LIKE WHAT? WHAT IS THIS? So.... we drove home and were like.... Well.... never made a back up plan for this. The afternoon was just..... Not even. That night we had dinner with Roman y Mercedes of Milanesa and Pineapple Pasta. It was delicious! We then taught an English Class and the only people who came..... were Roman y Mercedes who we had just eaten with. We taught a little on how to pray in English and then after we taught them the Restoration again because it's something you are supposed to do with Recent Converts just to check for understanding and all that. :)

Wednesday. I hit my nine month mark on Wednesday which was pretty weird. That's a lot of time! I successfully hit a full pregnancy! So we started the day by tracting the apartments where Luisa lives. We encountered a man named Sean who proceeds to tell us he is gay and wants to know how our church feels about that. So we discuss it with him and answer a lot of other questions he had and he is super open and truly understands what we believe and it was surprising! More on Sean later... We contacted more people but nothing eventful except for this man:

"Hey sir, do you happen to know of any spanish speakers around here?!" "No! If I see spanish speakers though I'll kick them back to where they belong!"  Oh racism...... We then had to drop off the car for the other Elder's doctor appointment and so we walked and visited people. We then walked a LOT until the other Elders picked us up and we had a lesson with Luisa and her daughter in the Nieve's home. It was a great lesson about the BOM and we set a baptismal date with them for May 3rd. They seem to be progressing well. Then just had a nice time talking with Hermano Rios later that night. :)

Thursday. We just had to go back by Sean since he was so awesome and so we did and we taught him the Restoration outside while he smoked down some more cigarettes, haha. It was actually a really good lesson and he just may have potential..... He totally loves my missionary bag and wants his own too so he may go shopping on a missionary website soon. Nice way to get him interested in the church more. haha. Taught Manuel in the evening to prep him for receiving the Priesthood.

Friday. Zone meeting! It was a great Zone Meeting, maybe my favorite one I have had. Lots of cool stuff was learned. Talked about teaching with pictures and it was pretty informative. We also talked more about using the cards with the temple on it that they are building here in Carmel (by Indy). We then went on exchanges and I was with.... Elder Barrio, haha. My companion from Columbus. We went to contact college students on the IUPUI campus and it was so different than anything I have ever done... We then had dinner that night with Roman y Mercedes and finished up the restoration and we had Mercedes' non-member brother in the lesson!

Saturday. Decided this day that I am going to start collecting coins I find on the ground. I will update you weekly on my progress. Currently have a whopping 23 cents. Yes. Made a delicious chipotle salsa from Arturo's recipe. (Columbus convert). Then had a lesson with Hno. Hernandez. 

Sunday. Good day of church. Luisa came with her daughter so that made us happy! That night we had a fireside at the church called "Why I Believe" where recent converts give there testimonies and it was a good meeting.... haha.

Ya, that's my week. I start to get bored of writing for eventually my emails die off.... So I'll let this one go.

Have a good week everyone!

Elder Groseclose

So..... another week down.

Day 273. yeah.

Last monday I got my haircut again shorter. Super attractive now but I have some ugly chin disease growing at the moment so pictures are on hold for a week. Pardon any bad spelling, the keyboard is what sucks, not me.

Monday was my first time ever eating ceviche and it wasn't bad. :) I am still scared of raw fish but Ilived. Easing me in to sushi one day....

Tuesday we had zone conference and got permission to go to the temple twice a year even though it's not in the mission limits! YAY. We then had Manuel's baptism. He is so solid and totally awesome, great guy. 

Wednesday nothing really happened or Thursday because Elder Thurston was feeling sick again. We did though get a new investigator Thursday night through a family in the ward and she is so awesome! She has already come to church and the relief society dinner, I sure see potential!

 On Friday we helped the mission move furniture into new apartments and in the car was an iPad and we were all memorized, haha!! Then had long weekly planning because we had a lot of things to do/plan/discuss! We then talked with Manuel about confirmation to prep him for Sunday!

Saturday we had a very tender lesson and that's all I will say about that. So cool.

We also finally got ahold of Juan Diaz and he has already read the BOM whole and is starting it again! YAY! 

Yesterday we confirmed Manuel and church was cancelled after an hour due to snow coming and safety issues.... 

Sorry I have not much this week!

BUT:

Saw this cool/funny quote:

Sometimes we expect million dollar answers to ten cent prayers!

Haaahaha, have a good week!

Elder Groseclose