Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day! (Not that that means anything when you're a missionary. Although it does mean that there are a billion Mexicans with little street corner stands selling Valentine's merchandise. I feel bad for them because it seems like they won't be very successful seeing as how about every other street corner has its own stand.)

I'll start out with some funny stories of what's been happening to me recently. First off, one of our referrals we got from the other missionaries was to a guy who's living in some sort of community for people with mental problems. We showed up at the apartments and the manager came out to tell us that the "patients" sometimes get agitated by visitors. You know you're in for an interesting ride when the manager calls his tenants "patients." So we went to the guy's apartment that he lives in and were greeted by his housemate. He introduced himself as Dwayne and/or Alan, and then proudly told us "I'm retarded!" Needless to say, it was a pretty unforgettable referral. The actual person we were referred to seemed really normal though. Go figure. But the entire time we were talking to him, Dwayne/Alan kept asking us if we had any money. And then he'd invite us out to go get Chinese food. I loved that referral, mostly because I felt liked I'd entered some strange sitcom. I wouldn't have liked it if our referral had been weird, but he actually seemed like a normal guy. The contrast between him and everyone else there was what I think made it so funny. He just seemed so out of place. It made us wonder why he was there in the first place.

In other funny news, there are billboards around here in Spanish that say "Shooting in celebration kills." Certainly not something you see in Oregon.

Thanks everyone for all the Birthday wishes! My companion got a little frustrated at my constant stream of mail and packages leading up to my birthday. A special thank you to those of you who sent that awesome poster with all of you on it! That was really nice.

Mexican food is excellent. My two favorite meals so far have been seviche and camarrones rancheros. Mexican seafood is absolutely delicious.

We're teaching some cool people right now. One of them is the family of a member of our ward who converted when he was a teenager and served a mission. They're really awesome. His mom cried when she offered the prayer at the end of our first lesson. It was the first time she'd ever prayed. I love it when we can really help people develop those stronger relationships with God and feel His Spirit. We're really excited for them and hope that soon the entire family will be members because of the example of their one son/brother.

Another lady we're teaching was found by Elder Chipman when we were contacting. He noticed her sitting on the side of the road by the bridge that goes over the highway and she looked really upset. Elder Chipman went over and found out what was wrong. She told him she was feeling really bad because her ex-husband had come back to her and beat her the night before. Elder Chipman explained to her how God still loves her and invited her to Church that afternoon (it was Sunday morning). We got a family in our ward to pick her up and take her to Church. Elder Chipman felt inspired to call that family in particular, and it turns out that the daughter of that family is a lawyer that knows how to get a restraining order even if the person is an illegal. So not only did she come to Church, but we also got her set up to get a restraining order against her ex-husband. We also gave her a blessing to help stop her headaches and nausea she had from the beatings. She told us this Sunday when we saw her in Church that after the blessing she's felt much better and hasn't had to take pills anymore for her headaches.

That's one thing I really dislike about some of the immigration laws. It makes it so that people can't go to the government for help when they need it because they're afraid of getting deported. It really puts a lot of women at a disadvantage because they are left with nowhere to go to get away from abuse or problems. Not to mention how a lot of husbands get deported and then the wives have to take care of the kids and provide for them. I just wish the laws didn't make things so difficult for women and children in particular.

This week, I started out having really bad headaches, and then after I started drinking more water and those went away, my back really started to hurt. It made me really discouraged because I still was trying to teach lessons and do missionary work through the pain. Finally, I asked for a blessing from my companion and apartment mates yesterday. I've been feeling better since then, but the most important thing that happened was that I learned a very valuable lesson from it. I'm pretty sure that I was meant to feel bad for that week, especially since my back pain came almost immediately after I'd fixed the headaches. It was a trial I needed to go through. At the end I learned the humility to go to God with my problems and receive a blessing. I also was reminded that through suffering we grow. Christ suffered for us, and when we suffer we understand His sacrifice better. It makes trials easier to bear when we realize that through them we can grow closer to Christ and comprehend more of His sacrifice for us. It doesn't mean that we should seek out suffering, but that when it comes we should view it as an opportunity to grow closer to our Lord and Savior. It has changed my outlook in lessons when I realize that every single person was good enough for Christ to suffer for their sins and afflictions, and even if I don't have much confidence in them, He does.

Love you all, Happy Valentine's Day,

Elder Grasley