Well, after some long and eventful weeks, things are mostly settling down now. I'm getting used to my new area and my new ward. It's not the same as Encanto. There are a lot of things that I miss. I miss living in an area with mostly Hispanics. This area it's a lot more mixed. But I also like this new ward. It has a lot of potential. There's a huge number of RMs here and lots of young families. It's also very Spanglish. Pretty much everybody speaks English. I mean, the Bishop is a white guy who married a Mexican woman so it's pretty mixed.
The nice thing about this ward is that they have a dinner calendar. I'm afraid that I'm going to get fat in this ward. I think I've already put on some weight. Mexicans really like to feed their missionaries. They always make like a million tacos and seem disappointed if you only eat a thousand.
We have one person with a baptismal date right now. Her name is Lizeth. She's awesome. Her boyfriend who lives in California is a member and so she actually called up our ward mission leader and referred herself. She's also really smart, which is a new teaching experience. I've never taught such a smart person who's so open to the Gospel. She's a school teacher. She's doing great. We had her pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true when we were right there with her two weeks ago. The Spirit was really strong, but she was still not sure if that was her answer. When we came back the next week she told us that she had realized that she got her answer right there with us. She's going to get baptized the 10th of March. We were hoping she's be able to get baptized earlier but she was pretty set on March.
Our house is super fun to live in. I get along really well with everybody. Me and Elder Estes have very similar tastes in music. He knew about all of the bands that I like, even the obscure ones like Empire of the Sun. Elder Estes seems like he'd really like Portland. We tend to discuss hipster stuff when we're together. Apparently his brother is a professional DJ and graffiti artist. He actually gets paid to do graffiti. And the best part is he's a fully active member of the Church.
This week Mom sent me a really amazing talk on grace. I've reread it about 3 times or so. I really like the perspective it offers. I think I'd been looking at things wrong before. I think so often we look at the blessings of the Gospel as something we need to earn. We look at it like if we don't do our best then we won't qualify for receiving that divine help. But really that help's always there, we just need to accept it. A lot of times as a missionary I feel like if I don't do my very best or if I make mistakes in a lesson that it somehow will ruin everything. But really that's not how it works. As long as I'm just trying, Heavenly Father can make up the rest through the grace of His Son. That doesn't mean that I don't have personal responsibility; it's just that that responsibility isn't to be perfect. The responsibility is just to be moving forward in the right direction. I guess if we fight against justice we always lose because we're never perfect. That's why Christ made it so we don't have to fight against justice. All He asks is that we accept His help through faith and work on the things He wants us to learn in time. I liked that talk a lot. I'm working on accepting that grace and letting it not only save me but change me as well. I guess the difference between the LDS perspective on grace and the normal Protestant perspective is that we see that grace not only saves us but it helps us become more like our Heavenly Father. We see that there's a purpose to the salvation.
I love you all so much. Thanks to those of you who have written me letters. They've been really nice and comforting.
Love,
Elder Grasley
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