Transfer week! 8/21/17

So this week has been pretty normal. Our last P-day was kinda shot we barely had time to do anything. Then on tuesday that was our first time ever being to our own District meeting. Usually we have to get up super early and drive a few hours away to someone else's District meeting but it was nice to go to our own haha. We had some trade offs this week with the Foley Elders. We drove 45 minutes down to foley and start an exchange. That was super awesome because I got to be with Elder Stilson and he is a cool guy. We had a lot of fun together. Took pictures with horses and we also got to find some people to teach! Its been kinda rough to find investigators and so I promised him we would find some new investigators that day! We ended up finding a family! And they had some awesome questions! Deep questions. We were able to answer all of their questions so that was good! We also went into the projects to contact some Less actives and we got to talk to some guys about the gospel. Shared the Book of Mormon with them. Just cause they wanted to know "what the word of the day" was haha! They are pretty cool i asked if they played basketball and they said yeah. So I invited them to play basketball with us on thursday, we usually play every thursday! so they were down to play. We met them on thursday and had a crazy game! Like full blown out street ball! I felt like my life was complete haha they were crazy good! At the end they all were just shooting around and I went up and dunked and they were like OOOOOO okay I see you I see you haha it was funny. Some members were there and now thats all they talk about with me. Dang I cant believe you can dunk! hahahaha What made my life even better was the next day we had volleyball! We got all the youth to come play and bring their friends. We started off with a spiritual thought then said a prayer and started playing. Everyone had a blast! We did boys vs girls and since their were so many guys i went on the girls team which i didnt mind because that means I got to actually hit the ball without having to worry about hitting a girl. I have not played in soooo long! We are planning on doing it every friday though! We had youth texting us and telling us "Hey we should do that every week!" A bunch of non members came and it was cool to see them just have fun and to get to know them. 

Now we had some cool lessons! We are teaching this one kid and his mom was pretty sketched out that we were teaching her son and that we are mormons. So she invited us over and we had a LONG Q&A session. It was great! She asked us some deep questions but the best part is that we were able to answer all of them out of the Bible. The same Bible that they read. So its interesting how we arent different because we read the same Bible haha. He is a really cool kid and his mom is now willing to learn more as well! We are excited to teach them! Also we are teaching another guy and we started teaching him like a week or two ago and hes already read the 1st book of Nephi! haha so the work here is just progressively getting better! :) 

Transfer week! So I am staying in Daphne which is good! I love it here!! Since being a zone leader though you have to handle like whos coming into your zone and whos going out. how they are getting there and what cars are going and what new cars are coming. Whos going on the transfer van and all this stuff. So its been ccrazy these last 24 hours but its been so much fun!! I have some really good friends of mine coming into my zone so im excited about that! 

Well I hope everyone has a great week! Have fun watching the Eclipse! I love you all and shout out to my boy REYNOLDS for getting his mission call to Rosara Argintina! YOU ARE GOING TO KILL IT! LOVE YA BUDDY! 

CHURCH IS TRUE AND THE BOOK IS BLUE!!

Love, Elder Graham! 

Miracles of Alabama! 8/14/17

Sorry for not sending a good email last week!

So this week has been so crazy! LONG but crazy! Ive had some amazing miracles this week. We have set two baptism this week. We have taught some awesome people and have witnessed miracles with some people we have taught. So amazing that its too sacred to even talk about. So just trust me when I say Prayer works and the church is true. So much peace has entered into my heart and the hearts of others. Im so grateful to be on a mission! Ive never been so happy! 

We play basketball every week on thursdays and boy oh boy do I feel at home! Its awesome its like street ball haha. We have some awesome games! Its so fun because in the beginning we open with a prayer and a message. There are a bunch of non members there and its awesome to have some cool kids that we get to play basketball with. We are now starting Volleyball on Fridays and im soooo EXCITED!! Ive been dying to play! So the Sisters, my companion and I have been "advertising" volleyball like crazy and we are excited to see the turn out. 

Also my hair was getting wayyy toooo long and so I wasnt able to get a hair cut on P-day. Just cause there is not enough time in the day... SO I had to cut my own hair and you may be thinking Elder Graham you cant cut hair to save your life. Well you are absolutely correct. But Miracles of the mission ive cut a lot of hair on my mission so far so my hair actually turned out really good! haha SO ill send out my business  card and yall can hit me up when you need a hair cut! I GOT YOU! hahaha  

The only thing that has been kinda bad this week is that im done with driving!! haha we Drove in one day 280 miles. Zone Leaders drive like crazy! Its so awesome though cause we have the largest zone in the mission. Which is fun cause we get to see so much of the mission! Ill tell you right now that Alabama is soooo dang beautiful!!

My companion and I went to a festival in this little pinterest town and we got voluntold to be in a pie eating contest. Just imagine two guys in white shirts and ties about to be in a pie eating contest. Where all you can use is your mouth to eat no hands! haha It was awesome! I almost won but I slowed down cause I didnt want to get blueberry pie all over my shirt hahah! But I guess I made it on Facebook lol  

Facebook page: friends of the fairhope museum of history 

 

we had a blast this week haha! I love yall so much! have a great week! And good luck to everyone who is going back to school! "You gotta want to succeed as bad as you want to breath!" - Eric Thomas

Ill have to send pictures a little later! 

Love, Elder Graham! 

pictures 8/7/17

Weekly Update 7/31/17

This week has been crazy not a lot happened this week other than driving, driving and more driving haha. We have been able to teach a few people and its been really awesome!!! I love this work! Sadly im short on time, but this next week is going to be crazy! My schedule is booked but it is going to be good! I just know this church is so true! As we keep the commandments God blesses us! I love all of you! 

Love, Elder Graham!

ALABAMA 7/24/17

This week in Alabama...

We had our first Zone Conference it was awesome! We had a lot of fun with the APs! President Smith was very happy with our zone conference. so this week has been full of planning and training! President Smith showed us a training video from Jeffery R Holland for mission Presidents and he told this amazing story that was so hard not to cry. Its has been a crazy / awesome week! Tomorrow I am going up to Toxey Alabama! Solid 2-3 hour drive which will be fun! haha Alabama is gorgeous! Ill show yall some pictures we took at this dock. This is my view every night! 

We go to this dock almost every night and I've actually met a few people from vegas! It was awesome! They are like pretty receptive to the gospel! We all know how there is opposition in all things so we had success finding the people from vegas but we also got preached to on that same dock hahah. It was so interesting to hear other people's views. They said they are "Born again christians  " which was awesome to hear their views but it never makes sense to me on how people think God, Jesus christ and the Holy Ghost are all one. Like yes they are one in Purpose but they are 3 separate beings. Like we read in the Bible, Jesus Christ went and prayed to the Father.  Another Example, only through me can ye enter into the kingdom of my father. I highly doubt he is talking to himself in 3rd person. I dont know its just interesting on how so many people can interpret the bible so differently. SO GRATEFUL FOR A LIVING PROPHET! 

So thats all that really happened to me this week. Its been a great week in Alabama, seen some huge spiders, some big gators and some snakes. Actually a guy was playing fetch with his dog and his dog went in the water to get the ball and didnt come back... The Gator got the dog... That happened like a week ago I think. Alabama is wild hahah! 

Well I love yall so much! Thank you for all the Love and support! Good luck to all the kids going back to school this year! Have fun! Senior year is a blast!

Love, Elder Graham 

ROLL TIDE/ACAI 7/17/17

I am now in Alabama! Boy oh boy is it pretty here! Swampy but pretty. So this week has been kinda crazy! We have been just planning out zone conference and have some fun while we do it! We are having our zone conference this Wednesday so wish me luck! haha If you dont know what a zone conference is it is basically just where all the missionaries in the stake meet up and the mission president comes and does some teaching. Then he will have the Zone leaders and the Sister Training Leaders train. So we have to train missionaries for about 2 hours. I am excited cause we are training on finding through members! Which is sooo important!! So thats the Big news this week!

My companion and I have found a few people to teach and it is so cool because we know for a fact that we have been directed by the Lord! We are currently just trying to find people to teach! New area with some pretty good responsibilities, just trying to juggle everything right now. ( on a side note I learned how to juggle on the mission) lol. So this week will be all about just finding and finding and more finding haha.

This last week my companion Elder southway and I have been trying to contact some people at this place called Gator Ally! Its so cool because we get to talk to people and see gators haha! The only bad thing is we get rained on like every time haha. I am not talking about just a little bit of rain... I am talking about sheets and buckets of rain! It is crazy!! But the ward here is so awesome!! I am currently serving in Daphne Alabama. My zone is Mobile. So I do all my missionary work in Daphne Alabama and then the Sister training Leaders (STLs) are in our ward too so they cover Fairhope. Which is just more south of us. Just the Lower half of us. The sisters are pretty cool.

SO today for P-day we went down to fairhope and just looked around at all the shops and went to the pier. Also we went to ACAI!! I was soo happy! It reminded me of home so much! Except the bowls were not as good as the ones back home! Shout out to BOWLOLOGY haha. We took some pictures and there was this one spot that looked like we were in italy haha! We also went to lunch with the sisters and talked about like why we wanted to come on a mission. It was cool to hear everyones story. We also just talked about our fams. I talked a lot about my nieces and nephew. We had a pretty chill day. That is one of the hardest things on my mission is not getting to play with little kids. We went over to this families house after church for lunch and they had the cutest little girl! Besides kenna and kambree because they are the cutest ! But she just loved me! She is 4 years old and she just wanted to play with me and my heart started to break because she was just so cute haha. But being here in Alabama has been a blast so far! I cant wait for college football to start up again because man its going to be funny hearing people say ROLLLLL TIIIIIDE!!! hahahah 

I love you all so much! I just know this church is so true! I could never deny the truthfulness of this gospel! Thank you for all the support! Now enjoy my companions pictures of me haha 

my address: 

29150 Lake forest Blvd. Daphne alabama 36526 Apt# 1102

Me, Elder southway, Sister Evensen, Sister Jamison.​

So the Blue is an outline of my area and the green is the outline of my zone. So My companion and I get to do some driving haha

LAST P-DAY IN PERDIDO 7/10/17

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!

This week has been crazy!! We had a baptism this last saturday! It was awesome!! Lee is his name and he is such a humble guy! We also had an investigator come to church with his daughter to see lees baptism and after he was baptized she asked her dad if they can be baptized! IT WAS AWESOME!! So much fruit is coming forth in this part of the Lords vineyard! 

Also Transfer calls came! I will now be a Zone Leader serving in the Mobile zone. I will be serving in daphne Alabama.  I am excited and nervous at the same time but it will be a blast! My zone covers Alabama and Mississippi so that will be cool! Overall I am happy yet sad to be leaving Perdido! I have been here for 7-8 months and it has been a blast!!

Highlights:

Lee Got baptized and confirmed a member! Also is preparing to take his family names to the temple!

I got Transfer calls to be a ZL in Mobile!

Our efforts in finding new Investigators has been awesome! We have found 2 new families to teach who are super solid and we have a guy in the military that has a baptismal date for aug. 4th!! 

Now today we went to the beach in Pensacola! BOY OH BOY Was it fun!! Ill send pictures! 

One last thing! Lee testified at his baptism that this church is the true church and wow talk about the spirit being present! I cant even explain how awesome that was!! Ugh I love the mission!! He also wants to feed us ribs so thats a plus hahah!

This week in the MISH 6/26/17

This week has been pretty awesome! We have had some pretty cool experiences teaching our investigators! We now have 2 Baptisms set in August! The missionary work is starting to pick up again! Not only is the work picking up but the heat is too! Not going to lie, and I never though I would say this but... I think Florida might be hotter than vegas! I was walking out of my apartment the other day and you just see this big cloud of steam coming off the ground! My instant though was oh no.. well there was no point in taking a shower this morning haha! The heat is ridiculous! Today has been super nice though! I just pray and hope it says like this! But we also have had some cool experiences! One of our investigators who we actually only had a lesson with him once which was yesterday. He recited to us the entire first 10 chapters of the Book of Mormon. Which was awesome! My companion and I were like ummm dang you can do that better than we can! hahah We then invited him to be baptized the first lesson! It was so awesome he happily accepted and was like I wouldnt be here if I didnt want to be baptized hahaha! It is just so awesome how through out his entire life the Lord has been preparing him to receive the restored gospel!  Reminds me of a Scripture in D&C 33:7. And for those who dont know what D&C is it just means Doctrine and Covenants. Just all the revelation that Joseph smith received from the Lord. So D&C 33:7 saying : "Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength." Through out my mission this scripture is so true! There has been so many people who just walk in our path and have been prepared to receive the gospel! it is amazing! The mission has been pretty sweet! Our investigators are pretty cool. Lee is going to teach us how to put in a rear axle in a car so that is going to be cool haha. 

Some crazy things that have happened this week. My companion and I were teaching a lesson and during our lesson the power went out then came back on. We heard that a storm was going to be rolling in but we dont have anyway to find out that info. So our phone starts to vibrate and we ignore it because we are in a super good lesson! so after we get out of the lesson and go to our car I look at the phone. Just to see 5 texts from the other elders and a missed call, the texts said, " GET HOME NOW!! TORNADO WARNINGS!!!"  So apparently a tornado touched down in our area and we had no idea haha! So that was kinda sketchy! Good thing no one was hurt and it didnt do a lot of damage! Now my companion and I wanted to go contact some Less active members and offer them some service. So we had an extra change of clothes in our car so we quickly went to the taco bell and had to change in there haha then we went to see a less active and offer them service and right as they opened the door  and I said hello! with a big smile on my face they slammed the door right in our face haha. Its not the first time its happened to us thats actually on the daily but we just wanted to do the yard work for them. We then went back to the apartment drenched in sweat because you know you stand outside for 10 minute in florida and you sweat just about everywhere haha! My companion and I just turn on all the fans and lay on the floor dying of heat haha! Gotta love the south! But  thats how this week has been! Hot! CRAZY! and FULL OF LOVE! Oh also  studying for a few hours gets exhausting so what do you do to stay awake you balance a chair standing up while studying on your bed! DUH doesnt everyone do that!? hahha Also while driving around we saw a mop just hanging in the tree.. because you know its florida and the south so yup!

I love you all and I hope yall have a great week! Thank you for all the Love and support you all give me! I hope everyone has a great summer and try not to have too much fun with out me! ;) 

Love, Elder Graham!

Elder Uceda!!! 6/12/17

This week has been awesome!! I have had an awesome week since Elder Uceda from the presidency of the 70 came to visit our mission! Just saying right now that that man is a true servant of the Lord. We had a Half mission conference which was awesome!! So many Elders that came out with me were there so we got to catch up it was fun! Also this Elder that was in my MTC District is now serving in my sisters previous area. Elder Argyle is serving in the Destin Florida area and it is awesome! He said he has seen a few of her teaching records haha. 

Elder Uceda taught us so many powerful things. First thing he threw down on was Obedience in the mission! It was awesome!! favorite thing he said was, "There are no disobedient Gods in heaven."

That is sooo true! he also told us to write our moms hahha which is true I need to send more letters home! 

He began to talk about the white hand book that us missionaries use and told us how sacred it is. How we need to live by this book. He also told us something that really struck my heart. That in this time that we have to serve missions does not only prepare us for the life after the mission but also to prepare us for the celestial kingdom! That was really interesting to me. 

He told us if were are to get anything out of this meeting that we should always remember Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

well Elder Uceda broke this down by using the Greek translation for some of the words.

which I do in greek is like esjua or something which translates in greek to I have the power to over come. Now all things in Greek is inpass which translates into, Anything, Everything, All manner of things. Now through in Greek translates to "with".

so when he expressed this verse through greek translation it translates into, I have the power to overcome anything, everything, all manner of things with christ which strengtheneth me.

It put so much more power in the verse it was really cool. 

One last thing that he really expressed so much love with as he taught us was praying to our Heavenly Father. Im telling you he taught with so much love and power and authority. He is also super funny. Now he is from Peru, lima and so i told him how my cousin JD served his mission in Peru and he was like super happy and asked how long ago and i told him and he was like I am sure I have shared messages with him while on his mission. It was pretty cool to talk with a general authority. He is the most HUMBLE man I have met. Super sweet and loving guy. He also expounded on some sacred things that were super cool. He told us how he meets with the First presidency and the Quorum of the 12 Apostles in the temple every thursday. How humbling it was for him to be in the Lords temple serving around the Lords chosen! 

Overall my week has been great and missionary work is awesome! Yet I am so exhausted cant you tell hahah! 

I love you all and i hope you all have a great week! 

Love, Elder Graham 

 

So Transfers have come and it has been awesome! President Smith has made me District Leader which is going to be fun! I am excited for this transfer! I hope and pray that our gator will be getting baptized this transfer. Those who do not know what transfers mean, transfers are a 6 week period. so every six weeks we have a possibility of being transferred to a new area in the mission or staying in that same area for another 6 weeks. I am currently on transfer 5 not including the 4 weeks I was in the MTC. Crazy how the time is passing by! Month 7 already. 

So my New companion is Elder Burch, he is pretty cool but I make him feel super old hahah just because he is 27 years old. He is a super good missionary and I am going to learn a lot from him this transfer! My companion and I are going to kill it this transfer!

This weekend is going to be awesome!! Elder Uceda a member of the President of the 70s is coming and we are having a HALF MISSION CONFERENCE! Those are always so much fun haha Its going to be fun though because he is going to call missionaries out to give experiences they have had with referrals and some missionary experiences! Also our investigator is doing awesome he wants to go to the temple so bad he is just so happy right now its awesome to see the growth in other people! 

All I can say is the church is so true! This past sunday we have seen some amazing spiritual experiences! I just have been on my knees a lot these past few weeks and seeing the Lord answer my prayers through other people has been so amazing!

I have learned so much on my mission already! I love serving here in perdido, You just grow close to so many people and its just awesome! A lot of good life long friends! I love you all and I am so grateful for all the love and support all of you give! Makes the days and weeks a little easier! My saying lately has just been #KeepOnKeepinOn just taking it day by day! Also Everyone is out of school for the summer!! I hope everyone has a great and safe summer and if any of you are thinking about serving a mission, TRUST ME DO IT!! Its a Life changer! I love you all! Have a great week!!

Love, Elder Graham