LETS GO 2018!! 1/1/18

Wow where do I even start!? This week has just been so crazy and so cold! Like this 30 degree high humidity is not my thing right now haha. So we have just been busy teaching lessons and trying to find people. Finding has been just kinda interesting. LIke we find people to teach and they look and seem promising and then they dont talk to us again. Like this week we found a super like interested investigator and then we came back to see her the other day and when we knocked on the door we hear, " Oh no its the Jesus people again, what do I do?" And then they send the boyfriend out haha. Like I mean ive gotten that so many times on my mission. I dont care I think its funny but yeah we are just desiring to find some solid investigators. We have some people who are interested and that is just the part that makes it worth it! 

Okay so Yesterday was awesome. We helped out at the meridian which is just a retirement home. And we put on a new years party for the older people and let me tell you they all had a little too much fun! haha Like I just dont even know what to say! We just had a great time with them singing, dancing, sharing some laughs and conversations. We all left with a good laugh and a great way to spend new years night! We also that night got home and got to watch Emperors New groove! I was so excited! I LOVE THAT MOVIE! We had a great time but I was just so exhausted. We have been going to the gym every morning at like 5:45 am and we have been just getting big. Im excited for what the end of my mission will be like haha. Its Crazy only 10 more months left, I still have a while but that time has already been flying bye! I feel like I just hit my half way mark. But I'm still going strong and im so excited for all the amazing things that are going to happen in 2018!!! 

ALSO THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED ME THUS FAR ON MY MISSION! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!  

This is going to be short, but next week will be better! I love yall! Have a happy and great new year! 

Love, 

Elder Graham❤ 

Christmas at the Beach! 12/26/17

Dear Family and friends,

Merry Christmas!!!! 

Thank you all who sent me gifts!? Ill have to repay you with a letter and a solid I LOVE YOU because i'm so broke as a missionary haha. So let me tell you about my week!

First off this was my last couple days in daphne! I was soooo sad to leave! All of the coolest members were there. So I basically just packed and packed and packed. We had District meeting on Tuesday and we had a white elephant gift sharing and that was funny. We are all broke so we just brought stuff from our apartments and it was so funny. After that we stopped by a members home he gave me a bunch of ties as a going away present. We then drove from fairhope to spanish fort to sign Doug and Linda's Shed. They have all the missionaries who serve in daphne sign the shed with paint. After that we went to Davids catfish to eat. They said I couldn't leave without trying catfish. Which was pretty good. After that  we went to the Quinnelly's home and oh my I was so dang sad to leave them. We talked with them for a while and took pictures and talked for a while. Seriously one of my hardest goodbyes was saying goodbye to that family. They were honestly my second family! haha Cant wait to come back and visit them. So after that heart breaking goodbye I went back home to finish packing. Then we drove over to the mills and had dinner with them. We took some pictures and said goodbye. We also drove by these houses and they had seriously over 50ft blow up santas and minions haha it was crazy. We finally got home and went to bed. Got up early the next morning aka Wednesday and loaded the truck up with all my stuff. I didn't realize but I have so much stuff! haha Crazy what you can collect over a years time. haha But we drove to Pensacola and did my last Transfer set up as a Zone Leader. We sat there waiting for the transfer van to come, they were supposed to come at 12:30 but didn't get there until about 2pm. So while we were waiting we drove over to this chell gas station and  behind it is this street taco place where we just got some super good Mexican food. Once the Transfer van got here we loaded it all up and were on our way to crestview transfer spots. We unloaded and I met my new companion Elder Johnson. He has been out for 2 transfers. So he is still pretty new but he is awesome! Its been so cool so far, I've learned a lot of different attributes that I can work on. He is an awesome Elder, he is from Utah of course. Fort Walton is pretty good so far.

We had our half mission conference on Friday and it was super fun. I know some missionaries where we were having it and I asked the assistants if we can drive and stay the night with them and they said it sounds good. So we drove to fox run and stayed the night Thursday night with  like 10-12 missionaries. It was a lot of fun. Next day was half mission conference and we just had a blast. We played minute to win it games and we had some amazing missionaries show all their talents with singing, playing the piano, and some cool dancing haha. That all started at like 10 am and got done at like 4pm and we didn't leave until about 5 pm. We got home about 6:45 and then went to stubys. Stubys is a super good place to eat at which a member kinda owns and they let the missionaries eat there for free. Which is SUPER NICE! After the sisters came over to drop off all our packages we got for Christmas and then we gave one of the sisters a blessing. Which was pretty neat. After all that we just studied.

I was talking with another Elder about our last areas we served in and we both were like I feel like  a piece of me is still in my last area haha. We both just started laughing super hard because we were like yo im home sick from my last ward hahha. Its so awesome to get to know members and the area but its hard leaving an awesome area haha. But Fort Walton is pretty sick so far!

So Fort Walton is pretty cool. We hung out with the Birds who is a family here and they are super cool. So we spent Christmas with them and it was awesome skyping home. I miss my family so much! Im so thankful for all the gifts I received!  It was truly an amazing christmas! We got to watch movies and we went caroling which was really fun.  

I hope you all had a great and amazing Christmas! 

Love Elder Graham

--

Elder Graham

Here I come Fort Walton 12/18/17

Monday we had a lesson with Vince who  is a returning member that has come to Daphne to live with his parents so he can come back to Church and turn his life around. He is super awesome, and we had a great time with him, and we are helping him prepare to get the Melchizedek Priesthood right now. We also had a lesson with our Investigator Veronica. We went through The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she was so solid with it, she gave perfect answers and got it down. we went over to Bellingrath Gardens over in the Mobile area with the Missionaries over there. Our Investigator Ms. Dot bought us all Tickets to go and enjoy the garden. It is a massive garden place that was covered in Christmas Lights, and that was a lot of fun.

Tuesday we went to Atmore and went to District Meeting. We then went on Exchanges with The Monroe Elders. They are in a trio, but with how things fell I got to go with Elder wilkes and christensen! We had a great opportunity to give a few blessings to some non members and we went and contacted some people. it was a pretty good day. 

Wednesday we went and just contacted some people. Did some tracting. We then had Lunch with Doug and Linda, and that is always a good time. They will leave food out for the Coons, and are super southern,we had a good lunch. The Monroe Elders then left to go back home. We had a very nice night with some Christmas Service. We went to an Old Folks Home in Fairhope, and served the residents food, and got to talk to them. We went to the same place for Thanksgiving so that was nice. We then went with the Young Men, and Young Women, and went Caroling at an Assisted Living Facility. We were in one hallway singing, and this old lady started peaking her head through the door, and slowly made her way out. After we finished singing Silent Night, she proudly said "WAR EAGLE" as that was her way on saying thank you haha. It was awesome, only in the South! We got to sing to a bunch of old people, and it was a lot of fun.

Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Meidlinger and we had so much fun. We went to a less actives house, he is a returning member. He works on cars and he showed us some sick cars he is working on. We then taught another member who is returning and we had a great lesson about The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Overall we had a good day and we talked with Bishop a lot! 

Friday we drove and picked up my companion in foley. Then we came back and we later had volleyball which was so much fun! we also had a conference call with the mission president. 

Saturday we had a day full of service. We started off the morning at 8:30am by going with the Stake President to pick up some furniture. He is going to be pretty busy the next couple weeks, and really needed to get this done, so he really appreciated our help. We had our Weekly Coordination Meeting with our Ward Mission Leader Brother Klippel. He is the best, super awesome guy. We then went to Ms. Patty Lynns house to brush pine needles, and leaves off the roof, plus move branches into a burn pile. Right after that we went and helped the Christensens in the Ward through a bunch of wood, tile, ect.. away into a big red container. They had a pipe bust in the kitchen, and somebody did a poor roofing job, and had lots of wet things, so it was nice being able to help out as much as we could. #LightTheWorld.

Sunday was a pretty good day we had lunch with The Benhams, and right after lunch we got a call from President Smith and I found out I  will be leaving, and im going to be a District Leader over in Fort Walton Beach. we had to figure transfer stuff out for part of the day, but we got to finish off what Bishop Boxxes house. I love the Boxx family, one of my favorite from the Mission. We had a good dinner with them.

New Address 912 Denton Blvd apt.#1909 Fort walton beach Florida 

--

Elder Graham

#LIGHTTHEWORLD 12/4/17

Tuesday- Went to Mobile for a District Meeting. Drove passed Forest Hill Dr. so I had to stop and take a picture. (J.Cole) Then we went home and packed up our apartment which took all day. Then we went to a Bible study at another church which was interesting haha. Had a good time but it was interesting. 

Wednesday- we got up and Finished packing all that we could. Then we drove to tallahassee. We left at like 12pm and got there around 4:30. We met up with the Assistants and went out to Olive Garden! It was so good! Thanks mom and dad for the money haha. Then we went back to the apartment which they had no power haha so we hung out at the Office Elders apartment. 

Thursday- Got up and got ready in the dark because again still no power and it was hot haha. Then we went to the stake center which is across from FSU. Had a meeting with all the Campus missionaries for the Light The World event they were having that night. It was funny because I'm not even in their zone, yet I was like writing down everything they needed and was giving my input haha. Then we went to a bunch of stores to get supplies for the event. Then we went to the mission home and grabbed some stuff from Presidents garage. Went back to the apartment and changed our ties to some christmas style ties. Then we drove to TCC (Tallahassee Community College) and did some contacting for a few hours. We left and went to the church dropped off all the stuff and then drove to taco bell with the sisters and ate before the event started. Then went back to the church set everything up. We "saved the day" because we had an extra long extension cord in our truck which was able to hook up the lights for the photo booth. The Light the World Kick off Event started at 7pm. A few words from the stake president and then Marvin Goldstein who is a professional pianist played music for about 45 min. In the meantime we were like running around setting up hot chocolate booth, and trying to figure out the audio for the light the world video which everyone was stressing about because it wasnt working. Then we get it to work and it all worked out. It was a stressful day for all of us haha it was funny because it wasnt even like an event I have been planning I just showed up and helped out haha. We all had a great time and so many non members came and less actives so it was a success!! We didnt get done with everything until like 9:30pm. Drove home and passed out haha.

Friday- We got up, packed and then drove back to Alabama. Finally got home and still havent eaten anything so we grab a quick bite to eat. The Foley Elders met us for breakfast and then came to our house to help us move. In the middle of moving we get a text from our investigator who we havent seen in a week. So I quickly put on some nice clothes, drive over and meet her at the church. Sadly I forgot the keys to the church building so we had the lesson outside. We ended up just answering a lot of her questions. Shes like I understand it all I guess I just need to take a step of faith. She said she is going to pray and ask if Joseph Smith really was the Prophet of the Restoration. I had some of the foley missionaries with me. She explained to them how I saved her life haha. She was like he found me when I was pleading with god for a sign and then an hour later he shows up and asks me if he can share a message about Jesus Christ with me. Since then Ive found so much truth. Haha That was just such an amazing feeling to be that big of an impact to someone else. I LOVE SERVING A MISSION! Because its not about me! Its all about others! ❤

After we went back home and finished moving which took all day as well! We then went to Fairhope because there was a christmas parade and we just contacted people the whole time.  It was a lot of fun! 

Saturday- We had coordination meeting with our ward mission leader. Then we went to the church and did some administrative things with miles for the zone and then we did interview times with president and sent that to president smith. We sat at the church and talked to Bishop Boxx and we decided with him that we were going to go to his house later to make some lemonade haha. So we went back to our apartment cleaned the old apartment for a few hours and then went to bishops house. He got us pizza and we hung out there and made lemonade for the christmas party on sunday. 

Sunday- Got up came to church and had a great sabbath day! Sadly our investigators didnt come to church :( But we have just been praying for them. After church we had a member who has been wanting me to come over for lunch but our schedules just havent been lining up and I feel so bad haha she was not happy with us. I didnt know what to say because another member already signed up on our calendar for lunch haha. But we will just go over to her house next week. But today we went to the Nimmers and had a great time with them. She took pictures of us with her family and then sent it to my mom. So I hope you got them mom! haha Then after sharing a message with them we went to the church to help set up for the christmas party. we called all our investigators to come but none of them could sadly. Next time! :) haha We had a very nice time visiting with everyone. I love this ward so much! Definitely one of the number one wards im coming back to visit! The nimmers want me to come back and visit and go hunting and go to their cabin with them so Im excited to come back for that! But we had a great time watching the Christmas devotional together as a ward! A few non members came and it was awesome to get to know them! Oh and Everyone Loved our lemonade haha it was gone so fast! We later had to do some more administrative things but we finally were able to leave the church around 9:30pm haha. SO MUCH TO DO SO LITTLE TIME! 

Today- I am just emailing yall and then have to drive to Navarre Florida to stay with some Elders for MLC tomorrow. A meeting that we have with our mission president every month. So that should be fun! :) 

I love yall so much and I hope yall are having a great week! Good luck to all of yall who are taking Exams!  I love and miss yall so much! 

#LightTheWorld! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 11/27/17

Dear Family and Friends,

           I hope yall had an amazing Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for my family and friends and for all of you who support me. I love getting letters and packages from my loved ones. Yall keep me going. I am so excited for this christmas season. So many great things are going to be happening this next month.

Well this week has been kinda relaxed. On Monday I had zone conference so that was a lot of fun. Elder Burningham and I trained all the missionaries on being christlike missionaries. It was a sweet training. The spirit was so strong and some missionaries started crying. It was just really amazing to feel the savior's love for us in that meeting. One of my favorite trainings thus far. After a long zone conference we had to clean up and lock up. Then we had to drive to foley to deliver a shelf for some Elders.

Tuesday was our P-day. Than on Wednesday we had nothing really going on other than just doing the Lord's work. We had dinner at the Langis aka pre thanksgiving dinner. We ate so much haha. Than on Thursday we played in the turkey bowl all morning and won. My legs have been killing me for the past couple days. Then we went over to Brother Atwood's for thanksgiving and that was  really good! Fried Turkey, Smoked turkey, grilled turkey and more haha. Our investigator veronica was supposed to come but she sadly got sick. We later contacted some referrals and tried to deliver some food to veronica.

Saturday was a great day just because my Recent Convert from my last area came and visited me. But get this Elder Burningham and I served around each other in Pensacola. His recent convert just recently moved in with my recent convert. Haha So they both came and saw us! It's crazy, they are like best friends now haha. One of my Highlights of this week haha. Other than Alabama playing Auburn… No one here is happy haha. Our church attendance was super low on sunday! Hahah Probably because of thanksgiving but I don't know all the Alabama fans weren't there. ;) But saturday we hung out with the bishop for a little. He was letting us download stuff for light the world.

So for the past few days we have been giving Priesthood Blessings like crazy. We gave one to a lady because she was about to have her baby then we gave one to her and her baby after he was born. Then we gave a blessing to a kid on sunday because he cut his finger to the bone with a chainsaw. So we had to rush to the ER to give him a blessing. Cool part was he said after the blessing I don't feel pain anymore. After giving all these blessings we went and talked with our recent converts and just chatted with them for a little. Then I took Elder Burningham to City Hope church. That was a concert haha it was fun though. That was pretty much my week. Nothing too crazy.

Insight on this week. I'll be driving to tallahassee wednesday and coming home thursday. Then Friday i'll be moving from one apartment to the next. Friday and saturday we will be going to some parades. Then sunday we have our christmas party. So all of this week will be crazy busy, Because we also have to deep clean our apartment. Missionaries have been in here since like forever so trying to make sure they can get their deposit back.

This has been such a good week. The members have been so awesome. This is for sure one of my favorite wards! Thank you all for all that you do for me! I am so excited to skype home soon! It's crazy that this is my last thanksgiving and Christmas in the mission. I'll see all y'all next year haha. Time flies when you are having fun! But I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I can't wait to hear from yall!

Love Always,

Elder Graham

P.S. I didnt mean to send that last one hahaha