CHURCH DANCES= universally l-a-m-e.

so today we had to go get our residency renewed... it was lame but we got to see our district from the mtc... and that was awesome! they are great and ive missed them... seeing as we are all over the place now... tomorrow we have to go back and do some more stuff woo hoo... imagine the dmv... but worse and with people that dont think bathing is necessary... yea.

anyways, this week... uh... really... i cant remember much.... ive been sick (wow, big news... not... im always sick ive decided... something about a mission... maybe its the combination of stress and the wacky climate here... one day it will be super hot and humid then the next it will rain and be super windy...)

we have been working hard to really follow the spirit and do the Lords will here in our area... but honestly, its really difficult when we both are just learning how to do this all... But, I have definately seen my faith grow so much in this past week and I am learning to recognize the spirit in ways that I havent had to do before... It is such a humbling experience to be serving a mission and yet I am so grateful to have this opportunity. This week the Lord blessed us by finding 2 families and the husbands are less actives and they both have a wife and a son... so we are trying to work with these families to get them back in the church and get the rest of them baptized and then in a year, to the temple to be sealed! Also, we found a family (sort of) a mom and her 25 yr old son and then their family friend (20 yr old) and the boys are incredible! We have only taught them once... it was when we found them knocking doors and it was just a prayer and then talked about church a little and invited them to church and they all said yes! and then the next day our ward had a dance and we invited the 2 boys so they could meet people and just get involved and omg... lets just say the dances here are just like the ones we have in vegas... LAME. maybe even worse..... hahaa. but they still came to church the next day haha.

anyways, really I dont have any cool or funny stories this week... but I am so grateful for my mission... I know that I am where I need to be right now and I know that what I am teaching is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being on a mission and teaching all the basic principles really has strengthened my testimony so much! Its amazing!

well love you all! have a great week! Até o proximo!

com amor
irmã graf



ps photos.... today with the irmãs... well half of the irmãs in the mission... and then our district waiting for our metro! ;) good old elder dalton haaha.

Where in the world did Irma Graf go??

okay... so... this week... man... um... its been good. Okay, really its been the toughest week Ive ever had in my life I think. And no, Im not being dramatic here. We got lost... outside of our zone in the middle of a field... because our map was PRINTED wrong and so our busdriver dropped us off in the middle of nowhere... (dont worry i will photocopy my journal entry about this and send it. its great.) We have had tons of various problems but I am not here to complain about any of them because I learned to keep the faith... to stay strong and to really just turn to the Lord in everything ESPECIALLY when times are difficult... every single thing that went wrong we learned from and I feel that they were blessing in disguise... Heavenly Father is definately using our weaknesses to help us learn and also to encontrar (dad, i cant remember the english word...please change to english for me) other people to teach that need the gospel.

one cool thing this week was that some people from the US came to film recent converts about their stories for the new website... we got to have some of our converts talk... and I GOT TO HELP WITH THE PRODUCTION!!! it was so cooll... and guess what camera they had... oh yeah, thats right, a Canon 5 D, Mark 2... oh man... I was in heaven!!! It was like holding my camera all over again... I really really really miss photography and ahhhh to hold the camera... freak, it was amazing. (yeah, whatever... im strange) ps- how is my camera?

um... also another funny thing about this week... we have an investigator... Edith, and she decided that I look like Barbie (yeah, I donno... dont ask... she said its because of my eyes) and so she calls me irma barbie... its ridiculous. people here think my eyes are so cool... i always thought that my eyes were normal... but supposedly i have "big beautiful eyes... like Barbie"... yeah. shes crazy (love her) but I look gross here... seriously... no make up (just mascara and a little eye liner)... and dont really do my hair... shes crazy. the end... but it was funny... so you all can laugh at her comment because I did.

also, last night we had a lesson w this cool couple from capo verde and come to find out the wife is a member already... (it is so common to have this happen its ridiculous!) any ways, they had a friend w them... he was CRAZY!!! irma speigle asked him to say the first prayer because he liked to talk alot... uh, BAD IDEA... he started praying and seriously it was the strangest thing every!!!!! like baptist, halleiluha (sp) type stuff but scary... it was so hard to not laugh... (we did a little)

well, I am doing great learning a ton and enjoying every second of it!!!! have a great week and thank you for everything!!!!

irma graf

PICTURESSSSS

....for all you missionaries out there....

ASHLEY YOU HAVE YOUR MISSION CALLLLLLLL OMG!!! THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! my family told me where youre going... i cant remember (arkansa or kentucky or something) spanish speaking thats so awesome! i am so happy for you and kaity too!!!! you guys go in the same day and you could be in the same district how awesome and crazy!

okay... so advice i have for you now that you have your call....

first off use the i will not be still song. its amazing! its totally how i feel out here! and i cry and think of you when i hear it.

second... get a pmg in spanish and borrow (dont buy cause you will get them in the mtc) scriptures or just a bom in spanish and start reading and studying them along with the english... side by side... it will be hard and boring and you will not like it at first but it will help. also, start learning the conjugations in spanish!!!!!!! and every day choose a few spanish words to learn. listen to stuff in spanish and try and understand it. just use as much spanish as you can! haha... depending on how much time you have... but most importantly, study the doctrine and the gospel... gain a stronger testimony and learn to recognize the spirit!! the spiritual stuff is so much more important and the spanish will come i promise. dont get frustrated with in in the mtc just breathe and have fun. you can do it!

also, start preparing your ipod now... talks, conference, church music in english and spanish... the works!!! make different play lists haha.

ash i am so proud of you!! you are such an example to everyone! you will be an AMAZING missionary i am so jealous that i wont get to be there to help you prepare and also there to watch you in action out in the field! always remember to trust in the Lord... in EVERYTHING. thats one of the hardest things for me... to have complete trust in him with everything... and the fact that no matter hard i try to do things on my own, i will fall short. all of us will... but thats one reason that the atonement is so incredible! Jesus will make up for where we lack... He will help us up when we cant continue on... already on my mission I have felt Him pick me up and carry me until I have the strength to continue on... The mission is hard... it will be difficult, very difficult but it is SO worth it. when you get to see how the gospel is changing the lives of your investigators and the joy that they are finding through the gospel... it is amazing! all of the problems you had, or all of the worries that you had about things are gone... the feeling that you get when you see how you have been an instrument in the hands of the Lord is something that i dont even know how to explain. its just... AMAZING!

stay close to the Lord in these next few months... they will be hard... mine were... satan will be working on you. but stay strong! and also, go to the temple as much as you can! the temple is.... wow... another thing that I cant describe... its just amazing.

i love you!

com amor (with love)
irmã graf

I'mma baptizing FOOL!

yo fam! it was sooooo great to talk to YOU!!!!!! it was so weird to hear your voices!! and seriously the hour was way too short! anyways....

so we had a baptism this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Carlos got baptized! There is so much that I want to say... but it would take a million years to write! we have seriously seen Gods hand and so many miracles with Carlos and his family it is crazy! Every day we see a new thing and we always say, ah! we need to write this in our journals!!! haha. but... the baptism was awesome! he is in a wheel chair so it was interesting baptizing him, but we did it! (well the elders and members w the priesthood did it haha) He was so scared about it all but it ran smooth haha. Carlos is amazing! He wants to serve a mission!!!! (hes 19)

His cousin is getting baptized this weekend and we are so excited for her too! She is 13 and awesome! Seriously they are so prepared for this gospel its crazy!

This week... I cant even remember what happened because its been a long week... but basically we are just working super hard to find new people to work with and to weed out our investigators and stick with those that really want to follow the example of Christ and be baptized.

The mission is great!! Im loving it and the loving the people! Im ready for it to get warm though! its been cold this week... with rain... and humidity... ew. but its all good!

Well, have a great week! I love you all and thank you so much for your support!

com amor
irmã graf


pictures- all from the baptism!

the elders in our ward (we share a ward w the zone leaders) had a baptism too... the girl (shayla). and then to baptize Carlos we needed two people.
carlos in his chair...
carlos, andré and adonis... with bishop in the background (he is freaking awesome!)
and then me (yeah i look gross whatever... the humidity and rain was really bad and we had been running around like crazy all day long...) irmã west, carlos, his aunt and Nayama (she will be baptized next week)