California - December 11, 2012

Dear Family

Yes, Elder Bayles is going home on Thursday actually. We had transfers, so good news and bad news....... which do ya' want first...... well, bad news first I guess.  I am leaving :( I am really sad, I had to say good-bye to the Phillips Family last night, they are the ones getting baptized on the 22nd. It was really sad, but I know they will still be getting baptized, and I will come back, but it was still pretty sad. I love this area and I am sad to leave. Good news, I am headed up by the mission home to be Zone Leader in Carmichael with Elder Austin who is also a Spanish missionary, so I will be able to practice with him. This will be my first time covering 2 wards, 1 of which is a young single adult, ward which will be exciting. So things are good, I am happy to be here working in this White Christmas season, it will be so much fun! I love Christmas here, it is the best.

Well, I hope you get feeling better. I hope that no sickness will plague the holiday season. Hope all is well, I love you all so much.

Love Elder Grover

Luke 2:10-11

California - December 3, 2012

Hello Family!

So yes, we got rain for three days straight - it was so crazy! Sunday morning we had flood warnings. We were trying to get our investigators to church and the parking lot at the church was flooded, it was so crazy! Even the drainage canals started to flood, and you know when that happens there is a lot of water! We wanted to get some cool pics, but we had meetings that started at 8 and ran until noon, and when we got out of church it was bright and sunny - it was crazy. Like I said, it was hard to get investigators to church yesterday, we only had 1, which is not the way we wanted to start out the White Christmas season. But we go to church and there is a guy that we don't know in our gospel principles class and he introduces himself like this,"Hi I am Al Ferrdett from upstate New York, here in town to watch a few Kings games." Ummm, yeah, we met Jimmers' dad, he came to church with us! So even though no investigators came, we had visitor that did not expect (I still would have preferred to have the investigators come) but a cool mission story right! 

So my companion tried to cut my ear off with his scissors and I had to use self defense; luckily I only lost my finger.... so no worries, I still have four and a half left. I think he was upset that some crazy guy called him an alien, it was pretty funny. Really a guy did call him an alien, but he didn't mean to cut my finger it was really funny, and when I say cut, it was not much bigger than a paper cut, and it wasn't on purpose. We also had a Zone Conference with Elder Bruce D. Porter from the 70, it was pretty sweet, I liked it. He is a smart guy, he taught us a lot about the Doctrine of Christ and helped us to focus on Christ for this wonderful Holiday Season. 

Keep all the good things up and be safe in all the activities, remember the true meaning of Christmas and look for opportunities to share the gospel, there are people who need the gospel and this is a perfect time to share the gospel! I love you all so much. Next week is transfers so I wont E-mail 'till Tuesday, and I will know if I will be staying here or if I will be leaving. I have mixed emotions on what I want to do, I think I will just allow God to decide and I will just do what he tells me to :)

Elder Jesse Grover

California - November 26, 2012

Dear Family!!!!

Hey How are you? So I talked to the mission office, and had them arrange for me to fly into Farmington, NM, so plan on that. Does Jordan need anything for Christmas? If not I will just have to figure something out.  Crazy that Christmas is here again, it seems like it was just a little bit ago, the time is flying so fast!! We have a zone conference this week with Elder Porter of the 70, so that is pretty exciting, it should be a lot of fun!!! Other than that nothing is too different, we just keep on keeping on with the work of the Lord.

Thanksgiving was okay, it was not a regular one, that's for sure.  We ate dinner with a recent convert and it was pretty sad to see him pull out a beer and drink it. It was really sad, kinda heart breaking, he was baptized 6 months ago, about 2 months before I got here. It was a really short dinner, but the food was pretty good. So after we went to visit a family that's awesome and we talked with them. Their son is on his mission, they are from Poland, they are awesome! So we spent a couple hours with them, and then we had it approved to watch 17 Miracles, which is an awesome movie. So all in all it was pretty good, really quiet, but good. I also got to play football that morning, so it was a ton of fun!!! Every time I play again it just reminds me how much I love it! I didn't break any bones or anything like that. I love you all and am grateful for all you do!! 

Love Elder Grover

California - November 22, 2012

First off, sorry I forgot to tell you that our P-Day this week is today due to the holiday, so we are taking a full-day p-day, which should be fun.

Second off, I received bad news the other day....... I will not be returning home on the 7 of March anymore:( yeah, I will not be a 2 year, 24 month missionary:( Due to the new missionary program, they will start going out just when I am leaving. So for some reason that I do not know, I fly home a week early, yeah, the 28th of February. I feel kinda jipped, but I am sure that it is all part of the plan.

Thirdly, what the freak....... some dummies burned down the school? What idiots (sorry for the language)! That is insane, what were they thinking? Were they thinking? Drugs?  That is so crazy, what does the school district plan on doing? Are they going to just rebuild the library or just tear everything down and make it all new? I honestly am shocked :(

Well all is going well her,e we have had a good week, which is nice. Last week was a really tough week for us, but this week is going really well. We had an awesome miracle, Sunday we were told by some other Elders that there was this guy who had contacted the ward clerk over there and had some questions about church history, but he lived in our area. So we called him and set up an appointment to visit with him and his family. They are so solid!!!!!! He had been researching his family, and his great-great-grandfather was a member of the church, being ordained a high priest, and he was just wanting to know more about the church and its history. He said that it was something he wants to get more involved in.  Him, his wife, and 5 kids - 5 boys - and they are super well-behaved! They all sat down with us and listened to the lesson and asked questions. And guess what street they live on? Jessie, yeah, haha, spelled a little wrong, but how sweet is that, haha? 5 boys, just like me and the 4 brothers I have, it is so awesome! I have only met them once, but I already love them so much. Love missionary work, you just never know what's going to happen. We also had a 12 year old girl request missionaries on mormon.org. She said she is catholic, but doesn't learn anything, and her mom said she learned a lot as a child in her church and told her she could request the Mormons to come over, haha! So she did, and wants to learn more. People are prepared to learn about the gospel.

I love you all, I am grateful for all of you. Very thankful for the gospel in my life and the opportunity to serve a mission.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!

Elder Jesse Grover

California - November 12, 2012

Dear Family,

Sorry to hear about the loss, it is one of the roughest things in the world lose a game like that. But Jens, you are lucky that you have another year to experience it. Take the way you feel now and use that to motivate you to do all you can next year to be the best that you can be.

By the way, I did get the package, I forgot to tell you that. I should have told you that they wanted to know about which airport by the 15th, so this week, haha! That's my bad, sorry! So if you could let me know ASAP which airport you would like me to fly into so I can let the Mission office know, that would be great, thanks! 

Things are going well here, we are just trying to do our best, and we are seeing many blessings and have hopes for a very white Christmas, we are excited!!!!

I love you all so much!!!
Love Elder Grover

California - November 5, 2012

Dear Family!

I love you so much! That is so cool that Amber had her baby, a new little niece in the family. It is always a cool thing to add a new family member; and I won't even get to meet her until March. Which brings me to the next topic, I received a letter from the mission office requesting to know  the preferred airport for when I will fly home on March 7, 2013. So if you could let me know where you would prefer that I fly into on that date, that would be great, so I can let the mission office know.

Things are going good here, so far so good with my new companion. He is from Heber City, Utah, so he is one of those Wasach Wasps, or Hornets, or whatever they are.

Awesome that the football team is doing so well and headed off to the championship. Best of luck! Remember to stay humble and to trust in God, and no matter how it ends, keep your head lifted high. Do your best, if the best effort is put into it, you will be proud of the end result.

Love Elder Grover

California - October 30, 2012

Hey Family!!!!

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Jade - this Wednesday!!! I will spend Halloween with my new companion, his name is Elder Muir. I have only briefly met him several times, but this is the first time serving around him. Another great new elder, Elder Reid who I trained, is coming into my zone, so that will be cool, haha. Elder George is flying home on Thursday; it has been interesting being his companion while he has prepared to leave, it only makes me fear it more, it has been sad. He has been here for 6 months, so he knows lots of people and has seen quite a few people get baptized, so they were all really sad. The kids were like trying to give him things so that he would remember them, like shoes anything else they have, it was really sad. It makes me not want to leave the mission, you grow to love the people here.

On Sunday I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting, the first time on my mission, how crazy is that? But at least I got to do it in English, haha! But it was good, I based it on 3 talks from general conference, and I think it went well, at least that is what I was told, but everyone loves the missionaries right, haha?

Crazy that PUD is back, and skinny - that's awesome! Hopefully that is how it will be with me, I have lost almost 20 lbs this past 2 weeks, but I still look bigger. Hopefully before I skype on Christmas you will be able to tell the difference.

Love you all,

Elder Grover

The new missionary look

California - October 22, 2012

Hey Family, how are you?

Wow, that is crazy that Trevor is already home! Well, you will have to say hola to him for me. And it sounds like a lot of new missionaries are prepping to go, that's awesome! I don't think I will see too many of the young ones on my mission, maybe a few, but I think they will all start coming in when I go to leave, which is also another scary thought. We have transfers next week...... Elder George is going home, so I think I will stay here in the area. That means I only have 3 transfers left, it kinda scares me! Being with Elder George for the last 2 transfers of his mission has been crazy, it has been like I too were going home. All the members are no help, haha, they are like, "so, you go home next, huh?". And I'm thinking, no I am a young missionary..... wait, look back on time and it's like, nope I'm not; the time has gone too fast.

Well anyways, things are going good, we are getting poured on today, which is kinda nice. Kinda not nice too, but I am grateful once again that I am in a car and really haven't had to experience the rain. I had several opportunities to experience it last winter though, and being a zone leader we go on exchanges with lots of missionaries that are on bikes, so I will probably have to spend some days on bike and work out a little. Last week I lost something like 12 lbs. I changed my eating habits, smaller portions with members, and killer morning exercise with another missionary.  By the end of this week I want to be down 6 more, but then it will probably slow down because I won't have all the easy weight to burn anymore. But it is exciting that I got to loose a little before the holidays :)

The work is going good, we are working with some great people that we are hoping that will be baptized this coming month, so the harvest season will continue here in Sacramento, we are stoked for it. Our zone is doing great, we will probably hit double digit baptisms again for the 4th month in a row, so like my entire time here, nothing I did, we are just seeing so many blessings and miracles.

Well love you all, good luck with the sports and parties, be safe! Tamra, happy birthday, hope all goes well.

Love Me

Elder  Jesse Grover

California - October 15, 2012

To my Dear Family!!!!!!!

HHEELLLLOO!!!! How are you? I am doing good here in North Sacramento :) So you might remember me telling you about this double leg amputee named Trevor Phillips? Well, he is a part member family and he has taken the missionary lessons before, but never really wanted to get baptized. He liked the church enough to go with his wife. Well, this week as Elder George and and I were doing companionship study we get a call from him, and he was like, "Elders, I have good news for you....... I want to get baptized!!!!!!" Yeah, imagine how we felt. When we first met him, he told us he was not interested in being baptized, so we just did service for him, and the ward has just treated them so very good. He just woke up that morning and had an epiphany, or as we call them, a testification from the spirit, that he needed to be baptized and sealed to his family, so he called us. We freaked, as you can imagine. He is a super awesome investigator, and it was on a morning that I was a little upset because we got this sweet referral of this lady who referred herself through mormon.org, so we thought she would be pretty solid. We went and visited her and she told us she didn't want to meet with us, but that she would feel more comfortable with Sister missionaries. So, we could have continued to teach her, but we had some sisters teach her instead.  It was a sacrifice, but God blessed us with our own miracle for helping his children to accept the gospel in the best way that they can. I love missionary work, it is such a wonderful experience, it is seriously the best!

It is good to hear that all back at home is going good and that all are happy. Know that I love you and I am also very happy to be here serving God in the Sacramento, California Mission. The work will go forth! There is a huge need, as we can see, with the push for missionaries to go out, Elders and Sisters.  Apparently  Bishops and Stake Presidents are booked with appointments - great sign, right? It is awesome.

Love Me, Elder Grover

Some of Elder Grover's crazy mission pics

A T-shirt made for Elder Grover and Elder George by a member

The Back

Beautiful California Sunset

Christian Jose Ramirez at his baptism

Christian's family

Do you recognize this elder?  He is from Figi, maybe Colby would recognize him

A cake made by Elder Grover for an elder in his district that got hurt and had to go home

The ghostly Elder Grover
Yeah, he was transfigured

HELLO Elder Grover!

California - October 8, 2012

Dear Family!

It is good to hear all is going well and conference was good, and that everyone but Jordan is getting married. Well, I don't know how good that is but, haha, its all good, I guess in his own due time. It was funny you brought up the people getting married because we were talking about it, and me and Elder George both said that all the girls will be married by the time we get back, haha! He goes home at the end of the month, so it was more relevant to him, but I guess applies to me as well, haha!

We are just working, working, doing our best; we had interviews with President this past week and he his just an awesome man, the more time you spend with him the more you look up to him, and as a zone leader we get to spend a little more time with him. There was one time he came out a couple of hours with us, it was a lot of fun, but he is truly an inspired man of God.

Conference was awesome and we were excited to have 7 of our investigators tune in for it. It is hard to pick a favorite but elder Holland never seems to disappoint, and it really applied to missionaries when they go home, so it was super awesome. Also, I really enjoyed Elder Anderson's talk and the Relief Society General President's talk, those were also very good; but of course they are all good.

Christmas drawing? Are we doing that this year? And voting, do you want to send me an absentee ballot, I guess I better join in right, haha! Thanks, I love you all!!!!! 

Love Elder Grover

California - October 1, 2012

Dear Family,

 

Congrats Jade on the Mission Call, I am so Happy for you! Now you can go convert all the Colts players for me, haha! Maybe they will start playing better after that, haha! They should be in a pretty humble state right now, haha. Jan 16, huh? Looks like we will be like Alma and the sons of Mosiah, separated for many years due to the work of the Lord. But how great will be our Joy right, haha!!!!!!

 

So we had a baptism this last week of a 9 year old named Christian Ramirez.  This was honestly probably one of the biggest change of heart I have seen in a conversion. Before we started teaching him, he and his younger brother were really out of control, off the wall kids, but gradually he changed, and now after his baptism he is reverent in church more respectful to his mother. All in all, he just really loved his baptism, he took the baptismal program to school and showed it off to all his friends, he was really happy about it and it brought so much joy to Elder George and I.

 

Another little miracle was with our Recent Convert Eric Soto.  Right after he was baptized the ward changed their meeting time, which didn't permit him to come to church any more due to his work schedule. He remained faithful and would go and take the sacrament in the Tala'ofa Tongan ward. This miracle is a lot of thanks to the ward council (goes to show how key they are in missionary work and in helping converts to stay active; and our ward council is awesome!). The bishop and the ward council decided they weren't satisfied with Eric just taking the sacrament, so they decided to fast and pray for him to get a change in work schedule. Last week on Sunday, Eric told us that he was laid off from his job.  He said that he was OK with it cause he knew that God was watching over him and that people were praying for him, and he was happy that he would be able to go to church with his family on Sundays. Miracl,e right? But that's not it, Eric call us up on Friday to let us know that he got his job back, but that he would be working a different shift, and that he would have Sundays and Mondays off! Another Miracle!!!! Proof that Ward council is important and proof that God really does provide a way for his children to fulfill his commandments. I know God's hand is here in this work.

 

We are also working with a man named Trevor Phillips, he has not only 1 amputated leg, but 2.  He is going in for surgery tomorrow to take more off his leg.  He called us up last week and requested a blessing. His wife is a member, she hasn't been too active, and he is not a member, but we hope that through his struggles and tribulations his heart will be humble and he will choose to be baptized!

 

Well, I love you all so much! Keep on being awesome, I love you!!!!!

Elder Jesse Grover

California - September 24, 2012

What up family!!!!

Thanks for the package, it was great!  I love the t-shirt, it fits great! And the fruit snacks are da bomb!!!!

That's awesome to hear that Jade will be getting his call! I am super stoked for him, maybe he will be called to the Sacramento Mission, it is the best in the world, ha-ha! No I am going to stick with India.

We had a baptism this Wednesday of Christian Nybo; we are happy for that and  hope all goes well with him! We have had an increase in our teaching pool, and have hope for all of them. We had a crazy day at church: #1 - 5 Investigators, but lots of them believe differently than us on homosexual relations and so they were discussing that. Some of them believe that God's ways will change and soon people of the same sex can be sealed in the temple, gross right? It was a part member family that just moved here. Anyway, a recent returned member who had been excommunicated, and was just re-baptized, spoke up and told it how it was. It was cool, remind me to tell you about it in full detail sometime. I am grateful for the knowledge that God has given us from the beginning of time on the sanctity of marriage, and for true prophets and apostles, and members in the church that stand strong in the gospel.

Love you all and wish you the best,

Love Elder Grover

Pictures from Cali

Yummy Food

The Hernandez Family

Elder Grover with his district

Elder Grover and his zone

What's up?

Jordan Moore's baptism

Jordan Moore on his baptism day with his mom and little brother

P-day fun

California - September 17, 2012

Dear Family!

So we had transfers and I am staying with Elder George. We are excited, we have been seeing baptisms and lots of people come unto Christ, so we are happy. We had a baptism last week of Jordan Moore and we have another one in two weeks, his name is Christian Nybo; we are reactivating his mom, he is only 9, but really cool. Things are going good here, it is crazy lots of my mission buddies are going home this week, and the sisters from my district in the MTC will all be going home, it makes me feel like the time is going by too fast! Elder George will be going home after this transfer, so I hope I don't get trunky, haha! That is the goal for the transfer, stay focused, haha. Don't worry, I will :). We got to go to the temple today which is always a neat experience.

So Jade will be serving in India :) that is my guess. He is a hard working kid, so it will be good for him. I know mom, you want all your kids to go in the states; you got me to stay here, but I think Jade is going out of the states, haha :) 

Everyone keep your head up! Keep working hard, the blessings will continue to come and God will bless you, his plan is so incredible!

Love Elder Grover

California - September 10, 2012

Dear Family!!!!!! 

How are you? It is good to hear all that is going well back in B-Town with football new babies on the way.  I thought that I would go my whole mission without any new additions, but there will be 3 new ones, that is super crazy. Jade could be gone on his mission by the time I get back, which would be sad that I wouldn't be able to see him, but it would be awesome to have him go out and do the greatest thing in the world. Probably spanish speaking right, haha? Or maybe he will go to India or something like that, but it is cool either way. Jade, know that now satan is going to try to stop you from going, but just resist him; go to deseretbook and buy a mini Preach My Gospel, yeah a mini, and it is only 4$, they rock, haha! I got one and I love it! We should be having a baptism this Tuesday if all goes well. We hope that all goes well and all those involved can get work off, we should find out today, but if not he will be baptized this weeekend, so no worries. Can you believe that this is week six of the transfer? Yeah, how crazy! We will have transfers this coming week, how crazy is that?

 

I love you all and wish you the best!

Love Elder Grover

California - September 3, 2012

Hello Family!

I am doing good here, we have a baptism coming up next week of a 12 year old kid named Jordan, and then hopefully some more after that, but we will see.  They just made lots of changes here in the stake, adding the new spanish ward, but all is good and the work will go forth; we are seeing many blessings.

I hope all is well back at home and that you are all safe and happy and that you are staying busy as usual and having fun. I wish you a Happy Labor Day.  I figured you had plans and were busy, so I hope that all is well. Remember I love you and so does our loving Heavenly Father!

Love Elder Grover

California - August 27, 2012

Dear Family,

All is going well here, just working, working, working like always, right? We were excited about the Baptism of Eric Soto. We also had Stake Conference which was a lot of fun, very full. 3 huge wards are in our stake with the new spanish ward, so we are super excited to work here, we are excited to see the growth in the church continue to go forth. We also had Zone Conference this week, which was also a treat.  Elder George and I had to give a training and it actually turned out very good, haha, lots of fun. This week President Lewis will be coming out with us as a companionship, so it will be a lot of fun to work one on one with him and to learn from him!

It is good to hear that all is well back at home; busy as always, that is good, I would be worried if it wasn't busy there, that would be really different. I love you and hope all continues to go good!

Love Elder Grover

Baptism of Eric Soto (yeah Spanish last name right, and looks Spanish too, I guess I can't get away from the hispanic culture; he doesn't speak Spanish,but his mom does)

Crazy Wave " HELLO"

Cazy P-Day look :)

Elder George, mi Companero descansando, or in other words taking a nap, haha!  

California - August 20, 2012

Hey Family What Up!!!!!!

It is good to hear all is going well back at home with school and all. Yeah, it does seem that McKady is growing up really fast. I guess a lot happens in the short amount of time that I have been gone,huh? Oh wow! But it's good life goes on since life is a progression, it is important that we progress in the right direction and that is the best thing ever - progressing in Christ. As a missionary we are in the spiritual time of our lives, but our testimony is challenged every day and it always seems to be by the strangest of people. A week ago today, me and Elder George had this crazy Christian bash with us and tell us a million times we were wrong, and at the end he had the nerve to tell us that when our missions were over we need to go home and repent! Oh, we were so ticked, that was too much, so we did what we are supposed to, and that is bear testimony of the truth and allow them to pray and to find it out for themselves. But yeah, that was an interesting experience.

The work is going really well here, we have a baptism coming up this Saturday of a man named Eric Soto. We are excited about it, he is so super solid with a strong testimony. Now I can tell you why I was sent here to North Sacramento in English. They announced yesterday that they will be splitting the Del Norte ward, where I spent almost all of my mission, and so we will be having spanish missionaries coming into the zone, so I will be working with them and with the stake on how to help the new spanish ward coming in. I am excited about it, it shows growth and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to be a part of it!

Well, I love you all, you are so amazing and great!

Love Elder Grover 

California - August 13, 2012

Hello Family, 

This is Elder Grover coming from the Natomas 2nd ward in the North Sacramento Stake, home of the Baptizers :) Haha, well, at lest now, haha, jk. Things are going super hecka good here in Sac, I am really loving English work here. The stake and the ward are fantastic, it is nice to work more directly with the bishop and stake president, it has never been like this until now, so it is nice. The members are super, super awesome; we have meet a lot of great people here and the work in our zone is going very well. We are seeing many miracles which is always fantastic, so yeah.

Elder George is a fantastic missionary from Rexburg, ID. He has been out on his mission for 21 months and has been a Zone Leader for a long time as well, so he is showing me all the ropes and I am just trying to soak it all in, it is a lot of fun. Our zone is fantastic, full of good missionaries, and we are seeing lots of success in the work of the Lord. They just had a baptism the week before I got there, and we have 2-3 people who are progressing very fast, so we are happy. If you can't tell, I am happy, I am so very happy things are going so well here. I am in an area that I have served in before, just now I am in English. So I am not flustered trying to learn a new area, I already know it, so it is easier to just get out and work! There is a less active that we have that just loves me, haha; he is from a little town in Utah, just moved out here with his son and he is a lot like dad, he loves horses and Porter Rockwell and old country music.  He also is a painter and he was wondering if I could get him some photos of some of the sites down in southern Utah, like the mountains and rock formations, the mitten and stuff like that.

Congrats on the fair and everything! Good luck with school and everything coming up!

Love ELder GRover

California - August 7, 2012

Hello Family,

So big news, this week is transfers and I am leaving. But the bigger news is that I will no longer be serving the hispanic people, I have been moved to serve in an English ward, yes, haha! And what's even crazier is that I will be covering the same area I was in before, but this time in Engish; it will be a smaller area, but there are more people that speak English, so it will be good. My companion is Elder George, and I will be there as a zone leader, haha; yeah, what's up with the church these day calling people like me to be leaders? Haha, just kidding, it will be exciting; I am interested to see how it is teaching in English, so I am excited for it. I will really miss the branch here, I love so many of the members here. In church on Sunday and we all stood and sang, "I Know My Redeemer Lives",  and I almost came to tears, the spirit was strong and I was at the front translating, so I was able to  to look out and see all the people. I knew then that I would be leaving and I will really miss this place. But there is some good news that I will be able to tell you in a few weeks, it is not for sure right now, but it will be awesome! I will still be in a car, so I won't be on a bike, so I am pretty excited for that, haha.

Congrats on the job Tamra; and wow' JJ a stay at home dad, haha, that is crazy! The fair already, wow, time is passing so fast. I love you all and appreciate all you do for me. I should have more time next week to email, I am busy packing today, but know that I love you.

Love Elder Grover