California - January 30, 2012

Hello Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week was a little crazy. We got told on Thursday that there would be a Special Mission Conference. We were a little shocked and a little worried about what was going on, some thought the world was going to end or an earthquake was going to happen, lots of crazy ideas, but we were a little surprised when we found out what it was actually for. We were all sitting there waiting, and they had us all stand up, and Elder Jeffery R Holland came in with President Weston and his wife! Yes, THE Elder Holland. We all got to shake his hand, and he interviewed every single one of us. He looked into our eyes and said we all did well; he said none of us were perfect, but we were good. He asked me where I was from, I said Blanding, Utah, and he was like, "oh, San Juan Broncos huh?", I was like, "uh..... yeah". Elder Holland knew my high school, haha! Crazy huh? Yeah, we have quite the reputation I guess :) He came to check on the mission beause we lost our mission president for awhile. He said he was worried because usually he gets to missions and they are in a mess when things like this happen, but he said we were in very good shape. We have a very good temporary mission president, and that the work was still progressing. But he did say that this was no excuse to slack off, we still neeed to improve, and when he talks to you, oh you want to improve! Wow, you think he is good on television, try listening to him live, within 10 yards! Wow, it was absolutly wonderful, words can't even describe it!!!!!

This week we also saw Gladys Knight and her Saints Unified Choir, which was super awesome. It was a fantastic event. Her and her husband have solid testimonies, and the songs were more upbeat than usual, but really good. Yeah, her and her husband are both converts, she followed after her kids, they were baptized first, and then she was baptized. She was taught when the missionaries were teaching the 6 memorized lessons, and she said after the second one, she was ready to be baptized. She then got married to her husband, who was not a member, but they had been friends for like 30 years. They got married and he wanted to find out what this whole Mormon thing was all about, he was baptized and raised up a very staunch Baptist, but he now testifies very bodly of the truthfullness of the church, it is really awesome.

Our investigators are doing well, we are still teaching them, and they are still passing through lots of trials. We are teaching a lady who is about to leave her boyfriend because they are not married, and she knows that living with someone is a sin. She goes to another church, so she wasn't going to be able to come to ours, but we decided to call her Sunday morning and see if she could come, and guess what, her ride to her church fell through, and she asked if we could get her a ride. So we found her a ride and she came to our church. She told us later that she was praying, asking God which church he wanted her to go to, and then it worked out that she was able to go to ours. She liked it, it was a little more mild than she was used to, she goes to a Christian church, and some of those are a little crazy, haha. But, it was a really packed week. But all is good, I hope all is well at home. Just keep praying and keep working hard. Love you all so much!

Elder Jesse Grover