California - March 19, 2012

Dearest Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My greenie flew out this morning to Salt Lake to get his visa, and then he will head out to Chiuaua, he was excited but also very nervous. It is weird to just have 1 companion again, I don't have to be running around trying to keep track of 2 ninos, now it's only one, haha! Things are going good, we were sad to have him go this week because we have a baptism this weekend for Monica Palacio, so we are sad that he will miss it, but he does have a convert here in Sacramento, and hopefully a few others that will decide to get baptized here pretty soon. But, everyone has their own free will; sometimes I wish we could just dump them in the water and get it all over with, but it is just not that easy; but I know the ones who are supposed to get baptized will get baptized, and that's a beautiful thing!

That is exciting that Dallin got his call, that is the first to leave the country for Aunt Christine, right? That's awesome though! When can Jade put his papers in? Jade, are you preparing? Maybe you will go to India, I heard the work over there is going crazy. A missionary in my zone has a brother over there and he says they are baptizing like crazy, there are so many prepared and waiting for the gospel; I wish all the India people over in my area were that prepared, haha! It is surprosing how many there are over here, that is for sure. The beautiful thing about missionary work is that there is always someone prepared, you just have to find them, that is where the work comes in. We go out, we work, we teach people who may not be prepared then but because we found them they came to be prepared sometime afterwards and then BAM, you find someone who is prepared, and then there is a baptism, that is something so so so beautiful, I love it! Monica was prepared for us and she was prepared for this moment, we were just kinda the way for her to make this covenant, we commit her to do something and she will do it. We reviewed the interview questions and she really didn't know too much about President Monson, so we told her she could go to the church website and learn more. The Missionary that did the interviews said he was super impressed with her, she said that she had researched on the church website to find out about the profeta and all the other questions that she had. Her parents came into town and so I was afraid that maybe she would face some opposition, but if she did, it didn't faze her! She came to church with her parents, they didn't want to come, but they were there, it was fantastic!!!!

So, I guess Greg Acton was here last week and he went to church at one of the wards in my zone. I heard he came by, I didn't get to see him, but Brother Byrd told me he was here. Brother Byrd said he was going to Blanding, I am thinking that I might send some stuff with him, like a box of things I haven't used or stuff that is hard to pack around, which might be really nice, hopefully he can do that for me. Maybe I can send you all some cool stuff, who knows, but I will let you know if it is on the way, and maybe i will just give him y'alls phone number and he can communicate with all y'all. Oh, I love you all so much, the Church is so very true, I love it, I love it here in Sacramento. Our Bishop, Obispo Woodland, told me yesterday they were going to request my records 'cause I have been there for so long, haha! I really do hope I can stay longer, I love this ward and I love the people I have seen progress here. :) Love you all so much
Love Elder Jesse Grover

California - March 12, 2012

Hello Family
How is life back at home? Things here are good here, the work continues and we are seeing a lot of wonderful things happening here and are hoping for the miracles to continue! We did have the opportunity of listening to an apostle of the Lord, which was an awesome experience for all the missionaries. It was actually a two mission conference, we met with the Roseville mission. You can really tell the difference in the appearance of missionaries from our mission and theirs, not to be prideful, but we looked a whole lot better! We all had parts in our hair and nobody had bright flashy ties that took from message we try to share. But all in all it was a fantastic opportunity to meet an apostle and to receive instruction on how to better ourselves as missionaries. Saturday I had the opportunity of participating in 2 baptisms, one of which was one of my old investigators that moved, but she was baptized and it was a very spiritual experience for me. Also, there was another lady that I taught twice on exchanges, and she was baptized, also a very spiritual baptism. These were two truly converted people that entered the waters of baptism, it was super awesome! One of our own investigators is preparing to be baptized on the 24th of March and we are excited for her, her name is Monica Palacio and she also is one of those prepared ones! The work is so fantastic and I am excited to be here with my two companions and the work we are able to do! I love you all and hope all is well back at home, and want wish you a wonderful spring break!

Love, Elder Jesse Grover

HAHA me and my District Leader, Elder Walker (American Fork Utah) were tracting and found this at a house and it was super funny 'cause we had just been joking about me being fat and him being skinny, but how he loved me anyway, it was super funny!!!

Gloria Linda Francon!!!!!
She was baptized on Saturday super awesome!!!!!!! :)

California - March 5, 2012

Mother, be careful okay, no more hospital trips, that's not good!!!!! Sickness is going around everywhere, I was actually sick last week as well. Elder Stone has been sick all of this week and a lot of the other missionaries and a lot of the investigators have been sick too. There is not a whole lot we can do in this time of year huh, haha, it is in the air. I got mi Hijo, Elder Cooper, from Pennsylvania on Tuesday. This has been a growing experience for me because he is fresh out of the MTC and still fresh learning the language, so it helps me learn as well. Plus he has that greenie fire, so I am hoping to see lots of miracles! No breaks, we have to find the "inspired people"! He has taught me so much of great excitement for the work, and of course he is a red head, haha, so fiery is his middle name, haha! No, he is super chill, he has been at BYU for the past three transfers, and is a math major, far off from me huh, haha. It's all good, me, him and Elder Stone get along, and we put in lots of hours of work. We had a good Sunday with Monica Palacio coming to church and wanting to get baptized on the 24th of March. Yeah, we are so excited, it is a Part Member family, the husband, Jose, was baptized like 25 years ago and went less active awhile after that. When we found him, he said he had just started reading the Book of Mormon a little before that; Prepared, just an awesome family, another one of those that is just like God sent me here and he has prepared them for me and my companions to help. It is really just a beautiful thing to see the gospel change people, first us, second our families back home, and third other people who we were sent to find and help. I just love the work! 1 YEAR out, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This can't be, I just started and now I am on the down hill! This is the part I have been fearing for a long time, they say the second year goes by super duper fast and the first year flew by, do you think that I could get like a 2 year extension? Maybe I will ask Elder L Tom Perry this Thursday; oh yeah, by the way, he is doing a mission conference here this Thursday, so yeah, another GA is coming, how cool :) President Lewis is back here in Cali as our Mission President, so we are hecka excited to have him back here and to see many blessings. I love you all so much! I can testify that this is God's work. I can promise in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ that nobody can disrupt the work, there are people every day that do try to stop it, but they will not be successful. We have the gospel and it will be here until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This a very wonderful calling that we have and I know that I am where God wants me and I love it here. I love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Grover

ELDER GROVER AND ELDER COOPER