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

A baptism, great food, and sweet clothes!

I had the opurtunity of baptizing Anika Spalding, she was one of the Zone Leaders' investigators; I interviewed her to be baptized and she asked me to baptize her! Super solid family, her and her brother and sister are all super awesome, very amazing conversion story!

Here are some photos of some of the food I have gotten to eat, both are super good. 

Peruvian Food

Mexican Food

Me in mariachi clothes at our members house, haha! 

California - July 30, 2012

Dear Family,

How are you? I am doing good, we have had some good things happen here and we have seen many trials. The other night we had a Jehova Witness bash with us; so problem #1, bashing does not bring the spirit, and #2 it was in Spanish, and well, me and Elder Reid did our best and we did all we are supposed to do, testify of the restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon, so that is what we did, then invited him to pray about it, so that was a great experience for us, haha! Our Investigator chose not to get baptized on the 28th, he is still working towards baptism, but not this week. A 12 year old girl I found did get baptized, I found her and taught her, but her family, really just her uncle, didn't like us coming by because we were men and so we said ok, not a problem, we will send the sister missionaries over. So that is what we did and she got baptized, and that was a lot of fun! I was invited to participate in her confirmation, so it was nice. We had another investigator come to church and he is looking very promising, he loved church, so we have good hope for the future, so we are happy. We had interviews with President Lewis this week and I love him so much, I know without a doubt he is a servant of the Lord, called of Him to do His work. He does so much for all the missionaries. This is the last week of the transfer, so we are preparing to end strong. We were able to teach alot of lessons last week and we want to teach a lot more this week to prepare it, for the next transfer, whoever may be here

. 

Yeah, I hear the olympics were on; it is really hard to have to miss them, I think it has been harder than NFL, because NFL is every year but the olympics is not, and man it is tough. But Sis Davis said that they sell it on DVD, so I really want one so that I can watch it when I get back. Football is starting again, wow that is crazy! How are the Broncos looking this year? How is Jens looking for starting this year? Has he put in the time to do it? Remember, there are no gifts in football, you have to put in time to get the playing time. Get to work. And Jade, I have been waiting for an update on the mission call, when can your papers go in? The Mission is the best, so start it as soon as you can, it is a great privlage!

I love you all so much and appreciate all the work you have done for me.

Love Elder Grover

California - July 23, 2012

Hey Family,

Sorry about last week, my p-day was an activity with President Lewis, its called the Caloma Trip, which is for all the missionaries that are going home, but it only runs in the summer so I went last week. Oh no, that  means I go home soon :( But it was a lot of fun, I was able to pan for gold in the river and so that's always an experince right, haha?

Well, the work is going good here, I hope you all enjoyed the vacation in New York, I bet it was a lot of fun. Send pictures so I can take part in the trip as well.

Me and Elder Reid are continuing to work here, transfers are almost to an end so we are trying to end the transfer strong. I love you so all much!

Elder Grover

California - July 9, 2012

Hola La Familia Grover!

So Jordan is changing little by little huh, haha! I have a friend up at BYU who just left here like a transfer and a half ago, I think him and Jordan would be great friends, his name is Shawn Lebaron and he was a super solid missionary, reminded me a lot of Jordan. He is at BYU right now, I believe he is going back to be on the marching band, he was there before his mission. They should hang out, Elder Lebaron and I served around each other for like 3 transfers or something, maybe more, he was my district leader, he is awesome! They could talk about missionary things and try to find girls haha :) Everyone who sees my calender is like, man who is the lucky guy dancing with all the cute girls? And I am just like, bueno el es mi hermano, haha! So you can get girls bro, you are a stud, be confident and so go out there and commit somone to a date. There was a missionary who went home from here that went tracting, setting up dates there are all sorts of options,  haha! Well anyway, are you all excited to go to Nueva York? When you go to the sacred grove (or as all the missionaries here call me the sacred Grover), can you do the first vision in Spanish? the spirit is just so strong. (English is the language of buisness, french is the language of love and Spanish is the language of God) so who knows, right :) But really, it is super powerful, maybe it's because I never really say it in English, haha. But I bet the trip will be a lot of fun, send pictures so i can see it too :)

Hey, when is Jade putting his papers in? It is about that time right? Yeah, its the best, get them all ready and then you can send them in as soon as you can; maybe you will be as lucky as me to serve here in the holy land of Sacramento and be one on the Angels of Sac-Town, haha! No, but seriously, the mission is the best thing ever. Have you read Preach my Gospel? Isn't it great? I just got a new one and I am marking it up so I make sure I can be a Preach my Gospel missionary, you can be too! I know you will be a stud missionary in India, just converting all those indian people. Did you hear they just made their first stake over there? That is insane missionary work, truly its God's work, and it is the best thing anyone can do!

Me and Elder Reid are doing good working here, trying to get those baptisms, bringing many souls to Christ, so we are doing well. My district is doing well, all doing the training thing. One of the companionships will be having a baptism this Saturday, so we are all excited for the branch and trying to get all our investigators there. We have had the opurtunity of finding some young families lately, you have no idea how excited I am for them, I feel lots of potential.

I love you all a bunch, enjoy your trip and please be safe, y Que Dios les bendigas! 

Love Elder Grover