2-3-14

Hola Familia!

Life here in Quincy is going great, i think after a few days i have finally figure out the road system, which means I will spend less time getting lost. Quincy is about double the size of Royal and i am actually serving in town as well. I'm still getting used to all of the people! Wow! Then i remember how small of a town i was coming from. But Quincy is really good. The ward here has lots of strong members! Here in Quincy there is one ward, and like Royal, they all come from the same few families and are all related. And yesterday at church someone asked me if i was related to someone who just moved to Arizona from their ward whose maiden name was Ray... I said, well if she is from AZ and she is related to the Rays, then probably but i would have no idea how! The only difference here is they all know how they are related to each other.

My Companion is Sister Tuigamala from West Valley, UT. She was born in Hawaii, but mostly raised in Utah, and yes mom her name is Samoan. The rugby player you asked about is her dads cousin. She is super awesome, has a really strong testimony and is ready to work! And check this out, she has a twin sister. What are the chances that 2 of my companions on my mission have a twin sister? Then i explain that i have a friend that is kinda like my twin sister...

So far Quincy is going really good, the Elders serving in Spanish in the area were really nice to us and set up appointments for us to meet all of the people the other sisters were teaching and I am really excited to be in this area, there are people who have good potential! They are so humble and trying to make changes in their lives. Plus Yesterday, we contacted one of the people they had been teaching and she accepted an invitation to baptism! She is 17 and really trying to get her life going in the right direction. It was really cool for me to 1. See my new companion invite someone to follow Jesus Christ, and 2. To see someone who has real desire to follow him. I am really excited for her! Her name is Sam! This is a good area with good people. The best part about Sam's lesson was that it was supposed to be at 6:30, but we went over and the super bowl was still on, so we had to ask if we could come back later. Note to self: don't knock doors during the super bowl, we would walk up to a house and the game would be blaring through the door. my favorite was the one that we knocked (and yes we could hear the game) and then after we knocked the tv got turned up way louder... It was super funny, happened more than once. But it was worth it to be able to go back over to Sam's and help her learn more. She already knows a lot and i am thankful for all the other missionaries that put in hard work to help her learn and prepare her to accept an invitation to follow Christ.

Today as I was reading, I read the Book of Mormon and i am going through highlighting every reference to Christ, along with some other things. But as i read today, i was surprised because there was only like 5 reference to Christ in like 3 chapters, which was weird because usually it is like 10 times per chapter, but then i realized that it was a the chapters where the Lamanites go to war with the people of Limhi over a miss-understanding. And how when we let our anger control us and whisk us away into war, we don't look to the Lord and try to live life with forgiveness and repentance. If my life was written in a history like the Book of Mormon, would there be chapters that the Lord will look for how many times he is mentioned and not be able to find any? Do i do what i can to make sure i remember the Lord and all of the many blessings that I have? It was a good learning experience. We have so many blessings and most of them are thanks to the Lord!

Missionary life is going really well, and i couldn't be happier, because i am a servant of Jesus Chirst. Thanks to everyone who supports me! And for the uplifting stories about missionary work. Hearing about friends back home who have acepted Christ is so awesome! Have a great week!

Hermana Ray