Elder Gurksnis Goes to Brazil

This week we had a transfer and i officially finished my training as the financial secretary. Sooo im all alone now with lots of things to do lol. But we had a meeting with a financial representative of the church headquarters yesterday and that helped a lot. Also, we are gonna get to go to the church headquarters next to the temple in São Paulo for another training here in two weeks!!! and as a mission we are going to the temple and the newly finished São Paulo Temple Visitors Center on the 5th. Im wayyyy stoked!  The best part of this week was the stake conference we had on Sunday. I was able to see a few recent converts from one of my old wards and that was such a happy experience. One of these recent converts is Sara, who is thinking about serving a mission here in a little bit!! She will either do that, or marry a returned missionary lol so either way im pumped. She is super strong and ive got a good amount of people who have continued firm in that ward which is the happie...

Hey Brother Longhurst. This is Grayson Gurksnis, Matt Gurksnis' son! I wanted to write you just to be able to thank you for the many things you have done for me and for my family. I dont know how much you know about my family, but I have been out here serving in the São Paulo North Mission for about a year and 5 months now and I'm really starting to realize how this whole thing works. I've realized that all of us owe the blessings of the Gospel that we have to some 19 year old young man who once had a very big impact on the life of someone that came before us. I almost feel lucky that for my dad that experience came fairly recently if you look at it in a timeline of a church that was restored almost 200 years ago. I always remember hearing about an Elder Longhurst that sacrificied so much during his mission and had such a strong testimony of eternal families that made my dad want to be baptized. I feel like I've passed through some tough things on my mission but I coul...

ok guys so the best news of the week was i can talk with my fam every pday now! Im so happy to be able to talk with my fav people every week now. The mission is soooo great. Im so happy here in the office. We have so much fun as a staff. Im really liking being the Financial Secretary as well. Its a ton of responsibility and my phone buzzes constantly but its super fun. We work in the office from 10-4 and then take buses to our area to work for a couple hours. Its not a ton of time in the area, but I know the Lord will bless us with miracles. Im super pumped with my new companion. His name is Elder Araújo and we are really good buds and excited to work together. I think he'll end up being one of my favorite comps.  Today for pday the staff went to Presidents house. It was one of the best pdays of the mish! We played tennis lol and played pool and then had feijoada and acai for lunch. Their house is so fun and it was a good time with everyone. We are all good friends and that hel...

Oh my goodness. So many changes haha. So this last week I was called to work on the mission staff as the financial secretary. Im super pumped for the new call and to continue to just be a missionary in this work. My schedule is way different now and my PDAYS ARE ON WEDNESDAY now. Im in a really nice area of São Paulo and our house is pretty sweet as well so there are lots of pros.  My time was super fast in my last area, but im super happy with the work we were able to get done. And im hoping to receive good news in the coming weeks, cause it seems like a good 2-3 people we were teaching will be baptized.  Im also excited for the new area and my new comp (Elder Araújo from Maranhão here in Brazil). He is a killer missionary and a really good guy. Looking forward to getting to know him and work with him cause we will probably be comps until the end of my mission hahah. So we work in the office from 10-4 during the week and then leave at night to work in our area. Then o...

Ok fam so its been kinda a crazy week. This past week President called me to be the new financial secretary of the mission. So pretty much I will take care of all the finances of the missionaries, of President/SIster Ribeiro, and of the materials, transport, etc. of the mission.  It was kinda a big surprise cause usually you stay a good 8 months as a financial secretary, so i thought i had already passed my shot. I always wanted to be the financial secretary at the beginning of my mission. I didnt want it assss much towards the end, but im still super excited to start something new.  So my Pdays will now be on Wednesdays! So this Wednesday I will be able to explain a little bit more. And Im pretty sure I'll finish my mission in the office as a secretary. So it will always be on Wednesday from now on. I I have mixed feelings about it all cause there are pros and cons. I guess the 2 things I was kinda bummed about is the fact that I will have less time to work now. We stay i...

From Kristen: I asked Grayson to help me with an exercise for Seminary by writing a letter to his 17 year old self, knowing all that he knows now, to convince his 17 year old self why he should serve a mission.  Here is his letter. Dear Grayson,  This is your 21 year old self on your mission. First off I would like to let you know how happy I am. I want to let you know that there exists so much more than the little box you are in right now. There exists such greater happiness than just things of the world. The feeling and joy you'll have bringing souls unto Christ is much greater than you can imagine.  I wish you would realize the importance the Gospel could have in your life. There's so much more to these things that will  have an eternal impact. I wish you would understand better repentance and learn to use it daily in your life. Experience the atonement of Jesus Christ and feel him wiping away your past. Experience the joy that Christ feels in you when a...

The daily routine in Brazil is continuing. You leave in the morning and the sun literally hurts you, then at 3 o clock rain comes down so hard that it floods the city. This past week, there was a flood up to knee level in some houses.   Besides the rain, this week was finally a little more chill and we were able to work a lot in our area. We found some great new people who are so humble and accepting of our message. We have worked a lot with Daniella who was at church last week. On Monday night we visited her and invited her to be baptized. Her reaction was so surprising to us we almost laughed. She just said "Yeah, what do I need to bring to my baptism?" We were so happy seeing her willingness. She even talked about a cool experience she had in church on Sunday. This guy went up and gave a talk and started talking about how much his family has rejected/neglected him since becoming a member of the church. It was one of those moments I felt really worried for the peop...