The last couple weeks have been insane. As many of you probably know, many missionaries around the world are returning to their home country because of Coronavirus. I got home Saturday after four days of traveling in Chile. I am now in a two week quarantine at my house. So far I am healthy, and happy to have this time with my family. In about two weeks I should be temporarily assigned to another mission to serve there, until further notice.
With all the changes that are happening in the world, my faith and knowledge of my Savior and the purpose of this life have really helped me. When I got called and told I would be leaving Chile where I had expected to be for two years, that I would be leaving all my friends, and all the wonderful people I met, with only a slim possibility of returning, I reflected a lot on the time I had there. I am confident I served exactly the purpose that God had for me in Chile. I know that I completed everything that was expected of me. When I got the call to go home I understood that at this time God has another purpose for me; another place for me to go and serve him. I know that all of this was part of His plan, that he knew when he called me that I would be serving for five months and six days in Chile and would be returning home. I am so grateful for the wonderful miracles I saw and had the opportunity to be a part of during these last five months. I’m so grateful for the eternal friendships I made, and the eternal lessons I learned. I’m so grateful for my faith that grew and my love for God and my savior Jesus Christ. I have attached some pictures that show my travels and my last couple weeks in Chile, I hope you all stay safe and healthy. Ciao :)
Dear parents!
Hoping you're having a good afternoon, we want you to know that the plain that took the missionaries from Santiago to SLC already arrived at the SLC airport. For the missionaries that have to take other flights in the US and wait long hours, we found a hotel for them to rest between flights.
I already sent the information from the US-in-flights that they will take from SLC!!
We hope and pray everyone gets home safe!
Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you or your missionaries!!!! We love them so much. Thank you for supporting them all throughout their wonderful missions.
When you have the time, would you let me know that they got home ok?
I'll be waiting for pretty pictures!!!! :)
Sister Jara
Friday March 27, 2020
Hello!
Elder Graff will be leaving Santiago Chile at 7am on Saturday March 27.
We just got the flight plans for Elder Graff from Salt Lake to your airport!
He will be leaving Salt Lake at 8:45pm and arriving in San Diego at 9:42pm.
Thanks so much!!
Any questions, we’ll be happy to answer
Sister Jara
Friday March 27, 2020
Dear parents
we would like to inform you that all the missionaries from the United States will be leaving from Concepcion to Santiago today Friday 27th of March at 17:00. We still don't have the itinerary of the flight from Santiago to Salk Lake City but it will be in the morning Saturday, but when we have more information we will send it to you right a way. But that flight is a chartered flight, so every one has a seat!
Thank you so much for your patience and love, we are taking care of all the missionaries and we're doing everything we can to send them home!
We'll keep you informed!
Sister Jara, Sister Alarcón and Elder Williams.
Sunday March 22, 2020
Dear Parents,
Through this letter, we want to give you an update on the situation of the missionary work in this part of the vineyard.
After speaking with the brothers of Salt Lake and the missionary department, and having always present the safety and well-being of each missionary, the Area Presidency has determined the return of all foreign missionaries serving in the South South America area to their countries of residence to be reassigned to a mission in the country.
This decision implies that your son Elder Graff will be returning in the next days, we will be sharing their flight information when we have it. We want also emphasize that due to the current challenges regarding international travel, this Return will be made according to the feasibility and availability of flights.
We are very grateful for having had the opportunity to have such special young people serving in the Lord's work and it has been a privilege for us to enjoy his presence in the Chile Concepción Sur Mission. May the Lord bless you always!
Sincerely,
President and Sister Carús
Monday, March 9, 2020
I lit my hands on fire
So yeah, that happened and it was funny, but that will
be in the story section of this newly formatted email :) Also,
I apologize for my grammar in advance.
Story
So right now there's a big thing going on with this new
virus Coronovirus or something. So everyone has hand sanitizer and stuff
to clean their hands. Well, my companion and I were in a lesson with two of our
amigos (you can see them in the photos. They are the joves that got baptized).
So we finished our lesson with them and they had some hand sanitizer on the
table, it was actually more of cleaning alcohol. But ya. So my brilliant
companero thought it would be really fun to show them a cool trick where he
would put the hand sanitizer on his hands and then light it on fire and he
would be holding fire (don't do this at home kids (or in other people's home
(maybe like at a pool, but maybe just don't do it))). So he did it and it was
cool and everyone was like "whoooo that's so cool!" and then they
turned to me, poor little Elder Graff who had never played with fire in his
life, and told me to light my hands on fire. So being the stud that I thought I
was, I did it. Problem was I put too much sanitizer on my hands and it started
to spread up my arm, burning off my hair, and so instead of a gentle blue
flame it turned into a big yellow flame and it was too big to put out with my
hands. I ended up freaking out and rolling my body over my arms which were on
fire and it suffocated it. So I learned my lesson and now I don't play
with fire.
Spiritual
So we baptized two youth this last weekend. One has 12 years
and the other has 19 years. We have been teaching them for the last three
months. I remember when I walked up to the girl, Lisset, and contacted her as
she was walking down the street. So many times my companion and I thought about
how we can help them, almost every night we prayed for them, and we saw really
big changes in their lives. These three months have really been a privilege to
see these two people grow in testimony and faith. This scripture really
demonstrates how I feel.
24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored
without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring
them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also
be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me
exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;
26 For because of the word which he has imparted unto me, behold, many have been born of God, and have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know of these things of which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is of God.
26 For because of the word which he has imparted unto me, behold, many have been born of God, and have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know of these things of which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is of God.
I am so privileged to have this opportunity to feel
this joy. I know this Church is the kingdom of God on this Earth. That this
gospel will help everyone that accepts it find their purpose in life, and
help them change to live a happier and more joy filled life. I know we are all
children of God and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know these things by the
power of the Holy Ghost which has borne witness to me that these things
are true.
Chilean things
Arroz con Leche (rice with milk) surprisingly a very
refreshing beverage on a hot Chilean day. Literally, it is a cold drink that is
rice with milk and I think a little cinnamon.
Elder Graff
Buenos Dias everyone! What a wonderful week it has been. Today I am going to start writing beater letters because my family told me mine were boring (with a lot of love). I am going to try to follow the pattern of my good friend Race McBride (sorry if I spelled your name wrong). So here we go.
Story
I have a new companion, Elder Scholes. So me and my companion have to travel to another city called Victoria every week. it costs about 2000 Chilean pesos one way to go by bus. that is about six soft serve ice cream cones (that's a lot of ice cream). So we found out that there is a train that passes through our city that we could take which only costs 700 chilean pesos. So last week we took the train. It was also my companions first time on a train in his life. We used the extra money to buy ice cream. On the train we found a pair of knock-off apple earbuds and one of the ear buds was detached. So we ripped off the other one and pretended they were air-pods (wireless headphones). When we got to the train station our zone leaders (missionaries in charge of the missionaries in charge of us) were their to pick us up, we came out of the train with our "air-pods" in our ears pretending to listen to music (that is very against the mission rules). When they saw us we pretended to be surprised and quickly took them out. Their faces were really funny. latter we showed them that is was just a broma (prank) and it was all good. The End
Spiritual stuff
We had a Conference with an area 70 (a really cool guy in the Church) and I asked a question about repentance. I kinda always thought about repentance as a prayer and after you are forgiven and try not to do it again. But the Area 70 explained that " Repentance requires a sincere and lasting change of thoughts, desires, habits, and actions. It is a positive experience that brings joy and peace." (Preach my Gospel 8). I never really thought of it like that that everyone needs repentance not only to be forgiven of their sins but also to continue to grow.
Chilean thing
There is a fashion trend here in Chile that I think is really interesting. A lot of the "cool" Chilean girls will braid seashells into their hair. it actually looks kinda cool and I attached a picture for your viewing pleasure. I just took this off the internet i didn't want to ask a random person to take a picture of her hair.
Other pictures are of me and my new comp, the ice cream we bought with our extra money from the train, and stuff. Have a great week and enjoy the beach for me.
Elder Graff
These last weeks have been pretty fun, all the missionaries went to an EFY (Especially For Youth) activity with about 500 youth in Chile and we were able to teach them a little bit and meet them, it was super awesome. The youth were singing a song, Called to Serve, and they didn't know the missionaries were there. They sang the first and second verse and then all of the missionaries came in and the youth went crazy! They were cheering and so excited we were there. I'll try to attach a link to the youtube video. https://youtu.be/
We come in about two minutes into the video.
Me and my companion also did a bit of cleaning. One of the lessons one learns when he does not live with his mother is that if food is left out, for instance if the fridge is dirty and left like that for a long time, this thing called mold tends to grow. Me and my companion learned this the hard way and attached are pictures of before and after we cleaned our fridge. But now it is better and we are taking better care of our fridge.
Other than that we had a movie night with some of the people we are teaching and we watched the movie, Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. We had a lot of technical difficulties but finally we were able to watch it. (it can be found on youtube). https://youtu.be/
It was really cool to see what people went through for this church that they knew was true, how much they suffered, and endured for their faith. That is all I have for today not a lot of time. Thank you all so much for being the wonderful people you are and have a fantastic time up there in the USA. Chou.
Elder Graff
The last two weeks have flown, we are teaching a ton of people and it is amazing watching the change that this gospel is making in people's lives. I don't have time to talk about all the supper cool things that are happening but one of the coolest things is seeing the gospel help some of these people strengthen their relationship with God. We have one person who really liked to drink a lot of beer, and because he received the testimony of the restored gospel and Jesus Christ, he has committed to never drinking Alcohol again. It is hard to explain but he drank A LOT of beer and this is crazy and it is nothing that we did as missionaries, it is all the spirit who testified of the truthfulness of our words to him.
Anyway my flower is doing super well and I bought another one so it could have a friend, soon I will have a whole garden. Me and my companion also got hawaiian shirts to wear on P-day and so that was super cool and there is a photo attached to demonstrate our excitement.
And the picture of us standing next to an empty lot was supposed to be the address of someone we were supposed to visit, this is the second time that this happened where the hose just magically flew away maybe they already found the gospel and just went to heaven taking their house with them. Have a great week and enjoy your nice wither up their in the states.
Elder Graff
"no te preocupe, se feliz"
Monday January 13, 2020
These last two weeks have been pretty great, lots of fun times, and cool things. My spanish is a little better and I am starting to understand a little bit more of what is happening. Also we have an investigator who wants to get baptized, he said that when his girlfriend or wife left him she used witchcraft to curse him and a ton of bad things were happening to him, but then when he started going to church the curse was broken and now he has learned more about the restored gospel of Jesus christ and wants to make the babtismal covenant with God. It is super cool to watch how the gospel can change people's lives for the better.
I have some pictures to send to. One of the people we are teaching found an old electricity plant that people used drink in and have little parties and stuff. He is super big into history though and wanted to preserve this monument so that it could be a museum so he boarded up all the windows and put a giant reinforced door on the front to stop people from getting in, and now he has a little electric plant all to himself that he keeps clean so that someday it can be a museum. It's a super sweet little fort.
One more little story, this last week me and my companion were walking along the street and we saw a group of about 10 street youths (youths of the street) who were walking our way. A lot of people think that if they are in a big group they are safe from the missionaries, but I was in a really good mood that day so I decided to contact all of them at once. It was a lot of fun, I stopped them and started to teach them about the wonderful restored gospel and how it could bless them and they could know it was true. It was a lot of fun, my companion thought I was a little crazy but that's okay.
I hope everyone back home is having a great winter and having a lot of fun, I am only going to write emails every two weeks from now on just to let you all know and thank you so much for your emails, I love hearing all about what is happening at home. Good speed.
Also one of the pictures is of me and little sebastian from parks and rec. if you don't watch the show don't worry about it
Elder Graff
Monday, December 30, 2019
Merry late Christmas Everyone and a happy new year! Today I have a little more time to write a real letter, the last two weeks I was really rushed. This last week was really fun because of the holidays and everything, on Christmas Eve me and my companions went and tried to visit people who were alone for the holidays and bring a little Christmas cheer, and it was really fun. We ended up finding a member of the church that doesn't come very often and we sang Christmas hymns with her and shared the Christmas story out of the bible, it was a really special experience. We had to almost yell for her to hear anything, but she really appreciated it and if felt good to bring that cheer to her home. The next day we went caroling to houses of church members and that was a lot of fun.
We also found a new person to teach, and he is awesome. We gave him a pamphlet to read about the restoration of the church and he actually read it, it was crazy. My companion has been here for five months and this is the first person who actually read the pamphlet, and he had questions. It is the simple things like that that make missionaries dance around the room in their pajamas:)
I also realised that I haven't talked at all about the difference in culture and weird chillaian things that are here so I thought of a few today.
1. People point at things with their lips, instead of their hands. So if they are giving directions or something will be like por ahí and then point with their lips, it's pretty funny, and i have a picture of to demonstrate this phenomenon.
2. Another thing is soda is really cheap here about 20cents, for a small bottle. I thought this was crazy so I bought a bottle and then went to leave the store, and found out why it was so cheap. You have to drink it in the store and leave the bottle, because they are all re-used.
There are some other things to but I will have to have something to talk about next week so for now, feliz año nuevo y volocidad de Dios
Élder Graff
no te preocupes, se feliz
P.S. also there is a photo of a cat in the pictures that has no significance whatsoever, just cool eyes.
Monday, December 23, 2019
Not a ton of time today but this last week was pretty great. I was complimenting a lady on her garden and she gave me a baby yellow calla lily it was awesome, a picture is attached. It was also my companions birthday and we had a giant BBQ in Chile it is called an Asada, It was super cool. We were also able to teach the message of the Restoration of the gospel and what a blessing it is to our lives, and there's almost nothing as powerful as this message and the spirit is so strong when we teach it, I hope that everyone has a supper Feliz Navidad, and remember to remember why we have christmas. Thank you all so much for your letters and I wish you the best.
https://www.comeuntochrist.
Elder Graff
don´t worry, be happy
PS one of the photos is just some cool flowers we have here and another one is us with someone we are teaching, Anibal, he is super awesome!
This last week we had two unplanned service opportunities. I got to paint lines on the street and I got to shovel a ton of dirt out of someone's driveway, all in my slacks, dress shoes, and tie. It was fun, I love these opportunities to serve and it helps us get to know the people of chile in a more natural way rather than approaching them on the street and them awkwardly trying to tell us to leave them alone.
One of the coolest things about being a missionary is how the spirit guides us. for example, one day we were looking for a person that we were supposed to visit, but we only had the name of the neighborhood. we started walking into the neighborhood and then decided to say a prayer. after we said a prayer we felt like we should talk to an old lady that was walking down the street. we said hello and asked if she knew where our person lived. she pointed to a house right down the street we were about to pass over, and she told us that that was the house of the person we were looking for. little miracles like this are always big testimony builders, and really show how God will help us as we strive to do his work. Thank you so much for all you letters, and have a fantastic week. Godspeed
December 9, 2019
Elder Graff
Hola! I don't have a lot of time this week, but I wanted to send out a quick weekly email. Chile is awesome. I am in a little town in southern Chile called Lautaro it is really nice surrounded by countryside and rivers, it is perfect and the weather is amazing. My companion is awesome, Elder Cummings from Texas and we both want to work hard so it is really good. We also are teaching four people right now so that's really good. Here are some pictures from Chile, and I will write more next week. Thank you all so much for your prayers and your faith. Good luck and God Speed. Chao Chao.
Elder Graff
P.S. From Camille (Elder Graff's mom): We were able to talk with Elder Graff today and he is doing so well! He says he loves Chile and that it is so beautiful! He says there are flowers everywhere and if you know him, he loves flowers! The second thing I thought was funny is again, if you know much about Elder Graff, he has the hardest time staying awake! I asked him how this is going and he sheepishly admitted that he is still falling asleep all the time when he and his companion are talking with other people! So funny. He said the people are all so kind to them and are always feeding them lunch, as that is their main meal of the day.
Another thing he shared with me was this: "one thing I have realised is how much improvement I can make in my efforts to serve. A few days ago we saw an old woman picking weeds in her yard and we offered to help. It was cool. After, we gave her a little message. It is good to serve, it lets the light of Christ that we have as members of the church shine brighter. I was reading yesterday in third nephi and I came across the scripture where God introduced his son to the Nephites and I was just thinking, what a proud dad! I thought it was really cool."
Thank you for your emails and prayers for him. They mean so much to him and really motivate him. The picture with him and his companion in front of the greyish/blue building is their church building.
Love, Camille
December 3, 2019
I am here. i am safe. my p day is on monday tell you all about it later
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