Blessing!

Hey family.

Well, it's P-day. Actually, pretty much everyday is P-day now. :]

I'm doing good. I've tried to guess and plan when I'm going to feel the most nauseous, but it seems to be different every week. The first week it was Wednesday and Thursday, last week it was Thursday and Saturday, and this week it's been yesterday and today. So I'm not feeling too hot, but ya know, it is what it is!

I'm almost half way done. This is week 3 of 6. So bring it on. I've learned some about sacrifice... Yeah it totally sucks finally being able to go on a mission, and then by circumstances out of my control, having to pause that mission... but I know that my health is pretty important, and hopefully me going through this again is making a difference in people's live, especially my own. I've had a few good conversations with people, and although this does suck, I'm just rolling with the punches and looking forward to the good times to come and the good days.

Just a cool little tender mercy for me yesterday... I felt sick yesterday, and had a home teaching appt set up for 6. I talked with my home teachee to make sure it was still alright to come, and he said that he had to go out of town... so we didn't visit him. BUT it was about an hour before that I really started to feel sick. I was going to just push through and go HT, but in the end I was really relieved.

I also got to go to the temple last Saturday and do a session with some friends. It was really nice. While I was getting ready to leave, I was thinking, "Okay, back to the real world." And it hit me, I went a whole hour and a half being a child of God, doing temple work, and not being the one going through chemo and radiation. I forgot about my health issues for a little bit, and what a happy moment that was for me. The temple is great. :D

I love you all! Thanks for all your love and constant support. Have a great THANKSGIVING! WOO! (Still can eat solid foods, so bring it on. BLESSING!)

Elder Gray

First week of treatment/Grandma's house!

Hello!

Well guess what?

Done with my first week of treatment. I'm glad it can be all here in cedar. I have chemo every Monday, and radiation every Monday-Friday. It's not as bad, so far, as I thought. Last week, I felt nauseous late Tuesday, all of Wednesday and Thursday, but not too bad. I also felt really bloated Wednesday. But by Friday I was feeling pretty good, almost like normal!

I was able to go to the temple on Friday. Mom and I stopped by the baptistry to see one of the shifts I worked on. And then we did initiatories. I saw lots of familiar faces. It was so great.

Yesterday's chemo went well. I felt a little sick during it, but that subsided. I felt good enough to go to my ward's FHE last night.

I'm trying to keep myself busy! I have been really searching on Family Search lately. In the last 2 months, I've found literally hundreds of names that need their work done. So next time you go to the temple, talk to me if you want to bring some family names. Otherwise I've submitted a lot of names to the temple.... which FYI is why going to the temple is important. It does help to bring family names, but trust me.... There's a lot of work in the temple files to get done. SO GO TO THE TEMPLE. OFTEN. :) I'm still trying to be a good missionary. I enjoy being able to share my testimony in person, through social media, and my blog.

On a completely unrelated note, this is cool... All my GRAY relatives, read this! 

 My Grandma Gray's house in Idaho Falls was torn down a little while ago. It was built back in the 1920s, my grandma grew up there, my dad grew up there too. After my Grandma Gray passed away a few years ago, the house was sold to the city. I looked on Google Maps, just curious to see if the house was still standing on the map. I looked, and it was gone. But I clicked on the street view, and the house was still there! Search the address for the house, click on street view, and you can still see it. Cool, huh? I took a few screenshots.

(The kids enjoyed floating down the ditch and helping flood irrigate the lawn)

Well, so far I'm doing good with the treatments. It sucks,  but life is good. Really.

Love,

Elder Gray

YO!

Hey family. Friends.

How are ya? Let me give you a little update on the last week.

I don't know how many of you have read the blog, but the big game changer from my email last week is that I've decided that Saturday was my last day at the temple for a little while. Yep, totally sucks. But I've got to work hard for my health right now. It was a little bit busy of a week. I met with Bishop Lunt, President Crankshaw (stake pres), and President Arnold (temple presidency member). I told about what was up. President Arnold said, "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I know you're a fighter. We'll be waiting and anxious for you to get back here when you're feeling up to it, if you still want to do that?" Of course! :) Haha. I anticipate starting back up again around the first of 2015... we'll see.

I had my first chemo treatment yesterday, and first two radiations yesterday and today. Chemo is once/week, and radiation is 5 times/week. I feel like yesterday when real good. Brooke and Easton even came to visit while I was sitting in my chair getting the meds. I've felt a tiny, tiny bit of nausea, but nothing too bad. So far, so good!!

I got the biggest surprise ever on Saturday. Actually, a few of them. But while I was in the cafeteria, Rhonda and Joe (two of the head cafeteria people) gave me a going away present: a book from Deseret Book, some candy, and a card. The card was personalized to me, signed by a lot of people from the cafeteria, one of my baptistry shifts, and even a few of the ladies from Laundry. It was so touching. It was signed... "We all love you, Your St. George Utah Temple Family & Friends."

The other awesome surprises I got that day... one, I got a text that Bishop Lunt had sent out to my whole ward, the gist of it... "Please keep Erik in your prayers this Fast Sunday as he prepares for upcoming chemo and radiation" (we had Stake Conference last week, so our Fast Sunday was this week). Two, we went out to dinner as a family at Wingers on Saturday night. I saw Merrick & Makaley there. After we all finished our dinner, our server brought out a piece of Asphalt Pie (the good mint ice cream pie).... "Someone ordered this for you!" All three of these experiences from Saturday really helped show me that I am loved! So much! And much more than I ever thought!

Let's do this!

Have a great week.
Love, Elder Gray

I can do hard things

How are you all? I'm doing excellent, considering what is going on lately. As I say everytime, I LOVE serving at the temple. Last week, I talked with a brother about 65/70 years old for a little bit. He told me that he had gotten baptized about 15 years ago, and guess what his first calling as a member was? 1st counselor in the Bishopric. That's right! He said that he got called in for an interview with the stake president, and was asked "would you be willing to shave your beard for a calling?" He agreed. Then he was asked "okay, would you be willing to cut your hair for a calling too?" (he had a ponytail, his hair was down to his back) and he was like "whoa!" But agreed. He told me that he was willing to give up something for his calling, for a greater cause, for what the Lord wanted. How awesome! And it turns out he actually was in Gma and Gpa's ward, and lived in the same apt complex as them when he moved to St George.

So now the big news... Long story short, I am starting chemo and radiation next Monday. In CEDAR! I had a surgery about two months ago, in which they didn't get everything.... they have been able to come up with a plan to do radiation a 2nd time (I had it almost 5 years ago). The chemo will help the radiation, my mom compared it to scrubbing a pan. It's easier to scrub it if you let it soak in water. That's essentially the purpose of the chemo. I will do 30 radiation treatments, 5 days/week for 6 weeks. The chemo (which is not too high of a dose) will be through an IV once a week for 6 weeks. Here we go again, but honestly, I'm doing a-okay. I feel at peace with everything and am totally relying on the Lord. I'm so glad that Heavenly Father has a great plan for all of us. And each hardship will, hopefully, allow us to grow. We are going to kick this cancer in the butt. Hard. And get this crap over with!

I CAN DO HARD THINGS! We all can.

I'm still working out the details of serving throughout this, but I do know that I probably will take off some time. The best thing about a service mission is that I can serve and still attend to my health.

Here we go! Thanks for all you do for me. I wouldn't be where I'm at today without all the love, support and friendship I've had throughout my life. :)

Elder Gray