Elder Zach Greene: Guided in our Efforts

Well hello there,

Sounds like the Greene family is doing good! A lot of news today! I think the two things that surprised me the most are Collin going on a mission so soon and Coach Vee retiring (Zach and Jared's volleyball coach). She affected a lot of missionaries lives when I really think about it. Anyways, no I didn't buy slacks, we went to Costco and they were $50 dollars so I said nah I'm good, I did end up buying a cool sweat shirt though. If you want to send me slacks you can. I probably need a pair of black ones, I like the blue Louis Raphael ones I've had, so if they have them in black that would be cool. Tempting to get khaki ones but then I need brown shoes so I'm good, hahah. Also it would be good to send me some more gel. So not sure if you all knew, but Elder Brough (Dalton's little brother) is in my mission, he's visa waiting to go to the Vanuwatu islands. I saw him twice this past week, I know his trainer and he said he's awesome, he wants to shred his visa.

Anyways the Orioles game was way fun, even though the Rockies beat us. It was pretty amazing for me to see how different our mission is now. I don't know anyone except all the other Zone Leaders and the assistants, there are so many new missionaries. With at least 40 more on the way, this mission has become quite a young crowd! But we had a great time, I saw the Baltimore Spanish Branch which was great and then I saw Elder Knudsen with the Baltimore YSA branch. Davonte was there so that was awesome to see him. We ended up getting back at like 12:30!

Well this week was great! For the past while our Branch hasn't had a Ward Mission Leader, and they finally called him yesterday. Honestly he's one of my favorite guys in the branch. Little coincidence here; he has a son on a mission in Long Beach who left this past May. He also has a 17 year old son named Jared that comes out with us. He bore his testimony on Sunday to us 5 missionaries about how much he loves missionary work. He then told us, as a couple tears went down his cheeks (this guys a homicide detective), that if there was ever anything that we needed that he would get it done. Because he would want the same for his son out in Long Beach. (Sound familiar?) Heavenly Father's looking out for ya Dad.

So last Sunday we met a man named "D". He is a recent convert who got baptized in Chicago in January and now he is here (really long story made short). He is an amazing guy but hasn't been taught much since his baptism. So we taught him twice this week. The first time we talked about blessing the sacrament and the second we talked about doing baptisms for the dead. He had no idea what baptisms for the dead were, haha. Come Sunday, "D" walked in and I kicked one of the priests out of his spot at the sacrament table (with love). "D" did awesome and blessed the sacrament for the first time! Now this Saturday we should be going to the Temple with him to do baptisms for the dead! I just thought it was so amazing that we got to help him progress in just a short week. I believe that each Ward and Branch has people like "D". They do all the right things but they just need some help to take that next step in their lives. We just have to find them!

Last I wanted to share a miracle we saw this week. So we had a Trainer/Trainee meeting last week. Part of the focus was planning with the Spirit, and it was awesome. They talked about how oftentimes we simply say,"please bless us that we may have thy Spirit to be with us" (or something like that, I don't know, I wouldn't do it in English). But really, if we truly want a member of the Godhead to help us in our planning efforts (or in any phase of our life), we should show God how much we value it in our prayers. So after that training we set about trying to ask for the Spirit with more desire and faith. For two days every member or investigator we tried was home! I felt so blessed by how much more guided we were in our efforts. I know that we can apply this principle with any calling or even if we just need some direction.

Well I love you and I am grateful for your letters and prayers! Have a great week! Oh and let me know how you are doing with your family mission plan! I want to hear some missionary experiences!

-Elder Greene

P.S. Stoked for the pods, I have actually been having some trouble here and there with these ones. Last night it just shut off in the middle of dinner with a family. By the time we got done with dinner (I wasn't going to pass it up, it was steak, chicken and jumbo shrimp) I was high and feeling nashty. But hey, it was an adventure. Also I've been putting them on my arms more often because they seem to get infected sometimes when I put them on my legs? We'll see how the new ones go.

P.P.S. Random question, what is Trevor's major? And I assume Jared and Collin are just doing generals?