Trials Affect Us For Good

Como estan?

It's been a crazy week here in Columbia but a good one! I am pumped to hear about Collin's mission call! (Zach's cousin Collin got called to the Spain Malaga mission) I guess Connor just didn't follow the trend of cousins speaking Spanish, haha. But tell Collin how awesome that is and that I'm proud of him, I can't believe I won't see him for more than four years! It seems you all are adjusting to having two kids around, which sounds weird to me too. So side note here, me and my companions are moving to another apartment, tomorrow. Kinda crazy, we found out on like Friday. I have to call Fedex and get the pdm shipped to the new address (no worries there, I got it taken care of) but I also am not sure what to do about the test strips coming... Anyways, my address is 10300 Hickory Ridge Rd Apt #203, Columbia, MD, 21044. I think I'm going to break a record of apartments lived in, tomorrow will be my 9th, hahah.

Always good to start a letter off with some good food stories. One night we ate flautas, they're kinda like really good hot pockets. While we were eating, Hno "V" asked me if I'd ever eaten "calzones". I said yeah of course, they're delicious. He and his wife smiled and asked where I had eaten them and I talked about it a little bit. Then I said,"Una vez, yo comi una calzone asi de grande" using my hands to show that I ate a big calzone one time. They started busting up laughing, and I didn't know why. Then Hermano "V" explained to me that Calzon in Spanish is woman's underwear. Yeah he got me pretty good. Another night this past week we ate fish soup with a couple in our Branch. It wasn't bad, but it was strange to look at a fully scaled fish face looking at you in your soup.

Well Dad, you are practically famous (just kidding) over here in the Columbia Spanish Branch. Every member of the Branch Council is reading "El Poder de Misioneros Cotidianos" or "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" because I told President Flores to do so. He read half of it in two days and now he's fired up, hahah. I love this branch so much!

On Sunday we had some really cool miracles. Hermano "C" came to church and loved Gospel Principles. We had another investigator come as well, "D". The "E" family, who I believe I've mentioned in a past letter, have been to church 4 times in a row and now are "reactivated"! The branch is on fire and I'm amazed at how much God has done these past two months while we've been here. One factor that helps a lot is that many less actives are coming back to church just because people are loving them, instead of telling them why they need to come to church.

Last night we visited with a woman in our branch outside her home. She is an amazing person and has had some very difficult trials in her life. Her husband has had Parkinsons disease for the past ten years, her son can't work because his papers are still coming through and finally her daughter just went through a rough divorce. Yet, as we talked with her you could just feel how much she relied on the Savior. As we left we said a prayer and the Spirit I felt was really strong. I thought about that experience for a while last night and it really strengthened my testimony of how trials affect us for good. Here was a woman that had been through more hardship than your average mom and yet the spirit that she had was one of strength and hope. I know that the trials that we have in life are for our benefit, and that if we choose to learn from them, that we will progress and become stronger sons and daughters of God.

Well we got some packing to do, but have a great week! I love you all!

-Elder Greene