Lots of Fish and Bathroom Remodels

Que pasa Familia Verde!

November is coming quick that's for sure. I was jealous of your 90 degree high for this week, we have been having 60 degree highs and a nice wind chill. Maryland has solidified my testimony of Arizona. Anyways, I get by, hahah. What's everyone being for Halloween? We were just e-mailed by President Richards that we will not be able to proselyte Halloween night. I guess it's too high of a chance of drunk drivers, hitting a little kid in our car, etc. So now me and Elder Greene have to plan out Halloween night... It's going to be a little different from last year when me and Elder Ocasio taught Spanish people who didn't celebrate Halloween in the slums of Virginia. Anyways, crazy that Hayden and Karson are home! I'm sure Hayden could help you out with missionary work in the Higley Groves ward!

So my funny story of the week begins last Monday. We went to Costco just for kicks to see if we wanted to get anything. We roamed around the meat section and Elder Green possibly wanted to buy a salmon (special occasion, he hit 1 year this week). As we debated over buying a $14 salmon, a woman came up and said Hey Elders, are you going to buy that fish? (this may be more common in Utah or Arizona, less common in Maryland.) Long story short, she bought us our 1 lb 4 oz salmon! So Tuesday night, we marinate the salmon with Teriaki sauce and the next day we cook it in the oven and then on the frying pan. 10 oz of salmon each, delicious. The rest of the afternoon we were nice and full of fish, but we still joked about eating more fish, it was really good. Anyways, we get to our member's house to eat at 5 and as soon as we enter the house we had a wave of fish smell hit us. We both looked at each other pumped! They cooked us Mojarra frita or in english, fried Tilapia, scales and all. (I took a pic but forgot my camera today so I'll send it next week). After eating the first one they said, Elders do you want more? We said sure, although we were pretty satisfied (gotta earn trust/win hearts). They gave us each another full tilapia, bigger than the first. Needless to say, it was the most fish I've eaten in one day, haha!

This week we did service for a semi active member, Hermana "C". She's the only woman from Spain that I have met on my mission. We have adapted saying "Vale" and "Como estais?" in our day to day language. Anyways, we knew we were doing service but we didn't know what. We got there and she wanted us to take out and replace the baseboard and fish (?, finish maybe?) the ceiling plaster, hahah. Would you trust me to remodel your bathroom? But after having her sign some liability forms (kidding) we went to work. In the end it didn't look to shabby!

We had a huge miracle with a less active this week, Hermano "V". We had an appointment but we knew that we wouldn't be able to get him to open up if his family was there, so we said a prayer in our hearts as we drove over. The family wasn't there! We had one of the most powerful lessons that I have felt in my mission. The Spirit guided the whole thing and me and Elder Green both left not entirely remembering what we said. But in the end, Hermano "V" set goals to become active in the Church. This was a huge step from when we first met him and he was bitter about the church and it's leaders. I know that with time he will be a wonderful active member.

Well it's been a great week all in all. We had an awesome leadership training and they announced that there has been a 43% increase in missionaries in total, a 54% increase of missionaries serving in the Northeast States and a 120% increase in missionaries in our mission. It's been a wild ride getting that many missionaries, it makes me and Elder Green seem a lot older than we are. (3 missionaries have asked me if I go home this transfer hahah). But I love my mission, and I love the time in which I am serving my mission. The Lord is hastening his work, and I'm so grateful that we as a family can be a part of it. Keep it up!

I love you all,

Elder Greene

PS. I really don't know if I need more clothes. You could send me two or three pairs of socks maybe. Or if you want to make your life easier you could send me money and I could buy things if needed. Anything you don't spend you can put in a jar that says,"Elder Greene's 21 1/2 birthday money- May 15th" hahah because I'll need more stuff then.