Elder Zach Greene: Blessed With Charity

Greene Family,

Como estais vosotros? Hahah. Wow it's been a blur of a week but I feel like I packed a month into 1 week. Sounds like your week was pretty crazy too! The temple dedication sounds so amazing. Brother Smith sent me some pictures of all the youth practicing, crazy how much they all grow up!

To answer some questions, yeah we do a lot of driving! I drove about 800 miles this past week. It's kinda like going on a surprise vacation to Disneyland but instead of going on rides we teach people the Gospel in the middle of West Virginia. Also, to answer Dad's question, we have little roll out pads like the ones we use for camping. I learned after 3 days of that that you need to be creative to be comfortable. So lately my new thing is to find couch cushions and put them under the pad, sleep like a baby.

So this week we started out in Hagerstown West Virginia. I was with two awesome Spanish missionaries. We had a good time and did lots of service but after 2 days I went to Martinsburg because of some disobedience issues going on there. So I got to be with another set of Elders for 24 hours. Being with them really taught me about how we as traveling assistants are called to preach the gospel to not just non-members but also to missionaries. Sometimes we struggle to understand a certain doctrine, or haven't developed a testimony of that doctrine and we need help to learn it. As we learn, our testimony grows. Well we had a good talk and the missionary that is struggling is making progress. I really felt that God blessed me with Charity during this week because I can honestly say I love all of the missionaries I was with this week.

From Martinsburg I went to Charlestown. Charlestown used to be part of my area in Winchester but they just seperated it into two areas. So I came with Elder Reber and Elder Bradshaw for two days to help them with starting a new area. We saw some amazing miracles! They weren't sure how to find the Spanish people so I said, let's go look for a tienda latina (latin store?). So we went to where I thought I saw one like a year ago and when we got there we found two. We walked into one and found a guy named "J". He was really nice and I asked him if he knew a man with a tiger tattoo (because I taught him a year ago in Charlestown but I forgot his name). He said he did, his name is "T" and he works next door! Hahah, so yeah I remembered his name was "T" and the Elders are going to look for him this week! Anyways, after talking to "J", we went across the street to the other store and found "A". We walked in and started speaking Spanish and he was blown away. He asked us if we were taught since we were kids and Elder Reber convinced him he was from Mexico before admitting that we are from Arizona (he went to Gilbert high school). Well the whole Spanish thing really opened it up and we taught him right there and gave him a pamphlet to read. I found out yesterday that he read the whole thing! So prepared, he has a wife and 4 kids too.

After Charlestown I actually went to Winchester. It was trippy being in an area where I've served. Shortly after arriving, one of the Elders, Elder Johnson, started throwing up, etc. So we dropped him off with angelic members and me and Elder Ayon went to work. Elder Ayon is from Baja California Mexico and is one of my favorite missionaries hahah. We taught several people that I used to visit back in the day, including "H&M", Hermano "R" the Cuban, and the "A" family. It was great to see them all. The next day was Sunday and Elder Johnson was still messed up so Elder Despain stayed with him and I went with Elder Ayon to Winchester and Shenandoah Wards. I saw a lot of old friends, the "B's", the "D's", and Hna "G". I even had the honor of translating Relief Society, which I haven't done for a while. Let me tell you, it was much easier after a year more of experience! Hahah

All in all we saw a bunch of miracles this past week. I really enjoy working with missionaries and just loving them. I know this new assignment is helping me to grow and I'm so grateful for the opportunities that Heavenly Father has given me. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Greene