Grateful for FHE

... Why hello.

Well not sure what happened to the past week but I feel like I email you all every other day. Thanks for the birthday package! And thank you to all who sent me letters or cards! I loved the ties and it's nice to have a couple more pairs of socks. I like the shoes and they fit lengthwise, but they kinda slip off my heels... so not sure what to do on that one. I can maybe make them work but if there's a way to exchange them let me know. Anyways, I ended up having like 3 birthday meals, haha. The night before a family gave us steaks because they thought it was my birthday (I didn't have the heart to tell them it was the next day...), the 15th we ate a big turkey dinner with the "C"'s and then on Saturday President Flores and his family gave us Spaghetti and a cake of just strawberries and whipped cream. Hahah. Marcos also got me an awesome satchel bag from Guatemala. I love this branch.

Well they're splitting up the Green(e) family (not you all, me and my companion). Elder Green is going to Mount Airy speaking English and I'm staying to train a new Zone Leader. His name is Elder Hitchcock (Hispanics have a really hard time with his name.) I knew Elder Hitchcock when he got to the mission, because I was his first Zone Leader, hahah. I'm starting to feel a little old. But he's great and I'm pumped to stay here for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and work our tails off here. I love this branch more than I can express. This will be the area I have and will have spent the most time in!

Well since last week we really focused on those families that came to church after the activity (the "C"'s and the "C"/"D"). We saw the "C"'s on my birthday and there was a pleasant surprise waiting for us. Hermana "C" (we'll call her Abuela "C"), the mom of Hermano "C" came in to visit for a month! The most exciting part of it is that she is a super active member in El Salvador. So guess who's going to help our investigator get to church for the next 3-4 weeks? Hahah. We had a really amazing/interesting lesson after dinner. Hermana "C" (his wife) asked us two question that kinda took us off guard. 1- Where does it say that Jesus came to the Americas in the Bible, and 2- Why doesn't your church talk about the Virgin Mary more? Now these questions wouldn't have thrown me off normally but Hermana "C" is a member of several years (not too active). We answered her questions with the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and our testimonies of course. But the best part was when Hermano "C" explained these concepts as well, adding his own testimony of the Book of Mormon/Restoration. It was a very amazing spiritual experience and we finished by giving Abuela "C" a blessing of health because she's having some diabetes trouble.

The other family, the "C/D"'s, we visited on Saturday. We had set a Family night up with them and we were anxious to see how it went. There is a wide range of people in this house. The mom is a less active member who has a testimony, her boyfriend/husband is our investigator. The oldest son believes it all, he just doesn't come. The next two sons are teenagers and claim to be atheists. And the youngest is 7. So we decided to focus on prayer and the Holy Ghost. We did an activity similar to what we did in volleyball one time before a match, one person (in this case, the youngest) is blindfolded and he has to navigate obstacles without anyone first and then with only direction from his mom, but he has to ask for the direction. It helped everyone to see that if we don't pray we tend to bump into things and make more errors in life. But if we do pray we have a whole lot more direction and although we will still make mistakes sometimes, we can be put back on the path with some help. We then watched a Mormon Message called Origin. It was a sweet experience because we were able to invite all of them to pray to know if it's true as well as what they need to do next. Let me just add how grateful I am that we had FHE's when I was growing up!

I'm glad to hear you all are doing well and staying busy. I loved what you said about work mom. Yesterday we woke up at 5:30 for a 7:00 meeting and had meetings from then until 3:00, lunch was peanuts while driving, then we taught 5 lessons from then until 9, and finally did call outs and reporting until 10. We were pretty tired but I remember thinking, it's been an awesome day. I know that we can only have true happiness by working and giving our all, o sea (not sure how to translate this phrase), consecrating ourselves.

I love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Greene

PS- I'm sure you'll ask me what I want for Christmas soon, not that I have any ideas really, but a calendar for 2014 would be awesome.

PPS I already got accepted to BYU so that's pretty cool. I changed my email on there to my mission email so I should know when I need to register for classes. Crazy stuff!

Proof that I opened it on my birthday!

Me and my gifts

Birthday dinner group

Plan of Happiness=Smile!

Greetings Greene Family,

May I just start with a big thank you to all who sent me letters or emails for my Birthday. It still hasn't hit me at all that I will turn 21 this week but we'll see. I'm grateful for all the prayers and testimonies that have been given to help me and our investigators. I love you all! Well I must say that your 90 degree comment mom made me a leetle jealous. It's 37 degrees outside right now and it was snowing in the northern part of our area. Ridiculous. Your comments about the temple made me really excited for there to be a temple there in Gilbert. It looks amazing from the pictures I've seen.

I'm really sad to hear about Todd passing away. I loved Brother Smith, he was my scout leader when I was younger. I was actually thinking about him and wondering how he was doing the other day because we passed by a map store and I remembered that he worked in a map store. Let his family know that I'm sorry and that I'll be praying for them.

Well we actually did kinda celebrate my birthday yesterday. We went to Baltimore by bus! It was way sweet. Elder Green and I ate at Cheesecake factory for lunch as a gift to myself and then we went to all our favorite spots in the hood. I took some good pics. It really did kinda feel homey to be back and just roam around. (Elder Green and I both started in the same area so we both knew where we were going and what we wanted to do). But when we got back I was a little down. Being in Columbia makes you forget how sad life is down there in that city. I meditated a lot about God's plan for us last night and this morning. I really do know that God's plan is perfect, and that even though the world may seem like utter chaos sometimes, he is in control. I'm grateful that all men and women will have a chance to hear of this gospel.

Having Elder Carlson in our mission this week was amazing. He gave amazing instruction to us that I plan on using for the rest of my mission and afterwards. We talked a lot about consecrating ourselves. I really liked that and it's given me more desire to try harder and to sacrifice more. Another great comment he made was,"How can you expect to convince and testify of the Plan of Happiness if you never smile? Lets get it together people, Smile!" Hahah, how true that is. Elder Carlson is an amazing man and was serving as a 11 year old primary instructor when he was called! It's incredible how God works.

Well this week we had an awesome activity where families of the branch brought investigator families over for dinner and then we all came together at the church to watch Finding Faith in Christ and drink hot chocolate. The activity was a huge success and we had 7 investigators, 3 less actives and some of their under baptismal age kids. The Spirit was amazing and it helped a ton because the next day at Sacrament meeting 5 of the 7 investigators came to church. 3 are in the Hermana's area but the other 2 were Hermano "C" (who also came to clean the building on that same morning, he's a boss) and "D". "D" is the husband (that's Spanish for boyfriend) of a less active. It was such an amazing day. In addition to those two, Hermano "V" came again this week. I really believe he is on his way to being active again in the church!

We had another tender mercy this week as well. We got a call from our Branch President this week. There was a referral sent in from English members that there is a Spanish mormon family where they live, not on record. So we went to check it out. When we got to their house (I should say mansion, this thing was big, definitely not where me and Elder Green are used to going) she let us right in and her husband was there too. They are both older and are from Mexico. They were baptized 15 years ago in Utah and have lived here for 2 months but didn't really know where the chapel was. On top of it all, their son isn't baptized! So they are a new focus and we are super pumped to get to know them and help their son.

We're trying to save some time considering it's Tuesday so I'm cutting it a little shorter. I love you all, thanks for everything.

-Elder Greene

PS Well you are in luck, I actually found out my go-home day this week because we were helping in the office this week and Sister Pascoe was showing us the transfer days. So the next two transfer days are Nov. 20 and Jan. 1. My transfer day is May 7, so I would most likely get home May 8 (they be cutting me a day short of my mission! Not fair at all, hahah).

PPS I bought another bike that's 700x better. I took $20 off of my mission card so I used my home card for $20 of expenses to make up for it. Kinda hard to explain but anyways, I have a nice bike and all is taken care of. Plus I'll be able to sell it for more than I bought it for and make up the money for the dumb bike I bought, hahah.

Hometown of Highlandtown, must have cleaned up trash recently... Bummer

Backyard of old apartment

Studying da bus routes

One of the More Miraculous Weeks

Hey Family (and all others who choose to read this),

How is everyone doing? I haven't asked in a while, is your toe healed mom? No more boot? Just curious. Sounds like you all are keeping busy, I really liked your scripture mom (Alma 37:34). I don't think I've noticed that before either but I love it. I've met a lot of people on my mission that went inactive because they were just tired or weary of doing everything. I think many times we think we need to be perfect or attain a certain level of perfectness to return and live with God. But really we need to do our best to become like Christ and renew our covenants, and he promises us eternal life, not like some distant far off gift, but it is nearly in our grasp.

This week we ended up going to the church building on Halloween night and playing basketball and volleyball. I was rusty, I think it's been about 6 months or so since I last played, maybe more. But we had a lot of fun and the next day we were all super sore. But no I didn't really eat any candy really, although the day after Halloween Elder Green and I were walking for about an hour and we found 9 different sealed candy bars. Kids just don't take care of their candy like they used to... hahah. On another note, my health continues to improve and I'd say at this point my numbers are better than they were before my mission. My average over 45 days or so for blood sugars is 130 so thats nice. It makes it a lot easier to focus and just feel good!

This week may have been one of the more miraculous weeks of my mission. I've told you several times about Hermano "V", a less active man who hasn't come to church in over 4 years. Well this past Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with him and our Ward mission leader. The Spirit was just amazing and when we invited him to come to church, he said he would. The whole week we prayed for him and sent him messages some nights just to see how he's doing (he gets almost weekly surgeries for cancer). Come Sunday, I was just waiting to see him. 10 minutes before sacrament meeting starts, in walks his wife and two daughters. I walked over and shaked their hands and Hna "V" looks at me with the biggest smile and says,"He's here Elder." I looked up and in he walks with his shirt and tie! I couldn't stop smiling and everyone in the branch came and shook his hand or gave him hugs. During testimony meeting his younger daughter (12 years old) bore a powerful simple testimony. And I don't know if it was planned or not, but his older daughter (14 years old) gave the closing prayer in Sacrament. She asked in her prayer that all those who were able to come today would be able to come again next week. He stayed all three hours and his wife thanked me after church for all that we had done. We really didn't do much but I know that Heavenly Father was able to touch his heart when we visited him, and I am so grateful that we were able to watch that change take place.

On top of that amazing miracle, the whole "C" family came to church, "D" (another less active we have been working with), and Hermano "R" (same story as "D") all came. 3 of the members that bore their testimonies had been reactivated in the past 3 months. I don't think I stopped smiling yesterday, hahah.

Earlier in the week, we saw "J". He's a 20 year old from Peru, he's just a real good guy. We had an amazing Restoration lesson with him this week and he was feeling the Spirit big time. We have another lesson with him tonight and I'm praying he'll continue to progress.

This week we also will be hearing a Seventy speak to us, Elder Carlson. I'm really excited and I'll be sure to let you know what he instructs on.

Well I love you and I'm grateful for your letters and your prayers. Please keep Hermano "V" in your prayers that he can continue to progress.

Love,
Elder Greene

PS How is the house doing these days? We teach a super awesome less active family that is building a house and I told them about 2 months ago that you are too. So now they always ask how my new house is going and I never know what to say, hahah.

Elder Green's birthday salmon

I Ate Both of These Guys

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.

Conference Isn't Over, Just Begun

Hey Greene Family!

Sounds like everyone had a busy week! Me too, but that is always a good thing. Yeah Robby's picture could have been from before his mission, hahah, but it's good to hear he is doing well. Hearing about your friends coming home kinda of hits you like, oh yeah, missionaries go home... Hahah. Anyways, sorry you all lost the Championship (Jared, Collin and Trevor)(BYU intramural volleyball), maybe in like two and a half years we could all play on a team and win (Trevor would have to go to law school or something) hahah.

Anyways, it's been a great week. I started the week by going on an exchange on Tuesday. We had some really cool experiences. They found a Jewish man named "A" two weeks ago and since then he has been to church, watched all sessions of General Conference and read parts of the Book of Mormon. He then started praying in the name of Jesus Christ and even said that he now believes in Him. He is an awesome guy and we had the chance to teach him while I was there.

We have been working with a less active family, the "N's", since we got here. They have come to church one time but other than that, no real progress sadly. So this past week we decided to teach them about faith and instead of inviting them to come to church, helping them to do other, smaller commitments. So we went and as we talked about faith/progress the Spirit was really strong. At the end we asked, what is one thing you as a family can do to increase your faith? The youngest girl (she's like 4) said "Go to church!" (Correct "N", 10 points for you) but the other daughter said, "Read our scriptures." We talked about that and the family set a goal to read as a family every night this week! It was a sweet experience and we hope that doing the small things will help them to do the bigger things.

I've been looking over my General Conference notes as well and I'm really excited to read the Ensign with all the talks. Thanks for the quotes and thoughts that you both have sent. One thought I wanted to share came from our Stake President in a meeting we had with him yesterday morning. He said,"General Conference isn't over, General Conference has just begun." How true that is! I've found, especially on my mission, that the 6 months after a session of conference is filled with opportunities to learn from those talks.

Me and Elder Green were given a bag of Masa and we have been making tortillas, pupusas and arepas, it's been pretty fun. I will make you all some delicious Spanish food one day. Also, I make a mean habanero chicken, hahah.

Well time moves scary fast. This weekend they announced a trunk or treat and I thought I heard wrong at first. I didn't realize that October is almost over. I guess I should of noticed seeing as all the leaves are changing colors and I'm always cold (it's only like 55 but I'm a wuss). I asked Elder Green when we could wear coats (he's from Bountiful) and he said December... I guess I will have to man up. Anyways, I am glad you all are doing well and I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Greene

PS To answer two questions a little late, my A1C came in at 8.0, so better, but I'll keep working on it. And my shoe size in Nikes are 11.5, i didn't know so I had to look in my shoes. Oh, and my shirts are doing great, Stafford is boss.

PPS We were in a lesson last night and it was going really well. Our phone started vibrating so I glanced at it real quick and it said President Richards. I didn't answer it because we were in the middle of the lesson but the rest of the lesson I was thinking,"alright either something happened in the Zone, or one of our family members is dead." Hahah, maybe not that extreme but I was just a little anxious. We got out and we listen to the voicemail and it's Elder Rose (my trainer) visiting the mission. It was a bummer I didn't get to talk to him but it was a cool voicemail!

Columbia 3 Branch

Buenas!

Well Columbus really ruined the whole write your family thing yesterday, sorry about that. It has been a crazy day today, we had District Leader Council and then Zone Training this morning and President decided to attend both. Now I'm on exchanges with one of our District Leaders so I may write a shorter letter. Which is a bummer because we had an amazing week! Thanks so much for the quotes and scriptures. Mom, not sure if you knew or not but Alma 29:9 is my mission scripture haha, I love it.

Well Mom and Dad, I know how you feel to send your kids off. Me and Elder Green are empty nesters. But we still keep a framed picture of us three on our counter, hahah. We had a lot of fun activities this week so it kept us from missing Elder Dutson too much. Elder Jones (the vehicle coordinator) asked us to test drive the new 2014 Chevy Cruzes; it was weird being in a car by myself! Afterwards Elder Jones wanted to buy us lunch for our "service" hahah. Another fun thing we did was pick up a families new arm chairs, love seat and couch... while it was pouring rain (Maryland pouring rain is quite different from Arizona). It was an adventure! Last thing that made me laugh was my carb counting class my doctor told me to go to. It was me, my companion, and like 3 old black women in the class. I didn't have too many questions, but boy did these women have some high level questions. "How bout watuhmelon? Is that good to eat?" or "How many carbs does shellfish have?-response None- Oh ok, yeah I don't like shellfish." and finally "My A1C was 11, is that a good level?" (Not Zach's A1C!!) Needless to say, the Carb Class held my interest about as long as Ms. W's math class. (probably should delete that last sentence)

Anyways, Elder Green and I have seen so many miracles this week! We went over to visit "D" with a member last week and he has been praying and read the introduction and first chapter of Nephi. He wants to know if it is true! We had a powerful lesson and afterward the member was ecstatic. He knew "D" when he was basicallly anti-religion and to see him change from that to now is just incredible.

We went to visit the "C"'s and after dinner we asked if they had watched General Conference. Hermano "C" just lit up and talked about all his favorite talks and speakers. He went on for 20 minutes straight of how much he loved President Monson and President Uchtdorf. It was so amazing. He asked about prophets a little bit more and we talked about the Restoration once more. It was then that the Restoration really clicked for Hermana "C" (who is less active). It was a miracle visit.

All in all the work is going amazing here in the Columbia 3 Branch. 9 people have been reactivated since July and we are teaching 4 part member families right now! (Not counting our other investigators) The Lord has been blessing us a ton and I am just loving my mission.

Well I'm going to finish up and send some pictures. I love you all!

-Elder Greene  

In Living Memory of Elder Dutson

Saying Goodbye to my son...

Stick With the Honey Baked Ham

Buenos Dias!

Conference is the best. I'm jealous you all got to go and be there! There were so many amazing talks and I know that those men (and women) who gave talks are called of God. I think one of my favorite talks was President Uchtdorf's "Come, Join With Us" talk (not sure if that's what it will be called, but just guessing). Elder Dube's talk got me pumped and Elder Vinson's talk was the closest I've come to watching Harry Potter on my mission. Oh and Priesthood session I sat in the same row as Dennis Pitta. All in all, great conference with a lot of focus on missionary work!

Well I guess you're wondering about transfers. Given my track record there was little hope... But the Lord needs me for at least 1 more here in Columbia! So me and Elder Green are both staying, and Elder Dutson is going to West Baltimore to finish training. Although we are sad to say goodbye to our son, we realize that he needs to leave the nest. They grow up so fast. Despite our sadness, Elder Green and I are pumped to stay for another together! Elder Green was extra nervous because this past week was his birthday and he received 20 lbs of food from his family, non transportable really. His birthday was over the top, his parents sent him an 8 lb Honey Baked Ham and enough sweets to put me in the hospital. (Don't worry I did not partake, although I have eaten a lot of ham)

Speaking of food, so I have been doing pretty well with my special diet. Hispanics love meat so they're glad to cook it for us. One memorable meal this week was birthday lunch for Elder Green. We went to the H's, an awesome family that's slowing coming back to church. She decided to cook us pork skin tacos. The pork skin was boiled in lard. I won't say to much about the experience but let's just say, stick with honey-baked ham.

We had a way cool miracle this week. We texted a less active, JC, if we could come over and see him and his mom (active). He said, "Nah, I'm at my cousins house. Want to come here?" Well let me think about that JC, yes I think we can fit it in. We sped as fast as our car-monitoring Tiwi would allow to his cousins house. We got there and recognized the house, it was a less active we had never gotten in with. We went in and sat with JC and his cousin J. JC told his cousin that J's dad is a member, J was really surprised, he thought his dad was Catholic. So J decided he wants to learn more! We're going over tomorrow night! Super awesome miracle.

Another tender mercy was with Hermano "V". He has been less active for years but over the past 3 months or so we have developed a really good relationship. This week he wanted help at the court, he needed translation to get out of jury duty (can't be on a jury if you don't speak english...). So we went and translated, it took a short time but after he took us to breakfast. As we talked at breakfast he opened up about why he doesn't come to church and how he knows he needs to change. It was really amazing to see how the Spirit worked on him. We hope to be able to help him back to activity this transfer.

Well I guess I better close. Thanks so much for your prayers. I know that this Church is the Church of Jesus Christ! I love you all!

Elder Greene

PS. Yeah I forgot to talk about the BYU stuff last letter. That's a bummer that I have to reapply, but hey, I probably should've focused more in college. At least Jared will know what not to do. Let me know what I need to start doing and I'll get on it.

Ever swept the carpet? Just cleaning up Elder Green's exploding birthday package.

These are the faces we would  make if we were singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Greetings from the Greene(s) family.  Could be a future Christmas card.