Prospero Año y Felizidad!‏

Happy new year this week everybody!

Christmas Eve Dinner 2015

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Christmas here was pretty sweet! We had a missionary sleepover, wrestled a bit, and had a piñata! Good stuff, hahaha!

Talked to the Family on Christmas! (Yea for Skype!)

Back Scratcher

Christmas morning was a great time. We all opened our presents and stuff and read our notes from our families (Thank you by the way).  :) And I received a special testimony builder that morning of the love and joy that we have as members in this church, and an even stronger testimony that we can live together forever after this life. It is a gift beyond comprehension. And it is wonderful.

My family sent HLJ (CTR) necklaces for children here

Hacky Sack

Lucky Key Chain

Sand-blasted from the wind!

The day after Christmas was one of the windiest days I 

have ever seen! It was so crazy! My companion and I were just walking along the sidewalk when this GIANT tumbleweed, the size of my car back home, charged right in front of us and into the street! A tiny little car had to swerve around it and then a big ol' city bus just rammed right through it! Hahaha! Awesome!

Massive Tumbleweed! (Even bigger than in Lehi!)

This week, my scripture is Genesis 18:14 - (just the first line) Is anything too hard for the Lord?

I just want everyone to take some time to think about that this week and ponder the meaning of it in your lives.

This week, two of our investigators will probably get married and then they will be baptized! I will fill you in on that sometime next year.

I think it's a Comet! (Must have been Santa's sleigh)

 Love to all,

Elder Greenwood :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas this week everybody!!!! Hope it's a good one! Feliz Navidad!!

Never know what kind of people you'll meet walking down the street!

This week, we had our missionary Christmas posada (feast, basically). All the missionaries in the city of Chihuahua showed up and each zone did a little program thing for the other missionaries and Presidente. Then we had lots of food, graciously provided by the Applebee's here in Chihuahua. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, some sort of pasta, chicken, cake, and Salsa. Super good! :)

Sister Chavez, Elder Cruz (companion), President Chavez, and Elder Greenwood

Gifts from Christmas Feast - Reunion with Bros from CCM

My scripture of the week this week is Luke 2:13-14: "And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth PEACE, Good will toward men."

Classic Christmas scripture. This Christmas season, let there be peace between all people. There is a very simple way to do that. Kindness. Serve people this week. Do little things for others and you will cause big smiles in you both.

New Zone

My companion was sick basically all week. He was supposed to stay inside the house on doctor's orders, so he wouldn't experience the change in temp. So we worked right up until it starts to get colder here. >:) 

We have some investigators who are really close to baptism. They just need to get married now. :) Hopefully we get that figured out this week.

The dark side!

Using the force

Love you All!

Have a great Christmas!

Go watch Star Wars!! And don't tell me what happens!! Hahaha!

Elder Greenwood :)

EarlyTransfers!!!

What's up everyone! Happy Missionary Tuesday!!!

BURN! (That's after 12 days of healing!)

Elders Greenwood & Beeson (former companion)

This week we ended the transfer cycle a week early and we had transfers. My 3 1/2 weeks of divisions in Cuahtemuc ended because of that. :)

Anahuac District Farewell Photo

I had changes! I am now in the Villa Juarez area of Chihuahua. The big city! ;) But it really is huge here with tons of stores and stuff. Big change from teeny tiny Anahuac. Hahaha!

My new companion is Elder Cruz. He's got lots of swag, but loves to work and be obedient. We're going to baptize like crazy here!

Baptism of Elvia Rubio Flores

My final week in Cuahtemuc ended with me and Elder Fuentes baptizing the wife of Isauro, the guy we baptized last week. If they stay faithful to the church for 1 year, they can go to the temple and be sealed!!!! That is the greatest joy to see. I hope that it happens. :) Elder Fuentes baptized her and I had the opportunity to confirm her. It was an honor to be a conduit to the Spirit and give her a blessing directly from her Father in Heaven in my broken Spanish.

Also, we got to watch the dedication of the Tijuana Mexico Temple. So amazing to be able to feel the Spirit of the Temple again in the Chapel, an extention of the Temple at the time. There really is a difference and a deeper Spirit in the Temple. And I love it. :)

Tijuana Mexico Temple

My scripture of the week is  Luke 2: 16-17 - talking about the shepherds and how, after they acted and received a witness and a testimony of Jesus Christ, they couldn't help but share the glory and joy of it all with the whole world. :)

Love you all! Tenga una buena semana y feliz navidad!

Elder Greenwood :)

Happy December!!!!!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It truly was a good one. :)

Birthday Gifts and Decor

Cake from Zone Leaders

French Toast Birthday Breakfast

On my b-day, I made myself some french toast, blew up balloons, the whole shabang. And I bought myself a crappy little Cinnamon roll thing and stuck candles in it. But my zone leaders told me to take out my datos before I celebrated with my cake. So I went to my room, and they came in a bit later with a fancy little store bought cake and sang happy birthday!! It was so nice of them!!! I love those guys!

Had to share a birthday surprise -- double yolk egg!  HAHAHA! 

Frozen fruit works! Delicious Smoothie!!!

The awesome thing about Mexico is that fruit and veggies are actually cheaper than the candy. The problem is that you have to find a store with good fruits, hard in Anahuac. These last 2 weeks have been great because, I'm basically training Elder Fuentes, so we go to a store in his area to get healthy stuff a lot :) It's been nice. :)

This week I have a special scripture of the week -- Luke 2: 10-11:

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

My whole life I have enjoyed the Christmas season more than anything else in the year. This time is a time of joy, happiness, giving, and family. I was thinking about that and this scripture about the "glad tidings of great joy" that is to be given to all people.

The most important thing about Christmas is obviously Christ. (In Span-glish Christ-más means More Christ :) But the 2nd most important thing is family. If you have the chance to be with your immediate family this year, DON'T waste it. If not, you are still with your family. We are all brothers and sisters and sons and daughters of a Father in Heaven who loves us more than anything. But the thing is, not everybody knows that. My challenge to all of you this Christmas season is to spread the love of our Heavenly Father to your brothers and sisters everywhere through your acts. Everyone deserves to be happy. We were placed on this earth that we might have joy. Love everyone. Love Christ -- "If you love me... feed my sheep."

And one more question:

What will you give to Christ for Christmas this year? :)

This week was an incredible week! I had my first True baptism!!! I've been working in a different area for about 3 weeks now with Elder Fuentes. Last week, some drunk guy approached us wanting to change and asking for our help (nothing out of the ordinary here). The drunk people usually want to change while they're drunk and then we try to help them when they're sober and they don't want to change.

Elder Fuentes, Isauro, and Elder Greenwood

But, Isauro was different. He wanted to change so bad while he was drunk that when we told him to dump out his alcohol, he did. That is truly incredible to do. And from there, he only got better. I got to see the light slowly come into his life almost every day as he did what we asked him. I had the opportunity to baptize him last Saturday. It was so cool to be an instrument in the hands of God through all of this and see Isauro's journey through pain and suffering to the Light of Christ. He has opened the door of the path to the Celestial Kingdom. :)

A quote from a video we watched applies perfectly to swimming and missions, and staying true to the gospel - "If it was easy, everyone would do it."

Love you all!

Listen to lots of Christmas Music!!!

Love every moment of this season!

And give everything of yourself to find true Christmas joy.

Elder Greenwood :)

Divisions Again!

Buenas todas!

Thanksgiving Dinner 2015

You'll never believe it! I was in Cuahtemuc the whole week again! Except for the night before Thanksgiving. I was grateful to sleep in my bed that night :) But I was in Cuahtemuc in the Zone Leader's house the whole week again. I worked with Elder Fuentes (whom I have now worked with more than my real comp). He has about 1 month in the mission. So basically, I'm training. I also found out that I will be staying the whole week in Cuahtemuc again. But at least I know this time that I'll be here the whole week. :)

Elder Fuentes, Mejia, & Greenwood and Sister Hernandez

Cute lil kitty

Elder Fuentes and I found a super cool guy who was totally ready for baptism! We contacted him in the street. He had taken a few missionary lessons before. We took him to the church for an interview and he is scheduled to be baptized next week!!~! And, while we were taking him to the church, he said that he had been praying for a way to come closer to God, and BOOM! We showed up! SO COOL to be an instrument in the hands of God.

We also talked to a drunk guy and his wife. And he wanted to change so bad that he dumped his alcohol down the drain when we asked. That is a hard thing to do for an alcoholic. I really hope he gets baptized :)

My scripture of the week is a classic :) Helaman 5:12

LOVE you all! And I'm grateful for each and every one of you and the influence you have had on my life :)

 Elder Greenwood :)

Crazy Week of Divisions!

Como estan todos!

Honey Yogurt - Ahh, the simple pleasures!

My Scripture of the Week last week was 1 Nephi 4:6 (incredible scripture of faith and good works).

My scripture of the week this week is Alma 26:22 (awesome).

This week was absolutly crazy! I literally have not slept in my bed in my house for a week now.

Sun.-Mon. -- Slept in Zone Leader's house

Mon.-Tues. -- My bed

Tues - Sun -- ZL's house

Sun- Mon -- Slept in The AP's house in Chihuahua

I'm pretty confident that I will get to sleep in my own bed tonight, but I was pretty confident of that last Thursday and Saturday! Hahaha! Mission adventures!

Elders Sanchez, Greenwood, Fuentes, Valdivieso

We had those divisions all week so that the zone leaders could help us a bit in our area, doing interviews and stuff. We found 2 people this week who were ready for baptism, and we baptized them! The Field is White, already to harvest.

Elder Greenwood in Mission President's chair. Hmmm...

When I was in Cuahtemuc this week, I also found several people with desires to be baptized with broken hearts, contrite spirits, and everything! They are all ready for baptism. One of them's mom was baptized. I asked the kid if he would like to be baptized too, and he said, "yes!" So, I passed him and other people's addresses and names and stuff to the missionaries in their area, and pretty soon they're going to be baptized! Crazy stuff. Again, the Field is White, Already to Harvest, and we are here to thrust our sickles in with our might (D&C 4).

There are many people who are ready for baptism right now. There are also many who are ready to hear the gospel and build their testimony to be baptized. There are some that need a bit more time to grow. Our job is to find them all and do everything we can to invite them to come unto Christ.

Also spent my P-day in Chihuahua this week. My Zone Leader, Elder Hicken, got permission to come to the offices and say goodbye to his best friend who is going home. He had me go with him. So I got to see the big city! Holy cow. Little ol' Anahuac is so small compared to Chihuahua. It is crazy how big Chihuahua is! And they have stuff there! Like a Costco, Denny's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Home Depot, and IHOP. It's insane. We went to a mall to get Elder Hicken some winter clothes. I walked in and literally felt like I was back in America. It was weird. But it was a fun time being able to hang out with some old missionaries like Elder Hicken's friend, Elder Tolbert. He is apparently related to me (in the mission)! He trained the current AP Elder Larson, who trained some dude named Elder Mayor, who trained Elder Mejia (My District Leader), who trained Elder Beeson (My Dad). WHOA! Small Mission. Hahaha!

Elders Tolbert, Larsen, and Greenwood

Thank you for your prayers! The work is moving forward here and it is an honor to be a part of it. I love this gospel and I love the chance I have to go out and share it here.

LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Greenwood :)

First Week in My "New Area"

Hola, hola Everybody!!

View of "New Area"

Cambios (changes/transfers) have happened. My new comp came straight out of his training and started to train me. We now have the other half of Anáhuac as our area. So, it's like having a completely new area while living in the same house. We worked SUPER hard this week and we have the goal to find someone who is ready for baptizm this week. We are going to pray really hard, and work really hard, and search with faith and hope every day and God will help us find people. The scripture James 2:17 comes to mind: "Faith without works is dead". As missionaries, and as members of this church, our faith will only grow as we work hard to help build it and try our very best every day.

Another View

The Hermanas found someone on the street the other day with the desire to be baptized and had some assistences in the church. She was interviewed and found worthy by the district leader that day, and we called President and he said that it was ok to baptize her. So that same day she was baptized! And the next day, in church, she was confirmed. Searching with Faith.

Pass Along Cards

We also had a capacitacion (training) with Presidente Chavez this week. He talked to us about making sure that working hard means that we will receive fruits. Like grapes. But, sometimes, those grapes will turn into raisins if they aren't taught well enough, or don't have a friend in the ward, or other things like that. We need to do our very best to have good baptisms and have many fruits instead of many raisins.

Church Building with Seriously Dedicated Elders

Half the battle is getting the people baptized. The other half is keeping them active. My comp and I find new menos Activos (less-active members) almost every day. It's very sad to see someone who has left what could be and is their only chance to have true happiness in the life after this. It is an example of not exercising faith and working to build it. We plan to visit them too so that their faith can be rekindled and they can feel the blessings of the Lord once again in their lives.

New Friend

Elder Beeson (comp), Elder Mejia (DL), Elder Greenwood

Love you all!

Hasta proxima semana!

Elder Greenwood :) 

Cambios!

Hola, hola, Everybody!

Last day with Elder Morales

Right now I am in the middle of my first cambios in the field! It is crazy! Of the Four Missionaries of Anahuac, I am the only one staying in Anahuac. It's pretty crazy here right now. I have no idea where my previous comp is going, Elder Fowler is headed to the Cierras, and Elder Vergara is done with his 2 years. And, while writing this, I literally found out who my new trainer is going to be for the next 6 weeks. His name is Elder Beeson. He literally just finished his training, is a Gringo (white guy), and now has to train me! Hahaha! It's pretty crazy! I hope I learn lots of Spanish! But, he's a nice guy from what I know. It should be good :)

Baptism of woman in Elder Greenwood's area

My scripture of the Week is D&C 64:33 - "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." Powerful scripture :)

So nice to have little reminders of home. =)

Went on divisions with my zone leader, Elder Benson, this week. I learned SO MUCH from him! He is a great leader. We found tons of people who are so ready to hear the gospel, and it got me so excited! We visited one guy who, apparently, last week was INCREDIBLY drunk, but he followed Elder Benson and his comp to church; and now, a week later, hasn't had a sip of alcohol. Stone cold Sober. AMAZING!!

Good thing that pool is covered! Temptation!

Also had a great lesson with a family in my area the other day. By the end of the lesson, they were already starting to read the pamphlet that we gave them with curiosity and stuff. It was really cool to see :)

Mexi Corn Dogs! Elder Fowler is a kindred spirit!

I talked to someone from New Mexico this week in English! I have forgotten a lot of English words! I couldn't put out a full sentence without using a few Spanish words. Hahaha! Now I can't speak either language!! But, I was able to give him a Book of Mormon with my testimony in it, and he seemed really excited to read it! Miracles happen every day in the mission field. We are blessed so much when we're supposed to be here to bless others.

Thank you for all your support!

Love you all!

Elder Greenwood :)

Dora the Explorer!

(Sent November 2, 2015)

Hello All!

I hope you like my subject line! I found out that Dora the Explorer exists down here in Mexico! Only she teaches the kids English instead of Spanish! The theme song in English is "Come on, vamanos, everybody let's go! Come on let's get to it! I know that we can do it!" 

In Spanish, it's "Vamos, come on, vamos, todos alla, manos a la obra en una sola maniobra." HAHAHA! JAJAJA!!

Que Suave!

Halloween Treat

Halloween Dinner

They also do have Halloween down here! It's not nearly as big as America, and the people don't really put up any decorations in preparation. But little kids dress up and their parents walk them around to all the little snack stores here and those people give them candy! Lots of fun to see!

Also lots of drunk people, hahaha. (Here they say DULCE TRUKO for Trick-or-Treat.)

Candy Corn Fangs - Clever!

My scripture of the Week last week was Revalation 21:7. It is a very good scripture.

This week it's Mosiah 26:18, 20 - "Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my name; For in my name shall they be called; and they are mine. 20 - Thou art my servant; and I convenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my Sheep."

Obviously it's very applicable to missionaries. But it's also very applicable to all of you. When you were baptized, you commited to take upon you the name of Christ. You are his servant. And when you do what you know is right and help to strengthen his kingdom, you will be blessed more than you could possibly imagine. The blessings you will recieve for Enduring to the End well are greater than you could possibly conceive as fair or possible.

Also got to fast again this week. Very special spirit to be able to sacrifice a little so that others may be blessed immensely.

Mi Casa

Some foods I've had the opportunity to try as a missionary are as follows: Burritos of amazingness, Beans, rice, meats of amazingness, and other amazingly delicious foods (with members). And by ourselves, Hot dogs mixed with noodles mixed with eggs (hahaha! not terrible), Cereal with milk and yogurt (basically like granola with yogurt, or just flavoring the milk. So good :) ), and squash of many types. The mexicans like to cut up the squash and shave the squash part off the shell into a bowl and dump milk in there like cereal, and add a little sugar. Actually tasted pretty good :) They also cut up squash and throw it in a sauce type thing (shell and all) full of cinnamon. Squash with that cinnamon...so Good! Loved it!

Last P-Day for Elder Vergara - Pizza Feast!

MMMM....with ketchup?

Thank you all for your support and your love! I hope your Halloween was Spooky fun!

Hasta Proxima Semana!

Elder Greenwood :)