Christmas week!!!

 (Sent 12-26-16)

Hey everybody!

I just finished talking to my family on Skype. They are doing well if you were wondering. hahaha!

This week was a crazy week! We, as the office team, had to go to all the Christmas parties to help out and make sure that everything ran smoothly. We had lots of fun and did a lot of work. It was cool to be on the other side of the Christmas parties-- helping and serving all the missionaries and making sure that they were all having a good time.

This week was one of the long awaited weeks of my time here in the offices. After countless miracles, countless disappearances, and countless testimonies given, this person was ready to hear the Gospel. My good friend, Mauricio, got baptized! I ended up missing out on seeing the actual baptism, but I made it just in time to hear him bear his testimony. After seeing him from the very beginning of his journey on the path of righteousness, and then seeing him bear his testimony there, it strengthened my testimony of the power that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to change lives.

Mauricio is a changed man. It was incredible to see the light that was shining in his eyes. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what person you were before or are now, you can change. I've seen it many times here. It was even more powerful this time to see a young man around my age completely change his life around. It was one of the greatest Christmas gifts that I have ever been able to receive to just hear the testimony of a changed man.

Speaking of Christmas, I hope that you all had a great one. Now is the perfect time to change. We celebrate Christmas as a time of renewal, a time to reflect alone and as a family of how we can do better or how we can come closer to Christ. It's a time to celebrate the fact that a baby was born into the world with the purpose of sacrificing himself to save us all -- to give us the chance to overcome our weaknesses and become stronger.

I love you all! Have a happy new year!

AND FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!

Love, Elder Greenwood

Lighting the World

One of the highlights of this week was an activity that we did in a hospital with the Americas Ward. Elders Bustos, Sanchez (The Future new Financial Secretary), Navarrete, Gardner, and I had a bunch of #LIGHTtheWORLD cards, and the members brought Burritos and a drink for the poor people there. And we gave everything out. It was a good time -- lighting the world a little bit more.

AND, you all remember Mauricio right? The miracle, the chosen child of God who has a habit of disappearing? If you don't, the story is in the post from October 18th (Surprise!) of my blog. Guess what? HIS BAPTISM IS THIS WEEK!!! So happy! God will not leave his sheep in the dark if they want to find Him. And Mauricio has wanted to find Him for a good little while now. But, he's going to take a big step forward this Thursday. Miracles do happen. They are in front of us every day. And God is in heaven, waiting with a bucket full of them to dump on those who are obedient to his commandments.

Love you all! Have an INcredible week!

LIGHT THE WORLD, SHARE THE STORY OF CHRIST, CELEBRATE HIS BIRTH, CELEBRATE THE THINGS THAT HE DID FOR YOU, and live the life that he wants you to live.

Elder Greenwood :)

Christmas Devotional

(Sent 12-10-16)

Zone Leader Mtg in Offices

I had a good week this week. I learned a lot of stuff. The Christmas Devotional was definitely a highlight as well. I loved all of the talks. I had actually been thinking about the topic of Christ's birth and its significance while preparing for the activity that we had in my ward.

 I was thinking about how the most important thing that Christ did for us was pay for our sins and give us a way to repent and return to Heavenly Father. I was curious, then, as to why we celebrated his birth. But, one of the speakers explained it perfectly when he said that, "...We would not have Christmas if we did not have Easter." At this time of Christmas, we celebrate not just a baby who was born in an old stable with a bunch of animals. We celebrate that BECAUSE that baby was born, and because he lived the life that he lived, we can be forgiven of our sins. We can start anew and work towards Eternal Families. It was a great devotional.

Elder and Sister Mission Leaders Conference

We also got to receive a new Elder from the airport. He's a true stud and looking like he's ready to get to work! We just sent him off with his new comp. He was in this mission for about 6 months and then had to go home for who knows what. But now he's BACK! He is a true example of what the Atonement can do for us. He has come back as a stronger and more faithful person. Now, because of the work that he put in to Becoming a better person, he will see more miracles than he can possibly imagine. It's going to be good. All of us can do the same every single day -- repent of our wrong-doings and feel the joy of a clean and faithful life.

Elders Greenwood, Gardner, Harrison, and Sister Montoya

Have a great week, Everybody!

Elder Greenwood :)

Christmas has BEGUN!

(Sent 12-4-16)

Hola Everybody!

Elders Greenwood, Gardner, Bustos, and Navarette celebrating Landon's birthday

This week was pretty fantastic. We are getting lot's a stuff ready to go for the new Christmas Initiative that came out. If you all don't know yet what the Christmas Initiative is,it's called #LIGHTtheWORLD in 25 ways for 25 days. Go and watch the video. It's incredible. There is also a calendar that explains a bit more of what the church wants all of us to do during this time of the year, and always.

The calendar has the 25 days of December and little acts of service that you can do each and every day. For example, yesterday's theme was, "Jesus Honored his father and his mother, and you can too." And it had ideas like write your parents a little note or call your parents and tell them that you love them -- little things that can make a big difference. I couldn't call my parents yesterday, but you all can! Hahaha!

So, to start off everything, the zones of Chihuahua are each doing their own service activity that they will be reporting on at our big missionary Christmas dinner. This week, the office team went and met up with the Zone Chuviscar and we went and visited an old folks home and spent some time with them and helped them eat food and sang to them and stuff. It was really a wonderful experience. I loved it a lot. The faces of the old folks just lit up as we talked to them and as they had the chance to tell their old folks stories.

Then! On December 1st. My comp, our sister missionaries, our Sister ward missionaries, and I all threw together a #LIGHTtheWORLD activity! We put up a bunch of lights outside on the fence of the church, had a big sign, and a couple of rooms decorated to show the meaning of Christmas for all of us.

We talked about the Birth of Christ, how through that and His life that we have the chance to have Forever Families, and we talked about how we can achieve eternal families and true happiness through this year's initiative. It was a lot of fun and, I think that it was a hit. Everyone was happy. :)

This time of year is the perfect moment to start again, or continue to, on a higher level, come unto Christ and be more like Him. Take a look at the calendar and the video and follow the guidance that our church leaders have given us through Revelation from God to help us become more happy while helping others be happier at the same time.

I love you all! Have a great Week!

Elder Greenwood :)

STRANDED

(Sent 12 -1-16)

This week has been NUTS!!!!! NUTS!!!!!!

"Before" photo - Heading out on a wild adventure

This last Saturday, for p-day, the office team went out on a road trip in a little truck thing with a giant back compartment to store stuff. We were ready to go at 5 AM (with plans to make it back to Chihuahua around 3-4 PM). We were going through the whole trip we had planned -  to pick up stuff and take it to houses that need it. We headed out, bought brake fluid, and got the truck with a member who we paid to help us.




At around 6AM, we drove 40 minutes outside of Chihuahua to Meoqui and loaded up a bunch of mattresses, parts for beds, heaters, and other things that missionaries have extra in their houses. From there, we went to missionary houses in Delicias (A good 20 minutes further out of Chihuahua). Including, we went to my old house in Delicias (tears of joy). From there, we drove to Saucillo (about another 30 minutes out of Chihuahua). There, we had an entire house to load up, we ran out of space and plan to go back one day. But, we wanted to load up one last thing from Jimenez, a city about another 1 hour and 30 minutes from where we were. (There was an extra washing machine there that some missionary in Chihuahua needed). 

First breakdown

BUT, just before getting to the toll booth entering Jimenez, our trusty truck ran out of Gas. (Not gasoline, Natural Gas, that's what it runs on). So, we were stranded, not knowing what to do. We talked to the police and asked for help. We were thinking, and we remembered that we had a gas propane tank from one of the houses, we pulled it out, but didn't have the pieces to connect it up. The police officer told us that every once in a while a truck that does free service that the government sends out, passes around from time to time. AND RIGHT WHEN HE SAID THAT, that very truck passed by and gave us the needed piece.

We headed on our way with our little gas tank, that lasted us until the next gas station. We filled up.

And the battery wouldn't start. We all got out, and gave the baby a nice little push and got the energy going and she started right back up. THEN! We went to Jimenez and got our washing machine. Then, we got some food, pushed the truck to start 'er up, and started off on our 3 hour trip back.

Infamous Toll Booth

BUT.... Passing by the SAME toll booth, but on the other side, the car stopped. We pushed it to the side of the road, and started doing our classic push techniques to get it started. But nothing worked.

We tried and tried and tried. But nothing. A police officer came over with his truck and gave us a nice jump. But it just wouldn't start. We took a look at the engine, and found that a certain band that connected the engine with a rotating thing, had broken off and now wasn't there.

Elder Gardner, who worked in Jimenez before, called up a member and asked for help in buying a new band, we had to wait 15 minutes for him to come. He came, and the band that he bought was too big. He left, 15 minutes, and came back, The next band was smaller, but still too big. (We even got the type that it should have been, but, nothing.) 30 minutes, he came back with 2 bands. A small one and a medium one. Measured out and everything, it should have been the one. But, it just wouldn't fit. It had to fit over a little ring to go onto the piece where it needed to be. And it wouldn't flex over the ring. (at this point, it was about 9:30pm, and the shop had closed.)

SO! Our handy-dandy member friends and we started to take off a certain piece of the truck to get the band on and put it back. We finally got it off, put the band on, and the piece wouldn't go back into place. We ran out of options (I must say that we had been praying this whole time.) We called up President and told him our situation. (He had given us permission to head out on our adventure, and to do it in street clothes, so no one had church clothes on.)


Our plan then became that we would call up a tow truck, put our truck in front of the church house in Jimenez, and take an Omnibus (like a fancy bus that travels to far places like Chihuahua) at 12:30 to our house, so that we could put on church clothes and go to church the next day. And then, the member from Jimenez would call a mechanic for Monday, and we could go get it on Tuesday.

But, one of the policemen came over and said that he has a brother, or a cousin, I don't remember, who was a mechanic. So, the cop called him up and convinced him to drive from the other side of the city of Jimenez to help us out. The tow truck was going to be really expensive, and the mechanic said that if he couldn't get it fixed up, that he would drag the truck behind his car for 600 pesos, (instead of 1300 for the tow truck) (On this trip, we all basically ran out of the cash that we had. Like literally, we ran out of cash with no way of taking out money or using cards). We were like, "ok, if it works then, boom, we are on our way. If not, it comes out cheaper anyways. So, we waited, the mechanic came, fixed up the truck PERFECTLY like a master. And we headed out at around 12AM towards Chihuahua.

Sleeping spot for the night

I went in the back with Elder Navarrete and all the stuff that we had, I made myself a bed with the blankets that we took on top of the 2 washing machines that we had. And Elder Navarrete laid down on the only open space left on the floor (which was a little L shape square). And we headed out. We stopped in Camargo (about 2 hours aways from Chihuahua) because we were worried about how much gas we had, and we didn't want to run out in the middle of nowhere. (You can't see how much gas is left on the meter in that truck.) All the gas stations were closed at 1:30 am, who knows why. So we slept it out in a truck in Camargo, Elder Navarrete and me in the back, Brother Rodriguez and Elder Bustos in the front part of the truck, and Elder Gardner wanted to sleep outside in the grass that was there.

And yeah, at around 6:20, the gas place opened up, we filled up. and headed out. We actually went a bit slower on the way back due to the weight and the fact that we were worried, and it was early. We made it to the zone leader's house at around 9:30 am. (the night before, we had asked them to buy us food to eat for when we had planned to get back at 3AM in Omnibus). But that plan didn't work out, so we went to their house and ate old rice balls at 9:30AM. From there, we made plans to go to another church to take the sacrament, because our services had started at 9. Then we made it to the house and changed. WHAT A STORY TO BE TOLD!!!

That is why I was really unable to write Saturday, and then, because of that day, and the fact that we never took all the stuff that we had to the houses that needed them. The work load has been incredible. SO much stuff to do all day every day. I'm sorry I didn't write. And I will write again on Sunday! (Most likely)

Elder Greenwood :)

P.S. The office crew had Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday. We prepared it for the missionaries who were leaving for home the next day.

Freezing cold? No worries.

Elders with Mauricio

This week was a rather wonderful week. Got lots of stuff done.

This last Tuesday, I had the chance to go and see a baptism of someone other missionaries taught. And there, I was able to see, talk to, and teach good old Mauricio a bit. He's getting there --progressing and becoming better -- changing his life little by little. Mauricio asked the person who was baptized if he really felt something when he was baptized. And the guy testified hard core about how amazing it felt to be baptized. Good old Mauricio... I have never met another person with more desire to get baptized.

THEN! This last Saturday, our sisters had a baptism! In a family where the father was a less-active member, his whole family now comes to church, and his wife and one of his sons were baptized. I had the opportunity to baptize the son, Josue. 

Josue and Silvia's Baptisms

Now, when we went to go get in the font that a couple members were so kind as to fill up, the water was FREEZING COLD!!! Hahaha! I walked in first and said, "Hey, the water is pretty cold, be ready" and he just said, with so much determination, "Que tiene." Which is like saying, "No worries, doesn't matter". And he got baptized. Then, as he left the font, he said, "Wow! Thank you! I'm finally baptized!" (And coming from a kid who really doesn't express himself much, that was really surprising.) It was a really great experience.

 The feelings that we had when we were baptized, we can all say, is undescribable --an Incredible experience. But, it doesn't have to be the only time that we feel that way. Every time that we take the sacrament, or testify to another person, or read the scriptures, we can have feelings just like in our baptism. It's like God gives us a little taste of what the Celestial Kingdom is and what we will feel all the time when we get there, just to remind us of how good our life will be when we complete our goal of Eternal Life with our families.

I invite you all to look for a way to feel, once again, how you felt at your baptism, 

and God will help you find a way.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Greenwood :)

Peace, Joy, and Happiness

At the airport sayiing good-bye to a friend

Another week of being a Secretary has flown by.

The mission is flying; there is so much to do and so little time to do it.

This week was a lot of fun. We were able to teach more lessons to people with the extra time that we had. We taught one lesson to someone whose husband is in prison right now. Her name is Jovana. During this particular lesson she really started to open up more and have more trust in us and realize who we are and what we are here to do.

Celebrating Elder Navaratte's birthday at Denny's

She made me realize something crazy during the lesson. She started to talk about how she had been asking God for help in her life for 8 months (and she felt like God had not answered her). And right then I realized, with a spiritual prompting, that we, meaning the missionaries who found her a couple of months ago, and now us, who are here to teach her, were sent by God as an answer to her prayers.

Pretty sure I see Lucky Charms marshmallows on top of one

He's a wise owl

We then started teaching her and helping her realize and understand the same thing; That we literally are sent from God. We are on the Lord's Errand. And we are here to help people in their lives -- help them in a way that lasts. We don't just give lessons to people so that they feel good for 30-45 minutes because we were talking about Christ. We give lessons to people so that they apply those principles that we teach into their own lives and find out that, by doing so, their lives become more happy, more joyful, and that they find more peace.



That is what the gospel of Jesus Christ does, and that is what He and our Eternal Father want for each and every one of us: Peace, Joy, and Happiness.

The more that you understand about the reason why we are here, or what God has in store for us, the more we will want to follow the teachings of his Son. Blessings and answers to prayers come in ways that we sometimes never would have expected. I invite you all to ask God about any question that you may have, or ask him for any help that you may need, and then LOOK. And you will find.

I love you all!

Have a great Week,

Elder Greenwood :)

A Different Week

(Sent 11/7/16)

Hello!

It's me.

This week was just a bit different. (Well, I guess that all weeks are different here...with their own surprises. Haha). This week's surprises were very surprising. President got the whole office team together and we decided to get organized and figure out exactly when we should be in the offices, and when we should be out in our area working.

With those changes, my comp and I have been able to get out even more to go teach the people the gospel of Christ. I think that it'll be very good for us. Teaching the gospel and talking to others about it is really one of the greatest ways to find joy here in this life.

This week my comp and I found a family of less-active brothers (with one brother who was never baptized), who were incredibly happy to see us again. They expressed to us just how joyful they felt to go to church, listen to the missionaries, and read the Book of Mormon. They were reflecting on those times in the past when they were baptized and active members in the church.One of them was able to join us in the church this last week so that he could remember the peace and the joy that he felt.

It really got me thinking. Sometimes we really just do not know what we have until it's gone. We, as members of the church, sometimes become accustomed to the joy and light and peace that we feel and we forget from where it comes.

As a secretary, there are days that are so crazy that there is not time to sit down and study like a normal missionary. And I promise you all that there is a big difference in how I feel during the day and how much light and peace I have on those days when I do true study as opposed to the days when I just read, or whatever.

I promise you all that as you read the scriptures (ESPECIALLY The Book of Mormon) and as you take real time to think about and apply to your life what you are studying, AND if you talk to your friends about things that you've learned from your time studying or just from being a member of the true church of God (if they're members of this church or not), you will find more joy, more peace, more success physically and spiritually, and you will know what it means to truly be happy.

That's just a little something that I wanted to share with you all this week. I know that this Church is true and that Jesus Christ is its head. I love you all and pray for you daily!

Elder Greenwood :)

Examples

 (Sent 10-30-16)

Hola todos! Como estan? Que bueno. Me da mucho gusto al escuchar que esten bien y que aman al senor y que quieren servirle hasta el fin. Hay algunos de ustedes que van a poner todo esto en Google Translate me imagino. Y algunos solo van a saltar esta parte y seguir en ingles, jajaja. ok, ahora vamos a hablar en ingles.

Zone, Office, and Sister Leaders

This week was a pretty great week! I'm learning lots of things as a secretary of the mission. But, like things that will help me a lot in my life (Not saying that learning how to put in Immigration papers won't help me in my future, but I'm not super sure that it will much. Haha.)

This week, we had the chance to go to another Zone Activity in the Center Plaza area of the City of Chihuahua. I mentioned this before in a past email (Still working on following up with the miracle from last time, it's a process :) ) We basically did the same thing again, talking to people about some Self-sufficiency classes that just started yesterday. (They did this whole thing for several weeks leading up to the classes)



But, this time President Montoya and Sister Montoya came to see us all. And I thought like "Wow, cool, they're going to come and see us and watch us work and whatnot, that's cool" But no. They showed up, grabbed some Self-Sufficiency cards and started to talk to people in the street. It was a big example to me of humility, and love for others. They may be the presidents of the Mission Mexico Chihuahua, and they have a lot of other "more important" things to do. But, being a part of saving the souls of others just brings a joy unlike any other.

It was really cool to see my president do that. That is my little story for you this week.

Hope that you all have a great one!

With Much Love,

Elder Greenwood :)

Sigan el Espíritu (Follow the Spirit)

Hello all of you people!

Hope that your week was fantastic!

If not, this week is a new week! Make it fantastic!

To Eternity....and Beyond!

This week was a bit more of getting used to my new calling as Executive Secretary. It's been going pretty well. I have a lot to learn still, but I am starting to get the hang of things.This week we had the pleasure to welcome another injured missionary. Hahaha! Elder Wright got to join us for a couple days because, long story short, he stepped on a sharp metal wire thing. He was going to use my cane... but he broke it :'( hahaha! But now, as tradition goes, he will become the new secretary. I guess I'm done here. Hahaha! JKJKJK.

A special experience that I was able to have this week was when Elder Wright and I were headed out of the offices to go eat. We were going to go in an Uber (like Taxis, but they are nicer cars-- more safe, more quality, AND cheaper). I've been trying to work on acting on spiritual promptings in the moment that I receive them, even if they are inconvenient.

Elder Wright and I left. Elder Wright headed to the car while I closed the security gate. I closed it and felt that I should grab a Book of Mormon. I did not have one in my bag at the time. And I thought, "No, Elder Wright is already in the car, I don't want to have to unlock the security gate and then the office door. No.." Then, I decided to go in and get one. It was inconvenient, but I figured that I would see what would happen.

Well, I got it, put it in my bag, and got in the Uber Car. We started going, and the first thing the driver did was say, "Hey, I have a friend who's an Elder right now too!" I would have kicked myself had I not gone to go get that Book of Mormon. In the end we gave it to him, and ending up giving more books away to other cool Uber drivers. It was really a lot of fun giving those away. Finding people who are willing to take that Book, not for obligation, but for a strange desire inside to read it, is very special.

I would imagine that one day they will pass through some challenge and life will feel hard, and then they will see the old book that two white guys dressed in white shirts gave them long ago. And then they'll read it, and find joy -- Find Christ.

I invite you all to start before life feels hard, to read and to find Christ. That will make your challenges much easier to go through.

I love you all!

Have a Great week!

and GIVE 'EM HEAVEN!

Elder Greenwood :)

Surprise!!!

(Sent 10-17-16)

Delivery of 44 Air conditioners!

Well, I don't remember if I already told all of you guys, but, I guess that President likes me here in the offices because he just put me in as his Executive Secretary. So now, I have a ton of different responsibilities that I deal with to make sure that the entire mission functions, such as stuff about Migration, Immigration, buy plane tickets for the missionaries leaving, buy materials for the mission, take care of President's calendar, make sure that all the missionaries have phones and sim cards and that we have registered correctly where they live, make sure that all the missionaries that are going home make it to security and stuff all-right, and basically whatever President asks. I do many things.

Office Missionaries

It is a lot different from normal missionary work. Of course, I still have an area, and I get to work there, and I have a district of sisters to take care of as well. It's very different, but I know that I am here for a reason, and that God has many things in store for me to both teach to others and learn for myself.

Setting up for Street Contacting

I have already started to see one of the why's behind why I am here in the offices. We all went to a zone activity in Chuviscar (My old zone from when I was in Chihuahua, Chih). We went to centro (a big plaza type place with a bunch of little stores where lots of people go to shop) and we set up a table and a projector and lots of signs talking about the self-sufficiency classes that they are going to start giving in the chapel nearest to there.

All set!

We contacted people, inviting them to come and sign up for the class so that they can become self-sufficient physically and spiritually. The studies show that 90% of the non-members who take that class end up getting baptized. :)

Elders Bustos (companion) & Greenwood

So yeah, we were contacting people, playing videos, answering questions, when, out of the blue, walks up a person that I believe I have mentioned in past emails. His name is Mauricio. I started to teach him in Chuviscar with Elder Vivanco. He was an INcredible contact, who started to progress very quickly, he then completely disappeared one day without a trace. Then re-appeared for like a week, and we taught him, and then he disappeared again! But there he was, now about 5-6 months later. He walked up to me and was like, "Hey, you remember me?" I was like "uh (nodding my head a bunch) yeah" and we just started to talk like old friends with him and his friend. Then, I gave him some lesson 1 and 2 booklets and his friend was like, "Hey, can I get some of those too?" It was crazy awesome to see them again and see that they are still interested in the gospel. They just didn't know where to find it.

Zone Activity - Pool and...

Now, I will surely be keeping in touch with the missionaries in that area now to watch his progress. He also gave me his cell number, so we will be talking, and I will be inviting him to church. It was a true surprise (and really a miracle) to see him again.

...Ping Pong

So that is my story for you all this week. I love being a missionary! I've never been happier. I find true peace and joy as I go out and serve others and share the gospel with them --the gospel that has changed my life and the lives of countless others -- the true gospel of Jesus Christ restored to the Earth by God's prophet, Joseph Smith!

Love you all!

Have a Fantastic Week!

Elder Greenwood :)

Buenas Tardes Todos! Como les van? Que bueno.

Office Missionaries

Hello all of you people out in the world today! Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope that it is a quality experience and that you can learn something new from it that will bring you to learn more of and come closer to Christ.

Family Home Evening at the Mission President's Home

This week was a pretty awesome week! We gathered all the Zone Leaders in Chihuahua together and had dinner at President's house and had a little family home evening type thing there. That was tons of fun. Then, the next day we gathered up and talked about what President wants to do to help the mission more and further the work. I learned a lot of new things and will be applying them to my work here in the offices and when I can get back to the normal normal grind of missionary work.

Zone Leaders and Office Missionaries studying at a conference

A miracle that happened this week, that was super cool, actually happened while I was writing my family a little bit ago. I was just sitting here writing when the doorbell of the offices rang. I went to push the security button to let the random dude outside in. (For some reason the thought that I had that maybe he could be dangerous or something just became a stupor of thought in my mind.) He came in and asked us: "Hey, uh, when do you guys have your services in the church next door?" I was like, "Well, they're on Sundays at 9... What's your name? Where do you live? You've talked with missionaries?" hahaha! So, in the end, he talked with missionaries a while back (like 6 months ago) and went to church once. And he'll be joining us tomorrow at 9am with his brand new Book of Mormon in hand! :)Cr azy miracle. I love being a missionary. :)

Those types of things just strengthen my testimony so much about how this is the only true Church of God on the Earth. People literally just feel drawn to it. Those who are humble and prepared will find the truth, or the truth will show up on their doorstep.

These types of miracles don't just happen as missionaries either. They can happen in each and every one of your lives. My challenge for you all this week is to ask God for a "missionary" experience. And then, when you follow the spiritual promptings that you will receive, you will have one. :)

Field Trip

Also! I learned something cool yesterday. I was pondering the steps to repentance, thinking about feeling Godlike sadness. An Elder was feeling it yesterday, but he was like SUPER down, like he REALLY wanted to feel bad. Then, because I've experienced the same sadness that he's felt where you just want to be sad and feel bad, I thought, "but true repentance is more than just feeling bad and changing your actions with a shameful look on your face." 

The last step of repentance, Following Christ and his Commandments, is more than just doing what Christ says. It's doing it with a heart full of joy. Like in Elder Nelson's talk, God put us here on Earth so that we could experience joy. And some of the greatest joy that we can experience is the joy of being forgiven of our sins. Being happy that, now, after making a mistake, we are going to work harder and become better people after all is said and done. It's pretty cool.

I love you all!

Have a Fantastic Week!

Elder Greenwood :)