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 :)