Hello Folks!

This week was pretty stellar!

Writing Home

As a district, we did a competition as to who could get the most contacts in one week! It was crazy fun! It really showed everybody what they are really capable of. And, thanks to all of that fun, we were able to get lots of new contacts that will be turning into new investigators! And those new investigators will go to church, accept a baptismal date, and Boom! Converts in the church. Everything starts with the initial contact of a person.

Writing Home in Style

My comp and I went crazy, talking to people in the streets, knocking on doors, finding any way possible to do what we could to find people. One way that we were able to find new people was thanks to a member who we ate with. We shared them a spiritual thought and asked them for references of their friends or someone who could be ready to hear the message of the restored gospel. 

And, together, members and missionaries were able to think of people and how we can help those people. And THAT is how we get the work moving in the best way possible. The likelihood of a normal contact in the street being baptized versus a reference from a member is much, much lower. Members are invaluable, and the best way to help in missionary work.

I want to invite you all to to take the time to think of someone who could be ready for the gospel, and pass the name to the missionaries, and visit them with the missionaries. and you will see the results and feel the joy that comes from helping others come unto Christ. :)

Thank you for everything!

Elder Greenwood :)

Hello World!

This week was pretty sweet! My comp and I found a family that looks to be really cool. They have lots of questions and desires to know more about us.They are awesome!

We also found a person named Mario Ochoa last week. And he seemed pretty cool. But when we went to visit him the day that we had told him that we would, he wasn't there. He lives with his mom, and she told us that he had just started working that week. She then told us the times that he's normally in the house. So, we passed by when we could at those times, and we never found him.

Then... Saturday... we were headed to visit a person and we passed by Mario's house. And we both thought, "Hey, we should visit Mario." Just then, we saw him in the window! Whoa! And we were like "What's up Mario!!!" And we started to talk to him.

But it was weird. He was talking like he was just super angry at us or who knows. And we were super worried. And then, out of nowhere, he just started to cry. A 21 year old person, strong and lean, just burst into tears and told us how much he wanted to change his life. 

We had a great lesson with a strong spirit, giving him hope. He had just come from a park where he was with his friend, and they got into a fight. But, a real fight. Going hard with the punches. From there, he went to his house, couldn't find his house key, popped out his front window to climb through, and fell on his head. He had just gotten up when we found him. It was incredible how the Lord just put us in his path.

It was a real testimony builder for me about how the Lord puts us where the chosen people, who are ready to hear the gospel are, and the chosen people where we are.

It also built my testimony as we testified to him about how we are really here to help people. But literally, we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, have the only full truth and the light that can help people climb out of the darkness that they live in. And the missionaries just teach them how.

I love being out here. It's crazy that I now have 18 months in the mission. I feel old. Hahaha. But I have loved it and I can't wait to serve for these last few months in Mexico!

Love to All!

Elder Greenwood :)

Hello! Hello!!

(Sent Monday, February 13, 2017)

Hope life is going well!

School Building

We just had changes here in the south, and my comp and I will be here together for another cycle to save the people in Cuauhtemoc!

This week we had a little bit of a troublesome experience. The family that we had that was progressing the most and was the closest to baptism decided to tell us that they didn't want to come to our church anymore, and that they were done. It was a really sad night...

Always the Adventurer

However, earlier in that very night, we had taught an investigator about the scripture in Alma 26:27 -

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the  Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you  success."

Elders Beeson, Radichel, and Greenwood

That scripture became very real for us that night. My comp and I learned a lot and have greater faith in the fact that, as we suffer with patience (patience, not meaning that we sit around and do nothing, but that, instead, we continue working hard even while we may not see the miracles in that moment), God will give us success. And that is what we came here to do. Have success.

Spicy Hot Wings

I also learned, on Sunday, about Attitude and Faith, and how they are inseparably connected. If we have faith that everything will turn out ok, our attitude will be a positive one. And, if we have a positive attitude, despite any circumstances that there may be, that means that we have the faith, or at least the hope that things will turn out alright.

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Elder Greenwood :)

Miracles

Hello Everybody! Hope your week was great!

Zone Pizza Party

Zone Service Project

This week was crazy awesome!

We have been working on putting all of our faith into our work. And it was awesome! This week God was really trying to try our faith.

We have been working on finding new investigators to bring to church with us. And God blessed us in many ways.

One of them would be a man named Jaime. This guy lived in the U.S. and just moved here to Mexico. He was living with his family. His wife was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and he went to church with her for years. Then, they got divorced 10 years ago, and he stopped going to church. But, he told us about how much he misses miracles and the good feelings that he had from back when he went to church. And he wants to turn his life around. :)

P-Day Play Time

We gave him a Book of Mormon later on in our first lesson. and he asked us in that lesson if there was a chapter that he could read that would help him out before the next lesson! And, he's already read it now. :)

Next miracle-- we were blessed to have 3 less active families make it to church. But investigators were few, One to be exact. And I was kind of bummed about it. I wasn't sure what we had done wrong, or maybe, if there was something that we could improve to bring more.

More Pizza (and fries)!

And, at the end of sacrament meeting, my comp noticed a family that he didn't recognize. He went and talked to them. And it turns out that the mother had come to church many times with her grandma more than 28 years ago. And she just now decided to come back with her 3 kids in order to help her children have a church as well -- to have a solid foundation. And they live in our area! It was a crazy miracle. God has blessed us too much here in the mission. I love to be a missionary and know that, through Christ, all things are possible. :)

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Greenwood :)

Workin' Hard

What's up everybody! Hope that you all are doing well. This week was a pretty great week! We, once again, gave it our all and worked super hard so as to help others come unto Christ.

New District (and zone leaders)

Elders Greenwood and Calizaya in house

I don't remember if I mentioned this last week, but, our Zone Leader, Elder Cruz mentioned some scriptures in D&C 6 to us regarding missionary work. As we looked them over, we found that they said that if we are rejected for Christ's name, or if we suffer for his name, we will be blessed. And also, there is a scripture that says that if we are accepted and have fruits, we are also blessed.

Elders Greenwood & Rendon - happy with sauce!

Obviously, the one where we are accepted is the coolest, but, it reminded me that it doesn't matter if we are rejected. As long as we give it our all, we will be blessed to find other people who are ready to hear the gospel. My challenge to all of you is to try it. It you are rejected or not, it doesn't matter, you will be blessed for trying. And you will progress and be more prepared for challenges ahead.

Zone Activity

We had a great week of Fruits in the church this week! We had an incredibly spiritual lesson with the family of Angel and Silvia and they and all their family made it to church! And another lady named Ramona joined us as well! It was great to see. And I hope and pray that they choose to continue on this path that will guide them to true and everlasting joy.

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Elder Greenwood

First Week Back in the Field!

What a week!

Mexican Mystery Machine

Elders Greenwood?

Being my first week out of the offices and being in the field again has been a truly wonderful experience. This week, I don't know what happened, but I have never felt more desire to do good to others. I have never wanted to help people more.

There have been days in my mission where I have said: "Ok, 3 more hours of hard work, and then you can rest in the house, you can make it." But this week has been: "No! We only have 3 more hours to do what we need to do!" It has been really different. But I really loved this week. 

Elders in Training...just need to grow a foot or two

We didn't find the most success, but I know that there is not a good effort that will not be accounted for. All the things that we did this week, all the contacts that we had, the lessons that we taught, will all come together and become an incredible blessing. That blessing I believe will be finding more Chosen people who are ready for the Gospel now, who will go to church, learn, study, and gain a testimony that will last them an eternity.

Looks a little dangerous

We had a very special lesson with a recent convert whose daughter is our investigator. She has been worried about the life that her daughter is leading and how it will affect her for eternity.

While we talked, a spiritual impression came that we should talk about Alma the Younger and his story, and how the prayers and faith of his parents were factors in helping him come to change. We talked about it, we watched the Animated Book of Mormon story of it, and the Spirit just grew and grew in intensity. In the end, we testified to a worried mother with tears in her eyes and her wonderful son (who also had begun to cry for his sister) about how it doesn't matter who you are, or what you've done. With Christ's Atonement, ANYONE can change. Anyone can come unto Him and feel what it is to have true Joy.

Elder Greenwood's future

It was a lesson to remember. I'm so grateful that I can be a missionary and have these experiences. I'm so happy to be doing what I'm doing. I know that it's the work and glory of God. And I know that, through Christ, people change, and can become His true disciples.

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Elder Greenwood :)

Last Week in the Offices

Elders Sanchez, Ochsenhirt, and Greenwood

This was it.

My last week here in the offices.

I've learned a lot, and now it's time to go out to Cuauhtémoc and apply it all.

I am super excited to go back to Cuauhtémoc again. I think that it will be a lot of fun. That place is like a promised land within this promised land. It's just filled with people who are ready to learn more about the gospel!

This week was really intense. There was a lot of stuff that had to get done in terms of migration. And, on top of it all, I had to teach Elder Ochsenhirt how to do it. But, he's going to be a great secretary. I'm so proud.(sniff, sniff). He's like my child now. I trained him how to be a good secretary.

Overlooking the city

Amazing Cave

I'm excited to get into my new area and do new things, but I'm also sad to have to say good-bye to many faithful saints who are here in the Granjas Ward, and saying good-bye to my dear sisters in my district as well. But, I was reading a talk by Elder Holland yesterday that Sister Montoya told us that we ought to read. It's called "Remember Lot's Wife, Faith is for the Future."

It was really good. It talked about how, in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah, the action of looking back wasn't really the whole of the sin that Lot's Wife committed. It was looking back with desires and really a longing in her heart to be there. In the end, she did not have the faith that where she and her family were going would be as good for her as she had it back in Sodom and Gomorrah. She didn't believe that God had something better in mind for her. She just wanted to stay in the past and try to remember and be a part of what already was.

Elder Holland taught me that we should look forward with faith, knowing that where we are going is going to help us in the best way possible to improve and progress in a way that, in the end, we can be the person that God needs us to be. He taught that if we look back, we should only look back to remember things that we have learned so that we can apply them to the future.

Old Mexican Casa

So, with my new assignment, that is exactly what I am going to work towards --looking to the future with faith, and remembering not to make the mistake that Lot's Wife made. And I invite you all to do the same with me. 

I love you all! Have a great week! And look to the Future! Lo mejor esta por venir!!!

 Elder Greenwood :)