WEEK 19 WYOMING (WEEK 55 OF MISSION)

Hey everyone! another great week in wyoming! dont have a ton of time, so it may be short!

 

Love this picture. Parker looks so happy and healthy!

elder williams (my new comp) is great. he is from elko, nevada and has been out 16 months. the zone is looking really good with a lot of new baptismal dates and some baptisms!

 

Parker and his new comp. Elder Williams with Darrell, Dannell,
and a new investigator who walked into one of their lessons
and said he wants to get baptized!!!

One thought from this week comes from Jacob 6:6. We have many investigators who are just stuck and it has been really difficult to teach them. The gospel of Jesus Christ is so true. when people have REAL faith, they repent. when people really repent, they get baptized, and then they receive the matchless gift of the Holy Ghost. we are trying to help people to repent. we have been very bold in asking people to repent of their mistakes. to repent is to change our thoughts, behaviors and attitudes that are not in harmony with God's will. isn't that beautiful? it really is that simple. and if we don't want to repent, then we will die just as Jacob 6:6 says. and what for? will we die spiritually because we would rather listen to inappropriate music than conform to God's will and have the Spirit with us? will we die spiritually because we would rather be rude to others than be loving and patient? will we die spiritually because we wont forgive, either others or ourselves, and allow the Atonement to play a role in our life? What is there to want out of life if not to have a happy family, to be close to God, to have peace and eternal life in the hereafter? there is nothing else. All else dies with our bodies at the end of our earthly lives. Again, not to say we cannot have hobbies or recreation in our lives, but if our hobbies or recreation drive the Spirit of the Lord away, then we need not do those things any longer. When we live the commandments, our lives become filled with peace, joy and consolation and life becomes an upward spiral where we increase in happiness, prosperity, and our ability to be a blessing in the lives of others.

hope you have a great week!

elder green

WEEK 18 WYOMING (WEEK 54 OF MISSION)

hi everyone! 

so transfers happened. elder pena is being moved down to sturgis for the last month and a half of his mission :( because there is a new mission president coming in less than two weeks, they want to make sure the leadership of the mission is all young missionaries that will be able to work with the new president for a long time. so there were 5 new zone leaders called this transfer and i will be training one of them. his name is elder williams and he will be here tomorrow. itll be exciting! 

another great week here in wyoming. this ward is wonderful and so is this work. hannah is doing really well and so is jontae. two huge miracles and blessings. i love them both very much! Darrell and Dannell (two of our investigators we found a few weeks back. darrell is about 60 and dannell is his 24 year old daughter) came to church. It was darrell's second time and dannells first. dannell loves meeting with us and learning more about God. they have both been reading the Book of Mormon faithfully and yesterday at church they were asking how soon they could get baptized. what a miracle! they were already on date to be baptized on july 12th, and i think itll work our perfectly for them. also, the lesson in sunday school was on the Word of Wisdom, which neither of them had heard before, but they both loved it and are going to work hard to live it. wow!! incredible!! 

im not sure if i have ever talked about dachipaw on here or not..? well the Tu (pronounced "too") family is from bhurma originally and they dont speak much english. they have a 13 year old daughter named dahchipaw who speaks really good english and is very curious about religion. they are catholic and attend mass each week. they are wonderful people. dahchipaw had a lot of questions about the plan of salvation and over the past few weeks as we have been teaching her and she has been reading the Book of Mormon, she has come to see that this is all true. she wants to be baptized! the problem is her family, although they love us, does not understand why she wants to go to a different church because they cant understand the lessons we teach haha. but we gave dahchipaw and her mother dah a church tour this week. dahchipaw told us that she feels so much closer to God since she has been meeting with us and that she feels so good about all we have taught her. isn't that awesome! the spirit was strong as we watched videos of modern day Apostles and prophets testify of Christ in the chapel of the wyoming building. hopefully her father's heart will be softened and she will be able to join the church! (by the father her father's name is Me. last name Tu. no joke haha his name is Me Tu.)

we are here on earth to become something. to become like our Father in Heaven. and in the end, we get what we want. Tell me what you think about when you don't have to think about anything, and I'll tell you what you'll become. if we want to live with Jesus Christ again, then we will become like Jesus Christ. If we want to have money, and cars, and all the worldly trappings of wealth, then we will get those things. and they will die with us. i have been thinking about that a lot lately; that is, the things that we can take with us after this life. we spend so much of our time for that which perishes in an instant. that is not to say that we don't need those things, or that they are not good things to work for, for they are necessities of life. but all you really need is to be obedient to God. you need your spouse to be obedient to God, and your children, and that is really all that matters. everything else will fall into place. Consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God, for behold they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual. and if they hold out faithful to the end, they are received into heaven whereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. oh remember remember that these things are true, for the Lord God hath spoken it. Be exactly obedient. spend your time around EXACTLY obedient people. Then you can stand still, and see His hand work wonders in your life. 

have a great week! 

WEEK 17 WYOMING (WEEK 53 OF MISSION)

hey everyone! how are you?

Package from home

another great week in wyoming! wyoming michigan that is! sorry, not a ton of time! but hannah got baptized this week!! how incredible. she has definitely been one of the biggest miracles of my mission!

 

Hannah and her little boy.  She looks so happy!

What a great day!

This is Sister Barbara Pawson, who does so much for the missionaries!
Can't thank her enough.  What a wonderful lady!!!

just a quick experience we had with hannah to think about this week. as we taught hannah, she would repent, and the spirit would prompt her to change things. she would make changes on her own. it was awesome. the other night, we were talking to her, and she just says, "keeping the commandments is so easy!" as i thought about that, i realized how true that statement is. my whole life it has seemed really hard to keep the commandments. it has seemed discouraging because i am imperfect. well, here is the deal: keeping the commandments is easy, unless you want to do something else. if you would rather not keep the commandments, then it will be really hard to keep them! we still won't be perfect ever in this life, but we can do our best! when we keep the commandments and take the sacrament each week, the Holy Ghost can be with us. with this member of the Godhead's help, we can refine, elevate, and lift our desires to holier things. we use our agency in three ways: our thoughts, words, and actions. if you want to change your desires so they can become your friends rather than your enemies, you must do a few things: 

1. you must learn to look beyond the moment. learn to think, "what consequences will this decision have?"

2. exercise your agency righteously. do not entertain bad thoughts, or soon they will begin entertaining you.

3. repent. repentance brings the Spirit and change. we can become more Christlike. it can be done. but not without our willing it to happen through sincere repentance and a desire to change. 

wish i had more time!! love you all! have a great week!

WEEK 16 WYOMING (WEEK 52 OF MISSION)

Hi everyone! 

What a great week! i feel like it has been forever since i have emailed to the blog. i again dont have a ton of time today and i have a lot to say! haha anyway, Elder Holland was incredible. He talked a lot about our purpose as missionaries and how nobody can block anyone else's salvation. in the end, it is all up to us and what we want. in life, you get what you want. you get what you ask for by the way you live. wish i had more time to elaborate on it and on what elder holland spoke on. he talked about why missionary work is so hard and he said its because salvation is not a cheap experience! think about that. isnt that awesome?

by the way, we were on bikes for four days this week and it nearly killed me! haha it was so hot and we were pedaling all over town!!

 

Parker with his set of Mission Comp Puppets  that Sis. Pawson made him!!! 
How funny is that?

Hannah is doing really well. She is one of the most incredible people I have met out here. As we have taught her nearly every day the past two weeks, she has made so many huge changes in life, all because she has simple faith that it will lead her to more happiness and peace. she has experienced a massive change of heart equivalent to the change of heart experienced by the people of King Benjamin in Mosiah 5:2. she has expressed at nearly every meeting that her desires have changed. she has no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. she has shown that living the commandments of God truly does bring more peace and happiness than what the world has to offer. She is very excited for her baptism this weekend (oh yeah, we moved her date up to this saturday cuz she was too excited to wait!) haha everything changed when we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ the morning of Elder Holland's visit. we talked to her about what repentance really is and it changed her. we talked to her about how EVERYTHING could be washed away at baptism. From that time forward she has wanted to be baptized. it really is that simple. do you want to be clean and confident before God? live the commandments. get baptized. take the sacrament. repent. i love it. she loves it. its true. 

Lots of birthday treats and kindness!!!

Sis. Pawson's mom singing, "Happy Birthday" to Parker!
What a cute lady!!!

we are teaching many other people and have seen some massive miracles. but i want to express this right now instead of elaborating about those people. i will try to be short. we are only useful to the Lord when we are humble and obedient. If we believe we know better than Him, we will never receive His help or direction in our lives. We have investigators who just won't keep commitments, like attendance at church, reading the scriptures and praying, and they don't receive anything more than what they already have! however, when a humble seeker like Hannah accepts the commandments, lives them, and does her best, her life becomes filled with peace and consolation. things go better for her at work and with her family. EVERYTHING CHANGES for the better. it is not coincidence. it is not luck. it is our Heavenly Father responding to humility and obedience. none of us are perfect. God knows everything. repent and move forward. do not let the devil tie you down with negative thinking, negative speaking, or behaviors that are in contradiction with divine laws. wickedness never was happiness (alma 41:10) we exercise our agency by our thoughts, words, and actions. agency only works in the present. not the past. choose now to be obedient to God's commands, and watch your life be changed for your eternal good. 

have a great week!

elder green