WEEK 4 OKEMOS (WEEK 64 OF MISSION)

hey everybody!! another great week in lansing!! 

havent told you much about the area, so here are a few details. it is awesome! haha the ghetto part of the area is really rough. it is really sad. i cant believe this, but there are marijuana shops ALL OVER the city. it is really crazy. i did not think i would see that day so soon. 

the people are great. the weather has been perfect this summer. when it rains here, IT POURS. the weather can be pretty nutty sometimes! 

kevin is doing really well! he agreed to set a baptismal date yesterday!! what?? crazy huh? 20th of september. he is such a joy to teach and is so funny to work with! he still has concerns and says that only God's Spirit will be able to convince him that this is all true. he prays earnestly and i am sure he will get an answer. 

julie is doing really well too. we had a crazy lesson with her this week where her husband got kind of upset (he never sits in on the lessons, but will sometimes linger awkwardly behind us and listen for a minute). and julie was asking us stuff like, "so hypothetically, lets say i believe everything you are teaching me: that joseph is a prophet and babies dont have to be baptized and the book of mormon is true, and i dont get baptized. what happens?" so she is moving right along! 

i know God answers prayers. He has heard me this past week and has helped me to find answers to my questions. The Atonement is so beautiful. it is real. it affords forgiveness of sins and the ability and power to change who we are, if we are willing to work with the Savior. If you have questions about the Gospel, read, and pray and search. the answers will come. God loves each of us. He wants us to return home. never give up hope. there is hope as long as God says there is time to improve. but do not wait. it's getting late. 

have a good week.

elder green

WEEK 3 OKEMOS (WEEK 63 OF MISSION)

Hey everybody! how are you? another great week in the mission field!

i love being a missionary! it is the life!! the peace the gospel brings is real! it fills voids in people's lives and helps them to become more free! i havent updated you on our investigators at all lately, so i figured i would today!

we have been so blessed to find many people who want to meet. not all of them want to be baptized right now, but we are teaching a lot more than a few weeks ago! one of our investigators, kevin, is soo awesome. he knows the bible better than anyone i have ever met. he bible bashed with us after we knocked on his door for about 20 minutes and then something unheard of happened. he agreed to meet. after a bible bash. haha! so we have been teaching him and he is reading the BoM and DISECTING it. he is so cool. every time we teach him it is SO INTENSE. just because he knows so much and DOES NOT want to be deceived. but he is sensitive to the Spirit. like he was really combative our first lesson, until we shared the first vision with him. then he leaned back in his chair and was calm and agreeable the rest of the time. he is soo cool! we love him so much because he is just a down to earth, hard working guy who wants to know the truth.

we are also teaching a catholic lady named julie. she is a truth seeker and is about 50 and has 4 teenage children. she is soo cool. she is really funny and energetic. she keeps every commitment we give her. she has had a struggle believing in joseph smith, but she realizes that he probably is a prophet now. she is still seeking for an answer from God.

i really do love these people and we are so blessed. wish i had time to tell you about everybody we are teaching! but i dont right now.

faith comes differently than you expect. alma 32 is more than a cool analogy. it is perfect for describing faith. if you feel down and like you could use some hope, then read the Book of Mormon and begin to believe what it is telling you. if you do not cast it out by your unbelief, it will begin to grow within you. it may be subtle. but pay attention. you will feel hope. you may not know why, but that is part of faith. just keep reading. don’t extinguish the faith and hope you feel with doubt. cast out doubt. the seed of faith will begin to swell within you and will begin to enlarge your soul. these statements sound like abstractions, but when you feel it, you will know what i am talking about. it is enabling. it is freeing. it is hopeful. it comes from Jesus Christ and pure intelligence. continue on that path and you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

love you so much!!

WEEK 2 OKEMOS (WEEK 62 OF MISSION)

hey everyone!! way crazy day today so no time to email! long story, no time to tell it! so I will just leave you with a thought. things are going great here, working hard and finding new investigators. wish I had time to tell you some experiences this week, but I will just have to tell you them next week!

This is a ball signed by the "Fab Five!"
Look how gently Parker is touching it, haha

Classic Parker

Also Classic Parker

agency is not the ability to choose to be free of influence, but the power to choose to which influence we will submit ( god or the adversary)

the saying or though to live with no regrets is really a gigantic joke. what does it mean to live with no regrets? it means to live without sin. Jesus Christ was the only person to ever truly live with no regrets. What most people mean when they say they live with no regrets is that on a consistent basis, they give up things of great or future import to fulfill a momentary and impulsive lust or desire. it means they have no self-control.

living with no rules does not make you free. living without established impediments or restraints does not mean you are free. all it means is that rather than living by God's constraints you will create your own impediments by the choices you make. those impediments will be more permanent, and more difficult to live with than the simple, love-inspired commandments given by our all-knowing Father in Heaven. His restraints will, in time, open many rooms full of potential growth and happiness. No doors will be closed to those who submit themselves to God's will.

maybe I will get to expound on that idea next week. think about it though! those who live with no rules eventually end up living with many impediments, all of which they brought upon themselves. the good news is that Jesus Christ can remove the stain and sin from those negative choices. We can be made whole as if we never messed up in the first place. that is the good news of the gospel and of Jesus Christ. accept His atonement and let it work in your life. do not compare yourselves to others. its futile. it weakens your faith. everyone is always doing worse than they look like they’re doing. just love everyone.

WEEK 1 OKEMOS (WEEK 61 OF MISSION)

Let's start with a few Pics from the area Parker just left, before we move on.

Basketball in church clothes! Gotta love it

Barbara Pawson and her two sons.  She's so amazing! Thanks for everything Barb!

Check out this Pizza Feast and how they each have their own box of Wings, Pizza, and Breadsticks!

Not really sure what is happening here, haha

Hey everyone!

Meridian is great! it is a super unique area. we live in the rich part of our area called Okemos (named after Indians). it is really wealthy. REALLY WEALTHY. then, a 15 minute drive away, is south lansing, the other half of our area. which is really not wealthy at all. a giant corn field separates the two places. it is crazy and it is awesome haha. we are finding a lot right now and trying to talk to everyone we can to build up a teaching pool. the ward is incredible and things are going to be awesome here. also, there are two sets of elders in this ward and the other set is elder tuua and elder Norton! my trainee! cool huh? and we drive a black mini van. its safe to say we are the only two white guys, in shirts and ties, driving a black minivan through the middle of south lansing.

this week was good. we talked to some people in the ghetto who had a pet monkey, so that was a first. the monkey had his own room and cost about $7,500 dollars haha. we are finding a lot of potential investigators so hopefully this week we will turn all of them into investigators!

There is a quote from the Incredibles that is so deep and so true. at one point, the supervillian.. whats his name... umm... voltron? no... frozone? no... its umm... SYNDROME!! haha I just had to ask like 4 people to find it. ok anyway, he says, "when everyone's super, nobody will be." or something like that. well this week, we have met many people who are agnostic. about everything. to them, there is no falsehood. every religion is right. God is in everything and everything happens for a reason. God leads you to everything. none of these things are true because God never leads us to sin or do evil, but these people don't always agree. here is the catch: when everyone is right, nobody will be. or when everything is true, nothing is. EVERYTHING CANT BE TRUE. there either is a God, or there is not. He either has a perfected and glorified body, or He does not. We either must live His commandments, or we must not. The bottom line is, satan is good at what he does. and he is only getting better. he confuses people and twists and bends the truth. he gets us caught up in popular culture and blinds us subtly until we are entangled in his worldly mess. he does it through lyrics to our favorite songs, movies, magazines, tv shows, clothing, and anything else that can distract us and dull our spiritual sensitivity. people all around us go through life as if they were in a dream. they never think about how they got here, or what they are to do here. they only live for the weekend or for the moment, or whatever it may be. I have so many thoughts right now and they are all coming out very scattered haha sorry. the reality of our situation is that we exist, so each of us must come to grips with how we got here. was it by divine design or was it not? once we have answered that question, we must find why we are here. God wants us to be happy. He wants us to know the truth. He has created all these things for a purpose. That is what we know as members of His Church. We must study and then share God's purpose with the world. then we must live accordingly. Who knows what God's purpose in creating the world was? Why did He put us here? write me back your answers! find the answers! these are things we ALL must answer for ourselves.

I love you all so much! have a great week!