New Companion

Hello everyone!

My new companion is Elder Braiz Huxford, he is awesome! Like I told you last week, we've known each other for a while now. Back in the good old days, when I use to be skinny, we played intense basketball every P-day in Gainesville! He comes from the great city of Las Vegas. His original call was to Belen, Brazil but he's been waiting for his visa for 7 1/2 months now... Poor guy. His last area was in Chiefland, Florida. I Doesn't get any more southern than that. haha He's been telling me of stories about being out in the sticks where he ran into the most racist people and how he ate squirrel and other dirty meat all of the time. He also had the opportunity of trapping and cutting the head off of a gator with a butcher's knife haha. We have a lot of similarities and we get along great. 

On Saturday we had the chance the play some flag football with a bunch of members from the YSA Branch and a lot of their friends that aren't members! I can't even begin to tell you how sore I am. We can barely walk haha. It was so worth it though. 

Tiffany and Johnny Brown have decided to get married on March 29th and Tiffany will get baptized that same day! How great is that! After a lot of prayer on her behalf, Daphne, our former investigator, quit her weekend job working at the Drag Strip in Green Cove. She works full time at the Post office still but is now able to come to church and get baptized! This week we will set a date for her. It will be this month or next. 

This last week has been very difficult quite honestly. It seemed like every set appointment we had fell through. We weren't able to teach very many lessons. We have a good size teaching pool but for some reason everything has been on hold right now in their progression. Hopefully this week we will be able to meet with them.

As for the missing bikes, our sister missionaries decided to get back at us for all the hard times we gave them and they hid our bikes from us! We left them outside of the church and they had hid them behind the building in some bushes. Completely out of sight! For three days we didn't have them! By the time they decided to call and tell us where they were, I had already bought a hybrid beach cruiser from another missionary. Funny thing is, if I had not bought a new bike, Elder Huxford wouldn't have had one to use. God had a divine plan for everything I guess haha. 

Until next week,

Elder Greenlaw

Baptism Day!

Hey y'all!

This week has been absolutely amazing!! Until this morning when we got our bikes stolen....  We left them over night hidden behind some bushes right outside of the front doors of the church... We are very sad. 

The transfer call was last night and we found out Elder Johnson is leaving the area to a place not to far from here, Orange Park Florida. My new comp will be Elder Huxford who I actually know pretty good already! When I was in Gainesville he would come up from Ocala and play some intense basketball with us every P-day. We almost ALWAYS played against each other because we are so evenly matched. He's a very chill easy going guy but has a strong desire to work hard which is great. I already know I'm going to love 'em!

Saturday, I had the opportunity to baptize Chelsie Alvarado. She's is quite the character. We have really bonded during this time of her learning the gospel. She has such a great love for the Lord and loves learning more about the restored gospel. The baptismal service was so spiritual. Her parents who we are hoping to start teach were there to support and they have seen such a change for good from Chelsie. Before they knew she was getting baptized, they asked what in the world have you been up to in the last little while. You seem so much happier! Mike and Amy Alvarado also attended church this Sunday for the first time to support Chelsie and see her become confirmed in the church and receive the Holy Ghost.

We are still teaching Tiffany and her fiance Johnny Brown. She has accepted a baptismal date for March 1, but we are thinking that it will get moved back a bit because they have to plan a wedding before hand! Tiffany told me, I'm ready to get baptized, let's do it tomorrow! haha But we told her we have more to teach her first and she has to come to church three weeks in a row. She also needs to get married! More details on that date to come. Her little girl Corinthian is the sweetest little thing. She's only 6 but she wants to get baptized real soon too.

We have done a load of service this week. We have done everything from landscaping to cleaning carpets! It's always great to help people in need. 

Well that's about it for this week. Now that I don't have a bike or car lets hope I can walk off a couple pounds or so. These pants are getting tight! haha Maybe its just another blessing in disguise I dont know. 

Love, 

Elder Greenlaw

Elder Greenlaw, Sister Chelsie Alvarado, and Elder Johnson

Baptism Day! 

It's good to be the king! 

A Week of Service

Hey y'all,

This week has been filled with service and teaching new investigators! To start off, we do service for the old woman that runs the food pantry here in Green Cove. They called us up one morning asking us to meet with them at the local shopping center. They were holding a food drive. We helped them hand out flyers and collect large amounts of food they had been given. We carried over 600 pounds of food to the Pantry and were able to sort it all out. Those Southern gals are hilarious I'll tell ya, it was a blast!

Chelsie's baptism is this Saturday! She is ready and excited! Last night we had a spiritual lesson with her and the Taylor Family about temples. We talked about how baptism is only the beginning of her journey, which opens the gates to eternal life and the many other blessings that will come throughout her life. The YSA are planning an Orlando Temple trip here pretty soon. Chelsie is expecting to tag along with them and go do baptisms for the deceased. 

The miracle of the week has been meeting the Brown Family. A Branch President referred us to Johnny Brown and his fiance Tiffany and her little girl Corinthian. Johnny was a convert in 82' and he's looking to get back into church and return to the temple. His fiance Tiffany is not a member, but she really enjoyed church yesterday and wants to be taught everything there is to know about the church and become a part of it! They have not decided on a marriage date, yet but hopefully this month or the next and she will also be baptized. 

I bare witness that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is real. God is our Father and he loves us unconditionally. He has created a perfect plan in order to find happiness in this life and for our families to be together forever.

Hanging with the elders

Elder Greenlaw's Zone - With President Craig and his wife