Skyping At Christmas

Hello everyone! 

It was the first Christmas away from family and friends but I still had a great time. The members took good care of us! They even trust us enough to house sit after they opened all their toys on Christmas morning. ha ha. (Home Alone Missionary Edition.) Nerf wars, pillow fights, sports and all sorts of things happened while they were gone visiting family. It was amazing to Skype my family too. I wish I was able to talk to more of ya'll though...

The work was really slow this week. I've been fighting a nasty cold for over a week now and I've been unable to smack some doors. Now that I have my strength back, this week will be very exciting! We have a lot of new potential investigators to meet with, along with our most progressing investigator Daphne! Remember her!? Apparently her and her boyfriend aren't engaged anymore. What she told us exactly was "jealousy is very unattractive." I dont know a whole lot about what happened but all that matters is that she came to church this last Sunday for the first time and she loved it! She told us she would definitely be coming back and we are planning on meeting with her (Not the sisters anymore) this Wednesday. Bro Alexander will also be there. She loves him and used to work with him at the post office. We are planning on setting a baptismal date with her as well for some time in January! Hopefully her two younger kids will accept the invitation to be baptized also! 

I'm so glad for the Christmas season and the chance to focus on our Savior Jesus Christ and his birth. Its been great to preach His holy name and invite others to come unto him this Christmas. I'm grateful for His eternal sacrifice, the suffering He did for my personal sins. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to feel of his love and forgiveness in my life and the rejuvenating feeling he gives me to push forward with faith and happiness. He will always be a great part of my life and I couldn't make it out here if it wasn't for him. Thank you also to those that have loved and supported me this Christmas season. I know I don't thank you enough! I am eternally grateful.

Love ya'll so much!

Elder Greenlaw

Elder Greenlaw got an elf hat from his companion's mom. He wore it all Christmas. 

Elder Greenlaw and Elder J. Johnson. Missionary elves! 

Merry Christmas From Florida

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's finally here! We have some great plans for Christmas, We are going over to Taylor"s house for Christmas Eve, then the Wheeler's house for Christmas morning to Skype. We then have plans to go see many awesome families throughout the day. 

Sadly not much has happened this last week. We had multiple progressing investigators drop us. We also had to pass along Daphne to the sisters. Apparently there was some jealousy coming from her fiance. I hope he's not the reason for Daphne not joining the church. She is so wonderful and would make a great addition to the ward but with this guy, I don't know if it will happen. We shall see I guess.

I had the opportunity to go on a couple trade offs with some other missionaries this week. One being Elder Jenkins. You remember him? He was my trainer back in the day. We were reunited and I got to do some work here in Fleming Island with him. It was a lot of fun! We get along so well now. It's not like we didn't get along during our training together, but now after we've had other companions we realize how much we love each other! 

The past few days I haven't been able to do much. I came down with the cold/flu. Completely out of nowhere! I've been trying to sleep a lot and take a lot of meds, hoping to be well enough for Christmas.

I'm super excited to Skype my family. I do wish that I could talk to many of you too. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. I'm jealous of how much snow y'all have been getting. It's just not the same here with 80 degree weather and being flat as a pancake.

Til next time... Merry Christmas! 

Elder Greenlaw

Spending the Holidays in Florida

Christmas in the South!

Elder Greenlaw and Elder J. Johnson

Hey Ya'll, Merry Christmas! 

Elder Greenlaw doing the 12 Ways of Christmas his family sent him. 

Christmas Baptism

Hello friends and family!

This has been a spectacular week! Brannon was finally baptized!!!! There is a requirement for people to attend church three times in a row in order to get dunked but he was ready after his first Sunday. It was such a special day, it was such a spiritual experience being able to get into the font, all dressed in white, put my arm to the square, and baptize my good friend Brannon Mullins. He is such a special guy, what a character! There is never a dull moment with him.

For weeks he told me that he was afraid I was going to drop him, or better yet fall in the water with him, considering that he weighs 320 pounds. Don't worry, I was able to do it my first try. This was a special experience for both of us because I have never had the opportunity to baptize before. I will remember this for the rest of my life!

Brannon Mullins and Elder Greenlaw

Earlier this week we had the chance to do some trade-offs with the ward members. I went out with my good friend Dale Jr Taylor. He's preparing to go an a mission himself so they decided it would be a good opportunity to go out and practice. We taught three lessons and Dale stepped right in and bore powerful testimony, and even read some of his favorite scriptures. What a stud he is! I remember when I went on a few trade-offs with the Elders in my home ward, I was terrified! They knew it too! I'm glad to help him along the way. It is crazy how the youth are being prepared much earlier for their missions. I know it makes such a huge difference when you prepare by reading the Book of Mormon all the way through, looking at Preach my Gospel and going over the lesson layouts. For all those youth out there that haven't done so, start preparing now! 

Christmas is right around the corner! My companion and I are so excited. We are still strictly listening to Christmas music along with hanging up lights and decorations around the apartment. Thank y'all for thinking about me and sending me packages. Don't worry! I haven't peeked! The presents are still underneath our foot and a half tall tree. This time of year people always seem to be a little happier. We haven't had water thrown at us from out the window of a moving car in awhile, along with people flippin the bird and other things I probably shouldn't say in this post so that's good. I hope y'all have a Merry Christmas and I'll talk to y'all next week. 

Love,

Elder Greenlaw

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas in Florida

No post from our missionary this week, but we were excited to see a few holiday pictures pop up on his missionary Facebook page.

Putting up Christmas lights at a ward members home in shorts and a T-shirt.
80 Degree weather in Fleming Hills, Florida

Elder Greenlaw asking for a baptism for Chrismas. Guess what? His Christmas wish is coming true. He has an investigator getting baptized this Saturday. 

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone! Here in Fleming Island Florida, the 1 1/2 foot tall Christmas tree is up along with strictly Christmas music being played in the apartment. It's fantastic.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Yes, it was hard at times when I caught myself thinking about my family and the wonderful traditions we have for the holidays. The hardest part was when they had everyone in the house name off everything that they were thankful for. It was hard not to hide the tears I'll be honest. If it makes me look tougher I will add that my companion was the same way.  

First the day started with the annual Turkey Bowl in the morning. We had a good turnout with about thirty people there. It was about 40 degrees outside and everyone was bundled up except for my comp and I haha. We were dumb enough to go in just T-shirts and shorts. It was my one chance to push some people around, especially my comp. All in good fun though! The next day, I might add, my legs were so sore that I could barely walk. I'm just now getting over the pain.

We had multiple dinners, first starting with the Mullins family. Their son is the one we've been working with and is getting baptized soon. We enjoyed deep fried turkey, which oh my goodness is heavenly by the way, along with ham soaked in honey and apple sauce. We also had deviled eggs, stuffing, sweet potato muffins and every pie you can imagine! Then we stopped by the Bishop's house where he had loads of food and people there. It was great!

We had some great miracles happen this week. As we were biking on the side of the road, I ran over a construction staple which immediately popped my back tire. This was at the beginning of the day so we were pretty bummed out now that our whole day was shot because we still had an hour bike ride ahead of us to get to our destination. The spirit told me multiple times, after the trial of your faith, good things will come after the trial of your faith. So I tried my best to stay positive. After a nice walk a man in a white pick up truck pulls up to us and asks if we need a ride. He was an avid road biker who recently got a flat himself and had to walk 7 miles back to his home. So we got in his truck and were headed to Walmart to buy a new tube. As we got talking to Sam he tells us that he has many friends across the US that are Mormon. He has a Book of Mormon, and has read a little bit of it. He and his family "were" Baptist and were looking for a good church to go to! We found out that he lives 4 houses down from another investigator of ours and he told us to come back and visit anytime we want. How amazing is that! The Lord had a different plan in mind for us that day.

Another miracle happened on Sunday. Let me back up to Saturday evening as I had just about retired to bed. When I had kneeled down to pray that night I remember saying please help Brannon and Marcus get to church tomorrow, along with someone unexpectedly. I didn't really think much of what I said and later I had completely forgotten about it. Sunday comes around and both Brannon and Marcus show up for church along with an unexpected young man. He came up and shook my hand and said,  "Hello, my name is Lee, I am a non-member, I have driven from Middleburg (which is about 45 minutes from us) and I am here to learn more about your church." I was told by a friend to come here." He sat down next to us in our meetings and then he told us that he loved it and wanted to learn even more! Sadly we have to turn him over to other missionaries because he isn't in our boundaries, but I'm convinced he will get baptized soon. This is a total miracle.

Well, last week was great and I'm sure the Lord has more in store for us this week. I'll be sure to let you fill you in more later. Until next time!

Yours truly, 

Elder Greenlaw