Testing My Faith and Paience

Hello  everyone!

The Lord is testing my faith and patience right now in my life. Last week I got a little discouraged because we didn't have as much work last week. I had a nasty flu virus and it stopped our work from moving forward. I even go the flu shot. Funny how that works. A few days after recovering from this sickness, I was playing basketball at the church with some members and non members and ended up spraining my ankle pretty bad. The past 4 days I've been a gimp, or " The Crip" my ward mission leader calls me. Making my way around the church in a brace and crutches, while still trying to welcome people and say hello to as many as possible, I was surely talked about and laughed at. Oh well, what can you do. The Sister missionaries in our ward are saints. Since my companion doesn't have much sympathy for me, they have stepped in and have been buying me chicken noodle soup while I was sick and even gave their car while I'm injured. Perfect or worst timing ever, depending on who you are, the weather is going to make record cold temperatures here in Florida so it has been a blessing to have heat and a set of wheels this week.

My companion and I are having a wonderful time together. We got nervous for the transfer call last night. We were hoping to stay together for a longer time but rumors said otherwise. Luckily we are both staying for at least another transfer and our Mission President said that he feels like good things are going to happen here and he's confident in us so that's pretty cool. He made a surprise visit to our sacrament meeting on Sunday. He also told us that they are looking to open up 5 new areas for companionships and this area is where he most likely will place one. This area is white and all ready to harvest! So many hearts have been prepared, we just hope and pray that we can find and teach them all.

My companion has a really good friend that he's teaching on Facebook right now. She lives in San Francisco but with the amazing technology we have right now, we are able to teach her anyway from such a long distance. We have been told that the beginning of February at Zone Conference we will ALL receive our very own iPads. This will make the work of Salvation that much more effective. The way that the gospel is being taught and shared is totally different from what it use to be. Knocking doors is the last resort. We work through the members and we are striving to get them all excited about the work. We show them how easy and simple sharing the gospel with their friends can be. We are getting the ball rolling in this area. Many have now stepped out of their comfort zones at school, work, and play, and have invited their friends to come closer to Christ without making relationships awkward afterwards. The tools we have nowadays are amazing. I'm so grateful to be apart of this great work.

Love, Elder Greenlaw