Happiness Comes From Serving

Hey y'all,

Last week I was pretty bummed I didn't get a chance to write to y'all. I only got to send off a few sentences to Mom saying I'm fine, not dead.... YET. We went off to St Augustine for P-day. We had a chance to go play some beach volleyball again. It was awesome! Other than the fact I was limping everywhere I went. A Sister missionary even told me that she had never seen someone fall on the ground so slow ha ha. I severely sprained my ankle playing some basketball. It's been three weeks and I'm still not healed up all the way. Elder Jenkins my trainer rolled his ankle doing the same thing the other day. The doctor said, because your a big guy weighing almost 300 pounds you have to go get an x-ray ha ha. He said it wasn't even bad, he was still able to walk but he still went in for the checkup.

Hopefully I can partially make up for not writing last week because things have been awesome here! We have had many opportunities to do service for people, which has been great. There is a food pantry in Green Cove Springs that we volunteer at from time to time. Lots of very sweet, loving old woman there that sadly too in love with the churches that they already attend. We still had the chance to answer their questions about the church. We often get asked... " So I'm very devoted (Baptist) but I'm interested in the differences between our churches. 

We painted another members home, did some yard work, moved a piano, the list goes on and on for service these last two weeks. There is an area in Folkston, Georgia where the missionaries can't even preach. They are STRICTLY service. Even when people ask them about the church they can't tell them about it. Not being able to preach would be a bummer but I personally wouldn't mind serving all the time. It's a great way to feel the spirit and create great relationships with people. You always have a great felling in your heart when you serve people.

So as for God's children that we have been working with recently, Chelsie Alvarado has been attending the YSA in Jacksonville for a month now and has met a bunch of missionaries. She is really good friends with Victoria Taylor in our ward also. She had never been taught anything except how to receive revelation for herself by prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, writing questions and answers down, and praying afterwords. The fourth verse she had ever read in Chapter 32 of Alma was when she got answer to one of the questions that had been weighing on her mind for awhile. By this amazing experience she immediately knew the Book of Mormon was true. She is solid. She wants to learn learn like no other and we have now taught her the Restoration of the Gospel, and the Plan of Salvation inside the Taylor's home. It has been so powerful having the entire family sitting in the lesson baring testimony, sharing experiences and expanding on principles. Member Missionary work is LEGIT! The spirit is always so much more powerful when your teaching with members and they are more likely to progress and eventually get baptized. Last night after the lesson i invited her to be baptized and she accepted! February 9th is the day! Mark it on your calendar folks cause its going to be incredible! She has a friend in the YSA that has investigating the church for awhile now. She had a date but later cancelled and we are thinking that this might just be the thing that pushes her towards baptism. Maybe even the same day!! 

Sadly, Daphne hasn't progressed at all in the past 3 weeks. Ever since she got her old job back at the post office she's been working a TON and we haven't seen here since. We know that she is prepared and is ready to accept the fullness of the gospel but all in the Lords timing I guess. She loved church and told us she would be coming back but the weather has been so freakin great recently that the drag strip she works at on Sunday, doesn't shut down. Lets just say that we pray for rain on Sunday a lot! We've got some other people that have fallen off the radar and are not keeping commitments... So that's it for right now.

Hope y'all have a fabulous week and either continue to or start making invitations to your friends and family to come closer to Christ! Let us all strive to have the spirit more and be more Christlike which is the only way to have true lasting happiness in this life. 

God be with y'all til we meet again.

Elder Greenlaw

Fleming Island Missionaries

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

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