Transfer Time - Letter 06/30/14

Hola Familia,

How is everyone doing? Hopefully well. I've been praying every day for each one of you. I hope that you guys are receiving the blessings you need at this time. This week has been a bit tough, but I'm pushing through. The language barrier is difficult. I've been fasting a lot for help, and today I read an article in the Ensign titled "Becoming Perfect in Christ." I encourage you all to read it. It is awesome. 

 

So for the Fourth of July we don't get to do anything except our usual Weekly Planning Session. We have to be in our homes by 6, because Casa Grande is a very dangerous area. There are constantly people getting robbed, and such. But I'm actually excited I might make my household Taco Soup, and we will probably watch a church movie. So that about sums up my holiday. Thank you for the 4th of July Package, and the Clothing Package! I really like them. :)

 

So for transfers, I'm staying in Casa Grande so I will still have the same address. For clarification on my address it's PEART road not Pearl. One of my companions, Hermana Romano from Idaho is getting transferred. So I will now have Hermana Jacobsen who is finishing out her mission as my Trainer. I love her! We get along so well. So this will be a really good transfer.

 

As for investigators, one of them will not commit to a date. They keep saying that they want to wait a year. We found an awesome girl to teach, she believes it and has many changes to make in her life. So we will continue to work with her. I have to sing at a Baptism this Saturday for a guy who has been wanting to be baptized for over a year now. He has had some probation issues but they are finally cleared!

 

So some fun things that have happened this week is we finally got to go biking! I loved it! Also it was Hermana Romano's Birthday so I set up a scavenger hunt, and we made her a cake. We also went to a custard place called Culver's which was really good, and we all got our hair cut. As you've probably noticed I have bangs now. :) 

 

Well that's all I got for this week. Hope everyone has a good week, and I will continue to pray for all of you. Love you guys!

 

Love, 

Hermana Greenhalgh

Hermana Romano's Scavenger Hunt, Sister Westfall made the cake, All three of us are from Idaho!

Letter 06/23/14

Hola Familia!!

 

Well this week has been long! So to start off on last Monday (Pday) I made Christmas Crack for my companions, they are obsessed! Thanks Trisha haha ;) They ended up eating so much that we didn't eat dinner...too much sugar! Next we made T-shirts for ELOY #tootoughtodie! I will be sending pictures next week! Get excited it has Harry Potter stuff on it, go figure :).

 

Wednesday- we had exchanges with the English Sisters so that was really fun, and we got to get to know each other better. Oh, something interesting is I'm on my 3rd Ipad yes..3rd. For some reason they have my account linked with someone elses so I had an apostate Ipad I could get on anything which is bad. So I had to get a new one for the 3rd time since I've been in Arizona.

 

Friday- we got to eat at a members house she made us Peruvian Food! It was sooo good! Also she made us iced coffee...but don't worry I didn't break the Word of Wisdom. She used Postum... She also was talking about recipes she likes for "smashed potatoes" yes smashed not mashed.

 

Saturday- I did my companions hair for the baptism of Walter. His baptism was awesome and we had a great turn out! He was filled with the Spirit, and looked like a new person when he got out of the font. It's amazing to see the change people go through during the conversion process. I'm so glad I was raised in the church and have known the truthfulness of the Gospel all my life. Also on Saturday we attended a big Birthday party for a little kid in our Ward, the whole branch came and they had it Despicable Me themed! It was really fun.

 

So for the Fourth of July I'm not sure what we are doing yet, hopefully something fun. We have to be in bed by 10:30 and in our houses by 9, so who knows! I'm excited to see how everyone's holiday goes!

 

I hope everyone is doing well, and having an awesome week! Let me know if you need anything! Love you all!

 

Hermana Greenhalgh, (gringo, greenball, greenwall, greenfall, greenbow, meriweather, cremepuff, greenham, and greenhalp.)

P.S. I'm getting my haircut today... :)

 

 

 

Pretty Normal Week - Letter 06/16/14

Dear Familia,

This week has been really good, Thank you for all the prayers in me and my companions behalf. This week we had Zone Conference, and got to learn many new things. I can't believe I've been in Casa Grande a whole month! Wow, I'm realizing now that when you're a missionary time is warped I feel like days fly past, and I have no idea where they've gone. I don't want to come home! Time needs to slow down! I'm loving it out here.

 

So this coming week we have a baptism on Friday for one of our investigators. We have been praying like crazy that things will go as planned. Please keep them in your prayers. We need all the help we can get! Also July transfers are coming up! Can you believe it! I'm not sure where I will be going but I will let you know. So if you're sending something for the 4th of July make sure it's here before July 1st.

 

We haven't rode our bikes a ton since I've been here, I keep getting questions about biking so here is a clarification. We ride when we are out of miles in our car. The weather has been extremely hot lately so we are in the car most of the time. On Wednesday it was 122 degrees, but luckily we were in the church most of the day. Something cool that happened this week was we got to attend the Mesa visitors center with some of our investigators, they loved it!

 

How is everyone doing at home? Happy Birthday Sharbugs! Sorry I couldn't be there! Looks like everyone had fun though. I can't believe Mandie is moving into her new house soon. That will so nice! I love receiving pictures of Sharlee, Konner, and Bracken! They are growing up way too fast! Please send me letters and pictures I love it when I get mail. My companions get mail all the time, but not me! So please write me and email me!

 

That's all I got for this week not a whole lot! I hope everyone has a safe and fun week! Love you all!

 

Love,

Hermana Greenhalgh <greenwood, creampuff, greenham, gringo, greenhalp>

 

 

 

 

 

Make Sure You Know What You're Saying Before You Say It - Letter 06/09/14

Hola Familia!

Well get ready to laugh till you cry... So this week has been nothing short of hilarious. My companions and I have so much fun teaching people and finding people. They are both trainers so I have two trainers because they are the Sister-training leaders for Casa Grande. We had District meeting on Tuesday and President Toone said that one of us was leaving in two days, So Wednesday and Thursday we were all super nervous, but we didn't get a call so we are staying together!

 

Some fun things we did this week was shopping!! It was so weird to be in stores other than the grocery store. I bought lots of fun stuff and I'm sending Melissa's Birthday present today! Watch out for it!

 

This week my Spanish has been improving a little bit, and I'm starting to pick it up well, at least I think.. Yesterday was rather interesting.  We ate at a members home and they asked me to say the prayer on the food. I've never done a prayer on the food in Spanish in front of anyone... Well I said "gracias por la oportunidad comer la familia Sebrings" which means "thank you for the opportunity to eat the Sebrings..." Yeah talk about fun dinner conversation. I missed the word "con" which means with.

 

Another thing that happened yesterday was we had Stake Conference and since I'm in the Spanish Branch we had to sit in another room and listen to it be translated. Well the guy that was translating was doing great, then he switched with someone else, and that guy was AWFUL. He would skip sentences and he said "My wife is fat" instead of saying what he was supposed to. So it was really awkward and our investigators were there. So it was great conversation. Anyways, my companion Hermana Romano, from Blackfoot, went in and started translating. She is so good at Spanish and she helps me a ton. 

 

On Wednesday night my companions and I ate at a members home, and then we had a lesson in Eloy. When we got to Eloy the people we were teaching made us dinner...again! So we had to be kind and eat a second dinner. Next they got out their instruments and played a show for us. They are in a band and they are hilarious! They took lots of pictures with us, and played us lots of songs. Talk about a FIESTA! We were all laughing so hard, and trying to keep the food down. Also we got to do a service project and painted this ladies house she kept telling me to do stuff but I couldn't understand so I just smiled and nodded.. :) Language is fun!

 

Well that's all I got for this week! I have lots of pictures I'm attaching to emails so please put them on my Blog! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

 

Love,

Hermana Greenhalgh

 

 

Week 2 - Fun Times - Letter 06/02/14

Hola Familia!

How is everyone doing? I hope you are all doing awesome! Congratulations Melissa I'm so proud of you on graduating Seminary, and High School tonight! Make sure to take lots of pictures! I regret not taking very many but that's ok! 

 

Anyways some really funny things that happened this week are: First we had to drive out to a little town called Eloy which has the highest murder rate in the country... Anyways when we got there it was like 8:30 pm and we taught a guy named Mario outside. While teaching him this HUGE frog jumped out and scared all of us! Long story short it peed all over me and my companion. 

 

Next my companions and I decided to go running in morning Wednesday and as we were running I slipped... and FACEPLANTED! Yes that is normal Lindsey... Well I scraped my knees and took lots of skin off my hands. Go FIGURE! Another story was we were in Eloy and the lady that was supposed to feed us canceled last minute so we had to find food. We stopped at this somewhat normal looking restaurant and walked in. The lady asked us if we had reservations... there was literally maybe 3 people in the wide open restaurant, and we needed reservations for Fish Fry. So we ended up finding this super sketchy place called Encore and went in, and it actually turned out to be super good! Well those are my crazy stories for this week haha.

 

Back to the Gospel one of my companions recent converts said this: "Want to know the secret to missionary work? The secret is that there is no secret. There is nothing that you can do to change the minds of the people around you. There is no scripture that you can share, there's no video to watch, no invitation to make; you as an individual have zero impact." Don't stop reading because I'm just getting started. At the end of the day, the conversion still occurs. Investigators are impacted, but you're not the source. Missionary work goes much higher that you or I. Really the only missionary is the Godhead. Heavenly Father is a straight up genius! He knows the universe in ways that you or I couldn't even fathom, and He has designed the Godhead with such precision that He doesn't need our help at all; we need Him. I believe that it is out of the kindness of Heavenly Father's own heart that He allows us to serve in His kingdom as missionaries. We are but humble mirrors reflecting the radiance of Heavenly Father's glory and light. 

 

So, with that being said, the question still remains; How can we be good missionaries? The only things we can do as missionaries is stay focused on our own personal journey to becoming more Christlike. I believe that this Earth is just the training grounds for a bigger work that can't quite be described in any Earthly form. We must look at our time here as a constant learning experience. As we aim to be more humble and loving, our ability to reflect Heavenly Father's glory increases exponentially and in turn our example of Christ becomes the source of power for all missionary work." I love it, it's blunt but very powerful. 

 

President Uchtdorf said: "The most important thing is to keep trying- sometimes it takes several attempts before people find success. So don't give up. Don't lose faith. Keep your heart close to the Lord, and He will give you the power.." those are just somethings that have helped me this week. I've been struggling a ton with Spanish this week so I've been trying to keep my head up. I know I can do it only through our Heavenly Father. I hope everyone has a great week, remember to have FAITH!

 

Love you all,

Hermana Greenhalgh

First Week in Arizona: Casa Grande - Letter 05/26/14

Hello Family!

 How is everyone doing? I hope you all are having an excellent Memorial Day. I've been assigned to serve in the Casa Grande area. It's a great area and we teach a ton! I have two companions! So I'm in a trio! I love it. Their names are Sister Jacobsen from Utah and Sister Ramono from Blackfoot, Idaho! There Spanish is really good, and they are very kind. We live in the Colony apartments they are really nice especially for the area we are in. There is also two other girls who live in our apartment they are English speaking though so it is fun to have a variety. 

So I had my first baptism on Saturday! His name is Noe. It was a neat experience, and we had 3 of our investigators come and they loved it. I asked 3 more people to be baptized and 2 accepted so we are continuing to teach them and get them ready for baptism. Along with investigators it has been hard for me because of the language barrier. Most of my investigators speak no English. I've felt very alone because everyone around me is Hispanic. They like to tease me and call me "Hermoso Blanco" or Beautiful White. Most of them make fun of me because I can't speak very well so it has been difficult pero I'm keeping my head up. 

One of my favorite quotes that has helped me through the last week is "Remember, the Lord has called you to succeed, not to fail. Sometimes it may seem terribly hard, but He wants you to grow. He will not abandon you. He inspired your call. He knows who you are. He knows what you need. He knows what He wants you to become, and this mission experience is an opportunity He has given you to discover things about yourself you never knew; capacities you never knew you had, strength beyond what you felt you had, and the capacity to love and serve which will sustain you throughout the rest of your life. Remember, you have been called and He will fit the task to your capabilities..." - Richard G. Scott.

     

There is a parable that has also been a big help to me this week about a little bird. There once was a little bird who lived in a big forest with many different animals. One day the forest started on fire, and many animals fled from it. The little bird began to get water and tried to stop the raging fire. Many of the other animals mocked the little bird and told him he was silly for thinking he could stop the fire. The little bird turned and said to the other animals "At least I can say I did my part." 

That story has made me realize that no matter how bad my Spanish is or how far my teaching skills are from being perfect, I am doing my part. We all have parts in this world that we must do. Everyone is contributing in some way. 

In other news my Facebook should be up and running for proselyting purposes by Wednesday hopefully. I have to remove and hide anything that is not about missionary life. You can still tag me in pictures from my mission but my name cannot be tagged to my blog for security purposes. So please keep my blog going but don't link it to my profile. 

So feel free to write my letters, please! I promise I will write you back!

I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all. Remember who you are!

Love,

Hermana Greenhalgh

 This is when I arrived in Arizona and stayed with the Hoopes Family they hosted us my first night

 Noe's Baptism