Hermana Greenhalgh

Hermana Greenhalgh

Monday, March 30, 2015

Oh the Adventures You Can Have On a Bike... - Letter 03/30/15

Buenos Dias,

Muchisimas Gracias for all of the Birthday wishes!! Today has been going great! I woke up and my companion made me breakfast, and I opened my Birthday package! My zone has got something up their sleeve for today that I haven't figured out yet!
 
Well this week was great! Lots of cool things happened as well as two not so cool things.. To start off, on Tuesday I gave my training to the Zone with the Zone Leaders. It went really well:) I'm getting better at training so that's always good. The first time that I trained I was sooo nervous, but the more I do it, the less nervous I am.  Later that night we had dinner with the Tavison family and they made me Birthday CHEESCAKE!! 
 
Skipping to Thursday I went on exchanges with Sister Wright in the English area. We found lots of new people, and had some super spiritual lessons. As we were riding home I took a nasty spill on my bike and some cute little Hispanic guy came over and tried to help. He was speaking in broken Spanish and ran into his house and got me some sunscreen.. he wasn't sure what I needed. But hey, it was the thought that counts!! 
 
Skipping to Saturday...we had an all day Sister Conference with the whole mission! It was so inspiring and afterward we went to the Tempe Stake and watched Women's Conference. Our Mission President gave us permission to text our moms and tell them we miss them!! BLESSINGS :) 
 
OK, so Sunday.. Last night haha we had some really good lessons and then headed to the church for stats. As we were riding home I took a second, yes I repeat SECOND spill on my bike. The Elders came and found us on the scary roads of Phoenix. But hey, I now have some cool scars to tell stories about.. :) 

Well I hope everyone has a good week! Thanks for the Birthday wishes! 

Con Amor,
 
Hermana Greenhalgh
 
Two Nasty Spills!
Two of the Cutest Boys in Arizona
My Old Companion, Sister Romano

 

Monday, March 23, 2015

:) SUCCESS! - Letter 03/23/15

Family and Friends,

This week was so amazing!  We had four of our friends get baptized!! I don't have a lot of time to write you the details but I did send lots of pictures!! Also this week I had Mission Leadership Conference and Sister Jensen's Birthday! I made her breakfast and did a little party for her! It was a lot of fun! 
 
As far as upcoming events...I get to do a Spanish session in the temple in April, I'm running a 5K in two weeks, and our mission is having a Sister's Day this Saturday!! YAY!! Well I hope you all have a good week! Sorry this is extremely short.  I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Hermana Greenhalgh
 
My Care Package
Hermana Jensen's Birthday
Elder Southwick and Elder Olsen taking selfies on my IPad
I make good food!!
Baptismal Photo for Humberto
Humberto got baptized Friday, and this was a better photo than the
actual baptism suit one! He's amazing!  He's going to serve a mission!
He wanted to hug us after his baptism because he was so grateful for
us, but we couldn't... Haha he is awesome!
My family got baptized!! This is the Palacios...the ones I talk about
all the time! Marco, Celia and Alex got baptized. Chris will get
baptized in May! They mean the world to me:)
 







 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Sleepwalking...It's a Thing! - Letter 03/16/15

Buenos Dias!

Wow what a week! This week has been one of the largest, yet the most rewarding ones of my mission. We have found so many new people, and prepared the ones with baptismal dates for their baptisms this weekend. This coming Friday and Saturday we have 4 baptisms!!!! The Palacio Family is getting baptized on Saturday! They are literally the greatest people I've ever taught! I'm so excited for this weekend! On
Friday my other friend Himberto is getting baptized! He's amazing too! He has such a strong testimony of the Gospel!

Well to sum up this week we had transfers, Olider got baptized, we had a huge stake BBQ, and found a new friend named Eduardo! He's like 80 years old and came to church for the first time yesterday! He's hilarious and he talks to us about his plants, and how it's amazing that a little seed can grow into a big plant. I  compared it to the seed of our faith! He loved it!

So for this week I want to ask for the faith of all of you! Please pray that people attend the baptisms of our friends this weekend, and that everything goes well. We have been fasting and praying that it will, but Satan has a way of working hard on people when they are about to enter a covenant. So please pray pray pray!!

Funny story time: so on Monday night I woke my whole entire house up!  I was laughing hysterically for 20 minutes straight in my sleep, and then I would cough, and begin laughing again. I was completely asleep
during all of this and then I started bunny hopping around, and then I would sit in different places in the house, and then I flopped back into bed and started talking in Spanish.  I don't remember any of this,
but my household got quite the laugh. Hmm guess that means I'm stressed out? Please feel free to diagnose me...

Thank you for all your support!

Love you all,
Hermana Greenhalgh

Monday, March 9, 2015

Serving Heals the Heart - Letter 03/09/15

Good Morning everyone!

I hope this week has been a good one for all of you. Things have been good here in Arizona. There have been a few trials this week, but the work goes on. I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, and that we have a loving Savior. Wednesday evening I received the sad news that my aunt passed away. It was a bit of a shock, and I will miss her greatly. I've been trying to keep my mind on the work, but as well my heart has been with my family. Something that has helped a lot is this quote "You will find that the true key to happiness to to labor for the happiness of others." I know that as we keep focused, and try our best we will find so much happiness. I've been praying that I may become a more consecrated missionary, who can focus on the work, and the salvation of others. I've truly seen the miracles and I hope you have seen the blessings in your lives as well. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13).

As for my week in the work, things have been really busy and different. On Wednesday we had a huge meeting, and received brand new Ipads. A member of the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke with us, and someone from the Missionary Department. We learned that Ipads are just tools, and nothing more. A quote that the Seventy said was, "Look I have a tool...it's a pen, it has black, red, and lead but we don't need to use that right now." He was referring to our Ipads, they are just tools. Nothing more, nothing less. We can't be controlled by them. I really liked the training because we are learning how to use Facebook more effectively, and how to become more consecrated and obedient missionaries. There have been a lot of issues with Ipad missionaries across the United States, and I'm glad we won't be monopolized by these tools anymore. We won't be on Facebook for a time, but eventually after we have learned how to use the safe guards we can have it back. 

On Thursday, I had the great privilege of translating for a Stake Relief Society meeting. I was so nervous at first because I felt like my Spanish wasn't up to par, but Heavenly Father took care of me, the Gift of Tongues is truly a Gift of God. I've come to appreciate the Spanish culture, and language so much these last 11 months. As I'm heading into my last 5 transfers, I'm going to try my hardest to absorb all that I can.
Friday we had a our normal weekly planning, and the Zone Leaders and I took care of some obedience issues. During this whole thing, my Zone wrote me a huge letter explaining how much they appreciate the work I'm doing, and to tell me sorry for the loss of my aunt. It was so sweet of all of them, and cheered me up a lot. The Zone Leaders gave me a blessing and shared this awesome insight with me that even though Jesus Christ knew about the Plan of Salvation and was going to bring His friend Lazareth back to life, He still wept. I found comfort in knowing that it's alright to cry, but then you dust yourself off and you keep moving forward. Later that night Sister Jensen and I had an awesome lesson with Humberto.  He's 17 and is getting baptized the 20 of March. We brought Hermano Tavison with us, and he helped us out a lot. 

Saturday I had the opportunity to sing at a baptism for an English guy. It turned out beautiful, and he only had to be dunked 4 times... Gotta do it right, right? After the baptism we had dinner at Pollo Loco it's a really good fast food place. They have authentic Mexican food:) After dinner we had 5 less active, and recent convert lessons.

Sunday was good, in the morning I had to attend a few Stake meetings for my Sister Training Leader calling, and after we had 4 investigators or as I like to call them, friends, come! After we had an awesome Gospel Principles class and talked a lot about the importance of scriptures. Later we took a picture with a friend named Olider, he's getting baptized this weekend. He loves the missionaries!

Well, that's my week.  I hope this week was good for all of you, and this upcoming will be even better. "Strive to love as He loves, with unfailing compassion, patience, and mercy."

Love,
Hermana Greenhalgh
 
S'mores for days
Olider and my District


 

Monday, March 2, 2015

Let the Good Times Roll - Letter 03/02/15

Buenos Dias Amigitos,

This week has been fantastic! I love my mission!  I literally don't ever want it to end!!! This week has been full of miracles! We have 6 people on date! 6! The Palacios are back on date! Celia introduces to me to everyone as her eternal best friend. :')
 
So a little about each of my days
 
Monday: We had a District activity of indoor bowling, zoo games, and Minute to Win It! It was super fun!
 
Tuesday: Today we had District meeting, and every lesson we had fell through...but it's ok because we still had a good day
 
Wednesday: ZONE CONFERENCE!!! It was amazing, I love spiritual meetings. We also had car checks, lunch with two zones, Ipad training, and correlation.
 
Thursday: SLOW DAY, but good
 
Friday: Weekly planning, a really scary lesson with a skitzo girl who believes she's being chased by cats. It was quite interesting.. but hey God loves everyone and so do I. Later we had dinner with the Zayas family! They are my home away from home away from home. After dinner the Zone Leaders and I did transfer recommendations. Transfers are next week... too fast.
 
Saturday: Sister Jensen and I ended up going off-roading on our bikes! We found this super sick canal with graffiti every where. We decided to take gangster pictures because, I mean, come on it's Phoenix. Later that night Sister Jensen and I almost got hit by a car and ended up crashing into each other.. It was so funny!! I have this awesome bear claw looking cut on my leg. It will be a good story starter in the future. :) Next we had a really good lesson with the Verdugo!!
 
Sunday: Today was good, had church, and then put Irene on date for baptism!! :)

Sorry this is short don't have much time!!

Love you all
 
Hermana Greenhalgh (GreenHULK)
 
Gangster Signs
Phoenix Canal