Buenos Tardes Familia y Amigos,
How is everyone doing? I can't
believe another week has come and gone! Time really has been flying the
last couple of weeks, and I can't believe I hit my 6 month mark
next Thursday. So this week has been a blast here's a little update on my mission life
Monday:
We had a Zone barbecue at the church with all the missionaries and
played volleyball. Sister Johnson and I brought cupcakes to share with
everyone! Later that night we had our regular proselyting and were
biking past this guy named Jim's house. When we passed he was sitting in
his wheelchair slumped over the side. HE LOOKED DEAD. Five minutes later
the ambulance pulled up, along with a fire truck and police cars. They
hurry and put him in the ambulance and drove away. We called Elder Hardy
and Baker and left them a message saying Jim had died... Two hours later
we passed and Jim was sitting in his wheel chair again just hanging out.
WHAT THE??? HE'S ALIVE! We then proceeded to call the Elders back, they
hadn't listened to the message yet, but were super confused. Now my
message about Jim being dead was sent to the whole Zone as a playback..
Strike #2 for Hermana Greenhalgh!
Tuesday:
Today we had District Meeting with our nonexistent District since
everyone got emergency transferred out! Elder Last from the other
District had us come into his meeting so it wasn't too bad. Something
that I learned in personal study today that I really liked was from a
conference talk by President Monson it reminds me a lot of what Grandma
Pat taught us as kids. Here's a little bit of it:
"A woman by the
name of Mary Bartels had a home directly across the street from the
entrance to a hospital clinic. Her family lived on the main floor and
rented the upstairs rooms to outpatients at the clinic.
One evening a
truly awful-looking old man came to the door asking if there was room
for him to stay the night. He was stooped and shriveled, and his face
was lopsided from swelling—red and raw. He said he’d been hunting for a
room since
noon
but with no success. “I guess it’s my face,” he said. “I know it looks
terrible, but my doctor says it could possibly improve after more
treatments.” He indicated he’d be happy to sleep in the rocking chair on
the porch. As she talked with him, Mary realized this little old man
had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. Although her rooms
were filled, she told him to wait in the chair and she’d find him a
place to sleep.
At bedtime Mary’s husband set up a camp cot for the
man. When she checked in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded
and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he
left for his bus, he asked if he could return the next time he had a
treatment. “I won’t put you out a bit,” he promised. “I can sleep fine
in a chair.” Mary assured him he was welcome to come again.
In the
several years he went for treatments and stayed in Mary’s home, the old
man, who was a fisherman by trade, always had gifts of seafood or
vegetables from his garden. Other times he sent packages in the mail.
When
Mary received these thoughtful gifts, she often thought of a comment
her next-door neighbor made after the disfigured, stooped old man had
left Mary’s home that first morning. “Did you keep that awful-looking
man last night? I turned him away. You can lose customers by putting up
such people.” Mary knew that maybe they had lost customers once or
twice, but she thought, “Oh, if only they could have known him, perhaps
their illnesses would have been easier to bear.”
After the man passed
away, Mary was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she
looked at her friend’s flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden
chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it was growing in a dented, old,
rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short of pots, and knowing
how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting in
this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can put it out in
the garden.”
Mary smiled as she imagined just such a scene in heaven.
“Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when He came
to the soul of the little old man. “He won’t mind starting in this
small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and in God’s garden how
tall this lovely soul must stand!"
I really liked that part, because it's so vitally important to not judge and to be kind to everyone!
Wednesday and Thursday:
Both of these days were pretty normal we did service for one of our
members today helping them move into another house, we had lots of
lessons and had English class.
Friday:
Today we had weekly planning and then drove to Tempe for the first
time.. I drove, it was crazy, I REALLY don't like the traffic! When we
got to Tempe we had a Mission meeting and President Toone talked about
some problems our Mission needs to fix, and what we are doing good on.
Later we had dinner with La Familia Habana and then had a regular night
of proselyting.
Saturday:
JUST PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THIS ONE!!! We drove down to Tempe again
but this time we had a Mission tour. Elder D. Todd Christoffersen of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was there, Elder Lawrence Corbridge of
the Seventy, and Dean M. Davies of the Presiding Bishopric were all
there. We got to have a question and answer session with them and got to
each individually meet them! It was soo neat! He gave our Mission and
apostolic promise that we would have the gift of discernment! Oh and I
got to shake all of their hands!!!
Sunday:
Today we had Church, and four investigators came!! After church we
rushed over to the Crocketts' house and had dinner, then drove back to
Tempe for the 3rd time in a week!! We had the Mission President's
Devotional last night. It was super powerful we got to take some
investigators with us!
GOOD NEWS!! I'm staying in Casa Grande
for the 4th Transfer! YAY! I think I might die here.. Missionary die,
not for reals die...
Well hope you all have a lovely week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Greenhalgh
