Hello again,

Thanksgiving was great here in Leander! My companion and I had dinner with members in our ward named the Poonwahs. Brother Poonwah is from Asia I'm not sure where exactly and Sister Poonwah is from Maryland. They met on LDS Singles in 2001:) Sister Poonwah is a really good cook so I was excited when she invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner two weeks ago.

For dinner we had turkey (which was fried), potatoes, vegetables, and of course stuffing. For dessert there was a pumpkin roll..and it was so good along with one of Bro. Poonwah's favorite fruit pies that he buys from a bakery in Austin. It had a regular crust and a custard middle with fresh fruit on top. That of cours was good too.

I've had dinner with them several times while being hear in Leander and Bro. Poonwah always tells us if we leave his house hungry it's our own falut, so there was more than enough to eat.

Also at dinner was one of Bro. Poonwahs' colleagues from work named Israeal and he came along with his wife and two sons. After dinner we talked a little about our religions and beliefs. Israel is from Morocco and his wife is Hispanic. She was raised Catholic but Israel is Muslim so they've been thinking about raising their sons Muslim also. He shared a little about his culrture and we were able to share/teach a little about the restoration and the plan of salvation. I don't think they're converted but it was nice to talk with them. I love it when members get involved with gosple conversations so it was nice to have Bro. and Sis. Poonwah there to share things too.

After dinner we went into the living room so my companion and I could "share a message" with everyone. We all went around in a circle and shared the things we were thankful for becasue of the restoration. Israel and his wife also shared things they were thankful for because of their belief in God. The Spirit was strong and it was nice to get to be in such good company:)

The rest of the week was a little discouraging because we're having a difficult time getting our investigators to progress. Sometimes I get really frustrated and it's hard to stay focused but the more diligent we are the easier things become. It took me awhile to learn that but I feel like I'm just now, finally getting the hang of things.

My companion and I have also been visiting with a less active family for the past month and the mom came to church yesterday. It' s been a blessing getting to know them. To see them change and get reconnected with the Spirit again. We all have the light of Christ within us so we're naturally drawn and have a desire to feel pure love that can come through the Holy Ghost.

Other than that I can't think of anything else that's gone on. People are starting to put out Christmas decorations so it's been nice to see that when we're trackting.

I love you guys and wish you all the best throughout the coming week:)

Sister Green

Hello all,

Wow, can I just tell all of you how much I love you? I've learned so much this past week in my studies and my mind has been opened to a greater understanding of life. I've been studying the Plan of Salvation the past few days and I'm really happy because things are making more sence to me. While I try to find ways to apply the things I've learned to help our investigators I can't help but think about ways I can apply this to family also.

One important thing that I've learned and it's also been something that investigators/individuals who know a little about the church wonder, is that all of the ordinaces that we have on this earth (pertaining to the gospel) are here for us to recieve exaltation. Yes there are different degrees of glory, because we all will be rewarded for the things we do but we have before us everything we need to recieve the highest which is eternal life.

I don't know why but I've never thought about this so deeply before. Our whole purpose and God's plan for us is to become like Him. That is what he wants for us and that is why our Savior has done all He has. The only thing keeping us from receiving these blessings in abundance is ourselves.

I'm understanding more how a parent feels when they know of the blessings a child can recieve if they are obedient and how badly it hurts when they do things that could've been prevented if they would've listened the first time.

The gospel is so simple that a child can understand it which simplicity I think surprisingly keeps people away, but it can also be very profound and we can learn a lot more if we desire to. Our agency is one of the many gifts we've been blessed with and it's extremely important. I've had to turn to the Lord a lot to ask Him for patience because I know as well as He knows that the gospel blesses individuals and families but sometimes people can't or don't want to see that.

The Atonement of our Savior helps us overcome our sins and weaknesses. Life isn't easy but we were not sent here to fail. We have everything we need on this earth, at this time, to help us return to our Father in Heaven safely; so that we can recieve all that He has, and He wants to give it to us.

I'm not perfect, and for the past few months I have been blessed with the sometimes discouraging realization of just how unperfect I am. But I know that we're not alone. Heavenly Father loves us and will give us the things we truly stand in need of if we ask. Strength, patience, forgiveness, love, knowledge, understanding, anything.

I'm not the best at collecting all of my thoughts sometimes but I love all of you and I hope you've been able to understand me a little. There is nothing we can't accomplish without the help of our Heavenly Father and Savior and there isn't anything, except for ourselves, that can keep us from all being together after this life. This has made me want to try a little harder and to be a little better even though I fall short sometimes, because everything has an eternal perspective.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week,

Sister Green

11/16/09

Hello all,

I only have a few minutes to write to you today. Pday's gone by pretty fast and we got a flat tire last night so we spent a little while at PepBoys this morning. After e-mail we're on our way to a zone activity where my companion and I will exchange companions for a day.

The sister I'm going to be on exchanges with trained my companion and she has also served in Leander before so I'll probably learn more about the area from her when she gets here:)

This past week has gone okay. A lot of our lessons have fallen through and our investigators haven't been keeping with their appointments lately. We also had a baptism scheduled for the 21st but our investigator called us this past Wednesday and told us she wasn't ready to make the commitment.

This woman that my previous companion and I have been teaching (as well as missionaries before us in 2007) and her comapnion before me, is really sweet and has been through a lot. She questions her abilities but is a wonderful single mother with a five year old. This is the same woman I've written to you about previously who's boyfriend looked up anti things online. Through much prayer, he moved out and things were moving along but she is still worryed that she's not "LDS" material and she really doesn't like Relief Society because all the women cry and she has a difficult time with that. We've told her that they're just expressing the things in their hearts and that she doen't need to compare herself to anyone else, but she's still strugllin with that as well as some WOW (Word of Wisdom) problems.

We were able to have dinner with her on Saturday and it was good to see her. She was also happy and relieved that we didn't "hate her" for not wanted to get baptised yet. We were able to talk with her for awhile and share some hopefully strenghening scriptures with her and also let her know how much she was loved by Heavenly Father, our Savior, and us as well as the members. We assured her that we could take things slowly and she was more than welsome to continue coming to church even though our visits wouldn't be as frequent. After dinner she walked us to the door and we parked our car around the block so she walked outside with us. As we were walking away she said "Thank you for not giving up on me". When I heard that I thought "How could I"?

Before I came on a mission everyone told me that teaching people and then having them turn away was going to be one of the hardest things I experience, and it has been. I'm realizing why prayer is so important because it can be really difficult emotionally sometimes. Somedays, when no one seems to want to learn more about the gospel, it's almost like we're getting a very small but real taste of what the Savior went through or other prophets when no wanted to listen. So far this has been a great, trying experience but I'm slowly being softened and molded into the woman my patriarchal blessing promises I can become with faith and prayer:)

Sorry again if my e-mail's a little chopping but I had to type fast. Love you all and hope you have a good week.

Sister Green

Hello all,

Sorry I didn't get an e-mail off last week. I'm learning and was politely chastened by my dad, so next time I'll be sure to send a quick e-mail instead of nothing at all.

My Zone Conference a couple of weeks ago is still on my mind and I constantly think about the things Elder Snow shared with us. One of the things he said, that I loved was that we as members of the church are entitled to receive revelation in our stewardships. The past couple weeks have been challenging but there have also been really comforting moments too and Zone Conference was just what I needed.

My companion and I have an investigator named Diana(in her 50's) who lost her husband 18 months ago from cancer. My first companion and I heard about her thorugh a lady in our ward named Sister Haro and she along with a neighbor friend who also lost her husband a while ago went to the church to meet with the bishop. We were able to meet them that evening because we had our weekly coordination meeting with the ward mission leader.

I hadn't heard about either of them for awhile and last week we stopped by this members house to drop off books she could give to the Diana. After talking to Sister Haro we decided to stop by and visit her. We went to her neighborhood and started knocking on doors there so it looked like it wasn't set up (even though it kind of was). We were able to speak to Diana for a little bit and when we asked her if we could come back and share more she told us she would give us a call. To be honest I wasn't really convinced but the next day she called us and asked if we would stop by.

When we got there we started talking to get to know her better and she started telling us about her life. She spent 10 years as a Jehovah's Witness and has looked into many other religions since. The emotions and the pains she feels from losing her husband are still very strong and everytime she talked about him or about how lost she felt, she cried. She told us that she was stuck because she didn't want to die because she was afraid, but she also didn't want to live because she felt alone. It was really sad but we were able to testify and teach her the plan of salvation. There's still a lot of hurt there and of course it can't all go away with one visit but she wants us to keep coming back which is really good.

The day before we met with Diana, my companion and I were walking down the street to start knocking doors. We both saw a little house and my companion felt promted that that should be the first door we knocked on. A nice older lady answered and after we introduced ourselves and told here what we were doing she allowed us to come inside.

She also opened herself up and told us about her life and some of the things she had gone through. She suffers from depression and sometimes it's difficult for her to do or want to do things. We taught her the restoration and my companion and I felt prompted to talk a little more about the power of the priesthood. We talked to her about how men who have the preisthood can come and lay their hands upon her head and through the guidance of the Holy Ghost they can comfort her and tell her things the Lord wants her to hear. She agreed and two elders came to give her a comfort blessing. After they left we prayed and she said she felt lighter like everything was better. It was great to witness the faith that she had in this restored power that we've been blessed with.

Sorry if I'm rambling and some things I type don't make sence but I wanted to make sure I shared these things this week.

My testimony of the gospel as a whole is being strengthened. I'm grateful for this opportunity that I've been given to be merely and instrument in the Lord's hands to bring souls unto Christ. As members of the church we have a wonderful responsibility to share the gospel with others.

I love you all very much and thank you again for all of your support. Your prayers have strengthened and I'm grateful. As always I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love you guys,

Sister Green

P.S. Sorry for any typos :)

Hello again,

I’m happy to hear that my letters and pictures found all of you. Dad when you get a chance please copy them so the grandparents can see too. Thank you for your letters and e-mails as well. Everyone sounds great.

We have Zone Conference this Tuesday and that’s where we take a few hours (3-4) out of our day to get in more training from our Mission President. It’s an exciting time because we all wash our cars and whoever has the cleanest car gets more miles added on for the month. There’s first second and third place. Last transfer we didn’t win but maybe this time. It’s been raining a lot lately and it’s also been cold, I got here just in time.

Our service that we have every Friday from 1-3 is for a local church called Hill Country Bible Church. (When we knock doors this is where most people say they go) It’s a little organization of volunteers, caseworkers, and others who help provide food and clothes for people in need. We go and help give people groceries when an order comes in or we stock the pantries, fold and sort through clothes, clean out sheds, etc. It’s nice to be out there helping other people in that way. We don’t always wear our shirts but we did that day so we could take pictures otherwise we’re in shirts and pants.

Things here are still going well. My companion and I have been blessed with a couple new investigators to share the gospel with. We’ve been trying to improve our approaches so we can teach more. I’m looking forward to our training tomorrow from our Mission President. We also have someone from the 70 (not sure what his name is) coming to speak to us too and he’ll also be doing random apartment checks to see how clean we are. I know my companion and I don’t have to worry about that one though. I’m still me.

Sorry this e-mails so short. I was glad that I had time to write to individually though and hopefully as I continue to manage my time I’ll be able to get in more handwritten ones. This P-day is really busy because we have a lot we need to do to prepare for tomorrow. Thanks again for your support. I love our family!

Love,

Sister Green

Hello all,

This past week started a bit rough and I struggled a little bit. Or as my Mission President would say “You’re not struggling, you’re learning”. So I guess this past week I’ve “learned” a lot. I now have a new companion Sister John. She’s from Kaipato Arizona, close to Lake Powell. She’s Native American so she speaks Navaho and also Spanish. She’s not as good as she would like to be but the member that we live with is a native Spanish speaker and she’s promised to speak to both of us only in Spanish so we can learn faster. She’s really nice and we’ve gotten to know each other better these past few days. I had gotten really used to Sister Larrosa as my companion but I’ve learned that Heavenly Father doesn’t like us to get comfortable. He likes us to stretch outside of ourselves because that is when we are truly learning and growing. Six to twelve weeks from now I’m sure I’ll be going through the same thing. My companion Sister John told me yesterday that the only things consistent in life are the gospel and change.


We’ve been teaching a couple of new investigators that have shown lots of interest in the gospel. Yesterday while we were walking we saw this man who was working on his car with his son and we told him we were the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ… and that we were in his neighborhood sharing a message about our Savior Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. He looked at us and said “Restored? Wow, okay. We taught him a brief restoration and he asked if we had a pamphlet we could leave him and he’s allowed us to come back this next week to teach him and his family more.

Every week we get updates from our AP’s (Assistants to the President) and this past week they were teaching a lady in her home about the restored gospel and also about the prophet and twelve apostles. They said when they told her that we had a living prophet and also twelve apostles just like when Christ was on the earth she was really excited and wanted to share it with everyone so they could know too. She went next door to her neighbor’s house and walked in without knocking while they were eating dinner. She asked them if they knew that there was a prophet and twelve apostles on this earth today and they looked at her like okay, we’re kind of eating dinner right now. The family agreed to hear more another time but our AP’s were telling us how excited this lady was to share the gospel and likened it unto us as missionaries and may I add also as members. It really made me think about my excitement and willingness to share the gospel. This lady was so happy that there was one true church and she had been seeking for it for a long time.

There isn’t a greater gift that we can give to someone than sharing the message of the restored gospel. This past week during my personal study, my testimony about the importance of bringing the gospel to all people has really been strengthened. I read in D&C where Hyrum Smith’s son (I think it’s Joseph Fielding) had a vision about the spirit world. I’ve learned the righteous followers of Christ who were once on this earth are at peace because they know they’ve lived worthy of Heavenly Father’s choice blessings but they are still teaching and sharing the gospel with others, even after death, because of the importance of the message. We’ve been asked by our AP’s to study the atonement this next week and I extend and invitation to all of you to do the same. Each day I understand more and more about the love our Heavenly Father and Savior have for us and how much they want us to return back to their presence. We still have things we each need to experience but nothing is impossible if we have faith in Jesus Christ.

I love you all and thank you for your support. Hope everyone has a good week.

Love,

Sister Green

Hola mi Familia,

(Pretty good right?!) I'm still working on it. I'm not even sure if I've learned that on my mission or if it was from watching Dora the Explorer with little kids. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

This past week has been great to say the least. Thank you all for the letters, e-mails, prayers, etc. Sorry I wasn't able to write to you yesterday. Every 6 weeks we have transfers and our p-days are on Tuesdays instead of Mondays. My companion forgot to mention that to me last week so I wasn’t able to warn you in my e-mail. She apologizes. My dear companion unfortunately is leaving me. I’m staying here in Leander and she is going to the most coveted area in the entire mission…...THE BORDER!! I was so happy and excited for her, as are the other missionaries but she’s not as excited. No English, all Spanish… I hope to go there someday as do most of the (English speaking) missionaries. She and I were talking last night and she said “Look at me, do I look like I need to improve my Spanish”? It was kind of funny and also comforting in a weird way to see her like that because she is such a good missionary and I’ve learned so much from her. Her testimony is amazingly powerful and it’s interesting how we are our worst critics. She knows that our calls are inspired and our mission President prays long and hard over us always but especially when transfers come.

Wow, 6 weeks has gone by so quickly. All of my firsts on the mission are just about up, except this is still my first area. Every night we get calls from our District Leader asking us how our day went and the other night he said “Well Sister Green, the longer you stay out here, the less green you look” Surprisingly I get that a lot. For the past 6 weeks I've been Sister Green The Greenie.

I don’t know who my new companion will be and I won’t find out until Thursday afternoon. Sister Larrosa my companion, is leaving early Wednesday morning and I’m going to be with a Sister who’s companion has finished her 18 months successfully and is going back home to Mexico on Friday.

We were able to have another baptism this past Saturday. One more before Sister Larrosa leaves. I’ll try to send a couple of pictures if I get the chance. Lyndsy Taquard is a sweet thirteen year old girl who has been receiving the missionaries since she was eight years old. She always felt that she should be older so she waited to be baptized until now. Her mom is a member and is really active and her dad doesn’t believe in God but was so supportive of her decision. Lyndsy was really embarrassed to come out in her baptismal clothes and we all were reassuring her that she looked fine and that this was her special day. After we took pictures in the foyer we were walking back to where her baptism was going to be and I heard her tell her dad she looked ugly. He put his arms around her, gave her a kiss and told her he thought she was beautiful, and that he was really proud of her. It was another great day.

I love you all and wish I could spend hours writing more. Things are very well and though I’m a little nervous to be getting a new companion, I know it’ll be good. My mind continues to be opened to so many different things. (Where has my mission been all my life!?) I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love you,

Sister Green