Hello family and friends!
Well it seems I will be in Texas a while longer! Probably at
least another transfer or two! I look forward to it! (6-12 weeks)
Thanks for all the birthday wishes and treats! I enjoyed
more gluten free cookies from my Sis! Orange glazed sugar cookies! I've never
had those before! They were delicious.
I also appreciated the card and note from Grandma and
Grandpa G and Grandpa S! I am hoping to
have time to write them some thank you notes today.
Our new convert J received the
priesthood on Sunday!! And that same day he was home taught, and went out to
home teach, and went to a priesthood meeting that evening! It's incredible to
see him enjoying these blessings and progressing in the gospel!
Today during companion study, Sister S and I talked about
raising our vision and the vision of members and investigators. It was recently
that we were talking with some people at church, and someone mentioned how in
the past -super past, way back in scripture days!- there were lots of
prophecies made. The person mentioned that it seems like there aren't really
many prophecies today, but we see more of the fulfillment and looking back on
those of the past. But today Sister S and I realized otherwise. As we discussed
the big emphasis on "every member a missionary" and member missionary
work, we started to realize the potential for that kind of missionary work in
the future. It is happening now! But we thought about how the number of young
full time missionaries has increased...then we started to think about all of
those people's children! We thought about how our own desire to be member
missionaries after our missions has drastically increased! (It was there
before, but we hadn't realized before how much we could do as non-full time
missionary members!) So then we began to think about all the future families of
all the current missionaries and we imagined our kids being raised with a
missionary mind-set, then serving full time missions, then raising children
that way! Someday, members will be doing the finding! And the missionaries will
be so busy teaching, that we will need more and more missionaries! Sister S
said "We will need 6 pairs of missionaries in one ward!" It hit me that
prophets prophecy today just as they did in the old and new testaments, and in
the Book of Mormon, and as Joseph Smith has! I like to think of the
Proclamation to the World. At the time when it was released in 1995, we thought
the situation of families around the world was pretty bad. So it was easy to
look at the proclamation and think it was just for the immediate situation. But
today, we look at the proclamation of the family and realize how much more it
is needed! And I'm sure it will only become more and more needed in the future!
To me, that is a prophecy. And I look forward to seeing this emphasis on member
missionary work continue to unfold!
Mom and Dad, I love reading about your missionary work so
much! It is incredible to see the way you are so dedicated to making sure the B
family can attend church and be involved in the activities, even if it isn't a
convenient sacrifice at all. Knowing that my parents are hard at work as member
missionaries, and knowing that soon my sister will also be a full time
missionary, makes me the happiest missionary in the world! I look forward to
continuing missionary work after my mission, and becoming a life-long
missionary for the Lord! :D
Something I learned at church on Sunday is that to sacrifice
doesn't mean to give something up, but it means to make something sacred. I
thought about all the sacrifices we make each day. Sacrificing could be doing
anything you don't necessarily want to do, but do for someone else! ...Waking
up early, giving a ride, making a child a lunch, doing the dishes for your
parents/spouse, attending church. It could be almost anything! I realized that
there are many things I do each day, ultimately for the Lord, but often I
forget the purpose. I do things out of habit or routine, but I hope to be more
focused on the person for whom I am sacrificing. I hope that by thinking of the
Lord more often that the little things (waking up, making phone calls, writing
in a journal, teaching a lesson) can become meaningful sacrifices that I make
for him.
But I also think that as we do these things for the Lord,
they don't feel like sacrifices at all! We come to love the things we do,
because we know who we are doing them for. I think this enables us to sacrifice
more! As the little things become blessings to give rather than sacrifices, we
are able to find new things that we can give, to stretch a little further and
give a little bit more of ourselves to him.
I am so grateful to be a full-time missionary of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I love being here, and I love it because
I know who my sacrifices are going to! I know that the little things I do each
day are for the Lord, for the people here who I love so much, and for my family
at home (as you have assured me that you are being blessed as I am away)!
Com muito amor,
Sister Greenall
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