Jul 7: Castle Hills

Hi Family!

Remember when I sent out an email last week with my new address? Please disregard that one!

I was emergency transferred and have a new address! (Don't worry if you sent something to the other address. Sister M said she would forward whatever came)

My new area is Castle Hills B and my address is

 

(Email me if you want Erica's direct address - Christine.greenall@gmail.com)

you can also always use the mission office address:

Sister Erica Greenall

Texas San Antonio Mission
404 E. Ramsey Road #105
San Antonio, TX 78216

It has been an exciting week!

On Tuesday we had an exchange with the Sisters in Castle Hills (San Antonio). It was my first exchange as a Sister Training Leader. I got to work with Sister S (turns out we have the same first name!). She is on her second transfer in the mission field and in Castle Hills!

On Wednesday we met up with the other sisters to switch back and then Sister M and I headed to our district meeting.

After district meeting, Sister M discussed the exchange as we were driving. While talking to Sister M, I found out the sister that she had been with (Sister S's companion) was going through an extremely difficult time. Part of what was adding to that was the extra stress of training a new missionary and leading out an area.

Sister M and I both became extremely concerned about the situation and felt impressed to call President. Interestingly enough, while talking we both had the strong impression that there needed to be a switch.

We called President Slaughter and that day we had an emergency transfer. I went to Castle Hills to be with Sister S, and Sister S's companion went to Leon Springs to be with Sister M there. I think it has been very good for all of us.

The next day, Thursday, I was able to attend my first MLC (Mission Leadership Council) meeting. It was a really wonderful experience. I admire so much President and Sister Slaughter and the incredible missionaries in this mission. I learned a lot at the meeting and hope to be a better example of the principles we discussed.

We have been meeting a lot of people here and the members are wonderful!

On Saturday night we had a lesson with an investigator named Ra. Brother and Sister T from the ward were going to accompany us to a different lesson before Ra's, but the man we had an appointment with was not there, so they came with us to Ra's lesson instead.

When we got there, Ra introduced us to his family that was visiting. He introduced us to his sister in law, and she said to me, "I know you!" ...I recognized her but was confused with the recent switches. I asked her, "Did we meet in Austin?" She said, "Leon Springs!" Then I remembered walking down the streets with Sister M and meeting her in the garage! She was a nice woman who only spoke Spanish so we shared a pass a long card with her and spoke some spanish with her.

She joined us for the lesson and it turns out that Brother T who came with us served in Mexico, so when my spanish was turning into Portuguese, he was able to translate for us! Ra's first language is Spanish, but he is trying to learn English, so he only reads in English and tries to only speak English.

We taught the Plan of Salvation. It was a special lesson. By the end, we asked D if she would like us to pass her contact info to the sisters in Leon Springs (both of them speak spanish!). At first she said no, but then we asked if she would like a Spanish Book of Mormon. We thought we had one in our car, but it turns out we had brought it into our apartment earlier. So we asked if the other sister missionaries could bring one to her and she happily agreed.

It was so nice to meet the members on Sunday! It was kind of a long week with a lot of changes and different things going on...so Sister S had to ask me during Sacrament meeting, "Are you awake?" I was trying really hard.

When we had dinner with the T Family that night, we shared the new ward mission plan with them. (We have been doing a lot of member visits to implement the new ward mission plan!) They told us about several of their friends that they would like to invite to hear from the missionaries. After we prayed and were walking out the door, Brother T said he had a friend from Brazil that lived down the street! So we will be visiting him soon! Hooray! We've been searching for the Brazilians in Texas!

Also, Sunday night we met with Ad and Ha. They are newly married. Ha is a recent convert and Ad is a returned missionary from Brazil! So we got to share the ward mission plan with them. Ha feels like she really wants help with the basics so we are going to re-teach the lessons to her. Ad helped me with my Portuguese. I prayed in Portuguese to open the meeting and he closed by praying in Portuguese. He also talked to me in Portuguese a bit and told me about his mission in Brazil.

All is well here in Texas! The work is so good!

In my studies I have started Preach My Gospel over from the beginning and am studying it through in Portuguese this time. I've also started the Book of Mormon again, with the same focus of the Atonement, but adding the Fall also.

Also, on Tuesday morning I kept thinking about an Elder Bednar talk I heard in the MTC. The one where he asks, "Do you have faith not to be healed?" I have quoted that over and over again while teaching. On Tuesday morning the question finally came to my mind in a new light. The question came, "Do you have the faith not to receive your visa?" It really changed my perspective. I started talking to Sisters M and Sister F about it during our lunch time, and they both said, "I have a copy of that talk!" So Sister M read it to me as we drove to do our exchanges. Wow! That talk speaks directly to me! ...Funny how Heavenly Father so often answers our questions before we even know we have them. The talk is called, "That we might 'Not Shrink'."

It is more important to not shrink than it is to survive. I was so inspired by the example of Elder Maxwell as well as the young couple mentioned in the talk.

Thank you for your love and support! I hope y'all have another great week!

Love,

Sister E Greenall