Green in Greene

 

Country Living in Greene

I'm now in GREENE with Elder Westra who is from West Jordon. He is a good guy. We live in the basement apartment of the branch president's house. President Brigmond is retired military. He tells the funniest stories. We have our own washer and drier so that's nice but there is no where that's good to shop in Greene. It's expensive and small. So sometimes we get rides down to Wal-Mart in Binghamton. Another good note about Greene is that the library computers here are cool, they let me look at all my pictures. this area is the most country I have seen on my mission. There are lots of farms and everything's rolling green hills. It's really pretty compared to my last area.

Working the Streets of Glenville

 

Teaching by the Spirit is Great

This last week was not high in numbers but we found a new investigator and he is really cool. He is the son of a less active member who has not been to church in like 40 years. He was raised Catholic by his dad but is really open to everything. He had been gone for school the whole time I have been here so I had only met him once when he was back on a weekend. But school is over now and he has moved back in with his parents. He is 27 and just graduated with a masters in phys-ed. Anyways to the good stuff... we went back on Thursday for our appointment with him and taught him the plan of salvation but first answered some of his questions...like why do we believe in god? It was really fun because Elder Taylor answered, then we taught him the plan of salvation mixed with temples, and then I bore testimony to him of why I believe in God and it's because of this plan which includes coming to earth in a family. It was probably the most scriptural/testimony based plan of salvation I have ever taught! Now I don't know if he is going to be baptized or anything but I loved teaching that lesson. We gave him a Book of Mormon after and a few assignments. He was all for it. I'm excited to go back.

Thumbs Up for a Successful First Year!

 

HIGHLIGHTS of the 1 YEAR MARK

Elder Taylor and I had a party by ourselves last night celebrating our year mark and our time together in Glenville because we both got transferred out. The area is becoming a zone leader area and so we both got the boot. We got a gift box of goodies for a party with festive silly string, balloons, and poppers...it was really fun.

So Elder Taylor and I went around yesterday teaching and saying goodbye to people. One of the houses we stopped at was a partially active member. She has bad depression so we always go over to cheer her up. As we were standing in her doorway I had the impression we should sing her some hymns. So I said I would be right back. I went to the car and got my little hymn book. I came back and asked her if we could go outside to sit on the bench in the shade. At first she was not for the idea as she does not like to leave her house. She finally decided it would be good to get some fresh air and so we went out. Elder Taylor and I chose a hymn (hymn 26 but with to the melody of "Come Though Fount of Every Blessing") and then we sang one of her favorites, "A Poor Way Fairing Man of Grief", and then we sang Elder Taylor's favorite, "Lead Kindly Light". By the time we left there was a smile on her face...she was beaming. I had only sung a hymn to someone once before on my mission. That was only the second time. I loved being able to brighten her day with a hymn. That was the highlight of my day.

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