Ups and Downs

Visit to the temple this morning.

Just a short note today...we are emailing so late, because we got to go to the temple this morning! It was wonderful.

Well, last week had its ups and downs. We had to spend a lot of time in the flat, for various reasons. Two of those days were waiting for Elder Munson's passport, which was supposed to come on Friday, but didn't end up coming until Saturday. So... we cleaned, and planned!

Elder Munson doing his thing!

As for the rest of the week, we had interviews with President on Tuesday, which were very helpful. I got the package that day. Thanks so much for everything, it was fantastic. I'm trying to savor the mint maltballs and almond brittle. We also had District Meeting at the same time, which went really well. I thoroughly enjoyed preparing it.

We've met a lot of interesting people this week. For the record, I finally figured out what alcohol smells like, as I smelled it on a drunk man on the bus. We met a really cool guy from Mauritius who's actually been looking for a church to join. We might be seeing him tonight. Problem is he works on Sundays... We also had a great experience going to contact one of our potentials. She lives up the street from a woman we really thought was going to be golden, but who we haven't been able to see since. Anyway, we knocked on her door, and spoke to her about the Plan of Salvation for some 30 minutes or so, and we have a return appointment with her this Friday! It's so strange, because her mum lives right down the street from the church, as does her nan. And, her son goes to school right near where we live. Crazy.

We've been working hard at trying to seek the spirit, and are seeing the blessings of that. The temple today was fantastic for help there. I learned so much, and felt wonderful.

Also, on a less spiritual note, we just completed our Disney Princess bracket as a district. We had questions each night to work out who was the best Disney Princess. The winner? Jane from Tarzan. Thought you might like to know.

Elder Wright and I, taking cover after getting caught in a thunderstorm.
We had been playing guitar with a Kenyan Rastafarian in the park!

BIG BEN and I!

Anyway, that's about it.

Love you!

- Elder Green

Happy Birthday!

Wandsworth Zone P-Day!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes...my birthday was great! We ended up having two DA's that day, which was pretty cool. Last minute, one of our less-active members called us up and had us over for a proper English breakfast, which he does from time to time. Most of the day was spent working hard -- that's pretty much all I wanted to do for my birthday, because I hate feeling like I'm not working hard enough (which is most of the time). But, like I said the other day, the Appleyard's invited us over to their Thai Restaurant for dinner, and stuffed us full of delicious Thai food. Tim, the son, just got back from his mission in Thailand not too long ago. He doesn't know Sydney, but when I showed him her blog, he knew her entire ward, and her companion and her district... Pretty much everyone in all of the pictures except for her. But they brought out a huge thing of the most delicious ice cream at the end, which was fantastic.

Look at this delicious birthday dessert!

I don't have the package yet, but should do tomorrow, since we've got interviews with President then. I opened up all of Steve and Terena's gifts, they gave me a really nice new tie from M&S, some sweets, a nice bar of Thornton's chocolate with "We Miss You Elder Green" written on it in icing, and some Yankee Candles. Taylor best be jealous.

Birthday gifts from Steve and Terena.

Sister Odel is too good to us!
The night before my birthday, Elder Munson wouldn't let me get off the bus, and took
me up to Sister Odel's to pick up some delicious treats and a birthday card!

As for how how work's been going this week, we've seen some cool things happen. We've been working on these 'Lost Sheep' files and found some really great people. In fact, when we were working on my birthday, we found three people knocking all of whom said they didn't believe in God, but believed in an afterlife, and after talking to them, they believed more and more in God, and said we could try back another time. One woman could feel it pretty powerfully, and was actually looking for someone who could bless her grandmother's grave next week at the funeral, since she "Couldn't find or pay a pastor to do it." So we were like, "Well... We're licensed ministers, so we could do it." She was supposed to be at church yesterday, but she never showed.

Also, we have a baptismal date! Sort of. The Sisters have passed us one of their investigators...he's a really nice guy. I hope things continue to progress and I will have more to report soon!

Finally, we're going up to proper London today! We'll be going to take pictures with Elder White and Elder Wright up near Big Ben and the London Eye, and hopefully we can go look around the Tate Modern Art museum. We were going to go see Hamlet, but apparently it was only playing at the Globe in April... Sigh...

Having fun with the Sinclair Family.

Praying at the bus stop? Or, maybe he's just tired?

Awkward birthday photos! Elder Munson and I were so happy to find an ice cream truck
with a soft serve machine and actual scoop ice cream...YES!

Service Project!

Anyway, I love you guys,

- Elder Green

Happy Mother's Day!

Skyping on Mother's Day with my family!

I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. I was so glad to be able to talk to you guys. It's so good to hear that all is going well, and that you guys are happy. It's still freaking me out seeing how old Taylor, Kate and Maddie look... Oh my days. I remember Jordan Winters telling me when we were at BYU that when you go on your mission, your family doesn't age at all in your head, so when you come home, all of the sudden they're two years older, and you can't make sense of it. Totally how I felt.

Well, as I said yesterday, the last week was great. We've been doing all we can to study up on Genealogy after President Millar recommended we do so. I've been filling in gaps on Family Search, and it's so exciting, honestly. I wish I had followed those promptings to do more of it before my mission, but what's done is done.

We've seen some amazing miracles this week. I already told you about this one yesterday, but I wanted to make sure it made the blog. Elder Munson and I decided on Tuesday to start praying specifically for what the ward needs, which is youth in the ward. So, we've done our best to ask in every single prayer for a family with four children who are youth aged. And on Thursday morning, we got a text from the mission office with an online referral for a family who has been less-active a little while, and just moved into our ward. They have five children, two of which are youth age, and they are so cool, man. I'm really excited that they're joining our ward. But, that's not a family with four youth age children, so we're still praying for that.

We've had a challenge presented to the whole mission to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days. Well, our zone was a little ahead of the game, and challenged us to read the book of Mormon in 42 days about a week before... So we're trekking along with it. I'm pretty behind, but I'm doing my best to catch up. I'm feeling such a different spirit from doing it, though, and finding so much enjoyment from it, especially from the Isaiah chapters (which I've just finished this morning). The Lord has so much to reveal to us through the scriptures, and I'm really grateful for that.

Final thought: one scripture stood out to me this morning in our Companion Study. It was from from the 29th Section of the Doctrine & Covenants, verse 34. " Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given a law unto you which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created." You know, the Lord promises us blessings for everything, more than we ever see. Oftentimes, we can get caught up thinking, "Oh, if I focus really well in the morning, I'll be able to focus better for the rest of the day," or something along those lines, when all in all, the Lord doesn't intend to bless us merely with focus for one day. The commandments are meant to change us. To make us more loving, charitable, humble, virtuous, and Christlike. He's just trying to help us out.

Beautiful Crystal Palace Park in London.

Can you tell how much I love my new mandolin?
Thank you to the Grant Family for the wonderful gift!

Doing a little yard work. There sure is a lot of "Stinging Nettle" in England...I am finding out.

Trip to the London Temple with Nisha, Nikita and Tim.

Thank you to the Welch's for having us over to Skype, have dinner and play a game of 'Password.'
This week Team Europe took the victory...but USA will be back!

Anyway, Love you guys so much,

- Elder Green

Knocking Doors, Playing Games, and Scotch Bonnets...

The Elders having some fun at the Welch's home. Apparently you have to play games to get fed at their house!
(Missionary moms love when the ward members take good care of their boys!)

The week has gone well. We've still not got many investigators here, and have been doing a lot of contacting, but we do have a few solid investigators that we've started working with. So, work's fairly normal. We met a few crazy people throughout the week: one guy called us over, and kept going on about how big Michelle Obama's feet were... And then there was another man who when we asked if we could pray for him went on for 10 minutes with different people he wanted us to pray for. But, it's all fun.

We've been spending a lot of time visiting less-actives again, and knocking 10-asides. It's been really effective, actually. Knocking in London is tough, since people's work schedules are all over the place, but we've been so blessed to find almost everyone home -- and, we're finding new investigators from it, which is great.

Our district's doing fantastic, as usual. The Sisters are pretty much a model area for the entire mission, and the Crystal Palace Elders are settled into their companionship, as well, and they're doing great. It's funny being a District Leader -- you deal with one issue that you've got going on, and then everything's fixed, and then you get new issues to work out. Luckily, my district hasn't been too much trouble yet.

I've got some pictures of the African food this week: Sister Sintim made us really nice foo-foo and spicy peanut soup. Elder Munson and I are training for spicy food by adding scotch bonnets to almost all of our meals. We'll get there. (Scotch bonnets are very spicy peppers that are used in African cooking...)

Anyway, love you guys,

Elder Green