I am thankful for my Savior

A random little garden we found in the middle of Havant.
It was hiding right behind some shops on the High Street...who knew?

Hi, by the by. I'm glad Thanksgiving was so much fun for you guys. It was weird being here in England, because no one really thought anything about Thanksgiving. We were invited over for a DA that night, and had Sausage and Mash, which is delicious, but I can't say that it was the same.

We attended Zone Conference this last week, and it was really good. We had Elder Teixeira, the Europe Area President, running the entire conference. He was a great speaker, and introduced us to a lot of new things that we can do to improve our missionary work. I was really quite grateful for his help, and we're going to be doing our best to apply these things and improve our own work.

We've not really got any new investigators. We have tons of potentials, but we're in kind of a rush to finish knocking 10 doors on either side of all the ward members houses, so we haven't had as much opportunity to go back and teach too many of them, which is a bit of a shame, but oh well, the Lord knows what he's doing.

So I learned a very important lesson this week that I'd like to share with you guys. Being on a mission can be difficult. How many times have I said that already. When I set out, I decided I was going to be hardworking, and diligent, and exactly obedient...basically, I was going to be the perfect missionary (though I didn't so much phrase it that way in my head). But what I forgot about is that I am an imperfect person. I'm not meant to be perfect now, and asking perfection of myself is...well, insane. But, looking back, I've realized that I've asked for perfection far too often.

About two thousand years ago, something amazing happened. There was a woman named Mary who gave birth to a child named Jesus. He grew up and became a great teacher, helping many people to become their very happiest. But his greatest work wasn't his teaching. When he was only 33 (which is quite young, even if many 33-year-olds wouldn't say that themselves) he knelt down in the middle of the night in an olive orchard, and prayed to his Father. In this prayer, he ended up taking on a lot of pain, and suffering, and grief, and sickness, and hardship. He suffered these things, so that we would never have to suffer as much.

When I remember that He already took all this for us, I remember that I don't have to do things on my own, and frankly, I shouldn't. I was sent here to earth to be happy. I was sent here to England to help others to be happy. And now, I'm much happier. I don't need to worry, because it's all taken care of. That doesn't remove my responsibility to do all that I can, but I know that my Heavenly Father never expects me to do more than I can.

I'm really glad to know that you guys are doing so well back home. I can't wait to Skype you in a few weeks. I love you guys so much, and am so glad that you always pushed me to come out here, because I know that there is nothing I'd rather do right now than be out here.

Love you all,

Elder Green

Cutting across a football field up in West Leigh.
Thank you Elder Sorensen for taking pictures...since Braiden isn't.