Monday, July 23, 2012
July 23rd
I am staying in Bakersfield with Sis Putnam. Which is what i wanted so that is good. even thought its fetching hot here. I will be able to go to the baptism for samantha on saturday. Im sorry i literally have nothing to say this week haha
July 17th
Hi! My p-day is today... yesterday we had president interviews so it was switched. I'm still here so I passed. Just kidding. But President Castro is the sweetest man.Anyway....
I will start off my saying if you haven't read "Mountains to Climb" by Pres Eyring yet or lately, you should read it. It's sooo good.
Last week I thought my hip could have been broken. haha jk. But heres what happened. We were doing service for a less active. It was on a farm. And guess what?!? IN the farm areas there are tons of black widows!! I was freaked out cause we didnt have gloves and we were picking up wood and stuff. and then moving a ginormous lazy boy,.. sometimes I think people forget we are just girls and probably can't lift all of these things. Anyway, we were trying to get this giant steel trailer gate to come down so we could put this barbeque in, (how we even moved that i dont know, the power of God probably) and she unlatched it and it flew back and hit me in the stomach but mostly my hips so it kinda protected me but yet hurt a lot too.
So yep I can still walk and that was a freightening moment. All is well though.... Got that place cleaned up and got out with my bites.
Did anyone else know Bakerfield has the poorest air quality in the United States?? Yeah It's pretty gross. Thankfully this week isn't supposed to be as hot as last week.
I guess this member in our stockdale ward is going to be on wipeout tonight haha. YOu should watch it and let me know how far she gets. Her name is natalie zernberg. she's a nice lady, teaches sunday school.
Transfers are next week. We will see what happens. So make sure if you send me anything send it to Oxnard address.
We picked up a few new investigators last week so ill keep you updated later on that.
Last week some members too us to Panera for dinner. That was good, probably the classiest place here haha. I like when membs take us to dinner. Nice change.
Well sorry this is short but that's all i have. Love you all so much!
Sis Greer
I will start off my saying if you haven't read "Mountains to Climb" by Pres Eyring yet or lately, you should read it. It's sooo good.
Last week I thought my hip could have been broken. haha jk. But heres what happened. We were doing service for a less active. It was on a farm. And guess what?!? IN the farm areas there are tons of black widows!! I was freaked out cause we didnt have gloves and we were picking up wood and stuff. and then moving a ginormous lazy boy,.. sometimes I think people forget we are just girls and probably can't lift all of these things. Anyway, we were trying to get this giant steel trailer gate to come down so we could put this barbeque in, (how we even moved that i dont know, the power of God probably) and she unlatched it and it flew back and hit me in the stomach but mostly my hips so it kinda protected me but yet hurt a lot too.
So yep I can still walk and that was a freightening moment. All is well though.... Got that place cleaned up and got out with my bites.
Did anyone else know Bakerfield has the poorest air quality in the United States?? Yeah It's pretty gross. Thankfully this week isn't supposed to be as hot as last week.
I guess this member in our stockdale ward is going to be on wipeout tonight haha. YOu should watch it and let me know how far she gets. Her name is natalie zernberg. she's a nice lady, teaches sunday school.
Transfers are next week. We will see what happens. So make sure if you send me anything send it to Oxnard address.
We picked up a few new investigators last week so ill keep you updated later on that.
Last week some members too us to Panera for dinner. That was good, probably the classiest place here haha. I like when membs take us to dinner. Nice change.
Well sorry this is short but that's all i have. Love you all so much!
Sis Greer
July 9th
OK SO UTAH IS ON FIRE?!?! Holy... That picture Lauren is crazy! Our house better not burn down... Seriously that picture I just showed to everyone and we freaked out haha.
Anyway, everyone stay not on fire.
This week has been pretty deece. My hardest day out here was on Tuesday. I just had a dream the night before and It messed up a mood quite a bit. But not for long. Anyway, I was having that rough morning and we went to the mail box and i got that package that had the the letters the family wrote me at the reunion. :') (smile with tear) That helped my day so much to read those letters and I was feeling way better after. So thank you soo much everyone!
The day after the 4th of July was... weird and creepy. So we were walking around and on EVERY side walk within 2 miles of our apartment had bloody paw prints! I was so sketched out. We would follow the prints then they would stop. And new ones would begin close by. I was so scared!! It's still all over the side walks cause it never rains. I don't know if some cats got blown up and trying to get away or is some psycho was hurting animals. All I know is I can't figure it out. :(
Some weird stuff happens around here though. Recently all missionaries were told by pres. to take down our Jesus pictures in the windows. Cause some weirdos have been targeting missionaries cause they know where we live. and leaving anti stuff and in the middle of the night yelling stuff in the doors... That's happening more in East Bakes though. North Bakes hasn't had anything so we should be fine. Sad though we had to take down Jesus :( We are safe though, so don't worry dad! Haha I know how concerned you get.. ;)
We still have that baptism set for Samantha on the 28th. She is very excited and her family is supportive of her.
So we will continue on encouraging her and helping her in any way these next few weeks.
This week we came across a man named Jack. We shared the Restoration with him and I will never forget the look in his eyes. It was like he was soaking up every word we said. We found out he lives in LA and was just visiting his daughter for the day. But for weeks we planned on knocking that certain street but never got around to it. Then one day we decided it needed to be done. And that was the day we met Jack. And he said he's so glad we came because he was leaving to go home in an hour. I know the Lord placed us there at the right time. He was so anxious to read the Book Of Mormon. We got his information and called it in as a referral. I am so happy to know we planted that seed and soon he will meet with some missionaries at his home. I have great faith he has been prepared and ready. It is truly a miracle I experienced and I won't forget it. After we left his house I had to go sit in the car for a minute and cry because I was so overwhelmed haha. I felt the spirit so strongly and I felt the Lords love for him. Super awesome.
That is all for now. I love you all and keep you in my prayers continually. Have a great week!!
Sister Greer
Anyway, everyone stay not on fire.
This week has been pretty deece. My hardest day out here was on Tuesday. I just had a dream the night before and It messed up a mood quite a bit. But not for long. Anyway, I was having that rough morning and we went to the mail box and i got that package that had the the letters the family wrote me at the reunion. :') (smile with tear) That helped my day so much to read those letters and I was feeling way better after. So thank you soo much everyone!
The day after the 4th of July was... weird and creepy. So we were walking around and on EVERY side walk within 2 miles of our apartment had bloody paw prints! I was so sketched out. We would follow the prints then they would stop. And new ones would begin close by. I was so scared!! It's still all over the side walks cause it never rains. I don't know if some cats got blown up and trying to get away or is some psycho was hurting animals. All I know is I can't figure it out. :(
Some weird stuff happens around here though. Recently all missionaries were told by pres. to take down our Jesus pictures in the windows. Cause some weirdos have been targeting missionaries cause they know where we live. and leaving anti stuff and in the middle of the night yelling stuff in the doors... That's happening more in East Bakes though. North Bakes hasn't had anything so we should be fine. Sad though we had to take down Jesus :( We are safe though, so don't worry dad! Haha I know how concerned you get.. ;)
We still have that baptism set for Samantha on the 28th. She is very excited and her family is supportive of her.
So we will continue on encouraging her and helping her in any way these next few weeks.
This week we came across a man named Jack. We shared the Restoration with him and I will never forget the look in his eyes. It was like he was soaking up every word we said. We found out he lives in LA and was just visiting his daughter for the day. But for weeks we planned on knocking that certain street but never got around to it. Then one day we decided it needed to be done. And that was the day we met Jack. And he said he's so glad we came because he was leaving to go home in an hour. I know the Lord placed us there at the right time. He was so anxious to read the Book Of Mormon. We got his information and called it in as a referral. I am so happy to know we planted that seed and soon he will meet with some missionaries at his home. I have great faith he has been prepared and ready. It is truly a miracle I experienced and I won't forget it. After we left his house I had to go sit in the car for a minute and cry because I was so overwhelmed haha. I felt the spirit so strongly and I felt the Lords love for him. Super awesome.
That is all for now. I love you all and keep you in my prayers continually. Have a great week!!
Sister Greer
Monday, July 2, 2012
JULY 2 LETTER
Hi my peeps! It's been a pretty good week. Not a ton of crazy stuff to tell you about. BUT we have a baptismal! date!! Samantha will be baptized July 28th. Hope I'm still around..
K so we went over to teach her a few days ago, and she started off by telling us the last time we met with her, she went home and read the pamphlets we gave her, and prayed asking God if it was true and she should be baptized. Then she went to bed. She had a dream where everything was just soo white. And she saw a staircase so she started walking up. At the top there was a big white figure and she just KNEW it was God. And he started talking to her and told her to keep reading the Book Of Mormon and that the things we taught her were true.
HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! She recieved revelation through her dream That happens and it happened for her. It was only like the 3rd prayer she had said in her life. And Heavenly Father answered her. I knew he would. So we set the date and she is excited to be baptized. We just pray everything goes well and there are no issues with her mom. Her mom was fine with everything, but yesterday we were supposed to teach her but she cancelled. And it was because she was on the phone with her mom and she was swearing so Sam told her not to swear and kinda parented her a little bit and her mom DID NOT LIKE THAT. So I hope this doesn't interfere with things and she doesn't change her mind. Satan tries to stop baptisms and I think he will try to do that through her mom. But I know that whatever happens is going to be okay. But for now we are moving forward with it and it's been an amazing thing to see.
A few days ago we went on blitz. There are some traveling Hermanas and they go on blitz with all the sisters. They have the reputation of being pretty intense. And I experienced that Friday haha. I was with Hermana Clark. She is really nice and it was nice being with her. But i apprecited my companion more cause things are more calm with her. We work all the time dont get me wrong, but I don't need to knock on a door 3 different times super loud to know they aren't going to answer. SO some things were uncomfortable to me, but I learned some new things and it was good to see how someone else does things.
The other night we went to a members for dinner. Natalia and Ben Davis. Natalia is russian and a recent convert. They gave us this russian chocolate which was amazing. Then showed us their wedding video. HOLY COW. it was in russia and you can tell her parents are veerry wealthy. Their video was sooo amazing. The company that did it was Art Island. I wish i could look up more of their stuff right now haha. It was just cool to see their video they are a cute couple. But lets just say he married up hahaha. He served in russia and thats how they met.
Anyway, that's about all for the week. I am glad to hear everyone had a good time at the reunion. I love you family!! (hope some of you read this) or else you are dead to me. Jk kinda.
Sad to hear about Jasons foot!!! That's so awful :( I'll keep him in my prayers. Someone pass on the message to him that "Rafael loves him!"
Everyone have a great week!!
Love Rachie
K so we went over to teach her a few days ago, and she started off by telling us the last time we met with her, she went home and read the pamphlets we gave her, and prayed asking God if it was true and she should be baptized. Then she went to bed. She had a dream where everything was just soo white. And she saw a staircase so she started walking up. At the top there was a big white figure and she just KNEW it was God. And he started talking to her and told her to keep reading the Book Of Mormon and that the things we taught her were true.
HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! She recieved revelation through her dream That happens and it happened for her. It was only like the 3rd prayer she had said in her life. And Heavenly Father answered her. I knew he would. So we set the date and she is excited to be baptized. We just pray everything goes well and there are no issues with her mom. Her mom was fine with everything, but yesterday we were supposed to teach her but she cancelled. And it was because she was on the phone with her mom and she was swearing so Sam told her not to swear and kinda parented her a little bit and her mom DID NOT LIKE THAT. So I hope this doesn't interfere with things and she doesn't change her mind. Satan tries to stop baptisms and I think he will try to do that through her mom. But I know that whatever happens is going to be okay. But for now we are moving forward with it and it's been an amazing thing to see.
A few days ago we went on blitz. There are some traveling Hermanas and they go on blitz with all the sisters. They have the reputation of being pretty intense. And I experienced that Friday haha. I was with Hermana Clark. She is really nice and it was nice being with her. But i apprecited my companion more cause things are more calm with her. We work all the time dont get me wrong, but I don't need to knock on a door 3 different times super loud to know they aren't going to answer. SO some things were uncomfortable to me, but I learned some new things and it was good to see how someone else does things.
The other night we went to a members for dinner. Natalia and Ben Davis. Natalia is russian and a recent convert. They gave us this russian chocolate which was amazing. Then showed us their wedding video. HOLY COW. it was in russia and you can tell her parents are veerry wealthy. Their video was sooo amazing. The company that did it was Art Island. I wish i could look up more of their stuff right now haha. It was just cool to see their video they are a cute couple. But lets just say he married up hahaha. He served in russia and thats how they met.
Anyway, that's about all for the week. I am glad to hear everyone had a good time at the reunion. I love you family!! (hope some of you read this) or else you are dead to me. Jk kinda.
Sad to hear about Jasons foot!!! That's so awful :( I'll keep him in my prayers. Someone pass on the message to him that "Rafael loves him!"
Everyone have a great week!!
Love Rachie
June 25th Letter
Another week has passed! Time does go by fast, though the days can go by really slow. It's been a good week. A lot of tracting took place. And that's not my favorite but we picked up a few investigators so we will see where that leads. The other day we were tracting on this street and everyone was so mean. Then we came across this house with a bunch of lambs outside. I thought they were cute so I took some pics then this rounchy old lady in a moo moo came out and got mad. We talked to her a bit and come to find out she is LDS. Not active for 10 years. She was very hesitant to tell us though. Because now we have found her haha. You always get found... But anyway I don't really wanna go back there cause she scared me but we probably will.
A few days ago we were doing our morning planning and some J-dubs came to the door. Usually I'm told we just ignore them but I was all about answering the door. So i did. They were nice girls and I brought up the Book of Mormon. They accepted it and said they would read some. They said we were really nice so they would probably come back sometime. Haha it was funny, I hope they do.
So a miracle has taken place this week- yesteday in fact.
It started off really hard. There is an old italian guy named Luigi who the sisters have been seeing for a long time. I've only been around him 4 times but i love him. He is so goofy and fun to be around. He always has us sing to him after the lessons. The other night he brought out his tape recorder to tape us haha. That picture i sent in front of that bug with the tree inside is at his house. He is progressing, but very slowly. Last week (hope i havent already talked about this) We invited him to baptism. He didnt really give an answer but said he will keep reading and pray about it.
So we went back yesterday with the ward mission leader and some other brother. The lesson didn't go as we had hoped. He had already been taught the restoration but has a hard time understanding why the priesthood makes it all different from every other church. SO we went over that with him again and the brothers shared their thougts with him as well. Luigi just gets really distracted and has a hard time focusing. And toward the end he said he loves having us over but wont switch churches cause he likes his orthidox church and people. He's been to our church a couple times but he mainly just does it to make the sisters happy. But at least he has gone! But anyway. We left and the brothers said they are pretty sure he's just in it for the company. Which ive felt as well but hes also progressed some. But we hit a wall. It was basically a drop lesson. we will go back at some point to check up on him but it'll be a few weeks. And I just left there feeling defeated. I've never so greatly had the desire to help someone understand the gospel, and for them to except it. It has been my first real mission heart break. Beacuse I love that man. I know that everything is on the Lords time and it's just not his time. I felt really dissappointed but still had faith that things would just work out the way they should.
Shortly after, we got a call from a member. She said their daughters friend had come to church with them that day, and she wanted to learn more. She is 13 and her name is Samantha. We were excited to go meet her. Though I just prayed things would go well because it felt like everything fell apart earlier.
We went over to the members house and shared the first lesson with Samantha. She wants to get baptized! And go to girls camp in a month and do personal progess and all that stuff! It really was miracle. Here we had put so much effort into Luigi and things didn't work out how we so badly wanted it to- but the Lord placed this girl into our lives so we could teach and she is so prepared and ready for the gospel. We will be seeing her again tomorrow and we will set her with a date. Her mom gave her permission to meet with us. SHe isn't religious much but she said as long as we belive in God, Samantha could meet with us. I will continue to pray things go well and she progresses. I know the Lord is ALWAYS there, he has a plan. He has from the beginning. And we just have to have faith in knowing it all works out the way it has been planned to from the beginning.
I truly experienced a miracle yesterday. I know that this work I am involved in, is so real and so important to Heavenly Father. I experienced so many emotions yesterday. But it really is a miracle. Everything is going just how it's supposed to and as long as I continue in faith, I will continue to see miracles. I hope everyone has a great week.. :) Peace and blessings.
A few days ago we were doing our morning planning and some J-dubs came to the door. Usually I'm told we just ignore them but I was all about answering the door. So i did. They were nice girls and I brought up the Book of Mormon. They accepted it and said they would read some. They said we were really nice so they would probably come back sometime. Haha it was funny, I hope they do.
So a miracle has taken place this week- yesteday in fact.
It started off really hard. There is an old italian guy named Luigi who the sisters have been seeing for a long time. I've only been around him 4 times but i love him. He is so goofy and fun to be around. He always has us sing to him after the lessons. The other night he brought out his tape recorder to tape us haha. That picture i sent in front of that bug with the tree inside is at his house. He is progressing, but very slowly. Last week (hope i havent already talked about this) We invited him to baptism. He didnt really give an answer but said he will keep reading and pray about it.
So we went back yesterday with the ward mission leader and some other brother. The lesson didn't go as we had hoped. He had already been taught the restoration but has a hard time understanding why the priesthood makes it all different from every other church. SO we went over that with him again and the brothers shared their thougts with him as well. Luigi just gets really distracted and has a hard time focusing. And toward the end he said he loves having us over but wont switch churches cause he likes his orthidox church and people. He's been to our church a couple times but he mainly just does it to make the sisters happy. But at least he has gone! But anyway. We left and the brothers said they are pretty sure he's just in it for the company. Which ive felt as well but hes also progressed some. But we hit a wall. It was basically a drop lesson. we will go back at some point to check up on him but it'll be a few weeks. And I just left there feeling defeated. I've never so greatly had the desire to help someone understand the gospel, and for them to except it. It has been my first real mission heart break. Beacuse I love that man. I know that everything is on the Lords time and it's just not his time. I felt really dissappointed but still had faith that things would just work out the way they should.
Shortly after, we got a call from a member. She said their daughters friend had come to church with them that day, and she wanted to learn more. She is 13 and her name is Samantha. We were excited to go meet her. Though I just prayed things would go well because it felt like everything fell apart earlier.
We went over to the members house and shared the first lesson with Samantha. She wants to get baptized! And go to girls camp in a month and do personal progess and all that stuff! It really was miracle. Here we had put so much effort into Luigi and things didn't work out how we so badly wanted it to- but the Lord placed this girl into our lives so we could teach and she is so prepared and ready for the gospel. We will be seeing her again tomorrow and we will set her with a date. Her mom gave her permission to meet with us. SHe isn't religious much but she said as long as we belive in God, Samantha could meet with us. I will continue to pray things go well and she progresses. I know the Lord is ALWAYS there, he has a plan. He has from the beginning. And we just have to have faith in knowing it all works out the way it has been planned to from the beginning.
I truly experienced a miracle yesterday. I know that this work I am involved in, is so real and so important to Heavenly Father. I experienced so many emotions yesterday. But it really is a miracle. Everything is going just how it's supposed to and as long as I continue in faith, I will continue to see miracles. I hope everyone has a great week.. :) Peace and blessings.
June 18th
Hello everybody! I have much to say since it has been my first week here. First off, they've started me off in hell. HAHA. That's what an old man told me at transfer meeting in Ventura before I left for here. (Tuesday) So yes, I am in Bakersfield. North Bakersfield. There are 3 bakersfiled missions, North, Eeast, South. I thought you might see that purchase I made at walmart haha. This place isn't so bad, there are some parts that are fairly nice. BUT, yesterday it was 108 degrees. OMG. We have a car but we only have so many miles a month so we do walk quite a bit as well. Probably my second day working (Thursday) we walked a ton. It was about 104 i think and no breeze. Probably walked a total of 5 miles.Oh and i already have a pretty decent missionary tan haha. Mostly on my feet. The walking is hard in the heat, But It's making me stronger, somehow. I ended up with a ton of blisters that day but they are gone now cause the next day we used more miles so we wouldn't walk as much for a couple days. My companion is sister Putnam. SHE IS AWESOME. Seriously I am lucky she is my trainer. We get along really well and she's very nice and patient. Which President told me she would be like. She is from Draper which is so cool cause she lives nearby. She as been out 8 ish months. We are the only sisters in our zone and district here so it's kinda weird ,at least once a day i just tell her it feels like we just have each other and we are alone in this world haha. Good thing I like her a lot.
This morning our alarm didn't go off.... She woke up at 7:20 and was like "uh sister greer its way past wake up time" haha not our fault thought?! Faulty alarm. I'll call it a tender mercy and lets just say i enjoyed the extra 50 minutes. Good thing it didn't interfere with the work though, and just our get ready time. Back to the first day i got here, president and his wife picked us up at santa barbara. They are really sweet i like them a lot. I hope you got my letter we sent on Wednesday? It should include a picture with them. they took us to the mission home and we relaxed for a bit and ate. Then we did other stuff but it will say in that letter. Then we slept at some members house for the night. So the jouney to Bakersfield was a LONG ONE. It was supposed to be 2 hour drive from VEntura. which is still long and i hate driving. But that members that were driving us asked if it was ok they stopped my some rental house they have in pismo beach? So of course we said yes and it would be an additional hour. Ended up being a total of 5 1/2 hours in driving!! Good thing we stopped and had red robin in between. But yeah, I dont even understand what happened there but it was crazy. I literally feel like im not even in Cali and we drove to a completely different state. So far. But glad i made it. Transfers are every 6 weeks. So the next one is July 24. I will either stay here or... not. I kinda hope i stay so i can have the same trainer for 3 months. But whatever happens is meant to be. Also sorry for the grammar in this email.
We've done some tracting. It's not as scary as I thought it would be. Like at doors. We've only have 1 slam it in our face so far. Other then that people listen but haven't seen anything come of it yet. Saturday though we went to the farmers market to do some declaring. Its a little harder since people are walking, and your trying to get them to talk to you. But we met a couple really nice people and something might come from it. Those experiences make me a better missionary cause i am learning to get out of my comfort zone the most those times and approach people.
We have an hour for lunch and dinner. Probably half the week we have a member dinner appointment. The other half we can go out or eat at home. For lunch, we've been napping usually haha cause we will eat fast then spend 45 minutes sleeping. Which is the craziest thing cause I never used to nap. But now I fall right asleep, it's awesome. Probably cause im so hot and exhausted.
But about the dinner with members, I've had some weird expereiences so far.... The first night I got here we didnt drive in till 6, and we have an appt so we ran straight over there. It was just a way awkward couple and it was hard to hold a convo. we were only there for like 30 minutes haha which is way short for a dinner. So yeah weird. Then a few night later we had one with this huge family. I wont go into details on that right now haha but there were some uncomfy moments. But I'm sure we will have some good ones upcoming. I wanna share what happened last night at a members for dinner. We didnt have a dinner appointment set up, and this woman walked up to us at church and asked if we wanted to go over for dinner so of course we said yes. Yesterday was the first time i struggled a little bit. Probably had to do with it being fathers day. But there were moments i was feeling discouraged. I didn't know anything about her. She is in the middle of going through a divorce and has been having a way hard time. When we went over we could tell she had been recently crying. BTW her name is sister noonchester and shes Peruvian. She made us spaghetti and we sat down and ate. She told us what she was going through. Her kids had turned against her, which is way sad cause he cheated on her and i dont know the whole story but she is just really destroyed because of it. So all her kids arent around a couple live with him in riverside. Anyway, after dinner we did the dishes for her and she sat down cause she was exhausted and she just cried and told us how glad she was that we came. She didn't want to be able especailly have fathers day. She cried and said that we were a huge help to her for being there. I felt on the verge of tears many times. Then after we shared a scripture 2 nephi 31 :20. Love that scripture cause it talks about hope. We just talked and she cried and cried talking about how the lord loves her and is taking care of her even through this time. I cried too beacuse i was so touched and i felt Heavenly Fathers love for her so strongly. It was a very humbling experience for me. Here i was feeling bad that day, and when i went over there i realized how great i really do have it right now. And i was glad we could be there for her and help in any way. It helped me to know i was helping someone who really needed it. We are going back over on Thursday, just to help her organzie some of her stuff, since she moved to that apartment from a big house she has so much stufff she doesnt know what to do with. I dont have if someone is an invenstigator, or a less active. She needs our help and we will be there for her.
Sorry if things are way jumbled i just have to type fast. There is a fresh and easy right behind our apartment! COOL RIGHT?! I've been eating a lot of artichocke dip and baby carrots. Yum.
Back to the work- my first day out working I met a lot of people. The first appointment was the Petersons. (we cover the stockdale and brimhall ward here) They are new converts so we do the new convert lessons. They have like 10 kids and its way hectic there. and they have a million dogs. Anyway we talked about prophets and it went well. It was a good/crazy first teaching experience. But btw i think its a code where you have to have a dog to live here. actually like 5 dogs. It's kinda gross they like walk with us down the street and i wont touch them cause they just look nasty.
That first day we went over to a lady named Julies. Shes a way nice lady. She is strong in her faith Christian. She knows the bible inside and out. We weren't even planning on going there but sister putnam felt like we should just stop by. When she opened the door she was on the phone and crying. She hung up and told us about how her Nephew was just murdered. It was so sad. We sat down and talked to her about it. I shared a scripture and she was grateful. then it turned into the book of mormon. the sisters have been seeing her for a while. But she says she cant accept the BOM unless she gets permission from god, and the bible. Its so hard cause she needs evidence to belive anything more. I really dont know if anything wil go anywhere cause she talks a ton and its hard to get a word in. But she likes having the sisters cause she said she knows we are far from home and our moms would want to know we are safe and in good places. so shes really sweet for that. we will see here one more time when she gets back from families in a couple weeks and determine if we should drop her or not. just cause we cant waste that time. but shes a swet lady i wish it would progress.
There are a couple other investigators but i dont have time to talk about. I will write about them next week. Hope this email was okay and it answered any questions i know some of you had. I am glad to be here and have already seen great things happen. I hope everyone has a great week I LOVE YOU ALL !!! Sis Greer
This morning our alarm didn't go off.... She woke up at 7:20 and was like "uh sister greer its way past wake up time" haha not our fault thought?! Faulty alarm. I'll call it a tender mercy and lets just say i enjoyed the extra 50 minutes. Good thing it didn't interfere with the work though, and just our get ready time. Back to the first day i got here, president and his wife picked us up at santa barbara. They are really sweet i like them a lot. I hope you got my letter we sent on Wednesday? It should include a picture with them. they took us to the mission home and we relaxed for a bit and ate. Then we did other stuff but it will say in that letter. Then we slept at some members house for the night. So the jouney to Bakersfield was a LONG ONE. It was supposed to be 2 hour drive from VEntura. which is still long and i hate driving. But that members that were driving us asked if it was ok they stopped my some rental house they have in pismo beach? So of course we said yes and it would be an additional hour. Ended up being a total of 5 1/2 hours in driving!! Good thing we stopped and had red robin in between. But yeah, I dont even understand what happened there but it was crazy. I literally feel like im not even in Cali and we drove to a completely different state. So far. But glad i made it. Transfers are every 6 weeks. So the next one is July 24. I will either stay here or... not. I kinda hope i stay so i can have the same trainer for 3 months. But whatever happens is meant to be. Also sorry for the grammar in this email.
We've done some tracting. It's not as scary as I thought it would be. Like at doors. We've only have 1 slam it in our face so far. Other then that people listen but haven't seen anything come of it yet. Saturday though we went to the farmers market to do some declaring. Its a little harder since people are walking, and your trying to get them to talk to you. But we met a couple really nice people and something might come from it. Those experiences make me a better missionary cause i am learning to get out of my comfort zone the most those times and approach people.
We have an hour for lunch and dinner. Probably half the week we have a member dinner appointment. The other half we can go out or eat at home. For lunch, we've been napping usually haha cause we will eat fast then spend 45 minutes sleeping. Which is the craziest thing cause I never used to nap. But now I fall right asleep, it's awesome. Probably cause im so hot and exhausted.
But about the dinner with members, I've had some weird expereiences so far.... The first night I got here we didnt drive in till 6, and we have an appt so we ran straight over there. It was just a way awkward couple and it was hard to hold a convo. we were only there for like 30 minutes haha which is way short for a dinner. So yeah weird. Then a few night later we had one with this huge family. I wont go into details on that right now haha but there were some uncomfy moments. But I'm sure we will have some good ones upcoming. I wanna share what happened last night at a members for dinner. We didnt have a dinner appointment set up, and this woman walked up to us at church and asked if we wanted to go over for dinner so of course we said yes. Yesterday was the first time i struggled a little bit. Probably had to do with it being fathers day. But there were moments i was feeling discouraged. I didn't know anything about her. She is in the middle of going through a divorce and has been having a way hard time. When we went over we could tell she had been recently crying. BTW her name is sister noonchester and shes Peruvian. She made us spaghetti and we sat down and ate. She told us what she was going through. Her kids had turned against her, which is way sad cause he cheated on her and i dont know the whole story but she is just really destroyed because of it. So all her kids arent around a couple live with him in riverside. Anyway, after dinner we did the dishes for her and she sat down cause she was exhausted and she just cried and told us how glad she was that we came. She didn't want to be able especailly have fathers day. She cried and said that we were a huge help to her for being there. I felt on the verge of tears many times. Then after we shared a scripture 2 nephi 31 :20. Love that scripture cause it talks about hope. We just talked and she cried and cried talking about how the lord loves her and is taking care of her even through this time. I cried too beacuse i was so touched and i felt Heavenly Fathers love for her so strongly. It was a very humbling experience for me. Here i was feeling bad that day, and when i went over there i realized how great i really do have it right now. And i was glad we could be there for her and help in any way. It helped me to know i was helping someone who really needed it. We are going back over on Thursday, just to help her organzie some of her stuff, since she moved to that apartment from a big house she has so much stufff she doesnt know what to do with. I dont have if someone is an invenstigator, or a less active. She needs our help and we will be there for her.
Sorry if things are way jumbled i just have to type fast. There is a fresh and easy right behind our apartment! COOL RIGHT?! I've been eating a lot of artichocke dip and baby carrots. Yum.
Back to the work- my first day out working I met a lot of people. The first appointment was the Petersons. (we cover the stockdale and brimhall ward here) They are new converts so we do the new convert lessons. They have like 10 kids and its way hectic there. and they have a million dogs. Anyway we talked about prophets and it went well. It was a good/crazy first teaching experience. But btw i think its a code where you have to have a dog to live here. actually like 5 dogs. It's kinda gross they like walk with us down the street and i wont touch them cause they just look nasty.
That first day we went over to a lady named Julies. Shes a way nice lady. She is strong in her faith Christian. She knows the bible inside and out. We weren't even planning on going there but sister putnam felt like we should just stop by. When she opened the door she was on the phone and crying. She hung up and told us about how her Nephew was just murdered. It was so sad. We sat down and talked to her about it. I shared a scripture and she was grateful. then it turned into the book of mormon. the sisters have been seeing her for a while. But she says she cant accept the BOM unless she gets permission from god, and the bible. Its so hard cause she needs evidence to belive anything more. I really dont know if anything wil go anywhere cause she talks a ton and its hard to get a word in. But she likes having the sisters cause she said she knows we are far from home and our moms would want to know we are safe and in good places. so shes really sweet for that. we will see here one more time when she gets back from families in a couple weeks and determine if we should drop her or not. just cause we cant waste that time. but shes a swet lady i wish it would progress.
There are a couple other investigators but i dont have time to talk about. I will write about them next week. Hope this email was okay and it answered any questions i know some of you had. I am glad to be here and have already seen great things happen. I hope everyone has a great week I LOVE YOU ALL !!! Sis Greer
Friday, June 15, 2012
June 7th
It's P-day again! Which is crazy it seems like It just was. Kinda. But everything is going well. I can't believe I leave on Monday. 5:00 am... not awesome but ya it's crazy.
Where to begin... Not a whole lot has happened really. We teach a lot like I said before. MOstly in TRC. Which is where they have volunteers come in. We teach about one a day. It gets crazy in there, some of the people are so mean haha. Like Lawanna... Ugh. She is different. SHe is a black lady from the south. Throughout the lessons she will say things like "What you got to tell me? Why you here?!" It's kinda scary haha but she is nicer to the sisters. THank goodness for being female. I don't feel like we made much progress with her which can be frustrating but hey, I'm still a noob at this. BUT, the other day in TRC we had an amazing lesson with a less active couple (found out they really are less active) some poeple just do that cause they get paid to come here and they are curious as to what the missionaries have to say. So, that made me nervous knowing this was real and I wanted to say the right things. It was Georgia and Glade, an old couple. And we just talked about everything. Reasons why they stopped coming and just their thoughts about it all. We were both able to say the things that we felt inspired to say and when we asked Georgia to pray at the end, she accepted. And while she was praying she cried. It was really a great experience. We mostly talked about the Plan of salvation cause it had been a long time since they were active and didnt know what would happen to them anymore after they die. and if there was still hope. I know there is hope for everyone, its never too late. I hope they act on the way they felt.
Mom you have sent me so many packages!! haha you are awesome. You gotta stop though as much as i love getting a package. I don't have the time even to eat it all! But i share a lot and people like me for that :) But ya don't worry about sending more food right now, I appreciate it all though. The MTC food hasnt been making me fat, but all the stuff I've received probably is haha. I'm excited to get the chips and salsa today though ive been craving that! And the martinellies you sent haha my roomates and i were laughing so hard cause it's just so funny. We are excited to pop that thing open sunday night. Pretty sure you broke the mission law by sending that which makes it even greater. P.s cinnamons rolls were amazing. Holy cow so much food!! :)
Last night there was a power outage just for like 5 minutes. Don't know why. But i grabbed my glowing trident and my roomates and i galloped around the halls with it laughing. Sounds super dumb but it was like the funniest thing that's happened here. Oh the MTC...
The other morning we were doing our weekly service which was cleaning the bathrooms (worst job ever) and the fire alarm went off in the building. PERFECT TIMING. so we left and when it was over it was time for class. haha tender mercy from the Lord....?
I still have a cold! I got it like a week in, and it's just lingering forever. Everyone here is sick basically. I don't know who started it but they are dead to me. I'm sure it'll go away soon though.
Well that's about all... It's been a crazy time here and I'm leaving so soon. Pray for me haha. I'm excited to get to my mission but it will be totally different so that can be hard to adjust to at first. But I'll be good. I'm so thankful I have the opportunity to be a missionary. I know it's the best thing ive done in my life thus far, and I hope I can be and do whatever the Lord asks of me. Everyone have a wonderful week and you'll hear from me again soon!
Where to begin... Not a whole lot has happened really. We teach a lot like I said before. MOstly in TRC. Which is where they have volunteers come in. We teach about one a day. It gets crazy in there, some of the people are so mean haha. Like Lawanna... Ugh. She is different. SHe is a black lady from the south. Throughout the lessons she will say things like "What you got to tell me? Why you here?!" It's kinda scary haha but she is nicer to the sisters. THank goodness for being female. I don't feel like we made much progress with her which can be frustrating but hey, I'm still a noob at this. BUT, the other day in TRC we had an amazing lesson with a less active couple (found out they really are less active) some poeple just do that cause they get paid to come here and they are curious as to what the missionaries have to say. So, that made me nervous knowing this was real and I wanted to say the right things. It was Georgia and Glade, an old couple. And we just talked about everything. Reasons why they stopped coming and just their thoughts about it all. We were both able to say the things that we felt inspired to say and when we asked Georgia to pray at the end, she accepted. And while she was praying she cried. It was really a great experience. We mostly talked about the Plan of salvation cause it had been a long time since they were active and didnt know what would happen to them anymore after they die. and if there was still hope. I know there is hope for everyone, its never too late. I hope they act on the way they felt.
Mom you have sent me so many packages!! haha you are awesome. You gotta stop though as much as i love getting a package. I don't have the time even to eat it all! But i share a lot and people like me for that :) But ya don't worry about sending more food right now, I appreciate it all though. The MTC food hasnt been making me fat, but all the stuff I've received probably is haha. I'm excited to get the chips and salsa today though ive been craving that! And the martinellies you sent haha my roomates and i were laughing so hard cause it's just so funny. We are excited to pop that thing open sunday night. Pretty sure you broke the mission law by sending that which makes it even greater. P.s cinnamons rolls were amazing. Holy cow so much food!! :)
Last night there was a power outage just for like 5 minutes. Don't know why. But i grabbed my glowing trident and my roomates and i galloped around the halls with it laughing. Sounds super dumb but it was like the funniest thing that's happened here. Oh the MTC...
The other morning we were doing our weekly service which was cleaning the bathrooms (worst job ever) and the fire alarm went off in the building. PERFECT TIMING. so we left and when it was over it was time for class. haha tender mercy from the Lord....?
I still have a cold! I got it like a week in, and it's just lingering forever. Everyone here is sick basically. I don't know who started it but they are dead to me. I'm sure it'll go away soon though.
Well that's about all... It's been a crazy time here and I'm leaving so soon. Pray for me haha. I'm excited to get to my mission but it will be totally different so that can be hard to adjust to at first. But I'll be good. I'm so thankful I have the opportunity to be a missionary. I know it's the best thing ive done in my life thus far, and I hope I can be and do whatever the Lord asks of me. Everyone have a wonderful week and you'll hear from me again soon!
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