Hot and Humid

Buenas tardes!

Hey everyone! Wow. What a great letter. It's been a wonderful week, and I'm looking forward to sharing a little bit about it. So let's get into it...

This past week has been very, very hot. A couple days back we heard it hit 40 degrees Celcius - 104! And yesterday was mid-90s. When it's that hot and extremely humid as well... man, it's almost unbearable. Definitely something to remember, though. One of those experiences that isn't fun at the time, but makes for a good story or memory (like getting into a barfight in Ireland or being taken captive in the Amazon... haha. Remember that, Dad?). It's especially tough around 3 pm, because it seems like that's the hottest point of the day and that's right about when we finish eating and head back out to work. Oh, and at night - sheesh! I take a cold shower right before going to bed, and sleep with a fan directly on me, and often wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep until I shower again. But I'm learning to cope. The work goes on!

Speaking of the work, a few cool experiences this week. We were contacting on Wednesday, knocking doors and everything, and a girl named Dalia came out and accepted the invitation to hear a message. We shared with her the message of the Restoration. As we taught, I felt a powerful spirit come over us, and I felt my words being guided by the Spirit as to how I needed to explain the different principles. It happened the same with my companion. Afterward, I asked if she had any questions about what we had shared or anything that had come to mind, and she told me no, that we had explained everything perfectly. The way she said it reminded me of a part in my Patriarchal Blessing where it talks about how I will be able to explain the Gospel in clarity and detail. It was a really neat experience for the three of us to have. We have another appointment with her tomorrow. I'm praying that everything will go well and that we can continue to teach her the things she needs to know and the things she's searching for. But whatever happens, that lesson was something special.

Also, we've been teaching a girl named Karla (don't know if I've mentioned her); we invited her to baptism this past Wednesday and she accepted. The baptismal date is May 15th. We're praying everything goes according to plan (and the Lord's will) and that she can be baptized on that date.

Another neat thing that happened this week was a blessing we gave to a woman on Saturday. We knocked on her door and she was interested in listening to us, but in a very hoarse voice told us that she was sick. She truly did look worn out and really tired. My companion asked her if she would like a blessing, and she said yes, and opened the door for us. That was a show of faith, and it brought the Spirit into her house. Her son was there. He has Down's Syndrome and was lying in a hammock splashing water on his face because they don't have a fan. She sat down and just looked completely exhausted. We explained a little bit about the Priesthood and about how a blessing requires faith, and then I anointed her and Elder Luna sealed the anointing and gave her the blessing. His blessing was very much guided by the Spirit; he mentioned things and promised blessings that I know the Lord intended specifically for her in that moment.  We plan to visit her either today or tomorrow to see how things are going. The funny thing is, neither of us remember her name at all, even though we both said it several times, including in the blessing. Kind of strange. But it too was a sweet experience and another show of God's love for His children.

A few other odds and ends. Our zone conference is going to be next week - either Tuesday or Wednesday - so I'll probably receive some letters and packages then (hopefully haha). This transfer is going to be one week shorter than normal because Elder Gonzalez of the Presidency of the Seventy is visiting the mission in two weeks, and that kind of changes things up. A week from this Saturday I'll find out if I'm going to be staying here in Villahermosa or heading somewhere else. It's pretty exciting; I'm looking forward to the conference.

And now for the good part! :)

Gabbie: Hey Gabs! How are you? One thing from last week I was going to ask you about is your iguana toy. Mom mentioned it in her email. It sounds pretty cool - when did you get it? What's it look like? There are dozens of iguanas all over the place here; I see them every day. Something you might be interested in - the green ones are females, and they're usually smaller and more timid. The orange or purple-ish ones are the males, and they're a little more aggressive. There are also black and red ones, and they're a different species and very dangerous. My companion says that normally iguanas don't attack even if you grab them, but if they do bite you, you're in some pretty big trouble. So we'll see what happens... haha just kidding.
A billion times a trillion times the number of square mm in the universe? Sheesh. That's a pretty big number. Haha. But I love you a lot too, Gabs. You're my third favorite little sister in the whole world (haha ;) just kidding!). Keep being such a fun kid and learning new things and have a wonderful week! I love you very much! Talk to you next week! :)

Miranda:  How is everything going? I read your talk again and really like it a lot. I'm sure you gave it pretty well. I hope everything's going well and that you've had a good day today. Elder Jackson said something yesterday - it's a quote from a song (Story of the Girl)," which I'm sure you've heard - by the way, ask Josh about that song and if he remembers Mike's version of it in fifth grade) - and it says, "Don't let the sun set on today before it rises on tomorrow." I like the message there - every single day is important, and we need to remember to live in the present. I started thinking at the end of high school that once it ended, the good times would be over and that everything would change. Dad told me it was otherwise, and he was right. College was a blast, even more fun than high school, and my mission is incredible. I'm also extremely excited for when I come home and head back to college with all my friends (and you too!) and I know that will be even more fun that what I've already experienced. So living in today also means doing what's right and making the small decisions that lead to big blessings, and being strong and steadfast and everything else. Basically, it means do your best today and have fun doing it! Make the most of every day, because time is a very precious thing. And thus concludes the sermon for today. (I think it was a big hit. Haha.) Seriously, though, you're in a fun time of life and you should enjoy it and make the most of every part of life. Well, Miranda, I hope you're having a wonderful week and that things are still going well. Remember that I love you very much and I am praying for you. Thanks for being such a great sister. Love you! :)

Mom: Hey Mom! :) Thanks for your letter. It was interesting to hear how everyone's week has been. First I wanted to answer some of your questions from last week. You asked about the food we eat every day. Well, today was a little out of the ordinary (KFC). Traditional food is chicken, rice, beans, tortillas, and limes - pretty much standard Mexican food. Here we eat fish every so often - the most common type is called mojarra, it's like a trout or something but I'm not sure what it is in English - tastes good though. :) There's also shrimp and other types of fish around here. There are some huge ones in the river that we see people catching - about the size of Gabbie's head! Haha. But really, they're about the size of Gabbie, and look pretty tasty. So those are the basics that we ate in Tuxtla as well. Here we've eaten spaghetti quite a bit as well, and different kinds of fried meats. Tacos are also really common. We eat enchiladas a lot too, and here in Villahermosa I've eaten a lot of mole (pronounced mo-lay). It's a brown sauce used with chicken or enchiladas or things like that. I really don't know what it's made of, though; maybe you could look it up online. Also, we drink pozol pretty often. It's basically water with cornmeal and sometimes cocoa or milk and sugar. You have to continually swirl your cup while drinking or the corn settles to the bottom. We drank it in Chiapas too, but it's a traditional drink of Tabasco and much more common here. It took some getting used to, but now I really like it.
You also asked about how many areas there are in the mission. Well, there are about 180 missionaries in the mission, so that would be 90 areas. Every three or four areas are grouped together in a district, each of which has a district leader (one of the missionaries). We have a class every week and give our weekly numbers to the district leader, etc. The districts are then grouped together into zones, and there are two zone leaders for every zone. Villahermosa is the biggest zone - we have 16 companionships.
As for what I want for my birthday - hmmm. Good question. :)  Actually, a couple things have come to mind but I keep forgetting to write them down. (One was Honey Bunches of Oats - the normal kind. Haha.) I'll give it some serious thinking and let you know. It's still a little ways off...

Now for your letter this week. Yes, it's tough to lose investigators, but we just have to move on and keep working and have faith that one day they'll be ready to learn more. I know the prayers from home help very much. Something Grandpa Bown said in a letter really stuck out to me - he said that if you think about all the people praying for me (family, friends, and all the Saints worldwide), it's really quite remarkable, and that there's no way I can fail with that much help from everyone. I've definitely felt that help and I'm very thankful for your prayers - both from you and from everyone else. They really do mean a lot.

Cool to hear about Casey going to Spain. Wish him luck for me! Also cool to hear that everyone had a good week, and that your parents and Dad's parents are all doing well. Lisa wrote me today - tell her thanks and that I always appreciate hearing from her. I think that about covers it for this week. Thanks, as always, for your letter and for all your support, Mom. I hope you have a wonderful week and that things go very smoothly. I love you very, very much. Adios! :)

Dad: Wow. First off, just - wow. The news about the Storymakers Conference was awesome. I was extremely excited to read about what happened and that you won - not just once, but twice. Man, that's so cool. I feel proud and excited for you (With my help, you became the best! Hah.) Also cool that they liked your voice and storytelling style in addition to the ideas and actual events. Funny to hear about you and Reagan playing with the dogs, and going bowling. You can have your fancy 300 scores, but nothing better than a good, solid 80. :) Sounds like it was a lot of fun. I can picture him running after the ball too.
Interesting what you said about "What would Jesus do?" - and about following the Spirit. I've had a couple like that recently. Promptings like, talk to that person, or go down that street - but also, don't look over to the left, or don't take that taxi. Interesting, because I haven't really seen the outcome of following those promptings (other than that I'm still alive and healthy, of course), but I know that I was protected from something. Like you said, a lot of times I'm curious about what it is - but then I've thought, hey, I just received a prompting and now I'm going to fly right in the face of it? It's kind of a neat experience, though, to receive those little whisperings.
Your last couple paragraphs in the email were awesome. Very cool, Dad, that hearing about my mission is important for you. Makes me want to work that much harder! :) I like the saying "keep on keepin' on" - kind of the motto of missionary work most days. But the work is fun and I still love it. I'm learning a lot and having a blast. Thanks for all the love and support. Remember that I love you very much, and that it's due to your influence - and that of the rest of the family - that I'm here and having the experiencies of a lifetime. Thank you for everything. Love you! :)

Thanks, everyone, for all you've done for me. Until next week! Have a good one!
Con amor,
Elder Greer

Hey Everyone!

Hey everyone!

Well, it's been a great day and week, and thinks are, as always, only looking up. I'm a little pressed for time right now, so this might end up being shorter than usual; sorry about that. But, as always, the work calls...

This week was a good one. Elder Luna and I really got into the rhythm of working together. He's a good missionary. Very solid and dependable. He's showing me how to teach shorter lessons (every so often I wax eloquent while teaching, and sometimes that's good, but other times it's just better to bring the Spirit, teach the doctrine, and get out... so it's been cool to learn from his example of "short and sweet and to the point") and how to get a lot done. We still don't have any investigators with baptismal dates right now, but it's not for lack of trying, and we're teaching several people who we plan to invite this week, so things are going pretty good. We're also working on following the Spirit in every moment - a challenge Elder Jackson, the zone leader, gave us. It's turned out really cool. It means a lot of turning around when we're walking in the streets to go back and talk to a certain person, but when I come home at night I feel really content with the day's work and pleased with my efforts. The four of us in our house work hard all day - and have fun doing so - and then at night we relax and talk and have a good time. It's been a very good week and this week will only be better as we start to see more fruits for our labors and as we push ourselves even more.

On Tuesday we headed out to a little village that belongs to our ward called Dos Montes. We'd never been there before, but had some addresses of members and inactives and wanted to pay a visit. So we hop on a bus and the fare-collector lets us on for free because his son's a member (cool). Twenty-five minutes or so pass, and we realized we'd gone a little too far. So we disembark and talked to a man at a little roadside stand. He said it wasn't far. Turns out it was - seven kilometers, or almost five miles. We were pooped by the time we finally got there. The sun was hot and I was tired, but kind of cool to be out on our own and see the landscape a little more. Dad, I think it was you that asked last week if for my next area I'd like to stay in a city or go out into the villages and jungles and no-man's-land - I think I would rather the latter; it would be really interesting to have that kind of experience and be able to compare and contrast. But, then again, I do like the cities, and I still get to see the wildlife and everything, so either way would really be fine with me. Oh, and to close out the story - we arrive in Dos Montes, wander around for a bit, find a less active, go to her house (she was working) and talk to her and her family for a while, have an enjoyable and productive time, and then she paid the taxi fare back to Villahermosa. All in all, a pretty nice day.

As for investigators - still no luck with Hipólito, but we're not giving up; ditto with Rojer. That was some good advice you gave, Dad, about when receiving a new companion (or being one) in the area - it's important to not lose contact with the investigators and recent converts. So far it's gone pretty well, other than not being able to get in touch with those two, but it did take a bit more effort on my part, so that was good advice for me. I think I mentioned Yazmín last week - well, we taught her again and she seemed to be progressing well, but then when we showed up for the next appointment and politely told us that she wasn't interested anymore and was content with her own church. It reminded me of the story Jesse Manscill told about tears streaming down his face when something similar happened - I didn't cry or anything, but it was a pretty strong blow and I felt pretty bad for the next little while, just knowing the blessings and happiness she's missing out on. The reaction served to rededicate my efforts into being the best I can be so that people feel the Spirit and keep pursuing. I can't change people's agency, but I can remove all obstacles on my part to them feeling the Spirit and becoming converted. As I mentioned earlier, following the Spirit is something I've been focusing on, and it's really helped. We have a couple other investigators we're teaching right now and for them it's going well - we're hoping to have three or four baptismal dates set by the end of this week. We'll see what happens. :)

One last thing - I read the talks you sent, Dad, and absolutely loved them. I learned so much from them. I loved Elder Holland's talk and it motivated me to be even better and more pure and virtuous in my thoughts.  I've learned so much about faith, repentance, obedience, patience, charity, and love. I've also been very humbled by my trials and seen the power of the Lord in helping me overcome them. Basically, the mission is a very cool thing. :)

Gabs!: Man, it sounds like you've had an awesome week! The ducks sound pretty cool. I see ducks almost every single day (sometimes I see them in people's houses or in the streets) and they're very cute. That reminds me - I saw a duck fighting a cat once. It was really funny. I think the duck would have won, but the cat ran away. Not something you see every day, huh? It reminded me of a cartoon. Seems like everything is going well. You've always been a ray of sunshine - always happy and always looking to cheer people up and have fun. Keep being that way! Keep having fun and being good. :) I love you a lot, Gabs. Have a great week!

Miranda: Man, that was a great talk! I'm working on translating it and going to give it the next time I have to talk in church! :) Haha. I really liked what you said about how on earth we will have "trials and adventures and opportunities to be great, show courage, and love and serve others." Later, you focused a little more on the adversity part of it, but I liked how in that part you chose exciting words, like adventures, courage, and being great. You made like sound pretty exciting - made me more excited for the opportunities I have! :) I think sometimes we focus on all the adversity and forget about the blessings. We need to enjoy the journey, not just the destination - and what you talked about helps us maintain that perspective. Very good stuff. I hope you have a wonderful week and that everything goes well. Remember that I love you very, very much! :) Adios!

Mom: Sounds like things have been going well this week.  I laughed remembering Reagan and bowling - I hope he has a good time. Give him a hug (and perhaps a slap) from me.  I'll let you know next week about thoughts on my birthday or what I need, and if I find out anything about the phone call. Oh, and you asked about our area. It's only about a mile by two miles. That's a rough guess. Not huge, but big enough to have a lot of people to talk to and teach. I like being here. Thanks for always letting me know how things are going and for all the love and support. I love you very much, Mom, and hope that you have an amazing week. Love you! :)

Dad: Funny about "the Justin Greer Machine". (Sometimes I do that in the mornings to psych myself up for getting into the freezing shower... not so much anymore now that it's heating up, though.) I really liked your comments about testimony and the comparison to Jesus. Pretty cool. Also, great advice about complimenting people. I'm going to put that into practice; I think it's definitely a good idea.  Allergies are fine - occasional sneezing near hay or other plants, but not a problem. Shoes and clothes are fine so far. We have a meal schedule for each month and we eat with a different sister every day, but every week is the same. Mondays are Sister such-and-such, Tuesdays... etc. At night and in the mornings I eat cereal, eggs, toast, tacos... nothing fancy. I'll answer these questions more fully next week, and a few things I missed from last week - but have to run.
 Equally, Dad, thanks for who you and and what you do. I'm having a blast and learning so much. Thanks for all the love, support, and the great example and friend you've been to me. I was going to ask if you could tell me some missionary stories from your own mission - ones I've heard and maybe some I've haven't. I think it would be interesting to be able to now relate more to them and compare and contrast and everything. Well, once again, more next week - thanks for everything. I love you very much. Have a wonderful week.

Everyone, I love you very much. Pictures next week - promise. Have a great week!
Con amor,
Elder Greer

April showers

¡Buenas tardes! :)


It's been a hot and sunny Monday at the tail end of a week of rain. The circus is in town and so far I've seen a bear, a baboon, and a heap of tigers (a herd? a pack? a gaggle?). Let me explain: They transport the animals in open-air trailers, and often park by the side of the road. People can come up and look at the animals. So we got a chance to chat with the monkey for a bit. Pretty funny looking. (He wasn't too accepting of the Gospel, either. haha.) Kind of a neat little surprise.

Anyway, that was just a side note that came to mind. This week has been a really good one. We got into the groove of contacting and teaching and things have been going well. We met and have been teaching a girl named Yazmín and so far she's been progressing well. A couple other people in the works too, and then plenty of door-knocking and everything too. As for Rojer and Hipólito - we haven't been able to talk to either of them in almost two weeks now. We keep stopping by but they're never there. We're still going to keep trying, of course, and we're praying that we'll be able to reconnect and continue to teach them. In the meantime, we're working hard and always looking for new people to teach, and things are going well.

I've been getting to know my new companion this week. He's pretty cool; really relaxed and easygoing, and we have fun joking around and talking while we're walking or at home. We're starting to sync together better when we teach and that's been going well. I have no complaints with him and it's going to be really fun working with him for (at least) the next five weeks. We have a lot of fun in the house, too. Elder Jackson's still there, and we've lived in the same house now for three months and so we know each other pretty well and have a lot of fun talking and joking and reminiscing about home. :) His companion is Elder Alarcón, and he's also a really cool guy and we all get along really well. It's been good times on the homefront this week and it's looking like more are to come.

A couple neat things happened this week. First, we were walking near the river and saw some iguanas strolling along. (Try picturing iguanas strolling. Doesn't sound likely, but that's what they were doing.) So, of course, we chase after them. Remember the Sheep-Chasing Incident in Scotland, Dad? :) Well, this time it didn't last nearly so long, nor did they turn on me :)  Iguanas are super fast. It was cool to watch them run because their feet-things just become a blur. After a while they dove into the water and we gave up the chase. But it was a pretty funny thing all in all and made me laugh.

Also, we discovered a giant pond in our area today. Somehow we had never made it to that particular part of the area - it's set back behind some trees and we haven't passed by there very much. But once we found it it surprised me how big it was. Kind of like a "When did they put this there?!" type of thing. We sat for a couple minutes by the side and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings. It was very relaxing. There's a little stretch of land that juts into the middle of the water and there's a house there; seems like a pretty neat place to live. I'll have to take a picture of it - it was a cool find.

Lastly, food. Today we ate pork chops. :) Very tasty and reminded me of home. And a couple days back the sister gave us chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and salad and - you'll never guess - Thousand Island and Ranch dressings. So, of course, I mixed up the traditional mashed-potatoes-and-salad-dressing that was such a favorite back at home. :) It was pretty funny and I really enjoyed the meal a lot. It was neat to eat something that so exactly reminded me of home and that isn't too common.

I'm just finishing up with the Book of Mormon - I intended to finish before Conference, but I'll probably be done tomorrow or the day after (and then I'm starting it over - so Dad (and others), if you want to read and swap insights and everything, I think it'd be pretty cool). I was reading in the Book of Ether today, and starting thinking about the lessons that we can learn from the history of the Jaredite civilization. Obviously there are many, but the one I pulled out today was about trying to find peace. We see that every time the Jaredite nation lives in righteousness, they are blessed - ofttimes incredibly so. But when wickedness gets the best of them and they fall into iniquity, those blessings are taken and the Lord curses the land and lets those bad things happen. Famine, poisonous serpents, and dozens of assassinations and murders are just a few of the tragedies that strike. Only when the people turn to the Lord and show their repentance through righteous works are their blessings restored. This happens time and time again; in fact, we can see the pattern throughout the entire Book of Mormon. I started thinking about how many times we want the Lord's help so that we can be obedient - we want Him to make everything okay and take away all the problems so that then we can start keeping the commandments. Of course the Lord is going to help us obey, but if we want to find peace in life, we're only going to be able to do so by first being obedient and following the counsel we're given. If we keep waiting for life to be perfect, well, we're going to be stuck in the same situation all our lives. But if we first make the effort to obey - and obey with exactness - we will then be able to find the peace we seek and we'll receive the blessings that the Lord wants to give us. We have to act first before expecting things to all work out.

Thinking about this reminded me of a quote from Preach My Gospel where it talks about obedience. It says that obedience is doing what's right and keeping the commandments even when we don't understand why. I really like that thought. The Jaredites saw that they were prospering and saw no reason to change their lifestyle. But the thing is, the words of the prophets will always be completed, and, as it says in Alma, wickedness never was happiness. If they had kept the commandments continually - even when they didn't understand why - they would have been okay. But they didn't, and now they're all dead. :)

I also related it to what one of the speakers said in Conference - and Dad, you mentioned it last week - that we don't obey the commandments because we think they don't matter, they don't apply to us, or they're too hard to keep (sometimes all three at once). That's probably what the Jaredites thought too, and the Nephites and the Lamanites and pretty much everybody who's come to earth. Sometimes we think the commandments don't apply to us, like the Jaredite kings who thought they were exempt; sometimes we think they're trivial and don't really matter, which includes all the "little" sins that nonetheless keep us from receiving all the blessings in store for us; and sometimes we don't think we can possibly complete the commandments, like Laman and Lemuel, who forgot that with the Lord's help all is possible.

Those three points are really profound. I've seen examples of each in my own life. For example, I was thinking about listening to music with unwholesome messages or seeing really violent movies. I could say, hey, those things don't affect me or influence me in any way; I can be immersed in the world but not commit sin. Basically what I'm saying is that I think that keeping the commandments doesn't really matter - that I can be happy without doing so. Or thinking that I can date before sixteen because I'm mature enough and that counsel only applies to people who aren't ready for dating yet; it doesn't really apply to me. Or saying that there's no way I can read the Book of Mormon every day so I'm not even going to try. None of those things are true, and yet our pride often gets in the way and we think that we can disregard the words of the prophets and still be happy. Unfortunately, just like with the Jaredites, that's just not true and unhappiness is in store if we attempt it.

The music example is one that I've definitely learned from. I'll admit I used to think that way - that the type of music I listened to didn't affect how I felt or what I did. But I saw that the opposite was true. I found that I wasn't as receptive to the Spirit and I just didn't feel as happy when I was listening to music that I shouldn't have been. I see it even more clearly on the mission - we study the scriptures for three hours every morning, oftentimes listening to hymns whilst so doing, and then later in the day I hear a song from somebody's house or radio that isn't appropriate and I just cringe and don't feel as open to the Spirit. Or sometimes I hear the occasional swear word in English and it hits me pretty hard. And those things are without me even looking for them - how much more is the effect when I choose to listen to the music or hear the words spoken.

What I realized from all this is how essential humility is for our happiness. In the family letter that Lisa sent me, Ben wrote, "Remember that humility is the key to success." I've thought about that a lot and realized how important that concept is. Humility keeps us on the strait and narrow. Humility keeps us open to the Spirit. Humility keeps us happy.

Thus concludes my sermon for today. (I think the sermon was a big hit. Let's celebrate... haha.) I feel like I kind of rambled on a lot, but hopefully it made some sense and was applicable in some way. It's been on my mind a lot lately and I know that humility and strict obedience will bring many blessings.

Okay, now for family time. :)

Gabbie!: Man, that was a pretty fun letter! I laughed that you told it to Miranda while cleaning the muck off Nikka. I could picture the scene very well. Jumping on the tramp sounds like a lot of fun.  Does Reagan still run away if someone tries to jump on the tramp with him? All the hanging out with Lauren sounds fun, and so does going to the Mayan. You went to a restaurant called the Mayan and I taught a Mayan about the Gospel :) haha. All the games outside all the rest of the things you did make it sound like you had a pretty fun Spring Break! Atta girl, Gabs! :)  I am indeed having SO much fun, Gabs, and I hope you are too! :) Hope you have a great week! Thanks for writing such an interesting letter! I love you! :)

Miranda!: What a letter! Adolescent! What I mean is that your letter sounded a lot like you, and like a teenage girl, though not in a bad way. (What, there's a bad way?) More for some of the slang you used. Or something like that. Anyway. :) Sounds like you had quite the good week. Full of tv shows and movies, so you're off to a good start. :) Haha just kidding. It's cool that you're such good friends with Stephanie. What's she up to lately, anyway? What are the rest of the cousins doing? Speaking of jewelry shopping there are some pretty cool things around here - not just jewelry but carvings and clothes and figurines and stuff. I want to find something for everybody and send them home at some point. Anything in particular you'd like? This might not be for months, but if you have any suggestions, fire away. That goes for everyone else too. I also really liked the talk by President Monson and his story really touched me. I'm eager to hear your answer next week about your favorite talk. :) Sounds cool about the creative project.
Chicken butt was pretty funny - I hadn't thought about that in a while. remember Chicken Salad Soup? :) Sounds like a crazy injury on the foot. Shoes, I would suggest, are very important - as is healing. :) The whole ending of your letter was pretty funny. Sounds like things are going really well. Keep up the good work, do your homework, read the scriptures, listen to Mom and Dad, eat your vegetables... all those good things as an older brother I'm obligated to say. :) They're all true though, and they all work. Keep being an awesome sister. I hope you have a great week. I love you! :)

Mom!: Hey! Sounds like it's been a good week. The baptism was really cool and we watched Conference in the chapel (which is also the Stake Center) - I don't have a picture of Maritza at the baptism yet, but I'll get it and send it soon. Spring Break sounds like it was both busy and relaxing and a lot of fun. I'm glad everyone had a good time and enjoyed the break. It was funny to hear about Reagan and cool to see the picture of him and Miranda. Also funny to see the picture of Nikka and Lucy. Looks like Nikka's eating her head. :)  It's always cool to hear from your point of view how everyone in the family is doing from your point of view - everybody tells me what's been going on, but you seem to have a different perspective on the way things are going and it's interesting to read your insights. Not that you contradict what they say - just that it's evident that it's coming from a motherly perspective. You always make it sound, without necessarily saying it, like you're proud of everyone for how they're doing, and that in a way makes me proud of them too. It's a pretty neat thing. I hope the weather's warming up a bit and that you're getting the chance to work outside a little more. As for the Mother's Day phone call - I'm pretty sure we'll do it the same way we did for Christmas, but I'm not positive. I'll get things figured out and let you know well in advance so that it goes off without a hitch. I'm really excited for it, even though it's a little ways off. Ward conference sounds cool, home sounds cool, the family sounds cool... how's your side of the family doing? I hear from Lisa and Laura fairly frequently, and John's family wrote me last week - it sounds like Daniel's turning out pretty awesome. He always has inspiring and spiritual things to say. All of them do, in fact, and it's been really neat to hear from them. How are Grandma and Grandpa? Thanks for always writing, Mom, and for everything you do. I hope this week is a wonderful one and that Heavenly Father's blessings are poured out even more abundantly. I love you very much! :)

Dad!: Once again I waxed verbose and am left with but a few minutes to write. Everything you said about ward conference sounds awesome. I really liked hearing about the Bishop's story. That was a very powerful message. Oh, and thanks for the conference talks - I'm printing them off now and they'll really come in handy. "You know what you need to become - so behave like it" - I like that quote a lot too. Kind of like the "be who you say you are" we've talked about before.  As for transfers - I'm guessing that I'll go elsewhere at the end of this one, but anything could happen. If in the next transfer I stay in Tabasco somewhere, I'll be in the Villahermosa mission. If I go to Chiapas, I'll be in the Tuxtla Gutierrez mission. So, either way, we'll know in five weeks. Pretty exciting! Really awesome that you're going to the temple so often and having that out-loud morning prayer - I've found out how powerful praying out loud is. Cool about the prayer roll experience and everything; I can only imagine how that must feel to see us growing up and doing relatively well. :) I'll have to reply more to what you wrote next week - but you know how it is. Thanks a ton for always writing and teaching me so much and being such a constant support for me. I love reading the emails. Thanks for everything, Dad. Have a great week. I love you very much.

Well, everyone, I hope you have a great week. Thanks for all the love and prayers. The work is going well and I'm having a blast. More next week!

Elder Greer

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! :)
It's a wonderful and sunny day here in Villahermosa, and I'm doing really well. The email from home was especially great this week and I'm glad to hear everyone's doing well and having a good time. Things here have been going well too. We finally caught the mouse in our house, for one thing. :) Also, the zone conference was very inspiring, we have a baptism this weekend, and General Conference and Easter Sunday are pretty much here. Things couldn't be better.

The President and his wife talked a lot about perfection, how it is truly the goal of every missionary (indeed, every member), and how we should not be satisfied with breaking rules or "slipping a little" but should instead be focused in every moment to obey with exactness. Obedience is the fundamental law of the Gospel, and every blessing we receive is predicated upon that obedience. Seeing that we are in the Lord's service and trying to help His children, shouldn't we want all the blessings we can possibly receive to remove every hindrance in our path? Even further, as representatives of Jesus Christ, shouldn't we seek to act exactly as he did? Very good questions, I think. :)

The President gave us two examples. in summary, one was about an air traffic controller who has a 98% success rate. This means that for every hundred planes that come in, two of them crash and burn in a fiery inferno that consumes everyone inside. (Quite the pretty picture, huh?) Normally we might say that a 98% success rate is wonderful. So let's say you go to the airport because your family's coming in to visit you. They call you up to a security desk and the air traffic controller comes up and says, "Listen, the plane crashed and everyone died. Sorry about that. But hey, nobody's perfect!"

The President gave this second example using a surgeon: You go in to have your appendix removed. They lay you down on the table and start preparing you, and the doctor leans over and whispers, "Look, I should tell you right now that I'm not exactly sure where to find the appendix. I mean, I went to school and everything, but anatomy was in the morning and I'm not really a "morning person," so I didn't always go - but hey, you know how it is, I was a college kid and was just trying to get through school and have fun. Anyway, let's see what we can do." You wake up after the surgery and the doctor shrugs and says, "Well, to be honest, I opened up the wrong side of your body. Turns out the appendix is on the right!  My bad on that one. But hey, nobody's perfect!"

The question is: Which doctor do you want operating on you, the one who studied or the one who slept in? Applying it to missionary work: Who will be a better representative of the Savior, the missionary who studies diligently every day and obeys with exactness, or the one who woke up at 6:31 instead of 6:30?  Truly, what does one minute change? Well, it changes me from an obedient missionary entitled to the Spirit of the Lord and the authority from being His representative to a disobedient slacker who doesn't understand his calling enough to wake up on time. (Sheesh. Kinda harsh there.) Which do I want to be?

Two more things that I liked that tie in with this - one, the myth that nobody's perfect. First, God is perfect. So is Jesus Christ. We have the Father's spiritual DNA, if you will, and it is a promise of the Gospel that we can progress to become even as He is. Secondly, a number of people mentioned in the scriptures were perfect. Visions of the Celestial Kingdom show Abraham, Enoch, and others there - they achieved perfection through the glorious power of the Atonement. The key is that they didn't do it alone, but with the help of the Lord. So it is with us. We can't do it alone, but with God's help we can obey with perfection and receive the promised blessings. The other part I wanted to mention was a reference to the 2,000 stripling warriors of the prophet Helaman. Alma 57 talks about what happened when they went to war. Verse 21 says that they obeyed and observed to perform every commandment with exactness. The Spanish word for "observe" there is "procurar," which signifies that they both sought to perform every commandment and were successful. The stripling warriors didn't just give obedience a shot and then say, "Oh, nobody's perfect" - no, they did obey with exactness every commandment given them. This resulted, as the verse says, that they were successful in their endeavors; we read that though many were wounded, none were killed, and they were the key element in the Nephite's victory over the Lamanites. They obeyed with exactness and were exceedingly blessed.

Zone Conference definitely gave me a lot to think about and a lot to work on. I'm really excited about this new direction - perfect obedience - because it means a way to obtain the blessings of heaven and see the Lord's hand even more in my life. Bring it on, I say! :)

As for how the work is progressing - as I mentioned, we have a baptism this weekend! Maritza decided earlier this week to be baptized right after the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference. She didn't quite meet her goal of reading through the Book of Mormon before baptism (the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi slowed her down, and I don't blame her), but she's finishing up Jacob right now, which is a pretty great achievement in itself, and she realized through her study and prayers and church attendance that what she really, truly needs is to be baptized. I couldn't be happier about it. She understands really really well what she reads in the scriptures and really studies and learns from them. Having the gift of the Holy Ghost with her will help her even more as she continues along the Gospel path. It was a cool surprise for us (especially given that it's Elder Enriquez's last Saturday in the mission), and we're really looking forward to it and thanking Heavenly Father for helping her take this decision. Thanks, everyone, for all the prayers of support; your faith has helped. :)

We also had a really cool experience this week with contacting - we met a man named Rojer who's extremely excited about hearing the message.  He told us that he saw us in the street as he was heading back to his house, and wanted to talk to us because he felt the prompting that he should, but didn't have time because he needed to get home quickly - and fifteen minutes later we show up at his door. That in itself was pretty cool, but when we returned the next day to teach him about the Restoration - man, it was incredible. He was so excited to hear about all the things we taught him - excited enough to exclaim "¡Que padre!" after hearing the First Vision, or the history of the Book of Mormon, for example. Haha. It was so much fun teaching him because he really ate it up. The Spirit was really strong. He accepted everything and kept exclaiming how cool everything was and how he couldn't believe he hadn't heard these things before. Teaching him about the nature of the Godhead was pretty cool - after hearing about the First Vision, he had a question about it, and I explained to him that the Father and the Son have bodies, that the Holy Ghost is just a spirit, etc. Afterward he just shook his head in amazement and kept saying, "That is amazing. It makes perfect sense, but I've never heard that before. How incredible!" He was thrilled to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon and treated it like it was made of gold. Truly, this man has been prepared by our Father in Heaven to listen to the message of the restored Gospel, and I'm so excited to continue teaching him and helping him come to know the Savior and His teachings better. This is the whole point of missionary work, and I love it. :) A very neat experience all around, and I'm extremely grateful for being a part of it.

I'm also really excited for General Conference.  This weekend will be incredible. I can't wait to listen to the counsel and teachings of the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord. I hope (and encourage, and exhort) that everyone will pay very close attention and will listen with an open heart and mind to the whisperings of the Spirit. Also, take notes - not necessarily of the words said, but of the personal revelation received; it will help very much down the road and prove to be a blessing. I can't wait to compare what we learned next week. It will also be really cool for you all to be able to go to the Sunday morning session - say hi to President Monson for me! :)

Gabbie: Hola hermanita! :) I laughed at the story about Nikka in the park, and also the "just in" joke. I'd never heard that before! ;) Mom and Dad have said that they wanted to make my middle name "Time." Get it? :) (Of course, that wouldn't really work, since I'm usually late to things. Haha. But hey, at least they got it right with your name, huh?) Sounds like a good time with Lisa too. By the way, part of the new "being perfect" thing is following the mission rules with exactness - meaning that I can now only email the mission president and immediate family (Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters). So, Gabs, it's your official job for this week to tell everyone that I appreciate all letters and emails, but I cannot reply by email.  Put on your "mean man" face and report back to me next week! Dad told me about your negotiation skills with buying those trolls from a lady off ksl, so I think you are up to the task! Haha.
Sounds like things are going good all the way around - can you believe it's almost April? You're getting closer to 12 years old! Crazy! Yes, Gabs, I know that you love me very much (though it seems you love my room more - haha). I miss you too, and love you just as much! I hope you have a fantastic week! Thanks for writing such a great letter! Corazon, Justin. :)

Miranda: What an email! - thank you; I really appreciate it. Do me a favor and give Steve and Alyssa my congratulations, tell them I'm excited for them, and that I expect letters and details and pictures and all that nonsense. :) Congratulations on the GPA - that's not bad at all! What's your cumulative like now? Can you keep it above 3.89?  Keep up the good working in the coming couple of months of school - it will definitely be worth it, both now and in the future. Crazy stuff about you and Jen - a dislocated rib? Yikes. Be careful! At least you're getting it all figured out, and learning a lot about physical therapy at the same time. It's evident from your vocabulary that you're learning a lot and really getting into it. Someday you might just be as smart as me! :) Haha. Just kidding. Seriously, though, awesome that you're learning a lot and doing well in school and getting good grades. That makes me proud.  Awesome that you went to the Festival of Colors! I liked the picture Dad sent. Remember when I went last year? Who did you go with? I loved it and I'm sure it was a lot of fun. Pretty crazy though, huh?  Be sure to tell me next week about your thoughts about conference, including the YW broadcast and everything. It would be really cool to share insights and impressions. Thanks, as always, for the wonderful letter and for being such a good friend. I love you very much. Have a great week! :)

Mom: I can't exactly picture you being lazy next week (note to everyone else: if Mom really is lazy at any point, be sure to take a picture to document the once-in-a-lifetime occurrence!), but be sure to take advantage of the relaxed schedule and have fun! That was a good question about the typical job of the people here. Quite a few are teachers, and a lot of them go out to the little communities and ranches out in the country to teach there. Every other person has a little store in their house (the word they use for these little stores is "abarrotes," which is also food storage - a pretty good description). A lot of people work in food service - restaurants and fisheries and selling tacos or hot dogs at the side of the road. A good majority of the sisters who work do so ironing or doing laundry or cleaning for other people during the day. There are also a lot of mechanics, carpenters, etc. and a lot of car washes (not as much here as in Tuxtla, though). That's what I've seen so far, though I've also met lawyers, doctors, and so on. Those seem to be the major jobs though. Fish is pretty common here, and computers not as much.
As for sangria, I too had heard of it as a type of wine, but here they also have it as a normal soda beverage like Sprite or whatever. The picture looks almost exactly like grapes, and it tastes a little like them too. Or maybe I'm just getting drunk every other day. :) Haha. Pretty funny. It's really tasty stuff though. At the conference I received two packages from you and one from Laura. I'm assuming the third one arrived just slightly too late and that I'll see it in 6 weeks. :) Speaking of, thank you very much for everything you sent. I should have expected the overabundance of CDs (Dad, did you see what she put it there? Then again, you know how my mother gets...). Honestly, though, thank you very, very much. I love waking up to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Thanks! :) I laughed a lot picturing Reagan during PE. I can only imagine trying to make a dozen autistic kids run laps. How they do it, I don't know, but cool to hear that Reagan enjoys it. Also, I loved what you said about how people say you should take time to stop and smell the roses, but you like to smell them while you are weeding around them. I think that was really profound - though I'm not exactly sure just yet what it means in full. Blessings come during moments of trial? Or when we work for them? Or when we're down on our knees? Ooh - I like that a lot. :) Thanks again for everything you sent, and for the email and for everything else you've done for me throughout my mission and my entire life. I really appreciate everything and love you very very much. Have a great week! :)

Dad:  I still want to address what you talked about last week, like I said, but that involves telling you about an experience I had and that will take quite a while. Perhaps better if I write it in a letter and send it, kind of the same way you did.  In the meantime - as always, I enjoyed all your comments. Awesome to hear about Reagan. That's really a great thing that he's drinking that stuff and getting a little more nutrients in his diet. I always pray for his health and happiness and it's great to hear about improvements like this. Hopefully Josh's call comes this Wednesday. I really liked what you said about repentance and forgiveness. The Guide to the Scriptures in the Spanish Book of Mormon talks about how repentance is turning toward God and is a new way of looking at God, oneself, and life in general. It also mentions how it springs from a love for God and a desire to obey Him. It's true that we often think of repentance as a necessary evil, but in fact it's a necessary good, as you said - very well put. Repentance is the way to become more like Christ. It doesn't just bring us from sin to neutral ground, but toward righteousness and purity and virtue and becoming more like the Savior. Thus, repentance is a joyful act, a purifying action that lets us partake of the love of God and grow and mature spiritually.  I really like that story in the scriptures (Luke 5, man with palsy), of how we really should look at being forgiven as the greater of the two miracles.
Right now I'm in 3 Nephi, actually, and planning to finish through to the end before conference on Saturday - part of a goal I set a couple months back. But I'll be starting it up again immediately afterward, so if you want to go from the beginning that would be cool. I would love to share insights back and forth that way as we both read through it.

This is the last week of this transfer - which, by the way, means I will probably write next Tuesday, rather than Monday - and so next week everything could change. (There's a decent chance I might become senior companion this transfer - yikes!) I'm pretty sure I'll still be here in Villahermosa though. Just expect the email on Tuesday. But anyway - thank you, Dad, for everything. Your example has taught me so much and I love that I continue to learn from you. I love you very much. Have a great week.

Thanks, everyone, for the continued love and support. I'm happy, healthy, and having the time of my life. Enjoy conference and Easter, remember the Savior, and I'll talk (write) to you next week!
Con amor,
Elder Greer

Saludos de Villahermosa

¡Buenas tardes, y saludos de Villahermosa!


It's been another week - another very, very short week, to be honest. Time is flying for me. We work hard and have fun and then I look around and find that another week has passed, when it truly feels like it's been only a day.  Anyway, to sum up: time's going by quickly for me, and I'm loving every minute of it.

This past week, the weather's been a little strange. People keep telling me that the weather's supposed to pick up (they see that I'm sweating and dying of heat stroke and they tell me that it's nothing and describe to me how much I'm going to hate my life in April and May; I want to say, Hey, you're not really helping the situation!), but this past week has been off and on. We had a couple days of heat interspersed with rain and clouds. Today's been cloudy and cool, though no rain so far. It poured yesterday in the morning. But hey, I'm all for a little more rain before summer hits, so all is well.

The work continues to move forward, as always. We haven't seen much of Adriana, Taira, and Carlos this week, but we're hoping to pass by Adriana tonight or tomorrow. I think they're progressing; we're going to keep working with them to help them fully re-integrate with the Church and the Gospel. The less-active that we reactivated a while back, Carlos, is doing awesome in his YM calling and seems extremely happy every time we see him. It's awesome to see that long-term changes that small and simple actions can have, and the effects of the Spirit on the human soul. Neat stuff. The three kids are doing well too; they're always excited to go to church and to activities and everything and they love to learn more. They've got some bright futures ahead of them, especially considering that their background is pretty rough. Also very cool.

This week we had a good experience with an investigator named Hipólito. He's the "golden contact" I mentioned last week. We had a lesson with him on Tuesday and it was pretty much perfect. We'd left him with 3 Nephi 11 and he read it several times and loved it. We asked him how it went and right away he told us how he liked the part where the people heard the voice of God three times, but didn't understand the first two, until finally the voice penetrated to their hearts and it was then that Jesus descended. He compared it to us as humans; a lot of times we don't listen when God is calling to us, but when we really pay attention and seek to understand, we instantly see the marvelous blessings He has in store for us. Needless to say, we were surprised by the comment, and very grateful, because it was evident he had read the chapter with real intent and an open heart.  We then asked him about his prayer, and he basically explained the fruits of the Spirit to us (see Galatians 5 - it mentions love, peace, kindness, patience, etc.). He used pretty much the words we always use to teach people how God answers prayers. He received an answer to his prayer and recognized it for what it was. Very exciting. We then taught him a bit more in-depth the message of the Restoration, with a focus on priesthood authority and the need for baptism. He understood and accepted everything very well and provided several comments that were dead-on and exactly what we were trying to explain. It was an amazing lesson, short and sweet and full of the Spirit. He told us that he wants to be baptized once he's prepared himself and investigated the church a little more. Perfect all around. We left him with another section of the Book of Mormon to read and set a time to return. Unfortunately, his job is kind of hectic and we haven't been able to really talk to him since - we've only seen him in passing as he was about to leave and things like that. He wasn't able to come to church yesterday because he was working, but he said he's going to talk to his boss and see if he can get Sundays off to come to church. He's extremely willing to learn, to make commitments with God, and to come unto Christ; it's been a really neat experience every time we've had the chance to talk to him. We're going to be teaching him more this week and I'm excited to help him progress toward baptism and receiving the blessings of the restored Gospel in his life. We have definitely seen the Lord's hand in helping us find him and blessing us with the Spirit in the lessons and in Hipólito's life. More good is sure to follow. :)

We have Zone Conference on Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to it (in part because I'll (hopefully) receive some letters and such, but mostly because of the instruction we'll receive and Spirit that will be felt). The focus is on perfection. It's something I've been really excited about lately; we were told a week or so ago that we are expected to be perfect missionaries and that we should settle for nothing less. Often we hear/say the phrase, "Hey, nobody's perfect," but President Velasco told us that's no excuse and that we should strive for perfection. The zone leaders have talked to us a lot about the topic, and it's pretty interesting and I feel it will really help the work improve - but I'm sure I'll have more to share after the conference, so I'll save it for next week.

On a sad note, yesterday my companion's grandpa passed away. I guess they amputated his leg at the knee a while back and it didn't close up right and became infected and ended up being too much for his body. The President called him yesterday to talk to him about it, and he ended up getting online to talk with his family about it for a little while. He's understandably very sad about it, but today has picked up a little and with time I'm sure he'll be okay. He's made the determination to work these last two weeks of his mission like crazy, which will help as well and is something I'm excited about. One helpful thing is that he's a missionary and blessed with many opportunities to feel the Spirit and to seek God's help to get him through this difficult time. It's rough, but everything will work out okay in the end. That is the promise of the Atonement, the Resurrection, and the Gospel in general, after all. It's what we preach every day.

And that was more or less this past week :)

Gabbie!:
First off, I wanted to tell you that, as it turns out, Mexico DOES practice Daylight Savings Time... I think. :) I'm not sure when (that might be useful information) or how much time goes forward or backward (also could come in handy), but my companion says that he thinks they do it somewhere near the end of April "or something like that." A little vague, but oh well. :) It sounds to me like you've been having an interesting week! I'm glad the arm's doing good, but I was sorry to hear about the falling-on-your-back incident. Ouch! Good thing Dad came, huh? (because he can fix anything! ha) What you said about your no-sugar week was pretty funny. Maybe next time you'll get all the way up to three days! :) And Reagan and BYU from yesterday sounds really awesome. I bet it's really cool to see him learning more and more and still being the same old Regs. Sounds like the flute is coming along pretty well, but I have a question. Now, it's been a while since I've taken music, but isn't B# the same thing as a C? Or have I gone completely out of my mind?  As for finding a frog on my leg - nope, I was pretty lucky this week. No strange animals crawling up me in the shower. Though I will tell you about something strange. There are these little lizards that live everywhere; they're harmless and don't really do anything at all but run around really fast, and they're always climbing up people's walls and on their ceilings and stuff. At first it kinda freaked me out, but after a while I got used to it; nobody really pays them any attention. (But picture a lizard as long as one of your fingers just crawling around your house wherever and whenever it wants... kinda strange, huh?) A couple weeks back, though, we were eating in a member's house and we saw a black-and-red one on the ceiling (they're normally yellow or green), and it was at least three times as big as normal. And, Gabbie... it jumped. It was super fast and it could jump a good two feet in the air. Also, this kind bites, and some of them are poisonous. Let me tell you, it kinda freaked me out - and everyone else too; they're really rare. Not a fun experience, and it put me on the watch again for crazy little jumping lizards. Fun times, huh? :) Gabs, as always, thanks for your wonderful letters and for being a great little sister. Keep up all the good work, and have a wonderful week! I love you very much! :)

Miranda!:
Sounds like lacrosse has been going well, despite losing. Keep working hard at it, but most importantly, keep taking care of your knee (and the rest of your body too). I'm glad you liked the story about Taira; it was definitely a cool experience and a strong testimony-builder that God truly does work miracles in our lives. I think it was President Kimball who said something like, "God sends his angels among us to lift our burdens and help us in our lives. Often, however, these angels are mortal beings just like us - the people that cross our paths every day and are given the inspiration to lift us out of whatever situation we find ourselves in and set us on a course for the better." It's definitely an amazing experience to be a part of something like that, to know that God used you as an angel to make someone's life better. Sounds pretty incredible, right? It is - and it's not something that only applies to missionaries or Church leaders or doing service projects, but to everyone. I've been studying my Patriarchal Blessing a lot (as always), and it mentions several times about how my childhood and the things I've learned are to be guides for me throughout my life to lead me where I should go. And I've been thinking about how really, truly, the small and simple acts are those that change people's lives and make the world a better place, as it says so often in the scriptures.

Okay. New paragraph, and watch how I masterfully tie this all together. :) God places other people in our lives to help us learn, progress, and be happy. That's one essential reason we have families - it's all for our benefit. God often works through us to help others, and through others to help us.  So, through those "small and simple means," great things are brought to pass in my life - I learn faith, humility, love, charity, and a whole bunch of other things. Truly, those small acts of faith and kindness are really what make the difference - in relationships and in people's happiness. Those small acts lead to great things. We can be angels in the lives of our friends and family.  It just requires a little bit of attention and forethought, and a little bit of selflessness, and I promise the blessings are great. Amazing things happen. Something like spending time with someone in the family doing what they want to do, or telling them you love them, or something small - those are the experiences that will bring us the most happiness and joy in this life. Those are the memories that stick with us.

Well, this sort of turned into a sermon; sorry. :) I guess the point of all of that is that I am extremely appreciative of everything that each one of you has done in my life. Anyway - I hope some of this has been relevant or helpful to all of you. Miranda, back to you. :).

You talked about eating spicy food - I'm pretty sure I'm building up my tolerance for it, because believe me, I've eaten some extremely spicy things here. Jalapeños? No problem now. (I suck 'em down like Coca-Cola! haha.) It'll be interesting to come home and see if the things that used to be really spicy still are. (The frog was cute though!) Does it really seem like I've been gone for a long time?  Well, Miranda, you're a great sister and a great friend, and sounds like you're doing well. Keep working hard and having fun, and have a wonderful week. Thank you for the great email. I love you very much! :)

Mom!:
I laughed about you having to take the girls back to school or bring them things that they've forgotten. Well do I remember elementary school and always forgetting things. :) Pretty exciting that the flowers are starting to come up a little. To be honest, I actually miss working in the yard a little. I had a lot of fun doing it. You'll have to send me pictures of the yard and house when spring and summer really hit and everything is in full bloom. By the way, I loved the pictures of Reagan and Nikka, just hanging out and having fun... man. Awesome. :)  The Spanish is going really well for me. Practically everyone I meet tells me that I speak Spanish really well, even down to the accent and everything; after speaking in church, they told me that I speak almost like a native. Pretty cool, huh? I do think in Spanish a lot; not always (for example, right now is pure English), but often, and it's becoming a lot more natural to speak in Spanish. I don't have to focus so much on the language; I just talk and listen and understand. The Lord has definitely blessed me with that.

218 days? Wow. That sounds like a long time. :) But you're right, who's counting? Haha. Mom, thank you for all the support and love and for your example to me. I always love reading the emails and hearing how everything is going. Have a wonderful week. I love you very much! :)

Dad!: Man, I loved your email this week. Lots of cool things you talked about. There is definitely that underlying peacefulness about being a missionary that you mentioned. It's a life free of worry and stress and problems, and filled instead with love and Christ and the Gospel. Sure, tough times come, but it's like we've talked about before: it's a wonderful experience and a blast and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. I've learned so much and become a little more like the Savior, and have seen amazing blessings in my personal life. I've learned more patience, more kindness, more unconditional love. Truly a great experience. As for the whole "American" thing: yeah, people have commented, "Hey, we're Americans too!"  What happens more often is that they ask me where I'm from, I say the US, and they respond with something like, "Well, that's obvious. When I asked where you're from I meant where in the United States." Haha. Kinda funny. Honestly, everything you said about "why do we worship God?" was awesome, and I learned a lot and really liked your insights.  I had an incredible experience about a month back, and it kind of ties into this topic, so I'm going to reread what I wrote in my "spiritual experiences" journal (thanks, by the way, for urging me to have one) and next week I'll comment more fully on what you said.  Also, very neat what you said about the homecoming talks.  I liked the fact that you said that Sister Silva's talk was so powerful and that it consisted of pure testimony. Alma talks a lot about the virtue of the word and the power of bearing pure testimony, and I can also say that a pure testimony is something incredibly special and powerful. (By the way, what are you studying in the scriptures these days? I'm nearing the end of Alma right now.) That's why I love the method of contacting we've been using. Testimonies can change people's lives by inviting the Spirit and allowing God to work miracles. Truly an incredible thing. Sounds cool about the merger, and also your comments about Reagan. He's definitely a cool kid, and my favorite brother. :)

Thanks for keeping me posted about Josh. And thank you for everything you said about being proud of me and everything. Those things really do help me keep going and give all that I have, and I appreciate hearing things like that from everyone. Dad, thanks for everything and have a wonderful week. I love you very much.

Take care everyone. Remember that I love you and remember to trust in the Lord. Until next week!
Elder Greer

Reactivating and knocking doors

¡Buenísimas tardes! Sounds like everyone's had a pretty good week. I enjoyed reading the email very much - as usual. Right now I'm sweating to death despite sitting directly under a fan. Boy, it's a hot one, but I'm starting to enjoy the heat and humidity a little. Once you get used to it, it's not terrible.


Well, this week was lots of fun.  I'll start off with today. This morning we had an activity with the young mens' quorums in our ward where we met at the church and played soccer for a couple hours. The zone leaders came with us and the four of us faced a couple different teams of young men, playing four-on-four and switching out whenever someone scored. We did really well and only lost twice - out of an hour and a half of play, that's not too bad, especially considering that Elder Jackson and I are gringos and therefore can't really do much but follow the ball around the court like kids in kindergarten. :) Actually, I played better than I thought I was going to - even scored a goal or two. It was a lot of fun. I haven't been able to really run and play a sport like that in months and it was great to be out in the fresh air and hot sun and just play. We all had a good time. That reminds me - we wore our zone shirts; I'll have to send a picture next week of what they look like, because I don't think I've done so yet. Also, I'm sending a picture of my face after playing. I got a little sunburned. :) All in all, it was very fun and refreshing.

Yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. The topic was, of course, missionary work. I formed the talk around Zenos' allegory of the Lord of the vineyard and the experience of Alma and the sons of Mosiah, and talked about member missionary work and how crucial it is and so on. I think it went over pretty well; I delivered it just how I wanted to, and received a bunch of compliments afterward. I hope this will bring us more help from the members as far as the work is concerned, giving us references and all that. I read a quote from President George Albert Smith where he says that we can't receive our exaltation unless we share the gospel with other people. I think that probably helped the message I was trying to deliver. :) Really, it all ties in with what Elder Johnson taught us in our zone conference - we're here to teach and baptize, not to prepare or plant seeds (though incidental seed-planting always helps). The members are part of the preparatory work, and the people who end up getting baptized are almost always references from members. Sharing the gospel as members is crucial. Anyway, it was a fun experience and I had a good time giving the talk. I also really enjoyed preparing it; I love the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5 and how much it teaches.

I think I mentioned in the last week or two that we're been working with a less-active named Adriana and her 13-year-old daughter Taira. Adriana is separated from her husband and they've been inactive for about two years, but as of about a month ago she started feeling the need to go to church again to help out her family and her daughter and everything. She even had a dream where someone told her that the Elders would be passing by her house and that she needed to listen to them. :) A couple weeks back someone (who turned out to be her husband) gave as a reference to other missionaries her name, and she lives in our area; we went and visited her, and discovered that she was actually a member, so we started stopping by, teaching her, and helping her return to activity. She has jumped back into the church with both feet; she's attended the last three Sundays, has started reading the Book of Mormon again, and paid her tithing yesterday. Her daughter, Taira, was baptized and used to be really excited about church, saying that she wanted to serve a mission and everything, but in the last couple years has cooled off and now is a little more hesitant about coming back. She came to Mutual this week and really seemed to like it, but ended up not coming to church on Sunday; we'll be chatting with her about that this week. :) We had a FHE with the two of them and the bishop's family on Thursday, and it went over really well, but right at the end the night took a turn for the worse. One of the reasons why Taira's parents are separated is that her dad has taken up drinking again - a habit he had before being baptized that he turned to again. Taira's really upset and sad about this, and I think that makes it harder for her to come to church (even though it would be the best thing for her, of course). Anyway, at the end of the FHE we hear a taxi pull up and the passenger, obviously drunk, step out and start talking really loudly with the driver. We head out and turns out it's Taira's dad. He sees us and instantly drops his beer and starts begging forgiveness and everything from us. He was completely gone, but at least he still recognized that we were missionaries and that drinking was bad. When Taira saw that it was him and that he was drunk, she burst into tears and ran into her room. Seeing that nearly broke my heart; I felt so bad for her. Alcohol is so damaging, especially to families and children. The look on Taira's face was something I'll never forget. Very sad. But, as some good news, her dad came to church on Sunday with her mom. He seemed really embarrassed but looked like he enjoyed it a lot. We're going to be talking more with the whole family this week and we're praying constantly that they can get back together and start coming to church regularly as a family. That's the story this week of Adriana and Taira - sorry if it's kinda all over the place. Things are looking up and with the Lord's help this family will be reunited in the gospel.

On Saturday we ate stuffed peppers for lunch. They were tasty, but caused my stomach some problems later. :) Giant spicy peppers filled with meat, potatoes, green olives, mushrooms, and carrots, with a side of white rice. Delicious and a pretty powerful combination. Also, the other day there was a mouse in our house (sounds like Dr. Seuss). Not a big deal, actually, since it's not the first time and they haven't really done anything to us yet. Oh, and that reminds me - my comp was showering Saturday night and suddenly shouted and ran out of the bathroom - apparently a tiny frog was climbing up his leg. We went and checked, and yep, there was the frog, barely even an inch long. Cute little guy, but not while taking a shower, it seems.

This Friday I hit 7 months. Time continues to fly by. With so few hours in the day and so few days in the week, we simply must make the most of every second and not hold back any energy for the things that really matter. Reminds me of President Eyring's talk from a few conferences ago - I think it's called "This Day," and they quoted it in one of the Mormon Messages that they have on lds.org. I'd recommend checking that one out - I really like the movie they put together and the talk is really inspiring. Good stuff.

Okay, not too much time today, so I can only write a couple comments. Sorry. But here we go.

Gabbie - your shots don't sound like too much fun. I remember it hurt pretty good when I got the tetanus shot too. How's your arm feeling now? And you're already starting to learn how to play the flute? That's pretty cool. When I get back we should form a family band. I laughed a lot at what you said about Little Italy. I had completely forgotten about that. That was pretty funny, huh? That was a very fun vacation too. We did a lot of cool things. How are things going in school - are you starting to feel ready for junior high or does it still seem kind of weird?  Gabs, sounds like everything's going well and, as always, I love to read your emails. I love you tons and hope that you have a great week! :)

Mom - How did the field trip go today? Where did you go? Did Reagan have fun? I'm jealous of the snow - but actually getting used to the heat. It's really nice in the evenings after the sun has set; it's still humid, but not stifling, and the temperature's around 85 or so. It makes the body feel good and is pretty enjoyable. I wonder how it's going to be when I come back home; I'll get home in August, so it'll be hot but completely dry. I imagine the change will take some getting used to. Mom, thanks for always writing and always setting a good example for me. Thanks for everything you've done. I love you very much. Have a great week! :)

Miranda - Youth Conference does sound like a ton of fun. My friend Maria used to work at Aspen Grove, and Josh and Mike and I went up there once and hung out a bit, so I know what you mean about the food being really good. All of Aspen Grove seemed like a lot of fun. Were you able to use the facilities there and everything? (And by that I don't mean going to the bathroom - haha.) I liked everything you said about the testimony meeting and activities. I miss that too - having youth activities and going to EFY and everything.
The testimony meeting really does sound awesome and I'm glad you got the opportunity to get to know people better and share in the joy of the gospel and the Spirit with them. Keep it up. :)  Keep taking care of yourself, having fun in school and with friends, and progressing and learning more in the gospel. You told me once in a letter that it was cool to see my testimony grow - well, it's equally cool to see yours grow through your letters. I love reading what you say about things like that. Keep me posted on all that goes on in your life, as you have been doing, and keep enjoying every new day that comes. I love you very much. Have an amazing week! :)

Dad-dad-daddio :) - So the merger thing is all set now? How's it all looking? How's the economy and everything doing, by the way? Seems like things aren't doing too well worldwide, but oh well - just have to keep pressing on. Hopefully work is still going well for you.  I was thinking the other day about when we went to St. George for the writing conference, or all of the time spent together.  Not just vacations, either, but everything, from baseball to writing to movies to those PPIs. (Yes, I actually do miss the PPIs - hah.) The work is going really well. I'm learning a lot about hard work and initiative and just enjoying the gospel. I read often your "7 Rules for a Successful Mission" and it helps me focus more and keep working hard. I've learned so much as a missionary and really enjoy everything that comes, the blessings and the trials alike. Sometimes I just marvel that life is so wonderful - it takes me aback to see how blessed I am and how wonderful of an opportunity I have right now. Life is an incredible thing, and my mission is helping me see how to make the most of it.

Answers to a couple of questions....

Door knocking-
We were knocking doors yesterday and decided to do so with the Book of Mormon. We often talk about it and present it, but yesterday we were really direct and more or less said, "This is the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I know that this book is the word of God and that it will help you in your life. Would you like a chance to read it and to listen to our message?" It worked really well; testimony plus Book of Mormon is a good combination. We contacted a man who seemed like the golden investigator. He let us inside, and we taught about the Apostasy, the First Vision, and the Book of Mormon in about 3 minutes. He asked some great questions and understood really well, and seemed eager to have the chance to read the Book of Mormon. We left him a copy and are going to return tomorrow to see how it went. It was quick and to the point and full of the Spirit; a really neat experience. We also found a couple other people that could have potential, and we're still working hard to find new investigators.

Teaching people to pray-
What you said about prayers was pretty much exactly the way it is here. We have those same four points and we often end up writing them out in the back of the Book of Mormon so that they can remember them. (Address our Heavenly father...thank thee...ask thee....close in Christ's name) It hasn't happened too often, but every once in a while someone just reads right through the points without adding anything. Also, it's very common that other people make their comments and say their own prayers while we are praying, which is why we usually say beforehand, "Cuando oramos, solo una persona habla, y los demás ponen atención. Al final, decimos la palabra amen." Even so, quite often they talk during the prayer, just like you said. Like you said as well, though, as long as a prayer is heartful, it's okay, but sometimes it is kind of distracting.

Thanks for the news on Josh - I was glad to hear how things are going. (I remember Elder Hinckley's comment - I may be the only General Authority sustained despite a disclaimer from the prophet. Haha.) I'm really excited to hear what happens with him - keep me posted (though I'm sure he will too). About Sean McClellen - tell him congratulations from me.

Well, everyone, I love you all very much, and hope everything is going well! Until next week---
Con amor,
Elder Greer

Baptisms last Saturday

Hey hey hey! ¿Qué tal todos? ¿Cómo les va este día? Les amo mucho y quiero que todos sepan de eso; además, quiero que todos estén bien de salud, ánimos, y el Espíritu. Les doy mi testimonio sincero que este Evangelio es poderoso. Jesucristo vive y nos ama muchísimo, de tal modo que sufrió y murió para salvarnos del pecado y la muerte. Les testifico que Él tiene el poder - y el deseo - de sanarnos, de quitarnos nuestros pecados y de ayudarnos al enfrentar las tentaciones y pruebas del mundo. Quiere que vengamos a Él porque tiene la manera de ayudarnos con tristeza, desesperación, y carga. Ruego que podamos recordarlo siempre y usar lo que nos dejó. Les testifico que José Smith restauró de nuevo la plenitud del Evangelio y la autoridad del sacerdocio, y que Thomas S. Monson es guiado por Dios hoy en día.


I like starting the letter in Spanish, and even more so with a testimony. Miranda, how much do you understand? Mom? Gabbie? Reagan? Nikka? :)

I do hope everyone is doing well and exciting about the week that's beginning. From the email, it sounds like that's the case.  First off, I forgot to mention this last week, which I was planning on doing, but - happy anniversary, Mom and Dad! :) How was it? What did you do? I hope it was a good day. 21 years of marriage. Happy Anniversary, and here's to another 21 years.
The highlight of the week was the baptism and confirmation of Victor, Sergio, and Diego Perez Trujeque. I had the opportunity to baptize all three of them and it was a really neat experience. We taught them almost every single day last week, making sure they were ready for baptism and trying to figure out a good way to teach them the Law of Chastity and things like that. We did up an awesome program and had a pretty good turnout. On Sunday the bishopric confirmed them, and they're now officially members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's an amazing feeling to have been a part of this change in their lives and to have helped them get to this point. They've taught me a lot as well, and I'm really grateful for the whole experience. We're going to keep teaching them and helping them learn and progress.  It made me think about the covenants I made eleven and a half years ago and want to keep them more completely from here on out.

Along with that is something cool we found out Tuesday or Wednesday when we were teaching them and talking to their mom. As you know, she cannot get baptized until she marries the man she's been living with for years.  They are a family, and so of course it would be wrong to break them up - but we need to help them get things in order first (sometimes it's difficult to get things legal down here with messy paperwork, past marriages, non-official divorces, etc).  Anyway - we were talking about how much their family is changing and how they're really taking the Gospel to heart, and she told us that we are angels sent to help her and to help her children.

Then she said more or less the following: "You two have been a literal answer to my prayers. Two weeks ago, I came home one day and found that everything was a mess and that they had done nothing to help out. Victor ran off to an arcade and the other two were playing soccer in the street and fighting. I started washing dishes and trying to clean up the enormous mess. I was very frustrated and angry; I felt like I couldn't take another minute of trying to deal with them. I prayed and asked God to send me something that would help me and them - something, anything, but that it come quick because I was at the end of my capabilities. I heard someone calling at the door and went out to see who it was, still feeling exhausted and desperate. I found you two at my door. You greeted me with a smile and told me that Jesus Christ had sent you to help me. You testified to me of a prophet on the earth who gives us revelation to help us in our lives. I knew at that moment that God had answered my prayers and called for my kids." By the end of the story, she was crying, and I felt like doing so as well; the Spirit was so powerful in that room. I felt it so strongly and truly rejoiced in the mercy and goodness of God, in the chance to be a messenger and a vessel for the truth, for the chance to be that answer and to help this family find their way in the world. This has been the most spiritual and powerful experience of my mission so far, and something that I'll remember forever. It's infused me with even more desire to work hard, testify, and be that missionary that God called me to be, so that I can have more experiences like that - for me and for my family, but also for the people whose lives I can influence and affect. Truly this has been something of a miracle, and my testimony was definitely strengthened by hearing these words. Very cool. :)

The husband drinks a ton, but I've never heard him talk about anything that wasn't related to Christ or God or the Bible, and he always encourages his kids to read the Book of Mormon and pray, so we might be able to work with him and get them married. He's quite an interesting character. Anyway, we'll just have to pray hard and see what happens.

Answers to some questions:

Do you knock doors / how does that go / does rejection bother you?
Most of the time when people don't want to listen they say, "Oh, but I already read the Bible" (to which I want to respond, and your point is? - but of course never do), or, "I would like to listen, but right now I'm about to leave" (when it's obvious that's not the case since the last ten people said the same thing, not one of them has left their house yet, and the person is in their pajamas watching tv), or "Well, I'm Catholic/Protestant/Evangelical/etc" (I want to tell them, yeah, that's the point - that's why we're here - but again, I never do).

Sometimes getting rejected a bunch is a drag, but I've found that I really enjoy contacting when it's done with a testimony and when I have the Spirit with me. If I think about it in the right light, it's a lot of fun. I've had some insults/comments shouted out at me in the streets (once about wearing glasses that day, but mostly about being American), but so far nothing serious. Sometimes, though, we're in the middle of a lesson and out of the blue they ask, "You're not from around here, are you?" It's kind of funny because it's happened not infrequently. It's like, hey, pay attention! :)

I'm fairly tall for here - 90% of the people are shorter than I am by at least four inches or so. There are a few tall ones, though, so I don't stand out too much for that. We have Domino's in our area (delicious!) and there's a Carl's, Jr. and a Dairy Queen nearby - and a McDonald's somewhere around here too. That's what I've seen so far.

Well, hey, I think the cyber's about to close. Have a good week and thanks for everything.
Love you all!
Elder Greer