Month: January 2016

The Infinite Worth of Souls

This week was very different than most weeks on the mission. We have a missionary in our zone who is sick with Chicungunia (like malaria, in a way). She and I have basically been companions while our comps go out and work in two areas—such champions!

Sister Blankenship and I have filled our days with  uplifting conversation while we sit on our Bolivian mattress on the Bolivian tile, in our Bolivian appartment.  Though we couldn’t go out to work on the streets, we had some neat experiences indoors where  we felt heaven, much closer than usual.  It is incredible how good conversation and questions directed toward our Heavenly Father, combined with faith and patience in prayer, can give such direct answers. These answers are accessable to EVERY one of his children, those serving a mission, and those pursuing their mortal mission. If you haven’t had an experience like this in a while, I invite you to approach your father in heaven and taste of his personal love to you. Prayerfully ask questions and  wait for the still small voice as it gives you marvelous answers. I have such a testimony of prayer, and our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He  knows us and loves us too much to leave us alone when we kneel to him in prayer. Please don’t take that precious time for granted, treasure it, and those  moments will become more memorable in your life.
I  was able to give a talk this Sunday in  my Guaracal ward—possibly for the last time?? My topic was on missionary work (go figure), but I felt I needed to tie it with something I hold dearly to my heart: The Atonement of Jesus Christ. I stood up at the pulpit and began talking about the infinite worth of souls, I talked about where I thought my value came from at different phases of my life. I noticed nods of agreement, then I  testified that our value comes from being children of God. I tied this with the Atonement and the prodical son, and then about how we can be that friend on the way to help each soul return to Christ.
Right now, are you being that person to help souls come unto christ whether it be a friend, neighbor, sister, brother, spouse, child, parent, or someone on the street?  If not, how are you going to change that?

Sister Greenman

Be Thou There

Bolivia 101

Can I just give you a few quotes of things we do here on a daily basis?

We called the Bishop’s secretary to set up an appointment for a less-active woman to meet with bishop:  “The bishop is moving soon, if you want her to meet with him, you will have to tell her to come to church on Sunday.”

Or one we hear very often on fast Sundays for their testimony: “I used to be mean when I was Catholic, but now that I’m baptized a member of the church, I am a lot nicer.”

Another thing that they do here in Bolivia is feminize masculine words (adding an “a” at the end) for example: Bishop= Obispo… Bishop´s wife= Obispa… (the obispa was like our second mom in the ward), But my favorite of them all is that they know the male missionaries are called Elder(s), so they call us Elderas. From strangers on the streets, to active members, they call us Elderas, and I absolutely love it (though, our efforts in correcting them prove pointless).

Bright eyes

There are many times we walk into a home where all the family members are devastated. We feel a big weight on their shoulders, and a void of happiness. This week we walked into a home with this similar situation. They had a beloved family member in the hospital who, still being young, was preparing to finish his mortal mission due to an unknown sickness. Their brown and black eyes were swollen from the painful tears shed over the past week. We began the lesson with a prayer and began to share our message of great hope. For the first time in a long time tears of hope and joy flowed from their eyes. I wanted to take a picture to capture the light restored to their eyes. The dark wrinkles showed the many stressful years they had spent under the sun working out in the campo (country) the brown dust on the ground and the dark red cement building seemed such a contrast to the peace they felt and the light they eminated. I couldn’t capture a picture, it was too beautiful to behold, but I bet that is the very same feeling our Heavenly Father feels each time we take a step closer to Him.

“Be Thou There”

This week I went through an interesting learning curve for the first time on my mission. All of a sudden, a year seemed SO far away, time for a day or two seemed to stop as everything else revolved quickly around it. I was focusing on time, not the work. I think every missionary needs to pass this and for me, it came this week.

I was reading in Jesus the Christ about Joseph’s flight into Egypt and was particularly touched by Gabriel´s words when he said, “Be thou there until I bring thee word.” I felt it applied to me as I have been called to serve a mission, and I need to follow that counsel to “be thou there” in mind, in spirit, in everthing! I already feel back on track and am so excited to be here! I know that in life we get callings that we don’t understand, or that we don’t want. But we can follow that counsel and “be thou there” until the lord calls us to something else. I invite you all this year to do the same and apply it in every moment.

Sister Greenman