Good morning friends and family!
This week was full of beautiful experiences. I had a personal
re-connect with my Heavenly Father. What I mean by that is that
sometimes as a missionary you struggle (go figure) you find yourself
going through the motions instead of being a Christlike servant of the
Lord. This stems from doing the same things, and yielding no new
results. (That's also the definition of insanity BTW) I had excepted
the invitation from my mission President to fast that Sunday for a
testimony and greater understanding of how to draw upon the powers of
God for help. The next day (Monday) I sent a short little note to my
YSA bishop. I hadn't heard from him for a while so I wondered if I
somehow had the wrong email. The note reads "Hey Bishop, have you been
getting my emails?" I didn't think much of it. Monday night was a dark
night for me, we had no-body to go visit, alot of our members were not
home or we had to schedule a family home-evening in advanced. In other
words Elder Greenburg for the first time on his mission said "now what
do I do?" I felt extremely insecure. In a lot of ways I felt alone.
The next morning (Tuesday) I received a letter that honestly changed
my out-look on a lot of things. It may not be significant to any of
you. But to me it meant the world. It reads "Elder Greenburg, yes I've
been receiving your e-mail. I'm like the proud parents of a very
gifted Son. You're so awesome! I read your email each week in our
Bishopric meeting. I even have a file on my computer with everything
you've sent. I use your messages in talks. I guess what I'm trying to
say, is that I love you! You're a chosen Son of our Father In Heaven!
Sorry for being so laxidasical in my writing! Keep the faith!"
I literally felt the love of my Heavenly Father touch my heart through
one of his servants. My fast came through, and I then received the
revelation to know what to do. I hit my knees and offered a prayer of
thanks to my God. I made course corrections, and promised Heavenly
Father that I will work hard every day of my mission and not slack off
anymore. I committed my companion to follow me in that process.
Sometimes the Lord asks you to reach out in humility. He gives you
opportunities to think about your life, and ask "what has happened" He
then blesses you will people that can help you feel his love again.
That day I knew the Lord was there. He always has and always will be.
Sometimes in our search for Him we lose our way. In my case, I just
needed to stop and ask for help.
Because of this experience the next few days were full of wonderful
people, places, and things. I had more conversations about the gospel
than I ever had before. The power of God came down and with his mighty
hand he showed me that miracles have not ceased. On Thursday we had a
Zone Conference with the Warrensburg, and half of Independence zones.
I was invited to conduct the meeting under the direction of President
Vest. As I sat there I looked at an Elder that seemed to be in a lot
of pain. He sat sideways in the pew, his fingers clinching his head,
and tears were flowing down his cheeks. I was sitting right across
from one of the Assistants, and the next thing I knew I was mouthing
quietly "He needs a blessing". The Assistant quietly stepped down from
the stand took the Elder out and administered a blessing to him. They
came back and he sat calmly on the bench. A sister missionary was
giving a training on miracles at the time, and she asked the
congregation if they had seen any miracles this week, and if they
would share them with. The Elder raised his hand and said "I testify
that the priesthood of God has been restored back to the earth through
the prophet Joseph Smith. I stepped out because I was extremely sick,
and as I received a priesthood blessing I could literally feel the
sickness leaving my body, and I sit here before you with a healthy
mind ready to learn." I could hear a pin drop, and there were no dry
eyes at that point. The spirit of the Lord was there.
After a meeting like that coupled with the experience I had at the
beginning of the week, I was ready to "teach all nations". We set our
sights on finding someone to put on baptismal date. We worked as if it
all depended on us, and prayed as if it all depended on the Lord. We
were tracting down a street (that we were guided to) and came across a
family that was loading a trailer. We asked them if we could help them
move. They said "naw, we are almost done" I felt an impression to be
persistent on this one. Normally I don't do this but I said "sir, I
would much rather help you move, than be in the blazin hot sun all day
and have nothing to show for my efforts. Please, let me help you" He
looked up and said "mah! Find something for these men to do" As we
helped them, the old one of the bunch would make small remarks like
"we loaded that trailer as if it were a solid foundation" or he would
say "I can't believe you boys are doing this in dress clothes" Finally
he said "let me get your pastors email, I want to send him a letter
about the help you have rendered" I asked him "now why would you want
to do that?" He said "well boys I'm a pastor myself, and I would love
it if my youth knew that they could do hard things, I want to tell
your pastor that you can do hard things" I didn't even think anything
of it, I pulled out a Book of Mormon, wrote down our Presidents email
address, and then said "here's is information, have you ever read the
Book of Mormon before" He said he had and that he loved it. He started
to talk a lot about God, and how we can get to heaven. He started to
talk a about the straight and narrow path. I said, "have you read the
story about Lehi's dream?" he replied "no sir I haven't" I said "well
dear land sir I have a reading assignment that I think you will like 1
Nephi 11, you will read about a straight path, an iron rod, and the
tree of life which represents the love of God. Read it, pray about it,
and find out what those things mean to you. I testify that it will
testify to what you have just said to me"
We took off down the road and came across man who had just pulled into
his drive way. He said "I just got back from a funeral, my sister died
and I don't want to talk to you guys" I said "Well, that's fine. But I
am here to teach you the Plan that God has for your sister, and you,
and if you don't mind, I would like to talk to you anyway." He
actually stayed and listened! He even cried! We definitely have an
appointment with him this week!
Later that Saturday, we had nobody to teach. So we prayed about a
neighborhood to go finding in. Usually I would suggest that we go find
a member to go see. But this was a persistent feeling, and I don't
turn those down. We knocked doors for 2 hours. we got soft
appointments, a lot of deliberate NO's, no answers, a guy that let us
in who was half drunk but gave us water (we might try him sober. his
wife and mom seemed receptive). Finally we go for the last door on the
block. It's 8:30 and the sun is about to go down. We meet this nice
lady, she was super receptive! We asked her if she knew about the Book
of Mormon. SHE HAD NO IDEA! Then we asked "do you know where you came
from, why you are here, and where you are going next?" Holy MOSES SHE
DIDN'T KNOW THAT EITHER! However, she said that she asked her church
about it and they couldn't give her a solid answer. I testified that
the Book of Mormon answers those questions, along with all the other
deep questions of the soul like "Why do bad things happen to good
people?" Or "what does Christ expect of me?" Then she said "My kids
are big into reading, do you have any more Books?" I cleared out my
bag!!!! I had one copy left to give to the guy across the street, but
I will tell you more about that guy later. We got a return
appointment! And to our amazement the Lord blessed us with a beautiful
family to teach.
After we finished our conversation with the Women, we saw a man that
had just finished mowing lawns. He was leaned against his tail gate.
We approached him and he was polite. We introduced ourselves as
missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ. He said "You're who?"
And after three rounds of that question I finally said "We are ELDERS,
ya know? Missionaries?!" He wasn't a deaf man, he was a rather
arrogant man! He said "NO NO NO!!!! You guys aren't from the church
of Jesus Christ! I belong to the church of Christ! You guys are a
cult!!!!" Well, from the very beginning me and my companion knew
exactly what was happening. We said "OOOOHHHHHH I see!!!! Well then, I
think you are sadly mistaken!" He said "you have the wrong gospel!!!!
Who is Jesus? Is he God?" We replied "well, under the direction of His
Father he created the earth" he said "really? You guys don't believe
that, I know you don't" I replied said "well now you're just trying to
tell me what I believe, and I find that highly ignorant, and quite
offensive" he said "well you should be, you're going to hell for
following Jo smith!" I replied "I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of
God, and I can assure you that anyone who follows that prophet will
not be going to hell" he said "NO NO NO! You need to be saved!!!!!!" I
said "oh really? You think so?" He said "when did you accept Jesus
into your life?" I said "8 years old was when I was baptized and made
a covenant with him to always keep his commandments" he cut me off and
said "NO NO NO!!!! You got the wrong gospel!!! You guys are adding way
too many things!!!! You don't need to be baptized!!!" I said "but what
about John 3:5 Accept a man be born of water and of the spirit he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God? That was a very clear statement
given, I don't think you can waver from that" he said "before your
mother gave birth to you, what happened?" I said "are you about to ask
me if my mom had to conceive? I don't mean to be rude, but that is
just not right" he said "No! Your moms water broke, indicating that
you were born of WATER! Now you need to be born of the spirit by
accepting Christ into your life!!!" I literally face palmed..."so you
are saying that Christ being fully submersed in water was all just a
big joke? That when the Fathers voice came down from heaven and said
'this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased' did you think he
was kidding when he charged his apostles to 'go forth unto all
nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, of
the Holy Ghost' do you really think it was fake?" He said "what about
the thief on the cross? When Christ said that he would rest in the
kingdom of heaven?" I said "well, there's some doctrine behind that
statement that you don't really understand, nor will you accept" he
was floored. Then he started to talk about how Joseph Smith was a
fraud he tried to tell me that Joseph Smith himself said he was crazy.
So I asked him where he got that source he said "well it's, hm. No, it
might be, hm. I can't remember" I said "well, I don't think you can
back that one up, so please settle that in you mind" He jumped
through a few other topics like the book of Revelation "disproving"
scripture, how God doesn't need our works, and that we need to just
accept him into our lives and we will be fine.
This all went on for a good solid 15 minutes. I was told that I was
going to hell, and that I was worth nothing. after a minute, I put my
hand up to stop him from speaking anymore. I looked him in the eye and
said "Do you believe in prayer?" He said "yes! Pray every morning!" I
said "that is good. Do you believe in the Holy Ghost?" He said "You
mean the Holy Spirit? Yes! I believe in it!" I said "do you believe
the Holy Ghost reveals all truth?" He said "of course!!!!" I said "so
if you prayed to know if you should be baptized, and God revealed to
you that you need to be, would you follow the example of Jesus Christ
and be baptized?" He said "NO!" I said well, "I will see you at the
judgment bar of God. And Oh, by the way. What you are feeling right
now, is the spirit." Me and my companion walked away as he yelled at
us about how we are going to hell, and that we are never going to see
him at the judgement bar because we will be in hell." I turned around
and said "hey, don't get too carried away" he said "I'm not carried
away! I'm just fine! Fine fine fine! Yes, I'm fine..." I heard an
uneasiness come into his voice as he said that. He slammed his truck
door and sped off!
It felt like a similar encounter with Lucifer. Weeping and wailing,
and gnashing of teeth. I imagine that's what it was like when lucifer
was cast out of Fathers presence.. We learned that day whom that man
served. He was immature, deliberately condemning us, and honestly I
feel bad for the man. I wish he would have been in a state of humility
when I found him, so I could give him the chance to actually try out
our message. But he was passed feeling, and unwilling to submit to the
will of God. He was puffed up, and I honestly understand the whore of
all the earth, the church that was founded of the devil. It is real,
and it deceives many. Stay on the old ship Zion! It will guide you
safely home.
Love you all!
This week was full of beautiful experiences. I had a personal
re-connect with my Heavenly Father. What I mean by that is that
sometimes as a missionary you struggle (go figure) you find yourself
going through the motions instead of being a Christlike servant of the
Lord. This stems from doing the same things, and yielding no new
results. (That's also the definition of insanity BTW) I had excepted
the invitation from my mission President to fast that Sunday for a
testimony and greater understanding of how to draw upon the powers of
God for help. The next day (Monday) I sent a short little note to my
YSA bishop. I hadn't heard from him for a while so I wondered if I
somehow had the wrong email. The note reads "Hey Bishop, have you been
getting my emails?" I didn't think much of it. Monday night was a dark
night for me, we had no-body to go visit, alot of our members were not
home or we had to schedule a family home-evening in advanced. In other
words Elder Greenburg for the first time on his mission said "now what
do I do?" I felt extremely insecure. In a lot of ways I felt alone.
The next morning (Tuesday) I received a letter that honestly changed
my out-look on a lot of things. It may not be significant to any of
you. But to me it meant the world. It reads "Elder Greenburg, yes I've
been receiving your e-mail. I'm like the proud parents of a very
gifted Son. You're so awesome! I read your email each week in our
Bishopric meeting. I even have a file on my computer with everything
you've sent. I use your messages in talks. I guess what I'm trying to
say, is that I love you! You're a chosen Son of our Father In Heaven!
Sorry for being so laxidasical in my writing! Keep the faith!"
I literally felt the love of my Heavenly Father touch my heart through
one of his servants. My fast came through, and I then received the
revelation to know what to do. I hit my knees and offered a prayer of
thanks to my God. I made course corrections, and promised Heavenly
Father that I will work hard every day of my mission and not slack off
anymore. I committed my companion to follow me in that process.
Sometimes the Lord asks you to reach out in humility. He gives you
opportunities to think about your life, and ask "what has happened" He
then blesses you will people that can help you feel his love again.
That day I knew the Lord was there. He always has and always will be.
Sometimes in our search for Him we lose our way. In my case, I just
needed to stop and ask for help.
Because of this experience the next few days were full of wonderful
people, places, and things. I had more conversations about the gospel
than I ever had before. The power of God came down and with his mighty
hand he showed me that miracles have not ceased. On Thursday we had a
Zone Conference with the Warrensburg, and half of Independence zones.
I was invited to conduct the meeting under the direction of President
Vest. As I sat there I looked at an Elder that seemed to be in a lot
of pain. He sat sideways in the pew, his fingers clinching his head,
and tears were flowing down his cheeks. I was sitting right across
from one of the Assistants, and the next thing I knew I was mouthing
quietly "He needs a blessing". The Assistant quietly stepped down from
the stand took the Elder out and administered a blessing to him. They
came back and he sat calmly on the bench. A sister missionary was
giving a training on miracles at the time, and she asked the
congregation if they had seen any miracles this week, and if they
would share them with. The Elder raised his hand and said "I testify
that the priesthood of God has been restored back to the earth through
the prophet Joseph Smith. I stepped out because I was extremely sick,
and as I received a priesthood blessing I could literally feel the
sickness leaving my body, and I sit here before you with a healthy
mind ready to learn." I could hear a pin drop, and there were no dry
eyes at that point. The spirit of the Lord was there.
After a meeting like that coupled with the experience I had at the
beginning of the week, I was ready to "teach all nations". We set our
sights on finding someone to put on baptismal date. We worked as if it
all depended on us, and prayed as if it all depended on the Lord. We
were tracting down a street (that we were guided to) and came across a
family that was loading a trailer. We asked them if we could help them
move. They said "naw, we are almost done" I felt an impression to be
persistent on this one. Normally I don't do this but I said "sir, I
would much rather help you move, than be in the blazin hot sun all day
and have nothing to show for my efforts. Please, let me help you" He
looked up and said "mah! Find something for these men to do" As we
helped them, the old one of the bunch would make small remarks like
"we loaded that trailer as if it were a solid foundation" or he would
say "I can't believe you boys are doing this in dress clothes" Finally
he said "let me get your pastors email, I want to send him a letter
about the help you have rendered" I asked him "now why would you want
to do that?" He said "well boys I'm a pastor myself, and I would love
it if my youth knew that they could do hard things, I want to tell
your pastor that you can do hard things" I didn't even think anything
of it, I pulled out a Book of Mormon, wrote down our Presidents email
address, and then said "here's is information, have you ever read the
Book of Mormon before" He said he had and that he loved it. He started
to talk a lot about God, and how we can get to heaven. He started to
talk a about the straight and narrow path. I said, "have you read the
story about Lehi's dream?" he replied "no sir I haven't" I said "well
dear land sir I have a reading assignment that I think you will like 1
Nephi 11, you will read about a straight path, an iron rod, and the
tree of life which represents the love of God. Read it, pray about it,
and find out what those things mean to you. I testify that it will
testify to what you have just said to me"
We took off down the road and came across man who had just pulled into
his drive way. He said "I just got back from a funeral, my sister died
and I don't want to talk to you guys" I said "Well, that's fine. But I
am here to teach you the Plan that God has for your sister, and you,
and if you don't mind, I would like to talk to you anyway." He
actually stayed and listened! He even cried! We definitely have an
appointment with him this week!
Later that Saturday, we had nobody to teach. So we prayed about a
neighborhood to go finding in. Usually I would suggest that we go find
a member to go see. But this was a persistent feeling, and I don't
turn those down. We knocked doors for 2 hours. we got soft
appointments, a lot of deliberate NO's, no answers, a guy that let us
in who was half drunk but gave us water (we might try him sober. his
wife and mom seemed receptive). Finally we go for the last door on the
block. It's 8:30 and the sun is about to go down. We meet this nice
lady, she was super receptive! We asked her if she knew about the Book
of Mormon. SHE HAD NO IDEA! Then we asked "do you know where you came
from, why you are here, and where you are going next?" Holy MOSES SHE
DIDN'T KNOW THAT EITHER! However, she said that she asked her church
about it and they couldn't give her a solid answer. I testified that
the Book of Mormon answers those questions, along with all the other
deep questions of the soul like "Why do bad things happen to good
people?" Or "what does Christ expect of me?" Then she said "My kids
are big into reading, do you have any more Books?" I cleared out my
bag!!!! I had one copy left to give to the guy across the street, but
I will tell you more about that guy later. We got a return
appointment! And to our amazement the Lord blessed us with a beautiful
family to teach.
After we finished our conversation with the Women, we saw a man that
had just finished mowing lawns. He was leaned against his tail gate.
We approached him and he was polite. We introduced ourselves as
missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ. He said "You're who?"
And after three rounds of that question I finally said "We are ELDERS,
ya know? Missionaries?!" He wasn't a deaf man, he was a rather
arrogant man! He said "NO NO NO!!!! You guys aren't from the church
of Jesus Christ! I belong to the church of Christ! You guys are a
cult!!!!" Well, from the very beginning me and my companion knew
exactly what was happening. We said "OOOOHHHHHH I see!!!! Well then, I
think you are sadly mistaken!" He said "you have the wrong gospel!!!!
Who is Jesus? Is he God?" We replied "well, under the direction of His
Father he created the earth" he said "really? You guys don't believe
that, I know you don't" I replied said "well now you're just trying to
tell me what I believe, and I find that highly ignorant, and quite
offensive" he said "well you should be, you're going to hell for
following Jo smith!" I replied "I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of
God, and I can assure you that anyone who follows that prophet will
not be going to hell" he said "NO NO NO! You need to be saved!!!!!!" I
said "oh really? You think so?" He said "when did you accept Jesus
into your life?" I said "8 years old was when I was baptized and made
a covenant with him to always keep his commandments" he cut me off and
said "NO NO NO!!!! You got the wrong gospel!!! You guys are adding way
too many things!!!! You don't need to be baptized!!!" I said "but what
about John 3:5 Accept a man be born of water and of the spirit he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God? That was a very clear statement
given, I don't think you can waver from that" he said "before your
mother gave birth to you, what happened?" I said "are you about to ask
me if my mom had to conceive? I don't mean to be rude, but that is
just not right" he said "No! Your moms water broke, indicating that
you were born of WATER! Now you need to be born of the spirit by
accepting Christ into your life!!!" I literally face palmed..."so you
are saying that Christ being fully submersed in water was all just a
big joke? That when the Fathers voice came down from heaven and said
'this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased' did you think he
was kidding when he charged his apostles to 'go forth unto all
nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, of
the Holy Ghost' do you really think it was fake?" He said "what about
the thief on the cross? When Christ said that he would rest in the
kingdom of heaven?" I said "well, there's some doctrine behind that
statement that you don't really understand, nor will you accept" he
was floored. Then he started to talk about how Joseph Smith was a
fraud he tried to tell me that Joseph Smith himself said he was crazy.
So I asked him where he got that source he said "well it's, hm. No, it
might be, hm. I can't remember" I said "well, I don't think you can
back that one up, so please settle that in you mind" He jumped
through a few other topics like the book of Revelation "disproving"
scripture, how God doesn't need our works, and that we need to just
accept him into our lives and we will be fine.
This all went on for a good solid 15 minutes. I was told that I was
going to hell, and that I was worth nothing. after a minute, I put my
hand up to stop him from speaking anymore. I looked him in the eye and
said "Do you believe in prayer?" He said "yes! Pray every morning!" I
said "that is good. Do you believe in the Holy Ghost?" He said "You
mean the Holy Spirit? Yes! I believe in it!" I said "do you believe
the Holy Ghost reveals all truth?" He said "of course!!!!" I said "so
if you prayed to know if you should be baptized, and God revealed to
you that you need to be, would you follow the example of Jesus Christ
and be baptized?" He said "NO!" I said well, "I will see you at the
judgment bar of God. And Oh, by the way. What you are feeling right
now, is the spirit." Me and my companion walked away as he yelled at
us about how we are going to hell, and that we are never going to see
him at the judgement bar because we will be in hell." I turned around
and said "hey, don't get too carried away" he said "I'm not carried
away! I'm just fine! Fine fine fine! Yes, I'm fine..." I heard an
uneasiness come into his voice as he said that. He slammed his truck
door and sped off!
It felt like a similar encounter with Lucifer. Weeping and wailing,
and gnashing of teeth. I imagine that's what it was like when lucifer
was cast out of Fathers presence.. We learned that day whom that man
served. He was immature, deliberately condemning us, and honestly I
feel bad for the man. I wish he would have been in a state of humility
when I found him, so I could give him the chance to actually try out
our message. But he was passed feeling, and unwilling to submit to the
will of God. He was puffed up, and I honestly understand the whore of
all the earth, the church that was founded of the devil. It is real,
and it deceives many. Stay on the old ship Zion! It will guide you
safely home.
Love you all!
