YAY! Elder Dastrup and I got super sick this week! Being sick on the mission has never made me feel so wasteful in my life! Such a giant waste of space! This week was super slow because we couldn't get out, our Zone Leaders made us stay home. But, I am fine now so I am pumped to get working! It is my 6th week in the field so that means I get to start leading discussions, super pumped about that! I like to view teaching as a team effort. Missionaries, Investigator, The Lord, all striving to achieve 1 goal. Helping them come closer to Jesus Christ through the restored gospel. When this occurs it shows the Gator that we really do strive to help them see salvation, and that we really do care. It isn't about getting the baptism so that you can show it off to everyone, but to really show them that this is their salvation that's on the line, and that through the Doctrines of Christ they can see celestial glory. As we sit down with these investigators we can strategist with them what we need to do to accomplish this goal, what are road blocks that might occur? What are some hang ups? From that point we can set goals and make plans to help them achieve them. This is something that has been drawing on my mins all week, and I can't wait to use it. I really think it will help us with teaching, and showing investigators what real intent is all bout.  It's super sick! Anyway, I don't have much to write about this week.  

Here is a picture of me bumming around apartment.

Hope all is well!

-- 

-Elder Greenburg

Missouri Independence Mission

 Being Sick Brings about Missionary Probs! And sexy boots obviously

He is super Glad I sent him his boots!

Road Blocks

Hello!

This week was probably the toughest week of my mission We have had a few investigators drop us lately. We went to meet with Charles (who is on date for the 21st) and he said "I don't want to meet anymore" of course we asked why and he said: "I don't want to change, I like my church" I hated seeing this. It's a sad experience when you have literally seen these peoples hearts soften, and basically say they know it's true, and then harden their hearts. These people will listen to our message, set a baptism date, show intent by reading, and praying, and then they will go to their church's and talk to their pastures about it. Of course we know what happens next...we go to the return appointment and they have hardened their hearts against the message. 

But, all trials aside the work must go on! Josh came to church yesterday! He seemed to like it, he wants to come back with his wife next week. We will see how this one goes. Last Sunday we had a former investigator just randomly show up at the church building. He said he had some problems and didn't know where to go, so he came to us. Paul was previously dropped because he didn't show a desire to change or quit smoking. He even straight up told us he wanted to be baptized but their were too many requirements for him. We met with him on Wednesday after talking with the Elders that dropped him. They said that he was lying to them about not smoking, and reading. So we went into the lesson with Paul and just stated things as straight forward as we could, we taught him the Word of Wisdom. The Why and What for. Shared some scriptures, and even offered a blessing. I don't remember much of what I said in the blessing. But at one point I guess I had said "if you love the Lord you will throw your Cigarettes as far as you can, and that you will have a desire no more to buy" After the blessing, the spirit settled in even more so.....Paul literally walked outside, opened his car door, grabbed his smokes, and chucked them as far as he could, and then ran to kick them even further. I can't even believe that happened. 

I had the opportunity to teach Bible class this week. HOLY COW! We have been teaching out of the New Testament. Studying Christs life. I taught out of John chapter 15 and 16. Solid chapters, the comfort that Jesus left his apostles will forever be planted in my heart. What a love that he has for us. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another." This reminds me of the love that I need to have for each person I come in contact with. Having a desire to help them come "home". Helping them receive the restored Gospel. To receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, that will guide and direct them to the path that the Lord has prepared for them.7"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." 

What a great promise and Gift. WE will all be resurrected and be able to stand in whole body before our God. Now here is the question....How will you stand? Will you tremble in fear? or will you praise God forever? Live the Doctrines of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure to the End) and you will be lifted up,  and you will walk and not faint. Your Father in heaven loves you, and desires you to succeed and come home to him. Have Charity and Love for your neighbor, be long-suffering, have patience, be meek, and do this in Faith. And I testify that the Lord will magnify your efforts, and you will have everlasting joy. Yes, the everlasting Joy that man can't take from you, because it is engraved in your heart. 

I love you, and I want to thank you for being here for me. 

Keep the Faith,

Love,

--

-Elder Greenburg

Missouri Independence Mission

Another one bites the dust.

Hello!

This week was packed with Miracles! On Monday we had an appointment with our investigator Charles. He is Catholic and has been going to that religion for 5 years. We taught him the restoration about how the Book of Mormon came to be. All he could say was: "well, that makes so much more sense". Why would God have prophets all throughout the bible, and in ancient times, and then all of the sudden settle with Apostasy? He wouldn't, he loves us so much that he wants us to come back home someday. We put him on date to get dunked on the 28th of February. Hopefully he can see the waters of Baptism on that day. We were also able to put Josh on date for the 28th. He said he had been thinking a lot about baptism lately, and then two men in white shirts approached him. What a stud! hopefully he will be able to stop smoking by then. Love that guy! 

So, we were knocking doors in Paola the other day. We were working dang hard too, most of the people had rejected because they said "I have a Bible...soooo..." It was very hard for me to see them turn away. Anyway, we decided to head back to our car when Elder Dastrup had this impression to knock on one last door, the house was in very poor condition. Peeling paint, dirt patches, toys, bikes, car parts, you name it. We knocked on the door and there were two teenage girls that answered the door, we introduced ourselves and explained why we were there. The one girl said: "uh, nah I'm good" and went back in the house. The other girl said: "actually I want to talk with you guys" We asked her if she has had any interest in religion. She said "no, but I have felt this impression to start looking for one" She started tearing up, and the spirit prompted me to say: "That's why we are here, are you ready?" She listened more intently than anyone I have ever taught. The Holy Ghost bore witness to this 16 year old girl. She said she was excited to know more, and she reads the BOM every night now. We are going to go back tonight and teach her the restoration. The Lord places people in our path. He trusts us with those that he has prepared. 

I have the opportunity to teach a Bible class on Thursday night this week. I am so PUMPED! I'm teaching John Chapters 15 and 16. A lot of investigators attend bible class, it's a great fellowship opportunity. I have never understood the bible so much in my entire life! 

--

-Elder Greenburg

Missouri Independence Mission

 Random Pictures

 That's My Boy!

 Inspiration?

 BOM Shredding

 The "room"

 Food for Thought

 Shredding

 If you could High to Brolob

 Brolob

 Not a clue

 The Companion

 The Italian Stallion

 The Italian Stallion and The Duke

That's My Boy!

Another Awesome Week!

Hello!

This week was by far the best out of all! We picked up 4 new investigators! Holy Cow! The first one was Megan, she is homeless and lives out of a hotel, I never thought I would be teaching out of a Hotel. Also, this Hotel in particular just so happens to be the biggest place for Meth traffic. Drugs are bad. Stay away. Anyway, the first lesson went amazing, she basically said, "I know that it's true, how could it not be?" we invited her to being Baptized and she accepted. This was on Saturday, we then had another appointment shortly after that with Mary. Mary is super awesome, she doesn't really have a religious background, but we taught her the Restoration and Invited her to be Baptized, she also accepted. That's 2 in one day! How crazy?!?! Hopefully they will keep their commitments! I have faith that the Lord will guide them to where they need to be. 

Brandon is also a new Gator, we were knocking doors on Friday and he opened up and said, "I use to meet with Missionary's but they just stopped coming by". We asked him if he had read the BOM. He hadn't, we taught him the Restoration on the door step, and invited him to read and pray about the BOM. It was a sick lesson! My eyes filled up with tears, as did his when I recited the First Vision. The spirit had never testified to strongly, every time the First Vision comes up the room goes quiet and the spirit sinks in. Without doubt, Kids will hush, Dogs will stop barking, and then room will thicken. What a powerful experience. 

Josh is a new Gator. (A little background story) We do service at this place called Vintage Park. It's a retirement home for the disabled and old people. We serve lunch for them. The main cook's name is Josh, while we were serving there on Thursday I had the impression to ask him if he had a religious background, but I didn't because I was too scared of what he would say. So, as I kicked myself the whole day, I told Elder Dastrup about it, he said that he had the same impression, but felt like he shouldn't say anything yet. So we prepared what we wanted to say to him, and on Friday we asked him about it. He said his Grandpa had a church baptist church growing up, but one day he walked in and his Grandpa had died via heart attack, we kinda asked him, what his faith in God and Jesus was. He said that he felt like they saved his life from Alcohol, and helped him quit. We asked him if we could come teach him a lesson about  Jesus Christ and he accepted. We are meeting with him tomorrow. Super Pumped about that!!!

The Lord puts people in our paths, we may feel like it's awkward to talk to people about our faith, but I can assure you that God knows whose ready. God knows more than Elder Greenburg and Elder Dastrup. And as long as he is at the Helm of this ship we will have great success. I love this Gospel, I love these people, and I love this work. I had the opportunity to Teach a District training on Charity and Love. Never before has a new Elder done something like that in this area. I guess that means that I need more Charity and Love. I learned that you cannot teach without it. How can you help someone desire salvation, if you yourself don't desire their salvation. 

I hope all is well back home. 

Love you!

--

-Elder Greenburg

Missouri Independence Mission

LIfe of a Missionary

Hello!

This week has been pretty crazy! My companion was sick all week so it's been pretty tough getting out to visit with people. But that left me with a lot of time to do some personal studies. It's amazing how much you think you know until you really dig into the doctrine, and then you realize that you only know the top layer of things. We picked up a new Gator this week. His name is Charles, we told him a little bit about the Book of Mormon, and he said he likes reading things about Jesus. We invited him to pray about it. We have an appointment with him today, he told us that any time he is home he will let us in. He said that anyone that has a message about Jesus is welcome in the door. We thought that was pretty sweet. He has gone to the Catholic church for about 5 years. I wonder what this will bring. Too bad I can't meet with him tonight because I'm on an exchange right now with the District Leader. But Elder Dastrup has it in the bag. What a great guy! We had a pretty awesome experience Sunday. We were able to confirm Norma as a member. Elder Dastrup and his last comp Baptized her, but she couldn't get confirmed that following Sunday due to something at work. So we finally got around to it this week. It's amazing to see the light in the eyes of a new member. It's like they are floating on air.

I had the opportunity to lead during a dinner message with a member family. I opened by saying "I'm glad you all could make it here tonight, It's great that you could come" I was so nervous....And then the Father of the family said "thank you for inviting us into our own home..." At that point I realized what I had said and everyone started laughing. It was super funny! I got the first one out of the way though! The joke throughout the zone is the phrase "now....get out of my house".

I pray every day to be able to adapt to these people. I want to obtain the Love and Charity that comes with being a missionary. My goal is to find that peace and work it into myself, sometimes it's extremely hard to be patient and long suffering. It's a very humbling experience when the door is slammed in your face. It makes you feel like you have failed sometimes, and even hesitate to knock on the next. But all-in-all I know why I do what I do. The Lord will help me reach the potential that is needed for me. When I follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and am obedient to the Gospel Principles I can be whoever God wants me to be.

Not much this week, but a lot self finding I guess.

Hope all is well at home, Keep the Faith

Elder Greenburg

Missouri Independence Mission

Elder Jared Greenburg has arrived in Indpendance Missouri!

Hello!

This week has been super bomb! My first air plane ride was....interesting....The companions that I flew with neglected to tell me that there are air vents on the plane to keep you from passing out....I didn't....but I don't remember much of the ride because I was clearly light headed....I guess breathing is important when you do these things..Anyway! Missouri is super great! Everyone here is so friendly! They will literally let you in, open their fridge, and feed you, and even if they don't agree with your message they are always willing to listen to it, and they always discuss it with you. I never knew how generous people could be until I came here. My first area is in Paola Kansas. It's about an hour from Independence. We live in a town about the size of G-ville called Louisburg! Again, the people are amazing. I pray every night to know them better, and to seek out there needs the best way I can. We live in this little apartment. We named it "Brolob" named after "Kolob" if you could hie to Brolob. It's such a unique place. My companions name is Elder Dastrup! He has been out here for three months and is already training! He is such a great example to me! We get along great and he has really taught me more things than I could ever imagine learning! Last night we met with the Cates family. They are less active in the church. They have been through many struggles, from health issues, to death in the family. I heard sister Cates story and my eyes filled up with tears. This families life lined up perfectly with mine. How I grew up, the feelings I was feeling at the time, and the things I had to do to cope with it. Their son is 17. He's a drummer, he's super sick! Love that kid! Such a great family. I never thought I would love a stranger so much in my life. We have one Investigator in date for the 31st! He's a stud! Hopefully we can help him receive the Holy Ghost! He will be a Dino Member! I can't even express how much I have loved being here! I feel the spirit stronger than I ever have. I have been called to this area. These are my people, I will help show them know  who the good Shepard (Jesus Christ) is. What a wonderful experience. Also, I have found that the break offs of our religion are weird. It's like each one of the takes a verse, or a chunk of Doctrine and puts it into their own words. But fun fact, It's not as heavy as everyone thought it was out here. Yeah, their are about 1,000 different church's out here. But I have found more people without religious background at all. Weird! anyway, I can't express my feelings this last week enough, I waste too much time! I have a burning testimony of this work, I strive every day to forget myself and focus on others, It's a work in progress, but I surely know I can do hard things, I want to know the pure love of our Savior. I want to help others know that as well, and the first step to teaching is to find that pure love and to write it in your heart.. I hope everything is well at home. My new address is 404 South Broadway Louisburg Kansas 66053.,If you send anything to the mission home I won't get it for at least a month. So send everything to this address from now on. I love ya'll

-Elder Greenburg

Missouri Independence Mission

Zone Leaders, 2 companions and we are out of here!

Hello!

This week was the best week ever! We met with our new TRC investigator her name is Sharon. She is a sweet Woman! She is from the Church of Christ out of Tennessee. She is very head strong on her beliefs, and has had a pretty rough life, so her trust in God is like 1 out of 10. I could feel nothing but pure love for this Woman. On Wednesday she asked us out of the blue if she could have a "special prayer". We said: "a priesthood blessing?" and she said: "yes". She told us that there was "something about you Elders that makes me comfortable, and I feel this peace when you are here" She was going in for neck surgery the next day and was very nervous about it. So, on Thursday we taught her about the Priesthood and the wonderful blessings that come with it. At the end of the lesson we gave her a blessing. The spirit was so strong! She started crying and she said that she felt so calm, and that she had nothing to worry about anymore because God was going to take care of it, she said it was like how she feels when we are there but X10. We helped her recognize the feeling as the Holy Ghost, and I firmly believe that her heart was touched, and her view point of the gospel was changed from that point on. 

I have been assigned as the Zone leader in my Branch. Usually they have a companionship as the TWO zone leaders, but my comp left on Monday so I joined Elder Williams and Elder Porter and they assigned me as Zone Leader, Elder Porter as District Leader, and Elder Williams as Sacrament coordinator! For the first few days it was just the three of us in our district (Elder Porter, Elder Williams and myself) And then we had 9 new missionaries come in on Wednesday. They are so awesome! They are a good group of missionaries and are going to do so well! 4 Sisters and 5 Elders

As much as I love the MTC, I am super glad I am leaving for the real deal this week. I am getting cabin fever here! I can't even imagine what it's like to be here 8 weeks like some of the foreign Elders and Sisters. Maybe that's why I didn't go foreign, God knew how much patience Elder Greenburg has, and that number is 0! Do people still live out there?? JK!    

Every day is an adventure in itself. I find myself feasting on the work as the day goes on. I get super excited about teaching, and finding the needs of those I teach. It has been a long time coming but I am getting the hang of it. I am sure when I get to Missouri everything I have learned will either come into play, or be tossed out the window and something even greater will come in. I guess we will see! OH! and I Elder Jared Michael Greenburg, have beaten the statistic of gaining weight while in the MTC. I have lost 12 pounds! Super stoked about that! Not complaining at all! We have had this amazing teacher. Her name is sister King! She is so powerful and such a sweet heart. last night was our last time with her. And she said the prayer, and it was legit! She poured her heart out and made me cry. #firstMTCcry! Whateves. Also, only Elder Greenburg goes in for a haircut and gets the only MALE barber at the MTC. He did a bang up job though, I think i could play the role as Channing Tatum, without the weird passion crap.

I hope things are going well at home, I pray often about you!

Keep the Faith!