"Let us not use a sickle, but a combine"

The Lord put in our path 11 new souls to bring to him this week. We
found a Micronesian Family. They are on date for the 26th. Love them
so much! Mahn Trann got married, he and his son PJ will be baptized on
the 12th. I have never seen such faith before. They have come so far.

The Micronesian family opened the door for our return appointment, and
there were two chairs centered in the middle of the room. After a few
minutes, each one of them came and sat before us. In amazement they
heard the message of the restoration of the gospel. They had never
heard of modern prophets and apostles, they never knew of the Book of
Mormon. They didn't comprehend that God could love us that much. But
the spirit was strong, it pierced there hearts, and they wanted to be
baptized. My heart fills with joy concerning these people. I love
them, I hope I don't get transferred.


While pondering what kind of dedication is needed for this work, my
heart draws upon the example of the apostle Paul. His dedication,
understanding, desire and attitude for the work. He moved quickly and
persistently on the impressions he received from the spirit, he did
not doubt neither did he stop for a rest from his purpose. He did not
let anything, anyone, or mediocrity get in his way. (Acts 16:9-10) he
was fixed on his purpose of saving souls. In this account, Paul and
Silas were cast into prison, they continued to sing praises unto God.
This example softened the Jailers heart. When night had fallen, the
Earth began to quake, and the bands had been loosed from Paul and
Silas. The Jailer being woken up, drew his sword for he was fearful
that they escaped, and began to take his own life. Before he could do
this, Paul shouted and Begged the jailer to spare himself, for they
were still there. Even when the Logical thing to do would be to escape
from prison, they didn't. But Paul (unwritten) acted on the impression
to call out to the Jailer, and the jailer came to him and asked what
he needed to do to be saved. Did Paul tell him he wasn't worth it? Did
he hold any grudges? Was his heart fixed on his afflictions? Was his
heart bitter toward him? NO! He began to preach the gospel like a
champ. Because he understood his calling, he knew what the Lord wanted
him to do, and he did it, and resisted not. He could not bear that any
soul should perish. He knew his calling, and he dedicated himself to
the work of the Lord. He baptized the jailer, and many others that
were there. The fruits of his labors were plentiful. He was a mighty
man, and he loved the Lord. It mattered not that he was slain, it was
a privilege to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was standing
there with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and
perfect missionary that ever lived.

I testify, that dedicated service, understanding our purpose, and
having the desire and attitude to teach all men will bring more souls
unto Christ than anything else we do. Because the definition of all
this is the act of Charity, the pure love of Christ. Charity is
manifest when we act on the impressions we receive, steady our course,
and move with compassion. Charity, is enduring our afflictions with
faith in Jesus Christ. Charity, is preaching the gospel no matter what
the cost, circumstances, or places we may be in. I know this to be
true, I know the power of the priesthood is real, it has cast out many
unclean things in my midst (D&C 50:23) it has given me the power and
strength to overcome my trials. It is real. It is here to bless all
men, this I know, nothing doubting, for I truly know it.
I had a good thanksgiving, nothing like home though! We had it at an old folks home and an old lady told us she was a nudist. How was thanksgiving? 

Elder Greenburg

Missouri Independence Mission

Kansas City Missouri Area

Dun da da dun!

This week was nuts! Our gangster boy is on fire! He's going to get
married on Wednesday so he can get baptized! He's a stud and I love
him! He has made so much progress. He hasn't smoked in like 2 weeks,
he's been making so much progress! This week was pretty dry though as
far as new investigators. The family we found last week dropped us.
Probably okay though, that was a sketchy situation.

I have been studying a lot about the Nature of God. It's interesting
to know what kind of love, and all around long suffering he has for
his children. Thinking about that humbles me. He has given, and
continues to give. All he asks of us, is that we keep his
commandments. He gives us commandments, because he loves us. We show
him our love by obedience. I have taken for granted is that he
continues to give each time. Even after my end of the deal is
finished. Internalizing the love that is needed for the savior is the
only way to truly change, and obey his commandments. I can be obedient
with many different motives. Each motive has a consequence, if the
motive is temporal, then the obedience is temporary, if the motive is
eternal, then the obedience is eternal. Love for the lord is the only
source for eternal obedience. Fear is not a good motive to obey, but
love is. Love endureth forever.


The question i commonly ask to those I teach, and to myself is "are
you really committed? If you love the Lord, you will keep his
commandments even when it seems impossible" he wants to bless us, he
wants to fill is, and the strength we obtain is eternal.

I testify that all things are possible through him. He is our captain.
He is at the helm.

Elder Greenburg
Missouri Independence Mission
Kansas City Missouri Area

Is it just me, or does that sister missionary look like she is 12?

High Profile Case

Well, Chris finally got baptized! He was investigating for 4 months.
The baptism was awesome! The font had a slow leak, so I dunked him in
knee deep water. That was quite the experience. He's now part of the
YSA Ward. I somehow always find YSA people...lol well, I actually know
the answer to that. But that will not be revealed here. :)

I am on cloud 9! I love my mission so much!

We found a family this week! There was a woman that we street
contacted, a subtle prompting brought us to her. Her house was covered
in posters that state "Bring our sister back". We started talking to
her, and it wasn't long before she began to cry, she told us a
sensitive story, about how her baby was kidnapped 5 years ago out of
her crib. The spirit was strong, and we bore simple testimony that our
father in heaven knows more about how she felt that anyone. He had to
watch each one of us make our journey to earth, and then struggle
through the years of life here. Her countenance changed, and a smile,
and sense of comfort came over her. We returned, and her family joined
in on the lesson.

The sad part of that story, is that the mother is one of the main
suspects in the case, and we might have to discontinue our visits with
them until the case is cleared. (Names have been Withheld per data
privacy laws)

I learned a great deal about the spirit in this work. Here are a few
impressions I received.

Many rely on their own learning, and deny the utterance of the Holy
Ghost. They pride themselves in their intellect, but lack the humility
needed to learn from the spirit.  Yet, they still yearn for spiritual
things. They seek comfortable doctrine, and pervert it for things of
godliness. They testify of the incomprehensible God. Which is a true
doctrine, but they lack the understanding that knowledge of his divine
nature is obtained "line upon line, precept upon precept" by the power
of the Holy Ghost. One who does not understand God, will not
understand himself, if he does not understand himself he will not
understand the truth, if the understanding of the truth is lost, the
man becomes carnal, subject to any "wind of doctrine by the sight of
man", and his "cunning craftiness" (Eph 4:11-14)

 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor 2:14

One of Many reasons why the Natural Man does not sit comfortably in
the chapel of Latter Day Saints,  because they are not comfortable in
the presence of the Lord. They are more comfortable with the world,
because the world won't make them change. Those who do not practice
heavenly things, will never become heavenly. So the stand point of
those who do not comprehend the things of God is simply because they
never wanted to or they wanted to, but relied on man to tell them what
God is, rather than relying on the spirit to reveal to them the nature
of God. That is the concept of man creating God in his own image,
rather than God creating man in his image. The mislead idea is that
when we were born, we were created in gods image. YES. But I pose this
question: Is our creation ended at birth? Or do we continue to be
created throughout our mortal existence, or possibly further than
that? The thing that is needed to understand, is by whom are we
created? What materials are being used in the creation process? And
what are we trying to become.

When we follow the Lord, we build in the Light, and stature of Gods
materials. The commandments, the scriptures, the spirit, the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, are all materials needed to build our image and
countenance of the Almighty. We have been given a body, which is the
First step to Godhood. The Second step to Godhood however, is the
freedom to choose. The ability to act, rather than be acted upon. All
things are given to us which are expedient to us, they are subject for
us to grow in the knowledge and image of God, or the captivity and
power of the devil, his misery, his cunning craftiness.. We can choose
"Liberty, and eternal life through the great mediator of all men, or
to choose captivity and death according to the captivity and power of
the devil". (2 Nephi 2:27)  If we want to honor the doctrine of being
created in the image of God, we must learn his attributes. We learn
his attributes by the Holy Ghost through diligent scripture study, and
the words of the living prophet. So one who does not know the
attributes or cannot comprehend God, is because they have not looked
or searched for his spirit. They have not used his materials-the
gospel-to understand him.

Thus it is expedient to have his spirit in this work. The spirit is
the only tool we have to pierce the wall surrounded by the carnal.
Much opposite to the spirit is the carnal thinking of our own talents.
This is where most missionaries fall short of talking with everyone. I
myself struggled with this a great deal. In common social stand
points, it is un- natural to walk up to a random person, and declare
the gospel, or for that matter, to talk to any random person about
anything is un- heard of these days. When we don't have the spirit with
us, and the carnal has set in; the awkwardness of talking to strangers
settles in, we begin to fear, the isolation and single mindedness
begins, and we are left unto ourselves, it is interesting to note that
self centered attributes are applied to our lives as soon as mistakes
are made. But the only cure is to turn outward, to repent. With
repentance comes the Holy Ghost. Those people are now not as awkward
to talk to, the lord puts words in your mouth to say, and you are not
confounded before man. Any situation, and person. It is the only tool
needed in this work to pierce hearts, break down walls, and be
converted to the gospel.

Busy busy

This week was sweet! Our investigator Chris is getting baptized this
Saturday. He's sweet! He's gonna be a missionary! We have been
teaching him for 4 months and he finally accepted a date, has a
testimony, and wants his family to join. We are excited!

We didn't get to do the Q&A with the baptist congregation, but we are
still working to find one. We want to teach them a lesson from preach
my gospel chapter 3, and then do 5-10 Minutes of Q&A. I'm so blessed
to be able to represent the Lord, and serve a mission. I love what I
do, I love the change it is making in me. I learn a new lesson every
day, it sometimes humbles me to tears, and other times pricks my
heart.

I really don't have too much to say, other than I got a lot of candy
this week, and I'm pumped for the weekend.


Yup okay.

Elder Greenburg
Missouri Independence Mission
Kansas City Missouri Area

Spiritual Giant

This week was really good, we had a lot of success with our
investigators. We did some good ground work, and found a few preachers
to teach this week. We are planning on offering him a Q&A with his
congregation about our beliefs. I'm pumped for this! I love answering
questions! The preacher is taking a pretty good interest in the Book
of Mormon. We are going to start walking in to more synagogues and
asking religious leaders of we could take a few minutes to speak to
their congregations. I love the restored gospel so much, the Lord has
blessed me to be fearless. It is my prayer that I continue to push
this gift forward. I can't believe it's November already! Where did
the year go? I don't want the time to keep going by!

We had an amazing teaching appointment this week. A few days prior to
this event, we stopped by a less active family. Their teaching record
said "we are never going back to church again!" We knocked on the
door, and the mother answered. She was extremely nice to us, and
invited us to have dinner with the family that Saturday. We were blown
away when she said. "What made you want to serve missions? I want my
daughter to serve." We bore testimony of the Atonement, we told her it
was a big factor in us coming into the mission field. After this we
asked her if she knew anyone we could go visit. She pointed to the
apartment building across the street and said "his wife is a member,
but not on the records of our ward." We went and knocked, and a man
opened the door.  We asked him if his wife was there, and he said no.
And then we asked him if he was a member. He said "no, I have tried
many different church's, and they all judge me. I never feel right for
God." We helped him understand the Savior, and when he was rejected by
his own. After much conversation he accepted a return appointment. We
taught him the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. (I learned that I have a
powerful gift) but I will explain that later in my letter. I saw this
man, full of regret. He had been raised in "the hood" in KCK. Prior to
that he lived in Ukraine, and his mom was sold to an American soldier.
The look in his eyes was dark, complexed, and hollow. He said "I don't
get it, based on the life I've been born into, it's almost like I'm
destined for hell, I've had to do many things that I wish I didn't. I
had to defend myself many times. I know I'm going to hell" I didn't
see it, I refused to believe him. I testified with all my heart that
he was a child of God. That he has every bit of potential to reach
heaven as I did. I watched this tough guys eyes tear up, his
countenance change, and a new light enter into the room. I asked him
what he was feeling right now and he said "Elders, it feels like you
are taking a sponge to a dirty soul, I feel a powerful feeling deep
inside that I've never felt before" I invited him to be baptized and
he said most definitely (he's on for 12/12/15). At the end of the
lesson we invited him to pray. The most sincere prayer I have ever
heard anyone say, when he thanked God for the message we gave to him.
We told the Less Active Family about the experience, and testified of
the healing and enabling power of the Atonement. And that the
sacrament is the most important thing you could partake of. We told
them that the Ward needed them, and that they could be a great force
for good, after much discussion. They came to church that following
Sunday, and they had a marvelous time.

I learned something about myself this week, that I didn't quite
comprehend before. In my Patriarchal Blessing it talks about seeing
people for who they really are, my brothers and sisters, and if my
desires are aloof from the distractions of the world, they will be
turned to my Heavenly Father, and his work here. Only through the Holy
Ghost can this be accomplished. This gift came into play when I was
studying for my investigators this week. As I was studying, I would
ponder what they said during our last appointment. I thought about
their feelings, how I came off, how they understood, how I understood.
Something interesting happened. I knew what they needed! Immediately
the spirit helped me know what I could say to them, what I could
prepare. I saw between the lines, I broke down the walls, and I saw a
child of God, scared, alone, discouraged, and wanting to give up. I
saw someone completely blinded by the apostasy around them, but are
too afraid to act because they have been raised in it. I see that most
people don't want to act on our message because they are scared to
jump out of their own comfortable spots (I don't blame them) it's a
real fear. But the joy that comes to my heart is a sense of empathy,
compassion, and charity. I know exactly how they feel. I am able to
see right through them, I have been able to sense their want, need,
and skepticism. The Spirit is sweet, the Lord knows their heart, and
as I remain worthy I pray that I will continue to see their hearts as
well, because it has really helped me in my finding.

Welp! That's about it!

Love ya!



Elder Greenburg
Missouri Independence Mission
Kansas City Missouri Area

"So you believe in the Apostasy!"

This week was so legit. We were extremely bold this week about
preaching the gospel to everyone. We had many occasions that were
quite historical. One in particular was when we were knocking doors at
8:30pm. We came across this man vacuuming his front room with the door
open. He saw us coming, he stopped and said "alright what do you
want?" I gave him our spill and he said: "I don't like religion, all
church's just confound one another, and want money, and build
themselves up to get gain. I'm not a fan" I said without a moments
hesitation: "Brother, you believe in the apostasy! So do we! Our
message is that the church of Jesus Christ is restored." He said: "Do
you really want me to slam this door in your face?" And I said: "sure,
but I'll be back. I love ya!" I truly did see the hurt in that mans
eyes, but I saw his countenance change as I bore solemn witness of the
restored gospel.

On another occasion we came across a Baptist Preacher. (This was our
third for the week.) He had attended the temple open house of the KC,
MO temple in 2012. He said he had a few questions, and we were happy
to answer them for him. His 1st was the account in the Book of
Revelation Chapter 22:18-19 18 "For I testify unto every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add
unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of
life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written
in this book."
These verses of scripture have been cited repeatedly by those
attempting to discredit the Book of Mormon. After I let the Man go on
for about 10 minutes, he finally came to the end of his rope, and I
was finally able to answer his question.  To use John’s words, only to
the words of “the book of this prophecy.” That is, the prophecy
contained in the book of Revelation. This is held by the fact that
some of the books of the New Testament had not yet been written when
John wrote the book of Revelation, and even those that had been
written and were in existence at that time had not yet been gathered
into one compilation.

After this, he looked puzzled. I then had room to testify of the truth
and divinity of the Book of Mormon, and of the restored Gospel. He
accepted a copy, and said he would read it. He then started to go off
about the Trinity, and how we are not Christians because we believe in
the GodHead. I quoted Acts 7:55-56 when God and Jesus appeared to
Stephen.  "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the
Son of man standing on the right hand of God." Clearly enough, we see
the testimony of 3 separate personages. One in purpose. I then
testified of the first vision when Joseph Smith saw God the Father and
his son Jesus Christ in the grove of trees in 1820.

Something clicked in my heart this week after being rejected several
times Elder Burke said: "should we just go rest or something" I said
without even realizing it: "No, I love preaching this gospel too much
to give up now. We can rest later." I grew 10 feet tall after that,
and we had many fruitful conversations with people this week. I don't
know what happened, but the Lord had strengthened me. And I was able
to carry out his work.

I have a testimony that Jesus is the Christ. He has taken upon himself
our infirmities, that we might return to our loving Heavenly Father,
and become like him.



Elder Greenburg
Missouri Independence Mission
Kansas City Missouri Area

Come to Zion, Come to Zion October 19,2015

This week was historic! I witnessed the opening of the Far West stake! There were 4,000 people in attendance. It was a beautiful sight! Our zone was changed up pretty bad. New zone leaders and everything. Pretty sweet. This week was a rush of trying to contact the 8 people we found last week, we dropped 4 already. Well, we actually found a family, and then we found out they weren't in our area, so we had to give them to the areas missionaries. It's cool though. Salvation comes either way. 

Some lessons I learned from my studies. 

What is the relationship between the first principles of the gospel and Christlike attributes?
Moroni 8:25-26
Faith unto fulfilling the commandments, is a line of obedience, which are both attributes of Christ. So first and for-most we must be obedient in order to show faith to our Heavenly Father. Obedience to the commandments is a principle of faith, especially when we don't fully understand, if we desire more faith, we must be more obedient. 

When we are obedient we Repent of our sins. Repentance brings on the principles and attributes of humility, meekness, and submission to Gods will. When we Repent, we begin to seek Gods approval, we hunger to become better. 

When we have repented, we are Baptized. Which is the first fruits of repentance. Because we exercised Faith we have kept the commandments. Which then brings a remission of sins. Aligning our wills with God is simply replacing bad habits with good habits. 

When we receive a remission of sins we are Meek and Lowly in heart. Another attribute of Christ. 

And then we Receive The Holy Ghost. Which is the comforter. When we feel the Holy Ghost we have hope, and perfect Love, and that is the principle of diligence. 


Almost anything we desire, is achieved with discipline. 
Discipline is the action of Obedience. Obedience is the action of Faith. Faith sends forth heavens power. Heavens power sends forth the comforter, the comforter sends forth love. And love enables us to be diligent. Love enables us to be patient, Charitable, courageous, humble, virtuous, and endowed with power. Only through the Holy Ghost can we see events, and people as God sees them. We cannot execute our purpose without it. Every Key indicator would turn into a competition, every person we meet would turn into a number or baptismal statistic, we would only search for investigators in clean environments and people that look the part of a clean soul, the next door we knock on wouldn't seem worth it, and eventually we would "be left unto [ourselves] to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints and to fight against God". In order to be A Christlike missionary I must learn that "No power, or influence can or ought to be maintained by Virtue of the priesthood; only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness and by love unfeigned. By kindness and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy and without guile" D&C 121 

We can't become like Christ, if we do not execute our purpose. It's insanity to have one, and not the other. 

"We need to be Christlike missionaries, not just do missionary things.
We follow his example-Develop his attributes-one action at a time."


I have a testimony of this everlasting gospel. 




Elder Greenburg
Missouri Independence Mission
Kansas City Missouri Area