Monday, January 12, 2015

11/10: Hi!



Hi Everyone!

This week has been great! Life is good!

We met with L on Tuesday and Thursday. He is getting baptized on Tuesday! Yay!




On Saturday, we went with the E/V family to make some treats and deliver them to their neighbors! They gave out 6 Book of Mormons too! 










































We aren't going to find out about transfers tomorrow until after 9pm tonight, so we'll see what happens!

Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Sister Danica Greenall

P.S. Here's an awesome Ensign article by Sister A (who we live with!):

Seeing Beyond Myself
By Elizabeth Benac Ashurst

Some time ago my husband and I prayerfully decided it was time for him to make a career change. So we sold our home to raise money to start a new business. Soon it became clear that the business was a failure. Our savings were gone, and we were in financial crisis. Besides our pressing and worrisome debts, we were concerned about providing for our children, two school-age and two preschoolers. Pregnant with our fifth child, I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained. It was a dark time in our lives.

One day the phone rang. The voice on the other end said, “We have a family in need in our ward. Would you please take a casserole to them for their dinner tonight?”

Instinctively I said, “Yes.” Then I hung up the phone and cried. We had been discreet about our problems—perhaps too discreet. Few knew of our own troubled situation.

Through my tears I went to the kitchen and prepared a casserole from the sparse ingredients I found in my cupboard. Then I loaded the baby into the stroller, gathered the other children, and, balancing the casserole on the handle of the stroller, started the mile walk to the home of the family in need.

As we walked, I felt hurt inside. It seemed unfair that I had been asked to help someone else when my own need was also great. We finally reached our destination and were greeted by a distraught family member, who informed me that their child had just been killed in a tragic accident.

In an instant my perspective changed. As I turned to walk home, I was overwhelmed by the sweet spirit of the Comforter. I realized my adversity and affliction would be but a small moment (see D&C 121:7). My husband would find a job; we would get through this. I looked at my children running circles around the stroller. What a blessing they were! And how grateful I was for my good husband—worthy to hold the priesthood, trying so hard to solve our problems, and loving me so much! I had a home to return to, even if we did not own it. I had food in my cupboards, even if it did not provide the menu I would prefer. And I had caring family support.

But most of all, I was grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who, despite my own pressing needs, had extended to me an opportunity to serve another. How little I had given, and how much I had received.

[illustrations] Illustrated by Bethany Scow

Elizabeth Benac Ashurst teaches Relief Society in the Plano Eighth Ward, Plano Texas Stake.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1999/07/mormon-journal/seeing-beyond-myself?lang=eng&query=ashurst#pop_005-99907_000_020

11/3: Halloween!


We had a super fun time passing out candy and pass along cards out at the Trunk or Treat! The other missionaries in the Legacy chapel dressed up in the cowboys and Indians theme too, and the members here really got a kick out of it :) 




10/27: Flag Football and Thank You Cakes


Hi Y'all (I am actually using "y'all" occasionally now...oh no!)

Last Saturday was a fun day! We brought L (far right) to play on our 6th ward flag football team! I even played for the last two minutes; there's me on the far left! All I did was run back and forth but it was a lot of fun. 6th ward dominated!




The majority of the time I cheered for our team with Sister D and T! Next week 6th ward is playing 8th ward, which are both of the wards we serve in! It will be hard to choose which team to cheer for, I guess we will just have to cheer for everyone!



Then we went to 8th ward's Super Saturday learned how to decorate cakes! I decorated the cake with the blue border.








































This week we had some awesome lessons, but we also ran into this guy who was so dead set on convincing us that we should only believe in the Bible and not any other revealed scripture and that God doesn't work in the same way as he did during Bible times. All we could do is bear testimony that God is still a God of miracles and he continues to reveal truths to us just like He did in the accounts of the Bible. Then while I was reading in the Book of Mormon I happened to read these verses that confirmed my belief that miracles are still happening today:

"And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing...Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them... O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles." (Mormon 9:10-19)

Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister D. Greenall

10/20: Another Great Week!


Howdy ya'll!

I was so excited to read today that my sister Erica, who has been serving as a missionary in San Antonio for the last 13 months, finally got her visa and is going to the Brazil Belem Mission where she was originally called! Wow! I am glad she gets to go to Brazil, but I'm also really glad she had some time in Texas. It has been pretty special for me as a missionary in Texas to have my sister be a missionary here too. I am so thankful for her wonderful example to me!

This week on Tuesday and Thursday, we met with L, along with our ward mission leader Brother T. L previously had experience with some other sister missionaries and even went to church with them about a year ago, so when we met him while tracting, he was really receptive! We gave him a Book of Mormon and when he found out he already had one at home, he tried to give the second one to one of his friends at work.

All of our lessons with him have gone so well because he already has a solid foundation on Christ and is so full of faith! One of our lessons with him, we were sitting outside at a picnic table and someone came up to us and asked what we were doing and if he could sit down with us. We gladly said he could join us. As this other man asked us questions, it was fun to see L answering some of the questions that even stumped us and defended our standards.

We were super happy to see him at church yesterday, he even thanked one of the speakers for their talk after sacrament meeting and participated in Gospel Principles class. We had to leave early to get to another ward, but later Brother T sent us a text telling us that L had asked if he could get baptized on an upcoming date, and the date he asked for is a week earlier than the date we were originally going to extend! I am excited to see L get baptized, and make that first and vital covenant with God!

This week we also had the chance to have another recent convert lesson with Tyler. We have been meeting with him and his dad every week since his baptism at different members' home, and it has been awesome to see them continue to support each other and stay active in the gospel!

The members in Plano 6 and 8 continue to take such good care of us! They always make sure we are well fed and have rides to our meetings. They are some of the kindest people you could ever meet! I just love them more and more the longer I stay here! I attached some pictures from when Sister L took us out to Sushi! Yum!

Have a great week, I love being a missionary!
Sincerely,
Sister D. Greenall

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." -Helamen 5:12






10/13: Hi!


This week was sooooooo great! Sorry, I don't have much time to write out an e-mail! Here are some pictures from when the whole mission got together to watch Meet the Mormons!

Here is Sister Da and I with Sister S and Sister P, they are awesome!


























Me and Sister Du, my MTC companion!


























President Taylor, our Mission President, performs for us!



























10/6: General Conference Week!


Hi You All! (I'm not converted to y'all yet, but now saying "you guys" just sounds weird!)

This week multiple people (two of them are now new investigators!) have asked us "Do you really believe this or were you just born into it?" We explain how much this gospel has blessed our lives and how we want to share those blessings with others, but really I want to say: "Yes, I was born in this church, but if I didn't believe it with all my heart, I wouldn't be a missionary!" Honestly, being a missionary is really hard. We are sleep deprived and in a lot of high stress situations. People can be pretty rude to us and we almost get hit by cars while on our bikes pretty frequently. But all of that is nothing compared to all of the miracles we see! As missionaries of the Lord's restored gospel, we have so many days where everything falls into place. Last Thursday we rode our bikes to get to an appointment and then we found out that the person wasn't there. It was discouraging because we rode our bikes 5 miles just to find out our appointment canceled. But we tracted in that apartment complex for a little bit and met someone who was very interested in what we were doing as missionaries and agreed to read the Book of Mormon and let us come back and talk about it! We later ran into our original appointment who said we could come back another day. It was awesome to know even though our original plans didn't work out Heavenly Father's plan was even better.

Also on Tuesday, we met with one of our new investigators for the second time. He wanted to get baptized a couple years ago when he was 17 but his parents wouldn't support him even though they weren't against it. Now he is 19 and asked if we could start coming every Tuesday. We read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon together. He was impressed with the last verse of chapter one, Nephi 1:20: "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." He kept talking about how that last line really resonated with him. When we asked him to say the closing prayer, he did! He asked God to get help with his work schedule so that he can free up his Sundays and go to church. I was so touched by how genuine and sincere and filled with faith his prayer was.

On Saturday and Sunday we got to watch General Conference and it was awesome!! You can watch it at gc.lds.org. One of our investigators in 8th ward was watching it. He is very well versed in the Bible and we have not been seeing him that much as he hasn't been progressing, but he watched all four sessions of conference and asked a lot of questions about it over text! I hope his heart is softening after hearing those inspired messages and he will let us help him on his spiritual journey!

We had so much fun watching conference with the R family! They are the nicest, funnest group of people you could ever meet! All the members here in Plano take such good care of us!

Here we are with Sister R!



































Sister D and I just made ourselves at home in their house :)





The prophet and the apostles are all looking pretty old, seeing the prophet needing help to stand up and Elder Packer looking so tired made me sad, but like King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, God will support his leaders:
"For even at this time, my whole frame doth tremble exceedingly while attempting to speak unto you; but the Lord God doth support me, and hath suffered me that I should speak unto you."
-Mosiah 2: 30

It is fun to read chapters 2-4 in Mosiah with the perspective that is just like General Conference. It is cool to see how the people prepare to hear the words. There are so many principles in preparing for conference that we can apply in our own lives!

Being a missionary is AWESOME!! Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,
Sister D. Greenall

P.S. The Meet The Mormons movie is coming out soon! David Archuleta has an awesome song in the soundtrack that you download for free at: meetthemormons.com/glorious

9/29: Be a PRO for God

Hi Everyone!

The beginning of the week was a little rough, a lot of our appointments canceled and tracting was hard too. The video I attached shows how excited Sister D and I were when some actually answered the door :) But the end of the week was super good.

On Thursday, we went to specialized training (half the mission was there!) We learned about the importance of Praying, Reading the scriptures, and Obeying the commandments everyday. All of us got a ring the says PRO and on the inside it says, "I promise to pray, read, and obey, everyday!" Then we had 3 different training on how to make sure we, ourselves, are always praying, reading, and obeying and how to encourage others to do the same!

On Friday, we met a family who was a referral that the Spanish Sisters had met. They are super excited to learn more about coming closer to Christ! I am excited to meet with them more! I was talking a lot to the mom and answering her questions, and then Sister D looked right at her eleven year old son and said directly to him, "This is for you too, Jesus loves children and he wants you to do this along with your mom." He looked so happy, and had teary eyes. I love moments when the Spirit is there with us and everyone can feel it!

On Saturday, we got to go to the stake center to watch the General Women's Conference! You can watch it at gc.lds.org It was really good, all the speakers had such amazing messages, and it was awesome to know that all the women of the church were watching it all around the world at the same time!

On Sunday, T, who was baptized last week, was welcomed as a new member of our ward. Our Bishop got emotional talking about how much T had been a good influence in the ward. Everyone loves T. :)

Elder Zivic ( https://www.lds.org/church/leader/claudio-d-zivic?lang=eng ) of the seventy was at church in Plano 6th ward last Sunday visiting his young married son (who is one of our awesome ward missionaries!!) My companion and I sang with two elders during church and then Elder Zivic got to end the meeting with his testimony. He shook our hands and thanked us for all we do as missionaries, it was awesome!!

This morning I found this scripture I really like when reading in 2 Corinthians:
“Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.”
-2 Corinthians 2:24 I love helping people find joy by adding to their faith in Christ!

It was transfer week and I am happy to be staying in Plano with Sister D for another 6 weeks! I love being a missionary!!!

Sincerely,

Sister D. Greenall