WEEK 16 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 18 OF MISSION)

Friends and fammmmmm!! I hope you all had an awesome time and a good Christmas!!! I had a pretty crazy week and simply had a wonderful Christmas time!

All-Mission Christmas Party!

So many missionaries all together!
There are around 200 in his mission.

A little toast to celebrate Christmas Eve with the boiis
(Dr. Pepper)

Diving into a little hot cocoa.
Mug and beanie provided by besties Anna and C Livi

Skype! So great to see him talking and laughing

Christmas Dinner at the Hansens.
Not sure what the crowns are for and Mikey
said he didn't know either, haha!

We got ourselves into some pretty weird situations this week. As we always seem to haha so me and Elder Lopez on Saturday didn't have anything scheduled because, well everybody was doing family stuff still. So we decided we were still going to show the Lord we cared. So we went out to door knock for the whole day!!! We had some success which I will tell you about in my spiritual section. However, while we were door knocking the weather took a turn for the worst. The rain came down like I had never seen before. But we didn't stop we just kept knocking. After a little while we started to notice that like nobody was answering or even being outside. Finally, somebody answered and was like what are you guys doing? We are under a tornado watch! hahaha and me and Elder Lopez didn't even know because our phone is so crappy! So we drove to Walmart and had to hang there for a while. haha later that night we had to help somebody move in during the craziest rainstorm I have ever seen!!! My mom has a picture of us haha it was sooo much fun actually.  However, like all of Bella Vista is flooded and it is pretty rough.

Moving Sister Christofferson during Tornado Warning!

Mikey & Elder Lopez had to rescue the other
two elders after their car slid off the road!

A super cool spiritual experience we had while we were having this rough door knocking day. I was getting pretty down on myself. Talking with the fam and then having to come back to kind of the harsh reality of door knocking for hours was not doing too well and I was being super selfish in my mind. Thinking like why does this have to be so hard? Why do I have to do this? I want to be home with my family! Then, the words of our prophet rang in my ears, "Why should it be easy for you, when it was never easy for our perfect Savior." I picked myself up and started to look outward and care about others. Immediately the day turned around. We had investigators show up to church the next day (where I spoke in both sacraments ;)  haha but man sacrifice really brings forth the blessings of heaven. 

Have an awesome New Years!!! Bring on 2k16 and Meek now enters "His Dark year" haha the only year I will not be home at all haha keep me in your prayers please haha love you all!

Ya boi Elder Green 

WEEK 15 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 17 OF MISSION)

Hello everybody back hommmme!!!!!!!!! 

I am having a great time out here in Arkansas getting ready for Christmas!!! Me and Elder Lopez had an awesome week this past week and taught a ton of lessons and got a ton of new potential investigators! The Christmas time seems to soften everybody’s hearts and I love this time of year. 

Mikey and his new companion, Elder Lopez, while emailing from the church ;)

I had a cool experience when I was teaching Sherrie this week. She is an awesome lady and we really have been pushing baptism for her and trying to get her to commit. She has a lot of questions and this last visit while we were teaching her she started asking some questions really none of which I knew the answer too. I bore probably my most humble and most powerful testimony I ever had because I looked at Sherrie and just said something like this, "Sherrie, I have no idea what the answers to any of your questions are. We could find them and I could find them. But they don't matter. I know Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and that is all I had to come to the knowledge of to know this church is true. Sherrie if it wasn't true you wouldn't meet with us and be feeling the spirit you are right now. Sherrie I love you and I want you to feel the Joy, peace, and comfort I feel with this gospel. I know you know what I am saying is true Sherrie." Pretty bold and I did not know really what I was even saying as the words were coming out of my mouth. All I know is I love this lady so much and I know how awesome the gospel is and I want her to have it so badly in her life. We challenged her to pray and really ask God and went over how to have real intent etc. We hope to set a baptismal date next visit.

The message that I have for everybody at this Christmas season is similar to the one I shared with Sherrie. There are only a handful of questions you need to have answered to know which church is true. I know the church has been restored. Do not complicate things in our lives by searching for temporal answers for spiritual questions. I am no master of the scriptures, or preacher, or anything related to that. However, the things I do know are the most important and everlasting truths on the earth. They all can be found in their complete form in the restored church today. Around this time I am especially grateful for the knowledge I have of my Savior. I am so glad that our Heavenly Father loved us enough to send us our Savior. I love my Savior so much and love that we get to celebrate his birth at this time. There is no other knowledge that brings happiness and peace to my life as much as my knowledge of our Savior does.

I hope you all have an awesome Christmas. Don't complicate our lives. Keep things simple. I love you all have a great Christmas!

WEEK 14 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 16 OF MISSION)

Hi family and friends!

I had another good week this week!!! A funny story and an awesome story from this week came on Saturday when we all went to this lady that I love who is a less active named Bernadette.  We went and did service for her and we raked around a gazillion leaves for her and it was pretty hard work and she appreciated it a ton and stuff.  After she made some of the slappiest quesadillas you have ever eaten. Elder Gordon whipped us up some of the meanest cheese quesadillas ever on the stove in her house.  After all the work was done we got into a little shenanigans when we found her daughter Pandora's old skateboard.  My main man Elder Gordon who also likes to skate, and I decided to try it out a little. So then here I am with a quesadilla in my hand just bombing this huge hill and it was the best day of my life haha just a little tender mercy from the Lord allowing me to SK8 a little.  

Mikey "shredding the gnar" and giving Elders Maupin and Gordon five at the end.

Okay now back to the important stuff.  How service can touch people's hearts.  That next day which was Sunday Burnadette and her non-member daughter Pandora and her baby girl Gabi all came to church and they want us to come over and teach them and it was so awesome to see them be touched by our service and I can't wait to teach them. Anywho hope you all have a good week

Elder Green 

WEEK 13 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 15 OF MISSION)

"Elders Lopez and Green take over all of Arkansas"

Wuzzzzup Family and Friends!!!!!

I hope you guys all had an awesome week :)

My week was rather crazy!! haha it was transfers this week and so I had to say goodbye to Elder Hess. It was kind of weird and hard to do actually. He and I were best buddies and I just felt like I would serve all two years with him. He was an awesome missionary though and my new comp is too!

Saying goodbye to Elder Hess

My new comp, Elder Lopez, is awesome and we had a good week this week teaching. But my spiritual story for this week actually comes from before transfers when Elder Hess was saying goodbye as we taught his last lesson to our investigator Sherrie. We had an awesome time discussing faith and reading from the Book of Mormon with her and she is just so awesome. When it was getting time for us to go the mood of everything changed and I don't think I had ever felt the spirit so strong and Sherrie with tears rolling down her cheeks told Elder Hess thank you for not giving up on her. Sherrie has investigated the church for a couple of years now and she is just awesome. She looked at Elder Hess and said that when she gets baptized she wants him to know that he was a part of her conversion. Sometimes it can be frustrating as a missionary when you don't get to see a ton of results for yourself personally with baptisms. I get selfish and think this too sometimes. However, it isn't about us as the missionaries and it just showed me that the Lord has His time for everybody and is preparing everybody in their own way and I just love my mission and that was so cool. I hope to progress Sherrie as far as I can while I am here :)

Mikey and Elder Lopez at the Pea Ridge Parade.
He didn't say what kind of parade. Check out
all the Books of Mormon under his arm ;)

A funny story from this week is because the window is still out and one day we came home to a bird flying around our house hahahah we were so confused. Haha I love my mission though. Everybody back home I love you guys thank you for all the encouragement and love! Have an awesome week, remember the Savior. He is the only reason any of us can even wake up and smile. Take the time to thank our Father in Heaven for his Son. He is the gift. He saved us all, I know it with all my heart. I want it clear after I pass from this life that I believed in our Savior. Love you all.

Have a ballin week

Elder $waggy Green  

WEEK 12 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 14 OF MISSION)

"Ballin Turkey Week"

hi friends and family!!!!

Since everybody is dying to hear how my Thanksgiving was...it was awesome!!! It can be hard being out here during the holidays especially being a little 18-year-old boy haha but anyway we had dinner at like 2:00 at a member's house and met a lot of nonmembers and had an awesome meal! Then we went to the Sugar Creek ward mission leader's home. He was apparently "A ping pong legend." Unfortunately for him he forgot that the Pea Ridge elders ball at everything. After Elder Hess and I gave him a quick slap to the face both beating him in a series of 3 games, we graciously shook his hand and proceeded to put our pictures on the winners’ board. (He takes pictures of every missionary he plays and puts them on the wall with either a thumbs down or up...I was up of course) Other than that we just visited members and laughed and had an awesome time.

That's the way Mikey! Lean away from the ladies ;)

Thanksgiving Day Ping Pong.
The shirt's untucked -- it's serious!

A few little stories that I feel like sharing from this week: The first coming on a rainy, rainy night when we were trying to contact this kid in Pea Ridge named Israel. We had never met him before but had his address so I knocked on the door only to find Israel not home. I stumbled over my words talking to his dad, Juan, it was a less than successful door knock. I walked away kind of let down and down on myself. When the spirit told me not to get in the car but to knock a few more doors. I stood there in the rain and after my experience at the last door kind of thought, “Why God? It is rainy and cold and late.” But I spoke up and said Elder Hess can we knock that door over there? He was like for sure. So we walked over there and knocked the door. Brandon opened the door, who was like a 20 or so year-old kid, and he was like “Me and my family have been looking for a home church!!!” And I was like no way!!! Here is the address of our church!!! God is so good and will make our weak things become strong :)

We had a super good week and our investigators are progressing! Love you guys hope you have a great week!

Elder GREEN boy

WEEK 11 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 13 OF MISSION)

WHAT UP FAM AND FRIENDSSSS

Another good week out here in Bella Vista arkansas a little bit of a rougher week with the holidays coming up a lot of people cancelled on us which can be discouraging but still a good week.

 

With that lampshade behind his head it kind of looks like a Pilgrim hat, haha!
So "Happy Thanksgiving from Mikey."

We have been playing basketball on Tuesday nights trying to see if we can just have some non-members come and hang out and see that Mormons are normal and cool and fellowship them a little. At first this wasn't going to hot and it was just members showing up. However, this week was awesome we had 3 non-members come with our members who invited them, and also two 18-year-old boys from our ward who are kind of not sure if a mission is for them and we got to go out on exchanges with one of them because of this basketball thing we have set up. It just helped me a lot to see that missionary work isn't just knocking doors and teaching lessons but it is showing people love and can be done any time and anywhere. :)

Also a funny story from this week, we got locked out of our house haha and we needed to get back in so me being the ninja that I am just slipped off one of the windows and set it down. When stepping into the house I tripped getting in and fell right on the window and shattered it... haha and now currently cold air is just blowing straight into our house that already has a broken heater haha it has been a rather cold week. But we will fix it... sometime haha love you guys have a great week

 

Their District. Gotta love the careful spacing between the Sisters and the Elders!
Good job Mikey ;)

Elder Green

WEEK 10 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 12 OF MISSION)

WHASSUPPP friends and fam!!!

Skateboarding in a suit!!!

Mikey prepping for bed by warming up
with their awesome heating system!

He looks happier now that he's in bed and
waiting for Elder Hess to finally turn off the lights.

It was another good week! Not anything too out of the usual but really everyday is unusual out here in weird arkansas. But it keeps it fun. We are still awaiting a bunch of paperwork for some of our investigators before they can get baptized because they never actually got divorced from their old spouses and stuff so that can be a little frustrating but I am super happy we have some commitments. 

The highlight from this week with me was probably actually when I was out on an exchange with one of my close mission friends, Elder Hawkins. We were out to teach this 9-year old who is being baptized next Saturday and her very less active mom. It was a cool experience because I had studied pretty hard on this one subject all week. Well anyway in the lesson Elder Hawkins was killing it as we were teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ and he is seriously an awesome teacher, and it was his area so he was really leading the lesson. Sister Hardigrass stopped him though at one point and asked him the very question I had been studying all week and it left him stumped. He looked at me and I was so excited to give this lady an answer that she could come to peace with and I felt so good about myself being guided in my studies it was super cool!!! But I love my mission I learn a ton every day and actually have a lot of fun out here haha mainly because I have such awesome people around me. The gospel is true everywhere. I love you guys back home. Have a ballin week! 

Mikey with Elder Hawkins aka Hawk Daddy, mobbing at McD's
after a dinner appointment cancelled on them.

Mikey said: "A group of people were huddled around this at McD's!
Pretty crazy and so sad!
Such a cool time to wear Christ's name on my chest though!
Pray for the people of France and especially
for my boiii Elder Jmatty to be safe and protected."

Elder GREEENNNN

WEEK 9 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 11 0F MISSION)

Hi friends and family! I hope you all had great weeks!

 

Mikey said, "No Mom I didn't skateboard on my mission ;)"
Maybe this is how his shoes get ruined!

His comment about this pic was,
"Just in case my Ward Mission Leader says I dont have the silkiest pull up game!"

I am doing great and had a really good week!!! A few tender mercies from the week first happened this Thursday night as we went to teach a lady Sherrie. She is the mother of a convert who still lives out here and she has been taught the lessons for like as long as our records go back. She is an awesome lady. She lives in like a trailer in the woods. You would not believe how nice this trailer home is though haha it is soo nice and blew my mind because you would never expect the inside to look the way it does when you pull up. Anyways when we were teaching her she had a lot of really trying doctrinal questions. To be honest I was kind of stumped at her questions and they were deep and hard to answer. Then her son who was with us teaching responded with something I think we all should think about, but he said. "Mom, what does the science behind resurrection have to do with your salvation?" Whenever we have things come up in the church we question. Check your testimony and ask if that problem you have really has anything to do with our salvation and the basics of the gospel. 

Another short experience that was awesome is we got to finally go teach somebody that we recently found out in the middle of the woods while looking for less active members. We ran into this lady named Lynne. When our day was slow this Friday I texted her just to see how she was doing and she replied like a five page text about how she had sat in her house staring at the little card we left her with our number just debating whether to call us and asked us to please come over! It was way awesome. She lives in the woods alone with no family, she has been abandoned by everybody and also was abandoned to take care of 38 cats. It is quite a crazy experience because all of the cats that live in the house and she is so loving, she just takes care of them. Not a lot of them are her cats, they are her son's who has left her and broken contact with her. When Lynne went to the hospital earlier in life she left with around 3 cats and came back to the 30 or so she has now. She needs our help and I love her and love my mission, a lot of times when we judge others in this world we don't even know the story behind them or care to look at their hearts. I need to be better at this and my mission sure helps a lot. Have an awesome week everybody. The church is true. If you don't know for yourself read the Book of Mormon... It is simple ;) Love you guys

Selfie in their almost identical ties

Elder Green :)

WEEK 8 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 10 OF MISSION)

Hi friends and fam!!! 

Mikey and Elder Hess at a Chili Cook Off

This week was really good and a lot of fun!!! 

We had a lot of Halloween parties this week. Stuff like chili cook-offs and stuff with the two branches that I serve in. The Pea Ridge branch had theirs first this week on Wednesday and it was so awesome we had something like 12 investigators show up!!! We were pretty stoked because we had been working really hard to invite everybody and then they all showed up besides 2 so that was awesome and a really good time.

The Glover's had them over for dinner on Halloween
and gave them these awesome masks!

Mikey loving all the children at the Halloween Party!

In the Metfield branch our work has not been going as well as in Pea Ridge. Metfield can be a little harder because it is like a town for people who have retired and so a lot of them do not like us teenagers knocking on there doors haha. But anyway at the Halloween party for them we had Vonnie’s grandchildren come who don't really ever get to do fun stuff like that and they loved it so much! They ran around and it was awesome to see them light up. We are hoping to get their whole entire family out to church next week which consists of like 9 people from one house so that will be awesome. And we also had a lady named Sherrie make it to the party who is one of our new investigators.

Halloween Night with nothing to do haha
Check out the BYU Game Day t-shirt ;)

Does Mikey realize he needs to open his mouth a little
to show his vampire teeth?

On Halloween we aren't allowed to be out past 6 PM so that was really weird and as you will see in some of the pictures me and Elder Hess were being quite weird haha. Holidays on the mission are really different but also a lot of fun. Nobody trick or treated our house though. Probably because we are in the middle of nowhere in the woods haha but I love my mission and this week was awesome! I hope all of you had good weeks at home and a good Halloween!!!! Thank you for all the love and support!

Sugar Cookies from home :)

Elder Green :)

WEEK 7 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 9 OF MISSION)

"First Transfer Done!"

HEY FAM and FRIENDS

Enjoying an awesome pizza dinner with Halloween decor
thanks to some wonderful members ;)

Mikey bathing in the treats from people!!!
Thanks so very much!

It was another good week in Arkansas

A cool spiritual experience I had this week was another one involving me letting the natural man get in the way. One day all of our plans fell through nobody was home and it was really frustrating. We sat in our car just thinking of like anything we could do and it really can get your spirits down on your mission when you have nothing to do and don't know where to go. So I said a prayer in my heart and really wanted just something to do. Haha well a few moments Elder Hess said lets just go grab some lunch and then maybe we will figure out what to do. And for some reason he wanted to go to Walmart I can't even remember and me being kind of frustrated because I was like why walmart but whatever haha. So we went to Walmart and picked up some things we needed and some food. As we walked out we ran into like 3 of our investigators... I really couldn't believe it. One of them being this family named the Price's. They are like golden investigators out here and we got it scheduled to teach them the next day and they want to be involved in our church so bad. The next day we got to go into their home and they have such an awesome little family and they are coming to our Halloween Party at the church and we are so excited for them to get to meet some members and set some baptismal dates.

Things are really good out here and our recent convert Vonnie is finally doing better. I was fortunate enough to give her a blessing this week before she went to all of her doctors appointments and things turned around for her so fast. I love her a ton she is so awesome. She has a super hard time not having anything in her life that she used to have so she loves seeing us Elders. Also, just from being over at her house we have gotten like 3 other people who want to come to church and we are so excited for all of them and it feels so awesome to get to feel like you are making a difference and brightening peoples' day.

Nothing weird happened this week, that actually is a little weird in itself. Except for that for the last two sundays, after church we have came out to flat tires... We aren't sure if somebody is like doing something to them, but it can be a little frustrating haha so we will be making a trip to Firestone tomorrow for the second week in a row and this sunday we will be keeping a close eye on the corolla haha 

love you all! have a great week the gospel is true! Joseph Smith saw the first vision. If you don't believe it read the Book of Mormon ;) thats really all there is too it hahah 

Love elder Green 

WEEK 6 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 8 OF MISSION)

"Party in Pea Ridge"

So are we gonna smile or be serious in this one?

Emmaleigh and Mikey in front of her family's chicken coup

Mikey called this, "The chicken killing squad!"
Does Emmaleigh know this???

Mikey and the Goats ;)

Elder Hess trying to keep warm while studying!
Could this be more dangerous!!!

Hello Friends and Family!!!

I had another good week full of stuff that is crazy as usual. I had a lot of special experiences happen this week that impacted me a lot out here.

This past week on Wednesday, elder hess and I were asked to go to mutual and teach about missionary work to the priests of the Metfield branch. We weren't really sure what to expect. We were in a small room with 4 or 5 of the priests and their leader, the atmosphere was not serious and the spirit was not there. I remember how I was at 17 and the lack of interest I had in church related stuff and my heart was beating super hard as I looked at these 17 year olds who were unsure about serving a mission just as I was. I was asked by the leader, Brother Andreason, to share how I came to the decision to serve a mission. In this moment I had such a strong spirit overcome me as I looked around the room with some of the priests on their phones and not really caring about the meeting. So, I spoke up and bore my most powerful testimony I have ever born and as I was speaking my heart was so full. I felt as though when I looked into one specific priest’s eyes who is an athlete at his school, that I was looking into my own 17 year old eyes. I explained in my testimony that I am just like them because of still really only being 18 and new to my mission. And that like a lot of them I was unsure about leaving on my mission, but I realized an important and simple truth that Joseph Smith saw the first vision and so there wasn't really a decision to be made but that this church is the only true church, and that I need to commit my life to that. It really is pretty simple, either the Book of Mormon is true or it isn't. I know that it is though and that's all anybody has to realize to know our church is true. My heart breaks for these young priests and I hope to do all I can to inspire them to get into the mission field. It is the best thing a young man or woman could ever do and I have a testimony that this gospel brings hope and happiness.

Every day I walk into different homes that I could have never imagined before my mission and I never thought I would be in a place like I am. I have such an important and simple message about happiness and it is like nobody in Arkansas knows it. I desire so badly for people to come to our church and be humble and receive this happiness our Lord and Savior has to offer them. It breaks my heart everyday. It is just like Lehi saw in the vision of the tree of life. I feel like the mist of darkness can be so thick and heavy as I stumble over my words trying to tell everybody about how much joy our church will bring them. But I hope so badly to lead people to the Iron Rod and lead them to the tree of life where true and everlasting happiness is found.

I am learning a lot, and a lot of things that you can't learn unless you look into the eyes of people who have had heart break for 40 or more years and still don't know where to find happiness. I am so glad to be here, even though in a lot of weird situations I will find myself thinking "what am I doing out here talking to these people" and what a selfish thing for me to think because there really is no place I need to be more than here. I learn way more every day than I could ever teach. I am loving my mission and know this church is true.

Elder Green

Poor Emmaleigh's chickens!

That's a pretty big smile there Mikey!  Ewwww
I told him to buy some gloves!!!

Warning! Graphic

Pea Ridge High's Homecoming Parade