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

WEEK 5 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 7 OF MISSION)

"City Slicker"???

Hello fam and friends!!!!!

Mikey with the AP Elder Madsen, who is Morgan 
Degooyer's cousin, visiting Vonny

This picture was texted to me last night
by the Christophersons, members in their branch,
who had them over for dinner ;)

Another good week in the 479! Bella Vista Arkansas is a whacky whacky place. I am doing well though and working hard!

A cool experience to share from this week came within my own heart. It was Tuesday. My least favorite day of the week. It seems like this day is always slow as everybody is back into their work week and after the Sabbath and then P-day it just is always slow. Well, this Tuesday was worse than usual and Elder Hess and I got cancelled on about 3 times. Free time for me as a missionary drives me crazy inside my head because I feel like I’m wasting my time and I cant handle it. It is extremely hard to door knock too out here because their aren't any neighborhoods. So to door knock you have to drive basically from house to house. Anyways I was being really selfish. I quietly sat in the car as we drove around and I felt a wave of like hopelessness or despair almost, as I submitted to the adversary in selfishly feeling sorry for myself. Upon realizing this I bowed my head in an apologetic plead to my Savior and Heavenly Father to help me out here in the middle of nowhere. Right then I look up and past us drives this investigator named Amber. I wave and put on my fake missionary smile hiding my selfishness behind this grin. As we passed her I noticed she had stopped her car. Elder Hess being a lot more valiant than I was this day, immediately flipped around and talked to her. She wanted us to come by that next Tuesday because she has work off and has missed us way bad and has strong desires to become a member... I almost couldn't believe my ears. With a lot of people who are nice to us but just don't think they need our message, for somebody to say that to us at that time I knew my Heavenly Father is so involved with me and I felt so bad for being such a selfish missionary and I am working on improving my attitude! What a blessing though!!! I can't wait to bring our joyful message to Amber and her family!

Something extremely weird that happened this week, as it seems to every week, was that we got a text one night from Brother Messick our Metfield branch clerk saying that he needed us to come over to "slaughter his chickens" ... Me and Elder Hess soon became giddy like little schoolgirls at this chance to do something neither of us has ever done before. So as my title says if anybody reading this has ever dubbed me as a "City Slicker" just check the photos attached to this email...

(Warning: quite graphic)

He looks a little too happy here! haha
If you can't enlarge the pic - Elder Hess is holding the chicken's head!

I love my mission. I am learning a lot. Something that has become clear to me is that I need to be able to teach more simply. I want to tell everybody the gospel so bad I usually end up babbling on about things and getting off topic. I have been practicing learning simple truths. I love the way our apostles teach so simply and I am like a little baby out here as far as teaching goes, and I really have a lot to work on. It is weird when nobody knows about the gospel as apposed to home where most non-members basically know everything about the gospel haha but I love my mission and love my daily struggles!

Hope all is well back home and I love whoever it is reading this

Elder Green!!!

WEEK 4 BELLA VISTA (WEEK 6 OF MISSION)

Black Panther???

Maybe they had to climb up here to get away from a wild animal ;)

This week was whackkkkkky and fun and just another week in the jungle that is Northwest Arkansas. First I will start with some funny things and then tear at your heart strings a little later.

So first as you can see in my title we had a little run in with some animals that aren't really something you would like to run into. So anyways, late on a Wednesday night I had to go into the backyard because I had left something out there. When I walked out there I flipped on the light and saw a huuuuggge cat dart from our porch area into the forest beyond our house. A little startled I told Elder Hess and we laughed and went to sleep. The next day we asked some members if there are any like cougars or whatever in Bella Vista. The answer was always a wide-eyed yesssss! Except the scariest thing is that there are rumors of Black Panthers... Everybody says the only way you can tell that it is a black panther is by the scream it will make that sounds like a child or woman screaming. Sure enough the following night me and Elder Hess lay half asleep around 11 PM when we hear just the scariest woman’s scream ever from behind our house. We both rolled over and looked at each other terrified. We got up to go make sure the back door was locked and whatever only for the scream to happen two or three more times right outside our back porch... The next morning we went out there and found a cracked skull with deer antlers sitting on our back lawn... Haha we have been pretty scared ever since then. Also this week me and Elder Hess chased a coyote away from our house in the car. Haha Arkansas is such a weird place.

 

A walk around the lake with Vonny
Brant, Jocelyn, Elder Hess & Mikey

Anyways a story that I know will tug on the heart strings of all those moms back home that happen to read this haha. My favorite person I have met so far on my mission is the sweetest old lady you have ever met, Vonny! We found her because she is a recent convert and her records for some reason got transferred from the Bentonville ward to ours. So we stopped by and learned that her husband had died around 5 years ago. After that she was in a deep depression she still battles. However, the missionaries found her and baptized her in Bentonville about a year ago. Since her baptism one day at her house she got very sick and fell. When she woke up all she can remember is she was in the hospital. From there they moved her into her son’s house who lives down the street from me and elder hess. Vonny has lost everything and has been helpless for months. She is old and can’t really move around much so everybody has been making decisions for her. When we found her she was laying in a bed in a back room. She was so sad and depressed. The house she is in is kind of crazy with the multiple chain smokers and cats and parrots and multiple families living there. It is a big change from living in her quiet home with her husband. Anyways me and Elder Hess held back tears as Vonny broke down about how much her life has been flipped upside down. So something we did for her recently was, with the help of an awesome member family, carried her out of the house with her oxygen tanks and everything, got a wheelchair and took her on a walk around the lake. It was the first time she had been outside in fresh air in what she described around 4 or 5 months. My heart was so broken for this old lady as I could not imagine having my life turned upside down like that. As I pushed this sweet old lady in a wheelchair around the lake I could feel so much love for her. It reminded me of my grandmother who my sweet mother took such good care of in her later years of life. Vonny just was so wide eyed as she felt some hope come back into her life as she knows that the church is there to take care of her. I pushed her around the two-mile path around the lake and it hit me super hard that life isn't always about doing what you want. Often times on my mission I feel down and out about whatever it is, but the spirit always reminds me through the sweet words of what Vonny said as I asked her if she enjoyed the walk. she looked up at me from her wheelchair and said, "Today was one of the happiest days of my life, thank you so much boys I loved it very much." It made being out here in seriously the strangest place in the whole world one of the happiest days of my life. I love my mission so much and conference was awesome and I have so much to say but I’ll just finish with a quote, "there is no growth in a comfort zone, and there is no comfort in a growth zone." I am not at all the kid I was when I left and I am so grateful! 

love you all have a good week

peace out