WEEK 3 SPRINGDALE (WEEK 96 OF MISSION)

Iokwe! I hope you guys all had a great week!  

 

Mikey in his element with the cute kids at a Kemen.

Our week was super good, my foot has been feeling good and I got to go out this whole week.  Up until yesterday I couldn’t really put on my shoe so I was just wearing a slider like sandal of Elder Smith's haha and so I looked pretty funny.  This little Marshallese girl came up to me one day and told me that my shoe was "broken" haha because they didn’t match.

That slider looks painful too!!!

So as far as investigators go we have a family named Dickson and Grace and then their two sons Titrik and Benjin.  They are going to be baptized in two Saturdays from now! They are some of the most humble and nice people I have ever met.  Dickson has smoked his whole life and then when we taught him the Word of Wisdom he said,  "I’ll quit, when do I need to quit?  You tell me." haha and he has quit and is ready for baptism with his wife and kids! 

We also have a new investigator we found, Kejabubu who is very awesome.  He has wanted to be baptized for a long time now he just has felt guilty because he is living with his girlfriend who is a less active member and they couldn’t afford a wedding because they take care of so many people.  He said that he didn’t have the 60 dollars it took to get a wedding cerificate from the city.  He was very happy when he talked to President Clarence (our Branch President) and set up a wedding for free at the church haha!  He will be baptized soon after their wedding.

This past week we saw many miracles, we have been getting so much help from the ward especially from very faithful youth that can speak both languages very well.  Our Marshallese still struggles but we are seeing some major improvements and it has been so great! 

Something I love about the Marshallese culture is that it is just tradition that whatever you have you share.  No matter what, nobody is left out and so we will see random people all the time that will just invite us in for water or for food or whatever they have.  It is super humbling to see somebody that has very little but still willing to give.  It has softened my heart a lot and has helped change me to be more giving.  Just something to think on... hahaha well I will send some pics from the week!

My foot is doing great I am back to basically full strength and all tests came back negative so I am in the clear hopefully :)

Still doing lots of haircuts. Check out how he had to cut his slipper open on the side to fit his swollen foot!

Love you all 

WEEK 2 SPRINGDALE (WEEK 95 OF MISSION)

Yokwe yokwe, 

This week was a little bit of a slower week out here in the Marshfield Branch but things are still going okay!  We had a lot of people show up to church this week and we are also working with the Rogers 1st elders (Degooyer and Leavitt) with all the Marshallese investigators up there and we are trying to figure out what the best solution will be for all the members in Rogers. 

One huge highlight is that Angeleana will be baptized this coming Saturday!  I am super excited for her.  She is one of the most genuine investigators I have ever met.  She will most likely be baptized in the Marshallese Rogers group but we still have had the privilege of working with her and I got to work with her a lot while serving in Rogers.

We had a lady named Jemen come to church this week with some of her family and that was really exciting.  She is not a member but the rest of her family is!

I also would like to wish a Happy Father’s Day to my dad and all the fathers in the world and always of course remember our Heavenly Father. 

On Sunday it was really cool during third hour of church all of the women of the ward stood up and talked about how much they loved their husbands and fathers and how important the priesthood is in their life, then they sang songs and they put lays of candy around all the dads necks and gave them lots of gifts and food etc.  They are a very loving people and they always serve each other and smile and have fun and I have learned a lot from them!

Love you guys all so much!

WEEK 1 SPRINGDALE (WEEK 94 OF MISSION)

Mikey asked me to put a shoutout on the blog to Tommy for a Happy 17th Birthday (June 1) and I forgot to but seeing his shoutout to Anna in this letter reminded me.  My bad!

Hello everybody I hope you are all having a good week!  My week has been probably the most exciting of my mission.  I got to the new area on Thursday and did not know what to do.  Me and Elder Smith both just got sent here and neither of us speak any Marshallese or know where anybody lives or anything.  So we just went out tracting and walking around and meeting the members etc.  Everywhere we went we met somebody who wanted us to teach them.  It was a great week.  This Sunday was very cool and very different.  We have a good strong branch of about 100 active members.  It was very weird to be in a Sacrament Meeting where I did not speak the language.  The ward welcomed us with open arms and I even had the chance to get up and speak to the ward in Sacrament.  They did not understand much of what I said though haha.  After church our branch president, President Clarence, gave us both blessings in Marshallese which was super cool to receive a blessing in a different language. I have never had that happen before. 

This cute girl, Destiny, had to be life flighted to Little Rock and was diagnosed with Leukemia. She is doing better now and  has started chemo.  Mikey said it was a little sketchy that she put her arm around him for the pic haha, but he didn't want to tell her she couldn't!

Mely and half the squad at the Hendy's house.

Mercy, Myle, Mikey, Georce, Lulu and Debrine.

As far as investigators go!  They are going great.  It is not rare for Marshallese people to just bring their friends or family to church and ask to be baptized.  We had an awesome kid named Jason just show up to church and tell us that he hadn’t been baptized yet, as well as another young woman who we are going to meet with to help her prepare, and then a woman who I taught in Rogers named Angeleana, showed up to church.  It was funny because she missed the Rogers elders who went with a member to pick her up and then she was all dressed for church and saw her friend drive up and she asked her friend where she was going.  Her friend said to the Mormon church haha so she hopped in and came down to Springdale for church!  It was so great.

Another big thing that happened this week was that I went to my first Kemem which is a Marshallese baby’s first birthday.  It is a huuuuugggggeeee deal and it is a hugge party.  It was held at the church building in Springdale and all the Marshallese members from Rogers were there and a lot of nonmembers and a lot of the Springdale members.  The Kemem was for the Diosimitos baby named Levi, who I knew from Rogers.  At the Kemem they sat us in special seats in the front as the guests of honor as well as the Branch President and the Rogers Elders (Elder Leavitt and Degooyer) haha and they fed us a huge feast and gave us gifts and there was singing and dancing.  It was just soo cool haha.  We all ate their traditional food too which was fish head, with rice and chicken and raw fish which all was super tasty and we were so grateful for it!

I love where I am at.  The language is very hard and I get frustrated with myself but it is all good and things are still going great!

I have pics that I will send!! Love you all have a great week!

Happy birthday to Anna this week love ya Anna Banana 

WEEK 12 ROGERS (WEEK 93 OF MISSION)

Hello everybody!!!!  

So today I might be a little rushed because a lot to do before transfers tomorrow and I will be being transferred!  So I still need to pack haha.

I got this picture off the mission blog.
They are on the bus headed to the temple.

Anyway I will be going to the Springdale Marshallese area to teach the gospel in the Marshallese language!  Pretty exciting, also going to be hard to have to try to learn another language but I will be in a ward that only speaks Marshallese, so if I am going to be able to understand I will have to try to learn quickly.  I will be shotgunning in there with a new missionary who I think has been out 3 months that I have heard nothing but good things about!

Replacing me here in Rogers will be Elder Degooyer!!!  haha I am so glad he is replacing me because he is so great and this area will do so great with him here. 

My last week has been bitter sweet.  I found out Saturday that I would be leaving. However, I am not supposed to leak transfers out just in case President needs to change anything last minute.  But yesterday I got to say a couple of goodbyes and leave my testimony and love with some of my favorite people, Mely, Carl, Erwin, Jackson, and Mai Mai and the rest of their family. 

This Sunday was super cool.  Brother Ikea who is from the island of Chuuk bore his testimony and conversion story that was crazy!  He just moved to our ward from Idaho and he was baptized a year ago in Idaho.  He has studied theology his whole entire life. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood which meant he lived a single life with no spouse or kids his whole life.  He said that inside he still felt empty however.  He even had traveled to the Holy Land and into the upper room of the temple there and still felt empty and that he still needed truth.  That was until he met sister Ikea who told him to come meet with the missionaries with her.  They were just friends at the time but they were soon married, then they both were baptized along with the rest of their family and are now preparing to be sealed.  Brother Ikea said that the first time he stepped foot in the Mormon church he knew his search for truth was over.  He was excommunicated from the Catholic church that he had worked his whole life to be at the position he had gained. He now works at Tyson with his wife and family in Rogers and they are the happiest group of people.  We are teaching several of the 20 or so people that live in their home including some of his step kids and kids-in-law.  They are very inspiring to me!

I hope you all have a great week!  Sorry the pictures are lacking my camera has been acting funny!

Love, Elder Green