WEEK 6 MENA (WEEK 45 OF MISSION)

Shout Out to the Forefathers!!!

Mikey and Elder Hess 4th of July

Super long alien worm that tried to make it's way into the crib to infect me and Durrant but we stopped that right in it's tracks!

Brotherly Love!  Hess, Durrant and Mikey on Pday.

More Haircuts by Mikey.
Doesn't this look like the WORST blanket to use as a cape, haha!!!

Well Well Well here we are again!!! haha another week in Mena!!!! 

Last week was a little rougher as you heard and this week we were on the grind!!! I think I learned a very valuable lesson last week and something that my main man Rick Davis was telling me was that missionary work is the absolute hardest work you will do in your life. You are trying to talk about a subject that nobody likes to talk about and have people change their lives. So if you aren’t involving the Lord of course you won’t be able to find people and of course you won’t see success. That is something I really have been trying to be better about is instead of just relying on myself and my own thinking of what we should be doing I need to pray more and ask our Father in Heaven. So Elder Durrant and I did that this week and things actually got better. Funny how that works.

This week we were knocking so many doors but making sure that we were praying first to know where we needed to be and we ended up finding something like 8 new people that wanted us to come back and that included one family as well! On Sunday we were set to have something like 12 investigators at church!

So we call and guess what? haha None of them want to come or they don’t pick up the phone etc. etc. haha So me and elder Durrant and Brother Davis all head out to the one person who actually did pick up and say that he might come and so we drive to this guy’s house and he had fallen back asleep since we called and woke him up haha. But he comes out and actually ends up coming to church haha. He woke up at 9:55 and was at chuch by 10 haha it was awesome but man Jason ended up loving church and we discussed baptism and he is going to work towards being baptized soon. He also told us to go see one of his friends and make sure that he comes to church.

While door knocking too we found this guy named Michael but he goes by Web hahaha which is a long story, but he told us that he wanted to come to church so we got his number and said we would call and then be there to pick him up on Sunday.  Well he didn’t pick up when we called but we swung by Web's house and he actually couldn’t come to church because he had to go to work at KFC and he actually just recently got out of prison and we had a good emotional talk with him. Later that day Web texted us and told us how he never expected us to actually come and try to pick him up for church and that nobody has ever cared enough to try to take him to church and it was just super cool to see how excited he was!

Tasha is doing pretty well and will be baptized, she just has a couple of steps to take before we can really get things moving for her and her daughter. 

We are still pushing hard haha I have started to keep track of the statistics of when I door knock because I want to record it so I can see myself improve in letting people feel the Savior’s love when I stand at their door. After praying about where we should go and who we should see this week was just a ton better and Elder Durrant is awesome at following the spirit and I am super lucky to have him as my comp!

I love you all happy 4th yesterday I had an awesome day!!! We got together as a zone and it was super fun!!! 

Congrats to Lori and Lee on the marriage love you guys and miss you! Also I realized I never shouted out Anna's birthday on here and can’t believe I spaced shouting her out! I miss all the Livingston/Messervy crew and Anna! 2nd family right there :)

Love you guys take care have a great week!

Love Elder GREEN 

WEEK 5 MENA (WEEK 44 OF MISISON)

Some Setbacks

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

This week was an absolutely rough one. I think basically all of our investigators dropped us. We had taken this lady's cigarettes from her so she could quit smoking. We told her we would bring them back the next day and then she could tell us if she really needed them back. She did... and said she didn’t want to try to change and that she is happy where she is. It was really hard to see. 

Me and Elder Durrant have been tracting all day every day this past week. We actually knocked into a couple of really cool people with return appointments this next week! It can get pretty discouraging when you knock all day every day and get kicked off of everybody's porch hahaha but you gotta keep trying. Our next push will be to try and get help with the ward and we are going to try to get some people called as ward missionaries because Mena is so small their is nobody without at least 2 or 3 callings so things can get lonely haha. BUUUTTT we will do alright and keep working.

This is the Restoration Lesson they carry around with
them while they knock doors!!!

Also a quick update on the bug situation: it has gone to a whole 'nother level! 

Chiggers: 10

Elder Green: 0

However, me and Elder Durrant are coming back with absolute vengeance this week.  

This week I got to go to the Gore area twice on exchanges with Elder McArthur and then Elder Wilson. It was really cool to see a different area again and get to work with some of their investigators. While I was there we actually set up a couple of people for baptism and that was an awesome miracle!!!

Hunter's Baptism.  Mikey helped teach him a little.

I know somebody is ready for the gospel in my area I think we just need to be more faithful in our finding! This next week will be one full of miracles I can already tell.

Good luck to my dear friend miss Kara Baker this week as she leaves on her mission crazy to think her time has finally come and I am excited for her! She will do awesome things!!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my main man C-Livi this week I sure do miss him and he is just my bestest mench! Have an excellent time in Hawaii man Love you fam #trew 

Anyways love you all!!! Hope you have a great week!!!! 

love Elder Green 

WEEK 4 MENA (WEEK 43 OF MISSION)

However, I will put some Lowry salt on these burgers...LOWRY (the trew crew will understand)

HELLO EARTHLINGS!!!!

The picture Rosie Davis sent me (Emily).

Elder Durrant channeling his inner Arkansan!

What a week what a week man oh man! First things first since I had no idea it was Fathers day until yesterday morning I would like to wish a big ole happy fathers day to my old man!!! Love you Dadio! Hope you had fun with Park out there in Michigan and hey maybe one day me and you can come stay in Mena haha. One of my favorite memories of my dad was this one time my mom was really upset about something and I can’t remember what but in hindsight it wasn’t a big deal. For instance, I think something got spilled on the carpet and she was really mad and I was arguing with my mom about how she shouldn’t be so upset. My dad pulled me aside and was like "Mikey it doesn't matter okay? Just help your mother. I know she shouldn’t be upset but it doesn't matter just go help." He said this with like these wide eyes that I could tell he had developed from past experiences. My dad is so awesome with his willingness to do that though. To just help. I can’t tell you the amount of times I have seen my dad do things that I am sure he didn’t like but did them just for us as a family to have fun! I love you Tim! (inside joke)    

This week was an awesome one!!!!!! Tuesday we drove all the way to OKC haha they kinda overstocked the one van that we drove in and I got stuck with the seat on the ground pinched between the door and seats haha.  It was okay though we all had fun with it. The 4-hour drive was a little long though. In the end it was worth it for the sight I got to experience as I saw the temple for the first time in 9 months now!!!! It was so good to be back! There isn’t a temple in our mission and so it is rare to get to go as a whole mission. I was so grateful President let us go. After growing up with what felt like 50 temples within 5 minutes it is weird to never see them anymore. It was so cool to get to participate in the ordinances in the temple I have missed it so much! Super cool though.

 

The ride was like.....

A sight for sore eyes!

Next big item from the week was that the Lowry boys got baptized! I baptized Cole and Elder Durrant baptized Noah! The Lowry family has got to be one of the coolest families I have met on my mission. Just to see the foundation the gospel has given them and how awesome they just soak it all in and apply it to their situation is so sweet!!! 

 

The Squad before the baptisms.

Mikey's best friend, Baby Memphis.

I have been reading out of Jesus the Christ a lot lately and I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven and want to thank him as well on this Father’s Day for giving us his son! I love the plan that Heavenly Father has given us, its so essential for us to understand why our father sent us to earth. We had an awesome lesson with our investigators Sunday at church taught by Brother Davis about how we need to know the plan of salvation! Well I am just rambling on!!! Have a good week everybody! I am doing great still!

Me and Elder Durrant have started to fight the bugs back, we have taken a slight lead! 

There were a couple Brown Recluse in the baptismal font!

Last night when I walked out of MCM with brother Davis I saw a certain something on the television that I just have to comment on. I saw THE KING knocking down some free throws to seal his rightful place on the throne of the NBA!  Congrats to my mentor and friend Lebron James. #LongLiveTheKing 

Also I hope you all are enjoying the summer I know I am! I mean it only got up to 114 last week... 

Love elder GREEN 

WEEK 3 MENA (WEEK 42 OF MISSION)

Wild Wild Week

FAM AND FRIENDS WHATS UP?

Man Elder Durrant and I had a very, very busy week this week that went something like this: 

Road Trippin all weeeeeeeekkkk!

Tuesday: Drive an hour and a half to Sallisaw to work with the Sallisaw elders, sleep in Fort Smith apartments that night. 

Wednesday: Drive an hour and a half with Elder Gehring back to Mena for him to interview the Lowry kids for baptism, then drive an hour and a half back to Fort smith and work there the rest of the day.  Sleep in Fort Smith.

Thursday: Drive the hour and a half drive to Bentonville for Zone Conference, see all my old friends and get awesome instruction from President and Sister Loveland, then after that traffic and construction is too bad to start the drive back to Mena so I go with my old companion Elder Lopez back to my old area of Metfield and work there for a while. Then Elder Durrant and I make the 3+ hours drive back to Mena and get home late on Thursday.

Friday: Work in Mena

Saturday: Mena 

Sunday: Mena 

Double Selfie Game

Elder Hewett from the Tulsa Zone Days

The Squad!Mikey reunited with his good friend from home, Elder Degooyer.

Back with Elder Kealer from the MTC

Elder Strobel

Getting to see my Main Man, George Curry!

haha It was a crazy time though running around everywhere! A quick update on the investigators, The Lowry boys would have been baptized this last Saturday but their grandpa actually passed away, super sad and they will now be baptized this Saturday when their mom is back from Kansas, but they are awesome and are the smartest kids ever and they understand the gospel extremely well.

It was a little frustrating this week to be gone so much because I just want to be working in Mena all the time haha but it was still a very good week this week just teaching people everywhere around Arkansas! 

We had an awesome lesson on Saturday with a man named Donny that will be baptized soon. Last Sunday I felt inspired to get up and bear my testimony on the love that God has for his children. I feel this a lot throughout my day to day proselyting and I felt like I should tell the story about John, from Tulsa and how I saw the mighty change of heart in him and how even though his wife had died that he still came to an understanding that God loves him. Donny said that his wife had passed away and that that is exactly how he felt, and that he knows our church is true he just is mad at God. I can’t imagine losing somebody after being with them for 20+ years, I haven’t even lived that long, but I feel how much God loves Donny and our knowledge of temple ordinances and the plan of salvation that Heavenly Father has prepared for all of his children that we shared with Donny really touched his heart and I am so excited for him to see all these blessings

On a funnier note/really not so funny, but anyway Elder Durrant and I are getting wrecked by the bugs out here. haha I am literally itchy everywhere and we have been asking everybody how to deal with it and they all tell us different methods that have been super helpful but when it comes down to it it’s more like a just deal with it sort of thing haha which I am going to have to get used to haha but I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!!

"Da Crib"
Note the random stuff everywhere haha
and what's with the guitar???

Mikey is still cutting everyone's hair!
This is his former companion, Hess Daddy.

Also thank you to the Shumways for the package this past week it was soooo awesome and I am wearing one of the shirts right now!

Also Rick (Brother Davis) came by my house this week haha I haven’t heard the end of it since!!! But that reminded me of when Parker's ward mission leader came by our house haha, weird that I am on the other side of things now! 

Brother Rick Davis, Branch Mission Leader.

Also congrats to those that have received their mission calls back home like Mikey Henderson and Hayden Brown! #ParkwayStake hahaha

LOVE YOU GUYS

LOVE YOU MAMA

Elder GREEENNNN

WEEK 2 MENA (WEEK 41 0F MISSION)

Staying Busy in Mena

heeyyyyy friends and family!!!!! Hope you’re all doing excellent!!

Elder Durrant and I had a super good week this week and the work is starting to pick up. It is sooo different from downtown Tulsa where I was with Elder Nau and always having investigators to teach. So Elder Durrant and I spend a lot of time just finding people or at least trying to. We knocked doors for at least 4 hours every day haha and I can see the Lord's hand in blessing us. 

This week was a little rough because there was a town fair called Lum&Abner. So nobody was home on the weekend as we tried to knock doors. A couple investigators told us they didn’t want to see us anymore and it seemed like the odds were stacked against us. But then on Sunday we had a huge miracle and 8 people came to church!!! They all loved it!!! It was crazy. The Saturday before Sunday we literally had people coming up to us and asking us where our church was. A girl named Terri literally knocked on our front door one morning and asked what time church was hahahha super cool!!

There is this family out here named the Lowry's and they were baptized by Elder Nau and man they are the most amazing people and I love them so much. Anyway they have a bunch of kids that are all super cute and funny and we are going to baptize two of the kids on Saturday. 

A sad story that happened was Brother Lowry (Lowry dad) called us one night and said to come over and that his sister was there and needed our help. His sister's husband had just walked out on her and left her all alone with no money and two kids. We went over there and comforted her and read her some scriptures and gave her a blessing!!! The ward then all came together and helped us get food for her and her kids! Then she came to church on Sunday and I think will also be baptized soon :)

I spoke this week in church on how much God love's his children. It really is weird as a missionary because you don’t really ever worry about yourself, it is always about others and just seeing the way that the Lord will put us in somebody's path at the perfect time to meet them is a testimony to me that the Lord loves his children. He will never give up on any of us and there is always a way back to the straight and narrow path. Remember what Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount, wide is the gate that leads to destruction, but narrow is the gate which leadeth unto life. There are a ton of ways to find sadness, misery, and hurt. The gate is wide for those things. But life everlasting can only be found in Jesus Christ! Love you all!!!! 

Have a great week

Elder Green

WEEK 1 MENA (WEEK 40 0F MISSION)

FROM MINGO TO MENA

Goodbye Apt. 211.  Stay Sweet

Downtown Tulsa, "T Town"

Well hello their family and friends!!!

I made it safe to the land of Mena this week!!! It was hard to say goodbye to Mingo Valley but it is good to be in Mena and I am excited for the future. 

Mena is a smalllllllll town haha super small but our area is huuugggge we cover a large large piece of land so I am no longer biking haha. The Mena branch mainly consists of a family named the Davis family. They are an awesome family and are like famous here in Mena haha so our branch out here I think Elder Durrant was saying has a total of like 60 members. They are all such awesome members with great testimonies! I don’t think I have ever been anywhere close to as small a congregation as I was yesterday at church. Hopefully  Elder Durrant and I can work hard and contribute to growing the Mena branch!

Elder Durrant is such an awesome guy and I’m so glad to be with him. He is from Portland, Oregon and he just got done being trained so he has been out about three months and has spent all of his mission in Mena. 

In a small old town like Mena it can be hard when people are set in their ways and have been going to their church since the beginning of time and do not want to receive our message. Since the teaching pool has been down a little we worked really hard to bring that back up. With the small numbers in our branch it is hard because we can’t teach the members friends or get referrals just because there aren’t that many members. So we have to go out and tract. We tracted so much in just the first couple of days I've been here. We saw so many miracles as we knocked doors and prayed that the Lord would guide us to a street were somebody might let us in. After tracting all day yesterday, and not even getting in one door the Lord led us down a street to a row of houses where we ran into a lady who actually investigated the church before and is good friends with all the Davis' family and said she wants to get back into it and we could come back tomorrow!!! Pretty sweet!!! I know the Lord’s hand is in all our lives

I had an awesome chance to see a lot of my old friends this week which was super good. For instance, Elder Hess and I got to ride the transfer truck together for like 2 hours and I got to chat with Elder Gordon for a second. Also this past week the traveling Assistants to the President came to Mena!!! I never thought they would make it out this far but turns out we were their first stop. Both of the traveling Assistants, Elder Murdock and Elder Sorenson, are some of my best friends out here and they are both just awesome missionaries!!! I got to go and teach with both of them and learned a whole bunch and they gave me a lot of encouragement, which was so helpful. 

Last pic before goodbye.  Little Ashlynn, that they baptized, cried.

The Emmons Family

Saying goodbye to Harold W. Bailey the Third.

Well Anywho I am doing awesome and I am looking forward to see who the Lord has prepared in Mena and the joy I can have as I see some people come unto the Kingdom of God!!! 

Special shoutout to my main man C-Livi. Hit me with that package!!! Got it right before I left Tulsa so it was perfect! Been tooooo long since I have beat him in FIFA haha 

Awesome package from Colton!!!

 Also B day shout out to Mr. Tommy Green, AKA next SYTYCD winner, AKA next Vegas show, young boy tommy all grown about to be mobbing in the Jetta! Treat the Yetta well bud! Dont break it before I’m back like I did to PG32 haha Love you man!

Love Elder 

WEEK 19 TULSA (WEEK 39 0F MISSION)

Meek in Mena?

Friends and Family!!!!!!!!

The spirit of conversion is reaaalll yooo!!!!

John got baptized this week after 2 years of investigating the church. That just makes it so obvious to me that it is never the missionary or the lesson or anything that converts somebody, but truly the spirit. I know that the Lord had a specific time and loves John Hayes!!! Because of how long he investigated a ton of people were friends with him and so his baptism was huuuggeee. I will send pictures later but sooo awesome!!! Sorry for the late email by the way, I hosted a huge Minute to Win it event today. hahaha 

All of the crew at John's Baptism!!!

Also this week Elder Green has been transferred :( I will be super sad to leave Elder Nau and Mingo Valley!!! I am going to Mena Arkansas!!!! I will be serving with Elder Durrant who I have no idea who that is. But also Elder Hess will be serving in the area right next to me and I am sooooo pumped. I am pretty nervous to be in Mena. It is the most out there part of the mission. There are only like 3 families in the ward there in Mena so it definitely will be interesting.

I had a cool thought this week. While biking in the rain I did what I always seem to do... Hit Mud hahaha and it splashed up and some spots got on my shirt. I was super embarrassed walking around with mud spots all over my white shirt. We were way too far away to go get a different shirt so I just had to deal with it. That made me think about how we would feel if we had to walk around stained with our sins. It is so easy to put up a fake face and look like you don’t have any problems or have struggles. Often times people will think Mormons are all perfect and have no sins or flaws. But how awkward would we all feel if our sins could be seen on the outside. I am so grateful for the Atonement and the power that we have to wash our sins clean so that one day we don’t have to feel dirty in the presence of God! 

I wanted to make a huge 16th birthday next week shoutout to MY MAIN MANNNN Tommy greeeeennnn!  He is the best kid I have ever met and I love him so much. I always think about how far that kid has come and the awesome dancer he is now. I heard he killllleeed it this week in Vegas and I am so proud of him and love him. 

Also happy B day to Mikaela frost. 

Also I love and miss you all!

Also sincerely elder green