16 Months Out (Week 68 In The Field)

This past week has been great week and a great way to celebrate me hitting my 16 month mark! Last P-day I got my pictures taken by a professional photographer at a nearby gorge in our area. The pictures aren't done yet, but I cannot wait to show you the photos. :)

On Tuesday, we had a lesson with our investigator Ivy Hill and at the end of the lesson we extended a baptismal date for her to work towards. We prayed about it beforehand and we both felt that Valentines Day would be a good day for her to work towards. So we extended that day, and she wasn't very keen on the idea haha. She is super scared to be baptized, she feels that she's not ready. We reassured her that she doesn't have to be baptized on that day if she's not ready by then. We told her that this is just something to work towards, and she agreed to accept that date.

On Thursday we went back and she told us that she was up all night thinking about that day and she said she was super scared. We reassured her that this is just provisional and that we think shes very ready. We went over the baptismal questions with her, and she answered all of them confidently, so we told her she has nothing to be worried about. After that lesson she seemed to calm down a lot more and wasn't worried about it any more. Please keep her in your prayers. She is the nicest lady ever, and she is so ready it's just that doubt always creeps in her mind. I'll keep you updated on that, I'm sure everything will be good. :)

On Friday, we had district meeting in a place called Wescliffe. Not to sure how to spell it exactly, but Wescliffe is an hour drive away from us, so we had to leave at 9 in the morning. Our district leader told us to come in clothes to hike in, so we did, but unfortunately we didn't have snow boots. So we drive there, and it's like one of the prettiest drives I have ever made. And their area is super pretty as well.

When we got there we had the perfect view of a beautiful mountain range. It was amazing! We got to their apartment and they told us that they are going to duct tape our shoes with water proof duct tape, because we will be walking in almost knee deep snow. It looked super funny, I sent my parents pics so they will post it on the blog. It was so much fun! It took an hour to hike up it, and when we got to the top, they had a fort built there that they built the p-day beforehand. And our district leader told us that we all need to build a fire. He compared the fire to our investigators testimony. He said it always need to be kept getting fed, so it never goes out. The hike back down was really fast, like 20 minutes down because all you had to do is just slide all the way down haha. That was probably the highlight of the week.

But we have also been working with a less active, going through the addiction recovery program with her, trying to help her quit smoking. And on Saturday, we taught our other investigator Ethan Gomez, a 17 year old kid who is super interested. We taught him in a member home the Plan of Salvation, and that went really well. The members are super good fellowship for him. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon, and to pray about it. I'll keep you updated on that.

I am loving it here, the work here is going great and the members are very missionary minded and some of the best members I have met yet! :) Rye is such a great area.

I hope you all had a good week just like I had. I love and miss you all and hope you all are doing well!

Elder Greer

Spending the day hiking!!
We went hiking for district meeting and at the top our district leader built a fort

We all had to build our own fire when we got to the top, used it all as a gospel principal

Elder Wilson (our district leader) Teaching distict meeting

Yes, it's duct tape

on our way back down

A view of the valley

District Pic

Rye (Week 67 In The Field)

Oh man do I love it here in my new area!

Rye is such a beautiful place and there is a lot going on here. We have 5 investigators, 2 of which our progressing, and one came to stake conference on Sunday. The one that came to stake conference, her name is Ivy Hill and she is awesome! She is 78 years old from the UK, so she has an awesome accent. She is ready to be baptized, so we are going to extend a date for her on February 14. We will see how that goes. She loved conference and she has amazing fellow-shippers here in the ward.

My new companions name is Elder Price. He is from Idaho Falls, comes from a huge family, he has 9 siblings now, his Mom just had the 10th this morning haha! He was super happy to hear that, since he has been waiting all week, and his Mom was due last week. So that was good news. He's been out 6 months, and this has been his only area. He is pretty cool, we have been getting along great so far.

Oh my new address is:

   Elder Andrew Greer
   P.O. Box 205
   Rye, Colorado 81069

So if you wanna write me send it there.:)

We have been going going going, ever since I got here. My companion has been taking me around everywhere, and introducing me to everyone. The members are awesome here. Everybody here are just the nicest people, and boy do they know how to talk haha. One of the members started up soccer games, and invited the whole town to play. It's a pretty small town, but apparently 20 people usually show up, so it's a great finding activity. A lot of non-members go and play. So I've been trying to work on my soccer skills.

This place is just booming with things to do, it's so nice. :) Sorry I have to keep it short. This laptop I'm on is super slow and the space bar hardly works. Next week I will go to the library where it's faster and the keys work haha. But I am alive and I am doing well. I am super excited to be able to work here and I'm lovin it already :)

Have a good week, I love you all!

Elder Greer

Transfer Week!

my last comp and I

New Companion Elder Price and Apartment!

Half Chihuahua and Half Fox :)

I'm Transferring (Week 66 In The Field)

Well it is official, I cannot explain to all of you how excited I am to be transferred! I am going to the Pueblo stake, in a small town called Rye. I was told by many missionaries that it is the best place to serve. I am super excited and I heard it's an absolutely beautiful place. I know that there is a pretty decent sized ward there, and I cover a bunch of area, oh and I get to drive a truck! :) Gosh, this is going to be great, I cannot wait to tell you how I'm doing next week and what it's like.

My current companion, Elder Seymour, will be staying here and finishing his mission here. He's super excited about that, and his new companion is like his best friend in the mission, so that will be good for him. I have really enjoyed serving here in the North Colorado Springs stake in the Cordera and Briargate wards. I will really miss the people here, I know that the Lord called me to these specific places for a reason and I definitely can see why. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for me in Rye.

Anyways, this past week has been pretty good. The weather was super strange though, it was warm Tuesday, then snowed Wednesday, than was warm on Thursday and then cold the next and it was just that weird pattern haha. We had a great lesson with our investigator Shawn on Tuesday, we finished teaching him the restoration. I can definitely see he's more interested in what we believe now, and he's been asking a bunch of questions. However he is still not converted, hopefully he accepts our invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and what we taught. He is such a great man and deserves to have this wonderful gospel in his life.

After, we did service and taught him, he kidnapped us and took us to Costco. Its been a while since I've been there, I love that place. I was able to get some lunch there too. :) There we ITL'ed a lady, she wasn't super interested but she accepted a Mormon.org card and said she would look into it. Not too much else happened this week, we had zone training this week and our zone leaders gave a great lesson on how we need to not put ourselves down for our weaknesses, but how to rely on the Lord to give us help to make those weaknesses into strengths.

Saturday night was great because that's when I found out I was going, however I didn't know where yet, so I was just dying to find out, I thought I was never going to make it to Monday haha.

Sunday was our most eventful day though. We had meetings all morning and then Church at 12. After Church we decided we were going to work hard for our last days together. So we decided to go tracting and it was the best tracting experience I have had in a while. We placed 3 book of Mormons, the first 3 houses we knocked. Not much came out of it, but we really felt great after doing it.

After that we had a stake stand and report meeting, where all the bishops report how well they did missionary work wise the past year, that was cool because we got to see President Rehm. Wasn't expecting him to be there haha. After the meeting I tried to get him to tell me where I was going but he refused haha. I was pretty jealous though, because the other Elder Greer who was there, and found out he was being transferred, also asked President if he was staying within zone and president told him that he was and that he was just moving to a different YSA ward. In my head, I was like come on that's not fair that he told him early but wouldn't tell me, but that's okay the suspense was pretty fun. :) Anyways, not much else to report. cannot wait to tell you about my new area. :)

I have learned so much this past transfer, I cannot even explain. I know that the Lord answers prayers and blesses you when you are diligent. I was studying in the book of Alma the other day and I just wanna close out with this one scripture Alma Chapter 34 verse 32;

  For behold this life is a time for Men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." 

I know that God has a work for me to do, and I know that I must be diligent and work hard in my new area. This is the greatest work I have ever seen, and I know that it is true. This is the Lord's holy work and we all need to be a part of it. I am so thankful to be on a mission, I have learned so much out here I can't even express to you all the things I have learned. I have learned you cannot afford to not go on a mission. It's the best thing that we can do, and after all, the Lord has done everything for us so it only makes sense to dedicate 2 years, giving back to him. :) My testimony has truly grown out here. I know that this is Christ's true church. I'm more sure than I have ever been. I love and miss you all and hope you all have a great week!

Elder Greer

P.s. Don't send me any mail until I get my new address. I'll send that out next week to everyone :)

Transfers!

Couple of Random Pictures (Week 65 In the Field)

From Andrew's Parents: Andrew was sick this week, and didn't have a lot to share, so he spent his time emailing everyone.  He did however send a couple of random pictures that we wanted to share:

First "Upside Down" Christmas tree he's ever seen :)

Transfer predictions... Everyone thinks Andrew is going to be transferred :)