I'm Coming Home Because of the 2020 Pandemic

Hey everybody. 

With all that's been going on, I got a call last Friday saying I'm going to be heading home. It was a shock to me and everyone else. But hey, what are you gonna do? I'm just gonna keep on keeping on. I love you all!  My heart goes out to all the friends I've made on the mission. Going back all the way to my MTC experience 14 months ago. So much has happened since then and I can't be any happier about it. 

Here are some pictures of my favorite times on the mission.

Elder Greenlaw

Provo MTC

MTC

The Bros - Training

Fun District

Being Goofy

Funny Members - Pocahantas 

Elder Fisher, Enough Said

Souveniers 

Best Friends!

Last Baptism - Brian

First Baptism - Brayden and Morgan

Raising Canes

Time is Flying By

In the land of Shepherdsville Kentucky live two missionaries, Elder Greenlaw and Elder Lemmon vs 80,000 people.  Will they listen? If you haven't noticed, Elder Lemmon is my new companion. I'm still a district leader and all the sisters are training in our district. It's cool to see that they are on fire. We have been focusing this transfer on the first vision. We are learning so much. I've felt confirmation after conformation from the Spirit testifying that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. This vision, set the path for us to have the restored gospel today!!! We are so lucky to live during this time. We are so privileged to be able to share what we know with others.

Elder Lemmon and I, have been tracting like forever. We are working really hard to find what we call spiky bois  (which comes from gators, or investigators) Nothing has come of it which is really heartbreaking. It is hard to see so many miss out on the great blessing of the gospel. I have been thinking during this time, "Why should I keep knocking doors". The Spirit has told me that as I make this effort and provide an opportunity for God's children to accept his gospel, I will have a great reward in heaven. So.. I've committed myself to go and talk to everyone, even if no one accepts our invitation. It's not going to be because I didn't go out and open my mouth and knock on a few doors. Elder Lemmon is a great missionary who likes to have fun like me. What's been really working is he feels like he just doesn't know what to say to the people. This is when he feels anxiety. But I'm the opposite, I feel anxious before we even step outside or when we walk down the street. But when I talk to people, every worry fades away. So we draw on each other strengths to keep working hard!! Missionary work is super hard but with hard things comes everything that good - D&C 122. I'm thankful for all the things I've gone through. I'm glad I'm still able to feel forgiveness for all my shortcomings. God is good, God is great. 

I hope everyone gets the chance to prepare themselves for this upcoming General Conference. I promise, if you will prepare yourself and follow the voice of the prophet, you will have a good experience. You are the only one that can make the time to study the life of the prophet, Joseph Smith. 

Thank you for everyone's support and love. Thank you for the emails from those at home. I really appreciate it. I pray everyone can have a better week than the last and we can all work towards a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father!! 

I love you all... I will talk to you next time.

Elder Greenlaw

What a Week in Shepherdsville

What a week. I think I can finally say that I will walk 500 miles and I will walk 500 more just to be the man to fall down at your door! It sure feels like I've walked that much. The town of Shepherdsville is popping! We have found some new people (cough cough finally) to teach this week. The story of people's lives never seems to stop amazing me. You think we have tough lives. Wow!! The people of Kentucky are very strong spirits to be able to endure such great trials. This week I heard a lot about drug addictions and family abuse. They have so many trails they have to live with. I wish the gospel could bless them as much as it has blessed me. But free agency is a hard one to understand sometimes. We hope the people we are teaching may be able to use the Book of Mormon to repent and come unto Jesus Christ and be born again to have a new life of happiness. We have planted the seeds, now they must nourish them. (Alma 32) I've been drawn to use this scripture many times in lessons this week. I've learned so much about the restored gospel and one thing I can testify is that it is a really good seed. I've experienced many fruits from it in my life.  

I love the Book of Mormon. I've learned so many wonderful lessons from it that have helped me in my life. Especially these past few months.  I still don't understand why I have some of the struggles and difficulties and trials that I face today. But I hope that someday I will understand their purpose. I know Jesus Christ is the father of my salvation. He is my light and life that keeps me going each day. I hope all of you can come to know that too. I've had some hard weeks this past transfer. That is why I haven't written much. I wish I had a greater desire to write these emails to everyone. It's just hard when all you have done is knocked on doors and gotten a lot of rejection. You feel alone when you and your companion don't get along too well. 

I thought I would share a little bit of some spiritual thoughts I've had.. to boost someone's spirit. In elders quorum this last week we read from the talk "Power to overcome the adversary" from this last Octobers general conference. The three D's. We were able to discuss some of the ways we can overcome these three D's.. deceptions, distraction, and discouragement. We were in charge of talking about deception. One thing we discussed was knowing when our thoughts were true or false. I mentioned I had struggled with depression and things. I have always said statements like.. I'm not good enough. God doesn't love me. I have recently learned from studying the gifts of the Holy Ghost, that I can discern my own thoughts and know if they are true or false. I can do this by focusing on and relying on the Holy Ghost. If I say.. God loves me. I receive a confirmation of this truth. But when I say God doesn't love me, I don't. I am learning to use this more and more so that I can continue to be happy and avoid being deceived by the adversary. I thought this was cool and I wanted to share it with everyone. 

I'm doing well. It's been a better week this week. I have had ups and downs. But I am better and that's what I'm grateful for. I hope everyone has an amazing week with uplifting experiences 

Love to you all. Talk to you soon! 

Elder Greenlaw

PDay with the District

Exploring a forest in Kentucky

My comp

Ringing in the New Year with Gunshots

I'M SORRY I DIDN'T WRITE FOR THE HOLIDAYS. I know I'm the worst but I'll try and make it up to you. 

First off, Christmas was a long long long long long week. I missed being with family a lot, but I had some cool experiences. Christmas on the mission is so different. You serve and serve and serve some more! I was so busy doing all sorts of stuff and then we sat around and did nothing on Christmas. We just stayed at a members house. THEN, we had New Years! Oh boy.. that was a treat. We heard over 7000 gunshots from our house in Shawnee that night! We tried counting all of them but there were just too many of them! 

It was transfers two weeks ago so I'm now a district leader in Shepherdsville, KY! I am in a district with all super awesome sisters. I'm also follow-up training a new missionary. He seems very young so it feels like I am babysitting, no just kidding.. he's cool. His name is Elder Negus. (pronounced like vegas) He's from Bear Lake Utah! It's been a hard week, but we are trying really hard to find some new people to teach. I have a very good feeling about my new area, new responsibilities, and my new companion. I know lots of new adventures await us! 

Other than that, I hope everyone is staying spiritually strong with the new Come Follow Me curriculum for the Book of Mormon. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! I find so much power in it and I encourage everyone to make the sacrifice of putting in the time to read it. If you do this, you will receive REVELATION! That's what my mission president said, sacrifice + obedience = revelation. Let me tell you when God is with you and is speaking to you, it's one of the most amazing experiences. Try it out and I bet you will be uplifted. 

I will talk to you again soon,

Elder Greenlaw

This week was Elder Greenlaw's 1 year mark! Crazy how slow and fast time goes at the same time.

Zone Meeting

1. Elder Greenlaw, investigator, and Elder Negus
2. Shepherdsville

Leaving my trio

Saying goodbye to comp

Being creative on long bus rides

Bullet shells collected from New Year's Eve

Someone had some fun! 

Sorry Mom.. Don't Worry, I am Still Alive

What a week this week has been. You may be thinking why is it titled "Sorry Mom." I will get to that later lol. 

First off this area is the best! I am loving it. I don't want to ever leave. In a couple of weeks, we will find out if there will be a change. I hope I don't go anywhere. 

We are teaching some wonderful people like Robert who has struggled with drugs. I love him so much. We also have Ed who is our good friend. He is mad at me at the moment because he doesn't want change his ways.  We will help him get there. We also have Ms. Holiday, she is so funny! She is a black lady who loves to praise God and scream hallelujah. In our lessons she just gets so excited about the Lord when we are reading the Book of Mormon and she said we made a believer out of her. She cries tears of joy. We also have Sadiki who speaks Swahili and French. There are a bunch of refugees here in Kentucky from the Congo. We have taught so many of them. We have to use Google translate in our conversations which can be pretty rough. 

I guess I should get to the juicy stuff. We almost got shot this week. As we were riding our bikes down the road, there was a white van parked on the side of the road. The van pulled out and suddenly drove right next to us. There was a man inside that van who started shooting across the road. He took about 5 shots. We were in the crossfire and it's a miracle one of us didn't get shot. We later found out that a 10 year old boy got shot in the incident. The guy who fired the shots hasn't been found. If the boy doesn't live, the guy in the van could be accused of murder. So that was crazy. We rode as fast as we could to get out of there and were scared out of our minds. I'm okay mom, don't be too worried about me. 

My companions are great. We found out this last week that one of the elders in my trio is high function autism, and is struggling with temper tantrums. He is really struggling right now. We will see what happens with him. I don't want him to go home because he is a good kid and it is not his fault, it should have been addressed before the mission. Teaching is just difficult with him, but Elder Benson is my other companion and we get along great! We will see what happens. I still am happy because we are getting things done. I hope we can get a baptism here within the next transfer. 

I love you guys! Thank you for all the emails I receive. I am truly grateful for all the love, support and prayers I have received. I pray for you all to find true happiness in the gospel.

Have a great week talk to next time, 
Elder Greenlaw

Elder Greenlaw bringing home shopping items on his bike

Elder Benson's mom sent them a 4 foot tree. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

Fisher's of men stocking

The Elders pick up empty whisky and alcohol bottles when they are out and about. They are getting quite the collection. 

Muhammad Ali was born in Kentucky. This was his childhood house. 

Elder Greenlaw loves tinkering with his mission bike. 

They decided to put Christmas lights on their bikes to get into the holiday spirit! 

Lunch with Elder Greenlaw's zone. 

Week 42: We Had a Baptism

Hello! These past few weeks have been quite the adventure!

Elder sherwood one of our trio members went home and he is in California currently doing a service mission. He's a good kid and will do good things there. This area has been left to Elder Fisher and I. It's hard because there aren't any members in this area that can go out with us. There is a lot of single sisters in our area. Those who are familiar with the rule, we can't go to sister's homes just the two of us without another male. So that's been on hold and a few people we are teaching had to be put on hold as well. 

We had a baptism this last week. Robert is a good guy who has had a lot of ups and downs in his life and was miraculously able to quit smoking and turn his life around. We have worked really hard with this man so I'm glad to finally be able to see him get baptized. The afternoon was just a wrecking ball. We showed up an hour and a half early to fill the font and as we were cleaning it out first, I accidentally sucked up the most wretched smelling water that filled the entire church it felt like. We got the vaccine fixed and started up the font again but it was way slower than we thought. Filling it delayed the service for 30 minutes. We had both talks on baptism and the holy ghost before the ordinance was performed to try and make it all work. The water only ended up bing about 2 or 2 1/2 feet deep. Robert is 6 foot 5. So as you can imagine, it was rough. Brother Jeter, his best friend who baptized him, couldn't get the wording right and it took over 7 times to figure out how to baptize him. Eventually Robert sat down and brother Jeter baptized him while on his knees. That seemed to work. The whole time,  Elder Fisher and I were freaking out. We confirmed him on Sunday, and he bore a beautiful testimony. 

We have one week left until the transfer ends and I will have been out 10 1/2 months. Doesn't that just blow your mind? Where did the time go? Elder fisher has been in this area for the same amount of time as my whole mission lol. He's been in this area a really long so he is most likely going to get transferred.. sad face. That means I'm going to get two new companions.  I hope it all turns our well. 

I hope everyone is doing well. I will talk to you next time. 

Elder Andrew Greenlaw

Wk: 36: I Live in the Ghetto

It has been a while since I've written anything on the blog. I will catch you up. I have been living in Salem, Indiana. My companion was Elder McBride. We got along well and had lots of fun, but the work was very slow. It takes a toll on you. I am still alive! My trainer went home last transfer, Elder Godfrey, and I was lucky enough to be in the area above him so we got to hang out with them every pday. Our very last pday, we all hung out and went fishing. It was a good ole' time. He actually gave me his guitar and I gave my guitar to another missionary that wanted it. Now I have his nice one. I had all my last companions sign it so I can remember them. Some songs that I have been learning are; Come Thou Fount, Be Still My Soul, A Poor Way Fairing Man of Grief, and some other ones on that side that aren't hymns. It has been fun to learn to play the guitar. It is relaxing to learn and play, and I hope to be pretty good by the end of my mission so I can surprise you guys. Ha

We had transfers this last week and I was called to serve in the Shawnee and Shively area. It is a bike area. I am also in a trio with Elder Fisher who is from St. George and has been out 14 months, and Elder Sherwood, from LA who has been out 13 months. He is a struggling missionary that has been floating around the mission lately.

This week has been fun. I love being on my bike and the area is super ghetto. It is the most dangerous area in the whole mission so there is that. I've only heard gunshots a few times. We have to be in by dark every night. Other than that, we have met some really cool people we are teaching. I am in a branch again, and from what I hear, missionaries don't get fed. There are also not a lot of places to eat out. I guess it is time to brush up on my cooking skills.

We found a guy named Daniel a couple of days ago and taught him. He was about to go back to prison because of a parole and he couldn't pay rent. We prayed with him that  a miracle would happen so he could find money for rent and that we would be able to continue to teach him. He came up with the money and called us and asked when he can get baptized. So that is awesome! We have another guy named Robert who was in prison for 20 years and got out. We are helping him quit smoking so he can get baptized as well. He hasn't smoked for 3 days now. The program we use gets people to quit smoking for 3 days. It is cool to watch. So keep Robert in your prayers!

There are several others in our teaching pool I haven't met but I am excited to be busy. 14 possibles in this area. The area is always busy, we don't have to tract at all because we are constantly getting referrals from members. This area is probably the best are in the whole mission. The only thing is that it is in a really small branch and all the people that go there are assigned there from other areas. We can do it!!

I started some new meds that is helping me feel better and every day is getting better little by little. I hope to be the mission I think the Lord wants me to be.

I have some pictures. I am sharing here and hope you like them.

I will talk to you again soon,
Elder Greenlaw

PDay Hike

Elder McBride - Sooo Tall! 

I have never really liked fishing, but today I was a fisherman. 

Pday with the buds

Elder Godfrey

Giving me his guitar! So cool

Hanging with the buds. 

Wk: 33 Eight Months on the Miss

Well I'm about to hit my 8 month mark on the mission. So that's cool. It is fun to see all my wonderful friends come home right now having served valiantly. It's weird that people are home already and I've still got 16 months left. I'm sure everyone will change a lot in that time. Especially those that have served a mission. I'm surprised people can do this hard work. If it wasn't for the Lord's help, it wouldn't be impossible that's for sure. 

I'm loving my time with Elder McBride. We already know each other so I knew we were gonna get along. He was my MTC companion and is now serving in Salem, Indiana with me. The next step is to work hard. 

Kacie is getting stronger and stronger. I love seeing her grow. She just brightens my day whenever we see her. She's getting closer and closer to being baptized because her mom is getting more familiar with us and is lightening up about her meeting with the missionaries. We pray that we can get a yes from Kacie's mom saying you can get baptized. I really want to be here and be able to see her enter the waters of baptism. It would be wonderful if I could do that. What an amazing experience that would be. I am trying to have more joy in the journey. I'm happy and we are having fun. So yeah, my mom told me to be my jolly ole self, so I'm gonna do that. 

Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for more opportunities in this area and miracles to occur. 

I love you and will talk to you next week.

Elder Greenlaw

Elder Greenlaw being his usual fun loving self! 

Road in Indiana

Missionary Work

Wk 32: New Companion - Old MTC Companion

So this week was good. There wasn't too much going on other than Kacie, the 17 year old that we are teaching, bore her testimony in fast and testimony meeting. She really, really, really wants to be baptized and she has such great faith to be patient until a year from now when she turns 18. That is when her mom will let her get baptized. She keeps progressing and is basically a member. She always puts a smile on our faces every time we see her. It keeps us going through the week. Anyways, Saturday we found out I'm going to be companions with elder McBride again. Haha funny! So that's fun! He was my comp in the MTC. I'm going to be senior comp for the first time. Which means I get to drive I'm soooo excited to drive again. Eight months without driving is craziness. I was going insane. But, I get my chance tomorrow. 

Here is my spiritual thought today is that. Enduring to the end. It is really, really, really, hard. But not enduring to the end is even harder. And in the eternal perspective of things, we need to continue pushing through our afflictions and sufferings through this life faithfully and well. So join with me and take a stand to always do the right. Keep all the commandments and help others do the same. If you feel like you can't, know that you can. Talk to priesthood leaders who have been set apart by God to help you get back on track. Let's all work together to make it back to our Heavenly Father. Step by step, walk with Christ. 

I want to be with my loved ones forever and I cant wait to have an eternal companion to share the blessings of eternal life with. 

On a lighter note, my bestest friends, Nicole Henry and Colton Winder are going to be home in the next two weeks. WHAT, What?!!. I am so happy they fulfilled honorable missions.

Talk to you next week. Love you guys,

Elder Greenlaw

Wk: 31 Catching Up After Four Long Weeks.. Oops

Hello! I know, it has been awhile since I have last written. Sorry about that. Things have been hard. 

To catch everyone up, I'll give you a quick run down. Salem, Indiana has been hard!! It's been an adjustment with a new companion, and an area that doesn't have a lot going on. I try and find things I am thankful for every day. I know that during the hardest times in our lives, that is when the Lord is the closest to us. 

We have 1 person in our teaching pool. Her name is Kacie and she is awesome. She really wants to be baptized, but when she asked her mother if she could, she said no. She won't let her get baptized in any other church than her own. Kacie is awesome and will get baptized someday, I don't have any doubt in my mind about that. We continue to teach her every week because we haven't found any other new people to teach in this transfer. It has been really slow. 

I recently talked to my mission president and he gave me some great council on what I need to do. I took his advice and I have been doing a lot better ever since. I do things even when I don't want to. And every time my mind or body tells me not to do something I just get up and do it. I don't think twice about it. By doing this, we found 2 new people this last week. We had long hard days of no progress or any potentials, but on the last door that we knocked one day, we found someone. They even set a return appointment! It was a miracle. We also got a referral. It is the only referral this area has seen in 5 months. So that's pretty dang awesome! 

The branch is really loving and awesome here. We got a new branch president and he talked about the flocks being gathered to the place of water. He referenced Alma 17 and related it to us as members of the church. He gave us a charge to bring people to the waters of baptism. Those who aren't members, obviously we want them to be baptized into the fold of God. And those who are inactive, we want to bring them to the Sacrament water and Atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Christ is the living water and as we bring others to it, the promise is we will never thirst. 

I've been reading the book, Saints. It has helped me become more converted to the gospel and eased my mind about different anti-mormon literature people throw at missionaries. Be careful of this literature, it is meant to deceive, confuse, and lead away God's children from what is right. If you are first converted to Christ and His Atonement, then converted to the Book of Mormon as a foundation of your testimony, you can lean on that as you learn and progress in the everlasting gospel. The Holy Ghost can confirm the truth of these things to us after we have studied them out. 

It's sad to see those who were introduced to this literature without first having seen the goodness of the restored gospel and how perfect it is. I can promise, that if we will search the scriptures and pray, we will come to have a testimony of the truthfulness of it. I know of its truthfulness and as I study, my understanding of the gospel is strengthened. It takes time. For those of you searching, I wish that you lean on other people's testimonies and trust in God. Lean on mine if you need to. Say "I don't know that the gospel is true or that this principle is true but Elder Greenlaw does". 

One day you can say for yourself that the gospel is true. I promise you will. There are blessings in store for those who can endure. I'm doing my best to live this way and endure to the end, It's sad to see others who are struggling and not enduring very well, but as we all reach out to them, minister, and put our arms around them, we can lead them back to the living water. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I love you all. I'm doing a lot better this past week. It was almost like a mud slide (lack of investigators and contacts) had blocked the road to Jesus Christ for me. I have been slowly moving rocks and clearing the road so I can get back to Him. I'm not perfect, no one is. But if we will repent, we don't need to worry about our imperfections. I have been learning about the prophet Joseph Smith. He wasn't perfect. He messed up a lot, but he always repented and the Lord used that to his advantage in restoring the church. This is why he was able to do what he did. 

If you get a chance, read The Saints, you will learn a lot about the church. 

Anyways I love you guys, every single one of you. Let us all move forward in such a great cause. 

Love, Elder Greenlaw

Elder Greenlaw was in charge of a district activity and he did sculpturing. If you know my son, you know he loves doing stuff like this. He was so excited about it when we talked on the phone. After not writing for a few weeks, these were the only pictures I received. Gotta love my boy! 

So talented! #GreatTherapy

Wk 27: Hey Era Body! (say with an accent for the full effect)

Hello! It has been a few weeks since I have written. 

I'm now in Salem, Indiana. Wait, what? Where is that?! Yeah, that is what I said. It is in the middle of nowhere. It is all good through. Let's just say I am going through some big changes and adjustments. 
My new companion is Elder Krogh. He is from Oregon. He is a cool bean. He likes D and D and a lot of interesting things. I am sure he will teach me how to play by the end of the transfer. Elder Krogh has been out for 14 months. My comp has been here for one transfer already. This area is tough. Let's just say he is tired. I'm trying to find out how to work such a small area after coming from the city. There's nothing to do out here but service and visiting with people in the branch. Not a lot of teaching going on yet. The branch has 60 to 80 people that attend their Sacrament meetings. It is a branch not a ward because there is not enough members.  It's gonna be a hard adjustment, but hard things help us to grow. If there is one thing I've learned about the mission, is that accelerated growth will stretch you and pull you until you've changed completely. Mission's are one of the most stressful things in the world. Stress happens to our bodies when things go wrong. Trust me, if you have been a missionary, a lot can go wrong. People cancel their appointments, and people don't want to talk or listen to you.  It's hard work. 
To all of you that are preparing for a mission, if you know how to manage stress you are set. If you don't, start out by getting a job. Jobs can be stressful and that is something that will emotionally prepare you for a mission.  
Anyways, I hope to hear from you all soon. Thanks for checking up on me. I appreciate all the emails even if I am not able to respond quickly. 

I'll see you next week! 

Love you,
Elder Greenlaw

Elder Greenlaw and Elder Krogh

Saying goodbye to old comp and sister missionaries! 

Drive from Kentucky to Indiana! Everything is so green and lush.