Going Home - Along with 26,000 Other Missionaries From Around the World

Saying goodbye to Louisville, Kentucky! 

Because of Covid 19, tens of thousands of missionaries were sent home from their national and international assignments in the Spring of 2020 as countries began closing their borders and states went into lock down. For example, about 26,000 missionaries were moved to their home countries by June 2020. 

Upon returning home, missionaries from the U.S. and Canada were given options to:

• Be temporarily released and then return to their original or a new temporary assignment when conditions allowed.
• Return to service within 12 to 18 months with a new end date.
• Be permanently released if they had a limited amount of time remaining on their service. 

The total number of full-time missionaries worldwide dropped from nearly 68,000 in early February 2020 to about 42,000 by late April 2020 due to these adjustments and early releases. 

It's my turn... I'm Going Home!!

My homecoming was in a quieter fashion than the usual airport gathering. Because of restricted Covid 19 rules, my parents were the only ones that could go to the airport to pick me up. They met me in the parking lot with the usual "welcome home" sign. 

Well done, Andrew! So proud of you and the service you rendered. 

I met up with my siblings at home. It was great to see them again.         

My stake president didn't have any mission reunion talks at church for the three missionaries that returned when I did. We weren't allowed to gather as a congregation. My family was doing "at home" church. Coming home to so much uncertainty and not having a plan for my future was extremely difficult. It was not only hard for all the missionaries, but everyone going through the day to day of Covid lockdowns. 

I did have a few people come by the house and welcome me home. Neighbors and a few family members which meant a lot to me. 

 

The Coon family in the ward brought over a Covid 19 survival bag equipped with toilet paper, treats, and cold medicine just in case!! Little did any of know how much toilet paper would be a hot commodity during the pandemic. 

Well done, Elder Greenlaw! We are happy to have you home safe and sound. 

Last thoughts before being released. Even though I was only able to serve a 14 mo mission, I feel like I gave it everything I had. Serving in Louisville had its challenges. I tried to do my very best, and I know I am a better person because of it. 

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 - Pocahontas 

Elder Fisher, Enough Said

Souvenirs 

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.