Monday, July 21, 2014

Happy Birthday Elder Green

 The group for the last time!

 Birthday gifts

 Birthday cake!
New companion - E. Palomino from Nicaragua

July 21, 2014 - Surprise Transfer!

Hey ya'll so first off, thanks for the birthday wishes but I have a surprise for you. On Wednesday we had our interviews right. So that went super well and our Pres is super awesome. Very spiritual and he wants to help get this mission going even better. That is pretty awesome I would say. I enjoyed talking with him and it went well. He talked about the importance of trust and loyalty not to him, but to the Lord. Pretty awesome! Anyways we talked for a while. I was the first of the district to be interviewed and I wasn´t sure why. It didn't click or anything. But then E. Turketo and I were teaching and Pres called us about 6 35 pm, 2 hours after the interviews. He then asked me if I would accept the calling as Zone Leader in the zone Las Americas. I said yes and from that day on I hurry and said goodbye to people and started to pack.

Yep so I am now ZL in Las Americas! Wow I didn't see that coming, and especially not a special transfer like it happened. Right in the middle of the normal transfer! Wow ahah. But here am I in Las Americas. It is really close to the airport. And our area is almost all dirt roads! It is crazy. We are in a branch and it is a house. We live right next door to the church. Literally right next door! That part is pretty cool. The church is on ground level and we live above and to the right of it on the second level. To get to my area I got a ride from the AP's´s which was nice as I had a fair amount of stuff.

My new comp, E. Palomino from Nicaragua! We lived in the same house in Los Mameyes for a transfer and now he is training me to be ZL! He is a good guy and I am excited to learn a lot from him. I really don´t know much but I am working hard.

Our zone has 32 missionaries, the biggest in the mission I believe! And 14 of them are sisters! Wow that is big! We have a lot of work ahead of us in order to improve this zone but we are working on goals in order to do so.

So today my comp got me cake, which was pretty awesome! He is a good guy! I am planning to share it with him and the other elders in the house. He is a great! I ate fried rice with some fries and chicken for lunch. We are going shopping after this so hopefully I can buy some good stuff for dinner.

So the bad news is right when I got here a problem started with the water pump. So we are doing buckets again. Not super fun but it happens so we are still smiling.

So time flies here. I am not sure what I am missing. Thanks for all the gifts. I really appreciate it. They are all so great. I love the Jersey that I got. Wahoo! Well life is going well. I am super tired now. I got to go to a meeting and I have been traveling a lot. I haven´t visited so many areas in 4 days. It is pretty crazy but I am learning a lot. Well I will try to do better next week but I love you all! Be happy don´t worry!

Bye!

--
Love,

Elder Chez Green

Monday, July 14, 2014

July 14, 2014 - Hi All, So first off don´t worry about what I am going to tell you!

I say that because everything had a happy ending so I want you all to be happy! But last night we were waiting for the bishop so he could visit a new investigator with us and a man walked up to us. He smelled drunk and started asking us questions and we talked a little bit. Then he asked for our cell phone kind of jokingly, but then he said give it to him so nothing else happens. Then he asked for the new Nike watch I bought as well. So we handed it over obviously because that is mission rules and it isn´t worth a conflict.

So we walked to a members house right after and told a less active of about 16 years. He went straight after the guy. Then we told more of the members family (they are a huge family of like 7 siblings, one of which is the bishop, and they all have kids. It is like 30 all together I believe and they all live pretty close, but anyways) the family like went after the guy and the whole community united to put him in custody. We were not involved but we could hear the ruckus. So they took him to the police station and they put him in custody. We then took our statement and they found our stuff but they had to keep it for evidence. At this point everyone knew what was going on, but the bishop walked us back to our house and then we talked to the ZL´s and it all seemed good. Then this morning they asked that we come back at 8 am. So we went and it turns out that the guy who robbed us, his brother is a police captain. And that the guy who robbed us is ex police. So we meet his brother and Mom and they asked us to forgive him really. So we talked to our Mission Pres and he said that would be a good idea. We were using our Christ like attributes. It is crazy how I am changing on that side of things here. I didn´t really even feel mad at the guy when it happened. But anyways we talked to them and we decided to drop it (E.Turketo and I). Then we met the guy and his name is Ramon. And he apologized to us and we talked to him about repentance and forgiveness. Then our Mission Pres wanted us all to go to the office so he could meet them all. He said that we all forgive him but he wants us to start teaching him! Yep that is exactly what happened. So we now have all the info of the family and we will see how it goes.

But pretty much to sum up the story, we went from being robbed to finding a new investigator. And so ya that is the story. It wasn´t really a dangerous situation, because E. Turketo and I didn´t feel in danger when he robbed us. But it all turned out well. We will see if he comes to our appointment in the church on Friday night. We will be sure to be accompanied by a priesthood leader just in case but all seems well! So we will see if he has the desire to change. Very interesting experience but I thought I would share it with you all. The Lord works in strange ways! But please don´t worry. It happened on a street corner and there were people around and the members house was literally 20 feet away, so we were not worried. And the odds of 2 against one is pretty good if anything goes down (E. Turketo used to box as well) But ya that is the story!

I am about to finish the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time! I am super excited! I invite all of you to read it! It is super great. Take a chance! Go on make my day! :)

So that took up part of our P day to get that all resolved. Then we played some soccer and as a zone we got free pizza because we cleaned our houses! Boo ya pizza party!

So I have almost all of my bday gifts, except I haven´t gotten the tube yet. It is hard to see them everyday and not have the desire to open them but I am fighting it haha!

We also had a zone meeting on Thursday and I shared a talk for the whole zone. I felt like it went pretty well honestly!

W of the W is haragan which means lazy chair(boy) or a recliner chair. But they use it here as slang to say like someone is super lazy. Tu eres un haragan. It is pretty funny!

Oh so we have a new motto for the mission. GOOD JUDGMENT! I like it but I feel like a lot of missionaries could abuse it. We will see.

Crazy about Germany smashing Brazil. And then like I predicted they won it all. I saw glimpses in the street of some of the game but congrats to the Germans! I like their team a lot. Super young and enjoyable to watch!

Wow Lebron went back to Cleveland! What a surprise!

Interviews will be coming this week on Wed.. Our mission Pres is super loving which is great and any questions I don´t know in Spanish, he speaks English! Wahoo!

Well I love you all! Be safe and don´t worry about me. I am safe and sound (like the TSwift song from hunger games) Love yall!

--
Love,

Elder Chez Green

Mission President Corbitt and his wife




July 7, 2014 - Happy Days!

Hey y'all, I hope all is well in your respective places! I am doing well here, though the heat is outrageous! We are working hard here and it is going well. Not always easy but well. We had two baptisms on the 4th of July! What a great way to celebrate! It was very spiritual and it looks like they are very prepared. We are excited for them which is good! The bautismo went well, the Sister asked E. Turekto to baptize her and I was asked by Enderson the son. It was a great experience and we truly are excited for them!

So besides that, 4th of July was pretty well celebrated by E. Jenkins and I. We bought a great DR fast food called yaroa, which is shredded chicken, fries and cheese all put together with ketchup and mayo. So good! It was great. I also drank a vanilla coke, a mountain dew, some Doritos and a snickers. It was sweet, though I really missed seeing the fireworks. Those are my favorite and honestly this is like my favorite holiday. But I hope that everyone enjoyed it. America! Boo Ya!

Thanks a ton for the Vitamins. I look forward to taking them every morning! ha-ha weird I know but our diet here isn´t very healthy so it is nice to have. More Thai sauce is great. So delicious. And I have so many gifts. Thanks a ton but that is so much! You all got me too much but thank you. I will be sure to tone it down a lot!

Today we went to la Duarte and checked out some shops. It is really just like thrift shopping there. Everything is used stuff sent from the US that they sell. I am not a huge fan. I like shopping in Thailand a lot more where there are a ton of people but it is more organized and the stuff is almost always new. Not like here where they don´t care much about what they sell but all is well.

So W of the Week is expiación which means Atonement. As in the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is church Spanish lingo but it is a great word.

I had the leadership meeting last Tuesday and we have interviews this Friday with the new President. I met him last Tuesday and he is very cool. Bringing a different perspective to the mission but I am looking forward to it. I hope it keeps getting better. I sent a picture with them to mom and dad. The meeting went well. I think we will see some changes here but all is well.

Bugger the US couldn´t win. Sad Beckerman didn´t play much either but I heard we played well and we advanced out of the group of death which is huge for the USA! We are getting better, that is for sure! We gotta keep it up, with more youth!

Congrats to the Pruden and Burr families for their baptisms! Super awesome!! Great to hear that RSL won! Thanks for all the updates and info! Well I love you all. Tell everyone hi and be safe! Go Germany for the final! That is who I am cheering for. Thomas Muller is so bomb! Wahoo. Love ya!

--
Love,

Elder Chez Green

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Goodbye Pres Hernandez



June 30, 2014 - Hello My Dear Family!

Hello everyone out there! I want to give you ALL A SHOUT OUT! In caps even, that worked out great! Well I hope all is well and that work, vacation, and whatever else is enjoyable! I love you all very much!

I hope everyone enjoys the 4th of July so Happy 4th! Light off fireworks for me and make sure the Lynch, Mortimer, Green tradition lives on, even without the three musketeers!

So life is good, though i am still feeling a little of the effects of the virus. They say it doesn´t completely leave the body for a while. Oh well. Our area is tough right now. We have two baptismal dates for Friday night with Enderson and Diosdery but after that we are blank. We aer asking for references of people we can teach and what not but it is tough for now. I hope we can find some more people to teach but we will see. I know there are people out there but we are planting seeds for now!

Today we went to Megacentro and relaxed. No playing soccer because I don´t have the energy, we just had some fun. We walked around the stores, made jokes and heard American music for a little. The good stuff! I bought teryaki chicken or lunch and I also bought some honey roasted peanuts. I want to learn to make those! So delicious. It was a fun time, just the four of us from the house. We get along pretty well which is great!

Word of the week is concordancía which is like index I believe. I learned that word a couple weeks ago! I will keep working on more words!

So I have seen bits and pieces of the world cups in the store tv´s or with members or investigators. Sounds crazy. Hilarious that Shantaye is leaving work early to watch the game, but that is awesome! I think I would have tried to do that too haha! Actually I know I would have! I hope she enjoyed Youth Conference.

Congrats Gma and Gpa on selling the house. I am also happy to hear Cara is doing so much better! Wahoo way to go her!

Well that is all really. The new Pres is here and I should meet him this week. That is all. Time flies. I love you all!

--
Love,

Elder Chez Green