Little by little

Hey Mom! How are ya?

So everything here is going pretty well, I got the manuals last week! I forgot to say! Thank you so much! And thank you for the dehydrated fruit. Pack as much of that stuff as you can! :) (apples and peaches and berries especially! I cook it all with my oats and it taste like pie.) haha so thank you again. As far as snail mail I got some a while back in January but nothing recently. It is usually about 2 weeks when paid with an 'international forever stamp' so I'll keep my eye out for mail and the P.O. Box is best for letters.

So things are getting a little better over here. It's more of a 'Don't ruffle the feathers' kinda situation. He goes home on April 15th so I don't think he will change any of his habits from now until then. so it's kinda frustrating but it's just a waiting game until then.Sigh. Oh well.

Last Friday however we were able to hold a baptism for two of our investigators and there were two others from the other missionaries. It was really exciting and since i've been here in West Adenta I've been able to have some really spiritual experiences sharing my testimony with people who have had doubts about the Church and also with our ward mission leader. I've really been able to strengthen my resolve to serve and to be faithful till the end.

It's exciting to see Emma! Haha I miss that knucklehead . 

I am so excited to hear about Carl! Wow that makes me so happy to hear about him right now. I don't know if I can explain how excited I am for him. I'll be super excited to hear where he goes.

Well the internet is slow again today..surprise surprise haha so unfortunately This is all for today. Love you very much Mom :)


Elder Green

What more can I do? Pray Elder, pray

Wow! I am super excited for Carl haha that is great!
Well as far as missionary work is going its gettin there. Elder Caleb stopped speaking to me last week for a couple of days until Wednesday when I tried to have some companionship inventory. He basically freaked out and was just yelling and screaming and cussing and confessed that he didnt trust me. He never would say why he didn't trust me. SO I just told him that it was a bad excuse and that I am here to work and not to sit around members houses all day. It didn't end to well. Later that night he ended up apologizing to me at like 2 in the morning which was really cool. So from then up until Sunday night everything was working out really well.....until he started to bring things up again and pretty explicitly said that he still doesn't trust me and doesn't want to be my friend at all. So it's kinda got me feeling a little down. I don't know why he's like this but it really sucks. And it really sucks that he refuses to trust me, but he won't say why. In all honesty I think it's because I am young on mission, and that I am an American (He's super judgmental and rude to complete strangers and thinks the world revolves around him) and from what I know he's always been a hassle on mission and has burned through a lot of companions.
So anyways I'm just trying to ride out the storm. Aside from all of that mess I'm doing pretty well. Honestly I'm trying to prepare for when Elder Caleb leaves so that I can get serious about the area and the work here since in his like 5 months here he's only been to one part of the whole area and doesn't know any other parts or even the names of the different neighborhoods ( for lack of a better name).
I love you all very much and I am doing well, a little downhearted since my companion doesn't want to get to know me or to even be my friend, he made that decision before I got here, but I am looking to the future :) Love you all and tell my older sisters that I am really sorry but I haven't found too much free time lately but I'll try to respond to them :)


Elder Green

Trials are not new for Missionaries...

Dear Mom,
So this past week has been harder still. I can understand having conflicting personalities and all--those can be worked out. Elder Caleb however has pretty much just given up on mission. He is going home in mid April and from what he has told me and what I have gathered he has been one that just causes trouble everywhere he goes. He is also incredibly rude to people, even ward members and his comments are always full of sarcasm and snideness. Trying to talk to him is like walking on glass.
So all this being said I have been trying really hard to clean up the mess he has been making in the Area and in the ward. There is a plus side to all of this though--I am getting to know the different ward members a little bit better and they are beginning to see me in a better light than the missionaries in the past. However I still don;t know my area too well. I'd say the boundaries are about the size of Fremon'ts school boundaries and we are on bikes. Yikes. haha
Despite this super bumpy start I have high hopes for the future, when Elder Caleb is home and I'll actually be able to do some missionary work since all he likes to do is hang out at members houses and come in early...I will still try very hard to lead/ re motivate him through my example and how I act and what I do. We'll see how far that gets.
I am glad to hear that the family is doing well, despite the loss Dad's friend Wayne. I sure hope that he is coping well with all the craziness of late. It's good to see Bailey and Wes on grandmas lap! hahah I bet you are enjoying it. Oh! and Elder Caleb is Samoan. Yes the P.O.Box is good for letters and one more thing.  Well I am looking to the future and I will talk to you next week!

Love you all.
Elder Green

* I contemplated not posting this letter-but this is His mission experience and I think that sometimes we get grandiose ideas about missions and don't realize that a lot of the work is between the companionships. We used this letter to help our children at home understand the importance of always doing your best-competing against yourself to always be improving in everything that we do. The children really responded to this and felt for their brother and the also for his companion. Please continue to pray for them that they may be able to find their "niche" and be an effective team.