Center, At the Airport With President and Sister Smart. Bottom, Elder Greenburg, Sister Missionaries,and another Elder, to whom I don't have a clue.
I am so grateful for his service, but I sure do miss this kid!
Friday, February 28, 2014
Elder Greenburg in Riverside!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Elder Greenburg has arrived in Riverside!
Elder Greenburg arrived safely in Riverside. He is excited that the family that he rents from, has a guitar and he will be playing some tunes tonight. They are going to set him up with a bike tomorrow and he and his companion plan on hitting it hard. He is excited for the work to progress.
His flight, he said, was "interesting" as he as never flown before. He didn't get sick so that is a good thing. He flew from Salt Lake City to San Francisco. From there to Ontario when he was met by President and sister Smart.
Sounds like he is in a pretty good area. He companion leaves in 2 months, so he has got some serious training to do.
I miss him a lot and it made me a little sad to say goodbye... again! I know he is where he is suppose to be and we will all be blessed for him being there. He has a lot to offer and I know he was sent there because he has a lot to offer. He has worked super hard to get where he is, which means that Heavenly Father has a deep purpose for him. He will be able to reach the people of Riverside in a way that will truly bless their lives.
He sends his love to all. Thank you for the prayers and please continue to pray for him, and his family. This is a lot harder than we thought it would be, and we feel the Fathers comfort everyday. Thank you all!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Greeny Care Package
Yeah. I don't think I like my P-days in the MTC because it lands on a Saturday, then I have Sunday as well which creates a weekend feel where I lose a lot of focus because I'm not teaching or preparing to teach. My Zone is also kind of hard on me because Elder Dey and I are trying to herd 12 Sisters and Elders to be to certain places on time and punctuality is a huge stresser for me. I leave the MTC on Tuesday at 2:30 in the morning. My plane leaves at 6 something. I'm not sure, I might try calling some people from the airport, but it will be way early and I don't want to wake anyone up, but maybe make a Facebook status about it, just in case. I'll leave voicemails for the ones that don't pick up. I might do it, I might not. It might bum me out, and I don't want that.
Thanks for the care package on Wednesday. My zone got white girl wasted on that Martinelli's. I remember walking out of my dorm room holding what appears to be a bottle of booze, seeing some new Elders that had just come in to the MTC and said, "If Elder Dey ever tells you to do something for the glory of it, don't do it. Or do. I ain't yer momma." Then I threw the bottle away and walked off. We have an Elder in our District from Australia named Elder Pulalasi (Poo-lala-see) that hasn't eaten a lot of American food before, so he was like, "Did Elder Greenburg's mum really just send him a bottle of wine?" He tried some and liked it. He's a straight mean-muggin, G. We have discovered a legit problem in our Zone for the Elders, though. We have gotten so used to farting around each other that it has ruined more than a handful of Zone prayers every night. Like, f'real. This is becoming a damaging affect to our Spiritual growth. It's all good though.
The therapist talked to me about what cause most of my anxiety, and we've found that a lot of it is punctuality and rules in general. Like, my alarm was going off a 6 AM so I could take a nice long shower and get ready, but that means that I had changed the schedule, which isn't really as good as it sound. Like, yeah, waking up early so that you're not late is good, but the Lord has set our schedule and they MTC Presidency has put years worth of thought into it, so it's just better to follow what they're assigned for us. He also talked a lot about not worrying about being a couple minutes late to whatever is scheduled. I mean, the line of logic is, "If I'm 1 or 2 minutes late to this class, is the whole mission going to slip into anarchy? If another Elder isn't waking up exactly at 6:30, are the failing as a missionary? No." Not to say that it's okay to be late or not follow all the rules, but don't stress when it doesn't go exactly as planned. Like today the whole Zone is meeting outside our class room building at 1:30 to go to the Temple. Are we actually going to step off right at 1:30? Probably not. But that's okay as long as everyone makes it there by the time the session starts.
Elder Dey and I have had two investigators while we've been here. One is Adam, he's essentially our teacher Brother Rasmussen role playing an investigator. Role playing seems stupid, but you do it because it gives you an inside view of what the investigator is thinking and how they're feeling, and it improves your teaching skills and your ability to be lead by the spirit. One thing that I've learned here at the MTC is that I suck. Like, I'm straight up inadequate. But that's okay, everyone sucks and is inadequate. Do you think that missionaries actually convert people? No. They don't. They can't, they lack the ability to give the person they're teaching what they need to progress spiritually because we're in a fallen state. We don't have the knowledge and perfection it takes to understand and love another human being the way Christ does. That's why we need him and the Atonement so bad. It's the Spirit that teaches and converts. Missionaries are just there as a vessel for the Spirit, Christ, and Heavenly Father to work through. That's why when you pray, you ask for the Spirit, Christ's love and charity, and pray to know what Heaven Father wants for that investigator. Adam is a guy from Colorado who moved to Utah where is son and girlfriend are. They left him because of his drinking. He's progressing great. Another on is Chad. He's a former Atheist. I used to be terrified of Atheists, but now they get me stoked. Not from a "I'm going to prove you wrong" point of view, but because I'm really going to have to use the Spirit to testify and touch his heart. He's very analytical and that's exactly like me. He just recently got divorced and doesn't know how the universe came to be, but knows it didn't just happen. We're teaching him the Plan of Salvation tonight. It's going to be great.
Elder Dey is a boss. He and I click on every single level possible. The Lord's timing is insane. I'm bummed that we're going to different missions.
I'm going to upload some photos. One of them needs to go to a girl named Aubrey McCleave on my Facebook. My camera is so boss. I can do faceswaps.
I have to jet, my laundry is finishing up.
Talk to you soon.
Cody
Thanks for the care package on Wednesday. My zone got white girl wasted on that Martinelli's. I remember walking out of my dorm room holding what appears to be a bottle of booze, seeing some new Elders that had just come in to the MTC and said, "If Elder Dey ever tells you to do something for the glory of it, don't do it. Or do. I ain't yer momma." Then I threw the bottle away and walked off. We have an Elder in our District from Australia named Elder Pulalasi (Poo-lala-see) that hasn't eaten a lot of American food before, so he was like, "Did Elder Greenburg's mum really just send him a bottle of wine?" He tried some and liked it. He's a straight mean-muggin, G. We have discovered a legit problem in our Zone for the Elders, though. We have gotten so used to farting around each other that it has ruined more than a handful of Zone prayers every night. Like, f'real. This is becoming a damaging affect to our Spiritual growth. It's all good though.
The therapist talked to me about what cause most of my anxiety, and we've found that a lot of it is punctuality and rules in general. Like, my alarm was going off a 6 AM so I could take a nice long shower and get ready, but that means that I had changed the schedule, which isn't really as good as it sound. Like, yeah, waking up early so that you're not late is good, but the Lord has set our schedule and they MTC Presidency has put years worth of thought into it, so it's just better to follow what they're assigned for us. He also talked a lot about not worrying about being a couple minutes late to whatever is scheduled. I mean, the line of logic is, "If I'm 1 or 2 minutes late to this class, is the whole mission going to slip into anarchy? If another Elder isn't waking up exactly at 6:30, are the failing as a missionary? No." Not to say that it's okay to be late or not follow all the rules, but don't stress when it doesn't go exactly as planned. Like today the whole Zone is meeting outside our class room building at 1:30 to go to the Temple. Are we actually going to step off right at 1:30? Probably not. But that's okay as long as everyone makes it there by the time the session starts.
Elder Dey and I have had two investigators while we've been here. One is Adam, he's essentially our teacher Brother Rasmussen role playing an investigator. Role playing seems stupid, but you do it because it gives you an inside view of what the investigator is thinking and how they're feeling, and it improves your teaching skills and your ability to be lead by the spirit. One thing that I've learned here at the MTC is that I suck. Like, I'm straight up inadequate. But that's okay, everyone sucks and is inadequate. Do you think that missionaries actually convert people? No. They don't. They can't, they lack the ability to give the person they're teaching what they need to progress spiritually because we're in a fallen state. We don't have the knowledge and perfection it takes to understand and love another human being the way Christ does. That's why we need him and the Atonement so bad. It's the Spirit that teaches and converts. Missionaries are just there as a vessel for the Spirit, Christ, and Heavenly Father to work through. That's why when you pray, you ask for the Spirit, Christ's love and charity, and pray to know what Heaven Father wants for that investigator. Adam is a guy from Colorado who moved to Utah where is son and girlfriend are. They left him because of his drinking. He's progressing great. Another on is Chad. He's a former Atheist. I used to be terrified of Atheists, but now they get me stoked. Not from a "I'm going to prove you wrong" point of view, but because I'm really going to have to use the Spirit to testify and touch his heart. He's very analytical and that's exactly like me. He just recently got divorced and doesn't know how the universe came to be, but knows it didn't just happen. We're teaching him the Plan of Salvation tonight. It's going to be great.
Elder Dey is a boss. He and I click on every single level possible. The Lord's timing is insane. I'm bummed that we're going to different missions.
I'm going to upload some photos. One of them needs to go to a girl named Aubrey McCleave on my Facebook. My camera is so boss. I can do faceswaps.
I have to jet, my laundry is finishing up.
Talk to you soon.
Cody
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Cody @ the MTC
** Posted on Cody's Facebook page***
Oh and I broke my first mission rule on accident. Apparently Elders and Sisters are not allowed to take pictures alone together. So this picture of me and Elder Greenburg is pretty diso. Oops.
Oh and I broke my first mission rule on accident. Apparently Elders and Sisters are not allowed to take pictures alone together. So this picture of me and Elder Greenburg is pretty diso. Oops.
First Email
Just got the first Email from Cody. He is doing okay, but as any missionary knows, the MTC is hard, so keep him in your prayers. He is doing great, just being a little hard on himself, which, if anyone knows Cody, knows that is just the way he rolls. He is very eager to get out of the MTC and to Cali.
Mama G.
** Forgot to mention. And this is a good thing. He and his companion are zone leaders so that keeps him super busy.
Mama G.
** Forgot to mention. And this is a good thing. He and his companion are zone leaders so that keeps him super busy.
First Letter
Mama G. here, I just heard from Elder Greenburg. Things are going GREAT, he is humbled by a few things that he feels he wasn't prepared for, but that is just normal missionary things. You can't be prepared for everything. Anyway, let's just say I am so glad that most of our correspondence will be via email, as this kids writing needs a translator. Here is his address for those who would like to write him
Elder Cody Greenburg
FEB25 CA-RIV
2009 N 900 E
Unit 166
Provo, Utah 84602.
It is a relief to get his first letter and hear how well he is doing.
I will keep you all posted as more info becomes available.
Thanks for the Love and support.
Mama G.
Elder Cody Greenburg
FEB25 CA-RIV
2009 N 900 E
Unit 166
Provo, Utah 84602.
It is a relief to get his first letter and hear how well he is doing.
I will keep you all posted as more info becomes available.
Thanks for the Love and support.
Mama G.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Cody @ the MTC
Cody's mom here. We dropped him off at the MTC about 2 hours ago. He is going to be a great missionary. I will try to post updates on how he is doing here on his Facebook page. I will check it regularly for anything or anyone that has any questions or just wants to know how he is doing. Thank you all for your love and support.
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