August 25,2014

Hey, this week was good. We picked up a family of 3 on Thursday. Their names are Pedro, Angelica, and Isaac. They're really receptive of the gospel and we have high hopes for them. How was your guy's week? Things here pretty much stay the same and it gets repetitive after awhile. Just working and trying to stay busy. Kylee's birthday is on Thursday, so that's cool. Tell her happy birthday for me. 

Things on my end are meh. Same stuff different day. Just trying to stay busy. I wake up, go run until I want to puke, don't puke (maybe), get a runners high, convince myself that I'm going to be able to find work to do today, pray as hard as I can, go home, make eggs, granola ceral, OJ, and toast to convince myself that I'm eating healthier so I can lose a little bit of my double chin, go shower, try to figure out how to make my hair as boss as a can, get pissed at my cowlick, go study and read the Book of Mormon, then companionship study and prepare what we're going to teach our investigators that day (it takes like 20 minutes maybe, but we have to fill the whole hour), hit the road at 10 AM, hit up potentials, hit up potentials, pray, hit up potentials, blow miles, go back home for lunch, hit it again until dinner at 6, then hit up less actives/inactives, get OYMs, and go back home to plan for tomorrow, go to sleep, wake up, repeat until P-day. (But hey, I'm cutting Elder Higashi's hair today, that'll be funny. That man is braver than I.) I dyed my hair this week (YOLOBROSWAG), I came into a guitar that someone was just going to throw out, so I went and grab it before the dude got rid of it. So that's fun. It turns out that Azuree moved to Orange County, but has Sunday's off, so she's going to be out here every Sunday for church and to visit her son. That'll be fun. The mission is great, and it's a great privilege and honor to be able to serve the Lord, and it has it's ups and downs, and right now it's just down a little bit, but it won't be down eventually. There's always and upswing. Passmore is cool. He loves movies, so that's what we mainly talk about.  Anyways, I'm slowly just not caring about knocking on the same doors over and over again. We're working with Alex again to see if we can get his butt in gear. Your week sounded fun. Sucks to hear that Kylee has to go get her back looked at, hopefully that gets better soon. It's cool that Jared is an Elder now and that the priesthood is in the home again. I'm proud of him. 
Love, 


Cody

Transfer, anyone? NO!

Hey...we got transfer calls on Saturday and...I'm staying in Woodcrest...again. I honestly don't know what I'm suppose to be in Woodcrest for, but I'm about to find out, because I'm at the point where I don't care about all the things that I've been afraid of anymore. I'm just so done and ready to do what it takes to finish up my work here in Woodcrest. We moved into a really cool homeshare, The Michealsons. She basically just buys all of our groceries. It's really cool. They love us. We have a free pass to a local gym too, so I can run and work out. My new comp's name is Elder Passmore. I don't know anything about him. We have a few people that we can work with, but I'm just at the point where they're on date for baptism, or they're dropped. I'm done wasting my time on people that aren't ready for it. That sounds harsh, but it's true. The elect are out there, we have to find them.

Cody


Side note: The companion that Cody has been assigned to/with, has had a really hard time. So much so that President Mullen's had to go and straighten a few Elders out.  Needless to say, they transferred him to be companions with Cody.  I guess this Elder has a lot of emotional problems.  It just breaks my heart that the people that are suppose to be bringing people to the gospel are treating one of their own so horribly.  I KNOW Cody will be good for him.  Cody has a kind heart.  He was never allowed as a child to be mean to other kids, I made that very clear that I WOULD NOT TOLERATE IT!.  It still breaks my heart that Elders could treat him this way. Keep Cody and his new companion in your prayers, this will be 7 1/2 months in the same area. As you can tell, he is a little frustrated.
I will post pictures later.
Love to all,
Mama G.

We Have a New Baby! Teague Adam Greenburg is Born!

Hey,
Our Mission President challenged us to crossfit last week and we did it today. It hurts to type. My arms feel like they're going to fall off, but I didn't burn off all my pre-workout and I'm super jittery still. #WorkingOutProblems. It's good that we have a new baby. You guys are just popping them out of there like they're candy. That's good, because I'm not having any for...a long time. So enjoy it while it lasts. Haha. This week has been okay. It's been hard as of late. We dropped Alex and Judy because they were refusing to progress. Sometimes you just have to drop people so they can figure themselves out and go find the people who are ready for the Gospel. Yeah, see if you can get Gavin into Paul or someone. That kid needs a haircut. It's good that Andrew is doing well too. Transfers are this week. Hopefully I get transferred.
Anywho, the mission is still great. A pain in the butt sometimes, but great.
Hope everyone is doing well.


Cody

We harvested some grapes from our Ward Mission Leader's house and made grape juice. It was terrible. Haha.

 Elder Hughes was making a house of cards

That is me and Elder Snider. We went to High School together.

Cody didn't have a lot to share with us this week.  The stuff he did share was personal between me and him and he asked me not to publish it.  Please keep him in your prayers, serving a mission can be discouraging sometimes. 

Mama G.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!
 It's good to hear that all is well on your end of the world. It doesn't surprise me that Gavin and Riley are still wreaking havoc. Andrew looks like he's getting big. It's good that Allison is having her C-section and we will have another baby. Still no name, I guess. They either don't have one, and are making you all think they do, or it's a good one that they don't want anyone stealing. Knowing Tyler, it's a little of both. It's good that Cameron and Shelby are having a girl, It's good that Cameron got a better job with troubled youth. It's great that Ethan is getting married. Like you said, now it's down to Breanna. What's Caleb up to? Find out the deets on that new family in the ward, fellowship them. Our ward sucks at that, and now you have a common element. Make them your best friends. Everyone out here has dinners with other families in the ward and fellowships each other. It's something that I noticed never happens in Utah. Make them feel welcomed and at home. Yeah, get us our plaques! Haha. I want something to hang on my wall when I'm 45 and unmarried rolling in doe. Haha. Just kidding...(about the rolling doe part. Maybe. #BussinessAdministrationProbs).

This week was...lame. Haha. We only taught like 10 lessons, which suckkkssss. We met with Alex and found out that he doesn't even know if he has a desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true, or even wants a desire. No matter what way Hughes and I put a spin on it, he was just like, "Maybe...". I was like, "Look, we're making some pretty bold claims here. Either this book is 100% true, or 100% false. There is no 60/40 going on here. And if it's true, that means that Christ's original church that he himself set up when he is on the Earth has been restored, that means that the priesthood authority of God has been restored to the Earth through a modern day prophet, and we have a living prophet today. That sounds like something that's worth knowing right? I mean, if the Book of Mormon is true, it will literally change your life. Don't you want to know if it's true?" He said, "That sounds good. I don't know." So we asked him, "If it were true, would you act on it?" He said, "Maybe. Even if it were true, I don't know if this church would be the church for me." I lost it a little bit and looked at him right in the eyes and frustratingly said, "Alex, that doesn't make sense. If it's true, your search for the true church and Gospel of Christ is over. If this is true, but not right for you, something is off, and it's not the book." So he's on the list to be dropped this week. Ugh.
But Vasti got confirmed yesterday. That was good. She's great. We're working on her inactive dad, and his non-member wife and her three unbaptized daughters. It's fun out here, hard, but fun. I'm glad you like the shirt. 16 year old kids walk around with the hoodie form of that shirt on...at the end of July. #CaliKidsAreDumbSometimes. It was like 107 degrees on Thursday out here and it was overcast. It was soooooo humid. It doesn't even rain here during the summer, it just pretends and makes it muggy. We're super blessed with a car. Haha. Sorry, Helmet Biking Elders. Transfers are in two weeks on August 10th. Hopefully I'll get bounced elsewhere. I really feel like my time in Woodcrest is done. I'm just going to prepare for the worst. Doubled in, First Time District Leader, Training, on bike, in August, in the hilly part of Corona. That way, if anything else happens, it'll be pleasant. And if the above happens, my boy and I are going to kill it. #BornForAdversity. We kind of dropped Judy this last week as well. She flat out said that she wasn't committing to baptism, and won't for awhile. So...we kind of don't have anyone to teach. Hahaha. I came in with no one, I go out with no one. At least I left it the way I found it. Hahaha. That's terrible. No, we worked hard and found people ready for the Gospel, and I learned a lot.
Glad to hear that Kylee is doing better. Tell her to just keep following what the doctor says. He know's what he's doing.
Yeah, time is rolling by. No biggie.
Love you, happy birthday
Cody



This is Cooper, our homeshare's dog. That homie loves me. He tried to make out with me, and I almost let him. #TheStruggleIsReal. Also, I need to work out. My face is getting fat.

Hughes and I

Redland's Temple

Picture overload, and some words of wisdom thrown in!

We did baptize Vasti yesterday, finally. She took so long because she had a cast, then a boot, and she was feeling self conscious about it, but we finally got her. And there is the step-mom and her three daughters still in the home that aren't baptized. It's the honey hole of Woodcrest. Haha. Photos to come. Hughes is going to email them to me. But the work is going still. We're trying to get Alex to get baptized this weekend, but he might have to wait until August. I will probably be transferred on August 11, since I've been in Woodcrest for almost 6 months. It'll be a good change of pace. There is a high possibility that I might train. There is a big incoming and people need to train. In our mission, if you've been trained, you can train. It isn't exactly about how much time you've been out. It'll be fun. Scary, but fun.

Also, on the 1st of January the church is sending out 36,000 iPads to different missions and ours is on the list. But it's like buying a bike for your mission, you have to pay. It's $400, so if y'all could start saving up to help me pay for it by January, that'd be a great help for missionary work, if not, don't worry about it. But tell Jared to start saving up for it, because it's a possibility now.

F'real. I almost pull my friggin hair out when someone quotes Revelation 20:22 that says no one should add to that book. Everyone out here thinks it means that bible as a whole, but it really means that specific book. WHEN JOHN WROTE THAT FREAKING BOOK, HE DIDN'T KNOW YOU TARDS WERE GOING TO PUT IT AT THE END OF THE BIBLE. THE 1ST BOOK OF JOHN WAS WRITTEN AFTER THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THUS MAKING JOHN'S ORIGINAL EPISTLE ADDING TO THE BIBLE. READ YOUR HISTORY OR I'M GOING TO GO UPSIDE YOUR HEAD! And Moses said essentially the same thing in Deuteronomy 4:2. So does that negate the whole rest of the Bible? NO, YOU RETARDS. FASFSDFKSDLSDHL! Kill me. If I can convince 1 born-again Christian to reconsider their life and the bible, I'll consider my mission a success.

Love you guys, Cali is fun, missions are hard, but worth it.

Cody.

We ended up at a ward member’s party and played minute to win it games for dinner.

And the Bagely's fed us freaking steak and salmon one night. #RichPeople

Elder Franson bought a Batman piñata for his birthday. I introduce Elder Batman. I miss him. 

 Batman and I going to Sleep!

 Batman In the Shower!

Batman Going Potty.

Batman Studding the Scriptures!

Batman Is better than Super man!!

Batman and I Arresting Elder Higashi!

 Batman Giving us a Training in District meeting!

Let the Games Begin!!!!

P.S. I also found a broken bong checking the mail this morning. #CaliLyfe