Miracles

Hey everyone! I have some stuff to tell you about the work that's going on here. I'm loving Gurnee and today I got a new companion named Elder Gittins. He's a good guy from what I can tell. His spanish needs some help, but thankfully I've been told that I speak really well, so we have something we can work with.

The news:

This past week has been really great. Since Elder Thomas left, I'm glad he went on a good note. It was a pleasure serving with him. I'm really excited to be working with Elder Gittins. He seems like a really great Elder. This past week we had 19 lessons, with which I was really pleased. We just need to stretch a little bit more to get over the 20 lesson mark. That is my goal. We had an awesome experience with an investigator named Jesus. He is a new investigator that we acquired by looking through old records. He is an older guy who is really trying to find God and be closer to him. We taught him the second lesson. When we were speaking with him, Elder Thomas began to explain resurreccion and the celestial kingdom to him. As he spoke, this look of inexplicable joy spread across his face and it seemed like his entire body just gained new life. In his eyes there was this look of hope and peace unlike anything I've ever seen before. It felt surreal. He then asked us, "So I can have a body that never gets old or sick or has pain?" We explained that our bodies would be perfect. He got really excited then and said, "And I can live with my family forever and continue to have kids after this life and be happy?" We told him that this was the case. Then I asked, "What does that make you feel?" He enthusiastically responded, "I want to learn more and do anything that it takes to get there." We then set him on baptismal date and he promised to come to church this sunday. We have another appointment with him tomorrow. I'm so stoked. That was a huge testimony builder to me of the peace and joy and serenity that the Gospel can bring into our lives.

Also, we got in contact again with Elizabeth Luna, and she has been conscious of the church this entire time! She has been reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning and loves it and she's doing so good! I can't believe how God has blessed her and her family. She has a peace and happiness that I love to see every time that I go over.

We also have been working hard with some of our recent converts and less active members. There is a family that is thinking about divorce, the familia Villalobos, and Elder Thomas helped them a lot with some insights that were vital. We also have been working with the Reyes family. Hermana Reyes is a recent convert. We're worried that Hermano Reyes, who is a lifelong member but was very less active, may have fallen back into his old habits. Here's hoping that's not the case.

We also are working with Karla Bautista, who has come to church now for a little under a month. She's great. I wish Jen was in this area to help her out. They're the same age, and there aren't any girls Karla's age up here. She'd be a good support. Speaking of Jen, Sister Arce finished her mini-mission today. I got to talk to her at transfers and it seems everything went really well. It was nice to see a familiar face from Chicago.

We've been having a lot of fun up here too. Me and Elder Thomas had an ongoing chess tournament until the day he left. I won. 16 wins to 9. He started to catch up there at the end. Oh and Elder Gittins' birthday is on friday so I'm hoping we'll get to grill some stuff or something so that he can have some fun. Oh and I wanna make arroz con leche. It's a mexican dish. Literally translated it means rice with milk. And that's what it is. 1 cup of rice, a liter of milk, a little condensed milk, and two sticks of cinnamon. To make more, simply double. And that's it. So amazing! It's like my favorite dish/dessert/thing. Learn how to make it, perfect it, and I'll come judge it at my homecoming in November.

Our easter was so great Dad. I can't even explain.

I gotta tell you:

When we walked out of the house that morning, the air was crisp, the sky was blue, birds were singing and I thought to myself, "Wow, what a day to celebrate the Risen Lord." It was incredible. We had church at 11. The thing is, no investigators showed up, and even though Karla showed up, she left after sacrament. Seeing no reason to stick around for all three hours, we decided to go work. We went first to the Soltelo family's house and they were there. If we had come any later they would've been too busy to accept us. Then we went to the house and ate. Then we passed by an investigator named Marvin. When we went there, it was awesome. He was just about to leave, so we got to teach him before he left. Again, any later and we would've missed him. Then we went and tracted. I got the impression to bring an english book of mormon with me. So I did. We were out for about 2 hours and didn't find anyone. However, on the way back to the car, we passed a family who's car had broken down right there. The father talked to us and I gave him the english book of mormon and he promised to read it and talk to the other elders. Do you think it was coincidence that that man's car had broken down right there right then and we were there and I had received that inspiration? I don't. Then we went with some members to visit the Reyes family and had a touching lesson about the atonement. Then we passed by the Sanchez family and ate and spoke with the Banegas family who was at the Sanchez's house. The Banegas's are very less active. We got to talk to them too. It was an awesome day. 5 lessons in a day and a few contacts.

Well I'm gonna roll out.

I love you all very much!

Elder Jordan Green