Week 77

Hola family, friends, and loved ones from all places,

I want to start this email off by thanking EVERYONE who has given me love, support, written me, prayed for the welfare of the people I've served with in Puerto Rico and Orem Utah, and just overall has showered me with love.  I am so grateful for each and every one of you.  I wish there was a way to repay you all individually and bless you all just as you have blessed me these past 18 months, but I will find a way!! Haha!!

So I will answer your two questions first, then get to my testimony.

This last week of my mission WE WORKED SO HARD!  I was so happy and felt at peace with our efforts!  Highlights from last week:

Monday:
- We had one of the best nights of work that night!  We were able to contact and meet a LOT of new people and hand out many Books of Mormon.

Tuesday:
- Went and visited a family in one of the English wards we cover, named THE Richards.  They are a really special family, and definitely a family that needed to know that Heavenly Father was aware of them.  Their first 3 daughters are exactly like Jade, Khloe, and Maya - so cute and precious!
- We heart attacked the Hood Family!
- We visited Patsy, an old investigator from a couple transfers back.  We sang her a song and she was really happy we came by.

Wednesday:
- We went to visit Hermana Alvarez, an older lady who's health isn't the best. She's from the DR (Dominican Republic) and is so sassy, it's fantastic, haha.  We go and talk with her and sing her songs until she falls asleep.  She's adorable!
- Had an AMAZING lesson with Surya and Ivan!  We talked about the Atonement.  It is so cool to have watched them both grow so spiritually ever since I've been here.
- We went to go knock on an investigators door, and met his 18 year old son Brian instead!  He was super cool, and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he had alot of questions and we were able to answer them by using the Book of Mormon.  He is GOLDEN.

Thursday:
- Had my last District Meeting and It was amazing.  Elder Brito surprised us by bringing donuts - yummy!  I gave a training on following the Spirit and at the end, we all shared what we liked from the transfer.  Then Elder Brito asked everyone to go around and say what they had learned from Elder Lopez and I (Elder Lopez is also going home).  Then I bore my testimony. It was very emotional for every one, and the Spirit was so strong!

Friday:
- We were at the Jordan River Temple Open House training at the mission office with all of the Sisters in our Mission, President and Sister Killpack, Sister Baird and Sister Lindley, and the wives of the two counselors in the Mission Presidency.  For the first half we received a training on how to give the tours and the spiritual preparation needed.  Then we had lunch.  Then, it felt kinda like our own little general conference women's session because we heard talks from, Sister Killpack, Sister Baird, and Sister Lindley.  During Sister Killpack's remarks, we all wrote our names down on a piece of paper, everyone chose a different name, and whoever had our name stood up, and gave us compliments.  It was so nice.  Then once all of that was done, we decorated cookies!

- Later that night, Sarah (aka Hermana Pearce one of my companions when I was serving in Puerto Rico) came out on splits with us!  It was so nice to see her again.  She also told me how President and Hermana Smart told her that they had prayed individually for each person assigned to the Puerto Rico Mission to see who should go back.  They said that when they got to me, they felt so strongly that I needed to finish my mission here.  I felt so happy, knowing that I too felt the same inspiration!

Hermana Zayas, Pearce & Green on splits! 

Saturday:
- Saturday was NUTS. It was so busy! But we had a good lesson with Angel!
- Had my last lesson with Patsy, and at the end, we hugged, and she said, "you are really special to me".  She was crying a lot, and I was crying a lot.  It was a beautiful moment.

Sunday: Man I cried so much yesterday, Haha!
- WE HAD 10 LESS ACTIVES COME TO CHURCH, ONE OF WHICH IS A MIRACLE, AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE BECAUSE WE FOUND THEM ON ACCIDENT AND THEY CAME TO CHURCH.
- THE sacrament was super special yesterday.  The Sacrament had SUCH a POWERFUL meaning. I was just bawling (silently) the entire time because of the roller coaster of emotions I was feeling.  I cried because I was sad, realizing this would be the last Sunday in this Ward, taking the sacrament as a Missionary, then crying out of gratitude for having been able to be a representative of Christ, then crying out of sadness because the Savior seriously went through so much pain, and I want to find a way to do something for HIM, that could repay Him, then crying because of a confirmation I felt by the Spirit saying, "You have been my servant, that is how you repaid me", AND THEN CRYING BECAUSE THIS HAS BEEN THE BEST 18 MONTHS OF MY LIFE!!!
- OUR STAKE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENT MORGAN, TOOK TIME OUT OF HIS DAY TO COME SAY GOODBYE TO ME. AND THEN HE WROTE PRESIDENT KILLPACK LATER THAT DAY THANKING HIM FOR SENDING ME AND HERMANA ZAYAS TO THE AREA. PRESIDENT WAS SO HAPPY, THAT HE CALLED US LAST NIGHT AND TOLD US HOW PROUD HE WAS OF US.
- Our Relief Society made me a cute little book and they all wrote notes for me in it.  it was very touching, and yes, I cried so much again!
- Went over to the Stillmans for dinner! We had steak. It was amazing.
- Had the best lesson with Alex!

My Little Book from the Relief Society

Stillman Family

Today:
- Had our zone activity and played volleyball for like 2 hours. Said our last Testimonies to our zone. Well, tonight we have a LOT of lessons with members, and less active families, and we are going to try and visit and contact some investigators so I can bear my testimony to them and sing them a song.

Tomorrow:
- Tomorrow will be my last day of work in the mission field. So we are going to work SUPER HARD.  I'll say goodbye to Jai and Rylee's families, (my 2 converts here), and we are doing this really cool thing called an Area Blitz.  It's where all the missionaries in my district (four companionship's, so 8 missionaries total) are in one area, and we all try and get as many investigators as possible to help an area grow.  So I will be going SO HARD and it's my last day, so I've gotta make it busy and good!
We've been doing really well on our goal of handing out a case of Book of Mormons before I leave!  We've handed out a LOT, but we still have quite a few left to go.  So we'll work hard my last day and see what happens!

Wow, that's all I have to say is WOW.  I am just in shock.  I cannot believe that in just a couple of days I will be hugging you all and talking with you in person!  Time really has flown so fast.  I would like to end with sharing my testimony with you.  Okay. Well. Here I go.

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life" (-3 Nephi 5:13).  I am so beyond grateful for the opportunity I have been blessed with to represent the Savior, Jesus Christ.  I have learned so much, experienced so much, and more importantly, come to have a personal relationship with Him.  I know He loves me and knows me personally.  I have come to love what he taught, and learned how important it is to follow Him and His example.  I have come to learn that His Gospel is truly the path For each and every one of us to return back home with our families to live with our loving Heavenly Parents.  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Romans 1:16).

I know that increasing my knowledge of The Plan of Salvation is what has molded my life and has helped me, and many others through times of grief and sorrow, knowing that a loving Heavenly Father has created and given us a path back home.  And the center of this plan is Jesus Christ and His Atonement, His suffering in the Garden Of Gethsemane for our pains, sins, and afflictions, His Crucifixion, and His Resurrection.  He made it possible for us to overcome all these things, and the only thing He asks of us to do, is "Follow Him", to have faith in Him, repent of our sins and have a change of heart to become more like Him, to follow his example and be baptized and give us that door to enter into the kingdom of God, to receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.

These principles need to be our foundation of our lives.  Just like Helaman 5:12 says, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."  It was this very foundation that has helped me overcome my trails.  I know that families can be together forever and that they are meant to be this way - Eternal.  "Till death do us part" does not exist for the Lord, because families are the most important thing we have and will continue to have.

"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.  And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

This has been my joy.  Helping other's feel, experience and obtain the same knowledge and blessings I have been lucky enough to receive for myself and my family.  I know that the same Church that Jesus Christ Himself established was lost, once He and His Apostles died.  And now has been restored and brought back by a Prophet, Joseph Smith, who was an instrument in the hands of God.  And why was the Church restored? So that ALL of God's children could enjoy the covenants and ordinances that make it possible for us to live with Him as families again forever!  We can know that all of this is true by reading the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  This book was written for us, for OUR day.  And the purpose of it is to testify that Jesus is the Christ.  As we read, we will come to find how applicable it is, and that it too, is the word of God.  Without the Book of Mormon in my life, all the things I have testified of above would not be in my life.

I end with one of the very last scriptures in the Book of Mormon, as my personal invitation and witness of Jesus Christ: "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God"

This is just a small fraction of my testimony.  I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that He lives, and He is still leading and guiding His church today.  Let us all come unto Him.

I say this in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.


Love always,

Hermana Kali Rae Green

Departing Sister Missionaries with Sister Killpack

Departing Elders & Sisters With President & Sister Killpack

Trip to Temple Square with the Departing Elders & Sisters

Trip to the Provo City Temple

Week 76

Hello Family! I am so excited to see you so soon!

Spiritual experiences.. So this week we had TONS of meetings (I'll get there) and one of the biggest topics was what it means to keep the Sabbath Day holy and the emphasis on the Sacrament.  Side note - ever since I had 6 months on the mission, I've been trying to find different ways to make the Sacrament more meaningful.  For months I don't feel like I was able to do that, until yesterday!  This week in my personal study I just dissected every part of the Sacrament and came to a simple truth: as we take the sacrament, we promise to renew our covenants we have made. As we do this, we are promised two things: the forgiveness of our sins, and the companionship of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the purifier, and we can only have him with us when we Keep the commandments and keep our covenants! So it's like a perfect circle. There were a lot of other cool things I learned too but I can go into detail when I get home.  But yesterday, I had a completely different perspective on that. I truly did feel renewed and clean.

Investigators! This week was super successful! We were able to get a lot of new investigators and improve our teaching skills a bunch!

Angel and Verónica: so I'm not sure how many of you remember Verónica, but she was an old investigator a while back.  She texted us out of the blue last week and asked if we could come by and help her son, Angel be baptized!  He's 11 years old and super prepared!  They had been taught by missionaries before many times in the past and has a strong desire to be baptized.  We had our first lesson with him on Saturday, and he said the opening prayer, and answered all of our questions super well!  We asked him if he knew that he was a child of God, and he said, "yes, I've always known that".  My heart got happy, because there is no better feeling than knowing you are a literal child of a Heavenly Father.  At the end of the lesson, Hermana Zayas invited him to be baptized on March 24th, and he said yes!  We are super excited for him, and we haven't had anyone on date for a really long time!

Ivan: so, Hermana Zayas and I as we were planning for our lesson last week found a POWERFUL new way to help teach the lessons to Ivan and Surya.  We felt that we could teach the principles of the lessons through reading specific chapters of the Book of Mormon with him, and then the following night, reviewing and then going into the lesson in a little more detail.  It has helped him SO MUCH, and he is so much more active and attentive in the lessons.  We have seen a BIG change in him and Surya and they have come to sacrament meeting for 3 weeks in a ROW.  We are so proud of them and we have such a special bond with them.  They are really special to me.

Rosanna and Martha: a senior couple sent us a text about two weeks ago about a family of old investigators who have taken the lessons many times.  Rosanna is married to an active member of the church and her mom's name is Martha.  We tried contacting them the day after they sent us a text, and we rang the doorbell and they answered through their fancy doorbell and said they couldn't attend us, but that we could come another time.  Which, that usually means that they're not interested. So we left, but we left some pamphlets with them with our number on it.  A DAY later, we received a text from Rosanna telling us when we could come by!  It was a miracle because that NEVER happens. We went by yesterday and discovered that Rosanna's dad died a year ago this Thursday. We testified that families are meant to be together forever, and shared the Book of Mormon with them and some of our favorite scriptures. The future is so bright with them, and we are excited to see where this goes.  Rosanna has a 6 year old daughter who made a drawing of us during the lesson.  I think mine is spot on, I'm on the right.

Alex: we haven't been able to see him this last week.. But we hope to see him this week.
We've also contacted a lot of people this week, and have tried this new thing where we ask them what they desire most in life, and find a scripture in the Book of Mormon to help them meet their needs.  It is a POWERFUL way to contact (that was something we learned in Combined District Meeting) and we've handed out like 5 Books of Mormon that way!  We are excited.-

Tender Mercies:
- We got 4 new investigators this week! Woo!
-We were given $20 each today to pay for our groceries at Wal-Mart by a lady who's daughter is going on a mission this Wednesday.
- Got to be reunited with the old Spanish zone for a meeting we had on Friday. I got to see Hermana Laurie, and she bore her testimony in English.  She's progressed so much!
-We bore our testimonies in Sacrament Meeting yesterday, and a member in our Ward got up, and said that we inspired him to bear his testimony because of our example.
-While trying to call old investigators, someone called us back, told us he had moved and that he is taking lessons with other missionaries and bore his testimony of the restored gospel!

Zone conference was great! I learned so much, and we didn't bear our testimonies.. We think President forgot. Haha. But apparently we are bearing our testimonies at our zone activity on Monday.

I CANNOT BELIEVE I WILL BE IN YOUR ARMS NEXT THURSDAY, MY WONDERFUL FAMILY YOU! I AM SO EXCITED! But I am also STOKED to work as hard as I have EVER worked this last full week I have! Hermana Zayas and I ordered a box of Books of Mormons and we have a plan to hand out ALL of them before I leave. Challenge accepted.

Last week was full of meetings.  Last Wednesday we had Combined District Meeting (zone meeting), and then on Thursday we had zone conference, and then Friday we had a daily dose meeting, a meeting for all the Spanish speaking missionaries. It was so amazing to be reunited with ALL of my good friends I've made. Lots of hugs and smiles.

This week we have a lot of fun things planned! A lot of appointments, and service opportunities. On Thursday I have my last district meeting ever! Saturday all of the Sisters in our Mission are going to be in a meeting pretty much all of Saturday to be trained on how to give the Jordan River open house tours. (Our mission is one of the 4 that gets to help with the Jordan River Temple Open House and the Sisters will be able to give tours of it to the public! I won't be there but I get to go to this meeting to hear about how it works!) Sunday will be my last Sunday in the Mission and it is going to be hard to say goodbye to this Ward and the people I have grown to love so much! I love, love being a Missionary and serving the Lord with all my heart! I'll see the people of Orem soon when I return after my Mission to attend UVU.

Today we had a district activity! We played board games for like 2 hours. Twas great.

Mom and Dad, I love, love, love this spiritual thought! It goes perfectly for this last week! I AM READY TO BAPTIZE ALL of PLEASANT GROVE IN ONE WEEK, haha. Just kidding.

Well family, I'll write to ya next week. AND SEE YOU NEXT WEEK. 😊😊😊

I love you!


-Hermana Kali Rae Green