Wardmail to All 5DEC 07

Subject: What a BUTTE!
Hey ya's(everyone in Butte Montana says "Ya's" instead of "YOU""Nice to meet ya's"(Makes my blood boil haha)Well! Another week has gone by, and Butte is treating us well!We are doing service at the library here! We are moving furnature all the time for them, so we are getting some good exercise!Well the buzz around town is about Evel Knievel's death. If any of you didn't know, he was from Butte. His body will be welcomed into town with fireworks on Sunday night(even though everyone in town here despises him... I myself never met him, but everyone here just has terrible ideas of him... its pretty sad) But we are going to go to his funeral on Monday(10th). Its at the Civic Center in town, and it is going to be PACKED! We just want to be able to say that we went to Evel Knievel's funeral on our mission:). So thats whats new out here!This has been a great week. It has been a turning point in the mission for me! I was talking to Elder Barlow yesterday, and I said something about "Let's make the most of our study time out here on the mission, we only have two years". It struck me that... wow, I am excited that I have two years out here! Its the most amazing experience of my life. Everyday is fun and filled with new adventures. I get to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to people. I get to see them change. I get to see the light of the Lord in people's eyes.I have an experience with the light in someone's eyes this week that I'd like to share as my tender mercy of the week!There is a girl we are teaching. Her name is Christina but we call her Gus. She just had a c-section(no clue if that is the write way to spell that, but you get the idea!) and was in the hospital in a lot of pain. We have been teaching her, her boyfriend Marvin, and her mother Sharon lately. Gus is absolutely my favorite. She is so humble, and is wanting to make more good choices in her life. Coming from a rough start in her life, she didn't have a good influence from churches. Foster parents that were ministers stealing from offering plates, abuse... etc... she just didn't have a very good idea of church. It was awful to hear how much shes gone through. But since we've been teaching her, she has been praying more, and reading the scriptures. She feels it. She knows the power of the spirit of the lord.Her first real BIG spiritual experience was on saturday, and I was privilaged to be involved.After her procedure, she was healing in the hospital. She had a beautiful brand new little girl next to her bed. Frankie.As we shared a message with her, out of the Book of Mormon, we read3rd Nephi, Chapter 17. This chapter talks about when Christ had appeared and was teaching the Nephites. The people were gathered listening to Him teach. He had them bring their sick and afflicted to Him, and He healed them. Then He called for their children to come to Him. He blessed the children, one by one.As we read this, I asked Christina, "How would you feel if Christ came in this room and blessed Frankie?" She lit up. The thought for her was amazing.We went on to teach her about the priesthood that we hold, and how it is the same power that Christ held, and gave to his Apostles. It is the same power that healed those people, and blessed those children. We taught her that it was by the priesthood, that the Savior, and His apostles did all their amazing miracles. As the conversation went on, it was apparent to Elder Barlow and myself that the Lord wanted us to give her a blessing. (For anyone not familiar with this, the Lord has given us the priesthood to anoint and bless people, just as Christ and his Apostles did, we hold the same priesthood to do these amazing things) We told Christina that would could give her a blessing, and that through her faith and the priesthood authority that we hold, her pain could be taken away, and she would recover and leave the hospital sooner. As we anointed her head with the oil, and laid our hands on her head, the spirit filled the room. I gave her a blessing that she would be healed and that she would recover quickly. I also gave her a blessing that the Lord would help her to know what she needs to do to raise her daughter the way that He wants her raised, and helped her understand what an amazing privilage it is for her to raise one of our Heavenly Father's children. As I closed the blessing, she and her mother were in tears. It was truly amazing to see the thankfulness in her eyes. She had the light in her eyes that only the gospel brings. I can't even put into words how amazing it was to look her in the eyes, and see how much the spirit had touched her. It was amazing to see her pain float away. We haven't talked to her since, but she must have recovered from her enemia and other stuff quickly(she was pretty bad) because she was released from the hospital and was out an about(wasn't home when we went to visit her yesterday).I just really loved that experience. Thats why I'm out here. Thats why I chose to serve for two years. I'm so excited to have more opportunities like that.I hope everyone back home is safe and healthy.Have a great week everyone!Love~Elder Greenhalgh