Week 1 at MTC‏

Dear Interested people!

Selamat Sore from the MTC! Thank you for all of your love and interest in our mission. We are humbled to be here.

However, just as you would expect, we have had miracles occur already. First of all, I am typing this to you on Microsoft Word! Yes, that is what I said. There are no dogs barking at me to tell me if I am doing something stupid, no pig to oink when I save this and walk away. I will tell you that I miss my Kids Write program, but every good thing must come to an end! Second miracle, we are actually sleeping in the same room. The MTC told us to just deal with it when we went crawling to beg for a suite at the Marriott (just kidding, we didn’t even ask). I know, I know! And we are, in fact, sleeping….!

But the real story is about what we are learning! We feel like we have had an entire college education in one week. After we arrived, they had the young elders carry our luggage up to our rooms so we could go right in and get started. The first part of the week was all about Preach My Gospel. We were taught the importance of teaching with the spirit. They wanted to make sure we got it, so they have us practice role playing with each other and with other couples. But the final test came when we were given a contact name, and that contacts situation. We were taken to an area where they have separate rooms set up like living rooms and asked to knock at the door teach that contact. Our contact was ”Terry Chang” and we were told before that he had been to multiple tours in Afghanistan and was angry at God. Well we were wonderful at the “get to know you” part, in fact Terry loved to talk. In the conversation he told us his wife was an active member. Then we tried to draw the conversation toward God. He just kept talking. Finally, I asked if his wife was reading the Book of Mormon and if he had ever read it and he said yes! So then Elder Greenway asked how he liked it. He said he loved it. So, I said, “Well then, why haven’t you been baptized?” And he said that he had been baptized! What!!! Our little paper didn’t say that! So immediately we stepped into less active mode. We had just assumed he was acting as a non-member!!!!

On Thursday we headed to the Church Office Building to PEF training. At our introduction we received a bright yellow paper with a giant list of acronyms that we should become familiar with. PEF, ERS, S&I, etc. That first day of training was absolutely life changing. We learned about Pres. Hinckley’s concerns about the poverty in the world, and especially within the Church. We learned about the statistics about membership concerning members in North America vs. membership outside North America, and then the projection out 20 years. Staggering! Not only does poverty diminish leadership opportunities but it also creates financial burdens for the secure areas that cannot be sustained. We can bear testimony that we have, and have had living Prophets that do receive revelation. That the Perpetual Education Fund is one of those revelations! It soon became an Ah-hah Moment in both of our lives. The information was both tender and mind boggling. We received two days of that kind of training.

Add to that a devotional with Elder M. Russell Ballard, and being in the midst of 2000 young elders and sisters, and you can imagine what a wonderful week it has been. We have seen Elders Ben Richwine, and Milo Lahekahe. We have met a young sister from India going to Fiji… amazing!

We are so grateful for your support. We are very aware that life goes on for all of you, so therefore the struggles go on also. We pray for our family and friends. We love you dearly. We miss the Grandchildren with gusto (both the grandchildren and our yearnings have gusto)! But one thing is certain. As Emily told us earlier in the week, WE ARE WHERE WE SHOULD BE! Be where you should be, Doing what you should be doing, when you should be doing it.

We love you, we miss you, and we hope you are contributing to the PEF fund occasionally!

Dengan Mengasihi dan bahagian!

Elder and Sister Greenway, Missionaris bagi Gereja Yesus Christus Orang-orang Suci Zaman Akir.

Missionaries!

Thanks Bekah for a great shot of the Greenway Missionaries! They look like they are having a great time.

First Day

Well, day one is coming to an end. During our orientation meeting I was called to be one of the district leaders, probably because we are going to be here two weeks. Got set up for more language training, we will be shuttled to SLC for additional Welfare & Perpetual Education Fund training. No Photos, yet. No chance to take any. The young missionaries are quick to clean up our food trays when they see we are done eating! They were even at our housing unit to haul our bags up to our third floor room. I could get use to this - children ... make note for future reference.

John on Good Morning America

John went with the Howards yesterday to help move historic furniture from the Govenor's mansion in preparation for the flooding. Good Morning America picked up the footage and here he is! He's only on screen for a second or two, right in the middle of the video. Thanks Emily, for finding this!

Greenway PA Farewell

I was going to call this post "The Greenway Grandparent's ABANDON their PA grandchildren", but I thought that would be a little bitter sounding! :-D (totally kidding)
In reality, while we will miss them, we are all excited for them to have this great adventure!
Here are some pictures of us at the Harrisburg Airport as we waited for them to take off!!

A Day of Firsts for the Richins

We've had some days of firsts around here! The first day of school, the first time riding the bus to school and the first haircut!

The first couple of pictures are Isaac's first day of school. Carlisle does what is called "staggered start kindergarten" The rest of the school district started school on Monday, but the kindergarten classes have a few students come for a few hours each day. Isaac's day was Wednesday afternoon from 1-3. This was the day that I discovered that I was the worst mom in the world. I misunderstood the e-mail that the school sent home. I understood it to be that the parents stayed with them the first day. The whole way to the school I was reassuring Isaac that I wasn't going to leave him, that I was going to be with him the whole time. . . OOPS! So we get there, we take them into their classroom, the teacher read everyone a story and then "invited" the parents to leave. Isaac was devastated! He just started to cry. "Mommy, you said you were staying!" and many other things that just broke my heart. But, the teacher was wise and asked him to be her special helper. That cheered him up immediately, and with the promise that I would be there when he was done, I left. He was excited to see me, but assured me that he'd had a great day and had "learned everything!".





After school we were hanging out at Grandpa and Grandma Greenway's for a little while. While discussing Sadie's hair (how cute it is, etc.) I mentioned that her bangs were starting to get in her eyes. Grandma suggested a quick haircut and I agreed. So, we wet down Sadie's hair and she got a trim. Thank goodness for binks (pacifier) and iPods. She watched a show on the iPod as Grandma added a few layers in the back and then trimmed up the bangs. Sadie (and Grandma) did a great job!




Today, September 1, was Isaac's official "FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL". This is where he got to be "grown-up" and ride the school bus all by himself! I got a few pictures of him before the bus came, but unfortunately it began to rain. It was kind of comical. We were standing at the end of the driveway, I was holding Sadie and an umbrella and Isaac was dancing about waiting for the bus. When it came, due to the lack of a third arm, I was unable to get any pictures of him actually getting on the bus or being on the bus. Maybe tomorrow. The funny thing about the whole scene; Isaac was fine getting on the bus (no emotional breakdowns), I was fine with him getting on the bus (totally distracted by Sadie, an umbrella and rain) but Sadie . . . The poor girl just started to cry!! She was so sad that Isaac was leaving. It will be interesting to see if it becomes a daily occurrence.

Gavin Goes to School

Gavin and Andrew on Gavin's first day of preschool!

I found this preschool that is run by an LDS lady that I met at a youth activity. So I asked her the prices of her preschool and she gave me her website. So now Gavin is going to a preschool every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Gavin calls his teacher Ms. Becky. Great lady! She has been teaching preschool and had child-care in her home for 13 years. Now she just does preschool. For Gavin's first day of preschool he painted these pictures of friends and a backpack. He learned "London Bridge is Falling Down". And he found out that on Wednesday he gets to learn about caterpillers. He is so excited. The benifit for me other than having only one child for a bit? It's a 3.5 mile walk round trip. I'll be losin' inches here pretty quick!!! WOOT WOOT!!!