5.26.15
So due to the Library being closed we weren't able to email
until today. This last week was pretty rainy and I came home with muddy shoes
and pants almost every day:) It has been quite the adventures, but we have
learned to just love it and laugh about it.
This Thursday we had our personal interviews with
President Ames. My interview was awesome! We had a really good discussion about
the difference between Godly and worldly sorrow. He gave me two of examples.
The first was what Satan says. He tells us that we are trying to reach
perfection and it is impossible so we should just give up. He tells us that we
aren't good enough no matter how hard we try. Then he told me what the Savior
says. He tells us that he loves us, then he tells us that we are doing a good
job. He also loving tells us what we can improve on and then gives us
encouragement. It was such a good discussion and it really opened my eyes. All
the devil wants to do is tear us down, while Jesus Christ wants to lift us up
and make us into the kind of people he knows each of us can be. It isn't an
easy thing to do, but with His help it is always possible. What a blessing it
is to have such an amazing mission President. Also during interviews we had
this really good training given by one of our zone leaders named elder Worthen.
He gave a training on getting to the root of peoples concerns when it comes to
baptism. He listed a step by step process of doing so, and then had us
practice. The first time I tried to find out the concern I totally blew it:) I
thought his concern was that he didn't believe in organized religion, but it
was actually that he didn't think God answered prayers. I tried it again later
on exchange with him, and it went a lot better. It was a great training and it
helped me out atone!
This week I also had a good exchange with our zone
leaders. Elder Worthen came to our area with me. We had a lot of fun and were
able to talk to quite a few people. One of the people we talked to was this 15
year old boy named Jordan. After teaching him a brief lesson on the
Restoration he said "This is awesome!" It was so cool to see him
getting so excited:) The only down fall is that his father is a Pastor and
isn't interested in hearing a messages, but hearts can always be changed. We
were also able to teach Bob Frost while on exchange. Elder Worthen was pretty
bold with Bob, and it lead to a pretty open conversation. Bob still really struggling
with being haunted and weighed down by his childhood torturing. He said he will
never be able to forgive his step-father until he tells him sorry. It is so sad
to see this almost 70 year old man in so much pain and frustration. Next time
we go over we are going to share with him Mathew 11:28-29. It takes about
taking the Savior's yoke upon us and letting him pull with us. He needs the
Atonement of Jesus Christ in his life, it is the only way that he will truly
find relief and peace. Please pray that the lesson will go well! Also on the
exchange I learned from elder Worthen how to better contacted people while
tracking. I learned a lot of new ways to contact, and to make sure to just be
real and have natural conversation with people. Elder Worthen is a great
example to me, and has been an awesome leader.
Also this week with elder Morhmann we have found
some pretty cool people we are going to start teaching. The first one is the
wife of a less-active man. He is a convert himself, but has not been coming to
church for a while. We stopped by his house and had a good conversation with
him. He said he really wants to start coming back to church and said that he
wants us to start teaching his wife who is not a member. We are excited to
start teaching them. We also had a wonderful visit with a less-active lady
named Carla and her soon to be husband Grady who is also not a member. They are
a younger couple and were really fun to talk to. Carla is a cake designer and
showed us some cakes that she had decorated, they were really cool! She even
let us try some samples of here cakes:) Grady agreed to start up the missionary
lessons again. He told us that he really liked the message of the Restoration
and he really related with Joseph Smith and his experience. He is going to be
really fun to teach, because he is really humble and open minded. This area is
really coming to life, and it is so fun to see God's hand in this work. He is
giving us so many teaching opportunities! The ward is also very supportive and
we have member exchanges every week Tuesday through Thursday and then on Sunday
with a youth. A good missionary ward is such a blessing.
I hope everyone one has a good last week of
school! God is real, and I know he is in our lives more then we even realize. I
challenge all of you to take the time to sit back and look for his hand.
Love,
Elder
Griffin
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