No Coincidences

6.29.15

This week was a good week. We worked hard and were able to meet and teach some pretty amazing people. This week started out with an exchange with one of my zone leaders, elder Webb. It was an awesome exchange. He and I think very much alike, so it was good to have someone to talk to that really understands where I am coming from. He also knows atone of doctrine, and we were able to have some good conversations about the promptings of the Holy Ghost and how we can better following the promptings we receive. On our exchange we were able to teach this man named Jeff. We had a really good discussion about the pre earth life as well as our purpose here on earth. It was cool, because as he was giving us his answers to the questions we were telling him he was literally teachings us the things we were planning on teaching him. At one point he even said almost the exact words of the scripture mastery in 2 Nephi "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." It was amazing, he is so humble, and ready to receive the truth we have to give him. As we were leaving he gave us both hugs and told us that he really respects how diligent and consistent we are. What a joy it is to teach people who are willing to listen and have an open heart and mind!

   Also this week we were able to teach two youth lessons. The youth are so fun to teach, because you can feel and see their pureness of their testimonies radiating from them. They are going to make powerful missionaries. It was really neat, because after we taught one of the youth named Zack, he told us that he felt inspired to read a story about the Atonement to us. The story was awesome! It was about a boy who went into a room and it was full of file cabinets. He starts going through all of the file cabinets, and in them are tones and tones of index cards that have all of the actions and decisions he has made in his life, and at the bottom of each one is his signature. After going through quite a few cabinets he starts feeling ashamed and embarrassed and starts to worry that someone will read all of the horrible things he has done. He starts to try and rip up the cards and destroy them, but he has no success in the end. While this is going on someone walks into the room. It's the Savior. The boy feels even more ashamed and hides his face in his hands. The Savior walks up to each filing cabinet and one by takes out each index card and with a red pen signs over the boys signature. He then comes up to the boy without saying a word and wraps him in His arms. It was a powerful reminder of the reality of the Atonement, what a blessing it is to have someone who has payed for everything wrong we have done. His atonement is real, and I have felt it in my own life. All of us through Jesus Christ have the ability to wake up tomorrow and decide that we are going to change for the better. What amazing and beautiful gift we have been given! I was grateful that Zack was in tune with the spirit and followed the prompting to read us this story. 

  Also this week we had a cool experience with a young adult named Victor. On Saturday we were visiting this guy named Kyle, who is super cool and really nice. During our conversation with Kyle he told us that he doesn't believe in coincidences. Well after we meet with Kyle we were riding towards another appointment and we passed a pond where a teenager was fishing. As I passed him the what Kyle said came to my mind about how everything happens for a reason. Well I made a silly justification and didn't talk to the teenager fishing. A little while later we passed by the same pond and the same teenager was there. This time I knew I had to talk to him. Well we got talking to him and found out that he is Catholic and that he has been going to church every Sunday for the past 2 years and that it has literally changed his life. He also told us that he is preparing to get baptized and that there are certain steps he has to go through before it happens. This turned into a good conversation about baptism and we talked about our view of baptism. We shared with him the importance of the priesthood and shared the message of the restoration with him. We then told him that both of us have been baptized by this priesthood authority. He loved our message and I could see his eyes start to light up. We asked him if he would want to be baptized by this same authority, and he said yes. We also gave him a Book of Mormon and committed him to read it. He also said that we could come and teach him more. It was an amazing experience and I am again thankful for the guidance of the Spirit.

            I love you all very much, and hope you are making lots of fun memories this summer. I know this gospel is true and I am thankful every day for the peace, comfort and hope it give me!

Love,

Elder Griffin