Haley, Jaren and Brother Pine

12.28.15

It was fun to talk to you guys on Christmas! It was definitely one of the highlights of this year! I'm glad that you are all doing well and that you had a fun Christmas. 

 There are only a few things I will share this week, because I told most of the events that happened when I called on Christmas. First off, the weather has been pretty crazy down here in Texas! It was in the high 70's for the first part of the week and then this weekend it rained like crazy and it even hailed for a little bit. This morning it was super cold and got down in the 30s! Gotta love Texas weather! 

  This weekend we had some good lessons with less-active members. The first one was with Haley. For Christmas they got this super cute Great Dane puppy! We had a good lesson about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. One of Haley's friends sat in on our discussion. He said he would be willing to read the Book of Mormon! He was a really nice guy. His name is Jaren. Hopefully we can meet with him again soon. Are other lesson was with brother Pine. We have been trying to get him back to church for a long time, but he has been struggling to come. We talked about the importance of not getting down on ourselves, but to instead keep trying and use the Atonement. He gave a really good closing prayer, and expressed gratitude for the fact that God is not forgetting him. Church is changing to 11, so that should help:)

  This week I was also able to have a really good exchange with elder Price in our zone. We had a full day of contacting all day, and were able to talk with a lot of good people. We were even able to hand out a couple of Book of Mormons. I learned a lot about the importance to teach at every opportunity. Right now elder Price is with a harder companion, but is doing a great job. He is leading the area and a lot of good things are happening for them. It is always a good experience to go on exchange and to learn how different elders do missionary work.

     Well I love you all and hope you are staying warm and safe this snowy season!

Love,

Elder Griffin

Wrapping Experts

12.21.15

This week we had our missionary Christmas devotional. They first feed us lunch, and then we got to watch the Christmas Carol. It was fun to relax for a little bit and enjoy being with President and sister Ames. Following the video we had a small devotional. It was super spiritual and all of the talks were wonderful. Following the devotional we were given the package of letters that you guys had written. It was my favorite part:) President and sister Ames also gave us a gift. It is this temple recommend holder that has the Fort Worth Mission logo on it and on the other side it has the Dallas temple. We were all pretty excited to get it. I even got to see elder Smith again at the devotional! He goes home in 2 weeks!

  This week we also got to participate in a pretty fun service project. We went to Barns and Noble and wrapped presents for donations. It was for this Legacy River Science center park. It was us and this other older lady. She was super cool and we had a great time with her. We were also able to meet lots of nice people. At first elder Pulver and I were pretty nervous, because neither of us were experts in wrapping. We struggled at first, but now we are present wrapping pros. We are hoping to someday impress our wives with these new found skills:) Also while we were there we had in interesting experience in the bathroom. As I was washing my hands after using the restroom, this guy came up to me and said "Check this out, your going to like this!" He pulled his pant leg up to his knee and showed us one of his tattoos. He totally had a tattoo of two Mormon missionaries! It was pretty sweet. It was kind of random, but it made our day:) It was a great service project and I am glad we got to be part of it.

     We also had another interesting experience while we were getting our oil changed on our car. We entered into the Pep Boys and got in line. While we were in line this guy came up to us and asked us if we knew where this certain store was. We told him we didn't know, but we could go check on the GPS. As we were checking the address, this guy on a bike rode up to us and shouted out, Elders! We found out his name was Riyad. After we introduced ourselves he told us that he had just meet a guy who had just got out of jail and was needing to get back home, but didn't have enough money to hire a cab. Riyad said that he gave the guy a dollar, but he needed a couple more dollars. He told us that if we had some dollars to give him, he would leave his bag and guitar with us and ride to give the money to the guy. We gave him a couple of dollars and he took off to give the guy the money. After he came back we talked to the guy while our car was being worked on. He was a super interesting guy. He even played a couple of songs on his guitar for us. This one song he played was called Johnny. The lyrics were super weird and didn't make any since, but it was entertaining and made us laugh:) We tried to share about the gospel and about the Book of Mormon, but we are not sure if he was actually all the way there. You never know though! It was a really interesting interaction, but we enjoyed our time with him!

   We sadly were not able to teach Pete this week, because he is out of town, but we are going to be teaching him the first week of January. We are planning on setting a new baptismal date with him:) 

   I hope you all have the Merriest Christmas, drinking homemade eggnog and opening lots of fun presents! What a wonderful time of year to be with family, serve those who need it and most of all remember our Savior and what his birth brought in to the world! I know he lives, and I testify that his Atonement is real. I challenge you to all think about what his birth really means to you and then share that testimony with those around you. I love you all!

Elder Griffin

Dec 18th!

11.30.15

This first week went pretty well, and elder Pulver and I hit the ground running. It was definitely hard to see elder Smith go, but elder Pulver is also a great missionary and we are getting along great. At the start of this week we were able to have another good lesson with Pete. The previous week he had a small concern regarding coffee, but he told us that after he had pray about it that he had not drunken it for 4 days! Way to go Pete! Whenever he has a question that he doesn't understand he always goes to God in prayer and has so far always received an answer. He has a tone of faith. We also set a baptismal date with him for December 18th. We are very excited for him! 

 This week we have also been really trying to find more service opportunities, because our mission president gives us 10 hours a week to serve. Right now we only have one place that we regularly serve at, and it's only about 2.5 hours a week. It was quite the adventure trying to find places to serve at. We tried to serve at the library and this animal shelter, but they made you fill out this form that was super ridiculous. They were going to do background checks, and were going to make us pay 25 dollars to go to a finger printing agency! We decided that is wasn't worth it:) We did possibly find this big retail store we might be able to work at, so hopefully it works out. 

We have also been trying to clean up our potential investigator lists. They contain people that have been contacted by the missionaries over the past 3 to 4 years. It has kept us plenty busy, and we have been able to meet some really nice people and hand out some Book of Mormons as well. We have also been trying to do a lot more less-active work lately. We have had some really good success. I have learned that reactivation is just as important as baptizing. Helping members get to the temple and keep the covenants they have already made is so important. There is this one family we have been working with called the Brazals. We are helping them get to the temple to be sealed. We always have good lessons with them and have had some awesome discussions. Brother Brazal also has a very strong testimony of God and Jesus Christ, but has a hard time keeping commitments. Hopeful his heart will be softened and he will see the importance of getting his family sealed in the temple. Brother Brazal is also really into working out, he is a pretty big dude! He always makes us do push ups, bicep curls or the ab carver after every lesson:)

 This week we also got to go to the temple!!! It was the first time I had been in over a year, and boy did it feel good. There is nothing like the spirit that is felt in temple. We went with this really cool member named Cameron. He had a really rough past, but turned his life around and is now one of the most Christ like people I know. I was so grateful that he was able to take us. What a blessing it is to be able to do work for the dead and to be able to provide them with all of the blessings that come from taking part in the ordinances of the temple. What a perfect and beautiful plan Heavenly Father has create!

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you all stay safe this wintry season. 

Love,

Elder Griffin          

Goodbye Elder Smith...Hello Elder Pulver

11.23.15

Today is the start of yet another transfer. It feels like just

yesterday I got to Arlington with elder Smith, and now he will be

leaving. I am pretty bummed, because we got along really well. It has

been an awesome transfer, I have learned a lot and we have been able

to accomplish a lot. My new companions name is elder Pulver. I don't

know much about him, but the things that I have heard about him are

all positive. I am a little nervous to have to lead the area again,

but excited to be able to work with elder Pulver.

   This week we were again able to meet with Pete. We had an awesome

lesson on Faith, repentance, baptism and receiving the gift of the

Holy Ghost. It was really cool, because at the end of our lesson he

asked what he needed to do to be baptized. We are having him pray

about a date! He is such a humble man, and is ready to turn his life

over to God. We are shooting for the 18th of December for his baptism.

He also prayed for the first time out loud during our lesson. It was a

powerful prayer, and I know that Heavenly Father was glad to here one

of his sons express the desires of his heart. We are meeting with him

again tomorrow night:)

   This week we also had a member of the 70 come, elder Falabella. The

first day we had a big meeting with half of the mission, and he

trained us on the importance of member missionary work as well as the

importance of baptizing families, so that they can all support each

other and have a goal to get sealed in the temple. The next day we had

a leadership meeting where we created an action plan with all of the

things we had learned. It was really good and we were taught from on

high.

    We also had a chance to do some sweet service this week. We went

to this tiny little church and helped them sort all of this food that

they had to feed people for thanksgiving. We also helped them put

together these Thanksgiving bags. It was a lot of fun, service is one

of my favorite parts about serving a mission. I also love talking to

all of the nice people we get to meet while serving. All of them are

good, faithful followers of Christ. There are all great examples to

me.

    Well I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving! We truly have many

things to be great full this year! Love y'all!

Elder Griffin

Pete

11.16.15

We have had a great week. We started it out with an awesome lesson

with Pete. We started out by following up with his scripture meeting.

He told us that he has read 19 chapters already and that he is loving

it! He also said that he prayed and asked if this was the church he

should join, and in the middle of the night he woke up and got his

answer. He now knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet:) Right after that

we committed him to baptism! He has such a humble heart and an open

mind. We are going to be talking to him about a date soon. This week I

also had the opportunity to go on exchange with a newer missionary,

elder Stakkland. He is an awesome missionary and knows how to work

hard! We were able to have a good visit with a lady and her daughter

who just got baptized in Saturday. Her parents were in town and so

they joined us for the lesson. During the dad bore a strong testimony

to her, it was awesome! It was cool, because the dad said that his

patriarchal blessing says that all of his children will join the

church. Robin, the daughter that is getting baptized, is there first

child to get baptized. I was a really neat experience.

 This Saturday night we also had a pretty cool experience. We didn't

have any appointments, so we were just visiting a bunch of potential

investigators and less active members. We weren't having very much

success and on top of that I got the hiccups and they wouldn't go

away. Well we knocked on this less active ladies house and she

answered finally! We started talking to her on her porch. I still had

the hiccups and she said we could come in and she would get me some

water. My hiccups got us inside, at least that's what I think:) Once

we were inside she told me to try this weird Louisiana trick, where

you hold your breath and think of seven bald men. As weird as it

sounds it actually worked! Well we started asking her about why she

stopped coming to church and she told us that she was converted when

she was 19. When she joined her mom pretty much disowned her. She

still continued to go to church and even decided to serve a mission!

Her ward was super awesome and one of the members let her live with

them. They also,  along with other members in her ward, payed for all

of her mission as well as her clothing. She said when she got back

from her mission her parents wouldn't even pick her up, her stake

president had to. She said that she finally decided that she wanted

her relationship back with her parents, so she stopped going to

church. I was a pretty sad story! It was really cool though, because

elder Smith had served in the ward she was baptized in, she got super

was an amazing lady, and I pray that her mothers heart will be

softened.Well I am out of time, but I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,Elder Griffin