This week has been kind of a trying week, but I have grown so
much and know that the Lord is watching out for me.
This Tuesday I had the chance to go on exchange with Elder
Nanney. Elder Nanney came out the same time I did, and is kind of struggling
with being a missionary. He doesn't have any social skills and he has a hard
time teaching lessons, but he is full of love and is very obedient. This
exchange I got to go to his area. When we got to his apartment our first
appointment was with a family called the Moyas. They do have a car in their
area, but we decided to take the bikes to save on their miles. Well we got about
half we to their house and elder Nanney's tire got a flat, so we had to walk
all the way back to their apartment to see if we could fix it.:) Once we got
back to the apartment we decided that we would fix the tire later and take the
car. It was the first time I had driven a car in 3 months! It was fun to have a
break from my bike. The lesson with the Moyas went great. The boyfriend is a
member, but his girlfriend is not. We taught them about tithing, prayer and
scripture study. It went wonderful and they both shared awesome testimonies
about the power of prayer in their lives. Following that lesson we drove back
to the apartment and walked to a man's house named Pedro. Pedro wasn't home,
but we did get some good contacting practice on the way back. After Pedro we
had dinner with the Carl family. They had breakfast for dinner, and it was
super good! I was starving and it was wonderful to have a home cooked meal.
Following dinner we taught a boy who is 9 the plan of salvation. After dinner
we came home and went to see a potential investigator i their area named Quazi.
He was the coolest guy! He was super passionate about being kind to everyone.
He told us that we all just need to have love for each other and not judge.
When we left he gave us a hug and said to come back Monday. It was good to see
someone who is being prepared to receive the gospel. One funny thing about
elder Nanney is that he loves telling jokes! He told this pretty funny one
about this dancing cookie that made me laugh pretty hard. The following morning
I fixed elder Nanney's flat tire and we headed off to go see a potential
investigator. We had not gone 200 yards when his tire went flat again! At first
I thought the patch I had put on his bike had not worked, but when I looked at
his tire, he had a nail sticking out of his tire!:) That poor bike tube was
just not having a very good week. My favorite part of this exchange was that I
got to be the senior companion. It was kind of hard at times, but I liked how
it pushed me and allowed me to gain good leadership experience.
This week we also had a hard time with the Binklies. Originally
we had Junior's baptismal date set for the first of November, but bishop said
he needed to see them at church more and moved their date to December 6th. The
thing is the Binklies have come to church the past two weeks, and the only
reason they hadn't been coming was because Brother Binkley had to work to be
able to feed the family. He doesn't have a job and has to do odd jobs when
available. Well when we meet with the Binklies this Thursday we told them the
situation. After we finished speaking, brother Binkley got up and left with his
kids without saying a word. We were very shocked and very worried that we had
said something wrong. That night and the following day were pretty rough,
because we didn't know what to do or say. A lot of prayers were said for the
Binklies. Well this Saturday he called us and said that he was sorry he
walked out, and that he was just frustrated with the Bishop (they have had other
problems before) and didn't want to say or do anything out of anger that he
would regret so that is why he left. He also said that he will meet with the
bishop this Wednesday, and that he wants to continue to have Junior take the
missionary lessons! The power of prayer is real and I was so grateful that
everything worked out. Also the Binklies found a house! This is awesome
news, because they have been living in a hotel room that has two beds for the 6
of them living there. They will be moving in this Friday:) The Binklies are
such an amazing family, and I am so glad everything is working out for them!
This Saturday and Sunday we had the chance to go to Stake
Conference. It was awesome and the whole thing was centered on missionary work
and temple work. Our stake President has really caught the fire of missionary
work. Also at this Stake Conference this 16 year old girl shared her conversion
story and said something that I really liked. She said "We are Heavenly
Father's everything". I loved this quote, and It made me realize just how
much God loves us, and that he really does want us to be happy while we are
here on earth. It also made me so grateful to know that everything is in His
hands, and that if we are living righteously he will provide us with the strength
we need, through Jesus Christ, to help us keep going on the path to eternal
life. Our mission President also spoke, and talked about how it really isn't
that hard to invite people to church. He had some missionaries go up and role
play asking someone to church. He then had everyone in the audience role play
the same thing with the person sitting next to them! It was fun to see people
realize how easy it really is.
Hope everyone has a fun Halloween weekend, and eats lots of
treats!
Love,
Elder
Griffin
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