A Little Less Hot, A lot more work!

This week was full of hard work and talking with lots of people! I love talking to people, it is always fun to be able to get to know someone and hear there experiences and life stories. This week the weather has been a lot cooler lately, which has been a nice change:)

     One of the greatest/exciting things that happened this week was being able to teach our bishops  exchange student Greg. He is from France, and will be staying with the Bishop until the end of this week. He grew up Catholic, but is incredibly open to learning more. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and has stared to read it. Teaching him has been such a joy. He listens intently to what we have to say, and asks sincere questions. He really wants to know the truth. At the end of teaching the Restoration, we committed him to pray to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet and if this is Christ's church back on the earth. He told us he would, but that he was pretty nervous to ask such a direct question. I completely understand why it would be so nerve racking to ask God these questions, because if the answer is yes then he has to change a lot of things in his life and leave a faith that he has grown up in his whole life. We talked a lot about how God is the source of all truth, and that he will never lead us astray. We also made sure to let him know that God has a plan for him, and that this gospel will only bring him more happiness and more answers to life's questions then he has ever experienced before. Our bishop has already started helping him find connections to the church in France, and even found out that there is a temple pretty close to his house. Greg is pretty in to family history, and so I know he will grow to have a love for temples and the work that is done inside. After our lesson with him he made us crepes, they were so good! I am glad I had the chance to meet Greg, and to hopefully be able to have a positive influence in his life. This week we also had the chance to teach this guy named Dan. He comes from a very solid christian background, but was open to hearing what we had to say. It was kind of hard to teach him, because he just wasn't seeing what made our church so much different from his. We tried to explain to him about the priesthood and prophets, but it just wasn't getting through to him. I just wish he could experience what it is like to live all of the principles of the gospel and see the happiness it would bring to his life. People really don't know what they are missing out on! Hopefully this next week we can help him feel/see the truthfulness that is in our message. I think the key will be to dive into the Book of Mormon with him and get him to feel of it's power. Please pray that his heart and mind will be open. We have an appointment with him this week, and we will be teaching the Plan of Salvation. I think this lesson will be a good one to help him see what the Church of Jesus Christ really has to offer:) We also had a cool contact with this younger guy named Ronny. We started talking to him while he was working on his car. We started asking him about his religious background and he told us that he isn't really into that kind of thing right now, he is trying to get his life back in order and doesn't have time for religion. We started talking to him about the power of putting God first in our lives, and letting him guide our lives. If he would just understand this principle, his would be able to get his life back in order more quickly and have a lot more success and happiness. We also offered him a Book of Mormon, and promised that it would bring peace and direction to his life. I really hope he opens up the Book of Mormon, and starts reaching out to God. He is a good person, just needs a small course correction to get him back in line with where God wants him to be. 

    There are some really good things happening in this area, and it is a blessing to finally have people to teach and visit. I am really looking forward to this week, I hope everyone has a good week going back to school! 

Love,

Elder Griffin      

Texas is HOT!!!

8.10.15

This week Texas decided to get really hot! I think we have had a least 4 days around 105:) The good news is that the Texas people are super nice, and always offer us lost of water. During one of the hottest days I think I drank close to 2 gallons of water! Luckily a member told us it is going to cool down this next week, so that is always welcomed news.

  This week has been full of good things. I was able to go on exchange with a missionary in my district named elder Iglinski. He goes home this transfer. He is an amazing missionary. One of the most important things I learned from him while on exchange is how to really get to know people and how to love them. He is really good at going up and talking to people on the streets and making conversation with them. It then makes bringing up the gospel more natural. When you really take the time to listen to people, it shows them that you really care about them. They then can feel that what you are sharing with them really is important to you. While we were out contacting on the streets, elder Iglinski saw this guy trying to get a boat in a garage way down the street. He started running towards the guy and then we helped him get the boat into the garage. We the talked to the guy for a good 30 minutes. He was the coolest guy! He is a professional raccoon trapper down in Arkansas. He told us that he has a 10-month-old baby, and that he really has been thinking about the importance of having him raised the way God would have him be raised. He has been searching for the right church. He told us that he doesn't understand why there are so many churches if there is one bible:) We were able to teach him part of the Restoration and leave him with a Book of Mormon. Unfortunately he was going back to Arkansas in a couple of days, but I have no doubt in my mind that if missionaries find him he will join the church. He is so ready to accept the truth. It really is amazing to see how God is preparing people to receive his gospel. This week we also had a really good exchange with our ward mission leader brother Kipper. As we were out, we saw a lady in her garage and started going up to talk to her. I guess brother Kipper's son was best friends with this lady's son. Brother Kippers son had also just invited his friend and his family to his baptism. We had a good talk with her, and we asked her if she would be willing to listen to our message and she said yes! We are going to set up an appointment and go over with the Kippers to teach them. Working with members brings miracles. On that same exchange we went over to a less-actives house and ended up talking to the non-member husband. He was super nice, and told us that his wife had talked to him and asked him if it was ok if we could come over and he said yes. We set up an appointment on the spot for this Friday. I was talking to brother Kipper, and he said that is the best contact someone has had with that family in a long time. It was an awesome exchange, and it is exciting to see God's hand in this work. These are His children, and he has a plan for each one of them. We are his tools to make his will happen here on earth. What a blessing it is to be an instrument in His hand. We have also been able to have 2 really good youth lessons this week. One of them, her name is Marisa, even invited one of her friends to come to the lessons. Unfortunately he didn't come, but she is still working on him and having lots of gospel conversations with him. It was really neat to hear her tell her experience as she has been answering her friends questions about the gospel and teaching him more about our precious beliefs. She also told us that she is going to invite him to a stake youth activity. She is awesome! Strong youth are so inspiring.

   This week I have really learned the principle that God is real, and that his hand is in our lives much more then we even realize. He is guiding us and leading us through different experience to help us become what He sees in us. It is hard, uncomfortable and frustrating sometimes, but the reward is always greater then the trial. I hope everyone's back to school preparation is going well, crazy a new school year is just around the corner! 

Love,

Elder Griffin

Prayer from a stranger

8.3.15

This week we have continued to work hard and talk to everyone we can.

We are still in the process of trying to find new investigators, but

August is looking like it is going to be a good month. A lot of our

solid investigators said that they would be available during August,

so it will be fun to be able to start teaching more people:) One of

them is that teenager named Victor we meet at the pond. Another one is

this really cool guy named Nathan. Both are very humble and open

minded people. There is this other guy named Dan, that lives In a

trailer park not to far away from our apartment, he has been taught in

the past, and one of the elders told us that he even had a baptismal

date at one point. Hopefully we can set a new one with him and start

bringing the spirit back into his life. I have really learned the

importance of having the spirit when you teach. Even the brightest of

minds and the most knowledgeable people can't convert someone unless

they have the spirit testifying through them to the people they are

teaching.  If the spirit is not present during a lesson, then real

conversion will never take place. The real conversation I am talking

about is people who get baptized, continue to come to church, develop

a solid testimony of this gospel and of Jesus Christ, get sealed in

the temple and then faithfully endure to the end. That is why it is so

important to be completely obedient, love as the Savior loves and have

good solid personal and companion studies every morning.

    We had an interesting experience this week while we were on our

way to dinner. We were walking down this main street by our apartment

complex, and all of the sudden this red car pulls to the side of the

road, completely blocking off the right lane. After a couple of

seconds this guy got out and came up to us. He first asked us if we

were missionaries and then asked if he could pray for us. It was a a

beautiful prayer, and he thanked God for what we are doing. After the

prayer he told us that he is completely giving his life to God. He

said he was going to sell his car, and a lot of his other earthly

possessions. He then continued to give us praise, asked us if we

needed a ride and then off he went. We were both kind of in a state of

shock:) It is always comforting to know that there are good God loving

people in this evil world. That is defiantly one of my favorite parts

about serving in Texas. There are so many kind people, who will gives

us water and greet us kindly even though they don't agree with what we

are saying. I would probably even move to this great state if it

wasn't for the heat, my love of the mountains and The BYU Cougars:)

We were able to use computers today, and so I can't write as much, but

I love you all and hope that everyone is enjoying. Back to schools

shopping and preparation! 

Love,  Elder Griffin

First Greenie!

7.27.15

This week I got a greenie! His name is elder Jensen. He is from Washington. He is a really great guy, he know how to work hard and even though he is a new missionary he is a really good teacher. It has been a pleasure to serve with him and I look forward to the next couple months of training him. This week we have worked really hard, even though it was blazing hot! Poor elder Jensen has pretty fair skin, and even though he was wearing 70 spf sun screen he got burned alive:) This was a week of trying to find people to teach. We did a lot of street contacting as well as tracting. We were able to meet some really cool people, and I pray that we will be able to continue to teach these people more. That is always the hardest part about missionary work. You find really amazing people who at first seem very prepared who listen and are interested, but then you try to come back and they aren't interested. It takes a lot of diligence and patience and trust in the Lord. He has promised in the scriptures though, that there are elect people out there that are ready to receive the gospel. I do want to share one contact we had with a lady named Mercy. We were knocking doors on this street and we were out of Book of Mormons and pamphlet to hand out, so we decided to try and share a video from off of the i Pad. We knocked on this one door and this nice African American lady answered. We had a short conversation with her, and then asked if we could share a video with her. She said yes. We showed the Because of Him video. She really liked it, and the video brought the spirit. We then were able to share with her a brief restoration lesson. When we were done, she told us that she had more questions for us, and wanted to know if we could come back. It was a pretty cool experience. Please pray that we will be able to get in contact with her.

  I love you all, and hope your week goes well!

Love,

Elder Griffin