Go, go, go

7.11.16

This week has been a go, go , go week! Every day was very busy and

has been full of finding, teaching and testifying:) I will share a

couple highlights from the week.

        On Tuesday night we went on a double exchange. This is where elder

Mohrmann and I go with a different member, in order to visit more

people. I went with a brother from the Cove 1st ward named brother

Hirsch. Our first visit was to go give a blessing to a lady who was

about to have surgery. Well I anointed and the brother administered

the blessings. It was a beautiful blessing, and it was exactly what

she needed to hear. After the blessings she broke down and started

weeping telling us all that she is going through right now. We did our

best to listen and brother Hirsch gave her words of counseling. He is

a social working, so that helped a little bit. It was so sad to see

how much pain she was in emotionally, spiritually and physically. That

poor family has been through so much! It was amazing to me how she has

been able to stay strong through all of the horrible things she is

going through. We did our best to testify about the power of the

atonement, but it didn't seem to help too much:( As we left I was

feeling pretty down, but we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to bless

that family and watch over them. Due to our visit with this family

going over, we didn't have time to drive over to our other

appointment, so elder Mohrmann and his member went to the appointment.

We decided to go and try by a former investigator named Abby. They

ended up being home and they invited us in. Gabby is a sweet little

girl who is 11 years old. She also has a younger sister. We read the

account of the Savior visiting the Americas and talked a lot about the

importance of baptism. They were super smart kids and soaked it all

in. At the end of the lesson Gabby gave a beautiful closing prayer. We

will be teaching her again this next week. This lesson was exactly

what I needed to left my broken spirits. I am so thankful that God

lead us to this family.

        Also this week we were able to teach part of institute for the YSA

branch. Our part of the lesson was on becoming instruments in the

hands of God. It went really well and there were lots of cool comments

given and experiences shared. At the end of our lesson we invited

everyone to think of one person they could share the peace of the

gospel with. Well one of the members, James, did just that and invited

his buddy from the army to come to church this Sunday! His name is

Jake. He loved church and even accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon.

Jake told us that he always admired who Christ like James was, and was

interested in learning about the Mormon faith. We our going to start

teaching him the missionary lessons this Tuesday. He is really open

and ready to learn! That same Sunday another one of our investigators

named John came to church too! Aaron went and picked him up and

brought him. He loved it and commented on how reverent our services

were. He also sang all the sacrament songs, even though he had never

heard them before. It was cool to see him jump right in! I know he

felt the spirit. Aaron told us when they were driving back that John

said this might be a church he wants to join. Yay baby! Jake and John

are wonderful people and I am excited to continue to work with them.

That's one of the things I love about this gospel. All you have to do

is extend a simple invitation and then let the truthfulness of the

message we share work within their hearts!

        This is a wonderful gospel and I love the happiness it brings into my

own life and the lives a get to touch while here on my mission. Have

an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Griffin