Elder Brown totally wiped out!

 Jan 5, 2015

First off, when we were riding our bikes to email elder Brown totally wiped out on his bike! It was the craziest thing. He was just riding on the sidewalk and all of the sudden he just slammed into the ground. When I asked him what happened he had no clue! It tore up one of his gloves and he hurt his wrist pretty bad. Hopefully he will be alright, luckily we are going over to a members house tonight who is a doctor:)

     This week has been a hard week, but I have learned a lot of patience and how to better rely on the Lord. Are only investigator we are working with at the moment has been out of town and we haven't been able to teach him. We have been praying ever night that he will stay strong on his trip! He went to Colorado with some of his not very good friends, so we are hopping he won't make any bad choices. Please keep him in your prayers. He is such a good guy and I know if he will keep the commitments we are giving him that he will be baptized! This week we have also done a lot of trackting! Trackting is quite the interesting experience:) It is always nerve racking and fun to see who is going to be behind the door, and you end up meeting some interesting people. The best part about trackting is probably the opportunity to bare testimony about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even thought most people don't let us in, we are giving them a chance to feel the peace and power of the Spirit. Hopefully a heart or two were softened as we shared with all of these people this wonderful message. I just really wish all of these people would realize what we have to share with them! This isn't just another church to join, it is Jesus Christ's restored church that is here again on the earth. If only they knew how much this gospel could change their lives they would be knocking on our door asking us to teach them:) I know that Heavenly Father is preparing people to receive this message we just have to follow the spirit and keep looking:) This week we also had some really good work of salvation/ missionary work lessons with members. This one family has a 16 year old boy who has a friend that has came to church a few times, we were able to share a powerful video on the Book of Mormon and then invited them to share a copy of the book with the friend. We also had a good lesson with the Purcell family. They are such a solid family, and they said they wanted to set a goal for the amount of non-member families that they would invited to dinner this year. I really think that member referrals is what is going to lead to baptisms in this area. We are also going to start teaching the families in our ward the missionary lessons, I think it will help members reach out more to their friends and share the gospel.

      We also found out some amazing information this Sunday. This lady named Peggy Springer is getting baptized this Saturday! I have never taught her, but elder Brown said that she has been taught by so many missionaries. She has also been going to church for 3 years, bears her testimony and sings in the choir:) Everyone in the ward is so excited for her! Hopefully this will fire everyone up for missionary work this upcoming year.

   Well I hope everyone has a good first week going back to school, as hard as it may be, and that y'all are keeping an eye out for missionary opportunities! 

Love, 

Elder Griffin

P.S. This is a picture of my new zone.

First of all I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! This week elder Brown and I have been working a lot on our area book. This area used to have both sisters and elders, so we had to combine a lot of information. We have also been working on putting together a binder called "The Ultimate Source". This binder contains all of the potential investigators and former investigators in our area. It is a lot of work, but when it is done it will be so worth it! This area has been kind of dead for a while, so elder Brown and I area going to bring this area back to life! We plan on trackting the whole area and asking referrals from everyone:)

     Christmas was wonderful in Southlake. We started off by going over to this really cool family named the Sheehans. They have a family of all boys, so I felt right at home. They gave both of us a gift (a tie) and then we played a really fun board game and had this amazing caramel and banana french toast! Following that we had our district meeting. Both elder Brown and I gave training. It was a wonderful meeting and both training went great. After that we came back to our apartment and got to call home! It was so fun to hear how everyone was doing and the hour they gave us to talk went by so fast:) It sounded like everyone had lots of fun and got some super fun presents. After the phone calls we went over to the Pelazo's house and had a traditional Jewish meal. It was pretty cool and very delicious. After dinner they gave us both a stocking full of presents:) After dinner are whole zone went caroling. We got to use the big mission vans, so it was pretty fun. It was a great first Christmas on the mission and I am glad that even though I can't be with all of you I was able to spend it with wonderful missionaries and ward members.

     This Friday I was able to go on exchange with our district leader elder Grig. He is an awesome missionary and is not afraid to work hard. This is actually his last transfer before he is done with his mission! For our exchange we started out in the morning trackting. We were able to teach most of the restoration to this one guy. The message was going very well and the spirit was present, but then we mentioned the Book of Mormon and I guess he didn't realize we were Mormons:) He was done after that, but at least he felt the spirit and knows what we believe now. After lunch we went and tried to visit all of the potential in this certain area. Not very many of them were home, but we did get some to answer and say we could come back. After that we decided to tract again. During the tracting we meet this really nice guy named Jeff. He is a pretty religious guy, and he said that he and his girlfriend have made a goal to go to church each week next year. We talked to him briefly about the restoration and what we believe. He also accepted a Book of Mormon and lesson 1 pamphlet! He also said we could come back and teach him more in January:) It will be fun to start teaching him. Also that night we had dinner at this really nice family named the Paces. They are a really nice younger couple and they have the cutest kids:) For the lesson with them we watched this cute video about this old shoe maker, and then we talked about service. It was a wonderful visit, and made me super grateful for solid members!

    We also had a wonderful Sunday. Elder Brown and I were able to teach our gospel principal class. Since we had just had Christmas we decided to talk about the life of Christ. The lesson was really good and the spirit was strong. We attend the priest quorum, and one of the priest gave a great lesson on hasting the work, it was fun to be able to make comments and answer some of the questions that were brought up. After church this nice couple took us to one of there family parties to have Sunday dinner. The party was being held for a missionary that just barley got home. It was really fun to talk to him and discuss all about his mission. He was a really cool guy.  

      Have a good last week off of school and do lots of skiing and sledding:)!!

Love,

Elder Griffin

Moving On To Southlake

This morning to my great surprise, I found out that I am getting transferred! No one say it coming, it was quite the shock this morning. The are I am getting transferred to is called Southlake. It is one of the richest areas in Texas! My new companion is elder Brown, elder Peterson said he is super cool so I am pretty excited. The only down fall is that my are I am in now was about to get a car and now I am being transferred to an area that is only biking:) At least I will stay in shape. It is going to be an interesting next transfer, but President Ames is an inspired man and I trust that he is doing what the lord wants done. 

      This week has been a wonderful week. We had a really good zone counsel, and what was taught was exactly what I needed to hear. The topic I really like was how we resolve conflicts with our companion and investigators. I really needed this, because I have been struggling with elder Walker and it helped put my mind at ease. Elder Peterson also gave a really good counsel on working with members, he talked about how if we are bold with members it will help them increase their boldness with being missionaries. It is such a blessing to have had such a solid and strong first zone. I will miss everyone so much! Also this week we had a really cool lesson with Chris, we took the priests in our ward with us on exchange to teach him. We taught him the plan of salvation. He really liked it, and was pretty interested in the spirit world and the resurrection. It was also cool to have the priests with us. They all did a great job teaching, bearing their testimonies and reading certain scriptures. I hope that this experience will help them get excited for a mission. Also this Friday we had a pretty cool experience. We were going around trying to visit a lot of part-member families and less-actives and we knocked on a ladies door named Heather. She answered and seemed pretty hesitant at first, but gradually opened up the more we talked to her. Eventually we asked her if we could come in and share a message with her. She said that normally she doesn't let people in, but she let us in! We watched the "He is the Gift" video and she loved it. That video is so amazing and even though I have watched it so many times I feel the spirit every time I watch it. After the video she opened up and told us about her brother who got in a car crash while he was visiting her for the holidays. He has a large possibility of being paralyzed. He has a wife and two baby twin daughters. It was really sad, but we comforted her and had a really cool discussion on why God gives us trials. We ended with a really good prayer given by elder Walker. After the pray she just sat there quietly for a moment, and I Knew she was feeling the spirit. Hopefully elder Walker and his new companion can reactivate her! Also this Saturday we went to this awesome Christmas concert that our stake puts on every year called Sing Noel. It was so beautiful and I enjoyed it a lot. We also had one of our investigators named Charlene come to the concert, she said she enjoyed it as well. She even brought her husband along who said he was not interested, hopefully it helped to soften his heart. Last night we also had a wonderful visit with the Vandergriff family, it had been quite some time since we had seen them so it was fun to meet with them. They are both doing wonderful, sister Vandergriff's baby is due any day now and brother Vandergriff's shoulder is starting to heal so he is back at work. We watched the "He is the Gift" video with them as well, and also the piano guys Oh come Oh come Emmanuel nativity video. Both are beautiful videos and brought the spirit strongly into their home. They both have the goal of getting sealed in the temple, so hopefully we can help them achieve that goal. 

     Well I am out of time, but I hope everyone has a good weekend getting ready for Christmas:) I love you all and am so grateful that our loving Heavenly Father gave his son to all of us, giving us all a chance to live with him some day. What a wonderful time of year to remember the birth of the Savior of the world!  

Love,

Elder Griffin    

I could not stop smiling...

This week started out with a wonderful exchange. I went to elder Peterson's area for the day. It was nice to not have to run my area:) We biked a lot during the exchange, because they don't have very many miles to spare. We went around and invited all of these part-member/less-active families to this awesome performance the stake puts on called Sing Noel. Also during the night time when we were biking around we went up to this one house that was super dark and spooky. We cautiously approached it and a really nice older lady answered:) We talked to her for a while and then gave her a Book of Mormon, because her's had gotten lost when she moved. Also during the night we were contacting in an apartment complex trying to find someone to teach. Unfortunately we didn't find anyone to teach, but we did get talking to a lady that was having some problems with paying her rent and trying to find a new job. We prayed with her and gave her a "He is the Gift" card. Being able to go up to random people and brighten their day is one of the most wonderful things about this mission. When we were riding back to the apartment I discovered that I had stepped in dog poo! It got all over elder Price's bike and my pants:) It was quite the adventure trying to clean everything off!

   Also this week we had the opportunity to go on exchange with a member in our ward named brother Merrill. We first tried to stop by and see some potential investigators, but all of them were busy. I then was looking at a list of other people we could go see, and a less-active lady named Ofelia popped out at me. We went by her house and she let us in. We shared the new Christmas video with her and she liked it a lot. We then shared the Christmas story with her and talked about getting her back on the straight and narrow path. She told us she wants to start coming back to church and that she would like us to start teaching her the missionary lessons again. I could not stop smiling after we left, and I was so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is always looking out for his children. 

     We also had a lot of opportunities to serve this week. We got to help a family move twice, which was sad because they were a really cool family, but I am sure the ward they move to will love them. We also helped an older couple dig up some bushes and clear away a tone of trees that were growing on his fence. We are always grateful to serve and love being able to help those in need.

     We also had a great weekend. On Saturday the sisters had a baptism for a man named Scottie. The baptism went great and there were lots of wonderful talks given. I love the feeling that enters the room when the baptismal prayer is said and the person is immersed in water. We are so blessed to be able to have the priesthood authority back on the earth to preform such wonderful ordinances. After his baptism was the ward Christmas party. There was tones of good food and desserts. There was also a lovely program with lots of musical numbers and Christmas videos shown. Then this Sunday we had an investigator come to church, her name is Charlene. The wonderful thing was that it was fast Sunday, so she got to be edified by all of the wonderful testimonies that were borne and on top of that she got to see Scottie receive the Holy Ghost. She said after Sacrament meeting that she was really touched by one of the testimonies given. Then during Gospel essentials she asked so many questions and was really interested in what we believe. She told us after church that she wants us to come to her house and that she has a lot of questions for us. She is super solid and I can feel that she is ready to enter the gate back to our Heavenly Father. Hopefully we can set a baptismal date with her soon!

     This morning we received some pretty exciting news. The sister missionaries in our ward called us and informed us that we will be taking over their area, as well as keeping ours! This means that we will be able to have so many more people to teach. We also get a car:) I am so excited and ready for this change of pace. It will be a lot more work, but I love staying busy so it will be perfect. 

    Well I love you all and hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season so far!

Love,

Elder Griffin

P.S. I will try to send pictures with investigators next week:)          

Serve everyone that the Lords puts in your path!

This Holiday week has been wonderful. It started out with an awesome district meeting. This was elder Petersen's first meeting as district leader and he did a wonderful job:) He gave a wonderful training on keeping a balance between the demands of a mission and the resources we have been given. He then went on to explain that the only way to keep a balance between the two was to use the enabling power of the Atonement. Elder Peterson is really good at bringing the spirit, and so I am excited to see what other wonderful ideas he will bring to our district these next couple of transfers.

    For Thanksgiving we got to have 3 dinners! The first was a Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday with the Lyman family. They are so awesome and I love their family. They have 4 daughters and a son that just left on a mission 2 months ago to Argentina. They had lots of yummy food and probably some of the best turkey I have ever had! They also had everyone around the table say something that they were thankful for this year, and it was really fun to see what everyone had to say. Following lunch we played the board game balderdash, it was a really funny game and we had a lot of fun. After the board game, we had the Lyman family teach us the plan of salvation. They all did a wonderful job and the spirit was so strong! Our second Thanksgiving dinner was on Thursday at an older couples house. They had tones of people over at their house, and it was super awkward at first because I didn't know who to talk to. It got better towards the end, because I started passing the football around with one of their grandchildren. Our third Thanksgiving was at the Newberry families house. I was pretty full from the other meal, but they did have this amazing chocolate chip cheese cake. At their house we played this really fun dice game called 10,000, and I even won the game even though I had never played it before:) They had a lot of cool family members and they made elder Walker and I feel like we were home. It was a very enjoyable night. I did miss going to a big fun house and being with the family.

     This Friday we were able to have a really good lesson with Jerome. He is super hard to teach, because he always goes off on these political tangents and we aren't allowed to discuss politics so it makes it pretty frustrating sometimes. This time thought we were able to teach him all of the restoration, and we made sure to really focus on Joseph Smith and the Great Apostasy. It was awesome, and he said he wanted to read up more on Joseph Smith, so we gave him the Joseph Smith Pamphlet. I really hope he reads it! He is such a good person and I really hope his heart is softened enough to accept our message. Josh, this really cool returned missionary, came with us to see Jerome and he did a really good job explaining the Apostasy. Also this Saturday we were going around and trying to visit part-member families and we stopped at this lady named Claudia Strong, who I have never seen at church. She let us in and we had an awesome visit with her and her husband, and then guess what? They came to church on Sunday:) It has been really fun meeting lots of new families in our ward and helping them get back to church. Also this Sunday we got a new bishop! He is going to be such a great bishop. He used to be a seminary teachers, so he is going to be great with the youth. He also talked about how we have 700 members in this ward and only 250 show up and how we have a lot of work to do. Hopefully this will mean he is more open to missionary work:) Also for third hour it was combined and we as missionaries got to do a presentation on the "He is the Gift" initiative the church is doing. We also told them about this new thing our mission president is having us do called the living Christmas card. For it we will be going to members friends houses, singing them a Christmas song and then sharing a scripture with them. It is going to be awesome.

      Have a good week everyone and don't forget to serve everyone that the Lord puts in your path!

Love,

Elder Griffin

P.S. Here are some pictures. This is me and elder walker with these huge gummy snakes his mom sent him:) And the other one is a little Christmas tree we put up.