October Snow at the MTC

Snow falling pretty good at the MTC!

It snowed pretty good yesterday!  This is my district and some from our neighboring district

El Fin Viene

Hello to all!

Week and half left?  Seems unreal!  I love the MTC and I've learned and grown like crazy hear, but I can't wait to get out to the field!

I don't have a lot of time to write today (my laundry just finished and we've got dinner shortly), but I'll try to get off everything I want to say.

First off- Feliz cumpleanos Abuela!  (Happy birthday Grandma!)  I hope it was great!

Second off- There is a Hermana Henrie in our zone in the class room right next to us and I was talking to her and it turns out that she was one of Mackenzie Gregerson's freshman year roommates!  That was an exciting discovery.  She also lived in Grand Junction for a little while, so Yep good stuff.  Anyways, if anyone reading this wants to tell Mackenzie about that, that'd be great!  Because I have no direct form of contact with her otherwise.

Third off- Spanish.  Va bien!  I don't know if that works as a translation, but it's going well!  Thus far this week I've probably spoken more than 50% in Spanish.  And the Natives think I'm doing well, and I feel like I'm to the point where I've just got to work out a lot of little kinks and learn a lot of vocab, but otherwise, I feel like I'm to the point where I can figure out how to express myself with most things.  I've still got another week and a half to learn, so I'm looking forward to that.  I'm hoping to be fluent by the end of the year!

And finally, I've had a good number of humbling days lately.  For the most part, the biggest advice that I feel like I get from the Lord is to just press forward, doing what I'm supposed to do, and things will turn out well.  And that's been the case!  As I've chugged along and really strived to improve myself and turn my will over to the Lord, He's helped me to improve myself and have some really great experiences!  And that's so true for everybody, as anybody endures to the end of their daily, weekly or whatever sort of trials, with a good attitude, continually trying to do what they're supposed to, things just work out.

Sorry for not having more time.  Just as a heads up, I'll be writing on Saturday next week- things shuffle around for the last week.  So yep, have a good week!

Elder Griffiths

Los Nativos y El Planamiento Son el Mejor!

Elder Souza and I on preparation day.  He was my
former home teacher that's in my zone here.

Companions:  Elder Fitzner, Elder Boyd, & me

Nice tie I obtained during some tie trading-
goes well with my suit!

Mini Preach My Gospels!  English and Spanish- if they aren't
available to the general public I could probably buy some and
send some home if specific people want them.

Me voting!

Buenas Tardes!

Another week gone by here at the good old MTC.  Time is just accelerating- this week seemed like it went by faster than ever.  Things are still going well though!  I'm picking up more and more Spanish everyday and getting more comfortable and able to speak and teach.  Estaban usando Rosetta Stone?  Espero que puedan hablar un poco de espanol en dos anos.  Anyways, we got a new district of natives in our zone last week (two of which are going to Denver Sur- Elder Lopez and Elder Deboin) and we've made a special effort to become friends with them.  In turn, they've been able to help us out with our Spanish, especially as we're becoming more and more comfortable speaking.  They're great!  I love los latinos and I'm really looking forward to teaching and working with them in New York.  They're a faithful, humble, and ready to learn group of people, and they're really funny too!  Haha but it's been a great blessing to be able to hang out and talk with them.

Once again, I really don't have anything specially to report.  Lessons with our "investegators" are going well, I'm making individual improvements, we're improving as a companionship, I shined my shoes today, and the list goes on.  I'm just finding pretty much everything super fulfilling and I'm trying hard to not waste a minute of my time here.  I know there are a lot of MTC haters out there, but I love this place- it's such a great place to learn and progress, if you put the effort into it.  One of the things I've been working on this week is planning and having a better purpose with the time I've been given.  The idea of planning out studies, planning out lessons and planning out how the day is going to go has been coming up a lot lately.  As I've created general and more specific study plans for my language and gospel studies, I've been able to go into the time with a specific goal and I've just been able to get a lot more out of it than when I try to come up with an objective as I'm studying.  I've learned that it's good to write out a list of available resources, long term goals or bigger ideas, specific ideas or tasks and then activities that can accomplish these tasks (such as chronological reading, topical study, conference talks, etc.) and then just plan out what I'm going to do during specific times ahead of said specific times.  This might seem like something that really only applies to a missionary, but I know that we can get a lot more out of our personal gospel study or even school study if we have a plan.  Even better is an inspired plan- when we put the effort into making any sort of a plan, we make something that God can work with and help us to tweak so that we're best using our time and learning what we need to accomplish our purpose.  I enjoy planning and can't wait to see the continued fruits of my efforts in regards to it!

And that's about it.  I'm sure I have plenty more I could say, but nothing comes to mine.  Things are pretty routine here, but that's not bad when it's such a good routine.  And I love my companions- Elder Boyd and Elder Fitzner are great!  We're really able to build off of each other and we work together well.  They've been a great blessing to me as I've been here and I can't wait to see what kinds of things we're able to do in the next two and a half weeks!

Thanks for the letters and the support!  I really appreciate it.  And sorry if I'm not writing specifically to any reader of my blog that would like me to do so- unfortunately I didn't get as many addresses before I came into the MTC as I would have preferred.  So yep, I'd love to hear from you if you feel so inclined- I'm mailbox #355 and I'll be here at the MTC until November 6th.  And I'm not really soliciting letters, just throwing that option out there for anyone who was wondering.

Que tengan una buena semana!

-Elder Griffiths

More pictures...

"Broadbent Boys" at THE MAP

Elder Snyder's last night.

Elder Snyder and I in our very cool matching sweaters!

New York T-Shirt!!!

Ties I came with...

Ties I have now!

Buenas Tardes a Todo!

Conference was pretty good, eh?  Being here in the MTC for it was great!  Aside from the fact that we're naturally a little more focused on the Gospel here and that we're able to better pay attention while sitting on hard, uncomfortable chairs instead of couches, hearing the mind of God with about 2700 of the missionaries is great!  We enjoyed listening to Elder Nelson's talk about asking the missionaries- we're just all together getting ready to help out.  Everybody went pretty crazy at the  at the announcement of the lowering of the age that people can serve.  I think it was all that everybody talked about during the songs and breaks during the session and then for the whole day afterwards.  It's still a little crazy to think about and we're all wondering how the outside world is handling it.  Feel free to give me any updates-  I'd love to hear about who all is deciding to serve!

One of the biggest impressions I've felt, multiple times coming away from conference and other stuff is that missionary work really is about to explode.  One of the teachers said that they're expecting there to be about 100,000 missionaries in two years.  He learned that in a teacher's meeting with some official, high up person involved in missionary work, and what's even better is that this same person talking at the meeting said that they will be needed.  Exciting stuff is about to start happening and I'm grateful to be a part of the work!  The missionaries that will be coming in soon will be more qualified and able than ever, and I'm certain they'll be able to step up to what's coming.  You asked about whether I think I would have been ready after just six weeks of language training, and I'd say probably.  By tomorrow, we'll have finished going over all the grammar we have to go over in class, so at this point being one on one with a fluent or native speaker would probably do me good.  A lot of what they teach here in the MTC is more about how to study and teach yourself.  But yeah I think things will work out just how they're supposed to for the people who now have this door open to them.  I probably would have jumped on such an opportunity and left as soon as I could, and I  would have been fine, but I know that God's timing is perfect for me and that those experiences I had in that extra year were just what I needed.  Another fun fact- after everything has settled following the initial wave, it's expected that we'll have a steady 80,000 missionaries- super exciting!

The departure date they gave me is the 6th of November.  And I've had a bunch of companion switch ups, I'm guessing because I called in last moment to be switched to intermediate so I've just kind of been thrown around, not originally having a place.  And of course it's just all a part of God's plan- I've got something to learn from everybody.  And so far so good with Elder Fitzner and Elder Boyd!  We're working well together!  They're both pretty goofy, so it makes for a good time.  I think I told you where they were from and where they're going, but feel free to ask anything else about them!

Thanks for the package!  The watch doesn't work, but I can use somebody else's when I need it.  And I've already made some good tie trades- Elder Fitzner traded me the perfect True Blue Tuesday tie, so I'm excited about that and the other prospects I have.  I might send some home after I've settled things and made all the trades I want because I don't need eighteen ties in the field.  But yeah thanks for send them and everything else!

I'm writing this at a different time because my companions usually just write their letters home during laundry, and my old companions liked doing so after the temple.  My letters home will most likely come home around this time from now on.

Oh and random thing- I saw James Gosling in the temple today.  I said hey to him- that was good!

Not much else to say at this point, I don't think.  Serving a mission really is a challenge at times, and I'm sure I don't know the half of it not being in the field yet.  One thing that's given me the most strength through all of my trials, though, big and small has been prayer.  I've continued to fortify my testimony that when we have righteous desires, we're trying to do what's right, Heavenly Father will help us out and give us answers to everything.  Whether it be Him just encouraging me to endure through a rough time, or Him leading me to finding a book I wanted in a free box in the residence halls, Heavenly Father is always willing to help us out with anything so long as we trust Him and do our part.

I wish I could expound more on that, but I don't have much time.  Things are going very well here- I'm continuing to learn and grow!  Three and half weeks left- good deal, plenty of time to learn a bunch.  I hope all is well at home!  Thanks for your love and support!

Elder Griffiths

Pictures from the MTC

Companions:  Elder Lundberg, Elder Snyder and Me!

Elder Shresta - first missionary from Nepal! (and me)

Laundry room on p-day - fun stuff!

Napping during our temple "walk", haha...

Our District all nicely coordinated with purple.

BYU roommates: Elder Geronimo, me, Elder Jones

This is where we are going...

En Su fuerza, puedo hacer todas las cosas

(In His strength, I can do all things)

Buenas Dias!

I believe that today marks a month of being here at the MTC and that tomorrow is my half way point.  I´m getting there.

Thanks for the letter!  I'll try resending pictures later while we're doing laundry- those computers don't track your time spent on email.  I only have one four gigabyte memory card with me.

I really don't have a ton to report this week- things are pretty routine at this point.  I'm definitely still learning and growing and having good experiences, but that's all just become the norm here.  A good norm.  My companionship is switching up again- Elder Snyder received his visa and travel plans for Peru on Wednesday, so he'll be leaving Monday for the Peru MTC.  We've got two companionships of two left in my district, so I'll probably be slapped on with one of them.  General Conference makes this situation a bit tricky, but I guess I'll be able to report to you next week how things worked out.  In the mean time, though, I've really enjoyed being companions with Elder Snyder.  He's a great guy and he's going to be a great missionary!  Being together one on one has been great (trio's kind of stink) so it's a bummer he has to go so soon.  Additionally, I'll be moving to a different room in my building to be with whoever my new companions are.  So four companionship changes in four weeks- crazy crazy...

Life here at the MTC is great, but we've come up with a few little things to do for fun.  Such include watching sparks come out when you open a bandaid, messing with people on the other side of a two way mirror using a plastic jack-o-lantern Elder Snyder's uncle sent him, tie trading, learning how to tie different tie knots, playing "In which chapter in The Book of Mormon is this verse," and many other great things that I just can't remember.  Haha.  Oh and speaking of tie trading, in our district we've found out that you can trade junk food for ties, so feel free to send whatever junk food in any packages you send.

I've really enjoyed teaching here at the MTC.  Normally we're teaching our teachers pretending to be investigators, and then on Friday night we teach volunteers acting as themselves.  All of our teaching is done in Spanish.  Even though it's generally not a real situation, if we go in with the right attitude, we can come out with real experiences.  I enjoy seeing the promises of the Lord being fulfilled in the sort of stuff you hear about all the time with missionary work, like going in there with a set plan and having that change because the person being taught needs something else, and seeing how we're able to come up with words and express ourselves in ways that we otherwise are generally unable to do, and many other things.  I feel like I'm better learning how to trust in my companions and in the Spirit, and that I'm better able to feel and follow the promptings of the Spirit.  Lessons aren't always perfectly smooth, but as long as we come out having helped that person come closer to Christ, we've done our job.  I just can't wait to get out into the field and be able to see real change in people's lives as we share with them the sweet message of the Restored Gospel.

I'm sorry I don't have much else to report on.  Like I said, things are good, I'm learning and growing and having experiences that will help me to be able to be a better missionary.  He aprendido mucho espanol,  y aprendere mucho mas espanol en las proximas semanas.  Es importate que yo trabaje con y confie en El Senior porque come dice en Alma 26:12, "Yo se que nada soy.  En cuanto a mi fuerza, soy debil.  Por tanto, no me jactare en mi mismo, sino que gloriare en mi Dios, proque en su fuerza, puedo hacer todas las cosas."  Con Su fuerza puedo aprender espanol y hacer todas las cosas.

Thanks for the all the support back home!  Hope you have a great week!

Elder Griffiths