Feliz Navidad!

Hello All!

Merry Christmas to everybody- hope it was good!  I always am a little bummed after Christmas because the anticipation and lead up to Christmas and all the good that comes with that just suddenly ends.  But as with everything else that passes, it's always best to move forward, keeping in mind the lessons that you've learned to make later experiences in life better.

With the holidays, things have been kind of slow.  Focusing on specific individuals has been hard and so we've just been doing a lot of preparing gifts for people in English class, preparing and executing APFs (area proselyting focus- activities we do with our zone where we come together and either set up a table on the street, go tracting in a specific area or something along the lines of that), and lots of other little things here and there.  Getting past New Years will be great because then we'll be able to get back into the swing of things (which is something I really feel like I haven't experienced since I got here right after the hurricane, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas).

I can only think of a few particularly exciting things that happened this past week.  First off, we had our mission wide Christmas party so it was cool seeing everybody all together in one room.  That might be the last time I see that, especially after all the new missionaries come in.  Also we went caroling a couple of times and that was really great!  I love caroling and was glad I had the opportunity to do it here on the mission.  It snowed as we were doing it on Christmas eve so that was really nice and it felt pretty iconic (White Christmas in New York City- good stuff).  It's snowing again now just as we're about to head down town, so that'll be sweet seeing everything with Christmas decorations still up all in the snow.

We had a great experience with an investigator too.  Her name is Aura and she called us earlier last week after we had scheduled an appointment with her and told us that she really didn't have any intentions of getting baptized into our church.  We hadn't been over to her apartment in a while anyways, so we had kind of already dropped her, so we weren't terribly shocked.  We went to the appointment with a member that's good friends with her, and the Spirit was really strong and we just were able to be lead to say some good stuff that really touched her heart.  The next day was Sunday and she came to church and brought her kids and stayed the full three hours!  It really was a miracle and we're looking forward to following up with her and seeing where the Spirit takes us next time.  She has been taught the all the lessons already.  Twice.  So we're going to be doing some good thinking tomorrow in weekly planning.  

That's about all I can think about right now.  Thanks for all of the support once again!  You guys are great!  And Happy New Year!

-Elder Griffiths

Los Cambios Vino y...

Buenas Tardes!

Thanks for letters and stuff, it's always good to hear about what all is going on even if there really isn't a ton going on.

Preparation Day might just be my least favorite day because they always stress me out and I feel like I accomplish absolutely nothing that I need to accomplish.  Today we had transfers, so now I'm serving in... the exact same place, good ol' Harlem East/El Barrio (Little Mexico- one of the best places in Manhattan.  Legitimate Mexican everything).  Elder Topham and I are still together too and we're looking forward to a great cycle together!  We had some switch ups in zone though, so that'll be good to get to know more people and learn lots from them.  Being in the city, especially in Manhattan, our Zone is pretty compact and so we work together a lot as a zone, and even more so as a district, so that's great!  But yep, transfer times are exciting, I've decided, especially since they are so inspired.  I know I'm where Heavenly Father wants me to be with the people with whom He wants me to be and now I'm just hoping to do what He wants me to do and be who He wants me to be.

I don't have a lot of time to write, but things are going well.  I'm figuring out my role in the work and how to accomplish the things that have been asked of me.  I think often times human nature leads us to take the easy route, avoid pressure and tension and so on, even if that's exactly where we need to head.  When such thoughts have come to me, I think back on 1 Nephi 3:7 and how the Lord has made all that He has asked of us possible.  I've seen the Lord testing me in all sorts of ways that don't even seem fair, but I'm still determined to do His work in the manner that He has prescribed.  A lot of time it's not as straightforward to follow the rules and do what He wants, but I know that as we have faith in His power to work miracles, have hope in the promised blessings that come from obedience, have charity that drives us to work for others, and we go and do, all will work out in the timing of the Lord.  I've been studying and learning a lot about patience because waiting for those blessing can be tough.  Luckily we're all on the Lord's time and He knows best, so I encourage everybody just to just keep trying, just keep doing what you know to be right and you will be led down the exact road that you need.

So things are working out.  Missionary work isn't by any means always easy, but it's enjoyable.

And sorry to anybody who wrote me- I plan on writing everybody back, I just haven't had a lot of time.  I think in the next couple of weeks, I should find some good time to write back to you- thanks for the patience in the meantime!  I appreciate your support and everything!

Merry Christmas to all!

-Elder Griffiths

More Pictures...

Abrid Vuestras Bocas

Hello everybody! I don't have a lot of time to write (we're at a multizone Christmas party in North Manhattan and so I haven't been able to concentrate very well as I've read and replied to emails and stuff. I also take a good chunk of time to write to President Morgan, so that doesn't help either...), but I guess I can't think of a lot to say, so that works. Things have been going well! Elder Topham and I have been going forward under the direction of the Bishop, so we haven't been finding and teaching in the typical missionary sense. Most of our focus has been on stopping by less active members and trying to get them to come back to church and we've seen some miracles already! President Morgan really wants us working with the Bishop because he's the one who is best able to direct the work in our area. We're also just trying to build up member support, and it's going well so far! We're getting to know our ward and getting their backing, and we're getting little tastes of the fruits of our labors already. We can already see a bunch of potentially really solid investigators, so we're excited about that! One of the problems I've been having is that I hesitate and get scared and don't talk try to talk to people. I guess I fear rejection. And when you're crammed in trains, buses, elevators and walking on the streets with tons of people everyday, having such a fear leads to a lot of missed opportunities. So yeah I'm getting better at just starting to talk to people and inviting them to action. I'm not very good right now, but whenever I do just forget myself and go for it, I feel good afterwards for at least trying to spread the word of the Lord. A good saying that I've tried to use to motivate myself is "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." That's so true for everybody, though. I feel like at times we all have a friend that we love with whom we could share the gospel, but we don't because of our fear of rejection. If we just invite them to hear our message, testify that it's something that has changed our lives and testify that it could change their lives for the better, then the worst that they can do is say no. Looking for little opportunities to testify about simple or grand things can be good too. And one of the most important things to do is to invite out of love and a sincere desire to better their lives. It's something I'm working on and something I'd invite everybody else to work on too! So yep, things are going well. Transfers are in a week. I felt pretty sure that things were going to remain the same with us, but no I'm not so sure, but I guess I'll let you know next week! Thanks for the emails and the support from home- hope all continues to be well! -Elder Griffiths

Los Miembros Son Claves

Hello!

This past week has been great! I've learned a lot and we've made some good steps forward in the work. I guess I'll just give you a good briefing of my days, day by day.

Thurday- weekly planning. That's always fun. Actually I really do like planning and just getting stuff down on paper and seeing what we need to do. We spent some good time with the Bishop handing out little papers for our English class and doing some other business. Our bishop is great! Then we had dinner I believe and then went out and tried visiting some families from our ward and we met with one that was in the area and they said the missionaries hadn't been over in over a year, so that was really good. We're really focusing on improving our relationship with the members, gaining their support and teaching them how to be better missionaries, and that was just one of a few visits that have gone very well.

Friday we had a new missionary/trainer training meeting up in the Bronx that we went to. It was good and insightful and I learned a lot. President Morgan is a very insightful man and he's got a lot of good stuff to say. His meetings do run a little long at times, though, so it shot our plans a little. Afterwards, we got dang good sandwiches at a bodega (little corner convenience store things. New York thing), went to a hospital to give a blessing, came back and then the assistants called to do an exchange with Elder Topham and me. I went with Elder Fusco (from Brazil- super cool Elder) up to Inwood (very north Manhattan where the Assistants work) and worked there- it was great and I got a lot of good advice from him and it just got me excited about the work.

Saturday we went and did service. I saw the video that you posted on my Facebook page and it was really good. We didn't work in the areas that the video showed, but we still had plenty of work to do. The people were very grateful for what we did, and it was good to see the unity that came from our service. Sometimes it takes drastic measures to get us to go down to the basis of our relationship with one another as children of God. Seeing that relationship in the finest as we served our brothers and sisters was really encouraging and uplifting. Coming home on the train, I had some good sharing opportunities. I talked to a guy from Mexico, Javier, for like twenty minutes about this and that and then I eventually started talking about his family and how the gospel could strengthen his family and help them strengthen the already strong unity that they had. Then Sister Richardson, a sister in my district gave him a pamphlet and he was very happy. It all just fell together nicely- I just hope he follows up and has the desire to learn more. We talked to some other people on the train to and it was just nice and uplifting. Then we got back to the apartment, got ready and went to an incredible stake Christmas concert (you can imagine the talent found in the New York New York Stake).

Sunday Elder Topham wasn't feeling so well, so we took it easy, did our studies, went to church and then essentially came home and I did some productive stuff while he relaxed. We had a good noche de hogar (FHE) with Victor, a good buddy of ours in the ward, and his roommate and his roommate's girlfriend and it went well! And that was about it for the day.

Monday was a glorious day. We had studies and a district meeting after which we went looking for service ideas with the Sisters in our district (they serve in the west side- really nice area with lots of money, so it's pretty hard to work in). Afterwards, we came back to our area with the intentions of visiting some members of our ward (dropping by as opposed to setting up appointments works best with the Latinos). Anyways, we were standing outside of the building of one of the members without a way to get in (private buildings are tricky here- being a missionary in New York is just a whole different ball game in so many ways) and then one of the recent converts, Teresa, comes up and says hey and invites us into the building because she lives there. We then go to the apartment of the members we intended to visit, find the kids home so we make friends with them. Then the mom comes home and we talk with her and then their neighbor comes out and it turns out he's a member too! The thing is that they're all pretty inactive, but we struck up a good relationship, shared a powerful message and now we've got a firm appointment to have a noche de hogar (FHE) with them this Saturday, and they all seem very interested in coming back to church. It was miraculous and we definitely saw the hand of the Lord in all of that. We then went to our dinner appointment at la familia Chavert (fun bunch- probably one of our favorite families to visit), had a good experience there, then dropped by our ward mission leader's apartment, then went home for the night.

Yesterday, we had a Multi-Zone Conference with Elder Paul B. Johnson of the 1st quorum and that was good and insightful! By the time we got home it was about time for our 5:30 appointment with one of our investigators, Paulina a 16 year old Dominicana. She's hard to teach at times but she's fun so we enjoy our visits with her. After that we went to English class, after which we went back up to the Bronx because my companion had a meeting with President Morgan. We got home close to 10:30 (we were justified in doing so, obviously...) so after planning and stuff, we crashed.

Today we've just done some studying, washed clothes, went shopping and now we're about to make some dumplings with the sisters in our zone two of whom are from Taiwan and Singapore, so that'll be good. We also had some dang good and legitimate enchiladas from a Mexican street vender. Then later we're just planning on dropping by an investigator, some less actives, and other members, so that'll be good!

Things are going well! We're moving forward in what we feel is the way that the Lord wants. We're just beginning to see some of the fruits of our labors, but there's definitely moer on the way and I can't wait to keep everybody posted about it all! Thanks once again for all of your support, and I hope you all have a great week!


-Elder Griffiths