Gaviotas y Tavos

Hello All!

What a great week!  Seems like I have just had some profound experiences, or at least had some experiences that have made me feel profound.  On an un-profound note, though, I love to drive to the church and see two things- first, on a lake that has been frozen since December, sometimes there are seagulls that just stand out there.  I don't know why but I think it is super funny just to see them out there standing on the frozen lake doing nothing.  Second, there is a tree that hangs over the road, and for about the past month, there have been about five to ten turkeys sitting up in it.  They're just big brown blobs chilling, about thirty feet up there or so.  I got some pictures of them, and so at some point or another you will see them.  Anyways...

The work is going great!  We've got a good teaching pool that keeps us busy. We don't have any super solid progressing investigators, but there are some with potential.  Less active work is where it is at, though.  We had eleven less actives at church, and we had forty one at church from our entire district- we heard once that the mission reported eighty less actives at church in one week, so we have been blessed with a great deal of success here in this half of Orange County.  Our branch has a convert baptism this weekend and then the Newburgh English Ward has a convert baptism too- an ASL guy.  I get to interview him, so we'll see just how good my ASL is now... Actually Elder Davenport, the ASL missionary, will be translating for me.  But yep, great things are happening!  We'll see in just a couple of days if it has been going well enough to get another set of missionaries here in the branch!

So I think I have three experiences I want to share.  First off, rather than an experience, I want to share a story from an Ensign article that has touched me pretty good.  It illustrates consecration at it's finest.  So here it is...

"We also learned a beautiful lesson about consecration from one of the assistants to the president in our mission. A decision had been made that one of our missionaries needed to be sent home early from his mission. He had been disobedient on several occasions despite counseling, contracts, and repeated warnings. The airplane ticket had been purchased, and the appropriate approvals were obtained from the South America South Area Presidency and the Missionary Department to send this missionary home.

"When the assistants brought the missionary in for his final interview, he protested loudly and tearfully that he did not want to go home. He promised to improve and said he would sign yet another contract. In desperation, President Oveson called the two assistants and Sister Oveson into his office and asked the elder to wait outside while the possible courses of action were discussed. Sister Oveson, somewhat out of patience with the situation, believed that sending him home was the only reasonable thing to do. “If he is allowed to stay,” she maintained, “the other missionaries might think that obedience is not important.”
"One of the assistants said, “I have to agree with Hermana Oveson. I don’t think we really have a choice.”
"When President Oveson asked the other assistant for his opinion, the assistant said, “I see much good in this elder. President, if you will let me go back out into the field, I will take him for my companion for the rest of my mission. I will take responsibility for him and help him to become a loving and obedient missionary.”

We all had tears in our eyes by the time this elder finished his remarks. We could not believe that anyone could be so loving and caring, especially a 20-year-old missionary. The decision was made to do as he requested. He found it exceedingly difficult at first, but slowly his junior companion learned a great deal from him and became a trustworthy missionary. When the senior companion went home, his companion stayed to finish his mission, becoming in time a senior companion and a trainer before he was honorably released. The follow-up to this true experience is that this once-wayward elder has since married and been sealed in the temple. He and his wife now have a son. They are active in the Church and are helping to build the kingdom. What a difference a consecrated, Christlike person made in the life of this missionary and his future family!"
-Elder Oveson (here's a link to that talk- check it out! https://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/09/personal-consecration?lang=eng )

Maybe I am better able to relate to that story being a missionary, but I like to think about Christ being looking down at me and saying something similar, that He would be willing to come down from His high position and suffer through tough times to be able to help me out. Because of His suffering, patience and consecrated life, I am blessed with the hope of eternal life, as is everybody else.  I know that as we try to give up our wills in pursuit of doing what God wants, not only will we be blessed, but those around us will as well.

Second, I had an opportunity to minister and it taught me a lot.  A district member approached me and wanted to talk to me.  I took advantage of a car ride down to Highland Falls to do a district APF.  He told me that some serious things were going on at home, things that he feared to the point that he almost didn't go on a mission.  I didn't know what to say to Him but God knew what He needed to hear, and so He directed our conversation.  I was filled with love for this Elder and learned a lot about how it feels to be Christ, ministering to somebody in a deeper way than normal.  I know that God gives us opportunities like that to help us to be more like Christ.  I am grateful for that and I hope to always be able to minister to others.

Third, last night we went out with the Galo's (they're pretty much like my family out here) to visit some people.  Our first appointment fell through and then after that we called like five or six people (back up and primary plans for pretty much the whole day) and not one of them even answered.  Sister Galo then threw out a name of a less active that I had never met (which there aren't too many of those here nowadays) and she gave her a call and she said "Come on over!"  We went and had a great experience!  They lit up as we talked about the power of the atonement in helping them with their problems.  They loved that and she, Gloria, is planning on coming to church this Sunday.  Seeing God work like that is the best!  The fact that we had a full night planned out but then shot down everything in five minutes was awesome because then we just went to where we needed to be, to somebody that really needed us.  We're going to be moving forward with Gloria and Agustin.

Things are great!  We'll see if I can get another cycle here- shock calls come Saturday.  I feel like it could go either way at this point, surprisingly. I'm loving things and have a good time.  Thanks for all of the support and love- hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths