Learnings and Doings

June 11, 2014

Hello All!

Happy Transfer Day! I am pleased to inform you that I will be staying put here in Kingsbridge with Elder Kia! I am not off the hook yet for getting transferred- it sounds like those two weeks after this cycle I could be moved somewhere. We will see though. Anyways, I am happy to stay because there are great things going on here. Let me tell you about a couple of the cool things I have been learning and doing.

First off, bartering. We went to China town and there was a sister in our district that was hoping to buy t-shirts for birthday presents. She wasn't sure how to talk down the price, so I gave a shot at what I had been told worked and what made sense for me. I did it with a belt buckle that was being sold for $15. I got it down to $8 but I didn't actually have the cash to buy it so he got mad at me. I feel kind of bad about that, but I learned how to barter. That might come in handy later down the road.

Installing ACs. No apartment here has central heating and air, so you have to install the window units, which includes putting a brace in to support the unit. The sisters in our district/ward (there are four of them) needed to get theirs put in and we were asked to do that, so we went over Friday and did. So I can put an AC in window now, I guess. They had to go before we got it done, and they had made some waffle mix for us to make waffles, so we actually ended up chilling there and eating lunch in their apartment. Kind of a funny experience, just chilling in their apartment and eating lunch. No worries- we got pictures!

On Saturday we had an APF as a zone. The Concourse district was in charge, and so as a part of it, they got a giant piece of plywood and painted it to look like The Book of Mormon. You can see it in my profile picture. A group of us went and did bus contacting and eventually joined everybody else as they did  street contacting. We saw a lot of success- we handed out over sixty copies of The Book of Mormon and taught quite a few lessons. And now we have a giant plywood Book of Mormon. Haha it was fun and really brought the zone together. I will try to send off a picture.

We had a district lunch/rap battle. I wish I could figure out how to send the videos- they were good. I wrote a Regatone, Spanish rap and it worked out well. Haha it was a lot of fun and brought our awesome district together even more, hopefully we will keep that unity up next cycle!

Every Monday night, we have a Family Night with Lisa Ponce de Leon and her family. She was baptized in September and her kids have been baptized one by one until her last, Xzavier was baptized in May. We have been trying to get them to be more and more independent, particularly with doing FHEs. The Powells, the senior couple in our ward, made them a chart for FHE, and so last week we gave them the assignment to do it all themselves. We came and had a great time and they did awesome! They did it all by themselves and it was so much better than we have done for them in the past. We are looking forward to a good one next week too! I also gave a long sleeve shirt and a pair of black paints to Xzavier to wear to church because he doesn't have any and I won't be needing mine too much in the future- hope that was okay. But yeah, the most important part of family night is just that it happens!

One of the highlights of the mission for me happened this past Sunday. I was sitting in testimony meeting for our ward, next to our investigators when one of the missionaries from concourse and the first counsellor in the bishopric came and grabbed me out of the meeting. They took me to their priesthood meeting where Rafael was being ordained to the office of an elder. I got to stand in on the circle and it was great, getting to see him from he beginning to that point. Now we just have to get him to the temple before August!

I want to bear testimony of scripture study. I had a powerful experience Saturday, I believe. I had been feeling down and not sure how to handle certain situations and I needed a big pick me up. I went into studies thirsting after knowledge from God, having faith that I would receive guidance and direction. I tried to prepare myself well, getting ready in a good timely manner, and then I prayed in faith, asking for direction. As I listened back during he prayer, certain scriptures and topics came to mind, and I was guided in my studies. I learned that I needed to work on Charity, not just love, but having Christ's unconditional. If somebody doesn't like me, usually my instinct is to just ignore them or whatever, but I need to figure out how to love them regardless of what they think. It is the difference between acting and reacting. Acting is always the best. But yeah, moral of the story is that when we study our scriptures while thirsting for knowledge, wanting to learn, having prepared ourselves to do so, we can see ourselves changing as we study and ponder. I saw that Saturday for sure, and have been trying to keep that up daily.

Something I have been thinking about lately is how one of the greatest challenges of life is figuring out how to use the time that we have. God seems to have purposefully given us too much to do in what little time and it is super frustrating at times. But as I have pondered on it, I feel like it is just a test of our character. Will we do what is right? Will we build our lives on a basis of at the very least doing what God would have us do, or will we put it on a sandy foundation of doing those things that don't matter in end? I am trying to think about that and how I use my time out here, and I invite you to do the same!

Last thing- I am eternally grateful for the experiences that God gives us to get a small taste of what the Atonement feels like. I have learned so much from them. I know that the depth of my experiences is infinitely minuscule compared to His, but those experiences help to point me in the right direction, if that makes sense. One experience that I had was working for domino's specifically on the Fourth of July. We were down some drivers and delivering everything late. I was stressed out and frustrated at management for not keeping more people on. People were frustrated,  and as the delivery person, I received the brunt of that.  At one point, I remember kind of crying out, "This isn't fair- I didn't even do anything to deserve this!" At that point, a voice came to me and said, "It is no fun, huh?" And it hit me that Christ out of anybody has reason to complain about taking the blame- He did nothing to deserve anything bad, yet He took it all. He never complained and that directed me towards the depth of feeling in one aspect of the Atonement. I have been having other similar experiences, and I feel like maybe it isn't the experiences that are coming, but mine looking for those experiences. It is kind if a perspective thing. So I challenge you to do the same! Look at life from Christ's perspective- it will help you to become a better person, I promise.

That is a ton. Writing has been good though. I hope that the things that I write will be of value to someone, whether it be now or in the future. I am just full of gratitude for the experiences with which I have been blessed over the course of the mission and I am grateful that I still have plenty of time to have some more! Thanks for your prayers and your love and support. I don't directly see them, but I know that they are there, so thank you for all that you do! You guys are great and I hope you have a wonderful week!

-Elder Griffiths