I < 3 BX

Hello Everybody!

This past week was awesome! Being back here in he Bronx is awesome! I am in a little bit of a different part- I'm in the central northern part- but it is still the Bronx and I really love it. There are so many people to talk to, there are lots of crazy people, and lots of Dominicans. It will take a concentrated effort to forget Spanish because there are so many Spanish speakers around. At the same time, I am being exposed to a lot of Africans- that is new. I have met people from the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Congo and probably some other places. They actually speak French in many of those places and so Elder Davidson and I are going to try to pick up some French- we'll see how that goes! And Elder Davidson is great! He is a solid missionary with a lot of great experience and really good relationships with the ward members. He is from American Fork, Utah and we will actually go home together. He is awesome and I am looking forward to a sweet cycle!

I don't think I have ever been happier! And that is even with all the physical hardships of adjusting and leaving and getting used to things, so good things are coming. I am adjusting to walking everywhere again, and getting used to everything else that comes with the life style here. I can't wait to see how I am feeling when I am into the groove of things and when I am comfortable with all the other missionaries and ward members. Speaking English to them does make it easier to develop relationship (although some of those Jamaican and African accents can be a little tough to understand).

So a couple of cool things. First off, the recent convert in our area Doreatha, got introduced to the church in what ward? The Lawrenceville ward! Dorian is indeed her daughter and she says that she is going to be going and visiting her in May, so maybe we can work it out so that you guys can make some ribs the day she leaves so that I can get them fresh- haha. Anyways, we visit her a couple times a week, so I am looking forward to bonding over Lawrenceville. Cool to see those connections. Another sweet thing- being here in the same zone that I was in before, there are some people with which I have a great relationship, and that might come in handy. For example, last night we went over to Liliana's house, a member in concourse, with the sisters that cover her. She went through a rough patch in the past little while since I had been there, got offended and completely stopped going to church. She stopped meeting with the missionaries too. I messaged her on Facebook to see if we could come, and she said for sure! So we went and they were there and we had a good time, but a good bold lesson letting them know that the sisters would be helping her and her family get back to church in time. She set up a return appointment with the sister, exchanged Facebook names/contact info and started off what should be a great relationship. I am grateful to be able to be an instrument in that way and I look forward to having other possible opportunities to do the same. The Bronx is great!

I love being here and am looking to go out with a bang! I am excited to give you a good report next week. Thanks for keeping me updated! Have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

P.S. Went to the temple today- it was sweet! Time flies when you go to the temple. But that's okay!

Happy Endings. And Yes, This is English

Good morning!

Transfers have come indeed! It was bitter sweet to get a call Saturday night saying that I would be moving. It was inevitable- I knew I was going sooner or later. But I am super excited with where I am going. I am going... Back to the Bronx! Same zone- Kingsbridge! I am actually going to be serving in the English ward there, in the English program (I already ordered my English tags). I am excited to experience the full-on culture of the English program and be able to preach the gospel in my native language. I have been on a few exchanges in the English program and I have always enjoyed it, so this will be good. I won't forget my Spanish, however, because in the zone I am going to, two of the three districts are Spanish speaking, assigned to the two Spanish speaking wards out of the three in the zone, and so that makes for about eighteen Spanish speaking missionaries out of the twenty eight missionaries there, not to mention the high population of Spanish speakers that live in the Bronx. I feel like I am going to get the best of both worlds. And we all meet in the same building, which means I will get to see all of my favorite people from my last area in the Concourse ward practically every Sunday. My area covers the central north part of the Bronx, so it will be interesting to see the different dynamics here. I have actually been on two or three exchanges in that area and so I already know a couple people.  President Morgan said I am likely to finish there- that is weird to hear. Anyways, I am nothing but excited about going there!

These past few days have been tough- packing is dumb and saying goodbye to people is dumb. I normally wouldn't suggest going to out of your way to say goodbye as a missionary, but I have felt that I am going to maintain a lot of these relationships that I have made after the mission, so I've taken a little bit of time to stop by and say "see ya" to some members. Feeling their love has been great.  As I have tried to love these people, Heavenly Father has graciously used me as an instrument in His hands to help these people out, and for that I have receive a ton of love back. That has filled me up with joy and I am so grateful for that. At the same time, I really haven't been too sad, surprisingly. I know that this isn't the end of my relationship with these people, and I feel like I will have the opportunity to see them again, at the very least on the other side. I love this area and the people here. I am excited to hear about things here in the future because I know that great things are to come for the people here in Zionburgh!

So yep, I'll be let you know how things start out back in Kingsbridge.

Today will be a crazy day full to traveling and unpacking and all that hooplah (transitions aren't the most fun :T), but I am looking forward to hitting the ground running. I know that anytime we have transfers and changes come about, it is revelation at play. I know that Heavenly Father has work specifically for me to do down in the Bronx and I am excited. I know He lives and directs His work, and I am so grateful for that.

Thanks for the support and love! I hope you have a great upcoming week!

-Elder Griffiths

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

Consagración: el segundo golpe

Aloha!

I guess I say that because I just went on an exchange with Elder Reid Monday- he is from Hawai'i. That was a lot of fun- he has a good fun spirit so it makes for a enjoyable time. Anyways this past week was awesome. Lots of great things happened.

Friday was great- zone conference. Seems like the last few zone conferences/zone meetings, etc. have all been about the iPads, Facebook and online proselyting but this one was just a good spiritual slap. We talked about consecration and got repumped about it. I know that was good for me. I think being up here with the same companion has led me to get into some of the same routines and I have been a little stagnant in some senses. Nothing too bad, but is was a good kick to get me going again. We immediately saw the results of consecrating out all to the Lord's service as Saturday was one of the best days. We had our first lesson at 10:30 am and we were busy the whole day. We picked up five new investigators, had a couple that went inactive about five or six months ago because they got offended call us and tell us that they had read a scripture that made them want to come to church again, got a referral for, a lesson done on Facebook chat, had the nonmember husband of one our members show up at the restaurant at which we were eating and buy our food, and a great dinner at Paul's after doing service with him. Sunday was great too- the inactives mentioned  above were there at church as well as another inactive family that hasn't come to church in years that we have been working with since July. Sunday always fills me up- seeing all the members that I love so much and feeling their love for me and then adding the Savior's love on to that is awesome! Afterwards we took the sacrament to some people that couldn't go to church. Had a couple visits with other people and them ended the night. We ended the week with forty seven lessons as an apartment (or as the missionaries in our branch). Last year a good week was about seventeen so once again the work keeps going forward. We are just trying to set things up to where we get sisters in that cover outside the city of Newburgh and then us elders cover the city. We feel like we could do well with that, but we'll see what president says. The work just keeps going forward!

Today we had a zone activity where we went up to Monticello (the boondocks basically) and just made a fire, roasted marshmallows, hot dogs and ice fished. We actually set up the fire on the lake so that was unique. Anyway, didn't leave me with much time to write, but maybe next week will be better. Hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

February 26 Pictures!A

LOTS of SNOW!!!

Another great visit to the Manhattan Temple

Youth trip to Manhattan for baptisms!

Yolanda's baptism!

Buenos Acontecimientos

February 26, 2014

Hello all!

This past week has been great! Lots of good things going on. I'll just hit some of the highlights.

Friday I was on an exchange with Elder Davenport. He is the ASL Elder in our district that is teaching us how to sign. We didn't have any ASL lessons, but we still signed to each other a little bit. Anyways, we were at the church and they were setting up for a stake valentine's day activity. Some people didn't show up to help, so we jumped in to help. Some stuff fell through allowing us to stay a little longer and help. I know that Heavenly Father put us there to help out because we were needed. We were invited to come back to the activity and get some food if we wanted to. Our dinner fell through, so that worked out perfectly- we had some good food there at the activity! And there were a bunch of deaf people there, and so I got approval for a sign name from them (you have tog et approval from them to make sure it is something that isn't ridiculous I guess). So now others can refer to me without finger spelling- good stuff.

Saturday was sweet- we were at the church for like nine hours, setting up for the baptism, cleaning, and doing other little things here and there. While cleaning, I actually ran into a sister from my MTC district, Hermana Eberle! Her boyfriend lives in Poughkeepsie and she was over there, and so she came and helped out. We had a good time chatting and took a picture. That was a good tender mercy. Anyways the baptism was awesome! She got there like forty five minutes late, but it still happened, so that is the important thing.

Tuesday, our dinner fell through so we went to a pizza joint in New Windsor that we go to from time to time. The owners are Salvatore and Lina, from Sicily, Italy. Salvatore wasn't there, but Lina was.  Recently I started up again studying Italian as I exercise and so I talked with Lina in Italian. I was able to understand decently well and talk back- nothing too in-depth, but still it was cool! I feel like I would love a career where I get to interact and talk to people that come from different cultures, especially if it requires me to learn another language. I think I'm going to continue to work on ASL and Italian and them maybe sit in on some classes at BYU to pick them up more. We'll see! But yeah that was a cool experience that helped me to learn more about myself.

We had a good night last night. We planned to go out with George- cool story with him- about a month ago, we had parked in an apartment complex to go do a look-up. We were saying a prayer and we looked up to find a man and a women outside our car. He introduced himself as George and the woman as Lucy. They are from Guatemala. George moved here recently and didn't know where the church was, so we gave him the info and got his information. It was cool to see how God out us in His path and how we found one another. So yeah he was going to go out with us but then the person we were going to juked us, so we went back and taught George and Lucy. It was a good lesson!

So yeah things are great! It was a good week. Tomorrow we have zone conference. Things are looking good! Thanks for the love and support!  Hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

Me Encanta Ver la Blancura del Templo, No la de la Nieve

Good afternoon all!

Snow snow snow. I think it snowed four or five times this last week, starting with a doozy on Thursday. It dropped about ten inches or snow, one inch of ice, and then another ten inches of snow. Then it dropped more snow in the next couple of days. Today we had some freezing rain. So yeah there is about two feet of snow on the ground, at its thinnest. There are snow banks that are three or four feet tall in sidewalks, and then in parking lots, they are huge- I saw one at least ten feet tall. So lots of snow, and it seems like it'll be about June by the time it melts. So that's the weather!

Good news, though, is that the work is going forward! We had the opportunity to go to the temple on Saturday for baptisms for the dead.
Abril, who got baptized back in November, came and had a great experience. We had a good experience too, it was fun being in the city again, but the peace from being there in the temple was even better.

We drove to and from there in the snow- it's about an hour and a half from Newburgh- but we traveled safely. We made sure that Abril knew how special the temple is, so hopefully she'll keep her eyes on the prize. We have a baptism his week! Yolanda, who we have been working with since about September, emailed us last week and said that her parents had given her the go to be baptized. We asked her when and she said ASAP! So we set things up and planned to teach her everything before then and she is good to go. Things are so much easier when the investigators are self motivated- reading because they want to and feel good, praying and willing to obey the commandments because of their faith and trust in God. Yolanda is golden. Whenever you have somebody that wants to be baptized ASAP, you should do all you can to get them there ASAP. So yep, she is ready to go for this weekend.

We're excited! Other things are great! The Sierra family, who we've been working with for as long as I've been here, is going strong, well on their way to full activation. They all came to church on Sunday.

Between the two companionships we had about twenty less actives and investigators at church. Back when they changed the time to 9:00 for church two years ago, they were doing well if they had about forty people at church. Nowadays we have about seventy on an average Sunday.
God is being gracious and blessing us to see great growth here in Newburgh. We are still pushing for sisters, so we'll see what happens!

Cool story- a couple weeks ago, we were going to go look up some people in an apartment complex. We were praying in the car and we finished to see a couple of people standing outside our car. We got out and they explained that they were members and wanted to know more about where the church was and what time it started. We gave them the information and then asked for their information. We went over there once and then again this past Sunday and they are awesome! George moves here about a month ago from Guatamala to live with his cousin Lucia who is a member who moved here fifteen years ago and never found the church. George works Sundays now and can't go to church, but we're going to work with them to help them get back to the blessings of full activity. I know God made our paths cross.

We had the opportunity to go to the temple again today. There is such peace there. I know that temple worship helps us to stay strong in the faith because it is a taste of heaven, helps us to take a break from our worldly cares and see that eternal perspective. Eternal perspective helps us to take a step back from things that might seem like a big deal. It helps those things to shrink down to almost nothing and helps us to move forward with a clear mind and hope for what is to come. A change of perspective is sometimes all we need to handle things better. So when you're going through a problem, try looking at things with a different point of view- that will help.

Also, ministering. That is helping us to move us forward as a district. We are all working on getting in the habit of checking up on each other and lifting each other up as needed. We are taking the time that God has given us to serve Him and consecrating it to help His children out. As we consecrate our resources to God's purposes we work towards having Zion here on earth. I've seen that already. It's great!
So look for ways to minister to others.

That's about it. Things are great here! I am having a great time and I have been blessed to see God's hand I'm the everyday. Things are good and I think we're even leaving the snow behind for the year. We are always moving forward here. So yep, thanks for all the love and support! Hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

P.S

. You can thank traffic in the city for a longer email :T

Quidditch in New York?   No, just "broom hockey", though it looks like their may be at least one mop!

Weird!  No explanation for this one...

Pictures of winter...

Sorry about the sideways pictures -- they're saved vertically on the computer but blogspot insists on loading them sideways and doesn't seem to have a way to rotate them.  I'll keep looking...

Icicles outside our window

Elder Critchfield with one of our good finds

Explosiones!

Hello!

Hope all is going well with the snow storm and stuff. Maybe this will be read a couple days after I send it due to power outages, we'll see.

We got to do some good shoveling with the snow we got last week- that is pretty much all we did last Wednesday. I'm not sure if I would want to live here after realizing that shoveling driveways and stuff is kind of a pain. Haha but with that comes icicles. We've been having a good time with icicles. They are fun to knock down and throw around and so on- good stress relief. We are always on the look out for a good icicle. We have seen some well over six feet tall. The missionary life is exciting! Haha

Cool experience- Saturday we were having bad luck with everybody -- nobody was home. We got to the point where we went through our plans, back up plans and everybody that had come to mind. It was evident that we were needed somewhere else, we just didn't know where. So what do you do when God knows something that you don't? You pray! So we did and then Elder Wagner got the impression that we should call Paul from the English ward. We did and immediately knew why he had come to mind- he had just gotten out of his nephew's funeral and said it was horrible.
He didn't take his death very well and so he was in need of comfort, so a God sent us his way. We had a good time with him and a good lesson with him. I know that God used us as instruments to help him out and show Paul the love that He has for him. That was a good experience.

The work is going forward here in Newburgh. I am so glad I'm still here. At this point I might just push to stay here for the long haul, the rest of the mission. Haha we'll see. Anyways, we're anticipating like six baptisms this transfer cycle. I just had one if our investigators email me telling me she wants to get baptized, ASAP, so we're going to set that up for the 22nd. Should be good! The other guys' area is blowing up. They had ten investigators at church Sunday.  We're pushing to get a set of sisters to come in and cover everything except for the city of Newburgh, and then we Elders would split the city of Newburgh. We'll see what is going on in five weeks! We talked with President Romero and he can feel the work moving forward. We're all getting excited and happy to see the way things are going. Be looking out for the second coming, it's on it's way!

To keep things going forward, we are working together to support and help one another in the great work. We are trying to make it a habit to just talk to one another when we see each other, really ask how one another is doing and then uplift and encourage one another. As we share experiences and testimony with one another, we build each other up. That builds unity and builds other people up too. We all are benefited as we minister to one another. So that is he hat we're working on and that's going to keep things blowing up. Gotta love it!

Things are great! Hope things are okay back home and the ice isn't getting you down. Have a great week and I'll "talk" to you next week!

-Elder Griffiths

Seis

Hello!

Transfers have come. Actually, they haven't due to the snow storm- we're going to have them tomorrow. I am writing this in our apartment today and hopefully we'll get over to Panera Bread or something to send it off. Anyway, we have transfers tomorrow, and with that I'll be going...

Back to the apartment! Looks like I'm going to be putting in a little over eight months here in Newburgh, at the very least. Elder Wagner and I are staying together, which makes him the companion that I have had for the longest time. That will be good though- he is a good missionary so we will continue to do great things. I am excited- I love the branch as much as ever. These people are my family and I look forward to continuing to serve them.

Last Wednesday was good. Nothing too terribly exciting- normal p-day and then a lesson with an investigator, and a dinner with a great member, Norma. She is from El Salvador and lives by herself, so all four of us go over there.

Thursday we had a good day as well. We had normal studies and then started into weekly planning. To take a break from that, we went to a good authentic Mexican restaurant where an investigator, almost-wife-of-active-member, named Maria works. We had good food and then it was on the house. We feel bad about not paying so we try not to go too often.  That night we tried to have a skype lesson that didn't work out, then had a dinner appointment at the Paneque's house- they are a great family!  Mom is from Ecuador and the dad is not a member and is from Cuba . It is an interesting combination but they are great! Afterwards we had a decent online event in Spanish. At the same time, I chatted with a guy that lives in Indiana that we met at a member's house and had a lesson with him- we are going to try skyping him sometime. The online proselyting opens up some opportunities that we otherwise wouldn't have.

Friday- normal studies and then a district language study (sign language is coming along pretty well). We had a lesson with the Erazo's, the family where we skyped from on Christmas. Hermano Erazo then took us to a less active member, the Sierra's, for a good lesson. Afterwards he took us to Aldi's and got a bucket of ice cream for us.  hen we had a sweet lesson with another less active Felipe, his wife Maria and daughter Gabi. President Romero and his family came with us and that was awesome! We have been working with just him since July, and he has never come to church, but with the Romero's there, they a seemed closer than ever to coming. We will see in the future what comes... Afterwards we had a good lesson with another less active family, Raul and Magdalena. It was a good lesson, but they aren't progressing as much as would be preferred. And that was a day.

Saturday- day full of Peruvian food! After going to Joe's baptism ( guy I interviewed) we went to the Ydrogo's, the Peruvian family returning to activity that lives down in Highland Falls. She fed us some good chicken- I got the recipe and will be trying to make it sometime this cycle. We had a good lesson, and then went off and did some online proselyting after getting juked. Then we went with the Elder's Quorum president, Blinio who is also Peruvian, to a Peruvian restaurant in Newburgh. Good stuff. Causa, papa a la huancaina, purple olives, fried yuca, arroz chaufa, etc. Good stuff! I am so grateful to have such a diverse cultural experience here. We had a lesson with him and then left to visit a completely inactive family, the Trejo's. We had a good lesson and then went off to Michael's farewell. We thought it was at the church, which is why we tried stopping by the Trejo's, but it was actually at Michael's house. Good thing we got that mixed up so that we could go to the Trejo's. The farewell was good- good seeing everyone there. Then shock calls came in and shockingly enough, I'm staying. Elder Nelson, who I have lived with for the past almost six months, is going down to Concourse and so Elder Critchfield is getting a new missionary to the mission that served in Pocatello waiting for a visa, then Argentina for a little while before getting sick.  He went home and got reassigned to our mission. How lucky for him!

Sunday- church was great! It filled me up. Then afterwards, we went with president Romero to visit an inactive Puerto Rican family, the Tantao's. They are doing alright. Had a good but long lesson, after which we went to the Romero's house to have fhe with the Perez family and the Galo's- good time! Then we went back to the Galo's and did correlation with Michael (he was our mission leader until he left today).

Monday- went to zone meeting in Middletown in the snow. Good meeting- got good training on spiritual gifts- how to get them and use them.  Afterwards, we cautiously drove home upon which we were grounded.  President Romero picked us up to go shovel the driveways of the people that need help with that. He is a great example of selfless service, going out and helping others even though he might be tired from working all day and stuff. That was draining, so after we went to the Romero's and he made us good piña colada then we went and crashed.

Tuesday- normal studies then Paul's for lunch- had some good burgers and fries. The whole district was there, all ten of us. Going over there is always a hoot! We had our online event over there, and so maybe it was good that not a lot of people participated because we were a little distracted. Afterwards, I gave another baptismal interview to a cadet at West Point in a library at West Point. That was a good spiritual experience. And I still love West Point. Go army- beat Navy! We were told to wash our car, so we did that next, then dropped by to see Mery and Carlos, reactivated members that are on track to go inactive again. We set up an appointment to go back. Then we went to Norma's again- she fed us some good chicken! She is awesome. We when stopped by the Galo's to say goodbye to Michael. Went home and called it a night.

Today we woke up with a ton of snow. No transfer meeting today- it'll be tomorrow. The missionaries coming into the mission and the ones going home are getting to their places, but everyone else is staying put until tomorrow. Interesting day for sure. And it is still snowing at 2:30 (started at about midnight last night). So we're probably just going to go out with president Romero again to shovel driveways. I think snow is getting a little old. Haha, but it is all still good.

Things are good! I guess it was a good opportunity to get a nice email out to you. I am looking forward to another good six weeks here in good ol' Newburgh! Thanks for the love and support!

-Elder Griffiths