Newburgh District   hmmm........

Somos Cuatro

Good evening!

Feels bad saying that (emailing this late), but when you get back to your area after 4:00, still have to eat lunch/dinner, and have got to do some grocery shopping, you're not left with much time.  We'll hit to it tomorrow for sure though.

Here's the status update though!  I'm still here in Newburgh, but now I am with Elder Holbrook!  He's from Syracuse, UT and we served in the same zone in the Bronx.  He's been out since about January, so he's got some good time under his belt.  They have indeed split the area, so now there are four missionaries in the branch.  We have four bikes and a car that we'll share and we live with the other missionaries- Elder Warner, we came out at the same time, and Elder Nelson, who was just down in Harlem.  We're probably going to be working somewhat as a foursome for the next few days until we've got everything completely handed off.  I'm excited about that- we're going to be good and unified!  They just all have a lot of unpacking to do and whatnot.

This past week flew by for sure.  I can't even remember what all happened, but we spent some time saying goodbye to people during the past couple of days.  That time between "shock calls" and transfers can be kind of frustrating with everybody wanting to do so much for us, but at least we eat well.  Otherwise we did the normal- teaching, teaching, teaching.

There are two experiences that were really great that we had- first was Saturday.  Everything was falling through.  Nobody was home at all.  It was just rough because we had a bunch of stuff planned out.  Such made me reflect on why we plan.  Sometimes, on days like those it seems like it's worthless to plan- we should just not even take the time.  But two things with that- one, that's prideful on our part, wanting things to go the way that we want, only worrying about our desires, and two, God often times already has things worked out and things fall through because he needs us somewhere else.  We plan to give God something to work with, to show that we care and to try to make good use of His time and resources.  That's not just a missionary thing, though.  Often times life doesn't go according to plan and so going with the flow is a tempting thing.  I think it's best, however, to have a game plan, but be flexible and able to roll with the punches.  We're always going to be led to what's best for as as we seek to what's right, so we just need to have faith that when we come to an unexpected bend in the road, only the best waits on the other side.  I know that's so true!

Second- we had a lesson with a less active who is living with an investigator.  They haven't been to church in awhile, and we were concerned with that.  Just before I got here, the less active was told she couldn't take the sacrament, so we felt like she took offense at that and didn't come because of such.  We planned, then, to talk about the importance of not partaking the sacrament, but how we should still come to church (3 Nephi 18:28-33 is good talking about that).  We got into the lesson and I did not want to talk about that- I felt like it would be uncomfortable and I was afraid they wouldn't take it well.  The Spirit reassured me by that burning in my chest that that was what we needed to talk about.  I still was a little hesitant, but then God reprimanded me during the prayer, asking me if I was more scared of man than of Him.  I thought hard about that and then a switch went off in my mind.  The prayer ended and then we started teaching.  At first they seemed really ify about what we were telling them and it was kind of awkward, but as we had confidence in the message that we brought and testified to them boldly but lovingly, the Spirit led us to having a very powerful lesson.  We expressed of how we are messengers of the truth and sometimes it hurts to hear the truth, but we only do that to help them, not for our satisfaction nor because we're told to but because we want the best for them.  They really felt something and the lesson ended very well.  They said they would try really hard to come back to church, so we'll see!  I know that we are messengers of the truth and that as we fear God, have confidence in the message we bring and share it with others with love, we can really impact somebody else.  This work is so real!

So yep, this is going to be a good week!  Maybe a little slower as we get things going, but as we do get things going, we're going to hopefully set the pace of the work in this branch.  I'm excited, and happy as ever so I look forward to a good report next week!  Thanks for all your support!  Hope you have a great week!

- Elder Griffiths

La Vida en el "Burgh Sucio"

Hello Everybody!

Times flying by!  We sang "Love at Home" this morning as an apartment and it says well that time just flies by when there's love at home, so I guess we're doing well loving.  Next week is transfers, so we'll see what happens!

I don't have a lot of time to write a lot (we're going to some ice caves as a zone), so sorry for keeping things short...

Things are going great! We had another great week filled with lots of good progress. One of the less active couples that we're working with is continuing to be a great support in fellowshipping the investigator that we received as a referral from them. They also had some concerns about church discipline but after talking about how great repentance is they accepted to talk to the branch president on Sunday and they did! Because of that, I know that they are well on their way to full activity and being a great support to the kingdom of God on the Earth, so Elder Lewis and I are excited about that. We also have another less active, Reyna, who has come to church for the last three Sundays in a row. She seems to understand the Restoration now and is also making great strides towards full activity in the church. We have a twelve year old investigator named Josh that wants to be baptized as soon as possible, so we're getting him ready for a baptism on September 7th. We really want to make sure he is getting baptized for the right reasons, so we constantly talk about what we feel about his understanding of such things. We've got a lot of other great things that are getting going and I'm just grateful to be here as an instrument in God's great work!

I'm learning tons and I've been able to see God's hand in my life and in His work more and more everyday.  I hope you guys are able to see the same!  Have a great week and I look forward to a giving a good report next week!

-Elder Griffiths

La Migrana No Nos Para

Hello to all!

This week was great!  The hike that we went on was great- I'll try to get some pictures off so you can see it.  Like I said, things are going great!  We're really seeing the Lord hastening His work in that we've got people that we're helping out that are just falling from the sky.  We're almost sort of overwhelmed trying to keep on top of things, but we know that God is in charge so everything will work out.  We got a call the other day about making arrangements for splitting our area, so that would be great, even though it is nice being the only missionaries in the branch.  They might make it a bike/car share area- we'll see!  Anyways, we've been pretty busy!

Wednesday-  We had a good night of lessons!  We taught one returning less active family about tithing and how it's an act of faith.  They took it well and committed to pay their tithing from here on out!  We had another couple of great lessons and those went well too!  Things didn't go as planned but we still achieved our goals.

Thursday- Weekly Planning in the morning!  Planning is such a crucial part of missionary work- you can work hard and you can work smart.  Working hard is going out everyday and coming back when you're supposed to and giving it your all.  Working smart is planning to use the Lord's time effectively- taking those opportunities to receive revelation so that you can do the Lord's work in His way.  When you put the two together, that's when things are the best!  Anyways, we took the time to do that, then went out to meet with some people.  We met with a less active/part member family for the first time and we just had a very spiritual lesson.  One of the daughters had been in a car accident and she had a broken leg.  The timing of the accident along with the timing of us being led to find them and other things that have happened were just perfect and we all realized that in that lesson.  She came to church this past Sunday after years of not going and it was great!  We had another cool experience where things had fallen through, and we hadn't really thought about dinner and so we dropped by a member's house and it just so happened that they had made two extra quesadillas for no particular reason- they acknowledged it as a miracle and so did we- why not credit things to God rather than just coincidence?  We taught the Restorationof the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a newer investigator that night and Elder Lewis and I both agreed that that was one of the best lessons we've been in- we could see her faith grow.  It was a great day with even a few other lessons in there.

Friday- Went to Paul's house for lunch- he's still great!  We had a lesson with a less active family and then had correlation.  We then went and did some service for a Young Man's eagle project in our ward after which we went to dinner with Hermana Galo or Abuelita as we call her.  After that we had a lesson with a less active we hadn't yet met and it went well.  He's had problems drinking in the past but was able to overcome them with AA and now is helping other people do the same.  His obligations there haven't allowed him to come to church, so we're going to start bringing the church (except for the sacrament, the most important part) to him until he can go back.  After that I think we tried to drop by and teach some other people, but we were not able to get in with anybody.  We did meet a lady again whose door we knocked on earlier in the week and we found out that she works with a bunch other other people in our ward, so that wasn't a coincidence.  We specifically knocked on her door and nobody else's, so God led us specifically to her- it's cool to see that!

Saturday-  We got up and went and did some cleaning at the church in the morning.  When we got back and finished studies, Elder Lewis began to have a migraine.  He had to stay home for the day so I went on a mini-exchange to cover one of the lessons that we had- everything else had fallen through, so things worked out just as they were supposed to- just another one of many confirmations to my faith that this is God's work.

Sunday- Church was great!  Probably the best turn out I've seen on the mission- a good number of investigators and less actives, with people coming back to church after years and such.  That was great blessing!  Afterwards we had a few good lessons and then came home.

Monday- We had a Zone Meeting in Middletown.  Those happen once a month, so we took the thirty minute trek over to middle town and enjoyed being with our group of missionaries.  We're talking about The Book of Mormon this month, and it's funny because recently we've been getting a lot of people questioning us about The Book of Mormon lately- why is it needed and so on.  I'm excited about moving forward and strengthening my testimony of The Book of Mormon and seeing how it can help us to live the gospel better and come closer to Christ.  We had some great lessons after that!

Tuesday-  We had to go to the church to let a guy in to fix a computer.  We stayed and chatted with him.  We then went to get our car fixed- we had been having a flat tire kind of frequently so they removed a nail from the tire.  We then went and had a lesson with Mayra- the less active with a broken leg- it was a great lesson!  Afterwards we found an investigator that Elder Lewis had only seen once at the beginning of his time here who had an accident and couldn't meet with the missionaries.  We had a great first lesson with her and her friend Hector and we have a return appointment with the two of them tomorrow!  We had a couple of other lessons for the day and things went great!

Today we were banking on doing something that fell through, so instead we decided to take our time and have a very relaxed day- not to rush anything.  So that's what we're doing!  I don't think I've ever had a p-day like this and it's nice.  I did get a hair cut from an Italian guy named Umberto- I spoke to him the little bit of Italian I know (which is indeed very little) and he liked that, so he sprayed me with some good smelling cologne, which Elder Lewis says he hasn't ever seen happen, so that was sweet!  Haha I'm hoping to pick up Italian after the mission.  We'll see!

Things are going great!  The next couple of weeks are going to fly and I'm excited to see what the Lord brings us next.  Hope you have a great week and I'll talk to you in a week!

-Elder Griffiths

Veinte!

Hello all!

We had another great week!  Weeks out here are just always great, so hooray for mission life!  I'll just dive in and give a little bit of a scoop what happened last week...

Wednesday- We took a wrong exit getting back to our house after playing some basketball and ended up on a toll freeway that didn't have an exit for sixteen miles, so we blew like forty miles and nearly an hour trying to get back home- it was pretty funny!  That night we got in one lesson with an investigator and it was a solid lesson.

Thursday- I woke up and started feeling funny during studies.  By language study, I was feeling really weak and so I just had to take a nap.  I didn't have any energy- it was like I had the flu without any of the sinus or throat problems- so we stayed in that day and did some weekly planning.

Friday- Felt better, so we took the hour car ride down to Ossining for Zone Conference- it was sweet!  We learned a ton on how to be a consecrated missionary- how to better put everything on the altar of sacrifice and just put 100% of our energy, efforts, thoughts, etc. on the work with which we are involved.  As we were coming home, I started feeling bad again and we went to one appointment, but I had a fever so we came back and I crashed at 8:00.

Saturday- I woke up feeling a little better, but Elder Lewis wasn't feeling well.  We later found out that there has been a virus going around in this area, so I'd imagine we were just victims of that.  Anyways, we decided to stay in again just to make sure we were cleared out, so we did such.  We finished weekly planning and worked on organizing things so that we can attack hard with less active look ups in the next couple of weeks.

Sunday- Church was good!  Afterwards we went out to work.  We tried stopping by a few different people's houses without finding anybody home.  We finally found a part member family that we had been looking for for awhile and we taught them a good lesson.

Monday and Tuesday- We went to work!  We just decided to get out and stay out and make the best out of every moment, trying to be consecrated missionaries.  We tried to fill up both of those days with appointments and for whatever times we didn't have appointments we put people down that we could possibly drop by and see and we had back up plans, people we were going to look up and it was great!  We ended up with nine lessons after both days and we've found lots of people we can potentially work with.  Once we get things cranking, we'll probably be able to see around thirty lessons a week easily.  People said that upstate work is a lot slower, but that's a lie- there's plenty of things to do here.  Too much, it seems- we keep on not wanting to add to our teaching pool because we've already got a lot to juggle, but we keep getting people thrust upon us.  It's a great problem to have!  So things are going great!

Today we're planning on going on a hike- the AT runs through our area, so we're going to hit up a four mile trail.  I'm excited!  Then at 6:00, we're going to jump back into things and give it our all.  The mission is great- I'm loving it!

Thanks for all the support back home- you guys are great!  I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

Otra buena semana!

Hello!

Another good week down and another one on its way!  And Happy Pioneer Day!

I can't think of any general things going on, so I'll just jump right into breaking down each day...

Wednesday- Basketball in Middletown for P-day, then we had a couple sweet lessons!  We started teaching a lady named Julia and her family.  They're from Honduras (lots of Hondureans here.  I'm going to come home making Baliadas) and they have a lawyer who is a member down in New Jersey so he referred them to us and they're great!  We had a solid first lesson and we committed them to baptism!  After that we had a great lesson with Meri and her husband- less actives from Honduras and Ecuador.  We had a sweet, spirit filled lesson with them too and we committed them to come back to church.  We saw her change from the start to finish of the lesson so that was a tender mercy!

Thursday- Weekly planning.  After that we worked on the map with all of the people with whom we work, then went to a couple of lessons.  Things went well with the lessons we had.

Friday- We put in some good miles on the car.  We went and had lunch with Paul, who lives a little ways away in Washingtonville, then we got a phone call from the lawyer working with Julia and her family to come meet us at Pizza Hut because they had just went to court in Newburgh.  We went there and ate a slice of pizza each (we were already stuffed from Paul's good food) and then we went back to their house for a lesson.  After that we walked around the more sketchy parts of Newburgh trying to look of less actives- we didn't have much success, but we sure did sweat off both of our lunches.  After that we traveled to a less active family that lives down in Highland Falls, where West Point is, for a dinner appointment.  There were some nice views driving there, and they're a great family!  We're hoping to get back there this week sometime even though it is a little ways away.  After that we went back to Paul's to pick up some "Mormon Helping Hands" vests after which we did a couple look ups in Washingtonville, and then we went home.

Saturday-  We used the vests as we worked for Habitat for Humanity in the morning.  We put up insulation in what was going to be the crawl space of a house.  We then came back, showered off, did our studies and left for some lessons.  The lessons we had went well- led by the Spirit and we were able to see some progress with everybody we saw.

Sunday- We went to church and had a pretty good turn out as far as people getting there goes.  Our computer in the Clerk's office isn't working, so we didn't stay after to do tithing.  We went home, ate, studied, then had one good lessons and dropped by some other people's houses to set stuff up for the week to come.  We were able to see the Spirit guide us as we got to one of our part member family's houses right as they got there.  We then had a great lesson where they found their own needs and solutions to such needs, so that was great!

Monday-  District meeting in the morning.  After trying to drop by a member's house, we came back home and worked on the map and getting stuff organized there.  Ideally we're going to get that map up and running so that in the afternoons in the future we can go effectively use our time and miles in the car looking up less actives with whom we can work during the afternoons.  After that we had a lesson with Julia that went okay.  She was kind of tired and one of her kids was being a little crazy, so it wasn't super spiritual, but Elder Lewis has pointed out to me that every lesson is a good lesson, so it was still a good lesson!  Afterwards we had dinner at a member's house- a Mexican couple with a daughter who married a Domincan- the one Dominican in the branch.  He asked us if we had already eaten, and we said no so then he asked us what we could cook and I joking replied "cereal" so then he brought us out a box of Chex with milk, bowls and spoons and so we ate cereal.  It was pretty funny!  We tried looking up a couple of people after that before heading home.

Tuesday- After studies we went over to Paul's house for lunch.  We had a solid lesson with him!  After that we did some service in a member's yard, after which we went and had three more solid lessons.  Elder Lewis led a sweet lesson about faith with a less active family- la familia Sierra.  They committed to come back to church for the first time in awhile.  We then went to a part member family who gave us some great Honduran sandwiches, after which Elder Lewis lead another great lesson, this time based on Mosiah 3:19.  Afterwards we went and taught Reyna, an inactive who hasn't been to church in three years.  We were teaching her about the Plan of Salvation when we realized that she actually needed to be taught The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Once again the Spirit was there and we could feel her potential to change that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Today we've just done the things we need to do and we're about to head over to play some basketball in Middletown.  Next week we're hoping to hitch a ride with the Hohosh's, the Senior couple that works with the West Point Branch who go down to work in the temple on Wednesdays.  We'll see what works out.

Things are going well!  Another fun fact- we have a keyboard in our apartment so I've been trying to practice playing and sight reading hymns when I have a couple minutes, so hopefully I'll be able to pick that up in a month or two.  We'll see.  Anyways, thanks for all the support!  The mission is great and I look forward to sending an email about another great week next week!

-Elder Griffiths

Newburgh es dulce!

Hello!

This week was a great week!  Newburgh is sweet!  I feel like it's a weird combination of the Bronx and Cache Valley in a North Georgia setting, if you can even imagine that.  I thought I was coming upstate to a calm place, but come to find out the actual city of Newburgh is the only place in the mission where sisters aren't allowed!  That's probably not something I should send home, but after surviving Harlem and South Bronx, I'm feeling a-okay.  The work is definitely different, but I'm getting used to it.  Being the only missionaries in the branch is almost overwhelming because there is so much that we can do and so many people that we can visit.  People working all the time kind of hinders our ability to work with so many people, but as we get to know more people, we'll find out who we can visit in the afternoons and such.

Anyways, I'll tell you a little about each day:

Wednesday- On the way home from transfers (that long adventure), we had a Wendy's.  Elder Lewis got food poisoning from the so that knocked him out for the night.  We got some groceries, but he was throwing up on the way home, so we didn't visit anybody.  I took some time to settle in.

Thursday- Elder Lewis was still not feeling so hot, so we stayed in.  I unpacked everything (which took like two weeks in my last area), organized everything and just did some good reading.  I checked out the area book and tried to get to know people through the area book.  We did a little weekly planning when he was feeling better, but other than that, we didn't do much.

Friday- We took it easy for the first part of the day, finished weekly planning, then we went out to Newburgh (we cover a massive area- half of Orange County, and even then the other half isn't covered by Spanish missionaries, so we might venture over there every once in a while.  Anyways, Newburgh is where most people with whom we work are in Newburgh, so that's where we spent most of our time).  We mostly tried to drop by a bunch of people's homes but we only got in with a couple people.  We then went and visited Paul, a guy from the English ward.  He's great!  A little crazy, but super likable.  We go over to his place every once and awhile because he likes the missionaries and is just a great, serving guy.

Saturday-  We tried dropping by a couple people's houses and we got a couple of lessons in.  We then went to a graduation party for a member of our ward and then a birthday party of the child of a less active.  The party was great because it brought together like forty less actives/people in part member families, all part of the same extended family, so we're going to work with them a lot.  It was also great because it was a Mexican party (una pachanga), so they had great food and a pinata!  So yep, Saturday was great because I met a ton of people.

Sunday- We have church at 11:00, which is perfect.  Church went well- we had a family show up that are not members.  They were referred and brought to us by a lawyer who is from New Jersey and working with them.  We're going to go see them tonight!  After church, we had tithing, after which we went and visited a couple of members.

Monday- Our branch president invited us over for breakfast, so we went to that before studies.  We had district meeting, and then after already having planned things out, we were told not to go into Newburgh because there were some protests or something going on dealing with the Treyvon Martin court case, and two white guys going into that probably wouldn't turn out well.  All of our plans and back up plans were in Newburgh, so instead we went out and bought a couple maps and things to make a map of our area with people with whom we work.  I think since working at Domino's I've liked working with maps, so in my other areas, we've always used a map to plan and figure out what to do.  We worked on that and then we tried stopping by some people, but to no avail.  We ended up going over to Paul's house again, so that was good.

Tuesday- After studies, we went and did some yard work for a lady in our branch.  We then came back and took it easy for a bit because I was feeling some symptoms of heat exhaustion.  We went on splits with the guys in the Galo family, a good family who has a son that'll be heading out to BYU soon, so I went and taught a couple people with the son while Elder Lewis went with the dad and the other son.  That was sweet because in two hours we got four lessons with members.

Today has been good.  We're about to go play basketball in Middletown with other people from our zone.  It's like a thirty minute drive, but it'll be fun seeing other people.  Later tonight we've got some lessons to teach, and that's about it.

I'm loving this area and Elder Lewis is great!  This cycle is going to fly by and then I'm probably going to get shipped away just because I'm loving it here.  But if that's the case, I'll be grateful for what time I did get to spend here!

Thanks for the support- I hope everyone is doing well!  I hope you guys have a great week!

~Elder Griffiths

Pictures from the top!

A view from the top... of our apartment building

Celebrating the 4th!

One of the great firework shows we saw from the top of our building.  The Empire State Building was a great show in and of itself!

Mi familia Dominicana!  Great family from my area in the Bronx.

3/4 of our district.  We found sweet ties for only $2 each!

Rafael and Hna Nunez - the member that found him.  Mis Abuelitos Dominicanos!

This is so crazy!  A car parked outside our building.  Not just from Georgia, not just from Gwinnett County, but from Richards Middle School!!  In the Bronx!!!

Apartment picture right before transfers.

Me Voy a...

Good evening!  Sorry for not writing last week.  Dumb New York City library computers sometimes just like to kick us off after forty five minutes when we're anticipating an hour or so...

Anyways, last week wasn't too exciting.  Elder Martinez wasn't feeling too well, so we took it easy.  We still had some lessons, but we spent some time inside too.  Although I'd rather be out working, I made well of the time by sewing on some buttons that needed to be sewed on, doing some cleaning, reading The Book of Mormon, making planner covers for other missionaries and so on, so it was good to get stuff done.

This past week was great!  Fourth of July- that was probably the best Fourth of July I've seen!  We had to be in at 8:00, but then if we had access to it, we could get up on our roof until 10:00, so we came in at 8:00, planned, cook up some bratwursts and made some milkshakes, then went up on to our roof.  Not sure if we were allowed to, but we had checked earlier in the week if there were alarms on the roof access and there weren't so we did!  Our building isn't terribly tall, but we could see the firework shows going on south of Manhattan, way over on Long Island, up in Westchester County and a few other firework shows here and there.  I'll try to send some pictures of it all.  We had some good lessons last week too, but nothing comes immediately to mind that's worth mentioning.

Anyways, transfers have come and gone and I've moved!  I am way upstate (well way as far as this mission goes) in Newburgh, New York!  I'm in one of three Spanish companionships in the entire zone (we four companionships in my last district alone)- we cover the entire branch alone and we are the ward clerk.  We have a car (with A/C :D) with 1200 miles for the month because our area is massive.  The physical layout reminds me a lot of North Georgia- Appalachian Mountains covered with trees and greenery- it's beautiful!  We're right by the Hudson River, and that just adds to the beauty.  West Point Military Academy is in the area we cover, so that's going to be sweet!  Especially since I met an Elder in the MTC who went to West Point gave me some names of friends with which to work.  I can see God's hand in this transfer in that I might get the opportunity to work with those people to one extent or another.  We'll see!  I'm with Elder Lewis- he's from Cedar City, Utah and has been out for about three months.  He's great and I'm super excited to work with him!  We had a great experience getting here- from the upstate transfer meeting in Ossining, a usually hour drive took us three because I had to drive and there was a not very well marked detour.  We had to stop at Wendy's to check out and make our own detour using the GPS, so it was just an adventure.  We had some good time to get to know each other, though, so that was great!  And we saw some beautiful scenery.  I love it so much up here!  I love the area, the people sound great and I love my companion so far!  Should be a great cycle!

I'm a little scatter brained right now, so I can't think of much more to add.  The mission just keeps getting better and better and I don't think I've ever been happier.  Thanks for all the support back home- you're great!  I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

June Pictures!

Rafael at the Manhattan Temple!

Southern parts of Manhattan

Familiar street names?

WTC Memorial

Freedom Tower - wrapping things up!

The financial district

Chinese restaurant in Chinatown - lunch with the roomies!

Natural Museum of History

Hangin' with Teddy

Mammoth!

Happy Birthday Elder Wilkins!

BIG whale!