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Hello Everybody!

This week was great!  It flew by like nobody's business, but it was still great!  The temple was awesome and being in the city again was good (although seeing the people down there made me glad that I'm up here- they're hard to approach and talk to...).

Yesterday we had a mission conference- Elder Bruce Carlson came and it was good.  We had to wake up at 5:00 to get down to Scarsdale on time (and we have to do something similar tomorrow to get a repair done to our car- be to Scarsdale by 8:00.  We're just going to do weekly planning in the office as we wait- maybe we'll be able to get some good insight from President Morgan...), so we were a little tired through the conference, but we still got a lot out of it.  He continued to reinforce the idea of consecration and how we need to continue to work towards it.  One thing that he said that I've definitely seen is that it doesn't matter where we are but where we're going.  A sinner going forward is in a way better position that a saint moving backwards.  Consecration is a hard thing- giving our all to God, but it's something to work towards.  As we live the gospel, we're not at all paying our way into heaven- the price has already been paid.  We're just preparing ourselves for what's to come.  He gave a good analogy- if you take piano lessons, chances are your parents have already paid for them, but you've got to take the time to practice and use what they've given you.  You can use those lessons to help you accomplish great things, like going to Carnagie Hall and playing there, or you can let it go to waste.  Either way it's been paid, you just personally decide what to do with that which you have been given.  We need to prepare ourselves by living to the fulness of the gospel, being obedient and having faith to repent and become more like Christ.  I know this gospel is true and that as we give ourselves to God, He makes a whole lot more out of us than we could otherwise become.

Things are going great!  The area is really getting pumped up and we can totally see that the Lord is hastening His work.  Just a month and a half ago there were only two Spanish missionaries here in Orange County, but next week, with transfers, we've got good reason to believe that there will be another set to go work over in the Middletown Ward because of the efforts of the other Spanish guys in our branch.  It's super cool to see that- we're a part of one of the biggest things to happen in the history of the world- the hastening of the work of the Lord.  I hope to continue to help you see how things really are moving forward!  Things are great!

Thanks for all the support!  Next week is transfers, so we'll see what goes down.  Until then, though, I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

Una Semana de Milagros

Buon Giorno! (note frome Mom - Italian, not Spanish)

This past week was great!  And September is already over pretty much, which is crazy.  Training calls come in a week and then shock calls in a week and a half.  You hit a year and time just starts flying...

Anyway, this week was sweet!  Things are really picking up now as far as splitting the area goes.  Yesterday we were blessed to have five lessons, which is about half the lessons we have been getting in the past couple of weeks.  Elder Holbrook and I agree that the Spirit is leading us in ways that we haven't seen before on the mission.  In celebration of that, I'm just going to share some way cool stories that came from that.

Friday we drove down to Scarsdale to get our car checked out- it's had a cracked bumper and plastic hanging down from the bottom since I've been there, so that was a nice hour and a half drive.  Scarsdale is beautiful though- good contrast from Newburgh haha.  After that I went on an exchange with Elder Nelson- he came into the mission as I left Harlem- he and his trainer took one half of the area I had when I was there.  He's one of the ones that split this area too, so we just worked with people that I had worked with last cycle.  Anyways, we came out of our last appointment and had to wait for the other guys to come pick us up (their day with the car).  There was a lady who was sitting on the other side of the stairs that we came out of (it was a duplex).  She looked a little down, so we asked how she was doing.  She said that she was okay.  We started talking- she was from Mexico, so we talked a little about food and all that stuff- that always makes them happy, talking about their culture.  Eventually we talked about her family and how important that they were for her.  We then felt prompted to say some pretty specific words of comfort and we read a good, God sent scripture to her.  She started crying and expressed that we were talking for God and that we had said exactly what she needed.  I hadn't felt like such an instrument in God's hands before- we both felt the Spirit very strong.  We left her with The Book of Mormon and as we drove off, we saw her reading it.  She's pretty busy, but we're going to try to work out a good time to meet with her.  We just opened our mouths and God filled them with what we needed to say.

Sunday night, we had some things planned out after dinner.  We left the apartment after dropping the other Elders off, and we just felt as though what we had planned wasn't right.  We left the apartment just following where the Spirit was telling us to go, taking a left here, right there, etc.  We found ourselves in Washingtonville where we tried looking a couple people up.  We still felt as though we were needed elsewhere.  We started heading over to Vails Gate where we felt as though we should visit a person whose address from the directory did not work.  Elder Holbrook was blessed with some inspiration to use something called "Tell Me" (call in information thing- we use it know what the weather is going to be like) to find where they lived.  That worked and so we went off!  We walked in a hurry up to their apartment door and knocked.  A whole family answered, we sat down and just started testifying of how God had sent us there.  They told us that they went to a different church, but that they recognized that God has sent us there too and they are willing to listen.  We shared a short message and set up a time to return tonight.  I'm excited to see where things go with that!

Last night, we were coming out of a less actives house when the name of another less active came to mind.  It was 8:55 so usually visiting somebody would be a little unconventional.  We decided to go with it though, and we called him and he said come on up for a few minutes.  We had found out that he had gotten in a car crash and was going into court the next day and so we were able to share a message with him that built his faith.  It was great and I know that God guided us right to him.

Things are going well!  I'm grateful to have a part in this great work and I know that his is the work of the Lord.  Thank you for all your support in such- hope you have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

Hello all!

Good week!  Seems like it wasn't terribly eventful, but I bet as I get more into, I'll remember some of the better details of such.  I guess I'll break it down day by day.

Wednesday-  Went with Elder Warner and Elder Nelson (other Spanish Elders with whom we share a car) to a dinner appointment with an investigator.  It ran long, so we only had time to bike over to one of the members that lives in our area to ask if she could come with us to a lesson the next day, and then we biked home.

Thursday- Weekly Planning.  We got in with Julia and had a short and sweet lesson with her and the member we stopped by on Wednesday- Hermana Landaburu.  The members always save the day- Hermana Landaburu was able to build Julia's faith and help her to find out some answers to some of her questions.  Afterwards we went around to some people that we thought would be home, but people have just been flaky in this area so far.  We knocked into a guy who talked to us for a little while.  He gave us cookies and took The Book of Mormon, so that was good.

Friday- Exchange!  Well first we went to la familia Tantao.  They're Puerto Rican (Boricuas) and she feeds a lot, so we got hit hard with rice and some beef stew and tostones (fried plantains- good stuff!).  Afterwards we went down to Highland Falls so that we could switch up for an exchange.  I went with Elder Wangsgard (who is from Logan area- Mendon I think...) in the West Point area.  That area covers Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery and of course West Point Military Acadamy.  It's a cool area and we had a good split!  Having a good old American Dinner again was nice.  But I do love the Spanish food I get.

Saturday-  Baptism!  The other guys had a baptism for Josh.  I got to perform the baptism, but they finished up teaching him and stuff (so we're still looking to get one this month- keep praying for us!).  It was a good service and he said some good inspiring things that only a kid could say.  Later we went to our progressing less active's house Mery and Carlos!  They're great and they want to go to the temple, so going there is always uplifting.

Sunday-  We had a good day at church after which we went to a couple appointments.  We felt an impression to go drop by the house of somebody who is on the ward list that we haven't met yet.  We dropped by and found that that person had moved, but the person's mom who isn't a member had a sister who passed away so we were able to help her find comfort from The Book of Mormon.  that was a miracle and we hope to get back over there soon!

Monday- We had zone meeting in Middletown after which we went and tried doing service for a less active.  She wasn't there so we came back after talking to a couple of people that were around.  We tried visiting Julia with Hna again, but she was busy so we taught Hna instead.  Later we dropped by another member's house and had a great lesson with them.

Tuesday- Lots of service!  We went and did service for an active member, the only Domincan in the ward, Marino.  Then we went and helped the less active prepare and paint some stuff.  That took up a ton of time, but it was still good.  Afterwards we had dinner at la familia Hernandez and then went to Mery and Carlos's house.  We had good lessons with both of them and then came home tired.

Today- We've got a zone activity planned- that'll be fun!  That's about it out of the ordinary.

Things are going well!  I'm still loving the mission and looking forward to another great week! 

Thanks for everything and have a good week!

-Elder Griffiths

Pictures from Newburgh

The Newburgh District

Elder Lewis and Me

After a day of biking in Newburgh

Ice Caves!

Deep in the ice caves -- totally dark without a camera flash!

Good ol' Appalachian Trail!  I've hiked it in Georgia, the Carolinas, and now New York!

Hudson River Valley

Hudson River

On the trail...

A view from the top

On top of the world!

Our district at the top of the trail

With Elder Lewis and Paul

Elder Lewis and Elder Griffiths - transfer day

La Consecracion

September 4, 2013

Hello All!

Thanks for the good updates and the support and everything!  Tomorrow is my hump day, and that's crazy.  It's really weird because in one sense it seems like I've been out for awhile now, but on the other hand, I've still got a good chunk left.  I've heard time is going to fly, so I'm just going to do my best to give my best!

Lately, as a mission, we've been making strides to become consecrated missionaries.  Basically, we're all striving to give all our time and efforts, holding nothing back, but being willing to put everything on the altar of sacrifice in our service to God.  With that, President Morgan has promised us that we'll have the opportunity as companionship to bring somebody to the waters of baptism in the month of September as we strive to become consecrated.  We need all the prayers and support we can get back home, so please pray for us!  Elder Holbrook and I don't have anybody on their way yet, but we have faith in that promise as we do our part.  We've seen great things as we've tried to be obedient, work hard, talk to everyone (which is  sometimes scary in Newburgh.  But don't worry too much- we're staying safe!), and act the part we play.  For example, last Saturday night, we had an hour gap where things didn't go according to plan, leaving us with some free time.  We decided to pick a name off the ward list.  Elder Holbrook, following the Spirit, chose somebody from Highland Falls (West Point pretty much), which takes some time and miles to get there, and so we normally go when we have a solid appointment instead of risking the waste of resources.  We made some arrangements and then headed out, having confidence that the Spirit was going to lead us to somebody. We found both of the less actives that live there and had uplifting conversations both of which led to the promise of a return appointment.  We know that came as the Spirit called us to go there and because of that, we were able to bless those people.  I know that we're going to have similar experiences as we go forward doing what we're supposed to be doing.

The work is great here in Newburgh!  We've got a baptism from the other set of missionaries in our branch this Saturday, so we're excited about that.  I love this area and the people here, and things are going great!

Thanks for the love and support coming from back home.  I look forward to giving a great report next week!  Have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

Y Andamos Por Bicicleta

August 28, 2013

Hello!

We had a great week this week!  Splitting the area has been a little different.  We pretty much just started working a set of four and have gradually started going off on our own to do stuff, so planning and stuff took a little more time and was a little more complicated than usually.  But we've done all but maybe one pass off to the other guys, so they've got things up and running now.  They are working in the north part of our area- we split the City of Newburgh in half, and so they get that and the other cities in the north.  We cover the South, more sketchy part of town along with Highland Falls (Westpoint), New Windsor, Harriman and the other things down there.  We're trying to pump things up in our area because Elder Lewis and I had a lot more going on in the North rather that in the South, but we're already seeing good things, so we're excited for the rest of the cycle!

We have four bikes and a car, so last Saturday, Elder Holbrook and I decided to take the bikes into town.  That sure was an experience- you realize how many hills there really are when you're legs are the means of getting you around.  I really enjoyed the experience, though, between the exercise, but more so the exposure we had.  We saw and had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people as we walked and biked around.  We're really focusing on trying to talk to everybody.  I'm not great at that, so we've been starting off just by offering people pass along cards with Christ on them and then going from there and that actually has been effective.  Because of our willingness to put our fear and laziness in that aspect on the altar of sacrifice, we've been blessed with great experiences.  On Saturday, we walked by a less active's apartment to find her with her neighbor outside talking.  We talked to them, and later returned and had a good lesson with the neighbor.  Having that lesson then led us to find another less active that we hadn't seen in a while and an investigator that we hadn't seen in awhile either.  We then were able to set up appointments with them.  Another great experience we had is that we were trying to do a less active look up when we started talking to a man on his porch.  Turns out he had met with missionaries about thirteen years ago, had already read The Book of Mormon twice and had a baptismal interview but things fell through.  We then invited him to meet with the missionaries again and so the English Elders are going to start meeting with him.  We've had some other good experiences too.  I know that when we as missionaries open our mouths, God directs us through the Holy Ghost.  There is no such thing as a coincidence- just God's doings.

Things are going splendidly well!  Today we're just going to do a little shopping, and then chill, so I'm excited about that.  Thanks for all the support back home- hope you have a good week!

-Elder Griffiths

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