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

Buenos Ejemplos de Buenos Amigos

January 29, 2014

Hello! Good week, good week.

Little snow, little cold, but all is good. Today we went to Orange County Choppers because it is literally five minutes away from our apartment. Not Orange County California, but Organ County New York! Anyways, Paul Sr. was there signing stuff, so I got a t-shirt and he signed it. I also gave him a pass along card with our phone number on it, so if he stops cussing on the show, you can thank that pass along card for that! Haha today we've also just been playing some games at the church after shopping - good times.

Things have been pretty normal in a good way with few exceptions. Michael, a youth in the ward, is heading out on the mission in a week. He had me translate into English for sacrament meeting for all his nonspanish speaking friends. I hung in there alright except for a couple parts. It was a good experience though. I went on a couple splits- one with Elder Critchfield who I live with and served with the whole time in the Bronx, and one with Elder Gonzales who will be home in a week and a day. They're both awesome missionaries and so it was just a good relaxed fun time. I love being with other missionaries. Yesterday I had an experience that is probably one of the top sweet experiences I have had out here.

I'll explain! I was going to give a baptismal interview for somebody that Elder Fox and Elder Fuller, our Zone Leaders, are going to baptize, but when we got there, we found that their investigator had been hit with some anti-Mormon literature and wanted nothing to do with us. After all four of us took some time to listen to his concerns, we started to speak. The spirit filled the room and we were all able to participate and lead him to understand that the adversary was fighting against him. He felt the Holy Ghost whisper to him, telling him that what he had read and been told were lies, and so he got up and ripped apart the paper that had the literature on it. It was great seeing the Spirit work with him and we could feel the power behind each other’s testimonies. He passed the interview after that and is going to get baptized on Saturday- should be a great service! I am grateful to be used as an instrument in the hands of God. That helped revamp my testimony of the restored Gospel, seeing God work through us. Looking for those daily, and not daily, experiences that build our testimony of God is important.

I know He lives and loves us. Thanks for the support! Hope all continues to better with the snow situation! I'll hear from you next week, possible from somewhere else other than Newburgh! Have a good week!

 -Elder Griffiths

Estamos Helados Pero Bien!

January 22, 2014

Hello All!

Hope everybody is staying warm. I think I am getting used to it best a little chilly- whenever it gets up to about 30 degrees, it feels good! Crazy crazy.

Things are going well here. We got the highest number of lessons here that we have had since the area split. We were able to get back into good contact with our investigator Yolanda. She is probably going to get baptized soon because she definitely wants to. Less active work has been going too. Hermano Sierra, who we have been working with since I got here, came to church for the second time since I've been here, the first time in many months. The work is going great, and this week is going even better.

I got to teach a little in sign language this week. I was on an exchange with Elder Davenport and we went to a lesson with a deaf guy and I said a couple things. Not too much. And it helped that Elder Davenport was talking to interpret as we had the lesson. But I enjoyed it and would like to learn more after the mission. So things are going well! Sorry for cutting it short- we had a fun zone activity playing broom hockey on a frozen lake in ten degree weather. Good stuff! 

Thanks for the support and have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

Zión

January 15, 2014

Hey Everybody!

Another good week! It has definitely warmed up to the point where it has been pretty rainy.

Anyways, Thursday we had a zone meeting where at we were told that we are to no longer use paper planners or the area book- all on the iPad. That way we put anything that is ever important in here and then it goes on with the area rather than leaving with the missionary with the planner. Makes sense. I'm a little worried about pulling out he iPad in downtown Newburgh, but so far so good! The work is moving forward and we are setting the stage of how missionary work is going to be done until the end! Pretty exciting!

We've been having great lessons lately and pumping the number of lessons up too. Things are going great! We picked up he daughter of a recently reactived less active. Her mom had been praying for her for awhile and we just so happened to catch her home and she gladly listened to a lesson. We've got another one tonight with her. We have also been getting back into contact with other people that had fallen off the map after the holidays. Last night we had a sweet lesson with Yolanda- she has been going through a rough time and circumstances haven't allowed us to meet with her. By the end of the lesson she was glowing with hope that came from the Holy Ghost testifying to her that all would be well. That was great!

Our district has been spending a lot of time together and it has been awesome! Part of consecration that we have been working on is being of one heart and one mind. I've learned out here that love is spelled T-I-M-E. If you want to gain somebody's trust and show your love for them you have to spend time with them or on them. When you gain that trust and you work together everybody wins. The best is when all of your individual worries get swallowed up as you're helping each oh her out. When one person has a victory, everybody has a victory. That is what Zion is all about. President Morgan has told us that a lot of times we're getting a taste of heaven out here and I can feel it. Gotta love the mission!

Thanks for everything! I hope that all is well at home! Have a great week!

-Elder Griffiths

¡Que No Caiga más Nieve!

January 8, 2014

Hello all!

It is cold here in New York! And windy- I think the wind chill was
about -20 degrees yesterday. We went out knocking as a district and
about freezed to death, but it was fun! So yeah that's what is going
on here.

This past week was pretty good- we're still getting back into he
groove of things after the holidays but things are definitely going
up. There have been a couple of sicknesses that have slowed us down
(we usually switch things up and have somebody stay with the sick
person while the other two go out and work, so we've all been taking
our turns with that). Thursday it dumped snow- we got a good eight
inches worth. Got boots just in time. We went out before there was too
much on the ground but we were sliding around pretty good so we
decided to come back and stay in for the night. I'm getting some good
snow driving experiences. We spent some good time on Friday shoveling
snow, maybe enough to make up for my lack of doing such as a kid. This
past week we've started to do a district language study- there are two
companionships of Spanish missionaries and two of English and one of
an ASL/English zebra companionship. So anyways, we're teaching the
other guys some basic Spanish so that they can contact others and
we're all learning sign language from Elder Davenport. Sign language
is sweet- not too hard to pick up. We're having a good time with it
describing our daily activities (I chased some deer, that is crazy, I
teleport, hallelujah are among some of the things I can say at this
point). I love learning languages and I feel like it's a blessing I
have. We'll see what happens with sign language- I might come home
speaking Spanish, some sign language, some Italian and a little
Portuguese- that's be cool. I'm grateful for the gifts that God has
given me and for letting me discover them.

After being out for a little bit of time, the ruts come more often and
you have to keep things moving to not be stagnant or boring or just
routine. I guess the thing lately that has caught my attention a
little more lately is being like Christ. I haven't put to much thought
into that recently, but luckily Heavenly Father is looking out for me
and had led me to study and apply those principles. Trying to be like
Christ has been  an answer to many of my prayers and has been helping
me out a ton. Treating others with kindness and love, being obedient
and humble, having faith in God and being diligent are so important
when we're serving others and serving with others. On top of that, if
we expect to be joint heirs with Christ, we've got to be like Him- how
else would we be able to handle everything that is promised to us? I
know it's what God wants, us to be like His Son, and as we live the
gospel we can do exactly that.

Things are great and getting better! I look forward to a fruitful rest
of January. Thanks for the support and have a great week!

- Elder Griffiths

El Año Nuevo

January 1, 2014


Happy New Year everybody! 

We had a great night last night, celebrating by going to bed at 10:30. Haha we actually did not have to be in by 6:00, so we got to stay out and work. We were able to get in with a couple people so that worked in our favor. Woke up this morning to a new year and that was that. 

This past week was great! Christmas was great- we went caroling almost all day Christmas Eve and a little on Christmas as well. It was super fun and very fulfilling- we could see that we made a difference in people's days. Spending that time serving others was super satisfying and made for one of the best Christmas's I've ever had. The next couple of days weren't quite as satisfying- I got some sort of stomach flu that knocked me out. I did lose any sort of weight that I gained eating tons of unhealthy food for the holiday season. That was a good outcome I guess. Haha but that slowed things down a little but. Now we're bouncing back, getting back into the groove of things. Tomorrow it's supposed to snow a ton, though, so that might throw things off. We'll see! 

With the new year, I've thought about repentance and the importance of repentance in bringing about change. I challenge you to join in with me in taking specific steps to repent everyday of all the little and maybe big things we do and don't do everyday. We start that process as we recognize what it is that we lack in doing the will of God, then we stop doing that thing, and confess it to God and ask for His forgiveness. We then make restitution, fixing anything that we may have messed up. Keeping the commandments helps give us strength to do all those things and then we do the most important part of it all- recognize and give thanks to Christ for making such possible. It's only through His atonement that we can change and be forgiven. So do it! Everyday. That's what I'm resolved to do before anything else, just repent. That will help me put everything else in line. 

Thanks for he support and the packages and everything- I enjoyed it all. Hope you guys have a great week and a great start to this new year! - Elder Griffiths

Feliz Navidad!

December 23, 2013

Hello Everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!  Elder Wagner said that today is Christmas Adam because Adam comes before Eve.  He's a goofy guy.  Haha

Anyways, all is well here in Newburgh!  The work is going well- we picked up another person with a baptismal date- Jenny!  She is progressing well and is looking to be baptized in February.  Less actives are progressing well too- we had eight at church yesterday!  I counted the number of priesthood holders and potential priesthood holders there and if things keep on going as they're going, soon enough the branch could be a ward.  We'll see what God has in mind though.  Another thing that will help is that we got another car!  The other guys have a nice white 2014 Ford Fusion now, so that will help us to get around together without having to either depend on each other or the bikes.  We're hoping to move out of the city of Newburgh a little more, so we'll see what we can do!  Things are great!

The Christmas season has been a delight!  We're planning on caroling tomorrow and Christmas when we have free time (we didn't do a whole lot last year on Christmas when we had down time, so I'm excited to get out there and serve in that way with the free time that we do have).  Christmas eve is a lot bigger of a deal in Spanish culture, so we've got some good stuff going on tomorrow evening, and then Wednesday for lunch we're going to Paul's house with almost the whole district (the sisters have something else going on).  Being a missionary during Christmas time is great!  And I've been blessed to be able to look back and see how my mindset in regards to Christmas has changed.  I'm grateful to have had experiences to know that giving is so much more fulfilling that getting.  I don't have a lot of physical means for giving, but I've been blessed with the opportunity to give of my full time and service as a missionary.  I love caroling and I think its because it is a giving service and helps everybody listen to and feel Christmas through music.  I look forward to doing that tomorrow and Wednesday.  I challenge you to look for someway you can go out of the way and serve somebody else, out of the norm, and see what you feel like.  If you want to get some nice baked cookies, go give somebody some nice baked cookies and see how you feel.  It's great!

Thanks for the well wishes and everything.  Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-Elder Griffiths