Wet Package

Hey, well I got my package this week.... and it appears that the Paraguayan mail system sent it here by the rivir.... Half the box was just soaked, and a lot of the stuff in it was ruined. I'm actually not quite sure what happened, but it apparently happened to a couple other packages as well. I had to go through it to try and find the things that weren't ruined, and saved a little more than half of it. The pictures, and the cards from the primary children were still good luckily. I didn't do the whole scripture things on it, because A) a lot were ruined, and B) to be completely honest I didn't really have time to look for them all. Anyway, I got most of the better things that you sent, it was mainly just a bunch of the little candies that went bad. Well, we still haven't been able to find a house this week, and so lucky us, we get to go look for it on P-day. The asistants are coming to do divisions with us, and we have to go look for 3-4 hours to see if we can find something. Pretty much all we have time to do today is email, and a couple other things like shopping quickly. I am kind of frustrated that first they put in in a house with 6 people, and then act like it's our fault that we are stuck like this and so we have to use our P-day to look more.... anyway, I am just trying to stay patient with the whole thing, which is hard because my companion is more frustrated than I am, and wants to just take a P-day later in the week. Anyway besides that, this has been a really good week. On Friday we had interviews with the president. He asked me what my goals are, trying to be sincere I told him that I haven't set any goals for baptisms, but set a goal to keep a higher retention of the people. He apparently didn't really like my answer, because he kind of dropped the cane on me, but helped me to realize that we can increase the amount of baptisms at the same time as retaining them better. The whole interview really helped me to change my view on the mission a little bit, since I've been stuck with a companion that is completely anti-numbers. This week wse found 20 new investigators, most of which are promising ones. We also did better on getting more lessons than the past coule of weeks. Ramon attended church again yesterday, making it his third and last required asistance. He still has a baptismal date for the 22 or this Saturday. He still has some doubts that we need to help him resolve, and he still doesn't feel like he has had an answer to his prayers. We are trying to figure out how to help him either recieve an answer, or recognize it if he has already had it. He has a great desire to know, and I know that with the help of the spirit we can help him be prepared for his baptism this Saturday. We found a new investigator this week named Fernando. He is 17, and met with the missionaries before for a time, and attended church a couple of times. We talked with him, and had left him with moroni 10:3-5 to read. The next time we returned to teach him again, he had not only read that part, but read a part of every book, and part in the front. We set a baptismal date with him for the 5th of February, and left him with the compromise to read and pray. ON sunday, he didn't come to church because he had a problem with his health. We went to teach him, and he told us that he had prayed, and that he felt that it was true. He told us he loves reading the Book of Mormon, and that it is addicting. We left his baptismal date even though he didn't attend, because he had attended before with the other missionaries. We had a lesson with a catholic family as well this week. After we started with a prayer, the wife told us that they are having a difficult time right now, becuase her brother died a couple days ago. We talked to them about the atonement, and read Alma 7:11-12 with them, and while we were talking, she started crying. It was so awesome being able to feel the spirit so stong, and to be able to help somebody through a difficulty in their lives. We have had 2 lessons like that in the past two weeks, and it really is awesome to feel the power of the spirit testifying to the people. This week we went to a place in Asuncion called Super6 to shop. It had American products like peanuts, and barbeque A1 sauce, and mac and cheese but it is way expensive here. Also we have had to drink water like crazy this week. The heat is getting worse and worse, and so we are at the point that we have to drink water in every house that we go to. A lot of times there is just random stuff floating in the water, and so now i'm at the point that I try not to look in it, but i can still feel it going down my throat. Well, now i have to go look for an apartment, so I'll talk to you guys next week, Chao. Elder Ryan Griffin

New Microwave?

Well this has been a good week. We are still living with 6 missionaries in our apartment, because we still haven't been able to find a new apartment to be able to move out. It is kind of difficult living with 6 since we only have 1 shower, and 1 fridge for all our food and everything. We have been trying to just make the best of it, until we can move out to a new place.

This week the mission has been giving all the apartments microwaves, and new beds. We had bed frames of wood that were always breaking, and so now we actually have metal bed frames, so now they don't fall all the time. They also gave us some microwaves, so now we can actually cook stuff in microwaves, although there's not really things to cook in microwaves here. I don't know if you guys have sent the other package, but i'm thinking that you can probably just send one pair of shoes for now, and send another pair later in the year. Also some other things that might be nice to have: Icy hot, pills for diarriah, tums, popcorn and some stuff like that.

This week i got sick. We went to our district meeting, and on the way there, I started feeling really sick. We got there, and I had to go behind a tree and throw up for about 5 minutes. We got back after the district meeting, and I just collapsed on the bed and fell asleep. Next thing I new, my companion was sick as well, and threw up. We had to stay in the apartment all day, and at the end of the day, I went out with another elder to finish our contacts. We also went to the farmacy to buy some pills, and we took them and went to sleep. The next day, we both felt better, but still had almost no energy. We went out and worked for the day, but had to walk slow so that we didn't have problems. Now I feel absolutely fine, but it was a long week with being sick and all again.

This week we had a lot of hard days, where we went out and worked all day, only to get 2 or 3 lessons. It is kind of frustrating working so hard, and not seeing the fruits, but what is really important is that I feel like I'm working as hard as I can. This mission seems like it focusus on the numbers, and getting more baptisms, more lessons and everything, so sometimes it's hard not to focus on that so much. I am trying to just focus on the importance of helping the people. There are a lot of missionaries here who just baptize whatever people they can find, and teach quick crappy lessons just so that they can get numbers. One of the things that I am focusing on personally is develop more love for the people, and less love for having good numbers. The first two or three changes, I was really focused on the numbers of the mission. I was always doing whatever I could to get more lessons, even when sometimes it wasn't with the purpose of helping the people. I have just been thinking a lot about what it is that God would want me to do here, and I feel like he would be disappointed in me if I was just doing everything here to get numbers. The president told us to set goals for the new year, and I was thinking about setting a goal of how many people I want to baptize in my mission. I came to realize though, that I don't think it would be a good goal. One, is that to complete it, I have to depend on the agency of other people, and two, even if I complete that goal, I may not help a single person. I think a lot of the missionaries here are way to focused on baptizing people, and end up baptizing a lot of people before they are ready to make those commitments. Then after they have the number, they just leave the people behind, and the become inactive members. The goal I set is to focus more on retention. I think that is one of the biggest needs here in Paraguay, not only to baptize more people into the church that are going to fall away, but to baptize people into the church that are going to stay in the church. I really feel like it's been difficult to humble myself enough to stop focusing on the numbers. Really when I am focused on the amounts of lessons, and baptisms that we are getting, I am working for the glory of myself, trying to make it so other people think I am a good missionary. When I work for the people, and use the numbers as something to help them, it is for the glory of God.

This week Ramon went to church again. He has a baptismal date for the 22 of this month. As of right now, I don't feel like he is completely prepared to be baptized, but he still has time before he needs to be ready. We are still working with him constantly to help him gain a testimony, and answer his questions and resolve his doubts.

Well, I don't have any more time today, but I love you all, and hope to hear from you next week.

-Elder Ryan Griffin

Rain, Rain and more Rain....

Alright, if you want to send other stuff, maybe some shoe goo would be nice, I don't know if you sent the little brush for my razor yet, because I still haven't gotten the package.

Well this has been a pretty good week. Sorry that we wrote a little earlier this last p-day, we just come and use the internet whenever is the most convenient, and I thought you guys usually write the night before. After all of that we went to the church and played some ping-pong for like 2 or so hours, and then went back to the house and left for the day. On Friday we had our weekly planning, and then went out to our luch appointment. During the lunch appointment, it started pouring rain, and we got stuck there. While we were there, I realized I had forgotten my nametag, and somehow nobody else had noticed. We had to go drop off our laundry, so we started going over to the house while it was still pouring. While we were walking, my umbrella popped up, and completely broke from all the wind. Anyway, I got soaked going there, and then coming back, then we went to the house to get my nametag. It started raining harder when we got there, and it was new years eve, so there was nobody home anyway. We stayed in the house until it slowed down, and then finally went out. We went by the same member’s house for dinner, which was the same dinner we ate for christmas eve. We got back to the house, and stayed up until 12 or so for the new year. At about 12 or so there were just all sorts of fireworks, firecrackers, and whatever else going off. I took a video of it, but i can’t send it by email, so I’ll have to send it in a cd or something. Anyway, it was just a bunch of loud popping and everything, and didn’t stop until about 12:30 or so. Then we finally went to bed.

On New Years day we went out to work like usual. My companion's parents told him that they were going to call him at 5, so we went to the church to wait for their call. After 50 minutes of waiting we had to have some other elders call them on their phone, and his mom just said that she isn't going to be able to call him.... anyway we went back out and set a baptismal date with another investigator. We had 3 set on Saturday. We had a member set up to go pick up one, and wse went for another, and the other told us he would come by himself. We went to look for the one, and he wasn't in his house, the one that the member went to, also wasn't at home. We got to the church, and about 10 minutes later, sure enough the other investigator came, and all by himself. He stayed throughout the entire 3 hours, and is progressing a ton. His name is Ramon, the one that used to be atheist. Anyway, he has a date for the 22 of this month, and I think he is going t keep it.

We are still living with six elders in one apartment, which is quite crammed. We still haven't had any apartments open in our area, at least not that we know of. We don't exactly go apartment hunting right now, because I don't like wasting time doing that. Anyway, hopefully we can find an apartment soon, so that we don't have to keep living like this, but we'll see what happens. Well, my time is up, I love you guys and hope you had great holidays. I'll let you know once i get my package. Love you all, I'll talk to you later.

-Elder Ryan Griffin

Down by the River

Cockroache infestation

Well this week has been another difficult week, but a week that I have learned a lot.

On Tuesday, we had a district meeting, about an hour away from our area. We got on a bus, but it was the wrong one, so we sat on there for about an hour and a half, and then finally got to the meeting. After that we did splits with the district leader and his companion, who was in my district in the MTC. I went with the one that was in my district, and the district leader went with my companion. During the day, it started out clear and hot, then a cloud came, it poured for a little while, and then was sunny again. Then a little while later, it did the same thing, and finally did it again during the day. Three times of rain and then getting hot and humid, quite the interesting mix. We taught some really good lessons with a couple of the investigators from their area, and then the next day I returned to my area. During the week we only taught 25 lessons, but we found a lot of really good investigators.

One investigator we found is named Ramon. He is atheist, but not strongly atheist. He basically just doesn't really believe that there is a God. We talked to him, and left him with a Book of Mormon, and left him with Alma 22 to read. We told him to pray for confirmation that there is a God, and then to pray about the things that we had taught him. We still haven't had a chance to talk with him again, but we are going to go back there today or tomorrow.

Another family that we found is the Family Benitez. The husband had an accident with a machine, and only has 2 fingers on his right hand. He also can't see out of his right eye. Anyway, we taught him, and his wife, and daughter (in her 30's). At the end of the lesson, they asked us, "how can we get one of these books?" We of course gave them the Book of Mormon, and left them with the challenge to read it. After that we ended with a prayer, and the daughter prayed, while she was thinking of something she was thankful for, her dad said "and this book". I'm excited to return to see how it went with them today.

This week I've really been thinking a lot, because I have been so focused on the numbers. Sometimes I am just teaching the lessons, and doing the things to get a number, and nothing else. I have really been thinking about the fact that I need to focus more on the people. The numbers are to help the people progress, not the other way around. I also was praying for help this week, because I just have felt like I was doing everything in vain. Today during my personal study, I ran across a scripture in Corinthians that says something to the effect of "when you are in the work of the Lord, your work is never in vain" It really helped me to realize, that as long as I am trying to work as hard as I can, the things that I'm doing aren't in vain.

This week was the "birthday" of the virgin of Caucupe, on the 8th. The Catholics here worship the virgin Mary, and on the 8th, there was almost nobody in the streets or anything, because they were all in Caucupe to worship their dolls. It really is amazing to see the power that Satan has down here in Paraguay, that he can blind people into thinking that we have to worship the mother of Christ, and break the 1st commandment. The people here are really just blinded with ignorance, and our main goal is to help them start thinking for themselves....

Also this week we had a zone conference with President, and Hermana Callan. It was a really good conference, and I feel like I learned a lot from the things that they talked about during it. We also received calendars with pictures of all the Elders on it. Also I got some more name tags that I ordered a while back, so now I have one in Guarani.

We have had a problem with the cockroaches for a while in this apartment, and so we bought some poison stuff to kill them. They have this nest that is behind the counters, and we always find them when we get in the house after the day. We sprayed it all over in the spot that we knew where they were, not knowing if it was going to work very well or not. After that we were standing in the kitchen talking for a little bit. In literally about 2 minutes, the cockroaches started leaving from their nest, and we started killing them. After about 30 minutes or so of killing them, they finally all had come out (or at least we hope so). In total we killed literally about 70 cockroaches that came out of there, quite a nasty experience, but at least now we don't have to live with all those. I took a picture of it, but my camera battery is dead, so I can't send the picture that I took of it, but there was literally a pile of cockroaches by the end.

Well thank you for the support and the love that I always have from you all. It always makes it easier to work the rest of the week after reading your letters. I hope all is going well with you, and the pups.... and that you are all healthy and well. I love you all, and look forward to being able to talk to you for a little while on Christmas. Take care, and let me know about the time of calling next week.

-Elder Ryan Griffin

It is hot and getting hotter

Hey family!
Sorry that I wrote the whole letter last week in Spanish, I was going to write a letter to Taylor, and then to you, but I ended up not having enough time to do it. I told Taylor to translate it for you though.
This week has been one of the harder weeks of the mission, but also one of the weeks that I have learned the most about myself, and strengthened my testimony. I have been sick with a stomachache and a headache almost all of this week. We went out and worked every day of the week anyway. It was difficult working this week, because I didn’t feel very good, and didn’t have very much energy to walk all day. This week I started feeling how hot is going to be getting here. We had a day in the 40´s Celsius. I think that is like 104 Fahrenheit. On top of that the humidity here is ridiculous. Apparently underneath Paraguay is one of the largest amounts of water in the world, and for that reason, if it is hot, it is also humid. During the days that we are walking, my shirt gets completely drenched in sweat; it never even got this hot in Texas when I was there. Also the weather here is completely unpredictable, it can be perfectly clear, and then in literally ten minutes clouds come and it starts pouring rain. Other days when it looks like it’s going to rain, we bring our umbrellas, and of course those days it doesn’t rain. When it does rain, it is literally like a flash flood, and when we don’t have our umbrellas, it’s practically taking a shower with our clothes on. The streets always fill up with water, and there are literally rivers that we have to go through to get back to our pension.
This week, we were doing our personal study (Elder Merrill and I; my companion and the other one from Ecuador just talk during personal study) and the elders from Villa Elisa got a call, Elder Paledines(the companion of Elder Merrill) answered it and it was the president, he said he wanted to come and talk to his companion, and that he would be there in 40 minutes. Of course we hurried and cleaned up the apartment, and then started our companion study. President came in and talked to us a little bit before he left. Apparently Elder Merrill´s father has liver cancer, and was going in for an operation, and so president came to tell him.
Also this week it rained like crazy on the morning of Sunday, for the second week in a row. We had only 15 members that came to church, we started with only 7. Once again none of our investigators came to church, and so the 4 baptismal dates fell again. I don’t know if it’s a lack of faith on their part, or on ours, but we are trying everything to help them go to church. I think part of it is that we aren't teaching clearly enough the importance of going to church.
Anyway, now I am not feeling so sick, and at least I know that this week can't be any worse than this last week. Also we have a conference for Christmas this Friday with President Callan and his wife.
I love you all, and I will talk to you again next week. Hope everything is going well, and that you are all healthy and well.
-Elder Ryan Griffin

Wow a whole letter in Spainsh

Taylor, (this is a translation of a letter Elder Griffin wrote in spanish. The original letter follows this one).

(how are you?) Thank you for the letter, I now know how to understand spanish better than when I was in the M.T.C. It is surprising the gifts of the spirit that we an receive as members of the church. I do not have a doubt that the Lord helped me to learn so quickly. There is no way to learn a language like this in less than three months without the help of the Lord. We spoke about the gifts of the spirit this last week in Priesthood, and I realized that during the mission, We are very close to God. and we receive many blessings from Him. If we only could remain faithful we could always receive the gifts God wants to give us. There are many things that I have been learning here in the mission. It is sad to see that there are many inactive members here(I am guessing it was the same in your mission) In almost all of Paraguay, there are 10% of the members that attend church each week. When it rains, there are only about 5% that show. I began to think alot about this..why so many people don't go to church. The truth is, I think there is one reason...it is because they don't read the holy scriptures every day. With each less active member with whom I have spoken, Their inactivity started with the same thing of not reading the scriptures. It is like Lehis dream that the iron rod is the word of God, if we study it each day we will not fall. I desire to help the Lords converts better understand this. Because I don't want them to fall away from the church after they are baptized. The two girls that were baptized a few weeks ago, are not attending church, and it is very difficult because I feel responsible for not teaching them clearly enough. I don't want this to be a problem during my mission. I don't feel like I am helping people if they fall from the church after their baptism. but it is impossible at times to know the impact I am having as a missionary. I am praying each day for the guidance of God to know how I can know what to do better to help these people.

I am always in agreement with that, that the most difficult times are the best times. The days that we are tested to the limit, are the days that we grow the most. It is still hard to have a great attitude during these hard times. I am very grateful for the oppurtunity to serve a mission. I have grown in knowledge, testimony, I have matured...I don't know if I have grown in height. but I know that I still have alot to learn before I finish my mission. I cannot believe that I already have been out five months.

Yeah, I heard you have a girlfriend, I still have not seen a picture. I am happy that you have found someone, and I hope she is a good girl for you. The girl that I was going-out with has not written me during my mission. I feel that that is better, I can now be more focused in the mission.

Take care of yourself. I hope to hear from you again.

ELDER GRIFFIN

Querido hermano mio,

Mb'ateko? (¿como estas?) Muchas gracias para la carta, ahora yo puedo entenderlo mejor que cuando estaba en el CCM.... Es sombroso los dones del Espíritu que podamos recibir como miembros de la iglesia. No tengo ninguna duda de que el Señor me ayudó para aprenderlo tan rapido. No hay una manera en que yo pude aprender un idioma así en menos que tres meses sin la ayuda de Dios. Hablamos sobre los dones del Espíritu en el Sacerdocio la semana pasada, y me dí cuenta que durante el mission, estamos muy cerca al Dios, y recibimos muchas bendiciones de Él. Sí solamente podemos siempre permanecer fiel así para que siempre podamos recibir estas dones que Dios quiere darnos. Hay muchas cosas que he sido aprendiendo aquí en la mision. Es triste para ver que hay tantos miembros inactivos aquí (supongo que fue mismo en su mision). En casi todo de Paraguay, hay un decimo parte de todos los miembros que asisten a la iglesia cada semana. Cuando llueve, es mas como 5 por ciento de las personas. Empezé de pensar mucho en eso, porque hay tantos personas que no van a la iglesia. En verdad, pienso que es de una razón.... que no leen las escritoras sagradas cada día. Con cada menos activo que he hablado, siempro empezó con la misma cosa, dejar de leer las Escrituras. Es como el sueno de Lehi, que la Barra de Hierro es la palabra de Dios, si lo estudiamos cada día, no vamos a caer. Yo deseo que puedo ayudar mis conversos para entender esto mejor, porque no quiero que caen de la iglesia inmediatamente después de su bautismo. Las dos chicas que bautizamos algunas semanas atras ya han dejado de asistir a la iglesia, y es muy dificil, porque siento que es mi culpa por no enseñarles bastante claro.... yo no quiero que esta es una problema en toda mi mision.... yo no siento que estoy ayudando personas si caen de la iglesia después de su bautismo, pero es imposible a veces para saber. Estoy orando cada día para la guia de Dios para saber que puedo hacer mejor para ayudar las personas mejor.

Es muy interesante en la mision para ver que hay tantos misioneros disobedientes. Por ejemplo, ahora en nuestra pension tenemos 4 elderes, 2 de Utah, y 2 de Ecuador. El elder de ecuador(no mi compañero) siempre roba mi comida.... es muy dificil, porque todos recibimos la misma plata, pero, el lo gasta, y por eso siempre no tiene comida en el fin de la mes. Siempre esta robando mi comida..... y ya no recibimos mucho. Tambien el y mi compañero siempre quieren hablar durante el estudio comañerismo, y entonces, muchas veces, no lo tenemos. El parte mas dificil, es que mi compañero es muy negativo..... siempre esta diciendo que los miembros son terrible, y que no tenenmos buenos investigadores, y cosas así que no me gusta. No obstante, esto tratando de disfrutarlo, el generalmente esta dispuesto a trabajar cuando salimos de la casa, y por eso no es tan mal.

Siempre yo he estado en acuerdo con esto, que los tiempos dificiles son los mejores. Los días en que estamos probado al limite, es cuando crecimos lo mas. A veces todavía es dificil para tener buen animo durante estas situationes. Yo siento tan agradecido para tener la oportuninidad a servir una mision. He crecido en conocimiento, y testimonio, madurez (no sé si he crecido en estatura) pero sé tambien que todavía tengo mucho mas para aprender antes que termino mi mision. No puedo creer que ya tengo 5 meses en la mision, pasa demasiado rapído.

Si, ya escuché que tiene una novia, pero todavía no he visto una photo. Estoy feliz que ya ha encontrado alguien, y espero que ella es una chica buena para usted. La chica que estaba citando no me ha escrito en todo mi mision, pero pienso que es mejor, porque puedo enfocar mejor sin esta distración en mi vida.

No tenía tiempo para escribir a usted y a madre y a padre, entonces puede decirles a traducirlo, o usted lo traduce por ellos? Gracias hermano, te quiero, y espero que todo vaya bien en su vida.

Cuidense, y espero que le escucho otra vez.

-Elder Griffin