Fast ride on a double decker

Well, this week has been a really good week. We've had our ups and downs, our joys and sorrows, the trials and blessings...... but most important we know we are doing the work of the Lord. We are strengthening our faith, developing the celestial attribute of patience, and really learning to be firm in our faith.

To start off the week, we went to Asunción on Monday, like I told you guys last week. We got home at about 9 or so. Our bus driver was crazy. He was in a big hurry, but the good news is, we got to our destination 30 minutes early, in rush our traffic. He was just flying around, passing people up hills around corners...... in a double decker bus! The greatest is that we had front row seats for the whole show. We were up top in the very front, so we witnessed the whole ride home. Lets just say there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping that was getting done on the drive home. It was quite a "on the edge of your seat" experience. We passed literally everybody and everything on the road, we were the fastest ones driving around. We got home, and weren't able to do anything else during the day.

On Tuesday, we talked about the consecration, or dedication to the work of the Lord in the district meeting. It was spiritual, and went really well. We also talked about the baptismal invitations, because the district has fallen big time on that. The rest of the day Tuesday, was a trial to our faith, and our enthusiasm that we still had from the last week. We literally knocked a good 40 doors, and only got into one lesson with a couple, but it was only for 5 minutes, and then they had to leave. We didn't find any news during the day, which was really tough. We maintained our enthusiasm really well, and kept on pushing hard the whole day. We also went and taught the family that had attended church the last week. They are progressing really well. We taught them the plan of Salvation, and it went really well.

On Wednesday, we actually were able to find some good new investigators. We found 4 in total. We had branch night, and one of the young women brought a friend, and they wanted to learn English. So we brought a male member to be present, and taught them some English. We taught them how to pray in English..... Something I've almost completely forgotten. It went really well, and the friend asked us some questions about what we do as missionaries.

On Thursday, we were guided to an investigator who´s wife died on Monday. Literally, out of thousands of people in our area, we happened to find him 3 days after his wife had died. He had taken it pretty hard, and started drinking because of it. We had a really good lesson with him, and he is progressing now. He wasn't able to attend church, but he committed to attend this week. We also had a good lesson with Reinaldo and Silvia (the ones that attended church) and talked to them about the law of Chastity, since they aren't yet married. They agreed, and said they would talk about it.

On Friday, we really got pushed to our limits of faith and patience. It was raining basically all day, and so most of our appointments fell. Since people don't sit outside when it's raining, we only had one option left..... knock doors. We knocked doors for a good 4-5 hours of the day, in the mud, and rain trudging around, just trying everything to get into a lesson. Every single person we talked to just either flat out rejected us, or said "come back another day" (the Paraguayan way of saying I'm not interested). We just kept going and going with nothing else to do. During the day, we knocked a good 60 houses, and the result of the day...... zero new investigators, and some muddy shoes and pants. The most important result..... our faith and enthusiasm for the work, still at 100%. I honestly don't know how, but after all, the whole time we we happy, and just pushing along the whole day. We came back happy and content for having done everything we could in some not so desirable circumstances.

On Saturday, the day started out the same, we knocked about 10 houses in the morning, and nothing. Then we saw a family sitting outside, we went over and taught them. Where is there house you might ask? Well right in front of the huge Catholic church here in our area. They were really intelligent, and understood really well about why it was important to have prophets and everything. They already had a Book of Mormon, but they said that this time they were really interested and wanted to know if it was true. They said they have had a bunch of other missionaries that have come over, but they never really had interest, but that this time we explained everything really well, and they said it made them want to know if it was true. Well, I don't say that to say we are better than other missionaries, obviously we are teaching the same message. It was just a miracle to see that someone who has already heard the message, when taught by the spirit, are a lot more open, and willing to experiment. On the other side of the spectrum, we also taught a guy that just wanted to argue with us after lunch. We sat down, and he started going off about how his church has prophets, and all this other stuff. After 15 minutes, I asked him what church it was. He has gone there for 25 years, but he replied, oh it doesn't have a name yet...... what? Well apparently his prophet is still pending on that revelation..... Anyway, we tried to get into a lesson, but before we could say a prayer or anything, he said, You know what I don't like about your church? He asked who's name we baptize in. I replied, in the name of Jesus Christ. He said, no but if you were to baptize me, what would the words be that you pronounce. I said, well in the name of the Father and the son and the Holy Ghost. He said, well that's where you guys go against the Bible. It says that Paul baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I told him we weren't here to fight, and that we were going to leave if he wanted to argue about stuff. He just said he wasn't arguing, and then continued reciting off all these different scriptures from memory, just trying to show off how well he knows the Bible. So I pulled out my bible, and right off he just said, go ahead and look up Mathew 28:19 (just happened to be the scripture I was about to pull out) It is the part where Christ tells his disciples to baptize in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost. He said that after Christ said that the apostles received revelation that it really meant in the name of Christ, and that it should only be that. So then, I just pulled out the Book of Mormon (the easy way to win a bible bash) and showed him 3 Nephi where Christ teaches in the Americas to baptize in the way we do. He then pulled out a scripture in the bible that says that if someone announces a different gospel than what Christ left, it is cursed. I told him, well yeah, you are changing what Christ himself taught, so you are right there. He kept arguing and asked, in who's name did Paul baptize. I just told him, well yeah he baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, just like he preached in the name of Jesus Christ, and just like it says that the apostles met in the name of Jesus Christ. When somebody does something with the priesthood of Christ, then they are doing the action in the name of Jesus Christ. After that he kept arguing, so we just left the lesson. He was just there to argue, so there wasn't anything else left to do.

On Sunday, our attendance fell..... We still had 3 investigators, but the family we were teaching didn't come to church for some reason. Our baptismal dates basically fell, and now we really have to do some repairing this week. Things are still looking up a lot. We have a ton of investigators that are progressing really well, and that are really interested in knowing more. We have a lot of work to do, but it's just a matter of time before we start seeing some more baptism.

Today we had interviews with the President. They went really well. President talked about some stuff that I had on my mind, and really was guided by the spirit to help me with some questions. That's about all for this week. It has been a good one, and my health is all good..... well all except for the back. My back isn't doing so well from all the walking on empedrado, but it's just minor back pains, nothing to big. I can't keep on any weight here, because of all the walking and everything. I am doing really well. I'm happy, and excited for the work. I love you guys tons. Thanks for everything.

Elder Griffin

Elders on Bikes

Well, this week has been really good. We have seen a lot of miracles in our area, and things are really starting to pick up. We are seeing the hand of God work in our behalf here, and we are both doing really well. I'm actually writing you from Asuncion right now. We had to travel here for an operation. Don't worry though, I'm fine. My companion is the one that had to be operated. He had an ingrown toenail that was getting pretty bad. We left our house at two in the morning, and after 8 hours on a bus(there was only indirect ones at that time) we finally got to the office. The operation was fine, they just cut his toenail a little bit, and now he should be alright.

We now have bikes in our area. Some other elders in the district had them, and weren't using them, so we were able to take them to our place, and now we use them to go out to a part of our area that is like a 30 minute walk. It's saved us a lot of time this week. The only problem, is that the roads here are all cobble-stone, and so it's not exactly the most comfortable to ride them. On top of that the seat is hard as a rock, and they don't have any shocks. Can't complain though, it beats walking that far. It is really weird riding a bike after so long though, it just feels weird not to walk. We don't use them all that much, only every other day to get out to Ca'acupemi, and then we leave them at a member's house. The people in our area just can't get over the fact that we are using bikes, because they always just see us walking around everywhere. Now when they see us they yell, "hey look, the Mormons are using bikes now!"

Well, the long dry streak is over finally. After 5 months now, I finally got to see a baptism again. We had the baptism of Miriam on Saturday. My companion baptized her, and everything went over pretty well. The only problem was that all the people that said they were going to come, didn't. We only had her family there, which was a little disappointing. Other than that, it went well, and she got confirmed. We made a cake, and all the people really liked it. It was a jello-cake, new innovation for them.

On Sunday, we had a miraculous turnout.... of investigators anyway. We had 8 investigators in the meeting. I think that was the most I have ever had. The attendance was 45, so the members were really surprised, and now the branch president is actually getting excited, he sees that we are going to be baptizing a bunch here, so they realize now that they gotta start getting stuff going. Oscar came again. We have been teaching him a lot. He is trying to stop smoking and drinking. We did a fast with him on Saturday, and he didn't smoke any cigarettes during that time. He has a baptismal date for this Saturday, but we are thinking he still needs another week. We also had Clarise there, the sister of Miriam. She is 9, and so we are still waiting on her baptism until she has more support from the parents. Right now she has a date for the 28. Their dad came, but the mom is not really caring at all. She did come to the baptism at least. We also had a family of 5 that came. Renaldo and Silvia, and their son, and 2 nieces. They are progressing really well, and have a baptismal date for the 5th of May. We have been finding some really good people as well, so right now we are having the potential to start baptizing almost every week in our area. It would really be a miracle if we can pull that off seeing as in the last two years, this area has had 6 baptisms.

We get to spend the rest of our p-day on a bus for at least another 6 hours to get back to cuidad del Este, that'll be really fun. We are both doing really well, still getting along well and everything. That's about the gist of what has happened this week. It's been a little rainy, and has cooled down a little bit. One of the only three active men in our ward, and the one with a car just got divorced with his wife(non-member) and no longer lives in our ward..... that definitely didn't help us a ton. Well, that's all for this week. Love you guys tons and hope you all have a great week. Until next time, hasta luego.

Elder Ryan Griffin

Semana Santa

Well, this week has been a nice interesting one. First things first, changes were on Wednesday. My companion and I both stayed another change together. We are now going on our 3rd change together out here, we were both excited to find out we were going to stay here, because we wanted to stay together another change. We are still getting along really well, and things are looking pretty good in our area.

Alright, so to start off the week, well I got a little bit sick. I had a fever hit on Monday shortly before we had to leave for proselyting. Well, we left anyway, and tried to work, but it got so bad that I ended up having to come back to the house and just collapsed on the bed, and fell asleep. Later, on Tuesday, we had to go to district meeting, and I still didn't feel very good, so when we came back, I took a nap before we left to go out and work again. We left, and I lasted a couple of hours, but then it got so bad again, that we had to give up, and come back to the house. Turns out that with a fever, it is not in fact better to just "toughen it out," and go out to work. I figured that one out the hard way. Finally on Wednesday, I just took a sick day, and slept a bunch. It helped a lot and fortunately, I felt mostly better on Thursday for my Birthday. In total I slept about 34 hours in 3 days..... not exactly the way I like spending days in the mission.

On Thursday..... well lets just say it was definitely an interesting Birthday. I had just recovered from being sick, so we went out and worked normal for the first day in the week. This week was what the Catholics call "Semana Santa," or holy week, in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ..... or at least that is what is is supposed to be for. As far as people actually doing that, well that's another matter. Anyway, we went to our lunch appointment on Thursday, and low and behold, the member wasn't there. We called him, and he was somewhere else. OK, well our area doesn't exactly have and "restaurants," so we started looking for a dispensa (a little in home store at peoples' houses). We walked around, and couldn't find any that were open. Oh, but don't you worry; the lord didn't forget us there. We were provided a meal from the heavens.... literally. We looked behind us, and saw red skies. Well, that wasn't something I had seen before, so we didn't know what it was. Shortly thereafter, we found out what it was. A dust storm. Now you have to understand that where we live, there is a lot of dust. The streets are basically all just red dirt. In other words, there was a lot of dust. So what did we eat for lunch you might ask, well a lot of dust. In the eyes, in the mouth, on the shirt, everything you might imagine. Well, after that, the feast wasn't over, we also had a nice little bit of rain to quench our thirst after that, so everything turned out quite nice. OK, but on the real story, you are probably wondering what we really did eat. Well, we went to an investigators house, and they just happened to be eating lunch. They offered, and we accepted. So we actually did end up eating some lunch. At the end of the day, we had a cake, and some candles, and lit them and all that traditional stuff, and that was the 21st Birthday. Honestly I probably would have been frustrated before the mission if a Birthday had have gone like that, but here in the mission, I was so focused on helping other people, that it really didn't even phase me. I was still really happy the whole day.

On Friday, nobody was home. We walked around a lot, and were only saved by the fact that we had to go and do an interview for some baptisms in the district. I did two interviews of two young kids. One is 14, and the other 11. They were baptized on Saturday. after the interview, we were sitting by a park, waiting for a bus to get back to our area. The Catholics here have a strange tradition. On Friday, they set up the street with a bunch of candles, and stuff, and then they have a man walk with a "cross," until the plaza, and then the crucify them. Not literally, but they literally put them up on a cross for a while. You might be wondering how I know this.... well, my companion and I saw it first-hand, all while we were waiting for the bus. It was quite possibly the strangest thing I have ever seen. We were so weirded out, we just decided to jump in a taxi and get home.

Side note, I finally figured out what the strange noises the parrots behind our house are making. We were walking by one day, and the dog had a squeaky toy that it was playing with. For a second I thought the parrots were making their noise, but then I looked, and the same exact noise was coming from the toy. They've been imitating a squeaky toy this whole time. Well, it hasn't really made it any less annoying.

On Saturday and Sunday, they were the only half way normal days we had during the week. On Sunday, we had 5 investigators in the meeting. Miriam(13), who is going to be baptized this Saturday (Yay, first baptism in like 5 months!) and Clarise(9), her sister, that is going to be baptized the 28. Also Oscar(22), and his little brother Lucas(13). Also a little boy named Carlos(9). Oscar is progressing a lot. We taught him the word of wisdom, and shared a scripture in Galatians 5 more or less verse 12. Anyway, it talks about the spiritual and the carnal. It really helped him to see the need to stop drinking and smoking.

My district is doing better right now. We are finally starting to see some baptisms. This district has been the lowest baptizing in the mission for a while, and lately we have been just average, but this month we are one of the highest in the mission.

On Sunday, my companion and I had to teach the priesthood lesson. We were told about 5 minutes after the meeting started. Well, for an improvised lesson, it actually went pretty well. We talked about how the Savior talked a lot about the missionary work after his resurrection, and that it is because he expects each and every one of us to be witnesses of his resurrection, and invite others to come unto him.

Well, that's about the story of this week. I love you guys tons, and hope you had a great Easter. Have a fantastic week. Love,

Elder Griffin

General Conference on April 1 not a joke

Well, this general conference was amazing. I felt very uplifted and edified from the spirit and the strength that those great apostles bring at there age. It is amazing to me how happy and loving each and everyone of them are, despite there health, and other problems. We were able to see all five of the sessions, but some of them were cutting out on the connection, so we didn't see them very well. Some of them that we only got bits and pieces of were on Saturday Evening. Dallin H. Oaks talk, and Henry B. Eyring as well....... yeah, I know they were both really good talks. The lord was definitely testing our patience on that one.

On Sunday, we had 3 investigators. We had Miriam and Clarise, the daughters of the members. They have a baptismal date for the 14th. We still have some work to do there, so we could use your prayers on their behalf. We also had another investigator, Oscar that is 22 years old. He actually had a friend take us to the conference on Sunday, and take us back afterwards. He seemed to like it. He is a really smart guy, so I think it really impressed him some of the talks that the apostles gave. He also has a date for the 14th.

I was praying and fasting to be able to receive some answers to questions and other stuff that I had for the conference. One of my questions was why when I am praying to see miracles in my mission, and have a desire to baptize every week, why it doesn't happen. Almost at the very end of the conference, Neal L. Anderson really just hit that one on the head. After he was done explaining about the Haiti earthquake, where the father found his 3 children, he basically said exactly my question. At that point, it really grabbed my attention, and he taught: If the miracles we seek do not come to pass in this life time, they will come to pass in the next. And also he taught The lord will make more of you than you can ever make of yourself. Well, as far as the first line he said, I was kind of indifferent at first, as to what it was teaching..... Then I realized, the mission is like a life inside of our actual life. Although I am not be able to see baptisms every week right now in my mission, I am planting seeds for others to be able to see that miracle. I also really like the last phrase, the Lord can make more of you than you can ever make of yourself. I looked back at the past 21 months of my mission, and I really realize that it has been perfect. I have no regrets. I have given my all to the Lord, and he has made of me more than I could have ever made of myself. I still have yet to see these miraculous changes, and bless the lives of others. I am so thankful for the Lord and how he really knows each and every one of us. I am so thankful that he answers my prayers, and that he has molded me into a different person with his hands.

After the Saturday priesthood session, we got out at 11. There was no more collectivos, so we had to resort to taxis. To save money, we decided that our whole district was going to get into the same taxi. The taxi pulled up, and well, lets just say it wasn't the biggest car I've ever seen. I think it's only meant for 4 people in total. However, all 8 of us got into the car. We had to resort to throwing two elders in the trunk..... don't worry it was just one of those trunks that is in connected with the rest of the car, not a separate compartment. We had 4 of us on a seat where there was only room for two, and 2 up front with the driver. 9 people in one little car designed for 4. It was a pretty awkward and not comfortable experience, but makes for a good story.

We also have changes.... this Wednesday. We still don't know anything, but either one of us could go, or both of us could stay. We're not really sure. We are both hoping that we can stay to be able to see some fruits from all our labor, but the Lord will work it out. No worries. Anyway, I'll let you know next week what happens. I may be spending my birthday in a new area, with a new companion. We'll see.

Anyway, love you guys tons, and if you could, please send the talks of elder Oaks and Elder Eyring next week so I can know what they said. Thanks a ton. Love ya lots.

Elder Griffin

Is not this the fast I have chosen? Isaiah 58:6-12‏

This week we saw a lot of miracles in our area. Things are looking up a lot, every week we are seeing more and more progress in the branch. This week I have a lot to be thankful for and to really wonder at the great power and mercy that the Lord has shown to us.

On Tuesday, we talked about the importance of obedience in the District meeting. We talked about the importance of the rules, and how it is there to help us be apart from the world. I think it was good for the district, and I felt like it was something some of the elders were forgetting about. After that, I did divisions with the Zone Leaders again. I went with Elder King again.... I don't know why his companions never want to do divisions with me.... Anyway it went good, we found some good people, and talked to a guy that had lived in the US, in South Carolina. He spoke English of course, and we talked a little bit to him. Turns out he was found with a gun, without a licence, so he had to go to jail for 6 months, and then he couldn't renew his residency card, so he had to leave and come back to Paraguay. He wanted to go to church, because he says he wants to go to a Christian church, but all he can find is a bunch of Catholic churches. ;)

On Wednesday, it was back with my companion again. We knocked a door at a certain house, and an "it" came out. At first we thought it was just a girl, but then when it started talking, well lets just say it was the most girly voice I've ever heard. My companion was talking to it, and when I realized she was actually a he, I almost started laughing. We left that house pretty quick.

On Thursday, we had a really good day. We saw a lot of progress in the parents(members) of Miriam and Clarise (nonmembers). We taught them the Plan of Salvation, and the dad, Christian, asked us a lot of really good questions. They are progressing really well, and have a definite baptismal date for the 14th of April. We also have been working a lot with a really good member, that had dropped off for a while, and hasn't been going to church. We finally got him to commit to go to church this week again. His wife has been inactive for a longer time, and she also was planning on going. We told him that Satan was going to be working against them, and that he needed to read the BOM with his wife so that they could all go to church just fine. Unfortunately he didn't follow through with his part of reading like we invited him to, and his wife ended up deciding that she wasn't going to go. It's amazing how as missionaries, we can really see the things that people need to do, and sometimes I just want to force them to do them so that they can be happy, but I realize now how God feels with us sometimes, when he tells us to do things, and we don't do them. We also committed two other guys, Oscar and David to go to church.

On Friday, I did divisions again, with Hernandarias 1.1. I went with an elder, named Elder Edwards. He is a convert to the church, he's from New Mexico. He was baptized when he was 18, and the day he got baptized, he arrived home to a note on the door that said "congratulations, you now have a new family." And all of his stuff was outside of the door. His parents kicked him out of the house after he was baptized in the church. The rest of his family still aren't members of the church. During the divisions, we were focusing on finding new investigators, because they have been finding like 8 a week. In the day of divisions we found 8 new investigators. We found a family that had a 24 year old son that passed away 5 months ago. Also during the day, we sat down to teach some people, and an old man told us, yeah, we are pecadores(sinners). We explained to him that we are all sinners, but that we can repent, and be baptized to wash away our sins. He then said, yeah, but we just go down to the river every once in a while and sell our pecados(sins). Then I asked him if he goes to a church, and they said, yeah here in our house. Then we kept talking about repentance, and he said, no but we just go down to the river, and sell our pecados(sins). Then I said, alright, I don't understand, you sell your pecados(sins) by the river? He replied, yeah, whenever we have time to. I asked, but there are people who actually want to buy your pecados(sins)? He said, yeah, we just go to the people, and sell them to whoever wants to eat them. Lightbulb. Oh you are talking about Pescados(fish)? Yeah, the guy just doesn't speak a whole lot of Spanish it turns out. He was talking about sins the whole time, but really meant to say fish. Well done.

On Sunday, we really saw the miracles. I have been doing a lot of fasts lately, because I really want to see the miracles that we need here in our area. On Saturday, I started another fast, I was fasting that I would be able to have people in the church this week so that they could progress. Sunday morning we went to look for an investigator, Nestor. He is about 18 years old, and lives by himself, and is working. He came with us and we went in and sat down and everything. The priesthood meeting started and then they went to separate the young men and the adults. When they did that, Nestor stood up and just took off. We were kind of confused, so we sat there for a second not knowing what to do. Then we got up, and went out to talk to him. He told us that he was confused, and that he thought we were going to take him to the catholic church. We had already taught him all of the restoration, left him a Book Of Mormon, and set a baptismal date with him..... not sure how he mixed that one up. We tried to talk to him, but he ended up leaving, and went over to the Catholic Church. My companion got super disappointed after that, because he was really thinking that Nestor was a golden investigator. Then a member came and asked us, hey do you guys have anyone you want to go look for. We took up the offer, and went with him to look for Oscar (22) and David (20). We got to their house, and they were sleeping. When we got there, they got dressed, and ended up going with us. In the Sacrament meeting we ended up having 5 investigators, Oscar and David, Miriam and Clarise, and another investigator that is named Patricio. Last week we had just under 35 people in church, this week we had 55 (a goal that we had set as a companionship). We reactivated a ton of less-actives in the week as well. The whole family of Miriam and Clarise came (7 people) for the first time. Hermano Aregui came with his two daughters. 3 other daughters of a family we are working with came. We also had a 3 other people who we talked to so that they would come. It was really quite a miracle that we saw. We were able to increase the attendance to church by 21 people in a week. I know that the lord answered my fasting and prayer, and that really we didn't do hardly anything to be able to see that. I know that God is a God of miracles, and I know that he works according to our faith. He really is working wonders here in our area. It has had a complete change, and I know that it is due to the power and grace of God. This is the true church, and we have the same power to work the same miracles as were done in the past. All that we need is to have the faith like the apostles of old. Most of the ward was really surprised with some of the people that had come, and it really helped them be more excited. The spirit of the members is changing a lot. Everybody is more happy, and excited. It is so exciting to see what's happening here. We are now working with the branch president, so that they do their part to help all those people stay active.

I love you guys tons, and thank you all for the support and encouragement that I receive from you. I know that your prayers on my behalf have made a big difference in my mission. Love ya tons, jajatopata (see ya later in Guarani) until next week.

Elder Ryan Griffin

Cleaning inspections

Well, this week has been good. We have been working super hard. I didn't really think that there was anything more I could do to work harder, but I really learned this week that there is always more effort that we can give on our part, so that the lord can bless us more on his part.

 

This week we found a total of 29 new investigators, and had 32 baptismal invitations. We also were able to get 42 lessons in the week(the past couple weeks we have been getting 10 news, 10 invitations, and 28 lessons or so). We really saw a lot of miracles in the week, as well as our fair share of trials and hardships.

To start the week off, I got a call from President Callan on Monday, he just let me know that the cleaning inspections in our district were going to be on Tuesday, and that my companion and I were going to go with them to check all the apartments. We only had two hours left on p-day, so we just did all the cleaning that we could manage, before going out to work. Then the rest of Monday we had a pretty good day.

 

On Tuesday, we had the cleaning inspections with President and Hermana Callan, and we drove around with them to inspect the other apartments of the other elders in my district. After that we got home, ate lunch, and went out to work. We just had an explosion of a day on Tuesday. We found ten new investigators during the day, all of which were good new investigators. We also taught quite a bit of lessons along with that.

On Wednesday, we had our district meeting and we did divisions after with another companionship. Elder Brown (came with me) went to my area with my companion, and I went with Elder Ayola (1 change more than me.) President basically put them together because they are both disobedient, and don't really do what they should be doing. I did divisions with Elder Ayola, and I talked to him a lot about the mission, and the importance of being obedient, and finishing his mission strong. Then the next morning, we sat down to do the evaluation. Right then President Callan called their phone. I answered, and he told me that Elder Ayola's companion told president that he is watching movies on the dvd player. He told me that I needed to take it away, and also ask him to give me the dvd's. I just kept going with the evaluation after, and talked to him about the importance of obedience. I shared a scripture in D&C 88 that says if we can't obey a celestial law, we can't support a celestial glory. I explained that in the mission we have a celestial law, and we have to learn how to obey with exactness to progress toward a celestial glory. Then I shared Alma 34:34 and told him the same spirit with which he wants to obey in the mission, is the same spirit that will possess him after the mission. Then at the end I had to tell him what president said, so I took the DVD's that he had, and the DVD player from their pension.

 

On Thursday, after all of that, we had a good day. We were able to find some good new investigators again, and put baptismal dates with a bunch of people. On Friday, we had another really good day, we found another 6 new investigators, and really saw some miracles during the day. We found these two guys that we taught. They are David (20) and Oscar(22). Oscar was telling us a story about how he didn't understand why God created the earth in 6 days, and then had to rest. He said he prayed about it, and that he heard a voice in his head. He said it told him: "My time is not like the time of man, to me one day is like 1000 years, to put it in a way that you can understand." There was a little more to the story, but we were pretty surprised when he said that about 100 years being like a day to man, seeing as it says that in the scriptures, and he said that he doesn't really read the scriptures. We taught them all of the Restoration, and left them with a Book Of Mormon.

 

Speaking of Books of Mormon. When I got to this area, we had 4 boxes of them. Then when Elder Richards came he brought another. We have been giving them out a lot, and right now we actually are about to run out. We had over 120, and now we have about 5 left. Well, I think we are doing good with flooding the world (or at least Hernandarias 2) with Books of Mormon.

There is a new doctrine that apparently the Catholic church just started. They say that Everybody is a church, and that the families are a church. Every single catholic brings that up now when we start talking about the true church. They always say, well I don't think there is a true church, the church is every one of us. What we do and say is the church. I was really thinking about the doctrine of that, which is completely false. It really is clear that it is from Satan, because now he wants people to think that they are all churches, and that there is no need for the true church. We just have to have faith in Jesus, and that is the church inside of everyone of us. It's been really frustrating trying to have to explain to them, that they are not in fact a church, seeing as the definition of church is an organization of people. The devil and his tactics are pushing hard..... We got to the point at the end of this week where a guy told us that he was a church, and I was so sick of hearing it, that I just asked him, Hermano, do you really believe that you are a church? He thought about it for a second, and then said.... No. They just believe anything the pope says, even when they themselves don't really believe it.....

On Saturday, we had a good trial. We had an influx of new investigators and had way too many to be able to visit all of them to commit them to go to church. We talked to two members, and set up to do divisions with them, to be able to cover all of our appointments. We had a good 20 or thirty appointments for the last couple hours of the day. A little bit before we were going to do the divisions, everything was falling through, and so we started using a couple of our extra appointments to use time. They also fell through. We then called off the divisions, seeing as we no longer needed to cover so many, but we still had a lot of appointments left. In less than and hour, we had about 10 more appointments fall through. It was really strange, because it was Saturday, and everybody else was home, but the only houses that looked empty, were those of our investigators. At near the end of the day, we went and did a contact of a family that was sitting outside(seeing as they were the only people we could find that weren't drinking) I started contacting them, and they were coming up with all sorts of excuses to not share with us. Finally I convinced them to just listen for a couple minutes, and we sat down on the step (they didn't have chairs) and taught them. It turned out to be a really good spiritual lesson, even though there was a church in front that was playing a guitar and singing, and people that were coming to their house to buy stuff (they have a little in-home store.) Anyway, they accepted a BOM and the invitation to read and pray. They were really excited to do so.

On Sunday, we only had one investigator show up, due to the fact that we couldn't visit any of them the day before. We had a couple of good lessons during the day as well, and ended the week off well. We have 13 people with baptismal dates right now, 12 of the which are for the 7th of April. My companion and I are both hoping that we can stay together another change to actually be able to see the baptisms together. The change is on the 4th of April, so we'll see what happens. We have a lot of potential right now in our area, and we are seeing lots of miracles. Things are changing a lot in the area, now we just need to start seeing the baptisms.

I love you guys tons, and hope all is well with you. How was the marriage? I didn't hear anything from you guys..... I suppose maybe you had daylight savings time? Well, anyway, hope to hear how the marriage went next week... Love ya,

Elder Ryan Griffin

Traveling with assistants

Well, this has been a good week for us overall. We went to the temple on Tuesday, and it was really good. It just took all the energy out of us for the 12 hours of travel. Other than that it was really good though.

This whole week, the traveling assistants were doing divisions with my district. On Thursday and Friday they came and did them with us. Before going out, they talked about the difficulties in our area, we explained to them what was being difficult right now, and then went out and worked. We split the area in two parts, and worked with all 4 of us for two days. With most other companionships that they have done it with, they have found like 50-75 investigators in 2 days all together. I think they were expecting to have the same luck here in our area. I went first with Elder Love, and the first like 15 people we talked to rejected us. We talked to a guy that asked us how old we were, and then told us that he knows more than us, and that he should be the one to teach us. Then we went and sat down to teach another guy, Elder Love started saying the prayer, and then the guy joined in, and just took it over. Elder Love didn't know what to do, and just stopped and said amen. I started laughing, and then we couldn't stop laughing. Finally we started teaching, and the guy just wouldn't let us speak. We just left the lesson. Then we went to another guy that Elder Love tried to force his way in, and the guy just wouldn't let us in. Then we found another guy that had killed a man, and so he didn't want to learn about Christ. Then another guy that got angry at us, and threw us out of his house. Basically I think the assistants were a little surprised to find out that it really wasn't so easy here. During the two days we did find 20 investigators, so not too bad, but definitely not like what they found in other areas. The next day, I went with Elder Paladines, the one that I was in the same house as a year ago. He has changed some, but he is still the same with a lot of things. During the divisions, they put baptismal dates with everyone, and put them for like 4 weeks out. Needless to say, we did learn some good stuff from the divisions.

After that we worked normal for the next two days, and found some good people. On Sunday, we ended up having two people that went to church, one of which is going to be baptized on the 24th. We are working really hard to lift up this branch, and do everything we can to have more baptisms here. It's honestly pretty difficult here, but we have the faith that it can be done. We are already starting to see a lot of miracles in the area, and now we just need to keep working to get more baptisms.

Well, Sorry, there wasn't a whole lot to say from this week, so I'll try and write stuff down better next week to inform you better. Love you guys tons.

Elder Ryan Griffin