One year left

Hola familia, Well in response to your email, Elder King is from the island part right next to the campus, and he went to Logan High. I just purchased more garments in the temple when we were there, so I'm good on those. Also, yes I got some more shoes, they´re not fantastic, but they will work for now. My shirts are all still good, besides the fact that they aren't exactly white now, but other than that they are good. Well this has been a nice cold week here in Paraguay. Yesterday was quite cold, I didn't think I would need the thermals that you sent me, but I actually have been having to use them. It may not appear so cold looking at the temperature, but it is so humid here in Paraguay that the temperature that you feel is a lot colder than what it says. They also have to insulation in the houses, so we have to bundle up good to not freeze at night. We had a kind of crazy week this week. After we went to the temple, we started the week off really well. Then on Saturday and Sunday, we aren't quite sure what happened. We are working as hard as we can, but the past two days we ended up walking a lot. We got rejected almost by every single appointment that we had set, and even the houses we were knocking on weren't accepting us. We still ended up with 33 lessons on the week, and still found 15 new investigators, the problem is that the most important indicators, Attendance to the church, and progressing were both zero. We had 6 with fecha on Saturday, but on Sunday morning it was freezing cold when we woke up. We got to the chapel first, and only the president and Hna Cañete(and her 2 daughters) and Hna Dora came. We only had 7 people in church, including Elder King and I. I know these people here are poor, and that it is a sacrifice for them to come to church when it is cold, but only 5 out of more than 40 members actually came..... We were a little bit frustrated. Also a bunch of investigators said they were going to come, but also didn't show up to church. We can't really blame them since the members didn't even come. We went to the house of one of the members on Sunday after church, and she just started complaining about the cold, and then started critizising rich people saying that they never have to make sacrifices or anything. She started saying that we have too much money and that we never have to sacrifice anything. Then she started talking bad about our mission president and his wife saying that they have never had to make a sacrifice in their life. Saying that they are wallowing in their riches while everyone here is suffering. Well needless to say, I didn't like someone talking about my mission president like that, so we shared some scriptures with them. First I shared with them Jacob 2:18 that says that we shouldn't seek the riches, but the kingdom of God, telling her that it doesn't matter how much money we have, the commandments still apply to us. Then we shared one from thesalonians that says that Jesus Christ will come like a robber in the night, and asked them if Christ had come today, would you have been ready to meet him. UNfortunately they just have hardened their hearts here, and they justify not going to church as that they are poor. They say that God will understand their circumstances..... We are just facing a lot of problems with the branch, the majority of them don't want to change, and it is a constant fight to try and help them. We are going to keep doing everything that we can to save the branch, but we can't make anybody change by force. Unfortunately they have their agency, adn they don't use it in the correct way. I'm worried that they are going to pull us out of here again if things don't start changing in the branch. Well I love you guys tons, and I'll talk to you next week. Thank you for all you do. Elder Ryan Griffin

Senior Companion

Hola familia, Well we had changes. Like I told you elder Watson went as a zone leader, and I got a new companion. I'm now senior companion, my companion has 3 months less in the mission than I do. I think I was the last one in my group to become senior comp. my comps name is elder King. He is from Logan Utah. So far he has been a really good companion. We are getting along really well. It's wierd being senior comp now, becuase I have to direct everything now. We had a good week though for the most part last week. We taught 47 lessons, and found 15 new investigators. Unfortunately we didn't have anybody come to church, and hardly even had the members come. We only had 15 members in total that actually came to church. Sorry I couldn't write yesterday, we ended up having P-day today, so that we could go to the temple. We ended up going to the temple finally today, which was awesome. It was really cool going through this time now that I understand the Gospel more. It all took on a whole new meaning for me. It was also really cool being able to watch it in Spanish, and actually be able to understand it all this time. It was also nice to be able to think about the mission and everything, since I am at the point of 1 year now. It really made me think a lot about the mission, and what I want to complete for the last year of my mission. We taught a lesson to a guy in English this week. He has a house in Chicago, but he also lives here in Acahay. We taught him in English, which was really weird. I couln't teach very well, becuase I don't think in English very well now. It weird how much English I have already lost. I had to translate a lot of things into Spanish from English...... I never thought I would get to that point. It was a really interesting lesson, because he actually wasn't as ignorant as most people here, so he actually has some really interesting questions for us. We had a good lesson, and we are going to try and teach him again. Our branch is having some problems. The members, a lot of them, aren't progressing. They are just sinning, and don't really care. There are a lot that get help from the church, and then they go and sell the stuff that they got from them. We are trying to help the people realize that they can't keep living like that, but we definitely haven't seen a whole lot of change so far. A lot of our investigators aren't really progressing, so we have had to look for a lot of new people in this week. We found a lot of really good people that are going to progress. I still have to get a lot better at teaching though, because now that I'm senior comp, I can't really rely on my companion so much. I just always have so many more thing that I have to imporve as a missionary. It's a good and bad thing I guess. My old comp, Elder Gutierrez is now my zone leader in zone 6. I told him we have to do divisions some time, so that we can teach together again, but I don't know if they can actually do it or not. Well that's about all I can remember from this week. I'll talk to you next monday. Love you all tons. Oh, and happy fathers day!!!! two days ago anyway. -Elder Ryan Griffin

I get to stay in Acahay

Hola Familia, Well this was a good week, with some ups and downs. We baptized two of the four people; the other family is on hold for now. I got my package, thank you tons. Roberto and Brigida- They got baptized on Saturday. It was nice and cold in the water, but not too bad. I baptized Roberto and my companion baptized Brigida. My comp had to baptize her twice because she didn’t go all the way under the first time he did it. They also got confirmed on Sunday, and are now on the journey. Nestor and Mercedes- During the interview, I was in another area, but apparently he decided that he doesn’t know if he wants to marry her yet, so now we need to keep working with them to see what we can do there. I went to Asunción with one of the Zone Leaders, and there I got to take my package back, everything was in good shape, they didn’t throw it in water or anything this time. Thank you for sending that…. I forgot how good beef jerky and those peanuts are because they have nothing like it here. Well the changes are coming up this Wednesday, and we´ll know by tonight what is going to happen for sure. I already know that I am going to stay in Acahay, and my comp is going. Last night at like 930 the president called and talked with my companion. He is going as a zone leader, but we don’t know where or anything. That means I know I am going to stay here in this area, so now it will just be a matter of who I’m going to be with. We had a good week overall. We taught a lot of lessons, but the only problem is that we didn’t end the week with a baptismal date. We had one investigator come to church, but we just have to be able to talk to a couple of the investigators a little bit more to see what’s going on with them. We have a lot of potential still in the area, now I just have to take control of the area since my comp is leaving. Also I got some more music with a pen drive that I bought, so don’t worry about sending more music, I think I have enough now. I would still like if you could send me more pictures of the family, but you could do that by a letter or something like that. Thanks for everything. I am always praying for you. Thank you for your love and support. Elder Ryan Griffin

The Lord's blessings

Hola Familia, Well this has been a good week. This coming week is the last week of the change. So that you know, now we have p-day the Monday before the changes instead of the Thursday, so I will be writing you in a week, not in 10 days. We had 4 people that came to church this week again. The 4 that came all have a baptismal date for this Saturday. There are still a couple things that they have to do first, but we should have a baptism of 2 families this Saturday. We are really excited and literally seeing miracles here. These are the people we are currently teaching: Nestor and Mercedes: They were the ones I told you about that he was having problems with drinking. One day we talked with him at a member’s house. He told us that he wasn’t going to be able to attend church for like 5 Sundays at least due to his work. We were kind of frustrated because he has a date, and it was going to fall. We were kind of overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do. We decided to teach him the W.O.W, and the Sabbath Day. We started with the latter, and he got kind of defensive at first. At that point I felt like the rest of the lesson was literally taught by the spirit through me. I asked him if he believed that God could do miracles. He said yes. I asked him if he believes that God can do miracles in our day and age. Again he said yes. I then testified to him that God can do miracles, and not only that, but that he can do them in the life of Nestor, that if he is willing to obey the commandments, God WILL bless him. I then read 1 Nephi 3:7, and pointed out that Nephi didn’t just say I will go and try… but that he said I Will go and DO. We testified that we have to have that trust in the Lord that he will help us keep his commandments. It was probably one of the most spiritual lessons I have had yet. Now he has completely stopped drinking, and he went to church on Sunday. We saw a change so big in him after that lesson. I really know that the Lord spoke to him through us. That he taught him exactly what he needed to know. I feel so blessed to have been the tool through which God blessed the life of someone. They are going to be married on Friday, and Baptized on Saturday. I now know that he has been converted, he shared his testimony with us, and he said he now knows this is the true church, and is willing to do whatever it is that the Lord tells him. Roberto and Brigida: Well Roberto is doing really well, and will be a great help to the branch here. Brigida however, was having some reason that she didn’t want to get baptized. She was being kind of weird, and we didn’t know what was going on. We decided to split them up, and talk to them separate. Apparently she has just felt left out because I talked to Roberto, and my companion to her, and she opened up and decided that she also will be baptized if it’s not too cold on Saturday. Santo and Graciela: They didn’t come to church this Sunday because Santo did something to his leg in his work. He hit it with something a couple days ago, and on Saturday he did it again. He was bed ridden, and so he couldn’t come to church, but told us he will do everything he can to come next week. We gave him a blessing of the sick, and told them we will be passing by to see how they are doing. They will be getting baptized soon as well, just a matter of time at this point. So as you can see the Lord has blessed us lots in the work here. We are finding new people to baptize, and we are finding lots of families. All the families I baptize before June 23, I can enter into the temple with them when they get sealed as a family. If I baptize any families in between June 23 and July 23, I can extend my mission a month to be able to go with them as well. We are seeing some improvement in the branch here, and as we are finding more men, we are seeing it as that we are baptizing the future bishop of the ward here. I love you all, and I am so thankful for you and all you do. I am so thankful after seeing how many fathers here are drunks, and cheat on their wives, that I have a father that has been a great example to me. I will forever be thankful for all that you have taught me, and the examples that you have been for me. Love you tons! Elder Griffin

Families working toward eternity

Hola familia, Well this week has been a good week for the missionary work. We have 5 investigators with baptismal dates for the 11 of June. 4 of them attended church, and are progressing very well. We also found 15 new investigators in the week, so we are seeing a lot of the hand of god in our work. We had 10 of the 30 people that went to church as investigators. Roberto- We have been teaching Roberto for a while now, and he has a date for the 11. He is a Mennonite…. I think that’s what it´s called, some religion I don’t know anything about. He is about 40 or so. We are teaching him and his wife, but for now she is for some reason not wanting to get baptized with him. Anyway, we set the date with him, and he is very ready to be baptized. He is reading the book of Mormon, and has progressed a lot since we have been teaching him. We are going to be focusing more on his wife after he is baptized so that we can help her also be baptized. Nestor and Mercedes- They are a family that we are teaching as well. They are both younger, and are not married. They want to be married and baptized. The problem is that she doesn’t have her birth certificate (cedula in Spanish) and so we have to help her get that before she can get married. Also Nestor has problems with drinking; his “friends” that he works with always invite him to drink. We are trying to help him leave it behind so that he can be baptized. Santo and Graciela- They are another family that we are teaching that went to church this Sunday. They are progressing really well, and are reading the Book of Mormon. We have the same date for them as the others, and we just need to teach them the rest of the lessons to get them ready for their interviews. They have six children, some of which are his, and others hers. The three youngest ones came with them to church this last week. We are also teaching a family of Paola and Jorge. We haven’t been able to talk to Jorge very much because he is always tired when he comes back from his work. We have taught Paola like 4 times now. She is reading the Book of Mormon, and prayed about it. She told us that she knows it is true, and that she wants to be baptized. We have to talk more with Jorge now, because they have to get married first, and we want them to get baptized together. We are also teaching the boyfriends of two members. I say boyfriends because they live together, and they aren’t married. We are trying to talk the men into getting married so that the members can stop living in sin. So all in all, we are being able to teach a lot of families right now, which is exactly what the branch needs right now. If we can baptize all the families we are teaching we might actually have a real branch here. We are pretty much working with the people that will be the future branch presidents, and elders quorum presidents in the branch. It’s quite the adventure working in an area where the church is still so young, because the church just doesn’t work the same as it does in the states. There are a lot of problems, but we are slowly getting rid of the things that are wrong, since we are the only ones here that actually understand how the church is supposed to work. Well, I love you guys tons, and hope that all is going well with you guys. Thank you for your prayers, and your faith. If there is one counsel I can give you it would be to READ YOUR SCRIPTURES. If there is one thing I have seen in the mission, it’s that the people that read there scriptures are much stronger in the church. Well Love you tons, Elder Griffin

No storehouse, no activity

Well I forgot last week, so better late than never, Happy brithday Dad! I hope you had a fantastic birthday. Well this week has been good. Our baptismal date that we had for the end of this week fell. They faced some problems that we are trying to help them overcome. I don't think I have ever seen an investigator that hasn't had some kind of problem that comes up, so it is just something normal at this point. We had about 10 or so people that were supposed to come to church this last Sunday. Only 2 of them ended up coming. We have one family that has a baptismal date for the 18 of June, and another for the 11 of June. We are working hard with a lot of the families that we have found, and trying to strengthen the branch here. Last week we figured out that a lot of the members had left church when they figured out that the president wasn't going to come, because they had only come to church for the storehouse. I felt disappointed to know that we had people coming just for that. Also there are a lot of people in the branch that are living in sin, and not changing. Needless to say, my companion and I did our job of calling the people to repentance on Sunday. I talked about the importance of the Sacrament, and that we need to be coming to church for the right reasons, instead of mocking the sacrifice of our savior. Then my companion talked out of Alma 5, about repentance. Anyway, we dropped the cane on the people a little bit, but for the most part the people said they had learned a lot from our talks, which is what we wanted. We had a zone conference on Friday in Asunción. I learned a ton from the conference, and feel like there are still a lot of things that I need to start doing better. We listened to a talk that Jeffrey R. Holland had given in the MTC that was very direct, and made me think a lot. It's amazing that the better I become, and more I know, the more I realize that I need to better. I really have seen such a giant change in myself in the time I have in the mission. The harder I work, the more god blesses me. It is literally impossible to repay God for everything he does. I am so grateful to be in the mission in a period of so much learning in my life. It makes me want to work as hard as possible to at least do the best I can to repay the Savior for all he has done for me. We are having good success here, and are seeing the hand of the lord in the work. There are things we are trying to do better so that we can start seeing more success. I know that there is a lot more success that we could be seeing in our area, if we do all of our part. Today I have 11 months in the mission. I can't believe how fast it's all passing by. Well, maybe not as much for you guys, but for me it has al flown by. I can't belive that I almost have a year in the mission, I still feel like I just started the mission a couple weeks ago. Well I hope everything goes well in this week. I Love you guys, and am so thankful to have such great parents. Hasta Luego. Jajatapota, Elder Ryan Griffin

Swimming with the Croc's

Well this week was a rollercoaster week I would have to say. We started out the week really well. We found 17 new investigators in the week, and 5 of them were families. We have a lot of potential of having a lot of baptisms now. We taught 38 lessons in the week, and of course had a baptism and a confirmation. Early in the week, we had to do divisions with the zone leaders to do the interview of Yessica. I was with one of the zone leaders in our area, and my companion with the other in an area called Itá. The next morning we had to go there to end the divisions. There is a lagoon in there area, that has crocodiles in it. There are like parks around it and everything, kind of weird. Anyway, we were sitting there on a bench waiting for my companion and the other Elder, and we saw a weird thing happen. Some guy just went on the dock, took off his shirt and pants (yes he had underwear on fortunately) and he stood up on the railing for a second, and then jumped off. He swam (quite slowly) to the other side of the lagoon, and was just shouting and stuff. He was definitely high on drugs or something, but it made for an interesting day for sure. During the week we found one family that attended church this Sunday. They have a baptismal date for the 28th of May. They still have to be married, and then baptized, but we are really excited for them. We also talked to a somewhat recent convert (Dora) in the ward about the law of Chastity, of which she had no idea. She is currently living with a man(Fabio, the one that beats her), that is the father of one of her children. She asked us what she can do so that she can live the commandments, and we told her she needs to ask God, but that she needs to separate, or get married. It has to be one or the other. She ended up talking to him, and he is actually progressing and that he is going to come to church this next Sunday. We are also teaching the cousin of Liliana still, who used to be very snakish. We taught her, and she has changed completely, and is progressing a lot. She had a baptismal date, but she didn’t come to church, so it fell. We found another family, Santo and Graciela, that are really good. We have only been able to teach them once, but Santo told us on Saturday that he would come to church if it didn’t rain. We were expecting that he would be like all the others that always tell us that, but he actually did end up coming. We talked to him, and he told us that right now his wife is really sick, and needs blood transfusions, and so she couldn’t go. He told us that they want to be baptized, but that we will have to start teaching them the rest once she is better. On Saturday, it was raining in the morning. We had the baptism for the morning, but ended up having to postpone it until the afternoon. When we were about to leave to go do it, it started raining again. We said a prayer that it wouldn’t rain so that we could do the baptism, and once we got up off our knees, it had stopped. On Sunday our branch president didn't come to church, so we had to direct and teach everything. We are having a lot of potential of baptisms in the area. In reality God has blessed us with many miracles while we have been here. I have seen a big change in my own desires lately in this month. I told you about the 40 day fast that I am doing, and it really is making a big difference. I feel the spirit more in my life. i just feel more.... happy. I can't really explain it, but I really jsut feel a greater desire to share the gospel with the people here, and help them in their lives. The mission really is such a great exerience, I can't believe how much different my feelings toward my savior are after just 11 months in the mission. I love you guys, and Am so greatful for your support. I am so thankful to have such great parents that always taught me the right things to do. I am so grateful for the plan of God that allows us to be together forever. Thank you soooo much for all you have done, and are doing for me. I am forever greatful to you as my parents. Love, Elder Griffin