Changes, eye problems

Well, as you know we had changes this week. Me and my companion got a change. Elder Richard got shipped out to another area, and I'm staying here in my area for my last change. That'll be 5 changes in total in one area. My new companion is Elder Stephenson, from Nampa, Idaho. He has a year in the mission, so he is a little older than my last companion. He is really cool, and we get along really well so far.

So on Tuesday we got the changes, and my companion and I went around so he could say goodbye to the people. Basically the whole day was spent doing that, so it was pretty boring.... Then wednesday I got my new companion, and we worked in our area.

On Thursday, we finally got to do a service project with a member. His house is like a 30 minute walk from our house, and half way out, my companion realized he had forgotten a change of clothes. We were already a little bit late, so we just went anyway, and I ended up getting to dig a meter deep whole, basically by myself, and my comp got stuck carrying the buckets to go dump out the dirt. It was awesome to actually get a little bit of some manual labor going finally. It's been a while since I've been able to do some hard work in that sense. I'm glad I got lots of practice for that back home with all our digging and stuff in the yard. It was really good getting that done. Later that night, I had to go to another area, to do an interview for a baptism. We were on the freeway waiting for the bus to come, and all the sudden a beaten old truck starts pulling over, and this crazy looking dude just told us to get in his car. We were both kind of sceptical, seeing as we didn't know the guy, and he looked slightly insane, or drunk or something. Then we both just shrugged, and opened the door to the car. There was only one seat, so we got to share that, and I got stuck right on the shifter...... yeah awkward situation when your with a crazy guy. We started going, and I asked the guy how he was, to which he replied "lots of women." Me and my comp just looked at each other, and then he asked, ok, well what is your name. He replied, "there are a lot of them, there's 5 different women." We started kind of wondering what was going on, and then I asked ok, well where are you going to? He said "lots of women." Me and my companion both got a little worried, thinking he was going to take us to a whore house or something at that point. Then I decided to change the theme. I asked him, how is your relationship with Jesus Christ in your life. Then he finally started being half way normal. He said he goes to the Catholic church, and that he already follows Jesus in his life. We conversed for a couple minutes, and then we got to our destination. I left him a law of Chastity pamphlet. Later, the interview went really well. It was a 16 year old kid, and he is really mature. It was a really spiritual interview.

On Friday, after lunch, we went ot Oscar, the one we have been teaching for a while. He had us sit down outside, and then went in to get something. Right as we sat down, a pretty big bug flew right into my eye. When it hit, my natural reaction was to close my eye, so it got stuck in between my eye lids. I tried to get it out, and then all the sudden my eye started burning like crazy. I finally got a hold of the bug, and threw it, and then I ran in Oscar's house, and asked them for some water to wash out my eye. I sat there for about 15 minutes just trying to splash water on it, trying to take away the pain. The pain went down a little bit, and we went back out front, and I kept splashing water on it for about an hour. I got a hold of the mission nurse, and she told me to go to our house, and rinse the eye with purified water. For thirty minutes, we walked to get back to the house, me with just one eye working. We finally got there, and rinsed it out with water good. It was already swollen and miscolored pretty good. Afterwards we went out and started working again. We went to Reinaldo and Silvia, and they asked what happened. I told them, and they told me that all I had to do to make it better, was put breast milk in my eye...... Then they asked if we knew anyone who was feeding...... We just said no, and then, he told his wife to go over to the neighbors house to go get some to put in my eye. Before I realized what was going on, She was coming back, and literally had a cap full of breast milk she had just brought from her neighbors house. I know you're probably thinking right now, "don't tell me you put that in your eye." Don't you worry, I was not going to allow that to be placed in my eye. They tried to convince me to do it, but we left their house, my eye being breast milk free. Crazy Paraguayan remedies.....

So on Saturday, I woke up, and low and behold, my eye was swollen up like a golf ball. Ok, well not the eye itself, but the skin around it. I could hardly even open my eye because it was so swollen up. I called the nurse again, and she gave me a prescription, and I have been taking that, but my eye is still swollen and I can't even open it at all...... no just kidding, don't worry mom, I'm perfectly fine now. The eye is back to normal, and I can see just fine. Lesson learned though, don't let Paraguayan bugs pee in your eye..... it hurts.

I also got a call from some elders in my district on Friday, they told me that they had found a dead man, and that they didn't know what to do. They wanted to know if they should call the cops or not. Yeah, that was a good surprise, that one wasn't in my manual. Well, turns out that a lot of the people told them that they shouldn't call the cops, because then they would become suspects, so I just told them to tell someone else to call the cops....... crazy stuff that happens here in Paraguay.

Well, on the whole missionary work side of things, We had a lot of distractions, and stuff that happened, so not a whole lot happened this week. We did find a seventh day adventist guy, just so happened we found him on Saturday (their sabbath day). We sat down and talked to him, and of course he brought up the whole seventh day first day argument. We just brushed passed it pretty smoothly, and actually had a pretty good lesson with him. We have another appointment with him today, we'll see how that goes.

We also had a lesson with this guy that is named Úbaldo. He was committed to go to church, and on Saturday, we passed by and he said he just can't do it, he doesn't want to change churches. He told us he knows that the Catholic church (where he attends) is false. He told us they are the decendent of those that killed Jesus. He also made a reference to them as the biggest parasite upon the earth. And yet, he doesn't want to change churches. Yeah, I don't really understand it either. Crazy stuff.

Well, things are going pretty good, we're having a little bit of a hard time in the area right now, but this week is a new week, so we're going to change things up here.

Love you guys tons, and hope all is going well. Have a great week. Congratulations on the 50th Dad. Love you guys

Elder Ryan Griffin

Mother's day call

Well, It was great hearing you guys again. I'm glad to hear everything is going well back home. I really have realized the importance of the family being here in the mission. It's really something that I took for granted before the mission. Sometimes we really have to have things taken away from us for a time to realize how important they really are to us. I love you guys tons and am so thankful for such great parents that are such great examples in living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I really realize now how wicked the world is, and how much iniquity and sin there is in this world. It's something that I never really realized being raised in a home where we were taught the gospel standards. I think about how my life would have been being raised in a home where the gospel was not a great importance, or a home with parents that didn't live the gospel. I really realize that I have been so blessed to have the gospel in my life, and to be in a home full of love, and a safe haven from the evils of the outside world. The gospel is the remedy of all the problems in this world, and we are so blessed to have it in our lives. I'm thankful as well to know that I have such great siblings that live the gospel in their lives. I see so much suffering in families when the children make bad decisions and the whole family suffers from those choices. We are so blessed to have a united family where all seek to put in practice the principles of the Gospel.

This week was a great trial for us once again. I've just come to accept the fact that I still have a long way to go before I become what the Lord expects me to be. I pray daily that by the end of my mission, I can become what he expects me to be, I guess I have to accept the trials and tribulations that He gives me to help me get there. It is one of the hardest things to have to see people not making the right decisions to make their way through the eternal progress toward exaltation. I have really come to understand the scripture in Mosiah 28:3(I think that's where it is) that talks about the sons of Mosiah that couldn't bear the thought of one soul having to suffer an eternal torment. It really makes me just stop thinking about myself and my well being and worry about what these people need to have more joy in their lives. I have spent most of my life thinking about myself and my needs, but the mission has really taught me to worry about others.

We had a really rough time finding our investigators during this week. We tried everything we could to find people, and do what we needed to do to start seeing baptisms. Despite our many efforts and prayers, our struggles ended up getting only one of our investigators in church. We ended up finding a lot of new investigators due to the fact that everything was falling the whole week. We have almost talked to everyone here in this area. I am to the point that when I do contacts in the street, about 50 percent of the people we try to talk to, we have already talked to at some point. I love the struggles of the mission! I've never done something so difficult and frustrating in my life, but at the same time I've never felt so much joy and peace in my life. I always was worried about things before the mission, and I really realize I always felt like there was something lacking in my life. That lacking really has been filled through the missionary labors.

In the zone conference, President Callan talked about our missionary purpose a lot. It was the most spiritual conference that I can remember. He also talked about the fact that he wants us all to be excited to go back home, and continue our progress after. I left very edified and excited ot keep working after the conference.

We had a fun process of trying to make a map this week. We went exploring a little bit in our area, and after a couple days we got a map, about 7 papers worth, so it is pretty big. We now have a map in our area. We feel like that is going to help the other elders after us in this area a lot to be able to manage the area better. Hopefully they enjoy it.

We will be knowing the changes later tonight. I'll be letting you guys know what happened next week. I love you guys tons, and hope that all is well back home. Thank you guys for all you do, and for your love and support.

Elder Ryan Griffin

The Lord tries those whom he loves‏

Well, as the title of the email states, this week was quite a trying one. All of the things I have learned as a missionary, all of my development, and training, and learning all were tested in a trial of faith for my companion and I. The week turned out to be a complete roller coaster, and unfortunately not your typical fun roller coaster. It was probably one of the hardest weeks of my mission, but it really taught me something. My mission has really changed me. Earlier in my mission, I didn't take all that well to all the trials, and frustrations of the missionary work. Now as a "veteran" missionary I really have learned how to just trust in the Lord and push forward regardless of what happens.

On Tuesday, I did divisions with one of the companionships in my district to do the interview of a guy that was to be baptized. The interview went really well, and the divisions were good. The man that was to be baptized was super prepared. He was studying the BOM, principles of the Gospel, and duties of the priesthood, and some of the Liahonas. He really had a true hunger to know more. It was a really spiritual experience to be able to interview him for the baptism. I love the interviews, because I can share my testimony with them, and hear their testimony as a new(future) member.

I got back from divisions to find out that everything (OK, maybe not everything, but basically) had fallen in our area the day before. The family, Reinaldo and Silvia, said they found out they couldn't get married, because his wife didn't have her documents for Paraguay (she is Brazilian) and that they weren't going to be able to get married and baptized this week. Also our other investigator, Oscar that had a date for this week, was drinking with some buddies when they passed over there. The whole day was apparently a pretty good mess.

The next day, we went to the civil register (for marriages) and found out more information. It turned out that they could in fact get married and everything was fine. We went out to their house later to tell them the good news. When we sat down and started talking, they said that they needed to get the documents first, for migration, and passport and everything, or it would cause problems later on. They said it would make a lot of things harder if they get married before taking care of that. Then they said they made the decision to wait on the marriage and baptism because of those problems, and that it would take about 6 months to get it all done.

We of course investigated thoroughly to find out the law on that. We first talked to a member from Argentina that lives here and is married to a Paraguayan. He told us that it is actually easier if they get married, to get the documents and migrations and everything else. Then the next morning we talked to 3 different judges that all confirmed the same, it is in fact easier to get the documents, and migrations if they get married first. So we realized there had to be something else behind the whole doubt there. We talked to them that night, and asked some good questions before telling them what we had found out, and found all of the iceberg that was under there. They just feel like they need a little more time to prepare.

With Oscar, we visited him on Wednesday. We talked to him about some stuff, and he is still smoking and drinking. There was a slight pause in the lesson, and Oscar asked my companion what he was thinking. To which he replied that he was thinking about a remedy for smoking where you put cigarettes in water, and drink it, which makes you not want to smoke anymore. So what did we do, well lets just say we did a little bit of an experiment. We put 8 cigarettes in a glass of water, and he drank half of it. That was on Wednesday. He still has yet to smoke since then, going on 5 days now. There were some pretty ugly side effects though, some of which were throwing up, stomach aches, headaches, and throat pains..... but those only lasted a couple of hours, and since then he hasn't smoked.

On Sunday, we didn't have any investigators in the meeting, the first time in like 3 months now..... it kind of just set in everything else that had happened during the rest of the week.

Overall, it was a pretty rough week, and my companion was getting really frustrated with it all. (the same I would have done earlier in my mission) Regardless of it all, I had one thing in mind. Trust in the lord with all thy heart. I know that regardless of what happens here in this area, the Lord knows what he is doing. Every day, I pray that the will of the Lord be fulfilled, and I must live by that principle. My mind is set in doing the will of the Lord, and so all I can do, is stay happy, and keep giving everything I've got. If the people don't get baptized right now, in my time, and in my way, they will be in the lord's time and in the Lord's way. I have no doubt that the Lord will do what's best. As long as I am doing all I can, I have no need to worry. This week is a new week, and whatever happens, I will keep praying that the will of the Lord be done, and do all that I can to fulfil that.

I love you guys tons, and pray for you always. Have a great week, and keep pressing forward with a steadfast faith in Christ. Thank you for your examples, and for all you have taught me. Love ya.

Elder Ryan Griffin

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