Well this week honestly was just ok haha. didnt really do alot and not alot happened but thats ok. one thing that was cool that happened last night was me and my companion were in divisions and so i was teaching a lesson with a recent convert whos only a priest and the dad of the house is also a priest but after the lesson two of the daughters wanted blessings! one of them was a member and one isnt, its the family that we baptized recently? anyways i was way nervous to do that but i just started and the lord helped and i sure hope they felt better after haha. also we tried to contact a future investigator and we walked i kid you not down a 3 mile long road looking for one specific number, which was really hard because the numbers were about as out of order as possible, anyways we ended up not even finding it! later after our lunch appointment we found the guy who gave us the contact! he gave us his address while he was drunk and he mixed up the numbers. oh how i just love serving a mission haha. so that was fun! but yeah thats about the extent of this week. im doing good just pushing through each day, hope everything and everyone at home is good! love you all! Love Elder Griffin

this past week... January 18, 2015

Hi everyone! so this past week seemed like a long one for me at least, but thats ok it was a good one! first off me and my companion are getting along better now, we talked things out and hes changed a few things and i just keep being patient so things are better now. it rained here last week as well for the first time and so that was really cool! thankfully the smell of rain doesnt change in mexico so that was nice and reminded me of home. we hopefully will be having a baptism this week so i guess well see how that goes! also this wednesday we get to watch a training for missionaries that will be broadcast to the whole world! so im really excited about that and im sure that will be awesome. besides that not much else going on! my spanish is definetely still coming along little by little. we also had alot of investigators and less actives that weve been working with come to church yesterday so that was awesome! sure do miss everyone at home and i hope your all doing good! until next week! Love Elder Griffin

(I asked him to tell me about the people he baptized last week, and about how he buys food.)

 about the people i baptized last week... so the dad in the picture is a member and thats his family. we baptized the wife and the oldest sister, we were supposed to baptized the whole family but the younger ones didnt feel ready. i baptized the wife and theyre a really nice family and every time we teach them a lesson they feed us after and drive us home, usually because theyre our last appointment and they live so far away, so thats good! im glad to hear that you guys are having fun and getting to spend time with family! yeah i think your right i think i have lost a little weight. i dont know how much because we dont have a scale but i feel a little thinner so thats good. probably 230 now. and trust me im eating fine. the members feed us every day so i usually just fill up there and buy snacks as needed, i just finished all the jerky you sent me.  they gave us a card and every 15 days 1000 pesos is deposited and thats what we use to buy what we need and im budgeting pretty well off of that. dont worry though i know that if i need anything i can use it but im doing fine without it and ill let you know if i do use it...well im glad that your at least taking it easy! and i just read kylees talk and wow what a powerful talk that must have been to sit there and listen to her. im glad that the girls are having fun and enjoying the snow and friends! and yes me and my companion are doing better now and its a good thing too. i love you all so much and mom thats awesome that you were able to feel fine during her talk, its so comforting to me to hear about all the blessings you guys are recieving. i know all too well what its like to not be able to do what i want when you get injured and especially when it is at the start of summer too! its crazy just how much this mission is changing me!

(I then asked him how it has changed him... here is the reply)

the mission has changed me in more ways than i can say, patience first off haha, just keeps adding on more and more how to work hard, definetely in better shape and lost a few pounds, spanish, and just a stronger testimony of the gospel and a better knowledge of the church! this week we dont have alot scheduled. later me my companion and our recent convert buddy alberto are all gonna go try and eat a big hamburger in under 10 minutes to try and get it free haha. were expecting a baptism this saturday but who knows. we have a missionary training on wednesday thats being broadcast to all the missionaries around the world so thats cool! and then on friday we have interviews as well! not a whole lot haha. im still feeling pretty safe yeah. i love you too mom so much and i hope all is going well and goes well with your shoulder! itll be crazy to see how much i change after two years!

 Love Elder Griffin

Rain in La Piedad, Mexico

Coke is cheap...

so here is what the city looks like during a rainstorm! kinda cool i thought! it was kinda relaxing too because it happened during our personal study so that was sweet. oh and also coke down here is way cheap!! 5 liters for only 47 pesos!(about 3 bucks) although you have to switch out bottles every time you buy it, its weird like that down here! it doesnt rain alot. it did a little while we were in the mtc but im pretty sure this is the first time we got rain while ive been here. and it wasnt flash flooding no it was a decent rainstorm though for about an hour and then just light sprinkles on and off for the rest of the day

so wow this past week sure did seem to be a long one! for me at least it seemed long but thats ok. well anyways it was kindof a slow week and its been really hard working with my companion. he is the companion i will have for my first 13 weeks here because he is my trainer and also because this transfer is 7 weeks instead of 6. but its ok ill get through it its just one of the struggles of a mission. anyways i had my first baptism! it was amazing! only two of the 4 people we had planned got baptized because the other two didnt feel ready but still it was amazing! i got the baptism right on the first try too! i was really happy about that. and when she came out of the water it was like she had her breath taken away! not sure if i held her under too long or it was the spirit haha, i just wanted to make sure she was completely under! but no it was amazing and im so grateful to have had that opportunity to use my priesthood and also to change her life forever. the one i baptized is closest to me in the pictures in baptismal clothing. the dad in the picture is a member and we hopefully will baptize the other two youth in the picture soon as well! also i got a haircut haha! i dont know how big of a deal that is but ill send some pictures of that. other than that not alot happening! the language is slowing coming thats for sure, im understanding alot more and i am able to say alot more so thats great! but yeah i miss you all so much and your all in my thoughts and prayers! until next week! Love Elder Griffin

This is Kadens email to Kari when she asked him for details about his day and his mission.

an average day is get up at 630, start study at 8, study personally for an hour then companion study for an hour then we study a book called the first 12 weeks for me for an hour then language study for an hour sometimes and then we head out to teach! we eat with a member every day except p days at about 230, then teach the rest of the night! we either have plans and walk to someones house or we have appointments we go to, and then were usually back to the casa by about 9 or 930. we havent gave any service yet actually which is really weird but were gonna clean the water for the baptismal font on wednesday so thats not gonna be fun! because we looked inside it on sunday and theres big spiders and big cockroaches and all sorts of creepy crawleys in the water thing for the font so we get to clean that. i still feel pretty safe yeah, although coming home last night im pretty sure i saw a dead person....  a member was driving us home after a lesson and there was a bunch of cops and people directing traffic around this one girl who was laying on the side of the road and i dont know if she was alive or not... gotta love mexico! new years we had to enter the casa by 7 then we just prepared basically, i shined my shoes and straightened a few things up and tried to go to bed but let me tell you another patience story! i go to bed at 1030 but my companion stays up to plan a lesson for the district meeting tomorrow, at 11 i ask him to turn off the lights but he says no, and he starts talking to some dude in the street from the window, then at 1115 he finally turns off the lights but still uses a flashlight to read, and by this point the fireworks had started so i was trying real hard to sleep, at 1130 someone calls him and talks to them till 12, then finally i think at about 1215or 1230 i fell asleep so yeah! and yeah sorry youve been worrying about our christmas night! it kinda sucked and i was discouraged but its ok she felt bad and made up for it and my feet are all healed up now so dont worry about it im fine. thanks for everything mom! oh and i got the padded envelope and the package with the sweater! thank you soooooo much!! it seriously made me so happy! i love the sweater so so much! and i ate all the lackerlies the first night haha, dont worry i shared. then one of the bags of jerky wasnt vacuumed all the way so it had mold growing on it so i just threw away the moldy parts and ate the rest. it was way good thank you! i also loved the tie and the pin and tack! i wore the tie to church haha. but yeah thank you so much for that it meant the world to me! and i put the picture of our family up on my wall where i study, i loved that as well. also if you havent already or your about to send another package i could really use just more pictures from home of everyone and all our adventures, that would bereally nice so just whenever you send another package if you could do that it would be great:) so a few more things i forgot i did kinda have some testimony builders! tell daniel thanks for jinxing me because last monday night i annointed the oil on a lady who needed a blessing... took me 3 tries to get it right and i had to write her name down because it was so long so i was kinda dissapointed about that, but then the next day a  different lady asked for a blessing and wanted me to give it! i started off just blessing her with health and then i was prompted to say that god loves her and a few other things i cant remember but that went better. i hope i did ok on that one haha. oh and speaking of packages its gonna be hard to throw away the box of the first package because of all of the i love yous writted on it and all the pictures haha! oh and lastly i have two questions, one can i wash my church pants? kinda already did haha but i was just wondering. and also whos supposed to sign the pillow case? because it looked like its for family and friends to sign before i left but its a little late for that haha... well yeah thats kinda this past week! love you all and miss you so much! Love Elder Griffin.

hey everyone! sorry i forgot to send out a general email last week haha i just got so caught up writing everyone else it totally slipped my mind! so first off this is week 10 of writing home! that i only have about 90 more to go! thats kinda sad haha... anyways this week was pretty good i annointed the oil on a lady who needed a blessing, that took me 3 tries and i had to write her name down it was so long haha. but it worked out and then the next day i gave another blessing to a different lady and i could definitely tell i was prompted to say a few things that im sure helped her. everything is going good down here! im slowly getting used to all the walking that we do and also my spanish is slowly coming. im definitely able to do alot more now than i could when i first got here! also today is the halfway mark for this transfer so thats cool! im so glad the days here go by faster then they did in the ccm haha. also this week we are planning to have 4 baptisms! its a family where the dad is a member and the wife and 3 kids arent so they're planning on it and hopefully they stick to it! but yeah everything is going pretty good here! sure do miss you all at home and i hope everything is going good! feliz ano nuevo! Love Elder Griffin