September 26, 2016....

Hey everyone! Well this week was pretty good, kinda boring, kinda tough, kinda eventful all at the same time haha. monday was a good day last week since we went to the ruins outside of my area and that night me and my companion talked about how we can help him be more obedient and more diligent. so this week me and him have been getting up on time together and doing excersize together as well! its been great! the week sure was a hot one though! the sun just does not give up down here! but thats ok because neither do i! Were really excited because this week were going to have a baptism! were really happy with this because its basically a golden opportunity. His name Is Jonothan and Hes a 10 year old boy that really just loves the church and really wants to be baptized and even wants to serve a mission! hes been asking us alot about what he can do to prepare for a mission and things like that and were just so happy! his parents are less actives but theyve come to church 5 weeks in a row now! the dad is military so its really fun visiting them in the military base haha. Were just really happy because the family is really united and the parents are also fortifying their testimonies as well as Jonathan. Yesterday he gave the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and he did a great job! and even better than that, as he came down his dad was silenty clapping his hands and gave him a thumbs up and told him good job! so its just great to see this family progressing and to see how united they are. This week was pretty normal besides that as far as work goes. Saturday was a real treat though! Friday night we traveled to Lazaro and we ended up staying with the zone leaders, the problem is that they just barely changed houses and i had no idea where they lived! to make a long story short i misheard the instructions and we got lost in the middle of Lazaro Cardenas after taking a little Comvi( the little transportation mini buses they use here). and once we realized that we took a taxi to the zone leaders house. so that tested my patience a bit and i got a little down for that, especially since it was late and i was really tired. the next day we had to get up at 330!!! we took a bus from lazaro to uruapan and got to the church there at 9 and started our zone conference at 10! while i felt down before i left there just pumped to go to work!! the zone leaders messages were amazing and the president as well and we talked about so many good things and just motivated us to be better and to work harder and really just forget ourselves in this great work in order to be happy!! so i liked it and it helped alot with how i was feeling at that point. That sure was a long day though because at 4 we left uruapan and got to lazaro just right before 8 and our bus left at 8 oclock! we didnt get home to our house in peta until 1045! needless to say i was tired, i have been tired, and i am tired right now haha. Especially because today we had a zone activity here in Lazaro! we played with water balloons throwing them at everyone and playing soccer, but man did i do alot of running under that hot sun haha! and i dont know why but we did alot of wrestling that day as well haha, thats something i hadnt done in a while and it just made me realize how out of shape that i am haha! Right now i am still in Lazaro with the zone leaders since im about to do divisions with them. I get to be with my old companion Elder Ramirez again! so it should be fun. Im also really looking forward to General Conference and the baptism on saturday! well i miss you all and love you all lots! have a great week like always! Love Elder Griffin

Another wonderful week in the mission!

Hey everyone! so this week was pretty normal i would have to say but it was a good one! Although tuesday morning was probably the second biggest disaster thats happened on my mission, considering the first to be that i was left alone in a bus center by my trainer for two hours haha. Anyways our zone leaders decided that they wanted us to have to go all the way to lazaro for the district meeting, so sunday night we called to see what time the bus leaves and they told us 630 in the morning, which is fine because it would put us there right at 930 when the meeting starts, but we called again monday night and they told us 7-730. so we were gonna get there a little late but we would get there. we got to the bus center at 645 that morning just hoping it would get there soon and we could leave. So we waited, and we waited, and we waited some more, and a few buses came and went, and finally at 815 our bus pulled in and we left. we got to the district meeting at 11, after it was over, so, we didnt even have a district meeting. so that was a big disaster and made me kinda mad but i got over it. That same tuesday i was able to do divisions with Elder Menchu. Hes a really cool and a really funny Elder thats for sure. While we were together we were able to do a service project where we just dragged a whole bunch of big long rebar bars across the ground from one house to another about a block away. it was an hour of hard work and man was i sweaty and tired after, it was fun though! Then we ended divisions thursday and we saw a pig get killed haha. we went to search for a less active( the one who kills pigs) and right as we got there he asked our help to kill a pig and we said sure since were down for any type of service haha. The last time we got there the pig was already dead and on the table and we just helped hold it while the other guy cut it up. this time we actually watched them kill it and then helped them lift it on the table, and in the process my companion got his shirt all bloody, dont worry its white now though haha. so that was another fun story. Let me tell you a little bit about just how much the people here dont want us. We got to a house the other day of a few less actives and specifically searching the only one who lives there that actually wants to go to church. anyways right as we got there, their was about 5 people sitting outside just talking, and when they saw us all of them but one bolted for the door and went inside. the one who stayed is the only one that actually goes to church. So that just kindled the fire a bit. Then the weather here is so bipolar that it can go from blazing hot one day to a total torment the next. thursday night it rained harder than ive ever seen in my life and blew harder as well. Ive never heard thunder that loud and ive never seen so much lightning. It was so bad that while i was showering thursday night the lights went out! just my luck right? luckily they came back on a few seconds later haha. And now to finish this long email i would like to end it on a good note, we ate with the golden family were working with that lives in the military base on saturday, and whenever we visit them the dad of the family picks us up in his car outside the gate and after drives us all the way home since we live pretty close. well this time since we still planned on going to san  jeronimito after to work we told him just to drop us off at the highway and so thats what he did, but as we were waiting for the bus he flipped back around and told us to get in and that hed take us to San Jeronimito! so that was awesome and definitely a blessing. So yeah that was this week. Pretty interesting. Pretty boring haha. not really i think Ive just gotten so use to all of the weird things down here that they dont seem weird anymore. Well Thats it for this week folks! i hope you all have a good one i love you all so very much! Love Elder Griffin

Tacos, Tacos, Tacos...

 P-day, going to the Museum and the Ruins outside of Zihua.

 Handmade Jewelry...

 Elder Griffin and Elder Platero...

September 12,2016. Another week down... Week #2 with Elder H.

Hey everybody! so for anyone that was worried about me last week that heard about the struggles ive been having or could just sense them from the email i sent, i just wanted to say no worries! All is well and i was just having a rough moment but everything is good now, thanks for all of your love and prayers they sure did help! Anyways let me tell you a little bit about this week. Im really trying to help my companion since hes not excatly the most obedient or diligent missionary. We decide that we need to be alot more diligent in everything and that we can always improve our obedience. as we really focused on obedience and diligence in the district meeting i set goals with my district about things we would do to improve or change. and my companion put down that he wanted to be more diligent! so tuesday and wednesday we went out and we were alot more diligent in everything! usually when plans or appointments fall i try visiting other people that live close by or even kinda farther, well rather than do that and waste time we started knocking on doors for about the first time ive done that in 2 months. this is when the tender mercies of the lord came in. On tuesday as we were knocking on doors and started to get a little discouraged because we really had nothing to do, the branch president called us and asked if we could do divisions with him and a member of the stake high counsel! that was truly a tender mercy from god that boosted our spirits. Another one was on Wednesday when we had only 2 lessons in the morning and then after we ate lunch we tried visiting everyone we had planned and none of them were home! thankfully we had an appointment at 730 with the family that lives at the military base. That was awesome to visit them and just see the desires that this kid has to be baptized. He even asked us what he can do and what he can read to prepare, so it was awesome. Then we had heard that a less active family also lived on the base so we asked the people we were visiting about them and they said that they live right below! so we knocked on the door and wow was the lady suprised who opened the door haha! i could just see her eyes get big when she saw us, it was really funny. But thankfully they let us in and we talked to them as well! its a family of a mom and the dad who is in the military with two cute little girls! we talked to just the parents for a bit about everything like who they are, how long theyve been members, and why they havent come to church and whats stopping them and all that. We ended up teaching the whole family about the love of god and the presence of the spirit there was undeniable. the dad started crying and the mom teared up as well. They told us they would come to church but sadly they didnt, were visiting them tonight and hopefully we can help them even more! So this next week that is coming up we are going to try to be even more diligent! and work harder and longer and im sure well see even more tender mercies of the lord! also here in mexico i dont know if ive told you all about this but they have this food called pastor tacos (tacos al pastor) and these things are the bomb! 5 tacos for 20 pesos! well friday since the food canceled on us and just gave us money instead we went for these special guys! i ate 15 tacos and i had very many regrets later haha. but theyre tasty and i just felt like sharing that with you all. Well thanks again everyone for your love and support! life down here is good! its not perfect but thats ok because how boring would it be if it was! I love you all and i hope all is well and i wish you all the best! Love Elder Griffin

Study time...

Dinner....  Taco Friday...  I ate 15 Tacos and my stomach wasn't very happy with me...

Steamed Vegetables, Chicken and rice...  Reminded me of HOME!

September 5, 2016. Week one with Elder Hernandez...

Hey everyone! So this week was pretty normal I would say. We had a few good lessons and a few bad ones, a few good days with lots of lesson and a few days that I thought God himself didn't want us to have success. My new companion is Elder Hernandez, he is from Sinaloa. All of his family are members and he even has an older brother that served a mission as well. He has 6 months in the mission, hes not super obedient but I'm gonna try and help him with that. hes just a little distracted with things he shouldn't be and doesn't want to obey alot of the rules, but I'm going to talk to him and were going to work together to help him. We get along pretty well though. So a cool thing that happened this week.... Saturday night we visited a family... In a military base! That was cool haha. the parents are members and the dad works for the army, and they have two kids, a 7 year old girl and a ten year old boy. were going to work with them so that the dad can progress in the priesthood and that he can also baptize his son. Now its time for a rant. So it was raining a little saturday night and a little harder on sunday morning, it wasn't that stormy or anything just was alot of rain, well right as we got to the church sunday morning our branch president called us and told us that we wouldn't be having church today because of the rain... so that kinda made me feel real bad. We still went out and worked that day and got our shoes and feet soaking wet visiting people, but fast sunday as I am fasting and using all the patience I can, I didn't even get to take the sacrament. So I'm a little upset that people don't truly understand the importance of that. But I'm going to just work harder this week and hope that all will get better! So yeah that's about it for this week. Sorry it was short. hopefully this week will be more interesting haha!! Love you all! Thanks for all of your love and support! Have a great week! Love Elder Griffin!

September 2016

Elder Griffin and Elder Hernandez