New Transfer, New Companion... still in Tapatio!

Hey everyone! well today are transfers! i hit the jackpot with it as well! I'm still in my same area but my new companion is awesome! His name is Elder Ulloa, he doesnt have alot of time in the mission but he is on the fast track to be the next assistant! Elder Herrmann was his trainer, and ive met him before and talked to him so when i saw the transfers i was very happy! I get to train him on how to be a zone leader, and there were alot of transfers in my zone so this transfer we are going to work hard and make lots of miracles happen! This last week was pretty stressful though, i say that alot right? haha well anyways this week we had divisions on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were pretty good, i stayed in my area with a different missionary and we worked pretty good, alot of plans fell through sadly but the few lessons we did have were really good! Thursday, Friday and Saturday as well we had the special divisions, where both me and my companion went to another area. We got to the house of the missionaries and it was a huge mess. We had told them to clean it the last time we were there but since they didn't do it we got there and started cleaning it for them! (if anyone remembers this is what the assistants did to me one time and it was a lesson i will NEVER forget). Wow was there a different spirit in the house after we cleaned it! Friday i woke up feeling way way sick. We left to work but i slept during the studies in the afternoon because i felt so bad, after that we left again to go to a service project. We got there and we were gonna paint a house, but the other 3 elders painted while i slept because i just felt like i was gonna die haha. Tried taking alot of medicine as well but didn't seem to help, i was sick all day Saturday and Sunday as well but today im feeling better! Its been pretty stressful as well because one of our district leaders decided that he didnt want to work because he was about to go home anyways, so he stayed with the secretaries his last few days and we had to be in charge of his district as well for those days. We got to the Bus station at 7AM and we didn't leave till 1230 when my new companion got there. Haha i love being a zone leader!!!! The best part is that we used to share our ward with a companionship of sister missionaries, but they took them out and now we have the whole ward to ourselves. so now we get to open up a new area pretty much, so i feel like im gonna be getting lost alot this week and im gonna be walking alot, but its gonna be fun! I cant wait for General Conference! i highly suggest that everyone can take the time to watch it! i cant wait to receive all the instruction and advice and i know that if anyone has a question they want answered, if you ask god to answer it and listen to General Conference you will receive an answer! Well thanks so much for all your love and prayers! I'm doing great and i hope that you can all say the same! have a great week! Love Elder Griffin

 Elder Griffin and Elder Ramirez...

 "Family Photo", Elder Reichart, middle, trained Elder Griffin.  So he is the dad, Kaden is the son.  Then Elder Reichart is training Elder Sanchez to be the secretary, so the missionaries call them "Mother and Daughter"...  So, Elder Griffin said, Elder Reichart is a Dad and Mom, then Elder Griffin is the son, and Elder Sanchez is the daughter...  I guess that missionary lingo right there???

 Elder Ulloa is Elder Griffin's new companion.

March 20, 2017... Work hard play hard is our motto!

Hey everyone! well this week i could about sum up in one word, work. But since my emails are alot longer than that ill explain why. Me and my companion are honestly working about as hard as our bodies allow us, and they don't allow us to do alot since our area has alot of steep hills and it seems like we are ALWAYS climbing, and never descending. Monday we did a service project for a guy(he told us he was excommunicated but talking to other members no one really has a clue who he is) so that was interesting and fun. Hes blind and he asked us to put up some curtains for him, so we had to drill into his walls to put the curtain holders in, and down here the walls are made of cement which makes drilling a world of fun. That took up most of our time on Monday, Tuesday we spent most of the day walking around and trying to visit a few investigators and less active families, but luck just wasn't with us this week and no one was home. Wednesday me and my companion went and did divisions with a companionship in our zone that hasn't been obedient to say the least, and to make a long story short we have to do divisions with them again this week for the same reason. So that was a little stressful, its always tough losing time to work in our area. Thursday, same story lots of walking and no one was home. Friday was actually a pretty great day, we found 3 new investigators which is more than we have found in the last two weeks. two of them ended up coming to church on Sunday as well, that was really awesome! And Saturday i think we walked more than we had all week, just because we walked from corner to corner of our area, and we did it twice trying to visit people. Sunday thankfully was alot better. Church went good and afterwards we were able to visit a few people and have some really powerful lessons with them. This area is the toughest area i have been in on my mission, Its starting to get hot here and since our area has alot of hills it makes it even harder when our plans fall through. The worst part of all is that the leaders pretty much don't want to work with us. We had set a meeting with the stake president on Tuesday to meet up with him and talk about what he wants us to do and how he wants us to work in his stake, but he canceled on us and never answered us after. like i said before the ward doesn't have a bishop, so the first counselor is in charge of the ward and whenever we talk to him he just tries to avoid any kind of work on his part. So its pretty stressful but were doing everything we can to help this area. Transfers are next week and we don't know what will happen, we had talked with the Mission President about possibly putting the zone leaders in another ward, so it'll be interesting to see the transfers this week! The good thing though is that we know how to relax and play hard. Today a family form the ward took us to a place on the outskirts of Guadalajara called the barranca. Its basically the grand canyon of Guadalajara and we hiked all the way down to the bottom and all the way back up! On the way up though me and my companion had to help one of the members by pretty much carrying him up since he was about to pass out haha. They took us to lunch after and we took a solid hour nap to rest from the hike. Still loving the mission! God always test us to see if we will stay obedient even when we have trials, so even though this area is tough were gonna keep working hard and play hard after! Well i hope you all have a great week! Thanks for your love and prayers! Love Elder Griffin

Elder Pena's 18th month on his mission...

 Elder Griffin baked the cake for him...

 Elder Griffin finally finished the Spanish study book...

 Hiking the barranca today...

 Lunch with the member family today...

Week 4...

Hey everyone! well this week went by pretty darn fast! honestly me and my companion had a really rough week, but i mean a REALLY rough week! We had lots of plans of people to visit every day, but it just seemed like no one was home this week! we tried working with the members and we tried visiting new people and none of that seemed to work out for us. We also spent a large portion of our time this week getting ready for the multi zone conference! we spent alot of time making a triangle representation of our 4 key indicators as missionarys, and that took every drop of creativity i had in me to make it! We also had to take time out of our area to go to another ward for a seminary activity and help the missionaries with that over there. IT was pretty fun but again it did take time out of our area. Friday was the real stress day as we had to finalize every little detail of the zone conference. Neither me nor my companion could sleep that night haha, we were both wide awake at 5 am because of how stressed we were! Thankfully everything went well! all the missionaries arrived early, we even made mission history and started a zone conference EARLY! (That literally has never happened in this mission haha). The assistents even sent us a message that night saying that they were really impressed with everything, so i think we did a good job haha. Sunday was definetely a rewarding day though, every house we went to gave us something to eat haha! one house we went to was having a birthday party and gave us food, another one gave us milk and cookies, another one gave us some rice and chicken, and another one gave us cake and yeah that was a good day haha, lots of rewards for our hard work we had done this week! Today me and my  companion went to the center of Guadalajara! we went to a big market that sells almost everything! i bought myself a few toys needless to say haha, although because of just how packed it was inside and all the bright lights and loud noises, Both me and my companion left with headaches haha. OK well i have a big announcement! For anyone that didnt know Sister Egginton( Mission presidents wife) has been really sick for awhile and shes actually been in the US trying to recover. Yesterday we barely found out that we will be recieving a new president! His name is President asante, we dont know anything about him except that he will be here next transfer, which is march 27th. So yeah thats gonna be a really big change! ME and my companion are still working hard and are trying to do everything we can to help this area, its a VERY tough area, i guess thats why god put me here! still loving the mission and i am so grateful for the opportunity i have to be here! i hope you all have a great week as well! Love Elder Griffin

 Rewarded himself with a few trinkets!

 Multi Zone Conference...

March 6, 2017 Week 3 in Tapatio...

Hey everyone! well this week was pretty good! Tuesday we had divisions again with another companionship in the zone, and again i got to be with a new greenie american missionary haha. I think its kinda funny always being with them and just seeing how I was about 13 months ago. I got to be with Elder Hall and I was able to help him out alot and teach him a few things and we also had lots of fun and yeah it was great! We also got to eat huge pizzas for our lunch( i love Guadalajara because the pizza here is so much better). Then Thursday was a pretty normal day. Friday was pretty great since we had the chance to go do a baptismal interview for an investigator that other missionaries had been teaching. i was able to be the one to interview him. I love this work so much because I truly love and am always amazed by the changes in peoples lives. Talking to this man truly made my heart swell because of how he had felt the love of the lord in his life and because of the great changes he had made and just how happy and grateful he was for this gospel. Saturday we visited a less active family and guess what mom? my knowledge of video games finally became useful haha! we had visited this family alot and the dad has always accepted us and listened to us but he never seemed to really care. Well we started talking about video games a bit since he really likes them as well and he opened right up! (just wanted to share that mom to say that ALL that time wasn't wasted haha;) ). But i think by far the coolest thing that happened this week was a new investigator we found. Actually we found this family last Sunday, The mom is a member, less active, and her kids and husband arent members. Her parents introduced us to her last week and we just taught her and her son since her husband wasn't there. Well they showed up to church yesterday and we visited them again last night and taught the husband this time. It was amazing just to see how prepared he was to listen to us, he broke down crying because he knew he wasn't setting a good example for his kids(drinking and smoking), and wanted his kids to be more like their grandparents(really great people and active members). Well after one powerful lesson he promised to come to church this week and read the book of Mormon and leave behind everything bad that he was doing! We set a baptismal date for him and his son, and i really hope to see their progress soon! me and my companion left with a powerful conviction that they would be baptized, and were gonna do everything to help them reach that goal. I know that god lives and he loves each and every one of us! I have felt his love more than once and I know he answers our prayers in his way and in his time. Today me and my companion along with Elder Rojas and Elder McGary went to a way cool house! a family was having a get together so they invited us and we spent the whole day playing soccer, pool, and most importantly eating haha. Im starting to learn my area a little better and slowly we are starting to work more and more with the members. This week is going to go by way fast since we have to prepare for a multizone conference, and we have lots of activities almost every night this week! I love the mission and I love this work! I know this church is true! and i thank god every day for the opportunity i have to be a missionary! I wish you all well! I hope each one of you has a great week! Love Elder Griffin

 Elder Griffin in the Mototaxi. he said its a motorcycle taxi???

 Lucky March!

New mask...  playtime...