January 15, 2018:

Well hello from the frozen tundra of Pennsylvania... no joke everything is frozen. It's a whole 4 degrees right now.

Well to start off we had our interviews with President. He is such an awesome guy. Very inspired. I guess that's what what you get when your mission President is the nephew of Elder Bednar. After that we had exchanges with the Slippery Rock Elders. Elder Anderson and me. We had a ton of fun. We spent the whole night trying potentials. Woke up in the morning and wipped up some pancakes for Elder Anderson 

We exchanged back and afterwards we went to visit Ken. He was doing well. We talked to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He seamed to like it. We shall see when we go to visit him next. Then we ran off to Brother Deleo' s place with his girlfriend. Where we again taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith Repentance, Baptism, receiving the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. Very short and simple. Brother Deleo cooked us up some deer meet and we had a very good dinner with mashed potatoes, and gravy. He may not look it but that man can cook 

The next day we tried a former investigator and turned out that they had moved, but we picked up the guy living there as a potential investigator. 

That night we tried Brother Hartzell with Brother Fairbanks. Brother Hartzell said he would come back to church and he did!! We gave him a preisthood blessing and that seamed to help. After that we visited Shannon. We spent a few hours talking with her about religion. She will make an amazing member someday. 

Friday we spent it weekly planning and at dinner over at the Beal home. The Catholic family that had us over for dinner Christmas eve. She said that she had been reading the book of Mormon a little bit. Fingers crossed that somthing happens. They would be such an awesome family. She invited us to attend a march down in DC. We had to decline as Washington DC is not in our mission Saturday we had a big snow storm the night before so we spent all day shoveling out people. We shoveled out Shannon and she took us out to lunch. The clarion seat. It was very good. Then that night our Branch President took us out to a steak house for dinner. I about died and went to heaven. 

Sunday we had church, and then afterwards we visited Si in the nursing home. He was so ,much more awake this time, and he asked some deep questions. He said that it's too noisy in there for him to fully feel the spirit, but I would like to beg a differ on that. Then we went to the Fairbanks with Shannon to watch the YSA event with Elder Uchtdorf. It was amazing. 

Over all this has been a great week y'all

Love you guys

-Elder Griffin

On Jan 8, 2018 

Due to the amount of cold, Elder Griffin is too frozen to send his weekly this week☃️☃️

Just kidding. Hello guys, Wow... It has been a cold week. With the wind, and the cold it has just been cold. So much for global warming.  This week has been just great. We started it out with a visit to our investigator named Ken. I feel so bad for him. I just hope that he eventually finds happiness with the situation that God has put him in. That night we went to have dinner with Geneva, and Joe. Guys if you want to make some awesome chilli mix in some bbq pulled pork holy cow that was some of the best tasting chilli of my life! We then had a much better lesson with her. She didn't bash her husband as much, and she is understanding more. It was a good night that night. We finally got in contact with an investigator named Hannah. She stood out in the cold and talked to us, and said that we were more than welcome to come on by and to teach her more. Friday was a blast. We spent all day telling people about the new Joseph Smith An American Prophet video. Then the rest of the day was spent weekly planning... It was such a long day. Saturday we had a bomb lesson with Jersey. We talked about the restoration. She is a very smart girl for a 13 year old. Then later that night we had a team up with Branch President Quinton. He is such an awesome guy. He is from Idaho accualy, but anyway we had a team up with him to go see an extremely shy brother in the ward. We went to go talk about preisthood blessings, and how to give them, and why it is important to be worthy to hold the preisthood. Afterwards we went and talk to Hailey. She let us in and when we asked her if she had gotten a chance to look into the light the world thing she said that she had looked into it, and then she looked into Mormonism. She went to youtube... of all places she went to YouTube. Apparently she was told that we believe in two types of Jesus. The one from the bible, and one from the book of Mormon... she also started asking about a secret handshake, and our magic underwear and the whole nine yards I'm surprised that she didn't ask if we had horns or not. Anyway we told her we would come back and answer her questions... we shall see how that one works out. 

Sunday was a great day! Jersey came to church, and she said that she felt the spirit, and that she felt at home, and that she wants to baptized into the Mormon church. She will have to ask her dad to see if he will let her, but she wants to be baptized!! Then we had dinner from sister Boheln from the Netherlands. She joined the church up in Canada and knew President Monson when he was the president of the mission up there!! She loves to play the organ and she always has some really cool intro music for church. Then we went to go try some people in clarion. Either everyone had someone dieing in their family, or the golden globes awards show was on, so we went to go see old Si. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a good lesson and I hope he remembers what we taught him. He very old.

 Speaking of old... The death of our beloved prophet. What a way to start off the new year. At least he is with is sweet wife right now. Probably cracking some jokes with President Hinckley again, or maybe he is sitting in a circle with Joseph Smith, Nephi, and Mormon telling stories. Maybe he finally got to say sorry to that one guy who was asking for him right before he died. Then again he may just be working on the other side. What ever he is doing I know that he will be giving it his all. He was such an amazing man. This world truly lost a great man. I know that I will miss him. His stories, his example. If we could all try to be a little more like "Tommy Monson" then maybe, just maybe this world would be a better place. 

 ‎love you guys

 ‎-Elder Griffin

On Jan 1, 2018

Holy cow guys it's 2018!!! What is this anyway my week has been great. Wednesday we had district meeting. It's just a little four man district and it is fantastic. We went to go see Ken afterwards. He had a stroke, and he can't walk. He is waiting for a missionary named Paul, or Peter. He believes that when he shakes this missionary's hand that he will be healed. He is actually supper solid. Then we went to have dinner with the Alomn's. They are both from the south!! The cooking was good. Supper unhealthy but so good. We had desert before dinner because dinner wasn't ready yet during the course of all this we realized that we left our phone over at our district leaders apartment. We decided that we needed to go home so we went home. We wouldn't get It until Thursday evening. We have been doing a ton of finding and tracking. Saturday we went to brother Hartzell's place. He is an inactive and he is a funny guy. I like him a lot. Afterwards we went to the ward new years eve eve party. It was fun!! Then Sunday night we had dinner with the Fairbanks. They had a less active over with her daughter. It was such a great night. 

Well guys... That's it for this week

Until next Monday

Love you guys

-Elder Griffin

On Dec 26, 2017 

Holy cow it's Christmas. It finally decided to snow yesterday. 

This week has been loads of fun. It started out with service on Tuesday where there was this lady that invited us over to her house Christmas eve for dinner. She was Catholic and had only met us once or twice. We then had our Christmas zone Conference. I was playing two songs. I would be the pianist for a district singing joy to the world, and for a piano solo of hark the Herald angles sing. It was quite a good experience. During the lunch our mission President dressed up as Santa and gave us all candy. I'm convinced that people believe that missionaries don't get enough candy. I have sooo much chocolate. I could recreate charley and the chocolate factory over here 

Saturday we spent baking cookies and Sunday we delivered them out to several people. The Christmas program at church was great. They had me play o come Emmanuel. It was great fun. The organist Sister Boheln is from Denmark I think and she is an amazing organist, but she is getting old, and she asked me to play the special musical number in her place. I feel honored that she asked me to do it then we went to the Catholic family. Their name is the Beals. Supper nice people. She even took a book of mormon, and she was very excited to have it.  She just about hugged it when we gave it to her. Christmas day was a blast. We had two very big meals from two different members, and we got to spend the day at a local nursing home. It was so fun to light up their Christmas.  Any who... I hope y'all had a great Christmas this year, and a happy New Year to come. 

Love you guys

-Elder Griffin  

Oh! So Behind!!! TWO Months

Commentary from Dalton's Mom:  So I realized, that I am about TWO months behind!!  Life has been hectic!  We finished up the Messiah, which I help play piano for,  last night and Ed and I are helping to plan a Youth Conference Trek for next summer, and kids are swimming and going EVERYWHERE!!!  Life is not slowing down.... at all!!  Yep, about two months behind!  Luckily his letters are short!  He is being transferred!  My heart goes out to the good, kind people of Berwick!  Thank you for taking care of my son!!  May the Lord bless you all for your kindness towards him!  Most recent letter at the top!  Enjoy!

Hey y'all, 

This week. Oh man I'm trying to remember what happened. I don't have my journal to back me up for this one this week I'm soo lazy... anyway

This week stared out with exchanges from the zone leaders. Elder Auginaga came here to good ol' Berwick. We had a lesson with Lukas. The guy requested to have the lesson be on baptism and the God Head. We have another lesson today where he requested it to be on Temples. You can't find a more golden investigator. Not even in "The District" movies will you find a more golden investigator. That same day we got in contact with two new referrals. One who seams super solid, and one who we were able to set up another time with; this time with a lesson. We shall see how things go. The other lady seamed interested, but we shall see what happens. 

Wednesday night we had a meeting with the bishop where we talked, and talked, and talked, and talked, and talked... It was good though. We got in contact with Ruthy again, and she cooked us dinner. It was delicious to say the least. We then started on the Book of Mormon. We didn't even finish the introduction. She likes to talk about a LOT of things!  We came by again the next day we we still haven't even hit 1 Nephi, and we spent two hours at her house!! Later that night the sisters asked us to come caroling with them. We went to one of their investigators home's and sang Angels We Have Heard on High, and something that sounded like Silent Night! That night the transfer boards came out. I'm heading off to Knox PA!!! It's north of Pittsburgh. I leave Eagles' territory and go into Steelers' Country. I leave Thursday morning. 

Sunday I got to play a song for sacrament meeting, say the opening prayer, and give a farewell testimony. Our meal calendar is suddenly very full. 

Saying Goodbye to Berwick is not going to be all that fun, but change is good. I'm excited to go to Knox and turn an other page in this grand adventure of mine 

Love you guys!!

-Elder Griffin

On Dec 4, 2017 

Hey y'all

This week has flown by... what the heck it's December, and we still don't have a drop of snow on the ground!!

 To start things off this week we had a dinner with Tyrell, our landlord. We cooked up a roast beef and some "spetly" noodles(not sure on the spelling there) he home made the noodles himself. It was all good until we found that the gravy was on the extremely salty side. That was a fun adventure. We still had an awesome night. 

Elder Furniss is still sick. He will be good one day, and look close to death the next day... It's been great. Really been able to sit down and study things. Especially the atonement. Such a beautiful subject to study. We had a zone Conference where we talked about agency and the atonement. It was really good. 

Saturday was fun. Berwick has what they call the Christmas Boulevard. They light up all of these Christmas decorations, and go all out. All the local business open up little booths and sell things. Me and Elder Furniss walked the entire thing. We handed out the "Light the World" cards and it was great! 

Christmas time is here and I am very excited to spend my first Christmas as a missionary. 

Love you guys

-Elder Griffin

On Nov 27, 2017

Hey everyone. This week was crazy. I never thought I could eat soo much turkey. We have officially kicked off the Christmas season with #Lighttheworld. You probably have seen it. I would encourage everyone to try it. Just for 25 days just to see it change your life. This week has been pretty slow. We had one lesson with Bobby... yeah we are dropping his baptism date, and we are not sure if he will ever be baptized in this life. Me and my companion have come to the conclusion that Berwick is evil. There is just a dark presence over everything. The work is great, but where there is light there is darkness. We blessed our apartment again, and got rid of some weird looking amulets that were lying around the place. It's all good now. 

Sorry there isn't much this week

Love you guys

-Elder Griffin

On Nov 13, 2017

Howdy y'all,

Wow this week has been a turn of events. I do have to say that I will need to brush up on the ol' español though. We found Oscar. His wife is a convert to the church, but she speaks very little little English. Her husband, Oscar, I want to say is interested, but I'm not sure if he is interested in lessons, or if he is interested in just having us come over and talk to them. If that is the case we might as well talk about the gospel. That night we had a dinner with the Alanize family. I can now say that I do not like Mexican corn. The stuff that you see in "Nacho Libre," yeah, it smelt like stinky feet!  I tried but I couldn't eat it all. We showed them the Music of the Gospel video. They liked it.

After that Thursday rolled around. Thursday was transfer day. So we drove down to Pen State University, and I dropped off my companion and he climbed into a truck that was heading off to Wntersville, Ohio. I stayed in state college waiting for my new companion Elder Ferniss. While waiting me and two other Elders, that I came out with, went to help the college plant 40,000 tulips. We wandered around campus until we found a Panda Express. The bitter wind ripped through every layer we had on. It didn't help that it was raining ever so slightly. After we got to the garden we started planting. Luckily we only had to do about 8,000. We got to talk to some off the college kids that were helping us. It was so weird to talk to kids that were my age that were already going to college.

After that we changed back into prossoliting clothing, and walked all the way back to the college branch house. Then we drove to the Whitehall church building and waited for our new companions. Elder Ferniss arrived and the two off us took of back to Berwick. This will probably be his last stop on his mission. He only has four months left. Friday was Elder Ferniss' first day in the area. It was mainly introducing him to those we met that day. We had a dinner with the Johnston family, and a short lesson with the James family. 

Saturday we did nothing... not a single thing. I felt like the most lazy human on the face of the earth. Elder Ferniss has the flu, and the nurse told him to stay home. She almost didn't give him the okay to go to Stake Conference, but Sunday we drove up with the Dick's to the Williamsport stake center and had stake Conference. All of the missionaries were asked to sing Hark all ye nations. It was great!! Afterwards we came back and had lunch with the the same family. French fries, and corn-dogs. Sister Dick made frysause!! I was extremely happy with that. Then we came back and stayed in the apartment as my companion got sicker, and sicker. One would think that it is great to sit back and relax. I am hear to tell you that as a missionary that is not the case. 

Anyway... 

Take care everybody!!

I love you guys!!

-Elder Griffin

On Nov 6, 2017

Howdy y'all,

This week we'll start things off with district meeting. We had our district meeting with the Zone Leaders. Then afterwards we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. It was an awesome day. We started out with a lesson with Bobby. We talked to him about fasting. Turns out that the way that things are going he might move to one of the sisters area before he gets baptised. We challenged him to fast with us this fast Sunday to get over his smoking addition. We then went to the church to have a meeting to talk about a lot of the inactive Melchezidic Preisthood holders in the ward, and what we could do to bring them back. It fell through... so me and Elder Wilson talked about what we were going to do now that we had some free time and a family popped into my head. We ran to the car and I said, I don't know if this is revelation, but I'm running with it, and it worked. We couldn't stay because there wasn't another man around in the house but we were able to see how they were doing, and we said a prayer with them right before we left. It was fantastic!!

We then tried another person that we have a very hard time trying to get in contact with. She was home. We shared a scripture with her on her front porch, and invited her to church. We gave her the address and the time that church started at. After he we went around town trying some people. No one worked, but as we knocked on this one lady's door we could hear someone coughing up a storm. So we went around the corner and we met Stan. He was out smoking a cigarette. We asked him if he was okay and he said that he was fine and that he was only a little sick. As we talked to him we asked if he was Christian and he said no, I'm Catholic... we left him a card and said that if he ever needed anything to give us a call. He seemed very moved by that. We left, and came back to the apartment and sent off a few text to people just to see how they were doing and to give them a scripture to read. 

The next morning we switched back and the drive to the little gas station looked like I was driving through Logan caynon  Thursday we had another dinner with the Quicks, and then it was back to the tattoo shop. We ended our night there. Friday was weekly planning. You want a very long, and very uneventful thing to do, weekly planning as a missionary... I'll say no more. After we where liberated from weekly planning we went to Ruth's house. She didn't answer, so we went to the street of houses behind hers, and we found Oscar. He was the guy that stopped us the one time about a month ago and asked for the address to the church. His wife was a member, and they moved in from New York, and she hardly speaks a word of English. Better brush up on the ol' Espanol gift of tongues, I'm feeling it y'all!! That night we had a dinner appointment with a member family. The wife is from Brazil, and her husband is American. They have two little kids, and they are the cutest little balls of energy you will ever meet. We then quickly drove to Caitlyn's to see how she was doing, and told her we would be back tomorrow. We got a text from her saying thank you for stopping by, that it really made her feel happy. 

Saturday we had our lesson with her. We just kind of let her know that things where going to be okay. We had basket ball in the early morning as well. We then had dinner with another member family. He had a big salt eater fish tank in it. There was a big clam in the tank. It was very cool. We then ran off to the church to get the transfer boards. My comp is out of here, and I get Elder Firness! We shall see how he does. We make the switch on Thursday. 

Sunday was church which was good. Then latter on in the night we went to see the James family. We had a member and his wife come with us. Dallas pulled out all of his guns and showed us them. He had some really cool guns. He showed us his bruise from pheasant hunting. He said that he shot over a hundred and fifty rounds. He is such a cool man. Then we came back to the apartment and we got an email from the zone leaders telling us that they where cutting our allotted miles by 150... so this will be fun... 

Anywhos.... take care everybody

I love you guys 

-Elder Griffin. 

On Oct 23, 2017

Exchanges with the Lewisburg Elders!! I got the chance to lead out the area with and elder who is greener than me. Elder Hutchings from Utah. Super great Elder. Got to show him some of our techniques and how we try different things. We were able to stop and see Randy. He was just leaving but when he heard that we had come to see him he stopped what he was doing and came and talked with us. We had a really good and simple discussion on everything that is of God is good. Afterwards We were able to see Ruthy. We showed her the video The Music of the Gospel. She absolutely loved it. We then went finding for a few hours, and then came to the church to pick up some baptismal clothing because they didn't have any that were the right size for their investigator. 

Friday we were able to go out and cut up a bunch of wood for the Quicks. There is soo much wood that still needs to be cut. They pulled out their trail cam and viewed their photos of the deer passing through. There was a big 10 point passing through that area. They brought out their cross bow and showed us it. It was really cool. Afterwards Sister Almoney cooked us some ham, and mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. Very filling. 

Afterwards we had weekly planning then we went to go see Marissa and she told us that she found her book of Mormon with all of the pages folded in. You could tell there was someone trying to stop her. 

Our neighbor's car got smashed by a drunk driver. We wake up in the morning and we look across the street to where his car was parked and it was smashed up. Turned out this guy hit our neighbor's wife's car, and some one else's car. We got to talk to him for a long while. Found out that he is a prison guard and he told us a ton of stories, and what goes on inside of a prison. Never make it a dream goal. It's a horrible place. 

Our ward had a spaghetti dinner night and one of the members on the ward offered to back us in the auction they had for desserts. So I found a plate of cookies that I wanted and we went with that, well when they started to auction it off the member's wife started to bid on that same plate of cookies, then his son did as well. It ended up being twenty dollars for a plate of home make m and m cookies. I felt so bad. 

Well that's it for this week. Y'all take care now

-Elder Griffin

On Oct 16, 2017 

Hey y'all

It's official we have Facebook. However part of that includes I'm not allowed to message people back at home via messenger. Do not be afraid though to comment on a post that I make. I would encourage everyone to comment, like and share my posts because they will contain light and truth and someone your friends with will need to read that post. They are encouraging us to use Facebook to its full potential and I'll need all of your guys help. If you desire to talk directly to me shoot me an email, and I'll respond on a Monday. That's the way the mission rules are.  However do not despair. If you desire to talk to me via messenger you may do so in 21 months, Thanks!!

We've been spending a lot of time with Tyrell. Wednesday night we were over and he turned on some Tim Hawkins for us to listen to. I was laughing so hard I was almost crying. Tender mercies y'all. 

We were able to have a dinner with Ruthy!! Such a great cook. She was so happy to have us over. After dinner we sat her down and read from the book of Mormon. We started with the introduction, we didn't make it past that. We spent a good deal of the time connecting everything she read about. She is native American and I wanted to scream to her "Ruth this is the story of your people" but I didn't. 

We had another lesson with Marissa that same night, and we ended up just talking about the nature of God. Supper great lesson. 

Saturday was a slower day. We were able to go out and see the James family. We had brother Smith from the ward come with us, and he helped out with our lesson a ton. We spent the rest of the day put finding, part of which we went to the church to grab some Wi-Fi so we could Facebook. That sounds horrible but that's what we did. Mostly we were trying to friend people in the ward. It was really weird, but cool in the same breath. 

Sunday church was great, we came back and had our studies and went to the church to do some more online prosolatizing. It's so crazy how much easier it is to use that, and people are more willing to listen to you. We came back and helped out Tyrell some more then we sat down and talked about how members are excommunicated from the church. 

Other than that it's been a slower week. 

Love you guys

-Elder Griffin

 On Oct 9,

Hey y'all!!

To start the week off we made a fire!! Brother Almoney had us over and we were picking up what he had chopped off with the chain saw, and he poured gasoline on it and the thing was hotter than the burning bush that Moses saw... wait a second... I'm sorry I need to stop. Anyway continuing with my weekly... after that we came back and did our studies and there was this car that came rolling by with its bass turned up so loud that we got a call from China saying they could hear the thing. After that we went to see Edward... We had him set for a date but we don't think it's going to happen. He came out and asked if we could come back another time, he had some gloves and a bracelet, complete with a hat covered in rocks and gems. The hat had the words "heck" cat written on it. No not the car engine. It's a mystical beast and he was going to go looking for it. He said that the gems kept evil things away. He is not progressing and we aren't seeing any changes. After him we went to the salvation army and helped out there again, came back had dinner, and went to the local food drive.

We got to talk to our friend Rim the pastor. After the thing we sat down and talked about how this life is the time to change yourself and and it's not easy in the spirit world. He also told us of the decision that he had to make to stop letting walking come and take the food. He had people abusing the system and so he had to stop it. He didn't want to, but it was something the spirit was telling hi he needed to do. He said that we all go through times like that, and he compared it to us being on a mission and getting a promoting that we need to go home and not serve a mission  anymore. That made me think long and hard about that. If I got the prompting that I needed to end my mission and go home could I do that. Would I have the faith to do it and go home. That was something to think about. After that we went to a members house and helped them out moving things around in their basement. Most of these houses were build in the 1700's and the 1800's. They are cool, and sometimes creepy. There was this house that was right next to where we lived that was condemned and today they tore it apart. They took a big tractor and just started ripping it apart. Anyway we get to this members house and suddenly all of these cops show up less than two blocks away and start tapping off the area, and what not. They brought in the big van with the LED lights on the side. At first we thought it was a failed drug bust. We helped out the never and on the way back to our car we ran into a group of people who told us that someone had been shot, and they were life-flighted out of there. We could see one of the open doors of the car, and the window had blood stains on it. We then recognized that it was the same car that had the booming speakers earlier that morning. Crazy to think about that kind of stuff going on here, but here we are. I'm alive with no bullet holes!! 

Wednesday was district meeting. There seams to be this massive push to get people to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. We also got area book 2.0  and man did the missionaries of the church tear this thing apart. With hash tags of #makeareabookgreatagin and #notmyareabook. It was hilarious to watch the reviews roll in. 

We had Caitlyn's baptism this week!!  she asked me to do the baptizing. Very small,  not a ton of people showed up.  She's going to be strong in the gospel.  It's neat to see how her and her husband have both changed. 

We got Facebook this week!! We have a training on how to use it, but for now we were instructed to modify our accounts according to the standards the church had put out. Things are going to change forever,  and missionary work will never bee the same. 

I love you guys

- Elder Griffin 

We just got this awesome photo from Elder Griffin!!  We can't wait to hear the details with his Monday letter!!  

Behold.... the Watchman on the Tower!

Hey y'all!!

P day stated out with lunch at a place called The Perfect Blend. We had lunch with Caitlyn. We just sat down and talked. She has progressed so much. We had a lesson  with her that night. We could give her a box of Books of Mormons and she could give them all away. 

Tuesday we helped out Brother Almoney. We are starting to build a roof to go over his patio  We got two of the holes dug out. We then went back and visited Josh. He's a convert member and so we stop off and see him. His sister also stopped by and set up an appointment with us. After that, we then went down to the salvation army and visited the food pantry afterwards. The pastor Tim gave such an amazing prayer. I've determined that if you're Christian and you give a sincere prayer, it doesn't matter what church you go to, it's beautiful. I've experienced those mesmerized prayers and if you get the right person to say it, you'll feel the spirit there. 

It's been such a hot week here! Upper 80s and low 90s.  Tuesday was also my "click" day. I've officially been out two months!! And I'm not the newest missionary in the field anymore. We got a shipment of new missionaries monday night!! 

   

Wednesday was district meeting where I was able to give a lesson on acting in faith and with exact obedience. I used the new elder in our district in my lesson. We used the story of Jonah and the whale. He was Jonah and Lake Erie was the great sea! It was awesome! Latter that day we tried a referral and found out that he had since passed on... Latter we went over to a less active house and He had two new investigators for us and said that he was going to start coming to church again! We taught a short, but powerful lesson on the restoration. They liked it. 

Thursday and Friday were very uneventful except for the fact that one of our investigators is letting me borrow one of his guitars to practice on it. 

‎However Saturday, we had basket ball, but only three of us showed up. We spent the first session of conference at the church, after which we went up to the Johnston's place. They got a new Dog named Mater. Such an amazing dog!!

Sunday General Conference was amazing. We were all very sadden by the death of Elder Hales. The afternoon session was so powerful. A ton of self reflecting of "Do I really know it's true??" I can tell you that the answer to that is YES!! No other church teaches the fullness of the gospel. None. I have the priesthood. The literal power of God. The Book of Mormon is true. It contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end.  

"‎I believe in Christ; he stands supreme! From him I’ll gain my fondest dream; And while I strive through grief and pain, His voice is heard: “Ye shall obtain.” I believe in Christ; so come what may,  With him I’ll stand in that great day When on this earth he comes again To rule among the sons of men." 

‎-Elder Griffin

The Axe Was Laid At The Root of the Tree!

Hey y'all!!

Tuesday started off great. We started out by cleaning out the area book. We stopped by quite a few people, just on the fact that their number wasn't the right number. That took us until about noon I would say. Then we went out to talk to several of those people who did give us their number but gave us their address, plus a few other people we felt like we needed to see. 

The first lady we saw was Heidi. She has been through a lot these past few weeks and hasn't been able to return any calls lately. We talked on her porch for a good hour about what has been going on, and how  Christ is coming again, in reference to the hurricane, and earthquakes, and the fires. After we spent all of our time at her place we went to the salvation army and helped serve food there. 

After that, we had dinner at Brother Dick's house. Such an amazing man, if all church members could be like him we would be better off for it. We then had a lesson with Caitlyn, and she had a friend over, who, over the course of events, we were able to teach her the about the restoration, and she said she would like to learn more!  By the end off the lesson all five of us had said a prayer one less formal than the others, but we all talked to God in that lesson.  Me, my comp, Matt, Caityln, and her friend. 

Wednesday was uneventful until we spent the night with the Lewisburg Elders. They have a bat problem so we went on a bat hunt and saw nothing. It was disappointing. One of the Elders had a sword and we were dressed for war and we saw nothing!!

Thursday was zone conference. Elder Nelson from the 70s came and spoke to us about the gospel of Jesus Christ and, part of that was an announcement!  Our mission is getting Facebook, Messenger, Google Hangouts, and... smart phones!! Thats right each missionary will be able to have a smart phone of some kind.  We will also be given the opportunity to respond to those that ask questions on Mormon.org. everyone is pretty stoked for this. 

Friday was a long day of weekly planning with appointments scattered through it. I don't even think we actually finished it !  We ran back into brook, and she is interested. We set up a returned appointment with her to teach her more. Our last visit of the night was back with Caitlyn and she had another friend over and we taught her the message of the restoration. 

Saturday started out with a lesson at 7:45 at the church and our investigator, Lukas, wanted to meet the bishop. We went over to the James' and we had our district leader interview them for baptism. They passed and so we are in baptism mode trying to get everything ready for them! I still have to make up a special musical number for them. It's going to be loads of fun!

 That evening we ran into a Jehovah Witness family. Really nice. The missionaries have been over there before. They take really good care of us. They were surprised to find out that I knew bible stories! They have a bible called the "New World Translation." It's basically a modernized wording, and they replace the word LORD with Jehovah. My companion has one and I was reading through it with my bible and there are so many plain and precious truths that are lost in that version. 

Sunday we had church again, but we also got a referral from church headquarters saying that someone had requested a bible, so we went to drop it off and this little southern lady came out and talked to us. She believes in Christ and loves the gospel and was very surprised that we were getting that to her the same day she ordered it!! We gave her a bible AND a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment!!  We then had a lesson with Edward and he accepted the invitation to be baptized!! We now have six people with a date!! It's been a crazy week. All I can say is God is good all the time!! 

-Elder Griffin

Week Four in Berwick!

Hey y'all, 

To start things off we had another round of exchanges, and guess who was in charge of the Berwick area? This Elder right here!!  I'm surprised that Berwick hasn't burned to the ground because of it!!  It was great!!  However, everyone we were going to go see.... was not home. We had two lessons that day, but the rest of the day we were tracting in the rain all day long. 

It was great! 

Thursday, we had interviews with the President because zone conferences are coming up!!  There are two weeks left of this transfer.  The time has flown by!  We then went to the Salvation Army and helped out there.  We got talking to a guy, and we just talked about how just because you live a certain lifestyle doesn't mean you aren't going to heaven.  Everyone goes to heaven, we just choose which of the three degrees of glory we feel the most comfortable in.  God is not going to force the Celestial Kingdom on someone who doesn't feel comfortable in His presence.  The guy then offered us a cigarette to calm the nerves. We politely declined!  

We then got to go visit Ruthy. She is such a sweet lady. She was showing us some of her Cherokee Indian plates, and I told her how pretty they were and she gave me one of her plates!! I about died with joy. This woman has so much love in her I will never be able to fathom it all. 

On the way out, we were stopped by a man whose wife was a Mormon and they didn't know where the church was. He told us we could come over!  His wife doesn't speak English very well so we would get the chance to learn Spanish!!  We then went to the Quicks and they fed us dinner and we shared a short message with them. 

Friday was another long day of weekly planning. We went to go see someone we had met while tracting, but she wasn't there, however,  we then ran into Edward!  We were able to teach to him the restoration that night, and he believes in it!  He said we could come back on Saturday!

As for Saturday,  we had a lesson with the James family that is going to be baptized soon. We had a great lesson with them. Then we had our lesson with Edward and invited him to think about being baptized. After we met with him, we went and had our lesson with Caitlyn and Matt. We were able to teach them about tithing and Caitlyn said that she had a friend who wants to hear what we are teaching to Caitlyn!!

Sunday was more of a relaxed day.  We had it planned out, but most of what we were going to do cancelled on us so we headed over to the James family after we did our personal/companion studying.  There they fed us dinner and we had their last lesson before they got baptized.  They were the only people that we saw that day!

This past week has flown faster than a rocket ship to Mars. Y'all take care now

-Elder Griffin 

To the Family:

Hey guys. Things are going well out here. The temperature is dropping and the leaves are changing. When it rains it doesn't stop until mother nature wants it to be done!! It's great though. I like it out here but I don't think I would ever want to live out here. It's just too green... almost like a moldy green!

My comp is from west Jordan Utah

His name is a German name, and we are getting along just great!!

The members feed us most of the times, and yes I am very grateful for the skill to cook.

The humidity is fine as long as it isn't hot. The coat fits just fine and thank you!!!

The Bible is great but our biggest "sickle" is the Book of Mormon.

Out here, you just need to know your basic church doctrine, 

and be able to teach it to a 5 year old!!

We have a hand full of investigators, and yes the couple that just got married is still progressing. We have a baptism date set for sometime in October!

The woods just have an old creepy feeling in them, and when it gets dark 

it is REALLY dark in those woods.

We have 8 missionaries in our district. Two sets of elders, two sets of sisters.  I have not had to speak in church....yet!!

Love you guys 

Pretty impressive sized leaf!  They don't usually grow that big back home!

Hard at work??? or hardly working!!!!  :)

Ummmm..... I could go for some fried chicken right about now!!

Take a book.... Leave a book.... Yes, they put a Book of Mormon in there!!

Showing off his cooking skills.... Homemade biscuits and gravy!!

I am glad that one of them is working!!  :)

Who Preordered Fall?

To start things of we did some exchanges. So I got to go with my district leader Elder Walker. We had an appointment where we were going to invite this gal to be baptized, but she canceled on us. So we went tracking and the third house we came to we ran into Joan. We gave her a Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet. We taught her most of the restoration, and she was crying at the end. 

We then we ran into a pastor who told us that Joseph Smith took everything from the Masons, and that at the root of Masonic teachings is satanic.  He also said that we couldn't believe in the atonement because we don't believe in the Trinity.  For future references, Masonic teachings come from people who are trying to follow the teachings of Christ. For those of you who study it, you'll find that a lot of their ceremonies are close to the temple ceremonies. There is nothing satanic about them. Joseph Smith was a mason, as well as George Washington. This pastor then proceeded to tell us that we can't believe in the atonement because we don't believe in the trinity. This pastor does not know his bible. You can't win over bible bashers. Their hearts are so set in stone that you can't move them.   

Wednesday I was back in my area. We had gotten five new investigators while I was gone. And they set someone with a baptism date! With this we went out hoping that all is well.... but it all fell apart, except for one appointment!  Our first appointment never showed up. He called and said he was coming but his ten minuets is a mix of a "lady's ten minuets," and a "Mormon's ten minuets." 

With dinner the father called us and told us that he was not going to make it... well, we Elders can not be in someone's house without another adult male being there, PLUS, the sister missionaries were already there, and the president doesn't want two sets of missionaries having dinner together with a member.  The White Handbook says that dinner should be done by six p.m.  So, we just about turned around when they called us and told us that we could come by and pick up dinner, and take it home. We get there and found out that dinner won't be ready for another 20 to 30 minutes! So we went out proselyting. It wasn't our area but we figured we might as well try. We found nothing!  So we came back and grabbed our dinner, and somehow didn't spill it getting to our next appointment!  

This family is usually on the wild side but the Lord blessed us and they were calm tonight. We came  back and went out finding again. We talked to a lady who asked us why we were out so late. She then asked us questions like if we were going to get another wife. We told her no and then taught her some of the reasons why the LDS church adopted the standard of polygamy. We had some good laughs with her, and all is well.

 I have come to find out that everyone for the most part loves the Mormon missionaries, but for the most part they think that we are the Jehovah Witnesses, and no one likes the JW missionaries because they try to slam the gospel down your throat. 

Thursday was another eventful day. I woke up to my companion telling me that we needed to bless our apartment. He told me of this creepy dream that he had, and then about a creepy experience he had. Let's just say that for the past few nights I've been feeling a spirit here that I don't want here. It's such a blessing to hold the priesthood. To be able to bring light I to the dark places, and to completely cast out darkness. 

He had a good lesson with Caitlyn where she opened up to us about her past, and that she could really feel a difference with the church and that it made her happy. Then we had dinner with the Bishop. He is a great guy. He and his wife go around to the prisons and they get to change the lives of some of the inmates as well as some of those that are in solitary confinement. They were telling us about how these people want to change, and how they can really see that they are truly sorry for what they have done. They even adopted one of the the inmates that got freed because he had no family. 

Later we went to teach a Anna, who is a recent convert, about the ten commandments. She is like nine or ten and she is one of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet. She was singing us songs, and she was coming to us with questions on scriptures from the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon!! 

Me and my companion started our journey home and we turned down a dirt road that seamed to take us into the deep of the woods. We found a spot and quickly turned around and booked it out of there. We came back and we blessed the apartment. It feels better here. Not like the temple, but it is better. 

Friday was another long day of weekly planning. In my opinion this should not take four hours, but President wants us to take three to four hours... all I can say is that he knows better than I do. Afterwards, we then got to go to Caitlyn and Matt's wedding. That had to be the funniest ceremony that I've ever seen/heard. He said things like till "Zombie do you part," just to give you an idea of what it was like. They were both supper happy. 

Later, we went to go teach a Kid named Julian. He talked mostly about the priesthood. It's so weird around here. The local school and little league's have games on Sundays and so it's supper hard to get people to church because they have got ballgames. Even some of the local non members think that it's weird to have all of these games on a Sunday.  It's not like it's major leagues or anything. 

We explained the difference between the Aaronic and Melchezidec Priesthood. It took a while but with some TLC he got it. 

Saturday was a day of rain. Not like Texas right now, but a light drizzle. Just all day. We played basketball. Brother Decker has too much football in him. It's a good thing I'm a big guy!   Afterwards we went to see the James family. We taught them the law of chastity...teaching young kids about the law of chastity...they fed us lunch, which was great.  We then came back and talked to Joshua. He has been baptized for almost a year and they are trying to get him to the temple. He talked about how he has been able to recognize the blessings in his life that have come from him being baptized. We then came back and had dinner and we went off to see Ruthy. She falls victim to the PA ramble. She was talking on and on about how she feels that the Bible is incomplete. "Well, if you let us talk, we have a book of Mormon for you!" She's great though. We downloaded the Gospel Library App onto her phone.

Anyways... all is good in the east. Love you guys!