Saturday, November 29, 2008

Christmas Challenge

This week was great. My companion (Elder Colquehuanca) de Tacna is absolutely different than
the ones before him. He entered into the room and said, “oh great”. This was after cleaning
for quite a while. We took a while and we cleaned it spotless. He really likes everything
perfect. He speaks English and has really helped me out with learning how to speak a lot
better. He is by far my best companion yet.

This week was interesting. We have 6 baptisms scheduled for the month of December. We
had a conference with the mission president who had personal revelation right before he
stood up. He said that we are going to have 500 baptisms in the month of December as a
mission. The goal has gone a little further to 20 baptisms in every ward. We have two
wards so our goal is 40 baptisms in one month. This seems impossible! However,
everything is impossible that God does...he had Moses part the red sea...had Joseph
Smith, who had the knowledge of a fifth grader translate a ancient record....
everything is possible with God. I know that the goal will be achieved and am very
excited for the opportunity to be a tool in this work.

The six baptisms that we have are, Oscar, Bruna, Carolina, Eusebia, Julio and Jairo.

Oscar was a contact that we taught the first lesson with word of wisdom. We also got
a baptismal date. But the next time he was as drunk as drunk can be (this was about a
month and a half ago. After that every time that we would try to contact him he was
not available. We knew this kid that was assisting with one of the members of the
ward (he is the nephew of Oscar). We went to the house to talk with Jairo and Oscar
was ready to talk to us. We got talking about everything and I told him...we had a
baptismal date for you and taught you about the word of wisdom...and the next time
you had alcohol problems. He said that He hadn’t had a drink for a month or more.
Long story short he has changed a lot and we have a date for his baptism this week.
He is probably the smartest investigator I have ever had. He knows almost everything
before we teach him. His nephew is really cool too. We need the permission of his mom
for the baptism...I feel that it will come in a short time.

The other investigators are progressing along and I am really excited for the next month.

The purpose of this next month is to give someone a present better than anything they
have ever had. This present is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I challenge everybody that
reads this to try the same. Give a great gift of eternal life, share the message of the
true gospel.

I know that God is at the head of this work and that it will just continue to keep growing.
It is such a great experience to just be part of it!!
My companion is the golden missionary that I have been waiting for a while now.
Love you all.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Elder Griffin!
You are the hombre! This is Tony Sweat. I thought I would drop you a line. Your mother is here in my house as I write this, faithfully doing her visiting teaching with my wife (what a mom you have!).
I read your last letter about setting the goal for 40 baptisms this month. I hope you can reach that. All we can do is do our best, and let God take care of the rest. I taught a lesson today about "The Strength of the Lord", which is a phrase that appears in the Book of Mormon 11 different times. The short of it is, that the Lord will give you increased gift, capacities, and abilities to do His will though the Holy Ghost (think of how he gave Moses the ability to speak to Pharoah, or Nephi the ability to build a boat, Ammon the ability to slice off people's arms, Joseph Smith the ability to translate, etc.). The apostle Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phillipians 4:13) and Ammon said, "I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things" (Alma 26:12). I know the Lord will strengthen and bless you as you continue to faithfully serve, giving you the gifts and abilities you need through His Spirit. God bless you and we are proud of you.

Tony Sweat and fam.