Colder Weather

We had the baptism of Antonio Capcha. He is a really great investigator and will really have a lot of success in his life. Also, his brother José Luis is cool. He has all the lessons and has assisted about 4 times but has a little bit of fear of falling in the same temptations that he had before. We fasted this Sunday with him to help him to feel ready for this 30 of May. He told us that so far he isn’t ready but feels like it is close that he will get baptized. He said that out of 100 percent he is at about 85.

In the Missionary Correlation all of the leaders of every organization were there, which means that they are ready to help us out. I was very excited to tell them how we can have success and how they can help us out.

We have 3 baptismal dates.
Riquelmer (17 years old)
Tomás (10 years old)
José Navarro (30 years old)

We are working really hard so that we can have success and have fun doing the work of the Lord. One of the only problems that we are having is that our plans always are falling through. There are a lot of people that say, “Ya come by my house at this time” and then they are never there, but everything is going good.

It is kind of cold here. It gets cold enough that we can see our breath in the mornings.

I am staying just fine and healthy. The weather is a big difference, Iquitos was hot. The change is alright however.

Today we are going to a huge Christ statue that is here. Here are some more pictures. The baptisms of Mishelle and one photo of the family Arevalo Torrez.
Love you a lot.....CHAU.......LOVE YOU

~Elder Griffin~

Lots of work in the new area

Life in Barranca Peru....

Life is great here. We had a good week. When I entered here from Iquitos it was a little bit weird. When I left Iquitos we had 5 baptisms this month and 6 more that were planned. Here in my area so far they haven’t had one and the other missionaries only had one planned. Long story short there is a lot of work that needs to go on here. This is the last week that counts for May, so we really need to work hard to have 9 baptisms this month.

We have 2 of 9
Antonio(30)
Riquelmer(17)

Riquelmer was a contact the first day that I was here. We had talked to him and taught him part of lesson 3 on FAITH, Repentance, BAPTISM and so forth. We took out a date for the 30 of May and he accepted we also received the permission of his mother.
That experience was very spiritual and I really have a lot of faith that if we are obedient and work hard, then we can have a lot of success and we can fulfill the goals that we have.

Happy Mothers Day, for every mother in the world, especialmente mi mama te amo bastante y quiero que tu puedas tener mucha felicidad en tu vida.

My companions name is Elder Davila he is from Moquegua- Peru. He only has about 3 months in the mission, a newbi. He is really cool. He likes basketball and I like that he has the batteries to work hard and I know that we will have some success.

-Elder Griffin

The following is a letter that Elder Griffin e-mailed to his Grandma through us. I thought it was something that others would like to hear as well so I am including it with this post.

Grandma,

I love you grandma and wish you a happy mothers day. I love the scripture 2Nephi 2:25 it talks about why we are here in the earth. Grandma I really appreciate the love that you have shown with all of the letters that you have sent you are amazing and I really am thankful. I invite you to read in first Nephi about the differences in Laman and Lemuel and there attitudes and Nephi. I find it interesting that they always did what they were told but the difference in attitude changes everything. I really hope grandma that you can live in happiness and joy. God only knows how long we can live and we need to endure to the end.

Elder Griffin....your grandchild.

Mother's Day Call

We receive our mother's day call at around 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night. The two highlights of the year for missionary families is Christmas and Mother's Day. It was wonderful to hear Elder Griffin's voice and the accent along with it. His sentences all end with the inflection in his voice going up, which is common for a Spanish accent. He spoke a lot of Spanish to us with us understanding very little. He had a hard time finding the English word several times which means that he is thinking in Spanish (that is a good thing). His Spanish was clear and fast, and we are slow and don't understand much.

Elder Griffin was blessed by our Stake President that he would not be hindered by health problems and so far that blessing has held true. He has had a little sickness here and there but nothing to stop the work. He loved Iquitos and is looking forward to helping the work in Barranca. In this transfer they came in with no pending baptisms and a lot of work to get the needed 9 baptisms for their goal. He talked about the differences in culture and how it is sometimes hard because the tradition is that people just live together instead of getting married. Some of them don't accept the gospel because they don't want to get married and the missionaries can not progress the people when they want to live in sin. He voiced his frustration with how Satan has a hold on some of the people. He shared his testimony of the restored gospel and how it is the gospel of happiness and how he loves the work and how it changes lives for the better.

Back to Lima

We got our information and I am headed back to Lima (Barranca) my comañero se llama Elder Davilla. My leader of the zone is ELDER MCGARY. Guess what, I AM COMPAÑERO MAYOR.

This week was great...
we ended the week with 5 baptisms.
David (25) familia de oro
Aida (35) familia de oro
Jureli (14) su hija
Miguelito (17)
Enzo(11)

We ended this change with 11 baptisms and my baptisms here in the jungle are 21.

I love the jungle of Iquitos Peru and really I will miss it. I am very excited/nervous for this change and know that the Lord will help me. I am so grateful for everyday of the mission.

I am having so many emotions going through me. I have to leave 21 converts/friends here. This will be difficult. I have really grown to love these people and I will miss them. I am excited to be companion mayor and really am a little nervous because the responsibility just jumped really high.

I love you guys a ton and am really way excited to hear your voices. Cuidense mucho, te amo.
~Elder Griffin~

Wonderful converts progressing

WE HAVE 45 MINUTES TO WRITE NOW!!!!!!!
Life here is great.

We ended the week (Saturday) with 15 baptismal dates for the month of May. We really worked hard so that they were prepared and ready. We went to gather some of these lost sheep yesterday, and well, 10 of the 15 went to church and are ready.

It is kind of disappointing on Sunday because if people don’t go then we have to postpone or cancel the baptismal date. I do feel good though because we can know who is actually ready and who just accepted to accept.

We had stake conference and Presidente Perez came to our conference. We were a little bit late to the conference and Hna Perez had to play the opening hymn. I felt kind of bad but she likes playing. I played the piano for the choir and it turned out alright, my part was good, but the choir could use a tad bit more of practice. What was really cool was that I got to see that two of our investigators, MAMERTO HUAYMACARI and MANUEL AREVAVALO, ordained to the Melcezidek priesthood. I know that this step will really help their families right now. It will also help to prepare them so that they will become an eternal family.

The blessings are pouring like the rain in Iquitos and I guess according to your message like the rain in South Jordan Utah.

I am also really glad that we have 45 minutes. I am glad that President put his trust in us. I hope that other missionaries try to think the next time that they are disobedient.

It is really weird that changes are in the next week and a half. I don’t know anything up until now about what changes will bring for me.

Love you, THANKS:
~Elder Griffin~