Week 43 - May 27th, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Magandang araw my dear friends and family. It's a pleasure as always to be able to address you this fine Monday morning (sounds like a talk or something), I hope you have all enjoyed another week of success and joy. We have had an awesome week of work this week, we've been focusing a lot in some of our closer areas, and we have found so many cool people out in one of our barangays, Root, where we are seeing some great progression and the miracle of change in people- I can really say with no doubt, from both my own experiences and in seeing it now in others I know that the Atonement of Christ is a real, life-changing power that is present in all who seek it.

We had an awesome lesson earlier this week about faith, and I was really enlightened by the analogy that Alma makes to a seed in Alma chapter 32. Faith is something that always starts and at its core a belief- but if left that way never has a chance to grow and bring forth fruit and joy. Like a seed, we will never see the results of careful care and patience if we are not willing to first plant it in our hearts and then actually work and labor to help it grow. And as it grows of course we see the growth, and it becomes evidence that it is good. But even then, we still do not taste the end result, the fruit in this analogy, until the tree is fully grown and the reward prepared- perhaps that is the eternal life that results from a life lived through faith in Christ and diligence and patience in working and hoping for that day to come. And if you want a better explanation of what I just sort of tried to explain, just read Alma's pretty much perfect description. That's all I've got this week, I hope you all have a wonderful week- I love you all, see ya in a bit!


Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 42 - May 20th, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Hello everyone! It's so good to be able to write these every week! We had a great last week here in Dingras, we had a great Zone Conference on Tuesday where we talked about relationships- those with the people we meet every day and our relationship with Heavenly Father, what we can do to draw closer to them. It was really great, we read in 2 Nephi 26:24-25 how Christ performed the Atonement, paid for our weaknesses, so that we would have the opportunity to draw close unto Him, in doing so draw close unto our Father despite being on this fallen earth. And it was so cool, because it's really true how He wants nothing more but to draw us unto Him, to know us, but it becomes our purpose to draw unto Him with our own actions, through His Gospel. We have to know them, for that is truly eternal life (John 17:3). 

In that light, this week we have met a whole lot of new people, and have found many who are interested in learning the truth about this great Plan. We had an awesome family come to church for the first time yesterday, the Subuko family- they had a great time, we are very excited for their progress. We are also happy for this upcoming week, to go back and teach all these great people we have met about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the joy this work brings, in seeing the joy that it brings to others. That is truly why we have relationships, why we help and serve, because the truth is, seeing others happy is the only real source of lasting joy, and the closer we get to Christ the more we see that as He does. So I invite you all to try to draw a little closer to Him and to Heavenly Father this next week, through prayer and the scriptures and all small and simple things which They have given us. I love you all, and hope you all find great joy in your relationships- because I sure do with you all. Talk to ya next week!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 41 - May 13, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Hello family and friends, it's great to be able to write you all this wonderful Mother's Day. I guess this one is going to be themed, as I have had some great time to reflect the somewhat inconceivable goodness and grace of my own mother, and to an extent mothers everywhere as we take a day this year to specially recognize their constant and loving Christlike love for all of us. Just as the 2,000 warriors of Helaman in Alma 56, we are all blessed to be taught by them, and given our very lives by them. And I would just like to give another special mention of the goodness and perfection of my own mother, who's example and unconditional love somehow found patience with even me up until now, and I just want to say how grateful I am for that. 

We've seen some great work this week- we are really striving right now to talk to everyone still and make new friends who will be able to see the value of this message of joy. It gives me a lot of reflection myself for the value in the message we are sharing- for I need to have the love and trust in it to offer it with my whole heart to those others I love and trust. That's the spirit of missionary work- becoming one who loves all people and does this work for their good. And if I am doing it in any other way there can be no real change made, on either part of the process. So I have simply been gaining a newfound appreciation for the quality of love- one described in the scriptures as greater than all others. And now is the time to both see and display that love in our own lives, through our gratitude and service for our fellow man, our families, friends, neighbors. Now is up to our own understanding, but I know that when the love is there opportunities have a way of manifesting themselves. May we all seek to find and have the love to act on those. Thank you all for being such examples of love in my life- now I need to try to show it back by following our greatest example of love, Jesus Christ, by offering His salvation to the world. And so the work moves forward, with His power and glory at the helm. I love you all, I will talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 40 - May 5, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Happy Birthday Mom, I hope you all had a wonderful and Jedi-space battle filled day on the 4th! And I guess next week is the mother's day shout out but here's to the best mother in the galaxy. Hope you all had a great week as well- it's been good here. The rainy season is getting underway, and we have been getting soaked these last couple days- we always go out in a clear morning with no umbrellas, and then end up getting soaked and we still don't learn. But it's a lot of fun- I love being out in the rain here because it means it's not crazy hot. But that's been the big changes in this week.

We are seeing some great progress and miracles in the area. It's been a fun week of meeting new people and sharing with them what we have, and I've just had a good time observing how nice and welcoming the people are here. Rarely will we meet someone who doesn't want to just talk with us, we will just show up at a house and they will get out chairs and invite us in- I just think it's amazing how humble and kind these people are. This week we have really been working on helping people see the beauty in the message, how it's not just a new church but a fuller knowledge of the plan of happiness that our Father has prepared for us. That's why I'm here. and that's why this church is here on the Earth. We are all here to become happy, and we can only find that lasting, infinite happiness that continues after this life through the Gospel and Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's the message of the Restoration, and that's the purpose of mankind on the Earth- to seek this joy. So You all have a great week, and remember why it is we are here. I love you all, and I wish this joy upon all of you- I'll see you all soon :).

Sunset in Dingras

Love,
Elder Griffitts

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