Week 47 - June 24th, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Hi everyone, sorry this is a short one today, but I wanted to wish you all a good week. We had a good week here, and met some new people, and learned about faith and trials. I guess I'm just thinking about all of this as the days go by, faster and faster each week, and how much this experience is one of the greatest gifts God has and is giving me. And it truly is a gift, because it seems that all that I have experienced, I have been given infinitely more than I feel I have given. I don't know why, but somehow I know above all else that that is true. And if any on the path wondering about going out, leaving a home behind, and serving on a mission- I just have to say to you- do it. Don't overthink, just be worthy and let God take you on a journey that you really will come to realize you have no control over, but that's okay because the One who has the reins is to be trusted through it all. You will find your life in losing it. I feel I am barely scratching the surface in understanding that saying of Christ's, but there is something in changing everything for a cause that you believe is true, not because you can see it but because you can feel it, because you know it is. And I am here to witness that there is no truer work than that of building up the kingdom of God in preparation for Him to receive it. So for those of you who feel lost, come and be found in this flock, this place where everyone belongs- if we are willing to trust and rely and give it all away for this goodness. I love you all, see you soon, and have a wonderful week.

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 46 - June 17th, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Dear friends and family,

Had a service project this last Wednesday-
cleaned up at a school and they
gave us all a certificate

It was so good seeing all the Griffitts clan (minus a few) this past Father's Day- everyone is looking great and a bit more grown from the last time I saw them. Special shout out to my example in pretty much all my life plans as well as the source of much comedy and many laughs in my life- my dad- it's so great to be able to talk to you every week and get a good laugh from your weekly reports. 

As for my weekly report, all is proceeding routinely here in Dingras. We had a great service project this last Wednesday in Barong, for their Independence Day. We cleaned up at one of the schools in the area with a bunch of other churches who had also joined, and they gave us a certificate afterwards. It was a lot of fun, it's always a great change of pace when we get to get down to some manual labor. We have been having on-off rain and sun here, so you never know if you'll need an umbrella or not, but we usually take on to be safe. The work is going great, we had one new person come to church this last Sunday, from right here in centro, so we are excited- we just met her a few days before. And we are enjoying finding, meeting people who want to change and find the happiness that we all are looking for in this life.

Had some thoughts this week about grace and growth in life. Some people I've met have this idea that grace is what saves us after we believe. And it's true, grace, or the power that come from Christ's Atonement, is truly the only thing that we have a hope for, the only thing that can save. But we error at times in thinking that it comes only from an idle faith in this power- this is a gift offered to be used. I like to think of it as the parable Christ gave about talents- though replace the 'talents' with books. A master gave one servant 5 books, another 3, and another 1. The first two read their books, gained their knowledge, and so the master gave unto them more books. The last, though he only had one, set aside his book and did not read it, so the master took it away. But not at any loss to the servant, he already had decided he had no use for it. So what was the master's purpose in giving him more books? So it is with the grace of Christ- we have to be willing to learn and change, and then He happily heaps upon us grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy. Let us all learn how we can learn to apply His grace through the Gospel He gave- through faith, repentance, and making covenants with Him through baptism. I'll talk to you all next week, I love you all. See ya later!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 45 - June 10th, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Some of the youth at church

A warm summer's greeting to all of you! It's great to be able to write to you all this toasty day, I hope you all are enjoying the start of vacation. We've had a great week here, somehow we live in a perpetual state of every day being hotter than the last, but life continues. Anyways, school has started again for everyone here, so we're back into the year and everyone is getting ready to start planting rice. They have to wait until the rain gets strong though, as they have to flood the fields in order to plant. So lots of people are resting right now, waiting out the rain, which is good news for us because we've got a lot of people who have down time and want to talk. We've met with some super nice people this past week, so generous and thoughtful even though we just met them. That's something I admire hugely about these people here, their capacity for kindness even in hardship. We've had like 5 different people we are teaching give us big bags of mangoes when we stop by, they just love to give what they have. I have much to learn from them. We have this one lady we have been teaching from Cali, a barangay in our area, who just came to church this last Sunday, and she is just so sweet and always welcoming to us and we are really excited for her and her family, but she is just one example of the goodness of these people.

B-day of sister Jonah

I've also been thinking a lot about miracles these past couple days, and what they are and how we get them. Sometimes I overthink miracles, but really they are simply events and opportunities that we cannot understand because we don't know the processes behind them. But God knows, because He is the Creator and Organizer of all processes. For example, modern medicine is a miracle by the standards of just 100 years ago. Even now, for I certainly don 't understand it. But in that same category, modern-day miracles are just as possible, but they function according to our faith, our belief in these higher processes. In other words, they function and are brought about according to the heed we are willing to give to commandments and advice from God that we do not fully understand. That's why obedience is the first law of everything. If we want the impossible, or in other words, a miracle, we have to live  our lives in a matter wherein we are expecting the impossible- doing all we can to follow the instructions of One who knows better than us so that these higher processes may be brought about in our lives. The chief of which being the change that comes as a soul draws close unto Christ, and is reborn in Him through repentance and baptism- of all the miracles, I can't think of one greater or more long lasting than the change that these truths bring about- the Gospel and Atonement in action. So miracles are possible- and quite probable- if we are willing to live after His laws, after His manner of everlasting happiness. So I hope you all see some great miracles this week from your wonderful living. I love you all, have a great one!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 44 - June 3rd, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

Dear everyone, it's great to be able to address you this week. I hope you have all had some awesome experiences. We have been teaching a lot of families this week, which has been an awesome experience- just seeing a family testifies to me how they are ordained of God. Though we are working on getting people to come to church. It is a work in progress. 


Anyway, I guess I just wanted to share some ideas I had for this week, I wish I had as many cool experiences. I was reading in the New Testament this past week in 1 Corinthians, I really enjoy Paul's messages to those early Saints. In chapters 1 and 2, he talks a lot about being one in Christ's Church, and it just further proves to me that this confusing world really needs Christ's Church in it, and I'm so grateful for my testimony that it was in fullness restored through prophets and apostles, starting with Joseph Smith. I've really been thinking about why we need prophets- It says in 1 Cor 2, just as earthly things are known in earthly ways, so can things of God only be known by His Spirit. It makes so much sense- you can't just learn through study and memorization. It takes prayer, ponder, and more than anything revelation through the Spirit of God. Thus the reasoning that there truly is no one who can lead the Church of God save he is in direct communication with our Father and Christ, save he is called to be the spokesman of His will on the Earth. I know that we have a living prophet, and I sustain him as Christ's instrument to build His kingdom on Earth. And just as I mentioned earlier, I only know this through the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost Whose purpose it is to explain and expound on spiritual truths, just as we have teachers and resources here on Earth to explain earthly matters. In other words, since His ways are above our ways, we cannot do much else but trust and believe in the feelings He provides- which I do, because I have seen miracles from this truth, from faith. There is power in faith, and it is real- no self-fulfilled prophecy, no idea of man- Christ is real, this Gospel is real, and change is real! I know that we have been given a gift in the Atonement, and we are dependent on Christ's grace to become like Him in this life. I just read Brad Wilcox's "Changed Through His Grace"- if you have any questions on the matter, I highly suggest this read. I suppose that is all for now though- I love you all, I love this life we have, we just need to keep working and learning and becoming and one day we will see all the rewards we can imagine. See ya later!

Love,
Elder Griffitts