Week 52 - July 29th, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing so great! I am so happy to be able to write a little bit to you all today- I am so blessed to have all of you as my friends and family. We are all so blessed here on this Earth, to have a firm foundation and a purpose! We've been so happy this week just meeting all kinds of new people- there are so many different stories and experiences out there, it just never ceases to amaze me how different we all are but at the same time how no matter the problem, the solution is always, always found in some aspect of Christ's Gospel- it just demonstrates the divine authorship of this plan, that it applies to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people- it is always central to our unending happiness as families and children of a loving Father. 

Anyways, I don't have much time to write here, we are off to Laoag at this time for a meeting there, so we get to make that fun drive again and come back on Tuesday, but it will be good- I'm excited for the opportunity to discuss the needs of the mission and how we can all be more centered on our purpose and motivated by the joy of the truth- I love you all, have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 51 - July 22nd, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

On our way to a hike (Still in Dingrass)

Good morning my dearest brothers and sisters, family! It is so wonderful to be able to feel so close to you all despite being geographically far. We've had a great week here in Santa Teresita- had some great rain as a break from all the heat. But rest assured, the heat is back in full effect. We had some awesome experiences this week- got to go to Laoag to go on exchanges with the assistants to the president (that was a looonngg drive), and it was a very educational experience for me. We've met a ton of awesome people here this week as well. 

We ran to the top of the mountain!
Only 3 of us made it to the top
out of the 7 missionaries!

More hiking pics

One of the most powerful motivators for the change of human behavior is a knowledge of who we are. So who are we? I want to state as firm truth that we are all literal children of a loving Father in Heaven. Our God. So what does this mean? One, it means that we are all brothers and sisters, family. I feel so blessed to be able to go out every day and meet new members of the long-lost family that I knew so well in the life before this. It gives me so much joy to be able to meet them and learn about their individual experiences here on this Earth- we have all been sent here as siblings to help each other, to love each other, to lift and learn from each and every one. I love that divine truth, because it means we are not strangers. We knew each other- we just need to meet again. But what else? What else does it mean to be a child of God? Well, it means the relationship between every child and their parent- they are going to grow up to be like them. This realization brings much. It teaches us that we have godly potential- we have the opportunity, as it says in Romans 8:17, to become "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ". We don't have to be trapped in our states of difficulty and sin- we can overcome this world! We can become exalted beings! Because Christ laid down all He had, His very life, that we might have the opportunity to become as the Father- become as He is. I know that this knowledge of our divine identity has power above all else to push us to change- to reach our potential, to see the world as God sees it. We can return to Him, we can reach true happiness- through His Son, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ no pit is too deep. No darkness can extend beyond the reach of Christ's infinite Atonement. The Sun illuminates all shadows, and the night is chased away. So let us all seek our divine potential. I love you all, my dear brothers and sisters. I pray that you will all find great hope from this promise- that we may inherit all the Father has. Talk to you soon!


Love,
Elder Griffitts

With my comp, Elder Tuyak, and
our Branch President (Dingrass)

Saying goodbye to Elder Tuyak

Elder Pacapac and I- our church is right
across the street from the apartment.
(Santa Teresita)

Out in Caroan- our area on the
top of the Philippines

Santa Ana out at the end of the mission

Week 50 - July 15th, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

Hello everyone! It's great to have some time to write this week- it has been a great past week, we are having a great time here in Santa Teresita. The branch here is awesome, we have been able to go out with a few of the members this past week, and I've pretty much had enough time to explore the greater part of the area. We have one part of our area, a little neighborhood, right on the beach which is really cool- they are all fishermen and just live right on the sand. We also have some great families that have accepted the invitation to follow Christ's example and be baptized in these upcoming weeks, and we are excited to work with them to make this happen. Elder Pacapac is awesome- he's on his last cycle, and wants to work hard these last weeks, and we are having a great time. We went out to Santa Ana as well this past week for some interviews, it was so beautiful there- our zone here is absolutely gorgeous. Hope I get to stay here a good long while.

Mission Conference

We had a really cool experience yesterday- we were teaching a new family, and I wasn't sure what I was going to teach- we didn't really have a lesson plan as we had just met them, but they had some questions and basically I just was able to witness the promise in D&C 84:85 that "[the words] shall be given to you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man". We began teaching about light- an analogy about artificial, man-made light bulbs as opposed to the sun. A light bulb can illuminate a space in the dark, but its light only extends so far before darkness overcomes again. The sun, on the other hand, a creation of God, overcomes all darkness and brings what we call 'day' ("sun" and "day" are the same word in Tagalog, interestingly enough). If we seek for the light of a bulb, or in other words, if we are satisfied with a lesser portion of light or knowledge, that is what we shall gain. But if we desire to have the glory of the sun, we must seek it out piece by piece, through the grace of Christ's sacrifice. That's how His Gospel works- we start out small, with desire or faith alone on Christ and His power to give us His light. Then we act- we repent- in order to receive a greater portion of the light. Then, if we so desire, we can add to it by covenanting with God to receive His Spirit, more of His light- all in the spirit of eternal progression- it is such an awesome and true concept. We gain what we seek- if we seek good and seek from divine sources. So let us all seek knowledge, by learning and also by faith, that we might reach that state of life that the Father and the Son seek to share with us. I love you all, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Mission Conference

Week 49 - July 8th, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

Our Hike!

Hello everyone! Quick update I wanna get out! So transfer day, and I'm moving to the other side of the mission, in Santa Teresita way out in Cagayan. I'm so excited, we leave tomorrow night for Laoag and then tomorrow morning take a nine hour bus out there. I'm really going to miss this amazing area of Dingras- I've met and come to know and love some of the most amazing and strongest people here, in their faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and their desires to do good and help others. I can't wait to come back here some day (write that on the calendar mom and dad). Six months has brought some incredible memories, and even more incredible miracles. I have witnessed so many this past week. I wish I had more time to write about it all, but I need to get back and get packing- we just got finished with an awesome hike up in Solsona up some amazing mountains. I am so so so grateful for this mission, for this time that God has granted unto me to give my efforts into serving Him and His children. I know it is all only, only possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which saves and lifts us every single day. And I can't wait to spread this incredible news in a new town, a new region, and meet all those people and see many many more of the miracles and love of God. I love you all, I hope that you all have an incredible week, and keep pressing forward always in faith. Write more next week, love ya!!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Week 48 - July 4th, 2019 (Dingras, Philippines)

When we left our house there wasn't a cloud in the sky?

Happy Fourth to you all over across the pond. Hope all is going well with you all. We had a great week here- had some great exchanges on Friday with the other missionaries in our apartment, Elder Egana and I were out in our area, and had some incredible experiences just feeling the truth so strongly and experiencing the Spirit, so that was something I just felt really strongly I wanted to write about today. Truth, and knowledge. In Doctrine and Covenants 93:24, it talks about truth being a knowledge of things as they are, were and are to be. And in the context of this, during our exchanges we were having a companion study and talking about the Restoration of the Gospel, as well as the Great Apostasy after the fall of Christ's Church, and there are just moments where you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that something is true. We were reading in 1 Nephi 10, about how Nephi after hearing the words of his father desired to know if they were true or not. And there is a pattern there- desire, belief, pondering, and asking. And above all else- a testimony, a witness from the Holy Ghost. If we consider in the context of "scientific knowledge", I suppose I was thinking about how those things that are "proven" must needs be observed, or "seen". But what about a faith? Some knowledge that we, in our fallen, weak state, are in no state to witness with our eyes or observe due to our sheer inability to comprehend. This is the knowledge that comes from the Spirit of God. And this is the only, only, way to know of things that we simply cannot, are not prepared, to see for ourselves. The reality of God as our Father. The Divine Sonship and salvation of Jesus Christ. And the reality of Christ's Gospel and Church here on the Earth. There is only one Spirit. There is only one truth. You can't pick A and B on a multiple choice test. Thus, if there is only one way to salvation and everlasting joy, to me the only way to find out is through the Holy Spirit of God, through the feelings that It gives to us in our selves, that there is no way that these things could be false. And if I may say with some boldness, if there be anyone who shall deny these feelings in themselves or in others as they recognize that they come from a Higher Power, that person in one who defines the Anti-Christ. So, if there be any one searching for knowledge, seeking to plant a seed of faith, than take the advice of James in James 1:5, and ask of God. As we do so, and as He provides us with knowledge beyond our means to acquire on our own, and in doing so we have the infinite capacity that He, even the Creator of all things, and become one with Him in the knowledge and truth of all things. In D&C 93:36, we learn that the glory of God Himself is intelligence- light and truth. So may we all, as His children, continuously seek knowledge from His grace and the gift of His Spirit. I love you all, have an incredible week and Independence Day.

Some pretty scenage from a new part of the area- reminds me of downtown Auburn.

Love,

Elder Griffitts