March 28, 2016

Letters:

Avenida João Baptista Parra, 633Salas 1501/1502, Edf. Ensenada Office
Praia do Suá, 29052-123 Vitoria - ES
- ES
Brazil

Packages:

Avenida João Baptista Parra, 633
Salas 1501/1502
Edf. Enseada Office, Praia do Suá
29052-123 Vitória - ESBrazil

March 28, 2016

Hello family!!! I love you all so much! It seems like a year since ive emailed you all. A lot has happened and a lot has changed in my life and its just sooooo crazy i dont even know where to start. Ill start with the flight. It  was so legit because we were able to walk out on the runway to walk on the plane. I took somepictures so hopefully ill be able to fugure out how to send them. The plane was semi small. The flight was an hour and a hald long and I just talked to Sister Jube and Sister Woodard the whole time about our district. I love them and miss them so much! We then went to the mission presidents home which is right on the beach! Oh how much I love the beach! haha His home is on the top floor and has a huge window looking at the ocean. I couldnt stop staring at it. But it kinda sucks that Ill havve to wait 2 years to go swimming in the ocean. We went through some orientation stuff and tehen met our companions. Elder Souza from Recife. Hes pretty legit. Hes a convert from 14​ and has a strong testimony. Hes been on his mission for 4 and a half months and Im the first Elder that he has trained. He told me that he didnt want to train anyone, especially an american so that made me fell good. haha But he is a good example to me most of the time. I´m serving in Tapoã in Vila Velha. Our house is super tiny and kinda falling apart but i cant complain. Were living with another companianship, Elder Gabriel and Elder Farreira, both Brazilian. None of them speak that good of english so its kinda frustrating when i want to say something but cant cause no one will understand me.

When i left the ctm i was really confident with my Portuguese but when I got to the field it´s a whole nother story. Everyone says that i speak amazingly for only being out a few days and i agree with them but I want to be fluent already. I beat myself up cause I cant understand everything but i just need to realize that its only my first week and i cant expect that much yet.

I can definately see improvement everyday. the first day I couldnt understand basically anything from myy companion. He has a pretty strong accent which is kinda like a lysp but today I can understand almost everything. Also yesterday at church a whole lot of people complimented me oon my language skills and when I ltold themi was only out for a few days they were pretty impressed.

I love my area. Its a very humble area with houses that are stacked on each other and verry close together. the roads are only wide enough for one car. This place is definately a whole new world. Seeing everything here makes me realize just how blessed I am to live in the United States and have all the things I have.

The weather here is amazing! The same everyday, Super hot and humid. I didnt put  on sunscreen the first day and was burnt as red as a tomatoe... It was pretty embarrassing. I sweat like crazy everyday and its awesome. I go through clothes really fast.

there is so much on my mind I cant even think of what to say. But I love you all so much and I miss you all. This week sure has been a test but Ive grown so much from it.

Since me and my companion are both new in our area, we spent most of las week getting to know the members and finding new investigators. We found some really promissing people to teach. Wanderson (18) and Emilly (15) are siblings and they both excepted to be baptized but were hesitant on a date. They went out of town this weekend so hopefully well be able to talk to them tomorrow. Im getting better everyday at teaching. WE teach the restoration the most cause everyone is newthat we teach and the spirit is strong everytime. I always share the first vision cause I have it memorized and I can definately feel the spirit testifiying that it is true. I just hope that the investigators can feel that too. I know this church is true without a doubt and this week has definately strengthened my testimony substantually. I love you all sooo much! Até Próxima semana.

Com Amor,

Elder Griffin

March 18, 2016

Familia! I love you all like crazy! The CTM is amazing! But im definately ready to get out of here. I cannot believe that I leave the ctm in 4 days... It seems like i just left like last week. This is going to be the fastest 2 years of my life! So many spiritual things have happened while ive been here. I love the constant spirit that this place has. I didnt really have any huge experiences happen this past week to write about but all is well. I am going to miss my district like crazy. I love everyone in it. Elder Babcock and i have so much fun! Even though hes not my companion we do everything together. Im gonna miss mine and his relationship but we have already made plans to hang out and go on a trip to california together since hes from saint george itll be pretty easy. 

The weather is changing to fall down here. Its like 1 degree cooler than the summer so its a huge difference! 

I went to the Campinas temple today. Its probably the last time that ill be able to go to a temple in two years. Did everything in Portuguese again. So awesome! The spirit in the celestial room was incredible. I was thinking about how families are forever and how some family situations could be complicated but God is a merciful God and everything will work out in His hands. They have a distribution center right next to the temple and this past week they just finished a revised version of the bible with footnotes to all the Book of Mormon and everything. Its pretty cool. The President of the CTM, President Graul helped work on the project. I didnt take that many pictures this week but ill send what i got. 

Im super stoked to see the ocean pretty soon! I hope the mission home is close by. Even thought i cant go in it itll still be amazing to see. I wanted to share my testimony in Portuguese but i wanted to say first in English that Im so grateful for everyone of you who have made an impact in my life. Im deeply grateful for all of you. Keep pushing forward. 

Eu sei que a Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias é verdadeiro. Eu sei que Joseph Smith foi um profeta chamado de Deus. Ele realmente traduziu o Livro De Mórmon através o poder de Deus. Revelação pessoal é real. Todas nós podemos receber esta revelação se seguimos o exemplo de Jesus Criso por fazendo as coisas que ele perguntou que nós fazemos. Eu sou muito grato por o CTM e cada coisa que eu aprendi nesta lugar. Sou muito grato por Jesus Cristo e todas as coisas que ele fez para mim. Eu amo minha família com toda minha coração. Obrigado por todas voces. Eu amo este Evangelho e sou muito animado para compartilhar meu testemunho com as pessoas do Brasil. Sou grato por meu instrutores e meu pesquisadores. Eu sei com toda meu coração que eu estou aqui para as pessoas do Brasil. Digo estas coisas em o nome de Jesus Cristo, Amém. 

Com Amor,

Elder Griffin

PS. Keep emailing me and maybe a letter or two would hurt. I love you all. Next time I email you will be in The state of the Holy Ghost, Espírito Santo!!! Wahoo!!!

March 11, 2016

Family!!! I love you all again. Im doing great! The CTM is still fun
and Im still working hard. Sometimes Its hard to pay attention but i
still do my best. Im really excited to get out of here... haha not
that its a bad place or anything but I just want to do some real
missionary work. I love teaching fake investigators. Every day we
teach an average of three investigators. Im getting more and more
confident with the language every day. The days are pretty repettative
and the only real different days are p-days like today. Today we were
able to go to the campinas temple again! First time since the first
p-day. Its about 2 hours away and i love it because i get to catch up
on some sleep. :) The session today was the first one in portuguese
since ive been here. I could understand like 99 percent of it because
i have done so many sessions so that was nice. I also did it all in
portuguese. I dont want to say a lot about the temple over email but
it was so amazing! Let me know if my pictures are going through. I
cant send them throught he ctm because it takes too long so im sending
them through a cookie shop across down the street. This week was
pretty eventfull as well. We said goodbye to an elder in my hall that
was a spitting image of President Obama. I got some pictures with him
so maybe you all can see how crazy close it is. I took a picture with
him and Elder Babcock with our sunglasses being his body gaurds, it
was pretty hilarious. I love the spirit here! Everyday I here the
testimonies of people in my district and it strengthens mine
substantially. So a crazy thing that me and Elder Babcock did this
week was a little insane... haha It was his idea to start off but it
was still really fun. We got one of the blankets from one of the rooms
and sat down on it and pulled each other down the hall as fast as we
could. The floors are tile so it was so much fun!! Probably not the
smartest thing to do but it was fun. I know I tell a lot of crazy
things that happen but dont worry, Im working super hard to learn the
language and a lot about the gospel. Im dedicated to this work and I
love to be a missianary so much! Another weird thing that happened
this week was yestierday in a lesson. It was a lesson for TRC which is
where we teach a member. The member was a little late to the room but
all was good. We walked in right after her and she turned on the
lights and there were literally thousands of mosquitos in the room.
The windows were left open and the room in on the bottom floor right
by the garden area so it was very prone to mosquitos. We spent a
couple minutes trying to get as many as we could out but we ended up
shutting the window with still a million in the room. It was a little
difficult to teach with the spirit because I was swatting bugs out of
my face like crazy but It was still fun. Most of you know that I hate
bugs but I didnt freak out until we got out of the lesson and the
member didnt see me... haha Such good times!!! I love you all so much
and i miss you! This past month has flown by and I have loved it. I
have learned so much more in this month than i have before in my life.
Ive matured a lot but im still my normal self as you can tell by my
awesome stories. I love this work. I love the people of Brasil! Eu amo
sendo um missionario. Eu quero batizar muitas pessoas e ensinar eles
pelo Espirito Santo. Vivindo no CTM e increivel! Estou muito animado
ir ao campo en duas mais semanas. Estou aprendendo muito cada dia. Eu
sei que esta igraja e verdadeira com toda meu coraçao. Em nome de
Jesus Cristo, Amem  Com Amor, Elder Griffin

March 4, 2016

Hola Familia!!! Eu amo voces muito!

I love you guys! I have so much to tell you guys! This past week was super amazing! I felt the spirit so strongly and many awesome things happened. First of all ill tell you about the best thing that happened this week. I was able to give my first blessing! I was sooo grateful for that experience. Sister Albrecht asked me to give her a blessing because she was sick for a few days. I was so honoured and so nervous to give the opportunity because i felt so much responsibility on my shoulders. I was so nervous that i called her by the wrong name at first but then i got corrected by her and all was well. Right when i placed my hands on her head to give her a blessing i felt calm and a rush of the spirit. It was a type of revelation that Ive never felt before. Im so blessed to  be a worthy priesthood holder. I know that it is the literal power of God on the earth. 

This past wednesday i had the amazing opportunity to go out to the metro in the middle of Sau Paulo and go proselyting. My whole district went at the same time. We each had 5 books of mormons to give out in about two hours. I was so excited I gave my first three away on the bus on our way to where we were supposed to be proselyting. Even though my vocab was extremely limited, I was able to testify by the spirit and hopefully change the lives of some people. I made a few mistakes too... I am kinda the most outgoing one of my tripanionship as previously stated so i kinda led in a lot of the discussions. I loved it though. A mistake that i made was going to talk to the homeless guys. They were obviously drunk or high on something because most of them are anyway. But these guys were seriously bad. I started to talk to them and one guy was really erratic and just yelling at people so we just left right after that. Another mistake was I let someone argue with me about the priesthood being restored for awhile. It was a taxi driver operater man. My instructor signaled us thought the fence and told us to just leave so we did. I definately learned what not to do during that situation. Proselyting was an amazing experience that really got me excited for the field! I also made me want to work harder in the CTM to learn more Portuguese and more about teaching. 

My Portuguese is really improving though. I can understand mostly everything from my instructor because ive probably gotten used to the way he speaks. But with other instructors I can understand about 75% The gift of tongues is real everybody! Prayer is real too! Use prayer everyday to come closer to God because he is waiting to help you. He know you perfectly and want the best for you all we have to do is ask. 

This past weekend I had one of the most spiritual experiences in my life thus far. It was in a dream. I cant say much about it through an email because I believe its too sacred but those I love will just have to wait a couple years to hear about it in person. ;) I wont say any details but my experience certified and confirmed that my testimony of God and Jesus Christ is real. I know they live will all of my being. I know Christ died for me. I know He loves us unconditionally and we need to take advantage of the atonement. This experience will be something that Ill be able to draw on for the rest of my life. I know without a doubt that this was from God. In the temple this morning at the beginning of the session I was confirmed of my experience and the love God has for me. I was filled with the Holy Ghost. I know it is true. 

I had two investigators commit to be baptized this week! Marcelo and Aparecido. Super exciting! I cant talk much about them but I love teaching so much! 

Keep praying for me! I love you all. 

Love 

Elder Girffin

February 26, 2016

Family!!! Friends!!! I love you all so much! sorry for any mispelled words or incorrect grammer, im just going to try to type as fast as i can because i dont have that much time to write. Anyway, I love the CTM. Ive felt the spirit so much and I love my district. I had a testimony meeting last night with my district and that brought the spirit so strongly. I shared my testimony and I had a conformation of what i talked about is true. Im so grateful for the knowledge i have of the gospel. So many crazy things have happened this week and Ill try to include them all if i can. First of all we had a devotional on thursday that was incredible. The second counsesler in the brazil are presidency talked to us and he was so powerful i loved him. My favorite part he talked about was that attitude determines altitude. I know that is true because i always to try to have an open mind and a learning attitude and i can definately tell that it has helped. All the Brazilians say i look like many different people. Some say I look like gimlee from Lord of the Rings, and some say I look like a baby dinosaur on a show in brazil. My portuguese is improving very well. I love learning new languages, I find it really fun. The instructors say that i speak well for only being here for two weeks. I cant believe its been that long. Days are sure long but weeks fly by. Im not going to take another moment for granted. 

Last saturday i kinda did something funny/not smart/ amazingly fun. haha I bought a bag of bacon chips last p-day and I tied them on a rope and "fished" them down to some sisters on the lower level. I wanted to give them to sisters in my district but we had a miscommunication on room numbers and some new sisters got them. We tied elder, Barneys lamp to it and when the sisters got the chips the light fell three stories to the floor and broke. Im glad it wasnt mine because i would have been so mad. 

Another weird thing that happened this week was coming out of a lesson and, obviously i dont speak that well of portuguese, but the investigator said in portuguese, "maybe next time we can drink a liter of coffee together?" And I responded, not knowing what he said and just wanting to get out of there,"Ok, sounds good, have a good day" I then asked a brazilian instructor what he said and he muttled through is bursts of laughter, Your investigator asked you to drink coffee together and you aggreed to it. I was super embarrassed but all is well. haha The investigators arent real anyway. I found out this week that we get to go on the streets next week and place some books of mormon!!! Im so excited to finally try it out in the real world. Im, like tyler would say, an all in missionary! I definately know how to have fun all the time but I also definately know how to be a missionary and teach the gospel. Im so grateful for all of you that have prepared me for this experience! I love being a missionary so much, you have nothing to worry about. I love hearing from you all each week. I wish I had all day to respond but I only have 45 minutes. Its super short in the CTM. I love my companions, even though were not really the same type of people. Im pretty outgoing and love to go go go and they arent that talkative. But we are getting better and learning a lot together. I have seen so much growth in my companions both in the language and in teaching. I have grown a love for everyone that I see. I love every one. And I want to share the love that I have for my savior with as many people that I can. Im so grateful for my mission and all that it has given me thus far. I hope you all are still praying for me and trying to be the best people you can be. I love you all so much! Boa sorte en todas as coisas que voces estam fazendo. 

Com amor, 

Elder Griffin

February 19, 2016

Everyone!!! My first week in the CTM was amazing! The days are long but the weeks fly by. Im going to appologize for the jumbleness of this email I just have so much on my mind! I am having so much fun its crazy. Brazil is insanely hot and I love it for the most part. Im in a tripanionship with Elder Ovard from san diego and elder haefner from missouri. The food is amazing! it took my stomach a few days to get used to but im loving it now. The showers are kinda weird. They arent that private (There are bugs all over the walls looking at you hahaha) Anyway, joke of the week. I love my teachers so much! Irmao Fatori and Irmao Santos. And Oliveira comes in a lot too just to say Hi. Im learning so much. How to teach, a whole lot of Portuguese. I can pray, bear my testimony, and have a small conversation with someone. I love the language. My district is incredible! We have 4 sisters and 5 elders. We have so much fun together! We have so many inside jokes with each other and the instructors. I was able to go to the Campinas temple this morning. Its almost a 2 hour drive but its super pretty. Im going to send some pictures to you dad and maybe you can send them out to others and tyler can post some on my facebook. Its an amazing temple but really smaller than any other temple ive been to. When we are in the CTM we only get to go to the campinas temple once so it was cool to go there for my first time. The session was in english because there were mostly american missionaries. It was incredible! ffor the first week it was only mee and my companions in our room but wednesday we had two brazilian missionaries come in. Its going to help my portuguese inprove muito bom. We have been teaching Renato this past week for our first investigator and man its really different teaching in a different language. I get frustrated a little bit because i cant convey exactly what i want to say. my vocab is very limited but we still had a miracle happen! We commited him to be baptized. Even though its fake it was still super exciting! I love teaching so much. I have been blessed to be born in this gospel and I want to try my best to prepare myself so i can teach the people of brazil and help them return to live with Christ.I wish i had more time to write you all but i want to be able to read some of your emails. I love you all so much and I cant wait to continue to let you know how much im loving being a missionary. Thank you so much for your prayers. Please keep them coming. Eu sei que a Igreja de Jesus Cristo e verdadeiro! 

Com amor,

Elder Griffin

Forward into battle!!!

PS I love you all so much!