Week 65 - October 28th, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

Elder Morley and I outside our church

Santa Ana

My dearest family and friends, I love you all so much. I hope you have all had as great as a week as we have here in paradisiacal Santa Teresita, Cagayan. This will be a quicker message here this afternoon, but we have seen so many wonderful miracles and found so much joy this past week- we are seeing the miracle of people continue to seek and to find the source of true and lasting joy in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and continue to search for those who have been prepared to receive this with all their hearts. We also got a good move earlier to a new, nicer house, and some fun times mixed in with that. So much happens every day, yet the days just fly by like lightning. We are so excited for these upcoming weeks as we have some individuals and families preparing to covenant with their Heavenly Father and receive more of His grace through the sacred ordinance of baptism, this is just one way that God endlessly shows His desire to help and uplift us to become as joyous and complete and perfect as He Himself is. That being said, the other day I just watched an incredible video that came out a few years ago, in Tagalog "Dahil sa Kanya", or, in English, "Because of Him"- it has the most incredible, simple message for the whole of humanity. We are here to have joy, but life just so happens to have trials and challenges due to the nature of it all and sometimes our own follies, but we can trust in the simple and pure and full love of our Heavenly Father in that He sent His only Begotten Son in the flesh to Earth, Jesus Christ, who showed us the way to live and then suffered and died so that we might not only find peace in this life but that we might live again- and perhaps just as much, that here in our lives that we might be given a second chance. He did so through His Atonement, and through His Gospel. I testify that this is the Gospel of Second Chances, and the path to hope and everlasting happiness if we will but choose to learn and receive His grace line upon line. This is where it is found. I love you all and wish you the most wonderful of weeks- will see all of you soon.

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Pics of our new house

Shawarma King

Week 64 - October 21st, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

The Gonzaga Zone, October 2019

My dear family and friends, I hope you have all had a spectacular week. We have been so so so blessed this week with more miracles than I can count. Santa Teresita has been prepared by the Lord, and we are meeting his people and helping them all better know His love for us. We had a whole bunch of wonderful people seeking the truth behind this confusing world come to church this past Sunday, and are really just loving working with all the new people that we have been finding. It is the greatest joy in the world to see people changing their lives and finding joy in a greater knowledge of our Heavenly Father's love and plan for us. 

The Spaghetti Block we made

We had exchanges with Santa Ana this last week, and I got to spend some great time with Elder Smith, from Utah, who is in his first few weeks in the Philippines right now- the was lots of fun, looking forward to working with and seeing these new servants of God progress and learn and find new levels of joy in this next year of their time here. Other than exchanges that Tuesday, not much of great mention occurred during the week, Elder Morley and I are having a great time together- we learned all about herbal medicine as he was sick earlier this week and an old nanay just came up and beat him with a tiny malunggay branch, that was a highlight. He got better, though... Anyway, but all jokes aside, we are really so grateful for the help and power we are seeing from God pouring out His Spirit upon this little town, and those people He has been preparing that recognize truth and the Spirit and the hope of this message. Again and again, I am astonished by the power of the Spirit in testifying and bringing peace to our hearts, conveying God's will and helping us know what to do. How blessed we are for His continued counsel to us here on Earth through His living prophets and our own personal revelation. I really have noticed, just in watching the outcoming Book of Mormon videos online, how blessed we can become if we just follow the will of our loving Father in Heaven, humble ourselves like a child submits to the will of their mom and dad here on Earth, and see how much better He really knows. Even through trials, which themselves are for our growth, we see miracles and we feel His peace and love. I testify that we are here to find joy- and that comes through following His will and using the incomparable gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, to become clean and changed and prepared to enter into His kingdom of happiness. I feel so blessed to be a tiny part of this work, to at least offer this hope to others every day and feel the true, living God as He establishes His kingdom here on Earth through those humble and penitent, those truth- and joy-seekers. May we all commit every day to seek His will and truly follow it, I promise- I know that if we do that we will become ultimately happier and better than anything we could possibly develop ourselves. Seek Him, and He will be found. I love you all so much, be safe and healthy and happy this week- will see you all soon!

The Morla Family, some people we are
teaching who made us amazing bread

Love,
Elder Griffitts

The hike we went on earlier out in Barangay
Mission- reminded me of pics from
South America, a bunch of cool
mountain-hills that were covered in thick jungle. 

Week 63 - October 14, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

With Elder Morley

In Laoag

Hello my beloved family and friends- kumusta!? It has been a wonderful week full of different experiences and spiritual instruction here in the Philippines Laoag Mission! We have been super busy this week with meetings, exchanges, interviews, and the incredible General Conference where we got to listen to the words of God's living prophets. I guess I will give you all a brief summary of the week's events. On Monday we took the long haul to Laoag, had a great leadership council on Tuesday morning where we discussed a bunch of things in the upcoming cycles- one of which that is very exciting is the new Light the World initiative for this upcoming Christmas season, there is going to be so much amazing new stuff coming out, including a new amazing video about the birth of Christ that was just amazing. Very excited for this upcoming season of joy and peace. We also had exchanges with the Assistants Tuesday and Wednesday, which was awesome. I got to work with Elder Childers, out in Laoag, and learned a ton about finding those the Lord has prepared for this wonderful message and bring them the joy that we all seek.

We went to Buguey for an interview
and met Santa Claus on his own personal beach

That was one huge focus of our prophets and apostles over this past General Conference- finding joy in this world of confusion and trials and sadness. President Nelson made an incredible statement on the subject- he spoke on Saturday about how our joy is not found in the circumstances of our lives, but rather in our focus. There was so much said about us centering our lives in Christ through the making and keeping of covenants with our Father in Heaven as well as a life lived with conscious effort to serve and love Him and our fellow man. I love the focus of joy- not short-lived bursts of heightened emotion but true, enduring, dependable happiness- this is a state of mind and soul that the world as a whole lacks in great amount, and it seems that it only gets worse with each year. That's why we have this gospel- it gives us an identity, a purpose, a hope, and a joy. We are so grateful to be out here at the top of the Philippines giving people in poverty a reason to joy, but the same goes almost to a greater extent to those wealthy in material goods- the root problems of lack of direction and purpose remain virulent, and the only way to overcome these devilish distractions and discouragements is to seek- knock, and find out who we are in all of this. I love you all so much, I hope that all is wonderful and joyous, and invite all of you to share in this infinite, abiding happiness that comes from keeping God's commandments and abiding in His love- you all have an awesome week!

Exchanges with the APs out in Laoag- 
Got to work with Elder Childers.

Love,
Elder Griffitts 

Week 61 & 62 - September 30, 2019 and October 7, 2019 (Santa Teresita, Philippines)

Week 61 (September 30, 2019)

Met this awesome tatay out on his
front porch jamming out on an old
Bob Marley guitar- he was really good.

Hello everyone, I hope your weeks are amazing! We had a great last week of the cycle here in Santa Te- Elder Estrella is transferring! He was only here for one cycle, but I am so grateful for him- I learned a ton this last cycle. My new companion is Elder Morley, who I don't know very well but am very excited to work with- he's my second American companion, I haven't had one since last December. Very excited to work with him- also our whole zone is totally changing so that is going to be very interesting, almost all of those coming in are trainees, coming straight from the States. Very excited to work with them and strive to set an example and help them in their various adjustments. 

This last week I've spent much study time on the topics of comparing, avoiding pride, and charity. At times we feel that the opposite of pride is humility, but from what I've noticed all too often the world has somewhat of a false concept on what humility really is. I was reading the other day in 2 Timothy 3, where Paul discusses the various temptations and qualities that will be seen in the last days (now)- about people being puffed up and prideful, always thinking of themselves. Then, if we read in 1 Corinthians 13, comparable to Moroni 7:45, we see that almost the exact opposite of these prideful qualities is defined by charity- it is "kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked..."- what I was thinking about, is the way to avoid pride, or comparisons, or self-defeat and self-hatred, is almost paradoxical- it is to stop thinking about ourselves and instead devote all our thoughts and efforts to helping and loving others. Do not seek our own gain, and in a process, we don't understand unless it is experienced we find greater joy than we ever could actively seeking it for ourselves. I am so grateful for the gift of charity and this opportunity to serve here every day. I hope you all yourselves find the opportunity to reach out and serve others this week and find that same joy. I love you all, and will see you soon!

Love,
Elder Griffitts

Our first counselor in the branch,
Brother Tabulog, and his wife-
 they are always so helpful to the work here! 

Week 62 (October 7, 2019)
Hello all my dear family and friends, I am so grateful to be able to write you today. Sorry, no pictures for this week- forgot my camera- but we have had some great times. My new companion is Elder Morley, he's from Sandy, Utah and has been out about a year now, came into the MTC just as I was leaving. We are having a blast, really looking forward to this next cycle. With all my heart, I just want to share with you all how grateful I am for the Plan of our Heavenly Father, and how it brings us hope through all trials and afflictions of life. Because of His Plan, because Jesus Christ came to earth to pay the price of justice, to overcome sin and death, we can hope forever for eternal life to come in God's presence with our families, dwelling in a forever state of joy and peace. Because of His Plan, we know that death is only a tiny part, it has no sting, but is simply a step in our eternal progression, and we have this incredible yet short period of probation here on earth to learn and repent and follow the Savior, that one day we may stand in His presence with confidence and unimaginable gratitude and joy. I pray for all of you to gain this hope, and just want to leave you with the incredible message of Alma 34- Amulek's discourse on the Atonement of Christ and our hope from it- I invite you all to study those inspired words from the Book of Mormon. I love you all so much, sorry I don't have time to write, and I will see you all soon!

Love,

Elder Griffitts