Elder Griffin: Lots of Hard Work This Week

HELLO! Nama berita dek? Ou?

This was a good week, despite the hard work! So I'm just going to jump in....

So, last Monday, we went to a Crocodile Farm for our P-Day activity. We took along three live chickens and threw them all into the crocodile pit so see which one could live the longest. Gus and Spencer died pretty quickly, but Julie survived! She ran away from all of the crocodiles and managed to hide under a stone ledge, but she'll die soon enough. I have pictures and videos! Also, we played with a sun-bear. It's the same species that Baloo is on "The Jungle Book". We fed him some milk and then wrestled with him, and that was a lot of fun. His name was Eddy.

Later that night, we went and taught Brother E and his family. He's a less-active. We just got to know him and talked a bit. We played a game called "Hai, Su, Kah" which they totally LOVED!!!! They were laughing so hard that I thought that they would pinsam (faint)! It was really funny and it was good. We're meeting them again tonight, and we're instituting a group FHE so the other members in the area can become active again.

Tuesday, we met with B and F. They are really good. We wanted to invite them to the FHE gathering, but they were unable to come due to work. We are also meeting with them tomorrow night again. They are really neat. They work a lot, so it's hard for them to go to Church, so we have been helping B to try to overcome that obstacle. 

We also helped two of the Sisters, Sister Anderson and Sister Rigby and clearing our their portion of the Branch Directory. We went to a place called Senadin. That wasn't good. We didn't find anybody really, we just biked around in the hot sun for 5 hours. Later that night, we met with President Atos. He is the Branch Mission Leader. He's super good and he is totally on board with Elder Trudo and I. His cousin's son-in-law was on MH370. They still haven't found it. We are pretty up-to-date, but there's no news as of yet. We also met with President Langgie, the Branch President. He is President Atos' son, and he is ready to help!

So, our plan is to clean out the Branch List. All of the people who have disappeared or who have converted to Islam we put into MLS (ask Tyson about that, he knows). So, the Muslims/ex-LDS ones stay on a seperate list in Singapore, so that when it's not illegal to teach Muslims, then they can go back to Church. The rest are send to Salt Lake to be found by the experts. So, by cleaning about the Branch List, we will know who to focus on. That will strengthen relationships with the members, it will get home/visiting teaching up-and--going, and eventually, we will not have to go contacting and we will teach only referrals.

Door contacting is a way to find people, but it is rarely effective. I've baptized about 13 people on my mission. Only one was a door contact. Everyone else was a referral. So, please, although many of you live in Happy Valley, befriend non-members, and introduce them to the missionaries! 

I also have Missionary Tags in the following languages. Chinese, English, Bahasa Melayu, and soon enough, Tamil. I took pictures, I'll try to send those! 

There was District Conference the past few days. Elder Larry Y. Wilson from the Asia Area Presidency came. I was up on the stand translating for the whole thing into Malay for the Saturday adult session. That was a little difficult, but I was able to do it. It's just hard to translate some certain things. American idioms don't translate well into Malay....

President and Sister Mains were also there. We had our periodical interviews. That was good. 

Well, that's all for this week! I have literally 6 months left! I come home September 25, so I'll be home before you know it! 

Dengan Sayang,

Elder Joshua H. Griffin

holding the goat

Holding the bear

name tags in Malay, Iban, English, and Mandarin Chinese

Cute little Iban kids in their kampung

Elder Griffin: Don't Underestimate the Power of Prayer

Jadi....(prounced "jah-dee") this week has been pretty good! Not too much happened unfortunately, but here we go anyway! 

So, in case all of you haven't heard, there is a plane that just disappeared. MH370 for Malaysia Airlines (which is slightly disconcerting, because that's the Airline that the missionaries use for Zone Conferences and transfers), is gone. It just disappeared. Apparently the FBI and a lot of Agencies around the world have been searching for it in the South China Sea, but were unable to find any debris or evidence of a crash. Authorities think that it was hijacked. The plane switched its course and passed over Malaysia, so now they are searching the Indian Ocean. They also have satellites searching for it. That affected our plans later in the week, but you'll see that later.

At this time, Elder Trudo and I (we're working really well together by the way; he reminds me of a wise sage), are working on clearing out the Branch Directory completely, so we're gearing up for "Minggu Neraka". It is not going to be fun, and I'm not looking forward to it, but it's something that must be done. The Branch(es) here in Miri are destroyed, and because the missionaries basically run the Branches, its our job to get it up and running again. That's not to say the Branch/District Presidency doesn't help. They do, but sometimes it's almost ineffective..... So we're going to visit every single member and find every single house. We have one lesson-with-a-member-present planned. That's it. So wish us luck!

As for the investigators:

Brother D: We dropped him basically. He wasn't keeping his commitments, so after a very bold and eyebrow singeing lesson with him, we are giving him one last chance. His choice is simple. We told him, "You need to either choose God and your family, or alcohol and cigarettes." He still hasn't made a decision, and we're not going to visit with him for some time.

 E and M: Still in Brunei.

D, P, and M: We met with D and M. He actually was in the hospital. He has an ulcer, so we gave him a Priesthood Blessing, pronounced by Elder Trudo. According to the blessing, he will be completely healed and he was also blessed with a desire to become a man who holds and exercises the Priesthood. We committed them to baptism, but they said that they weren't ready yet. So we're just hoping that all goes well. They returned to Kampung, again, but they will be back for a doctor's appointment, and we set up a return appointment at that time.

A and L: We also taught them a little bit. They have been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon! Finally! They are in 1 Nephi 11, all by themselves, which is unheard of for an Iban! They didn't come to Church, but Elder Trudo and I are still working with them on that.

So, on Saturday we had a "Talent Show". It turned into more of a Devotional in memory of the MH370 plane. We found out that President Atos' cousin's son-in-law (what...?) was on the flight, so we stopped the dances, like the Poco-poco, and just sang songs. I translated for Elder and Sister Riser into Malay. It's hard to say "sins of omission and sins of commission". Same with "the master plan is the Master's plan." That doesn't really work in Malay. It was really weird. And not that beneficial to anybody, I feel like. It was originally supposed to help with missionary work, then it turned into a talent night, and then it turned into a devotional.

So, yeah. Although it wasn't the best week in the world, it was still good.

Spirit Stride and Testimony Tidbit: One of the faults that we as humans have is to underestimate the power of prayer. At the end of every prayer, we monotonously say "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." But what does that really mean? To me, it has taken on a new meaning. As we pray, we set our hearts to do what we ask for. We prepare to set to work. We are praying in the name of God's Only Begotten Son, and so what we ask for we will receive, as long as it is in line with Heavenly Father's will. We could almost take the "amen" off at the end and finish our prayer with Jesus' name. As we pray in his name, we consecrate and dedicate our efforts. As long as we act in faith, and in accordance with God's will, "all things are possible." 

Example: If we say in a prayer, "Please help me to have clean thoughts", but then we do nothing to change it, why do we even pray for it? We're praying in Jesus' name, which means that we'll have heaven-sent assistance, seen and unseen. But we also need to try. I know that prayer is powerful. Jesus prayed often, and so should we.

Well, that's all for this week. I love you all and I hope that all is going well with you! CTR and keep the commandments! Pilih yang benar!

Dengan sayang kuat,

Elder Joshua H. Griffin

Elder Griffin: Becoming More Fluent-lah!

Hey! Selamat pagi, tengah hari, atau malam, depending on where you are! 

This week has been pretty good. Really humbling for me, but we all need that every now and then. I'm been humbling myself a bit, but Heavenly Father has been helping me to become humble as well.... So my spirits have been up and down this week--a roller coaster ride, but overall I'd say that it's been pretty good! Just a nice growing experience.

Mom, it's super legit that The Amazing Race was filmed in Malaysia. I swear my mission is the most legit adventure ever! So now you know what kampungs really look like, right? Do you know if they were in Sarawak at all or if they went really far inland? I'm on the coast. We're actually going to have a P-Day activity and the beach today!

So, here's my Spirit Stride: We were teaching a less-active and her son, M. E, M's dad, had to go back to work in Brunei, but they're super prepared. Anyways, as we were teaching, we were obviously teaching in Malay. And I'm not sure what happened, but I didn't even comprehend that I was speaking in Malay until we had been there for about half of the lesson. It was the weirdest experience, but I understood literally every single word that she said, even if I'd never heard it before. It's crazy! I think I'm becoming more fluent-lah! haha!

So yeah, all of our investigators are doing well. D went to the hospital but when we went to see how his family was doing, some of his relatives said that he returned to Kampung.... Hmmm.... Well, we're going to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he got sick or hurt at Kampung? Everybody else is doing well and progressing.

We taught a very good lesson to Brother D. We made a promise with him and gave him a promise rock. So here's the concept: We told him if he prayed, read the scriptures daily, and attended Church, his desire for his addiction would end. Potong. Tiada lagi. So, we gave him a rock that he puts in his pocket to remind him to do that. And before he falls asleep, he puts it on his back to remember if he did. When he does, he's allowed to take off the rock. It's not too big, just a stone about the half the size of an iPhone. 

We went to the beach and contacted some people flying sport kites. They allowed us to try. That was really cool! I'll send pics. We also played with some legit Iban kids, so I'll send some more pics if possible, and then we also got a new bike for Elder Trudo, because he's been using Elder Christensen's old bike.

Also, I wish that I would've played Lacrosse in High School. Elder Trudo did, and we found these lacrosse sticks in our apartment, so we just throw around a tennis ball with them just for fun before we plan at night for like 10-15 minutes, after the day is done. It's so fun! Dang!

Anywho, that's about all that happened this week. Here's by Testimony Tidbit.

Testimony Tidbit: Faith is essential in this life. Without faith, nothing can happen. It is faith that gives us hope and allows us to progress and become better. This week I was pondering a lot about how I'll provide financially for my family when I get home and after I get married and all of that stuff. I just realized that with faith and hard work, everything will work out the way that it's supposed to. "Faith without works is dead". That is a true statement. As long as we believe and work hard, do our best, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will make up the difference. I've seen it time and time again on my mission, and I know that they are aware of us.

I love you all! CTR! PLEASE!

Dengan sayang yang ikhlas,

Elder Joshua H. Griffin

Elder Griffin: God Knows His Children

Email from March 3

Well, let me just say that this has been one of the most successful weeks of my mission! It was truly a week of miracles! It was amazing! It helps me to see that as  missionaries we are truly called of God to preach his Gospel, and he will work miracles to bring about his purposes.

So, right before I begin, I would just like to say to Dad, 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

It's great to hear that everything went swimmingly with Caden's baptism, I wish that I was there! And I'm sorry that I couldn't send a talk, I just didn't get your e-mail in time!

So, Elder Trudo: he's a really legit guy. He has a really spontaneous personality, but he knows when to work and when to have fun. He spent 7 months in KL so his Malay isn't the best, but he is a great teacher and he teaches very simply. Ibans need simple teaching. If we use too many words, they just don't understand. The standard of learning and living here is so kurang (less). A lot of people are illiterate, which I can't even imagine.

Spirit Stride (for the next 5 paragraphs): So, we went to go visit M and her daughter, N. They live in Kampung Krokop. Unfortunately, they weren't home (as usual). So, we were turning back to go home when we meet a man named E. As it turns out, he is the not-yet-baptised husband of a member who lives in Kampung Krokop. He invited us to go and teach him. 

So, we ended up learning that he is kuat minum (a strong drinker) and a heavy smoker. He smokes about 40 batangs (sticks) or 2 packs every day! We shared a scripture with him, his son M, and his really beautiful daughter K. He started crying when he said that he wanted to become a better father, and he asked us when he could be baptized the soonest. He REALLY wants to be baptized!

He wanted us to teach him the next night. We gave him a priesthood blessing and he was really grateful for that. He always walks us out of the Kampung to make sure that we are safe. He also hugs us too. The Ibans are really touchy people. 

We also visited him the next night, at his request. We learned that he lessened his smoking to 10 batangs, and he didn't drink very much! It's really hard for him to stop. because even when he tells his friends that he's stopping, they just think that he is being prideful and that he's "too good" for them. 

He was going to come to Church but then he had to go to Brunei for work, but we are REALLY excited to meet with him again! We found a member who was willing to give him a ride to Church too!

As for A, he was at the beach somewhere so he couldn't come to Church either. He sounded really sincere when I talked to him, and he promised us that he would come next week. He has also been reading and praying on his own, which was great!

Sadly enough, on Saturday, we had a lot planned but Elder Trudo got sick with food poisoning, but he's better now.

So, the next miracle! We had just left Kampung Pasir (on Friday) and we decided to go and visit a potential investigator named S. We showed up, and we could tell that he wasn't really as interested as we had hoped. So his mom, M, came out and started to talk to us. We introduced the Book of Mormon to her and she invited us in. When we went inside, we met her husband, D, and his younger brother, P.  We taught the Restoration.

P loved it! He really wants to meet with us, but he is busy with work a lot! But as we taught the Spirit really softened all of their hearts, and I could see them changing. D said that he would sembahyang (worship) with us but he wouldn't join our Church. Elder Trudo and I are determined to change his mind! M also has a great interest in the book of Mormon as well! 

Then, on the same day, we went to go visit the member who was going to give E a ride to Church and we started teaching him! His name is N. He's getting married soon, so Elder Trudo taught him about Eternal Families. He lives in Permai, in our zone but not in our area, but he is prepared. 

So, here, I'll put in my testimony tidbit: God knows His children. He knows who is ready for the Gospel. Don't be afraid to share it. Follow the Spirit and don't be overbearing. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are willing to forgive and They are willing to help us in any way as long as we follow Them and do our best. They will put miracles in our paths if we let them. And other thing: celebrate the small miracles. Look for the "silver lining", and you will realize that God's hand is always in your life, even if you think that it may not be there, or if it isn't visible. We can be so narrow-minded, but keep an eternal perspective and know that the outcome will always be beyond our wildest hopes and dreams.

I love you all! STUDY to the scriptures, PRAY, and PARTICIPATE in Church! 

Dengan sayang,

Elder Joshua H. Griffin

Teaching in a kampung with Elder Christiensen