Saying Hello to the Griffins

Hello Family! We had an awesome week of meeting the Griffins! We had very brief interviews and I was first! He asked me what he could do to be a good President to me. I told him that I just like to do things how they are supposed to be done so a little chastising and productive criticism is what would help. He then agreed and said that things need to change if we are going to be able to keep up with the Hastening of the Work. I was really happy to hear from him. He came from the MTC (after having heard from all 15 Apostles), with MUCHAS GANAS to hasten the work. He has caught the vision, and I am excited to see what he does because I have been working hard all my mission and I know that the work needs to be hastened more, but I can never feel like I know exactly how. He also asked me how long I have left and when I told him he said, "Oh that's great. We have plenty of time to work together. We will get some work done." That was fun! He also told me in the interview that his number one purpose is to be here for me (the missionaries), and that he is here to help. I love him already. Sister Griffin is great too. They seem much more soft-spoken than the Taylors. They definitely aren't as energetic or confident as they were. The transition is kind of funny because we sent home someone with SO MUCH experience, and confidence and leadership in the field for someone fresh and new. I am excited to work with them. We will see if the Spirit tells him to transfer me next week. Can you believe we already have them!? I wanted to share one of the last things that President Taylor said before leaving because I think it sums him up in a great nutshell. I was with Elder Soper yesterday (friend from the zone; going home next week). He had a going-home meeting with him and a few other missionaries and President rhetorically asked: "do you feel like your mission has been accepted by The Lord?" And then after a silence he said; "once you have said yes, you can leave and get back to your areas." That is how President is. He was super focused on enhancing success in bringing people unto Christ, improving effectiveness, and making great leaders in the church, but always in the end, he focused on how the Doctrine of Christ makes us happy and about how The Lord is proud of everything we are doing regardless of the results. I love President and Sister T!! We actually met them on the 4th! It was fun because all 29 of us were wearing red, white, and blue! Not as cool as being in the Big Apple but I won't forget this Fourth of July! Speaking of not forgetting, I was having flashbacks to my first night (4th of July) with Elder Miller last year when I was on the balcony watching fireworks. No fireworks this year! I just wrote in my journal for two hours, soaked my toe because I am fixing an in-grown toenail, ate donuts, laughed with the other three missionaries, watched my FAVORITE movie (Mountain of The Lord), and went to bed early. The next morning we went to the Mesa Temple! It was a blast. We went with the Sepulveda family and a bunch of other friends from the ward. Josue Sepulveda leaves on his mission in a month so he went through for the first time! It was super special. I went with an inspired question and got a bunch of answers so that was nice too. Josue really enjoyed it and he comes from a very strong family (with fewer than 2 years in the Church). It is definitely one of the strongest families I have come to know out here in the valley. It is cool to see such a new family volunteering for everything, offering prayers and participating in several meetings, going to the temple regularly, serving as leaders in the ward, and sending kids on missions. Hermano Sepulveda had his first week as WML with us. He is doing a great job. He is very humble and ready to learn so us 7 missionaries have kind of taken him under our wing. We are working together. It was his third time to the temple since he works a lot. It was funny because Josue had Hermano Martinez as his escort and Hermano Sepulveda told Elder Castro and I to be his escort because he was still kind of lost haha. He is doing well though. We went out for a couple lessons with Hermano Soto this week. That was really cool because he opened up with us! He has had time away from the temple and he wants to make it back. He is a sweet guy and had a genuine testimony. Then he bore his testimony at church yesterday about how great he felt in the lessons. The members of this ward and this culture are so faithful and so dedicated! I had my first Haboob here in the valley after being here 17 months. It was kind of crazy. One of the first times in my mission going into a woman's house without there being a man inside. We weren't going to go in until she told us to turn around we saw a wave of dirt steaming towards us haha. We also watched a 50 minute talk from the MTC by Elder Bednar in District meeting. I am sure Evan remembers it: "Turning outward: the Character of Christ." It was epic. Elder Bednar is my hero. The last thing I will share is from an experience we had this week with Hermano Barerra. It was bad. I felt terrible. Basically, He and his neighbor are really put off by their relationship with the Bishop and just flat-out told us that they are going to need to go inactive for a bit. They said that their testimonies of the Restored Gospel are unwavering, but they just cannot go and be around him anymore. It was tough. Hermano Barrera has been one of my biggest heroes in my mission. It broke my heart. I learned a lot from the experience. We all have agency and NO ONE is freely active the rest of your life. What I mean is that inactivity can happen to anyone. It is a scary thought. It is scary because we know the consequences and we know what we miss out on if we aren't active. You just never know! I never thought this would happen to him. I was doing a lot of thinking this week about people casually missing church. It is starting to really bug me. We don't make a covenant upon baptism to go to church when it is convenient. That is ridiculous. We are going to miss Sundays because of whatever the reason is. But people are just going to Mexico on the weekends, being too tired, or having VISITORS OVER!? That is just about the worst possible member-missionary work you could do; staying home to attend to visitors. I have been working for a long time about holding the Lord's standard up unapologetically. I think I am making some good strides :) Our (this can apply to members to in many instances!) job isn't to be friends, allow disobedience, and help people justify. Our job is to hold the Lord's expectations high, just how he is, and inspire people to make the right decision. We don't decide if that offends them or not. That is their decision. It doesn't matter how mad it makes people if it is God's standard! I know this sounds kind of harsh, but I promise it is being applied with love! I have learned a lot about finding this balance. We tried this twice last night with some members and I think it worked. As for Hermano Barerra, we were frank with him because we love him and he is our friend, and his actions are unacceptable. I felt the Spirit as we talked about his temple covenants. I know we handled it out we should have. I know those covenants are sacred. I know that The Lord is able to work through us as his instruments. I feel a strong trust with him. I am excited to see what is next in store! Love, Elder Parry