August 27th, 2017 - Week 54

Here is what we got from Griffin this week.

Howdy everyone! This week was pretty fun. On Saturday we had a ward activity with another ward. We started off by making pizza and organizing them, then we played some games with balloons. When we started at first this older lady walked into the church and was super interested in the church building. Then she left but said she would come to church. Then these two women came in with their kids and they played games with us. They were nonmembers who were interested in the church. They played some games had fun with us. We invited them also to church. Then all three of the people came to church the next day. Because of that we had 7 people come to church the next day! It was a miracle because on Sunday we also gained 3 potential investigators. So our work is doing really well. The older lady is going back to the countryside on Wednesday but were going to meet with her family in the city on Tuesday!

Elder Griffin Hansen

August 21st, 2017 - Week 53

Here is what we got from Griffin. And I realized I messed up on counting so.... This is week 53. Hahaha 

So this email is going to be all over the place so bear with me. To start i am officially out for a year now, that's crazy!!!! 

To celebrate the crew and I (my MTC group went) Hard-Rock Cafe for dinner. That was so fun and everyone gave each other presents. It really shows our love toward one another.

It's so amazing having been out for a year. I've grown to feel the spirit so much, but what's sad is that it doesn't feel like I've been away for a year. It feels like I just got out of the MTC. But the work keeps continuing, and so I must focus on what's important to the mission now.  

Elder Griffin Hansen

August 14th, 2017 - Week 53 / One Year Mark

Here is what we got from Griffin this week:

Hey everybody hows it going? So this week was really boring, but I'd like to share an experience. Saturday night my companion and I were on a bus and this guy came up to us and said good morning to us. We just ignored him cause this happens a lot to missionaries and usually drunk people do  it to us. We get off the bus and the guy stayed on. Then a little later we went to KFC to eat dinner. When we were there we saw the guy from the bus, and I looked closer at him and he was maybe a teenager and he definitely had some kind of disability. So we sit down, and by this time I start to feel bad about earlier. We started to eat and saw him again stand around in the dining area. He just looked around the room and was lonely. My companion and I were talking and we decided that we would talk to him when we left. But then we saw him walk over to a table that had some food people had left and he stole some food. At that point I had the feeling that we needed to do something. So I called him over and we gave him some food and we talked with him for a little bit. He was so happy to talk with us and to not feel alone. One thing I've found out since coming out on my mission is that in order to be Christlike we have to be willing to show love to all people and help them the best we can. "When you are in the service of your fellow man you are only the service of your god" is a very true statement. Even the simplest of  service is still to the benefit of others in Gods sight. 

Hey I almost forgot! I'm now 1 year out on my mission! It feels really weird how fast it's gone. I've really learned a lot and I still have a ways to go. But I'm excited to keep going.

Elder Griffin Hansen

July 31st, 2017 and August 7th, 2017 - Weeks 51 &52

Sorry I slacked last week, I was busy and didn't get home until it was time to go to bed most nights. Also, next week is Griffin's ONE YEAR MARK!!! Here is what we got from Griffin for the last two weeks.

July 31st:

Hey everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm in a new area!!!!!!!! 

I'm in Songino now. It means onion, in case you wanted to know. So I moved in fully on Wednesday and our apartment is super nice!!! It was just renovated last transfer so it's pretty nice among the elder apartments. Most of the week we had to run errands and I taught English. So there wasn't much exciting. We're white washing into this area with another companionship of elders. The other elders are Callahan and lkhawga so it's exciting. There is a ton of work in this area. So we had our first appointment yesterday with a mother and her daughter and we got both of them to accept baptism!!!!!!!!!! and the other elders already had 3 people on date for this month! Our area is dope!!!

Then yesterday after that lesson we were still in our ger district and we found a cool mountain, so climbed it!!!!! We found some herders and his crazy guy who lives on the mountain! (when we took this picture he grabbed my butt, it was pretty weird). Our area is the furthest west you can go while being a city limits. It's also one of the poorest, so we have a lot of adventures.

Elder Griffin Hansen

August 7th:

This week was really good. We've been working a lot with the ward members and less-active members. We've gotten a few new investigators and have 2 people on date for baptism. This week was a little slow in terms of work just cause we're trying to get ourselves established in the ward. Also this week we had district meeting this week and this is the picture that Sister Mason(in my district) drew for us...

Elder Griffin Hansen