Oh hey, how’s it going? I’m like maybe 10ish weeks in and I’m already out of ideas for intros. So the next 94 weeks are gonna be interesting. But hey, let’s take a look into this week as a Missionary in Santa Ana.
Monday: Well we didn’t go downtown on Pday, which was sad. We did a big zone service so we had an extended P-day. That was actually clutch. Usually, Pday ends at 6:00 p.m. but ours didn’t end because of the zone service, so that was chill. We went to the outlets and it was lit. I got a new rain jacket which was clutch this week and a Travis Scott pin thing. Pretty decent Pday after all!
Tuesday: EXCHANGES AT LAST! We haven’t done exchanges in a hot minute. I was with my dope ZL (Zone Leader) Elder Colemere. He is awesome. He reminds me of my cousin Austin. He gets along with everybody!! It was so cool! He taught me a lot about how to be a good missionary and how to have fun in the work. I also got to drive and it was sooooo fun!
Ya’ll know about Alma and how we kinda got told she doesn’t want to meet right? She agreed to have a lesson with us. Well, Elder Colemere and I were in our bag during our lesson. (Hey Nana, gonna save you some time and just tell you when someone is “in their bag” it means their bag of tricks and they are doing super good at whatever they are doing) So, Elder Elder Colemere and I just were putting everything into the lesson and it was cool to see her agree. Now she is back on the right track.
Wednesday: Rainnnnyyyyy dayyyyy! It actually made it so fun! Besides the fact I stepped in about 100 puddles and my shoes legit have holes in them. My feet were soaked the whole day it was tragic. My shoes took like 24 hours to completely dry out. We had Zone Council and a youth activity. The youth are challenged to complete the whole Book of Mormon before Christmas. I told the youth if they did it, they could shave my head. I hope they do it tbh.
Thursday: We had our transfer interviews with the President and they were good! Then, we had a chill service project with our District Leader and his comp. We saw a free Christmas tree on the side of the road and we obviously took it.
We have a new friend also!!!! His name is Noe ( Noah) He is GOLDEN! This guy was the Legit Miracle of the Week. He is so acceptive of the Gospel and already wants to come to church and Bible study. And, he loves us. haha. Then the rest of the night Elder Hurst and I moved everything in our Apt. In the process, we deep cleaned everything and our place is looking very niceeee.
Friday: Had another lesson with Alma and it was so powerful. We taught the plan of salvation and she agreed with everything we had to say. We read 3 Nephi 27 with her just based on her concerns about our church and it brought her to tears within just 3 verses. Seeing her get emotional must’ve tickled my feelings cause I started crying too. haha.
Then we had the best service project of all time. We helped one of our favorite families, the Velazquez Fam. We helped make over 600 taquitos!!! It was insanely fun. But, sister Velazquez was watching me like a hawk. Every time I rolled one she would go, “Elder, more chicken”. “Elder, tighter rolls”. “Elder, less Chicken” I couldn’t seem to get it down until the end. haha. She was joking tho. We are just “homies” like that.
Saturday: Another Exchange! Today with the great Elder Nelson. He is hilarious. We had a ton of fun and I got to drive again so W’s in the chat. We also had a service appointment where we legit sat around the whole time because they really didn’t need help until the end when we built a cart. haha. We did a ton of visits and just hung out most of the day! Tried a place called Big K Burgers that we have always wanted to try and it was FIREEEE!
Sunday: Such a wild day. Noe came to church! He absolutely loved it tho! So many people came and said, “Hello” and he was so happy that people cared about him. It made me so happy too! We had our “Linger Longer” in the cultural hall where we ate our 600 Taquitos and man were they Bussin. Can’t wait to make them at home now that they taught me how.
We had a bunch of crazy stuff happen in the afternoon. We made a visit to a couple along with the Spanish Elders. It was so much fun. Then we went over to Eleanor’s home and it was her BDAY! We went over with our RF Pres and the RF assistant. They had gathered some BOM CDs for her and we gave them to her on her birthday. It was so wholesome. Then, we went over to Bridget’s house. We are trying to help her quit smoking. If anyone has suggestions on how to help, we’ll take them. haha. She is 2 weeks clean tho, so she is doing great!
Well, that’s all for this week!! It’s been kinda crazy this week and this is a very long email. I am so sorry they are so long. We really just do so much every day it’s hard to decide what to cut out!
Hope y’all have a goated Thanksgiving!! Eat lots of Mac and Cheese for me!! Love you all so so much! Go express your gratitude for someone right now!!!
Elder Landon Griffiths
