Holy crap everyone! I freaking love Long Beach!!! But before I get into that, let’s take it back to Magnolia!
Overall, I loved my time in the Magnolia Ward! I spent 3 transfers there. ( 4.5 months), I had 3 companions. It was sad to leave, but I know the Lord has big plans in store for that area.
Monday: We spent most of P-Day cleaning and packing for transfers. I talked to my family for a long time. It was great!
Tuesday: Bittersweet day! The last day in the Magnolia Ward was a good one! We had some good visits but had to say goodbye to some of my favorite people. I will miss Karl, the Bratton/Bramlage family, Staleys, and so many more legends. We said goodbye to our friend Rosa. As we were leaving, she said, “Elder Griffiths come back. I have a gift for you.” She gave me a jacket and thanked me for helping her increase her knowledge of Jesus. It was so wholesome.
To end the night, we got invited to go caroling with the Relief Society sisters! It was a lot of fun! Another chapter is closing as I have finished Journal number 3.
Wednesday: TRANSFER DAY! Saying goodbye to Elder Robinson was sad, but I know he is in good hands. My new companion is Elder Capps and we hit it off soooo good! I already love this Elder so much!!! So far, we have a ton of lessons set up, and it was so fun just to teach, teach, teach all day long! We taught a friend named Jessica who was found by some Spanish elders and she is elect! Keep reading for more details!
Thursday: Lemme just say how fun Long Beach is! Being in this city feels so right for some reason. I love being in this “Hood” because everyone is so genuine. Everyone in this area is just so nice! They are so humble and kind, and they actually say hello and notice you as human. haha. Don’t worry, Mom, I’m safe. lol.
We had a district council meeting, which was good! Afterward, we had a lesson with Jessica, and she said she wants to be baptized! We were like, whatttt? She is just so ready! Keep reading!! We also had a lesson with Hasii, who has been taught for a couple of months, and she also has been thinking about baptism. However, she is just on the fence about it all. Hopefully, she will come around. She is super cool, though.
A cool miracle was that we went to go have a lesson with a guy named Curt, and he wasn’t home. We walked back to the parking lot and just stopped. We looked through some potential people we could visit, and then we saw this dude about 40 yards away at his car. We yell out, ” How you doing man!?” After about a minute of yelling back and forth, he walked over, and we started chatting. Convo took a Book of Mormon, and said he was very interested. Also, I hit my 16-month mark! Wow!
Friday: We woke up and drove to the mission office, all the way across the mission for MLC. It was actually pretty good. If you remember, I have my beef with MLC, but there has been a lot of changes, and actually I enjoyed it. Don’t worry; I’m not a clanker.
We got back to the area and had another lesson with Jessica! She is just so golden, oh my goodness. Keep reading! We had a lesson with our RC Chantra, and he is a beast! He has been baptized for 2 weeks and is unreal active. He comes to lessons with us and is willing to do anything for the Church! He is so cool. To end the night, we hit up the one and only ANGLES TIJUANA TACOS!! Its in my area now so that is super dangerous. Elder Capps loved it, and you know me, I would die for that place.
Saturday: Got a call in the morning from the one and only Busta Crew asking for my icepack because he busted his ankle. We got to see him, and that was cool. We were going to have a lesson with Jessica but she wasn’t home at the time, which was sad, but we had a good time at the park in our area. It’s a huge park so we love to go there and talk to people. It’s weird because I thought people would be hard-headed out here, but that is not true. They are so receptive and so willing to at least talk. We had some good conversations with people, and it made me so happy to just see that there are nice people in the world.
We had our ward Christmas party, and it was a blast! I got to meet the ward members and holy crap, its so diverse here! We legitimately have everyone here. We had a good dinner followed by some Saomoan dancers! Santa Claus also pulled up, and that was lit!! Hasii and Juan came to the party and Juan is the most elect person I have ever met. Before I got here in Long Beach, Juan was taught one lesson, and Elder Capps said, ” I think he has some real good potential!” As we got to the party, he started introducing himself to the members and saying, ” This is my Church now, so you will be seeing a lot of me.” Elder Capps and I were getting so hyped; it was lit!
Sunday: Church was fantastic! We had Jessica, Hassi, Juan, and Kristie come! It was so cool to see a big turnout for church, and they all really liked it! We have a lot of hope in Christ to help these souls get baptized within this new transfer ahead! We know it’s possible through and because of Jesus.
We got asked by the Social Media Team to help film some cool videos for the Facebook page! We got to spend some time with the team at the park. Filming was a lot of fun! Shoutout to the team again lol. We then did some park contacting, and then we ran over to Jessica’s for a lesson!
We had our recent convert, Chantra, come with us, and we put her on date for January 4th! We are so excited, She has so much potential!!! We had a great dinner with the Manumas, and I love Soamoans so much. They are my fav. One kid came up to me and said, “Gotta tell you a secret… I am starting puberty!” I was dyinggggggg! He was so hyped and nervous telling us about it. It had me crying tears of laughter.
The Cabel family had us come by to share a message with them! They are an awesome young couple, and sister Cabel is a part of the Del Bello squad over in West Anaheim!! I love that family so much, and it was cool to be able to unlock the entire family! Love them for real!
Yo, everyone. I don’t know if I have ever had this much joy on my mission. Everything is going so well, and I can’t describe the miracles that are happening here in Long Beach! Elder Capps and I have been getting along so well, and we keep trying to give all our success to the Lord. I know that if you give everything to Him, he will help you.
Putting all other things aside and simply focusing on what matters is the way to see miracles! I know the Lord is at the head of this work and that he is preparing souls all over the world to receive this gospel! It brings me so much comfort knowing I have friends serving a valiant mission and searching for people who are ready!
I love you all so much! And I hope you all have a great week preparing for Christmas! I’d love to hear from you all! Feel free to send me an email!! landon.griffiths@missionary.org !
Elder Lando
pics
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NHrV4D2UezMB4PMq8
