On Altoids, Commitments, and Keeping Your Eye on the Prize

Elder Griffiths at a recent district training meeting.

Keeping an eye single to the glory of God can be very difficult. I struggle with this pretty much every day and I think everyone does.

Basically, we can keep our eyes on God by living as he has commanded us to live. When we walk toward a mountain (of which there are none in Florida), the closer we get, the more of our field of vision the mountain takes up. Soon, when we are close enough, the mountain is all we can see. I think this is the way it works when we live the commandments. We keep making steps towards God and eventually our eyes can't help but be single to his glory.

To me it also has a lot to do with hope. Having your eye on the prize allows you to believe in good things to come and focusing on God can dispel the doubt and fear in our lives.

I hope some of these thoughts are coherent and I hope you all have a great week!  

Missionaries being taught an object lesson by Elder Griffiths and Elder Stuart at the district training meeting. Each missionary committed to keep an altoid on his/her forehead. The altoid represented pointless commitments requested of investigators, and illustrated that while the commitment was technically being kept, it served no real purpose. The lesson focused on why it is important to have investigators make meaningful commitments.

Shortly after this district training meeting, Elder Griffiths was made a district leader.

It's the Little Things

Sandhill cranes in Sebring.

This week we did a lot of walking. On average, every day here is around 98 degrees so walking can definitely be a chore.

The other day, we were walking to a gym to see what their prices were, and we got lost on the way so we ended up walking two more miles than we needed to (in total we walked about seven miles) and it was right in the hottest part of the day. We had run out of water and we were dying, but luckily we walked past a restaurant and they gave us free water. Then we walked the two miles back and had a member pick us up because it was about to storm and we didn't want to have to walk the hour and a half it would take in the rain.

It's hard to describe the gratitude we felt when we saw that restaurant that had water, since we hadn't seen any kind of business with a water fountain in four miles. We were very grateful for air conditioning as well and the fact that it didn't rain until we got home.

It's the little things that make life good.

Lightning and Frogs and Snakes, Oh My!

Lightning storm over Lake Charlotte in Sebring.
(Copyright James Battle Photography)

For the last few weeks, every day we have had a lightning storm hit us. The west coast of Florida is the "lightning capitol of the world" so watching the lightning storms is pretty spectacular here. Sometimes at night it feels like turning off the light would be pointless because we have so many lightning flashes outside our window that it illuminates our whole apartment.

At night here, the frogs come out as well. There are hundreds of them and they are pretty big, too.

Speaking of wildlife, the other day as we were walking out of our apartment building, Elder Stuart almost stepped on a snake. It was about three feet long and it was black with a slightly brown belly. It slithered away before we could take a picture, but it was definitely awesome.

We're excited this week because we'll be going to a wildlife reserve that'll have alligators, birds, and snakes so we'll get to see quite a few interesting things. There are certainly a lot of unique animals in Florida!

Following the Leader

Doing some training at zone conference.

I've been learning a lot about leading by example. Everyone is a leader whether they realize it or not. We all have influence on people around us. However, we can influence people for good or for bad. Others can do that to us. It's a cycle that never ends and can be exhausting if our testimony and standards are not firmly rooted in eternal principles and truths.

Without this firm foundation, leaders who attempt to lift other's standards will not be successful, and will find themselves being pulled down in the process of trying to lift others up. This is why it is so important to build our foundation on the rock of our Redeemer. His standards never waver. He will always lift us up, and nothing and no one can pull Him down.

I hope some of this made sense. If not, read Helaman 5:12 – it sums up my thoughts on leadership perfectly. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.