Miracles... Week 6 in Texas! April 29, 2019

Hello family and friends!! I hope everybody is doing well and staying happy with everything going on in your lives!! This week was absolutely amazing. Just like I mentioned last week, Abimael is truly our miracle!

So I mentioned a little bit about the story of Abimael last week, but I just want to say a little more about it! This is a long story, but it's so worth it! Heavenly Father is truly working his miracles here in Texas! It was the second week I was in the field, my trainer and I were listening to the song "hardest thing I've ever loved to do" and it talked about the best sound being water running in the church, and she turned to me and told me she can't wait until the day I have a baptism because it is just so amazing. I then told her I can't wait either, and then told her we are going to have a baptism together and she was totally with me. Then she told me a story about what they had done once before in her mission, and it was that they made a goal for a specific date to have a baptism, and as part of that goal, in every single prayer they said, with members or nonmembers or personal or companionship or anything, we would pray for our goal! So we chose May 18th, it was close but also far enough away that we could see a couple of the people we were teaching be ready by then! So in every prayer, we prayed for our goal. about 2 weeks ago, we still didn't have anybody on date and we didn't necessarily lose faith, but just started seeing that it was getting really close and we started wishing for a miracle. on our exchange, we got a call and the sister that I was with at the time didn't speak spanish, so it was all up to me!! It was one of our returning members in our branch, and he wanted us to come start teaching his son!! So we went by a couple days later and taught him he gospel of Jesus Christ, and his dad had already given him a book of Mormon and he had been reading and everything! The spirit was so strong and we invited him to be baptized on May 18th, to pray about the date and told him we would follow up in our next visit! He came to church the next day, stood up in Sunday school and told everybody who he was, and that he loves the feeling he gets when he is at our church and said he is going to start coming to our church! Then later that day, one of our members told us that they were talking to Abi, and he told them he is going to get baptized! So we waited to call him until the next day even though we wanted to right then, but we called him last Monday after p day ended just to ask how he liked church, and he said he loved it! Then we asked him if he has been praying about May 18th OVER THE PHONE, and he literally was just like "yeah, that sounds good" hahah it was soooo crazy!!! Then my comp and I later realized that in our prayers, we had never been praying "for one of the people we were teaching to be ready for baptism" but to "please help us find somebody who is ready for the gospel and to find somebody who can be baptized by May 18th" and we didn't even realize we had been asking that way until this happened! he is such a miracle because we literally didn't do anything to find him. The Lord has truly been preparing him, softening his heart and he is so ready!!! So that's the story of Abimael! He is our miracle, and wow I AM SO EXCITED FOR MAY 18TH!

Other than Abimael, we did some more service this past week at Threads of Love! It was awesome as always! We are starting to make little outfits instead of little quilts, and it's so fun to become better at sewing! It's even more fun to just sit and talk with all of the ladies that go there, they are so funny!

We went on exchanges again, and nothing crazy happened this time either other than it took us an hour and a half to walk to dinner, when it should have taken us only 40 min haha! I have just come to realize that I am not the biggest fan of changes! Sister Schellenberg is like my home now, so whenever I am not with her, it's super weird for me! The night after our exchanges, I didn't feel too well, and I felt quite sick for all of the next day, so that wasn't too fun! But I am feeling a lot better now!

We received transfer news this morning, and thankfully I am staying in the same area and get to keep my trainer for another transfer!! I was kind of nervous I was going to lose her, because the other sister that is in our apartment that is being trained, she lost her trainer this transfer so I was a little nervous I would lose mine, but all is well! We also thought we would be put in a trio until Thursday, but things just worked out well enough that we got out of that one! This first transfer has honestly been so crazy, we have been busy every hour of every day, which she says isn't like a usual transfer, but it's been so fun! We are truly seeing miracles, and I am loving my time with Sister Schellenberg!

Thank you to everybody who still comes to my blog and reads all about the experiences I am having!! I truly love you all and am so thankful for all of the love and emails I receive every week! I appreciate all of the prayers, we are seeing so many miracles from our prayers at home, so thank you!! I think that is all, so until next week!

Hermana Griffin

Leon Valley District!

Super weird experience.. we went to do service and drop stuff off to a sikhism religion, and they gave us juice and we had to take our shoes off. It was just so funny we had to take a picture!

Just out doing Missionary work!

Texts that Abimael sent us!

We LOVE living in TEXAS!

Sleepover last night before Sister Saunders (far left) leaves us today!

We went to Senor Snow today! (delicious)

Week 5 in Texas! April 22, 2019

Hello family and friends!! I hope everybody had a wonderful Easter! This week was quite crazy! We had a lot of lessons planned, and a lot of lessons cancelled haha but it was still quite eventful! This is a little longer because of my testimony at the end in Spanish.

We were able to do a lot of service this past week!! We went to Threads of Love again, and it truly is such an amazing organization! If any of you are curious, they have a website and Facebook so you can go look at all of the amazing things they do! We were able to go help at the Danny Kaye cottages, and have a fiesta with the old folks! They also did this really cool thing for Easter themed where the lady in charge of everything read something about Christ,  and then proceeded to wash the old folks feet like Jesus washed his disciples feet! It was such a spiritual experience and we loved it! We didn't wash any feet (because we can't, but I'm not complaining) but it was cool to watch it!

We had the New Missionary Follow-Up this past week and it was so cool to see half of my district from the CCM and see how they are doing and how all of their Spanish is coming! I sure am blessed with my companion for her patience and also diligence in helping me learn Spanish! I also got to see Sister Penrose, one of my best friends from high school!!! She is seriously one of the cutest humans I know and it was so good to see her! On our way home we stopped at a huge gas station called Buc-ees which I am convinced should just be called a grocery store because it's so big!! Look up a Buc-ees anywhere in Texas, they're all the same haha just massive!

We didn't have a dinner appointment one night this past week so we decided to go out and eat at a place called Taste of India, and we both got some chicken curry thinking we each needed our own, but they each came with so much that it's still lasted us until today haha they gave us sooooo much rice! But it was really delicious so we weren't complaining!

I had a couple amazing amazing spiritual experiences this week! Well, we have quite a few every single day but these are a few that surely stuck out to me!!
First one was we had a visit with a returning member, and she started telling us a lot of the problems and addictions she has been dealing with, and then afterwards she asked us what we thought about her and if we thought of her different because of what she shared with us, and Sister Schellenberg bore her testimony about what our purpose as missionaries is, and how we are all sinners but we just look at people how Heavenly Father would, and it was truly amazing to just witness how important it is to see everybody the way that our Heavenly Father would. It truly will change your whole opinion on somebody!
I am not exactly sure if I have mentioned the goal that Hermana Schellenberg and I have set or not, but just in case, about 2 1/2 weeks ago we set a goal that we want to help someone follow Christ and be baptized by May 18th, and for the past 2 weeks we have been kind of, not like losing faith, but just noticing that we need to just start hoping for a miracle because all of the people we were teaching weren't exactly keeping up with their commitments or wanting to be baptized yet. We were leaving our apartment one day to head to dinner and in our efforts to talk to everybody, we talked to this girl named Wendy and she had shared with us that before she moved her from another country, she was going to get baptized! So we gave her a Book of Mormon and our phone number, and are still waiting to hear back from her but she shared with us that she is still interested!
When we were on our exchanges last ween (keep in mind I was the only Spanish speaker that day for our area) one of our returning members from our Spanish branch called us, and I started getting quite nervous to answer because I would have to be the one to speak with him, but I did it and he asked us to come start teaching his son!! So Saturday, Sister Schellenberg and I went over to their house and started teaching Abimael! He is AMAZING and is our MIRACLE! He has already been reading el Libro de Mormon, and is just truly interested! It was so cool because during the lesson, the Spirit just lead us to ask him to be baptized, and we shared that we have a service on May 18th and we invited him to pray about being baptized on that day. He said he would pray about it! Then he came to church yesterday with his dad, and was talking to some members and apparently Abi told them he wants to get baptized and start coming to our church! He didn't tell us that directly so it's kind of through the grape vine, but we have a return appointment for Thursday this week so we are excited to follow up and see if he is our miracle for May 18th!

I got the opportunity to bear my testimony in our Spanish branch yesterday on Easter, so that was super special! Sister Schellenberg also spoke, and she did amazing as well! I am going to paste my testimony in here in Spanish, so hopefully if you can't read it or understand it, somebody you know will be able to!

"Buenas Tardes hermanos y hermanas. Feliz Pascua!
Estoy muy emocionada para la oportunidad que yo tengo para servir aqui en Texas, y para compartir un poco de mi testimonio hoy.
Para aquellos que no me conocen, soy Hermana Griffin. Soy de Utah, una ciudad pequeña que se llama Newton, que tiene como quinientos personas como máximo. Soy nueva en la misión, tengo un poco más que un mes en el campo, entonces mi español no es lo mejor, pero estoy aprendiendo cada día para ser mejor.
Me gusta jugar deportes y dormir, pero en la misión, no puedo dormir tanto. Me gusta jugar fútbol, basquetbol y softbal, pero fútbol es mi favorito. He jugado fútbol toda mi vida.
Ahora, quiero compartir mi testimonio con ustedes. Mi testimonio no es muy largo en español porque a veces no se como decir unas cosas, pero con la ayuda de mi compañera, estoy aquí con mi testimonio en español.
Mi testimonio es muy fuerte, porque yo se que estas cosas son verdaderas. No he tenido un testimonio fuerte toda mi vida, pero con tiempo y experiencias, yo tengo un testimonio fuerte ahora. Estoy muy contento que yo tengo el Evangelio en mi vida, y sin duda, yo se que el Evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero.
Este Evangelio es un Evangelio de paz, de gozo, de consuelo y de amor. Se que el libro de mormón es verdadero, y testifico que Jesús es el Cristo, el hijo de un Padre Eterno, y testifico que el es nuestro salvador y redentor. También se que este libro fue escrito por profetas en tiempos antiguos, y que fue traducido a un idioma moderno por medio de un profeta. Hoy tenemos un profeta también para guiarnos y ayudarnos en el camino correcto, y como podemos seguir el ejemplo de Jesucristo para regresar y vivir con Dios, Jesucristo y nuestros familias para siempre.
Estoy agradecida por el conocimiento del plan de salvación, que yo puedo ser con mi familia para siempre.
Estoy muy agradecida por La Expiación de Jesucristo. Es una cosa con la que estoy muy cerca, porque cada día tengo cosas por las que tengo que arrepentirme, como no hablar con todas las personas que yo puedo, o no compartir el Evangelio con personas que posible lo necesitan. Gracias a Jesucristo y Su Expiación, podemos cambiar nuestros vidas y mejorar. Se que Jesucristo sufrió para todas las personas en el mundo, y por esto, nunca estamos sólo. Jesucristo siempre sabe como estamos sintiendo.
Jesucristo es nuestro hermano, salvador y redentor. Hoy es un día muy especial, y espero que pueden recordar porque estamos aquí en la tierra, y que podemos tratar ser las mejores personas que podemos ser.
Estoy muy agradecida y emociónada a representar Jesucristo y servirle a Nuestro Padre Celestial aquí en Texas.
Sin duda en mi corazón, se que este Evangelio es verdadero. Comparto estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, amén."

Thank you everybody for all of the love and support, and I truly hope everybody had the best Easter and remembered how amazing our Savior is. Because of Him, I am on my mission and because of Him, I have the opportunity to change my life for the better, and to live with my family for eternity. I am forever grateful for Him.
I hope you all have a great week! I love you all! Until next week!
Hermana Griffin

Zone Conference.

My cute companions from the CCM.

Picking up the car last week.  

My breakfast most mornings.

Sister Penrose.

Buc-ees..

The best comp ever!

Taste of India...

Easter Bunny came...

I love this work!

I love my companion!

Magnolia Pancake House!

Most Stressful Week!! April 15, 2019

Hello family and friends!! I miss you all and love you all so much! Thank you to everybody for the words of love and encouragement, it means more than anything! I love hearing what is going on in everybody's lives! Anyways, this week was quite the week so this might be pretty long!!

We finally were able to have a lesson with this man that we have been talking to for weeks, and his whole family was able to join us which we definitely were not expecting!! We shared the message of the Restoration and why it is so important in our church, that we truly believe Christ's church has been restored, and they were amazed! They accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon, and start praying! They are an extremely busy family, with basketball and karate, gone almost every weekend so they kind of remind me of my childhood days in soccer haha but that was a big step for us to be able to have a lesson with them! We have another lesson with them this week, so we hope it happens!
That night we were driving home and just talking about how awesome the lesson went, and there is this really good churro truck on the corner that we always drive past and Sister Schellenberg always tells how good it is, but hasn't taken me there yet so I mentioned how I think I deserve a churro that night, especially after that lesson because I was able to teach half or more of it, and that was probably the first time I actually did that! It's taken a while to get used to teaching in English, and just being able to teach lessons in general but it was great! So my awesome trainer took me to Honcho's and it was honestly so delicious!! She truly is the best, I'm not sure how many times I can even say that haha.

I had my first zone conference this week and it was so fun to see all of the sisters from my district in the CCM and catch up with them!! After zone conference, we got to go on another exchange and my trainer left me, which meant I had to drive Sister Cutler, and the new companionship home from zone conference, and it wasn't close by any means!! But no worries, nothing happened that day... The next day, we had an amazing lesson with a man named Josh in the morning, and we were teaching him the Restoration as well! He is married to a member, and after almost 9 years of marriage, is interested in the church! It's amazing! Anyways, when we were done with the lesson we walked out of their house, and my stomach just dropped immediately because I couldn't see the car. We walked around the block and then went back to Josh's house to ask for a ride to our apt, and then called our vehicle coordinator and yeah.. We got towed... My FIRST DAY leading out my area and driving the car, we got towed.. so apparently in Texas, they have this AWESOME rule that on even months, we have to park on the even side of the road (according to the house numbers) and odd months, park on odd side of the road. Well, it's April and I parked in front of house 23. It was great, hahaha. Since that, it's been kind of rough, not going to lie, but all is well! It wasn't even the car thing, but that happening just kind of brought everything else up to the surface that I guess I have been hiding, but all is well!!

We had a devotional this weekend with Elder Robbins, he is in the presidency of the 70, and it was just for Spanish people in San Antonio! It was truly awesome! We invited everybody that we could, members and nonmembers, to come and listen to him and it was just so amazing! I was amazed with myself as well because I could enjoy like 95% of what he said! I can understand a lot, but still need practice on speaking, but I'm getting there!

I also got asked to bear my testimony this next week in our Spanish branch!! So I hope that goes well and that I don't sound like too much of a gringo!!

Happy Easter to everybody!!! I hope everybody can take this weekend and reflect on how amazing Jesus Christ is, and how much of a blessing He truly is to us. I will forever be grateful to Him and what He has helped me with in my life. He truly is my Savior, I love Him and have never had a stronger testimony than I do now.

I have many more stories about people we are teaching, but I don't have much time!! We are teaching many many people and it's so fun! We don't have really anybody in Spanish, so we are mostly in English, but it is still amazing!

I love you all and pray for so many of you!! I am not exactly sure how many of you read this, but thank you to all who do!! I will hopefully be able to have more time next week! Have a great week!

Hermana Griffin

I made dinner!!

Face masks!

Threads of Love!

Honchos!

Best Trainer Ever!

Week 3 in Texas! April 8, 2019

Hello everyone!! First of all, this week was crazy!!! Second of all, I am going to be downsizing my weekly emails because I realize they are super long, so I am just going to talk about my experiences instead of going through every day, in hopes of shortening them a bit!
I got the chance to do two exchanges last week!! And I get to do one exchange every week for the rest of my training, Haha! An exchange is pretty much just switching companions for 24 hours, but it's a little more tricky in our situation. In short, the reason for doing this is because my trainer and one other sister we are living with are Sister Training Leaders, and they have to exchange with every companionship every transfer! So that leaves me and Sister Cutler, and we are both greenies! This week I "get the chance" to lead out my area, Spanish and English, and Sister Cutler doesn't speak Spanish so this will be awesome haha! I'm going to need all the prayers I can get, because I also have to drive us and I haven't drove for 2 months sooo YAY!
My first exchange was with Sister Saunders, and it was so fun!! We were in her area, which is a biking area and we just had the best time biking everywhere! It sounds weird, but sometimes it is just so fun! We went from one end of their area to the other just meeting with people! I met some of the members in their ward (Parkwood) and it was awesome!
My second exchange was with Sister Cutler, the other new sister (she came out with me) and we were also in Parkwood, so that was her first time leading out! We had one of the best lessons with one of their recent concerts who is  preparing to go through the temple soon! She had a lot of questions and we were able to answer them all, even being new! She even told us later that night that we "helped her feel so much better, and she's not even nervous anymore"! It was seriously so amazing! I would definitely still prefer my companion, Sister Schellenberg though! I told her that night "you don't know what you have until it's gone" and that was exactly how I felt the whole time! I am honestly so blessed with my trainer!
We were able to watch conference and WOW, how amazing was that!! Although there were no changes, it was still awesome! Some of my favorites were Elder Uchtdorf's, Elder Hollands and obviously President Nelson's! Member missionary work is so important, and I never thought that until being out here, but Uchtdorf explains it so perfectly and especially the 5 guilt free things!
We had an amazing lesson with a member referral named Robert, and we taught him the Restoration! He was super interested but then backed off a little at the end, so we just hope he keeps interest, but he is super cool!
I want to invite everybody to do what they need to at this time to come closer to Christ! As President Nelson said, "Time is running out!" Being close to Christ is the best thing to be, and the only thing that will bring us true joy!
We went to the zoo today, so enjoy the pictures!
I love you all and am so thankful for everything! Thank you for the love and support! It means the world to me!
Hermana Griffin

Exchanges with Sister Cutler!

Exchanges with Sister Saunders!

My Cute Trainer!

Haz Lo Justo!

She loved her Chocolates!

The cutest Roommates!

We ❤ General Conference!

Stack of  Sisters ;)

Butterflies!

Ahh!

 Feeding birds!

Week 2 in Texas... April 1, 2019

Hello everybody!! Wow, first of all I want to thank everybody for all of the love and support I continue to receive!! I know I say it every week, but it truly does mean a lot and makes me so happy and the motivation I need to get through every week! But, it also isn't hard to get through every week, haha this past week flew by!! We had a ton happen, and the days went by slow but the week went by so fast! One more thing, EVERYBODY WATCH CONFERENCE. Not only is it an amazing opportunity to listen to the words from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ about what we need in today's world, but there is supposedly going to be a big change in mission work, so pay attention and think about me when they announce it! I'll be watching it with you all!

Last preparation day was amazing! We did a lot of moving like I said before, and then that night we went out and had some lessons and found some more people to teach! The people here in Texas are so nice and so open to everything! Even if they aren't interested in our message, they are always so kind and hospitable and offering us whatever we want!

Tuesday, my mom (mission mom) is honestly the best! So Tuesday was a long and weird day! We decided to ride bikes because we have been getting close on miles (we get a certain amount every month) so we rode bikes and that was an experience! My mom is the best because everybody at home, you all know how much I love BWW right?? Well, my mom took me there and we got that for dinner because we didn't have a dinner appointment!! We also moved all of our stuff out of the apartment into the other apartment that day, so I would say we deserved it! We also did service that day, which we went to an old folks home for people with memory loss, and we helped feed them lunch and then did their laundry (there is a bin for "soiled laundry" which almost made me throw up) but it was all good, I love doing service!!!

Wednesday, we did some more service for an older lady in our English ward! It was also my first experience with a horder! We walked into her house, and there was pretty much just a pathway for us to walk... So we were there for about two hours and cleaned off two tables, it was great haha. We are also doing this thing called "English class" for people in our Spanish ward who want to learn English, but we are more doing it so that nonmembers who want to learn English can come and have a spiritual experience at the church! We had quite a few nonmembers show up, so it was amazing! That night was a little rough after I went to bed, because I woke up in the middle of the night at 1:30 and just ran to the bathroom and threw up everything I had eaten that day... I am not sure what happened because it only happened once, but it was super weird!

Thursday, my first experience of someone bashing us to our faces! We had a lesson, and pretty much he wasn't wanting to meet with us for the right reasons and it was just annoying that he was wasting our time and the time of the elders, so we told them we probably wouldn't be coming back because we would try and answer questions they had by the next time we would go back, and when we would give them our answers they would always switch the words and pretty much attack us, so that was fun! Then we had an amazing lesson with one of our growing people with interest about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was in Spanish! My Spanish is getting a lot better with every day! I can pretty much understand everything, my difficulty is speaking and conjugating, but I will get there!

Friday, we had a really cool experience with the general authority or member of the 70 that is over our mission area! We were in personal study that morning when Elder Villarreal called us, and told us about his friend that we have been teaching and that he has been reading the Book of Mormon with! He sent us the text that his friend sent him, and it pretty much said that his friend has noticed the happiness he has felt and the peace of mind he has while reading the book! It's so amazing to see the Lord changing people and it's so awesome to do missionary work with a member of the 70!

Saturday, we had quite a few awesome lessons this day! Our first one was with a cute young girl name Rosalyn, and we found her tracting last week, and we didn't think much of her until that morning we were doing daily planning, and I just had a thought that we should stop by her and talk to her again, so we did! We had an awesome first lesson with her and she accepted the Book of Mormon and actually said she needed a new book to read so this was perfect! It's amazing how the Lord is preparing people for us to come teach and help them come closer to Christ! Then that night we had an amazing over the phone call with our friend named Caitlin! She shared that she had read the pamphlet we had given her about the plan of salvation, and she told us that she feels what she read was true! She also had some interesting questions but she is honestly just absorbing everything and we are hoping so much that she continues to grow!

Sunday, we invited a family to be baptized! It was so amazing to see the Holy Ghost talking to them and converting them in front of our eyes! We taught this family the Restoration, and it was sad because we had to have a pass off lesson (give them to the elders because they aren't in our area boundaries) but it was such a great lesson and they both said if they come to find out our message is true, they would be baptized! I love this work and I love what we are doing and experiencing!

We are busy every hour of every day and sometimes I am just tired and want to sleep, but other times I am so full of energy when I normally wouldn't be and it's amazing! I love the work here and am doing so good and am seriously happier than ever! I love you all at home and am so incredibly thankful for all of you! I am sorry this is so long, but this week has been crazy!

I am sorry I didn't do a spiritual thought last week, I totally spaced it with everything going on! I don't have much time left, so I won't really have one this week either but I just want to remind everybody to watch general conference, and send me your favorite talks after it's over!! I am so excited and we are counting down the days!

For letters or packages, my address for the next 2 1/2 months is:
Sister Griffin
6455 De Zavala Rd
apt 10216
San Antonio Texas 78249

Thank you all for everything! I love you all!
Love Hermana Griffin

By the way, Happy Birthday to my awesome cousins this week! Tyson, Mandee and Drake!

My favorite place! My mom (first companion) is the best! 

Bike Riding!

Yah!

We stayed up super late Monday night doing this... so yeah haha!

Blue bonnets are so beautiful here!

Our new apartment with our new sisters!

Our nice new kitchen!

Our study room which is also in the same small room as our beds.

Bunk beds!  I'm on top!

Our closet we share!

Our bathroom we share!