Hello family and friends!! Wow this week has literally been probably the biggest rollercoaster that I could have ever rode on! So I promised this email will be longer than last weeks, so you're all in for a treat!!
To start with the "down" of the past couple of weeks, I have actually struggled a lot the past week and a half. I think it has been so hard because a big part of me just expected myself to transition from one area to another with ease, and I think the fact that it was a lot harder than I thought it was kind of freaked me out. It was super hard saying goodbye to my area and to my trainer, and it has just been a whole different experience here in this area and with this companion! She is amazing and I don't want to make her sound like she isn't, I think the biggest thing I have had to get used to is that she likes to talk A LOT and has kind of a bad habit of cutting people off, but we have talked about it and she is working on it (because if it was just me I would learn how to deal with it, but it's members and people we are teaching too). So the initial first couple of days of the transfer were pretty crazy, just because I felt overwhelmed with all of the new information about all of the people who are being taught here in this area. Then there were a few days of calmness where I felt like I could do it, and I was able to talk to my family and receive some really good advice from them and friends, and I also got to see my family last Monday and go eat dinner at their house! So like last preparation day I was feeling pretty good and felt like I would be able to do it and like it would start getting better, but little did I know it would get harder before it got better.
Tuesday we did service at a food storage place, and we ride our bikes there because it is only about a mile and a half, so it isn't too bad but wow it just goes to show how out of shape I am because some of the tiniest "hills" took my breath away! and it also doesn't help when literally it gets to like 102 degrees here, and with the humidity, the heat index says it felt like 115 at one point last week! It was insanely hot haha.
Wednesday was a super rough day, as well as was Thursday. Wednesday we had a district council, and it was good! Nothing really went wrong with that, and all of the other missionaries in the two districts are really funny and good missionaries too! We gave the other sisters a ride home to their apt, and we went in to have some ice cream but then ended up staying for almost an hour because my companion was having a conversation with one of the other sisters, and I know that I need more patience but I think that is kind of where the whole downhill spiral started because we had lessons and visits planned for the day, so stress really hit me about being late. Then we got home and depending on who I am with, I can either be the person that holds stuff in unti it doesn't matter anymore, or I talk about it as soon as it's bothering me, and recently I have been holding everything in which I need to stop doing. Anyways, long story short or short story long (who knows) Thursday was the only day on my mission that I have been so low, that I thought about going home, like calling my mission president and giving up. But thankfully we had some really good visits set up that night, and I honestly think that I needed some of the visits more than the people we are teaching did! For anybody who hasn't seen the video called "The Will of God" go watch it, it's amazing! If any of you who have served missions and have any advice of how to make the transitions between areas or companions any easier, I would appreciate anything!!
This weekend the miracles started rolling in like crazy!!! We had service on Saturday and the same man we have been teaching named Phil came and helped finish the service project, and this time he brought one of his friends! His friend is named Tate and he is 18, and he is living with Phil and working with him! It was perfect because one of the tools wasn't working correctly so the brother in our ward had to go to the store and get some parts, so we were able to have a little lesson and talk to Phil and Tate, and we just talked about what we do as missionaries and introduced the Book of Mormon! Before we left, we invited Tate to the weekly Monday lessons we have with Phil and to read the introduction before our lesson, and we texted Phil to confirm the lesson for tonight and Phil told us that we are good for the lesson, and he even told us that Tate read in the book of mormon and that he will be coming tonight too, so we are absolutely ecstatic!! And that was just the start of our miraculous weekend!
Saturday afternoon we received a call from the sister in the ward who we were to have dinner with that night, and initially we thought they were going to cancel dinner, but NO, the exact opposite!! She just called to confirm, and then continued to tell us that her teenage daughter has a friend that she works with that has been asking her stuff about the church, and that her friend was going to be coming over for dinner and asked if we could teach the first lesson, and this NEVER happens! So we went over to dinner, and got to know him and his name is Luis, and then after dinner we taught the Restoration and he understood it pretty well! We gave him The Book of Mormon and he said he would definitely read it, and then asked for our number so he could be in contact to set up another lesson! Literally it was so cool and it is always so amazing to have member referrals, because we could spend all night and day tracting and knocking doors, but that would never be as successful as working through members!
(This is not as much of a miracle as the others, but kind of funny) Saturday night at 8 pm we received a call from someone in our bishopric asking us if we would talk in church the next day haha. It was insane because as missionaries, we write weekly reports to send to ward councils about people we are teaching and just the missionary work in general, and so we still hadn't wrote the reports for the week, and also as missionaries we have to go to bed by 10:30 so I really wasn't going to have much time to write it. Even better is that our church is at 9 am, and usually I would just have wrote it that morning if I didn't have enough time the night before, but we have ward council every week at 7:30 am, and so I wouldn't be able to write it that morning either haha but nonetheless, the miracle is that I got my talk prepared in little time and I gave it, and it went swell!
Sunday after church we had a short ward mission coordination meeting, and during that one of the brethren that were in the meeting noticed our nametags were in spanish, and asked if we had dinner scheduled for that night, and it was crazy because our dinner actually cancelled like an hour before he asked us that! So we told him we didn't, and he invited us over to their house! Come to find out, they were having a couple of their friends over that night who aren't members, and who are from Mexico! So FINALLY, we got to teach a lesson in spanish! And I say A lesson, but really we taught like ALL the lessons haha we got there and didn't leave for two hours later! They had a lot of questions about what we believe, and about the Book of Mormon and it was seriously just the most cool experience ever! Also, the member that invited us over served his mission in New York City, Spanish speaking! Even crazier is that he WAS THERE during 9/11. He pulled out his scrapbook from his mission and showed us pictures, and it was just crazy to hear his experience about watching the whole thing. Anyways, the member helped us with all of their questions, and the lesson went super well! Right before we were about to leave, I got the impression to give the couple the pamphlets that we use to teach, and they were so happy!! They were like "we can keep them??" and we told them yes, and then they went to give the book of mormon back to us and we told them that was for them as well, and their face literally lit up! They were just like hugging us and shaking our hands and just saying "thank you thank you thank you" so much and it was just so dang cute!! That was a really cool experience for us to have, and the couple is going back to Mexico for the week but they are in the process of getting a visa and coming back, so hopefully sooner or later we can teach them regularly!
Today while we were emailing, we received a call from a member of one of our wards and he proceeded to tell us that his wife Stephanie wants to get baptized!!! She is pregnant and is due on July 9th which is going to be super tricky because she wants to be baptized like tomorrow hahah but we still have to teach her all of the lessons and she needs to come to church three times, so we are just hoping that she keeps this same desire for the next three weeks and then can get baptized!! So next week we might have an additional person on date for baptism!! Literally this weekend has been filled with so many miracles that I have no idea how to handle them all!
I have told many people that I feel like this past weekend was Heavenly Father kind of like "smacking me across the face" (not like He would) but just like He is trying to tell me, "I am blessing you so much so stop whining" so I am definitely going to shut my mouth and get to work! Thank you all SO MUCH for all of your love and prayers!! Your prayers are getting answered and I appreciate them SO MUCH!!!!
Update on the other people we are teaching: Judy and Lori still both want to be baptized, but both have addictions they have to overcome before they can get baptized, so we are just hoping they continue in faith and keep trying to stay strong!! Bryson is still on date for July 27th and he is getting more excited! He is a very shy boy so we hope he still moves forward with everything!
Again, thank you all so much for everything you are all doing for me! For sending me encouraging emails and for always praying for me!! I love you all so much and know that everything happens for a reason!!
Have a blessed week!
Hermana Griffin :)
Daily Studies in 105 degree weather!
I saw my cute family at church! ( My Uncle Kevin and cousins, Harper and Monroe!)
Her name is Emily Loderup, she was really close to Sister Tanner (one of my roomates in San Antonio) so we took a pic to send to Sister Tanner
I found Hermana Spencer's Street!
I held a snake this week, it was CRAZY!
My mom sure spoils us!
