Bryson got baptized! July 29, 2019

This week was super special!! We had Brysons baptism, and many other amazing things happen that I will talk about! I hope you all had the best week!

We did service like usual, but this was extra special!! The lady that has taken us out to dinner and is super nice to us asked if she could give us a gift card to HEB?? She isn't even a member, but is seriously wanting to buy our groceries, it's crazy how nice people are here in Texas!! It truly shows how much people cherish friendships, and how important it is to be friends with everybody as well!! Southern hospitality is so real!
That night we went to a relief society activity (because our visits cancelled on us) and it was super fun! It was nice to get to know some of the ladies in the Liberty Hill ward, because it is literally so big. Like almost 800 members in the ward and almost 400 come weekly, so it's seriously so hard to keep track of everyone haha. But there is going to be another ward made this week, like they are announcing everything this Sunday so it will be super interesting!! We have no idea what is going to happen to us as missionaries, we might be triple covering (covering three different wards) until the next transfer which isn't until September 5th! Exciting stuff coming up! But the activity with the ladies was very fun! We just ate at a cafe, and we had already had dinner so we just got a brownie but it was SO GOOD. I now understand why the average sister in the Texas San Antonio Mission gains 40 lbs on her mission haha.

Wednesday we had some really amazing visits with people we are teaching!! We had a lesson with Hannah and she just continues to test us and our knowledge!! We brought a returned missionary with us and she was very helpful, but we are still working to get her to feel it instead of just know the information. Some of her questions were so good that we had a visit with a member so that he could help us with her questions haha. We also had a visit with Lori and she is finally progressing!!! She has been going through a lot with family, and this past week she finally decided to stop her addiction!! There is a "lesser addiction" I guess you could call it, but we are super thrilled for Lori and hope to help her get re-baptized soon!!

Thursday we did high fitness again and it was amazing! We have now figured out our schedule (with service) that we are now going to go to High Fitness every Tuesday and Thursday, and then do service Friday mornings!  So our weeks are going to be full because we also have District Council on Wednesdays, we are always busy here as missionaries!! But I wouldn't have it any other way!!
That night we had the best visit of the week!! (In my opinon) So everything this past week cancelled on us, like mostly everything, and Thursday night wasn't any different. BUT it was so good that everything cancelled on us, because we were able to have a visit with Stephanie again finally!! She is the woman that was pregnant (she has had her baby, and they are both doing well) and wanted to get baptized! She messaged us that afternoon and said she was feeling a little better and that was the only night we could come visit for a couple weeks if we could, so we went! It was super layed back, and I think that is exactly what she needed! We really just caught up on how her and her family is doing, and informed her about the whole "missionary lesson" situation which is that since she has had the lessons many times through in the past, she will just have to pass the baptism interview to be baptized, so we told her whenever she is ready we can do that and she seemed very happy and excited!! She is just not feeling good physically, but we hope she recovers soon so she can get baptized!! The visit was awesome, and my companion played hymns on the guitar with her husband (which was awesome and brought the spirit) while I talked to Stephanie! She shared that her end goal is to be sealed to her family in the temple and that is what she really wants, and I told her THAT IS THE BEST GOAL DON'T CHANGE IT haha so she is doing good and we are so very excited for her!

Saturday we had Brysons baptism and it was so wonderful!! We got up quite early because we got to go to the church early and fill up the font, and set up everything!! It all went smoothly though and he said the water wasn't freezing so that was a bonus! He had family fly in from Utah, so it was a pretty special day for him! After his baptism we were able to go to their house for a lunch in, and his dad cooked some pretty good brisket! I had honestly never heard of brisket until I came to Texas, but it is HUGE here haha but it's pretty good so I'm not complaining. Bryson then got confirmed yesterday, and the spirit was just so strong and amazing! Two missionaries just got home as well so they talked in the same sacrament meeting, and it was cool to hear their experiences and just how much it reminded me that no matter where we go, Florida, Europe, Brazil or Texas, it is all the Lord's work! I am absolutely loving it out here (although I never stop sweating).
Yesterday we also had a visit with Brenda, who was one of the people that just walked up to us last weekend in the office of our apartment complex and started talking to us! She is very kind, but also very strong in her church (which isn't a bad thing) but has shared she has no desire to change haha so we just continue to visit with her which has been great! One of our conversations led us to invite her to read The Family Proclamation, and she did and she loved it!! So that was a good start haha she agreed with everything it said, which I think everyone should!

A little update on the other people we are teaching! We have had barely any contact with Phil and Tate the past week, and have no idea what to do with them other than continue praying for them. They are still going through a very hard time with their family situatios and haven't had time to meet with us. We continue inviting them to read the book of mormon, and praying so we hope they are still doing that! We still hope to be in contact with them this week and hopefully have a visit!
Judy is progressing as well! She is slowly progressing with her addiction, but eventually she will get there! Her husband David (recent convert since May) is trying to go to the temple soon and perform baptisms, so that is super awesome and will be a wonderful experience for him!
Our visits with Vicky and Corinne cancelled this past week and we have no idea when / if they will reply to us to reschedule haha, but we continue to try!!

This week we don't have anything super special other than doing the Lord's work!! We will continue to work with our people and always try to find new people! We will find out what the ward changes will be on Sunday, and then on monday I hit 6 months!! It is absolutely crazy to me, and I have no idea how I have already served 1/3 of my mission but I want time to slow down!! I am loving it and all the people that I am meeting and coming to love!
Thank you all for your love and support! The past (almost) 6 months wouldn't have been as easy without you all! I love you all so much, have the best week!!
Con amor,
Hermana Griffin

I love the scriptures!  My favorite pics!

This was a gift hanging on our apartment door when we came home!

Chinese Dinner, just one of our dinners!

Popscicles melt so fast in this Texas heat!

Relief Society girls night out!

July 22, 2019 A great week...

Buenas tardes familia y amigos!! I love you all so much!! This week was seriously AWESOME. I am doing SO MUCH BETTER and really just loving my time in the mission again. It has definitely been a transition to the area and to my companion, a harder transition than I would have liked, but it is getting a lot easier and more enjoyable!! We had a lot of fun and exciting experiences this past week! We received our transfer news last night (which is unusual because it is usually in the mornings on Mondays) but anyways, I am staying in Leander and Liberty Hill and my companion is also staying!! I know that there must be something I am supposed to learn from my companion (which there is something to learn from every companion) so I know I am still with her this transfer because I obviously haven't learned what I am supposed to yet! As for this week, it was amazing!!

Our week started with most of our visits cancelling on Tuesday night, and our dinner was literally on the edge of the Liberty Hill boundary which made it 45 min away from anything else. We stopped by a potential person on our way home, and she was very nice and wants to read the book of mormon (which she has had for months) but doesn't want lessons right now, but it was still good to stop by and have a good contact with her!! On the way home, there is this really cool and nicely done wall that says "Liberty Hill" and so we stopped on our way home and took some pictures, so I hope y'all enjoy them haha.

Wednesday was quite the day too! We are still teaching Lori, and she is one of the people with a word of wisdom issue, but she actually started progressing for like the first time this past week! It is a super sad story of what she has gone through, but we really hope it ends well for her! She moved here a few months ago because her mother died, and her mother was taking care of her father, which meant somebody needed to come take care of her father so she moved here to do that. Ever since she has been here she has been meeting with the missionaries, and she has literally the strongest testimony (she is wanting to be re-baptized) so she knows all of the information and has the biggest testimony! Anyways, her father walked out of the house during the night last week and fell on the concrete and broke some ribs, and cracked his skull, so he has been in the hospital, which means Lori has been in the hospital with him. So we went to the hospital last week to visit with her, and that is when she told us about the goals and promises she has made to her sister (which she has never done before) to follow the word of wisdom! She is going from one thing to another (which are steps in the right direction) and we are still just praying she continues to progress! The scary thing is that when/if her father dies, she will most likely move back to her husband in Utah (which is not a good environment for her) and if she moves back to her husband and family, she will never get baptized again. So we are kind of just really trying to push her and help her with her goals, and praying her dad doesn't pass away. Lori has told us that she knows her dad is still alive and is waiting for her to be baptized again, which is sad to think about but so sweet that she has recognized that.
Later on Wednesday we did service with the young women in the Leander ward! We made paper hearts last week and we delivered them and "heart attacked" a few peoples houses that we thought could use the love at the time! It was really fun and wow, it is so different being a missionary than when I was in young womens hahah it is just crazy to see how much I have "matured" (if I even have) but like young girls are just crazy haha but it was still so fun.
That night we had about an hour after the young womens activity, and so we FINALLY had time to go knock a neighborhood that every time we drive through it, I have received a feeling that we need to tract the neighborhood. It is a fairly new neighborhood, and so that means none of them had been knocked before, so we went! Our first door, we got a hard no hahah it was actually kind of funny. It is so different here in the mission because before I got out here, I would always think it would be terrible to be rejected a lot, but sometimes it doesn't even affect me! Then, we went to the next house and it was SUCH A SUCCESS! We found a lady named Vicki, and she is a little older, but she SPEAKS SPANISH!! I am so excited though. We talked a lot about what we do as missionaries and she shared that she knows members that served missions, and so she knows members which is a bonus! Shee at first wasn't interested in lessons but then we asked her if we could at least come by and practice our Spanish and she agreed with a huge smile on her face! So we are going by this week to have a visit with her! We stopped by and gave her a Book of Mormon in spanish on Saturday, and she was very excited!

THURSDAY WAS THE BEST DAY!! We started it off a little different than normal, because usually we wake up at 6:20, exercise from 6:30 to 7:00 and daily plan from 7 to 7:30 and then have from 7:30 to 9 to get ready for the day and eat breakfast. Then from 9 to 10 we do personal study, and then we leave the apartment and do visits, finish our studies and do all of that fun stuff, but thursday was DIFFERENT which was so nice for once!! We woke up at 6:30, daily planned and got dressed in workout clothes, then did personal study from 7 to 8, and spanish study from 8 to 9, and then we left the apartment and we went to a HIGH FITNESS CLASS. For those of you who know me, and know how much I love to work out and how much I LOVED doing High with Sara right before I left for my mission, will know how happy this made me! So it is really cool though, when we were with the young women on Wednesday one of the leaders told us about it! It is a High fitness class that MEMBERS run, and so all of the music is good, uplifting and don't swear at all! There are also a few nonmembers that come and so it will be a really good opportunity for us! We are seriously so excited, I am definitely going to look forward to every Thursday from now on! It is so nice to get a good workout in at least once a week, and it is always fun to do things that remind me of my best friends at home!!
That afternoon, we had another amazing lesson with Hannah! She seriously is the cutest girl from North Carolina, and honestly tests us all of the time! She gives us homework every week, and it's like good intentions with it all! I just love going over there! We have weekly visits set up with her, and are really working on getting her to recognize the spirit, and receive a testimony about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Thursday night Bryson had his interview for his baptism THIS WEEKEND and it went so good! He is so ready and is so excited to be baptized!  We spent a lot of the week planning his baptism, and everything is in order so we are so excited! Even more excited to actually be here for this baptism!!
Friday we had our first actual zone conference with President Tveten and it was SO GOOD! We talked a lot about joy, and why it is so important in this gospel! Then we had really good trainings on how to be better teachers, and the importance of keeping everything simple! Our president had us teach principles in three sentences, and it was a really good training to help us realize that it is easier to teach when everything is kept simple! We learned a lot of other really good stuff too, I am so excited for all of the stuff in the future! Something really cool too is starting this transfer (Thursday) we are reading the book of mormon as a mission! President Tveten will be reading it with us as well, and it will be so neat to be able to talk about what we are reading with everybody!
Saturday was such a good day too! My best friend Haley Haynie (Broadbent now) got married!! She sent me her bridal pics last week and wow she is so pretty!! Ok and also, XIOMARA GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY. Wow I am just so happy and full of joy!! She is the first person I have taught that has gotten baptized, and I am just so happy to have had the chance to help her, teach her and be a little part of her great story! This gospel truly is such a blessing and being able to see the happiness it has brought into her life and the life of her family is so inspiring! Saturday was such a great day because of her being baptized, and we also had a really good visit with Corinne! We went back by and had another good visit with her. She still hasn't come to church which is sad, but we have a scheduled visit for this weekend and we hope to start teaching her the lessons and helping her gain a testimony of the Restoration, and explain more about the Book of Mormon!

Sunday was a good day too! We went to our churches, and then we had an awesome opportunity to have dinner with a part member family, and talked about the come follow me from this past week! Last night we also had our weekly come follow me with people from our wards, and it was seriously so inspiring! We talked about what it means to be a Christian, and it is reallly such a big thing to take upon ourselves the name of Christ. I never realized how big it is to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, but it is such an amazing thing as well! One of the members that was there last night also told us that someone in the church ( I don't remember who it was) said that we, as members who have the Holy Ghost, receive 200 spiritual promptings every day. Isn't that crazy?!?!? But it is so amazing to be a missionary, and I am still learning how to recognize the spirit, but it is so awesome to be able to act on the promptings we receive every day!

I know I have been terrible at doing spiritual thoughts the past couple of months, and so I am trying to start doing better at that again!! I know a few of you saw my post on Facebook, but that is my thought for this week. The video that I shared, called "The Savior Understands Me" is such an extremely powerful video that I hope all of you will watch! It is so amazing how our Savior Jesus Christ knows EXACTLY what you are going through, so you never have to feel alone. I know I have had times on my mission where I have been so extremely grateful for that knowledge, that I have known no matter how down I feel, I know that I am never alone.

Today has been a good day too! This morning we got up and got ready, because one of our really good friends from the Liberty Hill ward took our pictures before she left to college! I will attach a few when I receive them, but it was so fun to take some pictures while actually being a missionary and having my tag! My favorite thing is waking up in the morning and putting my tag on! There is something so special about having Jesus Christ's name on me!

I love you all so much and I know I literally say this every week but I couldn't ask for more amazing friends and family! I love receiving emails and hearing about everything everybody is doing! You are all the best! Have the most wonderful week!

-Hermana Griffin :)

Had some good food last week!

Amazing visit with the Walsh family and Judy and David Klepal!

The cool Liberty Hill wall!

Bryson, the boy getting baptized this weekend!!

Visiting Lori and her dad in the hospital!

We won $10 at zone conference for having the cleanest car haha

Xiomara got baptized!!

Helaman 5:12 - my favorite scripture

I love this book!!

"preach to the people"

SO HOT HERE

July 15,2019 Rollercoaster week!!!!

Hello my wonderful family and friends!! I know I start every single weekly email the same way so I am going to try and start it differently haha I just want to thank you all for emailing me and keeping in good contact! I LOVE hearing about all of your lives and what is going on at home! It was definitely another crazy and eventful week here in Texas!
We started our week by doing our weekly service which we just love! There are the best ladies that work there! We have Elders coming and doing service with us every week too, and last week they put us to a project of painting one of their new (old) buildings that they are going to start using! It was fun to paint and just be able to be around other missionaries again because like I said, I love it!! We have zone conference this week and I look forward to them so much because I get to be around so many other amazing people and missionaries! Tuesday night one of our visits cancelled on us, and so we went to a couple parks around us and did some chalking! We wrote uplifting messages and scriptures! We just wanted to plant seeds in everybody that walked by, and I hope we did! It was super fun, but also so hot and we were sweating so bad!! We had to have a refresher, so we went to Sonic and got a nice cherry limeade and then went and had a great visit with the Walsh family! Their kids are SO COOL! They do magic for a living and they were showing us all these different card tricks, and then they juggled fire and did the other cool juggling in the video! We then had a really good lesson with them about gratitude, and Sister Walsh has been diagnosed with lifetime cancer, but it was still so amazing and inspiring to see how happy and grateful she is for the blessings she has, and how she focuses on the blessings and not the trials. I think we can all do better at that, no matter what part of life we are in.
We had an amazing dinner on Wednesday with two of the ladies from our service that we went to the Liberty Hill festival with last week! They took us to Smokey Mo's which is a barbecue place and we had some really delicious briscuit! It was so amazing to be at dinner with the two ladies and their husbands, because they are all nonmembers! Our conversations were so cool and they kept asking so many questions, that we pretty much went over all the lessons that we teach as missionaries haha. That night we stopped by Phil and Tates house because I got a prompting that we should since they hadn't replied to us in over a week which is super unusual because they always reply soon even if they can't meet. But we went by, and as soon as we got to their house we just got the worst feeling that something wasn't good. We then went back to the car and said a prayer and just hoped everything was ok with the two. We did end up hearing from them a couple of days later which helped us stress not nearly as much! They have been going through some family stuff which has been hard, but we were able to set up a visit with them this week so we hope all that goes well!
We had a killer day on Thursday! It was full of visits which was amazing! We usually only have two or three visits a day once we do studies and all the other missionary stuff, but we had four on Thursday! We were able to go by Bryson and help them plan his baptism coming up next weekend! Then we had an amazing dinner with some great members and their nonmember friends and shared a message with them! Then we went by a less active family in our ward and were able to help them, and then we were able to go by Phil and Tate and do a short lesson about the Book of Mormon and just remind them about the peace it will bring into their lives at this time of hardship.
Thursday night was a rough one for me though. We got out of our dinner appointment and looked at our phone and saw that we had a missed call from another area in our mission, the area that my MTC companion Hermana Carlson was serving in. As soon as I saw that I knew it wasn't good. We called them back, and Hermana Carlson told me she was going home :( She has been fighing a disease the whole time being here in Texas, and it was smartest for her to go home and get healthy again. She is so amazing and it definitely broke my heart to think that I wouldn't be able to see her or be able to go home with her, but I just want what's best for her! So that news kind of shook me the rest of the weekend. I just hope and pray every day that she will get better!
Friday was quite the day too haha it was Makells 16th birthday so I was pretty sad I wasn't able to be home and be with her, but I knew she had a great day and I am sure she was spoiled for sure haha. It was also kind of rough because I knew Hermana Carlson was going home, but the good thing is that we were able to have some great visits! We have still been meeting with Hannah, a self referral, and she has the BEST questions! Every single visit we go over and have a lesson planned, but never get to it because she has always done so much reading and researching and has so many questions that we spend so much time answering them! But she is so cute and so sweet, our main focus is going to be to bring the Spirit and just help her feel the things we are saying and the truth of them! After our lesson with Hannah we went to stop by Lori but she wasn't home which was a bummer because both my companion and I really had to use the bathroom! It turned out to be a blessing though because we went tracting in the neighborhood and the first person that answered their door (second house we knocked) let us in! She said she wasn't interested in a message but it was actually super funny because in the most convincing and desperate voice I could use, I said, " Ok but is there any way we could use your bathroom?" and she was SO NICE! She let us in, and gave us both an ice cold water and gatorade! It was perfect though because while I was waiting for my companion I was able to talk to the nice lady and she asked some good questions about our church and we had a good talk! So we are thinking of using the bathroom trick more often haha!
We received a really cool referral this weekend! They are a family of a mom, a 14 year old daughter and a 3 month old daughter! So we stopped by and it was perfect because she was power washing her driveway, but looked like she was struggling so as a nice ice breaker, I offered to help her! She was very appreciative and talked to my companion while I finished her driveway! Then she invited us inside and we had such an amazing visit with her! We gave her a Book of Mormon, and talked about our church services. It was perfect because she told us she doesn't like how loud other churches are, so I think this will be a great experience for her for sure! She wasn't able to come yesterday but we hope to have her this next week!
Yesterday was such a cool experience at church because David, our recent convert, was able to bless the sacrament for the first time! It has been so cool for my companion to see his whole process! He was super happy though and it is just so amazing to see how the gospel changes peoples lives! I love it so much and love being able to hear about it from so many people!! We went to one of our recent converts of about 3 years last night and just heard her whole story too! I love how much love we receive as missionaries too and it is just so amazing to realize that even though it definitely is 100% the gospel that is changing their lives, we as missionaries are the ones introducing it to them so it is so cool! I love it so much!
Today we are going bowling with the other sisters so that will be super fun! We have zone conference and service and district council planned this week as well as some amazing visits, so prayers for the people we are teaching would be greatly appreciated!
Haley also gets married this week! So my good ol friend Haley Haynie is now going to be Haley Broadbent haha but congratulations Hay and I hope everything goes well for you! I wish I could be there but I will celebrate with you in a little over a year!! This week is also my Grandma Sue's birthday, so I hope everybody can wish her a happy birthday and let her know how much she is loved!!
Thank you all so much for everything! I am so very spoiled with love and so grateful for all of you! I hope everybody has the best week ever!
Con amor,
Hermana Griffin :)

Park Chalk!

I'm so proud of this one!

They are so amazing!

So scary Haha she tried to get me to try

 but luckily we have a rule as missionaries that we can't play with fire!

One of our members made us these amazing Eclairs!

Our Water and Gatorade!

 Hermana Carlson made it home safely! I miss her already :(

I got a letter from Liz at Threads of Love!!

Happy 4th! .... July 8, 2019

Hello family and friends!! I hope you all had the best week and really enjoyed the 4th of July! Our week was super fun and eventful! Holidays in the mission are so different than when I was home, but nonetheless it was still fun!

On Monday I was able to eat with my family again, and wow I just love family so much, and I am so so grateful for this gospel and that families are the central part of it! Family truly does make everything better! After eating with my family, we were able to have a lesson with Judy and David, and talked about how we can use the Atonement in our lives! It was such an amazing and powerful lesson, and the spirit was SO STRONG. Judy is still wanting to be baptized so bad, but has stuff to overcome so we are just visiting with her twice a week to help her until she can overcome what she needs to!

We were able to go to service this last week again at the food pantry, and it was so fun because we have the elders in our district coming and doing it with us from now on as well! I just love being around other people and other missionaries, it makes me so incredibly happy! We also had the same lady that we are going to dinner with this week (nonmember from service) invite us to an activity in Liberty Hill to celebrate the fourth! After service, we thought we had a really good day planned but then absolutely everything cancelled! Luckily we were able to contact somebody we have been trying to contact and have lessons with, and her name is Katie, and we were able to have a lesson with her! So it was a good thing everything cancelled so we could visit with her!

On the 3rd, we were able to go to the Liberty Hill festival with the ladies that we do service with! It was so fun, and I kind of felt like a "normal person" for once and it was actually super weird haha. We had to park at the high school and ride school buses to the park, and then met with our friends! There were tents and a lot of bouncy houses, some food trucks and some water things for kids to play in as well! There was also a band from Austin singing old music from the 80s, but I was actually really surprised with how much I still knew (even though I tried really hard to not listen).

We were able to celebrate on the 4th as well! Right before we went to dinner, we did have a little tragic accident though haha. We were trying to find a referral we had been given earlier that day, and we got caught in a corner of an apartment complex, so we were backing out like a 10 point turn and we backed into another car.. yeah it was rough hahh thankfully I was backing out and obviously not going very fast.. The funnier thing is that my companion was out of the car backing me up (like we are supposed to do) and even with her backing me up, we still ran into the car! It only scratched off like a dime sized piece of paint, so all is well! It was super embarrassing but nobody was around at all and we waited to see if the owner of the car would come out, but after 10 minutes we just left a note! We went to the Leander city festival as well, and it was on the block right behind our apartment! We walked there, and it was pretty much the same as the Liberty Hill Festival! We got some really good ice cream, and talked to some people! We met an amazing member as well and she took pictures of us and sent them to our parents! Then we went home when we were supposed to (9pm) and we had the PERFECT view for the fireworks! Our patio was on the right side of the building so we could go out and watch them, and so it was so fun! The firework show lasted for about 20 minutes, and then we went to bed! It was fun to still be able to celebrate the holiday even on a mission!

I hit 5 months on Friday! It has been quite the crazy 5 months and it is so fun to look back and realize how far I have come! and it makes me so excited for how much more I will grow in the next 13 months, but even more excited for all of the more people I will be able to meet and help before next August! We went to Bahama Bucks to celebrate 5 months in the mission, and ironically we ran into the same member that we met at the Leander Festival, and she was so kind she bought our smoothies! Members are so amazing to missionaries here, and we just love and cherish our amazing members!

Yesterday we had quite the experience at church as well! We were about to leave, and one of the brothers in our ward walked up to us and introduced us to a family that was out on the street of our church holding up a sign for money. They only spoke spanish, so it was so good for us as well! Come to find out, they were from Austin and we had no idea why they had come all the way up here. But he didn't have a job for 3 more weeks and needed to find a church to pay their rent for this month, and so we helped them contact the bishop in their area! And another amazing member in our ward took the family and filled their car with gas, and then bought them groceries at HEB! People are just so Christ-like here and it is so admirable! The family was from Romania, and it was just cool to see the joy on their face after we were able to help them. Right after church we went on a visit with one of the members of our stake presidency and visited a lady in our ward who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer :( It was so extremely sad to see how down she was, but we brought a message of peace and comfort and it really seemed to help her out! We also had dinner with our bishop and he told me about the World Cup!! I am so extremely pumped that the US won! I still somewhat wish I could have watched it, but I know I am doing what I need to be doing right now, and I will be able to watch the next one!

We don't have many exciting plans for this week other than today we are going to hangout  with the other sisters! We are going out to lunch and then going to hangout at Ikea for an hour or so!

Last but not least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE SISTER MAKELL (on the 12th) I hope everybody will make an effort and wish her a happy birthday (and stay off the roads ;))
Makell, I love you so very much and I am so proud of the woman you are becoming! I am so grateful for you and the best friend I have come to find in you, I hope you have the best 16th ever!!

I love you all and am forever grateful for all of you and the love and support I receive from all of you! Have another wonderful week!

I love my family!

The cutest little guy!

Free popscicles!

Riding the school bus!

Liberty Hill Festival!

Our friends from Service!

A little accident and the note we left!

Leander Festival!

4th of July!

The best show!

Leander Festival!

Sorry.. I can't get it to rotate right... have to view sideways, however, Bahama Bucks is the best!

Chair soccer and in-grown toenails! July 1, 2019

Hello family and friends!! I hope you have all had a blessed week and are enjoying your summer! The summer is flying by here in Texas, and so is my mission! I complete 5 months on the 5th and it's so crazy to me how fast it is flying by! I just love the work we are doing and love seeing how people want to change their life to be more like our Savior Jesus Christ!

This week was crazy busy! We had our weekly service last Tuesday at the food pantry, and we had a really special thing happen! There are no other members of our church at the service we do, but they are all Christian so they are still really good people! Anyways, one of the ladies was asking us what we do as missionaries and then asked if she could take us out to eat dinner! It is always so fun to eat with nonmembers, and just talk about all of the different ways that Jesus Christ has blessed our lives! We have dinner with her scheduled for next week and are so excited!

We had a lesson with our miracle lady from last week, the one where her husband called us and told us she wants to be baptized! So we went by her house on Tuesday and she definitely has a desire to be baptized, the hard thing was just deciding whether to do it before or after her baby comes, but ultimately her and her husband decided it would be better to wait until the baby is born and then see how fast his wife recovers, and we will continue visiting with her until she feels good again and tells us when she is ready to be baptized!

There is like no spanish in the area we are in and it is really hard, especially going from an area that is highly populated with spanish speaking people! But luckily we have one lady we are teaching that speaks spanish! We had a lesson with her last week about commandments, and essentially why it is so important that we follow the commandments that our Heavenly Father has given us to become better people and be able to return to live with Him again! She is such a sweet lady, and it really is nice to have at least one person we are teaching that we can practice our spanish with!

This past weekend was absolutlely crazy! We started our weekend on Thursday with an exchange! We had to drive to a chapel in Austin, which was about 45 minutes from us, and then drive back! My companion for the exchange was Hermana Motock, and she is from Utah! We had a really good exchange, and on the exchange we had a first lesson with a girl named Hannah! She is a self-referral from North Carolina, and it was such a fun lesson with her! She had a ton of questions and our visit was primarily answering her questions! She has a lot of potential and we are so excited for what can possibly happen with her!

Friday we drove back to Austin and exchanged back with our normal companions! Then we had a zone conference and met our new mission president and his wife! They're from Washington, and are such a cute family!! They have 5 kids ranging from 18 to 6months, so it is definitely going to be a whole different world than it was with the Polleys! I loved the Polleys and they were amazing, but I am also excited for what this new change will bring! The Tvetens told us as a mission that the only baby we are allowed to hold is theirs, because we are a mission family, and I got to hold their baby! President walked up to me and asked if I wanted to hold her, so I felt pretty special! and she is so stinking cute!
Friday night after zone conference we eventually made it back to our area (Austin traffic is the worst) and we had a stake youth sports night! It is something that happens once a month, and us missionaries run it! We played chair soccer and it was so stinkin fun to be back in the game of soccer, or at least somewhat around it! It was so fun to play against other people too, and have them all team up against me! I sweat more playing that game than I ever have in one of my morning workout sessions, so I must not be working out enough haha. I also had an ingrown toenail the whole time I was playing sports, so when we got home it was annoying me so bad (I have had it for 2 weeks) that I just ripped it out. It hurt, yes, but now it doesn't hurt anymore haha so no worries!

Saturday morning we had stake breakfast, which is where all of the missionaries serving in our stake go to one of the members of the stake presidency for breakfast, and it was so fun! I just love being around other missionaries, especially going from living with another companionship to going to just you and your companion, so it was really fun being around so many other missionaries all weekend! Then we had our first interviews with our new mission president! That also meant we had to drive back to Austin, for the third day in a row! It felt like we lived in cars for the weekend haha. But wow, my interview was so amazing! Our president is so down to earth, and just makes you feel like such a good missionary! He told me that only the best missionaries are made trainers, and that he sees me as being a trainer sometime in the near future, so that was so amazing to hear and be told, even just after spending 5 minutes with me!

Sunday we showed up to church at 7:30 am thinking we had ward council, then came to find out that we didn't have it so we just chilled at the church all morning! Then we were asked to teach Sunday School, and so obviously we taught about member missionary work! We also got asked to sing in sacrament meeting with the ward choir! After church we also ot to see David (our recent convert) receive the Aaronic Priesthood, and that was such an amazing experience!

Well today was quite amazing as well! I love preparation days, and they are even more special here in Leander because I get to see my family! My amazing uncle Kevin offered to give us free teeth cleanings at his office, so this morning we went and got our teeth cleaned! and tonight we are going over to their house one last time to eat with them before they head to Utah for the next while! I have loved getting the opportunity to see them, family means the world to me and I just love it!

Lastly, happiest of birthdays to my cute family members this week! My little cousin Rosie today, my amazing aunt Aliza on Friday, and my little cousin Kooper on Sunday! I love you all and hope you have the most wonderful birthdays!

Thank you all once again for the love and support! I love you all and love seeing the miracles that come from all of your prayers! Have the best week and I look forward to hearing from you all next week!

Much love, Hermana Griffin

My Aunt Tay surprised me!

I love family so much!

I held a hedgehog!

Part 2

This is Lori, we are teaching her!

My Sister Training Leader that I went on exchanges with

I found my bff Sister Cutler

Part 2

We stopped at the sisters place for some ice crea!

Chuys!

Tres leches is so good!!!

My comp and I

Texas is so HOT!

Happy 4th !

Just part of my Texas Family!