Serving in San Antonio Texas: 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 :)