August 26, 2019 "Women are messed up!"

Hello brothers and sisters! Hahaha just kidding, I'm not there quite yet ;)
Hello family and friends!! This week was quite interesting if you can't tell by the title of this week... Haha we are seeing so many miracles and so many amazing people coming unto Christ! I love being a missionary and a representative of Christ! We are also teaching 3 people from India and one from China, but NONE that speak spanish so that's awesome.. haha but I know I was sent for the people and not for the language!! Also, STEPHANIE'S baptism is this saturday and wow I am just so full of joy!! I was able to make her baptism program and I was holding back tears the whole time, this weekend will be so beautiful!

Last Monday we started out the week quite well! We were actually supposed to have a pass off lesson with Judy and David (it has been 3 weeks and they still hadn't contacted any of the people we were teaching in Leander... Elders.. haha) so we set up a pass of lesson, and then the elders didn't come??? I guess they stopped by before we got there but didn't stay to have a lesson haha so we just visited with David and Judy for the last time, and they are doing good! We just hope the Elders take care of them!

We were able to have a lesson with Lori this past week! She is still doing great with quitting her addiction and is still on track to be done by September 1st, and we are thrilled! This is 40 years in the making of her trying to quit, so it's a big deal!! She got the flu over the weekend though so we weren't able to have a second lesson and she also couldn't come to church and her dad keeps declining in his health too, so the time is not exactly on our side for how much time we have left to help her!! Prayers fro her and her father would be SO appreciated!!
That afternoon we also had another lesson with Candy, the lady we are teaching from China! She was a lot more open to the idea of Jesus Christ and she has been praying a lot which has been awesome! The only real challenge with teaching her is the language barrier, but I think we handle it as good as we can :)
We visited a family in the Parkside ward that evening (after dinner with the bishop in that ward and he is awesome!!) and the family was so sweet! Pretty much all of their daughters play soccer and it was so fun to talk to them and reminsce about the past :)

Wednesday we had zone conference and it was awesome for so many reasons! I learned a lot of ways that I can become a better missionary, and it is always humbling but also so exciting to learn how I can better help the people in our areas!
The best thing about zone conference this past week was something that didn't have anything to do with zone conference other than that's where I was at the time, haha. In between learning all that we do, we get some breaks to go to the bathroom and get a drink and stuff, and during the first break we got, I had looked at my phone and I received a facebook message from Xiomara, one of my recent converts from my last area, and my heart was already so happy just seeing she sent me a message! What she said was even better tho :) She asked ME (out of all people) for some content, or scriptures and stuff like that about the Holy Ghost that she could use in her talk she was going to give at HOFFMARA'S baptism!! So I found out from Xiomara that Hoffmara was getting baptized (got baptized) on the 24th (Saturday)!!! I was/am seriously so thrilled! There is a rule that we can't respond until Mondays, but luckily I was at zone conference and was in our Presidents presence, and she needed the material before Saturday so with the permission of President, I was able to respond to her and give her some stuff to use in her talk! I am so happy for my trainer and her trainee and all of the success they are having in that area! Xiomara and Hoffmara will forever have a special place in my heart!
That evening we had a lesson scheduled with the new relief society president in our new ward, San Gabriel and it was so awesome! We walked in and she had a visitor, who happened to be her cousin, who happened not to be a member (at the time)... and her cousin only speaks portugese and spanish, and she is here in the states to learn english so it was an awesome practice for us and spanish! So we got to know her, and we noticed she like working out so we invited her to the high fitness class in the morning, and she came! Here is where things got confusing haha, and her name is Celia. So Celia comes to high fitness in the morning, and after it we were talking to her and asked if we could give her a Libro de Mormon and she said she already had one, but would like one in spanish! Then she told us she is actually a member, and was baptized when she was 8 but doesn't remember anything other than that... So we were confused and didn't think we understood her right, so we asked her cousin and her cousin starts laughing and said, "I found out last night after you two left! Celia loved you two so much, and asked me if once you are baptized in a church if it lasts forever, and I told her it does if it is the right church, and she told me she was baptized when she was 8 and was living with our grandma!" So it was a shock to us as well haha but sure enough, she is a member! We got her records and she is now in our ward :) It is going to be awesome though because she came to the states to learn english so every week we are going to visit her and do 30 min of english practice for her, and 30 min of spanish practice for us! I'm pumped!!

Friday we were able to stop by Khalyn, our friend that lives in the apartment complex that we hadn't seen or heard from in weeks and we were getting a little nervous!! But our lesson with Hannah cancelled ( :( ) and so we went and stopped by Khalyn, and it turns out she lost our number but she was still totally wanting to visit with us so it was great! We read the introduction with her and taught her the restoration, and she said it all made perfect sense! She did say church isn't her thing though and she isn't sure if she wants to get too into it, so we are just praying that as she learns more she will feel like it is her thing ;)
That evening we had a visit with Stephanie and we went over the baptism interview questions, and she is so ready!! We also showed her the baptism program and she loved it, so that was good! We are just so thrilled for this weekend, and something else super special is she is going to bless her newborn baby on Sunday, the same day she gets confirmed!! It'll be an awesome weekend for their family :)

Saturday was awesome as well, mostly because I knew Hoffmara was getting baptized that day, but we also met someone awesome! We had dinner with an awesome (and interesting) couple.. Let's just say that last week when we were there, he was super racist and asked if any of us had boyfriends, and my companion doesn't but I said yes, and the only thing he asked is, "Is he white?" and my companion told me to say no hahah but I said yes, he's super white ;) But THIS TIME he didn't talk much about black people, but instead he told us how messed up women are... hahah and his wife was sitting right there with us..
AFTER dinner is when we met Matthew! We walked out of dinner and saw him across the street about to leave with his daughter Riley, and I got the impression that we need to talk to him, so I told my companion we were going to talk to him and I just walked straight over there without hearing her response haha. He looked a little scary, but he reminded me a lot of my big brother Kaden, because Matthew was wearing a shirt with a bunch of guns on it in the shape of an american flag, and he had a scruffy beard and all that stuff that Kaden does haha. Anyways, Matthew had never heard of the Book of Mormon but he seemed super interested! Like interested enough that he told us his availability, and that is unusual for people to actually tell us that haha. We really hope to be able to start teaching him soon!

Yesterday we had an awesome day at church! Celia came for the first time since she was probably 8 (she is like 45) and she loved it other than she doesn't understand english yet :( So we translated for her and it is always tricky to translate into spanish, but it went alright! Bridget was also able to make it, as well as Stephanie and her cute family!! We also had two people show up that we didn't think were going to! So back in June, right after I got here, on the 23rd we were asked by one of our members to join them for dinner because they were having friends over who spoke spanish, and they both came to church yesterday with that member! The only sad thing is that there is a new spanish branch being made in the stake right next to us, and since it's not our stake we probably won't cover it:( But we will also lose most of our spanish people as they go to the branch :( but we were still so happy to see them at church!
Last night we had a visit with one of the people from India we are teaching named Gomathi, and it went well! We taught her the Restoration of the gospel, and even though there is a big language barrier there, she seemed to understand most of it as well! She even told us she believes in Joseph Smith, so that was awesome!!
We also had a visit with Bridget and her husband, and they are seriously the funniest people!! They just tease each other nonstop and they are awesome haha but she isn't a member, but has had the lessons like 5 times and also had a son serve a mission, she just hasn't felt it is her time yet so we are doing weekly come follow me visits instead of doing the lessons and we are excited to visit with her regularly as well!

Today we are going to a workout class that the other Hermanas invited us to, so that should be awesome! We also have Stephanies baptism this week, so that will for sure be a highlight of this week! :) Oh and we find out transfer news next Monday, so FINGERS CROSSED!! I'm nervous haha but oh well.

My spiritual thought comes from our bishop in Parkside, because it is so important!! He has asked us to invite all of the members in his ward to get to know their neighbors, because that is really where the seeds are planted! So that is my invitation to all of you! Get to know your neighbors, at least just their names! Once you get to know their names you will get to know them, and that is when the invitations (to church or to meet with missionaries) come a lot more natural! It is so important to have a friendship with them, so I hope you will all get to know your neighbors! I promise that as you do so and as you show them how a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints treats others, they will want to become a member as well! I love being a member and a missionary, and being a light in other people's lives!

Thank you all once again for the love and support! I love you all more than you could know!

Have the best week!
Hermana Griffin

Sister Smalley. Cool story is that she is the sister of Lori's son! (Lori's son was adopted into Sister Smalleys family, and is now sealed to their family!) Small world!

Hoffmara is seriously the cutest!

Stephanie!

Hoffmara's baptism

Some of my favorite people!

Gomathi :)

Curry and Makeup... August 19, 2019

This week was awesome as always! It is so dang hot here in Texas, but other than that it is the perfect place to be!!

This last week was absolutely crazy busy! We have still been trying to just get to know people in the Parkside ward, so we did lots of member visits over there! The hard thing with that ward is that it is so far from our apartment, and we didn't receive any more miles this month even though we got a bigger area haha so we are being really careful with our miles, but it is all good, we will survive somehow!

We were able to do high fitness again this last week, and it was awesome just like usual! One of the instructors named Daniel had her two year certification party, so there were literally double the amount of people there and the gym was so crowded haha but it's all good! We got to sample her protein bars that she makes so that was awesome too!
After high fitness we got to go to lunch with Patricia! She is the nonmember that we have gotten close with through service at the food pantry, and also the one that gave us the gift card! She took us out to a pizza place and it was so delicious haha but it was just good to see her again! We switched the days we do service at the food pantry so now we don't see our normal friends anymore! Patricia also just got back from Puerto Rico and so she told us all about her humanitarian trip! She is so awesome.

We had dinner with a part member family this last week, and they are the funniest couple ever. He is a firefighter, and she just retired from being a school teacher. She isn't the member, but pretty much her whole family is, like she even had one of her sons serve a mission haha  but we had such a good time at dinner and they fed us so much food! So much for our goal of losing 10 lbs this transfer haha. Anyways, we are going to start visiting with her weekly and doing come follow me's with her! We asked if she would like the lessons and she suggested that she wants to do better with the come follow me, so we are excited! She is pretty much a member, just hasn't been baptized haha. We will get there ;)

Friday we went over to a nonmembers house and they are from India and they taught us how to cook Curry and then she sent it all home with us! Our fridge is so stuffed with food and it is crazy haha we literally aren't buying anything this week. It was so fun to spend the time with Mary though and dang, they make their food SPICY!!! But it is still delicious haha.
That evening we had an extra hour that one of our visits fell through, and so we went and helped one of the families move out of their house! She was the member that helped us translate during our lesson in Mandarin, so we are for sure going to miss having her in our ward!

Saturday morning we got invited to go support a local high school by going to their band fundraiser! A member in our Parkside ward has a kid in the band, so she bought our tickets and everything! Us and the elders went and used it as a great finding source! Sadly we didn't have much success because everybody didn't want to talk to us and would rather watch the band (band is so big here, like almost as big as football) and it was weird haha. We were able to talk to two girls that were in the band and had a good 15 min conversation with them in the sun, and I probably could have filled up a bucket of sweat it was so hot haha.
Saturday afternoon we had another great visit with Stephanie! We planned her baptism program, and just explained what the day will look like! She is honestly so cute and I know for sure she is one of the main reasons I was sent up to the Liberty Hill area. I feel like we are just so alike and she is just absolutely amazing, so I am thrilled for her and her decision to be baptized! It is still set for the 31st, in the afternoon and it can't come soon enough!! So many people have asked to come to her baptism, so she has a great support system as well! I am just overly joyed for Stephanie if y'all can't tell haha.
Saturday evening we were able to eat dinner with my family! They recently went on a trip to Alaska, so they were having a special fish cook out and we were able to go! I also had a nice surprise and got to see another aunt and uncle, and also my grandparents! It was amazing!
After dinner we went to Loris house and Lori was crazy busy taking care of her dad, so we visited with Lori's nephew and her nephews daughter, and her name is Colette and oh my goodness she is the cutest thing in the world. She did our makeup, so I promise I didn't make myself look like that haha. Colette is the sassiest three year old I have probably ever met though. l love it.

Sunday we had LOTS of church, but it was awesome! We were also fasting with Lori to try and help her have some more strength to progress towards baptism, so it was awesome! Church was super special because Stephanie and her family came to church, and it has been a while since they had come since she was super sick during her pregnancy, but when they were at church they were just glowing and she looked so happy!! It just makes my heart so happy to see others coming unto Christ and improving their lives.
Sunday evening we had a lesson in Parkside with a part member family also from India, and all of the family are members except for the mother! She was never really interested, but she told us that since the church is now only 5 min from their house she is going to start coming and we are now going to start teaching her every Sunday evening! It is quite funny because we have someone we are teaching in Mandarin and Tamil (indian language) but can't find anybody to teach that speaks spanish haha.

I just want to tell my Grandma Bowcutt happy birthday this week!! I hope you get everything you could wish for!! I love you tons!

Thank you all for the constant love and support! I love you all and I hope you have the best week.

Much love, Hermana Griffin

Little Colette!

Last Sunday!

Visit with the Bjarnason family!

Lunch with Patricia!

High Fitness Party!

Our Instructors are awesome!

Making Curry with Mary!

Moving Party!

Leander Wall!

Band Fundraiser!

I was showed the most amazing picture of Jesus.  The story behind

this painting is amazing!  Look up Aklane Kramerik.

Colette is the best makeup artist!

We look like zombies!

She's the cutest!

The best dinner appointment EVER!  

Fun p-day with other Hermanas!

Hermana Guerra!

Hello family and friends! I hope everyone had an amazing week! Mine was full of many hellos and a few goodbyes! This past week we got taken out of Leander, and put into the new ward San Gabriel, and also into Parkside! So we now triple cover those two plus Liberty Hill and it has been quite the adventure figuring everything out!

Last Monday evening we had our last lesson (and dinner) with David and Judy! We passed them off to the elders, and we really hope they will continue to help Judy with her word of wisdom addiction!
We also had a "pass off lesson" with the elders, and Phil and Tate! We just explained that they now cover the ward and will now be teaching them. It was an amazing lesson, and although Phil knows a ton and Tate is starting from the basics, I think it will be really good for Phil to go over the basic beliefs before he starts getting into deep doctrine again! Phil told us that he knows the church is true, there are just a few things he is still working on and one of them is the word of wisdom! It's such a kicker!We really hope the elders will be able to connect with them and help them more!
We gave the elders 60% of the people we had been teaching, since they all lived in Leander, and the elders gave us nobody new to teach in Parkside, so that has been quite the bummer! We are starting off a clean slate though, and all three of the bishops are going to be pushing missionary work really hard so we are super excited to be working with all of them!!

Tuesday was a day full of figuring out our areas! As I kind of mentioned before, we switched wards with the elders, so they took Leander and we took Parkside, and so when that happens, we write notes for the missionaries that will now be covering that ward! The notes include like people we are teaching, members we have been meeting with and then important information about people in the ward they should be in contact with... We were teaching a lot of people in that ward, so our notes were FIVE pages long!! We gave them so much information.. hahah and the best part is they didn't give us anything.. not even one name of a helpful member, so we literally have been figuring it all out ourselves! We know a few members in Parkside from the high fitness class we have been going to (it has come in handy with missionary work many times!) and so we met with Sister Brady, and she was the old relief society president so she was super helpful and that was awesome!

Wednesday we had quite an amazing district council! We talked about the kinds of questions we should be asking people we teach, and it was amazing! It is super important to ask the right questions to help them learn about the gospel and really grasp everything we are talking to them about!
That afternoon we had a lesson with Lori, and she is doing amazing!! She has finally set a goal for the word of wisdom, and it is to quit by September 1st!! That means she could be baptized maybe some time in September and we are so extremely excited for her! It has been quite the journey for her, but we sure hope that this will be good!!

Thursday night through Friday night we had exchanges and it was quite fun! I went to downtown Austin with Sister Bell, and we had a full day! We did service for a few hours at the food bank, and there were many other missionaries there too so it was cool! Then that evening we had a lesson with one of the people they were teaching named Tom, and he has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon! We went into the lesson planning to teach something, but we got there and he pretty much had a lesson plan of his own! He had studied all the scriptures to do with hope, and we had a whole lesson on hope and it was so amazing! He will definitely become a member some day, and hopefully soon :)

Saturday morning we had stake breakfast with all the missionaries serving in the stake, and with our stake president! We talked about the boundary changes and how figuring it all out has been, and then we talked about his focus and his vision for missionary work and we are super excited! They are going to have a special push for all of the members to get to know their neighbors and become friends with them, and that is truly so important! From statistics we have seen, people are so much more likely to join the church and stay active if they are invited and fellowshipped by a member, than if the missionaries find them. It is just facts! So we are stoked for the upcoming months in this stake!
After the stake breakfast we had quite the companionship inventory... We don't necessarily "fight" there has just been tension all the time, and it has seemed (from my side, which I found out Saturday was kind of true) is that there is some struggle of like "power." I am not sure how to explain it, but it has just been a struggle with both of us being the "senior companion." But we were able to talk about it all on Saturday and everything has been good since then! It has only been 2 days, but I have faith it can continue to be good as long as we continue to work on it!
That night we had one of the best dinners! It wasn't the food that was the best (it was little pizzas made with coconut flour) but the family was awesome! It was like we had our own free health class haha. This family is so awesome but like super extreme health, like their kids (they have 4 ranging from 10 to like 6 months) never eat sugar!! It was crazy haha I left feeling like I can never eat sugar again, but then I ate a laffy taffy an hour later so I am back to normal, no worries ;)

Yesterday was quite the day! We went to all three wards, and met a lot of new faces! Out of all 3 wards, we only know who is the ward mission leader in one of them so it has been quite the journey with finding out who to contact and talk to about how the work is going with people we are teaching!
Last night we went to the building dedication of the new building that all 3 of our wards meet in now, and it was so special! At the end, everybody in the chapel stood up and sang hymn number 2, The Spirit of God, and wow the Spirit was SO STRONG.

Today we have our usual chores!! This afternoon we are also going to a workout class that a less active member is doing for a lot of us sister missionaries, so we are excited for that!
Tonight we also have two visits with members in the new San Gabriel ward (we already know the members but the ward is new) so we are excited for that!

I just want to wish all of my family members that have birthdays this week a happy birthday! My uncle Rob has his today, my uncle Kevin tomorrow, my little cousin Blair on the 14th, and my little cousins Jordan and Lexi on the 16th! I hope you all have the best birthdays ever and get so spoiled!! ;)

I also hope that all of you have enjoyed reading in the Book of Mormon! I love hearing from all of you about your thoughts and impressions you have received as you read! I know that as you all continue to read and strengthen your relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ, everything in your life will go more smooth and you will be happier than you ever thought was possible!

I love you all and I hope you have the best week! Thank you all for everything, I appreciate it more than you could ever know!

Much love, Hermana Griffin

Lunch last week with the sisters!

I'm spoiled!

Last lesson with Phil and Tate!

6 months for me!

Best 6 months ever!

Yah!

Book of Mormon reading challenge!

Package from Liz Page!

Exchanges with Sister Bell!

Meeting new families from Parkside ward!

August 5, 2019 6 months! Stephanie set a date for Baptism! San Gabriel Ward added....

Happy August everyone!! I hope you have all had the best week and that everyone is getting excited for another school year!! I'm not going to lie, I am super happy I don't have to go back this year haha, I am doing something so much better out here in Texas!! This week was absolutely amazing!! This email is super long, so good luck y'all! I have officially been out for 6 months as of today, and it's going by SO FAST. I want time to slow down (even though I know my mom doesn't ;) )

This week started out amazing! We went to high fitness and we always leave just dripping of sweat haha it's quite gross. Then we had a visit with Khalyn, one of the people in our apartment complex that walked up to us and asked us what we do! She wasn't able to make it to church, but she said she would read the introduction to the book of mormon and still wants to meet with us! She has people she knows who served missions, so it is always nice when we hear that people have good influences in their lives from our church!! Khalyn and her baby are so awesome!
That evening we went by a referral that was given to us by a bishop in a different ward, and she is awesome as well! We unfortunately had to ride our bikes because we were low on miles (which was a struggle because we were so sore and exhausted from high fitness that morning) but we got there! The lady's name is Andrea, and she has been going through some stuff recently and is pretty ready to hear the gospel! Her dad is a convert of about 10 years, and she actually grew up in Salt Lake City! She has good influences from there, and also pretty much lives by the standards that we do as members because she grew up with a bunch of members! It is so awesome! We are excited for her! She just had to move this past week and we aren't sure what her new address is, but we hope to be able to have her reply to us so we can start meeting with her and her kids!

Wednesday we had a lesson with Hannah! She is progressing better than we thought she would! Not to say that she wouldn't progress, she is just a very factual person, and we have been struggling to get her to feel it, but this last week we finally got her to!! We put all of the questions she had aside, and bore our testimonies about how there might not be a factual answer for everything, but if we have faith and as our Heavenly Father that she can come to know it is true as well, and she was kind of shocked! Like she didn't have any more questions after that (which is so unusual) but we are happy she started to feel it!!
That evening we had everything cancel on us. It was quite a bummer haha we didn't have any lessons that night scheduled, but we had a weekly meeting with our ward mission leader but it had to be cancelled so we had no plans that night! It is weird because we are pretty much always living in limbo  haha. Before my mission, obviously some of my plans depended on other people but like out here in the mission, your whole day depends on other people and you just hope and pray they don't cancel on you!

Thursday we got to have interviews with our mission president! It was a spur in the moment thing, like we didn't know before Wednesday night, but they were awesome! I still miss and love President and Sister Polley and will always be grateful for all they helped me with, but I sure do love President and Sister Tveten as well as their family! My interview was awesome, and it is so amazing to be told that you are a great missionary, especially from someone that your whole mission depends on! He also asked me if I am ready to be a trainer, and I have no idea what that means for this next transfer but it kind of freaked me out so who knows what will be happening haha... ahh!!
That night we had a lesson with someone who speaks mandarin!! Yeah, we can't find anyone to teach who speaks spanish but we can mandarin!! haha it was so cool though! She speaks broken english and we knew she wouldn't understand most of the gospel related english words, so we brought a member who served their mission speaking mandarin! It was awesome because although we had no idea what they were saying, we could feel the spirit and saw the expressions on her face! She is also a very factual person, so it will be good for us to continue helping her feel the spirit!

Friday was quie crazy! So I am not sure if I mentioned Landon before, but he is one of the people from our apartment complex that wanted to meet with us and ask us questions because he has been going through stuff recently. There has been a ton of drama with the whole situation that sometimes I honestly feel like I am in high school all over again hahah ( well probably junior high because I didn't have to deal with a ton of drama in high school so yeah probably junior high). Anyways, he got fired. We are pretty sure it was because he was talking to us (about religion, obviously) but his boss hated him before that so she looked for any reason to fire him. It's super unfortunate but maybe that means we will be able to meet with him now!
We get fed dinner pretty much every night by members, but Friday night was something else hahahah I don't think I have laughed that hard my whole mission. This might not sound funny to some of you, but it surely was one of those "you had to be there" type things. We were at a members house and they have three little boys. Two are twins and are 7 years old (I think) and the other is 4 years old. The 4 year old was being funny the whole time, and it was even better for me because he reminded me so much (practically identical) to one of my best friends little sister. Anyways, he was being funny and was telling us all of his favorite foods, and when he said "Mac and Cheese" he burped the whole time he said "Cheese" and his dad just busted out laughing, and I was laughing too and it all just went down hill haha I laughed so hard I started crying!! But it was so fun and I definitely needed that laugh, that's for sure!
We finally had a lesson with Katie that didn't cancel! We taught the Restoration of the gospel, and she remembered a lot of it from lessons she has taken in the past! She seems to be ready to accept the gospel and she said she understands all of what we taught, so we are excited for her! The tricky thing is just going to be her schedule and continuing to try and have lessons!
On our way home that night I had a feeling we should stop by Phils house because we haven't been able to contact him, and so we did, and I am so glad we did! He was home, and we actually got inside because he had a friend over! We caught up with how him and Tate are doing and actually we were able to set up a visit for tonight!! We hope and pray it will happen! I love being able to have promptings and see the blessings and miracles that come from following them though!

Saturday we went to the hospital where Loris dad has been, and visited with him! He isn't super responsive so we mostly did it to make Lori happy and help her while she is gone in Utah, and to help her know we care! Obviously we wanted to visit him too and help him feel the Spirit, so it was a win win!
SATURDAY NIGHT WAS THE BEST PART OF MY WEEK!!!!
We went over and visited with Stephanie and her husband! My companion had a great time as well because she got to play the guitar, piano and sing with her husband, and she even got to record one of her songs in his studio! While she was doing that, I sat outside the room (I could still hear and see her so we weren't breaking any rules) and talked with Stephanie! SHE IS ON DATE TO BE BAPTIZED THE 31ST OF THIS MONTH!! It is honestly the most humbling thing to be a missionary, and to see other people changing and coming to Christ. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! She is super excited and she has been healing physically from her pregnancy well, so we pray she will continue to get better and feel good by the 31st! It is going to be a special weekend because she wants to also bless her baby when she gets confirmed the next day in church :) She is just so awesome and she has the biggest spot in my heart! We are a lot alike in the type of people that we are and the things we like to do! While we were there they also showed us their gym they have in their house, and there were pictures of her on the wall! Come to find out she did weightlifting competitions! She is seriously so cool haha but I am just so excited for the 31st now :)

Yesterday was a wonderful day at church! David, one of our recent converts, bore his testimony in church for the first time! It was so awesome and he did so good for how nervous he was!!
We also found out the new wards that are being added in our stake... Great thing is that we still don't know where we will be serving haha President was trying to figure it out yesterday, but hasn't been able to yet! We are supposed to find out today before 6 pm, so we are looking forward to that! We will most likely be triple covering for the rest of the transfer though! I say that because one of the new wards is taken straight out of Liberty Hill, and is called San Gabriel Ward, and we technically live in that ward haha so we assume we will be covering those two and still Leander because it is the same area geographically, just adds another church on Sunday! You can never have too much church though ;)

I hit 6 months today! I just want to share a little bit of my testimony and stuff I have learned and gained witnesses of these past 6 months :)
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and our best friend. I know that He is always there for us and we are never alone because of Him. I know that His Atonement is Infinite, and nobody can fall lower than the light of Christ can shine. I know that families can be together forever and that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each and every one of us, even when it may seem like we have many trials in our life, He is always aware. I know that this gospel is the one way we can find true joy and happiness in this life. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through Joseph Smith. I know Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God, and that he laid down his life protecting the gospel because it meant that much to him. I know that President Russell M. Nelson is our prophet today and that he receives revelation from Christ on how to direct his church today. I know that this is the true gospel on the earth today, and I am so incredibly thankful to be a member and a missionary at this time!

I want to invite you all to read the talk "A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells" by Henry B. Eyring from this past general conference, and to read it with your families and figure out how you can better have the Spirit in your home constantly!

Last thing I want to invite you all to do is read the Book of Mormon with me! It isn't much every day, about two chapters! Here is how you can keep track if you are on track though! Go to gospel library and go to study plans. Then search The Book of Mormon and click it. Then put daily, and if you want a reminder you can put that, and put your start date as July 25th (because that is when we started) and end date as December 25th. I hope you will all do it and come to love the Book of Mormon as much as I do! :)

I love you all so much and hope you have the best week ever!

Hermana Griffin

Brysons Baptism

Zone Conference a couple weeks ago

Biking on Tuesday... so HOT here!

What you eat when you are trying to loose 10 pounds!

Visiting Lori's Father.

Round Rock Stake added a new ward yesterday and we get to be the missionaries over the San Gabriel ward too!  This is exciting for the Round Rock Stake, but will require a little more time in church on Sundays!