Monday, September 30, 2019

Lori's Baptism and Gomathi on date! September 30, 2019

Hello everyone!! I hope everyone is staying so happy and safe in all they are doing, and that you aren't missing me too much!! ;) I am doing SO GOOD oh my goodness, missionary work is THE BEST!!! I am headed down to Austin today to go see some awesome sights so I won't have much time to respond to anyone, so I AM SORRY if I don't respond this week, but I promise to get to you next week!! This past week was full of so many tender mercies and miracles, so have fun reading this entry!!

We started the week with a wonderful district council which we changed to Tuesday because of a meeting we had Wednesday. I was asked to give a training at district council, and our district leader asked me to pick a Christ-like attribute that I could do a training on! I chose charity, because it has always been something I have strived to have, especially since it is one of the attributes I have been blessed with in my patriarchal blessing :) A couple of my favorite scriptures about charity and the ones I shared in my training were, 2 Nephi 26:30 and Mosiah 28:3. I then shared some spiritual experiences I have had while trying to do charitable acts for other people, and the missionaries in our district also shared amazing experiences! It was such a spiritual meeting, and afterwards our district leader said, "Wow, that was the best district council ever!" and it just meant so much!
That evening we had wonderful lessons! The first one was with Ryan, and we were able to talk about The Restoration of the gospel, and the Spirit was SO STRONG and he understood mostly all of it!! He is still hesitant, but he has agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon and we also have an opportunity to watch one of the sessions of General Conference with him and his wife this weekend!
We also had a wonderful visit with Sister Youmans, and it was sadly our last visit because she is moving to Vegas :( But wow I have grown to love her so much and she is so amazing and has the strongest testimony!

Wednesday we had the new missionary follow up meeting, and it was so cool! We got to see our mission president again, as well as many of the other missionaries! We skyped in the missionaries that met in San Antonio (which was sad cause I didn't get to see Hna Schellenberg in person ;) ) but the meeting was awesome! There was a moment that we split up trainers and trainees and had a Q & A and it helped me realize that I am not doing as bad at training as I thought, because many of the other trainers are having similar struggles as I am!! But overall, the meeting was wonderful and I feel better about how things are going with my AWESOME new companion!

We were also able to do high fitness this past week, but the rest of the day was super eventful! So for a few weeks, my left foot/ankle/calf/hip have been bothering me, and I can't pin point when it started hurting me so I was just going to let it heal by itself haha but this past week my companion also hurt her hand playing zone sports on p-day and so while we were making her a doctor apt, we figured we'd make me one as well! So Thursday we went to both of our doctors appointments, and the doctor told my companion to just keep taking medicine and she will be good, and then the doctor ordered an xray for my foot because she thought it could possibly be broken, awesome right?! haha jk. so then we went straight to the hospital and had my foot xrayed!
We also had the doctor give us flu shots at that time since it wouldn't cost any extra, so we both walked out of that office feeling reaaaaaal well hahah. We had to cancel our dinner since we had to go to the hospital, so for dinner on the way home we went to In-N-Out haha.
I was also flossing my teeth that afternoon after eating, and had chipped some of the glue off of my bottom permanent retainer (at the time I thought I chipped my tooth cause my mouth was bleeding) so I texted my uncle and he told me to come in Monday (today) and we will look at it, so I went in first thing this morning and WOW I am so grateful that I have people nearby who love me and care for me! My uncle put a brand new retainer in my mouth and then sent me on my way! Haha he is the best!

We had another english class this week and it was awesome because we had more people come! His name is Inocencio and he brought his 8 year old son (he speaks english) to the class, so now we have 5 people coming and we hope it keeps growing! We also hope to start having gospel discussions after english classes, so that is super exciting for us!

We did service at the food pantry like usual, but this time we had a wonderful missionary experience! Before we leave our apartment we pray, and in this prayer I had asked that we would have a missionary opportunity at service, and our prayer was answered! We were helping this family with their food and I could tell they didn't speak a lot of english, so I started talking to them in spanish by asking them where they were from and they all lit up and were like, "ahhh habla espanol?!" which means you speak spanish?? and so i said yes and we started talking and they are from Venezuela and 3 of them have been here for five months and the mother got here last week! The father then asked us where our church was, so we told him and wrote down the address for him! We also told them that we teach an english class, and the mother and father sounded super interested! The father even asked if he could volunteer and help us teach the english class, it was so sweet! We gave them our number and are just crossing our fingers that they come to our english class! I have a special place in my heart for people from Venezuela!

That after noon we had another companionship inventory, and you would think I torture my companion by how much she cries... haha I love her so much, but every time she talks about her emotions she cries so I told her I just won't ask how she is doing anymore and we have agreed on that.. haha just kidding, that's one of our inside jokes. But we did have a chat, and I found out a lot more stuff about my companion! She is a very strong lady, with a very strong and opinionated personality haha and she shared that she has quite the temper and gets frusterated easily. She also likes being in complete control (like my last companion as well) which really hasn't bothered me as much this time around as it did last (which is a blessing). I don't have any problems with my companion at all, but sometimes it is tricky to know when she is frusterated or not, but all I keep trying to do is love her and care for her! I always ask how I can help her, and we have especially worked on the being in complete control, because in a companionship, there is a reason there is two of us, and she knows she can't do everything but she wants to, so I have just continually tried to help her find the middle grounds for it, because I am happy and willing to work with her wanting all control, but I know she will have companions that will also want to control everything, so I am just trying to help her prepare for when she gets a companion like that, and so she will know how to work with companions just like her! She is seriously awesome though and we are continually working together and figuring out each other :)
We had another lesson with Candy, and it went pretty good! She continually says she wants to be baptized but doesn't want to do it any time soon.. So we tried talking about like January, but she doesn't want to even then because she doesn't want to take her baby into public sooo.. That is an interesting boat!

Saturday was a very busy day with SO MUCH CRYING. I really don't think I have cried that much my whole mission, especially because I am not a cryer! We went to the memorial service for Lori's father, and it was so beautiful. Lori's sister (Andrea, she is in our ward) gave a talk and so did Lori, and they both cried through them both and gave wonderful talks with wonderful experiences about their father! Just seeing those two cry made me cry, and the songs we sang were so special and reminded them of their father, so it was just very emotional! Ray Cunningham was a very amazing man, and so kind to everybody! I got to know him a little bit since serving here, and he is the one that Sister Vincent went and visited in the facility when Lori was in Utah. He will definitely be missed.
That afternoon we had Lori's baptism!! SOOOO many tender mercies!! Lori had waited for this day for 34 YEARS. She cried during the whole service, and was bawling as she walked down into the font. She was baptized and then sat in the font hugging the boy who baptized her (she had a youth baptize her because he reminds her of her son, cute huh??). Another tender mercy was that we had a special missionary get to come to her baptism! So Lori lost her son a little over a year ago, and he has recently been adopted and sealed to a family living in Utah. Crazy enough, that same family has a missionary serving in our mission! So, Lori's sons SISTER got to come to her baptism! It was so special, and everybody in Lori's family was crying at how special it was for her to be there.
I received a sad call Saturday night that my last companion, Sister Vincent, will be going home this week :( She shared with me that she has been having some health problems for years, and so it is best for her to go home. Please pray for her!! Although we weren't the best of friends, she was still a wonderful companion and I learned so much from her! I hope everything can be resolved and she can continue having missionary experiences at home!

We had a very wonderful Sunday as well! Lori was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and she got the Holy Ghost again! She cried the whole sacrament at how good she felt and how happy she was to be able to take the sacrament again, for the first time in almost 35 years! It was also fast and testimony Sunday, so she was able to bear her testimony for the first time in almost 35 years as well! She was so excited to bear her testimony, and wow it was so powerful!!! I have such a special place in my heart for Lori and her family, and I am so happy for all that is in store for her! Now, we are working on getting her to the temple! The day that she can be sealed to her family is going to be one of the most beautiful days ever!

We had an AMAZING lesson with Gomathi last night! She did come to church yesterday as well and it was awesome because a little 8 year old girl had been baptized, and the testimonies were all about the importance of baptism and something definitely struck her at the core! We went to her house and one of the first things she said was that she wanted to be baptized!! We put her on date for October 26th, and we are so thrilled!! This will be the first baptism that the Parkside ward has had for sooo many years!! We taught about the word of wisdom in that visit as well and she committed to trying to live the word of wisdom!

So this weekend is general conference and I want to extend an invitation to all of you!! I want you all to think of questions this week that you would like answered, and take them into general conference! I know that when you do this and pay attention, all of your questions will be talked about and answered in one way or another!

I love you all so much and hope you have the best week and stay happy and healthy! Thank you for all of the love and prayers, I appreciate it so much!! Have fun watching conference!!

Love, Hermana Griffin


My wonderful friend, Sister Youman's!


The best burger place!


Me... wanting to ride a horse!  Haha!


See Mom, I do eat healthy!


The second best burger place!


We had a few dinner appts cancel on us!


Lori's Baptism!


Such a wonderful day!



Texas Capital!




Lori's Confirmation day!


The cutest little cousin, Blair!


Wonderful sightseeing with my cutest cousin Cohen!


Monday, September 23, 2019

Best Week Ever, Sept. 23rd 2019

Oh my goodness this week was seriously packed with so many miracles!! This week will most likely be extra long, so for all of you who read this, you're way too amazing haha.

Let's start with last Monday!! So I got permission from my mission president to send a message to Abimael (from my first area) and see how he is doing! My trainer recently told me he moved to Arizona and might be meeting with missionaries, so I just sent him a message and you won't believe it!! He has been meeting with the missionaries in Arizona and... ABI IS ON DATE FOR OCTOBER 25TH!! It is amazing for TWO reasons!! He has gone through so much, and he deserves this happiness and hope at this time in his life, and second is that is my birthday!! So it will for sure be a special day for sure! I am just so happy that Abi's story will end with a happy ending! I have for sure thought about Abi a ton since everything happened, and it just made me so happy for him!

Tuesday was another fantastic day because we had interviews with President Tveten, and we also had some great lessons that day! To start, I think it was my favorite interview yet! We talked a lot about how the work was going and how we are seriously SO. BUSY. and he was super happy to hear how good everything is going in our three wards! We talked about how amazing my new companion is doing and how she is just a natural, and President Tveten is just always so encouraging that I leave the interviews so ready to go work more! The best thing about those interviews though was that after my trainee was done with her interview, she told me that the first thing he said to her when she walked in the room was, "wow, you have an amazing trainer" and when she told me that I about cried hahah just because it meant SO. MUCH. to know that all I am doing is good work, and especially to know that President thinks I am a good missionary and trainer is even more special to me!
That afternoon we had a visit with Lori and something even more miraculous... we moved her baptism date up a week!! So YES. She is getting baptized THIS SATURDAY and wow we are so excited for her! We also had a visit with her on Friday and she still hadn't quit smoking, but we saw her at church yesterday and she finally quit!!! We also had another surprise on Friday (there are always surprises with Lori) and she still hadn't quit drinking coffee.. but right then and there, she got up and threw it all away! It was so funny and awesome at the samet time haha. It has been such a ride for her!!! So this weekend we will be celebrating her fathers life at his funeral, and two hours later will be celebrating Lori's new spiritual life with her baptism!!
That evening we had a lesson with Gomathi, and it went super well! We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and she understood it pretty well (we think) but we don't ever know because of the language barrier... :/ but we taught the first half of the lesson and then had another lesson with her last night and taught the second half, and it is so awesome! She wants to be baptized! One of the hard things with her is that her husband had to go back to India to figure out visa stuff, so he might not be back for 4 months and it's stressing her out... But she said she was going to call her husband this week and talk about her getting baptized so we are excited!!! She is the only one in her family that isn't a member, and she wants to be with her family for forever, so we know she is excited as well!

Wednesday afternoon we had another amazing lesson!!! We were talking with our bishop last weekend at the open house, and he mentioned to us that we should go visit a family, they have a 10 year old granddaughter that comes to church with them all the time and she wants to be baptized.. So we went out as fast as we could!! haha so we went and visited with their family, and got to visit with her as well! Her name is Shelburne, and she is just as sassy as my cute little sister Lindsey, if not more sassy haha. Shelburne asked us all kinds of questions, not super doctrinal questions, but questions like, "Does Heavenly Father want us to have pets?" and "can you baptize me in the river back there?" haha she is just so sweet and innocent! Our only hold back with her is her parents.. So she wants to be baptized, but her father (he is a member, just not active) wants her to wait until "she makes bad choices then she will need a reason to be baptized" haha but that is the beauty of the sacrament!! But we have been communicating with the father and he seems to be okay with us teaching her! We haven't been able to schedule a "set in stone" return visit yet because he says they are "super busy" (which I can understand, but they can spare an hour ;) ) but we have a tentative visit with them this Friday, so we hope and pray it works out!!
That evening we had a wonderful relief society activity with the ladies in Parkside ward, and it was so fun! It was at the patriarchs house in Cedar Park stake (he is actually in the same ward as my aunt and uncle) and we got to hear an awesome message from the patriarch! He talked a lot about the importance of going to the temple and the difference it will make in your life as you make that a focus point! So I vowed that when I get home, I will make it a priority to go at least once a month, hopefully more!!

Thursday was super successful as well!! In the morning we got a phone call from another set of elders, and they were giving us a referral! It was someone that had been requested by one of their friends from high school, and we stopped by like 30 min after we got the referral but he was working :( We gave someone that was at the house our card and we plan to stop by him again this week!
We also had a visit with two inactive members that day, and since my companion is new, we thought it would be a good excuse to ask them lots of questions, but one of them really didn't like it and wasn't too kind to her.. so let's just say my comp had a rough rest of her day :( She is seriously doing awesome though, it is just tricky adjusting to missionary life and figuring out how to not let what people say to us hurt us.. But she is definitely adjusting quicker than I did, that's for sure haha.
In the evening we had our first english class, and to our surprise, we had TWO people show up!! Technically one student, but still two new people we are teaching! They are both Venezuelan (I love them already because they remind me of Xiomara and Hoffmara from my first area) but the mother is like 70 and the daughter is about 40, and the daughter heard about the class and brought her mother because her mother doesn't speak english, and wants to learn! So we taught the english class, and then we asked them questions about the church, and how they liked the open house (because the daughters son sang in the interfaith chior we had) and they loved it! We asked how much they know about the church and they didn't know a ton, so it was awesome because we had a little lesson and they agreed to staying every week for about 30 min to learn more about our church! They are so sweet and I am just so excited! Especially because it gives me a chance to practice my spanish :)))

Friday we had a visit with Ryan, someone who is married to one of our favorite members, and he has always been super nice to us and he comes to church with her a lot! We have been trying to start teaching him the lessons, he is just literally always out of town.. But we had a great lesson Friday and talked about before this life and after death, and they are two concepts he had never really thought about before, so it is quite interesting to hear his beliefs as well.. But we have a return appointment for tomorrow evening and are super excited for what's to come with him!

Saturday was a full day of running around and contacting people in Liberty Hill! We stopped by a less active family and then a super active family, and the super active family was so appreciative of us stopping by (we actually took her ice cream because she just had a baby) and they told us they hadn't had missionaries in their home for over a year because they never came by, so they were very thankful for our visit!
We did our weekly reports that evening, and it was awesome because we had a "movie night" as well, and so we did our reports while watching Meet the Mormons and it was such a great night!

Sunday is always a crazy day too! We started nice and early with ward council, then had our three wards, and then we did our personal study and then went right back to church for a ward activity! Our San Gabriel ward had brinner (breakfast for dinner) and so we went and talked to quite a few people, and then we went to our dinner we had scheduled! It was a great dinner as well and the members gave us 5 things of hamburger (they just recently killed a 400lb cow) so we got some nice meat and we are pumped! Then last night we had our visit with Gomathi that I mentioned and then visited another awesome member! It was actually super funny visiting with the member, because she had told me that she had noticed the two times my last companion and I had come over, that I never even got the chance to talk unless the member asked me a question with my name in the sentence.. haha so our member told us she had prayed for me many times, and I just died laughing because I thought I was the only one that thought I never got to talk.. Thankful I am not crazy! But also, very thankful for that companion, even if it was challenging at times :)

We have a super busy week this week! I was looking at our schedule yesterday and we seriously have our week booked, which is awesome and we are excited! We have the new missionary follow up on Wednesday, and then Saturday we have a funeral and a baptism!! I am so excited for this week :) I also might not email a lot of people back next week because we might be taking a trip to downtown Austin to go see some awesome sights, so I won't have a ton of time to email next week, but just know I love and appreciate all of the emails!!

I was studying a general conference talk this past week from the priesthood session, the priesthood playbook and it can apply to everyone! I especially loved the bullet points of some pages that we could have in our own playbooks, and I encourage everyone to go and read and study them!!

I just lastly want to tell some very awesome people happy birthday this week! First to my wonderful cousin Bridger (who has grown like 2 feet since I've last seen him...) as well as Taylor and Roseann Kunz! You are all amazing and I hope you have the best birthdays ever!

I hope you all have such a wonderful week! I really do love and appreciate all of the prayers you are sending me, we are seeing the miracles and blessings from them! I love you all!

Hermana Griffin :)

One of my favorite pictures!
                                             

Our zone conference with Elder Ochoa!


I Love Texas!


Best place ever!


Such a great comp!


We Love Texas!

Monday, September 16, 2019

LORI ON DATE! Sept 16, 2019...

Good morning family and friends!! I hope everyone is just loving life right now because there is so much to enjoy out there!! This week for me was super awesome! We have been seeing so many miracles lately and our friends are progressing a lot! I hope and pray that you are all doing well!

This last week started off great... haha we did device audits and our first companionship inventory and it was crazy! We were kind of in a rush that afternoon so my plan was to just go through them and explain how they are done, but we actually did them haha. So with device audits, every week we check each others phones to make sure that if President Nelson took one of our phones, he could show it to everyone and say, "This is one of our missionaries phones!" Which is crazy to think about haha but we also have a rule that we aren't allowed to chat back and forth with anyone other than parents, and so that was fun explaining that rule and why we have it.. It's just always hard for me to be the bad guy haha. Then we had companionship inventory and I wasn't mean, I promise!! But my companion started to cry and it was hard :( It is always tricky adjusting to the field though and she also told me she is a cryer, so this will be super fun!But she is doing a ton better and adjusting better as well! I have just loved her and told her how amazing she is, because she really is!! She is such a pro, like so outgoing and talks to everyone, I have no idea how I have been so blessed, but I am so grateful!
We visited with a member this past week that hasn't been active for years, and it was so awesome and spiritual because she said just that week she had been thinking about coming back to church and how she thinks it is time, and then we contacted her to come visit her! It is seriously always so awesome to notice how the Spirit is working through us!
We had a couple visits with Lori, and just like my subject line says... SHE IS ON DATE! and wow I am so stinking happy for her! We visited her on Tuesday and she has been doing so good, and is getting so close, so we asked her if she wanted to set a goal and a date for her baptism and she started crying she was so happy!! She really never thought this day would come. So we prayed about it and felt that we should set it for October 5th. As soon as we left her house though, we realized that weekend is general conference.. SO... it is possibly going to be moved FORWARD to the 28th.. so next weekend!! Seriously. I. AM. SO. THRILLED!!! The only problem we might see with that date is that it is also the day of the funeral for her father.. But this week we will get it all figured out with her and I'll update you all next week :)
We had a busy Wednesday last week, in which we visited with Celia and taught another english lesson to her! She is so cute! It is also so fun to get to practice some spanish! Then we had district council and those are always so interesting haha. We also had a lesson with Hannah, and she is so fun to be with and to teach, especially because she asks us questions that really help us grow as missionaries, but it is hard because she isn't progressing much so we might have to stop teaching her :( She is out of town this week, so we don't have a lesson until next week, but we hope her heart changes and she becomes more receptive to the messages we are bringing to her. That evening we had our first ward coordination in Parkside and it was awesome! It is so fun and rewarding to leave a coordination meeting and feel like you accomplished something, especially when you feel like you accomplished a lot! It has been a journey figuring everything out in the three wards, but after tonight, we will have officially had a coordination in all three wards! It only took 6 weeks, but that's ok haha.

We had an awesome lesson with Kris planned this last week (he is the one that missionaries have been trying to meet with for 5 years but he always cancels on them) and we really thought it was actually going to happen, but we were wrong.. about an hour before the lesson was planned for, he cancelled.. so we changed our plans and we went to a members house and made cookies, in which we delivered to Stephanie and her family! Stephanie had some dental work done on Friday, and so she wasn't able to come to church, but we surprised her Thursday evening with cookies and ice cream and she really loved that!
We also had another really cool experience with the Spirit working through us! Right before we went to the members house to make the cookies, I was thinking about who we could call to visit this next week, and Sister Pfeiler's name ran through my head, so we called her. She seemed to be doing good and we were able to schedule a visit with her for this Thursday, but she also shared something really cool. She said that just a minute before that, she had been thinking about maybe if she started to start reading the Book of Mormon again, that maybe things in her life would start being better and easier again. She started thinking about people she could ask for a Book of Mormon, but then kept telling herself it would be weird, and then like 5 seconds later, we called her. She told us that over the phone and my eyes started tearing up because of how special it was, and I knew she needed an experience like that.

Friday we had such a special zone conference!! Elder Ochoa came from the seventy and it was so awesome to be taught by him! He was so interactive, like came down by all of us missionaries instead of standing at the pulpit, and he just talked to us and helped us figure out how we can become better missionaries! He talked a ton about repentance, and it was awesome because truly if we are out here inviting others and asking others to change their lives and repent, we also should be doing the same thing! It was super special to be in his presence!
I also got to meet Hermana Chamberlain at zone conference, and this is special because she is my "little sister," which means that my awesome trainer Hermana Schellenberg trained her after she trained me! She must have got the more polished version of my trainer, as I was her trial and error ;) But Hermana Chamberlain is actually originally from the wards that I am serving in, which is crazy! She moved to California after high school and then got called right back to her home mission! So since I am serving in her home ward, I have heard a lot about her haha but it was great to finally meet her!
We also had a visit with Candy this last week and it was good in a sense that she keeps saying she wants to be baptized sometime in the future! We didn't have the longest lesson since her baby needed her after about 20 min of being there haha. We are still really hoping to get someone who speaks Mandarin to come on visits with us!

Saturday we had quite the day! We were literally at the church from 11 am until 6 pm, standing like the whole time haha. We had our open house for our new church building, and it was so awesome! We had so many nonmembers come see our new building and it was perfectly set up! In every room, there was a different program set up so that people could come and see what we do and are really all about! We were there promoting our english class, so it was fun and we really hope to have some people start coming to our class! We had about 600 people in total come and view our new building, and about 150 of them were nonmembers! We really hope and pray that some good seeds were planted for future missionary work!

Last night we had dinner with an awesome member family, and one of the girls had her boyfriend over for dinner as well, which is always a wonderful surprise when we go to dinner and there is a nonmember there! He asked us a lot of great questions, and it was actually his first interaction with the missionaries in the whole 2 years they have been dating! He has come to church with her though and he often plays basket ball at the church! He will for sure become a member some day haha.
After dinner last night we had a wonderful visit with a recent convert of about 2 years, Sister Leever, and also her two daughters who are 12 and 10, and are not members! It was a wonderful visit and we are going to start visiting with them weekly to teach them the lessons again, so we really hope the two girls enjoy them! We are excited for this opportunity to hopefully help their family become more united as well.

This week we have lots of wonderful stuff planned! We have interviews with president tomorrow, and then lots of wonderful visits scheduled that we hope don't cancel on us! Thank you all again so much for your love and support you constantly give me! I am so incredibly blessed to have you all!

Have a wonderful week!
Hermana Griffin :)


New look??? Nope!


Stephanie and her sweet baby!


We got ready for the day, so we had to take pictures!


Fun day at the new church open house!


Haircut part 1....


Haircut part 2....


Nightgowns!


Torchy's tacos are the best!


My cute little sister, Hermana Chamberlain!


Promoting our English Class!


English Class!


Family History room!


Pictures of Christ room!


Youth giving free carwashes!


My cute Canadian Hermana let me rep her country!


Outdoor activities at the church open house!




Monday, September 9, 2019

Sept. 9, 2019 First week training / Lori's father passed away :(

This week has been a crazy one for sure!! We had many hard times as well as good learning experiences! and I met my new companion and she is so awesome and excited to do some missionary work!
Tuesday started our week out a little rough. Sister Vincent and I were at high fitness, and after it was over we checked our phone and had received a text from our bishop that Lori's dad passed away that morning.. It was heartbreaking for both Sister Vincent and I because that is Lori's whole purpose for being here in Texas and what has given her a purpose in life! We went by that evening to visit with Lori and her family, and bishop was able to come stop by as well and their family is handling it better than we thought, but Lori was a complete wreck. She had been doing so good with the word of wisdom, but since that day she hasn't been doing too good which is really hard for us :( She did meet with the bishop recently and she is still on track for baptism again, so we are really hoping to put her on date for baptism this week!! We just really hope she stays here in Texas and doesn't go back to what/where she came from.. It is a heartbreaking story :(
Wednesday we also visited a lot of people and let Sister Vincent say goodbye to them! We started our day with visiting David and Judy from the Leander ward! It was a good visit but a little annoying because they told us how the elders haven't been meeting with them at all, so since Sister Vincent was leaving the area we called the elders and just asked them what they have been doing, and told them how David and Judy have been frusterated and Sister Vincent pretty much told them how she would appreciate if they visited with them, and it worked!! Over the weekend they visited with David and Judy and also had a lesson with Phil, so now we just need them to contact the other 10 people we were teaching in Leander haha.
After visiting with David and Judy we went and visited with Celia, the "surprise member" that we have been teaching english to! She was sad to see Sister Vincent go, but we just explained what we do as missionaries and that the next sister will be just as good!
We kind of shot ourselves in the foot on Wednesday when we accidentally scheduled ourselves two dinners.. We ate with members, and then one of the people we have been meeting with, named Brenda, asked if we wanted to come over for dessert and so we told her yes, also so Sister Vincent could say goodbye, and we walked in and she was cooking us spaghetti.. so we ate two full meals, as well as she had cheesecake for us haha and they were two visits that were right after each other! If we had an hour break in between it wouldn't have been so bad, but wow my stomach hurt after that haha.
That evening we went to Stephanies to let Sister Vincent say goodbye, and it was so cute because Stephanies little 6 year old girl, Alicia, sang for us! I will try and send the video too so you all can see it! Alicia and I are like BFF's haha so it is always a good time going over to their house!

Thursday was quite the day!! We woke up super early, and were on the road by 6:30 am to head to San Antonio! We stopped at a chapel in Austin to switch Sister Vincent with Sister Broman, who would also be training, so Sister Broman and I headed down to San Antonio! We had members drive us which was so awesome, and so we got to get a little rest before the crazy day started! We got to San Antonio right on time, and I walked in the church and then saw my favorite person EVER, HERMANA SCHELLENBERG!! It was just so good to talk to my trainer again haha she is literally amazing, I couldn't talk her up more! Awesome thing about her is that this is her 3rd time training (so either she didn't do good enough her 1st (me) or 2nd time, or she is just THAT AMAZING) haha but her companion right now is the cousin of Elder Ahlstrom, my MTC district leader! so I know quite a bit about my "little sister" haha but it was just so good to see Hna. Schellenberg again, and I am pumped for all of our adventures we will have when I get home!
We had our train the trainer meeting and I was feeling super anxious haha, I had barely been out of training 2 transfers, and I still feel like a baby haha but I know that who the Lord calls, he qualifies so I have just been keeping that in the back of my head this whole week!
I finally got to meet my new companion! Her name is Sister Belt, and she is from Pleasant Grove Utah! She actually went to high school with my MTC companion, Hermana Carlson! Sister Belt is such an amazing missionary and is so ready to do the work! We have found out a lot of cool things that we have alike! For example, we have the same birthday! haha and also, her uncle Jeff Ginn was my soccer coach all growing up! and we have both broken the same finger, just little things like that haha but she is seriously awesome! I am super excited for everything that we have in store for us!
Training is only stressful sometimes, for example on Friday night, we had a great evening planned and then every single person decided to cancel on us.. It is moments like that though when everything cancels and your trainee is just looking at you like "what do we do" or "who do we contact" and your mind is just completely blank because you have already called 20 people and nobody answered.. haha it was awesome (STRESSFUL). She really is on fire though, like I have no idea how my trainer did what she did, because I don't think I talked 1/4 of what my trainee does and so Hermana Schellenberg, THANK YOU FOR BEING THE SAINT YOU ARE haha.
Yesterday was a good sunday, because Stephanie came to church again, and her and her family also paid tithing! It was awesome because during our visit last week we were talking about getting her to the temple soon and she asked what she needs to get a temple recommend and we mentioned that she needs to be a full tithe payer, and so she was super on top of it and paid it at church yesterday! She is so awesome and I hope and pray she continues to stay on the right track! We are going to work on getting her to the temple as soon as possible :)

I just want to tell two amazing people happy birthday this week! First to my little Macklee Jean, one of the most fun little girls that I have been able to babysit! and second to my awesome uncle Sean! I hope you both have such great birthdays this upcoming week!

Thank you all so much for what you do for me! It was so awesome and nice to receive such uplifting emails last week, especially going into training it was awesome to have good friends remind me of things, so thank you!! I love you all and I hope you have the best week ever!!

Much love,
Hermana Griffin


Our visit with Hannah!


High fitness...


 

Stephanie and her family...


Saying bye to the Finchs.


"dessert with Brenda"




And... Transfer day and my new comp, Sister Belt.




Sister Belt, me, Sister Broman, Sister Layton



Monday, September 2, 2019

Stephanie's Baptism! I'm going to be a Trainer...

Hey Y'all!! ;) This week was seriously the best!! We had Stephanies baptism, her confirmation and they also blessed their baby!! We had a lot of amazing experiences, and I found out transfer news last night as well!! I am so excited for a change, and for what this next transfer has in store for me and my new companion!!

Last Tuesday, we had another lesson with Hannah, and it was kind of sad because she pretty much isn't wanting to learn to find out the true church, she just plainly wants to know for the knowledge side, so we are still going to meet with her and help her know about our church, but she like totally told us she won't come to church, or won't even come to our open house we are having for the new church sooo... that was kind of a bummer!!
That evening we also went over to a members house who is over family history, and she taught us how to be able to teach people we are teaching to do family history, so that was awesome! While we were there, another member came by and give us 500, yes FIVE HUNDRED flyers to give out to people in two weeks before the open house!! That wouldn't be a big deal for us if we had time, but where we have at least 3 lessons a day, it will be tricky haha.

Wednesday morning, Stephanie had her baptism interview and she passed!! Yay!!! She did come out of the interview crying and we weren't exactly sure if it was a good cry or bad cry, but it ended up being good, she felt the Spirit super strong so she started tearing up.
That afternoon we met with Celia, and practiced spanish with her and then taught her some english as well! Celia is seriously the cutest human being ever. After we were done with the language studies, we met with Sister Barreto and went through the whole relief society directory to help her know who is active and less active, and going through that whole list took us 3 hours hahha it was crazy and my mind almost exploded!
That evening we went around to a bunch of mexican restaurants and we gave out flyers to the open house we will be having for the new chapel! We handed out a ton of the flyers we were given, and we only have half of them left now so we made some good progress!

We also stopped by Lori this past week, and she has been struggling a lot.. Her dad has been getting worse in his health and it has taken a toll on her as well. We stopped by her house two times this past week, and both times we went by she said she didn't want to talk to anyone.. We fasted and have been praying for her a ton!! She also didn't come to church this week so we are kind of getting scared for her... It is the WORST how hard Satan works on people, especially as people get closer and closer to baptism, just as she has been! She did show up to her interview with Bishop yesterday (which was a miracle in itself because she stood him up for the last interview) and we are hoping and praying she is still staying on track to be baptized soon!

Saturday and Sunday were the best days EVER!!! Stephanie was baptized on Saturday and wow, I don't think I have ever felt that much joy in my life! It was the best experience ever. Her whole entire family came, and none of them are members, and they were all full of tears as well! Before it all started, we walked into the bathroom to check on her and she was already crying as well, but it was a good / nervous / excited cry. We said a prayer with her, and the spirit in the bathroom (yes, the bathroom haha) was so strong it was amazing, and she started crying even more. Then the program was so amazing, and two of the brethren who had visited her while she was in the hospital during her really sick time of her pregnancy and given her a blessing, those two brethren gave the talks and they were pure gold. Her baptism was perfect as well! After she was baptized we went into the bathroom and just chatted with her while she was changing and getting ready, and she said she felt so good and so happy, and so clean!! She also joked that her father in law should have held her under a little bit longer haha, shes seriously the best. After she was done changing, we asked her if she would bear her testimony and she was quite nervous, but she said the  most sincere testimony I have ever heard. She started crying while bearing it, and the Spirit was so strong and we could tell it touched her family members as well. She said that she knows this is the true church, that the book of mormon is the "real deal" (I loved that!!!) and that her baptism day has been a long time in the making. She told of her experience in the hospital during her really sick pregnancy, and how amazing the spirit was in that room, especially when they told her everything was going to be ok. She also bore that she knows God has a plan for everyone, and she knows that all of her experiences she has had were there to strengthen her. She is honestly the best. I have loved having the opportunity to meet new people, and there are so many people that will hold such a special place in my heart for the rest of my life.
Sunday was awesome too! She looked so cute, and so did her family! All of her family also came to church for her confirmation and her baby's blessing, and it was awesome to have her whole family there!! Her confirmation was so amazing, and she was absolutely glowing after she was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost! They also blessed their sweet little baby, and her grandpa blessed her and did it in spanish, and it was just so awesome! I know that the members don't speak spanish also felt the spirit, and it is just so amazing that even if you don't know what is being said, the Spirit testifys that it is true!!
Last night we had a lesson with Gomathi again, and she told us that she does want to be baptized in the future, because she knows it will bless her and her family, she just wants to learn more before she is baptized, so that was awesome for her to tell us! We still have the language barrier, but she seems to understand most things pretty well, and we just pray that the Spirit will continue testifying of what we are saying!

Soooo last night I received my transfer news, and I am going to be a TRAINER, EEEEEKKKKK!! I won't meet my companion until Thursday, but if anybody has any advice AT ALL, I would appreciate it more than you could ever know!! I also talked to MY amazing trainer this morning, Hermana Schellenberg and asked her for some tips, and she will also be training AGAIN and so I get to see her on Thursday which I am absolutely thrilled about!! Hermana Schellenberg also told me that they went to the temple with Xiomara and Hoffmara this past week, and they are two Sisters that will also always have a special spot in my heart! I just love being a missionary and meeting people here that I would have never met if I didn't make this decision to serve my mission! It is truly the best decision I have ever made :)

I just want to tell my little cousin Jayden a quick (late) happy birthday last week! I love you tons little man! ;)

Thank you all for the love and support! Again, even if you didn't serve a mission or didn't train, if anything comes to your mind or advice you think I could use to be a trainer, I need it!! Haha I am honestly super excited but it's also a little scary!!! I just want to be as good of a trainer to my companion as my trainer was to me!!

I love you all and I hope you all have the best week!

Hermana Griffin

                                                  Stephanie's Baptism and Baby Blessing







Street Tacos! 


I can't believe it... ahh!!! August 3, 2020

 Oh my goodness!! Hello to my family and friends for the last time, which is literally crazy and I still can't really believe it's h...