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!