Serving in San Antonio Texas: New comp and New Experiences! January 13, 2020

Hello everyone!! I hope this week was amazing for everyone! It was great for me and super crazy and we cried A TON but it has been good, so I will get on to the week! We had our transfers and some of my transfer news changed as well, but it is still good!

Monday we stopped by Olga and her daughters and let Hermana Abadia Pazos say goodbye to the girls. It was pretty sad and Olga cried and one of the girls started tearing up, and we also played soccer with the girls for a little bit but saying goodbye was sad and they cried a lot :(
We also went to Esmeralda and taught her about tithing and fast offerings, and then said goodbye to her as well!

Tuesday we said some more goodbyes and we went to the Morales family, and the little girls get SO ATTACHED to us missionaries. We played some more basketball with them and then the time to say goodbye came.. The three little girls cried and cried and cried, and so did my comp, and it made me cry cause it was so sad. This week included a lot of crying haha.
That night we also said goodbye to Jackie and her family, and Jackies step dad said something along the lines of "wow, I've never had so many women leave me until you ladies started coming around" and it was kind of funny haha.

Wednesday we were finishing everything we had to do to get my companion ready to go, and that is when I received a phone call from the assistants to the president, and they informed me that instead of getting a "brand new missionary" straight from the MTC, I would be receiving Sister Gomez! She is super awesome! At first, I was a little sad but it honestly took a lot of stress off of me after thinking about it! So Sister Gomez is also kind of technically still "new" as in I am still training her, but this will be her second transfer of being in training! She came out at the same time my other daughter, Sister Belt, did, but she had to go home for two transfers and now Sister Gomez is back out here, and I got her!! It has been super good! I was nervous when we were receiving the call from the Assistants that I wouldn't be a trainer or a sister training leader either, but I am still both luckily!!
We also said goodbye to Kathy and Chito, and those two also get super attached to missionaries and so we all cried there as well haha.
We ended my companions time in Carrizo Springs with a dinner with the Chavez family, and wow Hermana Abadia Pazos bawled when we left their house.. I also cried because I didn't really want her to leave but I couldn't cry for long because I had to drive haha. I absolutely loved my time with Hermana Abadia Pazos and I learned SO MUCH from her, but I know she is where she needs to be so I guess I have to share her ;)

Thursday we got up bright and early, drove to the chapel and transferred! My comp didn't wanna say goodbye to me so I told her to "rip off the bandaid" haha and then I met Sister Gomez, and she is awesome! She is from Pleasant Grove Utah, and she went to highschool with my MTC companion Morgan Carlson, so that is awesome!
We went from transfers to my Chiropractor appointment, and that was super awesome! My hips have been killing me for a while so that was great to get readjusted haha it was super awkward (something normal for a regular person but super weird for a missionary) but the chiropractor was a member so that wasn't as bad haha.
We drove all the way home, and we unpacked Hermana Gomez for a little while and then we headed to Chito and Kathy's house and got to know the new sister which was good for them!
That night we also had a barbecue with inactive members and it was delicious! They invited Hermana Abadia Pazos and I, but sadly she wasn't able to make it haha but it was a good first night for Hermana Gomez to be welcomed into the area!

Friday we went to Crystal and we visited with the Bustamantes and helped them start to take down their Christmas decorations so that was fun!
We later went to the Guerrero's house and we raked their front yard and then they gave us dinner after that so it was a good trade haha.
Before we headed back to Carrizo we found someone named Xavier! He is a single dad of quite a few kids, and he accepted a Book of Mormon and a return visit so we are going by tomorrow night and we are excited to start teaching them!
That evening we went to Chito and Kathy's house because they were having a house warming party, and they cooked some really good food and so it was awesome!

Saturday we went to Cotulla and it was a good day but not super successful, but we did have a HUGE success with Erica! We found her two weeks ago and she has kind of had some sour feelings towards God since her dad passed away 5 years ago, and we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she said it all made so much sense.. She has had a lot of things leading up to her receiving this gospel and we are just praying that she does! After the lesson we played with her little girls for a few minutes and just threw the ball onto the trampoline and they had to try not to get hit haha.

We sadly didn't have many people come to church yesterday, but we were able to have the Jimenez family come! They are a family that live in Cotulla, and just moved their from Eagle Pass a while back but they are ALWAYS in Eagle Pass. We visited them on Saturday and asked if they will come and we even told her we would set an alarm for her haha but we didn't have to and she came, as well as her husband and two daughters!! It was amazing to see them there.
Last night we spent some time finding in Carrizo and geez.. the people here are super hard headed haha. We had our first door shut in our faces, and that was fun! We did find someone named Mari who was in a rush but she accepted a Book of Mormon and a return visit next Sunday, so we hope she is some good potential!
We ended the night last night visiting with Chito and Kathy and Chito was busy tearing out his tub in his house, so we chatted with Kathy and she is going to let us come this Wednesday so we can start planning their wedding with her!! We are excited to help them make this next step! We still have to figure out how to get them to come to church haha but we are definitely working on it!
I never knew that being a Sister Training Leader is so crazy haha but last night I called my Sister Training Leader companion, Sister Carter (her area is in San Antonio, so we have to figure everything out over the phone) and we planned out exchanges and all that fun stuff! I am super excited!! I get to go to 10th ward in San Antonio and spend a day with Hermana Abadia Pazos (on the 29th) and then we are doing a back to back exchange and I will be going to Balcones (my baby area) on the 30th and I. AM. SO. EXCITED. I have such high hopes that I will get to see my two recent converts, Xiomara and Hoffmara!! I am super excited for this craziness that will be happening with this calling of Sister Training Leader and to be able to get to know the sisters better :)

I have been thinking a lot about how to get people to realize what they are missing out on when they don't accept the gospel, and this quote was shared with us a couple weeks ago and I wanted to share it with you all! It is from President Nelson, and it says, "In this life, you have never settled for second best in anything. Yet, as you resist fully embracing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, you are choosing to settle for second best."

I know that when we fully embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ and put everything we have into living it the best we can, that we won't be settling for second best, and we will truly become the best people that we can.

I love you all so much and truly am grateful for the many prayers you are sending my way! I can testify that prayers work, so thank you all so much! I hope you have a fabulous week!
Love Hermana Griffin