Serving in San Antonio Texas: Joel's Baptism!! June 15,2020

Helloooooo everybody!!!! I hope you all had a wonderful week and didn't freeze too much, I heard it was super cold in Utah?? It hasn't gotten any colder here hahah but it's all good, we had such a solid week!! We set so many high goals last week and we accomplished them all! It's so fun to set goals and then see the motivation take place to achieve them!!

Monday we were able to have 12 lessons in just 3 hours, and a lot of them were messenger lessons BUT it was still a lot and still super amazing and that carried into our whole week of having a ton of lessons!! One of them was with Phillip and we talked more about his baptism and we FINALLY got him to settle on a date, which is the 18th!!!! Yay Phillip is getting baptized on Thursday!!! He asked Brother Sanchez to do it, because Brother Sanchez was actually his high school football coach and helped him a lot in life, cool huh?!
That night after we finished talking with our families, I received a call through messenger from Joel, which is Amanda's fiance, and he asked if I would say the closing prayer at his baptism and awww it was SO. SWEET. I remember when Amanda was baptized and Joel didn't really want anything to do with the church, but his heart was definitely softened and then we started sharing the gospel with him and found out he lived in Uvalde, so the elders had the chance to finish helping him learn and grow his testimony, and it is just so awesome! It made my heart so happy he called me and asked me to participate in his baptism :)

Tuesday we had to get rid of the treats we had in the house so we went and delivered them to some members haha and then delivered a few Book of Mormons as well! We were able to find someone named Elizabeth who just graduated high school, but she lost a family member a couple months ago and so we shared some messages with her and have a return appointment with her this week!!
We had a long lesson with Phillip that night and went over the baptism interview questions because we were able to set it up with the elders for the next day! He had some questions but overall he totally understands and agrees and believes it all, it has been quite the journey with him though haha and pretty funny too. Practically ever since we had our super long lesson with him a couple months ago, he has known it all to be true but hasn't wanted to fully accept that he knows it is true, but he finally did lately and now he is super solid and we are excited :)

Wednesday we had our sisters call with the sisters in the mission and it was SO. GOOD. but also SO. SAD. because one of my most favorite missionaries ever Hermana Sauan, goes home next week, and so she shared her testimony of things she has learned on the mission and agh it was amazing but as soon as she started crying, so did I, haha the mission is the best thing ever and to have your time becoming less and less is not fun at all.
That afternoon we had our district council which was good and fun, and the elders came down to Carrizo from Eagle Pass to do it so that was good!
After district council we had dinner, and we made a deal with the elders that if they were able to make it work to come down and have district council here and do Phillips interview, that we would provide dinner, SO we did! We made Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps, and we made enough to feed 6 grown men and us as well haha. We had the 4 elders, and then Phillip and his friend Thomas, and then us sisters! We got them their favorite sodas as well and it was fun haha we felt like little moms haha. They all enjoyed the meal though so that was good :)

Thursday we did service with Ms. B so we were going to be in Crystal and they have this running or biking trail there, so we did our exercise there and wente running and ran 2.5 miles and it was the worst hahah.
That afternoon my comp made Peanut Butter Bars, and wow that ruined my weeks full of trying to eat healthy hahah they were SO. GOOD. She made them for Joels baptism on Saturday and tbh I'm surprised they lasted that long haha.
We had a video call with Jesse that evening and he is still struggling a lot with what's been going on but we are definitely trying our best to help him and he appreciates when we call so it's all good!
We were also able to find 5 new people to start teaching that day so that was fun!

Friday we had a fun time driving around and trying to find a place to record our music video we are going to post today on our area page, and it's difficult because there aren't many places to record or take pictures here, and there is one park but it's right next to a busy road so nobody could even hear us haha, but we were able to find a junk yard and we made it work haha
We had our Bible study on Gratitude and it was awesome! I have loved studying for our Bible studies, and I've always felt like I've been a grateful person but while studying and preparing for this, I came to realize that I still have a LOT of work to do! But it's good, I love being able to repent and work on bettering myself!

Saturday morning we went over to Phillips at 7 am and we were planning on helping them put in more grass and we were going to do that for our exercise as well, BUT when we got there, his parents hadn't tilled the ground yet so instead of helping we kind of watched a little as he got everything hooked up and then right as they begin tilling we had to go because it was already 8 and we needed to change and go to Joels baptism! It was sad we couldn't help more haha but they got it done and it looks good
We got changed and ready and went to Uvalde! It's about an hour drive from Carrizo so it wasn't too bad! We got there and got to see Amanda and her son Mason and that was fun! It was awesome to see Joel and how happy he is and he has truly changed so much since Amanda's baptism, and I absolutely love seeing how the gospel can change people like that!! His baptism was so special, and the Spirit was so super strong, I loved it! The elders had asked us to do the intermediate activity while they were changing after he was baptized so we were able to pretty much share the restoration with Joels family that weren't members and it was amazing!
After his baptism, Joel had invited us and the Elders to go to his house for a cookout! We were able to sit outside while he grilled and it was super delicious and so fun to be with them! We were able to talk about their future plans, and Joel and Amanda are hoping to get married soon and start their life together, this time in the gospel! I can't wait for the day they get sealed as a forever family, ah days like those are really what keeps me motivated as a missionary!!
We got home and had another lesson with Phillip that night and talked about the Joseph Smith Restoration movie, because that was one little holdback he had was he didn't know if he fully believes (or will let himself agree he believes) that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet so we invited him to watch the movie and he loved it! We also sent him a talk from when President Nelson was called as a prophet and it helped him a ton as well! He is so prepared!

Sunday was sooo amazing! It's just amazing to be a missionary haha. But we had a lesson with Rick first thing in the morning and talked more about baptism :) We also were able to go to the Sanchez home and partake of the sacrament, and Phillip was able to come as well! It was funny because we all stood outside and it was super hot haha. But it was so special that Phillip was able to come and he was able to catch up with Brother Sanchez and ask him his conversion story and yeah, Phillip is super set for Thursday haha it's the best thing ever :) He is super cool and kind of reminds me of my older brother haha he is just super funny and is always teasing everybody but also has a short temper hahah.
We had a killer day yesterday as well and had like almost 20 lessons haha. I will attach a picture of our day yesterday because it was insane! We hit our goal of 70 lessons this week and had 79, I was sad it wasn't 80 cause that would be cool haha but we were able to find 21 people to teach this week and also have 18 nonmembers have a lesson with us yesterday! It's been a solid week and I'm exhausted but that's a good thing!

We have a super fun and busy week ahead of us as well! We have to drive to Cotulla sometime this week to drop off some Book of Mormons, and we have a mission tour with Elder McKay and he will be speaking to us and then we have Phillip's baptism on Thursday! So many exciting things happening and we love it! We find out transfer news on Sunday night, so I'm scared because I want to stay in Carrizo but I also will be ok if the Lord has other plans for me. It'll be hard and I'm scared I will have to say goodbye to the people I love here but we will just have to wait till Sunday before I start crying hahha.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads in my life! My Dad, My Grandfathers, My Friends Dads that are like my Dads.... all the Dads!!!! You are amazing and I love you all! Happy Father's Day! Thanks again for all of your love and support! I love you all more than you'll know and I'm praying for you always!

Never forget Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you!!

con amor,
hermana griffin :)