The dream I've had all of my mission has been to give a talk on missionary work in church... It happened this week! So that was pretty great. I always thought that if I gave a talk in church, it'd be about members working with missionaries and I'd be a bit bold but it'd be good and I'd see results and such, but that's not what happened. Yes my ward needs to work with us, but they need to work on their humility and charity first, with investigators, menos activos and other members. So, I talked about humility and charity instead and related it to missionary work... Well the bishop was not a fan to say the least. I don't think he'll be asking me to speak again anytime soon. Oops. Oh well. I'll send it too. I thought it went good... What do I know.
J is so stinking precious! This week, we taught her about the plan of salvation. She bore her testimony at the end and said she knows that she's not perfect and that is what the atonement is for, so she can repent daily of little things that happen and that she does and she can start the next day and try to be better. She gets it! That's the biggest struggle I think we have as missionaries, is making sure people understand repentance and that it's not just for big sins,
but for daily use for the little things we do too. But no worries, she gets it!
K and her family did not come to church this week because D had a rugby game. Ugh. Two steps forward 3 steps back. But, we saw them yesterday night and they thanked us for being constant with them, because the ward has forgotten and given up on them but we haven't and they said if it weren't for us, they wouldn't be starting to get back into the rhythm of doing the things they need to do, like praying and reading daily and weekly noche de hogar. They are doing better, little
by little. The best part was hearing their oldest, who is 16, thank us for what we're doing for him and the change he's seeing in his parents. He was crying. It was the sweetest thing ever. He prayed
before we left and I realized how amazing he is. He really understands prayer because it really just was a conversation with our Heavenly Father for him. You can tell there is a real relationship there for him.
D isn't really progressing... He is more studying for curiosity than a real desire to know and he is trying to preach to us more and more as we meet with him. We're not giving up yet, but he's not
progressing like we'd hope.
E is progressing little by little. He admitted last night that he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. This is huge for him because my first 5 lessons with him, he insisted there was no way that was
possible. The only problem with him was that he wants to know everything and have a perfect knowledge of everything before baptism and perfection doesn't come in this life. But it's ok. I have faith in him and when he gets baptized, he's going to be super strong in the church. Also, finally, his son talked to us. He is 3. He gets jealous when we're there normally, but last night, he let me play with him. So I colored and played cards with him for a little bit at the end of our lesson as my companion set up our next lesson and such. So, that is also progress!
We had interviews this week. It was fun to be with the Packs. We went to the office for them. It was fun. President is great. And Hermana Pack came over while I was studying, waiting for my interview and she sat by me and asked what I was doing and how long it would take. I asked why and she said, "I just wanted to talk" haha she's so funny. But it was good to talk to them and get some advice for my area and companionship. We find out transfers at the end of this week, but after our interviews, both me and my companion felt like she'll stay with me another transfer. We'll see!
So yeah, that's about it I think.
Have a good week! I love you all!
Hermana Griffin
J is wonderful! She came to church and liked it even though
didn't understand tons because of the language. But, she is amazing and has such an amazing testimony. This week, she shared in our lesson that she was robbed a few moths ago and had nothing and was super depressed and stressed. She was at the point of suicide and suddenly had the strong urge to pray. So she prayed and she said she felt her worries be lifted and someone there, helping her. She said she knows that God hears and answers prayers. I just love her and really admire the faith she has.
We asked D this week if he had prayed about Joseph Smith being a prophet and he said yes. He said he thinks Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. He said the Book of Mormon couldn't have been written by anyone but prophets of God because it is
too inspired to be written by anyone else. We emphasized the importance of receiving an answer and knowing. He is so wonderful. He said he's going to keep reading because he just loves it so much.
Tomorrow we have interviews with president in the office, so we have to go to Alcobendas. I'm excited to see the Packs. Hermana Pack called me this week just to talk because she said she missed me because they had concilio and I wasn't there. She's just he sweetest! I love them
too much.
Today was K's husband's, D, birthday so we spent the whole day with them cooking and hanging out. So fun, I love them. They say they want to move to Michigan haha or at least they want to visit. You'll love them!
It's been a good week. This week we have a worldwide missionary training from Utah. Everyone will be watching it live in all the world. I'm excited!
Anyway, I love you all tons!
Hermana Griffin
anyway, we passed by and she
freaked out when she found out she was the first person I knew in the
area, she gave me a huge, minute long hug and insisted on making me
lentils. She's funny and they were delicious, so obviously I was not
opposed, especially since I hadn't eaten since 8 that morning. Anyway,
M basically is our third companion because we bring her to all of our lessons. I just love her. She wants everyone to know about the gospel and be baptized. Her coming with us all the time is definitely strengthening her and her testimony, you can tell.
Hermana Valverde is great. We've had some really awesome lessons together honestly. We seem to be really united when teaching, which is the best, and I'm sure that'll just improve with time. I am learning a lot. Mostly Spanish, but also how to make delicious Peruvian food. I'm pretty positive I'm going to gain tons of weight this transfer...
We have a really amazing investigator named B. She is Dominican and truly looking for the truth. We taught him her the restoration and she loved it. She said she was going to read the Book of Mormon and pray that night because she needs to know if it is true. She's amazing! She understood the apostasy really well too and said the restoration all just made sense to her. Can't wait to meet with her again soon!
There is also a menos activa named K. She is just the sweetest. She has three boys, 16, 10 and 2 months. She invited us for Christmas Eve, so we'll probably be there with her. She told me I remind her a ton of her little sister, which is funny because she reminds me a ton of Naomi. Anyway, she had a high risk pregnancy and now is having a hard time getting back in the routine of going to church. She has an amazing conversion story and we reminded of her of how she felt when
she joined the church and it seemed to relight that fire for her, but then, of course, her middle son had a fever and her husband was out of town, so she had to stay home with him. No worries, I know it's just a matter of time for her!
Funny story of the week, we were sitting in a lesson, talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ and all of a sudden, the doorbell rings. Someone else who lives in the piso answers the door and we think nothing of it, until someone knocks on the door and says, "um, it's for you." Our investigator says he's not expecting anyone, excuses himself, walks out and walks back in shortly after. It was the police. They were undercover and they were there to take him to the police station because of some accusations. So, our lesson obviously ended. We go to leave and M starts preaching to the undercover police officers which was basically the funniest thing ever. Long story short, the problem was all a lie and he was free to go the next morning after spending the night in the police station.
So the area of Barrio 4 is huge. I've heard from a few people that it is 1/4 of Madrid. However, the active members make up something more like a branch. I'd say we have 40-50 active people including the children which are about 2/3 of that... So I feel kind of like I'm back in Blue Water, with a huge area and not many people! But hey, the Lord needs me here.
My district is fun. It's the zone leaders, Elder Voss and Elder Priest (who was in my MTC district), the sister training leaders,
