Last Temple Trip

 May 11,2016   Hey beautiful people!
 
I hope you all had a great week! We sure did! So many miracles! So, we first of all we gave V.

a fecha! It was a really powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong. We told her she's ready 

and we feel like this date is when the Lord wants her to be baptized. She was really moved. 

She said she'd pray about it and let us know. She came up to us on Sunday and said she can't

stop thinking about it and wants to talk with us on Friday. Hope it's good news! Pray for her! 

She's so ready!
 
We had my last concilio and capacitacion de zona. 
last concilio 5-3-2016
That was strange. It feels weird knowing

 that that's it. But it was really uplifting. We

repassed the worldwide missionary training 

and it really helped us get back to the basics,

 you know? 
Anyway, then we got to do intercambios 

with the hermanas from Azuqueca, Hermanas

Keller and Richardson. They are amazing! 

They are machines! It was such a treat night

teaching with them. I was with Hermana 

Richardson who has 2 weeks in the mission.

 She's so cute. Speaks Spanish like a pro, 

seriously and could lead a lesson. I was blown 

away! I was not at that point with two weeks 

in the mission. Anyway, she is a sweetheart  

and I learned a lot from her. Mostly just how 

to keep a positive attitude and trust in the  Lord.

sorry upside down!

So, when I was with Hermana Richardson, we saw a miracle. It was so cool. So, she had 

contacted  this guy but he was busy, so we asked if we could get his number  and talk some 

other time and he said no because he doesn't give people his number, so we gave him ours 

with our card and he said he works everyday until 9:30.  We explained that we still teach 

then and that he could call us still. He said he would call us at 9:30 that night. 

I didn't really believe it. Everyone always says things like that.  Anyway, we continued 

on with our plans for the night...  And in true intercambio form, everything failed. 

So,we went to our backup plans, which also failed. And so then  we went to our last hope plan, 

and as we  were walking there, the same guy walks out of his work and chases us down. 

He asked if we could meet right then. So we did! And it was great! 

He had so many questions and they were all great. He's been looking for  answers in his life 

for a long time and we've got them! His name is R. He also is 21 and turns 22 exactly  one 

week after me. So we basically bonded right there and then haha anyway, he asked us when

 we could  meet again! So we're gonna see him tonight.

I went to the temple for my last time today  but that's ok! 




It was wonderful!  

And after, we went to Sol and I bought

 souvenirs... For all of you fam. So, hope you're all  content. It was fun. My poor comp

 had to deal with me being  indecisive and carrying  lots of my bags. Anyway. 

It's been a good day. It was good to  talk to you on  Mother's Day and I had this

 realization that 3 weeks is nothing! 

Yikes! But that's ok, you can still see plenty of miracles in 3 weeks!!!
 I'll tell you all the things I'm forgetting in 3 weeks. 

Love you! Have a great week!
 
Hermana Griffin
 

Last transfer!

4/25/16 Hey family!

Well, here I am, starting my last transfer.... Feels weird. But what feels even weirder was saying goodbye to my companion. I have really loved being with Hermana Turina. She has taught me a lot, but mostly just made me really learn how to show love for the people I'm teaching and also just laugh and have fun. I can't think of a single moment in 7 weeks when we weren't laughing. Like one time, she called me Laman because we were complaining a bit... She's the funniest. I love her and will really miss her. These last 7 weeks have flown by and I've decided that the Lord knew that I needed to be with Hermana Turina. 
Last district picture
After a year and a half of intercambios and being in the same zone, the Lord knew we were ready to be together, and it's been a huge
blessing. I love love love this girl and I have to see her again! So, I hope it's ok if we go to the French Polynesian Islands! She's waiting for us to visit  
Anyway, my new companion is Hermana Workman. She's pretty young in the mission and she's from Florida. Actually she started her mission while I was in the islands and we did an intercambio together.


So it'll be interesting being companions now. I know she's a hard worker and that's all that I really hoped for my last transfer I guess. They are whitewashing a companionship here in Alcalá too, so we went from having a district of really old missionaries to almost all new missionaries. All of them have 7 months or less excluding me and Elder Tree who go home one transfer apart. Craziness!

Guess what! David A Bednar is coming to Spain. We'll get to have a
meeting with him and the whole mission on the 14th and then on the
15th, he's going to do a devotional for the youth, which will be
fantastic for V! Speaking of V, I just love that girl. We met with her this week and she talked about how she feels in the church and when she reads and prays and everything. She loves it all! She's doing seminary and has started personal progress! She was
talking to the elders yesterday about how her dad won't let her get baptized. So sad. But by her example, I'm sure he'll soften up. The gospel just makes you a better person! How could you not want that for those you love?

This week was sad because it was a lot of goodbyes. But, one goodbye 
good-byes
miracle is that we got one of our menos activo families to Noche de Hogar. When they walked in, everyone's mouths just dropped. No one could believe it! And they really enjoyed it and made new friends. Hopefully that'll help as we teach them in the future. Little by little!
I don't know if I've mentioned D before, but she is one of our
investigators. She is really sweet, Bolivian. She is really creyente,
but since she moved to Spain she hasn't found a congregation that she likes. She lives with one of our menos activas, E. D is the
girlfriend of E's son. Anyway, we've been teaching her for a while
and the lessons always go so great, but then at the end, she always
refuses to come to church. She doesn't want to go without her
boyfriend (because he is also a member, well, menos activo) but he
lives in the UK. But, HES BACK! He just got here this weekend, so they didn't come, but next weekend, they should be at church and we can see what she really thinks and all. I have a lot of hope for her. Also, E said that she might come too if her son comes. How wonderful!
Oh also, this week was the birthday of Cervantes, the guy who wrote Don Quijote, and he is from Alcalá, so there was a huge festival, and to end the night, fireworks! We found a spot where there was no one and we had a perfect view. I'll include a video so you can see how geeked we were.

Anyway, that's about it here. I love you all! Have a good week!

Hermana Griffin

Companion leaving

4/18/2016

Hey familia!
So, things here are great! It's been a good week, a little slow, but I can't complain. Basically, it's starting to hit me that my companion is leaving this coming week and I'll be getting my new and last companion! It freaks me out a bit to be honest. But, I'm sure it'll be good.


This week, we had a super awesome district meeting! We talked about setting goals and such. I don't know, it was just super awesome. We talked about Abinadi and how he never even knew his convert Alma, but Alma converted to a of people.


It was so cool to see like the "conversion tree" in the Book of Mormon that all started with Abinadi. So awesome.

This week, we were invited to the house of our menos activo, A, to learn how to make Colombian empanadas 


and we took advantage of it and visited with her daughter, V, our investigator, while we were there. So, V is thinking about baptism, but isn't sure because her dad has been very anti church, but when we were there making empanadas, he was talking to the elders and getting to know them and when we all left, he started asking tons of questions! Progress!

Then, we made pan de queso with our menos activa, N. She's from Brazil and is the sweetest. She taught us how and then, later that week, we made it with A and her friend and now A's friend and her friend's son are our investigators. They're super sweet. I love how food really opens people up! Also, biggest progress ever, N came to church yesterday!!! Wooooo!

So, things here are good. This week will be rough because I'll be saying goodbye to my comp! But we're gonna work hard. Super excited for what lies ahead. I love you all!


Have a good week!
Hermana Griffin

concilio

Hey family!
concilio
This week was super good! So first of all, we had concilio. It was great like usual, but super weird being back again after not being sister training leader. Anyway, learned a ton and really enjoyed it.
It was so hard and sad to see 7 people from my group give their final testimonies though and know that I should be going with me, but won't be. But, it's ok, I just cried a lot. I love these people so much!




  
zone

Then, Thursday, we had zone training. So good!!! The parts that me and my comp lead were so great! We were so unified and honestly, it's the first zone training that I didn't feel nervous leading. It was awesome to be able to do it with Hermana Turina. Also, to mix things up, we threw cake in Elder Maughan's face to demonstrate the way we sometimes teach versus how we should teach. We were explaining that we need to give a little at a time and not throw everything (knowledge, scriptures, commitments, etc) at the people we teach, because that unfortunately sometimes happens. It was great, it really helped the zone to relate what we were teaching, and after 4 transfers with Elder Maughan, it felt kind of good to through cake at him haha.

We had intercambios after. We were with the hermanas from Torrejon. I was with Hermana Contreras who is Mexican but lives in Texas. She's so sweet, super funny. She's only got about 4 months in the mission but it was so great teaching with her. She's an amazing missionary. We
talked about her area and she mentioned a concern she had about some people being baptized without really being ready. We talked about it for a while and the responsibility the missionaries have to ensure that people are ready. It really opened my eyes to how many people probably do get baptized without fully understanding the commitment and such, I guess that's what happens when the Lord works with imperfect people, especially when those people are teenagers, but
also, it really showed me the importance of baptizing converts. I felt so grateful because I've been very blessed to have such strong converts in the gospel who really do understand the importance of the baptismal ordinance.
Yesterday we had ward council. The whole time the bishop talked about the people me and Hermana Turina are teaching and nothing about those that the elders are teaching and he kept telling us and ward council how proud he was of us. Then after, he pulled the elders aside and
told them they need to be more like us because of the incredible work we're doing. I don't feel like we're doing anything extraordinary, but it's nice to be recognized for our hard work. Also, this week we reached and even passed our goals, so it's been good. It's amazing, especially since we had an entire day and a half out of our area. Woo blessings!
So I'm super happy.




It's been a good week and this week will be great too.


I'm so glad I'm with Hermana Turina, she's just the sweetest and is so patient with me. I love her.

 I hope you have a great week!

Hermana Griffin

fun week

4/4/16
Hey Family!

This week was super fun! So, Monday night, I got to go back to San Sebastian de los Reyes! The district leader asked if we could do our intercambio there instead of here, so of course I volunteered! haha It was so fun to be back. We saw K! She is doing good. She is going through a lot of trials right now with her kids, they are super sick and both are about to have operations, but its amazing to see how strong her faith is still! I love her so much! She told me that I have to spend my last pday with her and she will take the day off work and leave the kids with someone. Shes just a sweetheart and I love her. Im so blessed to know her. Then, when our plans failed, Hermana Snyder asked if I remembered any investigators around there. I only remembered one, so we passed by for her. And she was there! It was fun to see her again. She was amazed at the fact that I actually speak 

Spanish now. As we left, I asked if the Hermanas could pass by her again, she said of course! She said she didnt really know why they had stopped before but she´d love for them to come by. And now shes not working so she has all the time in the world to meet. Wooo! Maybe it´s finally her time!

We had a Noche de Hogar with a member this week too. It went super great! The member invited her best friend, who invited her cousin. Turns out the friend is not interested, but the 23 year old cousin, yes! We had the lesson at Noche de Hogar and then invited him to play soccer with the ward that weekend, and he came. And while there, someone invited him to general conference, and he came! We havent even taught him yet, just the little spiritual thought in the NDH, but he has tons of questions now after conference and is super interested! YAY!

Speaking of the conference, I loved it! It was fantastic! I especially love love loved the Saturday morning session! Wow, good stuff! I think one of my overall favorite talks was, Donald L Hallstrom. Oh! And Neill F Marriott from the women´s session. Well, really just all of conference, but those were especially wonderful.

Anyway, I just love you all! Im sooooo glad Im a missionary and I get to share this wonderful gospel with everyone!

I hope you have a great week!

Hermana Griffin

Semana Santa

Hey family! 3/28/16

So, I feel like not much has happened since writing on Wednesday. So Wednesday, we went to the temple and it was fantastic, like usual.


The next day, we had intercambios with the hermanas from Guadalajara. I was with Hermana Iregui and Hermana Ledo. I was actually in the same ward with Hermana Iregui when she came into the mission so it was cool to be together again. Hermana Ledo is brand new. She's adorable!
Actually, she too is waiting for a visa. She will be going to Pocatello Idaho. It was an interesting intercambio because it was Semana Santa and of course no one wanted to meet, but then there was also a hugeeeee parade so it made it impossible to get around town and also, there were giant crowds of people. But, we had a good day.

After two weeks, I finally met our menos activo, A. He's the best! We had a really great lesson and we set goals with him and all, and as we went to leave, they had day number two of the parade which was even bigger, believe it or not. So, we gawked a little and took some pictures then left haha. Catholic Easter parades don't really make sense to me, but it was fun nonetheless.

Bueno. Sorry my letter is short and kind of lame this week... But I feel like I just wrote you all. Have a great week!

Birthday fun for companion

4/23/2016Hola Familia!

So, today is my pday. Now, temple day is your pday, so today is my pday after the temple, but next week it'll be Monday again.

Anyway, it's been a great week! So, where to start? Well, we started the new Easter initiative, I'm assuming you've all seen it, and thus we received the new pass along cards! We were in charge of separating them all and getting them to our zone, so we took advantage of having tons of cards and took some pictures haha.

Then, we had intercambios with the Hermanas from Azuqueca. They are in a trio, so that was interesting doing intercambios, have to say that was a first, but it was soooo fun! Well, anyway, I was with Hermana Butler and Hermana Keller. Hermana Butler 
Hermana Butler
is from Scotland, but lives here in Spain and is actually just waiting for her visa to go to her actually mission in Provo, Utah. Hermana Keller was trained by Hermana Spencer and oh man, she is just the sweetest! She reminded me so much of Hermana Spencer, so I of course loved being with her! They are two really fantastic missionaries! I loved their energy and excitement to do absolutely anything. Love them!
Hermana Keller
Then, we had Zone Conference with President and Hermana Pack this week. It was fantastic! The mission seems to be struggling a lot with finding right now, so that's all we talked about. I thought at first it'd be repetitive and such because it's something we talk about so often, but I loved it! I left so uplifted and hoping to find, and actually, we applied what they taught and we were able to find some new investigators!

So, one of our new investigators is T , we actually found him working in our area book. He is from Equatorial Guinea. He's pretty cool. We taught  the restoration again, which he'd heard before, but we were able to answer questions he'd had and as we did, he really understood and had a desire to read the Book of Mormon! We're gonna meet again this week. Super excited!

Also, Monday was my companion's birthday! She turned 21 and it was super fun. We had district meeting and the elders surprised her when we walked in by shooting off 4 confetti canons haha and tons of balloons. Then we had lunch together to celebrate. Then, the Schwartz, the senior couple, made carrot cake for her and in classic Spanish/Catholic style, we lit a prayer candle... Then, we went to the Gurreas and it was a blast! We played a few games to celebrate... I'll send a video. It's a gem.


So, life here in Alcalá is fantastic! I'm super happy! I'm so glad I'm with Hermana Turina, she's just the sweetest and funniest. Things are good. And I'm thrilled to be able to constantly testify of Christ, especially so close to Easter. Such a blessing. I hope you have a great week!

Hermana Griffin