Kissed by a five year old!

Hey family!

Alright. This week, not a highlight. I fact just about everyone and everything failed us this week, even our backup plans, so to say this week was frustrating would be an understatement.

Madrid was fun and I learned a lot at concilio, as usual. And even though it was literally only a week, it was sooooo nice to see Hermana Marsh, I just love her. The capacitacion was especially hard this time. I don't know if it is because all of the companionship share training or what. There was barely any participation and most of our time was spent waiting for people to respond to questions and participate. It was like trying to pull teeth. Doing zone training


through camera across islands is for sure not ideal. Anyway, we made it work and our island said it was great, so that was reassuring.

D is still great. Still hasn't picked a baptismal date and that's a little frustrating sometimes, but it's ok. In his time, not ours! He had so many questions after conference that we spent a whole hour lesson just answering questions and he says we made it almost half was through! Crazy! But they were all really good questions, so I'm not worried. He came to the  M's for NDH and loved it like usual. It was
great. Speaking of the M's, H started opening up to us a bit, so we're hoping that with a little more time, we can work with him specifically and reactivate him.

I'm not really sure what happened with V this week. It was a little frustrating, honestly. She gave about 1000 reasons why she can't put God first in her life right now and can't come to church and
such, but doesn't seem to understand that correlation between putting God first and receiving blessings, no matter how much we try to explain. I'm trying to be patient and remind myself that I don't fully understand her circumstances and such in life right now, but it's so hard to be patient when something is so clear to you and not them. 

S is amazing, as usual. She also not only just got offered one job, but two! She got up and bore her testimony about how when we put God first all the other things come... Oh man did I wish that V was there to hear that! But S, she's just a saint. I love her. Her and her girls are still having difficulties please pray for them.

M is alright, she just isn't really progressing. She loves meeting and everything, but she won't read and won't come to church. We sat down and just read with her and also talked about the sabbath. We'll see if anything changes.

We also went to Galdar this week, another part of our area on the other side of the island. It's gorgeous! 


I'll attach some pictures.


President is thinking of opening a companionship there, so President wants us to see what it's like there. We went with the elders and had fun adventuring. I'd love to be there, but honestly, they'll probably open it to elders if they open a companionship.

Yesterday, we went to eat with a member and there is a little boy named G and he was sitting on the couch with us and I turn and look at him (G will get in your face and talk to you) and he gets in my face... not to talk, but to kiss me. 5 year old little boy, laid one on me. The other missionaries were dying! I was like" G, you can't  kiss me, I'm a missionary" and he just shrugged his shoulders.     So, yup, that happened.

We walked home in the rain yesterday too without umbrellas because the day was just kind of a fail, and we only had a few minutes left of the night so we figured what the heck. It was fun. I love Hermana Braun, she's a sweetheart, we teach well together. We get along well, we just have different interests, so not much in common, but we're both really tranquila so it's not a problem.

Also, at NDH last night, we played gestures and me and Hermana Braun were on a team and one of my words was leche. How the heck you act that out, I don't know. So what did I do, acting out drinking, acted out milking a cow. Hermana Braun guessed it in under 5 seconds.
Impressive, right? And that's how we won gestures.


Well, I love you all. Hope you have a great week!
Hermana Griffin

GREAT conference and p-dayfun!

Hi family!  10/05/15

Good week. So different without Hermana Marsh! I miss her tons and tons! So, after Hermana Marsh left, I was with Hermana Judd and Hermana Braun. We spent pday together and then went out and taught. We taught L and it was fantastic! We taught baptism and confirmation and the spirit was so strong. We decided to fecha her which is

At the mission home!

not ideal for her personal situation, but the spirit was so strong telling us to, so we set a fecha for the 31st of October and she started crying. She is ready to do whatever possible to make that date and the ward is seeing how they can help her reach it. She is amazing. I love her. She came to conference on Sunday night and just loved it too. I have really high hopes for her.

D is good, as usual. Went to all of the sessions of conference. He's great. He said he has some new questions for us, but that the conference answered a few questions. I feel like some of the talks were just for him.

M signed up to feed the missionaries this week. She is so sweet and fed us really good food. She fed the elders too. She is having a hard time with the word of wisdom, but she can do it. She wants to be baptized, but we need to change her fecha for a little farther away. Also, we invited her to conference and the church and she declined because a member had already invited her to watch it at their house. I love the members!

S is fantastic. We retaught the restoration and watched the Joseph Smith movie and it was soooo good. The spirit was super strong. We invited S to participate in missionary work and she told us she didn't know how because everyone she knows had declined to hear from the missionaries, so we said she could come with us to lessons and share her testimony and such and not only did she offer to help with a lesson, but to help us for a whole day. She's a machine!

V is still struggling with giving up smoking. She had a rough week with her family and that made her stressed and want to smoke more. We still are just praying hard for her and waiting.

Conference was fantastic. Literally, the best part of the year. Saturday night was my favorite session. Also, Elder Durant is good friends with President Pack, so he may be coming for Christmas! So cool.

IKEA fun

Anyway, right now, we're in Madrid, surprise!

Meatball lunch at IKEA

President and Hermana Pack decided to bring us in for concilio instead of Skyping us in.So, yeah, I'm hanging out with President and Hermana for pday.We are currently at ikea for Presidents first time. So fun. Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Griffin

11 month mark

Hi family! 9/28/15    




So, today is my 11 month mark and I am spending it with Hermana Judd (my CCM comp) and

Hermana Braun, my new companion, both started the mission with me.


I am still in Las Palmas as sister training leader. Our district is now just the missionaries in Las Palmas, the  same missionaries I see every day. It's just the 4 of us. 

 I might go crazy! Anyway, Hermana Marsh went to Barrio 3!!!

Lucky! She'll love it.

So, S. got confirmed this week. She was so excited about it. I love her. She's a sweetheart. We went to a lesson with someone this  week and she failed us, so we went to contact after and S.drove  by and picked us up and we had a lesson with her. It was the bestresult to a failed appointment ever.

  M. is doing fantastically! We had a lesson      with her this week and it went really well. She asked us, before we could even ask her, if we    could meet again. She's got a ton of potential!   She's so great!

We ran everyday this past week to try and        help V. give up smoking. Obviously we couldn'tdo it for her, but we did something that was     hard for us too. She loved it and it helped. She's smoking much less now. She is so excited for 

General Conference so that she can go with some questions and see how and if the Lord          answers her. She has so much faith. She is         amazing. I  love her. She is a saint. She is           having some family difficulties though,              between her and her younger siblings                 She could for sure, use some prayers.

D. told us that he didn't want to get baptized 

this last week, but in a few weeks. He'll be            prepared soon. He's wonderful. He's already  making plans for who can do it and all. We       know he is doing it for the right reasons because we thought Elder Wagner and Hermana Marsh would get transferred and he wanted them to be  there, but even then, he postponed. I admire

 him.

Also, side notes. While I was in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, they were filming the next Bourne movie. I saw it! And they were filming from the church building. It was cool. So when I come home,      we're seeing it and I'm going to point out all the places I've been! Also, I don't think I told you      that the islands are weird and they call buses, "guaguas".

Also, all of the hermanas in the islands are training minus my companionship, so we have a lot of work to do to make sure the new hermanas are adjusting well and we'll have to do like a week all together on the other island. And they are opening a companionship of hermanas. It'll be       rough, but fun. Anyway, I love you all so much! Things are good. Pray for me, new transfers are always awkward.

Hermana Griffin
I'm going to miss this crazy companion!!

Concilio and intercambios equals a busy week!

Hi family, 9/21/15

Crazy week. We were in Alcobendas Monday and Tuesday. The first day, we went contacting with members and I got to be with Z! It was so good to see her and talk to her again. She said S is doing good on her mission. Tuesday, we had concilio with President and Hermana Pack and all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders.

We got to stay at the mission home for the night with the sister training leaders from the north and it was a blast!! It was funny sitting in pajamas with the Pack family and talking at the end of the night and also doing family prayers. I just love them! President Pack was an angel and offered to take me and Hermana Marsh to the airport in the morning on Wednesday even though it was super early.

Wednesday and Thursday we were in Tenerife doing intercambios. I went with Hermana McEntire from Colorado. This was her first ever intercambio and she loved it. She's a sweetheart. She just started her mission not too long ago. It was fun to experience an intercambio in a really different area than my own, but I prefer my island; as I have come to love it so.

We had our zone training after intercambios too and it was hard... Our zone is in different islands, so we did our meeting over polycam. It was not my favorite way to meet. It was way harder to insure everyone was involved. We got a picture of our zone at the end. It's funny. We are missing a companionship though because their polycam wasn't working, so they had to skype.

Stake conference was yesterday too. We had that over polycam too because it was in Tenerife. President and Hermana Pack spoke. I just love them! Hermana Pack is learning Spanish and she gave her testimony in Spanish without her translator and it was perfect. She is just precious. Anyway, the islands have only been a stake for two years. It was interesting. They talked about the sabbath day and the councils that the church has. It was really great. The stake president, Presidente Denis is amazing. I took soooooo many notes. It was like everything he said was just golden.

Baptism of S. 

And then we had a baptism! S got baptized! It was great! And her ex came and he was really moved by it.  D and M came and they both loved it. D is letting us know tomorrow about his upcoming baptism. Really there is no rush, but I would love for Hermana Marsh to be able to see him get baptized.

So at concilio, zone training and also stake conference, we talked about repentance and the importance of it for members and also investigators. We also talked a ton about the sabbath day and the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. The quorum of the twelve and the first presidency met and decided that what the members today need to increase their faith is to keep the sabbath day holy. Of all the things they felt we needed to hear, that was it. It's amazing. It's a problem here in Spain, and elsewhere really. He asked what happened with the commitment that we made with God when we were baptized. He said no commitment is more important than the commitment we make with God when we are baptized, so Sunday shouldn't come with excuses like, "I can't, I have ________ to do" because our baptismal commitment should come first. Basically, I just learned that there is no reason to ever keep from obeying this commandment. Also, we talked a lot about repentance in concilio. We got a list of quotes from the quorum of the twelve about repentance. It was golden.
My personal favorite was by Elder Bednar, "It can’t be repentance unless it involves the Redeemer, even if they confess." We just emphasized the importance of the atonement in the repentance process and how if more people understood what repentance was and the importance of it before baptism, we would retain more members. It's so true. Repentance is a huge blessing, not a burden. I hope you all know that. That's the one thing the people that I am teaching understand. I love repentance, it's beautiful.

Me and Z !

Anyway, I love you all so much! Have a great week!
Hermana Griffin

Flying to Madrid for concilio!

Hey family! 9/14/15 

 Currently in the airport! We are flying to Madrid for two days for concilio. Then, on Wednesday, we'll fly to Tenerife for Zone Training and also to finish intercambios with the rest of the hermanas from the islands. It's crazy, 4 days away from our area and the people we teach. It's been hard to plan how to see everyone when we get back and kind of frustrating, but I know it'll be worth it and that they will all be taken care of.
  This week, I did intercambios with Hermana Judd and that was a blast. I didn't realize how much I missed her from the CCM. It was fun being able to teach with her again but actually understanding what people were saying to us and being able to communicate easily. She's a great missionary, which doesn't surprise me at all. She will for sure be training next transfer because Hermana Clements is finishing her mission.
  We set a baptismal date with M. She's doing good. She's really lonely since F left for Brazil, so we're trying to visit her a little more to help her not be so lonely.
  D is doing great! Some confusion here and there, but all in all he is doing good. He is still thinking the 26th of this month for his baptism, but we want to insure that he is firm and has a strong testimony rather than have another baptismal number. He's great though. He came to our weekly Noche de Hogar with the Mesa family yesterday and it went really good.
  Speaking of which, I am pretty sure I have never mentioned the M's, which makes me feel horrible because going to their house each week is my favorite. It's H and M and their two girls J, 12 and N, 7. N is the cutest little girl in the world and she just adores us. She runs and gives us giant hugs at church on Sunday's. We do NDH in their house with H's mom, P and their home teacher, L. L is so funny! He is a crazy Venezuelan, literally. But I admire him so much because he really understands the importance of his calling as a home teacher. He is obsessed with Ford too which I think is funny. So naturally I'm his favorite, being from Michigan. Anyway, the M's always have their house open to us and our investigators. They are both return missionaries. I just love them. 

3rd birthday for K.

S is doing good!
13th birthday celebration
 Her baptism will be this Sunday night after Stake Conference. She is so excited and so are her girls. L is doing good too, still trying to figure out what's next in her life. V is good. She broke a little bone in her foot and had a cast for a bit, but now she's up and walking. Her and the family have some difficulties and need our prayers, it's really not ideal for us to be leaving right now, but I know the Lord will take care of her.


G and C and the kids finally came to church! G and the kids are members, but C is not. They haven't been in about 6 months, but we visit them and eat with them weekly and they came this Sunday! They surprised us and D, their daughter who is 8 ran and jumped and gave me a hug when she saw me at church. So cute! They are just wonderful.   We had some lessons with new people this week. First a guy named D. He is nice and has potential, but he works a tonnnn! But the nice thing is that he lives right by us and the chapel. Then, a girl named M. She was someone that the elders from Tenerife contacted while they were here for Zone Conference. She is awesome! She had a classmate in college that was Mormon so she knows a lot really, but she asked really good questions. And she wants us to talk to a friend of hers as well. It's amazing how great the gospel is that people notice a difference because of it and want to share it. Then P and M, two sisters from Peru. P lived in Toronto for two years and met missionaries there, so she knows a little, but it's been about 10 years. They are sweet and very open minded. 

  I think that's all. Me and Hermana Marsh are doing great together. I love her! I'm hoping we stay together one more transfer.
view from a members... reminds me of home!
We'll see. Hopefully we can get some hints from President or Hermana Pack while we are in Madrid about what is going to happen during transfers.

Anyway, I love you all. I'm doing well. Super well. I'm very happy! I hope you all have a good week.
Hermana Griffin

Intercambios

9/07/15
Well, it's been a crazy and good week. So, Monday, we had all the missionaries in the islands here in Las Palmas.

Then, after, we started intercambios. Monday night I was with Hermana Finch and we were with Hermana Pack. All of our lessons failed, so we went out to contact. It was fun! We had a bunch of street lessons. On Tuesday, we had our zone conference. It was good. We talked about the importance of the message of the restoration and also the importance of working
with menos activos. It was really great! Our stake president talked about how each week the missionaries will be given 5 names of menos activos in the ward to work with. And when the people come back to church or don't want more contact, they are taken off our list of 5 names and they get replaced with other menos activos. There is a little more to it than that, but I think it's a great program. I'm excited for it! After, we finished intercambios and I was with Hermana Turina. Literally no one wanted to talk to us. We stopped every person who walked by and every single one said no. But anyway, we finally got one person to listen and she listened to all of the restoration and then scheduled another lesson with us. It was fun with her. She's a sweetheart! I love her! Anyway, Hermana Finch changed their tickets and we didn't know, so our intercambios were cut short. It is teaching me patience and love. 
D accepted a baptismal date for the 26th of September! He's a little nervous but I think he'll be more than ready. Anyway, he's great, as usual.
L. is not doing too well. She is going through a lot of personal things, unfortunately it's a lot of things she can only work out for herself. What we're trying to do is just make sure our lessons and
Sundays are really good spiritual experiences for her so that it's like a break from her life and problems. [Please pray for them]
M. is so great. We passed by to see her and met with her and her husband. It was sooooo good! Sad thing, the husband just left for Brazil for 3 months, but before we ended the lesson, they gave us a reference. Then, Sunday, M. brought another friend to church! She's so great! Also, a member named L. who is from Brazil brought a friend and gave us his reference. So we are now teaching 4
brazilians... It's great!
Anyway, things are fantastic here and I absolutely love love love my companion!

She's fantastic. I really hope we're together another transfer. This week I'll be doing intercambios with Hermana Judd and next week, we will be going to Madrid for Concilio in the mission home and then to Tenerife for intercambios with the Hermanas from Santa Cruz

Missionary girls having fun

 and also to do our zone training. So, basically next week, we won't be in our area.
Also, fun fact. I met the elder, Elder Gorge,

Elder Gorge

who baptized S.boyfriend, A. We took a picture together. He's from Indiana! Anyway, he just about died when he heard that A. baptized S.

Well, I love you all! Everything is great here in paradise! Have a great week!

Life is peachy

Hi family! 8/31/15
Still just enjoying paradise here in the islands. Things are fantastic, like usual. Also, I somehow am now at 10 months in the mission. Weird. To celebrate, me and Hermana Marsh got ice cream...
She has a sweet tooth like me... Which is the worst. Anyway.
  We met the M and they're just great. We even met with the son this time and now the whole family is meeting with us! They're just great. The husband wants to get baptized, but he's the only one, so we're not sure what to do because a baptismal invitation and date will for sure divide the family. But little by little we'll get there. The lessons with them are amazing, we can always feel the spirit so strong in their lessons.
  We went to teach D the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he asked about the commandments and it just seemed like we should teach him about the big three commandments. So, we did. Which is so unusual in one lesson, to throw all that at someone, but the thing is, it was perfect for him! He loved it! He loved and agreed with all the word of wisdom, agreed with and loved the blessings of the law of chastity, and understood and appreciated tithing. He's the greatest. He came to church yesterday and just loved it! He's amazing. I'm really excited to see what happens next with him.
  M. was on vacation, so we didn't get to see her this week.., yet she still came to church! It was great! She really liked it, again. We'll try and set a baptismal date this week with her.
  We got failed all day Friday and Saturday, which was sad, but we saw a miracle. We were walking to pass by a few members and decided to change the order we were going to see them and on the way, we found an amazing woman named J. She met with missionaries about 20 years
ago and said she was thinking about us the day before and so she was super excited to see us. She said she just needs happiness in her life right now and she said she thinks we have it. We're gonna try and meet this week with her.
Anyway, we ate with some members from Brazil this week and they fed each of us a baked potato, the size of the plate, covered in plantain, chicken, corn, cheese, bacon, and like chili.... So good!  [NOW I know WHY missionaries gain weight here!] And after, we had a strawberry coconut cake for dessert. So yummy! Then, yesterday, we had 3 types of cake in 1 hour. So much cake. Sunday's
are the worst because everyone we see always wants to feed us and they all want to stuff us. It's too much. But so good!
  Anyway, life is peachy. A bit boring, the usual. But my comp is amazing and our investigators and members are awesome. Also, tomorrow 

fun pic from last week

we have zone conference, so we had all the missionaries from theislands here today with president and his family and we played sports and then watched Meet the Mormons. And tonight, we are doing intercambios with some of the island hermanas and Hermana Pack. Also, for the next two days, we will be doing intercambios. Since we're on the islands, intercambios are super long to make the most of it. Fun fun! I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a great week! I love you all!
Hermana Griffin