December 8, 2014

Hey everyone!!!!

This week was one of those weeks that will always be remembered. We had some interesting experiences... Good and not so good. Overall, it was just crazy! Monday we had a really good lesson with a less active/ part member family! We invited them to our ward Christmas party and shared He is the Gift with them. They also asked when the church block started so hopefully we'll see them at church sometime soon!

Wednesday we got a really cool call from Brian, one of our investigators. He said that he had had a really good conversation with his dad about joining the church and told us that his dad gave him his blessing to join the church and that he was ready to be baptized! Just to kind of enplane, Brian is 33 and a single dad with two little girls. He has always seen his dad as like a "spiritual rock" and wanted to know that his family would still accept him and his dad told him that if he felt like joining the church was what was right that he would support him in his choice to be baptized! Sister Randall and I are beyond excited to see how he is coming to Christ!  He has been searching the Gospel for a long time and has come to the conclusion that this is the true church! We have a lesson with him on Wednesday and we hope to be setting a date! I'm so dang excited!!!!!!!!!

Thursday we had a pretty weird experience with our investigator, Debbie A. We had been over like two times that week already and we were stopping by again because we felt like she had been progressing really well. Well, we got there and her grandson let us in and when we got inside, Debbie was just standing there sobbing! She couldn't even talk! Apparently her ex-husband that had been staying there had just up and left without explanation. She was pretty upset about it to say the least. We couldn't calm her down to save out lives... Well, she called him and told him that we were there (I don't know why, but she did) and he wanted to talk to us, so she gave me the phone and he told me that she was straight up insane and that she had ruined her sister's credit and borrowed money from him and all kinds of stuff! Then he told me that she needed to be locked up and that he was going to call the cops on her then he hung up!!! Well, Sister Randall and I were out of there faster than an Indy 500 race-car! Needless to say, it was very confusing and we aren't sure how to move forward with her, but we haven't been back since!

Also, on Thursday we were able to meet with Steve. He is the roommate of a less active member in our ward. He has come to church a few times and last Sunday, he told his roommate's home teacher that he wanted a Book of Mormon, so we took that to him and set up an appointment for Thursday. We met in a member's home and watched the restoration video and talked about why a restoration was needed. He was very receptive and accepted baptism if he came to know that the Book of Mormon was true! His roommate, Bro. Jones has a lot of issues. Yesterday we called him to see if they were coming to church and he was very intoxicated... So yeah...They were not at church. Apparently he needs just as much help as his roommate!!!!

Needless to say, we had some pretty great adventures and experiences this week!  This has been the most adventure filled week of my mission! Hopefully we have more of the good experiences and less of the not so great! 

This week we also got new zone leaders, a new district leader, and quite a few new missionaries in our zone! We are very excited to get to know them and work with them in moving the Lord's work forward! I love the work, and I am looking forward to the rest of the transfer!

I love you all so much!! 

Sister Griffeth

New Pictures December 2014- January 2015

New pictures

December 1, 2014

What  a week! It started off with specialized training for all the new missionaries. we did some role plays, had some great training, and had a blast! I want each of you, if you haven't already to watch He is the Gift on christmas.mormon.org and then share it on Facebook! it is such a great video that really puts into perspective the Christmas holiday and why we celebrate it!!! So good!

This week was also Thanksgiving! i hope you all had a great holiday and ate a ton of food! I know I did!! Sister Randall and i got to go to a less active family's home! we had so much fun! we were well taken care of! we even got to take home a pumpkin pie!

This week we had a really sweet experience with one of our investigators. Her name is Debbie. about two years ago Debbie was in a house fire that burned her from at least the waist up. As a result, she has no hands and is extremely scarred. She lives in a rehabilitation center that is in our Elder's area, but she needs sisters, so we make the 15 minute drive at least twice a week to see her. She started being taught about 5 months ago. She has had all the regular lessons and is now being taught from the gospel principals manual. She is the greatest example of strength and faith that I have met on my mission! She needs to have major skin graft surgery and is waiting till after that to get baptized because she feels like she will be more self confident about going to church after her surgery. This week we taught her about prayer and she said something that I will never forget. She said, "Our lives are made up of prayers,weather we are consciously praying or not. Sometimes it's just a thought or an action, but God knows our thoughts and our actions and he always knows what we need and what we are grateful for and what our desires are by what we think and do. God knows what we are going to say in our prayers before we even say the words. "

I had never thought of it that way, but it is so true. The act of praying is how we express the things of out heart, but God knows us so perfectly! It really made me think about what I think and do and where my heart is, because God knowing everything we think and do can be a good or a bad thing if we are or aren't doing what we should! What she said really taught me a lot! Funny how that worked out! The investigator teaching the missionary!

Well, I'm about out of time, but I just want you all to know that I love this work! It truly is an incredible opportunity to see people come to Christ!!! Love you all!!!

Sister Griffeth

November 24, 2014

This week was so busy, I hardly know what happened!!! The time just slips away!

I can't wait for Thanksgiving! Sister Randall and I are going to a less active family's house for the day. We taught them on Tuesday and we talked about Enos and how sincere heartfelt prayer can bring so much peace into our lives. It turned out that Sis. Newkirk had been having a hard time with some family stuff. The spirit was so strong, we were all a little emotional, but mostly Sister Newkirk. We had a lot of those lessons this week,we saw so many miracles! It seemed like everyone we visited, member or not, was just having a rough go! I think we taught like 6 lessons that people were just in tears! It was nuts, but it just goes to show that when you are trying to teach by the spirit, miracles happen!!! It was so cool to see these people really open up about their struggles and see how the spirit was able to teach through us and help them. That's one thing I've learned about this work. The spirit is the teacher. We just have the privilege of being his mouthpiece. When you're obedient, do the things you should, and prepare as directed by the spirit, you can't fail! That goes for anything, not just missionary work!

This week was just everywhere! So me and Sister Randall are like best friends! We work so well together, but when we have some spare time we sing really off key on purpose to Michael Buble 's Christmas CD, make jokes, laugh till we cry, and teach, teach, teach!!! We have so much fun while we do the Lord's work! It's great!

well, there weren't any legit stories, so I guess I'll do what missionaries do best! Share a thought! I was reading in Mathew this week about when Christ was eating with the sinners, and the Pharisees were all disgusted about it and then Christ said something that  I absolutely love! He said, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."  I love that because it just shows how much charity Christ has for us. None of us are perfect, but Christ knows how to help each of us. I know that I feel inadequate a lot and that I doubt myself, but when I read this, I knew that any of my doubts or inadequacies could be taken care of IF I rely on Christ. I hope that makes sense!!!

Well, I just want you to know that i love you all!!!! have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Sister Griffeth 

November 17

Hey everyone!!!! this week was such a blur!!! So Monday is P-day! P-days are the best! we get to email, clean, grocery shop, play games and just breath! It's the best!! Tuesday I got to go on exchanges with Sister Sessions, one of the sister training leaders, in Carmel, Indiana. It was such a fun day! at the beginning of the day we had like seven lessons set up, and by the end of our first one, they had all canceled. as a missionary that leads to a lot of improvising. we did a bunch of tracting and tried to visit some members, but literally no one was home that day, so we drove around in the rain and just had a blast! Sometimes, your days just don't work out as a missionary, but you have fun anyways because you're doing The Lord's work! Sister Sessions is a kick!!! she is down right hilarious! we had a good time tracting because she just always has a positive and fun attitude! She taught me so much about being myself while still being on the errand of the Lord. Even though we only had a few lessons, I learned how not to be the 'missionary robot'. it was great!

This week was also fun because we had interviews! President Cleveland is so awesome! he talked about having the right mindset. It is SO important that despite what is going on around you that you are focused on what's really important. It's just like Sister Sessions. Even though our day completely fell apart, she was able to stay positive and make the exchange a good experience for me. I think that in our lives it is so easy to see the bad things in the world that surround us every day, but God would rather that we see the light in the darkness. So. what do we have to do to have the right mindset? for me it's all about putting negative thought out of my mind by replacing them with positive ones. when I think something bad about myself or someone else, I try instead to complement them or me. I also think it's really important to always be thinking of a scripture or hymn or quote that makes us think positive thoughts!

Anyways, the rest of the week was same old same old! Sister Randall and I just have a ball doing whatever we're doing! we've been doing a lot of finding this week because our investigator pool is kinda low. Which is LAME, but that's life!!! finding is fun! but I'm still pretty awkward when we first knock doors. It's a good thing Sister Randall knows what's up!

So this week I had the opportunity to go to a rebaptism for a lady in our ward. it was so sweet! the spirit was there so strongly! It made me so excited to just baptize everyone!!!!! We SHOULD have a couple baptisms in December!!!! Pray that they all go according to plan!!!

That pretty much sums it all up! I would love to get emails from all of you!!! I love and miss you!!!

Sister Griffeth

pictures from Indiana