Jet Set Brunette: Just tracting in the ghetto......and 'hood talk!

This past week has been a good one. :) I've had some really awesome conversations with people. Some of the best conversations happen in the hood! Last week we were tracting in the ghetto. As we were walking down the street, three guys saw us. We started walking towards them to talk with them, and I could tell that they were excited that some girls were coming up to talk with them (it happens quite often;) We started casually talking with them, but of course as a missionary your conversations turn spiritual. We taught a few Gospel topics to them, including the Word of Wisdom (as they were sitting there smoking and drinking:). They started talking about weed, and tried to justify it. They said that, after all, it comes from the ground, and that it helps you to be happy and clear your mind. They told us that we should try it, because it could help us in our efforts as missionaries (LOL). What's funny is that one of those guys told us that he got kicked off the UA football team for it, and was having trouble with work for it, and yet still defended it (we told him thanks for proving our point). In talking about the Word of Wisdom, I told them that something I've come to know is that it's not so much a health code. It's a spiritual code. It is testing our obedience to God. There's examples throughout the Bible were people commit to God by abstaining from things like "strong drink." In Numbers it talks about people "setting themselves apart", and that is exactly what we're doing today. Anyway, these guys thought it was interesting, and they told us that they haven't met anyone happier than us, and that we seemed different but in a good way. Of course, we then went on to tell them about the Holy Ghost.

A similar thing happened yesterday, when we were walking through the hood. We went up to a few guys who were hangin' outside on their porch (and it's real fun because they have dreads, and tattoos, and were smoking and drinking.) We initially went up to them like we always do to introduce ourselves, but it turned into a good hour or so of conversation. They asked us lots of questions, and they were shocked that we had so many answers. We went over quite a few different topics. And it was so funny, because one guy didn't realize that we were LDS, and he was like, "What! You're Mormon?!!" Then a few minutes later he asked for a pamphlet, and said he's coming to church this Sunday and bringing his friends! It was interesting as well, because he also said that in comparison to other women he knows, we seemed so different, so down to earth, etc. We told him it's God.

An exciting thing is that this past Saturday was my 2 month mark! We didn't have any appointments that day, so we spent most of our time on our bikes, tracting and finding. We met a really sweet lady while tracting who's Baptist. We spent a good hour or so with her, talking in her living room. She told us all about her family and her grand kids, and how she's battling breast cancer. We talked a little bit about scriptures, and she was so shocked to learn that we don't just believe in our "Mormon Bible." We explained to her that yes, we have the Book of Mormon. But that we also read the King James Bible. That surprised her! After that, Sister Bailey and myself treated ourselves to Iguana Grill, a fun Mexican restaurant.

I had a thought the other day about agency. God honors our agency, and we can see that because even before our time on Earth he was allowing agency. In the Pre-mortal world, there was a Council in Heaven. We were allowed to decide for ourselves what plan we wanted to follow. Then there's Adam and Eve, who were presented with two choices in which allowed them to use their agency. Today, everyday, we exercise our agency. It is a gift from God. In the context of relationships, or a marriage, we can see how highly we should honor others agency. And in the case of an abusive or controlling relationship, we can see how much we are dishonoring something that God has put in place. Just a thought.

Today we had interviews with our mission president (interviews happen every three months.) He checks in with us, answers any questions we have, and makes sure everything is going okay. My mission president and his wife (President and Sister Hanks) are great. Sister Hanks is so nice! And things are going good.

I hope that everything is going good. I love ya'll!

Sister Griffith

P.S. Hood talk (examples how of some people say things)

Street: Screet

Straight: Scraight

God: Gaw

Five: Figh

Ask: Acts