A Super Awesome Stake Conference!

Happy Autumn y'all!

Here's a summary of the past week: this past Tuesday we went and visited less actives, and did tracting in between visits. Wednesday we had our district meeting, had a lesson, saw another less active, and did some tracting and contacting. Thursday was busy because we had to take our car into the mechanic, which consequently landed us at Taco Bell to do weekly planning. And this really nice lady who we didn't know bought us lunch! It was so sweet! Friday we were on exchanges and went to see a less active, went contacting at the mall, had dinner with a member, and then taught a lesson. Saturday we contacted some referrals we received, tracted, then went to the Adult session of the Huntsville Stake Conference!

Stake Conference was great, but what really made Sister Taylor and I's night was that we got to shake hands with an area Seventy, Elder Fred A. Parker. He is an amazing speaker and disciple of Christ. If y'all have seen "Meet the Mormons", in the backyard BBQ scene Elder Parker was the guy in the white shirt critiquing the BBQ. Woohoo! Anyway, Sunday we went to the second half of Stake Conference and it was good as well!! Elder Parker listed off all of the missionaries from the stake currently out serving or waiting for their call, and had all the missionaries serving locally stand. All the while, Sister Taylor and I were bawling our eyes out. Our mission president, President Hanks, also spoke at both sessions of Conference and he inspires me so much! I will carry the things that he's taught me for the rest of my life. He is not only inspiring us to be good missionaries now, but to be disciples for life. Some of the things he talked about at conference was to lean into the church (doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith), to not get offended and let someone else impede your salvation (aka, going inactive because of something someone did or said), and to have a bigger focus of missionary work.

After Conference we did more of the same...out proselyting and talking to people. :) Please prayer for Sister Taylor and I to find people who are prepared! 

Love you all so much!
Sister Griffith

Weekly planning at.....Taco Bell?! :)

The leaves have changed colors here!

Beautiful Fall Foliage!

Chili Cook Off, Drumming With the Hippies & A Fun Zone Activity!

Hey y'all,

This past week has been good! I finally got to see cotton up close, we tracted a street a couple days ago that ONLY had nice people, Sister Olsen came to visit, we went to a Ward Fall activity and got to judge the chili contest, we drummed out with a bunch of hippies at the park, and we got to go to the Space and Rocket center today with part of our zone!

Yesterday was a really good day at church...the lessons seemed to answer some things I had been asking about in prayer, and cover content of what I've been learning lately in my studies. I also was reading the Ensign the other day during lunch, and totally got an answer to a question that's been in my mind for a while. I had been searching for an answer, but in came in His own way and timing. Personal revelation is real! But it's what you do with those answers, if you actually apply it, that's the real test. It's my prayer that we can work on putting our faith into action.

All my love,
Sister Griffith

Hermana Taylor and I heading out in the car

Southern cotton at its finest!

The field is white!!

Look who came to visit me in AL! (Sister Olsen, without the tag!)

Those rims, though.

Sister Taylor and I were judges at a chili cook-off :)

We went to a park to go contacting yesterday and found this lovely bunch of hippy friends who get together every Sunday evening just to play drums and feel good vibes. Of course, I had to join in for a bit. :)  And, we got a new investigator out of it! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Belnap taking a selfie of part of our zone today!

Dedicated missionaries = bringing the Restored Gospel to the aliens.

Having fun at the Space and Rocket Center :)

Pumpkin Party & Getting to Know the Neighbors!

Hi everyone,

We had MLC this past Tuesday in Birmingham and it went really good! The training that we got was really inspiring and I was excited about sharing it with our zone the following Thursday. One training I really liked was called "Managing expectations of belief." It talked about how there are certain things like church history, Mormon tradition, etc., that people place as "doctrine". This is where a lot of anti stems from---not understanding true sources or categorizing things inappropriately. One thing, for example, is with prophets. Some people place them as infallible, unable to do wrong, perfect. But then they might stumble across a past prophet's writing and think otherwise (which is why it's important not to place them as infallible and to understand that there IS a difference between prophetic revelation/doctrine and personal opinion). Another example is with people justifying the Word of Wisdom with caffeine. They place it as doctrine whereas it really is just personal viewpoint and assumption.

This past Friday the Spanish sisters in our zone planned a Hispanic activity at the church. They asked for our help, especially with Sister Taylor being able to speak Spanish! So we went, and it was a good turn out, but you can imagine how little miss Sister Griffith was who doesn't speak more than "Hola!" and count to ten. :) Good thing I've had practice in foreign countries trying to communicate with people! In Church yesterday, they asked me to introduce myself to the ward and bear my testimony. I started out by proudly saying that the companion I have right now was called to speak Spanish, and I was called to speak "Southern." :)

On Saturday we went to a neighborhood pumpkin party that we got invited to by some people that we tracted into. It was really nice of them to invite us and probably a gamble in their minds to invite the Mormon missionaries. ;) But we went and had a great time getting to know our neighbors. We didn't talk about the Gospel at all, or ask anyone if we could teach them. Sometimes you have to teach by example, and especially help people out here in the Bible belt to realize that we're normal people. :)

That's all of an update that I have for now. I love y'all and hope your October is going well!

Love,
Sister Griffith

My Halloween socks! Thanks mom!

On our way to the pumpkin party!

Sister Taylor carving!

 Me carving our pumpkin!

Transferred to Huntsville, AL!

Hey y'all,

I don't have much time to write, but I'll update y'all on transfer news! I got transferred to Huntsville, AL! My new companion is Sister Taylor, and she is amazing! We actually have some connections back home and know the same people. We are both assigned as Sister Training Leaders (STL) for the Huntsville Zone, which means that we'll be looking over the sisters in our area, doing companion exchanges with them, participating in trainings for the zone, and more. Getting into a new area is always hard for the first few days, because you have to get oriented with a whole new place and new names. But eventually you get the hang of it, and luckily Sister Taylor (who, by the way, is a Hermana and was called as a spanish-speaking missionary) has been in the area for a little bit!

This past weekend we got to watch General Conference and it was awesome! I specifically loved the Sunday morning session, but all the talks were good! I also love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Hymns have a special way of getting me to feel the spirit...and get teary-eyed.

If you haven't already gotten the chance to watch or listen to General Conference, I challenge you to read through or watch them when they become available on lds.org! Also, try to do something this week that will invite the Spirit into your life, like listening to hymns or making a better effort with your personal prayer.

The Church is true!
Sister Griffith

Saying goodbye and snapping a selfie with one of our favorite members in Wetumpka, Sister C. :)

Another treasured member in Wetumpka, Sister N. :)

A three generational photo :)

My study desk in my Huntsville apartment

It's Fall time around here!!

Out tracting in between General Conference sessions!