Week 32: He is Risen!

March 21, 2016

Well friends, It's that time again. I don't have barely any time to write, so this will probably all be fairly jumbled. I will try my best! :) 

Last Monday for P-Day we were able to go up hiking about a mile away from the Canadian border.. SO... of course, on the way home, as a District, we drove up to the Border Visitor's Center and took pictures. Then we found out that you can actually step into Canada (like the continents are split on the mountain - the tree line and stuff) without actually having to cross the border (like the border patrol and stuff).. SO!!! We got to step into Canada for a few minutes and take some pictures... it was phenomenal!!! Milestone. Fulfilled!!! :) 

Also, this week was full of finding new people to teach - what a blessing!!! :) We had some really neat experiences finding new investigators. It was wonderful! We found Missy a couple of weeks ago tracting and she was actually the first house that we knocked on, so that was really neat! She didn't let us in then, but we came back this week and she was home and let us come inside. She had just gotten home from work, and we were able to teach her the Restoration. It was so powerful! The Spirit was strong, and we were able to use the pamphlet and teach with the pictures. It was so incredible. Another tender mercy is that we were at a home for a dinner appointment with a couple in our ward who are preparing to be the Mission President and wife in the Philippines and they wanted us to teach them with the pamphlet how to use the pictures so they can teach their missionaries there, and so we had just gone through the whole thing.. super awesome how amazing the Lord's timing is! She said she had been to a women's conference for a different church, and that during that she felt like she needed to be open to other churches and the ministry.. so, that was neat! We were able to help her identify that it wasn't a coincidence that we came by! She is so cool! Then, right after going to Missy's, we went to see a Part Member Family, and the wife wasn't home so we couldn't stop by, but the kids had just gotten home from school and were outside playing with a neighbor kid. That neighbor kid's mom was there too, so we were able to talk to her. Her name is Savannah and she said that she has been looking for a church to get her son started going to so she can raise him right, and she has a lot of family who are LDS as well!! Super neat. Then, another night this week we had the most amazing tender mercy of all.

We had on one of our Former Investigator records someone's name and next to it there was a note saying that they had moved. Well, Sister Rogers and I both felt prompted to go there even though she had moved, and a woman named Megan answered the door. She has a son named Avery, and she is a 1st grade teacher up here in Bonners Ferry. Well, that was a few weeks ago when we met her and she said that we could come by again. We have been trying to stop by, but each time we do she always says that she's really busy and maybe another time. Well, this week we stopped by again and sure enough, she answered the door, and per the usual said, "I'm so sorry I'm always so busy when you come by. Maybe another time." We asked her if there was anything we could do to help her, she shook her head, and then (this is the miracle part!!!!!!!) she says, "You know what.. would you like a drink of water? Come on in for a minute." (WHAT!!?!?!?!?!??!!? Heavenly Father is so good to us). Anyway, so she lets us in her house and then we start to talk to her. She opens up about some things that have been going on in her life and then we were able to testify to her of God's Love, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how much they both love and care about her and know exactly what she's going through right now. She said to us, "You know, I wasn't going to let you girls in tonight, but then once I said no, I felt like I needed to. I'm really glad I did." We gave her the Restoration pamphlet to read for our next visit and she said, "Wow. I used to have a picture exactly like this (the one of Christ holding a lamb) up in my home, and I lost it and really wanted to see it again. I haven't seen something like this again until today. Wow." It was so amazing. The Spirit was so strong in her home, and we have another appointment scheduled with her this Saturday. We had just barely met her, but leaving, we felt closer to her than almost anyone else that we have been teaching. It's amazing what the pure love of Christ can do. 

Well, I know that the Lord places people in our path when they are ready to hear the message that will change their life - that of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week we have the opportunity to celebrate a remarkable thing - EASTER! I am so grateful for the blessing and knowledge it is that He did rise again - and because He did, you and I and everyone will too. He overcame, and because He overcame, we can overcome and become who He needs us to be and who He knows we have the power to become! I hope that you all have a wonderful week and know how much you are loved! He is aware of you. He knows you perfectly, and if you allow Him, He will take away every sorrow and heartache and unfair thing that you may experience in this mortal journey. Come, Follow Him! He will show us the way to the most supreme happiness, if we let Him. I hope that this week is absolutely beautifully spiritual for all of you as we give more thought to Him who gave His all for us.

I hope that any of this made sense! Have a glorious Easter week! He is Risen!!! Hallelujah! (Praise Ye, Jehovah)

-OH CANADA!!!!! :) 

-The Border... I didn't expect there to actually be a border, haha.

-Beautiful Sandpoint on exchanges. My mission is BEAUTIFUL!!!! This is literally the view from someone's backyard. Wow. 

-This made me chuckle a ton. Only in super po-dunk areas would you find people on the ward list with information like this as a way to contact someone. SO funny!

Also, transfers are next week.. AHH.... woah. That went quick. More information about what happens next week! Love you all!

-- 

"God be with you 'till we meet again!"

Hurrah for Israel!

Much Love,

Sister Jennifer Griffith

Week 31: Hallelujah!

March 14, 2016

Well, friends.. the most important thing that this week's email will contain is this link to this amazing Easter video for all denominations that the Church just released yesterday. It is found at:

followhim.mormon.org

Watch it. Seriously, go now. It's only 2 minutes long and will make you really happy that you took the time to see it - it will help you catch the reason for this Easter season like nothing else. It's called Hallelujah - which means, Praise Ye Jehovah. How cool is that? Anyway, this email will still be here for you to read after you've watched that amazing 2 minute video that you'll want to share with everyone. :) 

Well, this week was pretty wonderful if I do say so myself! On Wednesday night, both Sister Rogers and I felt like we needed to go visit a girl named Tiffany who we had contacted once and she said she was interested in learning more about the Church, but has never been there again no matter what time of day we have tried/won't answer her door for us when she is home... so, anyway.. we both felt distinctly that we should go visit her. So, we did, and after knocking twice, she answered the door and I asked her if we could come in and share a message with her right then. Well, she let us in and we were able to teach her and her 2 year old son, Noah, about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It was amazing! She said that her boyfriend is a recovering alcoholic and that she had been just starting to go to these support group meetings for family members, and that those have really helped her a ton to be able to start feeling like God is really in her life and that He loves her. We taught her about how much God loves her, about how the message that we share will bless her and Noah's life so much, and just testified to her how much we know this all to be true. Noah was pretty loud and hyper during the whole thing and Tiffany was getting distracted with him, but once we started quoting Joseph Smith's vision where he sees God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, it was so powerful. Her eyes were locked right on ours, the Spirit was almost tangible, and even though Noah was making just as much noise, she wasn't paying attention to him at all, but right afterward all she said was, "wow." It. Was. AMAZING! It's moments like this that just make every bad response from people soooooo worth it. She told us afterward, "You know, missionaries have been here before and have taught me this same thing, but I didn't feel it or understand it at all until tonight." We know that she has been being prepared from the moment other missionaries met her 3ish months ago. What an awesome experience! We are so excited for Tiffany! :) 

Also, this week we had a meeting called Specialized Training where we all go as a group of 14 missionaries (just the ones serving in this part of the mission - Sandpoint) and receive training from our Mission President and his wife. Well, this meeting was amazing, but during the lunch break, something really amazing happened. A Sister that had helped to make us lunch came over and sat with us Sisters and asked Sister Rogers and me where we were from. I told her Oregon to which she responded, "Which part?" "Keizer" "NO WAY! Have I got something amazing to show you!" She then proceeded to go over, grab her phone and tell me all about how this man that she went to High School with lives in Keizer (it's not a big town, friends - that's a miracle in and of itself), and that she was talking to him about the Church and that he wanted to learn more and that she was praying about a way to get him some fellowship from members in Keizer but didn't know how, and how she felt prompted to come over and sit with us and to ask me what part of Oregon I'm from (even though she had no reason to because she didn't know anything about Oregon) and how awesome it was that I was from there!! My Mission President gave me his phone to text my parents about him and they are now in contact with him - all from one little missionary lunch in Sandpoint, Idaho! HOW AMAZING IS THAT!? Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly do take their work forward in mysterious ways - such a cool experience to be able to be a part of! 

I also got to go on exchanges this week with a sister down in Sandpoint. Well, she doesn't have a license, so I got to drive in their area and we just put the addresses of people we were going to visit into their GPS and go from there.. Well, it turns out that their home address doesn't register in their GPS and that there was no way for us to find our way back home... well, this wasn't the first time, unfortunately, that I have been lost on my mission, so while I was driving, at each turn, I decided to just try my best to listen to the Spirit to find our way home. It was so neat because we got lost like 3 times and each time we were able to find our way back just by listening to the Spirit on where to go! I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers through the Holy Ghost and that He loves us so much! What a marvelous blessing that is!! :) 

Also, yesterday, after an entire 4 whole weeks with no investigators at Sacrament Meeting, THREE CAME!!! It was nothing short of a miracle. 

My spiritual thought for this week comes from Moroni 7:45, but this week I learned something really cool about having charity for ourselves - to see ourselves the way that Christ and Heavenly Father see us (italics added)- "And charity suffereth long while we are learning, and is kind towards ourselves, and envieth not (does not compare ourselves to others) , and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked at yourself for not being perfect or as capable as others, thinketh no evil about yourself and others, and rejoiceth not in iniquity (by beating ourselves up)but rejoiceth in the truth that we will figure things out in time, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." How neat is that? We're taught to liken the scriptures to ourselves - what better way?

Well friends, I know that this Church is true. I am so grateful for the amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, opportunity I have to be a missionary! What a marvelous blessing this Gospel is! Have the best week and know that you are all loved! :) 

-STOP! ..and appreciate Sandpoint. Cool Stop sign on exchanges. 

-A really cool sign that makes me chuckle that a member has hanging above their garage at their house. :) haha

-THIS WEEK I REACHED 7 MONTHS as a missionary! Holy Guacamole.. can time quit moving so fast? Anyway, I had to take this picture because 7 symbolizes complete, whole, rest, perfection... If you think about it, 7 is the perfect number. Alma chapter 7 talks about the Atonement of Christ, verses 11-13 in that Chapter list 7 things that the Atonement covers (if you define these words you discover that it is infinite - the Atonement covers everything), Christ had 7 wounds on His body that He freely shed for us.. the list can go on. So, reaching 7 months is a pretty great deal. :) (Also, the thing I'm doing with my hand means 7 in Sign Language- just FYI. :) )

-- 

"God be with you 'till we meet again!"

Hurrah for Israel!

Much Love,

Sister Jennifer Griffith

Week 30: A Full Plate

March 8, 2016

Well, not much time to write... that seems to be a theme, doesn't it? I'll tell you.. this hour and a half to email just zooms on by real quick like. Well, alas, I will try to put together a few thoughts in the last few minutes I have to write.

This week proved to be one with a plate full of so many things, but mostly food. I went down to Sandpoint for exchanges with the Sister Training Leader and we had a really awesome day. We started off our exchange by going to a really popular restaurant here that a member so conveniently owns so they give missionaries half-off.. Panhandler's Pies.. DELICIOUS! Anyway, so that was awesome because everyone kept telling me I needed to eat there before I get transferred, so "CHECK!" Anyway, so then we go out to an appointment near the river to teach a recent convert of theirs, Tracy. She was amazing!! Sister Ungricht (our STL) said that on Sunday she just randomly showed up out of no where and was like, "Hey, I met the missionaries over in Washington in October, got baptized in November, and have been a member for 3 months and decided to move up here to Sandpoint. If you will reteach me the missionary lessons because I didn't learn a ton, that would be awesome." So, that was cool. Anyway, so we had legitimately just gotten done with lunch and we get out to Tracy's and she's like, "Thanks for coming, Sisters.. By the way, I just made lunch for you." So.... what do you do other than grin and bear it? So, lunch #2 happened.... it was yummy, but man was my tummy full after that one. The awesome thing though was that Tracy had invited her nonmember friend to come too, so we were able to teach her friend who said that she really appreciated us coming by and said that she felt a really good presence about us.. That was way cool. Then, we were there for quite a while because Tracy had been sharing a lot with her friend and so the friend, Cynthia, had a lot of questions. Well, by the time we got out of that lesson, it was time for our dinner appointment. So, we went to that.... Meal #3. 3 LARGE meals in 3 hours. Woah. That was intense. It is such a blessing, though, to be serving in an area of the world where we have so much food just offered to us and provided and we don't have to worry about where our next meal is coming from.. what an amazing blessing. 

That night we also got to help out at mutual. We had this really neat object lesson where we set out pieces to the Plan of Salvation and had a youth come forward, look at the diagram to how the pieces were supposed to go, and then they were blindfolded and had to try to put them all together in the right way. Struggling because they were alone and couldn't see, we invited another person to come forward and help them - the only catch? They had to be blindfolded too... Obviously that wasn't going to be much help, so we invited two other youth to come forward and to guide them through it. Tell them where to put their hand down, where to move the pieces to, etc, but they couldn't do it for them. We were supposed to be teaching about missionary work, so this was our object lesson. People who don't know about the church or the Plan of Salvation (Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where will we go after we die?) are spiritually blindfolded and they can't do it all by themselves. However, if they want someone to help them who is also spiritually blindfolded, it doesn't help them at all.... so, we need people who know about the Gospel, members and missionaries alike, to come forward and to tell them the things they can do (where to move the pieces - prayer, scripture study, church attendance, etc) to be happy and to figure out the puzzle so that they too can take off their blindfolds and someday help others as well... but the missionaries can't do it for them (no matter how much we may want to sometimes...). Hopefully that made sense, because it was a really neat experience.

Something really awesome that happened this week was that we had a really cool experience with a lady named Linda. She was on our Potentials List and we felt prompted one evening around 8pm to go see her. We went, and she said at first that she wasn't interested. Well, we gave a second attempt and tried again and asked her "Linda, what would you like to be true?" She said, "The afterlife." "What would that look like?" "A continuation of Earth, only peaceful." We testified to her that this life is not the end and that she will indeed see her family again. She said that she loves Family History work and so we told her that the reason LDS members are so involved in family history is because we know that our families can be together forever. We invited her to attend the family history center and left her with a prayer and scheduled a return appointment. It was so amazing! ...other than the fact that she texted us last night and told us that she didn't really want to talk religion right now and might be interested later, but it was a really neat experience none-the-less. 

Well, my time is pretty much up, but I just want to leave you all with a spiritual thought about trials becoming better through righteous living. Imagine a 2 liter bottle filled with dirty, dark sand. This bottle has a hole on either side of it that is the size of only one grain of sand. Each time we do something right, such as reading our scriptures, saying our prayers, going to church, changing a bad thought into a good one, etc, it is like putting a piece of white sand into one end of the bottle. That automatically forces a dirty piece of sand out the other end. Now, if we look at that bottle at face value, we probably won't be able to see that piece of white sand at all, but we need to not get discouraged. We can't be like, "Well, that didn't work very well, so I guess I'll just disregard all of these good things and try something else." We need to keep putting more white sand into that bottle - a grain at a time. Over a while, we will be able to see those white grains of sand. They will become dominant and eventually fill the entire bottle. 

Well friends, that's about all I have for you this week. I hope that you have the best week and "Remember who you are and who God expects you to become" and might I add, who Heavenly Father knows you have every ability to become. :) Love you all! Thanks for your love and prayers. They are felt and appreciated more than you know. :) 

-A legitimate chicken crossing a road. SO AWESOME! :) 

-Beautiful Sandpoint on exchanges.

-A train.. from CANADA... what!? Only in Bonners Ferry.

-At the Temple today. The best place in the world. <3

-- 

"God be with you 'till we meet again!"

Hurrah for Israel!

Much Love,

Sister Jennifer Griffith

Week 29: The 30-yr-old Sister Missionary

February 29, 2016

Well, hello friends and family, it is a BEA-U-TIFUL spring, sunny, day up here in far-north Idaho. This week proved to be 10-fold better than last, so that is such a blessing!! So many ups-and-downs on missions, and in life, too... The important thing is the last step in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to Endure to the End!! 

Well, this week proved to be full of many marvelous miracles. I will try to adequately express them to you in the time that I have left. ANYWAY, so... Something super cool happened this week!! We have been trying to find new investigators for like five-ever (that's more intense than for-ever, get it, hahaha...). Anyway, so.. our Bishop called us the other week and said that someone in our ward who wasn't coming wanted to start making it back to church and that his fiance, Allie, wanted to take the missionary lessons (insert rejoicing here)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is nothing short of a miracle in missionary work, so we were SUPER excited. Anyway... he gave us her number and we have been trying to call her for the last 2 weeks, but she has never answered her phone, so we just kind of assumed that she was blowing us off. Not the case, my friends. We felt impressed to try and call her again one morning earlier than we had been calling in the past, and she answers the phone!! We tell her who we are, she said she does want to meet, but that she probably couldn't for a week or so, and that she would let us know. Anyway, so that was one exciting thing. BUT, to make matters even more miraculous, we were going about our day a couple of hours later and she texts us saying, "Hey, we're going to be at the laundromat in a few minutes if you want to meet up there." SO, obviously we went... and it was an awesome lesson! She had been meeting with missionaries back home in California and was going to get baptized there (!!!!) and then when we were teaching her about the Restoration she was like mouthing the words and what we were saying along with us.. it was awesome! We are so excited for her and for the progress she will be making in the next few days, weeks, and months. What an amazing thing missionary work is! :")

We were also teaching another family this week about prayer (the same family that I told you about a few weeks ago where their little girl said the prayer off of the kitchen decoration about dirty dishes). Anyway, so I received the distinct impression during when we were talking to ask the question, "Do you ever get the chance to pray as a family?" So, I asked them that, and we had a super spiritual lesson about the importance of prayer and committed them to pray together as a family. Anyway, so after the lesson, we were leaving and Sister Rogers turns to me and says, "Literally, I received the exact same prompting to ask them that question and right when I was about to say it, you opened your mouth and said the EXACT same question, word for word, that I was going to say." It was such a tender experience and another testament that the Spirit truly does guide the work and helps us to teach in a way that Heavenly Father and Christ would have us teach. 

We taught one of our investigators, Clark, again this week. He had a stroke a couple of years back, and so he can't see or talk really well. We have been going over and reading him passages from the Book of Mormon and teaching him the lessons. At the end of one of our lessons this week, he turns to Sister Rogers and says, "How old are you girls? 20's? 30's? You must be 20" (referring to Sister Rogers) and then he turns to me, "30's"? hahahahaahahahahahahahahahhahaahahahahha, it's all I  could do to not literally laugh when he said that. Yes, friends. I am in my 30's. Not that being in your 30's is a bad thing, because of course, it's not. It was just so funny after he had perfectly guessed Sister Rogers' age to turn to me and think I was something like 10 years older than her. I guess I'll just take that to mean that I seem more mature or something... either that or I just look really old for my age. ;) Funny stuff. 

On Saturday, we were leaving for a baptism of someone in the other ward, and we walk out of our house and realize we have forgotten the keys... WELL.... good thing we had so conveniently forgotten to put out our spare key and hide it, so we literally had no way to get into the house or drive our car, and I was supposed to be the chorister for the baptism that started in 5 minutes. Well, we said a little prayer and then, in less than 2 minutes, Sister Rogers literally takes off our window screen, opens our window, jumps into our house standing on these crates we had outside (seriously like parkour), grabs our keys, and we leave and make it to the baptism on time... so that was comforting knowing that someone wouldn't have to work too hard to break into our house. hahaha, the adventures of being a missionary, I'll tell ya. The baptism was of a woman who has been investigating the church for 2 years now, and it was so spiritual. We have been over to talk to her sister, Terry, and are planning on going back to do service in her yard for her sometime soon. Anyway, so yesterday, this lady who got baptized, Dixie, came up to us after church when she had just received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and she said, "Sisters! When they took their hands off of my head after I got the gift of the Holy Ghost, it felt like I had 2 heartbeats. I thought I was going to faint. It's wonderful." It was such a tender message to me that this is the work of Heaven, not the work of man. That missionary work changes lives, and eternities. I am so grateful to have this short time to be fully immersed in it. What a blessing!

The last noteworthy thing that happened this week was when we were driving home after a lesson with some super cute kids who know everything about the gospel and want to be baptized, and had dropped some soup off to Kymm that Amie made because she has been sick the last couple of weeks. Anyway, we're just going merrily on our way when, "BOOM!".. a deer hard core sprints into the side of our truck. So, that was an interesting experience. Those sneaky deer, I'll tell ya. We're fine, our truck has a few dents, and the deer looked pretty sad and stunned for a minute before getting up and limping away, but it was one interesting experience. I may or may not have let out a slight scream in shock after it happened... whatever you want to think happened.. :) 

Well friends, that's about all I have time for. This week has been a great one and next week I get to travel down to Spokane to the temple, so I am super excited about that one! I know this church is true. I know that blessings will come to all of us as we strive to endure to the end. I have been studying a lot about patience this week, and came across a scripture in my Personal Study this morning from President Uchtdorf's talk on Patience from 2010 (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/continue-in-patience?lang=eng) - Continue in Patience. It is found in Luke 21: 19 - "in patience possess ye your souls" - but if we look at the footnote b in this verse, it says, "in patience win mastery of your souls." How amazing of a thought is that? Patience is not passively waiting for something good to happen, it is working hard and being okay if rewards don't come right away... patiently enduring and enduring well. I love the thought that if we are patient, we are learning to master our souls. How awesome is that? Have a great week, wonderfuls! Talk to you again soon!

-Sister Rogers, Amie, and Me at Amie's Sister's recording studio... I felt so cool. haha

-At Sisters Ln!! :)

-A Bald Eagle.. so much wildlife here.. so neat! :)  

-- 

"God be with you 'till we meet again!"

Hurrah for Israel!

Much Love,

Sister Jennifer Griffith