Hi Mom!!!

  How are you?? Your week sounded busy...that's good. Amy's pictures are cute!!! I love her wedding dress! I still can't believe she is getting married. What temple are they getting married in? Who are Amy's bride's maids? Tell Aunt Diane that she is in my thoughts and prayers. I hope the surgery will help her feel better. Tell Happy Late Birthday to Sam for me. I remembered last week but I forgot to put it in my e-mail. Sorry Sam! If you could send me my black and white flowered skirt in the package that would be great! Can you also send me my Eclipse CD in my CD case? Thank you!!! I got a letter from someone in the village but they didn't sign it. I think it is from Ron Clarke but I'm not sure. The apartment number is 44. Is that where he lives? 

  Zone Conference was amazing!!! President Stoker is a wonderful! We talked about our new mission vision and how we want the mission to be in the next 12 months. We are trying to focus on getting to know that members more and building relationships with them. We want to help the members have significant missionary experiences. The best way to find people to teach is through the members. I love Zone Conference!! President Stoker also mentioned some of the mission policies that changed a little bit. The music one stayed the same. Sister Stoker showed us some object lessons that we can use in our lessons. She had a lot of great ideas! They are both very inspired people. President Hawkes (a counselor in the mission presidency) spoke too. He talked about the power of bearing strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. He talked about a missionary that bore testimony in their house one time. That testimony made his son want to go on a mission. He talked about how we have no idea how our testimony will affect other people. I need to try and bear stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon because it is the convincing evidence that God calls prophets again on the the earth. It can help us draw closer to our Heavenly Father. I know that it is the Word of God. 

  We got two investigators this week. Etem is from Sudan and he has been in America for about 13 years. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. He didn't really know very much about Jesus Christ but he loved learning about it. He believed in reincarnation. We had a member, Sister Good-Simpson, at the lesson with him and she told him just what she was thinking. It was kind of like he was talking to his mother. He listened to her as if she was his mom. It was perfect. She committed him to read the Book of Mormon and he said he would do it if he had time. She said, "No, that is not a commitment. You expect things from Jesus so you need to be willing to give something to Him." He said, "You're right. I'll read the Book of Mormon." It was awesome!!!  He called us today and said that he read the Book of Mormon and it made him feel really good. I love being a missionary. The other investigator we taught this week was Joanna. She has gone to a lot of churches. She feels like God is leading her to a certain path but she hasn't found the path yet. Her kids really want to pick a church and go to it. They are tired of switching. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation because the Elders taught her the Restoration. We talked for quite a while about the pre-earth life. She said that she felt like there was always something before we came to earth but she never wanted to talk to anyone about it. She thought everyone would think she was crazy for thinking about that. She loved learning about it. We are meeting with her this week. I can't wait to teach her more. 

  I got a letter from Kyong this week. She wishes that I could be there for her baptism. She said that a missionary couple that taught her 5 or 6 years ago is coming to her baptism. I'm so excited for her!!! We do have a car. It is a brand new Ford Fusion. We don't have to share it with the Elders. The two sets of Elders share a car and we get our own car. Sometimes I wished we didn't have a car because it is hard to find people in a car. We will move into our new apartment September 9. It is a really nice place and we can see the ocean from our bedroom window. It is beautiful! This week has been wonderful!!! I've been studying about faith in Jesus Christ and how important it is. What is faith? How do we obtain faith?? Faith is the foundation on which we can build upon. Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ with our whole heart. Faith can grow into a tree of knowledge (Alma 32:41-42). I love how if we continue to nourish our faith that it will continue to grow. We are so blessed to have the Gospel. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ because of a humble prayer. Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to become clean and one day dwell with our Father in Heaven. I love you!!! Have a great week!! You are in my thoughts and prayers!! Enjoy Stake Conference!

  Love,

    Sister Griffin