Hello Mom!!

   How are you?? I did get the package on Thursday. Thank you so much!!! The cookies weren't broken at all. I love the shirt you sent me. It is a beautiful color! My companion liked the sugar cookies too. Thanks for the candy too. I love the CD! The songs are wonderful! Thank you for the pictures of Amy's wedding! She looked so beautiful! I keep forgetting to tell you that I did hear from Dolly. I got it at the beginning of October. She is so sweet! One of the African members is moving out to Utah. She is going to be living in Salt Lake and she wants to come visit you. I gave her your phone number--home and cell numbers. Her number is 207-420-7923. She is flying out today but I'm not sure when she will call you. She wanted me to tell you that crazy Liliane is coming! She speaks English really well. She got baptized last January. She is amazing!! You are going to love her!! I'll send you a picture of her. I've sent pictures to you with her in them. It is starting to get cool here. It has been in the 50s during the day. That's so exciting about Amy and Heather. I had no idea!! Thanks for telling me that.

  This week has been great!! We met with a less active that wants to come back to church. She has been really busy because her dad isn't doing well and she is the one that helps him out. I think I've told you about her before. We were finally able to meet with her. She is so sweet! She knows that the Gospel back in her life is exactly what she needs. We talked with her about the Atonement and how Christ is always there to succor us because He has been through everything we could ever feel. I love being able to testify of how the Savior is always there. I know that He is always there. He is the only one that completely understands what we are feeling. We taught another less active this week. We showed her the Restoration DVD and we read 2 Nephi 3 with her. She didn't realize that it was revelation about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We then shared Ezekiel 37:15-17 and told her that it was talking about the Book of Mormon. She didn't realize that the Bible had scriptures in it about the Book of Mormon. She told us that we answered her questions that she had been thinking about for a while. She never asked us the questions out loud. It was a huge reminder that the Holy Ghost is the true teacher. I don't know all of the needs of those I am teaching but Heavenly Father does and He is going to use the Spirit to guide my words so their needs are met. It was amazing!!  I know that this is the Lord's work and He is going to make sure that it gets done. 

  We now have a French speaking Elder in our ward. The Africans are so excited!! He really helped out in our English class too. We have a few people that are coming to English class that don't speak any English at all and he helped them a lot. Our ward is going to start doing a French Gospel Principles class next week. It is going to be so helpful for all of the recent converts and investigators that speak English. Our ward had a Halloween activity on Saturday. They did a costume parade and they had all of us, missionaries, judge it. Each child got an award. It was kind of hard to come up with awards for all of them. There were some cute costumes. They also went trick-or-treating in the church. Is the ward back home doing a trunk-or-treat? 

  This week I have been thinking about more fully doing the Lord's will. A sister that spoke in the ward kind of made me start thinking about it. She mentioned that we must KNOW the Savior in order to emulate Him. We can't just know about Him but we must know Him on a personal level in order to become like Him. I love that!! How can you become like someone if you don't know them? I think of the scripture Luke 22:32- "When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." I have to be converted before I can help others become converted. I need to more willingly give my will to the Lord. I have also been thinking about light and I was studying President Uchtdorf's talk from the April General Conference. I love how he said, "But even though we may feel lost in the midst of our current circumstances, God promises the hope of His light--He promises to illuminate the way before us and show us the way out of darkness." God will always be there for us no matter what. We are never alone. Life isn't always easy but I know that the Lord gives us these moments in our lives to make us grow. Again in President Uchtdorf's talk he says, "He does not wish to break your spirit. On the contrary, He desires that you rise up and become the person you were designed to be." The Lord will help me make things that could be stumbling blocks into stepping stones. He loves us so much!! Have a great week!! I love you!!! Have a great Halloween! 

   Love,

     Sister Griffin

 

 Picture 1-Liliane and me. She just barely did her hair like this. It is crazy!!

 Picture 2-Liliane and me again. That is what her hair normally looks like. Enjoy the pictures!!