Hi Mom!!

  How are you doing? I'm so glad Amy's wedding dinner and wedding went well. I can't believe that she is married. Mary sent me some pictures of it. Amy looked beautiful!!! The cake looked really nice too! Thanks for giving me Amy's new address. I would love to see more pictures! That's awesome about Mary letting that elder use her phone. I'm sure him and his family appreciated that. 

  So to start off I have to tell you that I met someone from Paul and Nadia's ward. This couple said they were visiting from the Macon Georgia ward and so I decided to ask them if they knew Paul Griffin and they said absolutely. Their names are the Hawthorns. Brother Hawthorn serves with Paul in the Elder's quorum presidency. He had a lot of nice things to say about Paul and his family. Sister Hawthorn wrote my name down so she would remember to tell Paul that they met one of his cousins. It was awesome!! The world is such a small place! English class is going great! We have about 15 people that come every week. We did more conversation stuff with them this week. They loved it! Joseph comes every week and this week he started asking us questions about the church. He started talking to me and he asked, "What makes your church different from other churches?" I started to tell him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. I told him that the Elders could come teach him more and he immediately said, "I want to come to your church." I was so excited. I wanted to teach him more but I couldn't. The place where we are teaching English is a non-profit organization and if we preach the gospel there then they could lose their non-profit status. They are letting us use this space for free so we are doing all that we can to respect their rules. Joseph did come to church! I think he really enjoyed it. He even made a comment in Gospel Principles. I hope he decides to keep meeting with the Elders. 

  We did some service for a less active this week. It was great! She really wants to come back to church. She had some friends that told her the church wasn't true so she has a lot of questions and doubts. As we have been meeting with her she seems to realize more and more that the church really is true. She came to church this week too! She is progressing really well. She really wants to jump right back into the church. As for transfers, I have no idea. I will know by next Monday if I am getting transferred or not. I was on exchange this week with two sisters in Saco. They are in a trio there so one of the sisters came to be with Sister Beus. We taught a man that has left the church but he really wants to come back. He knows how the gospel can help his family. He also wants to be a worthy priesthood holder. His fiance has lupus and he wants to be able to help her by giving her blessings. It was a great lesson! We also taught a girl that is wanting to join the church. She has a friend that is active in the gospel. Her friend has answered a lot of her questions of the soul because of the gospel. The two sisters that I was with are amazing!! They know how to follow the Spirit and they know how to bear strong testimonies. One of them is a visa waiter and she feels like she is going to be leaving soon. She has been here for about 5 months. We are going to teach one of the members about the temple to help her get there. She is a wonderful member and she would just love the temple. She joined the church about six years ago and she had to completely turn her life around. She is wonderful! 

  This week I have been studying knowledge. Why do we need knowledge and how do we obtain knowledge? I love what it says in the Bible Dictionary, "Knowledge of divine and spiritual things is absolutely essential for one's salvation." We can only progress as fast as we are gaining knowledge. According to John 17:3, we must have a knowledge of Jesus Christ to gain eternal life. In Romans 1:28 it talks about retaining God in our knowledge. Why should we do that? We need to do that because our purpose on earth is to prepare to meet Him. If we aren't thinking about God and gaining all the knowledge we need to prepare to meet God then we really don't have a purpose in life. Knowledge is what allows us to enter the kingdom of God. Have a great week!! I love you!! Thanks for your prayers and your support!

  Love,

    Sister Griffin