Hi Mom!

  How are you?? Did you get my letter about the recipes?? Can you send them to me this week? If you didn't get my letter, I asked for you to send the Rocky Road Brownie recipe and your Banana Cream Pie recipe. There is a girl in the ward that wants to make all of our favorite things for Thanksgiving. I'm glad your cough is getting better. My cough is getting better too. I didn't really have a cold with it. I got Marilyn's package...and no I haven't opened it. I want to but I will try and wait until Christmas.

  Yesterday was the primary program. That is one of my favorite Sundays!! The Primary kids are so cute!! We have just over 20 kids in the primary. They did such a great job. The Relief Society President, Sister Earnshaw, invited one of her friends that is not a member. We had tracted into her friend a couple of months ago. When I saw her I greeted her by her name and she was so surprised I remembered who she was. Sister Earnshaw talked to us after Sacrament and said that her friend, Pat, asked if she had told us she was coming and Sister Earnshaw told her no. Pat was so amazed that we remembered her name. I had a huge confirmation that remembering names is so important. People feel so much more valued when people remember their names. It was awesome! The music was wonderful!! I was thinking as they were singing "A Child's Prayer" how wonderful it is that we can go to our Heavenly Father in prayer. I love how it says. "Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee." Our prayers should be a conversation with our Heavenly Father. I am really trying on making my prayers more meaningful and more of a conversation. 

  We also had a little cottage meeting with President Hawkes last night. President Hawkes is in the mission presidency. The senior couple set it up with him and he asked all of the missionaries to be there. The meeting was for all of the African converts and investigators. He talked about the Book of Mormon and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ and that it answers the questions of the soul. He asked them if they had any questions of the soul. He had me, Elder Pruett, and Elder Campbell(senior missionary) answer one of the questions that someone in the group had asked. I answered Where are we going? with Alma 40:11-12. I love the Book of Mormon!! It definitely answers the questions of the soul. President Hawkes taught mostly in French. I kind of got the jist of what he was teaching when he was speaking French. I'm surprised how many words I recognize...it would definitely help if I remembered a lot more. The Spirit was so strong!! 

  This week we got to help a sister in the ward clean out her apartment. She is a little bit of a hoarder. She needed it cleaned out very fast. Sister Campbell, Sister Beus, and I worked for just a couple of hours the one day. We got it cleaned out. Then the next day we went back to organize some of the things that Sister Campbell let her keep. Sister Campbell is good at getting rid of junk. It was a lot of fun! The sister that we helped in the ward announced to all of the Gospel Principles class that we cleaned her apartment and she invited everyone to come over to her place now. I think she is happy to have it cleaned out. English class went well this week. Our numbers keep increasing. I worked a lot with the beginners. They are all so eager to learn English. It is exciting to be able to help them. 

  I started studying voices. I was thinking about one of the talks that was given at zone conference and so I decided to study voices. I was reading in Deuteronomy 5:23-24 and 1 Kings 19:12. It talks about the voice of the Lord being heard after the fire and after the storms. I was thinking that the fire could symbolize our trials or the cleansing events in our lives. We don't always know why something is happening until after the trial or the purification process is over. After a trial is usually when we can hear the voice of the Lord more easily. We can be more spiritually in tune so we will be more apt to hear it. I hope that makes sense. There are so many voices in the world that are competing for us to listen to. I am working on recognizing and acting on the one true voice that can bring me the most happiness. God has given us a wonderful gift that if we are worthy of it we can have it with us constantly! We are so blessed!! I love you so much!!!! Have a great week!! You are in my thoughts and prayers!

   Love,

     Sister Griffin