Hi Mom!!

  How are you?? That's great about the Relief Society room being full from the start. That is a big change. I hope Melba is doing ok. That's funny that Mary works at the same school Tina does. It's such a small world!! How was your New Year's Eve? What did you do?

  We had a lot of snow. Our car was grounded for two days so my companion and I did a lot of walking. I was so happy to be able to walk...my companion not so much. She hates the snow...its ok, I'll like it enough for her and me both. We did a lot of shoveling. The first day that our car was grounded it was still snowing. We walked to the Relief Society President's house to shovel her driveway. They made us come inside and eat after we were done. Everyone here thinks they have to feed us when we go to their houses. It's sweet of them but really not necessary. We were walking and there was a man that was shoveling out his car and he didn't want the rest of his driveway done because he needed to leave. We helped him get his car out and then we walked on. Sister Miller and I got the promtping to go back so we did. We noticed that his car was gone so we decided to shovel the rest of their driveway while they were gone. They ended up catching us because they had to come back for something. They were so happy for the help. It was awesome to be able to help them. It got pretty cold here but it was bearable.

  We are meeting with a less active now. Her name is Diane. She has been less active for a long time. She really wants to come back to church and she wants to quit smoking. We asked her how she wanted us to help her. She thinks that meeting with us regularly will help her get the motivation to get up and go to church. She also wants to start reading the Book of Mormon more. We suggested some ways that could help her get the desire to read every day and she wants to do one of them. She wants to study by topic and we are going to help her pick topics to study. It's going to be awesome!!! I love being able to help people come closer to Christ!! We were supposed to meet with one of our investigators this week but we had to cancel because of the storm. Hopefully we can meet with him this week.

  Transfers are happening next week. My companion thinks she is getting transfered. She has been here for almost six months...crazy!!!! She loves it here and doesn't want to leave. I keep telling her that going to new areas is a fun growing experience.

  This week I was studying about sacrifice this week. I was thinking about Christ performed the Ultimate Sacrifice. I was also thinking about the little sacrifices that the Lord asks of me. I love what it says in "True to the Faith" about sacrifice. It talks about how we give up something we value for something of greater worth. I asked myself, "What is someone else's salvation worth? Am I willing to give up ALL to help others gain salvation?" It also says, "If we were not required to make sacrifices, we would never be able to develop the faith necessary for eternal salvation." I love that!! Our sacrifices build our faith so we can gain eternal life. I was thinking about the difference between the rich man in Matthew 19:16-22 and King Lamoni's father in Alma 22:15-18. Which one are we like? Would we give anything for the Lord and His Kingdom. I need to be more willing to give of myself. I love you!! Have a great week!!!

  Love,

    Sister Griffin