Hi Mom!!!

� How are you? Thank you so much for going to Sister Allen's grandpa's viewing. She told me that she really appreciated you going there. She wishes she would have taken a picture with you. Thank you so so so much for going to that!! Sister Allen is wonderful! I feel like I have known her forever. You are the best! You had a busy week! It sounds like your weather is getting fairly warm. We are still in the 30s here. We had a couple days in the 50s. It was a nice change.

� Sister Miller is leaving and I am staying. I am not getting a new missionary. I'm not sure who my new companion is but I will meet her on Tuesday. Sister Miller was here just over 7 months. She is really not wanting to leave but I'm sure her new area will be great! As far as the picture of the fan in the freezer...we were helping the Wilcox's move during the summer and we were really hot so they decided to put a fan in the freezer to blow the cold air out. I thought it was funny so I took pictures of it.

� This week has been awesome!! We met with Kathey twice. She called us this week to ask us if President Monson could baptize her. She wants to write him a letter to ask him if he would do that. A member of the ward invited Kathey to come to dinner with us at her house. Kathey asked about the things we can eat and drink and so Tilly, the member, told her about it and so did we. Kathey said that the only thing that she does is drink coffee. We found out this morning that she had hot chocolate this morning instead of coffee. Kathey is so hungry for the gospel. She has been getting on lds.org to watch Conference talks. She is amazing! Sister Gretter, who is Kathey's friend, is wonderful at teaching Kathey and testifying to her. When Kathey found out that we were getting transfer calls she said, "You better not be leaving because I prayed for you to be here. You can't leave yet." She is so funny!

� This week I have studied the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I was studying this I read 2 Nephi 31. I love how Nephi starts out that he is going to talk with plainness. The gospel is really simple and clear. The Lord has given us commandments and we have the choice to obey them. We must choose to obey them. I love the visual that Nephi uses to describe the Doctrine of Christ. He says that we must have faith and the way to open the gate is through repentance and baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. That isn't all that we have to do; we must endure to the end or in other words continue on the path that Heavenly Father has given us (keep the commandments). Heavenly Father has given us the tools that we need to return to Him, we have to be the ones that decide to pick them up and use them. I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much!!! Have a great week!!! I love you!!!!

� Love,

��� Sister Griffin

The picture is of the snow outside of our apartment

 Thank you!

�

Sorry I am having a hard time forwarding the picture that Callee sent.  

Hi Mom,

  How are you? That's too bad that Lauren was sick. Before I forget, Happy Birthday Brad and Lindsay this week and Happy Birthday Joseph next week. That's awesome about the cooking class! 

  This week has been good. We got a huge snow storm on Wednesday. We were going to teach Kathey but since it snowed so bad we couldn't meet with her. She came to church yesterday though. She doesn't live in our mission boundaries but her best friend lives in the boundaries. She doesn't like the idea of having to go to a different ward. She likes the Methuen ward. She told me yesterday that she might just have to move into the ward boundaries. She is so funny! She asked some questions in Gospel principles and she felt like she was asking too many. A lady in our ward, Tilly, told her to ask the questions because she knows that the gospel will answer her questions. I was so grateful for Tilly and her testimony. We have some wonderful people in our ward! 
  I have been thinking about something that Kathey said in church yesterday. She mentioned that she was starving for truth and she feels like she is finally getting answers. It is so true, she is hungry and thirsty for the truth. She has a lot of deep questions that show that she has really thought about where she stands with God. When she said that I thought of the woman at the well. Christ is the Living Water and if we apply His teachings then we shall never hunger (or thirst). I love being able to help people find a way to quench their thirst. 
  We taught a lady named Ann this week. I think I might have told you about her. She is the one that is trying to quit smoking. She got really sick about 2 weeks ago, so sick that she couldn't smoke. Sister Miller and I told her that God was telling her to quit smoking. She went a week and a half without smoking. I know she can do if she relies on the Savior to help her. 

  This week I have been studying in Ether 3. The Brother of Jared had great faith!! He knew that if he told the Lord the idea that he came up with to light the barges that the Lord would do it. I think the Lord is like that a lot of the time with us. We have to come up with solutions to problems and then approach the Lord about them. The Brother of Jared knew that he had weaknesses but he remembered that the Lord has all power. We must be like that! The Brother of Jared had a perfect knowledge of the Savior after he saw Him.  Ether 3:19 "And because of the ^aknowledge of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the ^bveil; and he saw the finger of Jesus, which, when he saw, he fell with fear; for he knew that it was the finger of the Lord; and he had ^cfaith no longer, for he knew, nothing ^ddoubting" One day we too will have that perfect knowledge! We have to work on it everyday. How do we continue to make our faith grow? I know that we are here on the earth to learn and grow to become like our Heavenly Father!  I love you!!! Have a great week!!!!

   Love,

     Sister Griffin

As far as what to put in a package...I'm not sure. I can't think of anything that I need right now. Anything you want to put in will be great! 

Hi Mom!!

  How are you? How
did your talk go? I heard from a couple people that it was so good! What did
you say in it? Can you believe that it is February already?! How is your
Presidency going? How is the ward? Can you send me the Bow Tie Skillet Lasagna
recipe and the coconut bread recipe, please? I have talked to people about it
and they want to try it. 

  This week has
been great! We taught Kathey and we had a powerful lesson with her. She has so
many questions and I love it! We taught her parts of the Plan of Salvation. She
was asking about the Spirit world and we got led to talk to her about the
Atonement, which is something that she has struggled with. She didn't
understand why a loving God would make His Son suffer like that. We showed her Elder
Holland's talk, "None Were with Him." She loved it. She loved this
part of it, "With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please
His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake
His Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s
mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these
agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice
of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father
briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His
personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance
of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong
nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of
us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite
and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but
spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw,
leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone." She said that
she feels like she understands why He had to suffer now. We asked her to read
Moroni 10:3-5 and she couldn't even get through it. She got one sentence in and
she started crying. Her friend Sister Gretter was testifying of the Book of
Mormon and the Gospel throughout our whole lesson. The Spirit was there
testifying to her too! It was amazing!!!!!!

  We met with Ashley this week too! Her mom
was supposed to come to church this week but she didn't. We had Ashley's
primary teacher come to our lesson with her and it was great. Ashley told us
the story of Joseph Smith. She is praying to know if he was a prophet right
now. We are trying to plan a time that we could take her with a member to the
Joseph Smith Memorial in Vermont. I hope we can get her there to feel of the
Spirit that is there. 

  This week I studied the difference
between the power of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I love what
it says in the Bible Dictionary: "The gift of the Holy Ghost is the right
to have, whenever one is worthy, the companionship of the Holy Ghost. For those
who receive this gift, the Holy Ghost acts as a cleansing agent to purify them
and sanctify them from all sin. Thus it is often spoken of as “fire”." The
Gift of the Holy Ghost provides the cleansing that we all need. We are so
blessed to be led by the Holy Ghost. He is a Comforter and teacher. John 14:26-27.
I love you so much!!! Have a great week!!!!!

  Here is a link that is for our mission.
It will let you know what is going on in our mission

 Love, 

     Sister Griffin.