Another week in Glasgow :)

Well, this week was a crazy one. We had exchanges. That is when the Sister Training Leaders (STL'S) are companions with us. I was companions with Sister Ricks and Sister Moore was companions with Sister Jones. The point of exchanges is basically to learn. To learn what to improve on and what you are doing well at. Sister Moore and Sister Jones went to the STL's area. That means that I was in charge of leading out the area here in Glasgow. When we went on exchanges I had barely been here for a week! I was so nervous!! Sister Moore was so sweet to me though. She wrote out directions, described the people, and helped me know what we should teach them. Some of the people we were planning to see I hadn't even met! Sister Ricks is very kind. I learned so much from her on exchanges. I also learned how much God helps us in our lives when we cry out to him. There were a few times when we were walking the streets in Glasgow when I was just praying so hard that I wouldn't get us too lost. For anyone that knows me, you know how directionally challenged I am. Spin me in circles and I probably won't be able to get us home... but, with the help of Sister Moore and listening to the Spirit I was able to find my way. I love this gospel so much. I do know that we can do anything with the Lord on our side. Sister Ricks and I were able to teach good lessons and find nice people. This was one of my favourite exchanges!

Yesterday we had "Zone Development"! It was a lot of fun! We played volleyball, some elders tried to teach me to throw a football, we played Frisbee, there was a talent show. The whole thing was great fun! :)

I hope that you all have a wonderful week, and don't forget all that God does for you. Notice the many miracles that take place in your life. 

PS the picture included is a part of the talent show. It isn't the best quality of picture... Nor is it probably as funny to you as it was to me. Our Zone Leaders are just so funny. The one with the lasso is from Wyoming and the one in the giraffe/cow onsie is from a small town in Canada. They were demonstrating what they would do at a rodeo if they were to catch a cow and tie it up. Haha, ya... sorry... the story probably isn't as funny to you... but I am laughing really hard right now remembering it again!!! :D 

Love you all! :) 

xoxoxox

-Sister Kelsey Griffin

Prettiest Girl in Scotland!

The view from the new flat.

A picture of me holding a garden gnome. I thought you'd like it mom. :) 

Our little Betty Crocker!

Glasgow :)

You can send letters and packages to the mission home at:

51 Spylaw Road

Edinburgh, Scotland

EH105 BP

Or letters to my flat at:

86 Rotherwood Ave.

Glasgow, Scotland

G13 2RJ

United Kingdom 

To begin, greetings from Scotland :) I just want to thank everyone for all of the sweet emails. I logged on today and had 35 emails.... WOW! I feel mighty special. However, I don't have too much time to email, so if I don't have the time to reply to everyone I am so very sorry!! I hope that you all had an incredible week, and a very happy Easter! :)  

On Wednesday, April 16 I woke up around 6am and travelled in a car, a bus, a ferry, a bus, another bus, and a car to get to my flat in Glasgow by about 5pm. I met my new companion, Sister Moore. She is the sweetest thing! :) The flat that we live in is beautiful! Fun fact! Sister Moore's last companion was Sister Allen. Sister Allen and I were really good friends in the MTC. Sister Allen was trained by my last companion Sister Caswell in this area! Sister Allen joked that I keep getting her ex's! :) How funny is that? Now Sister Caswell is companion's with Sister Hammond. My friend from college. Crazy little triangle there, right? Hopefully you all followed it :) 

On Thursday, April 17 I met loads of new people. People aren't very happy with me being here. They miss Sister Allen a lot. I don't blame them though. I know Sister Allen and she is amazing! We taught an investigator named Amad in Starbucks. He is so sweet! He bought us muffins to munch on during the lesson. He loves learning visually, so he gives us homework to make the lessons more interesting. It makes it fun though :) I also was able to meet the cutest couple, Sammy and Stuart. They are so good! Sammy was baptised into our church a few years ago, but is now less active. When Stuart first met Sister Allen and Sister Moore he said that he would never pray and never drink tea. Now he is praying and he said that he is going to slowly start to give up his tea. We made a pact that if he gives up tea then I will give up what I am addicted to... wait for it.... chocolate. Yep. So if you send me any chocolate please don't be offended, but I will not be eating it. 

Friday, April 18- So before Sister Caswell went to Clonsilla with me, she was in the area that I am now in. When she was here she became friends with a man named Carlos and taught him the lessons. I was able to meet him today, and he was so excited to hear all about Sister Caswell :) 

Saturday, April 19- Met Pierre. Pierre had a baptismal interview on Saturday. He had only been taught by the sisters for about a month and a half! He was so prepared! 

Sunday, April 20- Happy Easter!! :D 

My friend David back in Clonsilla was baptised today.

I was also able to see Pierre be baptised. It was so amazing. He was so happy, and he came a long way to get to here. It was so good! :) 

For Easter dinner we had PB&J's made from Pierre :) 

Monday, April 21- A member in our ward named Maddy took us to see the Kelpie statues! They were so cool! It was also a really fun road trip out there! Maddy reminds me a lot of Heidi, so it brought back some fun road trip memories :) 

I am sorry that I was unable to email yesterday. The library was closed due to Easter, but next week I should be emailing Monday. There are so many people who have been prepared here in Glasgow and I am very excited to meet them and teach them. I hope that you all have an amazing week! :) 

I love you all! 

xoxoxox

-Sister Kelsey Griffin 

Goodbye Clonsilla.....

What a week! I loved conference. I loved serving with Sister Caswell, and then with Sister Quinones! I am full of gratitude! I am also grateful for the Easter Package that I received!! :D I love Easter! :)  

On Saturday, Sister Quinones and I were sitting down at the table doing nightly planning when all of a sudden a loud beeping noise went off! We just looked at each other, and then looked down the hall... It made us kind of nervous. We walked down toward the noise in the hall and realized it was the fire alarm! We thought maybe there was something wrong with the alarm, or it was a joke... haha, we were wrong. We opened our front door and saw smoke! Our neighbours were scrambling to grab things and put on shoes. Sister Quinones and I grabbed the keys and coats. We are on the third floor so we had to run down the stairs. As we were running downstairs there was a little girl by herself who looked confused and scared. I grabbed her hand and helped her down the stairs with us. The further down the stairs we went the thicker the smoke got.... Honestly, it was a pretty frightening experience. We didn't die or anything, obviously. And no one was injured. But seeing all that smoke, and knowing that it wasn't safe made me think about my life and what was important to me. We had to wait outside of our flat in the cold for a little over an hour. The little girl who we helped go downstairs found her parents and they were so grateful she made it out okay. There is a lady who lives next to us who came looking for us to make sure we made it out okay. It was so sweet of her! Everything ended up being okay. I for sure had a new perspective on counting your blessings though. 

Sunday (last night) was moves call! I am leaving Ireland and heading to Glasgow.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Don't forget to count your many blessings! You will be surprised for all the Lord has done for you. 

xoxox

Love Always, Sister Kelsey Griffin 

Be Careful For What You Pray For... :)

Quote of The Week:

"Courage is not the absence of despair. It is rather the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair." -Kierkegaard (Courtesy of Sister Caswell)

Scripture of The Week: 

Deuteronomy 20:1

Boy oh boy.... This week was a CRAZY one!!! Missions really are roller coasters! ...well, I suppose life in general is quite a crazy ride.

Thursday, March 27: I told Sister Caswell how much I have loved serving with her and I don't feel like we are done being companions yet. I told her I would LOVE to be her companion for one more transfer, and if we had the privilege to be companions again I would willingly train! I wouldn't even complain. I also told her if I am to prepare myself to train I need to start leading out the area more... So, that was that.... :) 

Wednesday, April 2: At around 10:30am Sister Caswell and I were sitting in a lesson with a lady who speaks Italian and very little English. She was interested in our message and we were trying our hardest to communicate with her using Google Translate. Suddenly the phone rang and as Sister Caswell was about to put it on silent she looked to see who was calling and ran out of the room! I thought it was kind of strange because normally we dismiss calls during lessons. When she came back into the room she seemed kind of spacey and I couldn't tell why her attitude changed so fast. We put on the Restoration DVD in Italian and I leaned over to Sister Caswell asking if she was okay. She just whispered back "We will talk about it later..." Uh oh. We finished the lesson with Lindita and set up a time to see her again. When we finally left the house I asked Sister Caswell, "What's the story." She told me President Brown called. Now, missionaries tend to worry when President calls because their first thought is "who died??". I panicked a little that quite possibly something happened with SIster Caswell's family!! She than explained to me that she would be leaving to Scotland and I would be "training" a girl who hasn't even been to the MTC. I started to laugh and cry at the same time. I said, "You're kidding right? That's not true!" It was very true. Sister Caswell would be leaving me, and I would be leading out the area in a very short time...

Thursday, April 3: We had an intense weekly planning as we tried to prepare for me taking over the area with a fresh greeny who knows little about missionary work. 

We also did service for the woman in our ward who is pregnant with twins. It is so good to serve others when you are worried about something because it makes you realize just how much other people have worse problems.

In the evening we called our investigator's Josue, Gabriel, and Jelfrin to meet us at the church. Jelfrin and Josue met up with us and told us that they may be losing their home the next day, but they still don't know for sure. If they lost their home they didn't know where they would go. I was shocked! I asked them why on earth they decided to meet with us! Josue said he wanted to hear the word of God because he knows everything will happen the way God wants it to. It was amazing to see the faith these two guys have! It truly helped me realize that I can train this girl if I turn to the Lord.

Friday, April 4: In the morning we met up with a sister from our ward and taught a lesson to an investigator named Nicola. Nicola is a young, married, mother of 4. She wants to find a religion for her kids to be raised in. We taught her the first lesson and she seemed to really enjoy it! She invited us to come back! I can't wait to teach her on Friday! :D

We are teaching another investigator named Abraham. He has terminal lung cancer. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. It was a very emotional lesson as he is a loving husband and father of two young children. He has so much faith in God. It is very humbling teaching him and his family.

In the evening we saw Trim Castle! It is gorgeous!!! :D

At 9pm my new companion, Sister Quinones, came. 

Saturday, April 5: Sister Caswell woke me up at around 5am to wish me farewell. It was hard saying goodbye to her not knowing when we would see each other again. 

I consider myself Sister Quinones' "Pre-Earth Mum" since she will have a legit mom when/if she serves a full-time mission. 

Sister Quinones is very kind and willing to learn so much! I love her already!

McCleary let us come over to her home to watch conference. I love McCleary! She takes such good care of us! :) She fed us Japanese food for dinner :) 

After conference we went to teach a lesson to our progressing investigator Nicole. It was crazy over there. Kids running around, and Nicole was drunk... It was pretty disheartening. We still shared a scripture with her and the kids and the kids mum and dad.

Sunday, April 6: Our investigator's from Venezuela were supposed to take the bus with us on Sunday morning to get to the Finglas building so we could watch conference and see two baptisms, but they would not wake up. That was rubbish. Oh well, agency, what can you do? 

Conference was from 1-3 here, and was so good!

At half 3 Sister Quinones and I were able to see our friend's Helios and Alexander get baptized! It was so exciting for everyone! :)  They really have learned and grown so much! 

After the baptism we watch conference from 5-7pm. I loved Uchtdorf's talk! He said exactly what I needed to hear. 

This past week was a crazy one, as was stated earlier. Sister Caswell and I taught 16 lessons! That is the most we have ever taught! It was really nice to hear the surprise and excitement from our Ward Mission leader, District leader, and Zone leaders! Then Sister Caswell left... It'll be interesting to see what this new week has in store for Sister Quinones and myself.

Sorry for such a long email! Hope you all have a wonderful week! Sorry if I run out of time to email everyone back this week, but know that I love you all and appreciate your prayers and support. :)

-Sister Kelsey Griffin

xoxoxox

PS Interesting facts about my new companion:

Sister Corinna Quinones

From the Philippines. Has lived in Ireland for 14 years.

Dating a boy from the Finglas Ward. (We will see him on Tuesday, awkward ;D)

Wants to be a pilot.

She is the only child.

Heard of the church for the 1st time in Hawaii during the summer of 2012. 

Was raised Catholic and is the only member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in her family.

She was set apart to be a missionary for only 10 days.

She is thinking of serving a full time mission and might start her papers after our time together.

Her favourite food is chicken.

Her favourite colour is blue. 

:)

Conference is Almost HERE!!! :D

Scripture of the Week:

1 Nephi 17:41- I love this scripture! So often we go around thinking life is SO HARD! However the simpleness of how the Lord wants us to fix the situation is often quite humorous. If we look to the Lord, no matter what's the circumstance, we will be able to get through our trials! :) 

Quote of the Week:

"In the end, most women get the type of man they dress for." -Elder Tad R. Callister

This week was a really good one! 

...However, Sister Caswell and I seemed to struggle with names.... The first incident was when I called a man named Peng on the phone. Peng spells his name with the "e", but pronounces it "Pong". The way I reminded myself how to say his name was by thinking like "Ping Pong". When he answered the phone I said, "Hello, is this Ping?" And he said, "No, this is Pong..." Woops.... AWKWARD!

 Then we met with a guy on the street to walk with him to the church, so we could do a church tour with him. We were chatting with him and I say, "Your name is Basheem, right?" And he says, "Wajeed..." And I said, "Yes!" I tried to play it off like I knew that... Haha, oh boy! It was pretty funny!

Finally last night Sister Caswell, McCleary, and myself were planning to meet our investigator's Gabriel and Josue at the church to watch the Restoration DVD in Spanish with them. They brought a friend with them and I thought his name was Jeffrey, but Josue kept telling me I was saying it wrong. Haha, it was pretty entertaining for everyone as I tried to pronounce his name... I can now say it, but I can't even attempt spelling it... sorry :)

There are SO many pregnant ladies in our ward! When Gabriel came to church (not this Sunday, but the last) he asked why Mormon's have so many babies. It was pretty funny!

One lady in our ward is pregnant with twins and she is in A LOT of pain. We went to her home and did service for her this week. I think she really appreciated it!! :) She is a really independent woman! She owns a Montessori (preschool) in her home and is still teaching it, but while sitting in a wheel chair! She is truly inspirational as she endures to the end of her pregnancy!

Last Monday when Sister Caswell and I were walking to an appointment, at 7pm, we were in a sketchy part of town. We passed a 7 year old who was smoking and he was with two little girls who were about 5 asking us if we had a cigarette they could have. It was really sad... 

Oh my goodness! We saw a miracle this week! Sister Caswell and I were trying by some people weeks ago and one lady has a 9 year old daughter, 5 year old son, 4 year old daughter, and 4 month old daughter. When we tried by her home the first time the 9 year old had the chicken pox. Nicola (the mother's name) was so stressed that all her kids would soon get the chicken pox. We made her dinner and when we brought it over to her, her fear had become reality as all of her children had the chicken pox!! She let us in and we chatted with her for a little bit. I was a little nervous though because Sister Caswell has never had the chicken pox before, so I felt the need to shield her from all the germs! Nicola is happy now because all her kids are better. We went to visit her this week and it seems as though things are going well with her! Her family is just so cute! Her and her husband are adorable also!! When Sister Caswell and I were chatting with her this week she would leave the room every once in a while to check on her kids and every time she would leave Sister Caswell and I would talk about how we need to tell her our purpose as missionaries and invite her to take the discussion, but we were both so nervous! Now, we aren't usually nervous to invite people to listen to the message that we have to share, but this family is GOLDEN! If she said no we were sure we would cry... Lack of faith on our part. While we were talking with her Sister Caswell and I would bump knees as if to say "Go on then, ask her!" Oh goodness, I kept trying to think of a time to bring it up in the conversation but would chicken out! Finally it was time to do so! As I opened my mouth, Sister Caswell told her our purpose and asked if she would like to take the lessons!! We both paused and Nicola said, "Yes. I would really like that. I wasn't raised religious, and I would like my children to grow up knowing there is a God." It was truly amazing!! Sister Caswell sat there in shock and I excitedly picked up the conversation! It was so good! She is so prepared! We will be seeing her on Friday and I am so excited! 

This week a 23 year old mother of two children passed away. She was going to get married next month. While taking a shower she slipped and hit her head. It was very sad. Her grandparents are in our ward. Sister Caswell and I had the opportunity to help the Relief Society President make TONS of sandwiches for them. It was incredible because right before we got her phone call all of our plans cancelled and we were trying to decide what to do with about 5 hours of extra time. It was perfect because after we made the sandwiches another sister from the ward came to pick them up and we drove out to the country with her to deliver them. The Lord ALWAYS has a plan for us. It's so great when we can witness it for ourselves!

We had a celebration for the Relief Society birthday this week! It was very fun! It was like a family history cultural night. People brought food that ancestors made. Pictures of old, dead relatives. Shared stories about their ancestors. It was so cool! Sadly, there was a really small turn out. The other women really missed out.

Sister Caswell and I planned a game night this week! We invited our investigator's, the elders in our ward, and the elder's investigator's. It was SO fun! Sadly the two investigator's we planned the game night for didn't even come (Gabriel and Josue) but Wajeed came and seemed to have a really good time! We are thinking of doing another game night in a few weeks! :)

Sorry I have been so bad at these weekly emails! I feel like time has been slipping through my fingers lately! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! :) Conference is just around the corner! How couldn't you be happy??

Love you all!

-Sister Kelsey Griffin 

xoxox 

Pictures from Saint Patrick's Day!!

I am doing very well! 

Sister Caswell has been out for 11 months :) She is very experienced and teaches me SO much! Some nights when I crawl into bed my brain hurts so bad from learning SO much that day! I really do love serving with her! She is so amazing! We have WAY TOO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!! :D 

I wish I could say things were warming up here. They were in the beginning of the week! On Friday we would get hailed on, then the sun would come out, then it would be pouring rain, then it would start to snow, then it would hail on us, then the sun would come out.... etc. It was crazy! Today is FREEZING!!!

I miss America. And Americans. It's interesting because you can always tell who the American's are or who has been to America recently because they usually are REALLY kind.... and really loud. Hahaha

I am soooo excited for General Conference! Remember the last conference and we had that donut challenge... ya, I'm not doing that again! haha! 

I know a lot of people have been missing the big forward that I usually do, but I am just SO exhausted lately! I haven't had any spare time... and the spare time that I have I like to use it for a cat nap. I am so sorry... I am excited for this week... Though it sounds like a blizzard is taking place outside right now... I'm not too excited to walk around in that! haha, but it will be alright! I have my superdry jacket :)