Kimmie and Last Zone Conference

Saying Good-bye to Pres Ames

5.30.16

This week we continued to see miracles. I really wanted to make these

last two transfers the best two of my mission and God is really

helping do just that.

        On Wednesday we had a lot of finding time, and so we put together a

list of potentials and less actives to go visit. We got in the car and

drove to the first house. The house had a for sale sign in front of it

and huge piles of trees/branches that were 6 feet high and were piled

across the whole front yard. As we were walking up to knock on the

house a van pulled up with a trailer attached to it. A lady and a man

got out of the van, so we went up and asked the lady if we could help

her. She agreed and we rushed home to change into our service clothes.

We helped them out for a couple of hours and ended up making a pretty

good progress towards cleaning up the piles. It was pretty hard work,

but we had a lot of fun. The names of the two people we helped were

Kimmie and George. They were the nicest people and we became freinds

pretty quickly. They were so thankful and told us that we were an

answer to their prayers. It's funny, because elder Mohrmann and I were

thinking the same thing! After we were done for the day they took us

to lunch at a really good fast food restaurant called Wing Stop. On

the drive their we were trying to think of a good way to bring up the

gospel. As we sat down to eat our food Kimmie asked us what we tell

people when we contact them. It was the perfect opportunity to share

the gospel. We talked about the Book of Mormon and gave them each a

copy. We also shared the Restoration with them and a little bit about

temples and how we can be sealed forever with our families. It was

pretty awesome! As we were leaving she invited us over for dinner.

Yesterday we went and had dinner with her and talked alittle bit more

about the gospel. She loved the fellowship and was grateful for who we

were. She is the sweetest lady and I am so grateful that God put her

in our path. Unfortunately she does live in Killeen, which is out of

our area, so we will have to pass her on to other missionaries. It's

sad, but I know the other missionaries will do a great job. She was

excited to meet them too:)

The other miracle that happened this week was on Saturday as we were

going around visiting different people. We knocked on the door and

started talking to this less-active family. It's always a little

awkward in those situations because you don't really know why thier

not coming to church as well as how receptive they are to missionaries

and the church. Well I told them that I was from Lehi and that helped

us connect with them, because they were really familiar with that

area. It was quite the blessing. We then talked for quite a while and

just really got to know who they were. The whole time I was feeling

anxious, because I wan't sure how to bring up the church. Well towards

the end of our conversation the husband said "This is the longest I

have talked to missionaries in over 7 years" He then told us why he

hadn't come to church. We also found out that he was a convert. He

showed us a book that had really helped him understand the church

after he was baptized, it's called "A Marvolous Work and a Wonder" It

was cool to still see that he did love the gospel and did have a

testimony. We told them we loved them and would love to come and have

dinner with them. They accepted. He said he was going to start reading

the book again, so he could tell us all about it. It really taught me

the importance of loving people and really showing them you care about

them. That love helps build trust that allows them to open up to you.

It will be fun to see what happens with this family!

        This last week was also my last zone conference! It was awesome, the

whole thing was centered on revelation and how we receive it through

church attendance, prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. I also had

the chance to bare what they call your departing testimony since is

was my last zone conference. During the time when president Ames was

talking about prayer he shared something that was pretty neat that

really helps you make your prayers sincere and real. He pointed to a

set of double doors in the gym and asked us to picture them as

beautiful doors with frosted glass. He then told us to imagine that

their was a beautiful room on the other side of the door similar to

the celestial room. He then told us to imagine that Heavenly Father

was in the room and that President Ames was going to take each one of

us in their. He then asked us what we would do when we saw him. He

said most of us would probably fall to our knees. Then Heavenly Father

would give us a hug and ask us what we wanted to talk about. He said

that the conversation we would have with him would be very real and

would be completely from our hearts. He then told us that all of our

prayers should be like we were in that same moment. It was really neat

and beautiful experience.

        I love you all and hope you have a good first week of summer!!! The

gospel is true and I know it's what will bring us the most happiness

now and forever.

Love,

Elder Griffin

Kimmie:)