02/20/23 ok so i thought i didnt have anything to write about but this is LONG, so it is what it is :) External Inbox

 

ITS TOMMYS BIRTHDAY TODAY, but it doesnt reeeallly matter because she is currently living 16 hours from where im at. Welcome to this weeks letter! Chaotic and mildly entertaining as always! 

A lot of my week was pretty normal and boring... but heres some highlights: 

Like a week or two ago our branch president told us we should visit active members who are in leadership and in callings because theyre the ones who often get neglected or something... and that we should do so without letting anyone know. So we did that. To him  we went all the way out to his house (he lives kind of in the middle of nowhere) and didnt let him know we were coming (it was his idea!!) aaaaaand.... he wasnt home. 

But, luckily he has 4 neighbors relatively close who are members, so we went and tried to visit them all (President said he would be home in like 30-45 minutes) only one of them was home... next time maybe we should let them know were coming hahaha. 

But, eventually Presidente came back and we were able to visit with his family. They asked if we wanted pizza (at like 8:30) and we were like, yeah sounds like fun, lets make pizza. But... they took like 2 hours to make and cook. Im not really sure why. But that means we were outside of our house (technically outside of the city) until like 10:55 and like, we were with the Pierces and the Branch President and there wasnt really a way for us to be like, heyyyy we need to go, without being kinda rude, so we kind just went with it. It was actually pretty fun. I got to show off pictures of my new sobrina. Shes so cute. 

Im thinking really hard and the only other things that happened that were interesting are that we are adjusting to having a new district leader... hes kinda... mejor no hablo de el porque no tengo mucho bueno decir jaja. 

And we were able to set a goal for baptism with two of our amigos to get baptized on the 17th of March!!! So currently we have 4 active baptismal dates in March. Hopefully theyll all be able to follow through!! 

I had a bit of a rough week in terms of mental health, for things that have nothing to do with anything (like, yes i was homesick but i wasnt struggling because of the homesickness). But I was able to push through and figure stuff out. 

On Sunday a member friend we have named Machi (im pretty sure i talk about her a ton haha) came with us to find all day on Sunday, and we were able to meet  almost all of our goals this week!! Shes super funny and has a way of connecting  with people in a way that we cant because we are two gringas wandering around in Chile. The main annoying part was that several people assumed she was our translator and were like, do they understand what theyre saying? Can they understand me? and just like talking about us as if we werent standing literally right there.

We had three different days this week where we ended up working literally until 11 ish, which we are supposed to stop working between 9:45 and 10. But, thats just how it goes sometimes. 

Im working on this challenge of reading 16 pages a day from the book of mormon... its going... not amazingly. im like 40 pages behind right now. But, im gonna try and read a ton today and worst case scenario, ill try reading the entire book of mormon in TWO transfers instead just one. (like, finishing it before i hit my one year mark or something, which, by the way, is only like 2 months away (COMO ASI?????) or maybe by the time I leave Vallenar... with mucha fe Im staying. I never wanna leave Valleanar haha.) 

Something Ive really loved this week, is Nefi. He is known as like, an unconquerable spírit, right? Everyone is always like, I wanna be like Nefi, and I wanna go and do, and I wish I had that kind of strength and crap like that... well, Nephi, as it says in the scriptures, started out literallly with just like a desire to believe. He heard all the stuff from his dad and he was like, that sounds like something good and from God. How can I know? and so he has this desire, and decides to go act on it... which is to say, he prays. He prays to know if what his father is saying is true. He prays to be able to gain his own testimony. And God, being who He is, answered Nephis prayers and he was able to gain this unbelievable testimony. And its not like he was born and chosen (and it repeats this several times in the scriptures), he made himself chosen by having so much faith. 

So how do we have faith? How do we increase our faith? Like, what does that even look like or mean? 

Well, it means being obedient to the Lords commandments and giving your all, every day. It means getting up when things are hard and studying anyways. Being kind anyways. Working anyways. It means being willing to do the Lords will even when you dont know what the outcome of your current situation will be. Even when you feel like youre alone. Even when everyone you know and love might not be supporting you (which obviously isnt my case). 

And honestly, it all just started with a desire to believe. 

Do you desire to believe? 

Ask Him. 

He will tell you. :) 

Love you all so much!!! 

xo-hna griffin

Featuring pictures of the taco place we wrnt to today and got burgers (they took forever so we played uno), the cutest baby, the Christmas tree from the primary room, and the time I photo edited the new people into the zone picture ( YES that's our zone, we're tiny!!!)