Accidentally Crossed The Golden Gate Bridge - Nick's Crispy Tacos!

 

Not much has happened since I wrote a weekly on Thursday so I figured I'd just send a few photos from the weekend :))

1- Sometimes you just need to take a selfie before personal study :)

2,3,4- Nick's crispy tacos!!! If anyone ever comes to visit san fran...GO THERE.

5-...we aren't allowed to cross the golden gate...but we accidentally did...that's a story for another day ;)

6- Me and my iconic bridge of my iconic city 

Love you all! Have a great week!!

#Givethanks - Goodbye Sister Burch! - Hello Sister Westenskow! - Thanksgiving In The City

Alrighty ladies and gents. It's been another fun week here in the big city! Every single day is a brand new adventure.

So we started off the week saying goodbye to Sister Burch. Yes. Sister Burch got transferred to Hayward as an STL. She's going to kill it. Everyone loves her. She's going to do great. Then I got my new companion, Sister Westenskow! She's never been on the peninsula before (most of the missionaries haven't as there are 2 zones on this side of the bay and 9 zones on the other side) so I really had to set up my navigation game this week. Public transportation? I am officially a pro at figuring out where to go and how to get there. I'm really proud about that tbh. Anyways, me and Sister Westenskow is super cool. She's from the coolest place on earth. San Antonio, Texas. We have lots of fun together and lots of laughs. 

It's been a very tranquilo week. Because TODAY is Thanksgiving!! Our mission President told us that we were going to have a short pday on Monday and a full pday on Thanksgiving! So instead of pday ending at 6 like normal...today it doesn't end until we go to bed! So me and Sister Westenskow have just been going crazzzzzzy with the city tourist stuff. Hit Fisherman's wharf, pier 39, Boudin, golden gate park, Ghirardelli and probably something else that I cant remember. It's amazing all you can do in one day when you don't have a time limit.

Can we all acknowledge the message that our prophet shared last week? How powerful? I had the thought while he was praying that I don't think I have ever heard a prophet pray before. They always ask other general authorities in meetings to participate in that. In that moment, I was so overcome with the spirit. I felt so much peace. I was literally listening to the prophet of God pray for me. 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I just want to say that I'm thankful for each one of you. Believe it or not each and every one of you have touched my life. Each in different ways. I will forever be grateful for the support and the love I feel from you. I feel so blessed to know you.

Like always, I hope you all have the best week. And I can officially say...HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

Happy Thanksgiving 

Hermana Graves

1- Tifa sent me the BEST sweatshirt. Grateful for best friends!!

2- Served breakfast to our ward with the bishopric. Grateful to be serving in the best ward in the whole ward!!

3- Me walking down the street. Grateful for fall colored leaves on trees!

4- Went to Limón for Sister Burch's 21 birthday! Grateful for Peruvian food, aji sauce and fries. 

5- Had to have a little bit of fun. I mean...the girl did turn 21. Grateful for Martinellis!

6- The view from the Oakland Temple. GRATEFUL FOR TEMPLES 

7- Saying goodbye to Sister Burch...grateful for Sister Burch :')

8- Did I ever mention we live on MISSION street? Grateful for our apartment!

9-The nice rat we saw today walking around at Fisherman's wharf. Grateful for the people that clean this up 

10- Fisherman's wharf!! Grateful for the good food they have here. 

11- Boudin!!! SO grateful for this place. Cause wow. I'd die without sourdough bread in my life. 

12- Zone testimony meeting before we had transfers. Grateful for the opportunity that I have so often to share my testimony with friends and family! 

13- One of my girl Sister Burch because I miss her. And I'm soooooo grateful for her and friendship

He Gave His Life For Me - Garage closed on our car! - Exchanges With Me As The Only Spanish Speaker - Church In Person Again!

 

It has been another slower week. We've taught more lessons this week than we have in a while, just all to people that aren't interested. So that's a big bummer. Maybe they'll eventually be interested.

Not many interesting this have happened but here we go anyway. This week we celebrated my birthday with Betty and Luigi and the other Sisters and Elders! Luigi's birthday was the day after mine so we had a little combined party :) My birthday just never ends!! It is so cute that the members here just want to badly to serve us and make sure we feel loved. I absolutely love this ward. 

We had church in person yesterday!! Wow! It was wild! Just the sacrament. The rest of the meeting was virtual and there was a 50 person limit. But it was SO nice to be back in the chapel again. I was so happy. My heart was going to burst. Taking the sacrament at home is special and cool, but there is a special spirit in the chapel while the sacrament is being passed. 

Unfortunately there is really only one other interesting thing I have to tell you all about Haha! We did exchanges this week! It was my first exchange because of the pandemic. But I was SO stressed because Sister Harrop was going to be staying in San Francisco with me and Sister Burch was heading to Oakland for the day. Sister Harrop was reassigned from Brazil...which means she doesn't speak Spanish. So I was going to be on my own in lessons. It ended up being okay! Turns out, I know more Spanish than I think! Especially in stressful situations. I even helped Sister Harrop bear her testimony and learn a little Spanish. Never thought I'd know more Spanish than someone else. It was a little refreshing not gonna lie. A wild thing that happened was we were leaving our garage (it automatically closes after we leave) and the door broke and fell on our car...yikes. Me and Sister Harrop were stresssssssssed. Somehow there are only a few scratches and no dents!

There's a cute verse in the Bible that is the tenderest thing I've ever read in my life. John 15:13. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. Hard to imagine the amount of love someone has for me that they died for me. I also love in this verse how it says the word friend. Yes, he is the Savior of the world, he is my brother, he is the only begotten of the father. But is also my friend. I trust my friends with anything and everything that is on my mind. So I trust him with the same. He is my best friend. I am grateful for everything he has done for me. An incomprehensible amount of love. Wow. 

Food for thought ;)

Good luck in all our weekly endeavors:)

Hermana Graves

1- Golden Gate! The most iconic part of my city 

2- I love Sister Burch!!

3- Me giving my little talk at the baptism:))

4- Jarritos 

5- exchanges with Sister Harrop!

6-I got to go inside the visitors center in Oakland for the first time!! I love the Christus statue 

7-Birthday with Luigi!

8-our favorite book!!

9- Just driving home :)

10- Elder England paid for our sprites. What a kind soul. 

11-cute district! Some of you might recognize Elder Bulter (blonde one behind me) He is from Grantsville!

20th Birthday! - Baptisms In The Ocean - Teaching In Spanish & In English

Okay here's the story of how my birthday started yesterday. I woke up at 4 am because I had severe back pain and could not fall back asleep. I have become aware of what adulthood is really going to be like. I'm not sure how excited I am anymore. That's it tho. That's the whole story

I really had a good birthday! My mom and Dad sent me some cute decorations for the apartment and a few small gifts. Sister Burch made me Avocado toast and stuck some candles in it for breakfast. Later the Elders also came over to give us the sacrament and they showed up with a balloon and some treats for me. They are the BEST! And Sister Telford and Sister Peterson made me a cake!! So good!!! My favorite gift was a little photo album that my mom put together of family and friends holding little papers saying happy birthday and stuff like that. It was so so so much fun to go through. I felt so loved. Kinda hard to not be with the people you love the most on your birthday, but hey. This work is more important than my birthday :)

We also got to attend the baptism of Pilar on Saturday!! Hermana Pilar is a friend of the Elders that I serve with here in San Francisco. They invited us to come and sing musicals numbers. They also asked me to bear my testimony. That was the first time I'd talked in front of a crowd in Spanish. Corona virus will kinda delay those events sometimes haha. It was a super fun day for all of us. Pilar was so so so so happy. She was so emotional. Another thing that's really cool is that here in our mission we are still doing baptisms in the ocean. We do some in the chapels too but it's really cool in the ocean. Pilar reallllllly wanted to be baptized in the ocean "like Jesus was". Cute because Jesus was baptized in a river. But close enough:) We are so grateful for her and her desire to change. She is really an angel. 

We also got to teach Hermana Palencia's daughter about baptism yesterday! We got to do it in English which was fun. She was so excited. I told her about all of my memories from my baptism and Sister Burch did the same. It's fun to see that you can feel the spirit so strong even when you're talking to an 8 year old girl. How special! I remember being SO happy when I was baptized. Honestly it's one of the happiest memories I have from my entire life. I was happy to be able to share that with a little girl who gets to make the same promise with God next week :) All of you should try to remember your baptism this week and remember the feelings you have felt and the tender memories you have from that day. 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes yesterday

Have a good week :))

Love, 

Hermana Graves

1- There is a lot of art is this city...but this one just seemed so random...it had to be documented 

2- She painted this for me. She says it's me with a mullet

3- The way to someone's heart is through their stomach...right?

4-another piece of art by sister Burch

5- We took pictures for the mission Christmas card :))

6- we drove to a lesson and he didn't show up. What's new?

7-my birthdayyyyyyy

8- #20

9- my parents sent us these "sun catchers" for my birthday. So cute.

10- elder england, schow, and sister Telford. I honestly just think this picture is hilarious and it had to be included. 

11- finally got our in n out today with our gift card from winning that kahoot a few weeks ago!!

Finished Painting! - HalloClean - Fall (My Favorite Season!) - Teaching

Can we talk about the fact that it is FALL?! My favorite season!!! It is the BEST! Sweaters and hoodies. Hot chocolate and cider. Wow. I'm really missing the fall leave back home...and snow too apparently 

We had a pretty good week! Tuesday was literally the BEST day. We were on the bus going home from a visit with a member. The bus stopped at a stop (as they do) and I looked outside and i saw a man that I thought looked like our friend Angel. We haven't been able to get together with him because he just got a second job (big oof). We waved and he got so excited! He bolted onto the bus right before the doors closed. We asked him if this was his bus and he told us "No! I just wanted to talk to you!" What a cutie! We got the chance to talk to him for 15 or 20 minutes before we had to get off. It was a little tender mercy. Do you know how many people live in this city and how many people take public transportation and how many bus stops there are? Honestly it was so exciting to see him! We are hoping to get together with him soon. 

Then after that we had a great lesson with Alfonso. All about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We extended him a baptismal invitation and asked him if he'd like to become a member of the church on November 21. He said yes! We were both so so so so happy. And still are! ;) How lucky am I to get to see this every single day?! I love seeing the way Jesus Christ helps every single person. We are so lucky to know Alfonso and feel and hear his testimony of the savior. 

As for Halloween. Well. Not gonna lie it's not the most fun holiday for a missionary. Especially one in this mission HAHA! Sister Burch and I dressed up (as much as you can as a missionary) I dressed up as Jane from tarzan (literally just wore my yellow shirt and brown skirt) and Sister Burch was Alice from Alice in Wonderland (just a blue dress and black headband). No body knew we were dressed up...but we did! 

Here we have a tradition called Halloclean...if you can imagine we spent like 4 and a half hours deeeeeeeep cleaning our apartments. So while all yall ate candy and watched movies...us missionaries were slaving away. It really wasn't that bad tho. Kinda nice. In college I deep cleaned apartments with one of my roommates for my job so I had a few life hacks and it made it lots easier :) 

And of courseeeeeee I will share another thought! I've been thinking a lot this week about the temple! We just heard news that our temple is finally opening!! We have about 30 missionaries here who have not been endowed yet so their parents get to come out here to be with them! AMAZING! I was SO fortunate to go through the temple in December before all the craziness happened. I think I take it for granted every single day. It is something I need to be more grateful for. Not every person or missionary even gets to be endowed in the temple of God. How lucky am I?? I carry a little bit of the temple with me everywhere I go. It's one of my goals to remember more the promises I have made with God in His holy house. I hope this week (all of us that have had the chance to attend the temple:)) will try harder to remember the sacred moments and feelings we have had in the temple and to remember the covenants we have made there.

Love you all.

Hermana Graves

1-my adorable family watching me sing in a Facebook live event for the mission <3

2- Last pday Sister Telford left her clothes AT the laundromat. So we had to leave our apartment to go get them after curfew (with permission...don't you fret) to go get them for her. So here's us driving around at like 10:30 hahahaha

3- I don't even know what this is

4- Celebratory shakes after Alfonso said he wanted to be baptized:))

5- working on BYU applications...RIPPPPPP (if anyone has tips....PLEASE send them my way hahahaha)

6- laundromat again. First stop of pday.

7- a really really nice photo of me and sister Telford 

8- we got ice cream tacos today 🤩

9- Finished another fun paint by number of Jesus and Mary. Shout out to my cute parents for sending it to me