Coral's baptism and waaayyy too many mashed potatoes

The Elders with Billy and the ward mission leader

Hi Everyone!

This week has been CRAZY!

First things first, I am not getting transferred, so we'll be here for at least another six weeks, thank goodness!

Tuesday was pretty eventful, we taught Billy, our new miracle investigator, he injured his leg really bad and it was tough watching him suffer, but he has been doing, literally everything we asked him to to prepare for baptism. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he quit chew that night, Taught Law of Chastity, he dumped his girlfriend cause she wouldn't support him in his righteous desires, Just everything falling into place for him. It was amazing! He has such strong faith!

That afternoon we went to KFC for lunch and had wayyy too much food and so we decided we were going to take the mashed potatoes and give them to a homeless person. As we were leaving, one of the employees went into the bathroom right before Elder Larsen and locked the door and then 20 mins later came out and Elder Larsen said it reeked of marijuana, FUNNY! But back to the taters, We rode a bus downtown to go to Billy's and saw these homeless people who I had met in the past, but they were yelling at each other, so we decided to give them to another guy. We saw him standing there playing his guitar in the rain and Elder Larsen went up and gave them to him and the guy started singing about Elder Larsen and mashed potatoes. It was HILARIOUS! Downtown is so ridiculously wacky! I love it! 

Elder Maguet (the new AP) and Elder Griffin

That night, we went on exchanges with the zone leaders and Elder Maguet and I got a call at about 10:10 at night from the mission president. They were on the phone for 20 mins and then he came out of the other room and was like "Hey! I'm AP! I leave in the morning! So we stayed up all night packing and at about 3 a.m. we got to bed and the next morning we put all his stuff in the car and headed over to Spokane 2nd again and I stayed in a trio and he went off with the APs. It was ridiculous!

Wednesday in a trio was so much fun! We went downtown and talked to over 30 people in 3 hours! It was crazy! We even saw a cross dresser with a beard. We had Burger King and all sorts of other wacky stuff! It was so much fun! 

That night we had Coral's baptismal interview and during it, this random Meth-head walked into the church and was looking for a place to sleep, It was super weird! We also helped the Cuevas family move a couch down three flights of stairs and into Sis Cuevas's mom's house. It was lots of work!

Thursday we hung out in Felony Flats for a while and met some really interesting people and saw Billy that evening, We gave him a blessing for his leg and it was an interesting experience.

Friday we went to a Spanish posada (Christmas dinner) and then helped with clean up. It was way fun! We also did some Christmas caroling and had a zone meeting.

Elder Griffin, Coral Bergerson & Elder Larson

Saturday was Coral's baptism! Everything worked perfectly and it was such a spiritual experience baptizing her! We also had basketball that morning and Billy came and played!!! It was a huge miracle!!! He couldn't even walk two days earlier! The Priesthood is real! SO POWERFUL! Billy's faith is so huge! He gave us ties as a present later that day and it was just so cool spending time with him! I love Billy so much!

That night we did Zumba and it was tons of awkward fun! Also we went to a civil wedding for an ex'd member and it was a really interesting situation, but it was.. nice! Way interesting though!

Sunday Coral was confirmed and church was way way way chaotic afterwards. But the ward is doing so great and Billy is doing really well! That night we got transfers and everyone is staying except sis Taylor, who is going home now. It was way weird talking to someone, literally at the end of their mission. But she's going on to life!

Overall just a crazy week! There's even more that happened that I can't even fit it all in! 

Hope you all have an awesome week! 

Love ya!

Elder Bryce Griffin

Puff balls, donuts and broken oven glass

Hey Everyone!

This week has been a strange one. On Monday we went to a hospital in the area to give someone a blessing and we would have gotten lost if bishop hadn't come with us. Sacred Heart is super huge and we had no way to find where the guy was had bishop not been there. We also bought new beanies which are super cool! Nice big puff ball on top! And we saw Faustin's family and helped teach a little English to them. Faustin has been super busy lately, but he still likes us, so it's all good.

Tuesday we went downtown with the new christmas.mormon.org cards and shared He IS THE GIFT with as many people as we could. It was lots of fun. We also went to the senior center and helped with proof reading again and also got to do some dusting, wooooo. 

Wednesday we gave Coral a blessing and moved her baptismal date because of the church Christmas devotional on the 7th. now she's going to be baptized on the 13th. We also went to a rich part of our area and got food from some members. It was really good.

Thursday was an interesting Thanksgiving. We  went to the Deangelos for breakfast and played

games and had fun, Then we went to the Cuevas's for Apples to Apples and it was really good spending time with both of their families -- like home away from home. Then for Thanksgiving dinner, we went to the Ross's and had an interesting dinner. We were the only ones under the age of 70 and they didn't have much of anything to say to us, so it was very fun. And we finished our evening up at the Tibbets and played Monopoly.

Friday we had  dinner at the Deangelos and we went to the Cuevas's to help Sis Cuevas with some things around the store. It was really good and then we were able to make a few visits with Brother Deangelo's help.

Saturday was a doozy. I woke up and was just not happy. So we went to the church and helped clean the building and then Bro Robison decided to take us out for donuts! Instant Happy! And they were

super good. Just like Daddy likes. Then we went and helped a family in the ward move and unfortunately it was my first failure in moving. We were moving the oven and it tipped a little and bumped the wall and the door exploded -- glass EVERYWHERE! It was really sad, but looking back, it's a tiny bit funny. It might be too soon though.

Sunday we had PEC and it was a really good one. I feel like we are earning a lot of respect from the ward and I was able to make the PEC laugh a little.Then during church, we had a lot of our less active members come and the talks in Sacrament were perfect. I felt super uplifted afterwards. Then, during Sunday school, we had a few really interesting incidents with someone insulting government leaders and calling them the ANTI-Christ. That was fun. Glad we didn't have any investigators there!

Monday was specialized training and it was a really good one. NO Ipad's, but we did get Ice cream and clothes that were donated to the missionaries. I got a nice warm beanie that is conservative enough for proselyting. I'm really excited about that.

So overall it was a really interesting week. The talks on Sunday focused on gratitude, which is something I've been struggling with lately. It was a nice reminder for me to start working on that and becoming a better me through being grateful. I'm excited for this week and really grateful for the privilege I have to labor in the Lord's vineyard.

Love to all,

Elder Bryce Griffin

One of the sweaters Grandma sent was a little too small!

Big red Spokane wagon

Four Elders and the Deangelos.

Beanie baby and posing with pizzas in Spocompton

Hi everyone,

This week was a tough one. We got snow and I got sick. I was pretty close to down last week for a couple days and we ended up spending a little more time inside calling people than usual. We did have a busy week though and we had a lot going on. We have found new ways to talk to people since they've been inside because of the cold and so the work is picking back up again.

We had a really rainy day last week and we found out that the mall downtown is confusing and everyone stares at you funny, even if you're just trying to find a bathroom. We did find out that their are Spocompton shirts at a store downtown and we'll probably go buy some one of these days. 

Elder Griffin, Larson, Ledbetter, Aguilar

We've also discovered how much fun it is to buy pizzas and take ridiculous pictures with them! And Papa Johns is really delicious! And they give missionaries a discount, which is awesome!

Last night we discovered that there are people who KNOW the gospel will make their lives better, they KNOW they should be doing what's right, they KNOW that God will bless them if they change, but they just don't because they don't feel like it. It blew our minds. We were teaching a part-member family and they just put it out there that they know and don't care. It's really sad. We know how much potential they have, but they just don't want to change themselves. Free agency is one of the most wonderful, yet frustrating things we've been blessed to have.

Also, just last night we were trying to visit a member who wasn't home and all sorts of crazy was going on. There were police cars everywhere with their lights on and one of them slowed down and asked us what we were doing and we were just like "we're missionaries" and the officer said "Go inside the gas station and hide out for a little while, we have K-9 units running around the neighborhood searching for an armed suspect. So we went into the gas station (the booths there were really comfy) and then every time someone walked in we were like "HE'S GOT A GUN!" but it was pretty fun! We decided to just hurry home and then most of the rest of the evening we heard police sirens and saw them driving all over the neighborhoods around us. It was ridiculous! A little scary too!

Asher Tibbets, cutest baby ever!

Oh and we started seeing the Tibbets family more and they have been doing really well. The Tibbets are awesome and their baby Asher (IN THE BEANIE) is stinkin' adorable! Sis. Tibbets is super good at crocheting things and she's making us knit caps. Mine is going to look like the Mushrooms from Mario and it's going to be reversible. It's pretty awesome!

Ope! Out of time!

Love you everyone!

Elder Bryce Griffin

Elder Larsen

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Spocompton.

Umm, Halloween?

Elder Griffin and Elder Larson

Cold weather, cold nose.

Hey everyone,

Brrrrryyce!

This week has been an interesting one. The cold came full forced and the temperatures dropped overnight on Tuesday last week. It was FREEZING! And I guess it's not even as bad as it gets just yet.

Wednesday we struggled all day to find someone to teach and no one wanted to talk. We ended up doing some tracting, but no one would talk for longer than 10 seconds because of the cold.

Thursday ended up just as bad, except everything seemed to be going wrong all at once. But we had fun with it and made it ridiculously fun to have bad stuff happen. It turned around though, and I got a package from Grandma with a blanket that is AWESOME! And we found someone new to teach.

Friday was basically the same as the last few days, cold and not too friendly.

Saturday our phone was really acting up so we went to the Sprint store and they did nothing for us, so our phone has only been receiving half of the texts we should be getting and it's been tough on our proselyting, But we're dealing with it slowly.

Sunday I started getting sick, but it was a really good day.

Bryce (far left) at zone conference.

Monday I was sick. We had zone conference and it was lots of fun, and my voice was super low, so anytime I went into the bathroom I really enjoyed the acoustics as my voice echoed off the walls. It was a bit ridiculous. That evening we had most of our appts fall through and it was really frustrating.

Overall things are doing okay, working through sickness and learning a lot from Elder Larsen, 

Hopefully this week it warms up a little and we can find more investigators!

NOTE FROM DAD: This song reminds soooo much of Bryce! When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Love you all!

Elder Bryce Griffin

Lyden leaving and no more peanut butter!

Hey everyone!

This week has been stressful!

Me, Elder Lyden, Elder Aguilar, Elder Ledbetter outside Pizza Pipeline

Monday was a pretty good day, but it was mostly Elder Lyden saying bye.

We got to visit with the Mitmas and they actually bought us pizza at Pipeline Pizza and it was lots of fun. They had a raffle going and everyone at our table won! It was way fun!

We also got to see the Cuevas family and the Johnsons before we headed home. With Elder Lyden being transferred, I had to figure out rides for getting rid of him and getting to my new companion and just lots of new stressful learning experiences. He actually got his transfer call changed and ended up needing to go to the North Stake Center, while I had to go to the East Stake Center to get my companion. I was thoroughly frustrated at that, but the Bishopric was super helpful and made everything work out for the best.

That was pretty much how we spent Tuesday and now Elder Lyden is in Sandpoint, Idaho. Elder Larsen is great, we are learning a lot from each other and it's been fun getting to know him.  Larsen is from West Jordan, where Dad went to high school. He likes sports and is a hard worker. But he is allergic to peanuts -- so no peanut butter for me for a while -- Aagh! We taught several awesome lessons and even saw several miracles.

Wednesday was lots of miracles! We did service and had an interesting dinner as a result of one of our service projects. It was a candlelight dinner on the porch of an old Victorian home. We also got to see one of our favorite families and were able to give several of them blessings for different struggles they are going through. The father is way excited to get the Melchizidek priesthood soon and they are progressing like crazy now! We also got to watch several of the new Bible videos the church has put out recently on lds.org. They are so cool!

Thursday Elder Larsen had District Leader training meeting, which was awesome because I got to be a trainer for a day! It was nuts! We walked all over town and got rejected several times. It was lots of fun though and he even bought me a donut! Such a big heart. 

Friday was zone conference and weekly planning, which meant we had very little time for proselyting. But we learned a lot and are going to start doing church tours soon. It's going to be great! Our ward mission leader came over and taught us how to plan more effectively and our area is about to go crazy! We're going to work way hard and baptize like we're in Brazil!

Leaves are turning in Spokane.

Saturday we did service literally all day. SO MANY LEAVES!!!! But it was really good and we made our church look much better with all the leaves raked up. We also worked out some of the troubles we'd been running into as a companionship that evening and things are going much better now. Our Ward Mission Leader bought us pizza for lunch and we took some funny pictures. It was way fun!

Sunday we had more miracles! The Cornwell Family came to church and I just couldn't stop smiling because i was so happy to see them! We also taught the Elders Quorum and it was an interesting and fun lesson. One of my favorite things that happened was after church we helped Sis. Dowell get all her kids out to the car and they were just so ridiculous and adorable! It was great! The Dowells are pretty much the best family ever! They're working on going to the temple soon and it's going to be so awesome!

That's pretty much been our week out here in Spocompton! 

Love to you all! Have a great week!

Elder Bryce Griffin

Fog sunset in Spokane

Spo-fog!

Elder Griffin, Elder Larsen and WML Bro. Johnson.

Carving apples!

Hi everybody,

This week has been full of exchanges, miracles and odd experiences.

For Halloween, we were on exchanges. I had Elder Aguilar with me and we had lots of fun and lots of weird stuff. For lunch we had "THE WRANGLER!!!" from Zips -- it was way good. And then we went out proselyting and had some fun experiences.

One lady we talked to said to Elder Aguilar, "Hey, I know your dad! Your real dad. Yeah CESAR. They didn't tell you? Oohh maaann! Here's his number. Trust me. CESAR! I'm helpin' yo all out. You Gangsters of GOD!!!!!" Just one of the interesting people we met on Halloween.

For dinner we went to a member house in the Spanish branch. They cooked bbq and it was very interesting looking ... We didn't eat that much. It was honestly just a little too close to looking like a real person.

We saw miracles though and we actually found 2 new investigators on Halloween and it was a really good day. We held district meeting that night and we carved apples to celebrate because we couldn't get pumpkins. It was way fun though!

We had the trunk-or-treat on Wednesday and it was a good time. We had tons of our less active members there and it was a great bonding experience with the Ward. I was on exchanges with Elder Johnson that day and we picked up an additional investigator. Things are looking really busy for next transfer,

Bye Elder Lyden!

Transfers are this week and things are kinda shaken up. Elder Lyden is getting transferred to Moscow, Idaho, and will be becoming a zone leader and in a trio. I am staying and will be companions with Elder Larsen. We have quite a few baptisms about to line up and so things are going to be great. I'm really excited for the potential we have and we're gonna be busy.

This is gonna be a good transfer and I'm gonna work hard and do my very best to improve the area and strengthen the Ward I'm in. Spokane Second is awesome!

Love to everyone!

Keep the faith! The church is true!

Elder Griffin

* -- Those who haven't heard, a friend of ours, a high school student at Snow Canyon, was in an ATV accident last weekend and is currently in a coma. He has been foremost in our thoughts and prayers for the past week. I've asked Bryce to pray for him and we would ask that you include Britton Shipp in your prayers as well. If you would like to read more on Britt's struggles and the miracle and hope that accompany him, his older sister, who is a freshman in college, is writing a great blog. 

                                                     Thank you -- Andy Griffin (Bryce's dad)

Baptisms at Glass Street!

 Hey everyone!

This week has been crazy!

Tuesday we got to see a new video put out by the church about Temple garments and that was really

interesting. Also we were able to have everything timed perfect to help Sis Dowell with her 4 kids and all her groceries. It was exact perfect timing. We had gotten lost on our way to another member's house and a bunch of other things that made the timing perfect! It was such a miracle! And then it was funny because we got to teach them a lesson and play a game with all the kids, it was super fun!

Wednesday we had exchanges with the Sunset Elders and Elder Rawlins (a zone leader) came out

Elder Rawlings and Elder Griffin

with me. It was way fun! We walked all over the area and ended the day with several miracles!

We taught Coral and put her on a date for mid-November and she's super ready for baptism!

Also, we taught Faustin the Plan of Salvation and he was understanding so well, it was two perfect lessons! The Deangelos fed us lunch and we love that family so much! They are so dedicated to the work and Bro Deangelo coming out with us was what made the miracles possible! Also that evening was the Mitmas baptismal interviews and they both did great!

Thursday we had weekly planning and it was a painfully long one, but we got most everything done. That evening we got to see the Mitmas and teach them the Plan of Salvation through a walking tour in  our church, it was super fun! Bro Deangelo came out with us and it really helped us get a lot done. We got to teach Faustine, but it was really strange because Elder Lyden sat down and got a really bad Migraine out of nowhere. We were kinda panicked and had to return to the apartment early. 

Friday we had district meeting and Elder Lyden's headache was okay until about halfway through the meeting. We almost had to go to the Emergency Room, but we gave him a blessing and he was drained. It was crazy. Then after lunch we went back to the apartment to let him take a nap and when he woke up he was better than he had been his whole mission. It was amazing!

Elder Lyden. Colia, Alyssa, Elder Griffin

Saturday we had the Mitmas baptism and it was such an amazing experience. I was able to confirm Alyssia and Elder Lyden confirmed Colia. Their cousin Clayton performed the Baptism. It was such a great experience. After the baptism, we helped someone move out of Felony Flats (the scariest part of our area) and there were some interesting smells. It was nice to work with members of our bishopric to help them move though.

We also got dropped hard core by some new investigators. He was not very polite in asking us to not ever come back again. That evening we taught Faustin and his family the rest of the Plan of Salvation and it was just amazing to see him understand and really enjoy the message. We were able to answer all his questions and now we're going to start teaching them English for half our lessons and The Gospel for half our lessons. Faustin was so grateful and he said we are welcome any time. Earlier that day one of our members dropped off some chairs for his family and he was so appreciative -- this is the text he sent! Faustin is so amazing! Love him!

Sunday it started getting really REALLY cold! Church was fairly uneventful, but that evening our ward started doing what's called "cottage meetings" and it was awesome! It was basically family home evenings and everyone comes and talks about the gospel and asks any questions they have and it was a really great experience. We are hoping to have it become a regular thing. 

Overall it's been a miracle filled and amazing week!

Love you all!

Elder Bryce Griffin

Mitma Family