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

Moving, snoring and potatoes in Spokane!

This week went by really fast!

Tuesday we got to visit Faustin and he's been struggling more because his friend is a Seventh Day Adventist preacher and basically said not to trust us and has been confusing him regularly. It's difficult because we don't speak French and he barely speaks English. It's frustrating sometimes.

We also started using the heaters this week and we had to rearrange some of the apartment to prevent fire hazards.

Wednesday we helped the Mitmas move and it was really sad, but we're still going to get to teach them. Also their new house is perfect for them and it's really going to be a blessing for them. It was a huge miracle because when we were helping them move, we needed someone to drive us (rules about missionaries with sisters and fun stuff) and so I just felt like we needed to call the Andersons, They were the exact people we needed there. They helped us put together the beds and clean the house and basically they were the perfect people. It was amazing!

I was also on exchanges and Elder Ledbetter and I had a ton of fun walking around in the rain. We went contacting less active members and ended up finding a house on the ward list that the lady had passed away 4 years ago! NO wonder she wasnt coming to church!

Thursday was weekly planning and we got a lot done. I also got a package from AJ with sweaters and a letter from the Stevens! Alo and Cecilia sent me some pictures and I'm hanging them on my wall now! I love them so much!

Friday was district meeting and we ended up doing service most of the day, That evening we had a sister in the ward come to teach Faustin with us because she speaks French, it was another miracle! We had no idea she spoke French and then she just turned up at church offering to help!

Saturday my snoring started again and it's been tricky figuring out what to do. Also, we met a family in our ward that just moved in from Utah and they are super dedicated to the work! They basically said anytime we want, we can come over. It's been awesome!

Saturday night we had the ward's annual potato feed. It was way fun and we got to meet a lot of members and we even had several of our less active families come!

Sunday, we had several of our prospective Elders come to church and it was totally unexpected. It was so good to see them, though! We also began the final preparations for the Mitmas baptism this Saturday and it's going to be so great!

This week is going to be full of miracles and we're going to work so hard!

I'm excited for the work!

Much love to everyone!

Keep the faith!

Elder Bryce Griffin

Here are some recent pix:

Bryce's license to preach.

Spokane near dusk

Elder Lyden

Beautiful day

Elder selfie

Artsy, eh?

The chart

Spanish Elders

Spokane chapel

Spokane chapel

Cece and Alo's art work

Missionary Central

Marshmallows, The Wrangler and "Meet the Mormons"

Hey Everybody!

This week has been full of ups and downs!

Monday we had another fun game of Marshmallow Dodgeball with our zone for P-Day. Unfortunately, Elder Lyden hurt his wrist and has been taped up all week! We also got to share a lot about conference and encouraged those we talked to to read some of the conference addresses.

Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Spanish elders and Elder Ledbetter and I went Spanish speaking! It was pretty interesting not understanding anything that was taught about. We did see a miracle in a referral we went to who spoke English, She basically said she was looking for a church and she wants her family to be safe from the world's influences, What better church than ours, right?!

We also made Manwich sloppy joes, which smoked out the apartment! It was ridiculous! But it tasted so good after I put the Griffin touch to it!

Wednesday we went to Zips for dinner, THE WRANGLER!!! It was so good! We also found out that the p-day rules changed! We now have extra time in the mornings, as long as we get our basic studies in for the day. It has been really beneficial so far today! We found out at that President Mullen's training was basically on obedience. Everyone was all excited because they thought it meant we were going to get iPads soon. Those rumors have been circulating for a long time!

We also got a few  new investigators that are really solid! Later that evening we got to visit the Dowell family again, they are so awesome! You can literally feel the spirit when you walk into their home. They're recent converts and it's been so awesome getting to know them!

Elder Barbico and Elder Griffin

Thursday was weekly planning again, It was another long and somewhat stressful day.

The Mitmas lost the house they were going to get. The caseworker was dragging her feet and lost the house. Sis Mitma was so upset. It was really tough. I was really depressed and stressed out. We started fasting and praying so much for it to work out.

Friday, we had District meeting and it was way good! We also talked to a very contentious guy on the street who we essentially confounded. It was pretty funny. We just stayed calm and focused on what the Spirit wanted us to say and he basically just admitted he doesn't know what church was true and sent us on our way. That night Sis Mitma found a house and it is sadly just out of our area. We're sad about it, but we know that the Lord gave her this house for a reason and we love the elders that she is moving into. It's actually Maryland Elder's area! They're moving this Wednesday and they are going to BBQ for us before we go!

Saturday we spent most of the day doing service. We helped the Cuevas' move a bunch of items into their store and helped Sis Micahs mow her lawn. It was weird using a lawn mower again. I also started getting kinda sick, but I think it's just from the food we ate. We had Pizza Rita for lunch and it was super good! 

Sunday was full of awesomeness! The Mitmas came to church and it was so good to see them! Also, the Cuevas's fed us dinner again and we had this amazing soup stuff that I honestly can't remember the name but it was delicious!

Also, my snoring problem has been getting worse, so we called Sis Mullen and she gave me some recommendations on how to deal with it. The very first one I tried fixed it! I tilted my bed just slightly and then Elder Lyden said I didn't snore at all that night. It was amazing! All these years of problems and tilting the bed fixed it.

Monday was specialized training and everyone was chattering about getting IPADs! It was borderline ridiculous! At specialized training, we basically learned how to prepare for winter and such. But then President Mullen had a surprise! We got to watch Meet the Mormons! It was amazing! All of us missionaries had been sad because we weren't going to get to watch it. But they obtained special permission to show us at our stake center! It was super amazing! Loved it!

We also learned how to use family history as a finding tool and I really regret not getting into family history before my mission. It's so easy! Anyone can do it! Even Holly and Katie!

Elder Griffin

That's about all for this week! 

Love you all so much!

Keep the faith!

Elder Griffin

Gnats and buses and trenchcoats, oh my!

10/8/14
Hey Everybody!

This week has been crazy!

Monday we had a big mishap with the bus system and ended up an hour late for an appointment with the Mitmas and didn't end up getting to teach Coral. Little Coleia tried to give me a hug after the lesson and I was like AHHH I'm a missionary! I felt really bad though. She reminds me so much of Holly when she was 8. The Mitmas are so awesome! Love them so much! We also played marshmallow dodgeball for P-day, which made everyone really sore the rest of the week.

Tuesday it started to really get cold. Winter is definitely coming. We got Faustine the Gospel Library app and he was able to start reading the Book of Mormon to his family. I also started to rise in stress levels because things weren't going according to anything we had planned.

Wednesday, I had a major stress emergency that day and was really struggling with how things were going. However, the Mitmas had us over for dinner and they BBQ'd for us and the burgers were just like Dad used to make! They were so good! I also remodeled my desk and put out more pictures from home. That's been really nice.

Thursday, we had weekly planning as always. We were actually able to get most everything done and it was very productive. That evening when we were taking the bus we got to have an... interesting.... .... discussion with a very...

Gay. Guy. It was definitely one of the weirder conversations we've had as missionaries. Also, while we were walking these little gnats were everywhere all over town. It was disgusting! They landed all over us and it was like something out of the mummy! It was so nasty! They kept getting squished on us! It made our Sunday shirts covered in green splatters! It was so gross!

Friday, we had zone training, it was way awesome and I learned a lot and we even remembered to bring a lunch with us! We also got the teaching supplies in French and were able to start teaching Faustin and his family the discussions. It was crazy because we teach him, he translates to his family and then he translates their questions back to us. It's way cool to see!

We also started wearing our trench coats (thanks Stace Hall!!!) It's way nice having them! Its really starting to be chilly!

Saturday, we were able to help Sis. Mitma clean up the house she's moving into for inspection. It's way close to our apartment and we're going to be able to start teaching them more often! Then we

went to General Conference... sorta. So we got on the bus downtown, found out the bus that goes to the stake center doesn't run on Saturday, rode the bus back to our apartment, looked at a bus map (at 9:45) saw a bus that did go there, Rode our bikes downtown as fast as we could, got to the bus station, got on the bus and rode it for another hour. got to the end of the bus route -- it didn't go where we needed to and ended up at a park in Medical Lake, a good 40 minutes from the stake center. It was pretty ridiculous. We missed the entire first session. It was very frustrating at the time, but now it's pretty funny.

Sunday, General Conference was amazing and we got rides, so there wasn't another fun story about it.

But after the first session, a family from the Spanish Branch invited all of the missionaries to come and eat lunch with them and it was really good!  The afternoon session was really good and we just loved the messages shared! That evening we saw miracles as we decided to walk and just talk to everyone! The Lord blesses us when we follow the gentle promptings of the Spirit. It was amazing! I also have been sewing my gray suit a lot and I think it should be okay now. It's been trying to fall apart lately. I've gotten really good at sewing since I've had to mend most of my slacks from bike tears and such. Things have been awesome!

Love to everybody!

Talk to you next week!

Elder Bryce Griffin

The apocrypha, Faustin and Gus and a Melophone!‏

Hi Everybody!

This week went way fast!

I was introduced to the Wrangler Burger at Zips, and the Huckleberry milkshake, which is amazing! And the burger is only $3 on thursdays! so weekly plannings gonna start off with a bang from now on!

The Mitmas are still looking for a house and they might have found one near the church! we're really excited about that!

Faustin and Gus came to church and it was such an amazing experience for both of them and they're both excited to come to General Conference!

I was able to teach Faustin about the sacrament and LDS.org translate is coming in handy so much with them!

The Cornwell Family is an interesting bunch. the mother (sister Cornwell) is really working towards coming back to church, but health problems make it difficult, same with the Daughter in law (Coral) She is awesome and working towards baptism. The son (Michael) is kinda a funny guy, he has a strange sense of humor and a firm testimony of the church, but he doesnt like coming to church and he really likes studying deep doctrine and he is mildly obsessed with the Apocrypha (dead sea scrolls and such). The fun thing is, during my studies i found D&C 91, and he was like, I told you! But it basically states that they are true but not completly and you should only study them with the holy spirit. Very interesting.

Foggy Spokane

We have found a lot of fun (not so fun) experiences with the bus system and we're still working on figuring out how to effectively use the buses to reach the far parts of our area.

One of these experiences, we decided to go to a part of our area that nobody has gone to for a long time, we were curious as to why. so we decided to go to the wealthy part of our area and we walked through the entire area and there was literally no one. and the 2 or 3 people we did see and tried to talk to were lifted up in the pride of their hearts. We aren't going to go there anymore. it cost us several hours of proselyting time and the people were exceedingly stiff necked and hard hearted. It was a good experience to have though. and we ended up having to wait way too long for the bus. but we talked to a lot of people on the buses and might have helped someone.

Spokane 2nd ward, Washington 

Another interesting experience, We have a less active member named Starla, who is engaged to a member of a screamo band and we went to check in on her and invite her to church. So her friend answered the door and then said he'd go ask her and she said to come upstairs and talk to her, so we followed him up and got to meet her fiance's band and they started playing and we were like... uhh... help..? and she basically tried to get us to stay and we're like "we have an appointment to go to, hope to see you at church!" and then left. then we were across the street checkin in on an LA member and we could hear them playing and it was like, well okay then, pretty cool, but we're missionaries!

Then later that night we sent out our daily Breadz scripture and she responded and it was pretty weird and we think she might have been drunk texting the missionaries! it was super funny and way weird! Loving spo compton!

Elder Griffin and Elder Sampson

I am possibly getting to play a melophone for Brightly beams our fathers mercy. it feels so good to play again! I miss french horn so much!

That's about all for this week!

One thing that's way cool that i learned this week: Marking up your scriptures is good if it means something, it does you no good to color your scriptures unless it means something and you make it so you can see why it means something. ive been working really hard on that this week.

Love you all so much! keep the faith and know that God will take care of everything if you do!

Elder Griffin