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)