Transfers -- Back to Spokane!

 April 27, 2015

Hey everyone!

It's been a good busy week!

Tuesday we had transfers, so we packed up our apt and headed on out of Colville down to Spokane and just had a fun drive and said bye to Elder Buckely, Pendell and Hunter. Then I met up with my new comp, Elder Molder and we got to work! 

It was super fun and we even had an interesting experience while we were meeting with one of our investigators by the running people in river front park. We had a guy who was going through a difficult situation screaming profanities at us about anti and stuff. Pretty much the craziest lesson I've had on my mission. 

Elder Molder had to keep teaching with the member that was there and I kept escorting the guy off and taking him back to his wife who was crying and screaming at him and I ended up rebuking him and it all worked out. Very interesting and at one point the member was doing all the teaching while I was walking the crazy guy away from our investigator and Elder Molder was talking to some other guy. 

It ended up being a really good lesson and made for a great story. 

Elder Molder, Eppson, Keppner

Afterwards we went to sacred Heart hospital and gave a blessing. Afterwards Elder Molder felt prompted to go check on someone who was there last time he went and it took us about 20 minutes to find her. However when we found her, she didn't want to visit.  On the way home we were driving and there was a police car with it's intercom on saying something along the lines of "come out, we'll find you, put down your weapons".

We got back to Brother Fletchers to say hi and had him look it up and he said there was a shooting at the gas station right where we would have been had we not gone to the other lady's room. It was kinda freaky, but we realized that Heavenly Father really looks out for his missionaries. It was pretty cool. Love ya mom! ha you asked for it!

Wednesday we went to institute and had fun meeting and made Italian sodas and had fun, nothing too eventful Wednesday and Thursday though.

Friday we watched Meet the Mormons at the church and had fun.  We got free lunch at the institute and had Italian soda's again and just had a good busy day. 

Saturday was fun, we had lunch with Elder Molders mission mom and  picked up a braille Book of Mormon for an investigator who is blind and helped some random people move (they offered us a beer) ha ha. 

We found out Doc was in the hospital (in our area) so we went and visited him. It was good to see him, but he wasn't doing too good. He said he should be okay, so I'm just gonna hope he gets well soon.

Sunday was pretty uneventful, we had a good lesson with a YSA(young single adult)  sister and I made sloppy joes out of elk meat, it was super good!

Love ya'll!
Elder Griffin

Elder Molder

Canada, a fallout shelter and a light at the end of the tunnel

April 20, 2015
Hi everyone!
Holy cow it's been a busy week!

Monday we drove up to the Colville cross for p day and had fun up there and hiked around, I made sloppy joes for the Fitzsimmons that evening and we watched Joseph Smith prophet of the restoration with Jimmy, it was really good.

Tuesday we road tripped to Spokane and on the way back we stopped at Dickies for lunch. IT WAS SOO GOOD!!!! I even decided to buy a big yellow cup t-shirt. 

We also helped with service that afternoon and got to see an awesome water fall out at Douglas FAlls. It was beautiful!

Beauty, eh? I went foreign on my mission (Canada!) 

Wednesday we went to Canada for a blitz and saw miracles! It was a super fun trip and one of the biggest miracles we saw, we were walking forever and then this guy on a motorcycle stopped at an intersection right in front of us. and amazingly enough, his motorcycle died right when we walked up to him! It was sweet! We had a really good lesson with him and he even took a book of Mormon. It was way cool! A really good day in Canada, And now I can say I went foreign!

Thursday we had the BYUI collegiate singers in town and they did a concert, it was super good! It was a great community event and we had a really good turnout. The spirit was strong there!

They said these tracks were inactive, but what's that I hear ...

Friday I went to Ione for exchanges, and it was one of the most ridiculously fun exchanges I have ever been on! We went tie tracting, hiked through an old train tunnel, went to a fallout shelter (it was kinda creepy), pursued some random horses down a road after a service project, went to a waterfall, saw some old abandoned train cars, and found this super cool house out in the boonies that had an amazing view of the river and this way cool track for taking the kayak's down the giant hill to the river! It was so randomly amazing! And all of this while teaching a bunch of people and doing a bunch of service!

Saturday we had an amazing day! Elder Nelson and Elder Clark came to the mission and spoke to us. It was soo good! Elder Clark talked on Luke 6, the wise man built his house upon the rock, and Elder Nelson talked about patriarchal blessings and the Abrahamic covenant. It was super powerful! When he was talking he gave us an Apostalic blessing and it was so powerful! iI knew right then that he was an apostle of the Lord. I felt God's love as he spoke to us. This church is so true!

Douglas Falls

That night we went boonie tracting and found some random really cool campgrounds and the river! It was lots of fun! It was such an amazing day!

Sunday was fun, we had a weird feeling about transfers and so we spent a lot of time with bro Fitzsimmons and had a lesson with Jimmy. It was a good day, we had dinner at bishop's house and it was super good! Gourmet pot roast! It was super good! Now it's p-day and we're packing up, I'm headed off to Spokane 1st ward/ysa, it's exciting!

Love you all!

Elder Griffin

ZLs hitting the trail

Selfies -- in Canada!

Selfies -- in Canada!

Selfies -- in Canada!

Read this ...

See the light at the end of the tunnel?

Fallout shelter, with rads?

Yep, that's a big river.

Yep, that's a big river.

Fallout, boy!

Fallout shelter ... apartments?

Sign of the times (circa 1980)

Preparing for an Apostle's Visit -- Letter from President Mullen

April 13, 2015                               

Good Morning Elders and Sisters –

It’s another great day in the Washington Spokane Mission.  Sister Mullen and I loved being able to interview each of you over the past several weeks.  We really appreciate the great efforts you are making and the changes you are sharing with us.

This week, Elder Nelson will be speaking to us.  It will be remarkable - if we are prepared.  There are things you can each do to be better prepared: 1- Pray for Elder Nelson and Elder Clark. Pray to be personally prepared.  Pray for the Holy Ghost to be the Teacher. 2-Come prepared with personal questions. 3- Do your very best missionary work this week - not just missionary-like activities but missionary work.  4-Focus on what matters most. Be your best missionary self.  The Lord will bless your diligence and consecrated efforts.  Elder Hamula taught us that when Elder Nelson comes, we will get out of his visit what we put into it.  This week, put your very best efforts into being grateful, consecrated, obedient, finding new investigators, teaching, committing investigators to baptism, etc.  Focus on what matters most.

Diligently doing those things that matter most always lead us to the Savior of the world (President Uchtdorf) .  "He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, (Mosiah 16:9). 

The Savior’s gentle invitation “Come follow me” is an invitation to happiness and peace.  No matter how lost we are or how hard the path, by staying focused on Jesus Christ and following Him, we can find our way through life's difficulties and make it safely home.  Jesus Christ is the only way home - there is “no other way” to be saved.  “Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah…”  Coming unto Christ and becoming like Him is what matters most.  That is why our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ

Thanks for your diligence and dedication to the Lord.  We look forward to being with you on Saturday.  Much love – President and Sister Mullen

WE ARE DOING A GREAT WORK AND CANNOT COME DOWN

Please be at the Spokane East Stake Center by 9:00 am on Saturday (April 18^th).

Buckley Riverfront Park & the garbage goat statue

April 13, 2015

Hey everyone!

This week has been fairly uneventful.

     Monday we spent our p-day with Jim and he taught us to wrestle a little and it was lots of fun.  We also drove up to the big cross that overlooks Colville and it was pretty fun. Unfortunately my camera died right when we got to the top so we couldn't take any pictures. Oh well!

      Tuesday we spent some time back in downtown spokane because we had a doctors appointment get rescheduled for later in the day. It was lots of fun. I got to see the old area and show Buckley River front park and talk to tons of people again. It was nice and we even got to see the garbage goat statue, which I'd never seen before!

Wednesday we got to do some family history and I found some stuff for grandma Helen Morrone, --that was exciting.  I felt the spirit of Elijah pretty strong! We also had a fun experience with Jimmy and some oranges the food bank gave us. We also had a good lesson with Jimmy and he's doing really well. He's planning on being baptized in the next couple weeks.

Thursday was fun and full of service. We got to burn pine needles and help someone move and had a nice dinner with the Olsen family. It was a good day. We ended up smelling like Jerky the rest of the night because of the burning stuff.

Friday was interesting, we had a couple good lessons and an interesting ward social, it was still a good day though.

Saturday was fun, we went on exchanges and we saw miracles!

WE were teaching a lesson with one of Colville 2nd's investigators and a friend of her's interrupted the lesson.So we just finished up really quick cause they were going into town.  Then later that day we were tracting in the same area and the first door we knocked on was his, and he said "I was wondering when you were going to show up!?"  He then proceeded to ask several questions and the spirit was super strong. He's now an investigator! It was great!

Sunday was pretty good, Elder Buckley gave a talk and it was a good day at church, That evening we had a super fun dinner appointment with an awesome family who has tons of adorable children, it was great!

That's about all that's happened this week, love ya'll!

Elder Griffin

Zone Conference, General Conference and Service!

4/10/15
Hi Everybody!

It's been a good week, lots of interesting experiences.

Tuesday we got our apartment inspected, we passed, sorta, most of the mess was left over from years past, but we did okay. Afterwards we visited a few people and had a good busy day, we finished up with institute it was good.

Wednesday was interesting, we helped a new family move into the ward, they were super nice and we're hoping to make them not pmf. It should be good. We also had interviews which was good. Afterwards we helped an interesting lady move. It was not a good situation to say the least and it was very... aromatic.

Thursday we  had weekly planning and then had  a dinner appointment, correlation and basketball with the elders quorum. At the end of the night we picked up Elder Lefler from Chewelah and Friday we were going to try to open up little Russia.

Friday, we had zone training and then went to lunch at Rancho Chico, it was super good, during lunch we got a call from the lady again and she desperately needed help, so we ended up spending the rest of our day helping her move. It was very very unsanitary. Worst move I have ever taken part in.  It was sad. We never made it out to little Russia, so Elder Lefler is going to have to wait. 

Saturday was general conference and it was super good, we watched it at the church and had a lot of fun. It was good. We went to Ronnie D's after for ice cream and hung out with Jim and Brother Fitzsimmons. It was really fun.

Sunday we watched conference over at the Fitzsimmons with Jim and had a lesson and it was really good. The spirit was strong and Jim is excited for his baptism. We had an interesting dinner with some members out in the boonies and then struggled to find something to do the rest of the evening. Holidays are tough for finding people to see when you don't know many people.

It's beena  goood week!

Love ya'll!

Elder Griffin

Elder Buckley

Rancho Chico and Beaver Lodge

Monday, March 30

Hey everyone!

It's been a good and busy week!

 

Tuesday we had a road trip and got the jeep serviced, so we decided to try Rancho Chico, it was super good and not too expensive! 

 

 

 

Wednesday we did service at the food bank and had a lot of fun. we also tried to contact a referral and this random guy outside got mad at us because we knocked twice, it was really random and kinda funny. We also had a really powerful lesson with Jim and the Fitzsimmons and an amazing lesson with Lester and the fruits of the spirit.

Thursday we had another road trip and tried to stop for slurpees, but the slurpee machine at the 7-11 was broken! It was frustrating. We taught a former investigator and almost had this random apartment manager try to bash with us. It was random and not very nice of her to interrupt our lesson.

 

Friday we did exchanges and my first district meeting, it was a really good district meeting and the spirit was strong. On exchanges with Elder Pendell, we literally spent the entire exchange in service clothes. It was lots of fun doing various service projects and i was worn out by the end of it. We even got pizza!

 

Saturday was fun, more service! I was so exhausted! But it was really good work. we also went to a YSA activity with Jim and had some really good food.  I also realized that a good comparison for Colville, it's a lot like Hurricane.

 

Sunday we had a really good day at church, we got a bunch of dinners scheduled with members, we got priesthood holders signed up to come out with us and we even bore our testimonies in sacrament meeting! That evening we had an AMAZING dinner at the relief society presidents house, it was super good! Overall just a great day!

 

That's about the extent of my week, lots of cancellations, it's been frustrating, but the work is getting moving, so I'm excited!

 

Crystal Falls

Crystal Falls, Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge

Beaver Lodge Campground & Resort, Colville Washington

 

Love ya!

Elder Griffin