Smoke, Transfers brings training

August 24, 2015

Hey everyone!

Elder Linde, Elder Jorgensen & Elder Griffin @ Sis Christina Jermochek's house

It's been a good busy week!

Transfers were this week, so we'll get there in a minute!

Monday we had a good p-day, Jorgie and I went bowling and had a great time!

Tuesday we had an interesting experience at the dr's appt and then while we were there, the crazy parakeet guy started texting us, it was really funny, he's pretty crazy and we ended up blocking his phone number because he kept wasting our time! That evening we had a buffet with the Kishs, it was super good and we even got to talk to a random LA girl who's brother just went on a mission, it was cool.

Wednesday we had a good busy day We did service at Community of Christ and that evening it started getting really smokey. but we had a super good lesson with a new investigator named Melissa, she's been studying the church for a long time and somehow didn't get in contact with the missionaries. it's pretty sweet!

Thursday we visited Sis Moosmen, she's doing well, then we went to the baby place and had a good time, that evening we visited the luna's and they are doing awesome as always! and then we had a long lesson with Glennyss, but it was really good and she's growing a lot. it's been great teaching her!

Friday the smoke got so bad that the church finally told us that it's time to stop proselyting. that didnt' really stop us, because we had a bunch of appt's going, but we got lucky and everyone gave us a ride to our next appt. so we didn't have to be out in it too long. We had dinner at the Luna's,it was super delicious! and they're always fun to visit. that afternoon we picked up a ton of stuffed animals with Bro Wiberg from an investigators house, it was awesome! we donated about half of them to inland NW baby and the other we had to just give to goodwill. It was super funny, we felt like Mormon santa driving around in a big read truck full of stuffed animals.

Saturday we helped the spears move out of the ward, it was sad, but a very good move. I love moving people that are actually ready to move. That evening was the ward picnic, it was super good. we got the Luna's there and it was just a great ward activity.

Sunday was pretty standard, except the AP's dropped a random missionary on us, Elder Linde, he's super cool. We got transfer calls that night, and i'm second training Elder Linde, it's gonna be great!

It's been a great week!

Love ya'll!

The "Smoke-ane" mission is on Fire! Pray for rain and safety for those affected.

Letter from Stake President in the Spokane Area:

Brothers and sisters, we would invite you to combine your faith with surrounding Stakes this Sunday in fasting and prayer for the safety and protection of lives and property by petitioning the Lord for favorable weather conditions to help control the many regional wildfires currently burning.
Please get the message out to the members of your units that would help as many as possible participate in this fast.

President Matt McCombie

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Letter from Mission President dated August 21, 2015:     

Hazy Spokane Temple

 Today we may be called the “Smoke-ane” Mission! We have received a report that there are currently over 30 fires burning out of control in our mission. Last week there were 4 missionaries temporarily evacuated due to fire concern, but they returned to their apartments the next day.

Hazy Spokane Temple

     Heavy smoke and ash particles are in the air. We have been advised from SLC to keep the missionaries inside as much as possible during these weather conditions. They will continue to do teaching appointments and make visits but will not be street contacting for the time being. Missionaries in high-risk areas have been asked to have a 72-hour bag in their apartment. 

Church members are watching out for our missionaries. Zone leaders receive daily reports from each companionship. See attached pictures. Pres. Wayne R. Dymock, Washington, Spokane Mission President

*********

Air Quality Index not looking good

August 21, 2015 News article from KXLY.com

Hazy in Spokane from all the fires nearby

SPOKANE, Wash -

More than a couple people outside wearing dust masks to help them breath easier Friday.

Many of the dust masks you see are designed to filter out things like saw dust. Unfortunately many of them don't filter out the harmful gases in the smoke like carbon monoxide and formaldehyde.

It's an eerie sight looking over downtown Spokane. Heavy smoke from wildfires burning across eastern Washington lying thick and heavy on the city. A picture worth event that hasn't happened in a very long time.

Hazy days

"Maybe firestorm that we had in the late 90's," said Spokane resident Leo McLaughlin.

The air quality dipping down into the hazardous range briefly on Friday night.

"Bad to breath. You know, you shouldn't be out here without some kind of protection," said Spokane resident Thomas Becker.

Many people using scarves, shirts and dust masks for some sort of relief from the smoke.

"It is helping quite a bit," said Becker.

The smoke so thick, it's even getting inside buildings.

Air quality continues to get worse

'I live up the road, the whole building smells like smoke," said Becker.

Anyone with respiratory problems is urged to stay inside. Health officials saying physical activity during the next couple days should be dialed down. 

"Well, some guy just yelled at me that I shouldn't be out running in the smoke. So that worried me a little bit," said GU cross country runner Shelby Mills.

Riverfront Park normally busy on a Friday afternoon, now looking more like a ghost town.

"Not a lot of runner or not a lot of walkers either," said Mills.

Look at the difference between normal and now

The forecast for more smoke, having some people running for clearer skies.

"Back to campus and then I'll call it," said Mills.

If you do want to wear a dust mask make sure it has a N95 or N100 filter on it. Remember, these won't protect you completely some fine particulate will still get through.

Sweet week!

Elder Griffin, Nicole, Elder Jorgensen

Hey everyone! it's been a sweet weeK!

Monday we had a sweet lesson with the collins, their kids were extra energetic, so it was kinda difficult, but it turned out to be the perfect lesson.

Tuesday we did service at inland NW Baby again and it was really good. then we visited Jill and she's doing great with quitting smoking! It was super hot that afternoon and no one seemed to be home, but then we called Brandon and went to the FH center and started his family history, he's hooked! it was great!

Elder Larson, Elder Kattil

Wednesday we checked in with sunshine gardens to see if we could do service there, it was really good and we even found one of our LA members who works there. it was pretty sweet! That evening we helped someone move and there was lots of cat hair, it was kinda not fun, but definitly not the worse move i've ever done. (that was back in Colville)

Thursday we did service for community of Christ church (RLDS) it was super weird, but it was good and we got to help feed the homeless. it was good.

That afternoon we did weekly planning and got a lot done. then that evening we found a bowling ball! his name is dennis (it's carved on the bowling ball) but we're going to take it to the bowling alley today for pday. We also had Nicole's baptismal iinterview, it went well and she's ready to get baptized!

Friday was zone conference, 9 hours of meetings, WOOO! it wasn't too bad, there were a lot of good lessons in it. it was nice. we also had Nicole's baptism! it was an amazing service and Kellan even came and played for her! it was great!

Saturday was a bit chaotic, we helped an investigator with moving some things, then we went to breakfast with bro Morris then we had a zone blitz, which was fun. Some russian lady wagged her finger at me and told me to go away when i was trying to get directions. it was sad, but kinda funny.

Sunday was great and we got Riley to church! she loved it and especially the youth classes! Nothing too exciting besides that!

Love ya'll! have a great week!

Elder Griffin

Exciting week with a mini missionary!

Hey everyone! It's been a super eventful week, even though it was a little shorter than usual.

Last Wednesday  I found a sweet new proselyting bag at ross that's the perfect size! We also had an awesome pday with our mini missionaries and just lots of fun. That evening we had an interesting experience with some sorority girls at 32nd apartments and basically they mocked us and then invited us to join in iniquity, it was pretty uncomfortable but me and Kallen made it out unscathed, Jorgie got a little scared for life though.

Thursday we Taught Nicole again and she's all ready for baptism this coming Friday. We also had weekly planning and saw Sis Moosmen.  Kallen played violin for her and she just loved it! It made her day! We also had pizza rita for dinner, it was super good!

Elder Jorgensen

Friday we got attacked by the crazy 10 commandments preacher dude that has had a reputation of harassing missionaries. It was heartbreaking to see someone so hardened against the gospel. He was mean. 

Elder Griffin and Kalen Kribbs (mini)

Then we had zone training and it was fairly uneventful. 

That evening we helped Jill quit smoking, we cleaned up all her ashes and such, dusted the porch, gave her a priesthood blessing and she's been smoke free since! We also saw the Powells and Brittany's husband is officially an investigator! We talked about Alvey world and other stuff back at PV, it was sweet!

Saturday we had an interesting guy that sincerely thought we were going to hell because we believed the BoM and he thought the bible was all we needed and yada yadda, it was funny, complete contrast from the preacher guy though, this guy was sincerely concerned for our souls, it was kinda funny. 

We also taught Jill the Plan of Salvation and she loved it. It was a really good, really spiritual lesson.

Sunday was super sweet! Glennyss came to church and she loved it! We had really good talks about defending the Family and Marriage and such and both classes were really good. During sacrament Kallen played on his violin and everyone in the church was moved to tears. It was amazing! he's super talented! We said bye to him that evening and it was sad to see him go, he's going to make a great missionary someday! He was awesome! Now he's gone back to the land of eternal pdays and we'll miss him. 

It was a great week! 

Jorgensen, Kribbs, Grirffin

Love ya'll!!!

Elder Griffin

Best Mission Ever...and shirt burning.

HEy Everyone!

Elder Griffin

It's been a good busy week!

Last Monday we had a FHE with the Collins family at the Bishops house, it was really good. and we had brownies and fun!

Tuesday we went to IDAHO!!! to help Elder Wall with setting up a mission apartment. It was a fun trip and it was cool to see a different part of the mission. That evening we had a lesson with Keeta and she got really excited because we brought Sis Luna with us, she even got excited to come to church! We also visited with the Luna's and I burned a shirt for my year mark. It was good. 

Elder Jorgensen and Elder Griffin

Also, the brakes went out on my bike at the end of the night, so it was fun riding home with only front brakes. I made it home safe though and Elder Harris came by the next day to help.

Wednesday had an interesting experience with Latina getting upset because we were helping her neighbor take out some really really nasty garbage. It was really uncomfortable but kinda entertaining because we were just trying to be helpful. 

1 year shirt burning...

Thursday we had a good lesson with Nicole at the Wibergs house, She's getting super excited about her upcoming baptism. it's going to be great! 

Then we did service at inland NW Baby and helped sort clothes and such.

Then we did weekly plannning and went to the church for dinner and to prep for a Church tour with Glennyss, which turned out really really well.

Friday we did service at the Fox Glenn apt's helping clean up the tennis court, it was really good. 

Then we had district meeting and then we went to Best Mission street during lunch. 

Then we went to the Browns and saw the Powells and Brittany. The Powells are new ward missionaries and they're super excited for the calling.

Saturday we had a fun day, we helped a guy move out of his trailer and it was pretty random. 

Then we saw a ton of people and Riley got super excited to come to church. We also saw Latina and she was in a much better mood. We gave her a couple church movies for her birthday and she got all excited. It was great. 

That evening we helped with a stake single adult activity and it was a blind fold obstacle course symbolizing the vision of the tree of life. it was really cool and super fun to try to get people to let go of the iron rod. it was funny and weird reversing roles there as all the missionaries were the tempters. it was fun!

Sunday we had a great day at church, there were a lot of people there and it was good to see the fruits of our labors. That evening we had dinner with the Luna's, which was super good pot roast, and then we went to Roberta to check up on her, we gave her a priesthood blessing and the spirit was really strong. She's got a lot on her plate and the blessing really helped her.

Monday we had a super good day. We picked up a mini missionary who will be staying with us the next week and seeing what mission life is like, and we had a few good experiences. Also, it has been super smokey outside lately, apparently Washington has several fires nearby. They should've repented! Oh well, they'll humble themselves now. Ha. Just kidding. 

Burning is over...time to get to work for another year!

Tuesday we had another good lesson with Nicole and she's all but ready to be baptized, the date is still in the air, either next week or in two weeks.  We also did service and had a dinner with the SR missionaries. It was fun.  

We also had a super good lesson with The Powells and Brittany and her HUSBAND EVEN CAME!!!! It was a huge miracle, his heart has been softening lately and it's great to see him deciding to come try the gospel out again.

Investigator excited the missionaries didn't get transferred...

It was a great week!

Love ya'll!

Edler Griffin