PB pie and the wrong Walnut Street

Hello from Spokane!

Hey everybody!

It's been quite an odd week!

Monday I got to eat a PB Cream Pie courtesy of Aunt Laura and Sis Deangelo!

I also found out the Mitmas are moving back into the ward!!! It's both good and bad, but it is. I'm excited to see them, though!

Tuesday Elder Larsen started getting sick, but we had to help someone move in, It was a really good

easy move and they bought us Pizza Rita after! MY FAVORITE!!! Elder Larsen had to take a nap that afternoon and that was interesting.

Wednesday we had an interesting day as well, Elder Larsen was still sick, so he had to sleep a ton more, but we had an awesome lunch appt with Billy and afterwards President Mullen picked us up and we went to see the Cornwells (Faustin had to cancel), but we had a really good lesson and President Mullen gave Elder Larsen a blessing, which helped so much!

Also, we got the clearance to teach Khaled, a Muslim (for now) from Sudan and he's been progressing really well!

Thursday  we had to go on splits for an appt because Elder Larsen was still super sick, and so Elder Ledbetter and I went to teach Doc. He's such an awesome guy and his heart is so prepared to receive the gospel! We've known him since I've been here, he's the guy that runs the computer lab we email at! And he's progressing so well!

Friday we had zone training and I received a lot of needed inspiration to help me manage my stress as well as improving the work in our area! We also had an awesome lesson with Doc! We gave him a  church tour and the spirit was so strong!

That evening we spent running around getting jumpsuits for the baptism and all sorts of chaos -- NEVER DOING A BAPTISM AT ANOTHER STAKE CENTER AGAIN! It was so ridiculously complicated, but luckily it worked out.

Saturday, we helped someone move, and it was super funny! She said she was moving from Mallon to Walnut (like 4 blocks away), but she failed to mention that it was the Walnut out in the Valley! It was not good! And Bro Deangelo was actually in a hurry! It was an interesting experience, but Bro Deangelo is so amazing, He didn't even let it bother him!

That evening we had Dominick's baptism! It was perfect! And Bro Tibbets had to have help because his arm has some problems, so Elder Larsen and him baptized Dominick! 2-man baptism! Woo! It was such a good baptism!

Sunday was the Confirmation and just a really good day at church. We also had Egyptian food for dinner and just had a lot of fun!

It's been a really great week and things are going great!

Thanks for your prayers!

Love ya'll!

Elder Griffin

The Tibbets Family

Dominic's baptism
The Tibbets Family

Feed My Sheep and coconut flan

Hey everybody!

This week has been very interesting. I pretty much was out of the area aaalll week on exchanges. It was a lot of fun though.

Tuesday night to Wednesday we had tons of Velveeta (thanks Mom!) and I was in Cheney second for exchanges. It was a lot of fun and Wednesday we drove out to Sprague, a small town outside of Cheney. it was very ... interesting... Everyone out there is a crappy car collector, on disability and a variety of other interesting things. It was pretty interesting and  I found out that proselyting is different in the boonies than in the Flats. It was a lot of fun and it was cool to be in a car for a day.

Thursday we helped the King family

move all day. Their new house is really nice and we're really excited for them. Bro King should be quitting smoking now too! It was pretty awesome, They bought us Pizza Rita and chocolate milk. It was great! That evening i had a really good lesson with one of our La families. We talked about tithing, which is the last step to prepare them for the temple. it's really exciting! They should be going soon! Thursday night we went on exchanges with the Spanish Elders and it was super ridiculous! I got to go Spanish speaking!

Friday Elder Ledbetter and I basically made jokes about "feed my sheep" and put reminders everywhere! It's pretty cool! Elder Aguilar was super surprised when he got back to his apartment! That evening we stopped by the Dowells because we hadn't been able to visit them this week and dropped off some coconut Flan (coconut custard) and a talk. It was funny because Sis Dowell has been having some problems with the neighbors and so when we knocked it scared her but when we finally got her to answer the door she was so relieved and excited about getting the Flan that she forgot about the whole scaring her thing. Oh and I started getting sick that night.

Saturday was a bit of a mess because we weren't able to have the baptism. Dominick had the Flu and so he couldn't come. So most of the rest of the day was spent calling people about it being cancelled. I was sick as well so it made it really tough to work. We also helped the Kings move some stuff and put together an armoire.

Sunday I got a little bit better, But Faustin got confused about 7th day adv. stuff again. it was not good. Pretty much one of the most spiritually draining lessons I'd had in a long time. i think he's doing better, but we'll see.  it's really frustrating because we'd been showing him gen con talks all week and he was loving it and talking about how true it was and then we showed up and he'd gotten anti'd or something. it was rough. But it will work out. We are also starting to teach a guy named Khaled from Sudan, he watched gen con talks in arabic and he started talking about how he's going to quit smoking and different things because he watched a talk on the Word of Wisdom, His faith has increased so much in so little time. it's amazing!

Hope you all have a great week!

Love ya!
Elder Bryce Griffin

Elder Johnson enjoying velveeta cheese from mom and dad!

Snow, yarn and Pizza Rita

Hey everyone!

It's been a crazy and awesome week! 

Tuesday was pretty unusual, a lot of our plans failed and so we ended up going to the community center and working on family history stuff. It was way interesting and I learned a little bit how to use Familysearch.org. We had the car that day and so we went out to Spokane Falls Community College and had lunch with Billy, it was really good to see him again!

We had a huge miracle later that evening -- we went to see an investigator who lives not too far from us and she answered and was like, "Yeah, I'm not really interested in coming to church anymore," and we asked if she'd seen the Restoration movie we gave her yet and she said "No, wanna watch it right now?" and the movie just softened her heart! It was awesome!

Wednesday was really off. We had interviews that day and were really excited, but unfortunately the interviews before us went waaayyy too long and we ended up not getting out of interviews til 6 (our interviews were supposed to be over at 4:30). So we ended up only getting to a couple of appts. But we had a super funny lesson with Dominic, (our baptism this coming weekend). Dominic was tying Elder Larsen up with yarn while we asked him the baptismal interview questions -- to learn where he was at. It was so ridiculous because we'd been struggling to get him to focus, but while he was distracted tying Larsen up, he was able to think and answer the questions right. It was awesome!

Thursday we did pizza before weekly planning and we got THE FIVE POUND PIZZA at Pizza Rita! It was so tasty! Pizza Rita is my favorite! We went on splits that evening and got tons done! It was great!

Friday we had another unusual experience with a different ex'd member -- pretty much always weird stuff happens when we run into ex'd members. We also taught Faustin using LDS.org! It was awesome! We watched talks by the Prophet and Elder Bednar and he loved it! He has been progressing so well! He loves the church so much! His testimony of the prophet is so strong!

Saturday we got soaked because of rain and snow and it was just icky! But we had a lot of fun and saw miracles teaching Faustin and Dominic.

Sunday was awesome! We had been teaching Faustin about families and temples the whole week and then all of the talks during sacrament meeting were completely geared towards that. The spirit was so strong and I just loved every second of it!

Monday was really busy and we talked to lots of contentious people downtown. but we also talked to some good people and had tons of fun! It was a great day!

Love you all!
Have a good week!

Elder Bryce Griffin

Elder Maguet and Elder Griffin

Elder Larson and Dominic Tibbets

For English, press one!

Hey Everyone! 

Bryce and his pop last July.

This week has been filled with lots of learning experiences!

Last Monday we went to REI (outdoor and clothing store) to see if I could find a good winter coat. Unfortunately, sales there mean that a $1,000 coat is only $500. And on top of that, there wasn't anything that I really liked, so needless to say, I don't like rich people clothes!

Tuesday we went to Corbin Stake Center and were telemarketers for them (calling on referral cards). It was way weird, and I don't really like it much. but it was fun meeting with the  office ladies and teaching them a little about the gospel. We also had a car that day and so we were able to visit a part of our area that isn't very accessible. It was strange. The neighborhood we went to was actually fairly well off and the houses were all way nice!

Wednesday we were telemarketers again and it got easier to do that. We also  visited members of our ward that remind me of Grandma and Grandpa Griffin! It was fun! They even had those Costco cookies that Grandma buys every year! We also had KFC for lunch again. It was a way bad idea. Way too much grease! It was funny! Never Again!

Thursday was super off. We had to ride the bus a ton that day and saw lots of interesting things, including a screaming match outside a store in Felony Flats. We  also got hot dogs from a hot dog stand outside the Spokane Courthouse. They were way too expensive for their quality, but we were kinda panicked trying to find lunch and so we just went with it.

Friday we had zone training and I received a lot of much needed revelation about how to improve myself as a missionary and it's been really helpful! I'm doing a lot better because of it!

Also, Sis. Deangelo sewed pockets onto my coat that evening and it's been so nice to have! They are perfect!

A funny experience we had was, we went to Faustin's and helped with some stuff for his son's school and he asked for help with something with customer service and so he called and then it said "For English press one" and they all just started laughing and then saying "For English press one!" It was so random and hilarious! I had no idea what was going on! It was super funny!

Saturday was an awesome day! We played basketball in the morning and we got Dominic there! It was super fun! And later that day we found some people who are refugees from Kenya who we are teaching now! It was crazy! They fed us some African food, which was interesting. Basically beef, peppers, green peppers, black pepper and oil. It was spicy but good!

Afterwards we went to the Bossleys for dinner and they made what I dare say is the best dinner I've had on my mission! Bisquits with gravy and eggs and bacon and it was so tasty! Their kids are so adorable and happy too! They are one of my favorite people I've found on my mission! They're working towards the temple and I'm so excited for them!

Sunday was an odd day. We taught the guys from Africa and they were all interested, but not at the same time. It was very interesting. They're super funny though, they are kinda scary looking, But if you say hi, they have these HUGE toothy grins! It's super funny! We also did some service for one of the families who've been struggling lately. It was a lot of help to them and they're improving.That evening we had dinner at the Purcells, It was way delicious and we were able to get a lot more done that evening thanks to Bro Purcell volunteering to come out with us.

That's about my week this week!

Love you all!

Have a good week!

Elder Griffin

Cowboys and Congo Chicken -- and a car!

Hey everyone!

This week has been an interesting one!

Tuesday we helped someone move out of the Wolfe Apts (they're super sketchy) and it was way fun,

but the person who we were moving took us to lunch at Sonic after and she chewed out the drive through lady and it was really sad and kinda scary. Also, Elder Larsen ripped his pants and had to wear some Dallas Cowboys sweats (he's a Steelers fan) all the way home on the bus. it was super funny!

Wednesday we watched "How to Train Your Dragon 2" for New Year's eve and had the 5 pound pizza from Pizza Rita! It was way awesome! Also, Faustin invited us to a party the next day, which made for an interesting story!

Thursday was a no-proselyting day, so we went to Faustin's and taught him at 12 and then at 1 we were supposed to go to the party thing. It was interesting because Mormon Standard Time is about 15 minutes late. Apparently Congolese ST is about 3 hours late, so the party that was supposed to start at 1 ended up us getting picked up about 1:45 and the actual party didn't start til 4! It was super funny!

Congo Chicken (?)

And then, at the party, they had tons of really good Congolese food! Unfortunately Elder Larsen couldn't eat most of it because it had nuts in it. Also, super interesting and smart thing about the Congolese: At their parties, they put the kids in a separate room until after the parents have all eaten. It was awesome! And the other way cool thing that happened, besides cultural dancing and such, was they gave a big speech and then had me bless the food. They had such high respect for us as missionaries, it was almost too much! They even made us eat first as their guests! (which was not exactly what we wanted since we couldn't tell what the food was or how to eat it).

Friday we did service at Corbin Senior Center with all the missionaries, and all the elderly people loved it! It was awesome! That afternoon, we got a call from a guy down at the Wolfe who needed us to come give him a blessing and was telling us about satanic dreams and it was super weird. 

We also got an exciting call from Elder Fisher! We found out that we are now part-time Car!!! We get a car for two days of the week and so now we can get a lot more done in our area! It's amazing!

But that night we gave the car to the missionaries we're sharing with and then missed our bus and had to hang out at the bus plaza way late. It was super scary!There was lots of high people and even a lady that could grow more facial hair than Elder Larsen! It was super sketchy!

Saturday was the funeral for Brother Marx. He lived to be 100 yrs old, It was a really good service.

We also had an activity at the Deangelos on Saturday and had several of the young men from the ward come and fellowship one of our investigators. It was really good, and at the end we watched the Restoration video and had a really spiritual lesson.

That evening we rode the bus down to Billy's and on the bus we were the only ones there and the bus driver talked to us the whole time. It was a really good lesson!

Sunday was weird because of 9 a.m. church. We ended up giving Billy a blessing because he hurt his back really bad and couldn't make it to church. It was tough to see how much he was struggling, but I shared a scripture in 3 Nephi 22:7-8 that really helped him feel much better.

It was a really good week and I'm excited for how the work is going!

Love you all!

Elder Griffin

Faustin and the Elders

More posing with pizza!

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.