Hi everyone, so yeah i just read my dear John letter in case anyone was wondering. no worries i didn't cry haha, just more shocked than anything but oh well i know that god is blessing me now and will bless me later but just thought you all should know. so this past week was kinda interesting i guess. Wednesday me and the other elder who is in la piedad went on divisions. he was in the ccm at the same time as me but he doesnt speak near as much spanish since his companion speaks English and they always speak in english. but yeah that was interesting because not 5 minutes after splitting up a guy pulled his car to the side of the road and starting talking to us... in english! he said he was a member and that his wife and him were sealed almost 7 years ago in idaho but now his wife kicked him out and hes having alot of troubles. so me and elder horne talked to him for about a half hour and just tried to comfort him as much as we could and finally we gave him a few pamphlets to read that we thought might help and got his information. he ended up coming to church on Sunday too so that was great! but yeah wednesday night me and elder Horne taught a few people and that went good! also once we got back to his house we went on the roof and messed with people in the street with his laser haha! also took some sweet photos with my flag that i brought! then Thursday we worked in my area and sadly most of my plans went to crap so we just ended up contacting a lot of people and a few people were interested and most of em not. oh well we tried though. so yeah that was interesting! also Friday night as we were planning my companion noticed that we had a scorpion on our wall! so we ended up messing with it and taking it off the wall then putting it on the ground, my companion then killed it with fire while i videod it haha. so yeah that was really fun as well! and as for that not much else happened this week! just trying to teach people everyday and being dissapointed most days. not alot of people showed up to church again so i was kinda bummed about that but oh well. but yeah besides that doing good! Love you all and thank you all for your prayers and support! Love Elder Griffin

 Kaden finally received his Christmas package from Grandpa and Grandma Bowcutt:)

 Kaden praying and enjoying his orange chocolate.

Kaden's friend Isaac's twin 4 wheeler found in Mexico. Lol

Hey everyone! well this past week was kindof another slow week as far as teaching went. Once again we had alot of people cancel on us so we just spent alot of time this week trying to contact, and sometimes it was effective and other times no. but no worries all is well! nothing really crazy happened in the past week though, i bought boots though! im really happy about that haha. 450 pesos later i am back in boots haha! but i know you all want to hear about how my birthday was haha! well it started off just like any other day, personal study then companion study, then language study then my training program called 12 weeks. then we left and walked to a place basically on the other side of town! i dont know why my companion wanted to walk today rather than take the bus but we did and the worst part was i was wearing my new boots which werent completely broken in haha. oh well that wasnt terrible, anyways we taught an investigator and then tried to find a few other people around there but no one was home. then took a bus back to the center of town, thankfully haha. we then walked a ways to try and find someone else who also wasnt home, and by this point its time for lunch so we walk to our lunch appointment. I was really excited because these people usually give us really good food! but just my luck on my birthday they fed us molle... and i hate molle. but oh well ill live haha. Then we walked to the church and were gonna help with the mutual activity but only two kids showed up... so instead my companion played basketball with the two kids and their leader while i talked to our recent convert buddy alberto. he came to the church to give me my birthday present and guess what!! it was an american flag!!!! a big nice 3x5 foot american flag!! you could say i was more than happy haha. so we talked for awhile and then taught him a lesson and he was gonna help us teach a lesson but we had to stay in the church for a little bit because the other ward was having their young women activity but the leader had to leave so we stayed and waited and by the time we left there was no time to teach. and we live about 20  minutes of walking away from the church, and as we were just getting to the bus stop the bus passed and we just missed it. we waited hoping another one would come but didnt. Thank the heavens above after we walked for a little bit though a bus came!! so yeah then we got home haha. i was really thankful for the bus because my feet were killing from all the walking earlier in the day. so yeah that was my birthday! no one celebrated it with me, although my companion did wish me happy birthday, i didnt get a cake and no one sang to me, but im happy and it was a good day all in all. did i mention i got a flag and am really happy about that? also a member in our ward finished painting my pillow case as well and gave that to me yesterday! ill send pictures in just a bit. But yeah that was my week! im doing good and the spanish is coming and im staying happy!:) hope everyone else is doing good as well i love you all! Love Elder Griffin

Hey everyone! so this past week has kinda been a rollercoaster for me and again its seemed kinda long but thats ok ill get through it. tuesday we had a zone reunion and that went pretty good and i got two packages at it which was way sweet! then when i opened them up that night and i was looking at everything the next day i got really homesick, so wednesday and thursday were really hard days for me just because i was really missing home and was kinda down in the dumps about everything, plus we are still struggling to find investigators and get the few we have to be baptized. but then friday we went to a conference for all of the new missionaries that are in training and i got to see all of my buddies from the mtc again! i knew i was gonna see them there so i wasnt suprised i was just really happy to see them! but yeah we had a good meeting and it really got me pumped up to go out and work hard and be better! after we took some pictures and talked for a bit then left! after that me and my companion went on divisions with the district leader so i worked with another elder, and during that time i just watched him fearlessly talk with so many people and i just wondered how he did it! well we had a good time on that division teaching and finding and i learned alot from that elder! so then on saturday when we went home i tried putting what i had learned to work! i talked to an old guy at the bus station while we waited for our bus to la piedad, chatted with him for a half hour and he wouldnt even take a card with the website on it just because he said he didnt want to change, oh well haha. oh i should say by this point im not feeling homesick anymore just pumped to go do the work! also later i talked to a guy in a biker gang for a minute haha, i gave him a card and told him that he could visit the site if he had any questions, my companion later said that he thought i was gonna die haha. and sadly i later found a guy and talked to him for a bit and gave a card to him, after he turned away and started talking to someone else i saw him throw it on the ground, then a little bit later a little girl picked it up! i was hoping she would keep it and be interested by it since it had a picture of the salt lake temple on it. sadly she threw it in the garbage. i just wiped it off and put it back in my pocket. just goes to show how hard satan works to bring us down. but yeah that was my week! im feeling really good now and im really happy and feeling really confident as well! grandpa said as well did alot of other people who live here that after two months i would have the language down, well two months ago today i arrived in la piedad, i cant say that i am fluent by any means, but i can understand alot and say pretty much what i want to say! well yeah thats my week haha! hope everyone is doing good at home i love you all! Love Elder Griffin

February 8, 2016

Well this week was pretty hard and pretty long. We had alot of our investigators and people we had appointments with drop them or not show up, so we didn’t get to teach alot this week but we did alot of walking to and from appointments. We tried just talking to people in the park on saturday because we really need new investigators but that didn’t yield any results. we didn’t have the baptism we were expecting on saturday because her parents told her no. she’s 18 and can make the decision if she wants but we don’t want to tear a family apart or cause problems so were going to wait. then sunday morning we got to church two hours early to teach a guy that showed up last week before crying saying he wanted to change his life... and he never showed up... then our family that’s been progressing really good didn’t show up to church either. and in this mission its a rule that they have to attend church 5 times before we can baptize them. and so now instead of baptizing them on my birthday like I had hoped too we have to move their date back  a week. so yeah its been kindof a tough week but no worries I’m doing good and ill just keep pushing through! Really looking forward to tomorrow because I’m expecting some packages so hopefully I get those haha. but besides that not alot new this week.  me and the companion are still getting along, i don’t know what happened either he changed or i just learned alot of patience, i think the latter haha. and yes i am so ready for a transfer, even though I’m getting along with him I’m still ready for a change… haha. the spanish is still coming! each day i get better and better at it! no plans for this week just a whole lot of working and maybe well have a baptism on saturday but i guess well see.  i have been feeling ok i guess, i haven’t gotten sick but I’ve felt a little under the weather at times but I’m fine. my companion though is either on the edge of dying, or just is trying to get attention because he’s pretty sick right now, he’s just sick, his throat hurts and he’s got a runny nose and a headache but i think he’ll be ok. He asked me to give him a blessing yesterday too so hopefully that will help. oh another cool thing that happened yesterday was after lunch a member was showing us pictures from his mission and he showed me all the people in his mission and one of them was Benjamin Floyd Salisbury!! i don’t remember him at all but I’m guessing its floyd salisburys son and tylers brother? but yeah that was cool cuz it said his name and newton utah!! also another thing that happened last week i forgot to tell you about is i almost lost my coin! you know the one that troy and jennifer gave to me? Well i always keep it in my pocket but it fell out one day! Luckily it was at a members house and i have it now but i don’t keep it in my pocket anymore but its always in my bag so yeah. I’m learning to love the people down here and i am having a good time thank you! I’m glad that you get to see me a little bit on facebook! I’m so very happy to hear that everyone at home is doing good too! i can definitely feel the love you are sending so thank you!  hope everyone is doing good I’m praying for you always! Love Elder Griffin

                           That poor bike.. Kaden said he did a really good "wheely" on it....

                    Kaden said that he bought the pen in the MTC... and the recommend holder!

Elder Kaden Griffin enjoying pizza and time again with his high school wrestling and football buddy Elder Issac Herrmann

Hey everyone! well again there isnt a whole lot to say about this past week. we got a new investigator who we feel really wants to change his life so hopefully we can work with him more and things work out there! we also had a family that were teaching start bringing their friends to our lessons as well and to church so were really hoping that theyll listen to our message to and we can baptize them! were expecting a baptism on saturday and were pretty sure its gonna happen so i guess well see haha! this past week has been pretty good, not a whole lot of new stuff happened just still trying to teach people the best that i can and the spanish is definetely coming along thats for sure! i cant understand everything that is being said, especially when its just general talk and not a gospel related discussion, but if i understand what is going on i can usually say what i want to, at least i think i say the correct thing haha. i hope everything is going well at home with everyone! im pretty sure when i come home ill have some sweet tan lines on my neck and on my arms as well. Well thats about it for this week. love you all and hope you all have a great week and are always safe! Love Elder Griffin