DR_CCM_8_25_2011

Dear Family,                                                                                            August 25, 2011

Happy half Birthday to me! haha

The hurricane went over us.  But between the fogged out windows, the 20 foot wall, and the fact that we don't get to go outside and can only walk in one hallway we didn't even noticed anything happened! J haha I figured we would hear some crazy winds, but I guess it wasn't that bad.  People have been living with storms like that al of their lives.  I did, however, see lightning one night but that was about it. Our teachers told us that there was going to be a storm but they didn't want us to worry about it I guess.

I got Dads letters and I was the talk of the hallway.  I got 5 “Dear Elder.com” letters! Not many people got any letters! Even though most of it (22 letters) was a conference talk! Ha, I really loved it and it gave me something to read before I went to bed !!!! Thanks so much for it Dad! Mom get better please!!!! I want to go to the duck park that sounds awesome!!!

 We went to the temple this morning and it was amazing!!! We did an endowment session and then went down to the baptistery and did baptisms and confirmations. So, I‘ve been through most everything there is to do in the temple now, which I think is really, really awesome!!!!

 

It was so good to hear about Jeff being able to baptise Will and name and bless Tate.! Tell Will congratulations on his baptism and Tate on his naming and blessing.  It would have been nice to be there, but I hope to be doing some of that here in the DR shortly.  That’s an honor that Ty wanted me to baptize him, but I’m glad his Dad was able to.  That will help create a whole new bond between them. 

   

I have to tell you about our MTC President. The man is my hero. He is about grandpa Francom’s age and has the heart of a champion! haha His name is President Glazier.  He and his wife have been down here in the DR at the CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misional) for about 9 months.  I think he is awesome. Because the CCM is so small, we always get to see and interact with him. 

The teachers like I said don't speak much English and it really hard trying to learn from them- having to concentrate on their words and try to run them thru my brain to see if I know what they are saying.  Soon I hope to be able to go with the flow and understand rather than trying to translate in my brain as they talk.  So, it’s just me and my comp with our heads down in books trying to learn this language that the people speak down here, which isn't Spanish! 

The food is amazing! That surprised me!  The chicken and beef are the best, and the beans and rice are so tasty.  I guess they prepare 4 meals a day here, but currently we are only getting 3.  Lunch is huge and dinner is smaller!

5 more weeks in the CCM seems like an eternity – this too shall pass - but once I get in the field I know I’ll love it.  I just can't wait to be able to speak to people! I can throw out some Spanish and have them respond but then it is a struggle from there! I know I’m speaking Spanish to them but I’m still not sure what there speaking back to me – Japaneese??

The kids are awesome; we played basketball with them in the parking lot a couple days ago. They are just like i remembered them!

When I got off of the plane I did what Dad told me and just took a deep breath of …. water! Ha it’s so humid here!  And said “this is home for 2 years, and I love it!”

The airport was a struggle. ha Not many of the missionaries wanted to try and help with the bags.  So my comp and I were trying to talk to the people that were helping us while throwing bags on the bus at 11 p.m.  I helped mainly because I wanted to get to a bed!! ha jk .

Send your email to me on Wednesday night because I get to read them early Thursday morning before we go to the Temple.  Then I can reply to them in the afternoon. Dear Elder.com still come but, I don't know if they cost money or not!

(FYI  Dear Elder.com has a deadline of Sunday at midnight – so they can get the letters printed and into the Church Office building for Tuesday shipping.  Then the Elders at the Dominican MTC or CCM should have them a few days after that.)

Thank you Mommy for replying this morning! You’re the best!!!

 I sent a letter to all of my siblings today so I can test out the letter system.  So, let me know when you get them!!!

I love you and can't wait to hear from you all – it’s your turn to write.

LOVE ELDER GRINER!!

DR_MTC_1

Dear Family,

 

Hey whats up! I made it to the Dominican Republic. OK! ha I'm doing just great even though it is a lot different then what i though it would be.

 

There are only 30 missionaries here and about 10 teachers. The MTC President stays with us and is an awesome man. The MTC is right next to the temple, like 30 feet away, it is amazing. it is good to finally be here.  I realized this morning that we don't get to leave this MTC for another 6 weeks!  lots of learning still ahead.  As I've said before,  I'm here to learn and to have a little fun.

 

A neat benefit for the members that travel to go to the temple, is that they get to stay at the MTC. So, there are missionaries and member families that stay at the MTC.  I don't know if there are any functions that we get to share in or not with the members.  But, these people will probably be some of the people we'll work with in our different areas. 

 

The flights through Chicago and Miami where pretty good and I had a lot of fun, because I love flying haha anyway.

 

I have a new companion here, his name is Elder Hamilton.  He is from Saratoga Springs and went to BYU last year. We seem to get along just great.

 

It was way fun to talk to y'all in the airports.  I'm sorry that i didn't get to talk for very long. I found out after I got off the phone that if the person that I had called would have just called the pay phone I was at we could've talked for a while longer; dang it,  but its okay!  It was good to hear you guys.

 

They tell us to tell you to not send packages here to the MTC.  Just send letters, dear elder.com, and emails to :matthew.griner@myldsmail.net.

 

my new address for here is :

 

 

Centro de Capacitacion Misional

Ave. Bolivar #825

Esq. Genesis, Los Robles

Santo Domingo, Rep. Dom.

 

 

So it is just like everyone says, people talk very fast.  I am excited and can't wait to understand the language and speech patterns better ! ha

 

I love you all and will write to y'all on Thursdays - which are my new p-days.   so yeah!

 

love you, thank you, and see ya later

 

ELDER GRINER

HEY HEY HEY!!!

Thank you for the package and your letters!! they are awesome and the things in the package were and will be very very useful!

   So all the people in my Zone left on Tuesday and Monday to go serve in the field and even though it was way sad it was exciting to see them go and got me excited to serve. My district will now dwindle down to 7 guys since we had one go home the first week and now my comp and I are leaving! They, as I have told y'all before are awesome! The new district leader will be Elder Kezarian. ha Elder Kezarian is President Packard's grandson , we found this out about a week into the mission and we can tell the kid is destined for apostleship!! In sacrament meeting my comp and I passed the Sacrament, which is something that I haven't  done in a while and it made me realize how important that ordinance is, and how much responsibility we put on the shoulders of 12 year olds!!!!! On Tuesdays we have devotionals and yesterday David F. Evans of the Seventy came to speak to us.  He spoke about the doctrine of Christ, and as a missionary this related to everything we do.  We learned very early in here that the doctrine of Christ is ultimately following the example of Christ in doing all the things in order to return to live in Gods presence again.  As a missionary our purpose is to invite others the " know the doctrine of Christ" and come unto him, so when elder Evans spoke on this it really hit home and I loved it!!
  We have district meetings after devotionals ( in the class room where we spend over 3/4 of our time here ) and they are amazing.  I feel the Spirit more with these Elders then I ever have! Even though the experience of the MTC are very repetitive and boring , one thing I never get sick of is the feeling of the Spirit and the prompting we as missionaries receive every day.
    My teachers here in the MTC have been the best people that I know! One of them is named Brother Kyle Jarman, he served in Spain so I have kind of picked up his (theta) or lisp when I speak Spanish, but he is the greatest example of a missionary I could ask for and he pushed us so hard, almost to the point where I thought I couldn't take anymore! Our other teacher is Sister Flor Purziani , she is a native of Argentina and a convert to the church.  She was our first "investigator" so we were able to teach her.  But when she started talking she didn't slow her Spanish down at all for us. I am very grateful for that! She challenged us to put a gobstopper in our mouth at night and pray until it was gone... I have done this for the past couple nights and I end up praying for about 15 minutes every time and the great thing about it is that I always have something to pray about.
   The BoM has become my favorite thing, and since I started it last week.I'm already in Mosiah and am learning so much this time thru it!!
We had the chance to teach in English the other day, and I realized how much less stressful being an English speaking missionary would be, but I'm called to speak Spanish so that's what I'm doing!
   One of the sisters that just left colored visual renditions of the ten commandments,  the way out of sin, and the first three lessons, and I think it is what David was going to show me! They are awesome.  I went and got them shrunk and copied!
    Well anyway I love y'all and the next time I e-mail you I'll be in The DR!!!! I will call you from CHI town in the airport so we can talk on the phone and I can hear your sweat voices!

I love you so much and that you so so so so much for your support!
BUENAS SUERTE FAMILIA!


ELDER GRINER

 

Travel papers.  He leaves the Provo MTC on Thursday August 18, 2011 at 4:00a.m.

Represent!

Elder Johnson and Elder Griner - Provo Temple

Matt's District Temple trip on P-day

Matt's 1st Sunday in the Provo MTC

8/13/2001 - Provo MTC

Hey!
thanks for emailing back! im not sure if you got the first one but anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!! ha it is awesome gettting stuff here.
The wallet is the coolest thing i have ever seen and it will serve me very well in the mission life
the cookies were so so so so so good and are already almost gone.
thank you for getting a camel'back for me , when i talked to sister lee she told me that a camelback and hankies were the two most im portant things for mike to have due to the humitdity.
the socks are just what i needed and thank you for setting up the card, you guys are the best!!!!
the only thing that i can really think that i need are my black vans, i only brought my nikes and wearing those w'ith pants isn't my favorite thing.
So on saturday i went to play soccer for some reason with my district and unfortuneately was playing to rough and caught a blow to the face by one of the other elders!!! so i am now sporting a scabbed lip! ha it was fun though.
I found out i think on friday that my comp and i would be going to the DR on august 18th and would be leaving at 4 in the morning to go chicago, miami and then down to the DR so i will have a long day of flying!! I am very excited to go down there and have to work harder to learn spanish and more about teaching. Dad thank you for your letter, you are totally right when you say serve where you are or lift where you stand and even though i am going down there i know that if i had to stay here i wouldve done just fine because of that reason so thank ya.
Ok so we are in what is called the pilot program and it is where they throw you into teaching and you you having investegators the whole time you are here, i now have two investigators. one is named miguel ( my teacher playing a role of a man who he once taught) and the other named Maria( again my teacher) and even though they are not real, it is more real to me then anything else in my life has been. We study for these people we learn the language for these people and we pray for these people. Miguel we found out does not know how to read and before we knew this we asked him to read and he refused and me being stupid said that reading was the ONLY way to know for himself that the things we were teaching him were true ( which is not true but that is all i knew to say in spanish ) so he then kicked us out of his "house" leaving my comp and i frustrated and embarrassed but that is all in the challenge. Maria is our other investigator and i get to meet her tonight actually!!! anyway, I get more pumped up and nervous to go teach in spanish then i have for ball in  my entire life. I have noticed that i have always been able to do things fairly well and that is jiust not the case here. I have to learn for myself and teach for someone else. its is way rough but like ive said before ... im in ha!
One of the guys in my distrct went home last friday and it brakes my heart to see him go. I don't know what the reason was but it was terrible to watch him leave. I know that a mission is supposed to only be you and your comp but our district is the coolest bunch of guuys with the strongest testimonies that i know.
     My roomates are elder olson and elder despain, i have probably told you about them but they are the reason that i stay sane here in this place other then the name that i am representing on my tag. they are just down to earth guys. i love em. 
   But yeah i heard that she won! that is awesome, she'll be great! ( Lauren won Miss Utah County)
   Hey if you happen to run into blake please tell him to write me before i leave. i have to inform him on some stuff in the place.  um....
volley ball is becoming my new favorite thing because no one will play baseball with me. 
OH OH ! one of my pens decided to bust in one of my short sleeve shirts so i had to toss it out so if you would like to send me another one then that'd be awesome but if not i can survive, OH and some of my ties, i know they tell you to bring 6..... everyone has 20.
    On sunday i gave the opening prayer in spanish and also bore my testimoiny which was fun. i love spansih and can't wait to speak more fluently, one problem i have with it is that i mumble hahaha so i need to practice inunciating. 
   Well i love you guys and thank you for supporting me, please write! its the best and i don't have much time to email so yeah.... write or dear elder!
I love you all and will talk to you later!!!!!!!!!!


Elder griner

7/28/2011 Matt's 1st letter home

July 28^th, 2011

Hey guys at home!

The MTC is treating me well.  I have seen so many people I know.  Sefa, Porter, Michael, Slack, Jace, Rob, Silongo and a ton more.

They keep us really busy and it’s only day two, but I’m up for it.

Receiving my name tags made this whole experience easier for me.

My companion, Elder Johnson, he’s a guy from Ogden and is a really cool guy.  He almost like me, so it’s pretty funny.

We are rooming with two Elders from California that will be serving in Alabama speaking Spanish.

Mom, I just went in and turned in my immunization forms and we forgot to write in some dates.  I need:

2 dates for MMR, 3 dates for HEP B and, 2 dates for HEP A

Hopefully you have this stuff!

The easiest way to get it to them will be to FAX it to 801-422-0860 – As soon as you can.

Sorry that I forgot to do this

Other than that I’m doing just great.  Spanish is and will be a struggle until I get back, but I think I’m pretty good at pronouncing the words.

My district consists of 8 Elders going to Buenos Aires Argentina and just a very lonely set of Elders headed to the D.R.   They threw us into a class room right when I got here where I heard nothing but Spanish!

The word on the street is that after Sunday it gets easier,  but to be honest,  I don’t think it’s that bad.

Don’t worry about me, okay!

I love ya’ll

Elder Matt Griner

7/27/2011 - Matt's first day at the MTC

Branch 40

Branch President – President Mortensen

1^st Counselor – Brother Evans

2nd Counselor – Brother Russon

My companion is:  Elder Johnson

My companion is from: Ogden, Utah

My Address is:  2005 North 900 East, Provo, Utah 84604

My mail box # is  281

My preparations day is Wednesday ( the only day I can write/email)

Quick note to family:  I love you guys. I’m doing just fine.  Time is crawling, but I’m in for the ride.  My wristband says “Return with Honor” and I think that along with my name tag has helped me to know that I’m doing the right thing.  To be honest I’m having a hard time changing my perspective on life, but I know that I’ll be just fine.  I am gong to keep all of you with me throught out my mission.  Thanks for all the love you have given me. 

P.S. I feel like a nerd with these short sleeve shirts J

Love,

Elder Matt Griner

By the way, My comp and I are District leaders now – weird right?!

www.dearelder.com is a great way for you to email a written letter to your missionary.  There is no charge and your missionary will receive a printed copy, delivered to his/her mailbox at the MTC the day you write.

8/04/2011

Hey guys.

I love it when you write. it honestly makes my day. The MTC is a fun place my companion and my district are the best people in the world.  My compainion is Elder Johnson from ogden utah, he went to weber state last year and to bonneville high before that.  My district is amazing, they are all so funny and all have the spirit with them all the time.  time here goes by so slow but at the same time it flies.  The first day they threw us in to the swing of things and had us learning to speak spanish. Our second day we taught an investegator in spanish and we struggled but sometimes it went well. we didn't really know how to answer her most of the time.  We have taught her three times since and is has been amazing. I know that the third time that we taught her we were teaching with the spirit because we both knew what to say, after we got done teaching we got inside the doorway and hugged eachother. I might just be an old sole but i have cried more here then i have before. 
    they just shove food down us here, yall were right when you said you could eat as much as you want here.  Hanging out with a lot of guys all the time isn't my cup of tea but its not that bad.  I alwasy get the best nights sleep and i think it is because my roomate elder despain works out with me every night.  Every day we get gym time to play basketball or softball or whatever we want for an hour, so i have been balling it up with the uncoordinated elders!!! haha
    It is a small world because our Zone Leader is elder dubois. When i was in the Dominican i went on splits with his older brother.  It is crazy how many people i know in here and how awesome it is that we all wanted to do the same thing.  Sefa leaves the Mtc next week and im excited for him. Lets see.... Sundays are really long but they hit you with the spirit here. I think i appreciate music more now then i ever have because i only get to hear it every so offen.  Praying in spanish seems more heartfelt then praying in english now and bearing my tesimony in spanish is awesome.  We try and converse with as many people as we can to tesify to them.  its funny because the potugese speaking elders always come and talk to us and we can kind of understand them.  Um the language seems to be coming along just fine for the first week, my comp and i seem to understand most everyone that talks to us just dont really know how talk back HAHA its funny because we just stand there stumped.
     My teacher is Brother Jarman, he served in spain and has the ugliest lispt when he speaks spanish.  I love love love learning spansih, i can't wait to come home and be able to speak to dad ( and maybe david) and all the other natives of provo utah.  I have only been out a week and feel experienced so i can 't wait to get out in the feild and out of this box they keep us in. 
    Dad thank you so much for your testimony it was awesome and am so glad you shared it with me.  I had a feeling that you were going to be released that night, but im sorry that it did happen. I don't know how you feel about it but from what i know you served in a way that pleased a lot of people including the big man. its terrible to here about Larry, i feel for his family and wish them the best. 
    Momma thank you so much for taking care of things that i negelected to do before i left.  I'm sure that the MTC will get me set up just fine as they have done to many elders before me.  Im glad that the Siblings are doing great but whats up with the toilet bowl!!! thats terrible. 
    Let me know what else is going on out there because i feel as if im caged in .  Im not sure if we will be able to go down to the DR in three weeks but there is still a chance.  I guess it has been way full because it is so small . 9 weeks in here seems kind of impossible and think that i will be able to learn more quickly in an enviorment that i can 't speak english in. 
   OH OH hey will yall send me like three pair of my white nike long socks that are in my closet???? please! and my black jordan shorts also in my closet. Also some pomade because my hair will eventually get out of control because i supposedly we're not to shave our heads. and toe nail clippers. ha sorry there is just a lot of things that i think i will need before i get into the feild. 
     I need email addresses as well, and like staci and lindsays home addresses because i already know where dave and bris live!! ha. I just want to be able to write personal letters because we have more time to write letters then we do to write emails, we only have 30 minutes to email but we get a couple hours to write. 
   Im glad im on a mission and i am grateful for all you guys have done for me.  Keep writing please!!!!!!!

para simpre con Dios!
LOVE ELDER GRINER