Merry Christmas and Hello people of the states..
This week was fun and sad. Haha. We’ve been working really hard (like always) the last few days before the transfer to try put in our area in really great shape. We gave our best efforts with the new investigadores (investigators) and tried to get as much done on Romy’s house as we could. We didn’t know whether Elder Jensen or I was going to get transferred or if we were going to stay together, or what?
Well Tuesday morning we found out that Elder Jensen was being transferred to another part of Santiago, it’s really close, only like five minutes away. We packed up his things from the apartment. Then last night we went to visit our people’s houses to give them Christmas presents and tell them goodbye. Honestly, it was the saddest thing to see. He had to say goodbye to people that he will probably never see again. They are people that have affected his life like crazy in these last 4 months.
We got up this morning and cleaned up the apartment and just sat and waited for the truck to come pick him up and whisk him off to meet his new companion and new area and the same truck would drop off my new companion. I’ll miss Elder Jensen; he was a good example and trainer. He taught me a lot and did a lot for me and I’m really grateful for him. I hope I’ll be able to keep in touch.
My new companion is Elder Alexis!! Haha. This guy is funny as ever. He’s this big Haitian Elder that speaks Creole, Spanish and French! So I’ll just have to kick my learning and language study into a higher gear! His English, well - He can sing every song that we listen to in English. haha. It is a lot different to have a companion that you can’t communicate with as well as you would like to, but hey that’s part of this adventure and what I’ve wanted so ... feet first, no? I know that he will help me a lot with things, and maybe I can be of help to him also. I was also worried about being able to teach my new comp the area, but I know how to get around have a pretty confident outlook on things. So, I have a great new companion in our great area.
So get this. We have two baptism planned for this coming Sunday!!!! Christmas day!!! It’s the best Christmas present ever right! haha
They are two kids from a menos (less) active family. Their grandma takes them to church all the time. One Sunday one of the them came up to me and told me he wanted to be baptized along with his brother! So, we have been teaching them and helping his dad get back into things. I love that transformation that comes with repentance and desire to do better! We are doing the baptism at 8:00 a.m. before Sacrament meeting starts – hopefully everyone will be on time! (not – but we can hope). Then he will be confirmed after! So so cool! I remember my baptismal day and I can only imagine how they are going to feel! It’s awesome!
We, Elder Jensen and I, taught a lesson the other day to an owner of a colmado (a corner market). He was so cool. His name is Carlos. Supposedly, he has seen and heard of the missionaries and always wanted to talk to them but never had the chance. We gave him the first pamphlet and he read the whole thing. He wanted to know more about Joseph Smith and had us tell about him in our own words. Then, he wanted to know more about the LDM (Book of Mormon). So we gave him a copy of it as well and we hope that he will dive in and read it.
It’s just cool to us because usually people don’t read and don’t have questions, so we usually just teach what we know and what we understand according to our background and experience. But when they read and think about what they read, they usually have questions and it helps them understand from their perspective rather than from ours. It’s makes a lot better teaching environment and is so so so much better for all involved.
We have been teaching a girl named Yajari along with her brother for a while. But, this girl really gets it! She not only reads, but asks questions and internalizes what’s being discussed and most importantly she prays about it! She can read something and 5 days later she’ll tell us (maybe better said – teach us) all of what she read. We were in a lesson with her and I asked her about her lectura (reading)? She went off for a good 10 minutes explaining the plan of salvation to us!
When she finished, I jokingly bowed my head and said, vamos a orar entonces (well, let’s pray then – cause we always end our discussions with prayer) haha - she laughed and then we went on with the next lesson. She honestly knew and understood the whole thing. This goes to show that we can receive our answers through reading, thinking and praying. When we have faith and the information that we need, and put ourselves in a way that the Spirit can testify to us, all we need is a feeling from the Spirit of its truthfulness to back it up.
OH, BUT, HEY THANK YOU FOR THE PAPER CHRISTMAS TREE!!! It’s on my wall and I outlined it with little Christmas lights! I really appreciate all of the notes of love and encouragements that were written on the tree, haha it’s great! I hung up all of the pictures you sent above my study area and the pictures of the fam are simply wonderful. yall are the best!
I love all of you and WISH YOU A FREAKING MERRY CHRISTMASJ
I’m going to miss being there, a lot. I have this empty feeling right now because it’s just not the same being away from all of you! But I love the people that I am around. It’s different but a good different, ya know.
If you can get a calling card, that would be great. haha I'll call you 1st first from the church and give you my number then you can call me back! I'll call at about 5:00 pm your time. I'm excited to talk to you all!
ELDER GRINER
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