Matt's scripture for the week

Therefore, … whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely;

Alma 42:27





Friday, February 17, 2012

EE 21


HELLLLLO,                                                                 15 Feb 2012

How is everyone at home in the coldness with no snow...... sounds like a nightmare to me- come on snow!

This week we did pretty well trying to get people involved and stay excited here in El Eejido - still ha!

We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Bednar on Monday.  We had to be up and out way early in the morning because the church which we had to go to was pretty far away.  We were to be in our seats by 8:30 (sitting reading our scriptures).  The dress was long sleeve white shirts (luckily no suits).  It almost looked to fake as we never wear long sleeves herein the mission.  It turned out really good though because you could definitely feel a different spirit about us, as we had a chance to relax, read the scriptures and focus a little more on personal thoughts and get ready to be taught on a spiritual level.  We were reverent.  Then after about 30 minutes of sitting there in silence in walked Elder Bednar with his wife, and of course we all stood up. The first thing I thought was, wow he looks pretty old! but then again all that traveling and reading and writing has to get to you some time... haha. He got up and talked and after every sentence he had to stop so the people could translate, which took a lot of time - but was pretty fun to hear. He talked a lot about how we in the church don’t realize enough how the spirit is the real teacher, from primary teachers to missionaries to Bishops, and how we try to direct questions for a certain answer.  But in reality when they have an answer and want to share it you know that they were influenced by something other than your teachings.

So that is what he did for us. He asked a question and waited for people to raise their hands and tell him what they think so the spirit could work in us and not him having to direct the thought process.  He also told us that he never wants us to take notes on what he says but write down what and how we feel when we listen to what he says – like we learned to do in primary and seminary. But wow it’s kind of intimidating, maybe awestruck to be in presence of one of the 12 ! But it was an awesome experience!

I learned this week that it is hard to clean a greasy and oily baking pan......... haha.  We were walking to the hoyo (hole) which is a very very poor part of our area and there were two old women cleaning pans these nasty looking pans for money. I went over and grabbed one and started cleaning it. They gave me some steel wool and a knife and some soap and said go for it.  Wow I cannot tell you how bad my hands hurt after doing that one pan!! Haha.  It’s rough and I don’t understand how they do that for money as a job!!  I’ve found that I love doing stuff like that now, because it is service and truth be told it gets us out of the regular routine, but we also gain respect from other people!

We had a lesson last night, I think it was, and this lady was on something or had just had some of their stiff coffee or something because she would not stop talking. The funny thing was that she understood, responded and wanted to know more about everything that we were talking about, and kept telling us that she wanted to visit the church because she loves people that know what they’re talking about. hahaha .

We also have a sad situation in the ward but one that makes you thankful for the atonement.  One of our investigators that moved into our ward recently seems like such a perfect fit, but too good to be true, ya know, just something off - because he knows way too much doctrine to be just investigating and he knows the whole Mormon community here, and has read every book that pertains to the church.  His Dad told us that he had been a missionary but was excommunicated. We had no idea! He, the son, has never wanted to, and still hasn’t told us his story – that’s okay none of our business. But he is in the process of getting rebaptized, so he’s working with the Bishop.  It will be a great day for him when all is taken care of. 

We are planning for two baptisms on my birthday (February 25th – just so yall remember! Haha cards, letters, packages… yes)!!

One is the son of one of the members that has just converted into the church.  Her older son is on a mission and we are working with him to get him baptized and active in the church!  The next is a girl named Nayeli who is part of a member family but she is too old to be baptized through regular channels, so we have taught her and are preparing for the 25th.  So I’m way excited!

I’m really liking the mission even though it can get repetitive (I guess just like anything you do in life). There are still moments where you realize why you’re here and why you need to be doing what you’re doing.  That makes it all better!

I love you all and wish ya the best! Until next week! .

ELDER GRINER


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