D 5

Hello family and friends,                                                11 April 2012

I am writing way early to yall because we are going to be in Monte Cristi this afternoon!!  The Elders up there made plans to play baseball with an ex ball player.  I don’t know who he is but I’ll let ya know.

This week has been awesome.  We had an investigator show up to church and I was so pumped that she got there. She is a 40 year old women whose’ husband died about 10 years ago.  She is taking care of her mom that is way sick right now full time. We found her one day when we were contacting and she invited us in to her house with open arms and had a ton ton of questions.   That is amazing for us. It’s always nice to be able to answer heartfelt questions.  She has progressed so much in only a week; she’s reading, came to church, and met the entire ward.  We had the chance to give her a blessing; because for some reason she’s in a lot of pain.  She came to church but could only stay for an hour.  She made a lot of new friends and now we get the chance to teach her with the members in hopes that she can find out this is true! Oh her name is Yohanni .  I don’t know, but after all of our effort and hard work finding a person with such an interest, is one of those “mission memories.” It’s nice to find someone that really is ready for this gospel.

Another cool experience that we had this week was with a guy named Alturo.  We contacted him one day as he was leaving, so we set a date to come back and we did.  When we arrived he was playing dominos with his friends and so we kind of forgot about teaching him and just sat down at the table and talked to all of them.  We got to know all of them and then we played a hand in the game and left. The next day we returned and found him with his wife.  They invited us in and we had a perfect lesson with them. This guy was in the military and just a way strong and stiff guy.  I don’t think that we would’ve been invited in the house if we hadn’t shown some interest in them and showed them that we are real people too.  So, even though it wasn’t really a spiritual thing that we did, I think, that it helped us to get much closer to them. 

Another person we have progressing is called Irislady and her family.  She is 22 and has a little kid and lives with her parents.  At times she is not very serious and she likes to joke around in the lessons.  Then yesterday we were talking to her and she stopped us and said, “hey Elders I’m going to get baptized!!!   And for her to say that as seriously as she did was crazy to hear, but at the same time amazing. I really hope that she can keep the feeling that she had to help her make that decision always. 

In our district meeting this last Tuesday, yesterday, we were doing planning and talking about our goals and contacting 10 people per day.  We have our meetings at the church.  Anywho, all of a sudden in walks this guy, and we had no idea who he was.  He then started to explain who he was and where he is from and why he was there. He was this short chubby Mexican looking guy that was stationed in a little town just outside of Dajabon.  He went on to explain that he is a member from California and has lived in Brazil for the last couple of years now.  He is a sailor and his tugboat broke down so he has to be here until they can fix it.  He said that he saw the church while he was out and about and wanted to check it out.  So he came in and shook our hands and then out of nowhere he asked each one of us how we think we can help change this rama into a barrio (branch into a ward) and being missionaries we all said something like work harder, walk faster, knock harder....ya know the drill. Then he humbly said, fast and pray that the hearts of the people here will be opened so that the work here can grow.  After that he gave us a reference and then left. I didn´t even get his name but I know that he was sent to us for a purpose because honestly that’s what we need to do. 

 Editors note: That sounds like a 3 Nephite kind of experience, haha.  But seriously if you would like to share in Elder Griners mission experience and help the work of the Lord progress in Dajabon - keep Matt and his companion in your prayers and while you fast.

love yall and hope the best !

ELDER GRINER