Matt's scripture for the week

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

Alma 42:27





Sunday, March 17, 2013

N 5


HOLAS MIS QUIERDOS !!!                                                            13  March 2013 
 
So this week was good!!   It must be a freaky number day huh?  3 13 13. haha
 
I have new comp ha. His name is Elder Cuauhtemoc from Mexico. 

He is a very relaxed person and only has been in the mission for 7 months.  The president has already called him to be a Zone leader, he is very responsible and I’m excited to work with him. But it feels weird because I have take charge in the area again and even though I’ve done it a ton I still feel nervous when I think of the responsibility the lord gives us with his children.   (note:  In Matt’s mission the companionship are co-zone leaders and share in the overall responsibility of their own area and the several districts that make up their zone.) 

In my last week with Elder Cespedes, I felt so good as a missionary. We were doing everything that we needed to do be to able to be successful in the mission and that’s exactly what happened.  

We taught two lessons that were funny and spiritual! Jose Urena who has a baptismal date for the 30th of this month was at his house on Thursday so we went by and taught him the word of wisdom.  You have to know him haha and that up until this point EVERYTHING with him has gone perfect.... but as we taught and I explained that we don’t drink coffee and why he just started laughing and said.... I drink coffee more than water!!  But after, he committed to live the word of wisdom!  And that made me happy.  We are going to have to call him every morning to help him to stop. 
 
We were also in a lesson with Jeny.  She invited us to share the gospel with her.  We went and met with her and before I could even say a word she said... “I can’t wait to go to church today”.  She has never been to church and had only read the first part of the Book of Mormon.  Somehow she felt the Spirit and wanted to go to church really bad ha!  That honestly was probably one of the easiest lessons I’ve ever taught! 
 
Here are some of the pictures that I have had a hard time downloading.  They are of the baptisms that we have had the past month,  and some of the Christmas party we helped with at the Callejera Accion.
 
LOVE YOU ALL !!!

Elder Griner
misión santiago RD
 



 

N 4


HOLAS MIS QUIERDOS !!!                                                            6  March 2013

SOOOOO:::::::

Franquelis was baptized last Saturday!  It was an awesome baptism, my comp baptized him. It was sweet because he got baptized on his birthday, reborn on his birth date!!!  

My comp and I went and bought him a hat and M&M’s and the ward sang him happy birthday to him right after his baptism. He is an amazing kid, he’s fourteen and has been through a lot.  His mom is so sweet but can’t read, so her learning process is much longer;  he is such a good example for her to follow.  On Sunday he received the Holy Ghost and the Priesthood!  I can honestly say the times that are most special to me in my mission are when an investigator, that we have taught, receives the POWER of GOD!  

 On Monday I completed 13 years as a member of the church! March 4th 2000 I was baptized, even though I don’t remember much about it, it’s still special. That’s when I made my first covenant with the Lord, the next in the temple.  As a mission we are learning to make covenants with the Lord every night. All you have to do is promise with the Lord that you are willing and going to change something in your life to be able to follow his commandments better!  So, every night when I get down on my knees to pray, I make a promise with the Lord to better my life the next day.  It helps so much because you HAVE to keep your word!  ( dad's note:  March 4th was a memorable day, it was exactly 30 years ago on March 4th that his Great Grandpa Woodruff Bryan Cram passed away.  Grandpa Cram is the ancestor that Matt got his middle name from; Bryan!)

 A couple of people that we are teaching right now really need to understand the atonement more ... pues , so do I. ha.   So I’ve decided to study it personally and with my comp. It’s a lot cooler than I thought.  I’ve always wondered why Christ had to suffer the way he did and when he did, and what it really meant.  It’s awesome that his suffering applies to anyone, a guy that drinks, swears, smokes, does drugs, or whatever, it applies to all of us.  God doesn’t differentiate, we are all His children.  The gospel’s sick! (That means awesome!)  I hope yall feel the same way.  

God has a plan for every single one of us.  His plan for us is to return to Him! The Atonement is the key to that return! He understands that we will all fail in one way or another and wants us to be back with Him – loves us soo much HE PLANNED a way for us to get back if we so decide! Agency - haha GOT AGENCY? (got milk).  It’s our choice to be happy or not because it is a choice in this life.  I’ve seen people from the poorest people in the most humble circumstances to some very well to do and influential, out here repent and accept the gospel and they are some of the happiest, fulfilled people I know.  We just need to know that He just wants us to be happy and have and be the best we can and he’ll make up the difference in our short comings if we are willing to try and do!!!   I hope that makes sense to you because I can’t deny what I’ve felt, seen and experienced!

LOVE YOU ALL !!!  

Elder Griner
misión santiago RD

Here are a couple of fotos (spanish for photo) from a day of service at the Callejera Accion.  I think I've told you about this place  before.  It's a Catholic run center for kids who are on the street ,( run away, abandonded, etc). that gives them help and direction.  They are way under staffed and if they spent the time cleaninga and organizing the inside and the grounds , then they wouldn't have time to provide the help some of these kids need.  So,we come over regularlly to help out.  It's a lot of work, but it really looks nice when we are finished. 

Where's Waldo (Matt)?  top foto: he's just below and right of the 4 guys sitting on the upper left rail.

bottom foto: sitting left of the guy on the orange shirt.


Monday, March 4, 2013

N 3


Dear Family                                                                                                        27 February 2013 

This week went well. On Saturday we had two baptisms, Nefri and Lineyi Cabrera. I got the chance to baptize Lineyi, which was way cool and my comp baptized Nefri.  I can’t send pictures for some reason or else I would. They are the kids of a less active family, we have been working with their mom and dad trying to help them come back to church and the mom has been going but their dad has had a hard time. We didn’t think that he would be able to be at the baptism because he is working a lot. But, as we walked out of the room after changing, Nefri saw his dad.  He was able to get there just in time to see everything! It was a very cool experience and I’m glad i got to be a part of it.  

On Saturday Frankelis is going to be baptized, he is a 15 year kid that other elders had been teaching and we get the chance to see him get baptized. He has been having problem with coffee since he was little and hadn’t been able to drop it for the longest time, but when we put a baptismal date he didn’t even have a problem. I thought it to be a little weird that a 15 year old was drinking coffee but welcome to the DR ha .

We are teaching a guy named José Urena that went to church on Sunday, and in Sunday school we talked about baptisms for the dead.  He obviously  hadn’t heard anything about that before, but he loved the idea and he came up to us and asked us if we could move his baptismal date to the 23rd of march so he could go to the temple the 30th with the ward to be able to be baptized for his mom that passed away!  Of course we said yes.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes.  I feel old.  Life’s gone by way too fast.  So far it’s all good I’ve loved it.

I love you all and hope the best for ya.  

Happy birthday again Grandpa Francom and Dave!!  
 

ELDER MATT GRINER
misión santiago RD