D24

Hey Family! 

Thank you for the pictures of Olivia!!  She is gorgeous.  Don’t worry the hurricane didn’t do a single thing to Dajabon. They closed the schools and no one went to work on Friday, but the only thing that happened was that the sun came out again! haha . On Monday there was a little storm that knocked down a couple branches but that was pretty much it. So don’t worry, I’m fine! 

Welp, they decided that my time was up in Dajabon.  I got a call from the President Douglas, the mission president, on Tuesday.  He said that the Lord had called me to be a zone leader in Santiago Sur (south).  That is the first zone I was in.  My new comps name is Elder Feliz.  He’s Dominican!  There are 26 Missionaries in the zone.

Anyway, we took a little bit of time Tuesday to visit the people in my area and took pictures with them. Then this morning I got on the bus and they shipped me to Santiago again. My area is called Arroyo Hondo and it’s such a big change. The people here are loaded with money and there are so many cars and noise that it scares me. Ha, I got really used to just seeing motorcycles and talking to people with no money. I’m really glad to have a change, even though it was really hard to say goodbye to my kid Esparza and all of the people I had become close to.  I had the best time in Dajabon and I met a ton of people, I learned how to be a missionary and to lead a district as well. So I’m very grateful that the Lord put me there!

Funny story, last night I got all packed up, set the alarm for 5:30 am because the bus leaves at 6:30, turned off the lights and went to bed. When I woke I opened my eyes and saw that it was bright, but in our house at 5:30 am there isn’t any light. So I jumped out of my bed and looked at the phone to see what time is was. It was 6:10 and  the alarm hadn’t gone off!  So, I woke my comp up , changed my clothes, finished packing and ran out the door with all of my stuff to get to the bus stop , which is 20 minutes away from our house . We got to the bus stop in 15 minutes just in time for the bus. But I don’t ever want to go through that again. Imagine 2 missionaries running in the middle of the street with suitcases at 6:00 a.m. ha. 

 One thing that I have learned throughout my mission is to pray.  It got real to me when Dad explained that almost the whole Mormon world is praying for the missionaries , at night, in the morning , in the temple ... all the time. Our mission president always asks us to ask our parents to pray for us every night before they go to bed.  He promised us that if we did it, they would become closer to Christ and want to live his principles; because they are praying for someone who is striving to grow and help change the lives of others. So, through these many experiences I have come to learn a ton about prayer.

I now pray for everyone and everything that comes into my mind when I kneel down at night. I pray with more faith because i know that God can answer prayers, and I pray with more love as well knowing that a prayer will only be for the benefit of others.

I got the chance to talk to Elder Esparza for a while before I left , and I tried to help him understand the concept of love in the mission. He is a doctrinal person that doesn’t express a lot of his feelings and I found it my job to help him to do that. I explained to him that when the people feel your love they will also be able to feel the love of the Savior. whether you are talking or not talking;  if you have the love of the Savior in your heart others will be able to notice it. But if you just hit people with scriptures all day they are going to get bored and offended.  I’ve realized that love is the only way to work in the mission and in life. Because if I don’t love my comp in the mission, how am I going to love my family, kids and wife.... it doesn’t work that way.

So there are my two things that I have learned this week, love and prayer and I would invite all of you to pray and love: more!! ha. 

Well, I love all of you and hope that everything is good!  Keep me informed on everything! 

Love,

ELDER GRINER

mision santiago 

Pictures:

Elder Grover and me (from the Dajabon district)

ELDER FELIZ and me (my new comp)

Yohanni and her family

Yesaina and Valdimir

The Dajabon district ha

Juan Luis and Sandra