Letter #34 "Reading the scriptures is good but STUDYING will allow us to learn even more...." - La Blanca, Guatemala

well hello again

so i guess i will start with the news that there were no changes in la blanca so i will be with elder delgado 6 more weeks and keller and walton will keep living with us too!!! word on the street is that there has been a volcanoe erupting in this country but i havent heard anything about that, so dont worry im fine haha we did have a tiny earthquake that woke me up on saturday morning.  but yeah that was it for this week.

so anyway we had a rough week.  we spent just about the whole week contacting because we have not been able to find anyone who is progessing.  after all week long of contacting i felt pretty good because it seemed like we had some positive people and there were some that told me they were gonna go to church but then no one came.  it was pretty tough, but i am stoked for this upcoming week!! on saturday another member of the Seventy is coming and will meet with us.  then also last night we had our first meeting with our newly called branch mission leader and now we have a pretty good plan put together to work more with the members so that we can find more people and have more success.

this week i really tried hard to do a better job of studying my scriptures rather than just reading them.   as i did so i found many new things that really helped me understand things better.  really while reading the scriptures is important and good STUDYING them will allow us to learn even more and if we do so the scriptures will be more personalized for us and our needs.

well i cant think of anything else other than, i would ask that all of you please help my Heels get their act together and start winning games!

have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

GO BRONCOS TOO

BEAT THAT PRETTY BOY TOM BRADY!!!

ps next week i will be writing on tuesday so dont flip when i dont write on monday

Letter #33 - "Still not sure how we got the chicken coop in the truck!!" - La Blanca, Guatemala

well it has been another HOT week here in la blanca.  each week it honestly gets hotter and will continue doing so until probably march or april..... but yeah that is the way it is....

so this week was new years eve that made it at least a little bit hard to work on new years eve and new years day because the majority of people went to the beach to celebrate the new year.  besides that the only thing that guatemalans really do to celebrate new years is lite off fireworks at midnight and eat tamales! 

it has been a very normal week, we have been working hard but we have had a couple big setbacks with a couple of families we have been teaching.... it has been difficult but all we can do is just keep working and doing our best and i know that we will see many miracles and will have success.  i would like to just share a couple of things that were highlights of the week.  

one night we went on divisions with 2 members of the branch.  i went with the branch president and we went and visited a less active family and someone that the missionaries had been teaching a long time ago.  the lessons were great and the spirit was strong.  then after we finished the night we went to go get some food.  we were eating hot dogs in the street and some guy bought our food for us. it was an act of love so small but really it was a great blessing for us and it reminded me that God is always blessing me and watching over me.  the other highlight of the week was last night.  we went to help the lady who makes us lunch move.  she is staying here in la blanca but is going to live in another house.  so we were there helping her move all her stuff and it was quite entertaining moving the random assortment of things. most random of all was the chicken coup which im still not sure how we got it the truck hahah

well that was about all this week for me, changes are wednesday and i will know tonight if i or my comp has changes.  well i hope you all have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter 32 - "Eating tamales and lighting off fireworks...." La Blanca, Guatemala

well i hope that all of you had a wonderful christmas, and i hope that your new year is equally wonderful haha.  well for all of you whom i did not get to talk to on wednesday i guess i will tell you about this week, which was quite eventful.  to start off we called this week pweek because it seemed like it was pday (our day of rest) almost every day. monday was a normal pday, tuesday we got together as a zone and had a little gift exchange and practiced a dance that we did on friday (spoiler alert), after that we just were with members celebrating christmas like guatemalans (eating tamales and lighting off fireworks), then wednesday we just hung out in the church eating cookies, watching movies and talking to our families, thursday was a normal day of work, friday we had a big conference with about 70 missionaries where we hung out, watched a movie, had a talent show (that is where we danced), saturday we went to the temple in quetzaltenango with our branch which was awesome.  then sunday was just a normal sunday.  so yeah it was a crazy but way fun week.  

i would just like to point out a couple highlights out of this week... well of course talking with the fam was great but besides that 2 of the highlights were going to the temple and the movie that we watched with president and a bunch of other missionaries.  we watched a movie called facing the giants.  it is kinda cheesy but i actually really enjoyed it.  it is the story of a high school football coach that turns a program around.  i am sending this one scene that i believe is wonderful and it can actually really help us that we can always do more that we think. as i watched it i realized that many times we dont think that we can do something but God is always there for us and with His help we can do more than we think (here is the URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sUKoKQlEC4  ) the other highlight of the week was the temple which as always is amazing. we were able to go with mario and reyna which was so cool to see how excited they were to go to the temple.  as we were preparing for the trip i was talking with reyna and asked what she knew about the temple and she only knew that it was the house of the Lord, i tried to start explaining to her what was going to happen and she simply told me, meyer i dont want to know, i just want to go and then i will feel what it is all about.  HOW COOL IS THAT ?!?!?!? that pumped me up because she is so cool and already someone so strong in the gospel!!

well that is about it from me, just thought i would let you know that i attached a bunch of random fotos because my mom always wants more.... i am really bad at taking fotos but i hope you like them.

have a wonderful week, and a happy new year

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

 

Letter 31 - "Merry Christmas!" - LaBlanca, Guatemala

well i guess i should start by saying MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!!!! i really hope that you can have a wonderful and safe christmas and that you never forget the true meaning of this wonderful day.  

well that being said i guess i will update you on what happened here this week.  the most eventful and wonderful part of the week was the baptism of Reyna and her son Antonio.  all week long we had so many things that we had to do for this baptism and it was super stressful but with the help of the Lord we were able to get everything done for this baptism.  the story behind this baptism is very special.  a few years ago a very great young man named mario was preparing to go on a mission.  he got mixed up in some very bad stuff and ended up not being able to serve.  for a couple of years he was completely inactive from the church.  he got to know reyna and they began living together. recently he started coming back to church with reyna.  mario got all the things take care of and then the only thing more he had to do was get married.  on friday he was married and then he was able to baptize both his wife and son.  even though logistically the baptism was set up terribly, it was without a doubt my favorite because the spirit was so strong and i really learned the truthfulness of the scripture in isaiah that says

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

so that was the biggest thing that happened this week.  

i guess with it being christmas and all i should probably share a christmas thought so that is what i will do hahaha. this week i had to speak in church and i decided to speak on christmas - i will more or less share what i shared with them.  we all know that at this time of the year we celebrate the birth of a baby who lived 2000 years ago who was born in a stable, but why? was it the miracles he did, was it his teachings, was it his example? no it was what happened 33 years after his birth that is so important.  it was what happened in the garden of gethsemane, on the cross and in the garden tomb.  for that we celebrate His birth.  the hymn o come all ye faithful in spanish is called venid adoremos which translated is come, let us worship.  we are asked to come and worship, but how do we do that? we come  by doing the things He did, we worship by following His teachings, none of which is more relevant than that in Matthew to

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I haveccommanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

if we really come worship and share of the gospel with all, we will find the true meaning of christmas.

well with that i wish you all a merry christmas.  i hope the week is one of the best of the year and that you can appriciate the cold, but here it is dearly missed.

love 

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter 30 - "Christ is the true meaning of Christmas." - La Blanca, Guatemala

well hello again....

well i am still here sweating my brains out in la blanca.  any time i think it cant possibly get hotter, i get proven wrong.... but yeah it was a pretty solid week.  we worked hard and we really saw how the Lord helped us find the people that are prepared to accept the gospel and change their lives.   we have 2 investigators (Reyna and her son Antonio) that will be baptized this upcoming week and we are way excited about that.  we also have some other investigators that little by little are progressing and may be baptized at the end of the month or in january. 

as i have beeen here in this christmas season i have thought a lot about how different this christmas will be than all of the others.  there are the many obvious things without the family, in the heat, different way of celebrating the holiday, but i realized that one of the biggest differences will be that i have been doing my best to represent Christ and do the things He would do if He was in la blanca and will continue doing my best to do this.  let us not forget why we celebrate this day that is coming, and let us remember that Christ is the true meaning of Christmas.

well that is about all i have for today.  have a great week.

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter # 29 - "God knows us perfectly." La Blanca, Guatemala

hola,

well hello i am still here in la blanca and all that jazz.  so i guess i will tell you about how my week went.  the week started out really rough, it was a lot of trying to get used to a new comp which was very difficult for me because i was with glavez for such a long time.  to make things worse elder delgado got sick and so there was like a day and a half where we didnt do anything.  but i would like to tell you about a few things that really helped me out this week.  so to start, as soon as getting to la blanca i had this feeling like i will be here for a long time and that I was here for a very special reason.  so i had that feeling but then the first week here i felt like i did nothing that really helped us because i was just trying to learn the area, but anyways one night i called Galvez (his previous comp) just to see how he was doing and i told him that i was a little bit frustrated with this.  he just said, just keeping working, work hard and the Lord will do the rest.  that really helped me remember that as long as i do my part everything will work out in the end.  with that in mind i went into the second half of the week with more determination, more faith, and  more patience.  with that we started to see more success. on saturday we were contacting and it was almost lunch time but we felt like we needed to talk to one more person so we did and she ended up being really positive and had already gone to church a bunch of times with a family member and then she came to church with us on sunday so that was way exciting.  that has been the one thing i have learned this week.  God knows us perfectly.  He knows us and He knows our struggles.  He understands when we fail;  as long as we do our part to do our best He will do the rest. 

well i hope you all have a great week.  and just a quick shout out to my HEELS for beating michigan state!!!!!

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

 

A little more info about the new area in a letter to me, the mom:

 

answers to all your questions:

la blanca is a pretty good size city, there are some stores there and actually a pretty good size grocery store there, but no good places to eat.....  we are about an hour and a half from reu.  we got here in a bus with everyone from our zone and another zone.  elder delgado is from a small city in northern peru, i cant remember the name.  he is the oldest of three brothers, and is the only member of his family, the rest of his family is jehovahs witnesses.  the other two elders that i live with are from utah and  wyoming........  i dont have any pics of our house this week but i will next week.  we have a lady in the ward that cooks for us every day and she does our laundry also.  the branch has an attendance of 80ish and the members are way cool.  all the little kids are way cute and funny but really traveoso (i cant think of the word in english...) there are just the four of us in la blanca.  the christmas call will be on the 25 via skype for ¨an hour¨ we just need to pick a time.  i FREAKING LOVE THE ADVENT BOX!!! THE LETTERS ARE WONDERFUL PLEASE TELL EVERYONE WHO HELPED THANKS!!!! it is also helping me work on my patience to only open one every day hahaha. pday here are different and im not quite sure a typical one but ususally we go to pajapita to meet up with the zone and we watch a movie or play soccer then we go to coatepeque to eat little ceasars pizza and write and then go home. 

well mom i have almost no time this week i had a lot of problems with the computer but the only idea i have for your talk about a disciple of christ is 3 nefi 5 13.  during EVERY meeting after the song and prayer we all stand and recite our purpose as missionaries, d&c 4, and 3 nefi 5 13.  i love that verse and it is message is something that guides us as missionaries to respresant our savior in a good way and to preach his gospel in his way.

have a wonderful week

Letter #28 - "and I though Brilliantes was hot...." La Blanca, Guatemala

well hello again family and friends.

so yes i did finally have changes.  i am now serving in a town called La Blanca, our area goes to the beach and we are no joke like one mile from mexico.  i am with an elder called elder delgado. he is from peru and a great guy, he has just over a year in the mission and just like me he started his mission in brillantes hahaha.  we are also living with two more elders that are also working in la blanca they are named elders walton and keller and they are also way cool.  so as the title of my email suggest this area is SOOOOOOOOOOOO HHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! it is commonly recognized in the mission as one of the three hottest areas in the entire mission..... so yeah i am sweating way way way more here than i did in brillantes so that is that.  it was a lot harder than i thought it would be to say goodbye to galvez and some of the members there in brillantes.  i was there a long time and learned a lot but i feel like i am ready for this next part of the mission.  to be honest we didnt do anything for thanksgiving. apparently we were supposed to get together with our zone and another zone but somehow the plans fell through and we ended up just working hahaha.  i have both the christmas packages and am loving opening something everyday and stoked for the big one on the 25!!! right now our most positive investigators are a family that lives way far away - they are named Elizabeth and Norlando and this week we are hoping to set a baptismal date with the two of them and one of their granddaughters.  the most amusing experince of the week was the change meeting.  it is hard to explain to all of you who dont know the missionaries but a couple of the changes of missionaries i know just made me laugh really hard (the funniest of which was that one of the hermanas that was with me for ever in the ward in brillantes is in my district again hahaha)

thanks for all the updates and stuff about things going on back home and i really liked the story about elder holland that you shared with me, i have noticed here that people have such a respect for missionaries and really see us as representative of Christ not as the 19 or 20 year old boys we are..... it is such a reminder of the weight of our calling and the trust the Lord has in us.  i also really appreciated the two missionary experiences that you shared with me. i am so proud of you and the whole family that you are taking the initiative to share the gospel.  i was reading in the ensign from october talking about missionary work and how every member of the church has the responsibility to share the gospel..

 

umm besides that i am not sure what all to say.   we spent most of this week getting to know some fo the 80ish members in the branch here as well as some of the investigators that elder delgado and his old comp (elder najeras) were teaching. we have some cool people but also a lot of work to do, we have started to see miracles and i am sure we will continue seeing them as we keep working hard.  ummm im not really sure what to say for this week but ill let you guys know more about life in la blanca next week.

have a great week

love

elder meyer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GO HEELS GO AMERICA