Letter #53 - "it is a surprise I am writing on Wednesday!"- San Isidro, Guatemala

well hello!

 i know it is a suprise that i am writing you all on this wednesday so i guess i will explain why and then what happened in this week plus a little.

so basically monday i got sick.  in the morning i was fine and then at lunch i thought my stomach was going to explode so i went home and slept the rest of the day.  yesterday i felt better and i got permision to write today so that is the story.

so this week we had a couple really cool things that happened.  on wednesday President Duncan (member of the seventy and president of the central america area) came and spoke to us.  i freaking loved what he had to say.  a couple of the highlights were these:  he talked about God's vision for our areas and investigators.  He wants His work to be hastened and He wants many more members.  God has His vision and we have to ask and receive the gift of seeing a small part of God's vision to be able to do our small part to have His vision come true.  President Duncan mentioned that we can have a lot more success if we want it.  if we want more success we have to plan better.  it was a wonderful conference with him, i learned so much, and have started to put the things i have learned into practice.

so yeah that was the highlight of my week.  it was a week full of hard work and im just gonna keep working and i know if i do my part God will do His part to hasten His work

i hope you have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

 

 

Letter #52 - "Changes!!" - San Isidro, Guatemala

hello again,

so this last week were the changes and well, it was time for me to be moved.  i am now in an area called san isidro.  we are like 5 minutes outside of one of the biggest cities in our mission (called malacatan) and it is a cool area.  it is hot but after la blanca i dont feel like it is that hot - haha.  the good thing is it rains here so when it rains it feels realy really nice out!! so yeah i live here with 3 other elders, elder quiroz (my comp, more on him to come), elder garcia (from hawaii) and elder rivera (from el salvador). so yeah about my comp he is really ummm intersting.  he is from peru and only has like 2 months in the mission.  this week with him has been so hard... but im just gonna keep working, and keep praying.  the ward here is awesome.  they love the missionaries, and are always willing to help us out and visit with us which is super cool and different for me.  it will be a little bit of a challenge to find the way to work with them just because i have never been able to do it before in my mission. so yeah there are some really cool recent converts here and we have been working with their families so that they too can be baptized.  it looks like we are getting close with a couple of them so in the next couple weeks we should be looking at a couple baptisms.  

i was thinking a lot about the recent converts in this area and how willing they are to share the gospel with their family and friends.  it was really cool but at the same time made me feel bad.  before the mission i almost never shared the gospel with anyone. i had a testimony and knew the scriptures but was afraid to open my mouth and help others see the truth.  i think a lot of times we are like this but these converts of just a couple weeks, who have barely started reading the scriptures for the first time who dont even know all of the doctrine, are sharing the truth with their friends.  we who have had years of being in this gospel should be setting the example; maybe we havent done it but we can start now.  so yeah i just want to give that invitation to all of you.  

so that is about all for this week, but i hope you have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter 51 - "Some random fotos to make mom happy:)" - La Blanca, Guatemala

well seeing as i just talked to you last night, i dont really know what to say........ im still here......

have a wonderful week,

love

elder meyer

hahaha just kidding, but seriously i dont know what to say.  this week was interesting, in that there were many activities that limited our time to work.  we had stake conference over the weekend and that was wonderful to hear from the stake leaders and our mission president who was there.  we had a way cool experience with a family that came to the conference this week.  we had been working hard with them, David and Meilin, for a long while, and while they liked the message they would not commit to go to church.  we were almost ready to drop them but then there was an activity in the chapel for couples to go and learn how to strengthen their marriage and family and they chose to go.  they went loved it and commited to go to the stake conference with us.  they came and loved it and told us they will be in church again next week!! it was super cool; in a few weeks i bet they will be baptized!! so yeah that was the coolest part of the week, well that and talking with all of you!! have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

ps here are some random fotos to make mom happy :)

Letter # 50 - "Come Come Ye Saints"- La Blanca, Guatemala

hello again

so it was another week, and im sorry but this week the email will be a little bit shorter because well there is only a little bit of time and because i will talk to you this week haha.  but yeah.  so this week i would just like to highlight a couple cool things that happened.  a week ago in the night we went with one of our investigators who has a great desire to be baptized but has had a lot of problems with his wife, work, and a bunch of other things.  because of that we are still working with him but he has not been able to be baptized yet.  we talked to him on monday and he was really frustrated.  i wasnt sure what to do but i decided that we should sing "come come ye saints".  the second verse of this hymn says

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?

'Tis not so; all is right.

Why should we think to earn a great reward

If we now shun the fight?

Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.

Our God will never us forsake;

And soon we'll have this tale to tell--

All is well! All is well!

i love that!! we are all trying to win the prize of eternal life but to win it we have to fight!! that means it WILL be hard!!  i shared with this investigator the story of the early saints and all that they did to finally live in peace.  he really liked it and decided to keep fighting so that soon he can be baptized. 

so yeah that was the coolest part of the week, and besides that it was a just a normal week full of work and sweat, but that is just great!!  im sorry that is all im gonna write today but here are some pics of the beach, we went there today as a zone and we all wore the shirts we bought

have a wonderful week, see ya sunday

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

 

Letter #49 - "We don't need to compare..." - La Blanca, Guatemala

well hello hello

so it was another week here in la blanca, and to be honest a pretty uneventful one.  to be honest the best thing by far was a baptism that we had on saturday.  two weeks ago we baptized carla, the daughter of a woman who decided after years of inactivity to come back to church.  not only did she come back with all of her children but she also started bringing her little sister with her.  we of course started teaching her and yesterday i was able to baptize her!! so yeah that was pretty cool.  it was another one of those baptisms where i feel like i just work as hard as i can and then God blesses me with a miracle.  attached are the fotos from the baptism. 

since i cant realy think of anything else exciting that happened this week i would just like to share something  (well actually 2 somethings) really cool that i learned this week.  first is in the very end of John.  in john 21 we have the famous story of when Jesus askes peter 3 times do you love me?  i love that story but i had never read what happens after.  here is what it says

8 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be ^aold, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

 19 This spake he, signifying by what ^adeath he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

 20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

 21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

 22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he ^atarry till I come, what is that to thee? ^bfollow thou me.

i really like that; i think a lot of us (especially me) are really competive and we want to do as good if not better than the others.  i think that peter in the moment was thinking about if he or john was better, but Jesus' question is AWESOME! what is that to thee, and then to say follow thou me.  it was a great reminder to me that we dont need to compare and that the only thing that really matters is that we are following the Lord and that we are inviting other to do the same.

the other story that i loved is in the book of mormon.  here alma has just been rejected from ammonihah.  but then he is met by an angel that tells him to go back. i love what it says here

Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the angel of the Lord he returned speedily to the land of Ammonihah. And he entered the city by another way, yea, by the way which is on the south of the city of Ammonihah.

 

he obeyed and he did it SPEEDILY!! he found another way to do what the Lord asked him to do.  it is the same with us, when we are told to do something we should do it SPEEDILY and if necessary find an alternate way to do it

so yeah that i what i learned this week.

 

 

 

update on the investigators - we are having some problems because none of them are coming to church.  we have wonderful people we just havent found the way to help them come to church.  (Note from mom - Charlie's 1 year mark is May 1. I asked him some questions about how that feels - this is his response.)  mom- in response to your questions,the biggest suprise from the mission has been how it seems like baptisms don't come where i think they will.  the people i think will be ready for baptism often aren't, then we have a miracle where the Lords leads someone to us - like they fell out of the sky.  the hardest thing about being a missionary is being obedient with exactness, working when you are tired, and working well with your comp when you sometimes have different styles and different ideas. the biggest blessing would have to be the friends i have made, the experiences i have had, and the things i have learned.  for the most part i feel like the year has gone really fast. the thing i want to accomplish this next year is to be more obedient, and help my investigators, companions and other missionaries i serve with come to Christ.  

 

 well  have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

 

 

Letter #48 - "TALK ABOUT A PREPARED PERSON!!" La Blanca, Guatemala

well this week was quite interesting and i will let you know why..

first of all this week was the holy week here, to celebrate Easter.  to celebrate everyone goes to the beach, the majority drink a lot, men dress up like woman and dance with a mannequin named Judas, its pretty interesting.... but because of all of that President was going to do what the mission had always done for the semana santa (have all the missionaries sent to the chapels  and have them stay there reading scriptures for two days). so that was the plan until the area president (Elder Amado -yes the one who spoke in conference) said that it wasnt necessary and that even though there wouldnt be many people in our areas we were promised we would find the "escogidos" ( the poeple prepared by the Lord to accept the gospel).  with that in mind we were ready to work, but then President said that even though we werent going to be in the church for two days he didnt want the missionareis who lived close to the beach in their areas (meaning us).  so we were living with our zone leaders and sleeping on the ground for 2 day haha

so with all of that being said i would like to share 2 cool things that happened this week.  first i was thinking a lot about this promise that we would find the prepared people in their houses and that if i wasnt in my area that i wouldnt be able to find these people or that maybe there werent prepared people in the area, however these werent true.  even though we had less time in our area this week we were able to find peeople who will progress.  for example on tuesday night we talk to a lady.  after getting to know her we asked her if she had any questions, she asked us this: " what do i have to do to become a member of your churhc?"  TALK ABOUT A PREPARED PERSON!!  then on saturday we were talking with another lady and at the end of the lesson she told us that she had been wanting to go to church to give her child a good example and so her kids could grow up in a church. TALK ABOUT ANOTHER PREPARED PERSON!!! so the Lord blessed us and even though time was short we were able to find the escogidos.

mom- you asked about an update on our investigators.  here it is:

yener - will be baptized soon, we just need to work with his wife so that she will agree to marry him

miguel - loves the church, we need to teach him more,

ayde - wants to be a member of the church just needs to learn a little bit more

nahomy - needs to get permission from her parents to be baptized

david and meilin - just need to come to church

sharron and alvaro - want to change and give their kids a good example, just need to complete with their commitments

gerson and myda - just need to come to church

 

so yeah there are the most positive people. things are about to explode with baptisms in la blanca but unfortunately i dont know if I will be here long enough to see it, but that is ok.

another cool thing happened on friday.  my companion and i were invited to a training meeting with president.  it was AMAZING!!! we talked about a bunch of things and i learned a lot, but the best part was this video that is attached here: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

it is an amazing video. WATCH IT!! president thought it was so important to us he showed it to us 4 TIMES during the day with him.  

so yeah that is about it for the week, watch the video!! have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #47 "biggest miracle we saw this week..." - La Blanca, Guatemala

hi there

so it was a good week.  i will start with the biggest miracle that we saw this week: a BAPTISM.  for general conference a member of the church invited her inactive neighbor to come to conference.  the neighbor couldnt make it but sent her kids.  then last monday we went to visit the lady and see what we could do to help her return to church. during the conversation we found out that the 12 year was not baptized.  we talked about baptism and the 12 year and the mom agreed that she should be baptized, so long story short yesterday she was baptized, fotos are attached.

the more i have thought about this baptism and the fact that the many of the baptisms i have had in my mission have a similar story of me not really doing much and the baptisms just falling into our laps i have come to a conclusion. i believed it can be answered by the following story:

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down; his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: "you have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved." Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.
Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this?" "Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough." That's what he planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
"Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"
The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push.
And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have.Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock."
so what has happened time and time again in my mission is that i push and push and push.  i work and work and work (and sweat a ridiculous amount while doing it). and then God moves the rock.  God gives us miracles and baptisms.  so all i know is that i will keep working here.

i would also like to share with you all a cool experience for this week.  on thursday night a lady in the branch was bitten twice by a coral snake (HIGHLY DANGEROUS). she was rushed to the hospital and lived.  on sunday she and her husband bore their testimonies about the love of God and the blessings that we always receive.  to me it was so powerful to see that even though they had just passed thru a very very difficult trial they testified that God loves us.  i know that He does.

this week will be easter i would invite everyone to think about the importance of this holiday and what the atonement and resurrection on Christ means for us.

i hope you all have a wonderful week
love

elder meyer
GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 oh - and mom THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!!   you are officially BAGGY!!! baggy is missionary lingo for someone who is thinking about the end of the mission and going home.  i loved the package, especially the calendar (even though it will make me baggy) and the tie.   thank you so much for all that you are always doing for me. have a wonderful week!