Letter # 60 - "thanks for all the birthday wishes!" - San Isidro, Guatemala

hello again

 

well first of all i would like to say thank you for all of the happy birthday wishes!! it means so much to me, and im also glad that you havent forgotten about me haha.  so yeah this week was good, but a little bit frustrating.  we have 3 very cool investigators that are very close to getting baptized but they just havent wanted to commit to a date to do it.  its kind of frustrating but we just got to keep it up with them.  the collest thing that happened this week was an activity that we had.  we have an activity called the iron rod.  we set up a rope that went around the church and had a bunch of obstacles.  then we blindfolded everyone and told them to follow the rope.  then me and the other missionaries ran around telling the people not to follow the rope and we tried whatever we could so that they would let go of the rope.  if they let go we took them off the rope and took off the blindfold and told them that they had lost.  those who made it to the end won.  then of couse we talked about Lehis dream and the iron rod and that we have to always use the iron rod so that we dont fall in temptation.  when i was preparing to give the message i found a scripture that i really liked in mosiah 4 it say this:

 

29 And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.

 30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

 

 so yeah we have to be careful because there are so many ways we can fall in temptation but with the help of God, prayer and the scriptures we can always do the right thing.

 

 

answers to moms questions:

everything is still great with elder godinez.  he is learning a lot and things are just going well.  the hardest thing this week was finding time to work.  wednesday we had to go to retalhuleu for a training meeting and then thursday we had our iron rod activity and then friday we had another activity so we didnt have enough time to work.  the thing i enjoyed the most this week was the iron rod activity.  our house is the first level of a 2 level house.  it has 4 rooms its pretty big but ugly, if i remember i will send pic of the house next week.  as far as i know erik morel is preparing preparing to go to the temple, i havent been able to talk to him but i have talked with someone else from brillantes and they told me that he is doing great and maria also is doing great.  in the ward here they have monthly visits to the temple.  this week i only worked out twice because they were a few days when i was a little bit sick and i didnt want to work out.  for pday we went to the waterfalls.  mario is ready for baptism and will have his interview this week.  if everything is good in  the interview he will be baptized this week.  katherine is doing well just having a few little problems.   and idania and zoyli and doing great.  tonight we are going to eat chicken with this great member form the ward and then  tomorrow i am going to buy a cake and pizza to celebrate with that same family. ( im doing it tomorrow because the pizza will be a lot cheaper tomorrow)

so i think that is about it.  thanks so much for the email and for always helping me out.   once again thanks for the bday wishes and i hope you all have a wonderful week

 

love

 

elder meyer

 

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

ps we went to some pretty cool waterfalls today and that is what is going on in the pics

 

Letter #59 - "So there was a big earthquake..." - San Isidro, Guatemala

hello again,

so i guess some of you heard about the big earthquake.... dont worry we are all ok but wow that was crazy!  haha at about 5:30 this morning everything started shaking.  at first i didnt think much of it but then it started shaking more than the other 2 or 3 times that i have felt earthquakes here.  so i got out of bed and ran outside and then like 45 seconds later everything stopped.  the center of the earthquake is in Mexico but only like 20 or 30 minutes from us so we felt it pretty strong, but dont worry everything is ok.  so yeah that was exiciting, besides the earthquake this morning we had a good week.  the biggest news is that on saturday yelmer was baptized.  so i guess ill tell you all his story.  a little over 2months ago osman and siria (his parents) were baptized, but none of their children were willing to listen to the missionaries or go to church.  when i arrived in san isidro i really wanted to work with this family and help the kids get baptized.  for a while i felt like the work was in vain because none of the kids would listen to us.  then a few weeks ago we were walking in the street and i saw yelmer, son of osman and siria, and i started talking to him.  i asked him when he was going to go to church with us and he said, sunday.  and then he was there on sunday!! after that we started working with him a lot and almost had him baptized a few weeks ago but then he told us he didnt feel like he was ready and that he needed to learn more before being baptized.  we kept visiting him and then a week ago we shared with him a great story in acts 8.  after reading the story we challenged him for baptism and he said yes.  later the missionary who did the baptismal interview told me that yelmer told him that he said yes because he felt the spirit as we read the scriptures together.  so moral of the story is that behind the scriptures there is a lot of power.  also that prayers are answered. osman and siria were so happy that finally their prayers were in part answered as now one of their four kids have been batpized.  so yeah that is what i learned this week.  it was a great week and we are looking to have a wonderful month. 

 

 

answers to mom's questions:

 

i love my new comp - he has to be one of my favoite companions that i have had in my whole mission.  being a trainer is way fun especially because godinez wants to learn and wants to work.  godinez is 19 lives 1 hour outside of the capital of honduras and all of his family are members.  i have emailed galvez a couple of times and everything with him is good. he is loving the world cup and just waiting for his brother to get home from his mission.  update on investigators:  mario needs to come to church one more time.  idania is super cool and will be baptized soon.  zoyli is also coming along,  she will follow idania.  we also have a girl who lived in the states with her family for about their whole life and just recently came to guatemala come to church with us.  so if everything goes well all of those people should be baptized this month.    at church the only job i have right now is to play the piano.  in our house we have a fridge, a stove and a blender.  that is it....  i want the netherlands to win the world cup.  favorite study things from the week is that of aplying the scripotures.  in my reading of the book of mormon i started the war chapters and i have decided to find something from every chapter that i could use with an investigator, and that has been way cool. 

 

i cannot belive that aaron jensen is home!  tell him i say hi.  as far what i have thought for when i get home i was thinking about being an efy counselor, i think that would be like the greatest thing ever.  i know they dont make great money.  but free food, houseing, feeling the spirit all summer long, and have the oppportunity to impact the lives of a bunch of youth i think that would be amamzing.  that and still have a few weeks to travel with you guys (remember you  owe me not one but TWO BIG TRIPS!!!) i think chase is just gonna go to summer term but im not sure....

i love that quote from pres uchtdorf, i read that talk this week and i love it!!

 

 

i hope all is well back home and that you have a great week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #58 - "things are really taking off!" - San Isidro, Guatemala

well hello there

so first of all i will start with the big news... there were changes, i am staying in my area but i am now training a new missionary!! his name is elder godinez and right now has exactly 5 days in the field haha but yeah so now in mission terms im a dad haha

but anyway we had a great week!! the last couple weeks seems like things are just really taking off!! we have been working with a kid of a family that got baptized recently and this week we set a baptismal date with him so that will be great to seem him finally get baptized!! it is a total testimony to me of the power of prayers of parents for their children.  it worked with alma, it is working with yelmer and im sure it has worked for many many other people too!! also this week we contacted a house and started talking to 2 girls.  they seemed alright and then we invited them to church and they said sure but all of people say that and then dont follow through, but then sunday - BOOM!!! there they were in the church!! we went back to talk to them again on sunday and i dont know if i have ever met 2 people more prepared for baptism. they have a lot of questions but a great desire to learn more so they will for sure be batpized in the upcoming weeks and that will be a wonderful week.

Answers to mom's questions:

 

so yeah i was working out in the morning - i did it for like 2 and half weeks but then garcia just left in changes and he was the one who motivated me so this week i slacked a little bit but im gonna do it this week. i just do some situps, mountain climbers, pushups, and whatever else i think is good.  yelmer will be baptized on saturday, zoyli and edania came to church this week and are super positive, mario came to church with his family, we are droping magda, but now teach magda's sister (maryori) and we are teaching a kid who wants to get baptized we just need permission from his parents.  elder quiroz (Charlie's old companion) went to san luis - an area very close to brillantes.  now i live with 3 latinos so i like never speak english haha there are 2 from honduras that are awesome (godinez, my comp and guevara who is amazing) and there there is one from nicaragua who i dont really know that much.  the funniest thing that happened this week was the way in which our zone leader anounced the changes.  he wrote all the names of us up on a white board and he would start making really funny screaming noises and then erase names one by one and it was hilarious.  my favoirte members of the ward are 2 families - one is susy and max.  max is less active but super cool and susy is amazing and makes really good food haha. the other family is alan and mildred.  alan is the ward mission leader and is great and his wife is really funny.  we usually teach like 25 lessons a week.  president is doing good.  the majority of people here want any team from north or south america to win the world cup EXCEPT MEXICO, people here hate mexico haha.    I have never gotten really sick, just random paracites haha.  well i think that is about it for this week.  i loved the birthday package, (yes, I already opened it!) .   im stoked to make the cake and i love the letters and pictures from everyone -thanks so much for doing that and tell everyone back at home that i say hi and thanks so much!!

 

i have been so very grateful for these last few weeks that have been just full of blessings and miracles.  i have learned recently the power of a good attitude.  today President wrote me and said that calm seas do not make a good a sailor, and neither does an easy mission make a good missionary.  he also said that true success is not always succeeding but never thinking negatively.  so yeah i have been working and getting better at that because as you all know i am the second most negative person in this world, only behind my dad hahaha its a joke dad!! but yeah have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

here are some pics -  a generation pic which is my first comp (elder segard) who is now the grandpa, me, and my son (edler godinez)!!

the other is me, garcia and jorgensen -we took that pic to make fun of galvez because he got so  fat in the mish haha!!

 

 

Letter #57 - "Best week yet!" - San Isidro, Guatemala

hello again

well it has been my best week here in san isidro!! this week i have tried to focus more on just loving everyone.  i know it sounds simple but because of just trying to love everyone we have seen a lot more miracles this week.  here are just a couple of great things that happened this week: we found a family that has already started reading the Book of Mormon and wants to learn a lot more; a less active youth brought his little sister to church who wants to learn more; a family brought a neighbor to church;  we found some way cool people contacting; and we had the highest attendance in church that we have had during my whole time here.  so yeah it has been a good week!!  basically that is it - i would just like to attach a couple of my favorite scriptures about charity (the pure love of Christ) which is the key to success in teaching the gospel.

 

moroni 7:46 -

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye arenothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity,which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

matthew 22:35-40 -

35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him aquestion, tempting him, and saying,

 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with allthy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour asthyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and theprophets.

elder scott (really the whole talk is great, this is just a part that i really liked) 

How can each of us become such a significant influence? We must be sure to sincerely love those we want to help in righteousness so they can begin to develop confidence in God’s love. For so many in the world, the first challenge in accepting the gospel is to develop faith in a Father in Heaven, who loves them perfectly. It is easier to develop that faith when they have friends or family members who love them in a similar way.

so we really need to love everyone, and  i know that if we try hard to do it we will be blessed. 

 

 

answers to moms questions:

our most positive investigators are eamed, yelmer, mario, luis, and nancy.  yelmer has come to church twice and will be bapitzed soon.  mario already knows everything and wants to get baptized he just needs to come to church.  luis and nancy are new investigators but are reading the book of mormon with their family and want to learn a lot more.   i would send pics put i forgot my adaptor! im sorry im gonna see if someone here has one if not you will have to join me in your search for patience and wait one more week haha. the attendance at church this week was 155.   we have a good group of youth and a lot of little children.  here the weather is just about the same every day -  it is blazing hot in the morning and then the rains come down and the floods go up in the afternoon.   to be honest there isnt really much native food from Guatemala - the only native things are tortillas, eggs and beans.  but this week we had this mexican food called flautas which is mashed potatos and chicken rolled inside a tortilla and fried with a spicy green sauce on top and lettuce is was AMAZING!! the biggest trial i have overcome i would say would be working hard and enjoying it with difficult companions.  the best lesson i have learned is the power of true faith.   

thanks so much for the email and for always helping me out, i hope you have a great week

 

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter # 56 - San Isidro, Guatemala

hello again

so its been another tough week, but that i guess that is just part of the mission... this week i got the chance to speak with President Ruiz. he was going around the mission doing interviews this last week and so of course i got a chance to talk with him.  during the time i mentioned the struggles recetnly that i have been having and he read these 2 scriptures to me that have helped me out alot.  

Jeremiah 33:3

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

D&C 58:3-4

 3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time,the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

 4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.

so yeah those two scriptures have remeinded that i can only control myself and i just have to do everything possible to obey and work hard and then the Lord with do the rest.  this week we had a great day when we committed 3 people to get baptized! i was so happy and thought that finally i was seeing the blessings for my hard work, and then 2 days later everything can crashing to the ground..... it has been really hard to keep going but i know that i can do it.  thank you all for your support for me. 

 

answers to moms questions:

 

(** I always send him a list of 10 questions that he has to answer so I can actually get some real info out of him now and then!!)

YES the world cup is HUGE here!! even though the guatemalan team is terrible and has never gone to a world cup, people here are CRAZY about the world cup,  it is very hard for us to find things to do while the games are going on.  we dont watch the games, but i try to keep myself up to date on what is happening with the games so that i have something else to talk with everyone about.  yes san isidro is better off financially than la blanca which is better off than brillantes.  we are right out side of a big city. the funniest thing that happened this week was when we got home last night and some of the missionaries that live close to us got into our house and hid there and scared the crap out of us haha. to be honest i didnt eat anything bad this week. 

thank you so much for sharing that story with me.  i think that is what i am missing.  i work hard, but i think my problem is that i havent been loving my companion or my investigators like i should. thank you so much for that example and i am going to do everything possilbe to improve this.  

have a great week thank you so much for all of your help

love,

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #55 - "BOOM, he was there in church!" San Isidro, Guatemala

well hello there

so it has been another week, and it has been hard.  but it has also been full of small miracles.  the whole time i have been here in san isidro i havent had very many investigators so i have been trying so hard to find some positive people.  we have tried just about everything and it has been tough.  but this week some good things happened :) we have been working very hard with this one lady named Magda.  she is super cool and is in church just about every week.  a couple of months ago her mom was baptized and that is when she started coming to church.  we have been working a lot with her so that she can get baptized.  about a week ago i had a feeling that we should take a paper that we use in the house to keep track of what we teach to her (something that i have never done before in the mission). we did it and she was super stoked to see what all the principles are that we teach.  we are now reteaching everything and filling out the paper together.  she told us that when we have filled it out she will get baptized.  it was such a miracle to get the revealation to use a paper that will help Magda get baptized.  the other very cool thing that happened this week was that a family that got baptized a month ago brought their kid to church.  this couple has 4 kids but none of them listened to the missionaries or wanted to go to church or get baptized, so just the parents did it.  so i have tried to work with the kids and it has been hard, but this week we were walking in the street and i saw one of the sons and i started talking to him and i asked him, "when are you gonnna come to church with us?"  he said "this sunday" and i was like ARE YOU SERIOUS??? and he was like yeah.  and then BOOM he was there in church!!! i was stoked!! so yeah those were to two big miracles for the week..  work has been hard, but that is part of the mission.  i love it here.  well i hope you all have a wonderful week

answers to mom's questions:

 

i havent heard anything about yener... i think i might call him soon to see how he is doing.  we went back with the girl (katherine) who was so excited to read the book of mormon, she read it, in english (her first language, she was born in seattle) and didnt understand any thing.  so i went over to her house and taught her whole family about what it said and it was a good lesson.  we dont have a lady who cooks for us, we eat with members from the ward every day.  we do have a lady who does the laundry.   our ward mission leader is alan.  he is super pilas as we say here.  he is great.  he is the first mission leader i have had who has served a mission.  he served in honduras.  he has 3 kids has already been a bishop for a number of years and is a very great guy.  it is really hard for me to pick a favorite scripture but here are a few : moroni 7:33, d and c 6:33-34, d and c 123:17, d and c 128:22, and pres. uchtdorfs talk on gratitude.  yeah i am feeling better -i had paracites but i got some pills in me and they killed all of that crap (literally!) that was in me.  the guy who we talked to with the dog promised he was going to church didnt go.  we couldnt find him all week, he wouldnt return our calls, and didnt show up this sunday either... so im not sure what is going to happen with him....

that is way cool about jake and that scripture that uncle matt read!! and also tell jess and chance congrats for me!! those calls are sooooo coool!!!!!

 

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #54 - "working like donkeys in the rain!" San Isidro, Guatemala

hello there

so yeah its been another week here and we are still just "trabajando como burros en la lluvia"!! haha that is something that my comp always says,  it means we are working like donkeys in the rain.... im not quite sure why he says it but he does.....  but yeah this week was pretty normal, lots of rain, lots of working, and a little bit more hope.  i dont have a lot of time and im feeling a little bit sick so im gonna be kinda short...  the coolest thing that happened this week was when we were walking in the street and i saw this man without a shirt on and a HUGE PITBULL. i was all for avoiding him and the dog, but then i had this feeling, without a doubt it was the Spirit, told me "go play with that dog". it was about the last thing i wanted to do, and i didnt know how to do it, but as we got close the dog walked almost right up to me. i asked the owner if it was a mean dog he said no and i just started petting it.  after that i started talking to the owner and he was super cool and very interested in the gospel.  the day after that i was on divisions but one of my zone leaders came and with my comp they set a baptizmal date with him on the first real lesson!!

 

 the other coolest part of this week was when i met this girl who was born in the states and just about year ago came to live here in guatemala.  i was talking to her about the church and everything and she told me she had a book of mormon and didnt know where it was but wanted to read it.  the next time i saw her she was jumping up and down with joy that she had found her book of mormon and wanted to know what she should read first.  it was super cool to see her excitement to learn about the gospel.  i believe our excitement to learn about the gospel is something that we can all improve on.  so yeah those were the highlights of the week.  hope everything is going well back home.

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA