Letter #70 - "This was a great week!" - San Isidro, Guatemala

well this was a great week!

since i got here  we have been working with a man named hugo.  he is a great guy and has made many changes in his life and loves everything about the church.  for a long time he has had the desire to get baptized, but his problem was that he didnt want to get married. his wife was a less active member that returned to the church with him.  so for months we have been fighting and fighting and praying and praying for him to finally say yes to getting married.  then on tuesday we got a call from a member of the ward that has been helping us teach him and he said, elders hugo says he is going to get married and baptized this saturday, hurry up and get everything ready!  so we did haha!  two days ago hugo got married and baptized. yesterday he was confirmed, recieved the preisthood, received a calling and then left to visit less active youth (he was called to work with the young men).  so yeah that was super cool.  to me it is a grand testimony that prayers are answered and that what it says in alma 13:24 is true:

For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

 

so yeah that is about it.  it was a great week, things are looking good and im excited to keep working here.

 

 

answers to moms questions:

 

yeah there are a bunch of fruits that grow here that i have never ever seen before. i have tried a few of them but even though a lot of fruits grow here people dont eat them that much and they dont give them to us that often... we usually eat meat once a day, just for lunch and it is usually chicken.  this week i only exercised twice; i am trying to get better but this week was really hard because we were running around a lot for the baptism and wedding.  we are working with david - he is cool and says he wants to learn more before getting baptized but he isnt doing want he needs to do to learn.  we are working with a lady named elbira who is cool but for some weird reason hasnt come to church yet.... besides that we are planning on working with a lot of the family of hugo and his wife.  i really love mole and the bread here. my pedometer broke so i have no idea how far we walk.  i always study in spanish.  that family has been helped a lot here.  there really isnt public school so they used a lot of the money to finish pay off the schooling for the year for their kids, which is really good because if they didnt pay their kids wouldnt be able to study next year.  we get 2200 quetzales every month, if you are very careful it is enough, but to be honest i think they should give us a little bit more.  yeah im still with godinez- im glad because i think we can see a lot of success, I am just a little bummed because i feel like i have been here forever.

thanks so much for the email and the song.  sounds like life is good.  i hope you have a wonderful week

 

 

love

elder meyer

 

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

 

 

Letter # 69 - "Happy Independence Day Guatemala!" - San Isidro, Guatemala

so hello there

well as you can see from the title of this email, today is the independence day for guatemala, so all of you eat some tortillas, beans, and eggs to celebrate.  they celebrate this day with a bunch of parades and the day before they run around in the street with big torches; im not sure why, i just know that they do it.... so yeah enough on that.

this was one of my best weeks here in san isidro.  we started this week knowing that we needed to find a lot of people (we only had like 2 progressing investigatores) but we also knew that going door to door isnt very effective and that it frustrates us.  so we knew that we needed the help of the members and that is what we did! we started getting the members to work more with us and we found a bunch of positive people!!  working with members has been something that has been very hard for me for my whole mission and i believe that we were greatly blessed for finally working well with members. let me share with you a great miracle that i believe that we received for working with the members.  on saturday in the morning we wanted to visit a family that we have been teaching for a long time. we called the wife and she told us that she would be there, we started to walk there (it is like 45 minute walk, but usually we go in bus or pick up truck). when we got there, there wasnt anyone home and i was really frustrated.  my comp remembered that a member told us to visit someone who was a neighbor of this family, so we went there and even though we didnt find the person that the member told us to visit, we found someone who is very very prepared.  he told us that he has been wanting to go to a church but didnt know which one to go to and that he has had a lot of problems in his life and knows he needs Gods help.  so yeah that was one of the great blessing that we received this week for working hard and working with members.

 

 

answers to moms questions:

 

i am getting used to the heat a little; i dont feel like it is as hot, but i still do sweat a lot and if i go to the mountains for a meeting (i have done it twice in the last month) i feel like it is very very cold. it scares me that im gonna die when i come home, becuase if the guatlemalan mountains where it is problably  45 or 50 degrees makes me feel really cold i have no idea how i will be able to live with snow again, haha.  yes transfers are this week. we still havent heard any news but yes i do think i will be leaving san isidro.  we saw president on wednesday for a conference we had with him in the mountains.  the best thing i have learned from president is the importance of the doctrine of Christ.  we eat with members everyday for lunch, except pday and maybe 2 or 3 times a week they give us dinner.  we shop in malacatan in a fairly nice grocery store.  we have a debit card from the mission and every month they put money on it, and then we take the money out at an atm and we pay everything with the cash.  i havent heard from chase in the last few weeks but last i have heard he is doing great, loving the mission. he is a zone leader and has to travel all over the amazon jungle.  my favoirte scripture this week would have to be d&c 45:62 and d&c 58:3-4.  

 

this week i did have an experience with grandpa.  i was reading in 3 nefi 14 were Jesus tells the story of the wise man and the foolish man and it made think of the song and the way that grandpa always sang it. i love sharing the story with investigators - it helps them see the importance of obeying and it helps us feel  the spirit.  

that is a way cool story about sam!!

tell rod i say hi, i would love to talk to her but i dont have her email, if you could get that for me that would be great!!

so i think that is about it for this week

i hope you have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #68 - Xetulul - San Isidro, Guatemala

so this week was pretty cool.  the most exciting that happened was that on friday we went to xetulul, which is the only theme park in all of central america, and it was way fun.  it had a couple of big roller coasters and some other fun rides, it turned out to be a way fun day and a great oportunity to have a day to relax from all the stress of the mission life. i didnt take that many fotos because i wanted to take advantage of my time there,  but here are two pics - one is with elder saunders (my ccm comp), elder black and elder amundsen who were all in the ccm with me.  the other is with hermana castillo and hermana gertrudis who were with me for a long time in my ward in brillantes (which is like 5 minutes from brillantes).

so yeah that is the fun thing of this week and now a spiritual thought.  all week long we had good plans and things just fell through. finally on sunday everything looked like it was going to be a great day and then no one came to church.  i got frustrated then in the afternoon we had good plans. we left with 4 of the youth from our ward and they wanted to take us to teach their friends that have shown some interest in the church and i was so excited, and then that fell through.  then we went to look for a less active and that fell through, and then the heavens opened and the rains came down and the floods came up to our knees and we got soaked.  i was super frustrated and then one of the youth had an idea. she said lets pray, we should have prayed before we left the house but we can do it right now.  we did right there getting soaked in almost a river.  when we said amen, things were the same: rain, and no appointments but we had changed and all of a sudden we were happy and laughing about the rain and everything.  while the day didnt end with all of the visits we wanted i learned a very important lesson - many times prayer doesnt change our circumstances, but prayer can change us and our attitude.  so yeah that is what i learned this week.

 

answers to moms questions:

 

 

investigators - david is just about ready for baptism we just need to work with him a little bit more and then hopefully he will be baptized this week or next.  hugo still doesnt want to get married so we are kinda taking a break from him,  he says he is going to do it before december but we will see.  besides that we are mostly just looking for positive people to teach.  im still a little sick, i finally went to a doctor and she told me that i had a bunch of mucus in my lungs that was tough to get out so she game me some pills and now things are finally getting better.  yeah i have heard a lot about the drought. the thing is that before the rain was very predictable from 2 til 3 everyday and that was it, now it is very unpredicatable, but as far as i know here in san isidro there isnt a problem with a lack of rain.  the best miracle of this week was the change in attitude after the prayer on sunday. it helped me get thru a tough day and teach me a great lesson.  i write nate and jake at least a little every week.  i learned about the children of isreal and how they really liked complaining, even after everything that God did for them.  it made me realize that as a missionary God does so much for me but i still complain so im gonna try and not complain any more.   xetulul was way fun.  

  

i hope you have a great week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

Letter # 67 - "We are always blessed for obedience, we just dont know when..." San Isidro, Guatemala

hey

 

 

so it was another week  here in san  isidro and im gonna appolgize ahead of time becuase this kepboard is giving me problems,soim sorry if the words run together, you will just haveto get over it....haha!   soyeah itwas a pretty good week exept that i gotthis cazy cold on thursday that mademe stay in bed allday long but im starting tofeel better now.  so the biggest news this week wasthat we had a baptism.  elder godinez baptized homara.  she is the little sister of maryuri and emily that we baptized a month ago. for me it hasbeen so cool to see that these two girls have developedsuch a great testimonyof thegospel and are so wiling to share it after only being members for a month.  if they can share the gospel and see miracles in their own family for sharing the gospel how much more can we do if we have years of being members??? so yeah that is the coolest thing that happened this week, but i also want to sharesomethingthat i learned this week. i began readingthe old testament this week and was impacted by the number of times i found the promise ¨I will be with thee¨ or something similar to that in genesis. especiallyin the story of joseph of Egypt, even when he is doing the rightand allsorts ofbad things are happening it says God was with him. manytimes wethink that god leaves us in our challenges but in these moments He is helping us morethan we can understand.  it also hit methat joseph had to suffer 13 years (being sold, being a slave, and going to jail) but then finally he was blessed forhis obedience. andthats the way it isforus.we are always blessed for obedience wejustdont know when...

answers to mom's questions:

 

my favoriteservice that i have done on the mission was chopping down a tree with amachetein a thurderstorm . we are always doing little acts of service and maybe once or twice amonth we do a bigger service project. yesthere wasan earthquake at like 2 in the morning, it woke us up but we stayed in bed and there wasn't a problem.  one thinggthat we are going to start doing is go to the houses ofthe members and show them the missionary work andthe atonement video and then invite them to help us.  in this ward I have only spoken once. godinez is good the only thing we are still working onis having him take moreof the initiative when we are teaching... can i not keep my room carolina blue?? the worst thing i have eaten recently  was the cow stomach soup... 

i will take you up on the  challenge but i have a challenge for you share the gospel with one person everyday this week... 

 

sorry I have to go - we only get pday until 3 today and then we aregoingto work.  we are doingthis because wehada great mont as a zone andwe aregoingto go to xetulul (the guatemalan disney land, and the biggest theme part in central america) on friday!!

 

 

so have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

 

 

 

 

 

Letter # 66 - "The miracles that I had been working for are finally starting to come!"

hello

so it was another week here in san isidro.....  it was hard for a number of days.  i remember Saturday after lunch i was so frustrated. we had been planning on doing divisions with members in the afternoon and both the members bailed on us, so i was super angry and frustrated til the point where for the first time in my mission i didnt want to leave the house to work. but we did, and MIRACLES HAPPENED!!! we found a way cool family that had been listening to the missionaries about a year ago and then after having a good lesson with them, we saw this youth from a different ward, and he said "elders its so great that i found you. come with me, i want you to meet someone."  we went with him and he showed us his cousin who is an amazing guy who understands very well when we teach and is very ready to learn.  so yeah that made me so happy.  i just thought that the miracles that i had been working for and praying for finally started to come, and that was a great feeling.  we are going to baptize the sister of two girls that we baptized a month ago and that will be great, since we are still having some problems with people that we were thinking would already be baptized. things are looking up!!!

in a meeting this week my zone leader showed us this video and it is great i would encourage you to watch it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlx11BxF24

Answers to moms questions:

 

today for pday we played basketball and ate baliadad (tipical hondurenan food,  flour tortillas with eggs and beans) they were ok, then we went to a guatemalan goodwill and now we are writing. our district has 10 missionaries and our zone has 18.  my bishops name is hugo and he is very cool he knows his stuff, likes keeping the rules, is very nice, but to be honest he is not very helpful for us(i am convinced it is because he didnt serve a mission not because he doesnt want to).  this week i dont have any new pics but i will send some for next week.  my favorite lesson this week was the lesson we taught with that kid who we found who took us with his cousin.  things flowed well and his cousin understood very very well.  where we live it is pretty safe but there are a few parts of my area where it is a little dangerous at night.  right now we are in the rainy period and it should be raining hard every day but right now its raining about half the days.  i havn't been exercising in the morning but i have the plan to start again.  no more experiences with grandpa but in the guatemalan goodwill there was a pitsburg pirates jersey and i bought it for him haha.  happest thing of the week is having things start looking up again. we are going to take a break with hugo because he does not like that we are pressuring him to get married.  yenifer says she is going to get baptized in december and right now it is looking like she isnt willing to change that idea.  carlas parents wont give her permission to get baptized.  carol has come to church twice and says that she wil be coming every week. carlos is new and very cool.
>
> i cannot believe that school is starting that is so crazy!!! i remember those crazy days of seminary, school, tennis homework and bed, but those days were so mcuh fun.  so it think that is it, i have uncle chriss email and will send him a note.  have a great week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #65 "do all we can and know that God will take care of the rest." San Isidro, Guatemala

hello

well here i am again and im not really sure what to write....  this was an interesting week.  we worked really hard this week, knowing that if everything went well we would have 4 baptisms the upcoming week.  and we did everything that we can do, but even with that things just arent turning out as we want them do.  to be honest it is very hard to have the humility to accept that we dont understand the will of the Lord and that sometimes things dont turn out like we want.   the only thing i can do is remember what it says in D&C 58:63-4:

 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 we just have to do all that we can and then know that God will take care of the rest.  what has also helped me is this video.  i think i shared this in an email but it is worth watching again, here is the youtube link 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo0mOZ4S7GE

Answers to mom's questions:

 

ummm i think the funniest thing that happened is that on tuesday we had a zone conference in the mountains, and there i got to see a missionary who was in my ward for a long time in brillantes and was also in my district when i was in la blanca and to be able to joke around about the crazy things that had happened during all that time was really funny...  tennis last week was great, i am WAY out of practice and they just had terrible wal mart rackets but i was so happy to be on the court again.  the work with the ward is going ok, there are like 3 or 4 people that are really helping us and for that we are very happy but we need to start working with more people so that we can have more success.  everything is going well with chase.  the scariest thing that happened this week was that on saturday we went to a place that was a little bit far away (30 minutes walking) and we were coming back in the dark and they had told us that this place was dangerous and that just a few days earlier somebody had been robbed there ,but we made it out without problem.  the worst thing i had eaten was dinner on friday, to be honest it was delicious but it made me really sick.... the best lesson i have learned is that we can be happy even if we are exhausted, i was watching some training videos for new missionaries and there was a missionary that i think is great and he said ¨i am tired, i am so tired, i am always tired, but its weird because i am so happy´ and i really think it is the same for me.  the clothes are holding up fine, and i think they will be able to hold up for the rest of the mish.  the best thinkg i have learned from elder godinez is humility.  he recognizes that he doesnt know everything and is very willing to do what i think would be a good idea.  with investigatores we are still so close with hugo but he just keeps making excuses and that is so frustrating!! yenifer is very close also but there is something that is scaring her and we dont know what.  carla is cool and wants to get baptized but we still havent gotten permision from here mom to do it. 

so i think that is about it.  thanks so much for sharing that experience with me!! it is something that helps me out!!

have a wonderful week

love

 

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #64 - "Good references are like GOLD!!" San Isidro, Guatemala

hello again

this was a pretty normal week; gratefully things just keep going along well.  for a long time our preisent has been saying that working effectively is working with the members.  to be honest it has been something that has been very hard for me to do because in at least my first two areas the members weren't the most helpful.... but when i got to san isidro i set a goal to work more with the members, and finally i think we are doing it!!! and because of it things are going well!!! we are working with our investigators and they are getting so close to baptism (at times it frustrates me  how close they are, because even being that close they still havent accepted it..) but then for the first time in my whole mission i got a lot of references. for usmissionaries, especially good references are like GOLD!! so now we have a lot of work to do and the member are excited to help!! so yeah that is how life is; its great!!  i invite all of you members to give a reference to the missionaries so that together we can make the work of salvation hasten like the Lord wants!!

on a seperate note, here is a foto from a talent night that we had in the ward this week.  elder godinez, our ward mission leader and i did a comedy act where godinez was writing a love letter to his girlfriend, i was writing it, but the ward mission leader was my hands and we had a funny play on words so that while he was saying his letter i had to eat and drink a bunch, but the ward mission leader was my hands and so it spilled all over the place. i dont know if that makes any sense but it was really funny and this is what i looked like after i was done - haha.

 

 

Answers to mom's questions:

 

we had to drive 3ish hours to the temple. we got to go because for 2 straight months we met our goal as a zone and in july we broke the record for the most baptisms in a month in our zone.  yes we knew we were going for a month but we had to wait because the temple was closed for like 2 or 3 weeks for maintanence.  when we go to the temple we only go with missionaries.  i went to reu tor training becuase i am a trainer (when someone is with a new missionary they are training) and so president wants to be sure that the trainers are doing a good job because bad trainers lead to bad missionaries so he is having a lot of training meetings for trainers.  i know a lot of new missionaries just came in, but i dont know how many, there were also a bunch who left so i dont think the number of missionaries changes that much in the mission.  yes i knew a few of the those that went home like elder segard and elder keller.  no,  have no idea what happened to yener i will call soon to ask about what is going on with him... for pday today we got to go to the house of president in reu and watch a movie with him (forever strong) then we played volleybal and TENNIS!!!!!!!!!! and we just got back.   i havent heard anything about a volcanoe erupting.... we eat lunch with members from tuesday to sunday and a lot of time they invite us to eat dinner with them too.. we are getting SOOOOO CLOSE with hugo and we are also very close with yenifer.  we are now teaching omara the sister of maryuri and emily that got baptized a few weeks ago, and also a lady named carolina and one named alejandra.  things are going good.

it sounds like things are going well back home!! thanks for the quote from that talk and for your testimony. you have always been the best example for me and it is for your example that i am here in the mission today.  

well have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA