Letter #87 - "God always answers our prayers!" - Palo Gordo, Guatemala

hello

so it was yet another week here in fat stick (palo gordo) and it was a great week.  it was the week of the changes which means that we lost a full day of work, but even with that we were able to get so much done.  president had challenged the whole mission to really focus on finding new investigators this week and he said all of those that hit a certain number (for us it was 12) would be able to go to the temple.  we found 19!! and as a zone we found 115!! this is more than double the number we had found in whatever other week that i have been here in palo gordo!! so yeah it ended being a super sweet week.. 

we had a cool experience sunday.  we had like 5 or 6 people that we were hoping would come to church, but we were sure about 2 of them (sulma and ereiser).  we passed by sulma and she couldnt come.  to be honest it made me really discouraged.  we walked to church in silence, both a little bit confused because we had had such a great lesson with her on saturday night.  we got to church and eresiers brother who is a member showed up and said that ereiser couldnt make it.  then i was so frustrated, we had worked so hard, we had done everything we could and then good things werent happening.  i sat down and started to play the prelude music and then i saw 2 families walk in.  in both the families the fathers arent members and we have been working with them but we didnt have that much faith that they were going to come, but they came.  it was such a great miracle to see that we were blessed for our hard work.

as far as what i learned this week, i had a way cool experience.  president had challenged us to read 25 chapters of the Book of Mormon and then pray and ask God again if the Book of Mormon was true.  so this week i hit the 25th chapter since he had left us this invitation. before i began to read i prayed and asked God if it was true.  as i began to read i felt like i needed to read the heading (something i almost never do) and look what it says:

Nephi’s words are true

 

when i saw it i felt the spirit and also started laughing. it was so amazing that God always answers our prayers. i invite all of you, members or no, to read that Book of Mormon and then to ask God if it is true (even if you have already done it) i know God will respond

answers to mom's questions:

investigators: Ereiser - he accepted baptism for this saturday but has only come to church once, so we have to see if we can get permission to baptize him like that or we are going to have to help him come to church more before he gets dunked.  Sulma - her older brother is a member and she is very interested.  we have taughter he twice and we just feel like she would be such a great member.  Erlin - came to church again, but was drinking this last week; we believe that he wants to get baptized but he is afraid that his family will get angry if he does it. Dolman - his wife is a member also.  he came to church this last week.  im not really sure what to think about him.  it is almost like he doesnt take us seriously when we talk to him, but he wants to change and stop drinking, but we will have to see how we help him.  the best food of the week was a hamburger that i ate today: it had 2 patties, an egg, ham, and a middle bun.  also last night we made warm cinnamon sugar milk and OH MY GOSH it was AMAZING!! yes i can see a couple volcanos but it is hard, because we are on them so it is hard to see them... i havent been able to ask pres about my ecclesiastical endorsment, but i will see him on friday and saturday.  so i will do it.  yes chase wrote me, i cannot belive he is home...yes we are living with elder mendez and elder guiterrez (he is new).  the greatest miracle of the week is that our zone had a lot of changes and now we have amazing missionaries and things are getting a lot better in the zone. 

 

yeah hutch (his new companion) is awesome!! we are quite the team.  we are the craziest compaionship of zone leaders in the mission,  and maybe the craziest companionship in the whole mission hahaha, but i am just loving being with him.  we work hard, and have so much fun, and there is nothing better than that!!

 

well i think that is it.  i hope you have a great week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA 

 

 

Letter #86 - "Work hard, play hard, but dont forget to work hard!" - Palo Gordo, Guatemala

hello

well it was an unexpected week - why, you might ask?  well on monday night at like 11, I was about to fall asleep when we got a phone call and it was from the asistants.  they said that my comp had emergency changes and that the next day they would be there to pick him up at take me to the office for another training meeting we were going to have with president and then i would get my new comp there.  and that is exactly what happened!  my new comp is elder hutchinson. he is from virginia beach, va. he has like 23 months in the mish and is the MAN!! i love him.  we have only been together like 5 or 6 days but we have already had so much fun together and are working so hard.  we decided that we wanted to have a saying and so our saying is work hard, play hard, but dont forget to work hard!! yeah it is funny but it fits us so well; we are crazy and have so much fun but we are working so hard.  and we are going to the gym every day - mom that should make you happy! 

so as far as the work this week we were able to find a bunch of new people which was great because to be honest we didnt have very many people that we were teaching, but we found a bunch and we are going to find even more this week!! we found this guy named Ereiser (pronounced like eraser) who has an older brother who is a member and we had a sweet lesson with him and then he came to church this week and really liked it!! so yeah that is about it as far as the work goes - it is really picking up!

this week i was reading in 2 chronicles and i read one of the coolest chapters ever - chapter 20.  the whole chapter is amazing. it tells of Isreal and about how they were scared that another nation was going to attack them, so they all fasted - the ENTIRE NATION FASTED TOGETHER and because of that they were saved by God.  i love verse 17:

 

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

we dont need to fear because we will see the salvation of God if we do our part. i also love verse 20:

Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

as a missionary i am always teaching about prophets and i love the promise that if we believe in the prophets we will prosper.  it was a huge testimony builder about the importance of prophets and how the Church is the true church because it has a living prophet.

answers to mom's questions:

my comp hutchinson is the man.  i think he might already be one of my favorite comps!! erlin (one of their investigators) has had some problems.  we have done everything possible to be able to teach him but he hasnt been there or has told us to come back another day, its kinda frustrating and im not sure what to do with him.  we know we need the help of his wife. we fasted with her on sat and it was great but then she didnt even show up to church on sunday and that frustrated me..  the part of the gospel that is most difficult for people to accept is that there is only one true church.  a lot of people think that they can go to whatever church and if they are obedient that they will be saved. my favorite part of the gospel to teach is eternal families. every night we spend about 30 minutes calling and talking to our missionaries, twice a week we have meetings with everyone and we take a fair amount of time to plan the messages we give.  about twice a week we go on divisions, and once or twice a month we go to reu for meetings.  my zone is zona San Marcos.  if you could put these people on the prayer roll it would be great: me, elder hutchinson, elders morin, puckett, garboza, morales, calvio, mendez, evans, hermana castillo, and erlin, reyna, helen, dolman, and ereiser.  im mostly adjusted to the cold weater. our house is not heated, but we do have hot water in the shower and there is not heat in the church. hutch is HUGE so we wake up early every day and go to the gym. 

 

i talked to president  about extending this week and he told me i should ask the Lord and you what I should do, and that the two of you would give me my answers so i want to know your honest opinion about extending.  (I replied that I was happy either way - he could come home in April or stay an extra 6 weeks.  I asked Charlie what he thought grandpa would say - LOVE his response!)   i have no idea what grandpa would say....he might say something like:

 

``garbage, charles just hurry up and come home i miss you!`` 

 

or he might say:

 

 ``charles you are a gentleman and scholar and there are few of us left, and you might be the only one in guatemala so you should probably stay a little bit longer!```

 

i think im leaning towards extending.  im gonna  pray really hard about it this week, please do the same thing and ask the whole family to do it.  then I will let you know next week, does that sounds ok??

 

thanks for all of your advice and all you do to help me!   i hope you have a wonderful week and that you work hard and play hard, but dont forget to work hard!

love

elder meyer

 

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter # 85 - "It has been a crazy week!!" - Palo Gordo, Guatemala

hey family it has been a crazy week -  so i guess ill let you know about it.  on monday we were on buses for like 5 hours to go to the mission home to have a meeting with president. we were there for most of the day monday, we stayed in a hotel that night and then were in meetings with him all day tuesday.  it was a long time but it was so amazing!! the best thing was that we were able to do was watch "Meet the Mormons".  we were the first missionaries in all of the mission that were able to see it.  it was SO COOL!!!!!! it was really weird seeing that guy in nepal knowing that i was watching my family was there.... crazy!!

as for what i learned this week i believe that the best thing i learned is found in 2 corithians 6:2

now is theaccepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation

i love that.  we have to do everything that we have to do and we have to do it NOW!!!! president is now always saying YA AHORA, which means like right now.  so that is what we need to do.  we have to do what we need to do and we have to do it NOW!!

as far a investigators go we are having some challenges.  we are still working with erlin and and try to help him get baptized NOW, but he wants to wait more....  we will see how it goes

 

 

answers to mom's questions:

i have no idea what the temp is but I am always cold.  no snow, sometimes during the night things frost over but that is about it. there are both pine trees and jungle.  best food of the week was the philicheese steak that we were given at the zone leader meeeting in reu.  the biggest challenge of the week is just being able to work.  my comp is getting better but the doc wants him to be in the house at six everyday which basically keeps us from doing good work, which just drives me crazy because i want to be a good example for my zone.   so that has makes me a little bit frustrated - hopefully he is well soon and we can get back to our good hard working schedule!  spending time with president was amazing - i learned so much and saw a lot of friends which was great. as far as a package -sweaters, sweats, and any food you want to send me.  i belive i just got chases last email and holy crap it almost made me cry.  i cannot belive that he is finishing - i remember so well when i went to alaska with him.  please tell him congrats for me.  

 

 

have a great week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter # 84 - "Happy 2015!!" - Palo Gordo, Guatemala

well hello again

after hearing about your crazy adventures in nepal i suddenly feel like being in guatemala isnt all that cool!  but any way, it was a fairly normal week. we worked hard and had some fun.  it is still a little bit hard to work because my comp is still a little bit sick so we have orders to be in our house at 6 so that is a little bit of a bummer but it was still a good week.  

the biggest news is that we are getting really close with this guy named erlin.  he is super cool. his wife has been a member for her whole life and he works in canada for like 7 months of the year and then is here with his family the rest of the year.  he came back a few weeks ago and has been coming to church.  we have been teaching him and he is super cool.  on friday i had an amazing lesson with him while i was with our branch president.  it was such a miralce, when we started the lesson i wasnt sure what i needed to say to him but the words and the scritpures came and it was one of the most powerful lessons of my mission.  the coolest thing was that near the end of our lessons he asked us to stay.  he said he felt such a peace while we were there that he didn't want us to go.  so yeah he is great and hopefully will be baptized soon.

i think that is about it on the update.  things are going well -it is so cold but i love it here.  the cold definitely beats sweating my brains out haha!!

i just wanted to share a way cool scripture that i found this week.  i was reading 1 chronicles and i loved davids last words to his son solomon and then to his kingdom.  here they are:

1 chronicles 28:20

Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God,even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.

1 chronicles 29:5

And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto theLord?

so yeah that is it.  have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

pics: a sweet guatemalan sunset and me making tamales, there was so much smoke i had to cover my face it was hurting my eyes so bad haha

 

 

Letter #83 - "We are always blessed for our best efforts..." - Palo Gordo, Guatemala

well this is kinda weird writing to you when i didnt get any emails from you except for a few funny pics of sam and zac dressed as shieks hahaha!!

well any way this last week was christmas and it was fun.  we had a little get together as a zone, ate some pizza, had a gift exchange, and played some basketball (i played in some sweet fake jordan shoes i bought for like 10 dollars hahaha). then we visited some members, ate a ton of tamales and then, of course at midnight lit off fireworks like all of the guatmalans do.  the funniest thing was that i was counting down til midnight and did so like this - 9 8 7 6 4 5 2 1! so yeah i blame it on the cold and that i was exhausted.  haha

besides that this was  a normal week - to be honest there isnt really that much to report especially because you wont be getting this email until next week - hahaha!  there is one thing i learned this week and that is that we are always blessed for our best effort and for our patience.  i love what it says in these 2 scriptures, im sure i have shared these before but i just love them so much:

D&C 103:36

 36 All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith.

D&C 123:17

17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

well have a wonderful week

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #82 - Feliz Navidad! - Palo Gordo, Guatemala

well this is the week of christmas, but i feel like christmas already happened because i already talk to the family! to be honest all of the weeks kinda blur together ive been here so long that i feel like being a missionary is my life now.  this week was very normal but we had a sweet conference with president.  he talked about the need to be disciples.  he shared the story of the young rich man and then how after Jesus had told His disciples that it is hard to enter in the kingdom of God that peter resonded that he had left everything to follow Him and then i love the the promise Christ made (mark 10):

29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,

 30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life

so yeah i know that is true because i have seen it in my life as i have left everything to be able teach the gospel.  also this week we had a sweet christmas activity with the branch - there were 15 investigatores there and it made me realize how easy it is truly to invite people to learn more about the church. it can start wtih something so small like a church activity and movie,  He is the Gift, or a family night.  they will feel the spirit and then it will be easier to invite them to other things.  well i hope you all have a wonderful week and a wonderful christmas.  remember that Christ is christmas and that He is the Gift!!

 

 

i want to share something really quick with you (i kinda already told mom) but i want all of you to read this.  about 3 years ago nick holmes clicked on a facebook ad that talked about going to figi.  after that he signed up for hefy.  he told me about the trip and i tried to sign up but it was all full.  we sent an email to the lady who was in charge and she put my name on a list.  a few weeks later we found out that they were opening up a fourth trip to belize, and i got on the trip. chase was in the third trip and then felt like he needed to change to the fourth.  i met him, he became my best friend,  all of my friends at byu were because of him and my friends when i come home from the mission will also be because of him.  MY LIFE HAS BEEN CHANGED BECAUSE NICK HOLMES CLICKED ON A FACEBOOK AD!

why am telling you this?? because giving service in belize changed my life and it is possible that this trip to nepal could change your lives.  i just want to invite you to do a few things on the trip:

1. take a lot of pics

2. write in a journal during everyday of the trip

3,  dont complain (DAD!!)

4. try to be friends with everyone

5. write down funny quotes of experiences

6. read the scriptures

um so i think that is it i hope your trip is amazing

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA

Letter #81 - " looks like it will be a cold Christmas!‏" - Palo Gordo, Guatemala

so yeah as the subject line says it looks like it will be a cold christmas. what does that mean?? i had changes again!!  after almost 8 months in or near malacatan, i have changes and they sent me to a place called palo gordo.  that is in the mountains.  what does that mean?? after almost 20 months of constant sweating i have stoped sweating and now i am shivering. hahaha

so yeah it was unexpected that i would have changes but here i am.  i am with a missionary named elder wilkes, he has 16 months in the mission and he is from alpine utah.  this week has been really hard because my comp has been sick so it has been hard for me to leave the house to work, but i was able to learn a lot. i was reading in 1 kings and i loved the story of elias who challenged the priests of baal to see whose god was more powerful.  i thought about how much confidence elias had to have to challenge the 900 of them against just him. and then the confidence to mock them. and then the confidence to pour so much water over his sacrifice.  (its all in 1 kings 18)  this week i also thought a lot about this hymn ¨o come all ye faithful¨.  in spanish the title is ¨venid, adoremos¨, it means ¨come, let us worship¨. i realized that the title is a perfect example of missionary work.  we need to invite everyone to come, and worship God with us and invite them to obey Him and be baptized.  that is our job as members of the Church.

 

answers to moms questions:

 

 im not sure if franklin got baptized - i hope so but i havent been able to talk with fickes to makes sure he did.  the best thing i learned from elder fickes was how to see not who the people were but who they could become.  the ward mission leader never ended up helping us but the mission leader here is super cool.  i have no idea who the new hermana in malacatan is.  yes i got the other christmas package from you and the package from aunt michelle.  please tell here i said thanks.  best food for the week was the chinese food that we ate for lunch today. every time i sing christmas songs i like to sing "i heard the bells on christmas day" and it makes me think of grandpa.  the best things about being on a mission for christmas is not having to deal with all of the commercialism that comes a long with christmas and being able to focus on the true meaning of christmas.  the worst thing is not having family with me, not watching nacho libre, not having all of the fun that we always have for Christmas....i am asuming you will ask me about my new zone.  in our zone there are 12 of us.  me and my comp are the zls.  there are 2 districts in my zone.  there are 2 hermanas (keltner and castillo) and 10 elders (me, wilkes, mendez, herrera, morales, garboza, cavio, evans, morin, and puckett)

well i think that is it for the week i hope you have a wonderful week and we will talk sunday!!

love

elder meyer

GO HEELS GO AMERICA