Elder Myers June 28, 2010

Well I don't really know what to write about which is never a good sign because that means a really unorganized and hard to follow letter is sure to follow...

I love you all!

Alan Beck:

      We are very excited for the progress that Alan Beck has made in the last week! We had three really good lessons with him and we finally got everything out in the open. We were all very honest with each other, which was good because we have both felt that we kind of have been beating around the bush too much. That is not like either of our personalities so both Elder Bigler and I didn't like doing that. Alan knows that we think he is very very prepared to be baptized a long time ago. We told him that he was without doubt the most prepared/knowledgeable/living all of God's commandments already/basically in every sense of the word besides the being baptized part a faithful and fully active member. He is a little concerned because he doesn't like being held to a higher standard that he would have to live up to if he were to officially join the church. He is worried about other people and God, but more so other people. We told him that was ridiculous because he is already at that standard (just not officially...) Our district leader went on splits with Elder Bigler and went to his house for an appointment. He told Alan that he should do the baptismal interview right then and there because he was ready for it. Alan laughed and declined but said that he would be calling him very soon for the interview! We told him that he might get transferred so he has to get a move on! :) He told us that one of the biggest reasons he wants to get baptized is for his daughter... We have been really focusing on the family as mission in general and with him especially, so i guess that it is working.....? So we are very excited about him!

Renate Hecht:

    We also had a lesson with a very former (investigated the church like 5-15 years ago, former investigator... Her name is Renate Hecht, she is from Austria (think Sound of Music- especially because part of it was literally filmed in her backyard...). She lives with a less active member of the ward so we had met her before but we had never had a formal/good lesson with her. We talked a lot about how prepared she is because she has been seeking for truth her whole life. She is a very big logical thinker/questions everything (on a side note, as a result of her ex husband being a brilliant computer scientist she owned the first computer in a residential home and as another result of that she has met none other than Steve Jobs on many an occasion- as well as Bill Gates, many genius mathematicians and other famous people, but that is neither here nor there...) I really related well with her and I hope to be able to help her gain a strong testimony of the church. The only hiccup we see is that she wants to take things kind of slow (no surprise there, she lives in the Pacific Palisades (town right next to Malibu, its a lot like Winnetka etc...)) so everyone we work with wants to do that. Also she comes from a very long line of very devout Catholics and so she doesn't want to cause any pain or strife in her family. She is very nice and we are really excited for her. I am so glad for the Book of Mormon, it really does the work for us almost- we told her that praying about that book is the most important thing she can do in her life on her search for truth. We also told her/taught her about the importance of the Priesthood Authority being restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. Normal missionary stuff but I thought I would say how simply helpful those two truths are....

Other Less-Actives:

   We are working with two less actives who have very severe bi polar disorder. I have learned a lot from these experiences. This area def takes a lot of creativity. One of them (Mike Clark) came to church a few weeks ago. The other guy (Geary Carr) is the father of 3 kids, one of them, Conrad, is really nice (well they are a really nice family, just like everyone in the ward...) he is surfer sponsored by Quicksilver and others. He is going to BYU Hawaii and then on a mission... The surfing world is very funny, I kind of like it. He is in Australia right now surfing with next door neighbor Pam Anderson while she is there for dancing with the stars... or some show like that.. I really love the Carr family...  

   We are still working with Susan Swenson (cactai lady who just shattered her leg) We are helping her to meet some of the ward, one lady has been very helpful with her recovery and inviting her back to church...

   The ward has been doing a 40 day fast for missionary work and the work really is picking up! Another less active man who has severe back problems came to church this past week for the first time in about 2 years... We don't have much success on paper, but I'm learning a thing or two about how I define success...

Michael Whittle:

    I am so excited for you and Peter!

    One of the biggest lessons I have learned is to not over complicate things and the beauty in simplicity. I would have to say though that with everything there is a balance. I would also say that it is more important to have clarity over simplicity. Elder Bednar talked about how powerful the BoM was, in part because it was so clear (I would not say the Book of Mormon is simple though...) Nonetheless it has been a very powerful lesson that I have learned but it seems like he is so ready, that he already learned that lesson and that he has changed so much! He will be a wonderful missionary!

I am reading the Old Testament in English before my year mark... It will be the last scriptures I read in English. I love it and it is very interesting/funny...

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Love!

Elder Myers June 21, 2010

I LOVE YOU ALL!

For some reason, even though I have been working on it for a long time, I am finally coming to terms with my self with how much I have grown. I know that I have changed a lot, I remember where I was at even three years ago and it was a far ways away from where I am at now (in more ways than one!). I know that I still have a LONG way to go- both in and out of the mission, but now that doesn't seem as daunting before- I just have to do my best and plow forward... This really has helped to quiet some doubts/concerns/questions I had that kept me from having that rock solid testimony and being like Peter or Paul in the scriptures. I really identify with them because they are very quick to act/impulsive, full of zeal in defense of what they think is right and truth at the time, very loyal, very passionate, very energetic and outspoken etc I know that my doubts (which were nothing specifically, just my wavering with TRUTH, ETERNAL, PURE TRUTH/personal revelation. The conclusion that I have come to is that wavering/being cynical/doubting etc is 1 not like me (at least the wavering part), so it makes me feel uncomfortable 2 doesn't accomplish anything  and you need to be passionate about what you believe in and stick to it- I think there is something to be learned from Saul- he was only persecuting the early church before his conversion because he was standing up for what he knew to be just and true at that time.... 3 isn't healthy- it makes you feel bad 4 along those same lines, is against God's plan/TRUTH so it brings bad consequences 5 is what Satan would want me to do 6 I have lost my train of thought so yeah, wavering etc is BAD, so I'll just do what makes me happy (which I know from experience if following the gospel and all of its commandments and just have FAITH that it is all 100% true... It is just that my brains have a problem with the statement "I KNOW (blank) is TRUE" that is a lot more of a bold statement than most people think it is............... and I'm not saying that I don't have a strong testimony, I'm just saying I know that it is on constant attack, much more now than ever, from Satan and I also know that I can be more zealous (like Paul and Peter), for lack of a better word, than I am currently being. On a somewhat related note- I have started to exercise, aerobically, a lot more than I used to. We have started running most mornings and we always play some intense sports on P Day in this zone (mostly basketball, volleyball and frisbee....) So I know that is helping me!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PEOPLE WE ARE WORKING WITH.....

---Susan Swenson- the less active cacti lady... had an accident a week ago and went to the hospital. She took a bad turn with her horse and it fell on her, crushing the bones in her leg. It will be a difficult recovery because she is 65ish, but she is home in a hospital bed/using a walker and with a phys therapist... Needless to say we are still helping her mow the lawn, take car of the chickens, plant stuff etc we also made a lot of headway when she formally accepted the invitation to be retaught the missionary lessons- we had just been teaching her principles from the gospel/answering her doubts/Qs.... We hope she will be coming back to church once she recovers enough! It was also a blessing in disguise because it fortified/hlped her meet people from the ward- like the RS pres, and her visiting teachers who havent had much luck contacting her because the lady she liked moved to CAN...

---Mike Clark- a less active that is coming back for the first time in 20 years! He has been once since we have started working with him and he has missed two. He has a very bad case of bi-polar disorder. My experience with that spot of depression I had and some of my close friends' experiences have really helped us talk to him. We have committed him to start reading the BoM again and gave him 2 Nephi 4, it is a really good chapter...

---Alan Beck- the part member, 5 year investigator of the church, still comes to church every Sunday with his wife Mercedes and 2 year old daughter Angelica. He is still struggling with wanting to commit to a date. We are working with them to be sealed on their anniversary July 23, 2011. We are also trying to have her receive her endowments before then to buoy him up. We gave him a True to the Faith and an illustrated copy of the BoM to help with his dislexia to gain a testimony of the BoM if he reads the two side by side. Also, since we are focusing on the family, so that they could teach Angelica from it. He really loved the idea of kids are never to young to feel the spirit and learn about the gospel.  

My scripture of the day is Mosiah 4:19 (I remember that Peter likes that scripture too- for some reason I remember this one sunday school lesson where we had to share our favorite scriptures and I think that Peter did that one...) Anyway, for some reason I was really thinking about the sentence "For behold are we not all beggars...?" The only problem is that it was a couple of days ago and I wrote it down to include in my email but I forget what I was thinking when I wrote it down. It was probably along the lines that even though there are A LOT of VERY affluent people here that may think that they have it all and they are set, the fact of the matter is that no one does... Even those of us who know about and follow the restored gospel of Jesus Christ are not there yet. Also, there was some member of the 12, I think Elder Maxwell, said that the only thing that we have that we can trully call our own and that we can give to God is our will. He said that we have to surrender our will to Him and He will consecrate our efforts... It is a very deep principle, which I am ashamed to say that I havent thought much about since the MTC when our teacher showed us his talk- Consecrate Thy Efforts (I think I remember correctly...) Anyway I think that is it for that subject, I could talk about it forever because it is that big of a deal but I dont have all that time...

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Love!
Elder Myers

Elder Myers June 14, 2010

Hello!

For starters, Elder Bigler and I are happy to be staying here for at least one more transfer. This means that one of us (probably me) will be here at least for four transfers (6 months) and maybe 5- long enough to pass the area off to someone else so that they don't have to flush it (both missionaries new to the area) I flushed downtown with Elder Cooley and we flushed Malibu- which was the first time it has been flushed in 3 years I believe... One of us will maybe even train someone in Malibu, which would be interesting...

One more transfer note- as many of you already know, all of the so Cal missions stopped the pilot program of being bilingual, so the LA mission is officially English/Spanish split. Because I was technically called to a bilingual mission, I will still be both Spanish and English areas on my mission, we just wont be speaking both Spanish and English at the same time. I am VERY happy about this! Needless to say, I am in an all English area. There are Spanish speaking sisters that cover my area, Beverly Hills, Brentwood and Bel Aire (so I am no longer in the largest non Korean/Sign language program area, although I doubt they will ever make it out to Malibu or even the Palisades because it would be pointless....) There were also a lot of changes that went on in terms of area and zone boundaries. Our area didn't change at all though, it seems that Malibu is impervious to change in many different ways....

We are going to the temple this Wed! I am so excited to go with the WHOLE mission! (there will be 222 people in our group!) It might even be a record high for the LA temple...!

The ward did a "deep cleaning" of the building this past week because their janitorial service just got cut, even though it has been the members responsibility to clean their own buildings since 2000 but that is a long story why they just got cut, anyway we got to clean this... rafter?... up above in the chapel. It was very fun! I'm sending my pictures home soon so this will make more sense when you see them... Also, as part of this event, Alan cleaned the baptismal font! Afterward he even said that he was cleaning it for himself! That obviously made us very excited, it is only a matter of time, but we are hopeful that it will be soon!

More on Alan Beck:

We are helping him gain/realize he already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the restoration through Joseph Smith. We gave him an illustrated Book of Mormon so that they could teach their daughter (Angelica, 2 yrs) from it/to help make it easier to understand because of his dyslexia. We watched the Testaments and Angelica was watching it. I told Alan that you are never too young to feel the spirit and learn about the gospel. He really was into that and agreed with it. We are still working towards committing them to a date to be sealed as a family in the temple. Alan does not like committing to dates AT ALL, which makes it a little difficult because that is a HUGE part of being a missionary but it is all good. His anniversary with his wife Mercedes is on July 23. In our last lesson with them we committed them to talk and pray about that day (July 23, 2011 which means he would need to baptized 1 year and 1 week prior to that date, which is coming around the corner!) So we will see!

I don't know if I have talked about Mike Clark before but I will now. He is a less active 40ish year old guy , his dad is very active but Mike hasn't been to church really in 15 years. He suffers from Bi-polar and has had a rough time with alcohol and some drugs in the past. He came to church the week before last week though! We think that he will be fully active again soon! We are very happy about that! It is sad to say but it has taken me until now to FULLY realize the Lord's hand in the work. I have been struggling with for whatever reason being blind to His hand in my life... Anyway he was just ready/"elect" as it says in the scriptures. It seems like people sometimes just fall into your lap ready to accept our help to activate/progress in the gospel/baptize etc When President Blackburn spoke in our ward a few weeks ago he talked a lot about how the people who end up getting baptized aren't the friends of members who they think will be really good Mormons. I know that even with missionary training and the sacred calling of being a missionary etc it's not much different for us. We might be able to tell better than others if people are ready or not but I have noticed, especially in English, it still is very hard to not have your own, biased thoughts an opinions of people... I don't know if all of that makes sense or not but it does to me in my head...

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:

Hebrews 5:3-5 I dint know if I have talked about it before but I love that scripture....

Also, I think I am going to start reading the Old Testament in Spanish now that I have finished Jesus the Christ! (I loved it!)

Peter- Again, congrats on the mission call! I have been noticing all of the "bought from the_____ Ventura dealership" license plate holder things. I even saw a truck from a company in Ventura. It is cool that you will be so close. You have to write me and tell me how you feel about being domestic and English speaking (which I am for the time being...) When do you go into the MTC? Will you be there with Michael?

Michael- Are you going to write me about your mission call or should I write you first? haha

Mallory- I'm sending off a letter to you tomorrow, it is not a novel which it should be because I never write you.... but it is still a letter!

Cassi, Sarah, Kenzie... you guys are still next on the list...!

Rod- again congrats on graduating! I'll be writing you ASAP!

Ben- What's up buddy? How are you?

Mulcocks- I'll be returning your letter shortly as well...

NS1 ward- I LOVE YOU!

the Y- I LOVE YOU GUYS! swim on!

hmmmmmm who else?