Elder Myers Nov. 29, 2010

Hello everyone! I love you and hope you had a great Thanksgiving break!!

Thanksgiving
We got permission from President (which was a little bit of a surprise) to leave our zone to eat dinner with the really nice member family from our old area that we had already signed up with. It was a really nice dinner and we had a great time! It was very rushed though because we were coming from a baptismal interview in the Knolls/South Central area (like 80ish streets N/closer to the city...) so we were a little late (we called before dont worry mom haha) but that didnt matter because we diddnt start eating until like 30-45 mins after we got there. Anyway we had to rush out before dessert to get Elder Franson to a leadership meeting. Besides that we spent the morning playing some cool games with the other Elders in our zone (there are no Sisters in our zone which is a first for me...) anyway while some Elders did some baking. Then we took the cookies and what not over to a Senior Care Home thing or whatever they are called. It was pretty awkward not going to lie. I'm not sure they really understood why we were there... most of the people I talked to did not really get entirely that it was Thanksgiving haha. It was a little bit sad but felt nice and warm to give them some love! It just reaffirmed my desire to never get older than 75ish or until my organs/brain stops working, whichever comes first haha

The new boundaries to my old area
The new (well because we are splitting the area with other elders we don't get any new parts, so basically we have the same area as last time just 75% smaller...) area is a little tough to be honest, but I have never said no to a good challenge! The other missionaries (including us) didn't really work in this part of the area. As a result there are only 9 former investigators in the area book and we have already contacted/tried to contact all of them. So it looks like we will be doing a lot of tracting! We were/are working with three families though so that is good! They are not super solid in terms of baptisms etc but especially with the part mem families- we are working on developing really good relationships with them... They are all very nice though!
Manuel's parents surprised us by going to church last Sunday. I don't know how much they liked it though. They kept making comments that there weren't any "alabanzas". They come from a heavy Christian background and as a result love all the singing, dancing, praising and preaching done by the preacher. We will continue to work with them as long as they keep commitments (which they are doing better at as of late).

The other two families are part member and less active families. They are very nice and things are going very well, if a little slow with them. The Segura family (9 year old daughter is a recent convert and the parents aren't members) are coming with us to the VC tomorrow.

my thoughts
Nothing really new to report besides that I am continuing my attitude of worry less and do more! Still trying to endure to the end and keep that diligence and enthusiasm up. I am still discovering that there really is no secret/formula/"way" for missionary work. Its just go and do, charity and the Spirit!

I am still loving the Book of Mormon challenge read thing... I love 2 Nephi 4, I forgot how amazing that chapter is...
--
Love!
Elder Myers

Elder Myers Nov. 22, 2010

I love you all! Stay warm! (haha I do think I am turning into a wuss though, I suddenly have to wear a sweater vest and a long sleeve shirt in 60 deg weather! The "cold" here is def easier to escape- don't have to wear five jackets to feel slightly less cold!)

We also played the annual turkey bowl football game today! Our zone won one game and lost one. We lost one to a zone with three huge Polynesians (one who played as a freshman on the U of U team!!) I love being active, but don't get much time to do it!

transfers!
President was nice enough to let us now in an interview that we will be staying together. He usually doesn't do that unless there are changes in leadership which there weren't for us... Also, per the ward boundary changes our area will change too. We will switch with some of the ward members over to a Spanish ward in Inglewood. We will be in the same apartment but we will be in a different zone... Both Elder Franson and I are pretty excited to tackle a (semi) new area again together! I think it will help us keep up the upward slope in hard work. So the only downside is we don't know how thanksgiving dinner is going to work... I bet we just take over for the old elders and eat with someone we don't know. We might ask a family we are very close with- there are two potentials who would feed us with only a day or two notice if they don't already have plans....

A snapshot at the area
finding
We are still doing finding, on Sunday we found one guy who looks pretty promising in the trailer park of Manuel and his family. He lives north of Rosecrans so that means it will probably be in our new area.
Manuel and co. (investigators)
As for Manuel and co. we checked them around three times this past week to no avail. We decided that if they haven't kept their commitments to read and pray we will drop them. We did talk to him once but he had no time and to call him. We think that learning about the true gospel is low on their priority list, which is always sad.

Oscar (16yr old investigator)
We will have to refer our investigator Oscar to the new elders because he lives south of Rosecrans. He is still keeping his commitments and seems very sincere in his interest in discovering and following truth. His mom still isn't really letting him go to church though.

Sergio (16yr old recent convert)
We have officially been forbidden by Sergio's mom (same lady who burned the copy of the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago...) to come over any more. After weeks of trying to get on her good side by doing everything from offering to help around the house (which she denied all but 3ish times) to making brownies for her. She also said that he couldn't go to church anymore. He will probably be in our new area so we will keep praying and thinking creatively to help fix this very sad situation.

Me
I am basically not worrying about anything right now. I have found that if I just do stuff instead of think of stuff (ie just read the Book of Mormon and pray and not think about my testimony or just go out and do work instead of worrying about if I am a good missionary...) it all works out.yeah that sound silly but I cant really describe what is going on in my brain.. I am pretty sure that I always knew this but now I am finally putting it into practice.
I love reading the Book of Mormon right now for the mission challenge to read and highlight all references to the Savior by New Years. Well I guess I lied, I do worry about whether or not to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish or English... haha I think I am going to switch over to Spanish...
I am really trying to focus on good habit making as part of my "just do-it" attitude. This one seems a little more tough than just not worrying as much... ie I am trying to keep up to date on my journal and have better study habits besides just reading the BoM

LOVE
Elder Myers

Elder Myers Nov. 17, 2010

The People
We picked up a pretty solid former named Jorge (the man we drove home from Zone Conference to teach last week) We have had two lessons with him and he has kept his commitments to meet and read... He did show us up once last week so we are trying to contact him again. We started teaching his niece too though. She seems pretty interested and has some problems to overcome but if she works hard and has that desire I know it will all work out...

We are continuing to work with our recent converts even though they live outside of the new Hermosa Liahona ward boundary.

-We are still meeting a lot of resistance with Sergio's mom not liking the church. He is still slowly starting to be a little more self sufficient. He has retained a lot more doctrinal information than he used to. He is still firm (as of a couple of days ago) in his answer to his prayers and answer to his specific question about the truthfulness of the restored church.
-Alex is doing really well. We have been watching the District 2 DVD with him because he likes learning from movies and we are preparing to go out on splits with him... He still makes some jokes about being Mormon (mostly pressure from his older brother who doesn't like religion but likes us as missionaries...) but deep down he is pretty converted to the gospel! Which I love!
-Jamson still doesn't want to come to church and says he was only baptized because the missionaries and his dad bugged him. Not going to lie, his situation makes me kind of sad, but we will continue our once a week visits to invite him to church and to read/pray etc....
We are still trying to find new solid progressing investigators- our only one's (oscar age 16) who is now on his 6th or so chapter of the Book of Mormon, parents are not too keen on him going to church with us. They say that they love him learning with us but are wary of him diving into it without "exploring other churches and faiths". We will see how this all turns out, in the mean time we are trying to invite his parents to join us in the lessons...

As for Less Actives, we are very excited that the active daughter (sister Monge) of recently reactivated parents is very enthusiastic and is being very helpful to contact, reach out and reactivate the names of people in our area that we feel would be good for her. She is helping develop longer relationships and contact some people that have 'fallen through the cracks"

As for me...
I am loving the new mission challenge to read the Book of Mormon (in English) to highlight references to the Savior. We are reading it by our mission wide conference on New Years day. It is really strengthening my testimony of the Gospel, the Savior, the purpose and role of the Book of Mormon as a foundation for a testimony and as a testament of the Savior. I am really grateful we have this tangible evidence we can pray about to know the Church, the prophets, the Lord and his dealings with us etc So yeah that (in Spanish for language study) is taking up most of my study time.

I am also very happy and am worrying less despite the difficulty that I definitely did not anticipate before my mission of enduring to the end. Elder Franson and I agree that the newness has definitely worn off and it seems like we never see new problems/ideas/types of people etc. The days are the same etc. Even getting transferred to a new area doesn't seem new and exciting anymore. I am trying to focus on developing and radiating a deep love for the Gospel. I also know that despite all this I love, serve, understand (that especially) and am patient with the people I come in contact with/am teaching. So yeah you could say that my dedication to this cause and the people I serve are the only thing that is getting me through this. That and I still feel like I have more to learn and grow...

I am also excited for Turkey Bowl next week! And a little less so- thanksgiving (holidays are just not the same on the mission.... but we will get a good dinner at a members house... so I am grateful for that!)

I love you all!
Elder Myers

Elder Myers Nov. 8, 2010

The work is going pretty well. We are still trying to find a solid progressing investigator. Manuel's (the mentally challenged man we talked about) parents were our biggest potential to complete last week's goal of setting 1 new baptismal date. It looks like we might drop them this week. They LOVE Christianity, but it doesn't seem like they want to progress or really get what we are trying to teach. We struggle to apply the trainings with them. They are very nice but always too busy to complete the recent commitments... We will see what happens with them! We don't really know what to do with Manuel either... It seem like he isn't very adept at making conscience adult decisions. We can persuade him to go to church but that isn't the way it should be.... He is gone a lot too so we don't talk to him much.

We are still struggling to help our recent converts become more self reliant. Sergio is showing very slow progress. We are still experiencing a lot of conflict with his mom. She seems to blame us for all of Sergio's lack of responsibility/more so- problems that she herself creates... As a side note Sergio said that his mom burned his copy of the Book of Mormon to ashes because he was trying to read it...... wow. To think that she once had a baptismal date and went to church twice... The story might not be true though because we don't really know what to believe anymore- we think that Sergio is a compulsive liar. Jamson is hardly showing any. He hasn't come to church in two weeks because he doesn't want to and his dad is apparently not forcing him anymore... Anyway, I don't want to sound to negative, we love both Jamson and Sergio a lot and that's why we have so much patience in helping them fully accept the gospel and gain strong testimonies. We truly desire their full and self reliant conversion in the gospel. Like Elder Hinckley said- we want them to BECOME something different not just understand what we are teaching.

Again on a more positive note- we did find a couple of very promising formers that we have appointments with this week!

As for me, and as I am sure you already know- the biggest thing I am working on is not worrying as much and just doing the work with love. I have made a lot of improvement, especially the past couple of weeks but I still have a ways to go! I am overall very happy, despite how appearantly negative my letters sound.

IN RESPONSE TO LUCYS COLLEGE ESSAY:

wow that was a good essay. I didnt know I had that much affect on you guys... I dont want to say that you based your essay on something bad but I didnt mean for those sentances to be that Important... I dont know what I am trying to say... I guess I was just complaining that I am still a junior companion... ahaha I feel like I accidentally said those things but the Lord works in mysterious ways haha maybe you were meant to make something of them... and you did!!!

also- I am only STARTING to realize that I have changed... Sometimes I just feel so discouraged at the long way I still have to go. But you seem to be learning a lot too!! dont worry and just lkike you said- just keep your head up and work! I am finally realizing that there is no secret to missionary work. Just work. Love the people. Serve. rely on the Lord and the Spirit and its all good so dont worry.... so basically dont you worry that I am going to be that different when I get home because I think youll realize its still me! :) I hope I change a lot (in a good way) but I am not worrying about that anymore....

also- you made me realize that you guys are probably really lost as you read my emails! haha I'm really bad at telling stories, probably as a result of my ADHD...

I love you!!!

Elder Myers November 1, 2010

Hello one and all!!!!! I love you!

We had a pretty fun Halloween. We had to be in by 6 (and for good reason too- there were a lot of scantily clad girls coming out already...) so we watched the Journey of Faith documentary as a Zone... Other than that it was a normal holiday in the field- almost non existent haha. Oh and it was weird to have it be 74ish all day on Halloween...

THE AREA

The work is going well. We are still struggling to turn some of our contacts (technically new investigators- by the accepting a return appointment definition- but I would call them potential investigators) into solid, progressing investigators with baptismal dates (per this weeks mission goal). We have a couple of people with that potential but they are very hard to contact. Oscar (age 16) is one of them, we have only talked to him 3 times and taught him once on his doorstep (because of time constraints...) but he read 3 chapters of Ether as a commitment and seemed to have really liked it. We are still working with Manuel and his family. His dad kept his commitment to read and pray about a chapter of the Book of Mormon but still hasn't been to church. He needs a pretty strong spiritual witness/testimony/conversion of the Book of Mormon in order to convert from the church he is currently very active in.

The other people we work with Sergio (RC)- although he told us he "had to drink" because it was Halloween- he said at least he told us!, Cesar (LA) have shown some (small) improvement at being self reliant and calling their own rides etc... Our relationship with Sergio's mom is only worsening because Sergio went to a Youth Standards night but didn't want to come home at 8 when his mom said to be home. Long story short it got blamed on us and she thinks we are not responsible and wont talk to us... We are going to bake brownies and apologize. We both know that we need her support in order for Sergio to stay active.

We went LA/visiting teaching list contacting with a very missionary excited member and so we are all excited to be working with the members more to help on the LA front so our efforts can be mainly concentrated on strengthening/handing off our RC to the ward and of course finding and teaching investigators. As always I am coming to realize that a lot of missionary work is successfully juggling a lot of different people with a lot of different needs that can all be met by applying the gospel individually to their lives. I think that a lot of my worry comes from feeling like it is hard to keep my head above the water with the amount of people to work with. I know that the secret is hard work and handing it over to the Lord. I feel like I have been trying to do too much on my own...

We also had a baptism!!!! haha it was a freebie though. The bishop told us at the missionary/ward correlation meeting on Thursday that there was someone in our area that was an active member of 10ish years that had been baptised (well we take her word for it) in Mexico but they couldn't find the records. After them talking with the Stake and SLC for two months prior and us with President Baker- she was baptized the next day on Friday. It was so short and simple. I really felt the spirit- even though she wasn't really our investigator. I think it was because we didn't have to stress and run around to make it all happen. As we were confirming her (which they usually do the next Sunday...) I thought man I wish I could have that reassurance that comes with being baptized again as an adult of being clean and forgiven for all my past sins. Then I had a duh moment! I can, by taking the sacrament each week. So that was a neat random testimony builder!

MY THOUGHTS
Overall I am happy and healthy! (although I am not my skinny self I once was... the scale says 145 but I think it is a ghetto missionary scale haha)

Right now my biggest goal is to submit myself to the Lord more. I am working on really working hard but still having fun too. I love the mission and I am learning and growing a ton, especially my testimony but I feel like it is a little more difficult to just relax and have fun. I know that I will regret not working my hardest, worrying (especially about me- how I can improve as a person etc...) too much and not just enjoying life/laughing/having fun. I know that worrying wont do any good but applying that is harder said than done I think. I am def getting better at being more diligent- in having effective studies and all that. I know I can do better but at the same time I know I am worrying too much and being to hard on myself.

We got to see a setting apart/ordination to High Priest of the new bishopric. Kind of neat! I don't know how that will work out with Sergio talking with the Bishop as part of his repentance process- which he hasn't been too diligent at.

Also Elder Franson and I have been talking a lot about faith vs. perfect knowledge and how that relates to a testimony- especially with receiving answers from God ie if the BoM is true or not. How can we still have faith and KNOW something is true- here on this earth before we go before God at the judgment bar. I know I am being wayyyy too analytical when I say something like maybe its like gravity- we know something makes my pen drop to the ground but there has to be more-some eternal absolute truths, non relative and earthly truths (ie people used to know that the world was flat until that was changed haha...) that we cant know until we die. Yeah I cant really accurately depict my thoughts on that... Point being I know that we need to ALWAYS be working on our testimony- I used to think of it that I would have to at all after my mission, but that is how people go Less Active...

Anyway I love you all!

Love!
Elder Myers

Elder Myers October 11, 2010

Hello everyone! How are you?

The people

Our area is mostly going great and I am very grateful for the miracles and baptisms we have seen. I know that the Lord is really blessing us. Again notwithstanding the present blessings we are receiving we are of course experiencing some discouragement. We both feel like we are babysitting a lot of the people we work with. Sometimes the less fortunate areas really provide some difficult and very frustrating problems. A lot of this is due to the many dysfunctional families, difficult economic situations, lack of opportunities and the overall culture. We are experiencing a lot of this especially with Sergio and his family. We are praying and really trying to know what to do and how we can help. At the moment he is slipping into inactivity for a myriad of different reasons despite our efforts. It seems like every day his relationship with his family, especially his mom worsens. About a week ago we dropped her as she was not keeping our appointments. Now it looks like she doesn't support him going to church, but then again we don't know because they are saying so many contradicting things and don't know what the truth is. I know it will all work out if we have faith and pray for revelation but we feel a little overwhelmed trying to get him self sufficient- at just getting to church/finding rides by himself.

On a brighter note, we have been teaching the twins, Kaela and Korey. They have committed to baptism (still working on a date), came to church (Kaela came to General Conference too) and are keeping their commitments (they are very bright and I was astounded at how much they remembered from 1 Nephi 1- they even inferred that the 12 people mentioned in the scripture were the 12 apostles)! We had been teaching them at their best friends house, who is part of a less active/part member family, because they were always over there. The only thing is, we had to refer them to the Zone Leaders as they cannot speak Spanish. It was hard to refer them over and not be able to go to church with them yesterday. At least they will still receive the gospel, which is what matters. So we are still excited for them.

What is going on the brain of Elder Myers?...

(....who knows? Not me!)

Elder Franson and I are doing really well. To be honest though, I feel like I could be working harder. I feel like I have sort of hit a slump where I am just coasting, if you know what I am mean. I know that I have a lot of love for the people I work with and I really want whats best for them (the gospel). In that sense I am really getting into the work/people and starting to really understand missionary work (not just teaching lessons and baptisms but changing lives for eternity).

In addition to starting to really learn more about the mission and myself; my testimony has grown a lot as of late. It has been steadily growing since I came into the mission, but I feel like it has turned a corner or something these past couple of months. This makes everything a whole lot better-from tracting to more spiritual power in lessons to all around enthusiasm for the work. At the same time I feel like I am coasting the mid mission slump and I want to snap out of it... I know what I have to do to get out of it so now I just have to do it.

My goals:

1) Read doctrine and covenants in Spanish by mid November (I have it all mapped out, 10 pages a day...)

2) Rely on the Lord more especially through prayer. I am trying to get better at recognizing the promptings of the Spirit and at knowing how exactly I can receive specific personal revelation for myself and the area.

Although I am getting a lot better- I am still worrying too much/over thinking things... Sometimes I worry about what people think/the world/stupid things/things I cannot control/if I am learning or growing/what I am going to be like after the mission/if I am a good missionary etc.... I know I need to just turn my life over to Him and stop resisting/thinking too much myself. If I forget myself and go to work to change others, I will actually change myself.

3) Be more diligent.

4) Argue less, or just not get worked up. Elder Franson and I both like to debate and that's ok, but sometimes we both get too into it. We have only come away sour from one debate but that was good month ago. So I know the spirit of contention but if you have a good, healthy, calm, logical debate that seems ok to me...

5) Somehow simplify and limit my goals so I am not so overwhelmed...

I am really trying to find out who the Lord wants me to be (not what others say I should be). OK no, that is a bad way to say it. I am working on becoming/creating/defining who the Lord wants me to become. I guess its not so much of searching as it is becoming. The only thing is that, like I said before I am really trying to get the specifics of personal revelation down... Sometimes it is hard to know how to recognize the Spirit/answers to your prayers...

Love!

Elder Myers

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!

THE WEATHER

was really really really hot last week, we had an ALL TIME record high in LA of 113 this past Monday... It is raining for the first time in a loooong time today, but it will probably die out soon.... How is it in Chicago?

CONFERENCE:

First off, I loved conference. I thought that it was too short though. Before the mission I thought it was wayyyy too long, now it is too short... kind of cool. I cant wait to read the conference Ensign! I LOVED the talks by:

-President Uchtdorf- I loved his message on simplicity, it is really for me.

-Elder Oaks- I have really been working on getting better at receiving revelation (I also like Elder Bednar's talk on the Holy Ghost) It will also come in handy when I TRY for the millionth time to explain why we need to go to church and that we need more than that "personal line"
-Elder Kearon- with the scorpion story
-President Monson- gratitude
-President Packer

-Elder Scott- character (I will need to really look at this talk later, it was a little confusing and hard to take notes on... It was more like my talks and less laid out and structured like Elder Oaks or Elder Bednar.)

I noticed a theme of following the Prophet, our power over Satan, Alma 41:10, the Holy Ghost, the world vs things of God/revelation.

I also noticed that (this might be more of just a personal message) is the importance of faith in casting out doubts and concerns. I loved hearing a reminder that faith is what makes it so that we are not troubled when people throw all kinds of doctrinal, personal, emotional, logical attacks against you and the church... Its not like people throw pies at us as they drive by but it seems almost everyday my testimony is tried in someway... I know this an important growing process for my testimony and me on my mission. I know it is part of the reason I am in LA- there are TONS of different kinds of peopleranging from the rich, very well educated (in terms of the world) to the less fortunate all with A TRILLION different beliefs.

I also thought of Malibu with a double whammie- from the point from Pres Benson's old talk that the rich and the well educated (from the world) are the two groups of people who will have the hardest time listening to the prophet.

THE PEOPLE:
Conference kind of came at a bad time though in terms of missionary work, we just had to drop 3 LAs and one investigator (I'm pretty sure I have already written about the Archundias and Elisleidi-Sergios mom). We are in the process of picking up two-three new ones, but it was too short to get them to conference and so only one came. Getting people to church, like always, is one of our biggest struggles. It is a good way to measure people's commitment level though.
We are trying really hard to get our recent converts to be self sufficient- by having them become converted to the gospel, like Elder Packer said. I think I am going to read over my notes about that Zone Conference. This is a really big struggle in this area though, especially because we are working with a lot of teenagers right now.
Our companionship is going really well. We work well together- we help each other out, providing what the other lacks. That's how it is supposed to be (that is my thinking anyway)
TO COLE:

I am so glad you are taking that mission prep class and you are so converted to the gospel! I sometimes wish I had gone away from home before my mission- I always dismissed that possibility because I knew I didn't need to get used to living away from home because I knew that I would not get homesick- but now I see why I should have done that. It is all about becoming converted to the gospel, really truly converted- without relying on your parent's testimony for support. Learning how to rely on the Spirit is also VITAL for a mission. You are already doing GREAT missionary work! Stuff like that is like the field! (minus friends from home) Those kinds of commitments (promises) are exactly what we do every day (or try to) Bear your testimony a lot and feed it everyday. Don't be ashamed of the gospel.... btw were you talking to kenzie about Paul? haha how is she doing?

Sounds like you love BYU! To be honest I'm really apprehensive about going to BYU. I haven't had a companion yet (well I'm only on my third comp) who likes it. (to be fair none of them have actually attended school there...) My comp now is from Michigan but for the past ten years has been living with his fam in provo. Needless to say he strongly dislikes BYU and would NEVER go there... (little bit stronger than my feelings of local Northwestern... Basically he says there are a lot of fake girls, a lot of self righteous people and the parties STINK (he didn't drink in high school and wont obvi when he gets back, so its not in that way- but he said they were boring) and some other stuff... Also I DO NOT WANT TO GET MARRIED TO A BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL BYU GIRL THE MONTH I GET HOME- OR EVEN THE YEAR I GET HOME... So I am kind of scared in that way too....
What are your thoughts on that? Oh and its in Utah and of all the stereotypes I have gotten over (ie hating the South because of their accents....) that one is hard for me- just from talking to comps etc Utah is not far from the way I pictured it....

MY THOUGHTS:

my 3 goals:

1) Application of my studies, what I learned at conference, the Gospel etc I am really working on following up with my self in terms of goals and accomplishing my to-dos. Also not dominating conversations/arguing

2) Diligence- in everything from having effective studies, to Spanish, to being up to date in my journal, to using the Lord's time well

3) Learning about myself- how to know who I am based on what God has in store for me (humility in prayer) as well as being confident in myself and in God/ not letting others define who I am.

-the Holy Ghost/personal revelation/personal relationship with God/my testimony- especially basing it on the Savior and the BoM (this one is kind of like an all time goal so it doesn't count as one of the 3)

Looking back I just cheated- those are not just 3 goals.... I need to apply Pres Uchtdorf's talk on simplicity more...

I am happy and healthy so Mom dont you worry! Although I am still working on worrying less.