Elder Myers Feb 22, 2010

hey everyone! i love you!

well as always i never know what to write in emails because i dont know what i have written before, whats interesting etc etc so that is why my emails always seem so unfocused and non informative haha

anyway well elder cooley and i are still working hard in this our (probably) last transfer together. I cant help but wonder where i will be next becuase i will probably be the one to move since elder cooley is district leader here but you never know. I think that i will move to a white area because your second area is usually different than your first... but i am not thinking about it too much because transfers arent until the 16th of march...

a quick story: today our district minus the sisters and two elders ate habanero chiles elder cooley, elder maxwell (he has been here in this district since i have been here and i like him a lot) anyway we ate 2 each. so that brings my habanero count to 3 and some change because last night we had some diced habaneros with jorge and the chavez fam for dinner.... they are spicy!! haha but it was fun. i think dad should try one but mom i would highly not recommend you eating one....

well we are still teaching eduardo- jorge's homosexual friend... he is progressing really well and coming to church every sunday! jorge is really quite the recent convert missionary! his testimony is really blessing mine and helping it to grow. eduardo is already inviting other missionaries over for dinner in our district (he signed up on the dinner calendar the ward passes around on sunday...) but there are only allowed to be one companionship at dinner at once so we wont go with them...

i also went on splits with the zone leader (one ZL came in our area with elder cooley and i went there with the other ZL) it was really fun and i learned a lot, as always on splits... its great to learn from experienced missionaries. his area is USC so that is pretty cool too- i dont know if i told you about that but we drive by campus a lot when we go down to the spanish ward which is on jefferson and vermont... i havent run into kate shumway though! haha or peter's (and sorta my friend) friend michael breen.... anway i am still trying to step out of my comfort zone and apply my talents and strengths to the mission. its so funny that i dont like tracting because i think its usually akward because i talk so much but i feel like i ruin the situation with that attitude and i have found that when i just be myself it ALWAYS works out (for this and all other areas of missionary work) so yeah thats something i am working on right now- i am trying to stop being a missionary and start being myself- hoping that i will get to the point where myself is at harmony (i wish i didnt use that word but i cant think of anything else...) with Jesus/a missionary...

i am also working really hard at being simple. elder cooley is really good at it and it really helps in teaching people. especially in another language and especially the kinds of people we teach- most of whom have not recieved the same blessings and opportunities of an amazing education... (which i wish i took more advantage of! ahh i cant wait until im not a teenager officially anymore but thats a sidenote) anyway. being simple would help me be less of a worry wart which i am discovering now more than ever that i worry a lot and i let things get to me/i dont "pick my battles".... i dont know if i have talked to you about that before... but yeah....

elder cooley and i are also teaching three new families! they havent come to church yet (only been one sunday though) but they are keeping their assignments to read/pray etc but we need to get their work schedules fixed! man that area of my mission would be so much easier if i served in utah! haha but yeah one family is from el salvador and guatemala, and the other two are from mexico... so we will see how they turn out! we will work as hard as we can, but in the end its up to the Lord and their agency to judge if they are ready or not to be baptized...

some quesitons: what would you like to hear me talk about more? i skimmed through ians email and i was wondering if you want to hear more about my area? or specific stories or what? or whatever is fine... i just dont know what being on the recipient side of my emails is like haha. plus i cant remember what i have told you before...

oh elder cooley and i went to the church on normandie and hollywood or sunset i cant remember so he could do a baptismal interview... dad- is that near where you go for work?

-how is lucy doing with the art thing? is she still bummed about not getting captain?

-how is emma doing stress wise in high school? they both made it through season! and there first semesters! and probs almost third quarter too! how was turnabout? i dont know if i have heard about that....

-how is jack doing? are you guys video taping him? speaking of which i video taped us all eating the habaneros...! in HD- is the new TV HD by the way?

to MICHAEL- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am going to try to write to you today! and i think all i can offer in terms of a present is pictures but i know that you are a pretty satisfied and not a needy kid so i dont think you will mind hahhahaha and your papers better be in!!!!!! haha

to peter-

i dont think i have ever mentioned this but by the way i see someone wearing a white sox hat almost every day... only because its for the gang 6-o-crips or something... and i have seen only 2-3 cubs hats :( haha i just thought that was kinda interesting.... also i hope that i am in a latin area in june for the world cup! because they def dont care at all about the olympics! haha but yeah just some things i thought you would like to hear.... its so weird being in LA in the middle of "the world" in terms of worldy things and not being able to participate- its so different than like a small town in the andes mountains... but i mind it a whole lot less than i thought i would... anyway.... yup

i have to go... stay tuned until next time

i love you all!!

Elder Myers Feb. 8, 2010

hey!
happy valentines day to you too! just some responses to your email.
-temple p day will be some time in march on a wed.
-transfers are on the 16-17 of march...
-we do splits with another companionship, so we alternate which ward we go to (so i attend the spanish ward every other week...) its kind of annoying but we have to do it that way.
-elder cooley had to go to some meetings at the beginning of the transfer and im pretty sure taht he will have to in the future but i went on splits with the other two elders who are companions to district leaders in our zone just for the duration of the meeting...
- i love being in the same area and with elder cooley! i feel like my work in this area isnt finished- we arent working with that family anymore (they said they were moving but we saw them in their apartment and they didnt move... sad) we are working with a man named herbert though. he is from el salvador- i think i have told you this before... well he goes to the english ward and we are very excited about him, he just has a lot of word of wisdom problems taht we are helping him with and he is showing a lot of progress... he'll be baptized at the end of this month. we are also working with three other peoploe in the spanish ward that should be baptized in this transfer, but they are showing less comittment than herbert... oh well! we will continue to work hard with them until we feel we need to drop them... or they get baptized!
-we will always have the possibility of being english speaking as far as i can tell...at least until it changes which i dont think it will...
-jorge is doing great! he even gave us a referral that we will start teaching with him! he hasnt been confirmed yet (i will do that this weekend...) long story but it didnt happen last sunday due to some miscommunication...
-we do have a microwave, but i have plenty of KRAFT mac n cheese! haha had some easy mac before you sent me those boxes...
-i am good with deoderant and my acne pill so you dont have to send them!
-yeah im excited to start focusing on reading the scriptures straight through in spanish but for now i set a goal to finish jesus the christ (in english) this transfer. so far im learning a lot and i love it!!
-like the brother of jared- i am coming to realize that everything on earth that we do is for us! it sounds kind of obvious but we talk about God's plans etc but really none of God's plans are for the benifit of Him, ONLY for the benifit and learning and growing of us.... its cool to think about that especially in light of temple work and just reading all of the examples/history in the scriptures...
-it was good to hear about emma and lucy! i hope that they arent stressing especially over what classes to take next year! i also hope they arent fighiting! haha AP bio is one class i wish i took, also AP pysch- a LOT of poeple take it... lucy might want to take a stats math class...? it seems very useful and interesting...
- in light of all the APs and ACTs etc/just my background i have been coming to realize that i am super blessed, fortunate, and i take things for granted/dont appreciate the many blessings i have been given. i am ashamed to say that i am just saying/thinking this after having worked in my area for so long! i just realized how insanely many blessings/opportunities/talent/inteligence i ahve been blessed with! so tell lucy 29 is phenominal! (sp, and slightly ironic given what we are talking about...) a lot of the elders here even were blown away when some of them made me tell them the score i got... so yeah i am kind of... whats the word... spoiled i dunno... also we drove through beverley hills the other day on the way to the mission home and i realized just how wealthy a neighborhood we live in!!!!! its EXACTLY (well plus palm trees...) the same as indian hill estates (not where peter lives), which is no wear near the nicest part of the north shore! granted we didnt drive through all of it but it still looked like home! it was weird! so yeah i have been realizing some stuff about my background that i always knew about, but never expierenced... i mean the people taht have apartments are considered wealthy in my area considering the amount of hobos in my area and government housing (mostly for abused women with families..- they are really nice, not at all like the projects...) anwway yeah im really fortunate... and the best part is- none of its from me! i have been blessed with all of it... its a very humbling thought...
-also on that note (the inevitable saying that comes from every elder at some point... haha)- thanks for all that you did for me! i am so sorry for piling up all that stuff on you, when i could have easily done it! doing one persons laundery and dishes is not that hard at all! but 6- very hard! so yeah i feel very bad for making your life so stressful! i love you mom!
-please video tape jack often!!! he is going to be so different!
-ill try to figure out my glasses.../insurance... and dont do the drops if they are too expensive!
love you!
thanks!
ps note to all- the 1591 E temple way will be my address for the WHOLE mission and wont change... yay!

Elder Myers Feb 1, 2010

hello all!
first off my companion elder cooley got called to be a district leader! we found out on firday night. the great thing is we will BOTH be staying in our area! and probably with a car, although except for sunday and p day and our meetings on friday we will probably be using the bus... but it is very nice to know that because i was just starting to worry (a little bit because i am really working on not worrying about things i cant control- im getting better at it...) anyway but now we know before transfers whats going on... what a relief!

some small stuff... they were filming the TV show castle at the same place they were filming ghost whisperers like a month a go... i think dad said that he might start watching castle/that it looked interesting... kinda cool... they film a lot in my area but no movies yet just a lot of tv shows and commercials... so no star spottings yet even though we drove bty the grammys on the way home from church the other day... just A LOT of limos hahaha

i also at an entire Habanero pepper in one bite the other day at the Chavez house... (they didnt force me to haha) yeah it was really really hot hahahahaha (its the hottest commercially sold pepper in the world...) and the mexicans even think its super super hot! hha

elder cooley got the opportunity to through away some marijuana for one of our investigators named herbert. he is really really nice and progressing very well but we are still working on some word of wisdom issues...but obvi he is making huge strides! right now his date is for v day

i got the opportunity to preform my first baptism! and give my first talk in spanish in sacrament meeting! on the same day! both went very well!i baptized jorge! and his whole family came. it was very wonderful and happy, it was amazing because i was really stressed with filling up the font which didnt look like it would fill in time (we were talking about baptizing him face first... haha) and everything else but right before i said a prayer and i was very calm in the minutes leading up to it... it aws a good experience and a lesson- it should never be about us and there is NEVER a need to worry... just do what you can control, work hard and the rest will all work out... and nothing is ever the end of the world (except after the second coming... but that hasnt happened yet... haha)

i love you all!

sorry i dont hav emore time!
love
elder myers
ps mom i loved hearing about your mission!