Elder Myers Jan 26 2001

i am great! i love being on a bike and getting excersise- i think it really helps my mental health to get that much excersise. I also love the area- we are really busy, which is good! This past week (and as of today we are almost done) we undertook the gargantuan project of cleaning up the southgate ward list! Spearheaded by elder bluth the south gate missionaries took on the 590ish names (34%of whom do not live within the ward bounderies...) We have 85 members who live in our area so we had a lot of work to do. We are just seeing the activity and PMF status of everyone as well as moving out all the people that didnt belong/have moved.

As a result of us cleaning up the ward list we havent really had much time to do anything else between the trainings etc so we have been doing that and keeping our progressing investigators/LA families going.

Marie

our progressing investigator- has a tentative baptismal date for 20th of feb. There is an interesting thing going on though. She knows a couple of people from hermosa liahona and feels more comfortable over there. That combined with the her extremely demanding work schedule (hermosa's times fit in better) make her wnat to go over there. As a result of that the missionaries have made contact and taught her a few times at her member friend's house down there. They all went up to the VC together. I dont say this because I am jealous or am number hungry its just that this is going to turn into a big mess. WE have tried working it out but the best we can come up with is that we both teach her (bc that is what she wants) we have invited her to our ward and she has been once and 3 times over there... yeah and what makes it worse is that we tried to put our foot down and tell her the churches policy but it only wound up making her tthink we are the bad guys and the other ward and mish are the good guys which obvvi made the dituation worse....

daniel and alberto

as of right now, we cant teach them anymore bc the mom said that because they are in religion class at catholic school and have to go to church there too because of school policy they are getting confused. she has nothing against the church but says she feels it is best to wait until alberto (older one) gets into high school in two years.... shame! they are solid and would 100% for sure be baptized- one step closer to completing the PMF! the grandma sis rivas (lady holding the dogs) is the sweetest lady ever! loves to feed us! huge testimony- elder webers RC of 9months.... btw

Elder Myers Jan. 10, 2010

I love the new area! It is great to have a lot of people with potential to work with. We didnt have really too many solid people that the previous elders had been working with so we have been checking a lot of potentials and formers- and setting a lot of return appointments! We are also doing some tracting here and there, but as for right now it seems like the formers etc is a more productive route.

Two people in particular are worth mentioning: Daniel and Alberto. They are 10-12ish year old brothers and grandsons to an active recent-convert member (they live with their non member mom and RC grandma). They are both very interested in reading the BoM/the missionary lessons. They have kept their commitments to read 3 chapters in the BoM and are eager to learn more. The only issue is that the divorced dad has custody of them on the weekends and the grandma said that he will not be too keen on them going to church (they usually go to chuckie-cheeses or something). We did get permission to teach etc the kids from their mother though.

We have already been to the VC twice. We went once with a semi-active family and their investigator relative who is now going back to Chicago where she lives after having been here for a month or so. We also went with a less-active family and their non member dad. The family, previous to the VC trip, was not very open or close with us but they commented on how good we and the Sisters were with their young kids. The non-member dad rrandomely commented on how he felt a real special spirit and that he wants to go back with us to see the God's plan for families room etc. He seemed more open to baptism/recieving missionary lessons after the trip. We are also planning to use this as a springboard so they can all return to full activity. We are also hoping to go there with two other people/families in the coming weeks.

I love being on bike and I am worrying a lot less! I think a huge part of the problem was being in my last area for so long and not excersising etc. We eat with the members pretty much every night... They are so nice and giving. I love having a lot of work to do and I am working a lot harder- partially because I am the senior and partially becuase of the area. I do seem to pulling a lot of the weight though, which is fine...

Elder Myers Christmas 2010

Elder Myers Dec. 13, 2010

Hello one and all! I hope everyone is doing ok and enjoying the holiday season!

Christmas Service
This past Saturday our zone had the opportunity of handing out bags of canned food donated from the bishops storehouse. The pulblic affairs director for the LA area was there and he told us that this was a very unique opportunity because the church usually doesnt do this type of service- welfare style/handing out food for free... He explained that in the churches welfare you dont get stuff for free- you have to trade your skills/whatever you can do etc so that everyone grows. Anyway it was at this African- American church in South Central LA. There was a huge turn out- around 5,000 people. One of the reasons the Public Affairs guy said that we were doing this was to increase awareness/acceptance of missionaries in this area because it was going to be a very well publicized event. We had the opportunity to meet and take pictures with: the mayor of LA' Danny Trejo- movie star in Spy Kids, Machete and others, Beyonce's sister, a VH1 football model lday, another young famous black supermodel, director Robert Townshend and some other people that I cant remember who they were haha. It was quite an expierence doing service (which I have really come to love on my mission) and meeting famous people all at once!

Random Stories
As part of working hard at not having unrealistic expectations of myself/being too hard on myself- I am beginning to recognize the small examples of the Lord's hand in my life/the promptings of the Spirit.

One example is last week when we were out tracting I saw this black lady across the street putting up Christmas lights. She looked busy with that and taking care of three or so little, energetic kids. I thought to myself we should go help with the lights and talk to her. I brushed it off saying nahhh she looks like she doesn't want our help, we are tracting this side of the street, she doesn't speak Spanish and we had just talked to a Latin family on this side of the street etc. But then the thought came again and so after the next house I told Elder Franson we should go help. After a short convo we found out Ms. Watkins wasn't really interested in the gospel and didn't need our help, she was polite but not overly friendly. For some reason we kept talking and we found out she wanted us to pray for her uncle who was very sick in the hospital (this is not unusual for random people to ask us to pray for them- even hobos on the street sometimes ask us to pray for someone) but then we said we could do it right then (more unusual- I have only done that a handful of times...) Anyway she invited us in and we met the family and said the prayer with her mother (whose only brother is the sick uncle) in the prayer the mother started crying and I felt the Spirit a lot. I know that this was God directing the work through me even though they didnt even accept a return appointment let alone were that "golden investigator" ready for baptism three weeks after you meet them. I have no idea what the affect of that visit/prayer was- whether small or life changing that leads them to accept the Gospel later on- but I do know we were lead by the Lord to meet them.

Another one was a miracle we witnessed. A couple of weeks ago one part member family we are sort of working with asked us to give her two year old daughter a blessing so she could sleep through the night without nightmares. I could see how much faith they had in the Lord and even Priesthood blessings even though the very inactive dad could hardly remember what they were called etc... I relied on that strong faith as I voiced the blessing... A week or so later we asked them how she was sleeping and the were very relieved as they told us that she is sleeping very well with no more nightmares thanks to the blessing. Even though they haven't come to church and are pretty hard to contact/teach this was another example of the kinds of things I hope I can be more receptive to and recognize.

I know that I have probably missed a lot of these kinds of things because I was looking for a bigger, more grand miracle/display of the Lord's hand in my life.

The Area/My Thoughts
As I alluded to above- I am realizing that my efforts and desire to serve the Lord and follow his direction through the Spirit is more connected with successfully accomplishing my purpose than I thought. I have been measuring my success as a missionary in comparison to others/outward fruits of our labors- not necessarily baptisms but things like that. I know baptism, church attendance, number of progressing investigators are all part of my purpose but I know that as long as I am honestly doing my best to invite people to come unto Christ- through a return appointment, baptismal commitment, or some other way act on or hear the Gospel I am doing my purpose... It has been hard because I have been in tough areas in terms of outward results of following my purpose. I have alternately beat myself up over not seeing results and used it as a mental excuse to not try as hard- sometimes both at the same time haha.

Anyway we are still doing a lot of finding- mostly through tracting and checking former investigators/less active/part member families... We found a couple of people that have some potential but not too much else is going on. I am doing a lot better at not judging myself when I go on splits and see how much work the other missionaries have... or when I go to a baptism of 6 people for two companionships. I know I just need to work hard and do my best. I am very happy for the other missionaries though by the way... I know that I am here to learn patience with myself among other things. An Elder talked in a District Meeting about President Uchtdorf'sconference talk "Continue in Patience". I loved it.

We are probably going to drop the Flores family (Jorge, Manuel and Elsa) even though they are very nice and love having us over even after some heated discussions about his unwillingness to accept some new and different things. ) He is not very accepting of the Book of Mormon and said that as for him- the only way to "prove" the Bible is true is because it has changed his life and others... I loved it because I was able to bear strong testimony that the Book of Mormon changed my life/is the reason why I repented and went on a mission. He still was pretty hard heated even though I bore powerful testimony and provided his method of "proof" in a very specific way. Nevertheless Jorge (Elsa cant read and Manuel is mentally challenged) said that he will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it but on his own time and would like us not to come by and ask him how it is going- which is what missionaries do... : We will see what happens because they invited us over for Christmas dinner hahaha

I am working hard to catch up on the mission goal of finishing the Book of Mormon in 2010... I am on page 205ish and I am loving reading it! It is amazing how much it seems to change, even since I have been on my mission, as we receive different revelation for different times in our life. Awesome. Good scriptures Mosiah 4:3. Mosiah 26:30, King Benjamin's address, 2 Nephi chapters 2, 4, 9.

Still haven't seen the Christmas devotional which I am sad about...

I am still trying to focus my goals and not worry too much about other things because it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the different ways to grow and change personally that the mission makes apparent in oneself. I am doing very well at not feeding my doubts, and anxieties by thinking about them and instead feeding faith etc by acting like reading the BoM and saying better prayers...

From Our Old Area
We found out from the new missionaries in our old area that Sergio broke the Law of Chastity again this past weekend... They are trying to get him to church, he has only been to a Fireside since Thanksgiving...

We also found out that the twins, Kaela and Korey, are getting baptized after the Holidays and they want us to perform the baptism!

Alex Ortiz is solid and active with his family, his brother is now accepting missionary lessons after we got to know him very well and tried to teach him...

Elder Myers Dec. 6, 2010

I love you all!

Today we had a really fun, intense dodgeball game as a zone that Elder Franson and I organized in the church parking lot (I was hot in my shorts and a t shirt- I just thought I would rub in the weather here because I love doing that....) I love doing sports, I have really come to realize how much I need a good excersice... and it is amazing how much you start to love P day when you get out over a year haha

The area
Well the area is tough and I know the only thing to do is not complain and get to work. I know that I am still struggling to work my very hardest despite my trials at enduring to the end. However I know that this is where it counts and that just because its tough I will not give up. I know that I will learn a lot from this transfer.

As for the people, we basically have no one worth reporting in terms of their progression but I have faith that that will change! I know that if I work hard the Lord will bless us with a miracle- and that is what this area will need! The Segura's canceled on us for the second time on the Visitor's center. We did start teaching their extremely less active (hasnt been to church since she was baptized...) 17 year old cousin named Sally. She isn't super committed though. We are doing some tracting/checking formers. We have only gotten some nibbles, no one has really caught on... wow that was a lame fishing joke... I don't even like fishing...

my thoughts
well i dont have time for that, until next week
I am happy but struggling I would say

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