Dear family and friends,
So I did get transferred. I was in Mesquite for 2 transfers and it's funny because Elder Colon (who I used to be companions with) is taking my spot with Elder Alatorre. I'm sure that they'll do great there. I was kind of sad to leave because I really liked it there, but I guess God has another purpose for me.
So now I'm back in Las Vegas in the Central zone (right under the Sunrise zone where I used to be) serving in the Monte Bello ward, and now I'm back to using a bike. I guess I haven't used my bike in a while and some things happened to it (I had a flat that I had to fix, my brakes don't work) that I wasn't really ready for. I pretty much got the flat tire fixed, and I can manage now without brakes until I can fix it...maybe...I'm not good with fixing bikes. There was an Elder in our zone that said that they have a disassembled bike that I can take some parts out of, so I'm not worried about it that much.
It's kind of funny because our area is super ghetto. We actually cover 28th street, which Mom said was like the 4th most dangerous street in the country, or something like that, but nothing's happened to me yet. As far as the type of people we find on the streets, it's like the exact opposite of Bullhead City, AZ. When I was in Bullhead, it was all old, retired white people, but here it's pretty much all blacks or Spanish people.
Oh yeah, my companion. His name is Elder Cunha and his family is from Brazil, although he's lived in Boston for most, if not all his life. So he can speak Portuguese and English perfectly, but he's also right along with me at learning Spanish. He's almost tri-lingual, which is crazy. He's been out for 1 more transfer than I have and it's his first time being senior companion.
So there's never a whole lot to say when you change areas because you've only been in the area for a day, but hopefully I can tell you all a little more about the people we're teaching and all that next week. I'll tell you if I need anything.
I love you!
Elder Meiners
Elder Meiners
Elder Meiners on the left with missionaries in Las Vegas about August 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
May 19, 2011
Dear family and friends,
Things have been going really good. We got to teach Hugo a little bit this week and he seems really interested in everything that we teach. His wife was also there so we encouraged both of them to go to church because she's a little less-active, but when they're both invited each week to church they usually go. Dania came and she brought her 2 year old, but once again he was making all kinds of noises and crying really loudly, so she just went home again. She didn't even take him to the lobby or anything, she just went home. So we've already told her a number of times that he's just a kid and that she shouldn't let that persuade her to leave church each week. We're still teaching the Castaneda's and they're slowly progressing. I think that they now feel that baptism is what they should do, so we'll try and set a date for them this week or so.
Max is doing great and so is Margarita. They're both coming to church each week and we're trying to visit them every once in a while to see how they're doing. Jose Flores stopped coming to church for a little bit because someone asked him if he was paying tithing and he said no and he felt bad. So we tried to visit him and tell him a little bit about that, but I guess we'll see how that goes. His kids are doing good for the most part, too. We encouraged them to try and read from the Book of Mormon each day, so I guess they're doing that. Omar, the 13 year old, says that he wants to go on a mission when he gets older, so that's really cool.
We had a really cool fireside on Tuesday. Us missionaries were actually in charge of it because we wanted to strengthen the members of the branch and have them set their goal as having a ward. But we explained that in order to be a ward, there has to be a lot going on such as preaching the gospel, "opening your mouth", and the blessings from work. All in all, I think it went really well and they got a good grasp of what we were trying to get at.
It was kind of weird because Dad said that he was getting better from a cold that he had last week. I was like "How could you get a cold in May?" and then sure enough, I got a cold the next day and I've been sick ever since. But I feel a little better now and it's not as bad as it was on Sunday. It was also raining pretty hard yesterday for about an hour which is kind of weird because it hardly rains. It's also been kind of overcast and windy as of late, and I even had to wear my sweater yesterday, but today seems like it's back to normal. Sometimes the weather changes like 4 times in a day and sometimes it's just hot and sunny for a week. Kind of reminds me of Philmont.
Yesterday was also Elder Alatorre's birthday, so the Mikkelsen's got him some pan dulces (kind of like donuts, but it's sweet bread for those of you not familiar with Spanish culture), and also a really tall glass of chocolate milk and some balloons. He also got a lot of calls and texts saying Happy Birthday to him.
So transfers are coming up already and so this week, we'll see if I get transferred or if I get a new companion, or both, and so I'll let you know about it next week if anything changes. I hear that next transfer is going to be 7 weeks long because President Christensen is also going home after those 7 weeks, so we're going to get a new mission president in June or July.
Yeah, the best thing that you can do with less-actives and part member families is just to always visit them and try to grow a relationship wwith them. We've recently been trying to visit those kind of people in Bunkerville and Mesquite, so that we can also have people to teach. We're going to see one part member family on Sunday and see if the husband wants to take the lessons, and then Hugo is also a part member family, so that'll be good when he gets baptized.
I guess that's it from me this week. We're still trying to find more people to teach, whether it be people on the street, or part member families, or referrals from members. I'll tell you if I need anything.
I love you!
Elder Meiners
Things have been going really good. We got to teach Hugo a little bit this week and he seems really interested in everything that we teach. His wife was also there so we encouraged both of them to go to church because she's a little less-active, but when they're both invited each week to church they usually go. Dania came and she brought her 2 year old, but once again he was making all kinds of noises and crying really loudly, so she just went home again. She didn't even take him to the lobby or anything, she just went home. So we've already told her a number of times that he's just a kid and that she shouldn't let that persuade her to leave church each week. We're still teaching the Castaneda's and they're slowly progressing. I think that they now feel that baptism is what they should do, so we'll try and set a date for them this week or so.
Max is doing great and so is Margarita. They're both coming to church each week and we're trying to visit them every once in a while to see how they're doing. Jose Flores stopped coming to church for a little bit because someone asked him if he was paying tithing and he said no and he felt bad. So we tried to visit him and tell him a little bit about that, but I guess we'll see how that goes. His kids are doing good for the most part, too. We encouraged them to try and read from the Book of Mormon each day, so I guess they're doing that. Omar, the 13 year old, says that he wants to go on a mission when he gets older, so that's really cool.
We had a really cool fireside on Tuesday. Us missionaries were actually in charge of it because we wanted to strengthen the members of the branch and have them set their goal as having a ward. But we explained that in order to be a ward, there has to be a lot going on such as preaching the gospel, "opening your mouth", and the blessings from work. All in all, I think it went really well and they got a good grasp of what we were trying to get at.
It was kind of weird because Dad said that he was getting better from a cold that he had last week. I was like "How could you get a cold in May?" and then sure enough, I got a cold the next day and I've been sick ever since. But I feel a little better now and it's not as bad as it was on Sunday. It was also raining pretty hard yesterday for about an hour which is kind of weird because it hardly rains. It's also been kind of overcast and windy as of late, and I even had to wear my sweater yesterday, but today seems like it's back to normal. Sometimes the weather changes like 4 times in a day and sometimes it's just hot and sunny for a week. Kind of reminds me of Philmont.
Yesterday was also Elder Alatorre's birthday, so the Mikkelsen's got him some pan dulces (kind of like donuts, but it's sweet bread for those of you not familiar with Spanish culture), and also a really tall glass of chocolate milk and some balloons. He also got a lot of calls and texts saying Happy Birthday to him.
So transfers are coming up already and so this week, we'll see if I get transferred or if I get a new companion, or both, and so I'll let you know about it next week if anything changes. I hear that next transfer is going to be 7 weeks long because President Christensen is also going home after those 7 weeks, so we're going to get a new mission president in June or July.
Yeah, the best thing that you can do with less-actives and part member families is just to always visit them and try to grow a relationship wwith them. We've recently been trying to visit those kind of people in Bunkerville and Mesquite, so that we can also have people to teach. We're going to see one part member family on Sunday and see if the husband wants to take the lessons, and then Hugo is also a part member family, so that'll be good when he gets baptized.
I guess that's it from me this week. We're still trying to find more people to teach, whether it be people on the street, or part member families, or referrals from members. I'll tell you if I need anything.
I love you!
Elder Meiners
Friday, May 6, 2011
May 5, 2011
Dear family,
Things are going pretty good. We got to baptize Max this week on Friday and it was really good. He got his kids to come, too and they seemed happy for him. It would be good if we could get the kids baptized, too. One of them, Josh, is being taught by the English missionaries, but he doesn't seem to be making too much progress. Max also came out with us for a lesson for the first time and he was really good at it. It was as if he had been a member his whole life and he was really friendly and outoging to the investigators and he loved to share his testimony.
We also had our ward talent show on Saturday night, but we started the dinner at 7:30 and it wasn't until 8 when we started the program and so it went really long. We actually had to leave before the whole thing was over. Generally, I thought it was pretty good.
We had a few people at church this Sunday. One of our investigators, Dania came with her 17 year old son and her 2 year old toddler and the toddler was making all kinds of distractions and was pretty much yelling the whole time. Right before sacrament meeting ended, her toddler did something that made Dania just get up, get her kids and walk home. So that was kind of disappointing, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes.
We also got to talk to the Castaneda's a little bit this week and see how they were all doing in reading the Book of Mormon. The mom is in 2 Nephi 25 and the 21 year old daughter is in 1 nephi 17, I think. So we tried to emphasize reading and praying to know if it was true. Other than that, we don't have too many people to teach right now.
I didn't know Erika was graduating this week, so congratulations to her!
That's a shame that you'll miss the Main Street Festival this year, it'll be the Rocktagon's last performance.
When I call on Sunday, it will probably be around 5 - 5:30pm Pacific time (8 - 8:30pm Eastern time). We will probably have an early dinner around 4:00 and then we'll call right after. I think that's pretty much it for this week. I'll let you know if there's anything I need.
I love you!
Elder Meiners
P.S. I included some pictures from Max's baptism from Friday.
Things are going pretty good. We got to baptize Max this week on Friday and it was really good. He got his kids to come, too and they seemed happy for him. It would be good if we could get the kids baptized, too. One of them, Josh, is being taught by the English missionaries, but he doesn't seem to be making too much progress. Max also came out with us for a lesson for the first time and he was really good at it. It was as if he had been a member his whole life and he was really friendly and outoging to the investigators and he loved to share his testimony.
We also had our ward talent show on Saturday night, but we started the dinner at 7:30 and it wasn't until 8 when we started the program and so it went really long. We actually had to leave before the whole thing was over. Generally, I thought it was pretty good.
We had a few people at church this Sunday. One of our investigators, Dania came with her 17 year old son and her 2 year old toddler and the toddler was making all kinds of distractions and was pretty much yelling the whole time. Right before sacrament meeting ended, her toddler did something that made Dania just get up, get her kids and walk home. So that was kind of disappointing, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes.
We also got to talk to the Castaneda's a little bit this week and see how they were all doing in reading the Book of Mormon. The mom is in 2 Nephi 25 and the 21 year old daughter is in 1 nephi 17, I think. So we tried to emphasize reading and praying to know if it was true. Other than that, we don't have too many people to teach right now.
I didn't know Erika was graduating this week, so congratulations to her!
That's a shame that you'll miss the Main Street Festival this year, it'll be the Rocktagon's last performance.
When I call on Sunday, it will probably be around 5 - 5:30pm Pacific time (8 - 8:30pm Eastern time). We will probably have an early dinner around 4:00 and then we'll call right after. I think that's pretty much it for this week. I'll let you know if there's anything I need.
I love you!
Elder Meiners
P.S. I included some pictures from Max's baptism from Friday.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
April 28, 2011
Dear family,
This past week was really good. Everything went well with the baptism on Saturday and even Junior, one of our priests, got to baptize his grandma (Margarita), so that was really cool. He said it's the first baptism that he's done and what better than baptizing one of your own family members? The baptism was really long because some of the speakers were a little long, but the Spirit was really strong and we even had some investigators there. One of our investigators, Max, got up and bore his testimony about how he received his answer to the Church being true and he said that he wanted to be baptized tomorrow on Friday. So we're getting everything ready for another baptism this week.
After the baptism on Saturday, the Mikkelsens (the family that we live with), invited us to dye some Easter eggs, and it was interesting because for Elder Alatorre, it was the first time that he'd done it. I did get the package a day before Easter and then on Easter, the Mikkelsens gave my companion and I an Easter basket, so now I've got a ton of candy and stuff.
Junior actually got to come with us for our zone conference that we had on Monday. He got an excused absence from his school just so that he could spend half the day with a lot of missionaries. We went hiking up a mesa and had some pondering time to ourselves up on the mesa, so that was really cool. Then when we were all done, Junior asked our mission president if some time during the summer, he could do a "mini-mission" and be in a 3-pack with the missionaries for about a week, and Pres. Christensen said that he could try to plan it out. I think that's great that Junior is so excited to go on a mission.
We spent quite a bit of time washing and cleaning our truck for zone conference because they do inspections and if you don't pass, you can't use your vehicle for 4-7 days. Luckily, we passed ours, but there were some missionaries in our district that didn't pass, so that was really hard for them because they either had to go biking or have members give them rides.
We also had a district meeting where I had to give a training on setting people for baptism, but I didn't know what I was going to say because during the course of one week, the ZL's gave two trainings on setting people for baptism, and the AP's gave another training that was on the same topic at zone conference. So I didn't know what else I could say that hadn't been said and so when I went up to give my training and I didn't know exactly what I would do beforehand (1 Ne. 4:6). But as I got up I felt that I should have everybody list some scriptures that they've used before while setting people for baptism and invited everybody to use one of the scriptures on the chalkboard every time that they try to set people for baptism. So I guess that just goes to show that the Spirit will help you if you don't know what to do (most of the time).
So you guys have been married for 27 years; that's a long time. The good thing is that you guys didn't ever split up and that you relied on the Lord when you needed help.
I know that Mother's Day is coming soon, but I don't know exactly when I'll call just yet because we technically have church from 9-5 each Sunday and then we have dinner right after like at 5:30, so it would be like 6:30 when we get all done, and I don't think that you guys want a call at 9:30pm. So we'll probably think about it a little more and think about when we'll call during the day. It might be good if you guys also tell me when you have church so that I don't call during church, or tell me when would be good for you all.
That's pretty much it from me this week. I'll tell you if I need anything.
I love you!
Elder Meiners
P.S. So I finally got some pictures that I'm sending. A little bit of description:
1. The baptism from this past week with Jose Flores' family and Margarita
2. Our zone picture from last transfer
3. A rattlesnake that Bro. Mikkelsen killed and put in the trash. He said it was the first rattlesnake that he'd ever seen around his house and he's lived there for 18 years. It was the 3rd rattlesnake that he'd seen in 28 years.
This past week was really good. Everything went well with the baptism on Saturday and even Junior, one of our priests, got to baptize his grandma (Margarita), so that was really cool. He said it's the first baptism that he's done and what better than baptizing one of your own family members? The baptism was really long because some of the speakers were a little long, but the Spirit was really strong and we even had some investigators there. One of our investigators, Max, got up and bore his testimony about how he received his answer to the Church being true and he said that he wanted to be baptized tomorrow on Friday. So we're getting everything ready for another baptism this week.
After the baptism on Saturday, the Mikkelsens (the family that we live with), invited us to dye some Easter eggs, and it was interesting because for Elder Alatorre, it was the first time that he'd done it. I did get the package a day before Easter and then on Easter, the Mikkelsens gave my companion and I an Easter basket, so now I've got a ton of candy and stuff.
Junior actually got to come with us for our zone conference that we had on Monday. He got an excused absence from his school just so that he could spend half the day with a lot of missionaries. We went hiking up a mesa and had some pondering time to ourselves up on the mesa, so that was really cool. Then when we were all done, Junior asked our mission president if some time during the summer, he could do a "mini-mission" and be in a 3-pack with the missionaries for about a week, and Pres. Christensen said that he could try to plan it out. I think that's great that Junior is so excited to go on a mission.
We spent quite a bit of time washing and cleaning our truck for zone conference because they do inspections and if you don't pass, you can't use your vehicle for 4-7 days. Luckily, we passed ours, but there were some missionaries in our district that didn't pass, so that was really hard for them because they either had to go biking or have members give them rides.
We also had a district meeting where I had to give a training on setting people for baptism, but I didn't know what I was going to say because during the course of one week, the ZL's gave two trainings on setting people for baptism, and the AP's gave another training that was on the same topic at zone conference. So I didn't know what else I could say that hadn't been said and so when I went up to give my training and I didn't know exactly what I would do beforehand (1 Ne. 4:6). But as I got up I felt that I should have everybody list some scriptures that they've used before while setting people for baptism and invited everybody to use one of the scriptures on the chalkboard every time that they try to set people for baptism. So I guess that just goes to show that the Spirit will help you if you don't know what to do (most of the time).
So you guys have been married for 27 years; that's a long time. The good thing is that you guys didn't ever split up and that you relied on the Lord when you needed help.
I know that Mother's Day is coming soon, but I don't know exactly when I'll call just yet because we technically have church from 9-5 each Sunday and then we have dinner right after like at 5:30, so it would be like 6:30 when we get all done, and I don't think that you guys want a call at 9:30pm. So we'll probably think about it a little more and think about when we'll call during the day. It might be good if you guys also tell me when you have church so that I don't call during church, or tell me when would be good for you all.
That's pretty much it from me this week. I'll tell you if I need anything.
I love you!
Elder Meiners
P.S. So I finally got some pictures that I'm sending. A little bit of description:
1. The baptism from this past week with Jose Flores' family and Margarita
2. Our zone picture from last transfer
3. A rattlesnake that Bro. Mikkelsen killed and put in the trash. He said it was the first rattlesnake that he'd ever seen around his house and he's lived there for 18 years. It was the 3rd rattlesnake that he'd seen in 28 years.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)