11.21.13 - Sick as a Dog

What a great P-Day at the temple. I love the spirit that dwells there and the great opportunity we have to learn there too.

 

This week has been a little harder on me than I'd anticipated, and I've prayed for and received a little understanding as to why. A few weeks back when i talked about needing to deepen my personal well so i could have more resources to give to others, i was in the process of praying for help in developing depth in Christ-like attributes. Be carefule what you ask for, becuase your prayers are heard and answered, although most likely not in the way you'd expect. What better way for me to dig deeper within myself to find the love i needed to share with others than to be forced to do so at a time when my instincts were to become more reserved and less approachable.

 

The same week i wrote that earlier email, I got sick along with my District. I'm usually pretty healthy so i was surprised my body had succumbed at all and I fully anticipated a rapid recovery. When relief never came I got a little concerned that my illness was going to hurt my ability to study. I received a Priesthood blessing and as a result I gained the mental strength and clarity of thought to remain effective in learning, a very real and personal miracle in my life, although the discomfort of the symptoms remained. We then received some new Districts into the Zone that were not "hit the ground running" ready. I mean to say they weren't prepared to be obedient or diligent in their work and as a direct result their ability to progress was hindered. I could tell you my schedule, but to the same effect i'll just say I got busy handling the zone and my personal mission prep, and all the while I was trying to perfectly emulate the characteristic of Charity which is the pure love of Christ.

 

I was feeling stretched during this time and I prayed often for guidance in my studies to know how to best help the zone, and for an outpour of Christ's love, so I could show these Missionaries the love they needed to trust me, to be motivated to work hard, and which Christ wants them to feel. I was far from perfect in having charity in my heart at all times, although I felt an answer during this time as each District began to make large strides to become ready for the mission field and my faith grew tremendously. At this time I realized that my sickness was making it so i didn't feel like I had the resources I usually did and like I wasn´t sufficiently able to handle these problems on my own, so I would have to exercise more and more faith and after the trial of my faith have an increase in my testimony.

 

I had faith before that I could receive help, but now I know that Christ is anxious to help and will have his hand made known throughout his work. The next week, this last week, I felt like i'd learned a great lesson and was ready to implement it. But i wasn't done being taught. SO, I got pink eye and a gnarly sinus infection. It was real gross. I got tag teamed by mucus and phlegm for days. I would wake up like every hour in a coughing fit, with a solid head ache, and then my nose would get dry and bleed for 5 minutes. It was not conductive to a cheerful attitude during the day. All the same, I attempted to have charity.

 

I hope by now I've shown by my actions that I've adequately had my prayer answered, because I don't want to start out being sick in the mission field. Fortunately, after praying earnestly for my headache to die a painful death (i didn't really say that) so I could focus on my way to the temple this morning. I've made a 180 degree turn and I feel really great. I think the growing pains will be done for a while.

 

We listened to a 2012 MTC devotional this week by Elder Bednar where he taught his personal method for learning from General Conference. Really simply, he writes out the Doctrine being taught, the actions he felt prompted to take as a result of the invitations offered by the speakers and then the blessings being promised as a result folloiwng the invitation. I thought it was great! I loved the insight.

 

We said goodbye to 2 spiritual giants this week. Hermano May (White) and Hermano Villanueava (Mexican). These two men (attached) taught us in 3 hour blocks in the morning and afternoon, respectively, about the spanish language, how to teach, and role played numerous investigators we had to teach. Hermano May just finished two years as an MTC teacher and is a huge inspiration for me, best of luck to him back in Utah. Hermano Villanueava is going to Colombia to find a girl he met on his mission, has contacted by email since, and now wants to marry..? A little more luck to him, haha.

  

I've been in a bubble here people! Is the governments still shut down? I don't know! I just found out there was typhoon in the Philipines. Haha, someone needs to keep me up-to-date.

 

Great to hear from you all,

lots of love,

 

Elder Tyler Meidell

11.14.13 - 'Don't be Lot's wife'

Hello Good People!

It's been a fun week, a little tough on our District but pretty good overall. The temperature dropped from the 70's in the evenings to the 40's so the little blankets we had didn't really suffice for a couple days. I didn't sleep too well and whether the weather change was a factor or not 8 of the 11 in the District got pretty ill, myself included. I think everyone is clearing up now, but there was a few days of hacking and flem that was just really.. really gross. Last night we came home to find 2 extra blankets on everyone's bed and they were much appreciated.
 

We've increased the number of investigators we teach each day from 1 to 2 and now from 2 to 3, so Elder Paddock and I really have to spend nearly all of our personal study prepping for these 20 minute blocks. I really like the pace, it's making me stretch to be as good as I expect myself to be.
 

I got my first missionary hair cut today ... and now I have no hair. I think the ladies that cut all of the gringo's hair are just used to them not being able to communicate what they want, so they proceed to do whatever they want to us. I told her I've got some gnarly cow-licks on the back of my head, and she responded saying she recognized that, and then shaved it all short anyways! It's alright though, I'm not any uglier than i was! haha.
 

We have some caged soccer/basketball courts here, and I am in love with playing caged soccer right now. There are a couple good players here that really make it way fun.
 

Now for the good stuff ...

One of the speakers this week talked a little about Mark 12, when Christ was asked whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar, and he responded by having them bring him a coin with the face of Caesar on it and said, "whose is this image and superscription?" to which the others responded, "Caesar's." Christ then said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." The word that has significance here is image. The coin held the image of Caesar and therefore was to be given to Caesar, which then leads us to think, what has the image of God? And of course we, mankind, do. From Genesis we know that man was formed in God's likeness and image. Therefore, i believe what Christ also intended to teach was that we are to give to God of ourselves, whether that is of our time, talents, faith, love and all that we have to offer.

Later in the week we talked about Luke 17:32, "Remember Lots Wife." From the story when Lot was commanded to leave Soddom and Gamorrah without looking back because it was going to be destroyed. Lot's wife did turn to look as they fled and was turned into a pillar of salt. It comes down to the fact that she did not have faith in God's plan for her, and she did not believe that anything He could have her do would be as great as what she was leaving behind. I think the combination of these two stories has much relevance for missionaries and everyone else. As missionaries we are expected to leave behind all the things of the world and to commit ourselves to live in a way that allows us be completely in tune with the Holy Spirit because we know that God has a plan for us, and if we fulfill it, we will have more joy than anything we could devise from our own wit and cunning. So when missionaries find themselves singing songs that are no longer in accordance with their purpose the others will lovingly look to them and say, "don't be Lot's wife." For normal people, it still pertains. Live in a way you can be receptive to God's plan for you, and have faith that his plan is always for your benefit. The way you can do this is to offer all that you are to Him, and strive to do his will.

Two things i liked from Elder L. Tom Perry's devotional to all the MTC's this Tuesday (not in his exact words):

Never cease to marvel at the use of the Priesthood Authority of God.
 

When you work alongside the Lord, you cannot keep up with Him.
 

This next point, which I don't want to be taken as sac-religious, is that this giant golden man (attached) that is on top of some ambiguous building outside the CCM would be a definite eye-catcher adjacent the golden angel Moroni, hahaha.
 

The other picture is of the second set of roommates i lived with, Elder Romero and Elder Valazqes.

Thank you to everyone who has emailed me, I love to hear from you and to hear how you're doing.

with my love,
 

Elder Tyler Meidell

 

11.7.2013 - Prayer and the Brother of Jared

Hey hey,

Today is another happy day in the life.

I'm gonna jump right in to what I've learned this week. From class and devotionals the theme of this last week appeared to be praying. I'd say I pray ... realistically ... 20-25 times a day. Those prayers being all out, on my knees, offering the sincere thoughts of my heart. Those do not include the prayers that go through my head during study, during lessons, during counseling with other missionaries and so on. We pray so much, Elder Ogan, one of my roommates, has bald patches on his otherwise hair hidden knees. I tell you this to give some credibility to my stipulation that before this week I understood what it meant to pray.

In our Sunday devotional, we learned about offering specific prayers and how they can strengthen out relationship with God. In this process we recount to our Heavenly Father what we did during the day, kind of like we're checking in, and we're very realistic with ourselves while we do this. Then we recognize all that God has blessed us with in that day even if they're the same things we receive every day. Next, we implore for those things we desire as they are in accordance with God's will for us. In asking it is critical that we search out what God's will is for us, so we can know what to ask for and better understand how he wants us to grow. I believe that God knows what we are ultimately able to become, and i also believe that it is someone far greater than we could ever become of our own volition. So as we seek his will, we can trust that if we do all he asks of us in diligence we will lead the kind of lives that will end in the realization of all that we hope to become, because God´s will, will be our will, and God's will is the Immortality and Eternal Life of man (being perfected and living His presence). If you don't pray with specificity, start to. If you already do this, be more explicit in what you can be grateful for and in what things, exactly, you want help with.

A quick tangent. The brother of Jared, who was commanded to build 8 barges so his family could cross an ocean went and asked God with faith if he could have light in his barges during the trip. Christ responded, what would you have me do? The Brother of Jared then gathered 16 stones and asked that God touch each one with his finger so they could glow and so his family could have light during their journey. It's important to realize God did not simply bless them with light upon request, but instead asked what the Brother of Jared thought should be done, and then decided if it was a good or a bad plan.

In our lives we must address God in context. We can address our problems first by bringing them up to the Lord, then studying them out in our mind until we think we've found a reasonable solution, and then we can bring them before the Lord to see if he will "touch our stones" so to speak. In dong so we should give heed to what is God's will for us so we can ask for those things which are important to us or which he wants us to accomplish. Hopefully this brings clarity to specific prayer.

Now for the good stuff! On Tuesday we heard from Elder Daniel Johnson of the First Quorum of the 70. His topic was on who we believe God is. He brought to our attention the accepted Christian definition of prayer which i tried to write down but only got in parts. It was essentially that God is an immense and unknowable being who we cannot understand. He is above all passion and is both separate from and one with Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. The takeaway was, he is incomprehensible. He then commented on how missionaries do not take enough time helping people understand our belief in God and they should spend more time because it is very different from the rest of the World. Things we've grown up knowing must not be taken for granted because they change the very foundation of religion. The God, the one I know, is our literal spiritual father. He is a man with a perfected body of flesh and bone. His ultimate purpose is our eternal salvation and accordingly he weeps with us when we make mistakes and he rejoices with us in our successes. His firstborn son is Jesus Christ who has been ressurrected and he too has a body of flesh and bone. The third member of the Godhead which is united for the purpose of bringing salvation to mankind, is the Holy Spirit. It is critical that he does not have a body, so that we can feel his influence on our souls. If we can effectively teach this principle all other lessons will be a joy, because people will understand their place as a part of one large spiritual family, where the head is dead-set on their success and will do anything to help them.

Elder Johnson then asked if we had a personal testimony of all those things we preach, and asked us to pray specifically to know by the spirit if these things are true. He then promised us that if we would ask with a sincere heart and real intent we would receive an answer we would never forget. the five questions he told us to ask God are as follows:

1. Do you really exist?

2. Do you have a body of flesh and bone?

3. Do you know that I exist?

4. Do you know my name, about my family, and the things I go through each day?

5. Do you really love me?

I am so greatful for his invitation. I hope you'll do as i have, and pray to know for the first or the hundreth time, the answers to these questions. I can bear fervent testimony that the answer to each question is firm, compassionate and loving yes, and it's a yes for every person.

Attached is where I sleep (on the left) yes mom I make my bed now. The other picture is what Halloween looked like for us here at the CCM.

Lots and lots of love,

Elder Tyler Meidell

10.31.13 - The Bucket Analogy

The first week here felt like a month and the second week only felt like two weeks. Hopefully by the time i leave time will have reverted back to its old self when 1 = 1. I think i'm in the swing of things now, we all have our daily schedule that is upheld by the minute and we find some comfort in the monotony because the subject matter we're learning really does a doozy on our minds and spirits. I feel like a Holy bucket (you can take that physically or metaphysically, however you please). All day I am filled with Spanish vocab and grammar that i do my best to contain, although some of each lesson drips out and I have to go back and sop it back up and try and hold on to it again while the next lesson on conjugations makes me overflow and just makes a mess of frustration all over the room. 

We then learn more about Christ's Gospel and how we must attain the attributes he lived, and this helps fill in our cracks, or at least lets us be ok with our cracks for a while more. While teaching and practicing  we'll ladel out bits of ourselves to others, so they can benefit from our knowledge or love. Then, when our gaurd is down, we'll have a meeting where the spirit is very powerful and it fills up parts of my bucket i didn't even know i had and as a result i realize i'm an even bigger bucket that can hold more Spanish. The trend continues until you blow a teaching appointment and all of your innards feel like they just got plastered to a wall. Prayer and faith then bring a hose and fill you right back up, ready to grow and expand. I think my experience here is helping me transform from a bucket into a well, where i can have enough faith, patience, confidence in spanish and Love in God, my companion, and all those i meet so that i can prove to be a resource for others when they need help filling their buckets. It takes a lot of effort, but we're taught that stress + faith + work = growth. i really want to deepen my well, so i can have a greater ability to magnify my calling and serve the people in San Antonio

 

I hope you enjoyed my bucket analogy.. I thought of that.. just now. I'm sorry it needs a little more work, i'll try and work out the kinks later.

 

My roommates left for the missions in Mexico this week, and that was sad, but then we got new ones and that was really exciting! When they were in a meeting their first day we made their beds for them, put starbursts on their pillow and poorly drew them a picture of their 4 American roomates with hearts all over it.. so now they know.. Americans are weird and friendly.

 

Today is Dia de las Brujas (Halloween) which no one really cares about, but these next two day will be Dia De los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and i just know the city is going to erupt with activity. We're already kept up with the angry traffic that I think picks up in the wee hours of the night, and now the 15 million inhabitants of this giant crazy city will have actual reason to be up making noise at 3 in the morning. It's gonna be awesome. We can't leave the 16 foot wall around the campus here, but it's going to awesome. A note about the campus: it is very very big, and very beautiful. Compared to the gray dirty buildings that are stacked on top of each other all around us, it really is a heaven on earth.

 

Things in Mexico are stinking cheap. I bought a tie for like 45 pesos which comes to something just shy of $4. I'm gonna stash up while i'm here. Also, on the way back from the temple a man approached our bus with a bag of 10 bananas which we happily purchased for 10 pesos. Match that deal Wal-Mart!

 

It is fortunate we have a P-day on Halloween. My District is buying a ton of Mexican junk food from the little store they have here and we're gonna spend a few hours later today doing something really weird for us now... knocking doors. However, this time we'll be accepting food from each other rather than presenting the BOM. I think i'll like doing both equally. But if someone were to give me food while i taught them about the BOM, wow, that might just be too much happiness to handle, haha.

 

My companion was nice enough to let me run around the track this morning, which i wish i had more time to do here, and it's turning out to be a very nice day. Elder Paddock's Spanish is making remarkable bounds and teaching is becoming a lot more fun.

 

I really like being a Zone Leader because it let's me get to know and spend time with different missionaries here on campus. I've been very impressed with all of them. I had another District leave for their missions and another come in this week so my companion and I will have another opportunity tonight to teach about what it means to be a missionary and which rules are followed on campus that aren't specifically expressed in the missionary handbook. Some examples of this: Elders don't sit next to sisters at meals, Elders let sisters cut to the front of the line at meals, Elder don't walk sisters to their Casa's, Elders don't walk side by side with sisters, Elders don't give sister's high-fives. I don't know how well all of these rules are followed but if anyone is worried about the implications of Elders living so close to sisters... worry no more... sisters are on a pedestal the Elders don't go near.

 

100% obedience is preached far and wide. At first I felt like the onslaught of missionary rules were just to  control an army of 20 year old's, and i don't like being treated like cattle. So it rubbed me the wrong way, for someone to say, if you don't go to bed at 10:30 you won't have the gift of tongues. A little trial and error though has helped me to know that God is at head of his work here. The rules do keep us in line, but they are endorsed from on high and if you want those blessings promised to the faithful, you must now do more to be counted amongst the faithful. I go to bed at 10:30 and i've viewed the difference in myself, in that, my ability to deepen my well each day is increased when i uphold the commandments laid forth by the orchestrate of this great work. 

 

Elder Allen, the managing director the church missionary department spoke to us last tuesday. I am very committed to this work. I have committed to sell out and to thrust in my sickle with my might. I believe doing so will change me, and I trust it will only change me for the better.

With my love,

Elder Tyler Meidell

Attached are my two American Roommates Elder Bergevin form Washington and Elder Ogan from Oregon, then i'm with Elder Cabanas and Elder Polmas who just left to serve in the XOCAM mission