2.17.14 - At least Jesus loves you

It's a Monday ...

What a fast week that was! We got transfer calls last night and I'm out of here. The border lands are calling my name! I don't know where I'm serving yet but it'll get picked up on Wednesday and dropped off in some city on the border to Mexico.

I will miss the Quinto Barrio very, very much. Although I am very excited to get to my next area as well. There are a lot of emotions going on today.

"D" got really scared this last week because her test results for cancer came back unclear. A lot of the females in her family got cancer about this time in their lives. We gave her a blessing and she just texted me saying the follow up tests show no cancer. So who knows what could have happened but we're all very grateful for the peace that comes from a priesthood blessing.

We have a program as missionaries called the LDS stop smoking program. It's taught to anyone, member or not, and gives them 15 steps they must follow exactly for 7 days which will allow them to overcome their nicotine addiction. We have two families asking that we begin the program this week, which is good because I finally just finished learning all of if yesterday! We'll start it today with one, and I guess I'll just have to text the new missionaries that come into this area and ask how it goes next week.

I love me my tortillas! I'm hooked. I don't know if I will never eat another meal without a tortilla rolled up in my left hand. How did I ever get rice onto my fork before?

On Valentine's Day one of our Investigators texted us.. "Hey Elders, I don't know if you guys have Valentines this year ... but at least Jesus loves you."

I still have mixed emotions about this. Haha, but for the most part I appreciated the sentiment.

We started a new study program as a mission this week and the last few days I've been going over material regarding Joseph Smith the Dispensation Head for the last dispensation. It strikes me, that either Joseph Smith was a twisted a genius with no motives other than to cause a raucous, or a Prophet called of God. He humbly suffered persecution all of his life, he gave all of his praise given by the saints to Christ, He was openly rebuked in numerous occasions through D and C, he taught so much truth the world has never before known and which I after having read 15 times still don't fully comprehend, and he sealed the testimony of his life's works with his blood. There are so many things about the uneducated man which inspire me and leave me in awe for what he was called to do. A quote I read said something along the lines of, he preserved  more of the Lord's words than 12 of the most prophetic pen men of old combined. People in the old and New Testament looked forward to what would be revealed through this great prophet and now we have those words today. Truly this is not the Church of Joseph Smith but the Church of Jesus Christ Restored on the Earth today.

With all my love!

Elder Meidell

2.10.14 - Missionary work in the laundry room

Hey sweet family,

This week... This week was cool!

Last Monday when we were washing our clothes in the apartment laundry room (which has no door and is freezing cold!) the two guys in there with us started talking about religion. We usually do our studies in there while we wait, and the guys didn't mind when we jumped into their conversation. I think our open scriptures made us look credible even though we were wearing sweats. One man said he was going through a hard time and said he couldn't find the truth. Tah-Dah! We taught him some of the truth, and then set up a time to tell him a little more truth the next day. He went to church on Sunday and is asking when he can be baptized. What a question! We'll have a few more hurdles to jump before he's ready but we're very excited for him! He loves to share what he's learned so we've already met the majority of his family.

The "I'm Mormon Primo!" guy jumped into the Spanish Ward; he says he feels more comfortable there. He's ready to be baptized whenever he decides which date seems best.

We had a change in the bishopric but I'm really impressed with what Bishop Cisneros is already doing in the 5th Ward. We gathered all the active priesthood holders after church hours last night, split up 2 by 2, and went to visit less active priesthood holders on the roster. I was real happy I could hold a normal conversation with him (bishop and I were partners) for an hour. Elder Bednar really lit a fire with his talk on Hastening the Work at Stake Conference. Is Hastening the Work a big theme in Reno right now?

I'm giving a training tomorrow at Zone Meeting. The topic I was assigned is accountability. We are accountable for our works and the desires of our hearts. We report the fruits of our labor each week through mission leaders all the way up to Salt Lake each week and we can analyze numerically how well and how effectively we're working. We're accountable first to the Lord, and then to our local leaders as we work. I believe the theme I'll use will be "Big Brother is watching you." From George Orwell's 1984 that sounds a little creepy, but if you know the nature of Jesus Christ and your own divine kinship to him as a son or daughter or a true and living God, that phrase takes on a new and very warming feeling. Christ, our older brother, is watching us. He always will because he wants to help us succeed - and only through his grace will we succeed! I hope our thoughts and actions are in accordance with the reality of that truth.

Thank you Dallin for the 100 days of being a missionary achievement certificate! I hadn't realized i'd hit that mark yet. Plenty more days ahead!

I love you and I miss you very much!

Stay Salty,

Elder Tyler Meidell

2.3.14 - The "R" Family Baptism and Gum Girl

Hey sweet family,

 

It was a good week in the infamous TSAM.

Yesterday was a really cool Sunday because a daughter of the "R" family asked that I confirm her into the church - first time! Her family is doing awesome, they look happier. You can tell the difference between someone who is living the commandments and keeping covenants by their eyes and countenance. Their eyes have love and their countenances are bright. I like going into homes after having visited a few times and being able to feel the spirit in a place where it once didn't abide. I love seeing people's faces after they start living the gospel because they literally look brighter. The "R" family smiles more.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all good feelings at church yesterday. The "R" daughter's mom came to watch the ordinance and told me after she still loved her daughter but was so disappointed she had left the mother Catholic church. Her grandma won't speak to her. After I spoke with her for a few minutes her mom consented to letting the missionaries in her area sit down with her. I hope that meeting goes well.

On Christmas morning, Mom and Dad sent me a package and among various goodies there was some gum. We don't chew gum as missionaries because it looks unprofessional. When I was on the way to throw it out I asked a girl walking to her car if she wanted a few packs of gum. She asked me why, and for the life of me I could not think of a reason why I couldn't have that gum. I really didn't want to sound creepy, and I felt like me offering her gum without any reason on a foggy morning was really coming across creepy so I said, "I can't eat it... I'm allergic." So she goes, "Oh really, what will happen if you eat it?" (That's a little bit of a prying question don't you think?) I also had not prepared for that question so I said, "I'll die."... Smooth. She consented to take the gum and we chatted for a little and then parted after giving her our phone number. I few weeks later we bumped into her again and after getting to know her a little more we set up a time to share our message. She's a really cool ghoul, like 21 years old, she'd just gotten her priorities a little skewed. ANYWAYS, she was doing great and was progressing toward baptism and then we realized she had to go the YSA ward! Gah! So we had an exchange lesson with her this week with ourselves, the sister missionaries in the YSA ward and a member from that ward. It went well, she's still progressing as I hear it.

Not long after the exchange lesson we were invited to a surprise birthday party for a man in the Spanish ward. The members said it would be a great finding opportunity betwixt his non-member friends. We showed up and it was pretty much a ward get-together. The man throwing the party is easily the wealthiest guy on the South Side of San Antonio and lives in a castle like structure surrounded by a big fence in the middle of a ghetto. The point i'd like to make from this advent comes from the dancing that broke out during the party. These Spanish couples all just instinctively knew how to dance - really well. The men all had this hip movement down i've never seen a white man pull off (aside from my own father who kills it on just dance). I appreciate the Mexican Culture because they make amazing tortillas and they dance really well.

We've been waking up at 5 every day to go to Gold's Gym. Elder Reasch used to lift a ton before the mission so he makes me feel like a little girl. Today was my first legs day. I'm already starting to feel sore.

Sometimes living the gospel is tough. Zecharia 13:9 we will be refined as silver and tried as gold. Silver endures blazing temperatures before it is molten down and purified. I suppose we can expect nothing less in order to fully sanctify ourselves, but then never forget the promised reward for repenting. Alma 36:20 "and oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!"

I love you and I miss you,

Live Salty,

Elder Tyler Meidell

1.27.14 - Healing Power

Hey great people,

 

It was a cold one! We hit the freezing mark last Tuesday, 32 degrees Farenheit. I kid you not, the city shut down for an entire day. There was some frost on the cars and.. that's about it. All publicly funded institutions were down and out, which means kids didn't go to school and families were home together. It was a whole day of golden hours! We usually have the most success between 5-8pm (the golden hours) after everyone gets off work.

 

We had a zone conference that emphasized discerning and teaching to needs. It's easier to teach the lesson topics in the order we learned them, but that's not the way we the missionaries of old taught, so we'll move on to that higher plane. While we were there I got some clarity on the thought, put off the natural man until you overcome the natural man.

 

We had a baptism yesterday. The "R" Family is Mormon. Boom!

 

We were blessed to witness a little miracle this week. I retract that, for me it was a HUGE miracle. While we talked with a lady this last Saturday one of her young girls got an air bubble in her ear due to water pressure in the bath tub. I'm not entirely certainly, but that's what it sounded like she was describing to me in Spanish. The girl was sobbing due to the pain and the mom attempted to alleviate the pressure by rolling up newspaper in her ear while she tilted her head onto a pillow and lighting the top of the newspaper on fire! That's some good science at work there, although it was unfortunately unsuccessful. The mom was about to rush out with her to the hospital and we were going to leave feeling frustrated about the poor lesson and anxious for the welfare of her daughter. This woman had had her belief in God crushed as a result of a series of catastrophes in her life. I felt impressed to offer a blessing of healing for the daughter and the mother consented. We performed the blessing and in so doing I felt impressed to command the girl to be healed (I still don't have a very big vocabulary for the spirit to work with) As soon as our hands left her head her crying stopped and she opened her eyes. I guess she felt better. Her mother felt... I don't know she felt exactly, but she was quite open to letting us return in a few days. We look forward to seeing her again. There is so much power behind the statement, "by the power and authority of the Holy Melchezidek Priesthood which we hold....in the name of Jesus Christ." If it is the will of God, and is done by one worthy to exercise that authority, it will be done. I can't put into words at the moment the awe I feel toward the responsibility of holding the priesthood.

 

The man "Serbio" has a new catch phrase. He says he wants to be Mormon so badly so he can put all of the ugliness of his past behind him and put of the armor of God. He says being Mormon will be his weapon. When anyone wants to try and get him to do something that God doesn't want him to he'll just say, "wow, wow, wow, I'm Mormon primo!"

 

We just signed up for a Gold's Gym membership today. The implications are terrifying.

 

I'm Mormon Primo!

 

Love you,

 

Elder Tyler Meidell