4.21.14 - Cascarones!

Cascarones are these great things, it's this wonderful idea that constitutes an egg colored, cracked and emptied, filled with confetti and covered with Elmer's glued tissue paper. Then ... BRAWL! It makes this heinous mess so I don't recommend it as an inside activity, but it is a real hoot. The streets are littered in egg shells and confetti. I'm a big fan.

We had zone conference and once again and all of the assistants came out with the slaughter family to enlighten the border zone. Still changing things up, president slaughter helped us understand that the baptismal invitation we've been working toward was a suggestion' and it didn't need to be memorized. I feel so liberated. I now realize that every aspect of the lesson can and should be gauged directly to the need of the investigator all the way up to the reason they are baptized. The del rio relief society did an amazing job providing us with a Easter lunch far better than anything we'd anticipated. They made potatoes, salad, and ham and brought their best dishes. I was so touched, because they didn't do it for us, but they did it to serve those that had been called to represent The Lord. The second half the slaughters gave their thoughts on marriage in response to questions for 2 and a half hours. I learned a lot, I don't feel like I needed to learn all of that right now... But a lot of missionaries are going home in 2 months so I'll store up that knowledge for later. My personal take away from the spirit was that I need to commit and submit even more, and serve only with the benefit of the people around me in mind. It's hard. What stood out to me, was that The Lord can't trust someone who isn't prepared to accept and conform to correction - even looking for correction.

So in the last 2 weeks we found 25 investigators. A new investigator is someone who learns a principle, commits to do something, says a prayer with us and then invites us back for a specific appointment.  we did a church run Saturday night which we means we went by the majority of our people and invited them in person to church the next morning (a nice family drove us in their truck because I got ANOTHER flat tire). Of all of these people plus the people we were already teaching 14 people said they would for sure be there. Sunday morning came, elder jones of the 70 was there to speak (first time a general authority had made it out to eagle pass in 45 years) and I was giddy with anticipation. I knew if these people came they would feel the spirit and receive answers. Can you imagine 14 investigators in sacrament meeting?

No one came.

Brother O'Neil said sometimes you have to just cry yourself to sleep, and I guess that's true. I didn't cry but I can hardly describe the deflated feeling that accompanied me all day. It makes me look harder inward and makes me analyze what I'm doing over again and again to find the flaw in myself. Many are called but few are chosen. That feeling then is an inhibitor to the spirit and to the rate at which I can work. Faith is the hope in things not seen but are true, and the fact that The Lord is hastening his work is true and I have to maintain that hope to work effectively by the spirit. That's a hard thing too. I'll then feel inclined to detach my feelings from these people so if they fail I can have the attitude, " we'll it's no skin off my back, I did my job" but the work requires all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. This is the process on the mission that makes people change and become true servants of Christ.

Still in high hopes thanks to a sense of humor and a good companion. We will make this happen.
I love you very much. It was weird being away for Easter but the box of candies softened the blow, haha.

I miss you,

Stay salty my friends, (that reminds me, we taught gospel principles on the abrahamic covenant last Sunday - which leads us to the new and everlasting covenant!)

Elder Tyler Meidell

4.14.14 - Investigators left and right

You guys,

You need to stop having so much fun when I'm not there! If I didn't have such a sweet week I would be so T.O.'d. Everything you described to me sounds so cool. I can't believe Lindsay orchestrated this amazing LDS cadet choir composition and I had no idea that it was even going to happen?! Lindsay come thou font is my favorite song right now. I bump to come thou fount in my 2011 Chevy Malibu all around the streets of Eagle Pass. I sincerely hope that there is a recording of it.

As I fester in envy ... a giant thank you to Mom, I got so many packages this week. I'm a whole new person. My running shoes had lost all traction since soccer season senior year, going through off season training, and then track, and then the summer runs and 1-4 miles every day on the mission. Everything you sent me was perfect, and much needed. I'm really excited to start using the voice recorder so I can listen to Spanish recordings of the Book of Mormon and then compare my own voice and ideally sound like less of a guerro (it's a moderately derogatory term for a white person that everyone calls the missionaries) as I make adjustments.

This week was also awesome because we found 14 new investigators! And then 3 more last night! And hopefully a new family every day! "A" works in Walmart and after sitting down with her once she came to church and we've since had a lesson and are planning on another tomorrow. She has LDS family in Utah and said she would like to know how to find out which church is true... That is sweet chorus bells (which I hear Lindsay knows a little about) to my ears. We also started teaching "Darrel's" mom "Patty" and they both came to church yesterday. His brother and father still won't talk to us. The last lesson we had was pretty different, we invited a newly married, fresh off the mission, couple to come with us and as we taught "Darrell" in English, our friend just translated everything into Spanish to the mom. He's a native speaker so I felt no shame in letting him take over.

I speak ... well enough. I can understand without any serious problems, and I can respond to them at a lessened speed with a white guy accent. I'd still say not fluent ... I'll give it another 18 months. I study all the time, but I'd say the biggest challenge in learning is how often I'm around people that are speaking in English. Elder Warren and I are pretty good at only talking to each other in Spanish, but the zone leaders we live with are 2 transfers out from their plane home so they're not really pushing the Spanish learning any more (that's called "trunky"). I study the scriptures in Spanish, I study while I eat breakfast and before I go to sleep, I carry a dictionary and a little notebook for new words and phrases that I learn throughout the day and trying to use the language with Elder Warren as much as possible. Still, we do talk to a lot of people in English. That's one of the challenges of serving state-side I suppose.

We're teaching an older couple, "John" and "Linda". He's had cataracts in both eyes that have severely impeded his ability to see. He was basically blind. She reads the Book of Mormon to him. They let us come by last week and take a weed whacker to the forest that has grown in their front yard and acted as a filter for the wind that carried the neighborhood's trash. Their yard looked right spiffy after we finished with it and then  we gave "John" a blessing as he prepared to go into eye surgery. They had saved up enough money to get one eye fixed and the results are ... he can see! I love little miracles like that.

I was impressed while I was reading the scriptures this week by Mosiah 4 and 5 and the things that we must do to fully take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. First of all by the covenant of baptism so his name can be written on our hearts and we may be identified as a son or daughter of Christ by the spirit of adoption. Then by keeping in check our thoughts, actions and desires we prevent that name from being erased and thus will prepare ourselves to be called and identified by the name of Christ and not by any other name when he comes to claim his people.

As I've pushed myself to work harder and more diligently... I have in turn become more tired, although I have seen how my prayers have been answered and how I've been supported to keep up with the demands of the Lords service. As I strive to do more, I rely on and recognize the Lord's hand more acutely in my life. This allowed me to see with clearer eyes the message in Mosiah 4, that all we have, our bodies, minds, energy, material things are given to us from the Lord, and done so accordingly for the fulfillment his purposes.

Thank you so much for the prayers on my behalf. I can feel them, and know the great blesings I've seen are not a result of only my meager pleads. I sincerely hope that I can stay in your thoughts, along with the people that are all around me, and the ones that are all around you.

Salvation is a personal thing, but exaltation is a family affair. I love you my family. I can't do anything without you and your support in this world or the next. If there's anything that I can do for you while I'm here be sure to make it known.

I love you very much!

I hope you're are salty as the Lord knows you can be!

Stop having fun when I'm not there!!!

Elder Tyler Meidell

4.7.14 - The Mexican Santa

Oh man, oh man, it was the Super Bowl here for a few days. I've never been so jazzed about conference, haha the 2 hour blocks flew by and like nothing I took 10 hours of notes as we were counseled by the Lord's anointed.

The lunch in between the Sunday sessions went really well. We had about 45 people come to watch conference at the church and around 35 stayed for the lunch and activity. Elder Mora made a ginormous batch of gallo pinto which he said he grew up eating every morning in Costa Rica and it was a hit. It's pretty much just blacks beans, rice, and cilantro mixed up in some eggs. The branch members brought some sides and we spent some time role playing with the members different situations they've encountered as they've tried to invite others to church in the past. It was so hard for them to actually make an invitation, I don't know what it is, we'd set up a situation and say, "this is your friend, invite them to come to church with you," and then they would start talking about all of these theoretical things that he or she might say and what they've tried before until 3 minutes had gone by and they still hadn't extended an invitation.

After some consoling and coercing  they would be able to ask the befamed question, "would you be willing to come to church with me and my family," and boom, a great conversation would start and they really enjoyed the chance to bear their testimony of what they love and hold dear to them. I hope they walked away more confident in their ability to invite. I also hope they listened to Elder Ballard and will think of ways to follow-up. It would be a dream to have members who studied preach my gospel. if my emails have any influential power on those who read them, I second the invitation from Elder Ballard for members to apply preach my gospel principles and discuss their use with their missionaries. I would love to hear the revelation you receive as I would enjoy the chance to share more of my own.

There was a pretty noticeable push for Family History work, especially in the youth. Are Morgan and Dallin going to get into that? That would be ... as is my homemade antiseptic... dope, haha.

I also liked the reminder to always use the God given name of his church: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Yo soy un miembro de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santo de los Ultimos Dias.

I don't usually take pictures of the people I meet, but there was a special circumstance this last week as Maestro Luis Santa Claus drank himself into my life. We approached a group of men and were surprised by how kind and welcoming they were of us. They immediately asked that we sit at their table and share the carne asada they had just finished barbecuing. The bearded man was drinking, and I don't teach drunk people, because their spiritual sensitivity is nearly 0, but he seemed remarkably affluent for being 6 cans into his 12 pack. He chatted and shared a gospel message with them. They turned out to be visitors from Mexico, so we couldn't set up a time to come back, but we were favored by Santa Claus (as he's known to all the locals) with a few Spanish acapella songs. I had to remember that moment, because it took me beside myself as I thought, "I could never have imagined being in eagle pass, eating Mexican barbecue with 3 strangers while the Mexican Santa Claus serenaded me as he put down the 7th of his 24 daily beers."

We set "DC" (15) and his mom for baptism this week. He's been reading the BOM on his own for quite a while and has received answers for his own life from his reading. He is a spiritual giant. When we asked him to prepare for baptism he said, "If I could ever see God, I would thank him (raising his fist to his chest) from the bottom of my heart for everything I have, and I would hug him and tell him that I love him." "DC" is a very simple and soft spoken young man. He speaks in complete simplicity and when he bore that testimony the spirit touched every heart in the room. He went to mutual and to conference this past week.

Happy 3rd spiritual birthday to Elder Warren! He was baptized 3 years ago last Wednesday.
I love you and I miss you!

Stay Salty (Leviticus 2:13-14, 3Ne 12:13-16, D&C 101:39, D&C 103:9-10)

Elder Tyler Meidell

3.31.14 - Break the ceiling!

BOOM!

We got transfer calls 5 minutes before bedtime and nobody is leaving! The super-charged district is staying together for 6 more weeks. President wants us to break the ceiling that has been covering the border for a while, because honestly this area should be flourishing. We're planning an activity for the English Branch between conference sessions this next Sunday with the intention of showing them how easy and painless it is to invite someone to go to the church with them or listen to the missionaries. We'll probably do quite a few role plays and share a lunch together.

I am so stinking excited for General Conference. I have never treasured the words of prophets like I do now, but I've been reading from the prophets of old. We are going to learn directly from the mouth of the Lord's anointed what he wants us to be doing now. Man, that's just ... that's the coolest thing I've ever heard.

I fell off my bike again this week. Last time it was like, oh-ho-ho so funny I fell on some dirt. This time ... well this time it was still really my fault because I answered the phone again while we were cruising around. I then had left break in my left hand and a took a turn to find a speed bump! I hit the brake, all my weight went forward, and then I hit the bump and popped myself off the bike and onto the road. So, I broke my watch which I'm a little irked about, and I ripped up my slacks (our good hearted sister missionaries are going to try and mend them) and I also did some damage to my knee and elbow and got a sweet softball sized left hip bruise. Lesson learned?! Almost. I've decided to put the phone in my left pocket so I answer it with my left hand and then I will have to use the back break in cases of emergency. This should allow me to evade further face to road discrepancies. Now if this does not work, I will concede and stop answering the phone while I bike, and walk, and do anything.
A plus side to this biking incident is that I got some Mexican-home remedies tried on me. All of them super didn't work, in fact some of them just made my cuts sting worse--except for one. One of our investigators applied some ointment on me that made we want to lash out and rip flesh, and then after not too long I felt a lot better. A lot better. Upon inquisition he goes, "Oh, it's rubbing alcohol, and I let some marijuana seeds, stems, and leaves sit in it for a few weeks." Ha! He insisted I take some home with me, but I'm not totally sure if I should be using it ...? The Word of Wisdom mentions these kind of things to be used on animals, I don't know.

Brother Nielson, our first branch elders quorum president has to have open heart surgery in 2 months. In an attempts to raise money they had a hamburger plate sale. We helped out with that for an hour or so on Saturday and I think they made quite a bit of money selling burgers for 6 bucks a pop. He knows a lot of people in this city. Fun fact about brother Nielson, he served his mission here in Eagle Pass some 6-7 years ago, and he moved back here after he was done and married one of the girls that used to be in the young woman. They're an awesome family, and he did it the right by waiting till after the mission, haha.

"J" and the "A" family have been so close to baptism twice. We've got some great lessons planned for them these next few days and hopefully we'll be able to clear up their persisting concerns.
The "H" Family just moved in 2-3 weeks ago from Salem, Utah. They are the whitest family I have every seen, haha, but they are so strong in the gospel. He was an Elders Quorum President in Salem of a quorum of ... his block ... which included 70 active Elders?! Do those exist? Crazy. They spoke yesterday and I'd forgotten how awesome a well-prepared talk can be. I felt like the spirit taught me a lot,specifically about using the scriptures to receive revelation on any gospel or non-gospel related subject.

During the Spanish fast and testimony meeting I was praying for enlightenment on ways we could progress the work here, and in response I felt like I should go bear my testimony. My first thought was, no way. That's a freestyle and then the whole branch would here me mess something up and sound really dumb. But, that was a prompting, and I have to be willing to do anything I'm asked. So I fought myself for 5 seconds and then went for it. I didn't say anything marvelous but I felt like I passed a little test by responding quickly to do something the Lord knew I hadn't prepared myself to do.

I don't know if I talked about it last week or not, but we've been working with a less active family who were great friends with missionaries a ways back and now that they're gone don't really see a need to go to church. Smooth move missionaries. He thought we were a bunch of snubs when we showed up because we wanted to spiritually edify his family, and he just wanted to play Need For Speed with us. We went back last week and after talking with him around a barbecue we all decided to eat some big grilled juicy habinero peppers. We did that, and it hurt all over. I actually woke up at midnight that night and couldn't fall asleep for an hour because I had some crazy heart burn. I've never had heart burn in my life. It was all worth it though because he's going to let us come by and watch the Prophet of the Restoration with his family tonight.

Well, that's enough for now.  Let me know if you guys have any questions about what's going on. It would be great if I could direct my thoughts accordingly.

Hurrah for Israel!

Stay Salty!

I love you and I miss you!

Elder Tyler Meidell

3.24.14 - One week, 18 lessons

Hello hello,

Shoot, I don't really know what to say this week. We did a lot! We taught 18 lessons, 9 of which we had a member accompany us to and our district had 11 investigators come to church yesterday.

We had a Zone Conference on Friday in Del Rio. President Slaughter came down into the border zone with the assistants and conducted interviews while the zone leaders did some trainings. I learned quite a bit. I didn't know there were 4 accounts of the first vision, but now having read them all it's a lot like the 4 accounts of the atonement given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They don't contradict, but rather compliment one another in describing pieces of one immense moment in the history of the world.

I guess some people know the key to having interviews with President because they spend a long time talking to him. I get in there and he asks me about my testimony, my companion, my family, a little bit about the area ... Done! I suppose if there was a problem we'd chat for a while. Some missionaries go in with some deep doctrinal questions for him ... I don't know maybe some day.

After Zone Conference, Elder Tuft, one of the lovely assistants to the president, came on an exchange with me and Elder Warren. It was great, really productive. His council for us upon leaving was that we could probably walk faster. Elder Warren and I kind of joked about it after he left but then during District Conference (like stake conference) I started praying in regards to whether or not I should set a goal for the number of baptisms I could witness before I finished my mission. (My big take away from the zone conference was to be more diligent in setting and fulfilling daily and weekly goals.) In that moment, President Slaughter was speaking and the spirit was very strong. I inquired as to which goals were appropriate for me to set and I played around with numbers in the hundreds. I know it's more than possible, although the answer that came as it becomes a little bit easier to recognize the spirit each time it speaks was, "lose the doubt and go to work" I went on questioning and it became nearly a conversation for a moment but that was enough for me.

It makes sense upon reflection that I wanted a "goal" or a promise from god of how many I could help enter the waters of baptism so as to justify making the next step of selling out as a servant of the lord. I believe I became even more dedicated to the work this week, and in ignorance tried to get an assurance that the sacrifice in doing so would have substantial returns. Silly me. I will move forward with faith, with more faith. Haha, I don't know if there's a better way to say that. We have to make the step first based on the understanding we gain from servants of the lord today and in the scriptures who teach us the mind of Christ. John 15:16 "ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it you." We sacrifice ourselves to the Lord and he lifts us higher than we every would have risen ourselves.

Here's me and Elder Tuft (AP) Elder Rogers (ZL) Elder Peine (AP) Elder Humble (ex-AP) Elder Harvey (ZL) and Elder Mora (from Costa Rica)

So I found a few things to write about.

With lots of love!
Elder Tyler Meidell