5.26.14 - Chicharon!

Fried pig skin! With a hearty helping of hot sauce. It's pretty easy to get, all of the candy buses that drive around the neighborhoods sell it as an off menu item. Jesus just bought us a serving the size of a dinner plate a few days ago and... honestly it just tasted like hot sauce with an awful texture. It's normally spelled with only two r's but this culture seems to like to show off their ability to trill their tongues when converrrrrsing with white guys.

Family it was such a good week!

I feel happy, I really feel happy. Elder Olsen is great because he knows how to have fun while he works. That's what I'm learning from him while I teach him Spanish. He's very humble and willing to learn. His good attitude just makes me want to put forth more effort in helping him pick up the language.

Elder Mora is still hurt so we went all bike this week. We cover 7 major neighborhoods in Eagle Pass and the majority of our work has been found in Loma Bonita. That translates to beautiful hill. So it's bitter sweet when we find more families to work with in that neighborhood, well pretty much all sweet, it just means we spend more time riding bikes up hills.

The "S" family met with missionaries for two years, and they congratulated us last week for being the first set of missionaries to get them to go to church, haha. They are planning on being baptized June 7. Their daughter Elva and her two twin sons are getting super sped through the lessons and are preparing for the same date.

The "C" family is still learning at a glacial pace, their is a hole missing in their testimonies that I'm having a hard time identifying. I think it's hard for Patricia to get accustomed to Relief Society, because all of the sisters there all have their little clicks, and she's not the bold type to assert herself in to talking with them. She's skipped the last hour of church the last 2 weeks. Maybe the ward members have grown accustomed to the group they already have, and i can only hope they recognize that their branch is about to increase in size significantly. Not only do they need to warmly say hi to the new faces they see at church, they need to bring them into their lives and let these new families become involved with their families. The Spanish branch has faced some trouble with retention in the past, and so we'll have to make some efforts to help these changes that are about to be happen become permanent. It's also difficult for Patricia and her son to commit in becoming active in the church when her husband and oldest son aren't religiously inclined.

We loved meeting the "R" family this week. They're a really funny, really well behaved family of 9 living in La Heradura. It's a lot faster paced and much more fun style of teaching with  7 kids that all have questions, when doctrine needs to be taught in a manner so as to be understood and engaging to all age groups while being conductive to the whispering confirmations of the Spirit.

The El Centro elders baptized "Mara" and her son "Joe" on Saturday, so that's great for the ward when they can see the fruit of their labors.

I keep asking Elder Olsen what we did this week and he just keep saying, "We rode bikes!" We did do quite a few miles this week.

My testimony is getting stronger and stronger. I know this is the  Lord's work and that he is directing it. My mission president is an inspired man and I'm grateful for his efforts in training us. I feel like I'm getting a little better at recognizing impressions from the spirit. We were on the way to contact some referrals and I felt impressed, just a little thought that I could have brushed aside or decided didn't make sense if I wasn't looking and asking for a thought, to talk to some kids outside the house of a street I'd never been on. We did and went up to the house and the woman who lived their said she was baptized into the Mormon church but wasn't attending. The Lord knows his sheep, they are numbered, and he is caring for them.

I love you! I miss you!
Stay Salty!

Elder Tyler Meidell

5.19.14 - "There is no try"

Hello, Hello!

It sounds like everyone had a sweet week! Lindsay said it was snowing... and I forgot that snow still fell in other parts of the world.

Rodney you're mission is so different from mine! Wow! Great work rolling with the punches and adapting to the new style of missionary work. I hope you kill it in Ethiopia, and I hope you're new language call comes quickly so you can be even more conducive to the communication of the spirit. . If you speak like Yoda, you can have all of the wisdom of Yoda.

In light of Yoda's wisdom: this week Elder Olsen and I started working together, and we meet a family which quickly accepted us into their home to talk. People like to talk, they don't like to be asked to change their lives. We invited them to come to church on Sunday and they said they'd sure try. Elder Olsen pulled out his pen, gave it to their young man and told him to try and drop the pen. So he let it fall to the ground. Elder Olsen got all frustrated and said, "No, no, you dropped the pen, and I asked you to try and drop the pen." The boy looked at him quizzically and sort of held the pen awkwardly with a quivering hand until it slipped out of his fingers and hit the ground again. Elder Olsen goes, "No, you dropped it, just try and drop it." The boy picked up the pen again and was left with a frustrated face trying to make sense of what was expected of him. Elder Olsen then concluded, "see, there is doing and there is not doing, there is no try."

So back to Yoda, "Do or not do, there is no try."

Elder Olsen served in my south zone district with me! He's the best! I think he's feeling some pressure being put on him right now because he can't rely on me to get everything done for him. We've been out the same amount of time, but he's been in the same area the last 6 months and has been on cruise mode a little bit. His Spanish is coming and he's dropping some of the 25 pounds he put on in his last car area. I think we're going to get a lot better together. I can tell he hates me for making him get up 45 minutes early to come run with me, haha. The same day we did a really hard bike day and now he can barely walk. I, in turn, really feel like I need to be on my A game so we don't poorly use any of the time in our transition. I few times this week I felt like Spanish was coming out of my mouth that I hadn't really practiced yet, and at times when I didn't know I could use it, and no one looked at me weird so it must have made sense. That was a definite blessing.

Mom sent me an awesome package! With cookies! Oh, they were so tasty. She also sent me an awesome talk with a few quotes I really liked. The talk was about the strength we can receive through the grace of Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice. One thing I wrote down because I felt like I was in the depths of humility this week was, "There is so much more satisfaction saying that the Lord did it through me than there is in saying I did it all by myself." So it is with missionary work. The success comes through the grace of God, and upon our being humble to his will that success can come through us.

We had 7 souls at church yesterday! "Darrel" and "Patsy" came, as did Juan and "Hermalda" with their daughter "Ella" and 2 grandsons! Their grandsons, "Tad" and "Amilio" are awesome. We had our first official lesson with them this last week and it was not what I'd expected. They're twins, one with ADHD and the other with Autism. We taught CPR cups:

In short format we place 3 cups upside down on the floor in triangle formation and tell them to create a formation using 3 butter knives that each touch one cup and that together can hold up a few Books of Mormon. It's possible if you layer the blades on top of each other in a specific way.

We use the cups to show that C-church P-prayer and R-Reading the scriptures consistently together every day and every week provides us the spiritual foundation we need to support that trials that come into our lives and families; and then of course CPR is used to keep people from dieing so  it also keeps us from spiritual death - which is the process of distancing ourself from God. I asked them, what do you know about CPR and got the answer, "Circulatory pelvic respiration... blalalalala for 30 seconds from the autistic one as he rattled off a medical dictionary definition including a procedures list and maneuver cautions. Power to the autistic. That was impressive.

We had to teach really simply with breaks every 15 seconds to accommodate outbursts of energy that crescendo-ed as it jumps from one twin to the other.

The mission goal is to have 6 investigators with baptismal dates every week. We have 2.

I love you and I miss you!

Stay Salty!
Elder Tyler Meidell

5.12.14 - Feliz dia de la madre!

Mother's day in Mexico was Saturday, and then in America it was Sunday, and since everyone seems to spend about equal time on both sides of the border it was a full weekend of congratulating. It was a great Holiday.

Under the bridge to Mexico

How cool was it to have Skype approved the week before Mother's Day?! Huzzah! Huzzah for Israel. I didn't really get to see anyone's face because I had some puny apartment broadband to work with, so it was basically like a 3-way phone call, but I think everyone could see me. Right? I made as many faces as I could.

Transfer caaaalls. I'm staying in Eagle Pass for transfer number 3. I'm getting a junior companion, which means he'll probably have been out for less time that I have. We're going to tear it up. I'm so excited. I'm so sad to have Elder Warren leave. He is a true best friend. I know I can count on him for anything. He works so hard and he's going to be a great zone leader.

The "C" family and the "S" family both came to church. How great is that?! As I've emphasized on the quality of the time I spend with people, as opposed to the quantity of time/people I've seen the desired results increase. I have to do all I can to cultivate an environment where the spirit of God can work through me and bear witness to the people I meet.

One of our highlights this week was Thursday evening when the "H" family accompanied us to the church building. We gave them a tour of the building, described the significance of the pictures, talked about what happens in each room and during each hour of church with the help of the first counselor Brother Smith. I heard the 3 big things people struggle overcoming when in coming into contact with the church is unfamiliarity with the People, the Services, and the Location. I can tell them where it is, invite many members to come teach them with us, but they have to come to church to really feel what church is like. At the end of the tour we sat in the Chapel and everyone bore testimony. I could feel the spirit very strongly in that setting. However, the "H" family did not end up exercising their agency to choose to test the path which is both straight and narrow by coming to church.

The "H" family is awesome, they have a good Christian church they go to in the community. They have felt the spirit, learned about Christ and increased their faith. They have many good Christian friends in this church in which they've devoted years of their lives. This is something I've had to think long and hard about. In Moroni 7:13 we learn that all things which invite and entice to do good are from God. In this light the encounter between Christ and some of his apostles in mark 9: 38-39 and Luke 9: 49-50 become clear. John said he forbade a man from preaching in the name of Christ who did not follow them, and Christ said forbid him not because he who is not against us is for us. So these good enticing church's must have some truth in them. However the words of Christ remain equally clear in Mathew 7, that straight is the way, and narrow the path which leads to Eternal Life, and few there shall be that find it.

Jumping to Mathew 7 we find the importance of the message of the restoration of Gospel of Jesus Christ for these great Christians. Mathew 7:21-23 teaches that not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter into the Kingdom of God, not even all those who prophesied, performed miracles and cast out demons in the name of the Christ will be saved. To end the chapter the people are astonished at Christ's teachings and recognize the authority he teaches with. This authority is a key difference between any church in the world and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Although other Church's are good, they cannot assure that the people will be saved in the last day. Joseph Smith received that authority from the angelic ministers Peter, James and John who in the flesh received it from Jesus Christ himself by the laying on of hands. That priesthood gives the authority and power of God to man to do works of Salvation in his name. It can only be received by the laying on of hands by one has that same authority tracing back to Jesus Christ. A prophet is the name given to the one man who has the authority over the welfare of the souls in the entire world. In Mathew 7 Christ teaches us that by their (a prophet's) fruits we can know them.

Christ provided the fruit of Joseph Smith shortly after calling him to be a prophet. He gave him the power to translate the Book of Mormon. The invitation to the world is that all might read from the Book of Mormon, and pray with a sincere heart and real intent to God to know if it's true, and just like the "C" and "S" family said this last week, they will receive a witness from the spirit that, "it is true." "Hermalda" said she felt the spirit stronger and had more of a desire to good than she ever had when she read from the Bible alone, and that is was so clear what she had to do to follow Jesus Christ.

From there the invitation from Alma 5:62 is extended. A baptism by the authority of God which has been restored to the earth by Joseph Smith is necessary for salvation and is a step toward exaltation and the sealing of families into the eternities.

I love you and I miss you ya salty sea folk!

Elder Tyler Meidell

5.6.14 - Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Commemoration of a battle in Mexico! If I was permitted internet access I would tell you more about that day but since it's been a while since I've looked at the material the specifics allude me. It's OK, there's no time Internet surfing, there are more important things afoot.

We've been cleared to use Skype! I just found out like 20 minutes via email! So next weekend on Mothers Day I would really prefer to use Skype. I hope everyone can agree. I know that it comes with the added risk of increased technical difficulty but It seems worth it. I'll need to find some ward members that already have the technology... and I don't know if there are any... but if there are then I'd like to shoot for 8 p.m. next Sunday which will me 6 p.m. Reno time. If you can be available I would love that. I imagine there are more details that will need to be worked out and so I may have to get back on the computer later in the week.

I've taken to sleeping on top of my bed without any covers and with the fan on so I don't wake up sweating. So far so good! The humidity kind of hugs you just like a warm blanket would.
I got my first tracting dog!

Adorable! It made me miss Ginger from home. She followed me around for a good chunk of the afternoon.

Look at this giant pizza! It's huge! We ate three of them!

"Y" was nearly baptized three months ago with some other missionaries, shortly before her date the missionaries realized she wasn't married to her significant other and she couldn't be married in her standing living conditions. The date fell through and "Y" fell off the map. We picked her back up a few weeks ago, but we'll probably need to give her some more time, because we went by her house yesterday before at request to wake her up and we couldn't get her out of bed. It was so dumb.
"Carl" is doing pretty solid. He went from 24 beers a day to 12 in a week. Only time will tell how committed he is.

"Darrel" and his Mom "Patsy" were at church again, they really like going to the services, and we've seen that the more simple we can be with them the more they enjoy it. "Darrel" loved! singing in the primary during a combined hour in church. It's great to start with the basics.

The "H" Family is doing really well. We went by 3 times this week and they surprised us with having read all of their commitments plus a little extra. They read 2  Nephi 2 about the plan of salvation, the plan of salvation pamphlet we give people to recap the lesson we teach, and they finished Moroni 10 which has Moroni's promise and a series of indicators that can help someone searching for the truth identify the true church of God. "Jesus" is the guy that was stabbed 13 times a month ago and had a miraculous recovery after a punctured lung. We were lucky to find him at that time, because he was feeling like God had a purpose in preserving him, and because he was formerly working in Carrizo Springs in the Oil Fields. The Oil Fields epitomizes a job that places itself above God. It pays REALLY well, so the men wake up at 3am, drive out to work an hour away and get home about 9pm. They get 4 days on and 2 days off and they describe the zombie mode they go in when they're on. Since it's not a 7 day schedule they can get to church twice every 6 weeks and you can imagine the desire they have to read the scriptures or spend quality time with their family isn't very high during the 2 days off either. Jesus was cleared for work last week and starts today so we'll be over there Friday and will hopefully be able to continue guiding this family toward fully embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The idea that God gives us time to spend on the earth for a specific reason is a central unit of my studies this week. I studied dispensations, which is a period of time when god has someone authorized to hold the priesthood on the earth. In nearly every instance that is fulfilled by a prophet who has been called directly by God to be his representative and mouthpiece to the people and teaches them the nature of their relationship to God. Without a prophet their is no unified church nor religion, because it lacks a direct line of communication and authority, it is instead a group being led by bits of personal revelation and the words of the prophets written in the scriptures.

Our time is a probationary time and a preparatory time. This time is a time to prepare to meet God. There is no other functionality of the seconds that pass by us each day. I asked a less active lady of the church this week, "Why do prisons let people out on a state of probation?" She responded, "To see if they're going to be good, to see if they've changed." And thus it is with us. When we live in a dispensation we must be humble enough to be guided by the spirit who walks us through the changing process. If we reject the words of prophets the spirit ceases to strive with men and we resort to a state of carnality under the control of the adversary which I witness is rampant on the earth at this moment. God then withdraws his authority by means of his prophets from the earth (often the prophets are killed) and with it the truth of God's nature and his plan for his children is lost in it's perfect form because there is no one to preserve it. Why would a merciful and loving God take away the fullness of this understanding form the earth when it is essential to our salvation? He does so in his love to protect us from sinning against higher light. With greater understanding comes greater condemnation if that understanding is contradicted by action. Then, as his people suffer the hardship of this world they humble themselves and are prepared to receive the marvelous blessing of a restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That restoration has happened again in our day. We have the fulness of the gospel for all those that are searching for the truth. If only everyone would read from the Book of Mormon and ask God to receive that divine witness for themselves. It contains that Gospel, and is sufficient evidence that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and establish the church in these latter days.

I have done so, and I testify that every word is true.

You don't have to eat a whole cake to know it is delicious, neither with Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Book of Mormon, with sufficient faith one chapter or even one verse may be sufficient.

I love you so much and miss you.

Stay Salty,
Elder Tyler Meidell

4.28.14 - I'm a missionary, not a counselor

Gosh dang it, it gets hot in Texas. This culture is very familiar with the climate of hot and the other climate of humid. It's hot and humid. The Mexican word they crafted for the air soup is Bochorno. Used correctly one might say, tengo bochorno. It wasn't that bad I guess, it only got up to 103, but that makes me fear what is coming in the summer even more. I bought a 48 cent hand towel to carry around with me on the bikes because I sweat buckets. Let's be real, I sweat buckets anyway, I'm just blessed with excessive perspiration, so the white tight collar tucked into the slacks helps me capture all of the moisture and turn myself into a heavy wet towel.

I hope that's adequately dramatized.

We did have some of our friends come to church with us this week! "Clara" just got back from Mexico so she's attending again, she's under thirty and has 6 kids, working on number 7, so did not bring the little rascals though so it was a pretty peaceful Sunday. Her friend "Carl" lives down the street and he is a big drinker. He drinks all day and finished it off with a 6 pack to fall asleep. He says he's ready to stop and make a change, and if the gospel is the change he accepts his life will make a 540 degree turn for the better. I really hope he and his two sons can put in the effort and endure the struggle that's going to come. He doesn't have any real faith right now, or much understanding of deity, so it will be a process to help him accept Jesus Christ's mercy so his burden can be lightened. But it's going to happen!

All of the missionaries in the TSAM know about Tacos Morales. They're the most coveted tacos in the west and they're right smack dab in El Dragon, (that's my area) in Eagle Pass. We just started teaching a man named "Harold" who quit working in Tacos Morales so he can open his own restaurant. We were talking about how good his tacos were when he blurted out, "Do you want to see the spice I use?!" Of course we said yes and we walked home with his home blend of herbs. I'm amped to marinate some chicken this week and try it out.

Elder Warren hit a big pot hole, and the car tire popped. We pulled over and were jimmying with the road side repair kit we've got and I couldn't get these two dumb pieces to come apart. So I said a quick prayer so we could get back to work and to all of the appointments we had yesterday and when I opened my eyes a nice man named Jessie pulled off the road and said, "let me help, I do this for a living." Now that's a hasty answer right there.

We've spent a lot of time with less active and recent convert families this week. These families are struggling to stay together and they treat us like we're all knowing life gurus which we constantly remind them, "We're not professional marriage, parenting, depression, etc, etc counselors." Although, we do know the doctrine and the divine nature of families, and we do know the blessing which come from obedient living to the principles taught as part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also know how any individual or family can receive revelation directly from God for their own lives. The church in addition has a plethora of resources available to guide these families back to a homeostasis and we share these things freely and as often as possible.

I was impressed by how many of the problems that arose in these families could have been remedied by having a male and female parent figure who each, in place of saying all of the things they're not doing, are living the gospel fully.

My studies this week have revolved around family history work. I studied the talk by Elder Cook from this last General Conference alongside Doctrine & Covenants 128. What I didn't know before was how much I didn't know! To finish up the book of Malachi the promise is that in the last days we will be given the spirit of Elijah and elder cook teaches us the spirit of Elijah is the spirit of god, the same spirit we already know and love, bearing a witness of the divine nature of families. Now as I emphasize a new finding effort by introducing people to the church's family history program I know to promise them that the spirit of God will become manifest in their lives simply by turning their hearts to their ancestors.

The family is a profound blessing to every one born onto this earth. Just like any blessing from God, it is given for our betterment. God knows we would fall in love with our families and desire to be with them for eternity. It struck me, when I thought that my family wasn't innately mine for ever just because I have them with me (in a we're all alive right now kind of sense) right now. I am so much more profoundly grateful for the sealing power of the priesthood and opportunity we have to become associated with our family for the eternities by that power of God which binds on and earth and in Heaven. And like all blessings it is predicated based upon our faithfulness. If only every person could know ... I never want to be without my family.

I love you!
I miss you my salty crew!

Elder Tyler Meidell