Hola Familia y Amigos!
What a week! We were definitely very busy this week. We had two Christmas mission conferences this last week, one for all the missionaries in Entre Rios, and one for all the missionaries in province Santa Fe. It was a little crazier this time, because Pte. y Hna Perez just became abuelitos (grandparents)! jaja They were pretty excited, but because of that, Hna. Perez went to Chile to be with her daughter, because the birth ended up being a C-section. But no worries, the baby, mom, and grandma are all doing great. But anyways, normally Hna Perez does most of the coordinating for events and things like that, but since she wasn’t here, we got put in charge of that. And we definitely are not as good as Hna Perez. But in the end, everything turned out pretty well. Monday we spent all day getting things ready for the week, making orders for food, lining up all the decorations, transporting everything to Paraná, etc. Tuesday we had the conference for Entre Ríos in Paraná. This is how it went: all the missionaries got to the conference at about 8:30, Presidente and the asistentes gave instructions to everyone, and then from 9-11 we all went out to contact people and give the pass-along cards for Ilumina el Mundo (Light the World), as well as to do a little missionary caroling (sing a hymn and then ask for referrals:)). The missionaries who were close to the Paraná stake center made a bunch of maps dividing up their areas so that everyone didn’t go to the same place. We ended up with about 200 referrals in each activity! Vamos obra misional! :) Then we had a devotional, where we heard testimonies from missionaries who were finishing their missions soon, messages from the asistentes, and a message from Presidente Perez. Oh, also, I was in charge of the choir again, so we had a choir of 12 missionaries, and we all got together on Monday to rehearse for the two conferences. We sang a medley of Silent Night and the First Noel, Away in a Manger, and Angels We Have Heard On High. It turned out pretty well. During the conference, Elder Llanos shared something that I really liked in his talk. He said he had been reading the other day in Moroni, and he read the first first of the first chapter, and started pondering a bit. It says “After having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more…” He then asked us, How many times have we thought to not write any more? How many times, after completing a hard task, have thought, There it is, I did it, we’re all good now. He then said, look at the chapters that come in Moroni. Chapter two, how to confer the Holy Ghost, chapter 3, ordination of priests and teachers, chapter 4 and 5, sacrament prayers, chapter 6, standards of baptism, chapter 7, maybe the best lecture on faith, charity, and hope, chapter 8, infant baptism, chapter 9, lessons on diligence, chapter 10, the beautiful promises of the power of the Holy Ghost that we as missionaries literally use ALL THE TIME. Look at all of the amazing things that we would have lost if Moroni had decided to not write any more? Later on, Presidente shared a video during his talk, an excerpt from a talk by President Eyring, “Act in All Diligence” from the priesthood session of April 2010. He talks about when he become distracted, and feels tempted to think that he deserves a rest after completing some difficult task, he thinks of the Savior, as He was on the cross. As He finished His mortal journey, His infinitely difficult and demanding task, He finally said, It is finished, and His spirit departed His mortal body. But what did He do during those three days? He didn’t rest! As President Eyring said:
“The Savior’s example gives me courage to press on. His labors in mortality were finished, but He entered the spirit world determined to continue His glorious work to save souls. He organized the work of the faithful spirits to rescue those who could still be made partakers of the mercy made possible by His atoning sacrifice.”
When we press on in faith, even after finishing a great task or work, we will be blessed with miracles and success. That is ever present in missionary work. Often times we have hard days, or hard weeks, or even hard months. But when we keep pressing forward, going a little bit further, taking that very last step that we can take, that is when the miracles and blessings come.
Anyways, after the conference, which was absolutely amazing, we had a great lunch, and a big gift exchange. We did a white elephant gift exchange between all the missionaries, and Presidente Perez had a gift from him and Hna Perez for everybody, as well. It was a great experience.Wednesday we got everything ready here in Santa Fe for the conference, decorating and everything, and then Thursday we had the conference. In addition to all the previously mentioned, Thursday we also had the privelege to hear from Elder Levrino along with his wife. He talked to us about the importance of being 100% obedient, even down to the tiniest things, because that is where our conversion really begins to show. Even little things, like calling an Elder “Elder Johnson” instead of just “Johnson”. He also talked to us about the importance of talking with EVERYBODY. It was really inspiring. That night, after the conference, we were cleaning everything up, but there were a ton of missionaries in the office, because they were waiting for interviews with Presidente. At about 8:15, I just started to feel anxious, like I needed to get out. I just wanted to get out of the office and work in the streets and be a missionary. Elder Maynard was right by me, so I said, “Hey, Elder Maynard, I just need to get out of here.” He looked at me and said, “Let’s go.” We went into the storage room, grabbed some Book of Mormons and some pamphlets, and then said a prayer to Heavenly Father asking Him to help us find someone who was willing to listen to the gospel. We only had about 40 minutes, but we were determined to do it. We decided we wanted to apply better what Elder Levrino had taught us, so we just started talking with people in the streets as we went. After a couple of contacts, we didn’t have very much time left. We started walking down a street, and Elder Maynard saw a couple sitting outside their house, and said, Let’s talk to them. So we went and talked to them. They didn’t look like the friendliest people, or the type that we wanted to contact. But as we started talking to them, their barriers started to come down, and they started to really listen to us. And right there in the street, we taught them all of the first lesson, and gave them a Book of Mormon, committed them to read it, and set a date to come back next week. Once we finished, we had run out of time, and had to go back to the office, but it was the coolest thing. The last people we contacted, after talking to various people who rejected us, listened. As we are diligent in our duties and in following the commandments, enduring to the end, I know that blessings come.
I hope you have a wonderful, Christ filled Christmas! Merry Christmas to all!
Love, Elder Meyers
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| Getting ready for Christmas conferences on Monday! |
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| Pictures from the Christmas conference in Parana |
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| Me with Elder Daniel, a new missionary this last transfer |
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| Me with Elder Romo, another new missionary. They're both awesome! |
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| Selfie during lunch with some missionaries and Presidente |
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| Me with Elder Marquez and Elder Gomez! |
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| Me, Elder Fajardo, Elder Ruseler, Elder Clement, Elder Berg, Elder Lorash, and Elder Chaname |
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| Me, Elder Gardner, and Elder Stoodley |
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| Me and Elder House |
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| Selfie with Elder Maynard |
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| Gift exchange Parana! |
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| Decorations |
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| Random pictures of me singing while working |
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| Decorating for Santa Fe Christmas conference! I wanted to be like my sisters, so I made a couple of snowflakes, and taught everyone how to make six sided snowflakes, since they're more realistic. Hope my sisters are proud of me! :) |
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| Hna Pacheco grabbed my camera and took a selfie...Hna Pacheco and Hna Garcia (sister training leaders from Santa Fe), me and Elder Robles |
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| Decorations for the Santa Fe Christmas conference! |
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| Santa Fe conference! |
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| Gift exchange in Santa Fe |
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| Peeps!! Nothing more needs to be said jaja |
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| Divisiones with Elder Gifford! |
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| We did a huge stake-wide service project this morning cleaning up the environment around the highway. I finally realized one of my dreams of being a Mormon Helping Hand! :) Very hot, very long, and lots of garbage, but a great experience. |
