Week 50 Santa Fe Rural C Oficina

Hola a todos!

Congratulations to all the new seminary and high school graduates! Special shoutout to my sister Emily, I can't believe she's already a high school graduate.

It was a great week this week! We found some great new investigators! One of them is the brother in law of Hna Monson, Nahuel and Diego´s mom, and when we went and talked to him he was super open to us, he gave us his phone number and told us he would read the pamphlet on the Restoration that we left him! We've been having trouble meeting with him again, though, because his wife, Hna Monzon's sister, is inactive and not super friendly to the church right now. So we'll see where that goes. Also, we were contacting this week, and it wasn't going too great. Lots of off-the-bat rejections. But we got to this one house right on the edge of our area, and when we knocked (well, clapped), the lady that came out was immediately super friendly with us, came out and started talking to us, and then called her son inside (20 years old), and he came out and chatted with us as well. Turns out, some missionaries had gone to their house during our Christmas devotional caroling activity in December, and they had loved it. Also, by some strange coincidence (nothing is coincidence), her husband, who recently passed away, had a Book of Mormon, but they never knew why, but it's always been there in their house. THEY ALREADY HAVE A BOOK OF MORMON AND THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW. It was a really cool contact to say the least. We're super excited to keep teaching them. They told us we could come back any day and teach a lesson. So cool. We also had an awesome FHE with Exxx and some members, Lisandro and his wife (I can't remember her name right now). They just got married four months ago in the Cordoba temple and they're both returned missionaries, and they have a little house in our ward, and they're awesome. We had a great lesson with Exxx and we talked about families and temples and keeping the commandments. He really felt the Spirit, and Lisandro did an awesome job helping him feel welcome and teaching him about the importance of temple covenants. Member lessons are the best.

Elder Morrill and I have been working on getting everything organized and set this week so that he can be good to go and independent in two weeks. He's already got pretty much everything down. He'll be a great financial secretary, I've got no worries.

I've been thinking a little bit this week about the changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we live the teachings of the Savior, we inevitably change for the better. When we follow His commandments, we grow and progress. There is no easier way to become a better person than to follow the commandments of Jesus Christ. It is such a powerful experience as a missionary to see people's lives changing as they discover and begin to live principles of the gospel in their lives. I know that when we live the commandments, we change for the better. We are happier. We increase our faith, and our joy is more full. I love this gospel and I know it works.

Have a great week!

Elder Meyers

In the zone conference last week that Elder Carrion and I visited to give out materials, there were some workers outside trying to take out a tree on the church grounds.  When all the missionaries heard, they all ran outside to help.

They all started pulling, and they pulled so hard that the rope broke and everyone went flying and falling on top of each other.  It was pretty funny. :)

We had a sick missionary from Esperanza that was hospitalized, so I went with Elder Guevara (one of the zone leaders in Esperanza) and Elder Grecci (the sick missionary's companion) to Esperanza to get him some clothes to stay the night

San Justo!

Selfie with Elder Carrion in San Justo

With Elder Smith (one of my zone leaders) in the capilla abierta in Parque del Sur

Me, Elder Ramos, and Elder Orgill (with the nice half smile jaja) right before divisions!

Elder Orgill was a little sick and had to rest, so Elder Morrill and I decided to do some office work old school style while we stayed with him in our apartment, with paper and pencil.  It took us about 6 times longer than it would have with Excel, but it was fun.

I got to see Elder Marquez (my previous companion) at transfers a few weeks ago!

Lunchtime with the missionaries from a few weeks ago

Week 49 Santa Fe Rural C Oficina

Hola todos!

We had a good week this week, a lot of unforeseen complications with quite a few very sick missionaries and hospitalizations, but everyone is all good now and healthy, so we're happy about that. :) We had a great meeting with our ward mission leader this week, and we helped him understand what a ward mission plan was. We have goals in the ward for baptisms, but we haven't been achieving them, and we decided that it was because we didn't have specific plans to help us reach those goals. So this week we talked about some specific plans that we could make to help us reach our goal as a ward, and I'm excited for the upcoming weeks, we've got a lot of good things coming.

We had some pretty cool experiences in the capilla abierta yesterday morning as we went out to do proselyting. Like I've mentioned before, Elder Blackmon taught me to always look for miracles when on divisions, and it's continued to happen. I went out in the morning with Elder Smith, one of my zone leaders, and Elder Parker, one of the assistants. We were doing the capilla abierta in Parque del Sur, which is part of our zone (the ward right beneath Rural), and a ward somewhat notorious for being a "hard" ward, with some upper-end neighborhoods. As we went out to invite people, our assigned part of the area was one of those "upper-end" areas, but in spite of that, we found some great people! We were excited to just be out working, and Elder Smith (Parque del Sur is his area) was kind of surprised at how well it was going. He was just smiling and having a great time. He said generally people in the street in those parts don't even give you the time of day, but it seemed that almost every person we talked to was willing to listen to us and hear us out, and were rather friendly people. We found one guy, a young adult about 25-30 years old who was out in front of his car with the car hood open, tinkering with something. We were about to walk right past him, but then Elder Parker stopped and walked over to him and started talking to him a little bit. We quickly joined the conversation, and as we all talked with him for about 10 minutes, he told us how he was a law student at the university, and that he was just cleaning his car up a little bit, but that really he didn't know anything about cars. The coolest part for me was that even though, generally speaking, people like him with his background and living where he lives are fairly quick to reject our message, he was completely down to earth, friendly, and open to hearing about the gospel. It just goes to show that you can't ever judge people by how they look or what they are doing, or anything else. For us as missionaries, we can't judge who is ready and who isn't, so we just try to invite everybody, and whoever accepts accepts, just like the parable of the sower. In the parable, the seeds were sown everywhere, not just in the ground that looked good and fertile. It might look bleak and uninviting, but beneath a thin top layer there could be feet of fertile soil ready for a seed to be planted. "For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

I love being a missionary, and I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity it is to serve others and spread the good news of the gospel. I love this work, and I know that there is no other work more satisfying on this Earth than that of bringing souls to Christ.

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Meyers

Week 48 Santa Fe Rural C Oficina

Hola familia y amigos!

It was a great week! We've been working well with our ward members this week, getting great referrals and finding new investigators. We've been working with the bishop a lot, and he is so amazing. He's had so many trials in his life, including literally almost dying when he had cancer in his kidney about a year and a half ago. He has been branch president/bishop for 12 years now (branch president for 9 years, and then they combined his branch with another ward to form the Rural ward and called him as bishop about three years ago), but he doesn't show it in his attitude. He continues working hard, planning, visiting, ministering, everything. We can almost never find him home because he is always out visiting members of the ward if he's not working. He is a huge example to me of persevering to the end, not in a hard, trial kind of way, but enjoying the journey and loving people. I want to be more like him.

We got some great news this week. After making a visit with Elder Levrino and Presidente Cantero, the Santa Fe Norte stake president, Presidente Perez told us that next transfer we are going to open a new area in San Justo, a city about 55 miles north of Santa Fe (about from Provo to Layton). It's a little bigger than Nogoyá, and there are two member families that are living there right now, so we're going to start what's called an organized group, which is a group that is dependent on another unit, and then once we get two more priesthood holders, we can officially turn it into a branch! It's pretty exciting, since I have arrived to the mission, we've already created three organized groups in the mission. The Lord is hastening His work, and it's incredible to be a part of it.

Something we've really been working with is family history. The church recently did a study that found that when recent converts find a name of an ancestor and take it to the temple to do baptisms within two months of their baptism, convert retention improves significantly. In a sample they did in a mission in Peru, when using family history and temple work to help strengthen the testimonies of converts, they saw the retention rate in the mission go from 20 percent to 80 percent. The Lord is hastening His work on this side of the veil and on the other, and this just tells me and testifies to me even more of the incredible power of family history and temple work. If we aren't doing family history, we need to find a time to do it. It is an incredible work with unfathomable blessings, promised by prophets and apostles. I know that if we do family history work, our testimonies will be strengthened, our capacity to love others will grow, and we will be protected from temptation and from evil.

I know that this is the work of God. This is His work of salvation. May we all look for a way this week that we can take a greater part in His work!

Love,

Elder Meyers

Also, I had a picture I was going to send, but I can't find it. It was of the helicopter of the president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri. It was this huge, military looking, white helicopter with the Argentine National Seal and everything. He came to Santa Fe for a day to do some kind of city review, and his helicopter dropped him off and picked him up in the field right next to the mission office. We went up on the second floor of the church so that we could see over the fence, and there were police and army everywhere. So that was a pretty cool experience jaja

Elder Arnold came by with his family visiting his mission!  I had no idea he was coming, so that was an unexpected surprise!

Candid in the office chair

Week 47 Santa Fe Rural C Oficina

Hola a todos!

Another transfer begun! This week we received three new missionaries, sent home 5 missionaries that finished their missions (including Elder Henriquez and Elder Maynard), and participated in Mission Leadership Council. Always a busy week, but always fun. Elder Morrill and I are getting lots of work done on the financial side, and we’re having great fun doing it.

So… I had this great letter all typed up, and then somehow it didn’t save, and I had to leave, and when I came back it was all gone, and now I’m out of time…

Just know that I love being a missionary, and I know that my Savior lives!

Love,

Elder Meyers

Me and Elder Maynard

Tristes porque Elder Henriquez se va...:(

Me and Elder Henriquez

Week 46 Santa Fe Rural C Oficina

Hola a todos!

I am officially training! The new financial secretary arrived on Monday. His name is Elder Morrill, he is from West Valley Utah, has about 13 months in the mission, and was in Concordia before he came here. I laughed a little bit when I found out that he would becoming this week, because I had already known a while ago that this week was going to be bad for me because of the amount of work I was going to have, and to have him arrive this week was just going to be fun. I told Presidente, I guess we're just going to skip the whole adjustment phase and put him right in the middle of the flames. :) But he's been a champ, absorbing information and doing his best to understand everything that is going on. I know that he'll be a great financial secretary.

We convinced Mxxx to come to church in a white shirt, and we told him that if he did, we would give him a tie, and he did it! It was so cool to see him in church in a shirt and tie for the first time. I know he is going to get baptized. I don't know when, but it is going to happen. :)

We also went and made Peruvian food in an investigator's house this week, and Elder Carrion (my companion from Peru) was the chef. They gave him a sweet Messi apron to cook. (see picture below)

As I was studying this week, I came across a part of Preach My Gospel that really caught my attention. I was studying the 2nd lesson, the Plan of Salvation, I was reading the section about the final judgment, where it says the following:

Eternal life is a gift of God given only to those who obey His gospel. It is the highest state that we can achieve. It comes to those who are freed from sin and suffering through the Atonement of Christ. It is exaltation, which means living with God forever in eternal families. It is to know God and Jesus Christ and to experience the life they enjoy.

There, it gives us two conditions to reach eternal life. One, we repent of all our sins, and two, we know God and Jesus Christ. Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ. I began to think about all the things we teach to investigators, and they all come down to those two basic points. We help them to repent of their sins and come to know better their Savior Jesus Christ. I have a strong testimony that the only way that we can truly change is when we come to know our Savior Jesus Christ. We can teach, we can preach, we can explain, we can invite, but if people do not gain a knowledge of their Savior, if they do not come to know Him, they will never make lasting changes. However, when they gain a true testimony of their Savior, they, we, can make changes that will last forever. This all brought me back again to President Nelson's talk from general conference, as he invited us all to better come to know Jesus Christ by reading and studying His life, His teachings, and His doctrine. I would second that invitation again, as it is only through Him that we can become who we are meant to be, and who we truly want to become.

This is His gospel. He is the head. He guides and leads, and through Him we can gain eternal life. I know it, because I have felt it. Have a great week, and look for ways to come to know your Savior!

Love,
Elder Meyers

Mxxx in his white shirt and tie at church

Elder Morrill in his new chair :)

Father and son (trainer and trainee)

Elder Carrion with the sweet Messi apron

Elder Carrion the chef

Training the new financial secretary Elder Morrill

Finance training

Week 45 Santa Fe Rural C Oficina

Hola a todos!

This week went by rather quickly. Lots of things to do, but I honestly don't remember most of it. Mostly, I've been getting ready to receive a new companion, as I will begin training a new financial secretary the coming week. We will be together for seven weeks, and then I will be heading out to another area. After having been in the office for more than 10 months now, it's sometimes hard to believe that I actually will leave someday. :)

Mxx and Dxxx continue to progress slowly. The other day, we watched Elder Costa's talk that was directed to investigators (fun fact: Elder Costa was born in Concordia, which is in our mission!). They felt the Spirit strongly, and as we prayed at the end, Mxxx said one of them most sincere prayers I've ever heard him offer, asking Heavenly Father to teach them how to repent and help them understand repentance better. It was a wonderful moment, one of those moments as a missionary where you get the chance to see the marvelous progress that can come as we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, even if only a small part.

We've also been looking for new investigators, and we received some excellent referrals from members! We've had trouble finding them at home, though... We call them, set appointments, and then go, and they're not there. They're great people, it just seems like they forget about our appointments... Hopefully we can catch them as we pass by. In the office in general, we are being blessed with prepared investigators, and it's always great to see the blessings that the Lord gives us as we strive to consecrate our time and do the most important things.

Starting last week, in my studies, I decided to start President Nelson's challenge to study the life of Christ and His teachings, first studying Luke 22-24, the part about Jesus Christ's Atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection, in conjunction with Easter. As I read, I began to feel so much closer to my Savior, and Easter took on a different meaning for me. As I have continued my study, including a study of The Living Christ, I have felt a difference in my life. I can testify that the Savior lives. He is a real Being, present in our lives in a very real way. He is not only a historical figure, a great teacher, prophet, and leader, but the Messiah, the Savior, the Living Christ, Lord of Heaven and Earth. I am so incredibly humbled and grateful for the opportunity that I have to represent Him and serve as His emissary. As I come to know Him, I feel greater power and love as a missionary. My companion, Elder Carrion, told me this week as we talked a little bit about being representatives of Jesus Christ that He had heard someone say once, "Missionaries represent Jesus Christ. Who better can help others come to know Christ than His representatives? But how can a missionary help someone else come to know Jesus Christ if they themselves do not know Him? How can you help someone come to know somebody you do not know?" These questions gave me a chance to reflect and ponder on my personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and as all members of the church have been baptized and have taken His name upon us, we can all ask ourselves these same questions. Are we helping others to come to know their Savior Jesus Christ? Do we ourselves really know Him? I can testify that if we take President Nelson's challenge, we will come to know Him in a way that we may not have ever known Him before.


I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Redeemer, the Great Mediator, our Lord and Savior, and He lives. He loves us. He knows us. He wants us to follow Him. May we each day come to know our Savior a little bit more.

Love,

Elder Meyers

(Pictures are from a couple of weeks ago)

Week 44 Santa Fe Rural C Oficina

Hola familia y amigos!

It was a great week! I don’t have a ton of time, but I thought I would just tell you a little about the activity we had last Saturday. We did a multi stake public musical event for Easter, using the Prince of Peace initiative. We had soloists, small groups, and a choir made up of missionaries and members. We spent about a month planning and rehearsing the activity, putting together numbers, etc. The hermana in charge was Hna. Monica Dominguez, an hermana from the Santa Fe Norte stake. She is incredible. She has several severe, chronic health problems, and lately she has had a lot of problems with a constricted trachea that has caused her breathing to be very labored and difficult, and to tire easily and quickly. I’m going to tell you a little bit of her story, because she is probably one of the most faithful people I have ever met. She has done musical firesides for years. When she was younger, she had no idea how to play, write, or teach music. But someone gave her a Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD, and she would go into her room, and for hours at a time, just listen to it over and over again, until she started singing along to the hymns. Later, she started to notice that there were other parts, and over time taught herself to pick out the alto, tenor, and bass parts as well. She grew to love music, and began singing as well. She decided she wanted to study music, but where she was living, they often needed young women to serve as short time companions for missionaries, which she did more than 20 times, always preferring to put the Lord’s call before her own desires. After that, she served a full-time mission, and by that time no longer had the availability to study music. Fast forward to now. Hna. Dominguez has multiple health problems, including a respiratory problem that has been treated many times, including three failed operations. The area calls Elder Levrino, asking him if they can do some kind of public event as a part of the Prince of Peace campaign. He, in turn, calls Presidente Cantero, the stake president in Santa Fe Norte, and asks him if he has anyone in his stake that could organize an event like that. He tells him there is one sister, but he’s not sure if she will be able to because of her health problems. Presidente Cantero calls Hna. Dominguez and tells her a little bit about the activity and asks her what she thinks about it. She knew that the following week, she was going to be hospitalized so that she could have a fourth operation on her respiratory system, but she didn’t say a word of that to her stake president. She said, (paraphrasing) “Presidente, of course I’ll do it! Why are you even asking me? This is coming from our leaders, and it comes from the Lord. When they direct, we obey. We decided when we were baptized that we would be obedient. We decided before we even came to this world that we would always be obedient. So why are you doubting? We don’t need to make that decision again and again every time something comes, because we have already made the decision! If the Lord wants us to do this, then He will obviously prepare a way.” She immediately began organizing the event, and called the mission to ask if missionaries could participate, and that was how I became involved. She attended the first rehearsal, and in that rehearsal, made it very clear to all of us that the purpose of this activity was not just to share music, or to have fun, or to perform. The one and only purpose was to invite people to hear the message of the restored gospel so that they could be baptized and make covenants with their Heavenly Father. She invited us all to internalize the messages contained in the hymns we would sing so that we could have the Spirit with us and help other feel the Spirit as well during our performance. Two days later, she was hospitalized so she could undergo further treatments and operations, this being three weeks before the event. Her release date from the hospital was unclear, and as time went on, she asked me if I could direct the choir, since she didn’t know when she would come out. This last Tuesday, Elder Orgill and I went to the hospital to visit her (she’s in a hospital right around the corner from the mission office) and to give her a blessing. But when we got there, she was the one who lifted our spirits and comforted us. We arrived, and she was out of her bed in a chair, with her phone, calling people to coordinate location, equipment, etc. We walked in, and she was just as happy as could be. Always looking at the positive side, she told us about all the miracles that she had already seen in the preparation of the event. She gave me some ideas she had to take back to the choir, and some other things to do to prepare. She praised us for being great missionaries, and told us how wonderful missionaries are and the great power that they have. She then introduced us to the other patient in her room, and began to tell us all about her life, her family, and what she needed. She had been sharing the hymns with her, and reading her scriptures, and had told her about priesthood blessings, and had told her she could have one if she wanted. Her roommate told us that she would love a blessing, so we explained a little bit about consecrated oil and the faith that is required for a blessing to work, and about how Jesus blessed the sick, and then gave both of them priesthood blessings. After that, Hna. Dominguez asked us for Prince of Peace pass along cards, so that she could give them to all the doctors and nurses that she had met. Right in the middle of that, the food nurse came by with various snacks and things that they could have. Hna Dominguez passed, but immediately pointed out that she knew that two doors down, the were two women whose family was going to visit them and bring them food, but hadn’t and that it would be wonderful if they could have food as well. I just sat there, completely amazed by this sister who couldn’t even barely stand for more than a couple of minutes without intense pain and difficulty, and heavy, labored breathing, literally 100% focused on everyone but herself, completely trusting in the Lord in all things. I was overcome. Before leaving, she asked us if we would pray for good weather for the activity, and when we promised her we would, she said she was completely at ease, because she knew that when missionaries prayed for things, it always worked out. As we left, she thanked us profoundly for having visited her and told us that we were saints. I told Elder Orgill as we walked out, I don’t think I have ever met someone as faithful and selfless as her. I was overcome with gratitude for her example and faith. On Saturday, the day of the activity, she was able to convince a nurse to accompany her to the activity. She was all dressed in her Sunday best, and although she was most likely incredibly tired and pained, she showed no signs of it as she cheerfully directed the setup and organization from a chair next to the piano. She stayed there during the whole activity, guiding and helping the choir, mouthing the words and silently encouraging them as they sang. When the activity concluded, she was full of praise and gratitude for everyone who had participated, and shortly thereafter left with the nurse to return to the hospital, so that she could prepare herself for today, Monday, when she would be transferred to a larger hospital south of Buenos Aires that has better equipment for her specific health problems.

I am so grateful that I met Hna. Dominguez. She strengthened my faith, and helped me to see so many ways that I can be better committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and forget my own needs and wants in the service of others. I have a stronger testimony that if we serve others and love them fully, we will be happy, happier than if we had spent that time on a personal hobby or pursuing personal gain. It is the way of Jesus Christ.

I am out of time, but I hope that you all can find some way this week to follow the example of Hermana Dominguez and serve others this week. If you do it, I know you will be blessed.

Elder Meyers

The choir of missionaries and members, along with (from left) Presidente Cantero (stake president Santa Fe Norte), Elder Levrino, Presidente and Hermana Perez, me, and Hna Dominquez

Me and Hna Dominguez

Directing the choir