Tracting the apartment buildings

Dear Family,

Thank you for the birthday stuff! I actually got the package on Wednesday morning at multi-zone conference. The office was nice enough to notice the happy birthday sticker and make special arrangements to have it brought to me. I really like everything you sent; thanks for getting 100% of what I requested! The backpack is wonderful: it doesn't hurt and holds books and pamphlets just right. Very nice. I'm taking the multivitamins every day now too. And eating the candy. Lisa, thanks for the birthday book, it's very cool. It's amazing how you did that.

On Tuesday night, Jimmy took us out for dinner for Pho. It was very good. The members here are very nice. After that, we had a lesson with the Sapiens neighbors and got the boyfriend, derek, to agree to come to church. And guess what, he actually did. And he really liked it. Then I went and taught Paco with my exchange; he's doing well. He told us that Lehi's dream really hit him, he felt like he had been in the mists of darkness and that he's found the iron rod and that's strengthening him. He's so sincere, it's great.

On Wednesday, we had our multizone conference with Elder Lance Wickman of the seventy. He gave us some good encouragement and there was a wonderful spirit in the meeting. He didn't really teach anything new, but helped us focus on the most important things - if an investigator isn't willing to keep their commitments and find out, you can't spend all your time with them. There are people prepared to hear the gospel that we need to find. Spending time with someone who's not going to progress may be denying somebody else the chance to hear it. It's a depressing thought, but it is true. We dropped several investigators this week, actually. The most heartbreaking was Emily; we went to her house and she told us to stop wasting our time. She's upset at God because she's been demanding a sign of her husband getting a job even though she's received a spiritual confirmation. Her faith was based almost entirely on how much she thought her husband was going to get a job here. We've tried to help her time and time again, but on Friday, we met with her and she's outright not willing to accept anything less than a sign. She gave her Book of Mormons and gospel principles books back. It was sad, but it had to be done.

On Thursday, some missionaries in Poway set up an appointment for us to teach a chinese person. His name is Mr. Wang and he's a Chinese medicine doctor. He agreed to hear about the church because he has friend patients who have shown amazing spiritual and mental strength in the face of cancer and other illness. We hope we can see him again. The lesson went very well.
On Friday, for lunch, we went to another Chinese members house where she made us Chinese bbq noodle soup and Chinese spring rolls. It was very good. Chinese food is much better in homes than at Chinese Potluck.

Last Sunday on exchanges with our ward missionary brother Bitton I went tracting in a certain complex. The reason we were going there is that a family in our ward met another family at the park who seemed to be interested in the church, but they didn't find out exactly where they live. So, something as trivial as a lack of address wasn't going to stop us from finding a potential investigator. Sure there are about 15 buildings of apartments, but that wasn't going to stop us. So brother Bitton and I tracted this area at night and with most doors had moderate success ( we gave out a few pass along cards). But at one door, we met this guy named Danny who we got talking to and eventually got in and shared a scripture with him and asked to come back to give him a Book of Mormon. He was interested in that, so brother Bitton dropped it by a few nights later ( but he wasn't home).

Well, in that couple days, we received a referral from HQ; somebody named Carl we had given a card to in that same neighborhood for a free bible had actually called the number. So the next night after Brother Bitton took the Book of Mormon over, Elder Gibbons and I went back into that neighborhood to check on Danny and deliver the bible to Carl.

So, we stopped by Danny's, and his girlfriend answered the door; he wasn't home from work yet. We taught her a first lesson on the porch, and she said she'd be interested in listening when we came back to talk to Danny. Then, as we finished, Danny walked up and invited us in, we shared a couple good scriptures and had a prayer then got going. Danny said "Joseph Smith could never have written this!" So, interestingly enough, we found a couple who were both independently prepared and they're letting us come share brief lessons with them. Two new investigators there. Then we stopped by Carl's house. Carl's girlfriend answered; Carl was in the shower, not available. We talked to her about the church, invited her to learn about it, and she gave us her address. And Carl said we could come back later. So even more promise there.

Last night we tracted a few more buildings of that neighborhood and found an inactive member that has felt the call to come back to the church so strongly that he read the Book of Mormon again in the last couple months and read a lot of church history. He said we can expect him at church next week (after conference) and said we can keep coming back. He definitely has a testimony, but it's so hard for them to have the courage to come back. So that's another fruit of tracting this particular complex. And we still haven't found that family that the members met in the park.

On Saturday, our English student Cici brought me Costco pizza for my birthday and I ate about 6 pieces. then we went to a party for one of the Chinese members sons, and I ate lots of Chinese food. Then another less active member had us for dinner that night. I was pretty much very stuffed on my birthday. Thanks again for the presents.

Well, that's about all that's been happening lately. I hope you're all doing well. I haven't looked at bikes yet. thanks for fasting for the missionary work, keep opening your mouths and sharing the gospel. Have a great week. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Myers

It's great to be busy

Hi family,

First of all, President Garner asked me to modify the blog that you update a bit so that when people searched for the carlsbad california mission, it wouldn't be something that seemed that officially represented the mission. So I did so. I don't get on there usually so today was a special exception because president Garner asked me to.

I will look for bikes in the area. I don't think the missionary mall bikes are quite worth what they charge, but I'll check the stuff around that price range. I can easily take it when I am transferred. I did buy a helmet and a seat cover at target.

I can't just check the mail whenever I want on P-day. The mail is sent to carlsbad which is a half-hour drive away. It is collected throughout the week and put in a tote, then on tuesday mornings at 9:00 it is delivered to our zone by the APs. So basically, if it's not received by monday, it doesn't come til next week. But it's okay, I'll look forward to the birthday package for next week. Maybe you could call the office an ask them to send it with the APs for zone conference tomorrow :P.

It's great that you're meeting your new neighbors. Keep being a true friend to the neighbors.

How does your monthly ward missionary correlation meeting run? That sounds interesting. We have a weekly missionary report with our ward and branch PEC meetings.

Dad, that's a big calling that you have to be stake Family History guy. Good luck with it; you can do a good job with it.

We challenged Tyeshay to baptism this week and he wants to do it. We talked to his mom a bit at the door and she seems willing to let him if he wants to do it. She's going to join us for a lesson tomorrow night at the Sapiens' house. We are teaching Millie and Nani, two of the Sapien family's other neighbors, tonight; we keep the sapien family very busy. Don't be afraid to introduce the missionaries to your neighbors.

Henry came to church again this week. He likes it. He got a primary CD and is practicing the songs. Paco also came to church and liked it. He is progressing well. We're going to give him to the spanish elders though - it's kind of a shame that we don't get to keep him, but it'll be the best for him and for the spanish branch.

We are still working with Darla. She almost came to church this week, but had to go out of town. Next week, we hope. The baptists are working pretty hard on her too. We cast the evil spirits out of her home.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but once a week, we walk Jimmy home from school. Jimmy is a recent chinese convert who is in a wheelchair. He lives pretty near mirimar college, the local college, and he takes english classes there. It works pretty well to street contact with him; I am ahead pushing Jimmy, which softens the hearts of the contacts, and Elder Gibbons follows behind talking to the people and giving them pass-along cards. It's pretty fun and fairly effective.

This week we have appointments coming out of our ears. I don't even know how we're going to fit it all in. It's like everybody wants to hear the gospel. Well, that isn't the case, but we have found lots of people who do, and it's great to be busy.

Michelle, I swear I wrote you a letter last week, but I forgot to send it. You should get it this week.

I think that's about all I can remember about this week; it was busy with appointments but it was good. The spanish elders found a great family to teach this week from Guatamala by just talking to a guy on a bike as he rode past. They're really excited about that.

Well, I love you all. Have a great week, stay safe.

Love,

Elder Myers

Ukrainians

March 14, 2006
Dear Family,
Thanks for writing, it's good to hear from you again. I got two letters in the mail this week!

There is only 1 mandarin missionary coming from the mtc that we know about. We'll do the best we can, though; Elder Jensen will probably come back soon. We are doing our best to find and teach Chinese investigators still - we had an appointment last night that went very well - a whole family that wants to learn about the church. They are very nice.

I hope you get to meet the new neighbors soon. Make good friends with them, then they'll be more willing to hear the message of the gospel. Also, never hesitate to invite them to come to church with you.

I do appreciate the pictures you send with letters, thank you. Please keep sending them.

Heh, a pizza delivery bag would be cool (you could get one on ebay) but probably not keeping with the professional look we're going for.

Thanks for planning to fast on my birthday. That's a good idea that your ward has, fasting 40 days. Is it supposed to be like lent?

That's great that you're doing the MS bike ride up there too. I see signs for the MS walk here in San Diego all the time.

I'm sorry to hear about Michelle's back injury. Is she doing okay? She can maybe spend her time playing video games instead of running, it's just as productive :P. I hope it goes all right, Michelle. Have you gotten a priesthood blessing for it?

We got 3 more investigators this week. We met one guy on the street named Ricky who lives in a group home. He invited us over, so we went over Saturday night. We came in and were about to share a short message when one of his roommates came over and said he had been looking for the Mormons so he could become religious again. It was clear that something was a bit amiss with the mind of the other man, Derek, because he asked us to teach a lesson about revenge, then sang us some Josh Groban, and finally we smelt liquor on his breath; he was pretty drunk. But they both said they wanted to come to church. We came the next morning, and though Derek didn't remember he wanted to come to church, he agreed to come again. Ricky couldn't get up - he was still sleeping. Derek was still a bit intoxicated at church and got up to go outside a couple times to smoke but he still enjoyed church and wanted to come next week. He's not the most perfect nearly-Mormon golden investigator I've ever met, but for sure he needs the gospel, and if it can help him, so much the good that will bring.

On exchanges, Elder Gibbons tracted into two Ukrainians who we are now teaching. One translates for the other. We got them a Book of Mormon in Russian (which they say they can read as well as Ukrainian) and they are very intent on reading it. They are very good. With them, though, we will also have to help to conquer a smoking and drinking habit too, though not quite so debilitatingly serious as with Derek. Their names are Sergei and Glib.

We finally got Henry to church this week! and he liked it. We sat with him during primary and the rest of church. Eventually his dad came to pick him up and ate dinner with us at the potluck, and they should be coming to our branch party on Friday. Henry's a good kid; I hope he can join the church.

We are teaching also a 12 year old young man named Tyeshay. He is doing very well, and we will teach him the 3rd lesson tonight. He is progressing very well.

It seemed for a little while that Darla had dropped us, but we are still working on her. She agreed to come to our church this week, as long as she can also go to the Baptist church that's working really hard on her. It's tough to have to compete with a church that has an all-black gospel choir.

We also have a few referrals that we hope will pan out this week. Things here are going reasonably well. The number of new investigators we have been getting here is far out of the ordinary, and we have been very blessed. Now if we could only baptize them.

I could probably use a better bike, honestly. Mine is purple and rusty. However, it being hard to ride gives me a better work out than I otherwise would get, so it's a bit of a tradeoff. How much would a reasonable bike cost?

Well, I'm out of time. Thanks for everything. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Myers

18 investigators

March 7, 2006
Dear Family,
Well, it's been another good week. Let me reply to some of your questions first, starting with the most important questions:

My birthday. You don't need to get me a cake or a cake mix or anything like that - the members and other missionaries here do a good job of getting every missionary at least 2 entire cakes, and I definitely don't need more than that. However, I do have a few things I want for my birthday, if that would be okay.

I would like a backpack. Not my lame shoulder bag that I have now, but a backpack. With two shoulder straps. That would be wonderful. If it could have two compartments or more, or good places to keep my scriptures, a few copies of the Book of Mormon, and passalongs, that would be great too. Whatever you find that you think would be best.

Also, I know this is weird to ask for for my birthday (and it's a real sign that I'm in the adult world now. Another one was that our apartment was talking about the high quality of certain brands of rice and I realized then that my childhood had ended) but perhaps you could send some sort of multivitamin supplement too. I've gotten sick too many times in the past few months and I want to fight that if possible.

Other than that, there's not really anything I want or need.

The Vancouver trip sounds like a lot of fun. I have always wanted to go there, so maybe we can all go when I get back. I hear there is a very big Chinatown there.

That is strange that you said in Vancouver they're not allowed to have missionaries over for dinner. Here, that's our source of generating referrals and working with the members, so I wonder if even though they have "more prime time" they get less referrals. But I'm sure that their mission president is following the spirit and it'll make a difference in that area. Evening is definitely our prime time for finding people home, but the problem is that the sun goes down very early, so when we knock on doors people tell us it's too late. And it's like 6:00 or 6:30. I guess they expect us to find them home while they're still at work. Weekends are even more of a prime time because we can use daytime hours to find people.

The Tuiotis moved up to Long Beach and are meeting with the missionaries and preparing for baptism there. It's too bad that we didn't get to follow through with it, but they're doing great.
Our investigator Jie is moving to Monterey tomorrow too. So, our investigator pool took a big hit. But then, we've gotten new investigators every day for the last 5 days - 6 in total, with some appointments set up for potentials. On Sunday, we knocked on a door while tracting, asked to come it, and came away with a baptismal date for two weeks from now. We hope it'll work out, it was pretty surprising. He had met the missionaries before. His name is Paco Marquez.

Four of the new investigators came from one member family we have called the Sapiens. Two of the sons friends (named Tyeshay and Stephen) and a few of the neighbors (Millie and her daughter Nani) are taking the lessons now. Plus, one of the people renting a room with Henry's family decided she was very interested in learning more too. So we are certainly trying our best and teaching a lot of lessons. We're up to 18 investigators total, which is kind of overwhelming, especially since we only have our car 3 days a week. But it is good to work hard.

We had a stake conference broadcast this sunday with President Monson speaking. It was very good. He wiggled his ears for us.

I am out of time so I must go, but I hope you all have a great day. I love you all.

Love, Elder Myers