Don't get trunky.

January 30, 2007

Dear Family,

In response to your question, where do I consider "home"... well, right now, I consider my apartment in Mira Mesa home. When people ask me "Where's home" I say "Seattle.... kinda." I guess I consider both Seattle and BYU home in that sense.

Well, my release date is confirmed: June 6th. Give or take a day. Don't get trunky. Yes, I'm planning on living at Grandma and Grandpa's house until I can get a place to live, probably fall.

Heh, mom, when you told me about Michelle's double date, the visual in my mind of only two boys and two girls together sent off a neon warning sign. Then I remembered that she's not a missionary, so it's okay.

Today was transfers. We spent last night after we got in cleaning the apartment and all this morning. There's a lot less clutter now. Clean houses are much better. Elder Gregory got transferred so our new roommate is Elder Manning from Las Vegas. He's been out for 5 months, just like Elder Moreno. They rode in on the same plane. I'm still with Elder Moreno - for the third transfer in a row.

We taught Steven a couple times this week. He didn't come to church. Evelyn didn't come to English class or church either and isn't answering the phone. I don't know what happened. Our roommates had a baptism on Saturday night that we went to so that Elder Moreno could give the missionary invite. That was very cool. The sisters found him tracting. He's having his family down in Mexico listen to the missionaries too.

One of Ronald's coworkers who lives in Vista is starting to take the missionary lessons too. He's having his whole family listen. It's important to find families to investigate.

We went again to where the Chinese people play soccer on Saturday and talked to about 20 people there. We gave out a few pamphlets, but we didn't get any new investigators. We'll keep trying.

We also tried something new this week: we made a poster that says, in Chinese, "What is the purpose of life? Is there a God? Is there life after death?" We then bought 4 helium balloons from the party store, and filled our trunk with Chinese proselyting materials, opened the trunk, taped the sign and balloons to it, and parked in the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant. We talked to several Chinese people there too. We may keep trying this. We call it our "Guerilla Booth" because if we get kicked out of a parking lot, we can just go somewhere else.

On Sunday, Toby wasn't there (we're not sure why) but I taught someone else, and committed him to be baptized next week. His name is Shane McDonald. He's a good kid.

Last night, we were walking to an appointment at Ronald's house and we street contacted a lady who was crying and lost; she got off the bus at the wrong place and wasn't sure how to get back to her home in down town San Diego. Elder Moreno said, "Well, we're missionaries." "Are you missionaries with a ride?" "Uh, we don't have a car right now, sorry." "Then I can't waste my time, I need to find a bus that'll take me to a trolley." So she walked away. As we walked on, we had an idea to use Elmer for a ride, so we ran to Elmer's had him get ready, and drove the direction she was walking. Sure enough, she was waiting at a nearby bus stop, where she had just missed the bus and it was starting to rain. We pulled up and said, "Now we're missionaries with a ride!" and she got in and we drove her to the trolley station. She told us that we had just answered her prayer, that she had just prayed for a way to get home. And you know, for missionaries, we had the perfect opportunity -- a captive audience who was willing to listen. We taught her the message of the restoration and she was receptive. We gave her a pamphlet and got her phone number. That'll go to other missionaries, and so we never know what'll happen, but I know that when we try to talk to and serve the people in our path, opportunities will open up to share the Gospel.

Well, time's up, I hope you have a great week. I love you all,
Elder Myers