This is what Californians do all day

April 24, 2007

Dear Family,

Well, my second son, Elder Burton, was born today. Elder Archibald got transferred so I'm training a new missionary straight from the MTC. He's from west valley and I think he will do very well. Brother Ek the ward mission leader in Cardiff ward drove 4 of us from transfers, bought us in-n-out burgers, and we ate them in the car on a cliff over the ocean and watched some dolphins. "This is what Californians do all day," claimed brother Ek.

Elder Archibald's last week in the Cardiff ward went well. The Mastergeorge family in our district got baptized. We gave the baptismal invite. The Twiggs slipped - and the thing about alcoholics is that once you've slipped a little bit, you go all the way down. We gave them blessings and helped them pull themselves out of it - after they had that first drink, for six days they'd fight the urge until the withdrawal pain and shakes were so bad they'd go drive down to the liquor store and buy more. The recipe for getting out: Scriptures, Prayer, Priesthood Blessing, and.... taking their car keys, with permission. The next morning, they were through the worst of it, and wanting even more not to fall again.

We taught a few other part member families this week, but didn't get any new investigators. Lots of long-term projects in this area. The Twiggs AND the Linkowskis all came to church this week. That's very good.

They split the area of the other two missionaries in my district, so now there are two more elders. Elder Baadsgaard is training a missionary from the Phillipines. I served near Elder Baadsgaard in orange county; he used to serve in my current area and is all the members' hero. He goes home next transfer also.

The bible study that I lined up at the carwash postponed till this week. We're still planning on going.

We met this lady a couple days ago named Elsie Whitnack who is pretty much an 80-year-old dry Mormon. ("Just add water," you're familiar with that term, right?) Her late best friend was a member. That family is the Wilsons, who own Wilson Diamonds in Orem. She has read the Book of Mormon several times, subscribes to the Church News and Ensign, and encouraged both of us to marry active members of the church in the temple. She's trying to get her kids to convert too. I think her husband is holding her back. How strange. She'll be baptized -- someday.

On Friday we rode in the rain to the Zamoras. My pants were soaked. My Mr. Mac jacket kept the rest of me dry though. The parents still, despite all the assurances they could give that they'd be there, didn't come. The kids have to come to church to join it.

That's about all that I can remember. The other investigators I haven't mentioned this letter we've been keeping track of by phone until they can meet. That should work out soon.

Elder Gibbons is coming to BYU during summer term too. He might come over to Grandma and Grandpas once or twice.

Elder Moreno got called to a Spanish area. He'll do great there. The new Chinese missionary is finally in Chinese, and he couldn't look happier about that.

Well, the work is going well here. I'm enjoying myself. I love you all.

--Elder Myers

that's just as good as a baptism

Apr 18, 2007
Dear Family,
Well, this week, p-day is on Wednesday. I hope that didn't throw you off too much.

Well, I'll give you this week's report on the investigators. The Twiggs missed church and afterwards "fell off the wagon." Yesterday they were drinking. They don't want to be drinking. They still want to change. But the baptismal date is not on.

The Linkowskis are doing really well. The dad helped us teach. We also had the stake president and ward mission leader at the lesson. It was really good. We're hoping that they can all, dad included, get baptized together if possible.

Nicole is still sick. We didn't see her this week.

I got Frank Xie the Book of Mormon, but he had to go back to work so we weren't able to sit down and have a discussion.

At the car wash, I talked to a guy named Jeff. At first, he just wanted to argue about how we weren't Christians or something, so I showed him our beliefs about Christ from the Book of Mormon and... well, he was pretty much confounded. "You sound like a Christian!" So, we're going over on Friday night to his Bible study to teach them what we believe about Christ.

Somebody else at the car wash wanted to give a donation. They told him we can't take it, but if he came to church on Sunday he could give it to the bishop. Well, he actually DID come and gave it to the bishop. That was pretty cool.

We saw Steven Wilson once this week. He says he's thinking a lot more about Jesus lately. This year, he's quit drinking, lost 50 pounds, and become determined to "make it" in life. He says he wants to repent of his sins. He's a little flaky on appointments though... but we'll keep trying to work with him.

The Manguses were busy this week. Maybe in a couple weeks we'll have more to say.

The Zamoras also didn't come to church. They're sick. There's a lot of sickness going around. I'm trying not to catch it. The Zamoras are learning though and they're getting prepared for baptism.

After the carwash on Saturday, we went to check on a Chinese guy who had been found on a zone tract out. He let us in and I taught him about prayer and some other basics. I don't know how interested he'll be in continuing the lessons but he said I could come back this Saturday. His English is not very good.

This week we had a lead for somebody named Tinker who has been inactive for decades. Her sister, who was in a similar situation, just became active again and told us to go over there. Well, we went and we got her a ride to church, and she really liked it and wants to stay active. So, that's just as good as a baptism. Now she's got a nonmember family who are really supportive and so there maybe some teaching opportunity there.

My companion and I went to lunch at one of the Chinese restaurants here in Cardiff-by-the-sea and our server was none but Jennifer Xie, the mother of Henry who we taught for a while in the Chinese branch. We talked quite a bit in Chinese as she came around. She says Henry still asks her to go to church. So I called the Chinese elders and told them not to forget about him.

That's about all that I can think of from this week. It's been busy. We've been doing our best and the members are noticing that and really supporting us as best as they can. The work is going really well. Transfers are next week, and I don't know if I'll stay or go. I love you guys. Thanks for all you do.

Love,
Elder Myers

t's good to have a lot of investigators

Dear Family,

Well, I don't have a lot of time today, so I'll try to be a fast typer.

Frank Xie is now investigating, that Chinese guy that I knew before I got transferred here. He's pretty good.

We also went to see a part-member family, and they were like "what a shock, the missionaries." They told us that missionaries had been coming before to prepare the two unbaptized girls for baptism and they at a tranfer stopped. So, they're about ready to set a baptismal date again. They're named the Zamoras. It's spring break so we should get a couple meetings in with them this week.

We taught Nicole another lesson and she's doing good. We taught the Linkowskis and they're doing well. The Twiggs stopped smoking yesterday, and are pretty on-track. It's good to have a lot of investigators and them all making progress.

There's not really much else to say this week. Everything is hunky-dory. How was Easter? It was good here. I love you all.
--Elder Myers

We set a baptismal date

Dear Family,
How did you like conference? It was really good. The Saturday afternoon session was pretty interesting - the rededication of the tabernacle. It wasn't really as good as the rest though. I especially liked Saturday Morning and Sunday Afternoon. Elder Miller and Elder Taylor in our district had 5 of their investigators go to Salt Lake for General Conference. They got back yesterday and all of them want to be baptized. Those elders have 6 investigators with baptismal dates for next month.

We set a baptismal date of April 28th with the Twiggs. I hope it comes through. They've got a lot of changes to make, but they're completely willing to make them. When we asked them if they'd be baptized they said "absolutely." So, we're trying to stay close and talking to them every day.

I went to the bike store and had a couple repairs and upgrades made to my bike. I got a water bottle. The crank was actually coming off as I was riding it; I got a correct allen wrench to put it back on, but I was eventually having to stop every mile to tighten the crank back up. So, I went to the store, and they got me a new bolt and it's working fine. The biggest problem with my bike right now is that I can't raise the seat - it's one of those "Liahona -Mission" models that they sell at Missionary Mall, and the screw on the seat needs some 5-sided tool. I even went to the "tool depot" to try to find something and they had nothing that would fit it. I'll make sure to check on my tire pressure. I'm not racing on the bike; the hills are just VERY steep in some places. Most of the time, though, I can relax and enjoy it. The ocean keeps it cool around here.

This week, we had an appointment with the Linkowski's. We taught the plan of salvation and got a return appointment. Yesterday, we went to a family, the Manguses, where the father is the only member- and he's less active, but active in the ward's scout program with his 13-year old son. Elder Archibald and I are both eagles, so they really listened to us, and invited us to come speak with the scout group. As we left, we gave them our number, written on a pass-along-card, for finding Faith in Christ, and told them if they wanted the video, they could just tell us. They said they actually did, and so we're going back there next Monday to share the video with them. I challenged the son to read one of the four gospels before Easter and he said he would. There may be potential there.

We found a new investigator named Steven Wilson. He just found out he has diabetes, and had just stopped drinking a week before. He said he had met missionaries before but had felt unable to join the church because of his drinking. Now that he had stopped, he was really interested. He's also 400 pounds. We watched the Saturday morning session of conference with him. He wants us to talk to his mom about the church too. The big obstacle with him is, I think, smoking. He smoked 11 cigarettes during the one session.

We dropped Diana Whitney. She wasn't progressing and had decided (without praying, of course) that she doesn't want to get baptized.

That's about all the significant news from this week. It's great to hear that Michelle's keeping up with the missionary work. I hope you're all doing well. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Myers