Pictures from Riverside 6/23/08

James sent some pictures from the area in Riverside that he recently left. The mission ward. I am in the picture. Try to find me.
Our home in Riverside. The second house on the right.
The Martinez family. The kids: Elizabeth, 15; Gabriel, 9; Chris, 12; Danny, 7. Danny wanted to be baptized, and will when he is 8.
All of us before the baptism. Elder Harding baptised Arturo and Chris. I baptised Gabriel and Elizabeth.
This is the building that we met in, The Riverside Mission Ward.

June 23. 2008

In the past week we havn't been able to get a hold of the Pacheco family
but I'm pretty sure they're still doing good. We found out Marcos and
Susanna aren't married, but I think they want to change. They really
listen to everthing we say. Its applying it which is the hard thing.

Things are going a little slow right now but we are working really hard
to get things going.

Have fun, take advantage of summer.
The Elder James Meiners

Monday, June 16, 2008

Happy Fathers Day.

Things are going good here. My new companion is Elder Crump from West Jordan. He knows a lot. There aren't as many Spanish people here as Riverside, but a lot of things seem really good. We have a good ward, some really promising investigators Marcos and Susanna, and the Pacheco family. We had another investigator Ramiro who was going to get baptised, but we were informed on Friday the 13 he’s moving to Texas to find work.

So all and all it’s going good, I don't have a bed frame but I never go hungry. I eat every day. We have cars/bikes so everything is going well. Elder Harding and I were doubled in so it took a while to get the work going. Elder Crump and I are doing the same now working hard now so things will pay off later.

That’s good that Daniel is helping the missionaries, learn their ways.

Well, have a fun summer. I’ll send you the pictures as soon as possible.

- The Elder James Meiners

New Area. Received 6/14/08

Dear Family,

I would have written last week but I was busy packing my things. I got transferred from Riverside to Yucaipa. So, on Monday Elder Harding and I were packing our bags and moving out. When Elder Rogers and I entered the field there was one more set of Spanish elders so they opened up the area that Elder Harding and I were in. Then when Elder Harding and a bunch of other Spanish Elders left they had to close an area, so now in the ward I was in there are 2 Elders instead of 4. "Elder Harding got "doubled in" and doubled out". Either one is uncommon, but together the combination is super unusual.

Elder Harding and I finished up good. Our last Sunday there the Martinez kids got baptized. (Elizabeth, Gabriel and Chris.) When we were making our goals for the week we set the goal for 3 baptisms, but then as we were about to finish Elder Harding said, "No, wait, 4". I asked who. He said he didn't know. So as we were going through the week we were thinking it might be Lydia or Zaidy, and we had this one other guy in the back of mind too. He had some papers trouble, Moyses, and we were thinking maybe somehow we could clear it up . So we made an appointment with Zaidy and watched special Testaments of Christ. She seemed to be in a better mood or something, so we made another appointment with her for Saturday. The baptism would be on Sunday and we were hoping we could commit her or something. She had already been taught everything. Elder Harding and I planned to read with her about the tree of life, and talk about the iron rod.

We went over on Saturday to Hermana Estrada's house where we planned to meet Zaidy. But Zaidy was leaving. She left and it was just us and Arturo. Arturo lives at Hermana Estrada's house. Hermana Estrada was Arturo's soccer coach. Arturo didn't have a very supportive family so he lives with the Estradas. Arturo had been coming every week for 2-3 months. And had been taught all the lessons.

Elder Harding and I decided to teach Arturo the tree of life, just like we had planned for Zaidy. We read with him and drew him a picture. He told us how his friends were trying to get him not to go to church. So we explained to Arturo that those friends of his are like the people from the great and spacious building. He said he was thinking about not going to church, but after we read he said he'd definitely go. Then he started talking about how he wanted to go on a mission, so as we talked to him he realized he needed to be baptized. The spirit was really strong and he was baptized the next day.

There are some pictures of the baptism. I baptized Gabriel and Elizabeth, while Elder Harding baptized Arturo and Chris.

I am in the San Gorgonio Ward in Yucaipa now. My companion is Elder Crump from West Jordan, Utah. I also live with two other Elders who are English and from Utah.

I was tracting yesterday and Elder Crump and I were talking to this lady in her late 20s who might have been interested. This this other girl came out and started talking to us too. She was giving us her number. Elder Crump wrote it down, but then she told me to write it down too. After she asked again I just gave it to her so she could write it down. If anything we would just give her as a referral to the English Elders. Then she said to me, "Hey, can we walk for a second." I flashed Elder Crump a glance to come with me.

Earlier when we were talking to the other lady, she said she might need help moving on Wednesday. When we were talking and walking with that other girl, she started asking how old I was, and if missionaries were allowed to have girlfriends. Then she invited me to go on a date with her and to call her. I told her I wouldn't call her for at least a year and a half. She said that we could 'hangout as long as we didn't talk about religion'. I told her that that's all missionaries talk about. She said that helping her move would be like a date. That just freaked me out. We left, and I insisted to Elder Crump that we were not going to go over there for service.

In this area there is the Pancheco family we just started teaching. There were a referral by a member. They are our best investigators.

I'm doing OK with the new roommates.
JM