Family,
The other day I got a parking ticket. There was a sign that said, "Thursday all streets closed 11:30-3:30. No Parking." I parked right next to the sign at about 12:30. Exactly when I wasn't supposed to. The officer had a big smile as he passed us. It was only $25 so it was easy to pay. At least I didn't get a ticket for crossing the street on a bike, or get hit by a car like some other Elders in the zone.
Halloween is coming up. We can't go outside past 6:00pm. I guess they'll think we're trick-or-treaters. So Halloween we get the night off. That will be a nice little break.
I didn't have much time to write or email, so I figured I'd say a little more.
Elder James Meiners
Monday, October 27, 2008
Happy Halloween- Oct 27, 3008
Happy Halloween. Things are going good. Gabriel just got baptized this Sunday.
We had Stake Conference this Sunday and the Stake President asked us to be there for all the sessions. Which was 4-6pm and 7-9pm on Saturday; then 10am-12 on Sunday. About four of those hours they talked about marriage. Don't they know that missionaries aren't allowed to get married? But I got the gist-- marriage, important, good, or something like that.
At the baptism Elder Olsen baptised him. Gabriel is the brother of Raul Rodriguez who Elder Harding baptised two years ago. He'll be a really strong member. The first three days of quitting coffee he didn't look too good. But he's stopped and now he's doing fine. After the baptism we had a taco party at the Rodriguez house. A typical Mexican party.
I gave a talk at the baptism about baptism, in Spanish. I thought it went pretty well. Our mission president and his wife came for the stake conference and stayed for the baptism. She said she liked my talk, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't know Spanish. Oh well, I'll take it anyway.
Mario has stopped smoking for a week-- now we just need to get him married. There are also some kids of active members that for some reason didn't get baptised when they were 8. Their baptism will be in about a month.
I'm pleased to hear I'll get a package. That's about 2 months before I expected one to come. I figured to save postage you'd just sent me one package in between Christmas and my birthday.
Talk to you later.
The Elder James Meiners
We had Stake Conference this Sunday and the Stake President asked us to be there for all the sessions. Which was 4-6pm and 7-9pm on Saturday; then 10am-12 on Sunday. About four of those hours they talked about marriage. Don't they know that missionaries aren't allowed to get married? But I got the gist-- marriage, important, good, or something like that.
At the baptism Elder Olsen baptised him. Gabriel is the brother of Raul Rodriguez who Elder Harding baptised two years ago. He'll be a really strong member. The first three days of quitting coffee he didn't look too good. But he's stopped and now he's doing fine. After the baptism we had a taco party at the Rodriguez house. A typical Mexican party.
I gave a talk at the baptism about baptism, in Spanish. I thought it went pretty well. Our mission president and his wife came for the stake conference and stayed for the baptism. She said she liked my talk, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't know Spanish. Oh well, I'll take it anyway.
Mario has stopped smoking for a week-- now we just need to get him married. There are also some kids of active members that for some reason didn't get baptised when they were 8. Their baptism will be in about a month.
I'm pleased to hear I'll get a package. That's about 2 months before I expected one to come. I figured to save postage you'd just sent me one package in between Christmas and my birthday.
Talk to you later.
The Elder James Meiners
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
October 20, 2008
That's good about your missionary experience. Keep it up. This week I went on exchange with an English elder, Elder Webster. I taught him the words for coffee, tea, alcohol, drugs, tobacco in Spanish and he helped to teach the lesson. He also read a scripture in Spanish. We practiced all morning and during lunch, and we taught two investigators the Word of Wisdom.
Gabriel, who says he's been drinking coffee every day for ten years and he knows he's going to have a big head ache this week because he's quitting. Another investigator Mario is going to stop smoking. We had testimony meeting because it had been delayed, and he really felt the spirit.
I'm giving a training tomorrow on charity, so I'll be working on that.
Today I learned how to do a really cool spinning basketball trick. How to make a shot right under the net, by bouncing and spinning it. I used to think it didn't matter if I was good at basketball. I figure since every other missionary is good at it, I might as well be too.
Have a good week.
The Elder James Meiners
Gabriel, who says he's been drinking coffee every day for ten years and he knows he's going to have a big head ache this week because he's quitting. Another investigator Mario is going to stop smoking. We had testimony meeting because it had been delayed, and he really felt the spirit.
I'm giving a training tomorrow on charity, so I'll be working on that.
Today I learned how to do a really cool spinning basketball trick. How to make a shot right under the net, by bouncing and spinning it. I used to think it didn't matter if I was good at basketball. I figure since every other missionary is good at it, I might as well be too.
Have a good week.
The Elder James Meiners
Monday, October 13, 2008
Tuesday, October 13, 2008
Things are definitely different, and they're going pretty well. Elder
Olsen's pretty young so it will be cool to watch him learn. I'm only four
days older than him, but I feel a lot older.
This area is just west of Riverside, so a lot of places I already recognize. Our branch is pretty strong. There are a lot of strong members. The strongest member in the ward is Raul Rodriguez who is a person Elder Harding baptized about 2
years ago. It's pretty exciting-- we are teaching his brother Gabriel.
Before we taught him his brother taught him everything about the church.
We hardly have to do anything, He'll get baptized in 2 weeks on the
26th. It's cool to see that other missionaries' work has carried over to
help us. I guess for this one I get to be a reaper.
Trasfers were busy. Thats' why I didn't get Julia's letter off. This week for
sure.
The area has a lot of Spanish people which is great. Other than Gabriel
we don't have too many people to teach. But luckily there are a lot of
Spanish people and some of them will accept the gospel.
That's funny that Ryan was having a hard time speaking English, I can't
believe he's already back.
Hope everyone's having a fun time with band.
THe Elder Meiners
Olsen's pretty young so it will be cool to watch him learn. I'm only four
days older than him, but I feel a lot older.
This area is just west of Riverside, so a lot of places I already recognize. Our branch is pretty strong. There are a lot of strong members. The strongest member in the ward is Raul Rodriguez who is a person Elder Harding baptized about 2
years ago. It's pretty exciting-- we are teaching his brother Gabriel.
Before we taught him his brother taught him everything about the church.
We hardly have to do anything, He'll get baptized in 2 weeks on the
26th. It's cool to see that other missionaries' work has carried over to
help us. I guess for this one I get to be a reaper.
Trasfers were busy. Thats' why I didn't get Julia's letter off. This week for
sure.
The area has a lot of Spanish people which is great. Other than Gabriel
we don't have too many people to teach. But luckily there are a lot of
Spanish people and some of them will accept the gospel.
That's funny that Ryan was having a hard time speaking English, I can't
believe he's already back.
Hope everyone's having a fun time with band.
THe Elder Meiners
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
General Conference Reflections Oct 6, 08
Family,
Conference was really good. I really liked Uckdorfs talk too. I thought this would be the first conference for me to stay awake the whole time.
Guess not, I must have been inspired to fall asleep during the whole talk about strengthening marriages. I wont have to worry about that for a while.
I'm getting transferred to Jarupa. Which is right next to Riverside.
Jarupa always shares its p-day with Riverside. I know a few of the members. One of the members of the bishopric is a person Elder Harding baptized a few years ago. Its a pretty Spanish area, I'm really excited.
My new companion starting this afternoon will be Elder Olson. He's from Utah, this will be his 3rd transfer in the field. Hes been out about 5 months. Since I'm older (in the mission) I'll be the senior companion. That will be exciting. Time to 'lift where I stand'.
Oh, tell Julia that she'll get her card or whatever I decide about Saturday or whatever day of the week you normally get my letters. But it will be a few days late. Feliz Cumplianos.
Hasta Luego,
The Elder James Meiners
Conference was really good. I really liked Uckdorfs talk too. I thought this would be the first conference for me to stay awake the whole time.
Guess not, I must have been inspired to fall asleep during the whole talk about strengthening marriages. I wont have to worry about that for a while.
I'm getting transferred to Jarupa. Which is right next to Riverside.
Jarupa always shares its p-day with Riverside. I know a few of the members. One of the members of the bishopric is a person Elder Harding baptized a few years ago. Its a pretty Spanish area, I'm really excited.
My new companion starting this afternoon will be Elder Olson. He's from Utah, this will be his 3rd transfer in the field. Hes been out about 5 months. Since I'm older (in the mission) I'll be the senior companion. That will be exciting. Time to 'lift where I stand'.
Oh, tell Julia that she'll get her card or whatever I decide about Saturday or whatever day of the week you normally get my letters. But it will be a few days late. Feliz Cumplianos.
Hasta Luego,
The Elder James Meiners
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
'Atlas only has to hold the world'.
'This is the little dungeon I live in.'
Familia,
In a week we'll have our transfers, (when the missionaries change)amd I'm pretty excited. I've been here 2 transfers with Elder Crump, and one here with two: Farrington and Wilkinson.
So far this area has had 6 people who had a baptismal date or interview and for some reason didn't pass or get baptized. So I think I've done what I could for this area, and this Monday I'll probably get transferred. I'll be transferred to fix the three-some. There won't be on odd number anymore. This is one of the more English-speaking areas too, so when I leave the work in my new area will definitely be better too. So, I'm glad to say that from here things can only go up.
Glad to hear everything's going well.
Elder James Meiners
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