Rededication of Mexico City Temple Nov 17, 08

Almost our entire branch went to the Mexico temple Rededication. That's the first dedication I've ever been to. Those translators were really good.
They had to think fast. As a game I would try to think of the translation in my head before they said it. I think I only did once. In Spanish, some people, like the translators, I could understand perfectly. But other people like one of our investigator Mario, is really quiet and hard to understand.

Next week two kids of a less-active family will get baptized. Mario is going to move, and I think he'll want to get baptized before he moves, so he'll have records. Then there is a man Manuel, and his daughter Vididiana. He said he came to America to find God. They've came the past 3 weeks and have really liked it. So we have good hopes for them. I think there is also another Rodriguez brother that we are going to start teaching. This is the first day of the transfer, we have pretty high hopes for it.

I don't know where I'll be for Thanksgiving, I think there's a ward activity. I haven't spent Thanksgiving in Maryland since I was 16.

We were delivering a movie to this lady that had ordered it. We went over there and she was a Seventh-day Adventist. After I told her our sabbath was Sunday, she told me to keep the commandments. She told me to not be like Cain who offered vegtables as a sacrifice, and to just do what God said. Then she pointed at the bible and told me to keep the commandments. And that unless I wanted to worship the Sun God on Sunday, like the Aztecs, the sabbath was Saturday. She was very nice about it. Wrong, but nice.

Looks like everything will be the same for another transfer.

The Elder James Meiners

Monday, November 10, 2008

Family,

We had a pretty cool week. Lots of meetings so we didn't have too much time to work. We had interviews with the mission president. They were good, but took forever. We also had the chance to do a companionship study with President and Sister Reeves. That was pretty cool, Sister Reeves commented, that she liked the way I was teaching. I guess she understood my Spanish. We were practicing teaching the ten commandments. When I was teaching 'Keep the Sabbath day Holy', I said we only rest from temporal labors on Sunday. Sunday is our day to work spiritually. She thought that was clever. I realized that when I was thinking to myself, "Hey, when's my day of rest?" That's when I realized I didn't have any. I have to work everyday. [12-hour days] It's a good thing that as Dad says "Work is good for you".

This week we were driving to visit a lady we had been teaching. We didn't have an appointment. I wasn't paying attention and I missed the turn, so we decided to just check on some other potential investigators that were straight ahead instead. When checking on them, some man asked us if we had any literature. We talked for a while about the Restoration, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. He said he was interested and would read from the Book of Mormon we gave him. Then as we were heading back, the lady we were originally going to see called us and said she had a little bit of time, and wanted us to come over. We were ten feet outside her house, so we went in and taught a lesson.

I thought the Spirit worked by bringing things to your remembrance, but this time it worked by bringing things to my forgetance (if that's a word). I can see a lot of the hands of the Lord in our work. And usually he uses things we do wrong to his own advantage. He's a lot smarter than us, that's for sure.

Hasta Luego,

Elder Minero El Misionero

letter to Daniel received November 9, 2008

Gabriel (just baptized) Me Paul (brother of Gabriel)
















Very hungry.











We taught a lesson yesterday and the member said the coolest thing. He was talking about the church and made a reference to spider-man saying, "Con gran poder, viene gran responsibilidad". (With great power comes great responsibility.)

The other day I invited a lady to a baptism and she couldn't come because she had work, and I didn't give her enough notice. She said that she wasn't quite ready, but almost came. She thought I was asking her to be baptized.

Yesterday we were reading scriptures with a member. We were reading two verses each. There were three of us. My companion took so long to read his verses I fell asleep. He had to wake me up when he was done. So missionary life is tiring. But I'm doing good; that's the first time in a month I've fallen asleep.

Hasta luego.
James

November 2, 2008

Yesterday at church two people showed up for church that had been talking to the English Elders. They liked it . We're going over there this week. I think they'll be good investigators.

We also found a lady Sharline about 2 weeks ago. She speaks English. We talked to her outside of her house 2 weeks ago. She said she works in a bar and feels really bad about it. We gave her over to the English Sisters (because she speaks English), and she came to church on Sunday. She said she got a new job and now works for an insurance company. We gave her a book of Mormon and told her to read and pray. She said shes been reading and made it to the second chapter. Then she showed us where she was and she was in Jacob 2--second book apparently. So we work together to find good investigators for other missionaries to teach.

Halloween was good. I bought caramel and cut apples. We also bought a pumpkin pie. We played a tile game called 'chicken foot' with the members we live with. I also got to hand out candy when the kids came.

I got the package Saturday, the day after Halloween, so I was impressed.

I think I've written enough. Hasta luego.

The Elder James Meiners