Elder John Meyer: Letter from Elder Meyer: White shirts are now brown (Q7). Misspoken Yapese word results in new person to teach (Q9).

Hello Everyone.

Sounds like you guys are doing really great. I can't believe that another week has gone by. Time is flying so so fast.

Dad

Yep Pres Mecham is on the island. He came for District and Zone conference. I wish people on Yap did home teaching like you guys do. I can't complain too much because not very many people in the world do it. That is so cool on the # of Ordinances. That is awesome

Question 1: Did the scriptures show up yet?

Answer: Yes they did. Funny story. President Jim, our District Pres had them for about a week. I don't know why he had them, but he did. They said my name on them, and he opened them up to see what was in them. He thought that it was really nice.

Question 2: Any news on teaching the “chief”?

Answer: He is doing alright. It is a slow pace right now. His wife is very sick and in the hospital, so I have not seen them for a while.

Question 3: Are there any particular scouting merit badges that have proven helpful to you during your mission?

Answer: I couldn't say. I was talking with Elder Hatch about merit badges and neither of us could really remember which ones we did. I am sure that they did. I know just doing the work for them in general was helpful because it is learning and aplying new skills just like wahat you do on a mision.

Question 4: Could you share a brief testimony of anything you want?

Answer: I know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. That he came to this earth. Set up His Church, and Atoned for our sins. I know that he died on the cross and 3 days later that he was resurrected. That he LIVES. That in, and only through Jesus Christ can we be saved. That He established His church once again on the earth thru Joseph Smith. That Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet and that he translated the Plates into what we call today as the Book Of Mormon. The book is true. It is another testament, another witness, of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know for a surety that there is a prophet on the earth today His name is Thomas S Monson. His job today is to help us follow God and Christ. That he is given direction from Jesus Christ. I say this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Mom

I can tell that you are very excited to get off that crazy schedule. I would be too.

Question 5: What do you want for your birthday?

Answer: I don't know. If I think of something, I will let you know.

Question 6: Do they hold Young Women's camp on Yap?

Answer: No, they don't. We had a youth camp last year. I think there is a plan for one this year though.

Question 7: How are your clothes holding up?

Answer: Just fine. I have some white shirts that now are brown shirts, but it is no big deal. They still work.

Question 8: Did the new Elder come?

Answer: No. We are still at 5. That is really good though. President Mecham promised us a new elder in a week though.

Question 9: Describe a time you felt directed by the Holy Ghost this week.

Answer: I was talking to a less active member about the church. There was a different girl sitting off to the side. So I started talking to her too. I was testing my Yapese and asking them questions on how to pronounce words. One of the words I talked about was “chon”, which means member of. I know the word very well. However; I turned it into member of church. I asked her if she wanted to be a member of this church, she said maybe. Now we have a new investigator, just for practicing Yapese. It was all guided by the spirit.

Question 10: Tell me about church - beginning to end.

Answer: Well, it was District conference. It was really good. We had some members speak. It was nice. One of the speakers didn't show up and Elder Baliling was asked to fill in. He did a good job. Then the rest of the time was handed over to Pres and Sister Mecham and Pres Hales (2nd counselor of mission pres) They all talked. They did a good job. They mostly talked about how they can best help the church grow on Yap. He told them to give us people to teach and the only way the church can grow is with the member’s help. So we should be getting lots of referrals sometime soon. After that, they provided lunch and we had another session. Pretty much the same thing. After that, we went home. Then we went out a taught more. Everyone else went home.

Question 11: Have you watched conference yet? Did you cancel church and watch it?

Answer: I have not watched it yet. We are watching it this Saturday and Sunday.

Staheli

Thanks, I am very excited about teaching the chief. Him joining could change the way the whole island looks on "Mormons." I have a really hard time believing that I have been doing this for almost a year. It is crazy. I don't really want to be half done. You are going to be published in the international conventions? I am not sure what that means, but that is really cool. Is this for your job? Tell me a little bit about what it means to be a co-experimenter. From my end it sounds pretty amazing. I miss you a lot too. I love it that you are always in the newspaper or being published for something. It is really awesome. You are doing great. I love you so much.

Reed

So you are still doing school work. That is good. I am really sorry about your whole head thing. I wish there was something I could do. I hope you get better soon. Love you man

To Everyone

Alright this last week has been pretty hard. We have had many lessons on us cancelled. We are going to keep trying though. As you know Pres and Sister Mecham came and are still here actually. In Zone Conference we talked a lot about opening your mouth. D&C 33 8-10. There are so many places that talk about opening your mouth and it shall be filled. I am almost finished reading D&C. and most of it is people being called on missions, opening their mouths and the field is white ready to harvest. It is talking about here and now. All we need to do is OPEN OUR MOUTHS. We are doing that as full time missionaries, but something that I have learned here is that it is actually the members that are the missionaries and without them, the full time missionaries can't do anything. So my advice to you is to open your mouths, they will be filled, you may not know what to say at first, but the Lord has promised that He will tell you in the very hour what ye shall say.

We are still teaching the same people right now. Nothing too new.

Scriptures… this is really good. I got the scriptures you sent. I gave some of them away already. Two stories.

Ann* Felt*nag. She was so so excited. I couldn't believe it; I can't even express how she felt. The next day I saw her husband, he told me that she was so excited and that it meant so much to her.

Second… S*m, he is going to serve a mission in a year or so. He was so excited about the scriptures. He asked how many times do I need to say thank you. It was great.

I think you guys will like this. I helped S*m and P*ter in the taro patch. It was really muddy and really fun.