Letter from Elder Meyer: Needs only one thing, more time on his mission. Unique Book of Mormon language discover (Q4).Letter from Elder Meyer: Needs only one thing, more time on his mission. Unique Book of Mormon language discover (Q4).Letter from Elder Meyer: Needs only one thing, more time on his mission. Unique Book of Mormon language discover (Q4).

Hello Everyone

This was an awesome week. We are doing really really good right now!!

- Our crab adventure.
We caught a ton of crabs and then brought them to members' house so they could have them.
It was fun.

Dad

I can't believe you. You put your trust in Google instead of Apple!!?? Haha. I can only imagine the look on your face and Brother Gagon's when he handed you that paper. It makes me laugh. Sounds like things are going well you being the new bishop. I am sure that you are really really busy. Don't worry, I know and can feel your love for me.  Have fun at dinner.

Dad, 58 is a ton of interviews, that is crazy. This week, we had 37 lessons, so you interviewed more people than I had a lesson with!!  That is crazy. I am sure at one point you and I were teaching at the same time, maybe even the same thing, or the same topic. Wouldn't that be pretty funny. Honestly I am doing really good, and don’t really need anything. I guess the only thing I need is more time on a mission. It is going really fast.

Question 1:  Share about the music you find yourself listening to throughout the week. Do you have a radio?

Answer: There is a radio in the car and we have the iPod and stuff. The music I listen to is all church music. I have a couple favorite songs no. One of them is called “Work”, I don't know who sings it, but it is a really awesome missionary song. The other is called “Right Now”, it is in the EFY songs.

Question 2: Is there anything on the island you would like to see that you haven't seen yet?

Answer: Besides more people baptized. But of actual places on the islands of Yap… I want to see the outer islands, but missionaries are not allowed there... Yet...

Question 3: Are there any more trips planned to the temple in the Philippians?

Answer: There should be one from each branch this year. They are looking for it to happen at the end of the year. We are trying to start a temple prep class now though.

Question 4: I believe you were re-reading the Book of Mormon in Yapese?  Have you picked up anything unique by studying in that language rather than English?

Answer: Yeah, I have. It is hard to explain though. Just when reading especially 1 Nephi. It is very easy to tell who is talking to who and how many people are involved. Like when Nephi is talking to Laman and Lemuel. Sometimes the sons of Ismael are there, and other times not.

Mom

I have not seen the new video. I really would like to. If I have time today, I will try and watch it, but the internet here is really slow. Sounds like you guys had a crazy adventure. I am glad that you guys all made it home safe and sound. I hope you guys still had a good trip.

Question 5:  What happened at church that was special for Easter?

Answer: Actually, nothing really. The first two speakers didn't say anything about Easter, then I was asked to be the concluding speaker, so I talked about Easter, and what it means, and why we celebrate it. The Strother's were excited that I talked about Easter because no one else did.

Question 6:  Are there ever special musical numbers in sacrament meeting?

Answer: No. Not really. No one really knows really how to sing here, so nothing ever really special. Sometimes the missionaries will sing a special number, and try and get a couple youth involved.

Question 7:  How many came to church yesterday?  What did you do at church?

Answer: There was about 60 people, I believe, which was pretty good because it rained really hard all day Saturday and didn't stop until Sunday, like around 3 or 4.

Question 8: How many lessons did you teach this week?  How many with members present?

Answer: Oh man this is a going to blow your socks off. You guys might want to sit down for this. We taught... 45 lessons and 34 of them were member present lesson. I know. Pretty awesome.

Question 9:  Name one unique thing that happened this week.

Answer: Ummm, I think the most unique thing that happened was the amount of lessons we taught this week. It was pretty awesome. We have a ton of member support. It is really great. It is really starting to accelerate the work here.

Question 10:  Tell about something that you have taught or spoken about in the last week.

Answer: Well, Pres Mecham is coming this weekend. And me and my comp have to prepare a training for the other missionaries when he is here (Zone Conference) We are going to train on how to improve your teaching skills. We have studied about teaching for understanding and asking question. Well, we have really started to be better at that in our teaching, and it has really helped. We are asking better questions, and it is really starting to open up our investigators to us. Then, the members that are with us help share their experience about things, and it is just working. We are hastening the work the way the Lord wants, and he is blessing us for it.

Question 11:  Tell about something you saw this week that make you laugh.

Answer: Two things were really funny. Elder Waimila was going to go and sit down at our house on one of the chairs. The chair is pretty old, and is not the most strong chair, but we still use it. When he went to sit down, BOOM the chair broke, and he was on the ground. It was really funny.!!

The other thing we had several members with us teaching, one of them is name T*rry. I don't know what was going on with her, but she was just really crazy that day. She is normally really quiet, but that day, she would not stop talking and laughing. It was funny.

Staheli: How are things going? I am doing great. My companion and I are really motivated about the work right now. Things are going great.

Reed: What up man? How are you doing? School is coming to a close. I bet you are going to enjoy summer. Things on Yap are rocking and rolling. There is nothing more fun than serving the Lord, I promise you that.

Letter to Everyone

Alright, what to share what to share. Things are really good here. We have so much support from the members. It is really awesome. We taught so many lessons, it is crazy. We had an investigator come to church on Sunday. It was great. It is the cousin of our last baptism named M*ckie. His name is J*stin. He is super cool. He should be baptized in May. We are look at the 17th. That is the plan. We have had 2 lessons with him, and he came to church, and is reading for the Book of Mormon. It is great. He is an awesome kid. I think he really enjoyed church to. He knows almost all of the young men/women. So that was good. He seemed to fit in pretty well. It was great. We are going to go back and see him on Tuesday. It is going to be great.

Somebody else we are teaching. The Mom is named L*ni and the son is N*than. She has another son named JP and he is baptized. No one else is though. So we are working with them. They didn't come to church, but we are going to keep talking to them. The son that is a member is a big help over there. We are going to work with him to get him to advance in the priesthood and maybe he will be able to baptize his mom and his brother. That would be super awesome. That would make me the most happy.

Well that is about it. We have a ton of investigators right now, and it is really good. I really think Yap is going to have a ton of baptisms in May. We are working really really hard right now, and we are going to see the fruit of it next month. The Aps, when they called, about fell out of their chair, when they saw how many lessons we had taught this week. They we stoked.

At zone conference all the missionaries that are going home before the next conference were invited to stand and share their testimony. I was the only one. I didn't feel like I was going home soon. I still don't.  I really love doing this work and I feel like I am just getting started. This really is the work of the Lord, and I love serving him.

I love you all so so much.

You are the best family in the world. I hope you guys know that. I really am so grateful that I was born into this family. I love and pray for you all.

Love Elder Meyer

Letter from Elder Meyer: Question 6 is unique.

Hello Everyone,  I can't believe how fast March has gone by. It has been a very fast month for me.

Dad

Congrats on the new calling that is really exciting. Sounds like things are pretty crazy with the whole calling switch. I am sure that you are going to stay busy. To answer question, Yes, I am happy. I am very happy. Why, I guess because I am serving the Lord in the spot of the world that makes me the most happy. Nothing could be better. 

That is an awesome goal to have the focus to be missionary work. It is really the most important thing. Elder Strother has been a bishop several times, and we were talking one day about activities in the church, he said that the activities he planned were not for the active members, rather for the investigator, or returning less actives. That everything was centered around them. I really liked that. The active members don’t really need the activities.  I definitely like that as a missionary I receive revelation for my investigators. I think it is pretty clear, when you are doing all you can to help them, when you are studying for them, then it is clear on what they need.

Question 1:  Can you describe a time this past week when the Lord directed you in a specific way?

Answer: I think yesterday. After church, we went teaching. We had a couple of appointments. We had a couple of members with us. One was a recent convert. We were looking for somebody to teach, and he said that is where his uncle lives. He said he is a member. I was pumped, he didn't want to go. I felt like we needed to go see him though. So he sat in the car while the rest of us went to go see this family. We talked to the wife, she was really nice. She said that her visiting teachers came by earlier that week and visited with them. We had a nice visit, and we set a return appointment. It was great.

Question 2: Can you describe a time this past week when a member received an answer to his/her prayer?

Answer: Well, the members are pretty involved in our work here, right now.  Some of the young men have been trying to help us. They have been praying to help us get new investigators, and this week they did it. We have a lot of new people that we are teaching.

Question 3: Can you describe a time this past week when you used the Priesthood?

Answer: Umm, yesterday, I confirmed a person that was baptized on Saturday.

Question 4: Can you describe a time this past week when someone received a copy of the Book of Mormon?

Answer: We were teaching this outer island girl, and we talked about the Book of Mormon and she asked for a copy right away. We gave her one. I hope she will read.

Mom

That is all the packages that I sent home; the long tube. I am not sure if anyone will guess what is inside. I like what is in there.  Dad is going to be a great Bishop, I know it. Be safe as you drive Staheli.

Question 5: Name one interesting thing that happened at church.

Answer: We had a branch correlation meeting. It was good… good. It was strange to have one, but it was good. It was mostly about missionary work for us. That is what everything is about. And we are involved in it all.

Question 6: Did you get any packages this week?  (You should have gotten the backpack and the noodles that grandma made)

Answer: Umm not yet. I have not gotten the mail yet, today, I think that I should get it today.  A dead body flew in last week, so not very much mail made it to Yap.

Question 7: Tell about one time this week when you used an object lesson to teach a principle of the gospel.

Answer: This week I used the three 3 cups and 3 spoons thing to represent the three things we need to do to keep our faith strong. Church, pray, read. You have to organize the spoons on the cups and hold up the Book of Mormon (faith).  

Question 8:  Describe a time this week when you experienced something brand new.

Answer: I had a crab that was from the ocean this week. Most of the crab that people eat here is land crab, but this one came from the ocean. It chills out at the bottom. A member gave it to us. It was really good.

Question 9: Share something that you learned while studying this week.

Answer: I read the Book of Ether. Man o man. Pride is the destruction of everything. As I was reading, I can see how pride can ruin everything.  It made me nervous. I know that I am prideful in some things. I mean everyone is, but when a nation is prideful all together, it is the end of them.

Question 10: Do you eat coconut every day?

Answer: Almost every day. When we are walking around people will normally offer us a coconut. The members will almost always give us a coconut.

Question 11:  What is one food that you have grown to really like, that you can't get here?

Answer: Coconuts, taro, tapioca. All really good stuff. I don't think you can get them in the states, well… at least not fresh ones.

Question 12: How many people came to church - what did you do at church this week?

Answer: I blessed the sacrament, and taught primary. There was about 68 people there.

Staheli - Dad said that you were in Chico. I am sure that you guys had a lot of fun. I sure do love you.

Reed - Hey guess what, Dad is the one who gets to help you out on your missionary paper work, and stuff. That is pretty cool. You doing good?

Letter to Everyone

Alright, so this week was still pretty tough. The basketball tournament is still going on down here. So that makes it hard, but it was still a pretty good week. There were two baptisms this week. One was a child of record the other a convert. The convert is in the sister’s area, it was a really nice service. So that was good. The child of record was A*gustine's girl, V*nesha. She was really excited. A*gustine was pretty nervous about baptizing her. We went and talked to him. He said that he would baptize her, but was not sure about giving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We talked with him some more, and he ended up doing it. He did a wonderful job. The blessing was very nice, and he did a good job. It took a little bit of convincing, but he did it. I was very happy. Sister Campbell said that it was really cool, to have the father baptize his daughter. I couldn't agree more. Seeing A*gustine do that made me really happy. Seeing that someone that I helped teach, stay active in the gospel, long enough to go to the temple, come back and then baptize and confirm his daughter. AWESOME!!

On Sunday, we had a fireside. We were in charge of it. It was really good. We sang two songs as missionaries. The Sisters, Strothers, me and Ramiterre, sang the song “As sisters in Zion/Army of Helaman combo. It was really good. Then all the missionaries sang a song called Oh Lord, My Redeemer. It was really awesome. The whole thing was about missionary work. We had a couple speakers. It was great. Then we had the youth act out some skits. We split them up into three groups. It was really funny. We gave them some random props, and gave them a topic. Like Open your Mouth, Be Bold, and Doubt not fear not. We had the missionaries guide the group and had them prepare a skit about their topic. They were all really funny. Everyone participated, even the really shy people. It was great. I recorded all of the skits, so you will see them someday.  I keep forgetting to send home a memory card. One of the 16 GB ones. I will try to do that this week. Anyways... It was a really good activity. I think everyone had a lot of fun, and everyone really enjoyed the skits. And the spirit was also there. So I think it was a successful activity.

We are still working with the same investigators. And*rson, this is the guy that has the seizures. He has a really strong love for the gospel. He is so good. I just hope he will come to church on Sunday. I really like teaching him. They are short and sweet lessons, but it is what he needs. He said that he knows this church is true. It was great. I really am excited for him. He will be good.

There was a baptism on Saturday. It was in the Gagil area. It is the District Presidents mother in law. It was a really good service. It was almost all done in Outer island language, so it was hard to understand, but I got the jist of it. We were 1 baptism short of our goal in March.  We were striving to get 5, but we ended up with 4. I hope that we are going to be able to get five this month.

In the meeting here, we totaled the number the mission thinks it can get. It came out to be 113 this month. So we thought that we would make the mission work really hard, and so we set the goal to be 120. It would be the most we have ever baptized in 1 month. We got 116 in August of last year. We are going to try to beat that. It would be really awesome if we could. The training was about getting our vision to match Heavenly Father’s vision. It was really good. We talked about how now, we are doing things that the mission thought was impossible a couple of years ago. So we have set some goals that the mission thinks is impossible, and we are going to get them again. Like the 1,000 baptism this year. It is a large goal, but we can do it. Everything is possible if we have the Lord’s help. 

This is last week I am with Elder Ramiterre. He is going home at the end of the week. We fly to Guam together for a meeting then I come back to Yap and he is going back to Philippines. He is going to be sealed in the temple with his family. It will be really great. He is really excited about that. When I come back to Yap from Guam, I will most likely have my new missionary companion with me. He could be from anywhere, and have served anywhere. I do not know.

After this transfer, I only have 2 more. Man time has gone by so fast. I can't belive two years is almost up. With Elder Ramiteree going home, it makes me think of when I will go home. As soon as I start to entertain that thought, I about start to cry. I cannot imagine leaving these people here. It is kind of like leaving for the MTC, except my whole life I was looking forward to going and serving, but this (coming home) I never thought of having to do. I can't imagine me not being here. Don't get mad about this, but this is my home.

Well, time is almost up. I just want to say thank you for all you guys do for me. I really really appreciate all the love and support you guys give me. I don't think I tell you enough for how grateful that you are my family.

Love Elder Meyer

P.S.  Can you order a couple more scriptures?  I just got the other ones you sent. They are going to love them.  These ones are for some of the young men that come teaching with us, that want to serve a mission.  The names are:   Magmay N and  James Ruwol.  You guys are the best