February 24, 2010

Dear family,
We didn't have the chance to see Reynold this week as we had planned, but we hope that everything is going well with him and that he is still reading from the Book of Mormon. We talked with Ashley Peterson at our appointment last week and she said that baptism is still something that she still needs to think about, and so we encouraged her to pray about it with real intent and we promised her that she would receive an answer. We didn't get to see Georgina and Will like we had planned, and also Elder Smethurst is still sick. He's been having a sore throat for about a week and a half, so he can't talk that much. We've still been trying to work as much as we can, but if it gets too bad, he doesn't feel like he can go out.
Here's the thing about going door-to-door. In most cases, it's unproductive, wastes time, and is used as a last resort. At least, this is how it is in Las Vegas because there's usually so much people to talk to on the streets or by their houses that you can keep yourself busy. But here in Bullhead, there's hardly anyone to talk to and the people who we do talk to don't even show a spark of an interest. So door-to-door sometimes is an option now because we have it as a last resort, but even then there's not much success. But usually, we try to just find people that are on the streets or by their home. I don't know, maybe you were just one of those poeple that were ready and if by some chance you didn't hear it directly from the missionaries, you would've heard of the gospel some other way. The Lord is always preparing people and if they're ready to hear about the gospel, they'll know one way or another. They just have to recognize it when they see it.
I think I'm starting to see the potential that this area has now. We talked to a guy yesterday in Laughlin and gave him a card, and he actually called the number and we got his information from Church HQ. So we're really excited to see where that will go.
That's cool that Amy Ferguson is going on a mission to Singapore. I think I might've heard somebody say something about her going before I came out. That's also cool that Andrea's already auditioned for Marching Band. I didn't know he did auditions that early, or maybe I did but I don't remember because it was so long ago (6 years). If she does get in, it's a lot of work! It'll take everything you've got, and it'll require a lot of effort.
Actually, if you're in a zone out of valley (Elko, Mesquite, or Kingman (Bullhead is in Kingman)), you don't get to go to the temple. But if you're anywhere in Las Vegas, you can go once a transfer (once every 6 weeks). Speaking of which, transfers are this week, so we'll see if I get a new companion or anything.
Oh yeah, I don't remember if I told you, but Elder Claudio Costa from the Presidency of the Seventy came to our mission last week and he talked to us about the role of the mission president and what our role as missionaries were. He talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and he said that if you're only at a house to teach a lesson, then you won't have the Spirit to guide you. I don't have my notes with me, but he also mentioned a lot of other interesting things. We also had a pretty interesting district meeting where the district leader compared the Plan of Salvation to a missionary life. He went and explained the "pre-mission life", the MTC was like the Garden of Eden, and leaving the MTC is like the Fall, and how what we do on our mission will determine what our life after our mission will be like.
That's pretty much it from me this week. If there's anything I need, I'll let you know.

I love you!

Elder Meiners