November 11, 2011

Dear family and friends,

          So things this week were a little interesting. I got to transfer conference on Tuesday and I realized that my new companion wasn't there because he hadn't been notified that he was leaving. So I got a ride down to my new area and the AP's had to come down late that night to bring my new companion down. So my companion's name is Elder Kynaston. He's been out for almost 4 months and he's from North Carolina. The AP's had to bring him in because we were getting double-transferred into the area (so I got double-transferred out and double-transferred in). Although, things look a little familiar in my new area because it's the Mountain View ward in Bullhead City. The last time I was in Bullhead City in January, I was in the River Gardens ward, but now I'm in the Mountain View ward, but it's funny because all 4 of us still live in the same apartment as when I was there (in fact, that trailer has had missionaries living in it for about 2 years or so). So some of the members from the River Gardens ward recognized me when I came to church on Sunday. There actually used to be sister missionaries in our ward, but like I said they got DT'd out.

          We don't have too much going on as of late. We saw one of our investigators named Rex, and apparently he's had the missionaries come to his house for a long time before, but I think things are starting to finally progress with him. He listens to the Book of Mormon on the audio CD's and he said that he really likes the book of Jacob. His wife is a member and they had us come over for dinner on Friday, and it was really nice. There's actually quite a few part-member families and less-actives in our ward and so we're trying to do the best we can to get to know them and have our dinner coordinator have them sign up for dinner with us. We also got to meet one of our investigators named Michelle. She also came to church yesterday, but she's going through a lot of things like trying to get some work, and their apartment has complications in it, and so she's working with her landlord to try and get everything fixed. We've also been trying to visit some of the people that the Sisters left behind such as investigators, recent converts, and less-actives.

           We also had a really cool fireside where the director, T.C. Christensen, for a lot of church movies (such as Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, The Testaments, Forever Strong) came and spoke about his newest movie 17 Miracles that portrays the hardships that the Willie(?) Handcart company faced when they came from England all the way to Zion in 1856. He shared a lot about the spiritual meanings behind the scenes and the things that he learned. It was sort of funny because when the director gave the audience a chance to ask him any questions, one of the River Gardens Elders from England asked if the actors were real Brits, or if they were Americans playing with British accents, the director said most of them were Americans with British accents and so everybody kind of got a laugh at that.

            I thought that the weather would still be a little colder like in Las Vegas, but it's actually not that bad right now. In fact, yesterday it felt great because it was in the low 80's. We didn't even have to wear a sweater because it was so warm, but it gets a little chilly at night.

            Our area is doing pretty good I'd say. It's a little tough when you get DT'd into an area and you're still trying to get to know the area and the members, but slowly but surely we're making our way. We're still trying to work hard and be obedient so we can find more people to teach because we could always use a few more people. That's pretty much all I have for this week. I'll tell you if I need anything.

I love you!

Elder Meiners