November 21, 2011

Dear family and friends,

          Things have been going pretty good this week. We got to teach Rex again this week and I believe he's set for baptism on Dec. 10th. He doesn't have too many vices, but he just has different views on things and we tell him that he can pray to know what's true and what is isn't because God won't lie to us. We haven't taught Michelle anything, but I think that she's a lot more relieved now that she has a job at KFC (it's actually the same KFC where the manager is a member and so we get free food every week on Tuesday). It was actually pretty interesting because Rex and Michelle were both at church, and then we also met some investigators at church (that we hadn't met yet) that came up to us after and scheduled appointments later on in the week. That hasn't happened too much on my mission. I think we're slowly but surely starting to get into the hang of things as to what to expect and how to teach people. We also got to meet Josh this past week (set for Dec. 3rd), and his wife Amanda is a less-active member. Josh just got out of rehab about 4 days ago and it was funny because they expected him to be there at least until December. He was in there for drinking, but he's a man of his word and so when he said that he was going to stop drinking, he did. He actually said that while in rehab, the counselors said he was being a good example and actually lifting people up. They said that he was "like a mountain and that everybody was hiking on him" and so they wanted him to stay longer so that he could help more people, but he said that once he completed the course, he wanted to be out of there. He's a really great guy and he seems happy.
          There's a member in our ward who has a less-active 17 year old son that's doing all the wrong things. He seems like he's doing really good, but then a couple days later he goes and does something bad and so the mom has been trying to talk with him and come out with the missionaries a couple times. He's now moved into Kenny's house (his friend) and Kenny was telling us that he's a Christian, but that he also wanted to start up a hooka bar. He was really into prayer and so he said that he was going to pray to see if this was what God wanted him to do, and the answer he recieved was no, so I thought that was cool.
          I remember you saying that you were baptized in North Carolina; my companion said that he's from Camden, NC in the northeast area of NC. As far as I know, we don't have too many plans for Thanksgiving day. We do have a member set up on that day to have dinner with, but I don't remember who it is. That must've been pretty nervous with a General Authority along with the stake president there at the meeting when you gave your talk! I'm sure it was great, though. In fact, I was a little nervous yesterday when Elder Parker and I did a musical number for a fireside yesterday (he played piano and I sang), but it was good, and we had a lot of compliments about it after.

 I'm not going to worry too much about trying to get new contacts because I still have 3 or 4 pairs left and I think that I can make due until the end of my mission. I don't think I'll need too much clothing for Christmas (the winters aren't that bad here in Bullhead and I might be here for awhile). I bought myself some black socks this week because the ones that I have were getting some holes in them, so I'm good on that.

That's so funny that Alyssa Blasko is going to Riverside and speaking Spanish just like James did for his mission. Chances are that she'll probably be in some of the same wards that he served (maybe even in some of the same areas!). With Spanish wards, sometimes they'll have more than 1 companionship and so it's easier to serve in the same ward.

          Our area is slowly getting more people to teach and I think that we're really excited for what's going to happen this transfer. We've got a few people set for baptism and they seem to be right on their way as long as they keep it up. I know that we also have to do our part too, such as work hard and be the missionaries that the Lord wants us to be. I'm trying to keep in my mind the saying that it's not where you serve, it's how you serve. Well, I can't really think of anything else. I'll let you know if I want anything for Christmas. Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving and tell everybody I said hi!

I love you!

Elder Meiners