Hi friends and fam,
1- Sacapuntas means pencil sharpener. I'm not sure I understand missionary humor, but it sounds like a word Jace would like.
2- Of course he named the birds......
3- I just love this kid!
Family and Friends,
This week was easily my favorite week. Never has a week been filled with so much hilarity and spiritual experiences. The hilarious events and spiritual experiences go as follows:
-There is a sister in my district named Hermana Fink. Due to her undying loyalty and severe reprimands to the rules and those who break them, she is more affectionately known as ´The Finkinator´. My favorite aspect of the Finkinator, besides her love for HP and fluency in Dwarfish Ruins, is her tendency to hide the elders´ things when she feels they have been disobedient. This week my scriptures were put in a bag and hidden outside in a tree because I refused to organize my pamphlets. LOL. To get back at the Finkinator, the other elders and I wrote Finkinator on about 100 little pieces of paper and hid them in various locations throughouts Fink´s belongings. Let´s just say it resulted in my gel pens being thrown in my direction.
- The second hilarious item is Operation Break the Weight. Due to the fact that we have been trapped inside a minimum security prison for almost 5 weeks, myself and some other missionaries have become a little restless. To combat this, I decided that district 114 is going to start pranking other missionaries. The target happened to fall on Elder Weight. Elder Weight is huge. Not fat huge, more like adolescent giant huge. He is also extremely smart which makes him all the better. We first started the pranking by simply leaving notes that said Sacapuntas in his scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and on his desk. Eventually we got more and more crafty. So far we have managed to put them in his rice, deterrgent, shoes, above is pillow, under his classroom door while they were having class, and my personal favorite, on the toilet seat lid in the stall he ALWAYS uses at exactly 10:17 P.M. Needless to say after the toilet seat incident he lost it, so I would say it has been a successful operation.
-My favorite part of the day is when I force my companion to come with me to check on this bird´s nest we found. I have been watching it for the past couple weeks and it is always the highlight of my day. I have watched the two babies, Juan and Santiago, grow from little eggs into cute little chicks. The mother also loves me because I always sneak a roll out of the cafeteria and feed it to her. The male Snow White lives on.
-On Saturday this week we had our first real proselyting experience. We got to be paired up with a real missionary and go out contacting, teaching, and visiting less actives. The days leading up to the activity I was extremely nervous. My ability to speak Spanish is actually really good. I undertstand all the grammar and I memorize words like a mad man. My ability to understand what other people are saying, however, is practically non existent. The days before the activity I would pray every night for not only the gift of tongues, but the gift to understand. I would plead everynight with Heavenly Father telling him I had done all I know how to do, but I still can´t understand. The day of the activity I was extremely nervous. The Latinos on the bus with us from the CCM would try to talk to me and I would struggle to understand. The directions given to us in the chapel before we left was all in normal rapid fire Spanish, and again I struggled to understand. My confidence was waning. I got paired with an American guy who was leaving next week, his latino companion, and a Latino companionship from the CCM. This meant that everyone in my group could speak and understand Spanish, except me. When we got to the first house, the veteran elder knocked on the door, and then said that two missionaries needed to hurry and perform the contact. We had watched a broadcast from Elder Holland earlier that week that talked about how we as missionaries only need to open our mouths and God will do the rest. We had also heard the words from Elder Bednar that if you want to gain faith, you need to act first. With the words of the Apostles in my mind I stepped forward and volunteered. In that moment I prayed as hard as I could. I begged Heavenly Father to help me understand. I told him I was here, nervously awaiting someone to answer the door, because I wanted to help others come unto Christ, and I was willing to open my mouth if he would help me. The Lord never disappoints. As soon as the young woman opened her door, the Latino I was with began to speak back and forth with her in quick, quiet Spanish. Somehow I was able to understand. I sat there sharing scriptures and testifying to the young woman that I knew God loved her. I could tell her that with all the surety of my heart, because in that moment I could feel God´s love for me in every word she said that I could understand. The girl said she would love to hear more and we made an appointment. That first experience gave me the courage I needed to carry on through the rest of the day. I didn´t understand all of of Spanish spoken that day, but the Lord always made sure I never felt inadequate. The people here and so kind, humble and willing to listen. It was such a great experience and I can´t wait to get out into the field!
All in all, this week was fantastic. The group I came over with is now the oldest group in the CCM, and it feels like we just got here yesterday. I am grateful for all of you and all of your prayers. I love this Gospel and I love all of you!
Love,
Elder Meier.
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