Week 54

Hey Everyone!

Well the mark is past and everything is supposed to go by faster. and so far that is very true. this last week flew by so fast! it scares me so much. i really just dont wanna leave here haha.

Monday 8-18-14

today was pretty boring to be honest. i just took a big nap when i got home from everything. i was so dang tired. it felt very good to be able to relax tho. i havent had that for a very long time. we didnt really even teach any lessons today too. so that kinda sucked. but we did get to talk to a women by the name of Samantha who lives in a really nice living scheme. she seems like she would do really well in the gospel. she was taught by missionaries like 10 years ago over in Sav as well. we set up an appointment to see her on fr4iday so im really stoked for that. it was the highlight of the day tho. we really had nothing else to do for the rest of the day

Tuesday 8-19-14

Zone Conference is one of the best and worst times ever. its the time that all the missionaries can get together and learn, but we always learn what we are doing wrong haha. for this zone conference, Elder J. Devn Cornish, the area president, came and addressed us. man it was freaking sick! that man knows so much about the gospel! sometimes being a missionary is the best thing ever! one thing that he talked about was "The Doctrine of Christ - The Missionary Purpose". a few things that he said was that its not ok for us to be Telestial Beings cause we have so much more potential that that. he also said our message as missionaries is the most important message ever. no soul will ever get to our real home without living and having the doctrine of christ. as well as Missionaries are the only onesw in the Kingdom of God (church on the earth) who have the authority to teach and baptize non members. if we dont deo it then people have to wait until they die to be taught the gospel. those are some major things to think about. he also talked a lot on how we needed to work through the members more, especially the less active members, in order to baptize more. the mission is letting too many people slip through. he showed us how for every baptism the mission gets, it takes 23 new investigators just to get it but in Hatti they get a baptism for every 8 new. less active members are the way to go because they have friends who are not LDS. the reason that so many other missions have such good numbers is cause they work with the less active members. so thats one thing that we are going to do in Santa Cruz. most of the members are less active so its a perfect place to implement all that was learned. plus, it will reactivate less active members as we teach their friends with them. two birds with one stone haha. 

Wednesday 8-20-14

well most of our appointments blew out today so i think i got some blisters from sitting on my bike haha. not really but we did a lot of riding around today cause no one wanted to see us for some reason. we did get some pretty good finding done tho. it looks like we found some people who could progress really well. the next step is just to teach them. they all are very humble and they live in nice living schemes too. its so great haha! we did have a lesson with Amoy tho. and we did a role play with her. the confidence that she has has really gone up since i first got here! she is gonna be such a good missionary! thats really it for the day tho.

Thursday 8-21-14

i was scarred for life today. we biked up to brother samuels house today to do some service for him. well it was freaking awful. the first part wasnt bad, we just held some nails for him. but its when he fed us that things turned bad. walking in that house, the only thing you see is porn. the spirit is not there at all. we ate as fast as we could and then just got out of there. i really am scarred for life because of it. the rest of the day we did some work with the members. we went up to sister dunkley to coordinate a lesson with her. she is pretty good with missionary work. she seemed quite excited for it too. then we went over to Tianna to coordinate a lesson for Mickailia. really not a big day with lessons but it was still a very productive day.

Friday 8-22-14

today was probably one of the most interesting and productive fridays that i have had in santa cruz. we took sister dunkley to a lesson before we super planned, and it blew out. but she was all good with it. she even helped us to contact a person up by her house kinda. it was pretty sick. then after planning we went up and saw samantha, the lady we met on monday. we had a really good lesson with her. it was just about our purpose but she was very active in the lesson. she kept us thinking and we kept her thinking so that it was more of a conversation. i really believe that once she comes to church she is gonna be there for life. she has a small family )her, an 11yr old girl, and a 5yr old girl) that the members in the branch would just really love. after that we went and had a lesson with Mickailia about Prayer. it was a pretty good lesson. its one thing that she struggles with remembering to do. this week i am texting her to remind her so hopefully that helps a bit. and hopefully her dad will give her permission for baptism here soon. he should be coming to church next week with a group he is in charge of so we are having some big prayers for that. friday night activity was pretty good as well. we started out with the normal games (like uno and charades) and it went into karaoke cause all the girls (meaning everyone that came) wanted to do it. that about killed me haha. its having girls between the ages of 13-15 just yell in your ear. but it was fun so thats what matters haha.

Saturday 8-23-14

i think that today was very interesting to say the least. we got to see a new guy by the name of andrew plummer. it was a good lesson really. he lives in a super nice house but is busy all the time so its hard to see him. hopefully work will allow him to be in Santa more so that we can actually go and see him. i did get to sit in a couch tho! it was the first time in a couch since the McCalla home in Spanish Town! it was so freaking good haha! then afterwards a storm came in that reminded me of the one back in Port Antonio when i was at the Campbells home. the lightning and thunder were really right over our heads! one bolt even came close to us i think! it hit a telephone wire or something so we smelt that for a few minutes. it was so cool but also very scary! at the end of the day when we went to have our meeting with Pres Durrant, he told us that due to certain health reasons, the seminary teacher had to be released and that he needed us to teach it cause there were not a lot of other choices. so the missionaries are now the seminary teachers in the Santa Cruz branch. im pretty stoked for it to be honest. i so wish that i had done more in seminary. i love to teach youth too so it will be a ton of fun! its something that we get to do 4 days a week so one of us each day will probably do a lesson. it doesnt start till september so we'll see what the time is going to be like. it will probably be right in the afternoon when everyone is getting home from school or something. its gonna be the best time i think. but that also means that the missionaries hold most of the callings in the branch. we're the clerks, young womens, youth sunday school, elders quorum, activity directors, and most of whatever else you can think of other than branch president and relief society. santa cruz is an interesting place for sure but you gain some great experience from it for sure.

Sunday 8-24-14

today was one of the hardest days of all time. the only highlight of the day was when we had a lesson with Mickailia right after church. and even then there was a let down. we taught her obedience. it was a good lesson tho. the down part was that her friends (members) were a bit more focused on going and watching a tv show instead of helping to teach her. but the good thing is that Mickailia was pushing for the lesson to happen. she didnt even care if her friends were there or not, she just wanted to have the lesson haha. that means she is either almost or fully converted to the gospel! perfectness haha! even if she doesnt get baptized real soon, she will definitely be going to church for the rest of her life. it may have to wait till she is 18, but we are pushing for her to be baptized ASAP! oh and i also had to give a talk in church today. i have now given 3 talks in church on my mission haha. today was about excising faith. i basically just read Alma 32 and added some stuff in it. oh well haha. im much better with things when i can prepare for a bit haha. the rest of the day really sucked tho. every single last person we could go see blew out. there are some people that we have been trying to see since i got here, and we still have not really seen them. they just always flake out. that is the part of missionary work that i just hate. people need to learn how to put God first and not forsake him for the world when things go wrong. i am so glad that i served a mission. i see so many things that the gospel brings to people when they live it and its what i want. the things that come from not living the gospel, i never wanna have for anything. i would die before those came in my life.

So thats the week. i really loved when elder cornish came. he is a very smart man and super nice as well. i so wish i could go out teaching with him for a member present lesson haha. Missions are by far the best thing that anyone can do. when the person is ready, they need to go on a mission. either the situations in life will humble you, your mission will humble you, or your wife will. and i dont want it to have to be the 3rd one haha (its a good thing dont worry :D)

Love,

Elder Kurt Meacham

Scripture Thought

Moses 7:26-41