7 Oct 2013 Loved Conference

  Haven't gotten in contact with the H.family. E is doing very well. We are going to go over the Plan of Salvation this week. No one we teach got to conference, B. R. bailed at the last minute. The Goldsboro Zone goes from here to VA. It is big enough to be split in half.

Ya, I know, its interesting having a companion that goes home with you. 6 transfers left. But, none the less, we keep working. I sent mom an email about a book I read this week that opened my eyes to member missionary work. Try it out for size, it's a very expounding read. Power of Every Day Missionaries by Clayton M. Christensen available at Deseret Book.

  I can't wait for mission reunions in the coming years, it would be interesting. I noticed I took less notes from Conference this go round. Maybe it's because I know how to answer my own questions now, and don't need to find the Truth in The Church now that I have found it. Nonetheless, good talks, alot about member-missionary work. Elder Holland's was a surprise. loved Pres. Monson's, "The stronger the wind, the stronger the tree..." of course. Well, time is up here, Glad all is going well there. Talk to ya'll later.

Love, Elder Meyerink

30 Sept 2013 Staying put

E. came to Church!!! Finally. He is Brother T. by the way. We are going over to watch a movie with them tonight. Don't worry, it's The Prophet of the Restoration. He only went to sacrament though, thus improvement. We have a return appointment with the M family on Oct 9th. At the moment, the chances of him "Changing Churches" is very slim according to him and the members that know him very well. But, apparently, if we can get to her, that would get him. Yes, B. R. is a single father.  To give you an Idea, he has  eight great grandbabies. Anyways, A. and C. were busy this week so were going to text them and get a RA appointment hopefully this week if not next. Not to mention there is a couple coming back to activity, but they go and come every year apparently. Another family came which hasn't been in at least 8+ months. He got work off yesterday, he works at the pickle plant, and they got to Church. 

   Transfer calls were Sunday night. Both Elder Kimball and I are staying here. One of the Spanish Elders we live with is going to the north half of the Zone, and swapping for the Elder there. Apparently, the "Goldsboro curse" allows eighty percent of missionaries to have two areas in the zone back to back. Challenge accepted.  
  I have read that article, we get the Ensign every Zone meeting, and loved it!! Grace + Works has always been a big topic of mine to understand, study, and teach. I think I got it from Believing Christ. Ironically, everything you noticed is what I got from it as well. My companion read it too, he plays Piano very well, and loved it as well. Teaching E. about the 3 degrees of glory, we heavily mentioned the amount of the "Testimony of Jesus" in D&C. He said it made a bit more sense to see it that way. We did a cool little thing with three different flashlights for the 7year old as well, all different in their brightness.

    General Conference is gonna be awesome!! We can't wait. Due to the vast distance between wards, they have been broadcasting it at the ward buildings, not just the Stake centers. As for the moment, I have become a lot happier in life now that I know what's going on for myself. I am a lot less quiet, more fun loving, yet more serious when the time arises. It's a weird feeling to know I am no longer a teenager. That and Elder Kimball and I keep mentioning how old we are in the Mission time has flown! The last six months are around the corner, and I am going to try to put on my best game, prayers for such are appreciated. :)

 

23 Sept 2013 We like our new house

  A. wrote me a letter a few months ago and said he was called to be a ward missionary. I think it's cool we are both involved in the same work together. Did the guy that just got baptized just move in or who was it?  The mission and the county wanted to move us do to the fact that we were biking on the highway. Not to mention the house was a total wreck. Ya, your not the only one that noticed the fact that I move in every city. Ha, hopefully I stay in the next one too. Either that or the Lord puts me in the situations cause I know what to do i.e. spackle the walls, re-caulk the tub lining, fix the toilet flow valve and other things missionaries tent to not care about because they are to busy preaching the Gospel. "Make my House an house of order...a house of cleanliness" The new one is good. By the way, transfer calls are coming up this Sunday night.
  Ha ha, the M.. Not by chance. He and his wife were a member referral that are very well acquainted with them. They are very active in their church. She loves the prophecies of Isaiah and he loves the Four Gospels. Ironically, they are both in the Book of Mormon (well the 5th Gospel anyway.)
     Zone conference was great. President Baker is a convert as well as Pres. Perry. From the word of Pres. Baker, "I was baptized, served as a Sake President, then as a Bishop, and now I'm serving my Mission. It seems backwards." We all got a laugh from that. They introduced a new booklet that help deal with Missionary stress. Apparently they are giving that out at the MTC instead of the Health Guide.
  No, B. R. is S.'s  Father. A. and C. are the ones that aren't married. We had a great lesson with the T. though about 3 degrees of Glory and how to get there.
  So we have a riding mower now huh? Is it still gonna be in running condition when I get home so I can use it? Those are common here. grass grows like crazy...Oh, how was The Game? I heard it was this last Saturday. Glad to know all is going well. Thanks for sending the books.

Have a great week.

 Love

2013 Sept. 16 We moved new address

  Sorry that I wrote such a short note last week, the library was having problems, but I have a card now. Good to hear Sacrament meeting there was good. Just so ya'll know, SLC missions are the highest baptizing Missions in the world :) It is good to hear about mom's new calling.  We never know what The Lord has in store for us. And yes, I've gotten the Blog address, I approved it. Thanks for the books, I'm about a third of the way through "Faith Preceeds the Miracle."  

  By the way, we finally moved. Any mail you send needs to be sent to

 805 Holloman St. 

Mt. Olive NC, 28365

But as for how The Work goes, here's the report. B.R. and S.are reading their illustrated Book of Mormon. We have a lesson with the H.family tonight to talk about the restoration. We contacted a new couple, they seem more interested than before they met us. E. is reading the copy of Principles of the Gospel book we gave him, along with the rest of the military standard works (Small red set given to people serving in the military .) We dropped by J.home and gave him some Plan of Salvation Pamphlets to read over to discuss  when we see him this week. So far, this area is now better than I found it, hopefully it keeps going that way. It felt a bit slow with the move this week, but all is well. We have Zone Conference this Friday, just the Goldsboro Zone and Pres. Baker.

Got to go, sorry it's short, not much goin' on here. Fixin'  to get better though!

Love Ya'll

Elder Meyerink 

9 Sept 2013 4 pics, Busy teaching, Tilling Lord's ground

 9 Sept 2013

       This week was a bit less busy. But we have some part member families we're going to be working with soon. If you could keep them in your prayers. They are: The H., H., T., and the of course still, B. R. & S.. By the way, B. R. volunteered for a closing prayer this week. It was amazing. We gave them an animated copy of the book of Mormon as well. They seem to enjoy it. We're going to get them an audio copy as well. Yes, teaching is hard here. But it's worth it.  

  As for "My Mission" means my personal ministry. And yes, we're getting the ball rolling here. I had the thought this week that I am a "Tiller" in the Lord's vineyard. The thought came when I called the Sandbridge VA Beach Elders and they thanked me and my companions for our "Groundwork there" I get to areas that are a bit rough, loosen up the soil help get HT going, work well with Bishop, and find a bunch of great potential investigators all in time to be transferred. Oh well, If that's what The Lord wants me to do, I'll try to focus on that. After all, there are differences all for the "edification of the Body of Christ" as Paul, ..apparently he was short), reminds us to be different, it's okay in fact it's needed.

 Books. Yes, I got it, I'm on Chapter three and I love it! I was at a members house and flipped through Be your best self and liked it, goes in with the "Body of Christ" theme, In which I've been trying to figure out who I am and who He wants me to be as of late.  

  Got to do some other computer stuff.

Love ya

Elder Meyerink  .

Attached is the very 1st Chesapeake Virginia Mission picture. 2013 July.   History has been made!! Where in the Picture is Carmen San..... I mean Elder M?  hint front to left of flag pole.  It helps to double click and enlarge the picture!!

 Elder Meyerink & Elder Kimball met with "sister" friend and her husband for lunch at highway 55, Mt. Olive, NC.   Friend lived in SLC, UT now lives in NC! what a small world.

26 Aug 2012 Teachin' is Pickin' up

 Hi  Ya all,

  The way I figures, I can have around 17-18 companions by the time I'm done with my mission. And yes, lots to learn from them. Elder Kimball is from Denton Texas, just north of Dallas. Tell A., see if he knows where it is. Ya, we'll both be at the airport when we fly home together ( Since they have both been out 1 year they will  probably leave it at the same time). He came from the top of the zone, Rocky Mount War Area, he got a member ride to the stake center in Greenville, and then our WML took us back to our apartment.

  "Pickin up" means were teaching more people/working harder. We had four lessons yesterday. :) That's a record for my mission. (Europe and The South have been dubbed the two hardest areas of The Work) Nonetheless, it rolls forth as David  told. Rural? Very...we drive past corn, cotton, tabacco (pronounced 'Backah here), soybean, and many other multitudes of crops all the time. The snakes come from service at Sister B's farm. We do live in "Norcalinea" it's just a part of life here. There is a Less active member that has 40 pet snakes...all caged though.

   Ya, as to learning from the mission, Pres. Baker told me to well... "Learn from it, it will bless your life tremendously." No doubt well keep teaching B. R., after all, "The whole need no physician, but they that are sick" We had an amazing lesson with him and S. We watched the restoration after a bit of explanation. He loved it, so we left him with the dvd and will talk about it this week. I like the analogy of "Spiritual High School" (ref from Dad's letter to A) Not to mention it seems like the whole world while your here, and when it's over, you completed it just like everybody else did, but what you got from it was different.

    Didn't know that about Aunt P.'s conversion story, I mentioned  to the other elders as we left today that you were a "Golden Contact" so I thought it interesting you mentioned that time frame. And yes, it is awesome teaching someone with my name. By the way, thanks for the epic name. :) We also gave a blessing to a part-member family wife, yesterday before she started teaching school today. The husband (nonmember) insisted his daughter get one too, so she got her first blessing. He will no doubt join The Church some day. He is really searching for it. Could you keep him in your Prayers? E. T. and family. He liked the Sister missionaries discussion with him about Eternal Families and Temples. He's definitely progressing. They are technically teaching him though. I'm just glad he's growing. He and I are kinda the same.

Thanks for the Email.

Take care, Elder Meyerink

2013 August 19 Transfer, teaching and snakes!!

 Aug 19, 2013

 

Transfer calls came. Elder Richardson is going to Gloucester VA, finally leaving Mt. Olive after  7 1/2 months since day one on his mission. Elder Kimball from the Raleigh side is coming here. He's been out about a year. Should be a good transfer. Things are pickin' up. Good to know what's going on back home, in the ward etc., Got the boots and the book,  two weeks ago. 

      Oh, we encountered two snakes this week. One 6 ft. black rat snake (non-venomous) and a 4 ft. Copperhead (venomous)  which I killed with a Bush axe.  I'll send picks :P So, thanks for the boots again. As for luggin' stuff around, I'm sending a box of stuff home soon. I should be good for a bit longer.
       As for people were teaching. It's mainly me. I'm feeling now more than ever that this Mission will be the highlight of my life and I will be learning so much from it to use later. I have learned more single points of tips for later on in life than people I have contacted. Not to mention the blessing of counsel a few weeks ago from Elder Bowes, district leader who finishes his mission tomorrow. He said "The reason you are here now and doing the things you are, will be revealed unto you at a later date."
      But, B. R. told us yesterday something he did when he was younger...so it might be a while before he can be near baptism. Aaron, a new investigator, is the boyfriend of a less-active lady. We had a good chat with them this week and shared a scripture about prayer and a Mormon Message from Pres. Hinckley about the two boys that put dollar coins in the farmers boots. It's called "Lessons I learned as a boy" Just for info. He liked it, and was glad we came and said, "Definitely" when he said, "We'll see ya later." We talked and figured this would reactivate her as well. We're gonna' text her to see if she thinks he's ready for the Missionary Lessons. So that's The Work here.
     Oh, and the P. from Sandbridge,  were baptized on the 14th and confirmed on Sunday!!! They're members now! The only Legitimate family with both parents and kids I have ever taught are members!! I'll send a pic when I get one.
      My story of the week comes from "Joseph Smith the Prophet." Brother Joseph leaned over to a brother in a meeting and said, "I'd take you if you were a bit bigger" (Meaning wrestling) He replied, "I recon' you can take me the way I am" So they started that instant and Joseph ended up breaking his leg, carried him home and gave him a blessing. His leg healed remarkably fast. This was in a leadership meeting I think. It's in the first few chapters somewhere.

  Thanks for the email. I bought some tapes today so Ill start recording soon.
Elder Meyerink

(He has sent 2 tapes home with more details of his mission.... some will be included here later or at earlier dates!!)