Good Happenings...

Dearest everyone,

 

would you look at me. already done with a two whole weeks of the MTC.  it's just too exciting for words.  okay so first off, emailing is probably the most stressful part of the MTC.  They give you 30 minutes, and they put this little timer up in the corner of the screen that just keeps ticking down.  it's so stressful.  When it gets to 0, it logs you off, even if you haven't sent your letter.  last time i had ten seconds to spare when i sent my letter.  it's amazing how short 30 minutes feels.  alrighty. so anyway!  how is everyone doing?? the MTC is still just terrific.  there always something happening, seeing as 24 hours of each day is planned out to the T.  but it's good happenings.  this week, we're teaching a couple of new investigators.  one's name is jean, and the other we don't know yet, but it's a really great experience.  trying to express yourself and bear testimony in french is a little challenging (by a little i mean a lot) and it's just pretty intense.  but i like it. it's good to have a challenge every once in awhile. or everyday as is the case in this situation haha.  hmm. by the time i get around to emailing, i never know what to say. and i don't have time to think about it cause that nasty little clock in the corner of the screen is always counting down....

 

well first off, i'll tell you about my district.  it's absolutely great. i love them all.  first off, there's my companion, Elder Szuch. i think i already told you about him, but a little bit about him is that he went to the Airforce Academy, comes from a family of 9 kids, and he's just a great guy.  i like him a lot.  then there's Elder talbot and elder hulse.  elder talbot comes from cincinatti ohio haha. so naturally i always tease him about being a corn farmer. at first he would correct me and try to convince me that there really isn't that much corn in ohio, but now he's started to admit it and plays along nicely haha. he's a funny kid.  then elder hulse is from Kaysville utah. super exciting right? um let's see... he's a funny kid also, he has these glasses, that look like racquetball goggles. they're simply marvelous.  he kind of looks like a nerd, but he's a cool kid overall.  haha and i'm not being rude, i'm just trying to describe them as best i can!  next there's the three amigos! they're all latino (i'm told that's the correct term) and they're all super funny.  First is Elder Laguan. he's a dance and politics major at the U, interesting combination eh? he's originally from el salvador but lives in orem now.  he's an interesting cookie and in his own words, "the whitest mexican you'll know" very true.  then there's elder osorio.  He's from st george utah, originally from mexico, and he's kind of the quiet kind.  he has such a strong testimony of the gospel though. he's a convert of just two years, and he's the only one in his family that's a member.  i respect him a lot.  he has such a strong testimony of just the fundimentals of the gospel, and we're told that if we have that, we'll be terrific missionaries.  then there's elder ato.  oh my heavens. he's a keeper haha. he's from peru! crazy eh? he speaks spanish, portugese and english, although his english is kind of shakey.  he's such a funny kid though. he just has so many interesting things about him.  he literally grew up in the jungle. he's like Moguley (i butchered that spelling but you get the picture maybe).  he wrastled snakes and kills monkeys and all sorts of things! crazy! but this kid is just a trooper.  he's learning to speak french in an english environment, and english isn't even his first language. and he's not completely fluent in it either. sometimes he struggles, but he almost always has a good attitude.  another funny fact, is that this kid is girl crazy. i honestly think he's trying to find a wife while at the mtc haha.  but we don't know what to do about it.  we try and tell him that, and he knows that girls are off limits, but he just has this huge crush on this one girl.  it's an interesting situation we're in haah.  next we have the sisters.  sister sandival and sister hansen.  both of them are great.  sister sandival is from california, but was going to school at byu. she's pretty good at french, after taking a couple of years there, and she's a funny girl.  then sister hansen. she's like our walking dictionary. it's terrific.  she is actually a french major from byu and can already speak fluent french.  she even taught for a little as a student at byu, so it's terrific to have her.  she's going to tahiti, so she has to learn tahitian too, that's why she's here for so long with us.  oh also, i don't where everone is going.  szuch hulse and i are all going to paris.  laguan osorio ato talbot and sandoval are all going to montreal. and then tahiti for hansen.  it's just magical right?

 

hmm let's see..... interesting fact, there's only two of us in our room.  it's quite nice.  so we don't have to deal with any roommates.  most rooms have 4 but we got lucky for some reason.  we'll probably get more when the next french district comes in and we're not the noobies anymore, but we'll enjoy it while it lasts haha.  alrighty so.  story time?

 

so this week we watched the movie The Testiments on Sunday.  and that movie. oh man. it gets me everytime haha.  first off, how could they show that to missionaries? it's pretty much a love story for goodness sakes.  most of the elders around me were crying from the reminder that it gave them.  i'm going to talk to the administration.  haha no i jest, and seriously, i love that movie.  every time i watch it, i feel the spirit so strongly.  at the end part, when it shows how jesus died for us and then was risen again, ah i love it.  it makes me so grateful for everything that jesus has done for me.  he suffered for our us, so that we could be forgiven and return to live with God.  my favorite scripture for the week is Alma 6:11-12 and Isaiah 53:3-5.

 

okay so i'm sorry this is kind of all over the place, but i'm running out of time.  so i guess i'll do what i usually do when i get nervous and don't know what to do, share a scripture.  so one of our teachers this week showed us this scripture and then i read it in mike's letter too, and i just love it.  i think i'm going to make it my missionary plaque picture since i haven't chosen one yet (oops) but it's D&C 123:17.  enjoy haha. alrighty, well i'm out of time, but i hope everyone is doing well! good luck with everything you're doing and à bientot! bonne chance!!

 

ELDER MEYERS

The MTC is stellar.

Salut tout le monde!!

The mtc is stellar. that's all i have to say.

yours truly

Elder Meyers.

no I'm joking. I jest haha. but seriously.  I love it here.  I love speaking french, and learning how to speak better french, and increasing my testimony of the l'evangile (gospel).  on the first day we got here, we kind of just did a couple of activities to introduce us to missionary work.  we taught a couple of mock investigators as a whole huge group of missionaries, just going around raising our hands if we had anything to say to the investigators.  it gave me such a huge insight into missionary work.  first off, there is soooooooooooo much to be learned!! i have such a long way to go, because some of the questions that they were asking, I had no idea how to answer them.  another thing, is that the only way to get people to listen to the message of the gospel is to find how it applies specifically into our lives.  my companion said something really cool I thought.  he said in order for someone to actually want to listen to the gospel or become converted, you have to find the void in their lives that the gospel can fill. I thought that was really good to think about.  because why do we need the gospel?  or at least how do we convince someone that they need the gospel. it's hard.  you have to get to know the person first so that you can tailor the lessons to them personally.

yeah so anyway, my companion.  He's just competely great.  I couldn't have asked for a better companion.  his name is Elder Nate Szuch.  he's from boise idaho and he went to the air force academy.  He's a great kid.  he has a solid testimony of the church and has a sense of humor and is easy going, but knows the importance of obedience.  so far, we haven't had any troubles, and he's just a great kid in general.  i'm so blessed to have him as my companion.  

okay so french class. I'm so glad that I took french before I got here because it's so helpful.  I'm a ways ahead of all the other elders in french because of it.  it's also kind of boring.  because every once in a while we have specific french grammar lessons from our instructor, and lessons about the verb etre. or avoir.  and that was like the first thing I learned in french so it's like second nature now.  so at times it can be kind of slow. but another there's always so much to learn too.  we are in a pilot program (it's been going for about a year not so it's not really that pilot-esque anymore) that is just complete immersion in french.  our instructor always speaks french to us, and the hardest part is that we have to teach in french.  we already have an mock investigator, his name is francois belanger.  and we've taught him three times now, everytime in just french.  it's just crazy.  I can usually at least tell him what I want to say and get my point across in not too much time, but it's still really hard.  even though I can usually get across what I want to say, I can't really joke with him because I'm not that fluent, and even though I can communicate with him, I don't know what to say.  sometimes I wish that we started in english because I don't even know how to teach someone the gospel in english.  growing up in utah, being surrounded by mormons my whole life, and then going to BYU isn't helping.  a lot of the times I envy the elders who are converts to the gospel, because they know what it takes to become converted.  but I still have time. it's only the first week I guess, but I still have so much to learn.

so everyone here in my zone speaks french, and some people it's really funny listening to them.  their accents are terrible.  I thought I was bad, but some people just really want to stick with their american english.  boy will france be a language shock for them. and me. ha but it'll be good. I can't wait to go there.  we were talking about the cereal in france today, and I guess it's just terrific.  word on the street is that it's like 20 times better than our american cereal.  I'm all sorts of excited haha.

in this short time I've been here, I've learned so much and my testimony has grown so much. and I kind of need some practice, so I'm gonna bear my testimony for you guys in french real quick. for those of you that can speak french, don't laugh.  but for those of you who can't, it's okay to be impressed haha jk.  but yeah.  je sais que le livre de mormon est vrai. je sais que joseph smith etait un prophete de dieu et qu'il a retabli l'evangile sur le terre.  je sais que jesus-christ nous aime and qu'il a souffri pour notres epeché. et je l'aime.  je sais que le livre de mormon est les paroles de dieu et je sais que si nous le lisons et prions, nous pouvrons savoir qu'il est vrai.  j'aime jesus-christ et dieu, and je dis ces choses au nom de jesus-christ, amen.

okay well that's about all the time that I have today. we only get 30 minutes in the mtc so it's kinda a bummer. but if anyone writes me letters, then I can send them something personal and I have more time to write it. dear elder is the best way to send stuff. don't use the mtc address unless there's pictures or a package or something. but yeah. life is good. the mtc is great. and i'm doing well.  good luck to everyone in their lives and always remember that the church is true! bon chance!!

Elder Meyers

Saying Au revoir...

Here are some pictures of dropping Elder Meyers off at the MTC.  

We love you Matt and know your going to be an awesome missionary!