Letter before Christmas, sorry I forgot to post

This week has been a very busy week.  We had a our branch Christmas party and it went awesome 4 of our investigators showed up! Our branch trips out when they see me and my companion bringing investigators anywhere because my Korean is still poo,  so they just get so shocked when we bring these people who can't speak any English, it's awesome. Today isn't our pday but libraries are closed tomorrow so we can email today. I got all the packages and cards I think! :) Thank you all so much to everyone! I sent home a couple Christmas cards but our mail isn't being sent for some reason so it will probably get there after Christmas haha.

Today we are meeting with someone we met on Facebook.  I'm actually pretty skeptical that this is really working haha. Also we have English class and we are meeting my favorite investigator Sister Kim then we are going to "heart attack" a members house (Cut out hearts and tape them all over there door with cookies and nice notes ) Sorry I don't have much time today I'll see you Wednesday I love you!

Love Elder Meza

Transfer!!

Happy New Year to all,

 

Transfer day! I've been transfered back to my home town of the Irvine. My last companion Elder Ham is  in the english program for now haha. Oh and by the way I'm a trainer! :) My son comes on the 14th. He is straight from Boosan so I'm pretty excited since he can't speak english haha! I was pretty upset that they transfered me to the south and put my companion in the english program because they totally white washed our area! But I'm glad we took good care of our area book to help out the missionaries in that area now. The day before transfers we told our investigator that is our most progressing (the one from the Grand Canyon) that either me or Elder Ham would be leaving the area and she got up and left bawling her eyes out. It was so sad I almost cried seeing her cry. She has really become someone I care about and we have a very good realtionship built on trust. By the way she has a baptismal date so I'im super stoked and happy for her. It's so crazy how Elder Kim found her on a tour bus and reffered her to us. But anyways the night of transfers she called us and asked which one of us is staying and we told her that we were both going and she broke down so hard, I felt so bad so we got permission from the the north team to pick her up in the south!

After skyping on Christmas I went to Corona with that same investigator and met her daughter for the first time who is 8 and we ate and played tennis. I used the stocking you sent and filled up with some candy and we bought her a bionacal (she loves bionacals) and we gave her it.

It made me think of the christmas when I went to my dads and how you weren't sure if pops would give me presents so you went all out haha. I kept thinking that whole day, even though I'm tired and can't stop thinking about the family and seeing Marcus and Tayla, I want this christmas to be the best christmas this little girl has ever had. Because shes only 8,  she doesn't really understand whats going on so I just did everything I could to help her have fun. And it was a great day that little girl called me a couple days later and asked when I could play again ,haha it made me smile.

Take care! Sorry since its transfer day i don't have much time.

Happy birthday mom and grandma!!

Love Elder Meza

Short and sweet

Dear Mom

Yeah I loved the package! I think if you wouldn't have sent tuna I would have gone 2 years without it because it's one of those little things I just don't think about. Me and my comp were gratefull because we both love tuna!

I liked the jacket but it was to big and i'm going to just get a sweater. I need a sweater so I don't have to wear my suit jacket. :)

Tell Aunt carrie I also loved her package and with all that garland me and Elder Ham are going to go decorate our investigators house the one I told you about last week. She's having a rough time and will be alone these holidays and she will get to be with her daughter and she wants us to spend the afternoon with her and her daughter so I'm stoked! :) I'm not sure when I will be skyping yet. It's not really hard me to get access to skype so just you tell me the time and I'll be there haha

I love you

사랑으로 김 인수 장로

엄마님 사랑해요!

Investigator from the Grand Canyon

Hi Mom,

 

(I told Nikko that in church sacrament prayer had to be repeated and was reminding him when that happened to him) I remember doing the sacrament prayer and messing up. It's okay though we learn from our mistakes and the prayer really does need to be perfect it's such an important thing that I had to realize on my mission and it is such a blessing. Yeah President Thomson is a great guy, I feel really blessed to have had him as my stake president he is the reason I was able to get out here when I did and it's all because he had faith in me and saw something in me I didnt and still don't see, but he is someone I'm really grateful for.

Yeah Elder Kim told me how cold it was! (His first mission companion came to meet before going home to Korea) It's starting to get "California Cold" here haha. Which is nothing compared to Utah cold. But never the less it's pretty stinkin chilly! I hate wearing my suits because I don't want to pay to get them dry cleaned and it's been raining a ton lately! So I'm super excited to get the package you sent with my sweater :) Anyways Elder Kim is awesome huh? I know you showed him some baby pictures I hear...haha i knew it would happen. He did tell me that he was so very happy to meet you and really appreciated that you took the time to be able to talk with him. He's someone I'm very glad I got the chance to get really close with,  Elder Kim  is someone who will be a friend for life And I feel very grateful for his example and constant patience with me learning Korean and adjusting to mission life. I really hope to go to Korean someday and spend time with him and his family and hopefully I'll be able to actually talk and have a sincere conversation with his parents by then because they don't know a lick of English haha.

So when Elder Kim was with his parents he went on this tour around California and to the grand canyon and such and there was this Korean Lady, Tina Kim who I guess heard Elder Kim speak English at one of the spots to a white person and saw his area code somehow and was really impressed with his english and asked if he could pay him to teach her english. And he told her he was going to Korea but he there's other people like him who can do that for free and he gave us her contact info. We contacted her and met her the next day (This all happened this week) and found out she has never even heard of our church and was shocked when she looked us up and saw how many church buildings we have. And she found out she lives next to one of the local wards in Hacendia, but didnt realize it was church since there was no cross haha. But we met her Thursday at a costco and taught her some basic english (She knows barely any english) and shared a scripture in 2nd Nephi about how God has an everlasting love for her. And she told us how shes has had all these trials all of the sudden and has been praying for help and she believes we are the answer and she said that meeting us was so weird how it happened but a dream come true. She calls us her Angels from heaven. We continued to meet her Friday, Saturday and she came to church this Sunday! MY companion let me lead the lessons and I've been getting really frustrated lately with Korean and getting really down on myself about how I felt I wasn't progressing anymore, like it felt I just hit this brick wall that came out of nowhere. But when we teach her English she really knows like NO english haha She can say Coorlrlr and Dank You. haha. And it forced me to define English words in Korean and I realized how much more Iknow than I thought and when we teach lessons its normally in english haha but her we have to use Korean which is SO awesome and it forces us to make our lessons really simple. She came to church and we met after and shared the video The light of Christ mormon message ( watch it! compares how the light of Christ is always there so there is never darkness but is sometimes dim so that we only have enough light to be guided by faith and makes us search for anwers so that we can cherish those answers and they become our testimony that we hold dear to our hearts)  because she has a really hard time feeling god's love so praying is difficult for her. We shared the scriptures 1kings 19:11-12 and then shared 3rd Nephi11:10-12 and She asked me how I came to recognize the light of Christ (This is at carls JR. btw.) Myself nor my companion really knew exactly what to say to be able so she could understand and we kinda rambled for a second and I said a quick prayer in my heart to know what to say so that I could help her recognize and feel his love her like he's done with me. And right there I had a prompting to share 1 Nephi 1:20 and it talks about how God gives his tender mercies to his blessed people because they strengthen us. Me and my companion testified of the truth of this and then she kinda shocked me by asking me to tell her a real personal experience of how I know this is true and not just the traditional I know this is true because of the Holy Ghost she wanted a life experience. Immediately I thought of you and my dad. I began to tell her my parents got divorced when I was at a young age and that we moved from Texas to Utah to be with the family on my moms side. I told her that when a was little I didnt understand what divorce really was and that when I was little due to ignorance, I was mad and frustrated  that my dad wasn't around and I would be mad at my mom because at first I thought it was my mom's fault for why I didn't see my dad. As a boy growing up I was always angry. I didn't have a dad to do guy things with. I further said how not having a father in my life I started to rebel at a young age and thought I could do what I wanted. I told her how as I got older I became more rebellious and started to get in a lot of trouble and just did bad things and became a lot more disrespectful towards my family and mother, and that my mom used to stay up crying due to my actions and then I still somehow always blame her. I told her about how there was from the age 15-18ish where I thought there was no God. I truly didn't believe because why would he do this to me or even to my mom? Why would my dad leave his family like that? Then I told her how for some reason my heart was softened and I truly saw how much my mom did. How she worked TWO jobs to support me and her and to give me everything she could. How she worked two jobs to buy me things I didn't need because she was always sorry for not raising me with brothers or sisters and a dad. Even though it wasn't her fault. I told her how she continually would cry and cry again because of my actions and would do nothing but show me everlasting love when I would give nothing but a headache in return. I told her when I fell away from the church she never got mad at me or never showed less love she gave me my free agency and instead of forcing me to go to church like some parents did, she continued to do what was right. I told Tina it wasn't easy for my mom she had a hard life growing up she had nothing when she moved to Utah she worked countless hours to put a roof over my head in a nice nieghboorhood with food in our fridge. She patiently went through all her trials with just the hope that something better was on the other side. She went through financial struggles trying her hardest to not let me know of them, she went through physical trials as well as her many emotional ones, and how my mom had to have surgeries for reasons I didn't understand. And I expressed how she did this all while raising an ungrateful child. Once I came to realize these things and when it hit me how i felt so bad, and how I could never make up for doing the things I do. But I expressed how you were the light of Christ for me and my life. I was never in the darkness that I thought I was in. I was never abandoned by God like I thought. He just showed me the light through a different source. Although for a few years my life may have been surrounded in darkness it was never the complete darkness I thought it was. I realized God had always given me sufficient light to guide me to my next step but he didn't just make everything bright and didn't revil all these things to me at once because he knew what I needed to get a testimony of him being there and he knew what it was going to take for me to not only obtain that testimony but to hold onto it as well. I think he knew how prideful of a person I was and knew I would have forever been carried away in my own pride if he wouldn't have given me the trials he did at a young age. God knew I could get a testimony of him but I think he knew I would have never cherished it like I do now if he didn't make it so I would see just how bad and how dark life can be without us letting him be apart of everyday life. I concluded by saying at the age 4 and even at 16 and 17ish i would have never guessed that having a loser dad would be a true blessing in disguise. And that God may not take away our trials but instead give us the strength we need to endure them or the patience that we need to get through them. And I told her how I'm living proof that God doesn't take away our trials because he knows what we need to become perfect like him. After all this was said and after she finally stopped crying she said "I want to be able to see life from a different view and feel God's love for me like you have and I want to have the patience and faith your mom has"

After she said this and after my companion translated that for me I couldn't help but begin to cry a little bit (JUST a little bit) And then me and Elder Ham begin to tell her how she can and how it all starts with sincere prayer. And we plan on meeting her again wednesday.

No matter what happens with Tina Kim whether she gets baptized or moves to Vegas and I never hear from her again. I will always be grateful for meeting her because of the testimony I have gotten from sharing those things with her. I think you're a way better example of living proof of how God visits people in their afflictions and helps them get through their trials.  And I know the only reason I cherish it so much is because of the things I have gone through. I know that you are aware of the fact I made a lot of stupid choices but I don't know if you know how many stupid choices I did make and  just how "dark" my life was becoming. I think it was close to the point where if I would have made just a few more dumb things, my life would have been permanently effected. 

 

It's taken me until my 3rd transfer to really see how awesome the Book Of Mormon is but holy cow this is the coolest book ever! Elder Ham got really bad food poisoning tuesday and we had to cancel all our appointments that day because he couldn't take two steps without throwing up. I originally was just going to sleep all day and maybe watch some of the LDS movies we have from the mission office, instead I decided to read from the Book of Mormon. I was in like Alma 17ish and to be honest I only decided to read because the day before in personal study it was starting to get to the wars and I was super interested and suprised there was wars in the Book of Mormon...in Detail! haha. So I sat down and read all day and read close to 200 pages and in 3rd Nephi 27 and am almost finished! I have gained such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and have all the sudden just been reading it at such a faster pace and actually understanding it all! Which to me is SO crazy because I hate reading. And if there was one thing I hated more than reading was "fancy talk" old english. I remember before my mission I tried to read it a little bit and it was going through my eyes and out my nose! And the other day I read my patriachal blessing and it says how I'll enjoy reading good books and will be able to read them quickly while understanding them fully. And it was crazy to just see that once I had a stronger faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and sincerely praying for desire to read this book and to be able to understand it, how I went from reading one chapter a day during my 1 hour of personal study time and trying so hard to understand what it meant and make sense of everything, to reading around 10-13 Chapters in an hour and being to be able to fully understand it and better yet Remember it so I can share it with people I meet when I need to.

Sorry this is so long haha this was just a week of a lot of great personal revelation that I wanted to share with you. The investigator with the Bapt. date that me and Elder Ham fell through on us and we haven't met him a couple weeks so please keep in your prayers. We're supposed to meet him this week so we will see. Also tell Derek I was market contacting and started talking to this guy and found out he is a member and actually he served in Korea (I was orignally confused why this white guy was at a korean market haha) and also he served with Derek! I can't remember his name I wrote it down but left it in the apt. I think his name was like scott hutchinson or maybe Richard something...? He was short and chubby and a little odd never the less he did know Derek. But we're going over to his house to eat this week I'm excited. 

 

Is Colten getting married? Is she cute? if so is she blind? hahah Jk if Colten is a cutie :)

I love you mom!  You were the best mom and dad that any could ever ask for!

Love Elder Meza.

Working with less actives is great!

I love our mission pres. and his wife they are so awesome! President Bowen is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. We have Korean Vietmanse Tongan Spanish and Samoan Missionaries as well. But someone can always speak english in them so they're ok haha. We have district meetings every thursday and that is the same day that we get our mail. MY zone has the korean and the vietmanese elders in it along with one english speaking district. We are a lot closer with the Viet. Elders.

District meetings are good I always get something new out of it and I always am able to improve my teaching skills that way. I used to have to help set up DM and help run them since I always had a district leader comp. But now that its just me and Elder Ham I finally get to just arrive at a normal time and sit back and do role plays like everyone else haha it's pretty nice.

Last Zone confrence we had Elder Ellis come and speak to us and he is way funny it was really good. The word on the streets is that the next zone confrence we have Elder Bednar will be here....so i'm getting pretty pumped for that. Zone confrence and zone training are my favorite I always learn so much! I have really good zone Leaders that i have been able to get pretty close with they're way funny! One of my zone leaders Elder Rogers feels the same pain as me....(He's also a Dallas Cowboys fan) hahaha. So we connected pretty quick.

Our Pdays aren't like real pdays. Since me and Eldfer Ham pretty much got white washed into the North area we go get our emails done then go do studies and then tract all day. We have no real investigators except for 2. So all our time is spent on finding. But mostly P days we work with less actives. I love working with less actives and I focus a lot of my attention on them. Our branch has so many less actives it's crazy. Also those people once had a testimony so I just do what it takes to get the fire lit again...Me and Elder Ham last week went through our area book and called every single less acctive in our area (Over 30+) people! We have found out a lot of them were either just offended or have moved. That's one of the perks of being a missionary is that most of the less actives won't meet with members only missionaries because they already know our intentions since they were once active. Elder Kim is the reason i work so much with less active because he was the only one that found them to be important so he passed down that conection to me.  I' ve seen so many families slowly but surely change. So in our branch our branch pres. comes to us for less active info because he knows we'll care about them. I have  a strong testimony for less active work because shoot I was pretty much inactive for a few years and wanted nothing to do with church and I've seen how just a simple friend who is strong in the church can change one's whole lifestyle. So thats what i'm trying to do and I really love working with them because theyre so kind and normally were just offeneded at one point.

Anyways we gave one of my investigators Yoo Gene a baptism date and he's progressing super fast! He used to be a "Eternal Investigator" But he's finally changing and there's a lot more to his story but i'll let you know more about him when we meet up with him again.

 

Love you

Love Elder Meza

Musicial Fireside

Anyways this week has been really good! We didn't get to tract as much because saturday we had a musical fireside. Elder Choi one of my previous companions is pretty much a musical prodigy and can listen to any song and just play it after hearing it and can make any song or remix anything it's SO cool!  But, he put together (He's the new DL) this musical fireside with the musical talents in our district and the youth of our branch. We made some really nice invitations for it and pretty much invited everysingle person we have ever taught because it's a really good way to bring people into the church and to feel the spirit in a non threatening environment because not everyone is then trying to baptize them haha. But all the viet. Elders came with their investigators and the white Elders did to, along with our mission president and most of our branch and Elder Kims parents, so it turned out great! We even had some extremely inactive people participate. It was awesome because two of our english class students came and they really enjoyed it and fellowshiped with some of the members and they really like our church.
So a few weeks ago we went tracting and met this korean preacher of his own church and he tried to bible bash us and when we left nobody was in a good mood except for me because I was stoked at the fact someone tried to bible bash us because I have never had that happen before. He said he wanted to invite us over again sometime to share our beliefs and my comps didnt want to go because they didn't want to bible bash but....since he offered us food as well, I insisted that we should go haha. So we ended up going met his family and some ex mormons that he brought over anyways long story short he's taken us to some really nice restaurants and he's now one of our really good friends. I know we will probably never bring him to our church because he has set up his own church that is actually growing pretty fast but a really cool thing about him is that he likes learning more about us from us because he's just an sincere truth seeker. He doesn't want to take other people's word for what our church is about. So he actually backs our church up when he hears people telling lies about mormons haha...Even at his own church he clarifies  what we believe so people don't have the wrong misconception of  who we are. Yesterday we went to his church and it was definately different.......its a "charismatic church" everyone just jams out to gospel music and kinda starts freaking out haha. But those were easily some of the nicest people I have ever met and me and Elder Ham just split up in the room and talked to as many people as we could and tried just helping as much as possible during the dinner to give a good view on mormons and we ended up teaching 2 lessons and we have a new investigator from it haha.
Anyways thats just a little bit of what happened this week!
Love you mom
Love Elder Meza 

Ice Skating & Event

Planning Youth Activities

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Hey Mom the mission front is going great! Today was transfer day and now its just me and Elder Ham in the north area, Elder Choi has gone down to the south. It's kind of funny because Elder Ham has only been out for 1 week longer than me haha. He's from Provo and was orginally born in Korea so his Korean is very good hes just not fluent. But it's really good for us because it forces our Korean to improve. Elder Ham and I were pretty much white washed into this area so we're starting from scratch haha. Me and him found this kid DJ a few weeks ago and we have met with him a few times and he is progressing so fast!!! He's super awesome and super smart! We used to always have to meet at a boba loca and now he said he'd finally rather meet at one of our churches :)

Because it was transfer day I didn't have much time to read but I really like the emails I get from Uncle Stan and Aunt Carrie.We are planning an activity around a show called "Running Man"  and I need some ideas from it. It's like a gameshow. I'm in charge of holding a game/activity called Running Man in January and we already have some good ideas but I need just a few more for it. Last year they did it and the youth really liked it and they said that it was so much fun last year and becuase they have faith that we will do a good job,  they willl invite all their non lds friends. It takes forever to get everything for it and set it up so I want to make it really good, thank you so much!

It's crazy that Dallin is already has his release date! Elder Kim gets released to a member tomorrow and will be with his parents next week. I cant believe they're both dying! He's actually going to Utah in I think in 2 weeks to visit the temple because he wants his parents to see also he's going to stop by our house because he wants to meet you and say thank you.  He's such a cool guy and a great missionary you'll love him! He told me if I come to Korean I just need to buy my plane ticket and he'll take care of everything. And he said in return when I'm home that I would do the same. I really want to be able to go to Korea after my mission. I think that would be so awesome!

You're an awesome person and an amazing mother and I know you will continue to be blessed for your great example to me and others!

Love Elder Meza

P.S. I don't want anything for christmas I just am super cold now because it's always cloudy now so if you could send some money for me to buy a sweater that would be pretty cool :)

Busy Week!

One cool story. So we're starting to try and build a huge english class and get investigators that way. Because the Korean program before it got shut down had the biggest english program in California. So we started giving this lady Erin Han english lessons then we always share a gospel message at the end which has been going really good and she has been progressing really fast. We normally do classes on tuesdays but we had to move it to thursday this last week and she brought her friend which is awesome because we love referrals :) But half way through our class some random lady shows up and was said that she had gone to every door at our church looking for us and she said she just walking by and remembered seeing a add from the missionaries 10 years ago!!!! and thought she would check it out haha. It was crazy! So now we're teaching her and she is also very receptive to the gospel! 

I'm way sorry to hear that!(my gas was syphoned from my car while in Gunnison at my moms) That person will get theres someday haha. Tell Grandma and Grandpa that I miss them and love them. Not a whole ton happened this week because we were super busy getting our baptism prepared and inviting others to it. We had to make Korean-English programs for the first time which was way fun! I started our first youth activity! We now do youth activities  on Fridays! Last Friday was really fun we played this soccer volleyball game.

Anyways I'm super busy but I love you a ton! 

You're the best mom in the world and I'm so grateful for everything and so sorry for everything you had to put up with. I love you!

Love Elder Meza

Nikko and Angel

Working Hard

Thank you so much for sending Elder Kim the package it was so nice of you! Elder  Kim almost started crying haha it was only the second package he has recieved on his mission! So thank you! Also he's going to Utah to visit his 1st comp. after his mission and he wants to stop by and just say hello and get to meet you. I really hope I can visit him after my mission as well. He has to do military service and when he finishes his military service my mission will be over and he wants me to come stay for a few weeks and meet his parents!  During personal study time the other day I read a scripture and it reminded me of you. (Mosiah 24:14) So i hope your next show goes well! Tell grandma and grandpa hi for me! Also tell them thank you for being such and awesome family that was super nice of grandma to sit with you and it just really means a lot to even me.

This week was really good! I didn't think we were doing that well this week until we totaled our numbers up at the end of the week. I didn't realize that every day we had at least one other lesson....I thought our numbers were really low and I was pretty dissapointed in myself and my companionship because we didn't have any "wow" days, but I failed to see we had just a bunch of good hard working days! We had 12 other lessons and now have 3 new investigators. This guy name D.J is super smart but really sincere and he loves our church (he's just super realistic) James Kim one our "eternal investigators" showed up to church yesterday and we didn't even get to meet with him this week so I was very shocked when I saw him but I was very happy! We challenged him again to be baptized and for the 1st time he said yes but he really wants his kids to be bapt. which is a very complicated situation right now.

Last Pday one of our investigators Kenny took the north and south team out for pday and showed us around newport and took us hiking and to the coolest view of the ocean and just what newport was all about then he to us to this place called 3 thirty 3 and and so grateful or his time and generosity! Kenny is so cool and is very sincere about our church and is easily the smartest man I have ever met. He's moving to Hawaii soon which kinda bums me out but he said if I ever visit I always have a place to stay. He really likes the missionaries and is progressing so much. Im not sure if I will see him baptized but I know he will.

 Anyways I love you tons! Thank you for everything!!
Love Elder Meza

No Halloween Party

We aren't allowed to do jack squat on halloween! (I asked) But our Branch is having a trunk or treat so I'm pretty stoked. haha. Mom I'll be in the same branch with the same members at the same church for the next 2 years no matter what area I'm in haha. (once again, I asked) I'm so happy it's that way because I actually get to know everyone in my branch on personal basis. (btw. I am close to being only the 2nd American missionary to memorize every members full name. because of the last name I just need to remember...lee,kim,park and choo hahah)

Nope I'm still in a trio and I really like them, they're pretty awesome, except for the fact that one speaks perfect english and the other speaks good english so they always speak english to me so I have to constantly remind them to only speak Korean haha.

 

You should get a real hobby besides sewing. Try BMX or water polo perhaps?

This week has been pretty chill not a ton happened because we had so many meetings haha. BUT yesterday  2 of our investigators came to church James Kim and 이진태! 이진태 and our companionship made a "righteous exchange" we really needed a lot of people at church this sunday because the stake council was there to see if we were even eligible to be a branch. So we begged and begged and brought as many people as we could. Even Koreans that go to English wards came to help us which was awesome. But 이진태 said he would come if we came to his church at 7pm because they had a famous singer coming and he wanted us to come and he had already bought tickets. So we got the okay to go to the bethal church, and pretty much that was the coolest thing ever! I was literally the only non Korean out of thousands of people it was a huge laid back concert and this lady name 소향 was the main person, wow she was amazing!! And she was very easy on the eyes as well haha. and they had this dude from the top 4 american idol finalist their as well. It was way cool! We had to take a shuttle there and it was so packed you could barely wiggle around in there. I tried talking to everyone and placed mine and my 2 of my companions Korean Book of Mormon's. No one else was to interested though since we were on a shuttle to the bethal church haha.

Can you send any pictures of me playing football and basketball also the senior football photo of me and you. and my old church shoes (they went out with the last yard sale). THANK you!

Love Elder Meza

Nikko's Birthday and first companions

Thank you everyone!!

Thank you everyone for the birthday cards and gifts, I really appreciate it.

My district is so freaking awesome. I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday because I just wanted it to be a normal pday but they made it way more than a normal pday and when we came home from a lesson they came out of my room with a birthday cake singing happy birthday. It's something I'll never forget for sure.  

My Pday for this week was today because we got to go to the the Newport Temple! This week has been pretty good. President Bowen had a long talk with me about how he hates to have to transfer me before my training is done but he and Elder Kim thought it would be better for the Korean program if I was in the North. He told me he just has a ton of trust in me and faith that I could help the numbers go up in the north area......So the north averaged around 3 other lessons a week and that's about it. This last week we had 13 other lessons got 9 refferals got 4 new investigators and 1 of them is so close to becoming a PI while one of them has become a PI! It's awesome! The north area has so many Koreans, Fullerton is pretty much Korea haha.

Quick story. So when I came to the North we had no Investigators and know PI. So I've been praying and praying like crazy even fasting for an investigator. For like 2 or 3 days straight I kept saying to my companions I just want an experience where when the person opens the door they just say how we were the answers to their prayers...just something like that. ( we have just been tracking for hours and hours so we can find someone to teach) Its around 8pm and we're about 30 min away from our apt so we only had time to do one side of the street and right when we got out of the car and finished praying I told my companions we need to go to this house...so of course we went and a 17yr old boy named Daniel answered the door and he is so freaking cool! And me and my companions just clicked with him we talked for a bit and shared the restoration he almost started crying at the end and said "man this is crazy cause I kinda have just been praying about what to do and I just feel way lost and I know god answered my prayers with you guys"......I pretty much had to refrain myself from jumping up and down and hugging everyone haha anyways we are meeting him and his family this week and I'm super excited.

So me and my companions are not your average everyday missionaries we don't go to door to door bearing our testimony hoping the door doesn't get slammed in our face, instead my companion Elder Choi came up with a survey. (and this helps a lot with the Korean people because yeah...their Korean and want nothing to do with us at first haha) But what we do is we tell them we are offering service but we have a quick 11 question survery about their personal opinions. Each question is directed towards family and the gospel through this survey we know what to teach them so we can fit their needs. Also we have found out that instead of 9/10 doors getting slammed in our face, only 2/10 doors because a survey on personal opinions just sounds 10x less annoying. Plus we have found out if we can actually get inside their home to take this survey and sit down, 7/10 times we can teach a lesson and 2/out of those 10 times we can get a return appt. it's pretty awesome if you ask me.

Last thing my very first companion Elder Kim is the reason I'm even the missionary I am now. He had so much trust from the members and we was the only link from inactive members to the church and he worked so hard with me to give me all of that. Because of that now the inactive members call me,( like Sister Kim jun He) And we are actually starting to teach her now. He also gave me the courage I needed to approach any Korean person. I was fine at first just talking to everyone who wasn't korean and I did, but he really made me get our of my comfort zone. He made sure I didn't get comfortable with only bearing my testimony but really made me proactive in the lessons. Our first lesson with Kim Young he told me I was going to lead and I was so scared.  I got sentences and phrases memorized and when we got to his house I told him I wasn't good enough and wasn't going to lead that he had to.....so guess what Elder Kim did? Right when Kim Young answered the door he said I'm so sorry Kim Young but I'm really sick and have a super soar throat so Elder Meza will be talking most of the time...hahaha. I'm very grateful I had him as my trainer. Also because of Elder Kim the Korean Branch is having our first baptism in over 5 years! It's Kim Young and his whole family! :) Elder Kim has met with Kim Young for over a year now! Everyone calls me Kim jr. because I'm just always trying to be up beat and nice like him. Anyways my point is Elder Kim is awesome! He thinks the world of you to.

 Also Elder Kim's parents live in Korea and aren't mormon at all and had to pay for his whole mission, he also leaves in less than a month. Would you write just a short letter to him that would be awesome I know he would appreciate that so much! Thank you so much mom I love you! :)

Read Moroni 10:3-5 "Moroni's promise" Read those verses and do what it says. I do it at least once a week! 

Love Elder Meza

Happy Birthday To ME!

Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes!

Hey mom, I've been transfered! haha I'm in the North now and I cover the Fullerton and Placentia area now. Our apartment is still really nice. I'll be going back to the south though right after this transfer and staying there for a while. President Bowen really has a lot of trust in me and that's why I'm in the north we really needed to get the numbers up this last week we had 9 other lessons and got 2 new investigators this week we're shooting for 16 other lessons and at least 1 progressing investigator.

My old companion Elder Kim insisted we do something for my birthday, so my district is taking me bowling.  He wanted to to go to the cheese cake factory but it's to expensive so we're going to subway :) Korean is so hard! I feel like i've hit a platoo. It's so hard to progress when I have the option to speak english...so i've told my new companions  to only speak korean to me and they are awesome!! They're both Korean, Elder Choi and Elder Ham. Elder Choi became the new DL and so I'm companions with the DL again haha.

Yesterday we went to this huge Korean festival and it felt like I was in Korea there were so many Koreans we couldn't speak English, it was awesome I placed my first Korean Book of Mormon and had a bunch of street contacts. I've placed countless English ones so it made me pretty happy! I really like this companionship I get a lot done butIi do ocassionally miss my 1st trainer haha Elder Kim is such an amazing missionary and leaves next month!

We get to go to the temple the 27th but they don't have temple pants or ties, we have to provide those so if you can send just those asap I'd really appreciate it because I don't want to buy new ones. Also I hardly wear half my church shirts so I might send half of it home becuase when we do wear church clothes it's mainly suits and I only wear long sleeves with them. We wear a lot of p day clothes because of how much service we do, also a ton of peopl,e including members have to meet with us in seceret which is quite sad. Because of the Korean culture if they see that they're affliated with us they will pretty much get shuned from the community. So if you can just send some more of my clothes that'd be awesome!

I want to tell you real quick about a less active member that means so much to me. 1st of all our branch has so many less actives it's not even funny so my personal goal is to bring 80% of them back. I work more with less actives than anything because to me they're just as important and they once had a testimony so it's just about finding what happened and teaching what they need to hear. Anyways Sister Kim Chong He, when she was baptized 11 members of her family were baptize, when she left the church 9 of them left...she goes to one of the mega churches and has actually seen more blessings from being there. When Sister Kim left the church she wanted nothing to do with our church not our members and not our missionaries. (The Awesome thing about Elder Kim was he was the only one in the branch that could ever stay in contact with those less actives. Because of my attitude and personality he focused so hard on me trying to get that same relationship with them. So that way when he leaves they still have a connection to the church) Me and Elder Kim actually had a dinner appt. with Sister Kim and her mom, aunt and neice (all once members). So naturally this felt like a lot of pressure especially for such a new missionary like myself and for one that isn't very good in the language. We prayed right before we got out of our car. And I have never felt the spirit so strong and I don't think I've ever prayed so sincerly on what to do. The answer I got was almost as if someone was right behind me whispering clear as day, I heard, just be a good missionary become her friend and teach by example. So I told Elder Kim I think we shouldn't give her a message just be nice to her because this was the first time she was meeeting with missionaries again in over 4 years. Elder Kim agreed and thought it was a good idea we went in and got to know them. She tried to be really mean at first and she really tried to discouarge me, even her mother was mad at how rude she was. She would say racist things and make fun of my Korean and just go off on me, BUT luckily I had no idea because I couldn't understand a word she was saying haha. So I just sat there with the biggest smile on my face because the only thing going through my head was "wow she's yelling at me in Korean and I know some of the words, I can't believe I'm here right now with a less active...I feel like such a missionary" Then I started to think about The Best Two Years...."I wonder if this is how he felt, I hope I don't say Joseph Smith was a pamphlet...this is so awesome" hahaha. so I politely and patiently waited for her to get done and the only thing I could think of to say was. 김자매님께서는 아주 이뻐요! 사랑해요! Which means Sister Kim you're so pretty! I love you :) But imagine me saying it with that super big cheezy smile haha. But after I said that her whole attitude changed and she actually told us why she left the church and why she stopped meeting missionaries and how the missionaries stop meeting her and how she was kinda bummed about it. We pretty much had a really deep talk and from it I could see she still does have that testimony so I told her I was going to the north ( Her area ) and I would make sure to visit her and we are going tomorrow and she wants me to meet her husband she told Elder Kim that I remind her of Elder Havy, the legendary Korean branch Elder who baptize her and her whole family and she said she's more than happy to have me over! Oh plus I'm really close now with her son who lives in his aunts house and is also less active his name is Danny. He reminds me so much of me haha.

All the Korean people call me baby cow because of how big my eyes and lips are old people no joke touch my face so much I feel like they're going to poke my eyes out trying to touch my eyes haha.

Anyways I love you so much mom you're amazing I wouldn't be here without you. Henry B. Erying's talk make me really think about you. He talked about a grandma and her grandson who always got into so much trouble and she always did her best to be a good example and she cried out saying why, why me? What else should I do for this young man? And she got the answer of something along the lines of "you have these boys not because I don't love you but because you were the only one that could love them like me." That's totally you mom. I know you're not naive about how much bad stuff I got into, yet you continued to be the example I needed and continued to be loving mom I needed. You're the best! Love you. Tell all the neighbors I love them and think they're awesome especially Brad he's such amazing person.

Love Elder Meza

Branch Youth with Missionaries

Conference Was Awesome

Hi, 

Confrence was awesome! And I got some great notes I don't have enough time  to really share them though.

It kinda sucks how much money I have to spend. Sometimes we will have to drive more than an hour away for appts and ex. and it takes way to much time to drive all the way back home for food and just is so ineffective. And since we are in the Irvine area food is so expensive even at grocery stores haha. President Bowen knows how hard it is for us finacially as the Korean District but he says as long as we do our best and make sure we always work as hard as we can and are 100% obedient we will be blessed a long with our families. So I'm sorry that I have to spend so much.

 

Anyways I had to help with transfers today which took most of the day so I don't have much time. But I can't believe it snowed!? It's like 80 degrees here haha I love it. That's awesome that our ward is growing, do the best you can to make them feel welcomed at our church! Yeah we are a branch not a ward and all 3 areas of the korean district attend the same church every week. So I will be going to the same church for the next 2 years, which I think is pretty cool because you get so much closer with the members and they help out so much more then members of english wards do. I'm way close already with our members and can already tell how sad it's going to be when I have to leave. I love these people so much!

 

Not to many stories to share this week because the funeral took a lot of our time. By the way we were the first missionaries in history to ever help run and preform at a funeral. Because normally missionaries are not even allowed to attend a funeral. But because of how different our mission is, an apostle (David Bednar) has told us that we aren't just the average missionaries our white handbook rules may not always apply because we are not simply missionaries we are ward members as well. So it's pretty awesome I feel very blessed!

 

For my b day I just want my soft layton blanket. and if it's to much to ship then just toffifay and some money for sweaters.

Sorry I'm at the library today and the internet is straight poo so I can only send 1 picture. But these are some of the youth in my branch. The tiny little girl and the girl behind me are my favorite! The little ones name is Angel and she is the cutest little girl ever she says I'm here favorite :) The other one just looks like an angel hahah but her name is Alice and she is the 2nd counclers daughter and he expects me to be  a future son in a law hahaha

I have to go now, so I will email you next Monday, on my birthday!!

Love
Elder Meza

Sad Week

Hey mom this week has been another great week! Some sad stuff has happened in the last couple days but I feel really blessed to be apart of this mission and this Korean movement that is in place right now. I love you! Tell grandma and grandpa and Aunt Peg I love them!

Love Elder Meza

(letter to Stan Groneman)

It already started snowing?! Dang it's so hot here haha! Yeah some pretty amazing things happened and some really sad things as well. One of our members, The Greer family, we were actually supposed to eat at their house sometime this week and my senior companion was very close to them and helped them with a lot and Brother Greer passed away yesterday morning in his sleep and he wasn't very old. He has a 5 year old daughter and a wife (Who is Korean) Sister Greer has asked us to sing Amazing Grace at his funeral and so we will be doing that sometime this week.

We work a lot with less active members and at first I thought it was a waste of time but seeing them come back to church after years of being inactive is one of the best feelings ever. Plus they always try and give us referals! I can't believe I'm already 3 months out time goes by so quick!

Love Elder Meza

Trip to the Bath House - A Korean Tradition

The Bath House

Happy Birthday Sister Groneman! (Delsi)

I have quite the story for you. By the way our computers are way nice but they freeze hardcore so last week I didn't really have a lot of time to email the family, but will you share my emails with the family or something? Thanks!

So I guess before I came here the Korean Missionaries used to only get about 4 meals a month but after I gave my talk and told them how much I love Korean food our numbers for member dinners have increased and hopefully will keep doing so. The Korean program has had the hardest time getting meal appointments out of all the other programs because since we are a branch instead of a ward so their isn't a whole lot of members plus they're scattered so much through out Southern California that some of them have to drive over an hour just so they can partake the sacrament and here the word of God in their native tongue. This is why I think I have been placed in the best branch surrounded by the best members in the world, they are awesome and so nice to me. Anyways back to food quick story we were at the Chu's family for dinner (By the way they are my favorite family in the branch) When I see her I always say  추자매님께서는 저의 한국 엄마에요! you can have Derek translate haha. Anyways the Chu family had us over again for dinner and gave us neng myun (Cold noodle soup) And I'll tell you what, that was the first thing I have eaten that I haven't liked. And I have eaten some weird things (tongue, intestines, cow hoof) She asked if I wanted a turkey burger instead (since I'm American)before I started eating and of course the turkey burger sounded amazing but I want them to keep inviting us for dinner plus I want the members to see that I'm not like the other previous American missionaries. I literally prayed that I could eat the whole bowl (Biggest bowl I have ever seen) with a smile and not throw up! Haha. it was so hard to hold down I truly thought I was going to throw u,p but I ate it all. And it doesn't even taste that bad it's just so hard to chew and actually put down haha.

         

I didn't think you'd be to into the festival haha that scene doesn't normally float you boat haha. But I'm glad you went with Grandma and had fun! Tell Grandma I love her and miss her! (Mom and I went to St George to Tuachan and went the long way through Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion's canyons) I can't believe you didn't like Bryce and Capitol Reef! They're so stinkin pretty! Did you get that letter to Uncle Bud? It was in the box I sent home from the MTC.

So the first thing I said to my companion when I got here was...Do I actually get to speak a lot of Korean because I want to teach Korean people in only Korean and I don't want my 9 weeks to be for nothing. And.....do we get to go to a bath house cause my whole district goes the second they get off the plane in Korea. He was so confused and wondering why this tall mexican kid cared so much about the Korean Culture haha. So Elder Kim talked with President Bowen and after a while got us the ok to go to 목욕탕. So we can only go when new missionaries arrive and we don't get new Korean missionaries for 7or8 months. The night before I told everyone I was going to proselyte in their and no one believed me.  Elder Kim said "Since this might be the only time you can go and because we don't know if you're younger dongee will want to go and it's your 1st time, I want it to be something you remember" (Since no matter what it was going to be the 1st time I was in a tub with a bunch of naked old Korean men I figured I'd probably remember anyways but I wasn't about to argue haha) So, we drove to Fullerton and went to a super way nice one! Oh by the way 목욕탕 is literally a bath house. You have a cold pool a warm bath and a hot bath then there is the dry sauna then a different room is the ice box and "chill out rooms" where you really just sleep. And it is really a huge bath tub that a bunch of people wash themselves in. haha. We were in the sauna when we met Chris. We made causal conversation and began to tell him that we're missionaries and such and such and started to teach lesson 2(plan of salvation) as we're teaching another guy named Brandon starts listening and is super interested while Elder Kim is talking he stops him and says "I have to go I'm already late, but I know what you're saying is true and I want to hear more." So Elder Kim and Elder Chung go out to the locker room where they get his info. Meanwhile I'm talking to Chris and we start to go really in depth about the 3 kingdoms of glory. He starts asking about what about people who have been born with a disability or get in severe accidents and what happens to them and what would happen if per-say he did good and lived a righteous life what would happen to his family who did the exact opposite. And this was also my biggest question that I have had I searched for 9 weeks at the MTC and finally found my answer. Or the answer that fit to my needs. So in response I said something along the lines of "Chris I'll be completely honest with you, I'm only 18 years old and the knowledge I have of this gospel is not very great compared to others. But what I do know is if you follow the commandments and you follow what the prophets say and live your life according to God's will, God has no other choice but reward you and place you in the kingdom you rightfully deserve. One thing I do know though and can promise is in the Celestial Kingdom you can only experience pure joy. And if you receive joy through your family then you will continue to do so. I don't know exactly how that works but I know that if you do what you need to do and will set the example that those "family members" need then you AND them will be blessed for it. It's not our place to judge where others will go in the end and because of the spirit world and the missionary work that takes place there we do not know who will accept his gospel up there." He then said "I live right next to a mormon church and know exactly what time it starts can I just go?" I said "Of course! Anyone can! Can we get your contact info and we can teach you a little more about the gospel" He then replied "Nope. But do you promise I can go to church this sunday?" Confused I responded with "Yeahh...of course." last thing from chris was "K bye thank you for the message it was great by the way ill be going to church sunday" ......Oh okay...Bye Chris Have a great time at church! haha :)

That's not it though we went to the ice box where again we started to teach these 3 men and one guy Cory was bashing us so hard just saying racial slurs and cussing us out and being super disrespectful to Elder Kim and I was getting so mad I just sat there and made sure I didn't say anything dumb from time to time I asked him if he'd hold back his racial slurs and watch his mouth and Elder Chung could tell I was getting super heated so he came and sat between us but luckily Elder Kim doesn't really know slang and couldn't understand what was being said so he just kept teaching while smiling and continued to quote the first vision. During this time a man came in for about 5 minutes and left. We later saw that same guy in the sauna and he asked a ton of questions. In the sauna it got way hot so we moved to the ice bath which was super cold so we then moved to the other sauna where we sadly saw Cory, the guy who was bashing us. Elder Kim didn't really know what to do so me and Elder Chung went and sat next to him where we kind of distracted him while Elder Kim left with Mark to the other steam room to continue teaching. While I was talking to Cory I din't bring up any gospel stuff and just talked to him where I found out he isn't that bad of a guy and he had a pretty hard life and he actually served a mission in New Zealand. Where the members there I guess were not that faithful and he saw some bad stuff which lead to him becoming inactive. I stood up and said "The church is always true but the members are not always true" Then just left. I walked past the other sauna room where I saw Elder Kim surrounded by 5 people who are all just listening with real intent and he's like preaching back in the old days from a soap box which was way cool. Anyways we ended up teaching Mark a little longer and he walked out to his car with us where we gave him a Book of Mormon and got his contact info.

Last but not least, the same day we go to get dinner at Jack in the Box but Elder Chung through a little tisy fit and wanted to go to Del Taco so we went there instead. While we were ordering I got the strangest feeling to go talk to this random dude who was the manager. I had know idea what to say but really felt like I should. So Iwent up and asked him if he knew where I could get Pupusa haha. He told me a couple of places and we found out he was already a member so we thought nothing of it and began to eat our food at one of the tables. While we were eating,  Jaime(the manager) pulls a chair up to us and starts by saying how weird this is that we're here because he's been praying for help. He ends up telling us his life story which is so sad! He was Baptized at 12 and moved here from Mexico at 15 where he thought he could have a better life. He was married at 17 and his wife had to go back to mexico and so did his brothers. He worked 2 fulltime jobs to send her 500 a month to build them a house for him his wife and both there parents to stay in. One day the police told him his wife was kidnapped and longstory short he found out his wife was cheating on him and stealing his money and her parents knew all along as well. We also found out in our 2nd lesson with him that his family was really only baptized because his parents were about to get a divorce and his dad tried saving the marriage that way. But his mom left his family with some guy she was cheating with. His dad became an alcoholic which forced him to move out and take care of his little brother because he would get beat. He really has a strong testimony of the church as wishes he could go but works everyday.  He told us about how he has been thinking about suicide and was going to put his little brother in Foster care or have his aunt in Mexico take care of him and how he was determined to take his life that night, the night we met him. We ended up setting another appointment and before we left we gave him a preistood blessing in our car in the parking lot behind Del Taco. We continue to talk with Jaime and he is awesome. Me and him really connected. Since we are the Korean speaking elders we had to pass him along but he still texts me all the time on questions to scriptures and from what I hear is planning on going to church this sunday.

I have some other really cool stories but they would be just as long so I'll have to share them later.  Yeah the missionary reference library books are awesome but I'm not allowed to read them until our 12th week so..:/

Anyways thank you so much for everything mom your awesome and I love you thank you for always sending me stuff.  :) Also ask Derek and the neighbors of any object lessons that they know of! 

Love your super duper awesome and extremely good looking son.

Elder Meza

Dinner Time

Nikko's Mission President, wife and fellow missionaries

Fun in the sun

making the bed frame - not long enough for any of them

The bed frame they made for a sister

Nikko and his trainer and companion

At home at his new ward

Still doing bathroom pics

Still Dancing

First letter from California

So I pretty much have the best mission in the world!!!!! My mission is very different compared to most. First all give you some background on my mission. 5 years ago the korean speaking elders had all of California and had a ton of freedom, I guess the Elders back then could not handle those responsibilities appropriately and would constantly break mission rules and a lot of them ended up getting sent home. The church used to get so much trouble from the Korean speaking mission in California that the apostles came and shut it down in front of everyone. Two years later after much convincing the church re- opened the mission. President Bowen(My mission President) is the most amazing person ever! He has worked so hard with the church (His wife's sister is married to Elder Bednar) and does so much for the Asian zone's! So 2nd thing, my mission isn't really Anaheim that is just where our mission office is located. My mission covers the Irvine Mission, Long Beach and Anaheim.  Because my mission is so large we don't ever ride bikes. We drive a Ford Fusion! haha. So I don't need to spend money on a bike but there's money that I need to spend else where now.

 

 Tell Grandma not to worry haha. I live in Irvine and my apartment is the 2nd nicest apartment that any missionary can have in the whole world!!!! How awesome is that?! In the next couple of months we will be getting I phones and I pads. We got to test the ipads and they are awesome! It makes it so much easier to fill out the area book and to be more involved with members plus we get to keep them after we leave!

 

            So just a little bit on the culture and Korean aspect. I do speak mainly English when I'm jundo'ing and tracting but all of our lessons are in Korean and when we go Market contacting it's all in Korean. Church is in Korean and the members speak little to none english unless they're kids or my age. I hated kim chi so much at first I almost threw up! So I decided to eat as whole bottle of kim chi until I did like it, and now I love it! There's this stuff called banana milk and it is hands down the most delicious thing I have ever tasted!!! I buy so much banana milk haha! I love Korean food! It is so much better than what we eat!!

 

           Members: The Korean branch has 60-70 members I believe. Before I leave this mission I will make sure that this branch turns into a ward. The President Koo (The Branch President) is amazing he reminds me of Bishop Thompson. He does SO much work for his branch. A lot of behind the scenes kind of stuff. Without him I don't know where this branch would be. The members are AMAZING! 

 

Sister Chu said over the phone that she didn't like people who didn't speak Korean.....we had a dinner appointment with her the next day......You can see why I may havebeen a little more than nervous. The first things I said to her was: "Sister Chu I really want you to like me and I promise I will study Korean very hard so that way you can" (Plus i honorfied the crap out of her!) Sister Chu is now my favorite lady in the Branch! She always come up and puts her arm around my shoulder (Keep in mind shes like 49) And tells everyone I'm the son she never had. So I love her to death plus her Husband is the secratery and is the bee's knee's he always teaches me new words.

 

 I have gotten to be with the members a lot this 1st week because saturday we had aThanksgiving party at the church and the day before that we had to visit most of them since I'm new and then we had church on Sunday. The Thanksgiving party was so much fun I got to eat great food I met a lot of the members and Kim Young our most progressing investigator showed up and clicked with a lot of the members! We also sang ah-ri-rang with two of the young woman in our branch.

 

 Our district uses me to get meal appointments because most of the young woman are 15ish and follow me around like a little puppy dog.....So they have me talk to the young woman and tell them how I have never had Korean food and that they should tell their parents to invite us over for me to try the food and then they can also teach me Korean hahaha. 

 

 Elders and the work so hard! Sunday I gave a talk and my trainer helped me memorize it and say it. And the members were laughing so hard! Because I like the southern Korean accents so my trainer teaches me kwan Juu dilect when I ask him to, and the members think It's the funniest thing to see a non-korean speaking like that. Anyways....I guess the meal appts. have doubled since I got here because the last american missionaries would not eat Korean food and now they just love seeing me eat hahaha. 

 

          My Trainer is Elder Kim and he is amazing! He has taught me so much when it comes to Korean and has taught me so much when it comes to teaching. He is the most selfless person I have ever met. Everything he does is for other people. My other companion Elder Chung just barely got baptized last year and cooks like a world class chef! (I'm in a trio) I love mine companions they're so freaking awesome.

 

        Last couple things we made a bed frame for Sister Yim and Elder Chung did the measurements and, wow he was off haha. We ended up making a bed for like 4 year old kid with no arms or legs I have no idea how none of us noticed how tiny it was while we were making it. You'll see a picture of it!

Thank you so much for the Dictionary and book I use it everyday! Thank you thank you! Since we drive everywhere and meet a lot with members (the missionaries and the branch president pretty much keep the church going) But we where our suits almost everyday. Will you PLEASE send me my other suit ASAP I can't get mine drycleaned and then I don't have a suit to wear and my companions are Korean so they are TINY! So I really need my other suit!!!! Also can you ask Aunt Carrie or even just the ward different ideas for youth activities. And toffifay :) Thank you mom I love you so much you are the best ever!

Love Elder Meza

Arrived in California

Hey Mom, I arrived in California safe and sound! I'm super stoked!

I love you mom,
Elder Meza

Getting ready to leave the MTC

My letter to Nikko started, "Do you want me to meet you at the airport with a flu shot, it is that time."  

No, I do not want you to do that. Tell Brad thank you so much for the letter and tell him thank you for just being an awesome guy and that I appreciate all he has done and that only the righteous and faithful are blessed with trials. And because of his attitude and enduring through everything faithfully I know for a fact he and his whole family will be blessed beyond their belief.

Also tell the Groneman's thank you so much for the cookies and that I'm working on a letter for them right now!

영세대학교  한국어 학당 편  Have Derek read that or just google translate it but that is the book I would love to have. Also if you go to BestfromKorea.com you can get a electronic dictionary. My Mission President emailed me and said they're very expensive in America and a lot harder to find and gave me a website to look for them. Also my Teacher Brother Lund suggested that you get me the brand iriver or nurian make sure is goes from Korean to English and English to Korean.

 

I still am flying alone. There is no one going to the same mission as me right now so I'm a solo missionary. My schedule changed, I still fly out at 8:45 but I have to leave the MTC at 3:30am!!!!! so I'll have a lot of down time.  I'll call you! I get time again to email you tomorrow so I'll share some stories then! Thank you for the package it was the best one yet. 

 

Thank you so much mom, I love you from here to mars to back and once more to mars!

Love Elder Meza

Later that day

Tell Grandma I sent her a letter but it was sent back because the ink was smeared! Also tell her that my teacher knows her. His name is Carson Lund he grew up in Gunnison! I'm pretty sure his dad's name is Kim but I can't remember his mom's. He had a brother who was inactive for a long time and same with his dad but his dad joined the church while Carson was on his mission. His dad owns some sort of trucking company in Gunnison? 

In the box I'm sending home I have a letter in it for Uncle Bud. I'm also not sending my backpack home till after I get to California because when riding bikes I might need it. Can you get the Jorgenson's address and tell them Hi, also will you tell bishop that when I get to California and can actually print pictures I'll be sending home a pretty studly picture to go up on that big 'ol white board of his! 

So much has happened these last couple weeks I wish I could just send you my journal to read. Since being here I've been so much more in tuned with the spirit and I honestly love it. I think I came out here off of your testimony and other people's testimony that I was close with. It was great that those little anchors were there for me and to help push me the right way. And I will forever be grateful for being blessed with such amazing examples. But no matter what; you just can't continue to strive towards being fully converted unless you have a testimony of your own. And being at the MTC I've truly and diligently read the scriptures not just because I'm supposed to, but because I had questions and wanted answers! It's crazy how the Book of Mormon truly has the answer to everything in life in it. I've had a question for 5 months now and it wasn't until last night at 1:30am in the hallway of our residence when I bore my testimony to a certain Elder who I saw in the hall way  because I had to pee. He had his bag packs wanting to go home. Today he told me how much he learned and how he knows he needs to stay and how I strengthened his testimony. In all honesty, he is the one who strengthened my testimony. Because of that experience I got the answer to my question and realized I knew the answer to the question the whole time I was just looking and searching in the wrong ways. They weren't bad ways but they just were not the ways The Lord wanted me to find out. I love you mom and know how much you will be blessed for being the example you have set. I am so grateful for you in my life. Thank you, I love you.

Alma 37:35-37

Love Elder Meza