Darlin'

Choice and Accountability

> > family and friends, > > this week, went by in a flash, im doing great, just continuing in the work. this week we had the leadership council meeting of the mission. it was amazing as always. we spent all day thursday in the mission home. the plus was, when it was all over and the missionaries left, my companion and i had stayed to wait for our ride home, and our mission president sat us down on his couch and just sat there talking to us about what we had learned during the meeting, what we had been learning lately. it was a huge blessing for me. today i said goodbye to the hatchs. they are finishing their mission and going home next week, and i wont be able to see them again. luckily they live in provo and i will be able to see them when im back at byu again, so it was just a temporary goodbye. this sunday we were sitting in church, the meetings had already started and in walked a lady we were not expecting at all. her name is carmen, she is the sister of a recent convert to the church. we had taught her twice before. she has a hard life, filled with drugs, and related health issues. we had taught her , but hadnt invited her to church yet, but she came on her own accord, that is a HUGE, demonstration of faith. for me that was incredible. its the little things. > > > i have two thoughts for the week. one begins with a story of a cake. we sat down in a members house to enjoy a small cake, there were 6 of us. Two things were obvious, the cake would be enough for everyone to have some, but it wouldnt be very much for each one. the cake was already in crumbled pieces because it hadnt seperated from the pan smoothly. we all began to grab, the first thought that crossed each of our minds was to eat as fast as we could, in order to eat as much of the cake as we could. the natural man, is selfish, and sees only what is his, it is the first instict, the alarm that goes off in our head to make sure we get as much as we can, and the rest arent important. in that moment that the eating frenzy began, i thought, about the needs of the human body compared to the first natural instict i had felt. in all reality the body doesnt even need chocolate cake. so why did i feel such a strong desire to eat as much as a could, before the rest ate it? like i said before, the natural man is selfish, and we must put off the natural man, and subject ourselves to the influence of the spirit. If we focus on the needs of others, looking outward rather than inward, we will be filled with happiness and joy that comes from service to others, and we can trust and have faith that God will provide for our needs, so long as we are in His service. > > the second thought is on accountability. When we consider ourselves to be christians, what we mean to say is we consider ourselves to be followers of Christ. upon being baptized by proper authority we take upon ourselves His name in a very real sense. we will all stand before God to be judged for our decions and desires during this life. we will be held accountable for the use of christs name in our life. that means, that right now, everything, we do, every moment we spend, we are adding to the book of our life. do our decisions represent the will of Christ? do our desires? is there every a "freeby moment?" on friday night, where we no longer represent that name? > > well my family and friends, i love all of you, hold to the truth, dont let the lies of the world, blind you. > > > elder myers

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Hospital Visit

> > hey friends and family, > > so this past week was different. last saturday i came down with a fever, spent a day in the house, then monday, when i got up and started moving around, i fainted and hit the floor. I went to the hospital and got everything checked out, and learned that i was very sick, and had passed out due to exhaustion, and my body needed to rest. So i went to the hatchs apartment. they live about 15 minutes away from us, closer to downtown montevideo. I spent the entire week living with them, resting and healing. it was an awesome experience. I spent my time sleeping, eating, studying and relaxing. Sister hatch fed me very very very well, i spent quite a bit of time running errands with elder hatch. and we spent most evenings sitting on the couch conversating. They took me in and treated me like a grandson, and it was an a very enjoyable experience. the only down side to any of it, was the anxiety to get back into the field and out working. Its hard to rest after getting so used to constantly be on the move. As well, living back in my house, i feel very spoiled, not having i big warm bed, and always eating amazingly 3 square meals a day, but i will fall back into the routine. it feels great to be out and about teaching again. > > I spent the majority of my time studying the life of Christ, what i learned, is that Heavenly Father, sent His son as the greatest act and demonstration of love in history. God reached out to us, through His son, and then Christ spent his life teaching and giving the example of how we accept what God has offered us, which is eternal life. we follow Christ to return back to the presence of the Father. it is a path the requires a life long commitment and progress. no one act saves us for forever, we are never "done" the joy however is in the journey. I know that it is through Chirst, that we return home. > > > love you all, stay safe.

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Leadership Training

> family and friends, > > this week was incredible, the highlight was leadership training that we had in montevideo. we spent two days in the headquarters of the church where the mission home, temple, and church offices are located. we spent two nights in the hostal, and two days in meetings with president. by the end of the second day my brain couldnt handle anymore, at the end of the last segment i asked president if someone had filmed the training he said yes, and so i asked him for a digital copy because i didnt catch any of it. The food was amazing, all american food, by the end of the second day i was full. friday morning at 6 am all of the leaders divided into two teams and we had a solid game of soccer in honor of the world cup. all the missionaries of the south against the missionaris of the north.... it was intense. president was the referee. on the outside it was all smiles and laughs from the missionaries, on the inside it was bloodthirsty and pure desire to win. We won 12-5. i contributed to one of the goals with a awesome header. > > this coming week we have to train the missionaries based on the training we recieved, and we re pretty excited for that, ive learned i really enjoy teaching other missionaries. its been a blessing be able to work with the missionaries. > > this week, i spent most of my time pondering on the effects of self comparison. When we compare ourselves to others, we will find there is always someone, with more money, more confidence, better cloths, more intelligent, and if we spend our energy trying to become more like other people, or drawing our own self confidence based on being better than others, then we bulid on an empty foundation. We either are never good enough and cant accept ourselves, or spend our time constantly trying to gratify our vain ambition and selfish pride. the way of the Lord, is to base your self confidence in one question "what does Christ think of me?" and to constantly seek to build others. Seeking the aproval of Christ, and building others, fills us with joy, and oddly enough fills us with the confidence we were seeking the whole time. if we spend our time, focused on giving time and effort in the service of the lord, building others, we will be built, perhaps without our even realizing it. > > i love you guys, stay in the fight > elder myers >

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Pop Culture

hey friends and family, this week was AWESOME. we spent every day rehearsing for the show that we had last night with the choir. and it turned out amazing. there were 540 people who came to watch, which was a huge turnout. it was an extremely powerful experience. many left crying, i teared up at points, it was alot of hard work, and the perfect finish. The hatch`s, the missionary couple serving here in montevideo had family fly in from the states, to visit so they invited us over for dinner, and that was a ton of fun, i was asking them everything i could think of about back home, whats changed, i even went so far as to ask if the beibs (justin bieber) was still a big deal...they said no. in my house there are six missionaries, but this past week, there were 9 living there, because missionaries came in from other parts of uruguay for the show, they were all musicians. so our house was a MAD HOUSE this past week. fun... yes, but you get to the point you just want your space, and some peace. they left last night though, so we re back to normal. theres tons of cleaning to get done today

World Cup

HEY! IMAN UNCLE! just found out that my older sister ashton had her baby and his name is Calvin. he looks like a super stud, very handsome very strong just like his uncle. Hopefully he pulls a little humility from the other side of the family as well. this week has been amazing. we had a conference with the entire mission on thursday, and i was able to see friends from a all over urugay. old mission friends, all the guys from my group, a few of which i hadnt seen in over a year. it was amazing. the best part was an amazing surprise. Those that have been on this email list since the beginning may remeber Alisson, whitney and evelyn, a year and a half ago when i was in rivera, they were they first people i ever taught that were baptized in the church. i said goodbye to them when i left rivera and hadnt seen a single one of them since. Well thursday to my great surprise, as i stood with all the missionaries from the mission, worming her way through the crowd i saw a familiar face, it was EVELYN! she was at the conference because she was serving a short term mission inside uruguay with another sister missionary. it was amazing to see her again, she had changed alot, her and her older sister alison are both still going strong in the faith. it was one of the happiest moments of my mission. The conference in itself was very uplifting, the general authority who came to speak, was extremely intelligent. He was the co founder of franklin qwest. and had served as a mission president in uruguay many years ago. so serving in south america during the world cup is NUTS. uruguay lost its first game, but for the 2 hours uruguay was playing, the whole country went on strike. no body worked, buses, public service. everyone went home, and the whole country for 2 hours stopped. everyone was really upset thought when we lost to costa rica. a "no body" in the soccer world. but for me. life goes on. i continue to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. well family and friends, for this week, i love you, i feel the strengh of your prayers sustaining me.

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"Don't stand in the way of yourself"

> > ladies and gentlemen, > > This week, was great, today being our free day, we spent it going all over montevideo to see the sights, we went to the main stadium where the national soccer team plays....that was alright, the latin american missionaries were alot more excited for that. we then procceded to go to the coast, and that was awesome, i forget how much i love the beach and sand. we went to Ciudad vieja, which is the oldest part of uruguay, where it was first colonized, and walked around looking at very very old buildings, also alright.... but the kicker is this, and by far the best picture i was able to take today.. we passed the AMERICAN EMBASSY. the first american flag i have seen flying in the wind in very long time. i felt very very patriotic seeing it again. i love the states. > > The week was mostly filled with teaching, but this next week we have a giant acitivity for the whole city, and have formed a missionary choir for it, and while i dont have very much musical talent i have been loving it. i found out that i am a tener.. however it hurts most of the time for me to sing as high as they want me to. but i still love it. This coming week we have a conference with our mission and the other mission that is in uruguay with one of the leaders of the church, and we are very very very excited for that. his name is Lynn G. Robbins. > > What ive been studying personally lately has been how to dedicate yourself to a cause, and how to be self motivated, and its been amazing. Just a few personal thoughts ive had. In order to begin you have to have a vision of what you want to accomplish, You have to take inventory of the sacrifice required, as well as the excpeted reward. and Finally, planning and goal setting. The key to dedicating yourself to the cause is sacrifice, it doesnt become your passion until you give a part of yourself for it. its not wonder that Christ calls for us to give our whole might mind, and strength, in the cause of being His follower and disciples. it brings meaning to the promise that he that gives his life for the namesake of Christ, will "find it again." The vision of following Christ is not the path of partial sacrifice, its an all in or all out decision, and most often what stands between us and that dedication is what i call our favorite sin. that one habit, hobby, language, social aspect, in our lives, that we know is not in tune with following Christ, but have deemed it to difficult to give up. The more i study it, the more i find, that it is that mentality that keeps me from obtaining what i most desire. Peace, confidence, and feeling the spirit of God in my life. > > > be motivated my friends, and dont stand in the way of yourself. > > i know He lives, > > elder myers

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