Monday, December 30, 2013

MERRY (humble) CHRISTMAS!!! 2013
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Mckenzie Meyer
Dec 23 (7 days ago)
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to me, Kim, Connor, Leilani, Allyson, Tasha, Brittiany, Kylee
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Christmas in Bermuda!! It's a dream come true! :) It's been a festive and spiritual week so let's get crackin'! :):)

Tuesday we had a pretty awesome day!!! We went to Jahmella's and the second we walked in she said "okay so I have an idea! tell me what you think... I've been trying to tell people that they need to come to bible study (that's what she calls our lessons) but I think that is too much for them right now. so I'm going to go get someone who really needs a prayer right now and would you be okay just praying with them??" we kind of just looked at each other and started smiling haha so she ran to get Aaliyah's dad but he left so then she brought another lady in and a little bit later someone else knocked on the door and she invited them to pray with us and then she also went and got Aaliyah and her mom! haha what a great member missionary!!! simply inviting people to come pray with us! and she said that later that week all three of them came to her and said that the prayers worked and God is good! haha duh! but anyway.... Jahmella is simply amazing. She challenged us to pray with 5 people a day which has caused us to have some interesting experiences praying with people in the bus terminal and other random people haha She thinks its fun to give us challenges since we always challenge her to do things ha I guess it's only fair:) oh yeah so Aaliyahs family isn't moving for awhile! the paper work didn't work out or something which means she's still coming to church and we are going to hopefully get her baptized before she leaves!!!!! She just has to ask her mom. we're hoping our prayer with her softened her heart just a bit:) keep her in your prayers!!!
That night we went to a members home and had delicious homemade desserts and sang carols. It was lots of fun! Wednesday we met a really cute couple who was married in February. They are quite but secretly interested haha Jason is a little skeptical but Karen is SUPER awesome! She's from the Philippines so of course she's awesome:) but we had a great lesson with them about prayer and how God

is our loving Heavenly Father and we used the iPads to show a video and it was great!!! Unfortunately with the holidays they said to come back in like 3 weeks... so we will do that! The Elders met with Leon and Shawn this week and committed them to be baptized on February 15!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!! We are so excited for them! They came to church so we just need them to keep coming and keep praying and I have faith they can do it! Friday we went Christmas caroling in town during their late night shopping! (the stores stayed open til 9.... super late right?) haha so we wrapped up Book of Mormon and gave them out while singing Christmas songs as Elder MacCabe played the Ukelele! It was awesome!! A huge group of people were also going around caroling so we sang a few songs with them and then they invited us to have hot chocolate and gingerbread! It was so cool how friendly and open they were to us. Christmas is such a special time of year. I hope you are able to enjoy it amidst the business of it all. I realized how fortunate it is to be on a mission during Christmas. You don't worry so much about buying gifts, envying people, or wishing for new stuff! I have been reading some amazing articles about Christmas and my challenge to you all is to do AT LEAST ONE of the following on or before Christmas!!
- Read "Anonymous" -President Monson
- Read "Gifts" -President Monson
- Watch "Kids and Christmas" on Mormon messages
- Read the December Ensign or New Era (There's some GOOD stuff in there!)
- Pray for missionary opportunities and then DO something about it!
- Give one gift to Christ:)
Okay I will stop. But seriously, take some time away from the shopping and wrapping and baking and just think about how wonderful it is that we get to celebrate our Savior's birth. I want you all to know that I know He lives. He is the perfect example for us to follow. His life was given to us because our loving Heavenly Father wants us to return home! I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way for us to find true happiness. I know the Atonement is available for every single child of God, rich or poor, humble or proud, righteous or sinful. It is for ALL of us. I know prayers are heard and answered. The commandments are for our safety and benefit. The Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion and should be the keystone to our lives. Joseph Smith restored Christ's gospel and because of his faithful life we are blessed to have the Priesthood, Temples, the Book of Mormon, MISSIONARIES!!, and so much more. The birth of our Savior was humble. I pray that all of us can also have a humble Christmas. I love you and can't wait to see you!!!
Merry Christmas!!!!!!
Love, Sister Meyer

Holidays and Hastening!!!!! Dec. 16th 2013
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Mckenzie Meyer
Dec 16
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to me, Kim, Connor, Leilani, Allyson, Tasha, Brittiany, Kylee
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Happy Holidays! I can't believe the Holidays are almost here! They come so fast! This week has been hard but i have grown a lot so it's awesome!!!!!! Tuesday morning we took Sister McKee and Elder Tingey to the airport. It was like saying goodbye to family all over again. Ugh. We were just kind of chilling/grieving;) waiting for the new missionaries to arrive when we got a phone call and Sister Kapisi said she was waiting at the airport for us! AH!!! They took an earlier flight than we expected so we had to rush over and pick them up! haha oops! So Sister Kapisi is my new companion! She's my Maui!!! she loves soccer and is a super hard worker! It will be a great 3 months. I'm excited! President Calderwood came on Friday and we got to have a mini conference with him since we don't get to have any zone conferences or mission conferences while here on the island. It was great to see him and his wife. They are AWESOME people. We received iPad mini's!!!! WHAT?!!!!? I'm still trying to figure out how to use it ha but it's been so cool because we can now watch mormon messages with people, read conference and ensign talks ALL THE TIME!!! (my favorite!:)), and help the Lord's work begin to hasten! President said some cool things about how this really is the the time of hastening. Ipads, online proselyting through facebook, 145+ temple, 80000 plus missionaries, 50 new missions.... and more! what a WONDERFUL time to be living in!! And especially to have the gospel! There are opportunities all around us to share it! Just pray for them and you will see!! President also did a branch presidency training on Sunday and invited us to attend. I really hope the members here can catch the fire of the work of salvation. I feel like this island has lost it's umph for sharing the gospel. But Sister Kapisi and Elder MacCabe are super go getters so I hope miracles can happen here! Sister Calderwood gave a wonderful talk in sacrament meeting about faith and how in order for us to maintain our faith we need to pray, read our scriptures, go to church... all the standard answers. But if we want to increase our faith we have to step into the darkness, try something new, or just give a little more effort! That's when we will grow the most. And I can testify that that is true:) I am starting a new phase of missionary work here. It's a new beginning but I know it will be full of so much growth that I am hopeful and happy. It's a wonderful time of life! So be wonderful!!!! Stay positive, warm, and full of the Spirit of Christ!!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Sister Meyer:)









WHAT A WONDERFUL LIFE!!!! Dec. 9th 2013
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Mckenzie Meyer
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Wow! Where to begin! This past week was wonderful and yet awful at the same time! haha I'll start with the awfulness.... Sister McKee is leaving tomorrow. I can't even begin to tell you how much I am going to miss her. But we ate lots, stayed busy, and had a great finish to her time here in Bermuda!!! We had one last hoorah with Jahmella. It was so fun and she didn't want us to leave. It was hard. But she told us that she used to watch the show Saved By The Bell all the time and when I told her how much I love that show she decided that all of the missionaries are the characters on that show! hahaha so we took a picture of all of us... haha she's hilarious but I love her! She is growing SO much! Even in the short time i have met her she is such a stronger and kinder person. So we also had a baptism this week!!! Well technically it was the Elders baptism but anyway this 11 year old boy, Keijah, was baptized on Saturday! It was SO beautiful!!! You know when you just can't stop smiling?? Yep that's how everyone was. It was a very special moment for him and his family. His parents are divorced but his mom and grandma and aunties came to the baptism which was really special. His dad, Keith, has been less active for awhile and just started to come back a few months ago. Keith is also part of the Rasta faith which is a very interesting situation... look up what Rasta's believe in and you'll understand why ha but it's been an amazing to see Keijah learn and grow in the gospel. A big focus of the missionary work here is to keep the children active. Which is something I love because I know if it wasn't for my childhood and the examples and leaders I had... well I might not be in Bermuda loving life so much. And I love kids so it has been SO fun to work with them! Another fun thing we did this weekend was that there was a Boat Parade! Bermudians love to have parties! Saturday night they had boats all decked out in lights drive around the harbor! There were boats with dancers, singers, and lots of music! It was SO fun!!! I will try to send pictures of all of these wonderful events but since I can't send too many just look on facebook and I will try to post some more! or you can just wait for 9 more months! WHAT?!!! I can't believe this week marks the halfway point of my mission. It has been such a wonderful journey. I have learned more than i ever thought possible. I have been blessed to meet many amazing people that I will never forget! This experience has been challenging but I know with all of my heart it has been exactly what I needed. I have realized how important the spiritual things are in life. Especially with the Christmas season. Gifts are fun and nice, but the things that matter most are those that last the longest. So my challenge to each of us this Christmas is to think of something you want to receive and give spiritually. I was able to watch a little bit of the Christmas Devotional and it was wonderful! The Prince of PEACE is living! Peace is available to all of us because of it! So I pray you are filled with Peace this Christmas season! Have faith in Him and peace can be yours. I love you all!!! Have a WONDERFUL (snowy:)) week! Stay warm! LOVE LOVE LOVE you!!!!! XOXOXOXOX
Love, Sister Meyer:)
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Holiday Spirit!!!Dec. 2 2013
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Mckenzie Meyer
Dec 2
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to me, Kim, Connor, Leilani, Allyson, Tasha
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Good Morning!!!! 
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Now that I am itch free and don't have medication in me I hope I can tell you about the joy I am feeling today!!! It's been a crazy week! We took a few days to recover from the poison ivy but thanks to your prayers and the prayers of the people here, we were able to get back in gear faster than we thought! We had a great thanksgiving dinner with all the missionaries at the Moss's house. I honestly felt at home and just loved it! Most people here don't celebrate Thanksgiving unless they have American relatives so it's just like another day but we made it memorable and fun! The Holiday Dinner and Dance which was a PARTY!!!!!!  Oh man we had lots of fun! Elder Nugent is a professional ballroom dancer so he taught us how to do the fox-trot and then we turned on some dancing music and went to town! haha Seriously I loved it. It was such a fun night. It brought a new sense of unity and happiness to the branch. But Sunday was the best day and I know I won't be able to describe it all completely but here goes nothing! So it was testimony meeting right? Well let's just say miracles are happening here. Sister Trott shared how her family is being more comfortable with the church and open about the gospel since the passing of her mother. Then Sister Martin bore her testimony about how the typhoon in the Phillipines have softened the hearts of many people including her husband who is not a member but has started coming to sacrament meeting to support her! Sister McKee made me cry (I plan on having a cry fest when she leaves) because she bore her solid, pure testimony about how real the gospel is and just how awesome it is to be a missionary here. This is our last week together which honestly makes me want to stop time! I am going to miss her SO much!!!!!!! Then Jahmella bore her testimony (which is seriously a miracle) for the first time about how since she has been coming to church she has so much more peace in her life. She is so straight up and awesome that when she bears her testimony you know she means what she says. She is so awesome!! She made us lunch yesterday and it was so humble. We sat on the floor of her two bedroom house on a baby blanket with paper plates and utensils and just talked about how great life is with the gospel. Her life has completely been turned around because of it. SO cool! And then last by not least Aaliyah, the 11 year old who has been coming to church, got up and bore her testimony saying that she is so thankful that she has come here and that she has been treated like family and she is going to miss it so much when she moves next week. She cried, I cried, we all cried! It was SO great!! haha After such a spiritually strengthening day we ended it by going with the Mello-cann family to the Bermuda Christmas Parade! AHH! The Bermudians know how to have a parade haha just kidding.. Pretty much every other float was a dance group all dressed up in christmas costumes and lights! It was AWESOME!!! We even joined the Gombeys and the rest of the crowd at the end by dancing in the streets:) I took tons of pictures but don't have time to send them now.. sorry! And sorry this was such a random letter. I hope you can understand something out of it haha Mitchell, have a happy birthday bro! Stay away from girls!;) I love you  SO MUCH!!!!!! Happy Holidays!
Love, Sister Meyer 
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Every little thing is gonna be alright:) Nov. 25th 2013
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Mckenzie Meyer
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gifNov 25
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Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
Well to be 100% honest with you my body is kind of going crazy right now so i'm not sure how this email will turn out haha the bed bugs weren't bed bugs after all... it was poison ivy.  but PLEASE don't worry!!!! every little thing is gonna be alright:) that's the Bermuda spirit! the past few days have been full of trying new tricks and taking medicine and learning how to have self-discipline and not itch! haha it's been FUN?? yeah it's been fun! ha  luckily the Moss's have been SO good to us and the Branch members are very helpful, too. It's been a very cool and special experience and I wouldn't change it for the world. So other than that we had a really busy week! There was a member who passed away who was in a nursing home for 8 years. The funeral was very special and it made me think of Grandma Meyer. I know without a doubt she is watching over us. She is helping ALL of us during our tough days. I can feel her close and I hope and pray you can too. It also helped me think about how important it is to focus on the eternal perspective. How we live will really be shown as we pass on to the next life. uh mum... we also had a fun relief society Christmas decorating activity! super fun and once again, i LOVE this branch!!!! I love love love it. I just wish you could all see how awesome they are. this week we have a branch holiday dinner/dance and I am SOOO pumped for it! The holiday spirit is beginning to be felt here on the island and i just can't wait! This time of year is great! remember to give thanks! We have SO much! love you all! have a happy thanksgiving!!!!!! sorry this is random and short! we'll blame it on the poison ivy... ha 
Love, Sister Meyer 
p.s. these pictures were taken at what we like to call "the stairway to heaven" :)
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