MERRY (humble)
CHRISTMAS!!! 2013
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Dec 23 (7 days ago)
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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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Dec 16
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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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Dec 9 |
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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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Dec 2
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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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Nov 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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