February 22, 2016

Well another good ol week. This week we went to a multi zone with the President and his wife and half of the mission. It was great seeing good friends and learning a lot about the gospel.

Highlights... well they focused and a couple things that they want the leaders to drive into the minds of my district

1 PREACH MY GOSPEL 

   we need to be studying this everyday. Not just reading or perusing it, but treasuring what it has to say. How is the spirit going to put words in our minds if it does not have anything to draw from. Kind of super important.

2. LDM Book of Mormon.... Now we are going to start counting the number of LDM that we leave with invesigators each week. President promised us if we increased our desire to share and use the book of mormon in our teaching the number of baptisms in the mission would double.... haha pappy already knew that secret...

3. Planning... we have got to plan well so that the lord and guide us

4. Working with the members.... President had a big revelation to help the mission. He took a painting that a member did with jesus and the family proclamation and put the words the family.... who do you know that needs the gospel.. in sacrament meeting we gave each member one of these to put on their front door so that everytime they walk out of their houses the our reminded to thing who else needs the gospel.. I know that this is really going to help with the amount of people that are found and baptized.

5 WE NEED TO charish president Thomas S Monsons words... We know that we have a living prophet but do we actually know what he has taught. what are his teachings. Well for me he changed the mission age in 2012 and he really shows how much he loves us.

ALSO REYNA AND FERNANDO GOT MARRIED..... that is awesome... next week that means there is going to be a great baptism. I love seeing these people progress.

Shout out to bekah.... made it into BYU thats pretty cool I guess.

Elder Mecham

 

 My companion dying on the floor as we fill up the baaaaaaaaaptismal font for another wards baptism. Sadly just after leaving the church he barfed all over the street.. people just stared at him. Lets just say that we did not leave on saturday to go preach because my comp was in bed dying

February 15, 2016

Well the first week with a new companion is always fun.. Adjusting and getting to know them is the first priory
. Elder Waddell is from Meridian Idaho which is just outside of Boise. He has 9 months in the mission... The weird part is the before he was my companion he was training and was senior companion. I guess president just felt that we should be together.-... It is different leading the area though. I have gotten lost a couple of times but we will figure it out soon enough.

We had an interchange like the second day of this change. It was interesting because I just barely got my new companion and then the district leaders were like, nope, lets do a change just to mess around with them the second day...

I stayed in my area of course and elder Garzon came with me.. I learned a lot with him and we had a lot of success.-

The scariest thing yet pretty funny that happened this week was the district meeting. This week after picking up materials we headed back to start the district. The only thing is when we knocked on one of the members houses to get the keys the member was not there. I called her early in the morning to make sure that we would have the keys, but she still was not there. The next thing I did is I started calling all the different members to see if they had a set of keys... The bishop had some keys so we took a mototaxi to his house which is pretty far away. We were knocking on the door but no one answered.... after calling the bishops wife the son of the bishop finally woke up and gave us the keys... We were heading back and then I got a phone call from a missionary in the district saying that the member with the keys just got back. We got back to the meeting just as I see president williams and sister Williams walk in... wow... there went my nerves... The meeting went okay... I thought it was horrible... but it was fine... then president wrote me  and said it was fantastic... so I am now relieved.

Today playing soccer i went to head the ball, but it ended up nailing my glasses... My glasses were fine and did not break but it left my nose with a huge gash... I was bleeding and all. I am fine, but my nose just look really ugly. and it hurts a little too..

There is a multizone this week.. sweet beans.

Shout out to my little sister Bekah was moving on in the Sterling Scholars... wow what talent.. I wish I was there to see you... Now just take state.

 

 

 

February 8, 2016

This week was fun... nothing to different and out the ordinary... Oscar has been helping us out a lot... It is so cool living with him. He changed from one coming with jeans and a t shirt until the day after his baptism where he showed up and surprised us with a white shirt and tie... He is cool. He is even trying to convince his dad to help him go on a mission. His mom is super excited and said that she will do all she can to support him. Now our job is helping him learn the lessons and grow in his testimony. I mean he is still super new to the church and only yesterday was he confirmed, but he was also made a priest... He will be able to bless the sacrament this next week. It is really rewarding to see the changes in people. Oscar is an example in my life. He makes going on the mission worth the while.

This friday we celebrated the birthday of elder isuiza with all the members and investigators. Let just say this day I ate so much junk. Every house that we went to either invited us to soda or cake or chicken with rice.. One did all three. People here in Peru loves birthdays.. They are basically more important than christmas. It was also a zone conference so they gave him even more cake there. At night, we went to the house of some recent converts, they prepared some food then told us to wait outside so that they could set up a surprise... We waited like five minutes, the when we entered the house the had decorated with balloons and a homemade piñata and music. It was funny watching my companion trying to break it open... At the end of the day the smashed an egg on his head... It is tradition..

This week an investigator named Vanessa Cubas attended the baptism of the ward pimentel. She loved it... We were not able to attend with her, but after the service the elders from pimentel called us and told us she was there looking for us. We hurried to the church and she was super excited. She told us the she now has made the decision to be baptized. She wanted to be baptized the next week, but she still needs to attend another week and we need to teach more of the lessons. She is a very humble lady that is a Jehovahs Witness. She told us after attending church for the second time that she feels that everything we have taught is true... Everything is coming together... Vanessa Cubas is progressing and Reina and her family will be getting married in a week and baptized in 2. The work is really exciting right now.

Well my comp is leaving and here comes elder Waddel of Idaho... Lets see how it all goes.

Feliz cumpleaños mom

I Love you to death.... miss you so much

Elder Mecham

February 1, 2016

Well this was a great week.. It started well and ended even better. This week I had the opportunity to do 2 interchanges thursday and friday.. I was away from my companion for basically 48 hours.. It was weird yet fun at the same time. First I went to an Area call San Jose Obrero with elder Glauser who is from a small outside of Logan. He is newer in the mission, he has the same time as my son Elder Darrington. He has a lot of energy to just go and work and contact everyone in his path. The only hard thing for him is that most people do not understand what he says. I remember how that used to feell. The kid is awesome though.. Really you do not need to speak spanish well be an amazing missionary. Elder Glauser shows this... he has way less time then I do but he has baptized the same amount of people that I have.. haha.

Oscar was baptized this Saturday.. It was a great and spiritual moment... The only sad thing is that everyone showed up about 30 minutes late.. hahaPeruvian time. Oscar could not decide between My companion and I on who he wanted to baptize him so he flipped a coin. Elder Isuiza won... for me as long as the dude get baptized I am happy... Well the baptism was probably the funniest thing I have seen... One my companion is tiny.. too Oscar is about my height and is huge.... My companion said the baptism prayer, then oscar kneeled down and my companion forced him under the water... All the people in attendance busted up laughing... It was funny.

Saturday and sunday also was stake conference here so It was nice listening to the stake president and president williams and his wife..

Well just wait till you see the baptismal picture ....I will
send it soon.
Elder Mecham

January 25, 2015

Well time is going by fast now....

This week we had the opportunity to plant some trees and help some other people out.

The best part of this week was one of our investigators named Oscar finally accepted a baptismal date. We have been trying to put a date on him for over a month now.. Now he is going to be getting baptized this upcoming Saturday. His only problem that he had before is that he had not received his answer to his prayer yet.. He left him many assignments to read in the Book of Mormon, but every time we would go and ask him about his prayers he would just tell us that as he prayed he felt the same. 

This last week we had the great idea to have him come help us with service. Then he started to leave with us more often. The we just gave him a paper and told he to put the date he was going to get baptized and give to to us on Sunday... Then this Sunday he gave us the note...

It makes me super excited

Well I hope you are all doing well

 

 

January 18, 2016

This week was another great week of work and service. This week we painted again... I actually like painting... The weird thing is the colors of the paint here are so weird.... Who paints their house neon green... whatever their choice...

This time we painted the metal window guards for a poor old lady named Pifania. It was fun... Also my hands were brown for basically all of this week because we used sponges to paint.

So since, Mom asked... District Leader is basically I am in charge of 5 other missionaries. Each week we have a district meeting that is about an hour and a half where I teach them and encourage them to be better and work smarter and harder. Also I have the opportunity to take all the numbers Sunday nights so that I report to the zone leaders. If the zone leaders have an announcement they call me... Also Fridays and call and ask if there are any baptismal or rescue date for the weekend. The coolest part is as district leader I get to do work visits, where I go to the other areas of the missionaries in my district to see how the are working and how the are getting along with their companions. The work visit lasts for 24 hours or a little less. And that is basically it... but my main job though is teach the gospel, find people, and baptize... Also their is a big responsibility to set an example to the district with all that I do... Easy... It is more just another opportunity to serve others...

This week we helped The Mori family do a cabritada which is a fundraiser like a bake sale but with goat... and rice and beans... we sold them to the members of the ward and then helped deliver the end product. Haha my entire district and the zone leaders bought some... all the earned money went to pay for the marriage of the Mori family... it was a success. Cabrito or goat is actually really really tasty. You guys should all try some.. The mori family will be getting married soon and then on the 30th they will all be baptized.

Hope all is going well over there..

Thanks Grandma, and aunt Sara

Elder Mecham

January 11, 2015

      Well I apologize for not taking pictures,, or better said not sending pictures because here in this area the computers are full of viruses so it somewhat scares me to put my  usbs and memoria in the machines.... Sorry

Well I have been here with elder Isuiza for 2 weeks now... I still get lost in this area because it is huge. I will get used to it though. I get along with Elder Isuiza well... The guy just tries to make others laugh and feel good about themselves... The other thing that is really funny is that the only english words he knows are kind of bad.... For him queer means friend and then he knows others that i will not mention... They are not swear words but it is better left a secret.

This week I did my first work visit as a District Leader... I went with Elder Fresneda to his area to see how he was doing... and what thing we could help them with... He is a really cool guy, that is actually striving to learn english... Everyday he studies super hard and he read the book of mormon out loud. I understand the difficulty of learning a language but he is learning because he wants to. I learned because I was called to and that I need to to survive and talk with others.

We had interviews with president williams and Hermana williams this week too. It is always cool to see him and see what advice he and she have for us. And the best part is eating the cookies or brownies that hermana williams always makes... President williams said I was a very humble person that teaches well and can be trusted... hhmmm wow. thanks President.

This week I was worried for my companion because he was having a real hard time sleeping... He went 3 or 4 nights with out basically no sleep.. He is stressed about a less active he met while we went on the work visit because we heard that he is in the hospital... I hope the guy get better and I also hope my comp does not get sick from not sleeping very much.

Well I am doing just fine... I hope you all are doing great.. cool to hear that Rachel is now on the mission too.

Elder Mecham