Miracles do happen in elevators!

     Two nights ago we ate at the Kusuma’s house and they are from India.   We ate on the floor and we ate with our fingers! IT WAS AWESOME!!  So I am probably never going to eat with a fork again because it is so fun ha-ha AND you don’t have to wash dishes!   After we finished eating with Brother Kusuma, he walked us to the elevator to leave his apartment when a African American lady inside the elevator said, “Are you from a church?” we said, “Yes,” we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints."   Then she said, “You are just the guys I needed to talk to; please come with me.”  So we walked with her to her apartment and her two sons were sitting on the couch looking very angry and she told us that they were being disobedient.  She asked us to teach them a lesson on obedience and the happiness it brings.   After that they dispersed and we talked some more to the mother and she told us that her 19 year old son is in jail and these kids are heading down the same path.   She gave us her phone # and said to come anytime and she wants to learn more!!  Ha-ha!  Look at that!!  Miracles do happen in elevators.  I never would have thought! :P

      The most solid investigators currently are Jay and Sonia.  They have a son named Sebastian and they keep coming to church and absolutely love it!  Last Saturday we set a date for April 16 to get baptized and they are very excited.   I can already see their lives changing as they come to church and read there scriptures.  It is amazing how much the gospel blesses families!  I really took it for granted at home.

     This Sunday Haviar came to church with his whole family!!! He is in the CIA and we really did not expect him to come.  Elder Peterson found him a while back and we decided to check on him and so we invited him to come to church 2 weeks ago.  I don’t know much about his family but we are going to get to know them better this week.   We are going to stop by and check up on him and see if he wants to take the lessons.

     On Friday Elder Peterson, Elder Harper, Elder Earl and I went to the metro and set up a booth and “street contacted.”   We usually split up and talk to people so we are generally on our own.  A Hispanic guy came up to me and started talking about Jesus with me.  I was getting to know him when he asked, “Do you believe in modern day prophets?” I said, “Yes, they help guide us and we receive modern day revelation from god through our prophet.  He got extremely mad and called me a swear word 3 or 4 times and just as he said that I could smell the alcohol on his breath.   He was drunk!   He got extremely mad at me and told me that I was of the devil because I believe in prophets.  Then he asked "What can I do for you?"   I said, “You can know the things I tell you are true if you read this book.   He yelled at me called me a swear word again then he said I was an idiot, ripped the book out of my hand and then stormed off.  (Scary for MOM to be reading this)

     I love it out here I wouldn’t trade the experiences out here for anything.  It is so much fun to be exposed to all of these different people.   ELDER MEITLER

Changing Lives!!!

Well this week has been awesome and tons have been going on!   Busy, busy, busy!   To start off, Michael is in a part member family and has been going through some rough times.   His dad is not a member but his mom and the rest of the family are members.  He has been just struggling with life in general and just 3 days ago he gave us a call and asked if we would talk to him! (He has never called us for anything) So we pull up to his family’s house and he is sitting in his jeep.   We hop in his car and ask, “What’s up?   He told us that he got in a huge fight with his parents so he was going to go out to party but he called us instead and THEN after talking to him for 5 minutes, Bishop Burton called him and asked if he wanted to have an interview in 10 minutes.  (Michael recently got interviewed by the bishop and  felt guilty because he left a lot of stuff out) so we escorted him to the church for support and waited for 30 minutes but it was 9 o’clock so we had to go home.   Then we got a text from him saying that he has never felt better in his entire life!  So just yesterday we went and taught his family a lesson on the plan of salvation but Michael wasn’t there.   Right when we finished Michael came in, sat down on the couch in his living room and Elder Peterson started talking to him.  I joined him and Michael broke out in tears expressing that he has never been this happy in his entire life and thanked Elder Peterson and Elder Meitler for helping him out in this point in his life.   He said, “You two guys have changed my life!  And I know this church is the word of God. “Then he said, “Elder Meitler and Elder Peterson, if you guys don’t baptize any one on your mission it doesn’t matter because you saved me and I am so thankful for your help.”   (That was last night and I am SOOO happy I am able to serve a mission at this time and I hope everyone has the opportunity to serve a mission because this is the greatest thing I have ever done.   I KNOW that the church changes lives.   I love you all till next p-day.   ELDER MEITLER OUT

Outback Steakhouse for dinner!!

Well it is p-day again and I love the mission and the people here, it is way fun! I can now say I have been introduced to almost every religion. It is very interesting to hear especially from Hindus.   I have found that I am extremely fascinated by other religions and their beliefs.  I have learned a TON but I also learned that trying to beat someone with scriptural knowledge and logically (almost) never works!  It is through my testimony that has helped bring others closer to conversion through the miracles I have witnessed and sharing experiences that I have obtained. No one can rip down my testimony of the church and the power of prayer! So even though I am not a scripture scholar yet ha-ha I use my testimony a ton. Oh and guess what, we had 5 investigators show up at church on Sunday!!!! So the work is moving along and the members love us!  Like tonight, they are dropping off food from Outback Steakhouse. And when I was at the grocery store a member paid for my food when I was at the check out!! Oh, I had to wear a cast last week for my fingers because I pulled a muscle or hurt a tendon or something so all I could use was my thumbs HA!! So as you can see I am typing on the computer so my fingers are pretty much healed. I am still on my diet I am losing weight slowly but surely. My back feels better than it ever has! Oh and did you get the package I sent you?  Well I hope to hear from ya this month love ya! :)