I started listening to my recording I realized how much I have started using "y'all" both consciously and unconsciously. I guess both Grandma Meyers and Grandma Plaster will be proud of me (And it only took 3 months!). I am so excited to hear that everything is going well with our new cousins. I got to thinking last week after I read all of your e-mails about how many new cousins came into our family in such a short period of time, it is awesome and I agree with grandma that it is a special experience to see and witness God's love for His children as every new and precious soul to Him enters into their lives on Earth. Continuing through the week, exchanges went well. I was with Elder Hales, our District Leader in Lanett, and had some good experiences going out and talking to people of several different faiths and bearing testimony of the truth and of the principles of the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ. Thursday, we had Zone Training Meeting in Columbus with all of our zone and President and Sister Grayson. It was an incredible meeting and there were so many inspired trainings given that I really needed to hear, like how we should all take meaningful leftovers from our meetings (notes) and how the members possess the weight that is needed for an effective missionary workout. At the end of that meeting we were actually instructed to take somebody else's car and take it with us when we went to Macon for our meeting Saturday. So we drove it to Panda Express where the whole zone was meeting for lunch and then went back to Lanett to grab my luggage and go back to Lagrange. We had to leave our own car in Lanett so we essentially had a new car for a few days! On Friday, we did our weekly planning and went back up to Hogansville for Correlation with Brother Clark and had a great time visiting with people. We visited several awesome less active members, where Elder Swainston got to hold a chicken and get a picture with it (He had gotten a chicken that he kept as a pet from a white elephant gift exchange so it was kind of sentimental). Oh we also got to visit a guy on Thursday I believe who answered the door and seemed fairly disinterested but we had actually knocked on his door in order to try to find a different less active member so we asked him if he knew of this guy and as we talked his dog ran out and he came outside to get him so we kept talking. Elder Swainston noticed that he had a rock climbing shirt on and asked him if he liked to rock climb because he did a lot of rock climbing back in Vegas. He said he did and showed us all of his gear and began opening up about his experience in the Navy with several Mormons. He wasn't interested in the message, but he invited us over again to talk and even offered to take us rock climbing (don't think that is allowed but still nice of him). We learned this week that as we share the gospel with love nobody will be offended so I hope that as we show him love he will become more interested and open to this message. We also got two new awesome potential investigators. We went to go get more gas for the car and apparently there was a gas leak in Alabama so there was a shortage of fuel and the gas pump was taking forever. We started talking about it with the man across from us and began talking about who we are and the message we have to share. He was very interested and gave us his phone number. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways. We also got to talk to another lady and some of her family when we went trying to talk to another referral. They were very open and interested in what we had to share. Finally on Friday, We got to speak with some members there in Hogansville, who are awesome and one was even baptized by an Elder Fawcett, so I'll have to see if it's the same ones from pageant. They also feed us a lot by giving us tons of snacks. They are awesome and are even going to help us teach investigators right next door. On Saturday, We went to a trainer/trainee meeting and learned several awesome things and even got to see some old friends from the MTC. They had a baptism that day too, so it was pretty exciting. I even met an Elder Cayton there who is brothers with Sister Katie Jones who used to be in our ward. Man a mission is a small world. We had to catch a ride back since we drove the car we had to drop off back so it was pretty late by the time we got home but it had been a good day. On Sunday, we had an awesome time at church and it is always great to partake of the Sacrament and it is so important. I am beginning to understand what Dad talks about when he talks about Ward Council because we sit in on Branch Council every week and yes the Branch would love to have the problems you are having back home. We went tracting that day and had some awesome experiences and then went and taught Jaylin. He recommitted to a baptismal date and we are excited to continue working with Him. I had asked the Lord to show me His hand in my life and His work and I had the opportunity to share my experiences about my baptism and when Dad prayed with me alone in one of the rooms of the Stake Center the Spirit hit me really hard and it was great. We still don't eat very big meals other than when we are eating with members. We eat a lot of simple things like quesadillas and cereal but I am trying to figure out a schedule in which we could make some larger meals. We have laundry facilities in our apartment and usually shop at the Walmart down the street. We are having a great time and there is much to do and learn about the Lord's work, and there is a need for all of us to share the gospel. I heard a cool statistic: 1 in 4 member referrals get baptized while 1 in 2,000 doors knocked get baptized. This work is amazing and brings great blessings into our lives. I heard somewhere that we can be forgiven as we share the gospel with others. I feel that that comes from the fact that we are repenting and being filled with the Spirit. Sorry about the confusing sentence above. The keyboard started doing something weird and I meant to say that there is much to learn and that this is the Lord's work. In the end as Nephi declares in 1 Nephi 1 those tender mercies are truly miracles. Hope you all have a great week!
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Elder Daric Meyers
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