My second to last day in Texas...

Dear family,

This is unbelievable. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was in the Rio Grande public library trying to shoot off an email so we could go play futbol in the cancha haha. Time flies. I barely started getting everything packed up and it's been really hard not getting emotional. I've grown so attached to the valley. It's been my home for these past two years. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm glad that I was called to serve in south Texas; It will be so much easier to come back and visit all my friends and families that I've gotten to know.

It's been tough saying goodbye this past week, but fortunately we have facebook! Seriously though, it makes it so much easier to keep in tough. I love technology. I can't wait to plan a trip and take you all down here and introduce you to everyone. This is such an amazing place. Oh the Rio Grande valley. It might not be the prettiest on the outside, but on the inside, it's beautiful.
Thanks so much familia for all your love and support these past two years. I can't believe it's over! There were always other missionaries that were finishing the missions but I never realized that one day it would be my turn! haha. I'm still in denial I think.

Well, I guess I'll be seeing/talking to you on Wednesday. Tonight we have some FHE's planned with members/investigators and that will finish up my last working day as a full-time missionary. Tuesday morning we'll be heading to transfers; I'll help the new greenies put their bikes together, and then I'll have my exit interview with President Trayner at 2:30. We will have dinner and a testimony meeting at 6. Then we'll get up Wednesday morning and head to the airport.

Les quiero muchooo!

Con carino,
Elder Brett

Nov. 5, 2012

Dear familia,

So I just have to say that it was another great week. The people we are teaching are amazing, and equally amazing are the members in the wards where I'm serving. I don't want to leave this place quite yet! Haha man this is unreal. I feel like I still have another transfer or so. The seminary teacher invited us to seminary this past week so we went and shared our story about how we prepared for the mission and then some missionary experiences. There are 15 people enrolled in seminary and 14 attend regularly. It's amazing. They couldn't believe that there were only 4 or 5 of us my senior year, and only 3 attended regularly. Those were the days...

This week we have a 3 day leadership training (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) in McAllen and it lasts nearly all day. It's for all leadership in the mission (Trainers, District Leaders, and Zone Leaders) so there will be about 80 people at the training. It's going to be huge and awesome! It will be great seeing a bunch of my friends that are serving in other parts of the valley but it's going to be sad not having those days to work and find. All we have is from 6-9 at night. Elder Stevens and I are determined to find at least one more family before I go. 

I'm hoping that next Tuesday before I head to the Mission Office I'll be able to stop by real quick to some of my recent convert families. Or maybe I'll get permission to go to church in Edinburg on Sunday. I really want to see them all before I head back home. I'm not sure when I'll be able to come back down to visit. I am so so so grateful though that I won't need to go too far to come back and visit in the future. What a bendicion.

So I'm working on sending my bike home. I got an old bike box and I just need to disassemble my bike and tape it all up. The question is how I'm going to ship it. Today we are going to try by a few places and see what's cheapest. I'm hoping it's under 100 bucks. It's such a nice bike and there is no way I want to get rid of it. I have kept it in really good condition too. We'll see what I can do, but I should be ale to take care of it.

Man, I'm not sure what else to say. It hasn't quite hit me yet. I'm not sure when it is...hopefully when I'm actually on the plane. 

Pues, los quiero mucho :) Gracias por todo. Voy a tener una semana tan exitosa y les escribo la semana que viene de esta gran semana que vamos a tener. Elder Stevens y yo nos llevamos muy bien y a veces nos divertimos demasiado. No es pecado, verdad? jaja pues cuidense mucho. TE AMO!

-Elder Brett

Oct. 29, 2012

It was another one of those weeks :)

 

We have been teaching Hermana S____, the mother of Hermana F____ who is a member of the church, along with all of her family. Hermano and Hermana S____ live in small ranch town close to Guadalajara Mexico but moved here temporarily to live with their daughter and her family. It has been probably one of the funnest (and easiest) teaching processes. She was golden. Yesterday, she got baptized along with the F___s' daughter who recently turned 8. It was such a fun baptismal service! I love the F___ family to death and have fallen in love with hermana F___s' parents. I told them I'm going to visit them in Mexico. I can't wait. I have heard that Guadalajara is beautiful.

 

Pretty cool/funny story:

Part 1 -

A couple weeks ago we noticed this jogger running and then spotted him again a couple days later but in a whole different part of the city. It seemed like we saw him no matter where we were. One time, we were driving to an appointment and we saw him again and we were like man we should teach this guy the gospel. He has a whole lot of time to run, he should have plenty of time to sit down with us and hear our message. We considered rolling down the window and flicking a pass-along card for him to read while he jogged but then figured that would be dangerous. We laughed and continued on our way.

 Part 2 -

There is a recent convert in our area that goes to the singles ward and has done an amazing job at sharing the gospel. Her friend got baptized right before Elder Stevens and I got here and we have been visiting and teaching him. He's a super cool guy. Anyway, she told us a couple weeks ago that she has another friend that agreed to meet with us. We tried setting up some appointments but they kept falling through. Finally we had one set for last Sunday night at Natalia's house. We get to her house and she introduces us to her friend. Guess who it was? The jogger!!! Haha so our wish came true. We have started teaching this guy the gospel. It's been tons of fun. We had another lesson last night and we have another tomorrow. I wish I could stay here a little longer!

 

Wow, the time just flies by huh? Things are going so wonderful. Thanks so much for your prayers and sending me such amazing letters. I'm not quite sure why I'm being so blessed. I guess instead of asking why, I'll just continue to give thanks. This is going to be another great semana :)

 

Los quiero!!

 

-Elder Brett

p.s.  a few more pictures

1st picture - This is me and little Jonathan Godoy, the almost two year old little monster. We always say kneeling prayers as a family and he has gained the habit of kneeling with us and folding his arms. It's super cute. He also gained the habit of making weird faces whenever he sees a camera lens. I love this family.

 

2nd picture - Me and the elders in our apartment.

3rd picture - Me and my companero jumping off the swings at the park after a grueling game of futbol. We have a great zone, but two weird zone leaders ;)

 

10/22/2012

So I was planning on sending a couple pictures this week but I forgot my camera in the apartment. Dang. Maybe next week.

 

Cool story though from this past week: Elder Stevens and I finally made contact with the boyfriend of a less-active muchacha that became a member about a year and a half ago, and we set up an appointment for this past week. We went by at the specified time but no one was home, We stepped off her porch and started walking to the car when we noticed just across the street an older couple walking from their van into their house. I'll be honest, I sort of just felt like getting back into the car and going to our back-up appointment. But guess what, sometimes the spirit prompts us to do other things. So when the little voice in my head told me to have a little courage and go over and talk to them, I decided to obey. When we made it over to their driveway, the lady had already gone inside but we managed to catch the husband before he followed her in. I began the conversation and just wanted to introduce myself but before I could say much he told us that he didn't believe in God. I was somewhat apalled and must have stammered at a response because before I could really ask him and figure out why, he pulled up some chairs and told us to sit down.

 

Turns out, he actually does believe in God but he has been going through some difficult situations lately and has felt that his faith isn't as strong as he would like it to be. We were having a pretty good conversation with this gentleman and felt pretty happy that we decided to follow the prompting to talk to him (He is deaf in one ear so it's mas o menos difficult to communicate with him but we just try to yell loudly so he can understand). As we were talking though, the wife came out the front door and walked over to greet us. She said that she was so glad to see us and that she was actually a Mormon. She and her family got baptized years ago but haven't been to church in a long time. She said that she hasn't seen the missionaries in several years and whenever she saw them pass by, she wasn't able to stop them quickly enough. She has been praying that the missionaries would come to her house again. She told us all this and then started to cry.

 

We had a great visit and they shared with us that they have been talking lately about coming back to church and getting closer to God. Her husband isn't a member but wants to go to church with his wife. We will be visiting them this week with some members from the church to fellowship them. They are not in the best of health but I hope that they will be able to make it to church. They are a wonderful couple.

 

In addition to this little miracle, we found a bunch of other people this week who we started teaching and are even preparing for baptism. It's been a wonderful week. I could do this for the rest of my life ;)

 

I've been praying about school and stuff for after the mission. I actually remembered this past week. Thanks though for y'all helping me with the decision. There really just isn't enough time for me to do all the thinking, so your thoughts and ideas have helped. Go Blue :)

 

love,

Elder Brett Meshum

Oct. 15, 2012

Hey y'all guess what? It was another great week :)

 

Since Elder Stevens and I got thrown into this area at the same time, we have spent a considerable amount of time going through the ward directory and going by all the members to figure out who is who. We have had some great lessons with active members and are now working with some awesome awesome referrals (yes, two awesomes). We found some less active familes that missionaries haven't gone by in several years and that have some great potential. We are working with several part-member families as well and have started gaining their trust. It's been great. I serve in the Mission III ward which is in Spanish and the Sharyland ward which is english; both the bishops are extraordinary. We have had several meetings with the Stake President discussing missionary efforts in the wards/zones we cover and the Stake President is such a great guy. So, I know I ranted on and on about how much I loved Edinburg, but I think Hidalgo is catching up. I absolutely love it here.

 

Elder Ferrel got transferred so I'm no longer living with my hijo anymore. Another Elder that was already in this zone now lives with us and it's been a fun apartment. Having pretty consistent changes every 6 weeks makes the time go by so fast. Hijole. Maybe I just won't use my missionary planner this transfer and see if that slows time down a bit.

 

Today we are going bowling as a zone! It will be the first time bowling on the mission, and probably on the 4th or 5th time that I haven't played some sort of active sport on P-day (unless bowling is an active sport?). It will be worth it though. We have a pretty cool zone. We're going to head to walmart right now to do some shopping and get that out of the way.

 

Love y'all mucho! Hope you have an awesome week. We have some great plans for tonight so we're gonna start our week off with a bang. I'm excited.

 

-Elder Brett

Oct. 15, 2012

Hey y'all guess what? It was another great week :)

 

Since Elder Stevens and I got thrown into this area at the same time, we have spent a considerable amount of time going through the ward directory and going by all the members to figure out who is who. We have had some great lessons with active members and are now working with some awesome awesome referrals (yes, two awesomes). We found some less active familes that missionaries haven't gone by in several years and that have some great potential. We are working with several part-member families as well and have started gaining their trust. It's been great. I serve in the Mission III ward which is in Spanish and the Sharyland ward which is english; both the bishops are extraordinary. We have had several meetings with the Stake President discussing missionary efforts in the wards/zones we cover and the Stake President is such a great guy. So, I know I ranted on and on about how much I loved Edinburg, but I think Hidalgo is catching up. I absolutely love it here.

 

Elder Ferrel got transferred so I'm no longer living with my hijo anymore. Another Elder that was already in this zone now lives with us and it's been a fun apartment. Having pretty consistent changes every 6 weeks makes the time go by so fast. Hijole. Maybe I just won't use my missionary planner this transfer and see if that slows time down a bit.

 

Today we are going bowling as a zone! It will be the first time bowling on the mission, and probably on the 4th or 5th time that I haven't played some sort of active sport on P-day (unless bowling is an active sport?). It will be worth it though. We have a pretty cool zone. We're going to head to walmart right now to do some shopping and get that out of the way.

 

Love y'all mucho! Hope you have an awesome week. We have some great plans for tonight so we're gonna start our week off with a bang. I'm excited.

 

-Elder Brett

We had a nice cold front these past two days and it was an extremely weird feeling being semi cold. Elder Stevens and I thought about wearing sweaters. It's supposed to get back up into the 90s though so we're not going to get too used to it.

 

We found this cool family this past week from Ohio. They have their lawn, house, and car decked out in Ohio State stuff. It made me gag. The family was a referral from the bishop and we went by last week to meet them and I told Bishop on the doorstep that it was a good thing that this family was a referral because if we were knocking doors on this street, I definitely would have skipped the house. haha but I guess everyone needs salvation right? Especially those Ohio State fans, because they are so far from it. :)

 

We are teaching quite a few people but most are still in the beginning stages. We have worked really well with the members and we have received some wonderful referrals from them. We've had a lot of great spiritual experiences, which have been a blessing to us and the members. It's great working in unity with them. It makes our job of "finding" a lot easier and more effective.

 

Elder Stevens and I are still having a blast together. I'm not sure why I've been blessed with the best companions throughout the mission. I'm a lucky guy.

 

I'm excited for a great October and then to begin an amazing November. So much to do, so little time. I feel like I'm racing against the clock but for some reason or another the clock always seems to be a little bit ahead. Hijole. Slow down please.

 

Anyway, I love you all muchisimo.

 

-Elder Brett

 

ps Hermana C____ speaks the BEST tex-mex. I'm not sure how she does it, but literally every other sentence (and sometimes every other word!) she switches back and forth between English and Spanish. I'm going to keep practicing it. It's a fun idioma.