Happy Halloween!!

Halloween party in Pitesti, Romania

How perfect is it that Halloween has fallen exactly on P-day?! Today we're going to by some pumkins from the piata, take them back to our apartment and carve them! I'll send you some pictures of them next week. Sounds like you all are getting ready for an awesome Halloween! On Saturday the branch had a Halloween party, and it had a pretty good turn out. There were only a few members, but the few members that came brought a bunch of friends! We played some games like bobbing for apples and the one where you have to eat a doughnut hanging from a string without using your mouth. It was pretty fun, it was also one of the most chaotic social functions I've ever been to. Lets just say that Romanians have a very different concept of how to plan and organize a party!

That's awesome that the journal turned out so good, I'm sure Raul will be really exited to get it! It's so weird thinking about things back in Brasov, I'm just totally out of the loop. I don't even know if he's been baptized yet! It was supposed to be last Saturday I think. Thanks for sending me that summary, I can't wait to read excerpts from your first chapters! It sounds like you've got a good intrigueing and attention-catching plotline planned out. Just from reading those two sentences I can only imagine all the different things you can do with the story. It almost sounds like it's got a little bit of a Hunger Games flavor to it. Good luck writing!! 

Wow, so it's the last day of October, and we're about halfway through the transfer already! You asked what we've been doing for p-days, and the answer would be not a whole lot. My first week we went bowling at one of the malls, last week we just stayed in my apartment and played Monopoly, and then this week we're carving pumpkins, like I said. There are a couple of cool places that we'll go to eventually, there's a monestary close by that is depictied on the back of the 1 leu note, and theres also a fortress that was owned by Vlad Tepes, so we'll be going those eventually. I kind of want to wait until it snows to go there, because it would be sooooo pretty. Plus two of the Elders here have already been to both places, and they'll probably be transfered out next transfer. 

This week's been pretty eventful, on Monday night the zone leaders Elders Johnson and Pettit (Elder Johnson was one of my zone leaders with Elder Vekony when I was in Brasov and Elder Pettit is in the MTC group ahead of me) came up for exchanges. I spent Tuesday out with Elder Johnson, and he really helped me a lot. I have a ton of respect for him, he's definitely one of the missionaries I've really looked up to in my mission. He helped me understand the Romanian culture a little better, and he helped me start to kind of pull myself out of this rut I feel like I've been in. Mainly he helped me improve my attitude about everything. He helped me realize that a big part of the reason why the work has been so dissappointing and frustrating for me is because I haven't been having very much faith that my day to day efforts are really making a difference. He told me how he was in my exact same position, in his third transfer of being senior companion, and things were going pretty rough for him. He told me that what was bringing him down was that he didn't have any faith in himself, that what he was doing on a day to day basis was really making a difference; and  that once he realized that he started to change is attitude, and things really started picking up.


The next couple days after that exchange, I decided that I was going to change my attitude about the work, and people started coming out of nowhere that we would talk to on the street and who would listen to us and tell us that they actually WOULD like to meet up and to hear our message. This week we've met a couple families that hopefully will eventually become more interested and read the Book of Mormon, and things just felt better over all. Towards the end of the week things started slowing down again, and I found myself starting to slip back into the negative attitude and mindset I had before but now I know how to recognize that, and I know how to combat it.


So then a day after the exchange, President and Sister Hill and the Assistants came to Pitesti for interviews, and those went really well too. President Hill is such an incredible man, and does so much to really try to understand and get to know the missionaries in the mission. Then Saturday was the Halloween party. Oh yeah, and then Saturday night/Sunday morning was the end of daylight savings. No one in my district knew about it, and so we all showed up to church an hour early! It was weird when what we thought was 10:00am rolled around (that's when church starts) and there were maybe three members at the church.

Right now, mom and dad, I just want to give you a big thank you. Gosh, reading my weekly emails must be stressful for you lately, they've pretty much just been me being dramatic and talking about all the problems that are going on. I'm really sorry. Thank you for always emailling me back with encouragement and a positive attitude! Thank you so much for your advice, dad. Just so you know, the analogy you shared in that quote made perfect sense, and really helped me understand the situation I'm in better. 

Thanks once again, and I hope that your don't worry too much over me... things have been hard lately, but deep inside I know that I can always turn to the Lord for help. And let me tell you, I've never put so much value and importance on my prayers as I do now. I have learned to make prayer my emotional outlet, since I don't really have a guitar with me, and I have been developing a stronger testimony of the power and necessecity of prayer than I have ever had. I know that Heavenly Father always listens, and that's the key. He always LISTENS, which means that He always understands me and he knows how to help me the best. 

I love you all so much, and am looking forward to some pitctures of Halloween next week!

Love, Elder Myers

P.S. Here's some pictures from the Branch Halloween party!

Buna Dimineata!!!

Pitesti, Romania Oct. 2011

Hey everyone! 
Well, I guess Dad must have a pretty heavy workload tonight, I'm still waiting on an email from him, but no worries. I really really appreciated what you said in your letter, Mom. These past couple weeks have been really challenging for me, and as always you've helped me to remember that my feet are supposed to be below me, on the ground, and that sometimes you just have to put one of them right in front of the other rather than trying to invent a new way of walking. 
I completely agree with what Sara said. This year has gone by really fast, but in some ways it has gone very slowly. Because I've spent so much time walking around and contacting people on the streets, in the blocks, and at people's houses I've had a lot of time to think. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes that's a really bad thing. I always tend to overthink things whenever I'm faced with challenges, and that usually only makes it worse.


Something that being on a mission has helped me to do though is to make decisions quickly and confidently. For example, when you see someone on the street and the Spirit tells you to talk to them, you don't have time to sit and think about what the best thing to say to them would be. You just have to walk up to them, open your mouth, start talking, and hope you don't end up looking like a fool. More often than not, when this happens they end up rejecting me before I get two words out, but every once in a while someone listens. Sadly, even then most of the time when that happens the people still reject me and my message, but I guess what is important is that I was acting as a vessel for the Holy Ghost. It's really hard not to be apprehensive about talking to people and knocking on people's doors when most of the time you receive very, very rude responses; but, I know that this is what I'm called to do, and I know that I'm never left alone. 


Nevertheless, I think one of my main goals is to come back home with the same hope for Romania that I came in with, and to not become cynical. I hate cynicism, and yet I've found myself developing that kind of an attitude about missionary work in this country from time to time. 

Park near Shane's current apartment in Pitesti, Romania 

A really cool experience that happened to Elder Ekins and I the other day while we were out searching for an in-active member and contacting along the way. We were walking through a small neighborhood park when a family of a mom, dad, and a little daughter who couldn't have been much older than 3 walked past us. The parents passed us, but the little girl stopped in the middle of the path and just stared at me and Elder Cox for at least a whole minute. The parents tried to get her to come to them but she would just whip her head right back to us and stared me square in the eyes. I tried saying hi to her, and she would let out a little smile here and there until her parents finally took her by the arm and pulled her towards them. We went after them and told them that we have a message to share about how families can be eternal, and they just told us no thank you, but as we walked away the little girl would turn back every once in a while and give us a huge smile.


I had some similar experiences in Brasov when I was serving with Elder Cox. One time we were contacting in a big park and a man was walking his little daughter who was around the same age as the other girl I just talked about. We were about ten feet away from them when the little girl saw us, got this huge grin on her face and came running straight toward us with her arms stretched out. I probably could have held out my arms and she would have fully embraced me, but her dad caught up to her and kept walking past us. She too kept looking back at us with a radiant smile. 

Then there was another time when we were on the bus, and a little toddler aged girl was with her dad sitting right behind us. She would turn around and touch our heads, to get us to turn around and look at her. We would play "peek-a-boo" like this and every time we turned around she just busted into giggles. On top of these three experiences there have been so many times when we are walking past families with babies or small kids, or contacting them and the kids will just stare at us, or give us shy little smiles. They must see something their parents don't. They completely recognize us as servants of the Lord and radiate an unconditional love towards us that is one of the most precious and touching things I have seen on my mission. If only they could communicate to their parents the importance and joy of the message we have to share.

Well my time is pretty much up. I'm sorry I don't have much more to say....tonight the zone leaders are coming down for exchanges! Hopefully with six missionaries in the city for a whole day we will be able to get things picking up a little more. I've attached a few fotos that I've taken around Pitesti. There's a gorgeous park here that is pretty much just a big forest. 


I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week! Oh yeah, I remembered one more thing I would like with the package, if it's possible. CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!!!! I'm so excited for Christmas! 


Elder Myers

Welcome To Pitesti !!

Elder Cox, Raul, Elder Myers
Raul is the 8 year old boy from Brasov who is soon to be baptized.

Pitesti (pronouced pee - tesht) = Bacau + some more active members + some hills.

That pretty much sums it up. It's a pretty small town with a pretty small struggling branch, and we currently have no investigators. Do you ever feel like God gives you the same test over and over again and you never really know if your passing it or not? That's kind of how I feel right now. Last transfer my companion and his former companion had a baptism, which was awesome. I got to meet the man a couple days ago, but he just moved to England to find a job and the other few investigators they had dropped them right before transfers. 


So, it's back to base one, starting from scratch. We're really hoping that the English classes have a good turnout so we might be able to pick up some investigators through that. Other than that, we try talking to people and most people know who we are and see us all the time because the town is so small, and most of them don't give us the time of day.


My companion, Elder Ekins, is a cool guy, easy to get along with and pretty relaxed. He's in his third transfer total, and his third transfer here. The other Elders are Elder Martin from my MTC group, and his companion Elder Staheli who is in his 2nd transfer. Elder Staheli is actually from Elder Cox's stake!! They're all realy cool guys and it seems like they've all gotten pretty close over the past couple transfers. It's kind of weird coming as the new guy, just trying to get a feel for things. They all seem to have their own way of doing things here. But I'm excited to be able to work with them all, it's going to be a fun transfer! 



This week has proven to have some cool experiences. On Saturday we talked to this group of kids who all had guitars and I set up a time to meet up and jam with them all. I'm going to play them the song I wrote in Romanian, and hopefully they'll be interested in coming to church, or to the English classes, or just learning more of what we're all about! I'm really excited for that. They also said that they take free guitar classes from this one place and I'm going to see if it would be possible for me to do some volunteer work helping teach guitar. Elder Ekins plays the piano and they give piano lessons there as well, so maybe he will be able to help with that.

This Sunday was District Conference........and we didn't get to go...:( What we did do was hold a sacrament meeting at the meeting house just as us four missionaries. It was a really cool experience! The first church meeting I've been to that was in English for a long time!! We all shared our testimonies of the gospel and of missionary work, and it was a really good bonding experience for the four of us. Every one of the Elders here has a rock solid testimony of the gospel and are only out to do good.

Those were pretty much the highlights of the week...oh yeah, on transfer day I got to see one of the members from Cluj!!! Her name is Simona, I don't know if I ever told you about her before, but she's my age and was just finishing up serving her second mini-mission last week, and her experience as a mini-missionary has really made her want to serve as a full time missionary when she turns 21. It was really cool to be able to talk to her and catch up, after over 2/3 of a year being out of Cluj! Gosh, I miss that city so much. I think back on my time there with the best of memories, experiences, and feelings.

Well, here's a few more pictures for you, hope you enjoy them! I'll be sending the SD card down this week and you can see the video of my song. And for the package, actually there's a couple things I would like, if I can remember them....ummm taco seasoning. It does not exist here. Ranch seasoning -- also does not exist here. I feel like there was something else but I can't remember right now. Oh well, just send whatever you think I like haha. It doesn't have to be much. Thank you so much, I love you all!!! Until next week then!

Cu drag,

Elder Myers

The Beginning of Something New

And so it is. You and I were both right mom, my time here in Brasov has come to an end. We just got the transfer board, and I will be serving as district leader in Pitesti! My companion will be Elder Ekins, who I know nothing about. He's one of the missionaries who came in a few transfers after me. Elder Martin, who was in my MTC district will also be in Pitesti so it will be fun serving with him again! Right now I'm going to take some time and make sure that I answer your questions.


About the Romanian culture and the way people talk and communicate with each other --  from what you described of Italian people, it's pretty much the same. They are a very verbally expressive and animated people, and talk with their hands a lot. They also will just talk over each other and somehow understand what the other person is saying. It hardly ever seems like anyone listens to each other here. A lot of the times you will see two Romanians talking, and to an American it would seem like they were upset at each other by the tone of their voice and their hand movements when actually they're just having a normal conversation. That's something that still tends to throw me off. I'll find myself getting frustrated or defensive while talking to someone because it seems to me like they are trying to argue or be rude when they're just talking to me.


 As for Raul's baptism, yes it's been put off for a few more weeks, sadly. The other day Raul asked about when his journal will be coming in, and I couldn't remember if I had told you to send one or not. If you have already sent it, then I might be getting it at transfers in which case I'll just have Elder Cox give it to him, but if you haven't sent it yet I have their mailing adress. He's really exited to get it. He said he wants to keep two different journals, one for school, and one for church!


Oh yeah, and then the song! It went really well, everyone really really liked it a lot. I have recording of it on my camera. You can't hear it very well, but It's better than nothing. I'll send you the SIM card sometime this week. Oh yeah, and before I forget I wrote a letter to Sarah Woods but I don't know her BYU adress so I just mailed the letter to you. Could you forward it to her? Also, I got an email from Taylor today saying that he's moved down to SoCal but he didn't give me any mailing address so if you could get that to me as well I would really appreciate it! 

Whew, ok I think I covered everything. Now, yes, I'm leaving Brasov. I can't really believe it. I've pretty much known that I'd be leaving this whole transfer, mainly because I've been here for so long, but now it's starting to sink in. Once more change comes around and shakes things up. I'm exited to be going to a new city, with a new companion, a new branch, a new zone, new everything, but there are a lot of things I'm going to miss about this city. I've experienced and grown so much here that just like Cluj and Bacau, I feel like this city has become a part of me. I'm going to miss serving around Elder Cox, and Sora Bedebone, and serving around sister missionaries in general. It's going to be weird being in an all elders district!


I know that the next couple days I'll be looking back on the past 3 1/2 transfers and asking myself if I did everything that I could, if I represented the Lord in the way that He would have wanted me to, if I helped strengthen the branch of God's Kingdom here in Brasov. I think of all the seeds I've planted, all the people that I've met and grown close to, all the trials I've experienced and I only hope that I've made a difference. I definitely feel that I did everything that I could, that I put my whole heart, might, mind and strength into this city. 


The only thing that makes me sad is that I feel like my best is such a week attempt at fulfilling what the Lord expects of me. I truly know that I am nothing, just as one of the sons of Mosiah confessed in the Book of Mormon. My experience here has humbled me so much and has helped me understand even more how great the worth of an eternal soul is in the eyes of God. 


A lot of the times I feel like Nephi when he closes the record of his ministry in saying that his tears water his pillow every night because of the wickedness and hard-heartedness of the people around him. I don't know if I didn't find very many people who were open to this gospel because of a lack of faith on my part, or because of hard- heartedness on the part of the people of Brasov. I do know that I put forth my effort, and that God has promised me that I will see the fruits of my labor, whether it be in this life or the next. 

So, I now move on to the next chapters in my Romanian saga. I don't really know much about Pitesti, other than that it is in the South part of the country, West of Bucuresti, pretty small, and full of blocks. Here we go! I'm exited to be able to see other missionaries at the Gara and catch up with them. It will be interesting to see how long I stay in Piteste. I'm going to give it.......3 transfers. We'll see! 


That's so exiting that you're called back into the Y.W. presidency mom! And you are now a member of One Accord, that sounds like a lot of fun! Thank you both, mom and dad, for your continual words of wisdom. Good luck with the whole textbook revision, dad. I can relate to how it feels, being laden with a large work load that your not really sure if you're going to see the end results of. I'm sure your insights will be invaluable. Until next week then, I love you all and hope all goes well in Durham, California!

Love, Elder Myers

General Conference!!!

Hey all, it's now officially October!!! General Conference yesterday and Saturday was sooooooooo goood!!!!!!!!!!!! I was able to watch the priesthood session, both Sat sessions, and the Sunday morning session, which were transmitted here through satelite to the Brasov Chapel!! This whole week was just such a spiritual feast. We didn't have very many lessons, but it seems like people have been more receptive as a whole this week, and I've been able to have a much more positive attitude about everything. 


Zone conference was exactly what I needed. The things our mission leaders talked about were everything that I've been struggling with, and it helped me see the gaps that I needed fill in. President Hill talked more about Peter's experience of walking on water towards the Savior and addressed how we can all exercise our faith and step out of our "boats." He also shared something that really gave me a good perspective. He said that it wasn't until Peter started noticing the increasing wind and waves around him that he started to doubt and sink. And when he sank, the Savior was immediately there to pull him up back into the boat. President Hill advised us all to do our best to not pay attention to all the stormy "waves" around us, but to focus on that small percentage of souls that are out there and ready for us to find. He encouraged us all to talk to more people, and to invite more people to baptism, but he also comforted us telling us not to get discouraged when we do everything we can and the people we teach or talk to reject us and the gospel. He reminded us how everyone has there agency. We can do everything we can by working through the Spirit to help prepare people to make covenants with God, but in the end it's their choice to accept our invitations or not. It gave me satisfaction, knowing that I have been giving it my all here and doing the best that I can and it also gave me positive motivation to improve myself and keep working hard.

Then General Conference!! Man, even though I had to listen to it in Romanian, I was able to pretty much understand everything in the talks and the Spirit spoke to me just as much as it would if I were listening to it in English. Elder Holland gave a really really good talk in the priesthood session, admonishing all priesthood holders - but especially Aaronic Priesthood - to keep themselves worthy of their priesthood responsibilities. I also remember President Eyring's talk but I want to read it when the Liahona magazines come out because with the translation, the whole effect of seeing his face become so emotional, but not hearing that emotion in the translator's voice really threw me off and ended up being really distracting, so I didn't really get very much out of it. Then Elder Robert D. Hales' talk came. That was the first time when I've watched General Conference and felt like one of the speakers had written their talk specifically for me. I drank in every word he spoke, and the Holy Ghost was so strong within me. His soft manner of speaking and the comforting words of enduring through our trials with faith and hope gave me such a great sensation of peace and comfort. I actually have a pretty interesting experience to that goes along with this talk.

Shane's companion, Elder Cox, block-knocking

Last friday we were block knocking and about halfway through through this man started yelling at us. Nothing really out of the ordinary, especially since it was pretty plain that Jehova's Witness missionaries had been through sometime recently, because everyone thought we were JW's. However, this man was livid. He was yelling things like "what are you doing here? why are you coming knocking on my door, do I come over to your house and knock on your door?" and getting up in our faces. I tried to talk to him calmly and respectfully, telling him that we were just sharing a message about Christ with people, and that we weren't trying to upset him, but it wouldn't have mattered what I said. He just kept yelling at us telling us to get out of the block, and threatening to call the police, to hit us, you name it he said he was going to do it. This in itself is also nothing really out of the ordinary. Romanians, especially the males, in my experience are all bark and no bite. So we call the elevator, and I offer him a pass along card (probably not the smartest thing to do at that point, I know) which just sets him of again, so as we walk into the elevator I just toss the card on the ground. It was everything I could do to keep my composure and not start yelling back at him. Tossing the card down (also probably not the smartest thing I could have done) cut the fuse and he rushed into the elevator, got right up in my face, and held up his forearm like he was going to hit me. He ended up just giving me a little shove with his arm and then backed out of the elevator as quick as he could. As the elevator descended, adrenaline rushed into me as I processed what had just happened and I was then probably the most upset I've ever been. I was at the point where if I saw the man right then, I probably would have delivered a good beatdown. Now, you know me, I've never gotten in a fight in my life. This was probably the closest I've ever gotten, and probably if it was someone else there instead of me, it would have turned into a fight, but I've always been a pacifist. But that literally took me past my breaking point. Since being here in Brasov, I have been spit at, been called pretty much every offensive thing you can think of, I've been threatened at, and straight up persecuted more than ever in my life, and this thing with the guy was just the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the gigantic ice cream sunday. I was furious.

Inside an apartment "block" -- Brasov, Romania

view down a 10 story apartment block

The next day during my morning studies, I read in the Book of Mormon about Ammon preaching to the Zoramites, and how they completely rejected him and persecuted him. The prayer that he offers to God after that in Alma Chapter 31:26-35 expressed everything that I was feeling, exactly. Then I read another passage, somewhere in the New Testament I think, that talked about trials. It was one of Paul's epistles and he was addressing the people, saying that the Lord had chastised them so that their hearts would be humble and ready to receive the word of God. That made me think about how General Conference was coming right up, and I knew that there would be something shared there that would be specifically for me. I found it, in Elder Hales' talk. There were also many other talks that I got a lot of guidance from as well, but Elder Hales' had the strongest impact on me. I know that it wouldn't have had the same impact on me if I hadn't had all those trying experiences that brought me down on my knees in humble prayer, pleading with God to give me guidance, strength, and direction. It was just another assurance to me that Heavenly Father is always listening, and knows us perfectly.

So that was my crazy Romanian experience for now. Can't wait for the next one!! Thank you so much for the emails and pictures. Haha man, I cracked up when I saw the one of Eli. A lot of the guys here dress pretty similarly. Until next week then! I'll be finding out where I'll go; this week is the last full week of the transfer! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Myers

Vine Toamna!!!

Brasov, Romania

Here comes fall! The weather's coolling down, the leaves are changing colors, and everyone's stocking up on their peppers, garlic, eggplants, onions, cabbage and who knows what for their winter stocks. It's hard to believe I'm hitting my year mark in under a month!! There are only two more weeks left in this transfer, and I have no clue what's going to happen next. I'm 98% positive that I'll be leaving Brasov, but as to where I'll be going and what I'll be doing, I can't even guess. 


Right now, I'm just looking forward to a new week. A new week with new people, new possibilities, starting fresh on a new slate. To be completely honest, Elder Cox and I have been tried a lot this week. This whole transfer, really. We now literally have zero investigators. W------, our miracle block knock lady called us yesterday and said that she couldn't continue to have us over. Her son found out that she's been investigating our church and that if she changes religions he will completely dissown her and stop supporting her. She lives off a pension that is 2000 ron less than what just her monthly rent costs and so has no way of supporting herself. She was really sad when she told us about the whole situation and you could tell that she wished things were different. I was left speechless on the phone and didn't really know what to say or think. That is so backwards and cruel. Usually its the parents that threaten to disown their kids for joining the church but instead, an old lady's own children who are the only people that can help and support her threaten to cut her off? The same person who raised them and supported them their whole lives? If that's not the work of Satan, I don't know what is. 


Just a few days before we had a lesson with her and a member who came with us. We taught her about the five steps to the Gospel of Jesus Christ -- Faith, Repentence, Baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, and really focused on the necessity of being baptized by the proper authority, which was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We asked her if she continued to find what we were teaching her to be true, if she would be baptized, to which she readily said yes. But now, of course, that's a completely different story.

On the bright side, we had a potential investigator come to church yesterday. His name is Andries and is friends with a former branch president in Timisoara, has a Book of Mormon and knows a fair amount about the church. He left after the 2nd hour, saying that we'd keep in touch. He didn't really say anything else and we're hoping that he wasn't turned off by something someone said. 


Raul's baptism is still on for this Saturday, and General Conference is this weekend!!!!!!!!! I can't wait! We're really hoping that we'll be able to bring a lot of investigators to it. It's the perfect missionary tool because the investiators get to see the prophet and apostles that we allways talk about, and they also get to see that there is much much more to our church than a group of 20 Romanians that worship together every week. There is such a power in the words spoken at General Conference. Then zone conference is this Wednesday and I'm looking forward to that as well. Zone conference has always been a time of encouragement for me, and a time where I can recieve more guidance and help on things that I could be doing better.

I'm sorry I don't really have very much to say this week. I'm really trying to think and focuse on all the positive things that happened, because there really was a lot of negative. This has been a really challenging transfer for me and Elder Cox, but we're both learning a lot about working hard, relying on the Lord, following the Spirit, and understanding the will of the Lord.

Brasov, Romania

Oh, a cool contact we had this week was with this guy named Virgil. He's in the Army and has done a tour in Iraq. We found him in the park just sitting on a bench and we both felt prompted to go talk to him. I asked him if he believes in God, and he said yes. Then I asked him what things make him listen to God's will. He thought about it, and said that no one has ever asked him that before. Then Elder Cox and I continued asking him qestions that eventually opened him up to talking a Book of Mormon and to seriously study and consider what we were saying. Some of the things that he said that really stuck out to us were how he doesn't agree with child baptism. He was born Orthodox and baptized Orthodox when he was a baby, and he doesn't think that's right because at that age you're not aware of the meaning of baptism and the promises to God that are associated with it. We told him how through modern revelation we know that someone must be old enough to make the decision for themselves whether or not to be baptized, and what church to be baptized into. He really liked that, and throught that common thread we were able to teach him a watered down version of the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. He seemed genuinely interested in it all, and took a Book of Mormon. I really hope we'll be able to meet with him again. I'm just not sure how long he'll be in the area since he's part of the military.

Well, I'll let you know how things go at zone conference with my song. It will be just me playing it on a guitar. I"ll get someone to record it on my camera and then send you the memory card for it. Thank you for all your constant love and support, and I hope mom's having an awesome time in Georgia with Nana! Oh and thanks for the money update on my account. I love you all, and look forward to hearing from you next week!

Love,
Elder Myers

P.S. I've attached some more pictures that I've taken just around the city. The last one is a shot down the top of the stairwell of a 10 story apartment block.