Letter #60 7/16/12 Hey!!

Buenas tardes familia,

Wow the pictures are all awesome! Thanks for sending those. Looks like you guys all had a blast. I can´t wait for next year!! Wow, Steve Nash playing for the Lakers.. I´m a little upset about that. I hope he comes to his senses before the season starts and signs with the Jazz! I don´t really hear much about the NBA here, actually i don´t hear anything.. They´re a little more in to soccer here.

Unfortunately we didn´t have a baptism last week, but the good news is that this weekend we have 2 scheduled! We have been teaching 2 niñas, L and L. They are sisters and there parents are less active members. They have 11 and 12 años and are super excited! I´ve had a little stress about the whole situacion because we don´t want them to get baptised and afterwards go inactive. That commonly happens when children in inactive families get baptised. It´s been a tough decision to make but we talked with the President of the primary and she commited to go and pick up the niñas every week and bring them to church so now it´s all set. We have also found a few new investigadors that look promising, we´re going to keep working hard and hope for a month full of baptisms!

Not much new happened this week. I went to the Dentist! We have an investigador that is a dentist and she gave us free checkups and cleanings. I had a cavity and she fixed it right there on the spot. I was glad that i got it all taken care of. Elder Lara has 9 cavities!! We´re going to go right now to get them all fixed. Elder Lara is awesome. I can´t remember if i´ve told you a lot about him but he is 20 like me and we get along great. Before the mission he was training to run track in the olympics but he gave it up to serve his mission. He has a girlfriend but isn´t too distracted and is the oldest in his family.

It feels great to be right in the middle of my mission. I feel like i´ve reached the point where i´m almost 100 percent focused in the mission. Almost all of my thoughts of the past are of past experiences i´ve had in the mission and when i think about the future i think about my future in the mission. I hope i can keep this going for the rest of my mission. I´d say the more focused you are in where you´re at, the happier you´ll be. And i´ve definately found that true as a missionary.

A downside of this area is that we wash by hand.. however after the first week i got sick of it and took all my shirts to a laundrymat and the washed and ironed everything! It´s not that i´m lazy, it´s just that i´d rather do other things like reading than washing my clothes every night. Also, i bout some new pants today, they should last the rest of the mission. Well i love you all a ton. Hope you take care and have a wonderful week.

con mucho amor,
Elder Mecham

Letter #59 7/9/12 Lake Powell!

The map!  Quite a work of art!

Hey family! First of all, i won't lie, i'm a little jealous that everyone is at lake powell right now as i'm writing this letter. I hope that you're all having a great time and that you send me loads of awesome pictures! I want to hear all about it. To tell you the truth i had completely forgotten that you guys were there until right now, we've been extremely busy every day. Elder Lara doesn't have too much time here in this area, only  2 more weeks than me, so we are learning the area together. We've spent a ton of time organizing the area book and making a map of our area. I think Mckell would be really impressed with the map that we are making. It's huge, about 2 meters in lenth and 2 meters tall. We have color coordinated stickers for every active member, less active member, recent convert, investigadors, old investigadors, and future investigadors. It is awesome! Our planning sessions have been incredibly time efficient and it's also helped us to be able to work more efficiently during the day. We're going to be finishing the map this week and i'll be sure to send you a picture.

Also, we had a baptism! Her name is G, she is about 75 years old and is the mother of a member. She is awesome! Her daughter got baptised about 10 years ago and she literally had to go behind her mom's back in order to do it. She was super catholic and didn't want anything to do with the church. Over the past 10 years the missionaries have been visiting her on and off and little by little her seed sprouted and grew until she had a firm testimony and decided to get baptised! We were actually a little surprised, we passed by Tuesday and asked what she thought about baptism and she told us the same old thing she's said to every missionary that's ever passed by, " I need more time". We challenged her to pray and ask God if she should get baptised that Saturday and when we passed by on Thursday she said she had recieved her answer. She didn't hesitate at all and told us she was ready. Her baptismal service was probably the most spiritual service i've ever gone to, her daughter gave her testimony after her baptism and after that G gave hers and they we both holding back tears the entire time. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to participate a small portion in witnessing her conversion to the gospel and baptism. 

Elder Lara is another Mexican. We get along great, he really likes to joke around but at the same time knows how to work hard. He has about 7 months in the mission. I absolutely LOVE my area. The members are awesome, we have a big clean house, and it's really pretty here. I'd say Mazatlan is a better vacation spot than Cabo. Everything is cheaper and it's a lot cleaner. We also have an awesom zone here, everyone is really united and friendly. This week Elder Lara and I are planning on running to the top of a giant hill by our house where there's a lighthouse, I'll be sure to send you pics if we do it. My area here is a lot different than the other areas that i've had. There's a lot more city and a lot less farm. Luckily it's right on the beach so i don't feel too trapped. 

I hope you guys enjoy lake powell and make it home safely. I love every one on you and pray for you daily. Have an excelent week. 

Love, Elder Mecham

Letter #58 7/2/12 Mazatlan!

Looks Happy!!

Lovin the food but still losing weight!

Landon and Elder Romero!

Dear family,

Today i'm very surprised to be writing you from Mazatlan. I just arrived and don't know much about the area, but my companions name is Elder Lara. Don't know much about him but he seems pretty cool and somebody that i could be good friends with. I won't lie, it was hard saying goodbye to Angostura. I wasn't really expecting to leave, but i know that we are the changes are inspired and i'm excited to be here. From what i can see i'm really going to enjoy Mazatlan. It's a huge city with a lot of ranchitos and other neighborhoods that surround it, but it seems that our area is pretty close to being the center of the city. I know that the tourism is pretty famous here so it'll be interesting to see if there are as many gringos here as in los cabos. 

This past week in Angostura we weren't really able to do to much work because of Elder Romero's tooth, but when we worked we worked super hard and were able to make up for lost time. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we stayed inside during the hottest hours of the day and i was able do a lot of reading in the New Testament as well as in Jesus the Christ. I've continued to LOVE reading and studying the life of Jesus Christ. The stories found in the New Testament have been a huge help to me in all my mission. On a less spiritual note, i also learned how to succesfully complete a rubix cube!! All thanks to Elder Romero. 

Thursday we went to Dentist in Culiacan for Elder Romero. Turns out you can't really trust the dentists in the small farm towns.. Friday and Saturday we worked super hard making up for all the time we had lost. We founds a few new investigadors and set a few baptism dates but unfortunately none of them came to church sunday. However, i still feel that we were blessed Sunday with for our hard work. There's a kid in the branch named V, he's 11 years old and still hasn't gotten baptised. His parents are both active and his grandpa is the Branch President. He's a little rebelios and understood that baptism is a big commitment. Turns our a couple weeks ago he got really sick and ended up needing an operation. We gave him a blessing a couple days beforehand and the when the time came around for his operation he was completely healed. He obviosly remembered the blessing we gave him and recognized his recovery as a blessing from God. Yesterday he asked us if he could get baptised this Saturday!! I won't be there but I'm incredibly happy for him and i know the priesthood is real and powerful and through it we can see miricles.

It sounds like here we walk alot. It's been about 6 months since i was in an area that walked more than sat in cars so it'll be interesting to see if i hold up. After having so much time in   "lazy" areas i'm surprised that i've contuned losing weight. It shows that i diet of pure frijoles and tortillas works for something, even though i'm 100 sure i've lost pure muscle. My zone here is made up of almost pure gringos. It'll be a big change from my last one. Also, i got a package from Grandma!! Thanks Grandma, i love you and you're amazing. I also got the family history packet you sent me, i've already read quite a bit. I love the Pioneers!! Thanks mother. I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the heat, 

Love Elder Mecham

Letter #57 Buenas Tardes 6/25/12

Hola family,

We're writing a little later than usual today. I was able to read all your letters beforehand today, first time in the whole mission. I'm glad to hear that everything is holding together at home. I'm praying for Grandma Rassusman, i hope everything is okay. Mom, sounds like you've been sacrificing quite a bit to help her. You're awesome. That's sweet about Jacob! I hope everything is okay with Erick, tell the family hi for me. This last week i was thinking about all the awesome young mens leaders i had and their great examples. Be sure to tell all of them thanks for me.

This past week was pretty decent. We started out strong. We found a few new investigadors, we challenged a lot of people to get baptised, had a lot of success, until Thursday.. I don't want to say that we stopped having success but Elder Romero's tooth starting bothering him. He woke up Friday with even moer pain and it ended up affecting our work a WHOLE lot. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we were only able to work a few hours each day when it started cooling down a bit in the evenings. It turns out he needs a root canal. He has a pretty bad infection and being outside in the hot sun causes his whole cheek to swell up like a balloon. The pain pretty much sucks all the energy out of him so he's been sleeping the majority of the day while i've been trying to be productive. We're hoping that tomarrow we'll be able to start working hard again. He is getting his root canal Wednesday. This whole experience has reminded me of the importance of dental care. It's something that's highly neglected here in Mexico.

Sunday we were both chosen to be the speakers in sacrament meeting, due to Elder Romero's tooth i did him the favor of talking the ENTIRE meeting. It went pretty well. I spoke about the Grace and the "enabling power" of atonement. Grace is split into 4 blessings according to the Liahona. 1) Ressurrection 2) Redemption 3) Strength 4) healing. I focussed my talk in the strength we can recieve, both physical and emotional. I've gotten good practice speaking in the area since we litterally speak EVERY SINGLE week in the extension.

 Investigador wise we have found a few new people whole look potential but still no escogidos. F came to church alone after not having seen him for a week and a half. There's a good chance that he'll be getting baptised this week but we still haven't put the date on the board.  Sadly, we are afraid that A is hiding from us. We're a little confused but we're going to keep battling to find her. Well i love you all. Hope you have a wonderful week, especially Lexi and Mckell. BE SAFE!! love Elder Mecham

Letter #56 6/18/12 Buena Semana

Landon and Elder Romero at the internet cafe!

Querido familia,

I hope you all had a wonderful week. We were working pretty hard here in Angostura and had a pretty good week. Mom, you can send the backpack directly to the Elder. He was my companion in San Jose. Thanks a ton for doing that. I hope you All had a great fathers day!! Especially dad. Thanks for being an awesome father. In case you were wondering, it was also fatherss day here yesterday. We didn´t do anything to celebrate, but a lot of members wished us a happy fathers knowing that one day we will be fathers. Haha but seriously, thanks for being a great dad. There´s a lot of great examples here of horrible dads and it´s definately made me really greatful for the great father i have at home.

This week we worked super hard! Lots of searching... We don´t have a lot of investigadors right now so we´ve been on the hunt. Unfortunately we weren´t able to find many people during the week.. We have been trying to take the advise from President Cantu and it´s to use specific prayers. He says that we should ask for specific blessings, for example: we shouldn´t just ask that we can find an escogido, we should ask that as we leave lunch that we can see a middle aged women with a red shirt and that we can help her with her grocery bags and that afterwards she can give us 3 references and that one of the references can be a family of 4, and that we can find them, challenge them to get baptised, and that every single one commits and goes to church the next sunday. It´s been pretty interesting.. We´re still trying to master the whole concept, but we´ve allready seen a few awesome blessings through the prayers we´ve been making. Like i said, during the week we weren´t able to find very many people, but we had a ton of members bring friends to church!! I´m 100% certain that god answered our prayers by helping the members bring their friends.

We are still working really hard with F but we weren´t able to find him all week and this Friday he fell and drank.. It´s really hard to see someone that is super excited to get baptised have to wait because of addictions that they can´t quite get over. It´s crucial that when we have an investigador with an addiction that we try to have contact with him every day, but with F it´s been a battle to be able to find him. He lives in a city that we don¨t visit too often and is almos always working. But F is really hard to find.... But we´re going to keep doing everything possible to help him so that he can get baptised in these next few days.

Well i love you all, i hope you have a splendid week!! Thanks for being awesome

Letter #55 6/11/12 Way to go Kam!!

Pet Bobcat!!

Hey fam! First of all, i´m so proud for Kameron! He´s going to love it. North Carolina would be pretty sweet. Although i´m pretty sad that i won´t be seeing him for another 2 years.. haha but you´ll have to tell him to write me before he leaves. I´d love to hear from him.

We had a pretty awesome week. I got my package today! Wow.. Definately one of the best packages yet. Nicely done mother. I love you! Everything you sent is perfect. As we are speaking i´m puting the music on my ipod. Thanks Mckell! And thanks Lexi for the letter! For the next package i´d love some skippy, creamy por favor. It´s been a while.. I also love it when you send power bars. I´m going to try to think of more things and remind you next week. But thanks so much! I also got a few letters from people from home. Thank you!!

This week was great. I think i already told you but we were working in a trio. We worked 2 days en our area and 2 in the area of Elder Amaller. He is the other Elder in our district. His companion was in Cuiacan for a training meeting all week long. Elder Amaller is a great worker. He is a summer missionary so he´s only serving for 3 months, but he´s awesome. He´s 26 and was born in Mexico but raised in Canada so speaks English and Spanish perfectly. With 3 missionaries we had 3 times the spirit in every one of our lessons. We had a few super powerful lessons. One being with a new investigador named R. He doesn´t have legs and moves around in a wheelchair but that doesn´t stop him from doing anything. He raises chickens and spends the majority of his day feeding and caring them. We teach him right in the middle of his chicken house where he keeps all of them. He also has a pet bobcat. A little rare.. We taught him about the plan of salvation and it was insanely intense when we talked about the ressurrection and that one day we´ll all have perfect, glorified bodies. He says he´s glad that he´s the way he is because if it weren´t for his disability he woulnd´t be so close to God. We´re hoping he can understand that he still needs to get baptism in order to take the next step, but i know that God gave us our weaknesses for a reason and that, if we humble ourselves, through the atonement every weakness we have can be made strong.

We also had an an awesome experience with a less active member. He got baptised in Arizona and has been inactive since he moved here because he doesn´t feel the same amor here in the branch in Mexico. He told us about the time he went to the the general conference and see the Salt lake Temple in Utah and how strong he felt the spirit. When he started talking about he started crying. He was seriously SOO greatful to have been able to go and watch. It´s something that very few people here can do. I won´t lie, i have always taken it for granted living so close to the conference center and the temple but i´ve made a promise with myself to take advantage of every oportunity i have in the future to be able to go. Well i hope you all have a wonderful week and know that i´ll be praying for you. Love Elder Mecham

Letter #54 6/4/12 Hump Day!!

Dear familia
I hope you all had a great week! Thanks for sending me all thos pictures. I loved the ones Marcie sent, i´m glad to know that the family is doing good. Jackson looks like a stud and sounds like slater is doing great in lacross. I´m pretty sure there´s not a person here who knows what lacross is.. And it looks like Mckell had a great time on her trip! So i still haven´t recieved the package yet but it sounds like my zone leaders have it, it´s just a matter of time until we have the zone meeting. It also sounds like i recieved a few letters! Thanks to those who sent them, it meens a lot. Mother, i´d love to get the addresses of my friends so that i can write them if it´s possible.

!Zaz, un año! I seriously can´t believe it, it definately doesn´t feel like i´ve already been gone for a year. The truth, it´s a little sad. I still have SOO much i want to learn! I know that i´ll never stop progressing as a missionary and i´ll probably never arrive to be the missionary i´m striving to become, but i hope i can take advantage of this year that i have left and not take a single moment for granted. I´m in the process of making some goals for the next year. I wanted to make goals in the begginning of my mission but i really had no clue where to start. I want to be able to look back on my mission with zero regrets and be able to say that i litterally gave everything i had. And don´t worry mom, i plan on having fun as well.

We had a pretty awesome experience last night. We were trying to find the house of a less active member and while asking a señora if she knew the member we were looking for we felt the impression to ask if we could share a message with her. The señora was in the middle of hand scrubbing her clothes, which is a long process, but she let us in anyways. She started telling us about she´s had a rough couple weeks. Her cousin has brain cancer and her husband left her. We shared a scripture that i love, Romana 8:18. It says that the suffring we´ll have here is not worthy to be compared to the glory which we be revealed in us. We testified that we know we´ll be able to return to the presense of God and live in eternal happiness shared that sometimes we can´t comprehend why we have such tough trials here, but that through Christ we can always find joy. She started crying, but i know it was the spirit testifying to her that everything we shared was true. I hope i can keep have experiences like that every day of my mission!

Yesterday A and J passed the sacrament together. I´m so proud of them! It feels great to see my converts using the preisthood. Well i love you all! Have a great week, Elder Mecham