Hello everyone! 

I have finished my second week in the field and my companion and I have had our first baptism since I arrived. I am so happy that I can see the change in people as they accept Christs Gospel into their lives. I have been able to meet a lot of cool people and am super happy that I am here working with people to better their lives. 

 In Alma 32: 28 it talks about faith being a seed and how you can feed it, and I have definitely seen the truth of it in myself and in others here in Brasil.

Strange and interesting news in my life so far in the field, In our house we have a lizard that lives in the ceiling and comes into our bathroom while we are gone and eats the flies in the shower. I named him lizard lips(only my immediate family will understand). 

I hope you all are having a good time!

With love

Elder Meyers

"Lizard Lips"

Elder Dias and I with my first baptism Pamela. 

Well I have finished my first week in the field and It was really hard but awesome. I have been humbled by the people here and doing my best to serve them means everything to me. My first day I had a lot of self doubt with my Portuguese and it felt like everything I had learned went out the window. On my second day I started the day off with a prayer, to be able to love the people with the strength that Christ would, I knew that if I loved them and cared for them that much that I wouldn't´t be able to keep myself from opening my mouth with doubt and I had faith that the Lord would fill it with what needed to be said. 
My Portuguese is not perfect yet, but whenever I need to bare my testimony or answer a question about the gospel, my mouth has been filled and I know that the gift of tongues is real. I know that because of the Holy Spirit I can help these people understand Christs gospel.

On a different note the amount of humility and joy the people here have is crazy to me, I have had the opportunity to talk about the gospel with people(3 grown adults) whos home is nothing but a shack of concrete and wood the size of my bedroom back home. They still offered my companion and myself food and their only two chairs to sit in. I have definitely been humbled here in this short amount of time. I met a 12 year old girl who my companion baptized last month who I can tell has little money, but she still after only knowing me for a few days bought me something for Christmas. I don´t think a single gift I have ever received has meant as much to me as the gift she got me has, and every time I eat what a member has prepared for me It is special to me.

I am so happy that I have the opportunity to be here, I love everyone back home, but there is no where else i would rather be right now than here with these people.

With love 

Elder Meyers

The view from my room at the CTM

Fountain at the Sao Paulo Temple

Sao Paulo Temple

Sao Paulo Temple

My favorite Pinoy Elder Arcayan

Elder Chacon my CTM companion

One of my instructors at the CTM Elder Messias 

Me and Elder Sorensen at the Christmas lighting 

My splits companion 

My second favorite Pinoy

International Pizza Delivery

One last pizza for the road.

I discovered that the Sao Paulo MTC has several things about it that are unique.  There is a company that will deliver cookies, and other treats to the missionaries.  One of the coolest things they will deliver is a Dominos Pizza of all things.  I sent the pizza for Luke's last P-day in the MTC.  It may be his last pizza for 2 years.

So because Luke is leaving the MTC/CTM and heading out to his area this week we did not get the regular Tuesday email.  But his friend Andruw (Elder Sorensen) had sent home pictures that were sent to me.
Jeanette

Elder Meyers and Elder Sorensen

Elder Meyers and Elder Sorensen

Elder Meyers leaving the CTM for his mission area.

Elder Meyers and company leaving the CTM for their mission area.

November 27, 2018

Hello Everyone I hope you are all doing great,

This last week has been a huge blur and I really do not have a lot to share besides the fact that my Portuguese is improving every day. I have one more week here in the CTM and then I am out to the field to start serving the people. I love that I am here and I know that if I forget myself and get to work and make myself the Lords servant lives will be blessed and changed, including my own.

When I get to the field I will be able to send photos, and give more interesting emails lol.

with love,

Elder Meyers

Proselyting and Pizza

November 20, 2018

Hello Everyone,

      I hope everything is going well with you wherever you are, I am doing great here. This last week has been really good. Something special about this MTC that is different from some others is that you get to leave the MTC on p-day(which I believe I have told you guys about already) and the other thing is that once you're 4th week we go to a city center and get to proselyte. While proselyting I met some really cool people and was able to practice my Portuguese with normal people lol. I am really glad that I am here and that I have the opportunity to change peoples lives. The hardest part of the proselyting was knowing that I wouldnt get to know about the progress of the contacts I recieved because they will be in a different mission boundary. The amount of love you can feel for someone you have barely talked to is really cool when you are doing the Lord's work. 

Last prep day my companion got Domino´s from his mom with online ordering and it was really weird eating American pizza again! We also got to go to the temple again and I love having that opportunity every week while I am at the MTC. I love the people I have met here and the people that I first met when I got here are almost all gone and we are one of the oldest groups here now. It's weird thinking about that sometimes. I hope you guys have a good week, I love all of you

Elder Meyers

Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo

Elder Meyers with his childhood friend Elder Sorensen who arrived 2 weeks after him. (at the Sao Paulo Brazil Temple)

I Know a Little More Portuguese

Campinas Brazil Temple

November 13, 2018

Hello everyone, 

I hope you are all doing well. I am having a great time here at the MTC and have had the opportunity to experience a lot of different things since last week. One of the things that I was able to experience is that on every Wednesday we get to go to one of the two temples nearby and last week we went to the Campinas temple and the drive there was awesome. After we get past Sao Paulo and to the country side on the way to it you see soooooo much green its crazy, the canopy of the forest and all of the different kind of trees that I cant identify is crazy and really cool. Honestly the only thing that I have been like agh I want access to the internet right now or to go to a library to research is for the trees and the birds here. 

   For the third week at the MTC they put they American missionaries with a Brazilian companion and have you teach another set of missionaries about the gospel based on a fake investigator they act out. During the first lesson I was teaching with my Brazilian companion I took the opportunity to share my testimony in Portuguese and I was able to talk for 3 minutes straight with only having to ask how to say a word once to my companion that I couldn't remember. After baring my testimony one of the sister missionaries that I was teaching started crying and she told me that my testimony made her feel the spirit more than she could contain and she told me how my testimony and faith made her glad and proud of her decision to serve a mission and that she could tell that I had been blessed to be a lighthouse to those around me and that she could tell how hard it was for me to leave my family and go to the other side of the world and learn a new language to serve the Lord. After awhile she was telling me these things I couldn't help but cry and think about my blessing from my father that I would be a beacon to others, and when I was set apart as a missionary I was given the same blessing again and I know that if I put my faith in the Lord and lean on him that the blessings that I received will help me to bless the people I meet. 

I am so happy to be here and to serve the people of Brazil. I am glad to be a part of the Lords work and I know that if I keep my focus on loving the people and forget myself while I am here I can help so many people. 

Till next week,

with love, Elder Meyers

I Still Don't Know Portuguese

November 6, 2018

Hello everyone

    I hope everything is going great for everyone in their lives back home! I am having a great time here and am super happy that I made the choice to serve a mission and to serve the Lord. I have been studying hard with Portuguese and trying to grow in the gospel every day. I love the people here so much and it is kind of crazy the amount of love you can have for someone you have only known for less than a month and will probably never see again. I have been able to feel the spirit so much here and I am sure that is why. If you guys want to know and try what I am drinking on a daily basis it is a soft drink called Guarana. I am pretty sure you can order it online and it is pretty good. I recommend getting some and trying it. 

I can't remember if I said this in my last email but this training center is special compared to some others because we are able to go out on our preperation day to shop around the MTC and I had the best burger ever last Wednesday. My companion and I also went shopping for some snacks for while we are studying in our dorms and I tried to buy some clothes and jerseys from local shops for working out but they had nothing in my size in every store I checked. 

I will send an update for you guys next week, feel free to email me anytime but I wont be able to respond until next tuesday.

Love, Elder Meyers

Hello Everyone

I have made it through my first week at the training center! I am so happy that I am doing this. I love how beautiful this place is and all of the people here. I have had Portuguese shoved into my head and the worst part was is that they gave a ``control your stress´´ presentation in Portuguese the third day. But in all honesty everything is going great here. I have met a ton of new people and built a lot of lasting relationships. I have been studying the scriptures and learning to show people that Jesus is our Savior. I hope all of you are doing well with your lives. I am glad that I am doing this with mine. 

I will be able to email at 7:30 every night for the next few weeks local time. 3:30 Pacific time. 

I hope I hear from you all soon. Boa noite

The Beginning of the Journey

I have had an amazing journey so far and am ready to learn at the MTC. After leaving Pasco it was a quiet flight to Minneapolis. I didnt have to wait long in the airport to get on the plane for Atlanta, on the way to Atlanta the man sitting next to me was named Craig Henderson and I was able to have a good conversation with him on the plane. When I got into Atlanta we both said goodbye on the plane and went our seperate ways, later though while I was walking to my next gate he had caught up to me since he was going the same way and said he really wanted to buy me dinner bevause of what I was doing with my time at a young age. While walking around looking for a place to eat I mentioned that I had a 5 hour lay over and he got a smile and told me to follow him. We went up to a premium club/lounge that Delta had at the airport for people who travel with them a lot and he got me in as his guest and told me I could wait there if I wanted since I had such a long layover. The ``sky club`` had a bar and a buffet. he told me to get whatever I wanted while I was there and that it would be covered. He stayed and ate with me for 30 minutes before he had to leave. I was able to stay up there while waiting for the flight and it was a nice quiet place to study the scriptures. After 3-4 hours I went to my gate to wait for my flight and after a few minutes I heard someone yell ELDER and I turned around and there were five other missionaries, after time before the flight there ended up being 23 of us going to Brazil and 3 of them are going to the same mission as me. It was a long flight but after we got to Brazil I was filled with energy. This country is beautiful and I am glad to be serving here. I will be able to email you next Tuesday, see you then.
Love Luke

The last family picture for 2 years.

New group at the MTC

Getting a crash course on shoe shining.

 Brazilian Real 

Hannah giving Luke her CTR ring.

And just like that, Luke is in Brazil.