First Letter from Texas (November 10, 2008)

Wow. Well! I'm here in Texas! It's crazy! As you can tell,
my P-day is on Monday. Definitely more humid here than
Utah. Alright, well, I'll get to the things you all are
probably most interested in hearing about first. I'm in
Weslaco North, which covers the northern part of Weslaco,
up to Hargill, parts of Donna, to parts of Mercedez. We've
got a huge area, but it's good. My address is 608 E.
Sugarcane Rd. Apt. D Weslaco,TX 78596 - I expect letters
from all of you! :)

Well, when I got here, all of the new missionaries met at
President and Sister Miller's home. We had a wonderful
dinner, and had interviews with President Miller, found
out where we were going, and who our companions were. We
talked a little bit about the mission, and then we went to
sleep at the Assistants to the President's Place.

The next morning we had breakfast at President and Sister
Miller's, and then went to the church for transfers. I
then met my companion, Elder Sandberg (he's from Orem,
apparently he graduated from Timpanogos '06),and we were
off to our area.

We're in a car usually, but it's a mix between a bike and
car. We'll be using bikes quite a bit in our area, but
usually it's the car (which I'm not complaining about).  We
went and did service for Sister Lopez in the ward (We
helped clean out a huge truck full of metal). We went
around that day tracting, and visiting members and
investigators. We've got all types of people here,there's
many who live in trailer parks surrounded near garbage and
stuff, and there's some that live in really good living
conditions.

Right now we're working with several people. I'll kind of
go through,and give you backgrounds on what's going on
with each.

Alejos and Esmerelda - Well, these two are looking for a
true church. However, they're also meeting with the
Jehovah's Witnesses, so they're getting more confused.
We've set a baptismal date, but in order for that to
happen, they neet to come to church, and continue with
their commitments.

Nora and Edgar - Well, Nora is Edgar's mom. Her boyfriend
(Olvidio) has been a member since 1995. However, they need
to get married before she can get baptized. As soon as she
and Olvidio get married, she'll be able to get baptized.
She knows it's true, and they're trying to figure out a
wedding date.

Ivan- Ivan is an 18 year old kid that feels the spirit
very strongly as we teach. However, he's hard to keep a
set appointment with because he always forgets about them.
We're working hard on getting him to church.

Well, for church here, there are two wards, an English
ward, and a Spanish ward. Our work is about 60/40 Spanish
to English ratio. So, for church, we have the Spanish
ward at 9, and the English ward at 1. So, during church,
we go on companionship exchanges. I went with another
Elder during the Spanish ward and went to work. We
switched for the English ward. I met Bro. Weese (the one
that I met on Cougarboard who lives in my mission), and
also his wife (Dad's best friend's sister).

The mission is great. The first couple days were pretty
hard, but I feel like now I've actually gotten into the
work.

If you all have more specific questions, feel free to ask,
and I will respond.

Congrats to Julia and Brian on the new addition to their
family. (Thanks, mom, for the pictures.)

Dan and Laurie - I expect an announcement in the mail.
I'm starting to be able to understand more and more
Spanish, and I'm doing my best to speak it. With time,
it will come.

Well, I love you all, and wish you all the best. You are
all in my prayers!

Con amor, Elder Meservy