Monday, July 26th

Well, I suppose this letter will start off with my trials with my bike this week. As the following events happened, I had the "Standard of Truth" going through my mind with a few added words... here it is..."No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, tubes will go flat, and Elder Meservy may crash, but the truth of God will go forth boldy, nobly and independent....." So...I had 6...yes...six flat tires in four days. It was really frustrating. I finally got a pair of higher quality tubes. I haven't gotten a flat with these new ones yet. However, six flats takes a lot of time out of the week. I definitely had some frustrations with it. Anyway, so I got that fixed and then on Saturday I crashed pretty bad on my bike. My bike is perfectly fine, and I'm doing reasonably well for how bad I crashed. I really don't know what happened. I was getting of my bike...I swung one leg over it to get off, and next thing I knew I was pushing my bike out of the way and rolling on the ground. Well, I jumped up, and turned around to see Elder Anderson laughing about it. He's not sure exactly what happened either, but I think it made his day. We both got a good laugh out of it. I got a couple of scrapes, and a lot of bruises, but came out of it a lot better than it could have been.

My next story has to do with our four baptismal dates that were going to be baptized this weekend. Well, I shouldn't write some of the details on here, (I'll tell you all more about it when I get home) but the kids are back with their mom, and the dad moved back to Mexico. That was tough. The mom doesn't really want anything to do with the church, and doesn't really want the kids to have much to do with the church either.

We had one person come to church yesterday. Unfortunately the other 6-7 we were planning on didn't come, but I guess there's not a whole lot that can be done about that.

Well, this week is that start of my last transfer. I found out I'll be staying in this area, and that Elder Anderson will be my companion for another transfer. It looks like I'm going to be on bikes for the hottest part of the summer. That's alright though. I am looking forward to this last transfer and working harder than I've ever worked before.

This truly is the work of the Lord. I love my opportunity to be in His service. I love you all.

Love,

Elder John H. Meservy