June 25, 2012

Hey Mom,
Thank you sooooo much for sending the recipes! We made SLOPPY JOSE’S today and they were SOOOOO good. My companion usually doesn't comment too much on his food but he told me "These are pretty good", I can’t tell you how happy I am to have a pot of Sloppy Jose's in the refrigerator. Also, thanks for sending the Taco Recipe today.. I think I can get all the ingredients except for the garlic salt and cumin. They put oregano on everything here so there will be no problem getting that spice.
Here’s my BODY OF A GOD PROGRAM for anyone who is interested. It works and it takes the full 30 minutes we have for exercising in the morning.
BODY OF A GOD PROGRAM
The first week or two you kind of have to work into it but afterwards...
Week 1-3
50 Wide pushups, 35 regular pushups, and 20 close hand pushups 80 crunches
Week 4-6
65 Wide pushups, 50 regular pushups, and 35 close hand pushups 100 crunches
Week 7-9
80 Wide pushups, 70 regular pushups, and 50 close hand pushups 120 crunches
Week10-12
100 Wide pushups, 85 regular pushups, and 50 close hand pushups 150 crunches
Maintaining "The body of a God"
120 Wide pushups, 85 regular pushups, and 50 close hand pushups 180 crunches
***With the crunches you can just do as many as you want, just so you keep doing more and more. Also it is good to run 3 times a week Because we walk all day long here, running 3 times a week is not necessary…
Anyway, I am doing good here. I am loving the New Testament and have finished reading Matthew and Mark. We are having so much fun here in Justo Daract. Our Mission President has basically given us permission to just go out and have fun with the people. So, we are now playing soccer with the kids in the streets and they love us!. They call me Hercules. I don’t mind. hahaha. It seems like the word is getting around in this little town that the missionaries are actually cool As a result, people are just coming up and talking to us. We are working with some people so please-- pray that they will be home when we go and make our visits!!!! I have heard many missionaries say, "If I had only done this or that before the mission…” I can honestly say that if I had not gone on a mission, I never would have truly understood who I am and what I am suppose to do to become the person God wants me to be…I am running out of time now... I love you mom! Thanks for Bishop Larson’s talk! I am going to use that!
Love you!
Elder Travis Myers

PS. Dad, I took most of my letter writing time writing to Mom Just wanted to let you know that I am going to try my best to send you an alfajor. Alfajor’s kind of remind me of Hostess cupcakes! They are so good that I have to buy one every week and eat them with milk.
Well, love you dad!
Love your son
Elder Travis Myers

June 18, 2012

Hey Dad!
Sounds like you had an awesome week living the country dream! That's awesome that Mark Burkey got his mission papers in!!
(Tom wrote Travis and told him that he did not think they would be having the traditional Father and Son wrestling matches any more since Travis is getting so strong with his exercise missionary program- This was Travis’ response: RMyers)
We are definitely going to have a wrestling match when I get back. I still think you could take me. I don't have your moves! hahaha.(“We pray for you several times a day…” Part of Tom’s letter to Travis this week.)
Thanks for the prayers. I think I can feel them. Every time we have a bad week, I can feel everyone praying to help me out. This week was no exception. We presented quite a few more lessons than previous weeks. In fact, we went from having 2 progressing investigators last week to 9 this week. It is probably the most investigators this area has ever had! We are going to try to set a ton of baptismal dates this week. COME ON AGENCY!! Everything is going good here. I think I finally figured out how I can progress as the Lord wants me to. It took me awhile to figure that out. The answer was pretty simple and it is found in Preach My Gospel. I learned that I needed to FIRST, have a goal, SECOND, make plans to complete the goal in a reasonable time period, and THIRD, to DO IT. Like Grandpa’s TOTAL MAN, it works with everything-----spiritual, physical, mental, etc Well, I love you and I always love to hear that everything is going great back home.

Love you!
Elder Travis Dillon Myers
PS- I think I might be ordering another name tag that says ELDER MAIRS. No one can say Myers right and that's how it would be spelt here. Love ya!

Hey Mom!
I don't have a ton of time right now but I love you alot. I finished reading JESUS THE CHRIST and I think I will probably finish reading The Pearl of Great Price this week. I have never read The Pearl of Great Price from cover to cover and so I decided, why not now?. I wanted to read Jesus the Christ, The Pearl of Great Price, The New Testament and The Doctrine and Covenants before I hit my mission year mark. I think I will be able to make it! I also want to finish reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I have a lot of goals now and with Gods help, He is making them possible..
Mom, I am looking forward to eating some of your tacos again. We tried to make some the other day but... they were not the same. Anyway, I love you so much and hope you never forget it!!!

Love, your son,
Elder Myers

Received June 11, 2012

Mom!
Sorry my letter was so short last week. I’ll try to fill you in a little more this week. As far as personal progress goes, I am almost finished with JESUS THE CHRIST. I have about 70 pages left and seeing as we have a lot of free time this P-Day, I might even finish it today or tomorrow. We don't get a lot of lunches from the members so we cook a lot and I just use the extra time I have for reading (during the siesta).
By the way, I might need some recipes. I'm not exactly sure what to ask for but if you think of anything, I will be so grateful if you can share some recipes with me!!!
I just started the third cycle of my morning workouts.. I keep you updated on my progress so you can tell Grandpa... I am now doing 205 push ups every morning. It KILLS but it seems to be working. It’s kind of funny, because when I was in the MTC, I could only do about 7 push-ups before I had to stop. I have been trying to memorize a scripture everyday for the past 3 weeks now. I told myself that if I don't finish a year of memorizing, I won’t be "saved". I'm pretty sure that is false doctrine but it keeps me memorizing. Anyway, enough about that. This week was both good and bad. NO ONE WAS HOME. We went by our investigators houses about 30 times each this week and they always gave us a "better" time to come back. For some reason everyone tells us they are bathing or cleaning the dishes... at all hours of the day. I know we are told to be clean, but POR FAVOR --no one needs to be THAT clean. As far as lessons go, it was the least amount of lessons I have had in my whole mission. I kinda got down a few times about that but on the bright side, it made me think a bit more about how to get people to listen to us. This week should be better. As far as FOOD goes, this was the best week of my mission. As you know the Ostler Family came by to visit some families and the church. They left us Girl Scout cookies, Reeses, Ritz crackers, ingredients for Smores and ROOT BEER!!! Then we had a Stake Conference and the Mission President brought mail and what did I receive?--- A marvelous package from Laurie filled with all kinds of American Goodness!!!! Now I know one reason why I was sent to Argentina. I ate nearly all of it within two days. So good!!!! Well I don't know what else to say now. We had a good & bad week but those kind of weeks happen so.--- I just have to figure out how to make future weeks better. I love you a lot and I hope you have a great week. Keep working hard and keep progressing! I love hearing how ya’ll are doing and just as you said,” It’s a shot in the arm to hear from you every week.”

Love ya!
Elder Travis Myers

Hey Dad!
It was so awesome to hear about you sharing the gospel with one of your co-workers.! Way to be an example of the believers Dad! You always are. I gave mom most of the scoop for this week but thought I’d answer your question about the exchanges we had with the Mission President. The first thing the Mission President did was to buy us Lunch and Ice Cream. He gave a pamphlet to the owners of the ice cream shop (Now we have reason to go back more often!). We also went to the Branch Presidents home and talked a bit. After that we split up. I went with Elder Moon(from the mission office) and we tried to find some people he had taught when he served in this area. The President took Elder Biggs and another Elder from the office and tried to teach some people in another area, but like always, no one was home.. Then they left. I thought they were going to do something crazy but it was actually pretty normal. Well, I guess that's about it here. I love ya and it’s great to hear the things you are doing. I promise I´ll send more pictures soon. We'll take some today.¡Te amo a vos! (I love you... Argentine style)
Elder Travis Myers

Received June 4, 2012

Hey Mom and Dad!
I have to make this letter quick!!! I just want to say that everything is going great this week. We have definitely seen the effects of your fasting and prayers. We have found a ton of new people to teach and I believe we are only going to progress from here on. Some of these people are SUPER ready and are asking all the right questions. Like I said, I'm short on time but I am going to try and write a nice long letter next week. I love you!! The work of the Lord here is rolling forth!
With as much love as I can fit in a tiny letter,
Your son,
Elder Travis Myers

Received May 28, 2012

Hey Mom!

I saw your pictures this week! You look beautiful mom! Best of all you look really happy. Like my companion Elder Vega said, "When you look good, you feel good". Love you mom. The work is still moving along here!. Some days are really slow but other days are just awesome. It is kind of funny how many excuses I have heard in the past few days why people can’t listen to us. "It’s dark and I’m afraid!" (Justo Daract is probably the calmest city in all of Argentina) or "It’s getting late and it’s freezing outside!" ....”We know. We have been walking outside all day..”. Oh well, some people choose not to listen to our message, but there are others who are ready to hear the Word. I am finally getting used to this place. I don't know if I have said this or not but Justo Daract is a lot like Santa Fe in almost every way--- just more Argentine. Interesting piece of information for the week--- The mission President and two of the Elders from the office want to come work with us for a day. I don't know why they want to take the 6 hour drive over here but I am praying that we won’t have a slow day and that more people will let us in that day. This should be interesting week. Well, I love you a ton and I hope you have a great week! I’ll let you know if something crazy happens.

Love from your son,
Elder Travis Myers

PS- You can tell grandpa I am doing 150 pushups every morning, except Sundays of course. I'm doing a workout made up by this super fit military missionary called the "Body of a God Program" Every three weeks you go up in pushups. I don’t think it would be an appropriate idea to send pictures but I’ll just tell you, I think its working.Love you Mom!�

Hey Dad!

How is my best friend doing? It is all good here. I’ll try and answer a few of your questions this week. One question from last week,--- yes there are mosquitoes here but not that many. Since I have been here in Argentina, I think I have been bitten only 2 times!. I killed one yesterday. The mosquitoes are not nearly as smart here as they are back home. We do have a bunch of flies though. Sometimes after lunch, Elder Biggs and I take time to kill around 10 mosquitoes each. Living in the church is pretty cool, I guess. People walk in at random sometimes and I hear they also steal our food occasionally, but I hide my good stuff on Sundays-- so it’s alright.
My companion is from Gilbert, Arizona. He´s pretty cool. Washing an area means to basically re-assign the two missionaries (who have served in a specific area ) to another area and replace them with two more missionaries. The new missionaries in the area work as if “from scratch”. We are walking a lot right now and trying to find people to teach. Hopefully, in a short time we can spend more of our time actually teaching. Just so you know, I think you would really like it here. You probably would not like living here but I believe you would at least love to visit in this area because there are about 20 doves that live in the trees around our house/church. Also, Argentines have a talent for making cars run forever. There are a whole bunch of old Fords and Chevy cars on the roads. They also have a ton of little cars called Fiats that look like VW bugs. Fiats are twice as small as the VW’s and have only two seats. We cooked some BB-Q today Argentine style. It was great!!!! I hope things continue to go well there. I love you dad,
Your son,
Elder Myers

Received May 21, 2012

Mom and Dad!
Sorry but I think I will be combining my letters to ya’ll this week….First of all, THANK YOU FOR THE FRUITY PEBBLES!!!! That’s the best birthday present I have ever received. I made a bowl as soon as I opened the package. And, THANKS EVERYONE for all the birthday wishes!!!!!

It was awesome talking to you all. I still think about the call every once in a while. So much has been going on here that I don’t really have too much time to think at all.

Here´s a surprise for ya’ll. We got a call Wednesday morning from our zone leaders about "SPECIAL TRANSFERS". We thought they were kidding but as they continued to ask if everyone was there to hear the changes, we found out they were not . Two elders came in from another country and they put one with Elder Smith. I had to say goodbye to everyone, wash my clothes, pack my bags, and leave the next morning for a place called Justo (Hoosto) Daract.

Once again, like my time in Malargue, I am in a city that feels like I am in the middle of nowhere. I´m about 6 hours away from where I was and about 10 minutes from the border of Cordoba. I could walk to the border of the mission if I wanted to. Pretty crazy huh? Amazingly, it is super green here. Grass is everywhere!!!. Justo Daract is a really small town with a small branch of the church (20 active members).The church is a house, and we live in one of the rooms of the church. It seems like the Mission President is sending me to all the furthest areas of the mission. Wonder what I did? hahaha. I’m sure there is a lot of missionary work to be done here and so if there’s a will, there is a way!!

My new companion’s name is Elder Biggs. We actually have spent the same amount of time in the mission. He got special transferred here two weeks ago. We are basically washing the area. There’s a lot more I want to share but because I am out of time, I guess I will just have to wait till next week.

Love ya’ll,!
Elder Myers
PS- For those who speak Spanish, I made a new slogan for the area. HLJ-D (Haga Lo Justo Daract.)

Received May 14, 2012

Thanks Dad!
It’s good to know everything is just running smoothly back at home. It was great talking to you all. Can you do me a favor for my birthday? Can you ask grandpa what it was like to be a patriarch? I have always wondered what that must have been like and I never did remember to ask him. Well, I guess I don't have much to say either but know that I love you guys and that I miss you alot. At the same time, one thing I know I can count on is that everything will be just the same when I get back---full of love.
Love you dad,
Elder Travis Myers.

PS- Tell mom I love her, she looks beautiful and Happy Mothers Day!
(Evidently Travis did not receive the letter I sent him on this day.Rachel)

Received May 7, 2012

Hey Mom and Dad!
First I want to get the skype information out of the way…
I think I should be online at 5:30 PM to set things up and I think everything will be all good to go at 6:00pm (which should be 3:30-4:00 PM your time) I bought a cheap microphone headset today (just in case I need it)…Well, I think that's everything! Because I was not given that much information this time about the skype call, I ended up doing a lot of extra stuff--and so now-- I am already running out of time for my letter writing this week. I will just have to fill you all in on Sunday.
It is really crazy that we will already be seeing each other again. It seems like it wasn't even that long ago when we were talking to each other..I love you Mom and Dad. I can’t wait to see and talk to you again!
Love, your son,
Elder Travis Myers
P.S. By the way, I have a birthday surprise for Grandpa! I started doing push-ups a few weeks ago, and now I am doing about 100 push-ups every day for my morning exercises. He should like that!
Love ya!