Hey Family!

Hey Family!

Thanks a ton for the emails, how awesome is everything right now? I’m really glad to hear that even though things aren’t perfect, you’re hanging in there and you’re making the best of it! Dad, i’m really sorry to hear about your work. Don’t let people make you mad... haha I thought I was somebody who didn’t get mad, but when people totally disrespect you and what you believe in, I’ve found i’m Ricky’s brother and I have a little bit of my Mom in me! haha.

The other day we were contacting, and we knocked the door of a house that looks like fort knox. It has every little security feature imaginable, and just to open the door you have to go through a series of locks and all kinds of things like that. That’s how scared the people here are, and that’s how bad the delinquency is... It’s really sad. It’s been a little bit hard for missionary work because the people just can’t trust anyone. Anyways... We were contacting and the people said, “Who?” and we said “LOS ELDERES!” and they said “NO GRACIAS!” Well, we had been hearing that a LOT and I was kind of getting sick of it. I yelled back, “You don’t even know why we’re here and what we’re doing! How can you just say no?” (Or something along those lines). I was expecting them to just ignore us or something, when someone came to the door! Turns out we’re teaching a guy named Jairo who lives there and he came to church yesterday! Who knew?

Today we had our last district meeting of the change, and It was pretty sad, because there is an Elder named Elder Velasquez who will be going home to Honduras next week from our district. It was his last meeting, but we really enjoyed it a lot. We gave testimonies in English, did some other business, and we watched a video about John Rowe Moyle. He is the one who carved the “Holiness to the Lord” in the Salt Lake Temple. He lived in Alpine, Utah, but because of his calling he would walk repeatedly from Alpine to Salt Lake City... He’d WALK! THEN, his leg had to be amputated. Well, He made himself a wood leg, and then kept doing it! All of this he did because of his calling. I’ve really been trying to apply the principle of sacrifice in my mission and put others first, my calling, and the Lord. I’m not too great at this but I’ve learned a lot. It hit me that he would WALK, when we don’t even have it in us to drive up to SLC to hear the prophets voice in person during conference... wow.

I couldn’t believe some of the stuff you told me in that email! I don’t want to talk about it too much but that’s just crazy! Christopher at homecoming, Dad seeing all of the muslim people, Uncle Nathan seeing the branch president in Turkey? Everything else too. Wow. I love you all so much and i’m so thankful that you’re sharing these things with me!

So I realized something the other day, and it really just kind of hit me. I feel like it’s probably something I should have learned before, and I know you all probably know about this, but I feel like I have been looking and looking for “the secret” to applying the atonement in my life. I have obviously almost always known that you need to repent, and use the steps of the gospel including faith in christ, repentance, baptism, receive the holy ghost, and endure to the end, and that’s what you need to do to return to our Heavenly Father. I was looking and looking for another way. I was studying the atonement when all of a sudden it hit me... THAT is the way to use the atonement. THAT is the big “secret.” There isn’t another way to do it, like praying for certain things, or anything “different” like that. The big secret is to follow those 5 steps, being sure that you’re doing them with faith, and that is how you use the atonement! Ha It’s so basic, but it really hit me hard.

Also, this week, I found out the gospel is a VERB. Kind of like those channel 1 commercials that say “Verb, it’s what you do!” That’s how the gospel is! It’s all about what we’re doing! Not necessarily about what we know, but it’s all about what we’re DOING! THAT is why we leave commitments with the investigators. Not so that they can hear a pretty message, but so that they can CHANGE and DO the things they need to do. Don’t you just love the gospel!? I love it.

I just want to tell you all thank you so much. I really appreciate the support that you give to me every day, and I think about you a lot. Thanks for your prayers. Like I used to say at the beginning of the mission... I can feel them. That’s why I love the gospel as well. The way it feels. When you DO it, APPLY it, you can FEEL it.

The area is improving, and I am really excited to see the differences. We’re working with a Maria Victoria right now. She has a baptismal date for the 10th of October. We put the date with her and right after, her whole life just started to cave in and she’s having a lot of problems... You can see the adversary is working hard too.

I love you all so much, Just so you know it’s going to be a little bit longer because this Monday is changes... Also, there isn’t pouch anymore, don’t send any letters to the pouch address in SLC, just send them straight to the office here in Guatemala.

Love you much, see ya soon!

Elder Micah Melville

One year ago today I gave me farewell talk... WEIRD. Way too fast.

My companion is the tall blonde!







HEYY here are some pictures... ANTIGUAAA... Notice i'm there with Elder Patterson....