It is officially known the world over that I must be a terrible mother for falling so far behind in my blogging. I wanted to update however because Craig has been moved to the city of Thessaloniki and has been made zone leader which is quite an honor and a testament to his work and strength as a missionary. He has a new address which I have posted . He also occasionally has some trouble with his mission e-mail so I have posted his hotmail address instead.
I really have a very difficult time putting into words the true peace and just overwhelming blessings that have come to David, Dan, Renee, and me as a result of Craig's mission. Maybe that is why I haven't blogged much, I just could not do his work justice with words. Craig is a truly an amazing young man, a blessing to us, but an even greater blessing to the people of Greece with which he has had an opportunity to share the gospel of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His commitment to his faith and his commitment to Our Heavenly Father are immeasurable. He has experienced many wonderful things in the past months, he has had the opportunity to perform a baptism and be a part of other baptisms, he has been blessed by his many hours of service work, and most importantly he has had the opportunity to share his faith and the gospel of our Lord with those he meets, if for ten minutes on the train, or weeks of visits to someones home. I am so incredibly proud to be his mother, what a blessing God gave me when he gave me the responsibility of raising this child. I miss him so much, but would not have it any other way.
I would like to share parts of a letter from President Galanos:
Dear Parents,
I am pleased to report to you about the transfer that took place in the mission and which was effected several weeks ago.
Elder Meister has joined Elder Rice as a zone leader in the Lefkos Pyrgos Area, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Elder Rice is a great young man from California who has matured marvellously ever since arriving on his mission. He has a great sense of leadership and can be absolutely relied upon to do the right thing. His grasp of the Greek language is excellent and his teaching skills are maturing well. Elder Meister is from Indiana and a great example for any missionary to follow. He has a steady, calming but humorous nature which will stand him well in the months to come, and is progressing extremely well with his grasp of the language – it’s actually significantly above average. You need to know I value these young men greatly and their contribution to the work is outstanding. The report I have from the Assistants is they are two of the hardest working Elders we have and not prone to succumbing to disappointment even when times are tough. They are a credit to their parents and strive to represent the Saviour Jesus Christ to the best of their ability. Both are relatively recent converts to the church but I have little doubt they were prepared long before coming to this earth. These are the leaders of tomorrow in the church, in their communities, and in their chosen fields of endeavour. You have every reason to be proud of them.
Overall the mission is progressing well with all missionaries growing daily in testimony and personal development. You need to know that it is certainly not Brazil or Mexico. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is still the same as is the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon. Our primary objective here is to establish the church which means allowing the Lord to either lead the elect to the missionaries or the missionaries to the elect, and then strengthening them to build a strong foundation for the church.
The missionaries and members labour daily in circumstances quite different to most places in the world. The culture is markedly different to anything the missionaries are familiar with......But herein we see the beauty of the gospel which reaches out and touches the hearts of men and women searching for truth regardless of circumstances.
The young men and women who comprise this marvellous army of the Lord are outstanding. I have no qualms in saying we receive the best of the best; they love learning this challenging language to the point of just enjoying speaking it. They strive hard to build their testimonies and to learn and practice the lessons from Preach My Gospel. We all strive to be PMG missionaries in a PMG Mission. They will return to you a mature men having overcome much in their lives. Like the Brother of Jared they will have exercised much faith and many will have seen miracles happen. They understand there are no “ranks” in the mission and all serve as they are called – some to help a challenged missionary; some as leaders; some as great soldiers; but all because they have a testimony.
Is all perfect? Do they feel great every day? Of course not! But I testify to you that day by day, as they stumble, they struggle to rise and continue; if they need to repent, they do and move forward. My wife and I have a great love for your sons and daughters and are doing our very best 24/7 to help them allow the Saviour to mould their character. I tell them two things continually: (1) the character they have the day they step off their mission is the character they will have the balance of their lives. They may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and even testimony, but their foundational character will probably be set, and if they do the best they can, it will have similarities to that of the Saviour – therefore, what character do they want to have; it rests partly with them; and (2) How do you eat an elephant? You cut him up into very small pieces and then eat one small piece at a time, chewing consistently and carefully swallowing each piece before trying another.
Thank you for your sons.
Kind regards,
John Galanos, PresidentGreece Athens Mission
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and questions about Craig, they mean so much to us.
Love to all,
Craig's Family
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Death of President Hinckley
We were very saddened this morning when we learned of the death of President Gordon B. Hinckley on Sunday. We share our sorrow with all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the passing of this truly amazing man. If any of you ever had the opportunity to read any of his works or hear him speak, you know what an inspirational man he was and I feel blessed to have been touched by his words and message many times. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, the church members, and church leaders. The world has truly lost a great leader and a wonderful man.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Updates
I have many exciting updates about Craig and his wonderful (and some not so wonderful) experiences in the mission field.
First and foremost was our wonderful Christmas day phone call. Well actually we received a nice surprise on Christmas eve morning at 4AM our time, the phone rang and out of a deep sleep all I could read on the caller ID was "out of area". How pleasantly surprised I was to hear Craig on the other end of the phone. It was out "test" phone call to assure that we had his number for the next day and to be sure that we could call him. We did a call back to him to be sure things worked from our end, and even though the call only lasted a few minutes, it was so wonderful to hear his voice. Our plan was to call him around 9AM our time on Christmas morning and about 5 minutes till 9 the phone rang. Renee answered and she was so excited that it was Craig. He had an international calling card and was calling from the church instead of on his cell phone. I am sure the connection was quite a bit better, and there was not quite the delay that there had been on the cell phone. We had grandparents and other extended family that dropped in during the phone and said "hi" to him. Needless to say, it was the best Christmas present we received. Just hearing his voice, it was just the best!!
As you know, he is now serving in Athens, in the Halandri area of the city. Since arriving they have had good days and not such good days in their proselytising. The week before last they felt that they had several interested people that they had made follow up appointments with, but when they returned for their appointments later in the week, they were either told to leave or the people were not there to keep the appointment. I felt so badly for him. I could hear the disappointment in his words when he wrote of those situations and the "really long days" when that happens. However, prayer and perseverance resulted in meeting and teaching a young doctor and his family, as well as meeting another family who are also interested in learning more. Here is what he wrote: "It just goes to show how the Lord makes you learn the bitter to see how good the sweet tastes. Just after a whole week of rejection it feels so good to sit down with someone who wants to listen and because of that you can see this little light in them come on when you tell them how they have a relationship with God to have more happiness for them in their family. So this week turned out to be absolutely great." That last sentence made my heart feel so much better!
Some other exciting, but not so great things have also happened in recent weeks. First, he was bitten by a dog. Now the funny part of this is that he told his dad and his brother in his e-mails to them, but told them not to tell me. David let me in on the news of course, because I generally end up reading his e-mail anyway. Blessing in this is that the dog was a pet, so no risk of disease, and Craig had received an updated tetanus shot before leaving on his mission, and dog bites rarely get infected, so I felt pretty confident that everything would be fine. He apologized in last week's letter for not telling me but he said that he wanted to be sure everything was fine before he let me know or worried me. Second, they also had an earthquake in Greece. It happened two weeks ago. It measured a 6.5, however there was minimal damage and no injuries to anyone. He said he had been reading his scriptures and he got up to go get something for breakfast and he couldn't figure out briefly why the floor felt funny as he walked. I keep wondering, we are only 5 months in, what stories he will have to tell after 2 years in the mission field.
Finally, I wanted to update all of you on the Lenten Scripture Book that I am putting together for Craig. For those of you who may not know, I am putting together a book of "favorite scriptures" to send to Craig to read during the Lenten season. One "favorite" for each day from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. I appealed to the many people who are so supportive and special in Craig's life to send me their favorites to be included in the book. I have had a wonderful time typing them and printing the pages for the book. I was going to have the book bound, but I found a smaller sized canvas covered scrap book that I am placing the pages in once they are finished. It has turned out better than I could have imagined. I believe he is going to love and treasure this collection of scriptures. Thank you so much to all who participated in this project and made it so special.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We are so proud of our Elder Meister and the awesome work he does in the mission field. He is truly an inspiration to all of us to be the best we can be each and every day!
Love from here,
Craig's Mom
First and foremost was our wonderful Christmas day phone call. Well actually we received a nice surprise on Christmas eve morning at 4AM our time, the phone rang and out of a deep sleep all I could read on the caller ID was "out of area". How pleasantly surprised I was to hear Craig on the other end of the phone. It was out "test" phone call to assure that we had his number for the next day and to be sure that we could call him. We did a call back to him to be sure things worked from our end, and even though the call only lasted a few minutes, it was so wonderful to hear his voice. Our plan was to call him around 9AM our time on Christmas morning and about 5 minutes till 9 the phone rang. Renee answered and she was so excited that it was Craig. He had an international calling card and was calling from the church instead of on his cell phone. I am sure the connection was quite a bit better, and there was not quite the delay that there had been on the cell phone. We had grandparents and other extended family that dropped in during the phone and said "hi" to him. Needless to say, it was the best Christmas present we received. Just hearing his voice, it was just the best!!
As you know, he is now serving in Athens, in the Halandri area of the city. Since arriving they have had good days and not such good days in their proselytising. The week before last they felt that they had several interested people that they had made follow up appointments with, but when they returned for their appointments later in the week, they were either told to leave or the people were not there to keep the appointment. I felt so badly for him. I could hear the disappointment in his words when he wrote of those situations and the "really long days" when that happens. However, prayer and perseverance resulted in meeting and teaching a young doctor and his family, as well as meeting another family who are also interested in learning more. Here is what he wrote: "It just goes to show how the Lord makes you learn the bitter to see how good the sweet tastes. Just after a whole week of rejection it feels so good to sit down with someone who wants to listen and because of that you can see this little light in them come on when you tell them how they have a relationship with God to have more happiness for them in their family. So this week turned out to be absolutely great." That last sentence made my heart feel so much better!
Some other exciting, but not so great things have also happened in recent weeks. First, he was bitten by a dog. Now the funny part of this is that he told his dad and his brother in his e-mails to them, but told them not to tell me. David let me in on the news of course, because I generally end up reading his e-mail anyway. Blessing in this is that the dog was a pet, so no risk of disease, and Craig had received an updated tetanus shot before leaving on his mission, and dog bites rarely get infected, so I felt pretty confident that everything would be fine. He apologized in last week's letter for not telling me but he said that he wanted to be sure everything was fine before he let me know or worried me. Second, they also had an earthquake in Greece. It happened two weeks ago. It measured a 6.5, however there was minimal damage and no injuries to anyone. He said he had been reading his scriptures and he got up to go get something for breakfast and he couldn't figure out briefly why the floor felt funny as he walked. I keep wondering, we are only 5 months in, what stories he will have to tell after 2 years in the mission field.
Finally, I wanted to update all of you on the Lenten Scripture Book that I am putting together for Craig. For those of you who may not know, I am putting together a book of "favorite scriptures" to send to Craig to read during the Lenten season. One "favorite" for each day from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. I appealed to the many people who are so supportive and special in Craig's life to send me their favorites to be included in the book. I have had a wonderful time typing them and printing the pages for the book. I was going to have the book bound, but I found a smaller sized canvas covered scrap book that I am placing the pages in once they are finished. It has turned out better than I could have imagined. I believe he is going to love and treasure this collection of scriptures. Thank you so much to all who participated in this project and made it so special.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We are so proud of our Elder Meister and the awesome work he does in the mission field. He is truly an inspiration to all of us to be the best we can be each and every day!
Love from here,
Craig's Mom
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