January 26, 2010

Hey Mom,

I'm sorry to hear about your back. That's a tough deal. So you can't get a fake disc like your neck? I will remember to keep it in my prayers to pray for your health. I'm pretty sure that the Lord is sending blessings to the family.

This week Martin did get confirmed. A member confirmed him and it was a pretty sweet experience. He is 36 years old and German. He is not married and doesn't have a job anymore. He was a teacher but I think they layed him off. There are a lot of people without jobs here. The government pays them though. That's Socialism for you. He has a mother who he lives with. As far as we know she doesn't have any interest. A ton of German families live together. In some houses there are 4 generations. It's normal here to live with your parents but it's still weird to me.

Transfers are tomorrow but Elder McGowan and I are staying together here in Solingen. We will have to be moving apartments sometime this transfer but we aren't sure quite when yet. I am glad that I get to stay another 6 weeks. We will see how long I stay for. I really like the area and ward.

So apologize to the kids that I haven't written them back. I've been pretty busy during p-day's getting everything taken care of and writing everyone back. I will try to get letters off to the kids today.

So I hope all is well and wish you all the best this week. I am working hard trying to find the elect. It's a great blessing for me just being able to serve a mission. I am learning about how important it is to live the gospel and how much the gospel actually means to us. I'm glad that your are trying to help out the missionary work. I'm glad that the missionaries are having success in the ward. It helps the missionaries like the ward a lot more. The only tip that I would give is try to have the missionaries over for a family night or something like that with a non-member family. That is my dream as a missionary. Hasn't happened yet but I'm working towards it.

OK wish you the best this week. Love you all. Thank you for giving my blog address out. I hope that I'll be able to get some letters. The Peterson's wrote me and that was nice. Tell everyone that I love them and tell all friends that I would love to hear from them again.

"No Regrets"

Love
Elder Merrill