Dear Family,
It's good to hear from you. Man it's crazy how things change at home. That's way awesome that Cole spoke at church. It will be a different experience for me to see him next time. It's amazing how the gospel changes people. Martin Bader (baptism) is doing great. He is gonna have an interview with the Bishop this week for the priesthood. We meet with him and his home teacher every week and I've gotta say that I feel a huge amount of joy and satisfaction when we meet with him. He was truly prepared by the hand of the Lord.
So this past week has been pretty good. We had interviews with President and he brought to my attention that we need to be converting people to Christ and not the church. The Church is Christ's and so when we believe in Jesus Christ and really understand his atonement and the Restoration then naturally we will belong to his church. I am really focusing on exercising my faith by expecting people to talk with me. It's very difficult to get people to talk to you more than 30 seconds, no joke. As I've focused on expecting people to talk with me it's helped me to be prepared to talk longer than that 30 seconds. In teaching I've also been trying really hard to teach about Christ and his atonement. As a mission we were invited to take our morning study and go through the Book of Mormon and to mark every reference to Christ. It's been a really sweet experience. I'm in the middle of 2 Nephi and It's amazing how often Christ is referred to or his words are written.
It's been sweet teaching people here in Germany. I must say that I know that I'm called to serve here in Germany for a reason. I will share with you that I don't think I've shared with anyone. So back when I received my call I was so excited to know where I was going. I remember beforehand thinking to myself about where I would like to serve and where I would not like to serve. I remember that Germany was at the bottom of the list. I didn't know why but I just didn't want to come to Europe. When I opened the call my heart was pulled two different directions. I was amazingly happy that I was going to be serving the Lord and that I had finally received my call but the other side was that I was going to Germany. I remember that over a little bit of time I was OK with serving in Germany but I thought that I would've liked to serve elsewhere. My first 6 months or so I really was really trying hard and praying that I would have the love for the German people. I am happy to tell you that I have come to love this country and the people. I know that I am called of God to serve here and to help this people come unto Christ. I feel a great joy and happiness when I am able to teach. I know that the gospel will go forward faster than it has in the history of Germany. President Uchtdorf was in the country this past week and he dedicated the land of Germany for the gospel to be shared. There was no record that Germany had been dedicated for missionary work. It's done now. We will be seeing miracles this year. I know that the Lord will be blessing the hearts of those people who accept us and they will be making covenants with the Lord.
That's way sweet that my little sister got accepted to BYU. I'm way pumped. The only problem is that she will be farther along in school than me when I get home. That's OK though because she can just tutor me. I got a letter from Mckayla and she gave me a little update on the Stevens family. Tell them that I say hi. Her letter will be coming soon. Well I love you all and am grateful for your support and prayers.
Dad you were talking about liquid nitrogen. There is a place in Utah that we went to at college that makes your ice cream with liquid nitrogen. They just use cream. They also will pour it on your hand if you ask them. It's a pretty cool feeling. (Todd took the kids to a science night at the middle school and he told Kyle a little about it.)
"No Regrets"
Love,
Elder Merrill
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
February 16, 2010
Dear Mom,
So this week was kind of crazy. To start it off we met with a member that has not been coming to church for the past 2 1/2 months. He was baptized last April and he was really good at coming to church but then he just stopped. I've tried really hard the last couple of weeks to get an appointment with him but he would just not answer the phone of say he couldn't meet. He has gone through a divorce about 5-6 months ago. We met with him and his girlfriend was there. We ate dinner together and then she dismissed herself to go talk to her daughter on the phone. This inactive told us everything. I had a feeling beforehand that he had some things that he needed clear up but he just told us everything. I didn't know what to do. He wanted some counsel and we didn't know what to do. As missionaries we are not supposed to "Counsel" people and so I just bore testimony of the commandments of the Lord and how they bring us joy in life I know that the Lord loves us all individually and that he wants us to live righteously. We shared a couple scriptures with him and committed him to come to church. He did come to church and he talked with the Bishop again. Bishop came up to us and thanked us for what I did. At first I had no idea what he was talking about but then he said that it changed his life. The inactive member is working now on coming back to Christ. That night that we met with him I really wanted to be able to share the spirit with him. The Lord blessed us all with His spirit.
We had zone conference this week and it was amazing. President Teixeira (from the area presidency) came with his wife. The spirit was so strong and it was amazing being filled with the spirit. It's amazing to come to understand that leaders of the church are called of God. The spirit testifies of that and the spirit was very strong. I KNOW that I am called of God and that I'm here serving in this part of the world for a reason. The Savior loves us very much and blesses our lives more than we understand.
This week was Carnival week. That is like Mardi Gras. Pretty crazy stuff. Tons of drunk people all over the place and they all dress up in costumes. I saw this guy yesterday get thrown down to the ground and get arrested by 3 cops. It was pretty interesting. You could smell the alcohol everywhere. We got a new bishopric this week. I really like the new bishop. He is a great guy, humble, and loves the Lord. We get along very well. He is probably my favorite member in the ward. There was a ward choir for ward conference and we were asked to sing in it. The ward is really small and so over half of the ward was in the choir. They don't sing very good. I was put between two men who can't carry a tune at all. It was hard to stay on key. I got a good laugh out of it.
Sounds like your trip was fun. You are lucky that you didn't come to Germany because there are VW all over the place and the kids would have been hitting each other much more.
Love you all and wish you the best. It would be nice if some of the kids could write me an email or letter. I haven't heard from them in a while so that would be nice.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
So this week was kind of crazy. To start it off we met with a member that has not been coming to church for the past 2 1/2 months. He was baptized last April and he was really good at coming to church but then he just stopped. I've tried really hard the last couple of weeks to get an appointment with him but he would just not answer the phone of say he couldn't meet. He has gone through a divorce about 5-6 months ago. We met with him and his girlfriend was there. We ate dinner together and then she dismissed herself to go talk to her daughter on the phone. This inactive told us everything. I had a feeling beforehand that he had some things that he needed clear up but he just told us everything. I didn't know what to do. He wanted some counsel and we didn't know what to do. As missionaries we are not supposed to "Counsel" people and so I just bore testimony of the commandments of the Lord and how they bring us joy in life I know that the Lord loves us all individually and that he wants us to live righteously. We shared a couple scriptures with him and committed him to come to church. He did come to church and he talked with the Bishop again. Bishop came up to us and thanked us for what I did. At first I had no idea what he was talking about but then he said that it changed his life. The inactive member is working now on coming back to Christ. That night that we met with him I really wanted to be able to share the spirit with him. The Lord blessed us all with His spirit.
We had zone conference this week and it was amazing. President Teixeira (from the area presidency) came with his wife. The spirit was so strong and it was amazing being filled with the spirit. It's amazing to come to understand that leaders of the church are called of God. The spirit testifies of that and the spirit was very strong. I KNOW that I am called of God and that I'm here serving in this part of the world for a reason. The Savior loves us very much and blesses our lives more than we understand.
This week was Carnival week. That is like Mardi Gras. Pretty crazy stuff. Tons of drunk people all over the place and they all dress up in costumes. I saw this guy yesterday get thrown down to the ground and get arrested by 3 cops. It was pretty interesting. You could smell the alcohol everywhere. We got a new bishopric this week. I really like the new bishop. He is a great guy, humble, and loves the Lord. We get along very well. He is probably my favorite member in the ward. There was a ward choir for ward conference and we were asked to sing in it. The ward is really small and so over half of the ward was in the choir. They don't sing very good. I was put between two men who can't carry a tune at all. It was hard to stay on key. I got a good laugh out of it.
Sounds like your trip was fun. You are lucky that you didn't come to Germany because there are VW all over the place and the kids would have been hitting each other much more.
Love you all and wish you the best. It would be nice if some of the kids could write me an email or letter. I haven't heard from them in a while so that would be nice.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
February 9, 2010
Hi Mom,
So this week we were able to do quite a bit of finding time. It was a good experience to do that. Two weeks ago we went to Phong's and and he said he would come to church. He showed up this week and it was like he was a member that hadn't been to church in a while. So many people greeted him and he even took part in the Gospel Principles lesson. He is not really interested in meeting again but hopefully he will come to understand the blessing. We also had another investigator to church. We usually average about 1-2 investigators to church every week. During finding time we were able to find two men that were pretty sweet. With one he answered the door and he said "Mormon's right? ... Come in." That was pretty sweet. Unfortunately he is pretty busy with school, work and family (he has 3 little boys) and he wasn't able to set up a return appointment. He didn't give us his number either but he did give me his email. I really hope that we can meet with him again. We got a Referral from a member. She brought her friend to church and that was when we had the baptism. She was touched and interested. She said that she had some questions and that she wants to come to church again. She wasn't able to come to church this week because she had diarrhea (German's are very blunt people and will tell you everything). She told me it was pretty bad at the moment and she didn't want to leave home. Hope you like that little story :) We have an appointment set up for Friday so hopefully it will all work out really well. We have a couple more investigators that we are working with and hopping to help them make progress in the gospel.
I am striving to make myself better and work to my best ability. This last Thursday (Feb 4) I was thinking about everything I've done in the past year and that I only have one year left. I feel rushed almost and feel like I don't have too much time left. I don't want it to end to be honest with you. I spend my mornings studying and then spend the whole day trying to find people who need the blessing of the gospel. I am praying for my investigators right now but I am mostly praying that I can better prepare myself to help these investigators. I feel I have so much more to learn and that I can grow a lot more. Right now I am studying in the Doctrine and Covenants, Jesus the Christ, and read for a little bit in Das Buch Mormon for Language study. I would like you to pray for me this week that I can better teach my investigators being able to share with them the gift of the spirit. We will be meeting tonight with a less active member that was baptized last year in April. I want to be able to help him feel the spirit and remind him of the feelings he had that changed his life.
I wish you the best this week and hope all goes well. I love you very much Mom. I am thankful that you taught me to follow gospel principles and that you shared your testimony with me.
"No Regrets"
Love,
Elder Merrill
So this week we were able to do quite a bit of finding time. It was a good experience to do that. Two weeks ago we went to Phong's and and he said he would come to church. He showed up this week and it was like he was a member that hadn't been to church in a while. So many people greeted him and he even took part in the Gospel Principles lesson. He is not really interested in meeting again but hopefully he will come to understand the blessing. We also had another investigator to church. We usually average about 1-2 investigators to church every week. During finding time we were able to find two men that were pretty sweet. With one he answered the door and he said "Mormon's right? ... Come in." That was pretty sweet. Unfortunately he is pretty busy with school, work and family (he has 3 little boys) and he wasn't able to set up a return appointment. He didn't give us his number either but he did give me his email. I really hope that we can meet with him again. We got a Referral from a member. She brought her friend to church and that was when we had the baptism. She was touched and interested. She said that she had some questions and that she wants to come to church again. She wasn't able to come to church this week because she had diarrhea (German's are very blunt people and will tell you everything). She told me it was pretty bad at the moment and she didn't want to leave home. Hope you like that little story :) We have an appointment set up for Friday so hopefully it will all work out really well. We have a couple more investigators that we are working with and hopping to help them make progress in the gospel.
I am striving to make myself better and work to my best ability. This last Thursday (Feb 4) I was thinking about everything I've done in the past year and that I only have one year left. I feel rushed almost and feel like I don't have too much time left. I don't want it to end to be honest with you. I spend my mornings studying and then spend the whole day trying to find people who need the blessing of the gospel. I am praying for my investigators right now but I am mostly praying that I can better prepare myself to help these investigators. I feel I have so much more to learn and that I can grow a lot more. Right now I am studying in the Doctrine and Covenants, Jesus the Christ, and read for a little bit in Das Buch Mormon for Language study. I would like you to pray for me this week that I can better teach my investigators being able to share with them the gift of the spirit. We will be meeting tonight with a less active member that was baptized last year in April. I want to be able to help him feel the spirit and remind him of the feelings he had that changed his life.
I wish you the best this week and hope all goes well. I love you very much Mom. I am thankful that you taught me to follow gospel principles and that you shared your testimony with me.
"No Regrets"
Love,
Elder Merrill
February 2, 2010
Hey Mom,
So did Kiersten not get accepted to BYU or what? That's sweet that you were able to go to the Fieldings. So I got a letter from Becca Adamson this week. She is a funny girl.
So this week it snowed about a foot in 48 hours. It's actually snowing again right now. All the buses and trains have been pretty crazy. We've been able to use our Missionary muscles (we don't have any) and push some cars out. It's been kind of fun to have all the snow.
So some HUGE news. We got a call from President on Friday morning. He said that they are changing mission boundaries starting July first. There will no longer be a Hamburg mission. We are getting a part of every single mission, Hamburg, Berlin, M端nchen, and the Switzerland mission. Pretty sweet stuff. We will be getting some of the missionaries from those other missions and luckily no one from our mission will be leaving. After all this is said and done there will be a North, Middle, and South Germany mission. Oh well. If I remember right our mission will go all the way to the Czech Republic. It'll be huge. I am Way excited if you can't tell.
So you should be going to Disney land here pretty soon. Have fun soak up the sun for me.
So we are working way hard right now. It's way tough right now for finding new investigators. The people are really holding back right now. This morning I was studying about how we could do some big effective finding time. I thought about making some fliers that say that they are invited to learn about what the Mormon's believe. We would meet at the church and then teach a first lesson. We would throw all these fliers into peoples mailboxes (it's not illegal here). We are both pretty excited about the idea.
It's crazy that the mission is already half way over. I feel sometimes that it seems like it took forever but then I feel mostly that it has flown by. I'm loving being with Elder McGowan. Yesterday we had a wrestling match. I'm bigger than him so it's pretty easy to put him on his back. We have a lot of fun together.
Love you all and wish you all the best.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
So did Kiersten not get accepted to BYU or what? That's sweet that you were able to go to the Fieldings. So I got a letter from Becca Adamson this week. She is a funny girl.
So this week it snowed about a foot in 48 hours. It's actually snowing again right now. All the buses and trains have been pretty crazy. We've been able to use our Missionary muscles (we don't have any) and push some cars out. It's been kind of fun to have all the snow.
So some HUGE news. We got a call from President on Friday morning. He said that they are changing mission boundaries starting July first. There will no longer be a Hamburg mission. We are getting a part of every single mission, Hamburg, Berlin, M端nchen, and the Switzerland mission. Pretty sweet stuff. We will be getting some of the missionaries from those other missions and luckily no one from our mission will be leaving. After all this is said and done there will be a North, Middle, and South Germany mission. Oh well. If I remember right our mission will go all the way to the Czech Republic. It'll be huge. I am Way excited if you can't tell.
So you should be going to Disney land here pretty soon. Have fun soak up the sun for me.
So we are working way hard right now. It's way tough right now for finding new investigators. The people are really holding back right now. This morning I was studying about how we could do some big effective finding time. I thought about making some fliers that say that they are invited to learn about what the Mormon's believe. We would meet at the church and then teach a first lesson. We would throw all these fliers into peoples mailboxes (it's not illegal here). We are both pretty excited about the idea.
It's crazy that the mission is already half way over. I feel sometimes that it seems like it took forever but then I feel mostly that it has flown by. I'm loving being with Elder McGowan. Yesterday we had a wrestling match. I'm bigger than him so it's pretty easy to put him on his back. We have a lot of fun together.
Love you all and wish you all the best.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
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