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
