February 23, 2010

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