July 19, 2010

Dear Family,

So this past week has been pretty Crazy as well. I got to Paderborn on Wednesday night and come to a big pigsty. It wasn't from Elder Gardner at all but from the past who knows how many missionaries. They have been some weak sauce kids that pretty much just wasted their time as well as the Lords. We spent a whole entire day cleaning the apartment, filling garbage bags full of garbage and old clothes. We finally got everything cleaned up and I just felt a ton better and the spirit was a ton easier to feel. We have a pretty nice, big apartment. The bathroom is the biggest bathroom I have seen in Germany. It has a shower and then a tub on top of that. It's not a Jacuzzi but it's about the size of one.

Elder Gardner is from San Antonio Texas. He has been in Germany for about four months. I like him a lot. He comes from a family of 6 boys. He has had two brothers already go on missions and one that is one a mission right now that has been out as long as I have. We are going to have a lot of fun this cycle and have some sweet miracles happen. He loves to work hard which is great because I do as well. It's just been an awesome experience all together so far.

That's sweet that you were able to go to Allred's. I guess I don't know what's up with their pond. I guess I'll have to hit it up when the Fearsome Foursome (Austin, Dexter, Jake, and Myself) get back together. They are an awesome family. If you could do me another favor and get his address again for me. I sent him a letter a while ago but I think I messed up. That would be very nice of you. Tell them I say hi too. I know that they do have a pretty nice boat. Was Kelsey a good driver? Tell the kids to write me an email this week that would be sweet.

On Saturday we had a Street display like we did in Langen. There were several members that came and helped a bit. The Branch President came and I got to talk to him for a couple of minutes. I probably talked with or tried to talk with nearly 500 people within 2 hours. It was pretty sweet. We got an appointment out of it as well as a couple phone numbers. After the Street Display we went to a members house and had a little BBQ. The Branch was all invited but only 3 families showed up. Again I was able to talk with President Piotrowski. We talked about a lot of things. I felt like I should apologize for all of the past missionaries and he was thankful that I was sent here. The Lord knows what he's doing. I served the last 10 1/2 months in Solingen and his parents/brother-in-law live there. His Brother-in-law is Guido Braun. Guido Braun and his wife are my favorite members that I have ever met and I think that they really like me as a missionary. They trusted me and told me many things that they wouldn't tell people from the ward. We had a super good relationship and so they talked me up to President Piotrowski so when I met him there was already a sense of trust and respect.

I love serving a mission so much. The time is going by really fast though. I don't know if I wrote this in other emails but I would like Dad and others who have served missions to give me tips for what I should do and what kind of goals I should set to be the most successful missionary I can. Andrew comes home in about a month. If you would I would like you to ask him to write me about his last 6 months and what helped him out. I'm getting kind of nervous if you haven't already noticed. I want to serve the Lord with all I've got. I feel I've been doing that for the last 17 months and I want to keep on it, I want to step it up. It's amazing at how the Lord loves us each individually and knows what we need in order to progress to be better in life. Thank you for all your support and love. I love you all so much. It's been really awesome to be able to see people progress and want to follow our Lord, Jesus Christ. When I said good bye to Sister Pickelein and Brother Phong it was kind of sad. Sister Pickelein was just excited that I got to go somewhere else to preach the gospel to others that weren't following the commandments and Brother Phong was a little sad. He said that he felt that he was losing a Brother. It's been great watching others change their lives to return to live with our Father in Heaven.

Love you all,
"No Regrets"

Elder Merrill