August 9, 2010

Dear Family,

So this week I got a wedding announcement from Rachel (Hawk) Matheson. Pretty crazy. They're getting married in only a couple days. I didn't even know that she was engaged. I'm glad they sent me an announcement though. Super nice of them. Pretty awesome that Andrew gets to stay a little longer. Keeps our gap a little smaller.

So our talks went well this week. Everyone was back from vacation so there was more people there. Elder Gardner talked about The Book of Mormon and how it's a way that the Lord shows his love for us. He did a really good job. He talked about how much work it took, from the beginning to the end, to produce The Book of Mormon. I spoke about the Family. Probably my favorite subject to discuss. I talked about how families are able to stay strong in the church and how we can keep one another strong. It was a great topic because Elder Gardner and I were just discussing the week before what is necessary for someone not to go inactive. We came up with the conclusion that is man were to pray morning and night and study the scriptures daily, that he would not go inactive. I was given a talk from President Faust which said for the family it is Family prayer, Family Scripture study, and FHE. I spent a good amount of time preparing it so that I would talk clearly and say the things that the spirit would give me. I ended up taking 20 minutes and I didn't get the chance to finish everything because of time. I was nervous about giving the talk and I prayed a lot hoping that the spirit would guide me on what to say because there are several families in the branch that are dysfunctional and I didn't want to offend them and scare them to inactivity. I shared a couple stories of some of our FHE's and what you and Dad did to help us build our own personal testimonies. I really love you all so much. It was fun to think back on the things we did as a family to build one another spiritual as well as to build our relationships.

We weren't able to meet with that Fiji couple this week, we think they went on vocation. We were able to meet some other Fiji people though. We have an appointment tomorrow with one of them. I was hoping grandma and grandpa would give me some names of people they know there to maybe make a connection. One of the ladies opened up the door and then said, "See I told you there not. They're LDS." She was talking to her friend and it was pretty awesome. We weren't able to teach them right then but hopefully we can meet with them this week as well.

I'm really working on my knowledge of the scriptures lately, memorizing, knowing stories, and knowing where things are. That's one thing that I can say that I have improved immensely on is my knowledge of the Scriptures. I have so much more to go though. I want to have an awesome knowledge and know where things are so it's easy to teach, discuss, and study. At the time we don't really have any super solid investigators. We are probably going to say bye bye to one of ours because he's been meeting with missionaries for 3 years and just doesn't keep commitments other than reading. I feel that if we were to stop teaching him for a little while that he will find that something is missing and then when missionaries do start teaching him again he'll understand that it was the spirit that the missionaries brought is what he was missing. Then hopefully he will act on his faith and really progress. If you would like to, you could pray for Amelia. She is one of the Fiji women. She has 3 young children and I think that she is just super awesome. Pray that she will understand that we are disciples of Christ and that she will recognize the spirit as she hears about the message of the restoration. If you could also keep Elder Gardner and myself in your prayers. We really want to increase the amount of lessons we are teaching per week and we need the help of the Lord in order to do that.

I'm doing super good myself. I am happy and love serving in this country. There are so many people that need our help finding the right path in life and I hope that I can be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in achieving our goal to help other come unto Christ. I think everyday about what I need to do better. Sometimes I just don't know where to start. I don't want to go home at the end of my mission and not have changed at all. I want to be one of those that has changed and that others can see that I am more like Christ. It's a special opportunity to serve him in his work and I love it. There is so much joy and happiness that I receive from serving other people. I wish I would have served more before my mission. I would encourage you as a family to serve someone else at least once a month. I know that you and Dad do it pretty much everyday with your callings and being parents but it would be great if you were able to serve as a family. Take lots of pictures as a family. I wish that was something more I had, is pictures.

Well I love you all and hope that you have a great week. I'm glad no one got bit by rattle snakes. Stay safe and I keep you all in my prayers. I love you all so much and am so proud of my family. Anyone that asks me about me family I am super excited to show them pictures or tell them about you. I thank you for all your love and support.

"No Regrets"

Love,
Elder Merrill