September 6, 2010

Dear family,

So first off you should give President Barber a call and tell him that C.Z. got baptized a couple weeks ago. The family doesn't know that she is baptized and so make sure that he doesn't spill the beans. It's a super complicated situation. She got permission from her husband but he didn't want to know when, where, or how. They have a super nice family and they seem to enjoy us visiting them but it is just a weird situation. So at the moment we have four baptismal dates. I hope they all go through. Two of them are gonna be interviewed by President so hopefully they have repented and are able to be baptized. One of them is named Armstrong. He is a super cool kid. 29 from Cameroon and is awesome. It's super fun meeting with him just because he is really progressing alot and just loves coming to church activities. The other one I haven't met yet. He is going to be getting married to a member and he wants to get baptized before that. It's pretty sweet.

Laura is going to be speaking Vietnamese and she goes into the MTC January 5th. I'm trying to gain a little weight back. I've made a goal to do at least 100 Perfect Push ups a day for the last 6 months. So far I haven't missed a day.

So this last week there was a big demonstration against Nazi's. There were police all over the place. 160 people ended up being arrested and 7 policemen injured. It was pretty cool just seeing all the police and their riot gear. It was also my third time going to the temple this last week. I love going to the temple and learning. The spirit is amazingly strong and it's a great pleasure to be able to go to the the House of the Lord.

I really hope that I can help some missonaries out and help them understand that we only get one chance to serve the Lord with all we've got. I am super excited to go on splits and I've been praying for a while that I can help some missionaries. It's a super big responsibility but I'm super thankful for it because it's bringing me closer to the Lord and helping me humble myself. There are many things that need to be changed and I really hope that I can help them all become better missionaries. It's all about serving through Love. Without love they just feel that I'm getting after them, with Love they understand that it's through our commitment to our covenants to serve the Lord our God. I know that the Lord watches over us. I know that he loves us beyond what we can comprehend. My goal in life is to return that Love and serve him day in and day out. I have a testimony of this gospel and I know that through making and keeping covenants that is the only way we can return to live with our Father in Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much. I thank you for supporting me. I love this gospel and the opportunity to serve here in Germany. There is nothing better than losing ourselves in the work. It looks like it's going to be a rough ride but I know that through prayer and love that it will all work out. I love this time of my life. There isn't another experience that I've ever had that has helped me grow more, both spiritually and physically. I know it's the work of the lord and that we must all strive to do our best to serve him with all our mights.

"No Regrets"

Love
Elder Merrill