Dear Mom, Dad, and everyone else,
This past week has been sweet. We've been working really hard and it's so much fun. My Golden's name is Elder Adam Wilde. He is from Dallas, Texas. He graduated in '08 like me but is a couple months younger. He went to school at West Point Academy. He also played football there. he is a pretty stacked kid, even though he says he's way out of shape. We are having a lot of fun with the four man Apartment. We have it set up so that in the morning we study first while Elder Gunnell and Elder Tryon shower and get ready for the day. Then we shower while they study. Elder Gunnell didn't get his Golden until Friday. Elder Tryon got sick on the flight over. During the layover in Dallas (where he lives) he had to go home for a couple days then he came. Elder Gunnell and I were gone all day yesterday in Frankfurt for a zone leader meeting so the Goldens were by themselves and had to rule the streets with 5 days of experience. They had a good time but were happy when we got home last night. It's so fun. Elder Wilde has already taken German in high school and so he can already speak pretty decently. He still has a lot to learn but it's a ton easier for me. We will still be doing splits with Elders in the zone. We have a split on Friday with a new district leader. I will be training him on his responsibilities as a district leader so it should be pretty fun.
Armstrong is going to be getting baptized on Saturday at 12:30. He is great. We are going to meet with him tonight. He is really excited to be a member and he will do well. He asked me to confirm him which will be really cool. This will be my third time confirming someone. Ayten is also doing really well. She comes to church without reminder calls and really enjoys it. She will be getting visiting teachers here in the next two weeks which will be good for her.
Yesterday at this zone leader meeting that Elder Gunnell and I went to, we talked about the mission and how to help the missionaries be more affective in the work. The mission has made a ton of progress this year compared to last and we want to keep progressing. There is a lot of miracles happening and because the mission is doing well there is a lot of adversary working against us. I don't want missionaries to fall into this temptation but to work through it and strengthen their faith. That's one thing that needs to be worked on is strengthening our faith. I have been praying for help in strengthening my faith and I know that the Lord will help me do it. It is a righteous desire and we are commanded to seek after those gifts of the spirit.
My love for this work, the missionaries, and investigators has grown a lot in the past year. I was able to share my testimony yesterday at the meeting and I was really moved by the spirit. I testified of the love that God and Jesus Christ have for us. The love that I have for others has just really grown. I cried a lot giving the testimony. I hadn't cried in over a year. The Spirit in that meeting was super strong. All of the missionaries there are super great examples and I hope that I can also be one of those examples for the others around us. An Elder shared his testimony about Faith. He read the story about the Sunday school teacher that was from Ireland and the boys in the class were super rowdy. Well at the end of the story it said something to the affect that you could warm your hands by the fire of this man's faith. He applied to how he always want to talk with every that passes by but he can't. He said that we need to have our faith so strong that when we are talking to one person, the other walking by needs to feel that warmth coming from us. It was an awesome testimony.
This work is so great. I love it all a ton. It's amazing how things work out and how the Lord leads us to do his will when we are obedient to the whisperings of the Spirit. I love you all and wish you a wonderful week.
"No Regrets"
Love,
Elder Merrill
