May 3, 2010

Dear Mom,

Thanks for the email this past week. It is always really enjoyable to hear what's going on at home. So we don't really do "Street Preaches" very often. When we do it's usually that we have a little choir that sings and then there are other missionaries who go out and talk with people. I'm usually one of those that just talks with people the whole time because it's fun and I'm pretty good at it as well.

So the weather the past couple of days has been colder than usual which isn't very fun but that's alright. We are already in the third week of the transfer which is way crazy. Time just flies by. I'm afraid because I've been here so long that if I get transferred that time is only going to go faster. So this past week we were able to find two new investigators. We have been finding on average about 1.7 new investigators every week for the past five or six weeks. It's pretty cool. We like to teach alot. We have been teaching more and more lessons and they've seemed to be more affective. We are still meeting with Brother Phong. I am really hoping that he'll come to the decision of getting baptized. He is almost there and it would bless his life so much. His son is 6 and he loves me. Every time we go over there he always wants to sit by me and listen. If you could, please pray for him and that he will feel of the truthfulness and get baptized. I want to help him make this step and I think that's why I'm still here in Solingen. I do need to remember that it's the Lord's timing and not mine. I love this gospel so much.

This week we have zone conference so I am super excited to learn from President and the Assistants. They are amazing teachers. I'm working on my teaching abilities and working on being more Christlike in my teaching, teaching through the Spirit.

I love you Mom and wish you the best this week. Thanks for giving me an update of the family. I think Korbin is still gonna be weak when I get home. I'll take him down like nothing. How much does he weigh now? He probably weighs as much as me (175). I'll still be able to give Dad a run for his money. Thanks for all you do.

"No Regrets"

Love Elder Merrill

pics: Sky (brother Phongs Son), Mahlzeit! (meal time)

April 26, 2010

Dear Family,

Wow, sounds like last week was crazy. That stinks that the tractor caught on fire. I bet Grandpa was shaking pretty bad afterwards. Maybe you should have the kids pressure wash all the tractors and stuff. It might be good for the farm. I've noticed that on the mission when you stay clean and organized that things run a lot smoother and more efficiently. That's my counsel for the week :)

Well Dad, I'll have to say that was a pretty good email that you wrote me. I think that was the best/longest email I have gotten from you. hehe Well, they are all good. It's finally warm here again. It's about 20-25 degrees and with the sun shining. I'm pretty happy about that because all the people are happier. We stepped up again this week. We have been teaching more lessons per week since the beginning of March. It's way sweet to see the progress we are making. This past week we had a couple appointments fall out but that's part of life. Yesterday we went to the Braun's for dinner. They are a younger couple but don't have any kids. They are my favorite family in Germany. I love there style and we get along very well. They talked to me yesterday about marriage which was pretty cool but kind of weird to think about. They have a really good marriage and so I listened well. The best part of the whole appointment was at the end. We shared a spiritual thought and then Brother Braun said "Ich habe eine epfehlung für euch". I have maybe heard that five times my entire mission. He said that he had a referral for us. I felt really good afterwards. I felt trusted. I knew that he was serious about this referral because he said when you go there let us know and we will pray for you. It was just a sweet experience.

I'm loving the opportunity to serve here in Solingen. Even though it's been over 6 months I feel like we are seeing a lot of success. Elder Chapman is really improving in speaking German and also teaching. We are lucky to be staying together again. So because of the volcano in Iceland you know that all the flights were canceled, well the goldens couldn't come to Germany when they were supposed to and the missionaries scheduled to go home had to stay an extra week. Pretty crazy how one volcano can affect the world like that.

So I don't know really what to write about. I'm really busy these days and I love it. I'm way thankful that I have a obedient companion that work along side me, not in front or behind me. Our district is really sweet and doing awesome. District meeting last week was filled with the spirit and it's great. I love being filled with the spirit and joy of the Gospel. Today we are going to go do something with the Wuppertal Elder's.

So tonight we are going to meet with a family in the ward and have FHE. The Dad is not active and the Mom left the family a couple years ago, sad story. I'm pretty sure they haven't had FHE in a really long time and so I'm going to try and get it going again in their family. We planned out a lesson. We are planning to read a talk from the Liahona about the Cubuca (Monkey Trap). We used an old soccer ball and made the trap. We have a racquet ball and we are going to write things of the world that can help us lose concentration on the gospel and lead to addictions. It's going to be a sweet lesson. Then we are gonna play UNO and have Berliner's. I'm pretty excited about it. I can't wait 'till I can have family night every week with my own family. I miss getting all together and just having fun. We don't get many such opportunities so I'm gonna make the best out of it.

I hope that all who are able to read my email's on the blog enjoy the stories and experiences that I share. Thank you for every one's love and support in this calling. I love you all. I'm thankful for the blessing of the gospel in my life. It is a priceless gift. I hope that we all take the chance to share our testimonies this week with someone we normally wouldn't. It will bless your lives as well as those with whom you share it with. Matthew 10:39 "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." It's the same way with testimonies, if we don't share and exercise our testimonies we will lose them. Exercise your faith in Christ and work towards helping others receiving the gift of the restored gospel. I love every single one of you very much. I am truly grateful for my family and friends. "No Regrets"

Love,
Elder Merrill

April 19, 2010

Dear Mom, Dad, and Family,

So after I sent my emails last week we went back to the apartment and I had gotten the package that Dad had sent me. Thanks for sending me the medicine. It's really helping out. I don't know whether or not I'm going to use the shoes or not because I'm going to trash the shoes I use before I move on to the next pair. Thank you for the two cd's that you threw in there. It is really nice to get some new music. So this last week we taught a total of 14 lessons, which is a huge improvement. We are striving to teach more and be more affective and it's helping us to concentrate on the work. I don't have a map of the new mission boundaries so I don't know what to tell you. We have about 100 missionaries in our mission. We are dropping in numbers big time but by the end of this year it will start to build back up. It's been pretty awesome to see the change in our mission from the start of this year. I'm pretty sure you read President's emails to us so you can see the graphs. It's saweet to be serving at this time when the work is changing big time. We are doing good work here.

So I am staying in Solingen again with Elder Chapman. It doesn't bother me at all. I like it here because we are having our own success and changing this area around to become an example area. We are getting two sets of missionaries into our district so it will be us in Solingen, Elder McArthur and his Golden in Wuppertal, the Zone Leaders Elder Moffat and Elder St from Düsseldorf and then Sister Botcher and Sister Thaden. I haven't had a big district since I was in Langen. I'm pretty excited about that.

I really like the ward but there is that one member that just likes to think that he can tell us what to do and who to and not to meet with and to bring to church. It is just a little bit annoying at sometimes but it's good for me. Mosiah 23:21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.

We haven't had the opportunity to meet with Crystal (the lady from IF) last week because she was busy but hopefully this week. I hope that we can in someway or another help her out and to come back to church. It's pretty sad to meet with some of the inactives. They just feel that they don't need to change and repent of the wickedness but they are just miserable and sad. I'm really dissapointed in one member in particular because he is now living with his girlfriend and he is not happy at all. I feel for him but I wish he would humble himself before the lord and repent of this abomination. It really just puts a sour taste in my mouth for those that don't live chaste. The prophets have all taught us that it's one of the worst things that we could ever do in life. It is mocking God and his gift to us. I am glad that I have never had to worry about that in my life and am glad that I have been raised to live the commandments of God.


Well I love you all and wish you the best. I have several letters that I need to write today. I've gotten letters and have put some of them off for several weeks now.

"No Regrets"

Love Elder Merrill

April 13, 2010

Hey Mom,

So P-day was supposed to be yesterday (Monday) but we had a bunch of appointments so President let us have it today. We are working way hard. So we did a bunch of doors this last week and we found some pretty cool people. I hope that they can all make some progress. It's been fun doing doors because that's when the crazy stories come into play.

So the best part of it all was yesterday. Our last appointment yesterday fell out so we decided to do some doors before the bus came and we did this apartment building. We start at the bottom to get let in and then we walk up to the top and knock on the individual doors so we can talk face to face, it's way better that way. Well as we were walking up the top we walked past this one door and I heard a lady talking in English on the other side, it was American English too. I told Elder Chapman, "I call this door". So when we got to this door we knocked and the door opened. I started out speaking in English talking about the family. She had two little kids. I asked her what her "two daughters" meant to her and she said "everything, but this one is actually a boy". I was pretty embarrassed but so is life. We kept talking and then she said, "you know I'm from a Mormon background". I was a little shocked because I had said nothing about the church or being missionaries for the Mormon church. I asked her how so, then she said that she was baptized when she was 8 years old. Her family is LDS as well. We found out that she got married to a German and moved to Germany in 2005 but that she had just separated from her husband. We found out that she is from Idaho Falls! Most likely her family is still active and have been praying that she find her way back to the church. We got information of how we can stay in contact and then we had to get on our way. It was an amazing experience. We talked a little bit about this experience and we thought that we were probably an answer to her families prayers. A very awesome experience. Her name is Crystal Ullmann but her maiden name is Andrejek (no clue on the spelling but it's the best I can do). Maybe give Bruce a call and see if he possibly would know this family. That was our sweetest experience that we had this week doing doors.

This last week we also had a split with the Assistants. That was really cool. I got to ride in a car for once. We are losing 10 Elders after this transfer and finally getting 5 new Elders. We haven't got new Elders since December so it will be nice to see new missionaries. There are less kids going on missions now, for whatever reason, so our numbers are dropping down.

Time is flying by. It's crazy how fast it's going. I love serving my mission and love serving the Lord in this calling as a missionary. I'm way excited for the improvement that our mission is making. I'm happy to say that I'm part of this improvement but I still gotta work harder in what I do.

So today for P-day we will be cleaning our apartment (like we do every week), and then writing a letter or two and maybe go check and see if there are any sweet deals on suits. My one suit is definitely getting trashed but that's OK, it's part of life. The suits here are anywhere from 75 to 400 Euro. I'm looking for the cheapest thing I can get. I don't want to buy a suit 'till the end of summer because I don't have to wear one during the summer. Just so you know. Umm so I haven't gotten that package with the medicine. Dad said he sent it with the shoes. Well I haven't gotten it. I don't know what happened to it but haven't got it.

Well I love you Mom. I hope that you are all having a good time soaking up the spring time.

"No Regrets"
Love,
Elder Merrill

April 6, 2010

Dear Family,

Wow this week I got a ton of emails. That was pretty sweet. Too bad that doesn't happen every week. So don't forget that Pday is moving to Monday for me next week which is Sunday for you. It's moving to Monday because we are the only mission pretty much in Europe that has Pday on Tuesday and it will help the work out too. The whole week long we are working to help our investigators come to church and to feel of the spirit during the sacrament. It will help us to do our job better in helping others.

So Eric's Letter was absolutely hilarious. I was cracking up, and the guy sitting next to me had no idea what was going on.

Sounds like you had a good time in Hawaii. I don't really remember the tour guide at all but I remember Eddy. Man that was some fun stuff. So the transmission went out in the Suburban? Sounds like things are still as busy as ever at home. How's Dad coming along with work. Has he got all the spring work done or is he still way stressed out? How are the kids doing in school? Have them write me an Email, I would really enjoy that.

We are trying to improve the amount of lessons we are teaching each week. We are working hard this week in finding those people who are ready for the Gospel, yes FINDING TIME. I love it. It makes for great faith building experiences.

So General Conference was Awesome! I loved it. Unfortunately, we miss the second Sunday Session but I can only imagine how good it was. For me the talk by Elder Cook followed by President Monson sealed the deal. I was moved amazingly by the spirit. I could feel the love of the Savior and I knew that his spirit was present being a witness. It was just an amazing feeling. I loved it. I really enjoyed the talk from Elder Oaks also. It was very powerful. What I learned from it was that we are going to be expected to use the Priesthood power more often in healing and that we need to strengthen our faith enough to bring about miracles. In the short time that I have had the healing power of the Melchezidek Priesthood. I have a very strong testimony of the Priesthood and I know that it is the power of God given to man to work miracles among men. I think often about the story of Korihor and Alma when people say that there are no more miracles on the earth today. They say that they've never seen them and that if there was that it needs to be shown to them in order to believe. They talked a lot during conference about families and in teaching in the family and building a strong testimony in the youth of our children. I want to thank you Dad, Mom, and everyone else for helping me build a strong testimony in my youth. By having a strong testimony as I was young helped me to recognize when I wasn't following Christ and to change myself, turn around and to fix it and to never go back to it. I have made mistakes in my life as everyone has but it was my testimony in Christ that helped me Repent of those things and 'shake off the chains' that could hold me bound (2 Nephi 9:45).

I want to thank you Mom and Dad for raising me. I love you both very much. I know that our family is joyful and that we all love each other because we all love Christ. When Christ is the center of our families we have a greater love and joy with one another. It makes me happy to know that the Lord is with us in what ever we do. He knows our weaknesses and he allows those things because we learn so much from them. I can say that I've learned the most either during or right after a hard trial in my life. I'm thankful for the friends that I have and that they have also helped me to grow into who I am today. I love the Lord with all my Heart. I know that because of his Resurrection that we all, one day, will rise again and live in his presence and glory. We must do all we can in order to achieve this goal. We must all humble ourselves before the Lord our God and come to know his will. As we do this we will find that "All things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God..." (Alma 41:4). It's a blessing to live on the earth during these times where the Kingdom of God is on the Earth. We must do all we can to help this kingdom grow. The opportunity I have to serve a mission means everything to me. I get chills down my spine just saying that I'm a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the best experience that I could have ever asked for.

"No Regrets"

Love
Elder Merrill

p.s. Haven't got the package yet maybe it will come today, Hopefully!
pics are Bridge and at a ward easter breakfast, (most are non-members or visitors)

March 30, 2010

Hey Dad,

Way nice to hear from you and about the farm too. It sounds like you got a ton of work to do and it sounds like you are pretty stressed out about it. I wish I could help you out but you'll just have to wait a year. I love hearing about the farm. So how are you getting along with out mom there? I bet it's a little tough. It would be way wierd for me to go to bed without my companion there. Kind of a different situation but still I can understand how you feel. How are the 3 kids doing? I haven't heard from them in a while.

I am loving the work. We have set the goal to teach 20 lessons this week which is a big jump. the average is about eight or nine that we teach in a week. Zone Conference was way awesome. Last year we had 94 baptism's and President has set the goal of 200 for this year. The first quarter is already done so we gotta get bustin. I'm really giving all I got. I'm way thankful that I have him as a Mission President. It's amazing the revelation that he receives for the mission.

Well I wish you all the best and I love you. I am proud of who my father is and I know that you are serving the Lord with all your heart. Thank you for teaching me the gospel and helping me become the missionary that I am now and that I wanted to be. I wish you the best of luck this next week and hope you can get everything done. "No Regrets"

Love
Your Son Elder Merrill

p.s. what electrical are you doing right now? How does it look so far for this years crop and prices? I'm looking forward to working on the farm again. I didn't say that in a home sick way by the way. :)


Liebe Mutter,

How are you doing. I heard you are sunburnt. I bet your loving the sun and the heat. Dad says it's way cold at home so you are lucky.

So it's tough now to write this letter because I just got done writing Dad's so I don't want to write the same stuff. So I'm glad you enjoyed last weeks letter. It didn't take me too much time to. Elder Chapman likes to take quite a bit of time for emails. I just write mine and then wait for him. We email in Internet Cafe's so I get off because I don't want to pay more than what I need to. So we are finally done moving apartments. The apartment that we are now in doesn't have carpet but it is up off the ground so we get to see the sun rise. I'm fine with it.

We had a sweet Zone Conference on Thursday. President did a really good job on getting us more motivated. I already wrote Dad about but last year we had 94 baptism's in the mission and this year he fasted and prayed about it and he has set the goal for the mission to get 200 baptism's! I'm way pumped for it. We are going to be getting some sweet counsel from leaders and what not and our mission is going to expand too. Sorry I can't really say what our new area is going to be but I Can say the we are getting 2 stakes and a District. We will extend to the Czeck border which will be way sweet. So we are also going to be changing our P-Day to monday's starting APRIL 12. Just to let you know. We have set up 12 lessons for this week so we are going to be way busy. President has encouraged us to teach 20 lessons in a week so I'm really going for it. I want to follow the Counsel of my leaders because I know that it will bless my life as well as lead to more success.

Time is flying by. I can't believe that It's already Easter. By the way Mom. Happy Birthday tomorrow. I just got off the Phone with some lady and she wants some help moving. Hopefully it will lead to a teaching opportunity. THE WORK IS GROWING! I can't really say how excited I am about this time. I know that I am called to serve here during this time. I'm super stoked at the success we all are seeing. It's the whole mission. I don't know if you read President's letters to us but you can clearly see the growth in the work. I love it.

So I hope you have a fun time in Hawaii and hope you are doing well with your back and neck. I pray for you and the family. I love you all so much and am thankful that I have you all in my family. Tell the girls that I want to hear from them. They can email me--that would be awesome. So have fun. Take lots of pictures. I would love to get some more pictures from you all. It's crazy that it's been 14 months. Time goes by way too fast. I don't know if it's going by as fast for you but for me it's flying by.

Love you all! "No Regrets"

Elder Merrill

March 23, 2010

Dear Mom,

Hey Thank you for sending me a sweet email. It was nice to read about what's going on at home. That's sweet that Eric came to church. Thanks for inviting him to church. I had to laugh that Kiersten tried to bribe the cop by wooing him. (She got a ticket for jaywalking.) She should of told him to get lost and find something better to do. I only got two pictures, The one of Gary's wedding and then the one of Kory. The fireplace looks really nice. Before I forget, did you ever send the medicine? If you did I never received it. How are all the kids doing? It was nice to get an email from Kelsey last week. My mail has pretty much ended now. :( That's alright though. This morning I weighed myself and I was 168 lbs. I was a little dehydrated but I am kinda sad because I don't have hardly any muscle left.

So for the weeks events. We had to move to a different apartment in Solingen because the contract ended and that was a pain. We took almost all of Wednesday to do that. On Thursday we met with a member who is the only member in his family and we wanted to be able to teach him and his family. We were able to set up a new appointment and so I'm hoping that that will turn out well. We are meeting with them tonight and we are going to teach a first lesson. On Friday we had a Split with the other misisonaries in our district and we went to Frau Pickelein's (Oma Friedel). She is a sweet old lady and I hope that she can make some more progress. We talked about the baptism with her and made it clear to her that she wasn't baptized by the authority of God. I think she understood it but we will have to review it again to make sure she grasped it. These past couple of days have been really spiritual draining for me, actually just yesterday. We met with a former investigator who is from Italy. She doesn't speak very good German at all and she doesn't understand it very well either. During the appointment I was praying very intensely that I would be able to not only understand the things she was saying but that she would be able to understand what I was teaching. It was a powerful experience. Also yesterday while we were on our way to this appointment we ran into a man that I had talked to on the street. He told us that he has been through a lot and that he was wanting out. We told him to meet us at the church at 6:00 and we would talk more about it. We showed up and there he was waiting for us. We went inside and he just started telling us about his life. There was some things that I would never want to live through. I had a prayer in my heart throughout the whole time praying that I would be able to help him. We spent the rest of the night with him trying to help him realize that God loved him and that he had a plan for each and every one of us. We got back to the apartment after 10:00. I was beat. He wanted to change his life but he denied our help we wanted to give him. Last night I laid in bed for a long time just thinking about the day and how the spirit led me to know what to say and do. This morning for companionship study we talked about yesterday and how we both felt the spirit guiding our lives. Right now I'm pretty beat. I know that it will go away here soon.

So that was a little bit about the week. It's definitely tough sometimes in life but the Lord is with us. My study the past week or so has been in Mosiah. I read two days ago I think ago in chapter 23 verse 21, "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." Sometimes in life we as people think about the here and now and why we have to suffer certain things but it's all for our benefit. I've seen how the Lord has molded me as his servant and I realize that it's because he loves me and wants the best for me. The blessings he sends us are not always in the forms we would like them to be or in ways we don't recognize them but I know and I have a testimony that God loves us and knows how we feel and the things we need help with. Christ is our savior and he suffered everything possible. He loves us and taught in Matthew 11:30, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." We always, as children of God, have the opportunity to turn unto Christ and take his yoke. I love my Savior for his example for me and for making it possible for me to repent of my weaknesses. I am striving to come closer to Christ in my thoughts, words, and what I do. I love this gospel with all my heart and I know that God loves me. I want to thank you all for being part of my life. The things I have experienced have helped my testimony grow in the Savior. I love you and wish you the best this week. Have fun in Hawaii. Maybe you could have the kids write me an email or something. I would like that.

"No Regrets"

Love
Elder Merrill

p.s. Picture of new comp and my favorite German car (Porsche Cayanne)