Dear Mom, Dad, and Kids,
So this week was a pretty good week. My split with Elder Ellis was only a couple of hours long but it was enjoyable. We went to the District meeting in Hagen and it was really good. I think that the missionaries are doing well and they just need a boost of energy. We had some appointments that went well and some that didn't go quite so well. The other week we did some service and we got the referall contacted and are teaching them both right now. It's pretty cool. This is my first time that I've found an investigator through service.
On Sunday this Lady showed up for church and she went up half way through Sacrament and started talking at the podium. She was saying how the German country was so terrible for allowing gay marriages and how the world is terrible. She talked about how her brother is addicted to cocain and different things. She said that she was watching youtube videos and that she saw Chinese people eat dogs and cats. It was the worst I've ever seen or heard. The counselor to the Bishop got up and told her to stop. Pretty crazy. It's definately different here.
I'm going on a split tonight in Paderborn. I will be working with Elder Rampton. He is just finishing his golden transfers so it should be fun. I don't know what's going to happen with transfers. It's always a suprise. Today we played basketball a little bit which was fun. I haven't played for a while. I will be going to send a Christmas package to you all probably the last week of November. I need to wait until the Christmas market opens up.
I don't know what to say really. Not to much happening on my side. Kiersten sent me an email last week. She said that she's having fun. I'm glad that she can find time to write. Kelsey as well. It's starting to get cold. My clothes are reaching the end of their wear. I've got ripped pockets, torn out crotches, and ripped suit coats. They should be able to last me through the winter. I'm not really planning on buying any more clothes. I can make it all work.
Well not much to say this week. That's awesome that Korbin's getting to practice with the Varsity. I hope he gets the picture that he needs to work out and get bigger. We'll work on that. Hope you are all doing well physically. Did Grandpa get my email? Tell him that I send my Love. I miss him and can't wait to see him again. Thanks for all that you do. What happened to the Dino Rossi thing? Did he win? How about other news? Anything I should know about?
Well I love You all so much. Thanks for being a great family and great examples of the Gospel. It's great to be a part of the Merrill Family. I hope you have a good week and sorry again that the email is so short. Not much to write about. It's kind of hard to think right now because of some missionaries that I'm thinking about. I'll try to do better next week.
Love you
"No Regrets"
Elder Merrill
Monday, November 15, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
November 1, 2010
Dear Mom, Dad, and Kids,
Dad, thanks for keeping up this writing streak. I really enjoy hearing from you. Mom does a great job writing me but there is something about getting letters from the Father that is different and it just makes reading emails complete. I got the voting ballot and I sent it last week so Dino's got my vote. I also got the package with the debit card, coins, and Letter in it. Thanks for that again. I really owe you for that. I got the medicine a while ago so that's OK. I don't take it all the time just when I need to. I am doing well though physically. I've gained weight back. I'm back up to 182 now. I'm still way under what I was when I left but we got some weights that we lift in the morning for exercise so hopefully I'll gain something back.
We were able to teach those people I talked about last week which was a good experience. Also this week we were walking down the street trying to find an address when a lady called out "Elders". We turned around and talked with this lady. She said that she used to meet with missionaries a while ago but hasn't in quite some time. She was moving on Saturday to a new apartment and asked for our help. When we were done moving all of her stuff for her (may I include that it was super heavy and up 4 flights of stairs) she said that she wants her boyfriend to learn more about 'her' church. I asked her which church she belonged to and she said "Yours". I questioned her asking if she was baptized and she was. She is an inactive member. We will be working with her and her two friends teaching them. It's amazing how stuff like that happens because I just had a feeling that day she talked to us to walk down that street.
When we watched General Conference we watched the whole Sunday Afternoon. This past Sunday we had Stake Conference. It was held in this Theater place which I did not enjoy. It reminded me of preachers on T.V. that walk around with a microphone and get excited and yell and do whatever they do. Obviously they didn't do that but kids were running all over the place and it was just super irreverent.
Tomorrow I will be going on a split with Elder Ellis, on of the assistants, and we will be visiting a district meeting. I hope that we can share something spiritual and powerful with them because both companionships in the district are struggling with the work and I think they both are losing their desire to do their bests. There are several things that are kind of stressing me out a little bit with the zone. I want to be able to help them out and to be successful. It's hard to train, keep your area going, and work in the zone all at the same time. The Lord is blessing me though, I can't forget that. There are so many different experiences that I've had in the past 5 weeks that have really moved me and strengthened my testimony and made me want to work harder as a missionary.
We are having fun altogether. We get a good laugh in several times a day and it's great to come in at night and share with each other the ups and the downs of the day. It keeps me motivated. The other night there was a Halloween Party that the older couple missionaries did for the YSA's in the stake. There were 5 investigators there. When they left one of the guys rolled his ankle and so Elder Young (Senior missionary) drove them home. At 10:30 p.m. Sister Young called me saying that it had been a long time since he had left and that she was worried about him. So Elder Gunnell (my zone leader Companion) and I ran to those investigators house to see if we would find the car or Elder Young anywhere. As we got there there was no car or Elder Young to be found but Sister Young calling me saying that he had gotten lost and that he was back now. We ran back home and on the way back home we ran into the investigators. We just told them that we had heard that one of them got hurt and that we were just coming to check up on them. They were thankful and then we left. We were running the whole time so by the time we got home I was sweating really bad and it took me a while to cool down and fall asleep. Just a funny story I thought I would share.
Well I love you all so much and look forward to getting pictures of the family. It's great to hear that everyone is doing good. I hope that your back will hold out. That's a big deal and I hope that you don't have to do it for a while. I am so grateful for your love and support that you give me. I know that Families are something special and I always feel a warm feeling in my heart when I think about my family. You mean so much to me and I want my family to be as strong as our family is today. I miss you all a lot but before you all know it we'll be back together. The Mission is a wonderful blessing for us all and I know that I'm growing a ton from the experiences that I've had. I hope the kids can maybe find time to write me know that sports are done with.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
Dad, thanks for keeping up this writing streak. I really enjoy hearing from you. Mom does a great job writing me but there is something about getting letters from the Father that is different and it just makes reading emails complete. I got the voting ballot and I sent it last week so Dino's got my vote. I also got the package with the debit card, coins, and Letter in it. Thanks for that again. I really owe you for that. I got the medicine a while ago so that's OK. I don't take it all the time just when I need to. I am doing well though physically. I've gained weight back. I'm back up to 182 now. I'm still way under what I was when I left but we got some weights that we lift in the morning for exercise so hopefully I'll gain something back.
We were able to teach those people I talked about last week which was a good experience. Also this week we were walking down the street trying to find an address when a lady called out "Elders". We turned around and talked with this lady. She said that she used to meet with missionaries a while ago but hasn't in quite some time. She was moving on Saturday to a new apartment and asked for our help. When we were done moving all of her stuff for her (may I include that it was super heavy and up 4 flights of stairs) she said that she wants her boyfriend to learn more about 'her' church. I asked her which church she belonged to and she said "Yours". I questioned her asking if she was baptized and she was. She is an inactive member. We will be working with her and her two friends teaching them. It's amazing how stuff like that happens because I just had a feeling that day she talked to us to walk down that street.
When we watched General Conference we watched the whole Sunday Afternoon. This past Sunday we had Stake Conference. It was held in this Theater place which I did not enjoy. It reminded me of preachers on T.V. that walk around with a microphone and get excited and yell and do whatever they do. Obviously they didn't do that but kids were running all over the place and it was just super irreverent.
Tomorrow I will be going on a split with Elder Ellis, on of the assistants, and we will be visiting a district meeting. I hope that we can share something spiritual and powerful with them because both companionships in the district are struggling with the work and I think they both are losing their desire to do their bests. There are several things that are kind of stressing me out a little bit with the zone. I want to be able to help them out and to be successful. It's hard to train, keep your area going, and work in the zone all at the same time. The Lord is blessing me though, I can't forget that. There are so many different experiences that I've had in the past 5 weeks that have really moved me and strengthened my testimony and made me want to work harder as a missionary.
We are having fun altogether. We get a good laugh in several times a day and it's great to come in at night and share with each other the ups and the downs of the day. It keeps me motivated. The other night there was a Halloween Party that the older couple missionaries did for the YSA's in the stake. There were 5 investigators there. When they left one of the guys rolled his ankle and so Elder Young (Senior missionary) drove them home. At 10:30 p.m. Sister Young called me saying that it had been a long time since he had left and that she was worried about him. So Elder Gunnell (my zone leader Companion) and I ran to those investigators house to see if we would find the car or Elder Young anywhere. As we got there there was no car or Elder Young to be found but Sister Young calling me saying that he had gotten lost and that he was back now. We ran back home and on the way back home we ran into the investigators. We just told them that we had heard that one of them got hurt and that we were just coming to check up on them. They were thankful and then we left. We were running the whole time so by the time we got home I was sweating really bad and it took me a while to cool down and fall asleep. Just a funny story I thought I would share.
Well I love you all so much and look forward to getting pictures of the family. It's great to hear that everyone is doing good. I hope that your back will hold out. That's a big deal and I hope that you don't have to do it for a while. I am so grateful for your love and support that you give me. I know that Families are something special and I always feel a warm feeling in my heart when I think about my family. You mean so much to me and I want my family to be as strong as our family is today. I miss you all a lot but before you all know it we'll be back together. The Mission is a wonderful blessing for us all and I know that I'm growing a ton from the experiences that I've had. I hope the kids can maybe find time to write me know that sports are done with.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
October 25, 2010
Dear Mom & Dad,
This past week has been a pretty good week. It's weird to hear that Andrew is home now. Is he starting to get a little more normal? That's good that Kelsey was able to play all five games and that they did well. It's weird that you don't have someone playing Varsity football. Is Korbin playing a lot. How has his season been doing? Hope he's doing well and working hard. He could be a way good athlete. I'm interested to see how Katie's athleticism has changed. Sounds like she is doing really well. Kory sounds like himself. Is he going to play basketball this year. He needs to make sure and play football with Korbin and Dad. How is Kiersten doing? That's sweet that you had two part-member/non member families over. Keep it up. Make sure that when you do have them over not to have them leave empty handed. Make sure you've got some sort of commitment given. It doesn't have to be something big but like going to the football game together is great. You've gotta keep the contact there and not let it go.
Our week was pretty good. We had a sweet story that happened to us on Saturday. We went out Saturday night and before leaving the apartment I said a prayer asking the Lord to lead us to our new investigator. When we went to the place we had previously planned I had remembered a smaller apartment building on the backside of a bigger one. We went there only to see a couple of lights on. We decided to do it. We started knocking and on the third door a student from Africa opened the door and invited us in. He went back into his room and brought out his laptop and showed us an email that he had received from his father that same day. His father had written to him to ask if he was able to find a church he could attend and to encourage him to keep praying and to stay faithful. What an amazing experience to be led by the hand of the Lord to someone who wants to follow the commandments and needs some place to feel welcome. It was an awesome experience. I've been thinking a little bit about all the cool experiences that I've had so far on my mission that they are so sweet. It's great to be able to learn and grow spiritually from all of them.
So I haven't gotten that Debit Card yet. Hopefully you haven't sent it and it got lost in the mail. We have a special zone training meeting tomorrow that is pretty much like a Zone Conference. It's great to get together as a zone and have President and the Assistants teach and train us on how to be better missionaries. It's always a good experience.
Yesterday we watched the Sunday afternoon Session of General Conference. It was great. I really loved Elder Bednar's talk. It's always an interesting experience to sit and watch everyone in church. I think its great how there are so many different types of people and how they all make up the church. We are all the Lord's Hands. Without one member it's not the same. It's just like the example of the body in the new Testament. Some people think that they aren't really a part of the church or ward but really they play a huge role. It takes the little things in order for the big things to function right. Kind of like a sheer pin on the fly wheel. (Don't know why, but that just came to my mind right then.)
I Love this work. It's crazy how fast it's all going. I look forward to being home but I wish that I could stay another year. That would really be the best. We are really busy now and we are trying to make our days even more affective and to use the littlest time to help those we can. Yesterday I started up a conversation with these two people and then it led to the Gospel and I was able to get their information and we will be meeting here soon. It's just little stuff like that that make it all worth it. We all have those experiences, all we got to do is make the best out of them.
Love you both. I thank you that you both write me every week. It's a blessing to have someone giving me encouraging words and cheering me up with funny stories and experiences. I'm thankful that I was born into a home where my two parents worked together to raise me up to be a bearer of the gospel with a strong testimony and help teach me to have a desire to build those around me.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
This past week has been a pretty good week. It's weird to hear that Andrew is home now. Is he starting to get a little more normal? That's good that Kelsey was able to play all five games and that they did well. It's weird that you don't have someone playing Varsity football. Is Korbin playing a lot. How has his season been doing? Hope he's doing well and working hard. He could be a way good athlete. I'm interested to see how Katie's athleticism has changed. Sounds like she is doing really well. Kory sounds like himself. Is he going to play basketball this year. He needs to make sure and play football with Korbin and Dad. How is Kiersten doing? That's sweet that you had two part-member/non member families over. Keep it up. Make sure that when you do have them over not to have them leave empty handed. Make sure you've got some sort of commitment given. It doesn't have to be something big but like going to the football game together is great. You've gotta keep the contact there and not let it go.
Our week was pretty good. We had a sweet story that happened to us on Saturday. We went out Saturday night and before leaving the apartment I said a prayer asking the Lord to lead us to our new investigator. When we went to the place we had previously planned I had remembered a smaller apartment building on the backside of a bigger one. We went there only to see a couple of lights on. We decided to do it. We started knocking and on the third door a student from Africa opened the door and invited us in. He went back into his room and brought out his laptop and showed us an email that he had received from his father that same day. His father had written to him to ask if he was able to find a church he could attend and to encourage him to keep praying and to stay faithful. What an amazing experience to be led by the hand of the Lord to someone who wants to follow the commandments and needs some place to feel welcome. It was an awesome experience. I've been thinking a little bit about all the cool experiences that I've had so far on my mission that they are so sweet. It's great to be able to learn and grow spiritually from all of them.
So I haven't gotten that Debit Card yet. Hopefully you haven't sent it and it got lost in the mail. We have a special zone training meeting tomorrow that is pretty much like a Zone Conference. It's great to get together as a zone and have President and the Assistants teach and train us on how to be better missionaries. It's always a good experience.
Yesterday we watched the Sunday afternoon Session of General Conference. It was great. I really loved Elder Bednar's talk. It's always an interesting experience to sit and watch everyone in church. I think its great how there are so many different types of people and how they all make up the church. We are all the Lord's Hands. Without one member it's not the same. It's just like the example of the body in the new Testament. Some people think that they aren't really a part of the church or ward but really they play a huge role. It takes the little things in order for the big things to function right. Kind of like a sheer pin on the fly wheel. (Don't know why, but that just came to my mind right then.)
I Love this work. It's crazy how fast it's all going. I look forward to being home but I wish that I could stay another year. That would really be the best. We are really busy now and we are trying to make our days even more affective and to use the littlest time to help those we can. Yesterday I started up a conversation with these two people and then it led to the Gospel and I was able to get their information and we will be meeting here soon. It's just little stuff like that that make it all worth it. We all have those experiences, all we got to do is make the best out of them.
Love you both. I thank you that you both write me every week. It's a blessing to have someone giving me encouraging words and cheering me up with funny stories and experiences. I'm thankful that I was born into a home where my two parents worked together to raise me up to be a bearer of the gospel with a strong testimony and help teach me to have a desire to build those around me.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
October 18, 2010
Dear Mom and Dad,
First off, Happy Birthday Katie and Kory. Alrighty--I know that it is bad but Kory is 11 and Katie is 13, right? That's terrible I know but I haven't thought about it since probably I was at home. I was just thinking yesterday about Andrew and whether or not he was home yet. That's great that he looks good. I would like to see a picture of him. Dad has written me 4 weeks in a row now. That's a record for my mission I think. It's great to hear from him and to hear about the farm.
I'll let you in on a little hint that will make sure that nobody goes inactive. You have to keep it a secret because none of the Germans know about it. It's called Home Teaching. It's pretty sad how they don't take it seriously but now I understand and realize how important it really is. We are trying to meet with the inactives but some of them haven't had any contact with the church for years and so it's really easy for them to say NO and then slam the door.
Armstrong's baptism went great. There was a lot of people that showed up and a bunch of YSA's. There was a YSA meeting just before and so they all stayed for the baptism but Armstrong thought they all came because of that. He really enjoyed it. I had to play the piano for the baptism because Alberto (a member that was supposed to play) got sick and couldn't come. I enjoy playing a lot but I wish that sometimes I would at least have time to know before hand so I could practice. I had to play in church yesterday as well and they just asked me the hour before hand. I was able to give Armstrong the Holy Ghost and confirm him which was a good experience.
All is well and things are pretty busy but could always be busier. I've been super tired lately and haven't been sleeping well but it's ok. It doesn't affect me too much just ready to lay down for the night. Tell all the kids that I'm waiting for an email or letter from them.
Elder Gunnell served in Düsseldorf which was in my district when I was in Solingen. I was his District Leader for a transfer. The Goldens are doing well but still don't trust themselves very much when they speak. The other day we were doing doors and it was Elder Wilde's turn to start off. He started off and asked a question. The man answered but he didn't understand and he looked at me. Instead of saving him I just looked at him and said in English, "Sorry I don't speak German". Elder Wilde turned back to the man and tried to talk with him for a little longer. It was good for him to jump into the deep end by himself and swim to the side. I don't want him to always turn to me when he doesn't understand something so I try to make him work it out. We get some good laughs out of it as well.
This week we will be doing quite a bit of finding time trying to find new investigators so keep us in your prayers and pray that the people we talk with will be open to the message of the Restoration. There is some sweet miracles happening and I love this work so much. I know that there is so much that I've learned so far and it's through the love that we help others have happiness in there lives. Thanks for doing everything that you do and for teaching correct principles as a child so that I can help these people here in Germany. I love you all very much and love hearing from you all every week.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
First off, Happy Birthday Katie and Kory. Alrighty--I know that it is bad but Kory is 11 and Katie is 13, right? That's terrible I know but I haven't thought about it since probably I was at home. I was just thinking yesterday about Andrew and whether or not he was home yet. That's great that he looks good. I would like to see a picture of him. Dad has written me 4 weeks in a row now. That's a record for my mission I think. It's great to hear from him and to hear about the farm.
I'll let you in on a little hint that will make sure that nobody goes inactive. You have to keep it a secret because none of the Germans know about it. It's called Home Teaching. It's pretty sad how they don't take it seriously but now I understand and realize how important it really is. We are trying to meet with the inactives but some of them haven't had any contact with the church for years and so it's really easy for them to say NO and then slam the door.
Armstrong's baptism went great. There was a lot of people that showed up and a bunch of YSA's. There was a YSA meeting just before and so they all stayed for the baptism but Armstrong thought they all came because of that. He really enjoyed it. I had to play the piano for the baptism because Alberto (a member that was supposed to play) got sick and couldn't come. I enjoy playing a lot but I wish that sometimes I would at least have time to know before hand so I could practice. I had to play in church yesterday as well and they just asked me the hour before hand. I was able to give Armstrong the Holy Ghost and confirm him which was a good experience.
All is well and things are pretty busy but could always be busier. I've been super tired lately and haven't been sleeping well but it's ok. It doesn't affect me too much just ready to lay down for the night. Tell all the kids that I'm waiting for an email or letter from them.
Elder Gunnell served in Düsseldorf which was in my district when I was in Solingen. I was his District Leader for a transfer. The Goldens are doing well but still don't trust themselves very much when they speak. The other day we were doing doors and it was Elder Wilde's turn to start off. He started off and asked a question. The man answered but he didn't understand and he looked at me. Instead of saving him I just looked at him and said in English, "Sorry I don't speak German". Elder Wilde turned back to the man and tried to talk with him for a little longer. It was good for him to jump into the deep end by himself and swim to the side. I don't want him to always turn to me when he doesn't understand something so I try to make him work it out. We get some good laughs out of it as well.
This week we will be doing quite a bit of finding time trying to find new investigators so keep us in your prayers and pray that the people we talk with will be open to the message of the Restoration. There is some sweet miracles happening and I love this work so much. I know that there is so much that I've learned so far and it's through the love that we help others have happiness in there lives. Thanks for doing everything that you do and for teaching correct principles as a child so that I can help these people here in Germany. I love you all very much and love hearing from you all every week.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
October 12, 2010
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
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
October 4, 2010
Dear Mom, Dad, and Family,
First of all thanks for the updates. It sounds like things are really changing alot. It is kind of disappointing that Kortneigh is getting married before I get home but it's ok because it's a good decision. I'm excited for her and Shayne. Tell her that I would like to hear from her at least one last time before she gets married and that she better have some good explanations to what's happened in the last 10 months. Tell Kaitlan that I want to hear from her as well.
I got your letter this past week. Thanks for the printed off receipt, I hope it will work. I have thought a little bit about your question of working or going to school. I can't really tell you at the moment but next week I hope to be able to tell you. I'm going to ask Jake whether or not he's serious about going to school. If he goes I will most likely go. I would also like to know about how much money they would pay and for how long the work would last for. That's everything about that subject. Don't worry it didn't really distract me at all because I still feel like I have a year to serve.
This last week was pretty interesting. We didn't have to go on any splits which was kind of nice but at the same time it's good to be able to work with the other missionaries from the zone. I found it also quite interesting that you asked about my new companion. Elder Brecheisen still has one more transfer so it could have been possible that we stay together. He is getting transferred though. I am getting Elder Gunnell as a new Zone leader companion and then to throw a twist in the whole thing we are both getting Goldens. That means that we are both training as well as being Zone Leaders! We will all be living in the same apartment which ought to be fun. I've never had a four man apartment so it will be interesting. I am going down to Frankfurt tomorrow and will come back on Wednesday. Before the end of the year we will be getting 60 new missionaries. By the time I'm in my last transfer half of our mission will be super old and the other half will be super young. I'm super excited about it all though. I will be interested to see how it all works out this next transfer. I have a lot to learn still and the conference talks helped me to know what I need to work on and how I can better improve myself.
There are many things that I enjoyed in conference but the best talk was from President Uchtdorf about Pride. Elder Gardner and his Golden, Elder Rampton, stayed the night at our place on Saturday because of conference and I was talking to Elder Gardner about how all sin is because of selfishness and selfishness is a form of Pride. Many times we don't need to even sin to be guilty of pride but pride is sin. Elder Uchtdorf is a wonderful teacher and has a great testimony. There was a baptism here in the ward in August that was kind of referred from President Uchtdorf. It was an exchange student that was in Utah and he was able to have a connection to President Uchtdorf and he had lunch with him. President Uchtdorf taught about the Restoration and gave testimony. Pretty cool experience this boy had.
This last week we were given a referral by an inactive sister. She said that she would set up an appointment Saturday for us. We went to the appointment not knowing what to expect. The man was home and let us in. His house was a disaster. He said that he has lost all hope and that he wants to change his life around. We sat down with him and taught the Restoration. He was moved by the spirit. He said that he could feel that we were sent from God. It was a great feeling. We offered to help him change his life around and he agreed to do what it takes in order to come closer to the Savior Jesus Christ. We have an appointment set up for Tuesday morning and will be helping clean up his life. It's a great feeling to help others feel the love that God has for them.
"No Regrets"
Love you,
Elder Merrill
First of all thanks for the updates. It sounds like things are really changing alot. It is kind of disappointing that Kortneigh is getting married before I get home but it's ok because it's a good decision. I'm excited for her and Shayne. Tell her that I would like to hear from her at least one last time before she gets married and that she better have some good explanations to what's happened in the last 10 months. Tell Kaitlan that I want to hear from her as well.
I got your letter this past week. Thanks for the printed off receipt, I hope it will work. I have thought a little bit about your question of working or going to school. I can't really tell you at the moment but next week I hope to be able to tell you. I'm going to ask Jake whether or not he's serious about going to school. If he goes I will most likely go. I would also like to know about how much money they would pay and for how long the work would last for. That's everything about that subject. Don't worry it didn't really distract me at all because I still feel like I have a year to serve.
This last week was pretty interesting. We didn't have to go on any splits which was kind of nice but at the same time it's good to be able to work with the other missionaries from the zone. I found it also quite interesting that you asked about my new companion. Elder Brecheisen still has one more transfer so it could have been possible that we stay together. He is getting transferred though. I am getting Elder Gunnell as a new Zone leader companion and then to throw a twist in the whole thing we are both getting Goldens. That means that we are both training as well as being Zone Leaders! We will all be living in the same apartment which ought to be fun. I've never had a four man apartment so it will be interesting. I am going down to Frankfurt tomorrow and will come back on Wednesday. Before the end of the year we will be getting 60 new missionaries. By the time I'm in my last transfer half of our mission will be super old and the other half will be super young. I'm super excited about it all though. I will be interested to see how it all works out this next transfer. I have a lot to learn still and the conference talks helped me to know what I need to work on and how I can better improve myself.
There are many things that I enjoyed in conference but the best talk was from President Uchtdorf about Pride. Elder Gardner and his Golden, Elder Rampton, stayed the night at our place on Saturday because of conference and I was talking to Elder Gardner about how all sin is because of selfishness and selfishness is a form of Pride. Many times we don't need to even sin to be guilty of pride but pride is sin. Elder Uchtdorf is a wonderful teacher and has a great testimony. There was a baptism here in the ward in August that was kind of referred from President Uchtdorf. It was an exchange student that was in Utah and he was able to have a connection to President Uchtdorf and he had lunch with him. President Uchtdorf taught about the Restoration and gave testimony. Pretty cool experience this boy had.
This last week we were given a referral by an inactive sister. She said that she would set up an appointment Saturday for us. We went to the appointment not knowing what to expect. The man was home and let us in. His house was a disaster. He said that he has lost all hope and that he wants to change his life around. We sat down with him and taught the Restoration. He was moved by the spirit. He said that he could feel that we were sent from God. It was a great feeling. We offered to help him change his life around and he agreed to do what it takes in order to come closer to the Savior Jesus Christ. We have an appointment set up for Tuesday morning and will be helping clean up his life. It's a great feeling to help others feel the love that God has for them.
"No Regrets"
Love you,
Elder Merrill
September 27, 2010
Baptism of Ayten
Pizza Hut with Elder's Quorum - 15 Pieces :)
Dear Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,
First off I want to thank Dad for writing me this week. I was thinking a lot this week about how I hoped Dad would write me. It's always great to hear from you and I really appreciate it because I can only imagine how busy you are. Mom I hope that doesn't make you feel that your letters aren't appreciated. I love getting your letters. You always have good stories to tell that make me happy and excited for you all at home. Thanks as well for the little stories. I love to hear about those little things happening and it's great to hear how everyone is changing. I hope that the weather goes well and that everything is able to work out with 4th cutting. I'm praying for you and hope that you all are safe, healthy, and happy. I look forward to your letter mom. I haven't got it yet but I sure hope that it will come tomorrow. There is something about receiving things from loved ones that just makes me happy. It's wonderful to hear from everyone.
I'm super excited for General Conference this week. It should be interesting for me. It's going to be the last time on the mission that I'll be able to watch it so I'll make sure to take super good notes. I love listening to the prophet and hope that our investigators that will come can also feel of the spirit when he speaks. I was looking back at past Liahona's and noticed that the church should have reached 14 million members this month, if the pattern continued. It's great to see how the church is moving along being taught in every land and in every tongue. I am so thankful that I've been able to serve here in Germany and help them hear about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's an amazing opportunity to be serving at this time. There are many many things that I have learned and things I have also developed that I don't think I would have been able to If I had not been able to serve a mission.
This past week we were able to go on one split with some Elders but I don't know how effective it was. The Elder that I went with was pretty closed off and didn't want to change very much. It's kind of frustrating when you want to help others but they don't want to be helped at all. This week we don't have any splits planned so it should be a lot easier to just work in our own area. One of my companions was sent home this last week because of stuff before the mission that wasn't cleared up. I felt really bad for him and I hope that he is able to make the steps necessary to make things right. I found it interesting that this wasn't told until the transfer before he went home. I am super glad that we are all able to repent and to remove those sins that will keep us from our father's presence. Another thing I've also noticed is that Obedience isn't Obedience unless it's 100%. In my interview with President Ninow this past week we talked about this a bit. I asked him how I can better help the missionaries around me want to be obedient and have this desire. We talked about the desire should first come from a love of God. Then from a fear of God, fear meaning a respect or knowing that God is a fair and just God and then we talked about how each one of us must report to God our missions and that we are accountable for everything that we do. I am grateful that I have made correct decisions on my mission being obedient and following the council of my leaders. It's because I've done this that I've been able to have success but not only success but a love and joy as I am in the work.
I know that this is the one and only Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I know that it's through His Atonement that we can better ourselves and repent of the mistakes that we make. I know that through the grace and mercy of our Lord that we can be forgiven. I know that through the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, the Lord speaks to his saints. I know that through our Faith great miracles can come to pass.
"No Regrets"
Love
Elder Merrill
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