January 13, 2014

Hello Family!

This week was a little bit unusal but it was still good. I don't have much time today because I spent some time emailing others... I know that is bad because family comes first! I try to be better about that! :) 

The main parts of this week were that first I went out of my mission twice..... don't worry! I was given permisison. :) The first was that this part member family wanted to take us to Walmart in ValDosta which is not very far from Madison but it's not in the mission. The President said that that was fine. It was really good because we had the opportunity to really bond with this couple and we were able to talk a lot about the gospel and get in some neat teaching opportunities. We are hoping that they will be more willing to come to church and for the husband to want to get baptized. The desire is what is keeping him from baptism. He just doesn't completely want it yet. It is always sad! The husband is a nonmember and the wife is a less-active.

 The second thing that we went out of the mission for was to go to our branch president's mom's funeral. He wanted us to sing "O My Father" at it. We were able to go and we were able to ride with Debbie and Darryl (the couple that took us to ValDosta). The service was really neat and the spirit was very strong there. Aren't we lucky to know about God's plan for us?! That our lives don't just end here on earth. That is something that I am so grateful for! Our Heavenly Father has an amazing plan for us. We will get to be with our family for eternity! It'll be such a happy and fun reunion! My testimony was really strengthened that day at the funeral. On the way home it was a great opportunity for Sister Bunderson and I to talk about the plan of salvation with Debbie and Darryl and to talk about eternal marriage. Debbie had said to us that the funeral service made her really think about her life and how things might play out in the next little while. She is thinking more about making church a bigger priority in her life. How great would that be for her and her husband! 

I had a lot that I was going to say this week but I just don't have time. Stay tuned for my next week's letter and I will have a lot more to say about this past week and the upcoming week. I learned a lot this past week and had some neat teaching experiences that I'll share.

Sorry that I am out of time! I sure love you all!! Thanks for the support, love, and prayers! Can you believe that next week is transfers?! It is crazy... We'll see what hapens!

I love you guys!

Love,

Sister Merrill

January 6, 2014

Hello family!

First off, I was going to send some pictures this week but... my cord got left in apartment, whoops! I promise that next week there will be some. How are all of you? Did ya'll make your new year's resolutions? :) I hope so! I sure made mine. I'm excited for Nicholas and Alex! Marriage is an exciting thing! 

Alright first I'll tell you the funny experiences that happened this week. (Even if to you they aren't funny :D) I went to go get in the shower one morning after Sister Bunderson had already been in there and I went to turn on the light and it wouldn't work... The power in the bathroom had gone out. So, I had to shower in the dark! Well, it wasn't completely dark because I got a lamp we had and plugged it in the room next to the bathroom and luckily the chord was long enough to reach into the bathroom. We have been using that lamp for the past few days so hopefully we will be able to get a hold of the manager who has the key to unlock where we can turn back on the power. So for the second story... we went to bed one night and the next morning we got up as usual and starting our routine. As time passed, it got colder and colder in our house! We went to check what the heater was at and we had it set at about 78 but it was 65 in our house! We were freezing. We turned off the heater and decided to see if by night it would work again. We left for the day and were out working. When we got home, much to our dismay, the heater was still broken! SO, we decided to turn the oven to 500. We got our mattresses and took them into the kitchen and put them by the oven and we slept all night in the kitchen, with the oven on. It was a fun memory! It was a rough night cause it was a little cold and ovens make a lot of noise! But luckily by the middle of the next day.... our heater started working again!!! Woohoo!! I was so happy! Ya'll know that I am a whimp when it comes to being cold! haha. To make things worse.. it has been cold here in Florida and so that was why it was so cold in our apartment. I am grateful that I at least had a roof over my head and a oven to keep me warm through the night! haha and that the heater started working again! :)

Some of my goals for this upcoming year are to be diligent in what I do, to be more obedient (even to the small things), and to have more effective personal study. I want to have a greater knowledge then I already have about the gospel. With diligence I want to be able to look back at the areas that I serve in and the people that I teach and I want to be able to say to myself that I tried my best. I know that we can't be perfect and that there is always room for improvement but I want to be able to say that I worked my hardest and didn't totally slack off. With obedience I have learned that there are blessings that the Lord has in store for us that he'll give to us when we are obedient. We have to show the Lord, by our obedience, that we want to be better children of him. Then there is my scripture study. I have noticed on my mission that when I actually put all my effort and thought into studying from the word of God and being focused on what I'm reading that I gain a stronger testimony of certain principles of the gospel, I learn more that I didn't know before. I have loved getting closer to God by studying the scriptures! I want to be even more efficient in my studies and show God that I want to learn and gain more knowledge so that I can help his children come unto Christ. I'm looking forward to a new start and trying to better myself! I hope that all of you set some goals and work towards them. When we are trying to improve ourselves, Heavenly Father will bless us because we are trying to align our will with his.

Well, this week was pretty slow because of the holidays and New Year's but we still were able to see some people and get in a lesson or two. One thing that I gained a stronger testimony of this week and that we taught to a couple of people was the secret to happiness. If you are not happy with where you are in life, whether it be with who your friends are, your school work, the way you treat others, or how things are playing out in your lives you can look at two things. That is your scripture reading and your prayers. How are you doing in those things? If you could be more prayerful or be reading and studying more often than we can see that that is why we aren't happy. I have noticed that since I have come on my mission that those two things have increased. I have been better than I ever was at those two things and I can say that I am happier than I have ever been. Of course I still could use A LOT of improvement and I am not even close to perfect but because I am praying more often and I am studying out the scriptures everyday, I am happier! I enjoy life more and I have a better spirit about me because of it. I hope that all of you will try to work on those two things, even though I'm sure you are all doing great at those two things, but look at the difference in your happiness. Like I said earlier, we taught a few people this this past week because we wanted them to see for themselves the importance of reading and praying in their lives. We wanted them to know that we could meet with them all day and they still wouldn't be happy. They need to act on what they have been taught and show the Lord that they want that happiness in their lives and that they want to change. Although it was a slow week, I was glad for the lessons that I learned and for the people that we were able to teach. 

Well my time is up but I just wanted to share with you all what I have been teaching people and what I have been learning. There was other things this week that I wish I could talk more about but I'm out of time. One of those is Charity. I have been studying that this week and it has been really neat. I suggest to study it if you can. Let me know what you learn :) I'd love to hear! I hope all is well with my family! I love you all so much!! Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Ya'll are the best!

Love,

Sister Merrill