Welcome Home Elder Merrill!

Welcome Home!

Thursday, June 2nd

SLC International Airport

Elder Merrill and Elder Rushton

Before we knew it...

Well, here goes nothin. Last week was incredible. We were able to baptize Raiza (and marry her), Jean Carlos, Pedro and Bryan. A great way to go out. The Zone did great, the mission hit our monthly goal. It was a lot of fun.

Pedro and Raiza

Jean Carlos

I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to represent the Lord's church here in Nicaragua for the past two years. There have been so many experiences that have helped me but hopefully at the same time have helped others. I am grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel and all the blessings that have been included with it. And I am of course grateful for my Savior and what he did for me. Representing Him for two years was not easy, but it was definitely worth it. I could go on for days writing about my experiences and testimony but it can wait for now :)

Happy Birthday yesterday Mom and on Wednesday Annie! Grateful for these two who have supported me in this journey. 

I have grown to love this country and love these people. It is so bittersweet to have to say goodbye to them, but I know that they will keep moving forward and that some day there will be a temple here. Nicaragua is now part of me and I love it with all of my heart.

I love you all so much! Have a great week, and we will see you on Thursday!

For the last time,

Elder Merrill

Hasta la ultima gota.

This last week was a fun one! Sorry about Moroni, I hope he is doing better!

So the first couple days of this week were spent trying to prepare Reinaldo, our dope investigator for his baptism! On Tuesday he passed his baptism interview and everything seemed ok but we were still a little unsure, so this guy needed a lot of prayers! Oh yeah, Elder Hall and I had a cool experience a couple weeks ago! It was Saturday the 14th at about 7:30 and we were walking down the street and some guy started calling out for us. We thought he was drunk so we tried to ignore him at first but as he insisted we decided to give it a shot and listen to him. He told us that he is a member, and that him and his son had just moved from Masaya! His son had been receiving the lessons from some Elders there, and his Dad told us that he wanted us to teach him and baptize him! He didn't go to church on the 15th, but we prepared him all week for yesterday and put him on date for the 28th of May, this Saturday. He went to church yesterday in a white shirt and tie, which is not normal. He is ready for this Saturday, the kid is super cool! His name is Pedro and he is 13. What a miracle!

Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council for the last time. It was a cool experience seeing all the mission friends again and talking about the mission. Our Zone continues to do well, so that is good. Wasn't anything special but it was a good time, got some good pictures too! hahaha

 

Last consejo-Love these guys!

Thursday afternoon I got a random phone call saying that my final interview with President Russell was on Friday at 5pm, which was kind of a surprise! I thought it was going to be a little later on. So Friday we had Zone Conference, and Elder Hanson and I talked a little about Patience and how to better Commit and Verify. It was fun. Then came my final interview with President. That was kinda weird. It was a lot of fun! We talked for about an hour and 45 minutes about life and work plans and school and marriage and all that good stuff. I am real grateful for that guy, he has helped me a lot. He gave some great advice! Which is pretty important advice coming from a multi-gazillionaire hahaha. What most stuck with me was the fact that if we keep a good relationship with our Father in Heaven, he will always bless and help us. Of that I am sure.

Saturday we worked hard committing people to church and getting Reinaldo ready for Sunday morning!

Reinaldo

Sunday was Reinaldo's baptism, he was super pumped! It was a good experience. His brother Rigoberto came and he is gonna get baptized this Saturday! All in all we are looking to baptize Rigoberto, Lesner, Jean Carlos, Edwin, Bryan and Pedro this week. It would be an awesome way to go out but we need the Lord's help, so please help us with some prayers! Elder Hanson and I then spent basically all of Sunday doing baptism interviews. We are hoping to have a big week this week to end the month. We then saw one of my really good friends from the mission, Elder Martinez! He was an AP for about a year and was back visiting. He is really funny, love that guy! Hopefully I can get a picture with him on Sunday cause he will be at Altagracia this Sunday.

That is about it. I hope you all have a great week! Happy birthday to Annie, can't believe you are already 15 and about to go into High School! And Happy Birthday on Sunday to my amazing mother. She has supported me throughout this entire journey, and I am super grateful for that! Love you Mom! Your birthday gift?? I will see you in 10 days :)

Love you all!

Elder Merrill

Happy Birthday!

This last week was awesome! Here is a little rundown and a couple of the things that I learned.

On Tuesday Elder Hanson and I went to work with a pair of Sisters, Sister Hawkins and Sister Ramos. Our goal was to get to know their progressing investigators and help find some new people. To be honest, we didn't have a lot of success. A lot of the citas fell and we didn't find anyone strikingly cool. Yet somehow they took 9 investigators to church on Sunday! I think it is interesting the many ways that the Lord blesses us. Sure we taught the Sisters some good things and helped them know what they had to improve on, but more than anything I believe that the Lord blessed both us and them just because we made the attempt to help them. Isn't that cool? We screw things up in so many ways but just with an attempt to try and bless someone's life, the Lord helps us how. How grateful I am for that, hahahah. So that was cool to see how they had a good day yesterday and have a good amount of progressing!

Wednesday Elder Hanson and I went all around the world trying to help a potential baptism from another area get her Birth Certificate out so she could get married.... but to no avail. We went basically up to Jinotepe! We went to a place called the Crucero, the highest elevated point in Nicaragua. It felt sooooo good. Then we got Subway because we were close. I love Subway. That place is so good. Just the 3rd time in my mission! We didn't get back into our area until about 5 and the rest of the day was normal.

On Friday we had a good District Meeting and then Elder Hanson and I again left the area to visit a lot of the possibilities for the month. There is a lot of pressure right now in the mission to get our goals, so we are working hard to lock down these people! And I love meeting so many new people who are trying to follow Christ for so many different reasons! For the most part it was a success. Elder Hall and Elder Martell had a good day in our area.

Saturday we baptized Carlos! We reactived his family and he was 9 so it was an easy baptism, but it was cool to see his parents go back to church. His dad even showed up on Sunday with a suit!

Baptism of Carlos!

We spent a lot of time out of the area this week, but the Lord blessed us for our efforts. Elder Hall and I took 11 investigators to church and Elder Hanson and Elder Martell took 8. 19 in total in the area! It was awesome. We are looking to baptize Reinaldo this week. He is about 60 with lots of desires to follow Christ! Pray for him. We also have Lesner, Jean Carlos, Edwin, Bryan and possibly Pedro progressing for the 28th, but they need the Lord's help. Please pray for them!

Oh and Sunday was my birthday! Turning 20 was kinda weird. It was a fun day. My companions and some Sister missionaries from here did a surprise cake after church. It was great. Then of course they did the Nica tradition throwing eggs on me! That wasn't too fun. Even though I hated it I am grateful for my loving companions and the blessing they have been to me. 

Happy Birthday Elder Merrill

A Nicaraguan Tradition!

After that Elder Hanson and I went to do some baptism interviews then went and ate dinner at some of my favorite member's house! It is Yadira, Hazel and Hermano Miguel. They are really cool and I love them. That was about it!

Awesome Family

Hermano Miguel

One other quick thing, something I was reminded of and learned yesterday. We have a huge goal for the month, and it is something that I really want to get before I go home. Which obviously makes me really nervous. I have been trying to find a adequate way to receive this very much needed help from the Lord. Because if there is something I have learned from my mission it's that I can't do this by myself. So last night as I was talking with one of our DLs, he mentioned that he and his companion were going to be fasting for a certain investigator that needed help. I have gained a HUGE testimony of fasting in my mission, but to be honest that was something that hadn't occurred to me recently as something that we could do. But it hit me, that is one of the best ways to show the Lord that we need his help! Funny how the Spirit works sometimes right? This time it was through a District Leader reminding me of something that could help. I am grateful for the promptings and hope that we can all try to follow those little whisperings!

Love you all. This week is my last Leadership Council. Should be fun!

Elder Merrill

Sammy the dog, Elder Sam Hall & Elder Sam Merrill!

Mother's Day Skype

Sorry don't have a lot to write because we talked about it yesterday! Happy Mother's Day Mom! You are incredible and I hope to continually show my gratitude for you through my actions! It was a great week and I hope that this week is great as well! We worked hard, had good interviews with President Russell, and had a good day in church! 

Today I was walking into the Mission Office and I saw three talllllll white people. It was Isaac Parkinson, his sister and his Dad. As old Elder Parkinson saw my name, he said, "here I have a package for you." Hahaha it was the package from Mom and the letter from Lindsey. Thanks so much! The brownies were great :) his Dad immediately said, "you are Reed's grandson right?" And then asked about Dad and Wendy! They are from Logan and said they know you guys well. We took a pic and he said he was going to send it to Ross, so hopefully you guys can get it and send it to me! That is about it for the week.

Isaac Parkinson

Paul Parkinson

Keep working hard, studying the Scriptures, and let's has some fun! Love you all!

Elder Merrill

why is this sideways?

Mother's Day 2016

Great week!

We are flying into May! April went by super fast. We are hoping to have a great month of May here in the Zone and in the mission! Some quick highlights....

We will just go straight to Thursday because Monday-Wednesday were normal work days without anything special that had happened. Well I guess Elder Hanson and I had the opportunity to go work for 2 hours with a companionship that had been struggling to find new investigators. So we went and contacted for 2 hours straight, and we were able to find a couple positive people! I got to work with Elder Roundy, which was fun.

So Thursday we had Mission Training Council. Wow it was fun! Getting to see all the friends and talk about how the mission is doing was fun. President Russell talked about how grateful he is for our service and how much he loves us, and then pumped us up to have a great month of May! He is winding down and this is his last full month in the mission, so we want to send him out with something special. Sister Russell talked about 8 ways to become a better missionary, and the APs talked about how to better commit both contacts and investigators. It was fun. President did say that we are going to have another Consejo before the Changes so it wasn't my last one! Then Elder Hanson and I went to prepare Zone Conference.

Zone Conference was fun. We basically just transmitted the things that we were told in Consejo then tried to animate our missionaries so that May can be even better than April. Mission Work is like a train that keeps running, and it will not stop running. At some point we get on and at one point we get off. But the train will keep running. What we determine is at what velocity and power the train will go. I think that is something important that we can all think of in our lives. That comes from President Eyring by the way.

We baptized Marling on Saturday! She has a really strong testimony so it was really fun to see her get baptized even with all the problems she has had in her family. She is gonna be a dope convert! 

 

Marling

One of my favorite scriptures from the mission and it will be especially important this month is D&C 123:12-17. It is better in Spanish actually but I think it can be applied in all aspects of life. But especially here and now. Love you all! Talk to you on Sunday!

Elder Merrill

D&C 123:12-17

 12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—

 13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—

 14 These should then be attended to with great earnestness.

 15 Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things.

 16 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves.

 17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

New comp...

So I forgot to tell you last week was changes! But Elder Heileson had changes... which meant I was getting a new ZL comp. The one to kill me! We got to Change Meeting at about 7:30 and we were all speculating about who the new ZL comps would be. Elder Hanson had changes so there was a slight possibility that he either would come here with me or go to Sandino with Cope. We are the bestest of friends so we were both hoping that he would come to our Zone! Then literally the best case scenario happened... Heileson went to Sandino with Copeland and Elder Hanson IS MY COMPANION AGAIN! We went crazy in the Zone Meeting hahahahah. For those that don't remember, Hanson and I were companions in Juigalpa, and we wanted to be together one more time! So Hanson, Copeland, Heileson and I are all best friends and Hanson is killing me and Heileson is killing Copeland. We are pumped!

We immediately got to work! Not a lot really happened this week, but it was fun because we worked really hard! Elder Hall and I get along really well. We have the same name and our Dads both have the same name. Cool right? He is an incredible singer! Like super good. It is fun to listen to him! Actually we did have a cool experience. So Elder Hall's grandma was planning on getting baptized this last Saturday. The AP's told me that President Russell was going to let him Skype with his family for the service but that it was going to be a surprise for him. So on Saturday we worked like normal until I got the "call" from one of the APs telling me that we had interviews at the Mission Office at 6. I told him and freaking out, acting like I had no idea what was going on. He was super scared. We rushed up to the Office and the APs were there. They had him log into his Skype and there was his family. It was cool. He was super happy! The only problem was that Elder Hall's dad mixed up the time, so we didn't actually get to see the service. He just got to talk to his family.

We had two more baptisms on Saturday! Their names were Fransisco and Manuel. Didn't teach them a whole lot but they are cool! It was fun. We finished with 37 in the Zone for the month. These are some great missionaries! Also all of our converts are progressing well. We are happy for that!

 

Fransisco and Manuel

That is about it for the week. We should have Mission Council this week, which would be my last one. That is weird. 

Love you all so much. Love you Grandma Merrill! (6 years passed away)

 

Elder Merrill

Go Aggies!