Flood the Font

Hello! 

We have had many faith building experiences this week. So our zone has set a pretty high goal for baptismal invites this transfer. 1000 baptismal invites for the transfer as a zone with the initiative #FloodTheFont. We have done the math and it shows that every companionship needs to have at least 11 baptismal invites per week. It doesn't seem too bad, since inviting others to be baptized helps us to fulfill our purpose as missionaries, but at the same time, I know it will stretch us and it will be challenging. As I was reading and studying preach my gospel this week, some passages stood out to me on page 146. "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith."  

As we set this goal, the desire of our hearts is help baptize converts. But of course, we can't do it alone. I have been trying my best to strengthen my faith this week and to put my total and complete trust in Him. Knowing that if I do, I will be an effective instrument in His hands to help people receive the restored gospel in their lives. On page 61 of PMG it states that if we have faith in Jesus Christ, we know he will fulfill his promises. He promises us that if we work hard and have faith, we can perform miracles. We needed a miracle!! 

We woke up Sunday morning with this list of things to accomplish: 

Get an investigator to church 

Find 3 new investigators

1 LIMP

4 baptismal invites

Prepare and Teach the relief society lesson (we found out about that morning)

Bake cookies

Contact 2 referrals (with cookies)

Attend Ward Council and correlation

All without eating! We had a zone fast to give us the faith and strength to accomplish our goal. 

That morning all of our set lessons with the potential investigators who were to become new investigators cancelled and we just had a bunch of finding to do. But we knew the Lords promise was true, and He was going to help us accomplish our goals. We worked SUPER hard all day long and prayed more than we ever had. Here are the results:

Our 9 year old investigator came to church by himself

The relief society lesson went GREAT! We had a wonderful discussion going. 

We decided to stop in on some former investigators whose whole family was home. They invited us right in. We had a great lesson with them and by the end, one of our potentials (who had cancelled that day) showed up and asked to be taught a lesson. Invited 2 of them to be baptized. They said yes! 

Baked and delivered the cookies to the referral our bishop gave us. They invited us right in and we had a great lesson with them. 

On our way home (8:45pm) we decided to stop by another one of the potentials home who had called and cancelled that morning. She and her family had invited us in we had a powerful lesson on the restoration with them. Resulting in two baptismal invites and two yeses! 

We were able to accomplish everything we needed to do that day! Heavenly Father is so good to us! And we know that his promises are true! We are able to perform miracles!! "There is a power to make things happen that need to happen. Faith is power!" 

Other than that our week has been full of interesting things. 

For example. We met a 64 year old black man named Melvin about 9 weeks ago. We have been teaching him off and on every couple of weeks or so, but he doesn't seem to want to keep commitments so we had dropped him. Saturday night we decide to call him with the intent to invite him to church. As the conversation went on, he asked if I would like to meet him for lunch at Olive Garden that week. Who says no to Olive Garden?! So of course i say yes! He then proceeds to say.. "oh that will be great. Me and you and a nice dinner at Olive Garden." Realizing that he wasn't asking me AND my companion out to lunch, but just ME i said., "Oh! Melvin, my companion has to come too!" Resulting in "Well she has to pay for herself!" As me and my companion are trying not to laugh uncontrollably he then has the nerve to ask if I am infatuated with him. But because I'm not the brightest crayon in the box I think he is asking if I'm intoxicated. To which I reply.. "NO!" ...a little insensitive. but still. Overall, it was just an awkward conversation and we will NOT be going to Olive Garden with Melvin.  #NowWeBothHaveToPayForOurselves

But I hope everyone's week is going well with lots of fun memories of your own! I look forward to hearing from you soon! 

Love, Sister Merritt 

Some of my favorite Sisters ❤️

Blessings from above

Hey yall!

Can I just tell you that I am beyond amazed at the love of our Heavenly Father? He loves us so much and because he loves us, He is constantly pouring blessings upon us. Blessings that, I'm sure, we don't necessarily deserve.

We have seen so many blessings and tender mercies this week. We worked hard, biking a lot (and sweating a lot), knocking on doors and talking with everyone we saw. But for some reason, we were not finding anyone to teach.

Saturday evening we realized he hadn't had a single new investigator that week. We were talking with everyone and finding a bunch of potentials but no new. We were a little worried but during our dinner hour we said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to guide us to those who were waiting for us and starting going through our potential investigator list. A few names stuck out to us of people we hadn’t talked to since the first week we had gotten to the area. We called them and both said they would love to learn more about us and asked if we could meet Sunday night!! We had great lessons with both of them, making sure we started with HTBT and invited both to be baptized, resulting in two "YESSES!"

During Sacrament Meeting, Sunday, my companion and I were a little bit disappointed because  none of our investigators who had said they would come had shown up. At the end of the meeting, however, a member walks up to us introducing us to his friends who have been coming off and on for awhile now and wants to learn more about our church. We are looking forward to meeting with them this week!  Then, as we were walking out a former investigator, who was the LAST person we expected to be at church, walks by with her member friend. Realizing that Heavenly Father has yet again blessed us with someone at church we snuck in a quick grateful prayer before heading off to our next class.

Sunday was full of grateful prayers. Heavenly Father blesses us so much. Most of the time I feel so undeserving of the blessings and miracles that He so readily pours out upon us. But I'm grateful for the opportunity to witness them firsthand and be so close to our Heavenly Father as we work to help those around us receive the restored gospel.

I feel like Ammon in the Book of Mormon when he talks about everything he has been able to accomplish with the Lords help and he says:

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore, I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles have we wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

Overall, this week has been one of my favorite weeks of my mission. Not because we accomplished a lot or anything like that, but because this week I have truly been able to see Heavenly Father lead us in His work. The lessons that we had were so spirit-led and we have been able to find the greatest people to teach because of Him.

I hope y'all are able to see the hand of God in your life this week as well! I love y'all!

Love, Sister Merritt

Pictures from last week I didn't send... Oops (:

God is Good

Hello hello! 🍑

This week I have learned how much our Heavenly Father just needs us to put forth a little effort and he will pour down is blessings so abundantly upon us.

We have really been needing to do more community service. So we scheduled in our plans one morning to go service hunting. We went everywhere, the library, City Hall, the Courthouse, and the fire station, asking everyone if they knew of community service opportunities. There was a lot going on, but it was all out of our area.. Of course. As soon as we thought we were done, we get a phone call from one of our members asking us to help with this huge project. We were able to find our service! It was just funny to us, because nothing actually came from our efforts, but Heavenly Father saw we were trying the best we could and was able to place this project in

our hands.

Also, we have been praying to be able to find new people to teach. We have put in a lot of time for finding this past week and didn't see very many results from our efforts. But once again, Heavenly Father keeps His promises and He was able to give us two solid referrals that we are beginning to teach. God is good.

My testimony has grown on HTBT (how to begin teaching) this week, specifically the very last point. "How to begin Teaching" is a guide for missionaries to begin their lessons so the investigator/less-active knows our purpose for being there and what we are expecting from them. The last point says:

 •      As you accept our message, you will learn how to make covenants, or promises, with God. You will learn how to make changes to bring your lives in closer harmony with His teachings. You will want to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and be baptized by proper authority

We had a potential investigator named Bill who we had gotten into contact with and set up an appointment. We met him at a park and started HTBT ending with the last point stating that eventually he will WANT to be baptized. The lesson went really well and he had some really good questions! At the end we committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true, and completely forgot to invite him to be baptized! But he was the one who reminded us, as he asked "do you have baptism classes that I need to take? I'm thinking I want to be baptized in your church." It was so amazing to see that the promise in that last bullet point was true. He WANTED to be baptized, if we wouldn't have brought it up in HTBT he probably wouldn't have ever asked about it. I'm so grateful for the tools that our Heavenly Father has given us to truly succeed in His work.

That's all for me this week! I love y'all!

Love, Sister Merritt

#TheSouth

CHURCH

Hello 🍑 

How are yall? I can't believe how fast time has flown by. I have 9 weeks left 😳  NINE.  I haven't been counting down, but my lovely companion likes to remind me. 

Speaking of companion. I have a new one! Yep. There has been an ET in the mission and I am now companions with Sister Kinser. She is the cutest little thing and a hard worker. I'm lucky to be with her! Can y'all believe I have had 5 companions the last two transfers? Hopefully I don't get any more. I'll stick with Sister Kinser. I do miss my Sister Gifford though. Goodness, why do I have to love my companions so much! It makes it hard when they leave me.

So, the summer here in Georgia has been incredibly hot and humid. They're saying that it has been a record of 60 consecutive days that it has been over 90 degrees. But I think it's starting to cool down! We just have to stick it out till September (: 

We have been doing service for a lady named Miss Jane. She's the cutest old lady and we love her a lot. In fact, we love her so much that we want her to be a member of the church! BUT, she loves her church so much! It's one of those mega churches, called 12 Stone. Everyone goes to this church. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone! So we decided we would go with her to see what it's like. We actually loved it a lot! But it was a lot different. 

Differences: 

- They had a rock band. We have an organ. 

- Everyone came in street clothes. We wear our church clothes.

- They gave away doughnuts. We take the sacrament.

- The children are in a separate class the whole service. We like the children with us.

- They accept Christ publicly to be saved. We know we are already saved.

- They have lots of truth. We have the whole truth.

Those are just a couple I thought of. Haha we had lots of fun though. And because we went with her this week, she is coming with us next Sunday! #hallelujah. 

Being in the Bible Belt I have been able to attend lots of different churches! It's really interesting, and really fun to learn what other people believe. But there is something that I have noticed is missing from them all. The Spirit isn't as strong as it should be at church. I love coming to church each Sunday and feeling recharged. Feeling as though I have received direction and inspiration for the next thing I need to do in my life, or that week, or even that day. And of course, partaking of the sacrament each Sunday. It's so important to do this, to renew our covenants, and remember our Savior and His Atonement. How grateful I am to be in His true church and to help other people find their way home too. 

Love y'all! 

Love, Sister Merritt 

Sisters P-Day

The Mormon-Do

Hey y'all!

Monday? Already? I swear I was just typing this email. Time just seems to be going faster and faster and sometimes I just wish I would stop and we could all breathe for a second. But I know time flies when you're on the Lords errand.

We have had such a successful week. A little stressful, not going to lie. But also a lot of fun. We had two zone trainings this week all on finding! Something the zone has been struggling with. Like I said last week, our mission president wants us to be more creative in our finding so we brainstormed some ideas as a zone, tried to build each other's faith, went to work and then came back the next day to share success stories. It was so fun, and goodness, some people are creative! We tried a lot of things!! But the lemonade stand is still the most successful 🍋

Mike, Nadia, and Ben are doing so well!! We are just so proud of them. Mike had some shaggy hair the first time we met him and this week as we went over to shave a lesson he had cut it!! He called it the "Mormon do!" Lol. They all came to church again this week and the ward members were all inviting them to dinners (:

The other week we met Steve, a neighbor of Mike, Nadia and Ben. We started talking to him about who we are and what we teach. He was really curious, but didn't really have a solid belief in God or Jesus Christ. He was so nice though and always told us to come back because he was busy whenever we would go over. Well, he finally let us set up a solid return appointment for Saturday night. We went over, and his wife, who we had never met, opened the door. She saw our name tags and hurriedly invited us into her home, gave us big hugs, pulled up a couple of chairs and sat down to listen to us. She told us that Steve has been talking a lot about us and she has been talking to Mike, Nadia and Ben about us as well. She even went to Mormon.org and watched the videos AND started reading the Book of Mormon. She wants to get her family into church and she knows that her and her husband need to be the examples. We taught a brief lesson and invited her to come to church which both Steve and Vicki said "Of course!" Sunday morning, they all show up to church and absolutely love it! They were only able to stay for sacrament meeting but told us they wanted so badly to see how the other meetings were like. I know it is so important to talk to everyone we see. Just open your mouth and God will place what needs to be said in them. If we wouldn't have done that, we would never had met Steve and his wonderful family! We are so excited to start teaching this family and watch them progress in the gospel!

I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love he has for each of us. I'm grateful to be teaching Gods children here in Georgia. And I absolutely know, without a doubt, that because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we can all be better. We can all change and have a better life. And that's what the gospel is all about. Becoming better. I've seen it in those Ive taught and I've seen it in myself. Nothing is better (:

Stay good. Love y'all!

Love, Sister Merritt

Oh! We moved again. We switched apartments with the elders because our old apartment was a lot closer to civilization than they were, and they're on bikes. So we thought we would be nice to them.

New address is:

1809 Franklin Circle

Dacula, GA 30019

FINDING!

Hey y'all,

What another incredible week! Summer is over for the kids here. School started TODAY. It's so crazy how fast the summer flew by. Before we know it, it'll be time for school to be out.

We have been trying to think of more creative ways to contact people, because tracting is not the ideal thing to do. We have been counseled to "go where the people are." Do you know where they are? We do! They're all playing Pokemon Go! This game has actually been a bit of a tender mercy for us because we are able to go to the parks where EVERYONE is "catching Pokemon" and do free lemonade stands. We have been able to contact so many people this way! Also, because school started, Walmart was a madhouse. But a wonderful place for us to contact 😅👌🏼 we are trying to think of other creative ways to contact so if you know any, please let me know!

This week we were able to find, teach, commit to a baptism date, and get to church three amazing investigators. Last Sunday as we were tracting we saw three people, Mike, Nadia, and Ben, outside walking down the street. Although we had just come from that direction we felt like we needed to go talk to them. Nadia and Ben didn't know much about the church but Mike expressed how he hates Mormons and everything they believe. When we asked why he couldn't give us a straight answer so he said he would listen to what we had to say. None of them have a strong relationship with God and feel like God isn’t there at all because of their rough past. We did HTBT right then and there, promising them that the message we share will help to improve the quality of their lives and we began teaching them about Gods love for each of them. They agreed to meet with us the next day.

The next day, we meet all three of them again and to be honest it started off really rough. We taught the plan of salvation but they were all so distracted the whole time, asking really off-the-wall questions, and just swearing all the time. But we were patient with them. Toward the end of the lesson, they calmed down and began to focus asking us how in the world we stayed so patient and kind with them. We were surprised to find out that they understood and retained everything we had talked with them about during the lesson and they wanted to meet again the next day! We said a prayer at the end and they thanked us for coming.

The next day as we go over to their house and...they cancel on us. So we followed our mission presidents counsel to stay in the area and contact people who are there. We meet their neighbor Steve, who is so kind and wants to learn more about God. We have a good discussion with him and set up a time the next day to visit him. We visit him at our appointed time and try to have a lesson with him, but he was taking care of 5 crazy kids, apologized and asked to reschedule. As we walk outside, there is Mike, Nadia and Ben! They sit down on the curb and

ask to learn more about how our church started. We didn't really have anywhere to sit other than the road, so that's what we did. The spirit was so strong as we taught and testified of the restoration and the Book of Mormon. They were focused the whole time, which is a miracle in and of itself! Halfway through the lesson, Steve steps outside,sees that we are sitting on the ground and grabs us two chairs and has his kids bring us some water (tender mercy), there are people looking gout for us everywhere. We invite Mike, Nadia, and Ben to be baptized and they all say YES! At the end of the lesson Nadia was the one asking if we could end with a prayer and Mike was the one who wanted to say it. It was the most beautiful prayer we had ever heard as he asked if God is there, and if He was, if he could guide them to truth and light. The spirit was undeniable.

Sunday, they all show up to church and absolutely love it. Especially the members, making them feel so welcome, inviting them into their homes for dinner and lessons. The gospel has completely changed them in just the short week we have known them. We can't wait to see their lives continue to change!!

There are people being prepared everywhere we go! We just have to open our mouths (: I hope y'all have a great week!

Love, Sister Merritt

#DaculaSquad

Hey y'all!

August 1st

Wow, what a week it has been. I feel like it has just flown by! I was so so so sad to leave my Monroe Ward. It has truly been heaven. I haven't been out of the Athens stake since the beginning of my mission and I was a little scared to leave that too. But here I am in the Lilburn stake in the Dacula 1st ward and I'm as happy as ever. It’s just as wonderful over here!

I have a new companion! Sister Gifford is amazing! She has such a wonderful understanding of the gospel and her first day she was teaching and starting door approaches. She has really been able to help a lot of people here already. I know she was sent to this area for a reason. The ward needs her! I'm so grateful to be with her and to have the opportunity to learn from her.

So it was a little sad to me to go from having a full and thriving area book, full of progressing investigators to absolutely nothing. But the work has already picked up here a lot!

On our first day here we were going around to less actives, getting to know them and tracking around their homes. As we were walking down the street we notice a woman sitting on her porch. Knowing we need to talk to everyone we start a conversation with her and teach about the Book of Mormon. She listens to us openly and we set up a return appointment for the next day, leaving her a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read before we come back. The next morning we text Imani to confirm our appointment and she replies telling us that she is no longer interested but we are more than welcome to come take the Book of Mormon back. We knew we never wanted to do that, but we saw this as an in to still go over and see her and understand why she wasn’t interested anymore. At our set time to see Imani, she wasn't home. We were disappointed but started to try some potentials that lived around her. All of a sudden we had the strongest impression that we needed to go back to our car and get the phone. So that's what we did. Right afterward we look up and see Imani sitting on her porch with the Book of Mormon in her hands. She tried to hand the Book of Mormon back to us but we just asked her questions to try to know what happened. She the began asking us questions about what we believed, specifically the questions of the soul, "Where did we come from? Where do we go after we die?" We teach and testify of the plan of salvation and she begins to agree with everything we say. The spirit was so strong and tears begin to well up in her eyes. By the end of the lesson, she asks if she could hold onto the Book of Mormon for awhile.

I truly believe that the spirit has touched her. My testimony has grown on our purpose as missionaries. I know that part of our purpose is helping these people feel the spirit, we aren't doing our job if the spirit isn't present. And if the spirit is there, they are able to understand and learn what Heavenly Father wants to teach them. I know that myself, as an individual, is completely inadequate to do the Lords work. But I'm so grateful that He gives me the opportunity to try to help the best I can and I know with the Spirits help, we can touch the heart of the individuals we teach.

There are many other amazing people that we have found in the short time that we have been here. Heavenly Father has been blessing us so much with the amount of kindness that has been shown to us. I love this work. There is nothing like it. It has completely changed my life forever.

Love, Sister Merritt

Etched into the sidewalk randomly. The church is true. Heavenly Father

is providing signs for people everywhere (;

The Only Constant...

Hey y'all! 

July 25th

So I thought I was safe. Like, I thought I would stay in the Monroe Ward until I went home. President even told me that I would. We received a text message from President telling us to call him sometime that night. Immediately our minds race trying to figure out what we did wrong or what could have happened. When we got in that night he told us the craziness. So I will no longer be in the Monroe Ward but I will whitewash train in Dacula and become and STL again. But not only that, but I won't leave on normal transfer day, but I will leave the morning before so I can go to the mission home and be a Sister AP for the day as I take care of the incoming sisters. Of course I'm excited, but also a little bit nervous. It's just so much change all at once. I'm truly going to miss Monroe. I love it here! 

Friday we all had to get up super early to go to the training meeting. There were 5 sisters there and 30 elders, so we felt a little out of place but it was so fun to see everyone. We learned a lot from President Bennion. He is such a wise man filled with so much love. I truly feel so grateful to have such an amazing mission President!

Right after the training meeting we drove an hour and a half to UGA. Our poor Sister Training Leader has been trying to go on exchange with us all transfer long and we have been rescheduling every single week because we have been so busy, or something has always come up where we needed to be in our area. So our STL got President's permission to have all three of us come up to campus and help out with a booth. Weeelllll we got there super late because of the meeting, but were there to help take down the booth and make the long 2 mile trek back to the institute building. As we were walking up the hill, the big, heavy whiteboard that we were rolling back decided to completely fall apart. So there we were, the hottest day of the week, 100% humidity, walking up a hill, carrying heavy boxes, sweat dripping from our faces and now we have a broken whiteboard that we can no longer roll, but must carry. It took us 10x longer to get to the institute building and the best part is the whiteboard had "Mormon.org" in big letters plastered across it... so we were portraying ourselves well to people driving by and seeing us struggle. It was definitely an adventure though, we had fun and just laughed the whole time. 

Saturday we had a baptism for a nine year old boy, Jeremiah. I absolutely love this kid. We have been working with him ever since I got to the area. His mother is a member and very very sick. He pretty much takes care of his dying mother who loves him so much. They have the most precious relationship I've ever seen. Jeremiah has wanted to be baptized for so long, but was waiting for his mother to get better. Last week Jeremiah's mom sat him down and told him that she isn't going to be getting better and he needed the strength and comfort that comes through being a member of the church and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was so excited. Everything went so smoothly and the Spirit was so very strong. We love him so very much! <3 I am so sad to be leaving him, but I know great things are in store. 

Change. There is truly no other thing that is constant in this world than change. But, of course, that's the way it's supposed to be. If there was no change in our lives we wouldn't be able to learn, we wouldn't improve and grow and become the person that our Heavenly Father knows and wants us to become. I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to see other people's lives change and become better, amidst all the difficulties of life. I know that through, and only through, our Savior Jesus Christ we are able to repent, be made completely clean and receive eternal joy. It doesn't make it any easier, but in the end, it will always be better as we trust in Him and follow His will for us.

Love y'all! 

Love, Sister Merritt

We took the MakeUp

Hey Y'all.

July 18th

This week was literally sweat and tears. I wish I could tell y'all all that has happened but it would take up a whole week. First of all, we planned a wedding. YES. MY DREAM! We were able to plan, decorate and be bridesmaids for our investigators wedding. Check that off the bucket list. Kieren was married Tuesday. She wanted to elope buuuut she wanted the sister missionaries to be there because we are literally her best friends so she couldn't run away too far to get married so we just planned for the church and bishop would marry them. It was so much fun to see her face when she came into the room and to see it all decorated. A member of the ward actually plans weddings so we were able to use a bunch of her stuff to decorate with which was super helpful! We got them married and not their goal is to get sealed after she is baptized! ❤️

Kieren is wanting to stop smoking too. Nothing has been helping her to stop so she came up with a plan that we needed to find something that she loved more than smoking and we would take that every day she smoked.. We thought of everything but nothing was working. Then it came to us.. Her makeup. Every day she smoked a cigarette we would take all of her makeup and she would have to go without it. When she went a day without smoking, we would give it back. It was a good plan, except she was having an anxiety attack while we were driving away with all of her makeup and she paced up and down the hallway for two hours after we left. The next day we look at our phone and see that we have 5 missed calls and 20 texts from her (more than we ever get in a week from her) telling us that she absolutely NEEDS her makeup back. Right. Now. So we call her back and she swore at telling us to give her make up back!!! "Well Kieran, did you smoke today?" "Yes! Four cigarettes" ..... This is ridiculous. So we go to her house that night, we were all scared out of our mind because we don't know to what extremes she will go to to get her makeup back. We go inside, she sits down and has another anxiety attack. To make a long story short, we gave in and gave her makeup back after we had role played all the situations she may be in to where she would want a cigarette and what she could say. We also made her chain smoke 3 cigarettes that had been soaked in curdled milk (celestial soup) which obviously tastes disgusting. Watching her smoke those made everyone cry though. After her last cigarette she throws up and tells us she is never smoking again, the tears in our eyes were enough to make her stop. And the only way we could have done this is because she knew we were doing it out of love for her. It was an emotional night, but if I learned anything from this I learned to never EVER take away her makeup..

Tommy was baptized this Saturday! He was so prepared y'all! Just so solid and has the strongest testimony ever. He has changed so much since we first met him. It was a beautiful service and the joy on his face made everyone cry. The teaching process with him was so fast but it was because he was studying and praying and changing all on his own. His faith is incredible. Someday I want to have faith like him. It's amazing to see how the spirit works and changes a person. Most of the time, if the persons heart is soft and open enough, through reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church, the person will change without us even asking them to. That's how Tommy was. He was just ready. We are so excited for him (:

Update on Hope. She is currently in VA and loving it! We were a little worried she wouldn't progress in the gospel as quickly because we wouldn't be available to meet with her, but she called us yesterday and told us all about the ward she visited there! She loved it... Even though she accidentally went to YSA.. Oops. But she is still progressing!

Besides this we had tons of service, zone conference, singing at youth conference, a ton of lessons, and we are preparing Jeremiah for baptism this week. The south is a good place to be! 🍑

Again, i wish I could tell y'all everything because we had some fun adventures. But I guess they will have to wait. Have a great week!

Love, Sister Merritt

TRIO TIME

Hey y'all!

Okay! So... we have had such a successful week and crazy. For y’all who don't know, because of a ton of emergency transfers, I am now in a trio with Sister Hosman and Stauffer. We are taking over both the Monroe and Loganville areas so as you can imagine... Super busy. We have both apartments, so just depending on what we are doing that night and where we are, we stay in the apartment closest. Basically we just have a suitcase with us at all times in the trunk of the car with extra clothes and a toothbrush. We also have an air mattress that travels around our area with us wherever we go. It's very exciting! Lol.

We have started serving at FISH (faith in serving humanity). Sally is the lady in charge. Her and her friend worked as lunch ladies in an elementary school and realized how many of these kids' lunches were payed for by the government. Their families didn't have any money to provide food for them. Sally wondered what these kids would eat during the summer so she started FISH for kids. Volunteers gather together and donate money to make hundreds and hundreds of sandwiches and sack lunches for these kids every day during the summer. Then they would load up some cars and drive all over Monroe and Loganville. We would drive slowly and honk our horn over and over again and ALL these kids would come out and run to the car to get their lunch. It's so cute to see how happy these kids are to get their lunches (:

Jarree is one of our wonderful investigators we have been working with. She is a wife of a inactive member and she has great faith in Jesus Christ. When we first started working with her she wasn’t reading scriptures, praying or going to church despite her strong testimony of the Savior. But she had that desire to come closer to him. Saturday we had a lesson with her.. She told us she has been reading the scriptures and praying a lot now. Her faith in Jesus Christ has increased and she wanted that for her family too, especially her inactive husband. The spirit was so strong as we talked about the importance of baptism by proper priesthood authority and gave her the calendar to pick a date to be baptized. She chose August 13th and at the end of the lesson we had asked her to pray about the date she had chosen. When she asked Heavenly Father if it was right, the room was silent for a while and then we could hear sniffles. She started crying as the spirit testified to her that it was the right thing to do. Sunday morning her AND her inactive husband came to church, participated, met a lot of people and could feel the spirit. At the end of the three hours Jarree's husband excitedly tells us "I've had the best day! I'm ready for a calling! Where's my home teaching list? I need to be more involved!" He then became a little more serious and said "I wanted to thank you Sisters, if it weren’t for you, we both wouldn't be here today." Jarree, too, was so happy and told us they would definitely be back the next week! The Spirit has definitely pricked both of their hearts and gave them a taste of something they had both been missing for a long time. They now have a goal to be sealed in the temple a year after Jarree is baptized and want their two kids to learn about the church as well. It reminded me of a verse in 1 Nephi 8:12 "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit." The gospel is definitely something that brings us joy and I'm happy Jarree and her husband is able to have that in their lives.

Other than that we have stayed super busy with lessons and helping our investigator Tommy prepare for baptism this week. We had 9 investigators at church and all of them are growing closer and closer to the next step (: love y'all!!

Love, Sister Merritt

Happy Fourth

Hey y'all! Happy Fourth!!

So craziness happening here in the GANM. Tons of emergency transfers happening because a Ward is now becoming a part of the Atlanta Mission.. So the mission is a lil disorganized right now. Lol. I will be in a Trio with the Monroe sisters starting Thursday, which I’m excited for because I love them.  :)

We had zone meeting this week which was amazing as usual..

Zone meeting we really learned about our power and authority as missionaries and were supposed to come prepared to role play a powerful 10 minute lesson to be given, containing the following:

-        One or more elements of “How to Begin Teaching”;

-        A brief version of the Restoration;

-        Reading aloud from the Book of Mormon with the person;

-        A baptismal invitation;

-        Getting the investigator to offer a prayer asking if the message is true;

-        An invitation to return tomorrow for 15 minutes.

-        Invitations to read and pray prior to the return appointment tomorrow.

So Wednesday we decided to take these things that we learned and practice them. We had a lesson with an investigator, but she was not home. We decided we were in the area for a reason and we needed to find who was ready for us. We stopped by a members house who lived across the street, shared a short message and asked if they would pray that while we are in the area we would find that person who was waiting for us. They gave us a couple of neighbors we could try and we started knocking. Either nobody was home or people did NOT want to listen to what we had to say. We were a little discouraged and started walking back to the car, but felt impressed to go to one more home. We knocked on the door and could hear little kids running around. A lady looks out the small window in the door and tells us she's not dressed. "We have an important message for you," was all we said. She looks frustrated but leaves for a short minute to put clothes on and open the door. "Can I help you?" "We are representatives of Jesus Christ. He has a message He would like us to share with you that will bless you and your family. May we come in and share it with you?" Her heart completely softens! She allows us right in and sits down to listen and tells her two kids to be quiet and listen too! We offer an opening prayer and teach of the Book of Mormon. The spirit is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife! She takes a copy of the Book of Mormon we give to her and tells us how excited she is to read it. We

invite her to be baptized and to meet with us the next day and she accepted both (: and at the end she offered the prayer thanking Heavenly Father He has sent us to her and asking if The Book of Mormon was true.

Fourth of July we had a free cookies and lemonade booth set up in front of Kroger with the other sisters and had a photo booth set up for people to take pictures with which was super successful. We had around a hundred contacts, which is great! We are all just a lil sunburnt.. But that's okay. It was worth it. Hope y’alls Fourth was fabulous too!!

Love, Sister Merritt 

You never know

Hey y'all!

So it's amazing the people Heavenly Father places in your path who are ready to hear the gospel. Members like to take us out to dinner a lot, and for some reason they always choose Applebee's. The first time we went there, our waitress, Shania, was asking so many questions about our mission and what we believed. We have seen her every time we have gone since and this week she decided to call us and set up a time she could learn more. We had a fabulous lesson with Shania, the spirit was there and she was asking so many questions! She is so prepared!

We also have a shaved ice shack right next to our apartment, so we decided to go for our lunch hour one day. We met the owner, Angie, who is as cute as can be and wants to know more about our church. We set up another time for us to meet with her. Well last weekend we went back with our teamup's sister Jordan and Michaela. She started to talk with us outside until it started to get really stormy and started to rain. She put us in her storage shed with all her ice flavorings and food as she went into the shack to help some customers. Who knew she could be so busy when it's hailing and windy outside, but she was. We waited in that storage shed for 20 minutes until she came back and we had a really good lesson as we were all squished together. Lol but you never know where you will find people who are ready!!

I got a new companion this week! Straight from the MTC. Sister Held from Laguna Niguel, California and as sweet as can be! She is a hard worker and a water polo champion!  I'm excited to be with her and see the miracles that happen this transfer.

A tender mercy happened Sunday night. It was 8:45pm and we still needed one new investigator. We didn't know where we needed to be or how we could accomplish this goal. We said a prayer and my companion felt like we needed to see a recent convert who lived close by. I didn't see how that was going to help us find a new investigator but I didn't want to knock down the prompting she had received so we went. We said a prayer and as we got out of the car a potential investigator, Teresa, who lived right across the street came out of her house. We have been trying to get in with Teresa for so long, but have been unable to get in contact with her. She was excited to see us and set up a time when we could come and see her. New investigator! We then went up to our recent converts house and told her of the experience we just had with her neighbor. Her eyes lit up and asked if she could come to the lesson with us and proceeded to tell us more of her neighbors who potentially might be interested in the church! From this experience I learned how important it is that we trust the promptings that come to our companions! Because we did, we were able to accomplish our goal!

I hope y'all stay cool this summer. ☀️ and have a great week!!

Love, Sister Merritt

Hello

So this week we have been trying to clean up our area book because there are about fifty bajillion potential and former investigators and so we decided that the fastest way to see if any of these people are still interested in learning more or not is sending out a mass text that says the following:

"Hello! We are the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We see that you have shown interest in the past in learning more about the church. If you are still interested please reply "YES" and we will call you to schedule an appointment. If you are no longer interested reply "STOP" and we will take you off our lists. If you do not reply, you will be added to a daily spiritual thought text! Thank you and have a blessed day!" 

It has been super effective! Tons of people have replied stop, which is totally fine because it clears out those who really aren't ready. But we have also gotten quite a few who wanted to learn more! A lot didn't reply (obviously they didn't think we were serious about a daily spiritual text) until we started sending them texts every day and THEN they replied and wanted to be taken off the list. Lol. Silly people. Missionaries are serious about these kind of things. 

Hope came to church again this week. She's so solid. I love her way too much! The members just absolutely love her and she just acts like she's a member already. She will be baptized soon, I'm sure! (: 

Oh, transfer news! Im staying in Loganville and training a cute new sister. Tell y'all about it next week (: LOVE YOU & HAVE A GOOD WEEK. 

Love, Sister Merritt 

He's Given Us HOPE!

Hey y'all.

This week has been full of ups and downs, kinda like the hills here in Georgia. But overall it was pretty amazing.

I went on exchange with Sister Lang this week and we were able to get in with so many of our investigators. We have an investigator named Lorri her daughter Emma who have been going through some tough things. Lorri's dad is actually a member and used to live in our Ward but recently was put in a hospital and Lorri and Emma moved in the house. We have been helping them clean it up, paint, and pack boxes to put in storage. They came to church once because they felt like they owed it to us for helping them. We went over this week though, told them we have an important message, sat down and taught the plan of salvation. They were so intrigued. As we were teaching the three kingdoms of glory we talked about how Heavenly Father will place us in the kingdom we feel most comfortable. Kind of like how if we went to a big fancy ball, where everyone is dressed up in gowns and fancy jewelry, we wouldn't feel comfortable if we were there in a tshirt and jeans. Afterwards Lorri turns to Emma and says "I don't know about you, but I'm putting on my prom dress and I'm going to the sun!!" Lol. We invited them to be baptized and they both accepted (:

When I first got to this area we had a potential investigator named Hope who allowed us to come in and teach her the restoration. She told us, though, that the only reason she was letting us in was because we had been trying to for so long and she felt bad for us. We dropped her afterwards, but still left her with a Book of Mormon. This week we truly felt prompted to go and visit her. She opened the door and told us it was a bad time, but still continued to tell us EVERYTHING that was going on in her life. We ended up staying for about an hour. We told her we were singing in church on Sunday and she told us she wanted to come hear! She came and just loved it, of course. How can you not love church? We went over to her house later that night and asked her if she had any questions. Nope, she said she understood everything and had nothing negative to say. She told us she has been looking for a church that quenched her thirst for a long time and she has finally found it. She pulled out the Book of Mormon we had given her a couple months earlier and she was a third of the way done! She had been reading everyday and has a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon. We invited her to be baptized right then and there and she hugged us as she said "Yes!"

Heavenly Father is blessing us so much! Everyday we are able to see His hand in our lives. He prepares His children and places us in their path or them in ours. The gospel truly does give us the happiness and peace that we need in our lives if we only are obedient to what our Heavenly Father wants us to do. God is good!

Love, Sister Merritt

Sister Quartet

My Checking Balance LOL