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