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