Tender Mercies

Hey ya'll.

This week has been crazy busy with transfers and everything. Im still in the Shallowford Ward, which I'm so happy about, because I love it. The members are stellar. And we are seeing so much success. I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Holmgren, she is from North Ogden, Utah and fresh out of the MTC. But you wouldn't even guess it. She's doing so well. Already contacting on the door step and bearing a strong testimony in lessons. I love her (': so proud.

We tracted a lot this week. We had a ton of lessons Monday and Tuesday because very one wanted to say goodbye to sister Barben, but then nobody wanted us to come back until the next week. So tracting it is! We were having absolutely no success at finding anyone who was interested in our message. Three whole days of nothing. The zone leaders called us up last night to ask us a question and to see how we were doing and told us that they were able to find a couple new investigators this week. They gave us some advice to just be bold....thank you. Cause we weren't already doing that. But I got a little prideful and determined that we were going to find one new investigator. We worked so hard, praying with all our might that we would find someone. About half an hour before we had to go in for the night and report our numbers we had an impression to go to Arlene's home. Sister Barben and I had taught them the first lesson many weeks ago but they didn't seem interested and we never got in with them again. But we stopped in on them anyway and they invited us right in! Arlene told us she had been thinking about us a lot lately and wants us to start teaching her grandchildren! She made a return appointment and BAM. 3 new investigators! We were so happy that we said not one, but TWO grateful prayers. It was definitely a miracle.

Right after that, we stopped in on a less active that we have trying to get in with since I've gotten here 3 months ago, but she has never been home. But she was home!! And wants us to come back tonight to visit with her. BLESSINGS. God is good.

I absolutely love it here. It's starting to cool off, thankfully. And hopefully the bugs will start to go away. Yuck. But there are tender mercies each and every day. Our Heavenly Father is so mindful of us and is willing to bless us if we only work hard and are obedient. (: I hope everyone has a great week. Look for the tender mercies in your life!!

Love, Sister Merritt

Our last night, all four of us with Jeanne and a birthday celebration for Elder Perez and Sister Barben. (:

It's A Girl!!!

Hey Ya'll,

I swear the weeks just go by faster and faster. But I have a surprise! I'm getting a baby missionary!! Yep. She'll probably be amazing. I'm excited, but definitely need your prayers because I have no idea what to do. Haha (:

This week sister Barben and I have had many adventures. Beginning with floating lanterns & giant spiders (shown below) and ending with tear stained cheeks.

Monday night Chelsea, our recent convert, had signed up to feed us dinner. She also wanted to do a family home evening lesson with us for a personal progress project before she left for the University of Georgia. We had a picnic on the huge church lawn, and talked about all the memories we have all had together. She had an amazing lesson prepared and we ended with sending floating lanterns up in the sky. It was the most perfect night. The last time we would all be together for awhile...

But.. We were able to get three new investigators this week!. Two of them coming from searching down a less active.

It was actually a miracle because the less actives two daughters have such high standards and they feel alone when they tell their friends they don't do anything like party or drink. We told them about the young women's program and earlier morning seminary and mutuel and things like that which they were so excited about. Right after our lesson with them we met a member at a restaurant for dinner. She told us how she was the seminary teacher for the 15 year olds (one of their ages) and she would love to come to our next lesson. She's a very missionary minded woman. All of a sudden our waitress came up to us and asked us a lot of questions about our church, which is surprising. Turns out her husband is a less active we've been trying for months to get in with. (: little miracles. Just goes to show how much the lords hand is in our lives.

I can't wait for the adventures that are awaiting this week.

I hope ya'll have an amazing week! Love ya'll.

Love, Sister Merritt

Sweet Pork Overload....

Hello.

This week has flown by. I don't even know what has happened to be honest. We have been so extremely blessed with lessons. Everyone we have stopped in on has let us in and we have been able to teach and share messages. Our investigators are progressing, but especially our dear Spanish investigator Biri. When we went over this week to talk with her, one of her family friends was over there too. Very nice and is able to speak both English and Spanish so he was able to translate for us. He told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon as well and we were able to answer a few of his questions. He then told us that he was really confused about what church to join, he's been a Jew, a Baptist, a Methodist, etc. Biri than spoke up and said, "Joseph Smith was confused too, until he prayed and received an answer." :') so proud.

When we went over to teach Jeanne this week she told us that she wanted to stop smoking and that the Elders have been praying for her to stop (we have too) as she puts a cigarette in her mouth. As she goes to light it, the lighter won't work. She tries multiple times. Still won't work. Tries a Different lighter...won't work. Haha it just goes to show that Heavenly Father answers prayers in mysterious ways and He has a sense of humor. ... She didn't think it was funny.

It's been a good week. The members here for some reason have loved making pulled pork this week and giving us all the left overs. Let's just say we won't be going hungry anytime soon. Our fridge is FILLED with sweet pork.

It's still humid and hot here. Gotta love it. But-- I don't have to love the bugs. We were able to have Sisters P-day today and we all went bowling. So here is a picture. And one of Biri, and the Zone. 

Love ya'll and hope you have a fabulous week. <3

Sister Merritt

But if not.....

Hey ya'll.

This week has been so wonderful. Definitely has been filled with blessings and miracles both big and small. The Shallowford area is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. 

 So this past Tuesday we stopped by Sister Mower and shared the restoration with her son Riley. We answered any questions he had and left him with a reading assignment in the Book of Mormon! Sister Mower even said she would read the Book of Mormon with him!! We invited him to church and he said he wanted to come. Sister Mower said she would come to church with him since he is only 11! They weren't able to come this past week because they were out of town. But plan on coming this week! It was amazing to see sister Mowers willingness to start being more involved to help her son. We also asked Sister Mower to share her conversion story with Riley. It was neat to see a little bit of her faith be rekindled once again! 

The other day we stopped in on a less active who wasn't home. So we asked the neighbors about them and then Decided to keep going down the street. Once we finished the street we had a feeling to go to the next street over. The first door we knocked on, this 16 year old girl answered. We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and her grandmother from inside told us to come inside. We had just interrupted family bible study. But they were willing to listen to us. We were able to teach Arlene, her two granddaughters, and her niece the first lessons and we asked them if they would like a Book of Mormon. Arlene did not want one, she was content with her bible and nothing else could add to that. But both her granddaughters wanted one and as soon as we gave each of them a copy and committed them to read and pray about it. Arlene said "I might read a little bit too, since these books will be lying around the house." We were invited to come back every week before bible study to teach them more. (: 

As I've been studying faith this week I was reading in Daniel about Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego. And how they would not worship the idol King Nebuchadnezzar commanded them to worship. When the King told them if they would not worship it he would throw them into the fiery furnace I love their response: 

" If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, o King. 

But if not, be it known unto thee, o King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up" 

I love how they had faith Heavenly Father would deliver them out of the Kings hand, but if not, they still had faith in Him and knew it was part of Gods plan. 

I found a talk called "but if not.." And I would encourage everyone to read it. But I love one part in particular..

"Our God will deliver us from ridicule and persecution, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from sickness and disease, but if not … . He will deliver us from loneliness, depression, or fear, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from threats, accusations, and insecurity, but if not. … He will deliver us from death or impairment of loved ones, but if not, … we will trust in the Lord.

  Our God will see that we receive justice and fairness, but if not. … He will make sure that we are loved and recognized, but if not. … We will receive a perfect companion and righteous and obedient children, but if not, … we will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that if we do all we can do, we will, in His time and in His way, be delivered and receive all that He has." 

I hope we all strive to have faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Have the best week ya'll. 

Love, Sister Merritt 

Less Acitve? Not for long!

Hey ya'll. 

This week we had zone conference which is amazing. It just pumps you up for missionary work and makes you want to be the best missionary possible. During zone conference President Bennion told us to focus on less actives rather than Tracting. And if the less actives aren't home, ask their neighbors when the best time to catch them is. "Your neighbors are part of our church. Our church teaches to love our neighbor. Do you love your neighbor? Oh, by the way we are missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." Lol. President is funny. (: 

By focusing on the less actives we have seen so many miracles and now we have a good amount of potential investigators. My favorite experience from stopping in on less actives was probably with Sister Mandi Mower who was actually a DNC (do not contact). We had a feeling to stop in on her the other night. As we pulled up to the house we saw she and her 11 year old son Riley, outside loading up the car with boxes and random things. As awkward as it is going up to someone when they're busy, we prayed for enough faith and courage to do so. We hopped out of the car and walked up to her asking if this was where the Mower's lived. "Not anymore" she said. "I'm moving." We started talking to her about where she was moving (which is still in ward boundaries), and if she needed help unpacking her new house. She told us she had had a bad experience with someone in the ward and stopped coming, but her son is looking into 'churches' and she asked him if he wanted to learn about Mormons. He said he did- and Sister Mower told us that we could come visit her and her son in their new home this week. It's just a testimony builder to me that we don't give up on any of our brothers and sisters , even if they tell you not to come back. Give them a break, then try again. You never know how Heavenly Father is preparing them. 

Another night, Chelsea came out with us and we had a long list of less actives to visit. We prayed and decided to visit the Backus family. We weren't having a lot of success up to this point and we had never been able to get in with the Backus family. They were always gone when we had tried to stop by previously. So we weren't sure what would happen. But we felt we should go. We pulled up in front of his home and before getting out of the car Chelsea offered a prayer! We were all sitting there while Chelsea is Praying and As soon as the words, "please bless someone in the Backus family to be home." Leaves her mouth a car pulls into the driveway!! It was an answered prayer right in front of our eyes! We get out and walk to the car. Brother Backus was excited to see us, but told us he did not have a lot of time to talk he was only home for a couple min to get ready to fly out to work for the weekend. Brother Backus had just recently finalized a divorce with his wife. So, it was just he and his two girls living at home right now. They haven't been going to church and he shared with us his desire to get them involved with activities in the church. The girls are both in high school and don't have the best of friends. We talked to him about mutual and the Young Women program and about the awesome young women in the ward. He told us once he got back he wanted us to meet up with him and his two daughters! He wanted us to teach them and get them more involved in the church! He shared with us his number and a time for us to come back! Wow what a miracle! The Lord answers prayers! We are excited to start working with Brother Backus and his girls.

Another miracle I saw this week was with our Spanish investigator Biri. We found her about a month and a half ago, we couldn't really understand each other because of the language barrier but we gave her a Mormon.org card with our phone number on it and went on Tracting. A couple days later we receive a call from her, telling us to come over. We do, and we try to share a message with her, but again, language barrier- and it was difficult to understand. However, we gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon and followed Sister Bennion's advice to 'always sing a song in a lesson', so we did so that she could feel the spirit. The next week we gave her over to the Spanish elders so they could better teach and understand her. Meanwhile, a sister moved into the ward from Peru, had us over for dinner and we all really connected. We love her so much. Sister Morgan. A couple weeks later the Spanish elders gave Biri back to us because it was too far out of their way to come and teach her. But because we had gained that relationship with sister Morgan, we asked her to call Biri on the phone and talk to her. Biri had told sister Morgan that she didn't have any friends here and that she needed a ride to church. Biri and sister Morgan are now pretty good friends and the friendship will continue to grow. I learned that sometimes we have to be patient because the Lord is preparing ways for people to find friendship and find the gospel. 

I'm really loving being a missionary and helping others come unto Jesus Christ. It's probably the best thing anyone could ever do, and I highly recommend it. People are prepared. The tricky part is finding them. 

Love, Sister Merritt 

A Good Move

Hey you guys.

This week has been so busy I don't even remember what happened. We had an unbelievable amount of bible bashers this week- apparently the Baptist Church around here (with around 15,000 people) decided to tell everyone that Mormons believe that we can all can become Gods (true, but they need to know how and why- our doctrine). Awesome. It's a tough one when they start getting into deep doctrine of their own. And all we can do is bear testimony and move on.

We put Jennifer on date! Her scheduled baptism date is August 15th. She is so prepared and has an unshakable testimony. The only thing that could hold her back is coming to church. She could really use your prayers that hopefully she can get more Sundays off from work.

We haven't really found anybody new to teach yet. Still in the finding process. But we hope to be able to find someone soon. We have tons of potentials, everybody is just so busy in the summer. We are still teaching our 14 year old investigator, Stephanie. She's adorable. We asked her if she was able to read the reading assignment we gave her out of the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She said that she did with her friend and she felt it was true. It made us extremely happy. We also went over to help Jeanie organize one of her rooms. Both us and the elders have been helping her and reading out of the Book of Mormon together, but when we went back to see her, she told us she was on chapter 17 of 1 Nephi and she gets chills every time she reads it. She'll be baptized soon enough. We just have to practice our faith. Through our faith we can see miracles.

Today we moved from our apartment into a members home. Let me tell you how HAPPY we are to be out of that apartment. That apartment had been lived in for 10 years by elders. No sisters. Just elders. It was so gross and run down. Plus it was 2 miles out of our area. So we are glad to be out of there.

My new address is:

Sister Mikel Merritt

2704 Green Castle Way
Marietta, GA 30062

Well. Have a great week ya'll.

Love, Sister Merritt

Baptism

HELLO.

Okay, this week has been crazy busy because first, Chelsea got baptized!! And second, we had to find a new apartment which has been a pain.

So, Chelsea's baptism was amazing. It was so peaceful and the spirit was so strong. She had this light around her and her smile was glued to her face. It was so wonderful to see her make this first step to be baptized into Jesus Christ's church. She has such a desire to do what's right. Right after her baptism we had to get back to work and start finding more people to teach. And rather than celebrating with her friends, Chelsea came out tracting with us. It was so wonderful to contact and teach lessons with someone who hasn't grown up in the church because her testimony was able to help so many people. She is so great. And we love her. 

This week I have learned what a powerful tool the Book of Mormon is in conversion. We've had many experiences with explaining what the Book of Mormon was to so many people this week. 

On the Fourth of July we met this cute couple who let us right into their home to explain the Book of Mormon. The wife was so excited about it and asked if she could buy one. When we gave it to her free of charge she was even more excited. When we went back to visit her last night, she wasn't home, but her husband said they have been reading it together and they want us to come back and teach them. 

As we were knocking on these doors in a street we prayerfully picked out, we weren't seeing much success. Nobody was interested in hearing our message. It was a little frustrating but we knew we were led here for a reason, and we still had some houses left. At one of the houses an older lady named Sandra invited us in. She told us that she had met with missionaries before when she lived in Pennsylvania 8 years ago and they had given her a Book of Mormon. She proceeded to tell us that she still has never read the Book of Mormon but she has it on her nightstand right next to her bed with her bible. She keeps it by her bed because she knew it was a special book. And although she hasn't read it yet, at least she knows it's special. Reading it is just the next step. That's what we're here to help her do. 

We also were able to go to dinner with our "tribe sister" Kimberly. We went to this Thai food restaurant that Kimberly absolutely loves and our waitress was very kind and helpful. When the waitress (Anastasia) was gathering our plates after we were through eating she noticed the Book of Mormon we had on the table. "I have seen that book before, I want to read it," she told us. She then told us that she used to see the missionaries all the time in Russia where she is from but hasn't seen them here very much. Kimberly wants to be a missionary so very badly and explained the Book of Mormon to Anastasia. We gave the book to her to keep with our phone number and church address written inside. It was so wonderful to see her pick up the Book of Mormon so gently and walked off looking at it to put in her bag, thanking us multiple times. 

Our investigator Jeanie who was so sure was never going to convert is now reading the Book of Mormon after the elders and us have been reading it with her. She's now coming to church willingly and wants to take the lessons.

The Book of Mormon is so important and I think I have been taking it for granted. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission and see lives change. It starts with reading the Book of Mormon and taking Moroni's challenge to pray to know for yourself if it's true. I promise that when you do this, you will receive an answer that is undeniable.

Love,

Sister Merritt