Quad Squad

Hey Y'all.

Oh my goodness. This week has been the craziest yet. First off, I am now in the Monroe Ward serving in Loganville. I am with Sister Palmer from Kaysville, Utah. She has been out for 1.5 months and is a trooper because she is taking over this whole area. The rest of us are pretty much whitewashing. But as of right now we are living in Monroe with another set of sisters, Sister Holmgren (MY BABY) & Sister Hosman. We live in this small home. A family lives in the basement and another family lives in the front part of the home. But our little corner of it is nice and cozy. Especially with four of us. We have air mattresses and one bathroom. One. It's a struggle, but a fun struggle. We have fun. We call ourselves the quad squad. The Ward is absolutely wonderful. It's so small, a lot smaller than I'm used to. But by the time we are through here, it will be a lot bigger. There are great things happening here. We are excited.

It's perfect here in Loganville. Literally perfect. It's a perfect mix between country and city. There are TONS of rolling hills with cows and horses grazing in it and the only thing keeping them in there are cute white picket fences. The homes are so precious. Big porches. Gardens. There are some dirt roads here and there. But there's still a Walmart and chic-fil-a, so we good. And the members are solid. They are so missionary minded it's awesome! We get so much help already (:

One of our miracles was Jeanne. Wednesday we were going around, trying to meet all the members and less actives, when we pulled up to a less actives home , prayed, and was about to jump out, my companion turned to me and said she felt we weren't supposed to be here right now. We prayed again and looked through the area book to see who was in need off us at that moment. We spotted Jeanne (a referral) and both felt like we needed to see her. Jeanne was introduced to the church by her friend from work at the hospital in Atlanta. Her friend knew she was struggling with seeing hope and the joy of life so she gave her a Book of Mormon with her testimony written inside and referred the missionaries (us) to her home. We knocked on Jeanne's door and she answered. We told her that her friend had sent us and she was SO happy, but was just about to leave for work. (We caught her JUST before she left for work). We set up a return appointment for Saturday. When we visited her on Saturday we found that she has been reading the book of mormon and has felt God's love for her through it. The Spirit was so strong, we were all in tears as we bore testimony of

the restored gospel. We asked Jeanne if she has found Jesus Christ's church, she responded "I think I have." She is now on date for April 30th and she couldn't be more happy. We really can't do this work alone. We NEED the help of members. Because Jeanne's friend gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, she is able to have the joy she has been searching for in her life.

I hope everyone had the greatest Easter! I know sometimes we get caught up in the fun candy, Easter bunny, and everything else, but I hope we all remembered the Savior this Easter and what he went through for us. I am so grateful for His sacrifice and the knowledge that because of the atonement I never have to go through anything alone. He lives.

I love y'all. Happy late Easter.

317 B Alcovey street

Monroe, GA 60655

Love, Sister Merritt

Our first night. We were so tired.

TRANSFERS!

Hey y'all:

So transfer news: I will be going to Monroe and finish training Sister Palmer! I don't know too much about her. But I do know she is just darling. I will also be serving as a Sister Training Leader. I'm excited. Plus I'm still in the same zone so that's good because the Athens zone is THE absolute greatest. (:

We were able to get 12 investigators to church. TWELVE. It was crazy trying to make sure everyone was taken care of, but they all loved it!

We have been able to see way too many miracles this week. EVERYONE wants to be baptized! WOO. When I first got to Athens we met a lady named Glenda and her 10 year old son. They seemed really interested but could never get in contact with them, so we ended up having to drop them. But this week we had an impression to stop in on them. Victor (the 10 year old) has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and wants to learn more. So we have visited Glenda and Victor every day this week. We brought them to a baptism and Glenda talked to us afterward "So I was thinking, could victor and I be baptized?"

We also met this great guy named Jacob who had met with missionaries 15 years ago in Alabama. We have met with him a couple of times this past week and we brought up baptism. "Baptism! I've been baptized before. Come to think of it, it may have been in your church! If I did get baptized into your church, does that make me a Mormon?" "Yes." He grins really big and says "that's exciting!" So he comes to church this past Sunday and LOVES it and says he would really like to come back every week, which of course we agreed with.  Well we asked the ward clerk to see if Jacob was a member and HE IS. We found a long lost less active who loves church, so that's exciting. We're just confused as to how you go about forgetting if you've been baptized or not?? Weird.

We also met a woman named Brittany. She's a single mom of 4 and super sweet. She let us in allowed us to teach her the restoration and asked right off if she could be baptized. So yay!! We didn't have to ask anyone to be baptized this week. They all just want to!

Speaking of baptism... It's amazing being able to see lives completely change when their faith in Jesus Christ starts to grow. We met Herman when he was living with some recent converts when I first got to Athens. He was very shy, wouldn't look at us when we talked to him, didn't keep any of the commitments we left him, and whenever we came he would have a cigarette in his mouth. We don't know why we kept going back. He didn't even seem interested in learning. But for some reason we kept going back. Well, the landlord was going to sell the house. The recent converts found a new small place to live, but Herman wasn't able to. He went back in his tent, which he had lived in for 5 years before living with the members. He was homeless. We kept meeting with him. We would meet just out on the streets, or in McDonald's, or in members homes when we could. We eventually found out he had a big problem with drugs, alcohol, and the law of chastity. We brought him to the 12 step addiction recovery programs, read the Book of Mormon with him and the elders gave him a blessing. He came to church every week, wore his camo (the only thing he owned) but wouldn't talk to anybody and would sit in the back of every class. We kept meeting with him. We would teach him little by little and over and over again until he understood. Eventually he prayed for us, he started reading the Book of Mormon on his own, he stopped doing drugs and drinking, he found an apartment. He was changing. Or should I say, the gospel was changing him. He wanted to be baptized! We went through a lot of interviews. A member of the mission presidency told us to wait for 3 months to a year to have him be baptized. He also thought it was best if the elders started to teach him instead.. We were disappointed, but we obeyed. 3 months later, though, brings us to Saturday. Herman was finally able to be baptized. It was the most spiritual experience I have ever had and his testimony of the gospel is so strong. I have a strong testimony that Heavenly Father loves each of us. The gospel is for everyone and it can change lives if we allow it to.

Love y'all!!

Sister Merritt

Our Methodist ministry friends. (:

SPRING!

Hey y'all!

We have had a great week. It's been such great weather. The flowers are blooming. The leaves are coming back, which makes Georgia so much more pretty. The bees are buzzing. Spring is here!

Friday we had set the goal to get one lesson with a member present. We had one scheduled, but our lesson and member both cancelled. It was getting toward the end of the day, but we really wanted to make this goal. We decided we would just tract this neighborhood that has been in the back of our minds for awhile. As we were walking down the street we saw this guy outside talking to some people in a car. We walk up to him and start talking about the church, only to find out that he's a long lost less active! We ask him if he had ever talked to his friend about the church. He said "no they have a different belief." So of course we then proceed to talk to his friends about the church, in which they were really interested! The member was able to bear his testimony and tell his friends about Joseph Smith and how wonderful the church was! We were able to get our lesson with a member present! It was amazing to see that as long as we set goals in faith and then work as hard as we can and talk to everyone, the Lord will do the rest.

We had such a crazy big sister exchange but it was so much fun. I went on exchange with sister Gray in Greensboro which is ALL country. I am in love with that place. They live in a cute cabin right on the lake and fields of cows and horses all around. IN LOVE. <3 We were able to see lots of miracles and find a lot of new investigators. We were able to have a lesson with a recent convert whose mom absolutely HATES the church, but the mom actually sat in on the lesson and agreed with everything we had to say regarding the plan of salvation, so that's cool. We also were able to tract a little bit. One lady answered the door, we complemented her on her cute home, to which she responds "do you want to see the inside??" "YES!" So we were able to get in, see the home, share a message, and she wants us to come back the next day.

More quick updates:

>> we now do bible study, every Monday and Wednesday night with a whole trailer park. It's crazy.

>> we met a dog named Lucy in Colbert who literally followed us to every home we went to. She's pictured below.

>> we got to feed some horses.

>> we had a southern day, Talulah Gorge, which had precisely 536,362 steps. peach cider, honey stick, moon pies and the best BBQ you have ever tasted. Ever.

>> AND HERMAN IS GETTING BAPTIZED. Do y'all remember him? He was the homeless man we were teaching when I first got to Athens but we had to hand him over to the elders because "he wasn't safe"... But now he's getting baptized and I'm soooo happy! (:

Love y'all! Have a great week!!

Love, Sister Merritt

The 'Blessing'

Hey y'all.

This week has been an interesting one.

First off, about a month ago we met this 27 year old girl named Katherine. She is heavily involved in the Methodist ministry on campus and LOVES Jesus Christ. Well, a couple weeks ago she invited us over for dinner with her and her ministry friends, of course we are expecting a big bible bash as we go inside, but we were pleasantly surprised when they just wanted to learn more about our church. Last week she called us up again and said that she wanted to "bless" us because she knows how draining it is being a missionary and she wants to give us a recharge. It sounded interesting (plus it gave us another chance to teach) so we accepted the invitation. We went over with a bunch of her friends, they prayed over us and they begun. Two twenty minute sessions. One for sister Foster & one for me. They basically just close their eyes and tell us what they're seeing and then they interpret it in a way that could maybe/possibly/ try to apply to our lives. They had a scribe writing it all down for us so don't worry, I have it all on paper! Basically it's like the Methodist version of a patriarchal blessing. It was a cool experience. And of course we were able to teach them and they want to come to church YAY!

We had a mission wide sisters conference this week which was definitely the highlight. There are 62 sisters in our mission and I love them all <3 We had a bunch of trainings given by the sister training leaders and Sister Bennion on our divine nature, and "straightening our crown." The BEST thing was our role plays though. ...I never thought I'd say that. Sister Kong and Barben showed us how exciting it is extending invitations, promising blessing, and following up.

"Sister Barben, will you come to Sisters P-Day with us as we hike Kennesaw Mountain at 12?"

"... Ummm I don't know. I have so much to do. Wash the car, clean the apartment, grocery shop, and email my family. I don't know if I'll have time."

"I can promise you that once you make it to the top of the mountain, you will be refreshed by that cool air and the view will be amazing."

"Well.. Umm.. I'll definitely try. I'll try to make it."

"Okay....OH! I forgot to tell you! Elder Holland.."

"Yeah??"

"Elder Holland. You're favorite Elder Holland is going to be there!!!!"

"WHAT?!"

"He'll be there at noon at kennesaw mountain! So will you come?!"

"YES YES YES."

"OH AND ANOTHER THING. HE IS GOING TO BE HANDING OUT ENVELOPES WITH OUR FUTURE HUSBANDS PICTURE INSIDE!!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

"Yes!! SOOO.. Will. You. Come. On. Monday. At 12?!"

"YES! I'll be there!!"

We were laughing so hard all of us. We were crying and laughing and laughing and crying. Envelopes with our husbands pictures in them became our inside joke, But it was so wonderful. President Bennion gave us all roses at the end and we all had a good time and learned a lot.

Ever since Sister Foster has been here she's had this really bad cough. Everyone just thought it was allergies. We called the mission nurse a bunch of times and she would just tell us to get some cough drops and Claritin. Well the cough had just been getting worse so we just decided we would go into urgent care. Turns out she has had Bronchitis this whole time! Poor thing. She's a trooper though. Her cough won't stop her from working her hardest.

Anyway, we have had some solid lessons this week with some great new people! We have been biking lots thanks to a deal we have with an investigator... We will bike 10 miles a day if he'll read the Book of Mormon 10 minutes a day. So far we have kept our end of the promise..we'll see if he has kept his this week. That's about all that's new here.

Love y'all!

Love, Sister Merritt

Dogs and Little Girls

Hey y'all.

What a week. It's been so very long but full of adventure.

First. We met this awesome lady named Pepsi who we are teaching now. She is searching for a church for her family right now and when we went into her home to teach the restoration she asked great questions that is missionaries love to hear like, "there are so many churches on the earth today, how do I know which one is right?" And, "wouldn't God love us enough to send another prophet so I know how to raise my family?" We put her on date for baptism the end of March. She's ready.

We spent an entire day in a tiny town called Crawford, Georgia. It’s about 15-20 minutes east of Athens but still in our Ward boundaries and way out in the country, so we decided to scope it out. It's cute but there are animals literally everywhere. We were driving down this small dirt road trying to find a house and came to a dead end. So we turned around and saw this huge field next to us filled with DOGS. There had to be around 50 of them. We sat there and watched them for a second which ended up being the worst decision because they saw us and swarmed to the car. We couldn't move for 10 minutes because these dogs

were laying themselves right in front of us and would NOT move. But we made it out of there finally.

We parked the car and rode our bikes all around this little town of Crawford. We were chased by so many dogs that I lost count. We were invited into a home where they had exactly 368,183,729 cats I believe and then were chased by more dogs, invited into 3 homes right off, met 3 new less actives, and knocked on 41 doors. Overall our Crawford trip was a success, resulting in 3 new investigators and 7 lessons, but next time I'll just stick with driving through that town.

We had a lesson with Anna and Trevor this week on the Holy Ghost. As we were talking  we had the prompting that we needed to invite her to be baptized. We did NOT want to do this because last time it resulted in an "absolutely not!" And then things were awkward for awhile. But there came a point and a time in our lesson where that's the only thing that came to our mind (the Holy Ghost is very stubborn sometimes. And so are we) we were having this internal battle for a second but we really felt like we needed to ask her so we did. Silence filled the room for what seemed like forever. And the answer was surprising. "Yes!" Sister Foster, Trevor, the couple who was with us, and I could finally breathe again and everyone was so happy. Especially Trevor. She didn't want to pick a date yet, but we didn't have to beg them to come to church this week, they just said they would be there and they would pick us up. They came to Stake Conference yesterday and absolutely loved it! They talked about the things they learned all the way back home.

Saturday evening we were waiting at home for our ride to pick us up for the adult session of stake conference. We weren't exactly sure what time she would be picking us up, only it would be within 15 minutes. As we were waiting we had this overwhelming feeling that we needed to spend this time contacting. So we start walking through a neighborhood behind our apartment complex. We decided we would visit a potential at the end of the street. As we were walking we see a group of young girls playing in the front yard of a home, when they saw us they stopped what they were doing and just stared. One of the girls ran up to us and we said hello, asked her name, said nice to meet you and then continued down the street. While we were walking away my morning studies of "talking to everyone" came into my mind and I realized everyone meant everyone. Even little girls. So we turned around and noticed that this young girl had followed us. She smiled and asked "Are you the people that teach us about Jesus?" "Yes!" She grinned really big and told us to come meet all of her family and friends. She went throughout her whole house, gathering everyone she could to have us share a short message. We gave all the young girls pictures of Jesus in the Americas, taught them a really simple restoration and told them we had to go, but would be back soon. We went back through that neighborhood the next evening and found out that all these girls had hung up the picture in their bedrooms. We know that we have planted seeds within these young girls and we are so grateful that we used those extra 10-15 minutes working. We have learned it's so important to not waste a second of the Lords time. Miracles are waiting to happen.

I'm so grateful for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and the guidance it gives me every second of each day. I know that this is Heavenly Fathers work and as long as we are listening to that still small voice and obey we can be led to those people who are ready (:

I love y'all. Have a great week & stay good.

Love, Sister Merritt

Miss Lessie

Hello!

This week we were finally able to get in with our potential investigator Lashanna. Every time we have tried, it just hadn't worked out. But she finally called us and said she would DEFINITELY be at home that night. So we go and she invites us into the living room to wait and talk to her three young boys as she does something in the kitchen. Well, we ended up waiting for 30 minutes. We kept asking if she needed help and she just kept telling us to sit and relax. Finally she comes in carrying trays and trays of food. Fried chicken, hot wings, meatballs, mini sandwiches, chips and dip, fruit trays, & drinks. We were so overwhelmed. Haha that's southern hospitality for you though. The lesson ended up going great and we are seeing her and her boys later this week!

We have been visiting this cute 93 year old lady in our ward named miss Lessie Pearl. She is seriously darling. After our visit with her we asked her if we could take a picture with her she responded with "are you building a garden??" We look at her a little confused and then she continued saying, "do you need a scarecrow?" "NO MISS LESSIE! You're the cutest lady ever!" I love her. If i could take her back to Utah with me I would.

Last preparation day we went to see the tree that owns itself. Like, the tree literally owns itself. Weird. But awesome.

LOVE YALL.

Love, Sister Merritt

Happy Valentine's Week

Hello my favorites!

I have finally seen that southern hospitality that I have been searching for here this week. It's been a chilly week and as we have been tracting there has been a LOT of people inviting us in "before we catch pneumonia." Reminding us to "eat more fried chicken to put some meat on those bones" and next time we come back to "wear gloves and a hat." Literally everyone has told us this. Haha

We have seen many miracles this week though. One of them being with Damian's wife, Rochelle. We have been trying to use the videos that are available to us on gospel library more in our teaching to use our iPads more effectively. I have noticed that it's good to show a video to bring the spirit and calm everyone down. We have seen a a little tender mercy occur this week because of a video. We have been teaching this man Damian. His wife is normally home and she is kind to us but doesn't normally like to listen to what we have to say. One day we came over for a lesson and Damian was on the phone in the other room but Rochelle (his wife) let us in and proceeded to frantically tidy up the living room for us. We asked her if she would join us for the lesson and she said she probably wouldn't. We then asked if she wouldn't mind watching a short video while we waited for Damian. We showed her the "introduction to the church" video on family (we know family means a lot to her.) It calmed her down a lot and pricked her heart just enough to get her interested and by the time Damian came in the room, Rochelle grabbed another chair, listened to the lesson, and asked great questions.

Because of Presidents' Day, preparation day was switched to Tuesday and we had a full day of tracting planned! WOHOO love tracting. *sarcasm* But we have had our eyes on these streets few weeks but decided, for some reason, to keep them till Monday. We went up and down street in the frigid air. Knocking on every single door. The first 2 doors, no one answered. But the 3rd door we knocked, we had seen a little boy playing basketball in the driveway earlier. We knew someone had to be home. We knocked and 2 young girls answered the door, and then their mother peeked her head around the corner. She kindly welcomed us in from the cold, as the electrician man who was working inside looked at us, chuckled a bit and politely pushed past us to get more tools out of his truck. We sat down and immediately began HTBT, emphasizing the gospel and families, and the Book of Mormon. She asked interested questions. She was so engaged. We taught the restoration, but as soon as we got to the First Vision, of course the electrician decided to start up his drill. Ugh, I've never prayed so hard for someone to cease their work. All ended well though, she wanted to learn more on Wednesday.

As we left the home, the short, scruffy, and friendly electrician stopped us and apologized for interrupting. We knew we had to talk to him! It was a perfect opportunity. We asked him if he had ever heard of our church before. He smiled and said 'Yeah, for two years in

Vegas.'. We were confused. But then it dawned on us both that he was a member and That he was a Vegas RM. We asked him what ward he was in, he explained that he didn't go anymore because he worked on Sunday's. We got his name...turns out he's a less active in our ward that we haven't been able to to find for 5 months! Out of all the electricians

that the company employees, they sent this guy. We left him with an invite to stake conference and our card. The following homes were just as great! We made several more return appointments and others invited us in and allowed us to share our message. Everyone's hearts on Beaver Pointe Road were softened this Presidents' Day Holiday. Heavenly Father is the greatest domino player. Just thinking about what He did that caused the electricians to be called is a testimony to me that everything that takes place in our lives, He has control, just put your trust in Him and do what you're supposed to do.

Love y'all.

Love, Sister Merritt

"Do sisters wake up in the morning and choose to match?" -Elders