Pennsylvania
Before leaving Lewisburg me and Elder Ivins had a few people set for baptism.
Yana: 19years olds, member referal. She is Russian and pretty cool. We started teaching her and she accepted everything pretty well, it was just hard to get her to read the Book of Mormon. She got married to a member before I left and was set for baptism the following week.
Ivy and Camile: While looking in the area book Elder Ivins decided to try out this one house. Ivy answered the door and was pretty nice, we ended up teaching her and her daughter while painting their window frames. After that we taught them more but it was hard to catch them both at home at the same time and Camile works every Sunday. Ivy is commited for baptism but not Camile.
Lindsey: A Bucknell student, member referal. She is dating a returned missionary in the ward and we started teaching her. She has a Catholic background but way cool to teach. She didnt have any problems and is set for baptism.
Greg and family: I talked to Greg one night outside of a icecream place. We got talking about religion...suprise suprise, and he was very interested in our Church. We started teaching him the next day, next thing we know this guy knows more about the bible than us and is actually confirming what we say with scripture references. He is married with 4 kids and set for baptism. Im not sure about his family, I would imagine they would follow suit.
Brasil
Oi!! Beleza?
Rapaz, eu amo este trabalho! É bem dificil as vezes, mais sempre o Senhor nos ajuda quando tentamos nosso melhor!
Translation: Hi! Beauty (fairness, loveliness, niceness, prettiness, comeliness, glamor, Grace). Boy, I love this work! It is very difficult at times, more always the Lord help us when we are trying our best!
One thing i want to start off and say is how much Ive been learning each day. I´ve learned how much I need to learn to focus on others. Not to say that ive been selfish, because Ive been working as hard as I can to help others and love them, but I know there´s so much more I need to learn.I have come to really see my weaknesses here on the mission, and how much i really do depend on the Lord. I testify that this truly is His work, and there is so much more that goes on than we really even recognize.
I´ve found a lot of joy in the basics of religion and this life. I think that that´s why missionaries come back from their missions so grateful and with a sure testimony of the gospel. You spend your time thinking, reading, teaching, preparing, and considering all of the most basic parts of the gospel. It´s like sports, or music, if you work on the fundamentals, your ability in all the other parts of the game seem to come together. The idea that we are children of God, and that He loves us, Literally, is the most foundational principle or idea of the gospel. Everything stems from this! We have the plan of Salvation BECAUSE we have a God who is a Loving Heavenly Father. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins so that we could return to live with Him, because He loves us and wants us to be happy. We learn how to return to His presence through the prophets that He has always called, so that we could know the Gospel of Jesus Christ and those essential steps we need to do to attain this- why? Because He loves us! It´s just so awesome to me, and these past couple of weeks have given me an immense appreciation for the reality and wonder that we have a living prophet today, who guides this church as did the prophets of old like Moses and Abraham! Sounds pretty crazy huh? But it´s true, our God is a God of truth, love and light. He has provided the Book of Mormon as a guide and proof of the truthfulness of the prophet Joseph Smith. Those who really seek truth will seek to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and you know what? I really do trust, believe, and even know that that book is true. Those who pursue the course of reading, pondering and sincerely praying about the Book of Mormon will come to know that God really does love us and wants us to return to live with Him, as evidenced even more by the Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days!
So this week has been pretty sick. I have a new companion named Elder Augusto, He is from Curitiba Brazil. He speaks less english than my last companion which was very little to begin with. He is 24, served in the military, almost the same size as me, a little bigger. I believe he was just recently baptized, last 4 years. He seems really cool. We picked him up yesterday from a different area. He is my 7th companion already...Elder Elliott, Brown, Miller, Link, Ivins, Wolp Farias, and now Elder Augusto. I promise it is not because they hate me. I am still in a semi small town of Campo Limpo(clean field). A LAN house is a place with computers and internet and one has to pay to use the computers. No one in my district plays soccer well except Elder Peterson. We were disappointed. We met a lady at the bus terminal and she was pretaught the lessons and accepted baptism but moved here, so we will be baptizing her soon. People her are super nice and usually listen to what we have to say. It has been super cold that past few days and quite a bit of rain, it seems to warming up today however. Not sure what we are going to do with the rest of the day. I havent had any bowel problems that seem to wreck the lives of Americans for the first couple off weeks. My mission leader told us some funny stories about american missionaries he trained but said I should be home free now. Sorry still no pictures, it is a holiday here and we found that the only LAN house open was more ghetto than last week.
Anyway, I´d like to share a quick quote from Elder Russell M Nelson, with regards to the problems we are having in our lives:
´While we know our mortal problems and pains, [Heavenly Father] knows our immortal progress and potential.´´
I testify that our Heavenly Father truly loves us and sometimes that means He allows us to be stretched. We have weaknesses so that we can be humble, and put our trust in Him. As we put our trust in Him and realize our dependence on Him and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He will give us the strength to be better and live up to our divine potential. He knows everything, He knows what is best for us and what will happen in the eternities to come. It´s really hard to realize that sometimes, but as we strive to maintain an eternal perspective on the things and problems happening in our lives right now, we will be able to submit our will to the will of our Heavenly Father. Submissiveness and Humility were exactly what our Savior demonstrated as He submitted His will to the will of God in the Atonement, and I am so eternally grateful for my Savior, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I testify that He lives and knows each and every single one of us personally, he´s been there before!
Love, Elder Merrick
p.s. I had to change my name tag because not a soul here could say Reynolds. lol
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