Happy New Year!

Just kidding. I need new shoes! They got all ripped up the next day hahahaha. 

Worn out shoes!

Not a lot to write because I just talked to you all like 4 days ago! What a wonderful opportunity it was to be able to talk to my beloved family. I will try and send pictures from last week but this Cyber isn't very good! I love my family so much. Christ came so that families could be eternal... but obedient families. Which makes me so grateful for the family that I have and the examples they have given me.

 

Christmas 2015

 

We hit our yearly goal! I'm not entirely sure exactly how many we finished with, but we got over the goal of 2060 baptisms. Brings a lot of joy to see how the hard work of the mission has paid off. It really is all worth it. That is something that I have learned on my mission. Whether it be numbers or spiritual growth or whatever it may be, it is worth it. So let us be faithful and give it our all to the Lord, so that he can repay us!

The Christmas Multi Zone was awesome. We had a good conference, ate good food, played games and then got some cool little gifts! Then we got to take some pictures and go home and sleep and that was fun. 

 

President and Hermana Russell

Elders Merrill and Copeland

 

Sunday was a good day in church! My companion and I were able to have a successful day, and we were able to sure up Carlos Moises for this Saturday. A great way to start out the new year! 

I am grateful for the toughest year of my entire life. 2015. It was so hard, but so worth it. And now I am grateful to be able to start out 2016 in the mission and finish my mission the way the Lord would want me to. I pray that we can all honor the birth of the Savior in the way that he would want us to.

This week I am going to work in Bluefields! That should be dope. That is about it! I love you all. Happy New year!

Elder Merrill

Candid...

This is it for today!

Hey! Last week was great! Don´t have much time but we are planning on calling Friday at around 5-6ish!

18 months!

I can´t believe Garrett (Elder Naisbitt) is home! What the freak! That is something that I literally cannot believe. He was a great friend, and I am already missing him here. Because here we are still in Nicaragua! This last week was a crazy week because it was change week! I will let you all know how it went.

Elder Naisbitt's homecoming

On Monday night we had a little dinner with the Branch President and some members in the ward, that was a lot of fun! Being the Purisima where everyone sings to Mary, President Lazo made some stress on the fact that we don´t do that in this religion. There were a bunch of converts there! That was a lot of fun.

Tuesday we found out about changes! And those that had changes were... Elder Hanson and Elder Smith. Which meant that Elder Medrano and I were going to stay here in the area with two new companions. And they are.... Elder Bradbeer and Elder Lunt! Elder Bradbeer is a brand new Zone Leader, so I am grateful to be able to train a new one. Elder Lunt has about 5 months in the mission, and he is really cool. He is a lot like me, from Gilbert. Elder Bradbeer is from Napa, Idaho. There were a lot of changes made to the Zone. The Zone is now really young and inexperienced. I am about the only one with time in my assignment. Which brings lots of pressure but excites me because that usually means people want to work. I am excited to try and help them! 

Wednesday was change meeting. Said goodbye to Naisbitt and a few other great friends. That was hard. Then we headed on out to Juigalpa! I worked the whole day with Elder Lunt showing him the area and such, that was fun. 

Thursday I was back working with Elder Medrano. We worked hard trying to always find new investigators and help them realize the importance of the Restoration. I love the Restoration. Ever since that day I stepped foot in the Sacred Grove. It is something undeniable. People here have a tough time understanding the Restoration, because they have a real funnel knowledge and sometimes don´t want to learn more, but we work hard to help them see the blessings that come from it. And focusing on Christ and Christmas obviously!

Friday I went to Boaco with Elder Lunt to work with some sisters. It was rough. They need some help. But that´s why we have leaders right?! Which makes me grateful for the people that I have in my life that help me change and improve the things that must be changed. Hence why there are modern day prophets today. To help us!

Saturday was a normal work day, but it was really, really hot. Like bad news bears hot. 

Sunday we had a pretty good day in church, and had a couple converts show up, that was great! Because we are here to Baptize and Retain :) the Zone had a bad day. We have some things to change! The mission is hitting a wall right now, because the people get real frita here in December. I think we have already hit our goal of 2060, but President wants us to keep working, obviously! This week should be fun!

In our house we have 4 missionaries that like basketball, so this morning we got up and played some ball at 6 so we could get back for studies. It was fun! My whole entire body hurts right now, but I wasn´t too rusty :)

Love you all so much. Happy anniversary to my amazing parents tomorrow! Keep up the good work! Go Braves.

Elder Merrill

Elder Hanson, Merrill and Naisbitt's Moms

Was it, cold here?

The answer would be no. We just thought it was for a minute. This week was awesome! Went by unbelievably fast, but we worked really hard! Congrats to Annie on the W and the good work. Let´s talk about last week!

Tuesday was normal, just preparing for Wednesday, which was Leadership Council!

Wednesday we had Consejo! Our goal for the year was 2060 baptisms, we have 2037 right now.. gettin close! I think we hit it this last week but the APs wouldn´t tell me hahaha. December is always really tough because the people party really hard, drinking and all that crap. This place professes to be very Christlike, but sometimes they just forget during the most important time of the year. But more of that later! This was the last Consejo for Elder Naisbitt and a bunch of other friends that I have made on the mission! That was crazy. We had a good time. President talked about hashtag HaNacidoUnSalvador and the APs talked about how to contact better. It was fun. The Zone is improving. Elder Hanson and I then had the horrible trip back to Juigalpa, and didn´t get back until right before 9!

Mission Leadership Council

Thursday Elder Hanson and I worked together because our companions were sick, then prepared Zone Meeting. We worked really hard, because we had a lot of crap to get done. Elder Hanson and I teach really similar, so it is fun to work with him, and we work really hard! We had a really spiritual lesson with Rolando, teaching about the Fall. The Spirit guided us to teach about how the Fall helps us to repent, which brings happiness! I learned that on Thursday. I had never looked at the Fall from that point of view, because we don´t really teach the Plan of Salvation that much here. Then we got everything ready for Zone Meeting!

Elder Merrill and Elder Hanson

Friday was Zone Meeting, and that went well! We talked a lot about seeing how much we love the Lord, because we have some missionaries right now that don´t really want to work. The more we love the Lord, the more we will work. Missionary service all comes down to our love of the Lord. If we love the Lord, then we will throw everything behind and focus on the Lord. Like one of my favorites, Peter. He was challenged by the Lord! Then Elder Hanson and I went getting to know some investigators from the Zone. That was fun.

Saturday we felt like it was cold so we left the house with jackets and long sleeve shirts. We were wrong. It was about 80 degrees but felt cold. That is Nicaragua. Then it got really hot again! Saturday was a normal work day.

Eighty Degrees!

Sunday we didn´t have a lot of success getting people to church, but had a bunch of investigators go to the First Presidency´s Christmas Devotional. That was fun! 

That is about it for this week. Today is December 7th, the day of Purisima! When everyone sings to a shrine of The Virgin Mary for treats. It is so weird. Sometimes I don´t understand these people hahaha. We will see how it goes! Love you all so much! Keep up the good work and remember why a Savior was Born!

Love,

Elder Merrill