Rice and Beans

I realized last week that I have never talked about the food that I eat here! Oops... I have kinda not really thought about that. Sorry. So here is an update on my food! Rice and Beans. Alright now lets do an update on my week :)

This last week was awesome, as always :) And as always..... I can't really remember what happened. Oh yeah.... STRESS. This last week was completely full of just plain stress. Being the last week of the month, there are people that need to get baptized! We have not had a great month in the zone, so we have had even more pressure. We finished solid, but it definitely could have been better. The thing here in Nicaragua, is that you never know what could happen. Because here, out of the nowhere, people will decide that they are not ready to get baptized, or they will move, or the long lost uncle will show up all of the sudden and tell them they shouldn't get baptized in the mormon church, and a million more reasons. It is so fun :) So, we have been working a lot harder, and August should be a huge month for us and the Zone. We are going for the Zone Record :)

And our area... is literally the hardest area in all of Nicaragua. The thing about this area is that EVERYBODY is active in other churches. That would be awesome to teach the Restoration and the Book of Mormon in any other situation, but these people don't believe that there is a true church, and they don't understand the whole authority thing either, so it is really hard to find new people and convince them of their wickedness ;) This week we had an AP come and work in our area. He contacted about 30 people, and didn't find anything. That is very unusual for an AP. So we just gotta work really hard and depend a whole lot on the Lord.

I wish that over these last 13 months I had been more focused on seeing the tender mercies of the Lord. The little miracles that he gives us every day when we pray with faith. I have improved so much in my scripture study and prayer, and it has helped a bunch! As we pray with faith, specifically, and search to see the answers, they will always come. I know without a doubt in my mind that God answers prayers! He wants to answer! This last Saturday night I got on my knees, completely humbled by the love that God has for us, because even with all my imperfections, he was able to answer my prayers this week. Pray as if everything was in God's hands, and then work as if everything was in yours. I promise we will see the difference!

I was joking about the food... we do eat a little more than that! They usually give us some lil piece of meat. And the other day we got like a lil shiskabob thingy! That was cool. The weird thing about this place is Gallo Pinto. Rice and Beans mixed. That's what it is. Now, let's not get confused here. Rice and beans separated is pretty gross. But when you put them together... the best thing I have ever eaten. It is the weirdest thing in the entire world, and I will never understand how it works out that way, but it does! Rice and Beans!

 

Gallo Pinto and a lil shiskabob thingy!

 

Love you all, thanks for everything! I feel your prayers every day!

Elder Merrill

a selfie with Elder Copeland

On the bus to Zone conference

Another week in the books

P Day today.... and I got to sleep a little bit! Even though I am still super tired, it was so nice to finally sleep a little. This is the first P Day in like two months that I have gotten to take a nap because we are always so busy. And it was definitely needed! So here is a little update of what happened last week :)

As I said, Tuesday was the Multi Zone Conference up in Managua. And it was awesome! But let me just tell ya all about this day. So as we had to do with change meeting a few weeks ago, Elder Naisbitt and I had to go down in a bus to pick every missionary up. First, we went down south to Rivas, then back up north passing through to pick everybody up on the way up to Managua. So.... we went to bed at about 11:30 on Monday night, woke up at 2 on Tuesday morning and began the trip! That was a tough morning.... but then we got to the Multi Zone and began the journey. The focus this time was one commandment in specific.... The Sabbath Day! I think that has been a focus in the whole church this year.. because it needs to improve! Especially here in Nicaragua. It is bad news bears. We talked a lot about how to help people get to church! It was great :) Then Elder Naisbitt and I gave a little class to all the missionaries about how to present the Book of Mormon to an investigator.... I hope that we can all cherish this great book a little bit more in our lives! That went well. At least President Russell liked it :) and then after... we got to watch Meet the Mormons! That is such an awesome movie. Other than seeing Salt Lake City and football which kind of hurts... it was super cool, and it makes me super proud to be a Mormon! Then the Multi Zone finished... at about 5:30. So the way the day started.. it had to be finished. We took everybody back! At 8 we dropped everybody off in Rivas, after dropping all the other missionaries off. So me, Naisbitt, and the two guys that were driving the bus picked up a little Burger King (we bought) and headed back up to Jinotepe! We got home right at 9:30. That was easily the longest, most tiring day of my entire life. I was absolutely destroyed. But it was fun so life is all good :)

Wednesday was normal, and Thursday I went down to Rivas to help out a little bit with everything. Friday Elder Naisbitt and I had a meeting with President Russell and the Stake Presidency from this Stake here. And that was awesome too! President Russell is about the smartest guy I know. The Stake Presidency is super supportive of us too, so it was all fun. Saturday the person that was supposed to get baptized didn't, we hope she does this week :) And here we are!

Trek is awesome, Molli turns 25 this week, Kelli leaves on a mission this week, and the Gospel is still real :) Become! Something that I heard, and something we can all apply... the rhythm is always determined by the Leader. And we can all be leaders in our lives :) Love you all! Go Pioneers!

Love

Elder Merrill 

Come, Come Ye Saints

Another week down! And another month, as I have now hit 13. 

This week we got to baptize Kevin! He was an investigator in this area in December... but because of problems with the family and with the missionaries, he didn't get baptized. But we contacted him about a month ago, and he told us that he was ready to restart with the missionaries and get baptized! I don't know how we are getting blessed so well right now. This is the first time this year that this area has had multiple baptisms in one month. 

 

Baptism of Kevin

Even with our imperfections the Lord is finding a way to bless us hahahah! And this week we have Carmen that is just about ready! This is actually a pretty cool story. We have been teaching her boyfriend Umberto for about 2 months now. We have been teaching her, but really haven't been putting a whole lot of focus on her, because her boyfriend has had a problem smoking. She has been preparing for the 18th of July, but not with a lot of our help! But last week we started talking to her seriously, and she has been preparing herself! She says she is ready to get baptized, and that she wants to do it to keep the commandment and to give the example to her boyfriend. For those of you that don't know Nicaragua (all of you), that is an absolute miracle. That is faith! 

Also, as I said, we baptized Angel the week before the last. And guess what happened? This week..... He went to church again! Yes... that is not very common for one to go to church the week after their baptism, maybe we don't teach the whole "Endure to the End" principle very well hahahah. But that really wasn't the surprising thing... He already has the Aaronic Priesthood and passed the Sacrament! Honestly sitting there watching him do that was one of the best moments of my mission... that is our joy! To see him grow, and the faith that he has is truly inspiring. He is a special spirit. I wish you could all get to know him. But... he supposedly doesn't get along very well with his family so he didn't give us his full name when he got baptized.... so we have to re-do that this week! Wednesday :) 

 

Baptism of Angel

So... Trek this week. I remember like 4 years ago (holy crap) when I went on Trek! It is honestly one of the greatest experiences in the entire world. Hard but worth it! My parents, President and Sister Stuart were the best! One of my favorite Hymns is Come, Come Ye Saints... which is a pretty good description of the Pioneers back in the days! Why should we mourn, or think our lot is hard? We gotta enjoy the experience, because trials help us grow! Never forget that. Hard work and trials are not punishments. They are the price of admission for the opportunity to reach sustained excellence. So, as the good ole Randy Cox would always say.... Enjoy the journey! Love you all! Go Jazz!

Elder Merrill

Forgot one part hahahah... this week is a multi zone conference and Elder Naisbitt and I have to teach something so we will see what happens... hahahah but this week was awesome! It went by really fast, but there were some great experiences!

From the editor:  He mentions trek because we are going on trek this week. And his Pa, President Stuart, is now our stake president!!

Still an American!

Wow. I can't believe that another 4th of July has passed.... at least this year was easier than last year's 4th of July... a little bit more busy :) but even with the weird things happening in the States, I am so grateful and proud to be an American. You guys have no idea. I love Nicaragua with all of my heart. But there is nothing quite like America! Where at least I know I'm free!

This week wasn't quite as exciting as the last... but it was definitely rewarding! It all started tuesday as I went down to beautiful, hot as crap Rivas to work with the companionships down there a little bit! That was super awesome but so unbelievably hot. I also got to give a baptism interview to a guy that I started teaching back in March. He was the typical "golden investigator" but had left Rivas because of work (my life in a nutshell down in Rivas). But he came back a couple weeks ago and was ready to get baptized! I interviewed him, and he wanted me to baptize him! So Friday we went on down and I baptized him on Saturday! That was really cool. He was crying when he came out of the water, even though he wanted to hide it :) and I wasn't there, but on Sunday after being confirmed, he got up and bore his testimony! Fruits of the work right there!

Another thing that happened on Tuesday, it that the owner of our house kicked us out and gave us five days to find a new house. So we basically spent all of Wednesday and Thursday looking for houses, kind of boring and a waste of time. Friday as I said we went back down to Rivas to work with all the people that are going to get baptized this month. There are some awesome people in this world! And Saturday I baptized Edy!

This 4th of July could have been one of the best, and this is why. That kid I told you guys about last week? Named Angel? He was supposed to get baptized on Saturday. And he got baptized without any problems! It was so freaking cool. I don't know how I was lucky enough to have been able to teach this guy and find him, but somehow, the Lord blessed us and he was able to make one of the best decisions of his entire life. I will send pictures next week sorry :) But that was super awesome!

Well another dumb email... but this was a great week and I am so grateful to be here in the best mission in the world! And to be an American and to be a Mormon! Love you all!

Elder Merrill

P.S. Keep praying for one of my great friends, Taylor Gulbransen.... love you Tay.

P.P.S. I love Coach Occie Evans and President Packer.