Modern Day Revelation

Common sense is less common here than the belief of modern day revelation. And no one can conceive the thought of modern day revelation. Hahahahah people just aren´t entirely street smart here, but I love them with of my heart, because they are so kind. This week went by super fast. Let´s see if I can describe it.

Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday were basically all the same! This is another really tough area, so we have been working super hard to find positive people! I can honestly say that this has been the hardest working week of my mission, and for that we are proud! There is just a little desafio here, the people don´t understand some things! Nicaraguans are very scared of commitments. Don´t ask me why, but that is just how they are. They don´t want to commit to anything! Like I have said before, they are all Christian, but they are very caught up in their traditions and sometimes don´t understand basic doctrine! Por ejemplo, commandments. I have asked many people what a commandment is, and they respond saying, "no le podria decir," which means "I couldn´t tell ya." Nor do they understand how to really pray, because all they do is  memorized prayers. And something like modern day revelation?? Hahahahaha. Good luck. No but the good thing is that they have the basics! So we have needed to really simplify our teachings, so that they can understand a little better. We have gotten a lot of people to commit, but then they forget. This last week, however, we were able to have a pretty decent week at church!

Thursday was Thanksgiving! Lol. Bad news bears. As a Zone, we had a little Thanksgiving lunch, but it was pretty dumb. We had Pizza and Soda. I might be the most boring Zone Leader in the entire world. But who cares, we need to work hahahaha. Then Franklin came down and we had a quick little dinner at about 4 o´clock! He took us to a really nice restaurant and we got to eat! I had chicken cordon bleu. Really good. That was it for Thanksgiving! I remembered how grateful I am for the Gospel. It has blessed me so much. 

Thanksgiving with Franklin

I am grateful for my family! I love each and every one of them so much. I am grateful for my friends! And I am grateful for the people I have been able to work with here on the mission. I love this work!

That is about it. This week we have Consejo, and we are starting the last month of the year. Here comes the pressure to hit our goal! Love you all!

Elder Merrill

Lifting up a zone

Good luck to the Aggies this week at Duke. That should be fun! This last week was a lot of fun, with lots of hard work! Super sad for Annie. Didn´t the same thing happen to Liz back in the day? But I guess that is cool that she is in the dances. I have always loved the Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner! Remember when Wild Bill came? That was fun hahaha. But anyways, let´s get onto the work from this last week!

Nicaraguan ID

Tuesday and Wednesday were lame. Tuesday was a really successful day for Elder Medrano and I, and Wednesday was a really good day for Elder Hanson and Smith! I told you guys about Adolfo and Dany, who were our investigators preparing for baptism last Saturday. On Tuesday they passed their interviews, but it was still a little up in the air.

Thursday, we had interviews with President Russell! We have these normally every three months, so it was weird to see how fast these last few months have gone. It was a really long day, because Elder Hanson and I have to overview everything. We start out going in with President and telling him what to look for in the Zone, and reviewing everyone´s goals. Then all the missionaries talk to him! My personal interview was great, talking about how to help this Zone and how to efficiently contact. I have worked really hard this last year, but really without a lot of success. We could say that it is the Lord´s will, which it may be, but that is a conformist attitude and keeps us from working. That is what I love about what we do here. We are constantly looking for ways to improve, knowing that the Lord WANTS US TO HAVE SUCCESS.  So we talked a little bit about that and some other desafios in the Zone. Then Elder Hanson and I go in one last time to review the day. President talked about the Zone is doing well, and we are doing a good job trying to change the attitude and make it into a winner. 

Friday I went out to Boaco, La Ciudad de Dos Pisos. It has a ton of hills! We just went to do District Meeting for the sisters. I taught about the importance of verification. Extremely important here ahahaha because people here don´t really have great priorities. Then Elder Smith and I ate a hamburger, interviewed a little kid for baptism and went back to Juigalpa.

Saturday was our baptisms! Well, they were supposed to be at least. We passed by in the morning and little Dany was good, as well as Adolfo! In the afternoon, Dany was still gone and Adolfo had left to ¨run an errand¨. They always run errands here. That is my least favorite thing to hear. He never showed up that night! We kept contact with him and decided to do it the next morning, but we thought he was just playing around with us and wasn´t gonna want to do it. So this is what we did. Sunday morning we woke up at 4:30 and were outside of his house by 5:15 to make sure he wouldn´t escape from us! He woke up at 6 and actually got baptized! It was a miracle, to be honest. Super grateful for that. I didn´t go to the baptism because I was getting investigators for church, but everything turned out well!

Dany's Baptism

Dany

That is about it for the week. Hope you all have a great thanksgiving this week! I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be in the service of the Lord, doing everything I can to help my beloved Nicas come unto Christ! I am grateful for the Savior and all He has done for me. I love being in His service!

Go Aggies. Beat BYU!

Elder Merrill

Baptismal Font

Adolfo

What Happened This Last Week?

Couldn´t tell ya... hahahah times go by so fast! This was another week full of... contacting and sweating. I am still trying to adjust to the heat after being in a nice weathered Jinotepe for 6 months. I smell really bad! We have been working incredibly hard and doing all we can to help our beloved Nicas progress towards the Gospel.

On Monday I got a new companion! His name is Elder Medrano. He is from Texas! He has a little over a year in the mish, and he is hilarious. Hahahahaha he did track at Texas Pan American on a scholly, so he has been telling me a little about how awesome being a college athlete is. Just hope everything works out! But yeah he is a super cool kid and we are workin hard. This last week I also signed the NLI and the scholarship agreement to play at Utah State. It is still forever away, but pretty exciting. 

We have been spending a lot of time trying to find new investigators here in this area. Everyone has their own ¨Atonement Area¨ in the mission, and the area I am in right now has been known to be one of them. I feel like I am in my third! Hahahahah so Elder Medrano and I have spent basically the whole last week contacting and working with Less Actives to try and lift up this area! But it is tough, a la grande. There are a lot of people that don´t even want to listen to the Mormons here. So, my companion and I are starting to go with a little ¨Process of Elimination¨ contacting. Contact everyone to find the people that don´t want to receive the Gospel. At some point you have got to find someone positive! That was Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday I worked with some struggling sisters. That was a fun experience. Friday we had District Meeting. Elder Miculax is the new DL here in District Juigalpa, and he is throwing fire! He is really helping with the lifting up of the Zone. After that I worked with Elder Smith, elder Hanson´s son, in our area! I forgot to tell you that Elder Smith is from Bingham, and he is McKenna Smith´s cousin! Mom I think Mckenna´s mom is part of your dinner group or something? He is super cool, and fun to work with! We had a really cool experience with a guy that is super addicted to weed but really interested in changing and learning about the Gospel. So we will see what happens this week with this guy :)

Sunday President Russell came to the Branch that we are in. And it was Sister Russell´s birthday! We got to sing to her, that was fun. We hardly got any investigators to church, which was kinda embarrassing, but oh well we are repenting of the things that need to be repented of and working to fix things, so hopefully it all goes better this week. We should have 2 baptisms this week! Their names are Adolfo and Dany. Please pray for them :) 

Love you all so much! Thanks for the support. Keep up the good work. Serve!

Elder Merrill

(Sorry no pics this week)

Chontaleno ya. (?)

Sorry for not writing last week. My son Elder Peterson and I had to go to Managua to do a couple things, and my new area is about 3 hours away! Elder Peterson did get the chance to briefly write his family last week, don't worry mom :) So, I had changes! Finally left the Zone of Jinotepe. It was difficult, but I really miss it. And I was changed to Juigalpa! Super hot, eastern side of Nicaragua.

Franklin from Jinotepe

So let's talk a little about the Zone that I am in. Juigalpa. As I said last week, my new ZL companion is Elder Hanson. He has done a great job, but the other leaders in this Zone were not doing a good job, so the Zone was a little dead when I got here. They had a bad month in October, and things were looking really bad for November. Therefore... we had some things to change! And we are in the process of doing so. We have changed the attitude, the way of working, respect for leaders, how to baptize, all that good stuff. As I heard one time a few months back from a Stake Leader here in Nicaragua, "the leader always determines the rhythm." So as leaders, Elder Hanson and I are trying to first off give the example, and then help others to follow it. We have seen that things are already changing! Because they are doing what they should be doing better, they are completing with their goals, and more baptisms are popping up out of nowhere! O sea, miracles :) we hope to keep this going to help turn this thing around! Our personal area isn't necessarily considered one to be "blessed." Third straight really tough area that I have been put in. I guess I just haven't learned what the Lord wants me to learn yet! We are working super hard to get this area moving, like really hard. 

Alright sorry, with basically two weeks since writing, I am really confused as to what has been going on! So next week will better. On Tuesday Hanson and I had Leadership Conference at President's House. I love President and the opportunity that we had to learn from him. I will miss that guy. And the opportunity to see a bunch of my best friends! Naisbitt goes home one month from today. I am really gonna miss that guy. He is crazy haahah. On Friday we had Zone Meeting. We basically just motivated and exigird the missionaries. Funny story, the tie that mom sent me, Elder Hanson has the same one, so we went all twinny for a day! Wahoo!

I loved working with my American son Elder Peterson this last week! I love this work. Sorry for the bad update, next week will be better! But I am still good because the one I sent a few weeks ago was really long and good. I am so grateful to be a missionary for the Church! And to be here in Juigalpa! Go Jazz! This is our year!

Love you all. Keep up the good work. Next one's it.

Elder Merrill

He's alive!!

This is probably not worth your time, but thought you might want to know Sam is still alive.  How did moms do it in the good ole days?! I found the picture off his former ZL companion's blog.

............

Hey, just wanted to quickly let you guys know that I am alive! Hahaha I haven't been able to write, because I was in Managua all day Monday with my new son! His name is Elder Peterson, from Morgan, Utah. First American son. I am in Juigalpa. East side of Nicaragua. My ZL companion is Elder Hanson. I have now been put with my 3 best mission friends as my companion. Naisbitt, Copeland and now Hanson. Other than that all is well. I will write you guys next week. Love you. Have a great week!

Elder Merrill

Elder Copeland and Elder Merrill