Have faith and trust in the Lord!

Note:  We went to St. George last weekend for my niece's farewell.  She will be serving in Nauvoo!  She spends 6 months in Nauvoo, then is sent to another mission in the states for 6 months, then finishes her mission in Nauvoo again for 6 months! We love you Sharwan!

Dad on his tippy toes. Hahaha nice picture in St. George! Oh how I love that place! Good luck Wanny! That is a weird mission but super awesome how you get to do that! This week was quite eventful but at the end really not that eventful. I have very little time left in the mission, so my letters will all be focused on getting to the point and bearing my testimony. 

I had changes! Tuesday we went around saying goodbye to the people of Juigalpa. That was actually really, really hard. When I got called to Juigalpa, I was a little bit upset. No one has good things to say about that place. It is a difficult area, far away from Managua, lots of hills, rocks and dirt, the people aren't very educated or receptive, and there is nothing to do. None of the things really mattered to me other than the difficult area part. I had just been in two very difficult areas, so I wasn't expecting Juigalpa. But I learned a lot there. And I might have learned the most important lesson of my mission. I stopped trying to do it all by myself. I had been doing it for 18 months. I would work really hard and expect the blessings. My prayers would be along the lines of, "I will do this so that I can have this blessing." But the blessings would rarely come. And it was frustrating. However, about mid-December I changed something. Instead of saying prayers like that, my form of prayers turned into, "Lord, I have done my part. But I need thy help, because I can't do it by myself. I put it into thy hands." And then the focus of my prayers were for Him to help us bring people to church and baptize the people we were teaching. My prayers became begs and pleas instead of just orders from a drive-thru. And immediately, everything changed. Last change was one of the most successful changes that that area had ever had. I have been working really hard the whole mission, but the faith was never to the level it needed to be. That has changed. 

I also grew to love the people of Juigalpa. We had to say goodbye to a lot of great, humble people there that will be in my heart for the rest of my life. I will dearly miss them. I haven't been a very sentimental missionary, but these wonderful friends of mine in Juigalpa helped me on a very important process, and I love them for that. I will never forget them! And I can't wait to see them again soon!

Changes. I am now in Altagracia, Zona Universitaria. Or in other words, smack dead center of Managua and the mission. Our Zone contains the mission office, McDonald's is in my area, lots of that good stuff. I was in this Zone when I was in Monserrat back in the day! Actually, the western border of my area is right across the street from Monserrat. Unfortunately the two areas are not in the same Zone anymore so I won't be able to visit, but I have already had multiple people ask me about my teeth incident! Hahahaah just so you know, if we were to translate the word Altagracia directly to English, it would say High Grace. Which is so true. This is one of the most blessed areas in the entire mission! It is ridiculous. Everyone is positive. I feel like I am in Bluefields again! On Sunday we took 10 investigators to church, and they are all progressing with a baptism date! We also had a baptism last week! Here name is Siomara. She is a family to complete, about 70 years old, and really cool! I obviously didn't know her very well but she is awesome! We have been working really hard. My ZL companion is Elder Heileson from Syracuse, but will be living in Riverton after the mission. He is awesome, I have known him for quite a while! Love him! My companion is Elder Sam Hall from Texas. He is super cool too!

Siomara's baptism

Elder Hall, Siomara and Elder Merrill

Oh one more thing... the chapel here is about the nicest there is in Nicaragua... which means it has a basketball court inside. With real hoops. It doesn't quite have wood, but close enough! We played today! It was unreal, first time on a real hoop since the MTC. I need to work on my dribbling, but the shot isn't looking too bad :)

 

Basketball!

 

Love you all so much! Have a great week. Have faith and trust in the Lord!

Elder Merrill