I haven't been jumped this week!

Here we go! (Thinking of Mario right now I'm not sure why). Hahahaha officialy another great week down in the mission field! Livin the dream in Nicaragua! This was my first full week with my "son" Elder Castro, and man we threw some fire! Hahahah here are some updates :)

We made the decision that we are going to be exactly obedient. And that is what we tried to do the best we could. And would you look at that.... we got some dang good blessings out of it :) Monday we went looking for a guy named Anner, who's had times in the church but has basically been lost. At about 8:30 at night, we went back to his house one last time, and he was there! He told us that for awhile he never felt ready to get baptized, but now he wants to get it done as quickly as possible, and we're hoping for this month :)

Wednesday we were walking around contacting, life every single day, and I saw a little side street and thought "hmm that might be good to contact". We went back there a little later, contacted some 16 year old boy who's BEEN GOING TO CHURCH FOR LIKE HALF A YEAR BUT THE MISSIONARIES HAVE NEVER TALKED TO HIM AND HE WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED. So he should get baptized this week or next week :) we also found some other new really good investigators this week. Just gotta be obedient and trust in the Lord! 

My Son, Elder Castro, is great! He loves to work, loves to contact, and loves to talk! And for someone that doesn't have a huge interest in talking like me, it works out perfectly :) We work well together, but above all we're working hard and being super obedient. Sometimes that's all you can ask for :)

Other than that, not a whole lot is going on here :) other than I haven't been jumped this week! Although it's been close a couple times :) I love the members here in Managua, and I love being a missionary por La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias :)

Love you all,

Elder Merrill

 

These two pictures were taken on his last day in Granada

Reppin' the #5

Elders Merrill, Collado and Hartley and a family in Granada

These pictures are from transfers

Elder Castro (new companion), Elder Collado (former companion and trainer) and Elder Merrill (pre-dental probs!)

Elders Bennet and Jimenez, good friends from last area (Granada)

He's back!!!

Hola familia y amigos. Crap I´m sorry I´m really horrible with the whole picture thing. I promise that I took pictures and I brought my memory card to send them, but this place that I´m at will only take USB cords and I didn´t bring that... next week I promise! Hahahah sorry!

Ok this is going to be relatively short, but I had my surgery on Friday! They took out two teeth completely, put in two metal posts, and the implants! I was in the dentist chair for about two and a half hours... let´s just say it wasn´t the most pain free day of my life :) 

Hahahaha yeah so Friday afternoon, with a huge mouth and quite a bit of pain, I spent the whole day at the house of the Beals, the senior couple. It was a really long day hahaha. I spent the night at the house of the Secretaries and APs, then Saturday I rejoined my companion and we got right to work! Another thing that I love about the Lord. Do His will and He will provide. I've hardly felt any pain during these three days!

To be able to work with my companion Elder Castro again is truly a blessing (I promise I'll send pics next week sorry). He is such a good kid and such a hard worker. We have decided that we are just going to be as obedient as we can and work as hard as we can, with a lot of prayer in between! Not a whole lot to say because it was only a few days! Oh but I couldn't eat again until today... we ate McDonalds and it was glorious :)

Ahhhhhh something else I forgot.... I have a retainer! Hahahahah They couldn't put the implant in, so right now my top tooth is part of a retainer that I can take out at any second! Super weird but super fun. Once again I will send a bunch of pics next week!

I'm so grateful for my Savior and for this wonderful opportunity I have to be here in Nicaragua. Amo ser misionero. Lo amo, lo vivo, y me encanta. Love you all :)

Elder Merrill

We would like to thank all of our dear friends and family for your love, prayers and fasting these last 2 weeks.  We feel so blessed!!  President and Hermana Russell were so good to keep us updated and they took such great care of Sam.  We will forever be grateful for all that they did for our quiet Elder Merrill ;)

 

Back to liquids...

Email sent yesterday

Brother and Sister Merrill,

Elder Merrill finished his dental procedures this morning around 10am.  All the specialists were there and took great care of him.  President went into the procedure room several times to check on Elder Merrill.

After it was completed, Elder Merrill walked out into the waiting room and didn't even have a chance to sit down when I took this photo of him for you.  

Of course, his mouth was still numb. I asked him how it was and our Elder of few words honestly replied: "Rough".  He is a brave soldier.  I told him that the worst was over: two extractions, two posts placed., and two temporary teeth in place.

Elder Merrill wanted to go back to the mission office and enter Baptism Records, but President and I told him no.  His orders for today were to sleep. We told him the office work will be there for him tomorrow. 

(He is currently sleeping, so he is obedient!)  Elder Merrill is one elder with a great work ethic.  Thank you for teaching him the importance of work.

Now we wait for his mouth to heal. Elder Merrill is back on his Ensure and Special K drinks for about three days and then slowly adding back softer foods. I told him that tonight I would bring him some fruit and we can try to blend up a smoothie.   In about three months he returns to the specialist for placement of his two new permanent teeth.  This followup visit will not carry with it any pain. If there are any problems before then, we will resolve them.  

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Best Regard,

Hermana Peggy Russell

Nicaragua Managua Sur

Eating a hamburger with a knife and fork!!

Brother and Sister Merrill,

Before we left the office Monday, President took another look at Elder Merrill's lip.  He commented that it was healing very nicely. To which Elder Merrill replied:  "I am disappointed I won't have a scar". This is obviously a man's perspective, and he is adjusting very well to his circumstances!

Yesterday, President and I took the office elders to Mombacho,  an inactive volcano in Granada. Elder Merrill is part of the office group right now, so he also came along on our hiking adventure. (The Office Elders and APs work so hard that they often miss their Pdays.)  

Elder Merrill's dental procedures are tomorrow morning and then we will have him rest.  We will take good care of him.  Thank you for your continued support.

Hermana Russell

Nicaragua South

I thought you might enjoy these photos from yesterday.

Burgers after the 2.5 hour hike .

Elder Hayes (Materials Sec),  Elder Araniva (AP), Elder Benson (AP), 

Elder Merrill, and Elder Naisbitt (Gen. Sec.)

They all ate two of these huge 1/3 pound hamburgers!  Elder Merrill needed a fork and knife so he could get the burger into bite size pieces but that didn't slow him down.

Happy to be eating again!

Dear Whoever Actually Reads This,

I ate food on Monday. Literally the best day of my entire life. Hahahahaha that's about how my week was last week! But it was a pretty good week nonetheless. Here is a quick breakdown of what happened last week!

Every day I worked in the office with the office missionaries til about 4:30-5ish. Then I'd go with the Senior couple Elder and Sister Beals to their house until one of the APs or Secretaries would come and pick me up. I stayed and still stay at the house of the Secretaries and APs, and it's super fun there! My "hijo" or son or companion Elder Castro is currently working and staying with other missionaries while I'm getting all this dental work done. So my "companions" for right now are Elder Naisbitt (Utah), Elder Hayes (North Carolina, no relation to Jord), and the APs. They are all awesome! Every single day last week, all I did was drink protein shakes. And an occasional yogurt. And water. Needless to say it was a pretty long week hahahaha. But... I got some great studying in, and I did do a little work in the field! The problem was that I couldn't open my mouth very much to talk, and I had two shattered teeth hahahah. But hey we had two baptisms on Saturday! I don't have the pictures but it was lots of fun :) that's about it for last week, but I have some good details on what is happening right now.

So I went in Monday for my operation to get the one tooth taken out and another fixed..... and it turns out that I have to lose two teeth :) all they did on Monday was take out part of the lower tooth, so I'm currently without a tooth! The toothless wonder! And tomorrow is officially the big day! They are going to take out the rest of the lower tooth and all of the upper tooth, drill in titanium posts, and fill in the fake tooth! It'll take about 4-5 months for these posts to recover and solidify with the gum, and that's when they put in the new teeth around the posts. So tomorrow is going to be lots of fun listening to doctors drill metal into my mouth! Then in a couple days I should be good to go completely! I've eaten a little this week and it has literally been the best thing in the entire world because I can chew on my right side! Life is so good!

Yesterday we went out to Mombacho! It's a Volcano here in Nicaragua, and it was sooooooo sick. President took the whole office staff out there. Us 5 missionaries hiked like 2 million feet up and my legs were absolutely dead afterwards, but the views... wow it was worth the pain :) President is really, really strict, but he can have some fun too :)

Not a whole lot to say, but I just wanna send a big thank you for everyone that has given me support here. It's really not all that bad, I just got a rock thrown at my face, but the love that I've received here in Nicaragua and back in the States is a testimony to me how great this world really is. I'm pretty dang lucky to have the people I do in my life, and I don't know what the heck I did to deserve it. I thank you all and love you all :) Que Dios les bendiga!

Elder Merrill

John looked at this picture of Sam in the hospital and said "That's embarrassing, there's hardly any blood!"

Temporary Companions Elders Naisbitt and Hayes

Mission APs

Smiling!

Not smiling...

Worth the pain!

President and Hermana Russell

Stitches removed!

We received this email late last night!

Brother and Sister Merrill, 

Elder Merrill is now working with the Office Elders and they have their PDay on Wednesdays.  You should hear from him on Wednesday. 

The stitches were removed on Saturday, as I mentioned in my other email, and the wounds are healing wonderfully with no signs of infection. The maxiofacial surgeon did a great job and there should be little to no scar. (President took the photo below of Elder Merrill this afternoon.)

Elder Merrill saw two specialists (endodontic & orthodontic) today and did great at his appointment. The lower tooth they thought could be repaired with a crown was found with a fracture that reached 4mm below the flat break along the backside of the tooth. Unfortunately, there is not enough good tooth left to repair with a crown. Today they also made molds of his upper and lower teeth. 

On Friday, they will pull both the upper and the lower teeth. At the same time they will install the two titanium implants, pack with bone graft material and then wait 4-6 months while the implants bond to the bone. Once they are confident the implants have properly bonded, they will then install the permanent teeth. In the meantime, he will have two temporary teeth (for cosmetic reasons). 

Elder Merrill was in no pain and when the anesthetic wore off, simple ibuprofen handled the small discomfort. Within hours, I saw him in the office eating a banana (or two) and happy to be having some solid food. 

I hope this helps to answer some of your concerns and relieves some of your worry. Should you have any questions, please let us know.  

Best Regards, 

Hermana Russell

Lookin' Good!

This is an excerpt from Elder Tanner Redding's Oct. 27 email:

As I was reading this week I read in Alma 38 about when Alma the younger was giving his son Shiblon council.  I read vs: 3 and 4 which say:

"3 I say unto you, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering among the people of the Zoramites. 

4 For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that thou wast stoned for the word’s sake; and thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee; and now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee."

When I read this I thought of Sam. I was completely overcome with Sam's experience but more importantly Sam's response. To realize then that he may have suffered quite a bit of pain and the time but to completely direct it outward and be thankful for our Savior and for Joseph Smith is a testimony of Sam's dedication to The Lord and this work. It is very natural for us to look inward when we have things go wrong, or get drilled in the head by a rock. That is the natural man, that is not Sam. Sam has always been a great example to me as a friend and continues to be an example to me in this great work. I love what Alma says to his son. He tells him the he has had great joy in Shiblon because of his hard work and patience. I can say the same thing about Sam. I know that our Heavenly Father is proud of him and his hard work and patience. I know that he is proud of all of My greet friends and their great service. I am so grateful for the great friends I have who are amazing examples to me! 

We sure love Tanner and all of Sam's friends!

Back at his apartment?

Sister Russell sent this email last night.

Sister Merrill, 

Minutes ago, Elder Merrill left the mission home and I was able to share with him your message.  He was audibly touched by the amount of people that have emailed and prayed for him. Thank you for having such a wonderful family who offer great support to Elder Merrill. 

Sincerely,

Hermana Russell

Thank you to all of our friends and family for your love and concern! We will continue to post updates as we receive them.