El Deseo (The Desire)

Wow, what an incredible week! A week with very little sleep, hahaha but it went well! Congrats to the girls Basketball team on the State Title. Looks like Kennedy had a pretty good year! 

This week we had our mission tour with Elder Ochoa from the Area Presidency! It was on Wednesday, so Tuesday we just had a normal work day, and it was pretty successful! But let´s get to the important stuff.

So I was informed late Tuesday night that I was going to be conducting, so that was a lovely surprise. It wasn´t very difficult, but still not really what I wanted. Hahahaha it was fun. We got there real early, at about 7:00, which meant leaving the house at 4. At 8:45, Elder Ochoa and his wife, and President and Sister Russell showed up. They took pictures with each Zone, then we got to meet him! There is something special about being in the presence of a General Authority. Bishop Davies, President Nelson, Elder Snow, Elder Christensen, Elder Duncan and now Elder Ochoa. We have been extremely blessed! The second he walked into the room, you could feel his Spirit and his humility. I don´t know how they do it, but they are definitely some powerful men and women. We then began the meeting!

Conducting, as far as I know I did fine. Elder Ochoa and his wife talked, then Sister Russell shared a powerful message about faith. Afterwards, President Russell spoke about how the mission is going and shared a message. During this part I didn´t really have time to take notes because I was up on the stand, but they gave some good messages! Then Elder Ochoa began to talk again, giving us instruction. I absolutely love the way he spoke. He spoke with so much humility and yet with so much power, to the point where we could feel the Spirit and be motivated to be better. Throughout the day, he mentioned 7 points of things we could do better to have more success and become better missionaries. 

1. Become one with Christ

2. Be one with our Companions

3. Be one with the Ward

4. Be more Focused

5. Accept all the Responsibility

6. Teach Repentance

7. Love the People

Elder Ochoa´s focus was that we stop wasting time with people that aren´t going to progress and instead spend our time searching for the ¨escogidos.¨ We have so many numbers to complete, that sometimes we get caught up teaching people that we shouldn´t be teaching in order to complete the numbers. Elder Ochoa is very down with the Standards of Excellence, but wants us to get better in the way that we work with them. He motivated us to find the people that God has prepared. I wish I had brought my notes here to write, because I have forgotten some of the detailed notes. But anyways, he talked a lot about that, answered some questions, and bore a strong testimony. Oh and we got to each lunch with him too! That was as scared as I have ever been eating lunch, hahahaha. I didn´t spill though so we are good :)

Elder and Hermana Ochoa

But that wasn´t it! We also had a Leadership Council Meeting, presided by Elder Ochoa! Now, that is where the nerves get going, because it is a lot more personal. President Russell lead it, and for about 2 hours we just talked about ways to help the mission and about what we learned in the Multi Zone. It was awesome! All the Zone Leaders were participating, giving inspired ideas to get this thing rolling even more. But the best parts were the things that Elder Ochoa mentioned. So much humility, yet so much power. He had talked about giving more in the Multi Zone, but at Consejo he modified it. Instead of us giving more, he promised that the Lord will give us more. He said that it is hard for President to ask more than he is already asking, so instead of giving more, we should give better. My favorite quote. ¨The Lord doesn´t just want you to baptize, but he also wants you to learn how to become great leaders and Disciples of Christ.¨ While always reminding us that everything we do should be focused on Baptizing and Retaining :) it was awesome! He also helped us to know that everything we do as leaders should be with the plan to inspire. INSPIRE. I hope we can all inspire others while at the same time inspiring ourselves!

That is about it from the week. I love the Gospel, and I want to finish strong. Make the most of this time that I have left. I love you all so much. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Merrill

Elder Merrill and Elder Jimenez

Service

A really quick week

This week went by really fast, again. Sad news about Bountiful having a down year, but I am proud of Zazu and the work he has been putting in! Let's talk a little bit about the week.

In our mission we began to implement what the Church is doing when it comes to Exchanges. Now, instead of us leaving our area and going to work in the area of the missionaries, our missionaries will now be coming to our area to see our investigators and see how the leaders work. Elder Kleiner and I put that into effect on Tuesday, as we had some Sister missionaries come in and work with us. It was a lot of fun! It was different, but we were able to help the Sisters see a little bit better how to work and how to plan out the days. The Sisters had a better week in church, so I guess it helped!

Wednesday was a normal day, and Thursday we had interviews with President Russell! President was relatively happy with the way the Zone is progressing, and that we are baptizing in our area. It was a pretty long day waiting  for all the missionaries to have their interviews. I went out with Sister Russell and one of the APs to check that the houses were clean, and that was fun as well! My interview with President was pretty short, partly because President was tired and partly because there wasn't a lot to talk about. We just talked more about the Zone and ways to help it out, and verified my progress. Elder Kleiner and I focused on how we can help animate better the Zone. We have some ideas, and hope that we can see some of the results! It was a good day.

Other than that, not much happened this week. Got some investigators to church. Rolando (remember him from Christmas?) is progressing well, looks like he might get his interview this Sunday! This Wednesday we have a Multi Zone, and Elder Ochoa from the Area Presidency is going to be there! We will also have a Leadership Council with him present as well.... uh oh. Expect a good letter next week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Merrill

Sorry no pictures this week. Hopefully next week!

Trust in the Lord...

Last week I sent a long one right? Perfect, because not a lot happened this last week :) but it was still a lot of fun like always! Time to try and think of what happened.... last week was pretty normal! We just spent a lot of time working in our area. We have had a lot of baptisms recently, so we have been trying to find some new investigators!

On Wednesday, Elder Jimenez and I went to a part of the area that we hadn't really worked in a lot, and went contacting for a few hours. We hadn't really worked there because it is not known to be a productive part, but I have already contacted my whole area a couple times, so we decided to give it a shot. We found some really positive people! It is a residential area, so the people have a little more money. All the houses that we contacted were full of positive people. Especially Yusmara. We passed by her house and she was with her baby who seemed really inquieto, so our first thought was to keep going and come back later, but I guess something told us to just go and contact her! So we did it, and she was really positive. She accepted a fecha and we put a cita to go back when her husband was there. A couple days later we went back, and he was there. His name is Jose. He was wearing a shirt that looked real familiar to me and my companion, but he was really positive. Humble, willing to listen, learn and go to church. It is a family that wants to get closer to Christ. They already had a commitment for Sunday so they couldn't go to church, but they are committed for next week! We left, and about three blocks later, Elder Jimenez said, "I swear we have talked to them before." (in spanish obviously) We stopped and thought it through, and it was true. That is why we recognized the shirt! We had contacted that family a few weeks earlier in the street! They were positive and we had put a return cita, but actually didn't go back. Which makes me feel really bad. The Lord was gettin on us a little there. I feel like He will machete us later on for not going back, but I also feel like he couldn't let this family not receive the Gospel, so he led us to them again. Good lesson here. Trust in the Lord and the people He sticks in your path. We will see how they progress this week!

On Friday I went out to Boaco to do District Meeting, it was a good day! I interviewed Oscar, who was going to get baptized on the 20th, but after talking to him I felt like he was already ready, so we moved his date up to Saturday :) he got baptized! We also helped Larry get baptized last Saturday for the other companionship of Sisters in Boaco. He is the smartest investigator (was) I have ever met. He knew everything about the Gospel, just hadn't gotten baptized, but thank goodness that he decided to move to Boaco a few weeks ago. The weird thing about him is that he didn't want females to teach him, so I had to call him every day to verify how he was doing! Friday we talked to him, and everything went well Saturday!

Saturday we had two more baptisms! Hector and Jesi, two dope little kids. Their Mom Ana wants to get baptized too, but her pareja doesn't want to get married, so we are working with him! We hope to get her down this week. 

Sunday we didn't have a great day in church, but Elder Jimenez and I did bring two less-active families to church, so that was really cool. The rest of the night we just worked and ate some food!

This week we have interviews with President.... I have this one, then I think one more and then my final interview. So weird! We spent basically the whole morning cleaning the house, it was so dirty! Other than that, nothing! As far as I can remember.....

Love you all so much! I am so grateful for the people who show their love and their testimonies through their example! We can say all we want, but love always has and always will be an EXPRESSION. Never a saying. Love you all, and I love the Savior. I just hope that I can show my love through my service to Him and to God's children. Have a great week!

Elder Merrill

Sorry about last week...

I had the majority of it typed out last week but then ran out of time, I am sorry! The week before wasn't very active, other than our baptism of Gustavo, that was awesome! Now let me tell you about this week :)

First off, what a crazy week! Bountiful lost in drill and Coach Wall is not the football coach anymore. Two things that I did not see coming. Sorry Annie :( as Mom was saying, there is always next year! All of your 3 siblings and Mom have lost in State, so welcome to the club :) But we all ended up winning (except for Mom), so you don't need to worry too much. You still have 3 years! As for Coach Wall, that is a sad moment. I have to say that of men that I have learned a lot from, he is right up there at the top with Dad, Coach Maxwell and a few others. Coach Wall helped me to be a good football player, but he taught me to be a better man. I have applied countless numbers of his teachings in my mission, many of which have been EXTREMELY helpful and have changed my life. I will always be very grateful for him. He is a legend. And let's not forget Coach Boog as well! Boog has also taught me a lot, and will forever be a great friend. Love you Boog and Coach Wall!

So, on Tuesday we had Leadership Council. The mission didn't have a great month, so we were all a little concerned about what we were gonna get from President, but we all came out alive and without the shedding of blood ;) just kidding, it was all great! President helped us to get animated and to keep working, and he raised the Standards of Excellence.... now we have to do 8 lessons, 5 Converts and Less Actives, 26 Contacts all in one day, and bring at least 7 investigators to church each week. President is getting everything he can out of the mission for his short time remaining! That is really difficult, but with work it can be accomplished. He and the APs also talked about how we need to use the scriptures to answer doubts, and it is totally true. Al fin y al cabo the investigators need to pray and challenge the Lord to get their questions answered, but we need to help them see the basic doctrine and to realize that these things are possible. So we need to have a good knowledge of the scriptures. It is very important! It was good to see some friends and give our Zone Presentation. Elder Kleiner and I. President liked it! Then we had the super long 5 hour trip back to Juigalpa. We got home at around 8:30!

Leadership Council

Elders Hartley, Merrill, Copeland, Hanson and Heileson

Elders Hanson, Heileson and Merrill

Elder Kleiner and Elder Merrill

Wednesday and Thursday were normal work days, getting everything ready for Zone Meeting on Friday. Zone Meeting was super dope. Elder Kleiner and I worked hard to get the Zone animated. That has been one of our issues here, is animo. We have missionaries that work, but sometimes aren't really all that animated to do it. So our goal was to get them going and find some incentive. I think we did a pretty good job, but we will see what happens :) oh yeah remember Elder Shephard that was in the MTC with me? He was called as the Branch President for a little branch in my Zone! First Elder that Pres has called as BP in his time. No one expected that, because he isn't really that type, but he had been a Zone Leader for long enough (became ZL with me), so he's happy with it! We animated the Zone a little then got to work :)

Let me tell you a little bit about Pureza, Carmen and Yustina. They are some of the progressing investigators we have had for a little bit, and all 3 were on date for this last weekend. I didn't really teach Pureza, the other Elders did, but got to work a lot with Yustina and Carmen. They live with our lunch appt Hermana Fatima (more on this family in a bit). Carmen is Fatima's step-mom and Yustina is her step-sister. Dope investigators! We actually hardly taught Carmen because Fatima (a convert of almost a year now) convinced her into getting baptized and took her to church and everything! Yustina was golden from day one. She actually moved her fecha up from the 20th to the 6th. Every teaching was easy, because we always had Fatima and her 12 year-old son Newman right there helping us out! They were so ready for this weekend. Pureza was baptized on Saturday. She is the sweetest lady in the world. Fatima and her daughter Luceila went to the temple last week and got back Saturday night, so we did the baptism for Yustina and Carmen on Sunday morning. Everything went perfect. One of my best baptisms, and I didn't do anything :) power of the members! I love this family so much. I was so happy to see Fatima and Luceila go do baptisms in Honduras. They came back super happy. Makes me miss the temple but super excited for them. That is about it!

Carmen, Yustina, Fatima and Newman

Pureza

Carmen and Yustina

Who is Annie's seminary teacher? Yes I do use Gary's band, it helps! Dang I had other answers and questions but completely forgot. Maybe next week! Pictures to come!

Love,

Elder Merrill

Go Jazz!

My good friend, Christopher

A La

Wow. What a crazy week! Sorry we are writing a little late, it is because we just got back from our Multi Mission Conference with President Christensen from the Pres of the Seventy! But more on that later :)

So let´s go through the week real quick! Monday we worked hard, trying to get a few baptisms ready for Saturday! I knew that either Elder Medrano or I were going to have changes, so we tried to enjoy the final few days of working together. We worked really hard and had a lot of fun together. I really like Elder Medrano. 

Tuesday at about 2 they called us to let us know about changes! And... Elder Medrano and Elder Bradbeer were the two that had changes! Medrano was expected, but Bradbeer, my ZL comp, was a surprise. So Medrano and I went out to work! We visited John Edward, one of our baptism possibilities for the week. He is 14 and had been close to baptism but hadn´t felt sure nor had a lot of support from his parents. However, Medrano and I had made a really good connection with him. We had a really good, spiritual lesson with him. And he decided he was ready to be baptized Saturday! Straight miracle. Actually is was a really dope experience, but literally something that I cannot describe through an email, or at least with so little time, so maybe next week or maybe until June :) but you will wanna hear it! We also had Jose Alvarez. He is 72 years old, doesn´t understand a lot, but was really animated to change his life and ¨follow God.¨ We visited him every day and got him ready for Saturday. We also had Daisy, who is the wife of a recent convert, a family to complete. She kinda came out of nowhere, which was another miracle. Decided she wanted to be baptized this Saturday. Things were looking good!

John Edward and Jose Alvarez

Wednesday was the Change Meeting and the Worldwide Training Conference! I received my new ZL comp... Elder Kleiner! We had wanted to be companions, and he was actually AP for the last two changes, so I was super excited to get some help out here. He is a super funny kid, and we are working hard! The Training Conference was awesome! I am grateful for all the things I learned.... another thing for a week with more time :) 

Elders Merrill, Hunt and Kleiner

Thursday and Friday were good, getting our baptisms ready.

Saturday we had the three baptisms! Daisy, John Edward and Jose! They all went super well and the newest members loved it. Daisy barely got confirmed on Sunday, however. She really did not want to go so we had to motivate her a bunch, but it all turned out well! We had another good week in church, with 10 investigators. Pray for Gustavo this week, would be our 5th baptism of the month. He is dope! February is looking good too.

Jose

Daisy

Today we had another Multi Mission with President Christensen and Elder Alonso. 4th one in the last year! Who knows why... guess the work is progressing here in Nicaragua! Spirit was strong, can give more details next week :)

Out of time sorry, but hope you all had a good week! Keep working hard and praying and doing the best you can.

Love,

Elder Merrill

San Juan del Sur!

This last Wednesday we got to celebrate the incredible year that we had in 2015. And we did it by going to Playa Gigante, close to San Juan del Sur :)

So Monday we didn´t really have P Day, just some time to write the families. Which is actually pretty tough. No one sees the importance of P Day until they lose it, hahahaha. P Day really helps to get the energies back, so we were trying hard just to get through and conquer Monday. And Tuesday was about the same! Everyone was struggling, but we were able to have a couple good days, elder Medrano and I. Then came Wednesday morning!

So we had to leave the house at about 3:30 in the morning and take a 3 hour bus to Managua. In Managua, we stopped at a chapel to get a little breakfast, then took another 3 hour bus ride down to Playa Gigante! On the way there, we got to pass through the outskirts of Rivas and take a little rest right on the outside of my area in Rivas! I miss that place so much. When we stopped, basically the whole mission was there. Elder Copeland came up to me and said, ¨this is where is at all started.¨ Hahaha it´s true, we have a lot of good memories there! Got to talk a little there to Cope and Elder Hanson, which was fun. I am so grateful for those guys, they have become some of my best friends! Then we got to the Beach! President had rented out a little area to all get together and eat. It was a cool place! And the whole mission was there. Lots of people to catch up with. At the place, they had put up a banner of 2158 baptisms, with the names of every single one of the people that got baptized. SUPER FREAKING COOL. Lots of people talk about how numbers don´t matter, but behind every number is a soul. 

We had a sweet BBQ, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, gatorade, all the good stuff! Then we had ice cream and brownies. It was super fun to catch up with all of my good mission friends and all of my sons that I have had in the mission. After food, we changed into ropa P Day and played some games on the beach! It was really hot and the sand was really deep so the playing wasn´t all that fun, but it was great to be on the beach! And to take some dope beach pics hahaha. 

Elders Hanson, Merrill and Copeland at Playa Gigante

After that we changed back into our mission clothes and President Russell talked to us for a little. He gave us all some super cool temple recommend covers! There is one problem... I have no idea where my temple recommend is.... oops. That is what happens when there is no temple in the country. I will get one soon though! Then Pres put the new goal for this year.... 2600 baps! Gonna require a lot of work, but I know the missionaries can do it :) we finished up, left, almost got lost on the way back, and got home at about midnight. It was a really long day, but a lot of fun! 

Elder Collado's family.  Elder Collado was Sam's trainer (Father) and he goes home to Costa Rica this week!
 

Elder Hanson and Elder Merrill

Really that is about it for this week. Had another good week at church with 7 investigators. Pray for Jon Edward and Jose! Oh yeah I learned something important in Priesthood yesterday. The majority of us are active members, but there is a big difference between being active.... and being active in the Work. I can go to church every week, take the Sacrament, keep the major commandments, pay my tithing, but if I am not doing something for the Work of the Lord, then what am I doing? To do this, I have to do my Home and Visiting Teaching. I have to visit Less Actives and animate them, I have to look for people who would want to listen to the Gospel and prepare them to receive it, I have to do Temple work. We need to all be better at this. Let us ask ourselves, ¨Am I being active in the Work, as opposed to just being active?¨ As we see what we can improve and have the humility to change them, the Lord will bless us and help us in the process. 

I love you all so much! Good luck Annie this week in Region! 

Love,

Elder Merrill

We also got this news today from Sam...

My release date has been changed due to the change in time spent at the MTC for all new missionaries. I will now come home on June 2nd.

when upon life's billows

Another quick week in the books! First off... happy birthday Dad! I remember last year at this date like it was a week ago. Can't believe another year has passed and you are now up to 39 years! Seriously though you have been such a great example and a great help through the entire mission. 51 and going strong!

This last week was fun, just can't remember exactly what we did! I have tried to take a little better perspective about the people that are here in Nicaragua. A lot of times we have challenges with investigators and we love them. But we love them more out of the service that we give them and a deep love for them. But we don't develop the love that the Lord wants from us, because a lot of times these people are very frustrating. A lot like Alma 31 :) hahaha but the other day I was praying and a thought came to my head. "These are my children, don't you dare say anything that I would not say about them." There are many times where we forget what the phrase "Child of God" really means. So I hope we can all take a different look on our fellow Hermanos y Hermanas, and then treat them as the Lord would!

On Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council. It was fun! President Russell talked a lot about how we can keep working even after this fantastic year of 2158 baptisms! We want to be even better this year. Our Zone is improving, and that is a good thing. Also gotta see some good friends so that was fun.

 

Elders Hanson, Merrill, Copeland and Hartley at MLC

 

Friday we had Zone Meeting, and it turned out really well! Elder Bradbeer and I shared the talk "What Lack I Yet?" by Elder Lawrence. That is a really good talk because it helps us to see our weaknesses and find the way to get better. That is a problem in this Zone, in this Mission and in this world. Pride. We don't like to look at our weaknesses because they hurt a lot. However, if we always have a desire to improve, then the Lord will bless us to become better and strengthen our weaknesses. And that is the important part about Repentance. Changing what we maybe don't want to change. We also talked a little about commitments. There is nothing more important than the commandments!

Other than that it was a good week! Elder Medrano and I did well at church again. Please pray for Jon Edward and Jose Alvarez. And some big time prayers for Johana! On Wednesday as a mission we go to San Juan del Sur! Actually we are going to Playa Gigante, but it is basically the same thing. Love you all so much, especially Dad right now. Happy Birthday! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Merrill