Hello!!!!
This week was FANTASTIC. One of my favorite weeks! I'm really short on time though, so it will be brief! Here are the highlights:
Sister Slater and I are hitting our healthy lifestyle plan hard. :) We can't really control member dinners, but we're being practically perfect around those times. Wish us luck!
There's an Elder in our district that just so happens to be from Haiti and speaks Hatian Creole. . . Wha?? So Elder Bordeau came to our area on exchanges and tagged along with us when we went to visit Mary! Best lesson ever! Well. . . not that I understood a word of it, but you didn't need to to feel the spirit. She was delighted to be able to communicate openly and understand more of our message. It was fantastic.
We taught THE most spiritual lesson to a less-active family about Easter. Ah! So beautiful. The mom started crying, I started crying, and we watched the video "None Were With Him" on Mormon messages. It truly had an impact on all of us. They're such a sweet family!
I attended what we call "Return and Report", where the Greenies meet up with the mission president and wife again to let them know how we're doing. For a long time. :) It was a really good meeting, but the best part was the opportunity we got at the end. We were all able to go to the temple grounds and pray. President asked us to tell Heavenly Father what kind of missionary we wanted to be, and to set some goals. At the end of our 18 months he's going to go through the temple with us, and we're going to "make peace" with Heavenly Father and talk to him about how we've changed and tried our hardest. :) It was a really neat experience.
EASTER WAS AMAZING! I have such a deep appreciation for Easter. I have learned SO much more about my Savior, about Mary Magdalene, about the resurrection in general! So many prayers were answered, the weather was perfect, so many people came to church! We sang in the choir, taught Sharing Time, AND taught Young Women's! And then we spent nearly the entire evening visiting less-actives and dropping of Christ-centered Easter baskets. :)
Today was amazing as well, but I'm out of time, so I'll have to tell you about it next week! I love and miss you all soooooo much. Hope your Easter was amazing. Thanks for your support and letters and love!
<3,
Sister Merkley
MBM MISSIONARY
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
"AWESOME WEEK"
Hello everyone!
I am so excited to tell you about this week! It has been A-MA-ZING.
Sisters Conference was all day Wednesday. . . And it was super awkward, becuase traffic was bad and Sister Slater and I showed up right on time and ended up being the first musical number. Yikes. Yeah, we walked in, and our performance sounded like our runthrough. :) But oh well! Everyone said they enjoyed it anyway. :D We had wonderful workshops and talks and pictures. Our mission president is so inspired, so amazing! I can't even tell you! Right afterward, we stayed and taught the Young Women indexing!!! Family History is the best!
We finished our service hours at the food pantry. I was sad knowing we finished there. It has been a fantastic experience. The poorest people can really be the happiest, because they have already humbled themselves and know that it's only through God they obtain anything in this life. The people we helped there are easily the most interested in what we do and why we're there. I wish I had more time with each of them!
OH MY GOODNESS. So this isn't normal, but there's a young girl who is investigating the church and showed up to Young Womens with her member friend (Rachel). Her name is Leah. Leah invited us to go to her musical at the Middle School. President said we could, to support her, and so Sister Slater and I got to watch The Little Mermaid Jr.!!!! SOOOOO CUTE! It made our night!!!! And Leah and Rachel were so happy we showed up!!!
Highlight of the week--first temple trip!!!! I can not TELL you how beautiful the Boston temple is. I am such a lucky missionary. I got to go because Sister Slater had taught an investigator who was getting her endowments this Saturday. WOW. It was an amazing experience. I will always have a major soft spot for the Timpanogas temple, but if it weren't for that, I'd say the Boston temple is my favorite. It's breathtaking. And Robin, the new member we went for, was so excited and so cute! She got sealed to her parents and baby brother after, as well. It was such a tender thing to witness.
We heard Jenny Oaks Baker in concert that night. She was phenominal, but it was kinda sad, because out of ALL the non-members we invited, only Jackson came. And then it was nearly two and a half hours. . . not all of the numbers were as amazing as Jenny Oaks Baker either, so it really got long. But I'm still glad we went! :)
Lessons are stressful, but good. I'm learning. Slowly. But I'm still learning.
OH! Just a quick blurp about today, cuz P-days are awesome! Our zone put together an Easter Egg Hunt! Wahoo!!! And we had a cook-out and played Ultimate Frisbee in the beautiful weather! I couldn't ask for a better area. :)
Happy Easter, everyone. Remember how sacred this week really is. I have learned so much more about my Savior even in the short weeks I have been here, and I hope we can all develop a closer relationship with Him.
Have a great one! Love you!
~Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary
I am so excited to tell you about this week! It has been A-MA-ZING.
Sisters Conference was all day Wednesday. . . And it was super awkward, becuase traffic was bad and Sister Slater and I showed up right on time and ended up being the first musical number. Yikes. Yeah, we walked in, and our performance sounded like our runthrough. :) But oh well! Everyone said they enjoyed it anyway. :D We had wonderful workshops and talks and pictures. Our mission president is so inspired, so amazing! I can't even tell you! Right afterward, we stayed and taught the Young Women indexing!!! Family History is the best!
We finished our service hours at the food pantry. I was sad knowing we finished there. It has been a fantastic experience. The poorest people can really be the happiest, because they have already humbled themselves and know that it's only through God they obtain anything in this life. The people we helped there are easily the most interested in what we do and why we're there. I wish I had more time with each of them!
OH MY GOODNESS. So this isn't normal, but there's a young girl who is investigating the church and showed up to Young Womens with her member friend (Rachel). Her name is Leah. Leah invited us to go to her musical at the Middle School. President said we could, to support her, and so Sister Slater and I got to watch The Little Mermaid Jr.!!!! SOOOOO CUTE! It made our night!!!! And Leah and Rachel were so happy we showed up!!!
Highlight of the week--first temple trip!!!! I can not TELL you how beautiful the Boston temple is. I am such a lucky missionary. I got to go because Sister Slater had taught an investigator who was getting her endowments this Saturday. WOW. It was an amazing experience. I will always have a major soft spot for the Timpanogas temple, but if it weren't for that, I'd say the Boston temple is my favorite. It's breathtaking. And Robin, the new member we went for, was so excited and so cute! She got sealed to her parents and baby brother after, as well. It was such a tender thing to witness.
We heard Jenny Oaks Baker in concert that night. She was phenominal, but it was kinda sad, because out of ALL the non-members we invited, only Jackson came. And then it was nearly two and a half hours. . . not all of the numbers were as amazing as Jenny Oaks Baker either, so it really got long. But I'm still glad we went! :)
Lessons are stressful, but good. I'm learning. Slowly. But I'm still learning.
OH! Just a quick blurp about today, cuz P-days are awesome! Our zone put together an Easter Egg Hunt! Wahoo!!! And we had a cook-out and played Ultimate Frisbee in the beautiful weather! I couldn't ask for a better area. :)
Happy Easter, everyone. Remember how sacred this week really is. I have learned so much more about my Savior even in the short weeks I have been here, and I hope we can all develop a closer relationship with Him.
Have a great one! Love you!
~Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary
Monday, April 7, 2014
"A Beautiful Week!"
Hey everyone!!!!!
WOW. My week was great! Can't believe it has already been a week! All the days tend to blur together into one as well, so I'll see if I can separate my couple of weeks in the field and give you some good information.
JACKSON! The Uganda guy with a baptismal date? He's AWESOME. We consistently meet with him at the library, and I can't tell you how cool our lessons are with him. I understand him better now. And he just GETS whatever we're telling him. He drinks it in. We were asking for his thoughts this last week, and he started bearing his testimony to US! It's not supposed to work like that. . . but NO COMPLAINTS. And I felt the spirit as he said something along these lines, "When I moved to America from Uganda, I depended so much on Christ. I was at 95%! And then as time went on, I started to backslide. 75%, 50%. . . But GOD KNEW I was backsliding, and so he sent me YOU! When you knocked on my door, looking for my mom for that media referral, you didn't know that I was at 40%, and that my mom wouldn't listen but I would! But GOD KNEW. And now, I'm on my way to 100%!" SOOOOO AMAZING, right??? Miracles happen!
Funny thing. . . Sister Slater hit her HUMP DAY (half-way mark) this last Thursday! And GUESS what her family sent her??? An entire package full of HALF things. Seriously. They sent halves of cookies, gummy worms, Resse's, party hats. . . And then each of them had written a letter to her, CUT IT IN HALF, and sent HALF of it in the package! HAHAHAHAHA so funny!!! I was dying as Sister Slater was practically hopping up and down with frustration that she couldn't read her letters. :D :D :D But don't worry, they sent her the other half later in the week. :D
OH! I have to tell you about this sweet lady named Mary! She loves Jesus. No, like LOVES Jesus. That's practically all she says. Her name is Mary I love Jesus! in our phone. Mary speaks Haitian Creole. She, too, is so hard to understand. The diversity of people here is NUTS! But she's happy to meet with us, because she thinks we're such good, GOOD people for teaching about Jesus. "You go around and talk of Jesus, and that is GOOD! You no se when Jesus come, and I no se when Jesus come, so everyone need to learn of Jesus NOW! I love Jesus!" Hahaha, it's so great. Everything we say we have to tie directly to Christ immediately for it to sink in, but that's okay, because everything DOES relate to Christ!
Wasn't Conference amazing? I loved it so much. It directly answered so many questions I had. Oh my goodness, questions come in floods on the mission, because you're digging so much farther into the gospel than you have before! There is SO MUCH TO LEARN! An infinite amount. You can never know enough about the gospel. I used to think the hour before bed was the quickest hour in the mission field, but that's not true. It's the personal study hour. There is SO MUCH TO LEARN. But anyway, Conference. Amazing. I loved Elder Holland, Sister Reeves, President Uchtdorf, Sister Stevens, Elder Bednar, Elder Christofferson. . . AHH SO MANY! AND did everyone catch the missionary focus with Elder Ballard??? Hard to miss, right? PLEASE take it to heart. There is nothing more important than missionary work, no matter if you're actually on a mission or not. Read The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christensen, get a Preach My Gospel. If you take the time to study/apply them, they will change your life!
This week is going to be the BEST!!!! Can't wait to tell you about Sisters Conference (Sister Slater and I are singing for all the sisters in the mission!) and going to the BOSTON TEMPLE next Monday! Oh, and Jenny Oaks Baker is doing a concert here Saturday night! I'm so blessed!!!
Love you all so much! Write me if you get the chance! I sent the wrong zip code last time, so here's the real address:
16 Kings Way Apt. #202C
Waltham, MA 02451
Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary
WOW. My week was great! Can't believe it has already been a week! All the days tend to blur together into one as well, so I'll see if I can separate my couple of weeks in the field and give you some good information.
JACKSON! The Uganda guy with a baptismal date? He's AWESOME. We consistently meet with him at the library, and I can't tell you how cool our lessons are with him. I understand him better now. And he just GETS whatever we're telling him. He drinks it in. We were asking for his thoughts this last week, and he started bearing his testimony to US! It's not supposed to work like that. . . but NO COMPLAINTS. And I felt the spirit as he said something along these lines, "When I moved to America from Uganda, I depended so much on Christ. I was at 95%! And then as time went on, I started to backslide. 75%, 50%. . . But GOD KNEW I was backsliding, and so he sent me YOU! When you knocked on my door, looking for my mom for that media referral, you didn't know that I was at 40%, and that my mom wouldn't listen but I would! But GOD KNEW. And now, I'm on my way to 100%!" SOOOOO AMAZING, right??? Miracles happen!
Funny thing. . . Sister Slater hit her HUMP DAY (half-way mark) this last Thursday! And GUESS what her family sent her??? An entire package full of HALF things. Seriously. They sent halves of cookies, gummy worms, Resse's, party hats. . . And then each of them had written a letter to her, CUT IT IN HALF, and sent HALF of it in the package! HAHAHAHAHA so funny!!! I was dying as Sister Slater was practically hopping up and down with frustration that she couldn't read her letters. :D :D :D But don't worry, they sent her the other half later in the week. :D
OH! I have to tell you about this sweet lady named Mary! She loves Jesus. No, like LOVES Jesus. That's practically all she says. Her name is Mary I love Jesus! in our phone. Mary speaks Haitian Creole. She, too, is so hard to understand. The diversity of people here is NUTS! But she's happy to meet with us, because she thinks we're such good, GOOD people for teaching about Jesus. "You go around and talk of Jesus, and that is GOOD! You no se when Jesus come, and I no se when Jesus come, so everyone need to learn of Jesus NOW! I love Jesus!" Hahaha, it's so great. Everything we say we have to tie directly to Christ immediately for it to sink in, but that's okay, because everything DOES relate to Christ!
Wasn't Conference amazing? I loved it so much. It directly answered so many questions I had. Oh my goodness, questions come in floods on the mission, because you're digging so much farther into the gospel than you have before! There is SO MUCH TO LEARN! An infinite amount. You can never know enough about the gospel. I used to think the hour before bed was the quickest hour in the mission field, but that's not true. It's the personal study hour. There is SO MUCH TO LEARN. But anyway, Conference. Amazing. I loved Elder Holland, Sister Reeves, President Uchtdorf, Sister Stevens, Elder Bednar, Elder Christofferson. . . AHH SO MANY! AND did everyone catch the missionary focus with Elder Ballard??? Hard to miss, right? PLEASE take it to heart. There is nothing more important than missionary work, no matter if you're actually on a mission or not. Read The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christensen, get a Preach My Gospel. If you take the time to study/apply them, they will change your life!
This week is going to be the BEST!!!! Can't wait to tell you about Sisters Conference (Sister Slater and I are singing for all the sisters in the mission!) and going to the BOSTON TEMPLE next Monday! Oh, and Jenny Oaks Baker is doing a concert here Saturday night! I'm so blessed!!!
Love you all so much! Write me if you get the chance! I sent the wrong zip code last time, so here's the real address:
16 Kings Way Apt. #202C
Waltham, MA 02451
Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary
