October 27 - The BELMONT life!

Hey there, friends and family!!!!!!! :)

It's been quite the whirlwind of a week, that's for sure! Amazing and super sad at the same time.

First of all, I hate goodbyes. You all know that. :( :( :'( It made me so sad to leave Central Falls. I took a million and a half pictures and gave a million and a half hugs. But Central Falls needs Sister Belchior, and I am needed here in Belmont. So with many tears and hours of packing, I finally headed to transfer meeting in Weston.

Which was beautiful and every bit as heartbreaking. President blew our minds, once again, with the Spirit and his insights. My new companion happened to sit right in front of me. Oh man, how do I explain her? She's AWESOME. And totally mischievous. Hahaha. She's originally from Sri Lanka, but when she was eight she moved to NYC! So she's a real New Yorker. :) :) She has dark skin, dark hair, and wears green colored contacts. She's GORGEOUS and pranks people all the time. :D Like, I can't take her seriously EVER, because I've only fallen for her jokes a thousand times. :) We quickly became friends. She just finished her training, so she's pretty new, but she's confident and a great missionary.

Anyway, back to Transfer Meeting. . . I said my last goodbyes, piled my stuff in the car, and we drove to our. . . house??? Yeah, we have a house! Just the bottom floor, but STILL. New experience!

Speaking of new experiences, Belmont is POLAR OPPOSITE of Central Falls. It's a lot like Weston, unsurprisingly. All blonde, blue-eyed Americans. We're over 2 wards that are jam-packed with awesome, active members. And we're only teaching 3 people. Which is okay. Lots of member work. Lots of service. We'll build our Teaching Pool. I'm having flash-backs to the beginning of my mission.

We had 2 Halloween Parties! One for each ward. They're AWESOME about bringing non-members, too! Hopefully I can start remembering all these new names! The church building is beautiful and big, and the parties were. . . elaborate to say the least. Booths and stations and crazy decorations and Fear Factor. . . yeah. . . I can't explain it and do it justice.

We were super sick all weekend though. I still am. I keep getting sick! But this was the worst. Felt like I couldn't breathe, and like I was swallowing a knife. I'm on the uphill again, though!

I'll tell you more next week! But I have a new address that I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking with for quite awhile!!!!! :) :) :)

NEW ADDRESS:
50 Fairview Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478

I love sharing the gospel so much! I'm so blessed to be out here! Love you all, thanks again for the support and the news!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

October 20 - It's another transfer!!!! Here comes the news!!!!!!

Hey there!!!!!!!!

Are you ready for it????? Part of me wants to keep you in suspense, but I suspect if I write about other things you'll just scan ahead anyway. . .

Okay. Yes. President Packard has decided to keep my running streak of a new companion every transfer. I'm leaving. I'm going to BELMONT.

Belmont. BEL.MONT. As in the temple. As in my church is literally a 2 minute walk down from the temple. And I'm going back to my last ZONE. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was not expecting it. Not really. I knew it was a possibility, but I thought I'd stay to finish Sister Lima's training. Nope. We went on exchanges the day of T-texts (Transfer-texts). I was with Sister Hyoung, who serves in Providence, and Sister Hobbs took my place in Central Falls to be with Sister Lima. Sister Hyoung rooms with the Spanish sisters in Providence, so guess what? I was with Sister Godoy, too! Texts came in later that night instead of the usual 1:00, so we were all together. AND FREAKING OUT. So that was fun! But crazy. When I got the news I was totally in shock, and then super super sad. :( I'm fine. I just LOVE the people here in Central Falls. They've become close friends and family to me. I dreaded saying goodbye.

In fact I still am dreading it. I'm about half-way through the goodbyes, and they've been awful. But when the Lord calls, we go, and I really wouldn't have it any other way. I think I've figured something out. As soon as you're getting comfortable, something drastic happens. Heavenly Father doesn't really want you in your comfort zone on a mission. And that's not why I came out here, anyway.

In other news, we got proposed to yesterday. That was. . . awkward. . . Hahahaha! Oh, man. We were teaching a Hatian family that we get to see on occasion, and they invited a friend over to the house. He was also Haitian. A little older than us. So using sweet Ashley, the 10-year-old we're teaching, and the only one fluent in both English and Haitian Creole, he told us he's always admired Mormon women and asked if either of us would consider marrying him. ?!?!?!?!?!?! And THEN my companion BAILED on the conversation and started talking to a kid, leaving me to struggle with an awkward response. . . !!! Oh man! I said something about how we don't date as missionaries, and how when we were finished we were going far away to return home. . . I couldn't believe how serious he was. And then we escaped to the car and died!!!!!

We got a new investigator named Denise! She's crazy awesome! Emphasis on the crazy. :D She talks a million miles a minute and asks a bajillion questions we can never manage to answer before she asks a bajillion more. :D It's kinda fun! I love her. :)

JOEY WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!! He's so cool! Shyanne's boyfriend!!!!!!! I played I Am a Child of God on the guitar again, which I found out I was doing last second. And we got to teach Sharing Time in Primary. :) Alexandra (whom I LOVE) tackled me when I walked to the front and announced to the rest of the Primary that I was leaving. So about 10 kids came running up to me to give me hugs in the middle of class, and I drowned for awhile in arms and cuteness. :) :) I love them.

I'm going to miss it here sooooo much!!!! :( :( But I'll send pictures and tell you all about Belmont next Monday!!!!! Keep Sister Lima in your prayers -- transfer 2 and she's showing the area to a new companion!

I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

October 14 - Life in the MBM (Massachusetts Boston Mission)!

Hello everyone!!!!!

It has been an unusual week, to say the least! Jam-packed with the craziest, most amazing meetings and events. Needless to say, our numbers went WAY down. Numbers don't reflect business level though! Lemme tell ya about it. . .

TUESDAY: We moved. Hadn't really even started the process, but we spent the day with three sets of Elders and our Senior couple, moving ALL OF THE STUFF out of the old apartment, across/down the street, and into the new one. Not to mention cleaning the old one until it shone, then unpacking and organizing all night long. We are sooooo grateful for all the help. We would never have been able to do all of that in one day by ourselves. And BTW, we're spoiled rotten. Our apartment is the same size, but they shrank the living room and gave us an extra bathroom and a study room. 2 bathrooms. 2 sisters. That's soooooooo crazy. I know plenty of situations with 4 sisters to a bathroom. And since the moving Elders came down, we even had new mattresses and dressers in the deal! Think we have it good? I do too.

WEDNESDAY we woke up early and drove all the way up to Belmont for what we call "Return and Report". :D It's when the trainers/new missionaries come back and learn more of what they need to learn. We got to spend the day with President! Which is a miracle in and of itself. Everyone just loves President with all of their heart. He is truly the single most inspiring, powerful man I have ever met. He taught and trained us, as did his wife, then we all walked up the hill to attend a session at the BEAUTIFUL Boston temple. Need I say more? It was a full and enriching experience!

And the next day was no less so! THURSDAY we had Zone Conference -- which is multiple zones meeting up with President and the other leaders for an amazing, all-day experience of training and testimony. Sister Packard, President Packard, President Haight, and the Assistants covered so much amazing ground. Words cannot express how powerful and riveting it was. I took so many notes--practically filled up half of my notebook--and I know exactly what I need to do to be a better person and a more successful missionary! I have so many goals and aspirations and I just want to do everything the Lord wants me to do! I want to have a family like President's some day. I want to be able to change lives the way he changes lives.

Oh, and President also showed us "Meet the Mormons". So that was fun! :) Totally cried on the "missionary mom" part.

FRIDAY we jammed as much into our schedule as humanely possible. . . and only made it to about half of our plans. But hey!

SATURDAY the Portable Visitor's Center came again. IT IS SO AMAZING! I keep trying to explain it, but I'm not doing it justice. Basically President Packard is ridiculously inspired. These displays and these videos capture exactly what we're trying to tell the entire world. It's as high quality of anything you've seen on Temple Square, and we (our mission) did it. Just goes to show that we have no limitations with the Lord. The Brethren are keeping a close eye on this and are so excited! One day this will be world-wide, folks. Because someone followed a prompting of the Spirit.

Sunday was great! Then YESTERDAY was also amazing, because it was Columbus day. (Hence me emailing today.) Recent Convert Temple Trip Day. And our turn to go to the temple as a Zone. So we spent half the day at the temple: an endowment session, then the baptistry for CC, Lovely, and Shyanne! They all made it!!!! I'm so happy!!!!! It was such a sweet experience. I even got to see so many people from Weston serving in the temple and catch up with them.

So. . . life is great. The gospel is true. Heavenly Father is so aware of us. And this week I find out if I'm getting transferred. :( I wanna stay!!! I love it! But more than anything, I want to do what the Lord wants me to do, so I'm excited. :) ;) :)

I love you all! Miss you! Thanks again for all of your support!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary


P.S. I DO have a new address. . . but I'm going to hold off telling you until I find out if I'm moving for transfers. :) Thanks!!!! <3

October 6 - What a life!

Dearest family/friends!!!!!!

Wow! Wasn't that such an amazing General Conference???? I'm so happy. :) That's exactly what all of us needed!

We had this one day simply stuffed full of miracles. I think I mentioned Tammy and Sam--the Brazillian member referral? Well, we met with Tammy. She is AMAZING. So prepared for the gospel. Her whole family is just READY to hear and accept it! We taught her the Restoration, and there as rarely been a lesson where I have felt the Spirit so strong! :) I was crying as I testified of the impact the Book of Mormon has had in my life, and when I looked up, she was crying too. She told us of how she had been searching for something like this for so long. And brave Sister Lima extended a baptismal date to her our first lesson. :) She accepted!!!! It was so wonderful! I can't wait to teach the rest of them!

The Spanish Elders gave us a media referral to hit up in Woonsocket, so we went there. Personally, I'm not a big fan of media referrals. I've had some nasty experiences. But we go because if there's a slight chance they're genuine, it's worth the risk! :) We knocked on the door and found this sweet young woman who had just gone through a crazy surgery. Gave her the Bible she requested, slapped a Book of Mormon in her hands too, testified for good measure! :) She's great. She really wants us to come back so we can teach her more about Christ. Yes!!!! And then we went out with Danielle! I love her. She came with us to find a less-active member. Turns out this less-active, who really wasn't too interested in us coming by, lives with her cousin and her cousin's daughter, who ARE interested in us coming by and hearing our message! Through a series of events that could only have been directed by our Heavenly Father, we were able to go in and testify of living prophets and General Conference! So that was pretty neat.

We had a ton of appointments scheduled for the rest of the week. Most of them fell through last second. Again. So we did a lot of stop-bys! :) :)

General Conference was crazy! Carla came with us to the church to watch it on Saturday, and of COURSE things didn't get set up in time and we had technological issues, so we ended up watching Session One on an iPad. Five of us crowded around this little thing. Lol! But the Spirit was there, and we're sooo blessed to have access to it at all. That's what's important. I loved Conference soooooooo much. It inspires me to do better. Let it re-play through your house this week or something! Because I would if I could!

Can't wait for Carla's baptism! She's a star!

Gonna have to end it there. I'm sure I'm forgetting something important, but we're out of time! I love you all!

Oh, and we're moving across the street tomorrow. We haven't really started packing. It's going to be a loooooooooong day! As for the address to write me. . . um. . . I don't think anyone is moving into our new place, so we should have access to that mailbox awhile longer. You can write to the mission office, too, though! I'll let you know next week what the new numbers are. But it's still going to be Crossing Dr. in Cumberland. :)

Thanks! I love you!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

September 29 - Tender mercies and miracles!

Dearest everyone!

Wow! So much can happen in a week!!!!!!! It's been crazy and amazing and full of miracles! Let me start with Monday!

It was pretty much the best. After we emailed, we headed out to a great game of Ultimate Frisbee with the Zone and an investigator. And we had s'mores after. That was the point of the whole thing, because Sister Lima had NEVER had a s'more! Brazilians. . . ;) But the best part of the night was when we were back to our regular proselyting activities and met up with Shyanne to teach her the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity.

Background on Shyanne -- she's a cute 18-year-old that met the missionaries while hanging out at a friend's house. That friend is one of our awesome young women, and her mom is the Young Womens' president. :) The Elders stopped by, and BINGO! New investigator. Moral of the story--never try to predict whether someone will accept the gospel. Jamie had no idea her friend would be interested. :) Shyanne has been taking the lessons for awhile, but the Elders thought it would be good for us to take on this lesson. With pleasure, Elders! :D So we got all prepared and had a powerful lesson in the home of a member. She is awesome! No problem for her. . . she understood the commandments and committed to them because she knew it was right. Score! She had a baptismal date set for mid-October, but I just had a feeling that she should be baptized and confirmed before General Conference. Which, looking back, is kinda crazy. We wait until sacrament meeting to be confirmed, and they're usually baptized on a Sunday, so I was really pushing it. But it felt right. So I just started talking about the option. . . and we set her baptismal date for last Friday!!!!!! Just four days later!!!!! Wha--????????

It was pretty much awesome. The Elders were a little nervous, but they taught her the next lesson, she got her interview, and BOOM, she was ready! Everything just kinda fell into place. And Friday was a wonderful day! She had a good turn-out, the programs were printed, the talk was beautiful, we sang her favorite hymns, and another person chose to follow the example of our Savior and come into the fold of God. :) :) :) :) :)

You just got the best part of the week. <3 The rest isn't as crazy amazing, but it was still grand.

Oh! Here's another miracle for you! So we had had a full day of dropped appointments, stop-bys, and member visits. We were on our way home from a less-active, and Sister Lima was cold and had been talking about hot chocolate, so I made a quick side-stop and swerved into one of the MANY Dunkin' Donuts lining the street. When we walked inside, the guy behind the counter stared at us and said, "No way. . . are you Latter-day Saints???" Wha--?? Um, YES! He is a cool black guy in his 20s named Brandon. He said he's been attending the ward in Newport with his Uncle, who was a member. He even had a couple discussions with the missionaries there! Then he moved here to North Providence and has been looking for us ever since! AMAZING! The hand of the Lord is in everything--even in our quick stops for hot chocolate! It just goes to show how aware he is of the details! I'll be sure to tell you the rest of his story when it happens!

Carla is super amazing. She's so ready for baptism! Sister Lima and I had a powerful heart to heart with her! She is destined to be a wonderful tool in the hands of the Lord. She was so worried about setting another baptismal date because of the opposition that slammed her the last 2 times she did. But we promised her blessings and strength and asked her to bring that question to the Women's Broadcast on Saturday. Which she did. I LOVE CONFERENCE. Of COURSE it answered her prayers. We just found out today that her baptismal date is set for October 19. WAHOO!!!!!!! She's just the greatest!!! So happy for her!

The Broadcast was just the greatest, wasn't it? My hand hurt, I took so many notes! Those speakers really touched my heart, answered my prayers, and said what I needed to hear. Like Heavenly Father was speaking to me directly. Which, He kinda was. :) Can't wait for General Conference! Buckle up, everyone! Internalize and personalize what these inspired servants of God have to say!

Aaaaand we have a new investigator named Maria. Kudos to Member power. Jackie testified of how this gospel has changed her life. Maria is so sincere and wants to come to know God more--for her and for her kids. :)

I got sick again. Still am, in fact. Don't worry, I'm not running myself into the ground. I'm following good council and taking time to recover. :P Being sick as a missionary is the worst. . .

Sister Gaboriault is awesome. . . took us out visiting people for half the night last night. :)

One last miracle, then I'll let you go! One of our members, a single mother named Amanda, gave us a referral. So we happily stopped by the home. SWEETEST FAMILY EVER! They were so warm and welcoming! Very receptive to our message about the gospel. The best part was that they're from Brazil, and they positively lit up when Sister Lima started speaking Portuguese! We have a return appointment and high hopes for this wonderful family!

I love you all! Thanks for the news, support, and prayers! Enjoy Conference! Change the world!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

P.S. The Frandsens (amazing Ward Mission Leader and family) had their baby girl. Guess what they named her. Talia. That's right. My name. Same pronunciation and spelling. They really liked it! So stinking cool!!!!!!!!

September 22 - Rough week for numbers. . . but Autumn is coming!

Helllooooooooooooo to the most wonderful family and friends of all time!

Autumn is creeping up on us. . . in beautiful bursts of red that are spotting all of the trees here in Rhode Island. :) I LOVE AUTUMN. I can't wait to see the REAL thing here. Sister Lima can't wait either. She's never seen anything but summer!

Our week was. . . interesting, to say the least. I started it out with getting sick. :P No fun at all. But the Elders (and the Spanish Elders) came and gave me a blessing. I love Priesthood power. :) I was totally able to work the next day.

Which. . . was a rough day. Jackie (Jocelyn's mom) came out with us for half the day, and since we hadn't been able to schedule very many appointments, we did a million stop-bys. That day we had a brutal slammed door, 3 investigators dropped, and one of the worst lessons ever with another 3 investigators, who we might be dropping as well. . . It was a sad. Poor Jackie. Missionary work certainly has its ups and downs.

But we went to Irene's house to help her with her garden, and that was fun!!!! :) :)

A different day this week we went up to Woonsocket and had a few stellar lessons. So happy about that. We're finally meeting with Angelica more often. I know there's gonna be a break-through soon. :) And we went to see Danielle Buhannen, the less-active who is coming back to church. Power-house lesson. She has an amazing goal to make it back to the temple, and she is willing to take the HUGE steps that are going to get her there. I'm so proud of her.

Carla is amazing. I'm pretty sure she's going to be baptized this month. We had a good lesson with her, then the Elders had an amazing lesson with her where they extended a baptismal date twice and gave her a blessing. She's praying about when she should be baptized. She already has a powerful testimony.

We walked around the Projects for a few hours because we have so many potential investigators there! Sister Lima was freezing. . . I got a sunburn. Haha. I'm so white!

A bunch of people came to church yesterday, which was wonderful! Carla, Angelica, Danielle, Shyanne. . . :) :) :) YAY! We're teaching Shyanne about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity tonight. Double whammy. Pray for us!

Gotta go, time is short and we have awesome plans. Sorry it's short! But I love you all! Don't forget me!

XOXOXOX

Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

P.S. Can't wait for General Conference!

September 15 - Sister Lima! Only the greatest greenie EVER!

Helloooooooo everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! I wish wish wish I hadn't forgotten my camera cord, cuz I want to show you pictures of this beautiful, amazing Sister I'm working with! Seriously, I think I'm the luckiest trainer ever. Sister Lima is straight from the MTC, fresh from Brazil! She was called on a PORTUGESE speaking mission. Ahem. So in all technicality, I shouldn't be her trainer, and she shouldn't be able to speak a lick of English. She didn't go to the MTC for English or anything. But she started learning a couple months before the mission, on her own, just in case. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father was preparing me for a language barrier with Sister Godoy, because Sister Lima is still in the process of learning English.

BUT if you could all hear her you'd be SO impressed with how much she already knows! She's learning rapidly and eager to be a wonderful missionary. I absolutely love her. :) :) :) I was so excited when we went to transfer meeting. Usually we get our greenies in a meeting before transfer meeting, but the newbies were late, so DURING transfer meeting, in front of all the missionaries/members piled into my old chapel, President called for each of the new missionaries to stand and meet their trainer. :) :) So I came running down from the very back of the chapel to give her a big hug! It was so awesome!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I also saw Kevin and Katie!!!!! Sister Hoellein was transferred, so all of their original missionaries are gone now. :( But it was wonderful to see them! Kevin had typed out his testimony and gave it to me. It's seriously one of the neatest things ever. Makes all of this work so beyond worth it.

I have to tell you just a little more about Sister Lima. She is all smiles. Seriously. Nothing could ever depress her. Everything I told her about the area or about our plans or the apartment or the Elders we work with or. . . ANYTHING, she responded, "Oh, that's awesome! I'm the luckiest missionary EVER!" In her cute Brazilian accent. It's basically the best. <3

And her FIRST day, we got (get this) 6 new investigators! It was amazing!!!! Her very first appointment was with a high potential investigator. As soon as we read a verse from the Book of Mormon with her, she started crying. She said, "I knew that you were going to read something about that." It's so amazing, how the Spirit can touch people. <3 Elizabeth is 20 and a single mom. :( Her friend in the single's ward called us up to have her meet with us. I'm so glad he did. She has the cutest baby boy and came to church this Sunday. It was so great!

That night, we got the other 5 investigators. Cool story: Brother Frandsen, our ward mission leader, invited his co-worker to bear his testimony in our ward for Fast and Testimony meeting. His co-worker (Roque) is not of our faith, but had an incredible story he wanted to share to the world. His mother was dying of cancer, and finally the doctors called him and told him his mom had 2 hours to live. He rushed to the hospital, knelt by her bed, and poured out his heart to God, begging him to spare his mom. He said he knewGod was listening. He felt Heavenly Father strengthening is mother as he knelt there. It is now 3 weeks later, and she's doing great, on her way to recovery. It was an amazing story for him, and he didn't know how to tell it to everyone. That's why Brother Frandsen invited him to speak! And he DID! And I asked if he wanted to learn more, and he readily accepted, so on Sister Lima's first day, we met with him, his girlfriend, and his 3 daughters at the Frandsen's home. It was an amazing lesson! They all committed to start reading the Book of Mormon! They're so excited to learn more.

We taught Tiffany again. With her fiancée Lovelle. They are so neat! I am really excited for their progress! They came to church on Sunday and brought 4 kids between them! We're so excited to bring this family to the truth!!!

One more thing! Lovely was baptized Sunday. Elder Garrido baptized her, Sister Lima and I did a musical number, and she bore her testimony. It was beautiful! What an amazing miracle. We're so proud of her and that entire household. <3

I love it here. I love all of the people. The members, the investigators, the less-actives. The missionaries I work with and my dear companion. She's truly a rockstar. She makes me laugh and is pretty much the sweetest sister I've ever met. Thank you all for your prayers in behalf of me and the people I'm working with.

I love you all so much! My niece is two! Jocelyn is in the MTC!

Everyone--read your scriptures 20 minutes longer than usual the next time you do! It's truly a conduit to heaven.

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

September 8- CAUTION: Transfer news enclosed. . .

Well, hi there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, I'd like to inform everyone that I am hitting my 6-month-mark this Friday. That's right. 6 months. I can barely believe it! 1/3 of the way through my mission! That's a huge chunk, and it went by so fast! In about a year, I'll be coming home. Wow. . .

Secondly, YES. I have more crazy big news. I was definitely expecting something coming, but only because of the interview I had with President. Still, I didn't guess what was happening. President Packard called us Thursday night, the night before transfer texts, and extended a calling to both of us. TRAINERS. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, we're both training!!!!!!! I'm TRAINING! 6 months in, and I'm going to show a greenie how we do missionary work in the MBM! And I'm staying right here, in good old Central Falls, while Sister Godoy leaves and re-opens Providence for Spanish sisters. What the--! And that's not all. This greenie is BRAZILIAN. Both of the Elders are staying in our ward, so that means I'm going to be outnumbered 3-1 as the only American, the only missionary who has English as their first language. HA! Maybe I'll have to learn Portuguese. . . But I'm excited. This ward definitely could use a Portuguese-speaking sister. There's no better place for someone to start off their mission!

Let's see. . . I'll go through some other news! We locked ourselves out of our apartment. Twice, in fact. In one week. That takes skill.

Ooh, we taught Seminary early Thursday morning. That was fun. Tough crowd, and I am so grateful that Seminary was part of my school day.

Sister Godoy had another root canal appointment, so we took the long drive up to Connecticut and back. :) Road trip! I was so sick of the car!


We had Zone meeting on Friday! Greatest Zone Meeting ever! Our leaders are awesome and the spirit was really strong. I learned a lot and re-committed to be the best missionary I can! I fall short in so many ways, but I'm gonna keep trying. That's all I can do.

As far as investigators go, 4 more this week! That leaves us with. . . 22 investigators! I think . . . It's ridiculous, how prepared people are out here. We had some incredible experiences teaching the Restoration this week. One was with Tiffany, Crystal's sister. She was very focused and intent on everything we had to say. She really wants God to be a part of her children's lives, and she has so many unanswered questions. We taught and testified to the best of our ability, gave her a Book of Mormon, and left. She started reading from the beginning that night. YESSSS!!!! So cool! Amy was another neat experience! She's Angelique's mom. We're teaching Angelique, and we invited her mom to come sit with us. She's a tattoo artist, very young, and really cool. She has so been prepared for this as well. She totally GOT priesthood authority. Nailed it. She's reading the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and she said she's really interested in coming to church!

Also, an investigator from Franklin moved into our ward. She's 19 and stinking cute! Cape Verdian. Her name is Carla. I can't wait for her--she already has a testimony and plans on being baptized.

I better get off pretty soon, because we have to go say goodbye to Jocelyn. :( Crazy that she's heading out on her mission. I'm so proud of her. And she's never coming back to Rhode Island. Wow. This is a big big big step in her life! Please keep her in your prayers!

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything you do for me!!!! Pray for my new companion, flying in from the MTC tomorrow!

Love,
Sister Merkley

MBM Missionary



P.S. It's my niece's birthday tomorrow, my mom's birthday on the 13th, and Lovely is getting baptized Sunday! WAHOO!!!

September 2 - A Baptism and Blessings!

Family and friends!

:) :) I got the chance to email you today! But last week already seems so far away. . . I'll tell you about the weekend, because that was the most amazing part anyway.

So on Friday we reported in District Meeting, as usual, but then the Providence sisters reminded us that we were having follow-up exchanges. That day. Of course we had forgotten. So we had to run home so Sister Godoy could grab her overnight things, and she headed off to Providence with Sister Hobbs and I got to stay in Central Falls with the lovely Sister Hyoung! She's so great. And famous. She placed fourth in the entire nation for piano playing. WOW!!!! It's amazing to hear her play! Not to mention she's sweet, spunky, and motivated. I enjoyed being her companion for a day! We ran around to all our appointments and even went on splits again.

The next day was Saturday. Crystal's baptism. We were so worried about her, because we knew how hard opposition hits her. But we got ready anyway, getting the refreshments, practicing the musical number, calling all of the guests, getting the baptismal suits, etc. :) The Portable Visitor's Center Sisters came and set up two of their displays: The Restoration and Jesus Christ. The visual/spiritual effect was amazing. Almost everyone Crystal wanted to come showed up (everyone was so delighted she was finally getting baptized) and then the guest of honor herself. :) :) She had a really rough day, of course. But she made it, and it was the best baptismal service I've ever been to. Jocelyn gave the talk, then she and I sang a duet to Beautiful Savior while I played the guitar. (So scary, but it was so great.) But the best part was that Crystal's boyfriend came to the service, then in walked her sister, her sister's fiancee, and all of their kids. I can't even tell you how cool it was. They were glued to the whole thing! The ordinance, the videos from the PVC while Crystal was changing, everything! The Spirit was so strong, and they told us that they want us to teach them. WHAT?!?! It was so cool! We can't wait! It was a wonderful night!

Elder Lopes got his departing packet. We are all sad. :(


Also we combined our teaching pool. That means we are ALL teaching ALL of our investigators. AHH! Well, besides the Portuguese speakers. But still. Crazy.

Elder Koontz is an awesome Elder in our district. He has quite the inspiring story. I just thought I'd share the fantastic news that his mom was just baptized, and he was able to Skype in to see it. Wow. Miracles!

Yesterday was fantastic too! I'll send you pictures next week, but we had an amazing time at the temple. I was able to see nearly everyone from Weston, which was so wonderful. I love the temple. We're so blessed to be able to visit the Lord's house so often. We had a lot of fun afterwards, too. (Even though we locked ourselves out of the apartment. Jeez.) We played games with the senior couple and the Elders. I think we have become a lot more unified lately. I love all the missionaries around me. The Elders are nothing short of inspiring.

Today was interviews with President, but I'll have to tell you about that next week! Stay tuned, because we get our transfer texts this Friday! I'm gonna have more big news! Who knows, maybe I'll keep my streak of a new companion EVERY transfer. . .

Lots of love! Stay strong in the gospel! Enjoy the blessings that come from sharing it!

~Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

September 1 - More time next week!!!!

Hey there everyone!!!

So we went to the temple this morning, and it was basically the best P-day ever! But that means I have no more time to do anything, let alone send off the full report of this amazing last week. I'll see if I can get permission to write you all tomorrow, and if not, I'll give you a report next week! I love you all!

But I do have to tell you that Crystal got baptized. And it was amazing. And now we're basically going to start teaching her whole family. :) :) :) :) MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!!

Don't forget the most important things in life!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

August 25 - This week's work and glory!

Hola from the tiny, rundown, overpopulated and simply wonderful town of Central Falls!

How's everyone doing? The clips and pieces of your lives I get to hear about and experience vicariously are so refreshing. Thanks for all the updates and love and support. I couldn't be doing any of this without you!

I'm really starting to fall in love with this area. So much. The longer I'm here, the more I come to understand how everyone has a story. And if you truly understand that story you can't help but love that person. I'm so blessed to be able to be a part of these incredible people's stories, however briefly or however small my role. :)

Let's see if I can briefly cover this entire last week. Wow, it feels like it has been an eternity. It's a little ridiculous how much can happen in a week.

We had a combined YM/YW activity this Tuesday with the parents involved so they could come to understand more about the youth program! It was fun, because we were in charge of the games. ;) Sister Godoy taught a super funny game. We also had our first tiff. It was a good thing, because we were able to talk it out, and now we're even closer and we know more about each other. :) She's so sweet. It's a little difficult to always have to focus to understand what your companion is saying, but I know how much more difficult it is for her. I'm really impressed with how good her English is. And she asks these fantastic questions I have no idea how to answer about why we say certain things and when specific words are used.

Wednesday was awesome. We had splits ALL DAY LONG! Jocelyn was free and her mom, Jacqueline, had an urge to come out with us! So we tackled all the appointments we had, and while Sister Godoy and one of these amazing members were at an appointment, I would be tracting/personal contacting/doing stop-bys with the other member, or vice versa. It made us bold, and miracles happened! I can't even tell you how awesome it was. We planted so many seeds and were filled with energy and on fire! Sister Godoy and Jacqueline knocked on a door and found Romana, a girl who was delighted to learn and soaked in the entire first lesson. I found two guys I had a lengthy discussion about the gospel with that are interested. We were able to get back in touch with a former investigator and help her remember her previous testimony. She is now investigating again. Not to mention the appointments we had already set. They were so great, too.

We were so impressed by the miracles of the day that the next day we decided to do splits again, but this time we took Jocelyn and Tori, and we took them to Woonsocket. (It's pronounced One-SOCK-et. I know. Weird.) Woonsocket is entirely inactive. But we had a successful day nonetheless! Especially since Tori (who is about to go on her mission to Peru) had her first shot at tracting. She got a feel for it. These girls are going to make wonderful sisters.

On Friday we had district meeting, and Sister Godoy and I were asked to do the training. Righty-ho. We were so tired. It worked out just fine, though. :) We talked about how to get our investigators involved with service, and how to help them share their testimony with others.

Skipping over some other stuff. . . Okay, here's a really cool event. Exchanges. My first-ever exchanges where I leave my own area! AHHHH!!!! Sister Hobbs was my companion for the day, and I got to be in Providence for 24 hours. I loved it. It was so cool! Sister Hobbs is a beautiful, classy ballroom dancer with an awesome testimony. We talked ballroom for most of the free time. It was great. She understands!!! The appointments that day were so. . . unique. The first one was frustrating. We both left really wound-up. This old man was so critical, crabby, and defensive. You'd think he came from a movie. I had to bite my tongue multiple times. We said a prayer to unwind. :) Goodness, sometimes it's really hard to know what Jesus would do.

The second appointment was such a neat learning experience. Yehui is their investigator from China. He never had the concept of God while growing up. Crazy. We met him at a member's home, and after lunch had a wonderful, deep discussion with him. He asks all the right questions. We could answer him, but the concept was so hard for him to grasp. My heart just went out for him. And his prayer was so genuine as he asked for Heavenly Father to testify to him that He's there and that peace exists in this world.

Last appointment! We went to a part-member family's home. It was chaos, but so much fun! There had to have been 15 people there, and we all met outside while we were waiting for the dad to finish smoking the perfect turkey. He's legit. He cuts the different kinds of woods in advance so he can smoke the turkey with the perfect blend of applewood/cherrywood or whatever. And there were three dogs, a cat, a duck, and a turtle in or around the house. SO CRAZY!

Anyway, I've written so much and there's so much else I want to do, so I'm going to sign off! Hope I didn't bore you! Have a wonderful week. Thanks for everything. Don't forget I'm praying for you, and how true and perfect this gospel is.

Love always,

Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

P.S. We found a deaf girl who is interested. Now I REALLY have to practice my sign language.

August 18 - PVC, Temple trips, Jeopardy, baptismal dates and more!

Hello world!

It's a bright summer's day, and I have a week full of adventures to tell you all about! SO MANY THINGS HAPPENED! Pretty much all amazing things, too. :) It's great being on a mission for Jesus Christ. I highly recommend it.

First of all, that Portable Visitor's Center I've been telling you all about came to OUR WARD! Little Central Falls! And so we had a busy busy day preparing for it. :) We deep-cleaned the entire building (which is easier than it sounds, since it's so small) and set up all 8 displays around the church. It was so great to see Sister Bell and Sister Hurst again! They have done an amazing job with the PVC. We knew that Sister Hurst was going to be in the spotlight since so many members couldn't wait to see their old missionary, so they asked me to help out giving the tours and stationed the others at the beginning or end of the tour. Some of them were out street contacting, running up to cars stopped at the red light to get them to come in and everything. It was a lot of fun! Super cool to do it at our place, too, because it's such a high-traffic area. We're RIGHT on a busy street.

It was a pretty successful night! I was super nervous to be giving the tours and teaching so much about what we believe so quickly, but I did just fine. :) The videos helped out a lot. The tour groups weren't big, either, so I could really personalize it and connect with these people. One lady who wanted a tour was homeless, and when I took her to the Relief Society room and testified about being daughters of God and the unity and family the church brings, she started to cry because the Spirit was so strong. It was so neat. She is definitely going to become an investigator very soon. The Portable Visitor's Center is so inspired! Next time, we're really going to focus on the members bringing friends!

After that exhausting, eventful day, we woke up bright and early for. . . THE TEMPLE! Because Miss JOCELYN that you have all heard so much about went all the way through to get her endowments. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) It was a very special day. So many missionaries came to witness it, because she's somehow knows everyone. ;) I don't know anyone who was as prepared for the temple as she was. I am so proud of her--I've really made another life-long friend.

We were tired when we got home from the temple, but missionaries are always tired, so we work on! It was such a blessing that we kept on running that day, because we had the opportunity to extend a baptismal date to six different people. That's right. Six. Four of them accepted!!!! It was so cool! Three of them were from the group of five girls we met and started teaching last week! The fourth is Lovely. She came to the Portable Visitor's Center and told US she wanted to be baptized. Say wha--????? I already knew it, though. :) She's going far. She's going on a mission and getting married in the temple, I just KNOW it! You would all love her. She's the best.

Wednesday Sister Godoy and I took a road trip. :P My poor, poor companion. We had to travel back to her old area for some crazy dental work. That literally took out most of our day. It was close to a 4-hour round trip. Thank goodness for medical miles, or we'd easily be done for the month.

Let's see. . . we played Jeopardy with Crystal to test her on her scripture study! She's awesome!!!!!! Wahoo! I have a strong feeling that I'm here to see her get baptized. She knows it's true. She's on fire. And she's going to take this step of faith. :) Also, my mom is amazing. She sent me a quad to give to her. Crystal was so so touched that someone would care about her that much to send her her own set of scriptures.

Quick shout out to Sister Shea. She's an amazing member who has had some of the most difficult physical trials I have ever heard of. She's a cancer survivor among other things. And because her health is so poor and she just recovered from the shingles, she lost her job. She's a strong woman who has taught me a lot. If you can keep her in your prayers I would so appreciate it.

That's all I'll say for now! I could keep typing, but this is long, and I promised myself I'd finally send home some pictures!!!

Love you all! The gospel is true. Remember who you are and what you stand for!

XOXOXOXOXOX

~Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

August 11 - ". . . Embustera. . . Liar . . !"

Hola everyone!!!

It has been a fun week, to say the least!!! A fun week with beautiful, bright, sunny days!

There's a lot to say, but I'll start with a crazy story about a drunk woman. . . which will explain the subject line. . . Sister Godoy and I were out looking for a young women who hasn't been seen in awhile, when we saw THE most drunk person I have ever seen across the street. She was falling into the fence and muttering to herself. My companion is so compassionate, so of course we went to her to see if we could at least help her get home. We were worried she'd fall into the street. She thought we were angels. :) But when we realized her home was too far away to walk to easily, we borrowed her phone to find someone who knew her to pick her up. I got on the phone with someone from the assisted home where she lived, and I said, "I'm with Naudia, and she is extremely drunk and we're worried for her safety out on the streets. . ." Naudia, at this point, had fallen to the ground and was lying in the grass. She overheard me, and was promptly FURIOUS that I had called her drunk. She protested, "Embustera! . . . Liar!" (Embustera is liar in Spanish.) And she went off on a rant, half in English and half in Spanish about how we were NOT angels and how she needed God instead of us. . . She was quite put out. It wasn't funny in the least until after the experience. Needless to say, as soon as the assisted living center had sent an ambulance to pick her up and we knew she'd be okay, we were out of there. What a way to start off the week. :)

GOOD NEWS!!!!! We found FIVE new investigators!!!!! They are the greatest teenage girls--neighborhood friends that were super interested in what we had to say! We taught them a little bit, set up a return appointment. and came back and taught them the whole Restoration. Can't wait to teach them about the Plan of Salvation. They had so many questions about life that we can answer. :) It was a really neat experience! They are soooo sweet!!!!! Their names are Lilibeth, Teneri, Amjanet, Jelissa, and Pamela. Fun names, right? ;)

We had Zone Meeting this week! Jocelyn came with us! She is soooooo prepared for her mission. Her light and her testimony and her story are such an inspiration to me. Goodness, I thought I was DONE saying goodbye to friends leaving on their missions! My zone is awesome. We're making our very own "title of liberty" and putting it on t-shirts for P-days. :) Gotta love it!

Crystal is really progressing. I have HIGH hopes for her new baptismal date! Keep praying for her! She's been reading the Book of Mormon every single night! And she's been receiving personal revelation from it. What a miracle. :) WE LOVE HER. She's even going to be helping out with the Portable Visitor's Center coming to our ward tomorrow!!!!!!

Let's see. . . what else? We taught Gospel Doctrine class. And I might be teaching a deaf investigator.

Out of time! Gotta go! 

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

August 4 - La semana con mas Español en mi vida!

Favoritest Family and Friends!!!!!

I have survived the first few days as a leader in Central Falls (CF). It's been crazy, stressful and super fun! My new companion from Argentina is right here, and she is going to introduce her self! Here she goes...

Hola! How is it going over there? I am having a blast with Sister Merkley. I am from Argentina. I like Coca-Cola. I have a stuffed Pig in my bed! I miss the Spanish program, but I am learning a lot from the gringos. I love rice and meat, and i can say that my mission is the best thing that has ever happened in my life! Today i have been out for 14 months in my mission, and here in America I can't find shoes, because apparently you guys have big feet! But I am glad to get to say hi! And now I say bye! (All of this was said in her thick Spanish accent. Lol.)

I am also with Jocelyn, and she is going to say hi as well...

Hi everyone on the other side! (Not dead people just in case you're wondering.) so we are currently at Dress Barn and I am to small for these clothes, so i am supporting Sister Godoy and adding to the clothes being too small. haha! I have 0 days on the mission, but will report to the MTC on September 10. I will be flying to utah the 9th and staying at Sister Merkley's Moms' house! Shout out to Sister Trifiletti! I Love You! A day like today a year ago... I was baptized. yeahhhh party! So we are celebrating today and we look sooo cute all matching with polka dot shirts and black skirts. it feels like the 3 musketeers! Let's see. I love cookies and to sing and dance and that's why me and Lia get along soo freaking well! I Love her!!! Well let me pass you to Lia. if i stay I'll talk to much haha but one last thing: I came from Puerto Rico. So I also talk Spanish so me and Sister Godoy talk Spanish and Lia is like wha??? Haha so me and Sister Godoy will teach her Spanish and Latin-ize her. Buahaha Love you all Adios!

Haha, can you see why I love them? I'm well taken care of here by my girls. Transfer meeting was crazy. I'm getting so sick of goodbyes. :( Sister Platt is off in Cambridge! And it's been pretty hectic trying to remember everything and run the area. Sister Godoy is a stellar missionary though, so she's made the transition a little easier.

CC is officially a member of the church! And we're working with lots of others. The tricky part is meeting with them.

I actually ran out of time already, plus I'm not sure what else to tell you... But at least you got to hear from two of my favorite people! The gospel is true! Share it with everyone!!!

Love always,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

P.S. I'm surrounded by forigners! Everyone I work with is from out of the country, and they all jabber in different languages!!! Ahh!!!

July 28 - The only constant is change!

Well hi there!!!!

Just another week in the crazy life of an MBM Missionary! And yes, it's that time again. I have transfer news. I feel like I shouldn't have news. Things should just stay the same for once. But no. Elder Starley is going home, which I already knew. He knew the most about our area and the people. But I thought I'd have Sister Platt longer. . . NOPE! Sister Platt is being transferred up to Cambridge. AHHHHHH!!!!! That means that I will be leading the area. An area I've only been in for 6 weeks. Oh my goodness!!! That's scary! I don't feel like I know enough! And I have to drive. I hate New England driving. WAY worse than Utah; I don't know WHAT Utah drivers complain about.

This ALSO means I'll have a new companion, of course. Which is nuts. She'll be my 6th companion. I've only been on my mission for 4 1/2 months! Two trios will do that to you. My new companion is from Argentina and has never served in an English ward before!!! This should be an adventure. :) I can't wait! I'm also suuuuuper nervous. I don't feel quite ready. At least I'm not training. Sister Godoy has been out way longer than me. Just not here. :)

But I'll tell you some of the other happenings! First of all, Crystal! I love her. :) The poor girl wanted to come straight back and be baptized as soon as she left. But you know what? We made a game plan to help her feel confident and prepared by the time she gets baptized. She's been investigating for nearly 3 years. It's about time she takes the step she knows is right, and it's gonna happen! But first we're going to help her testimony grow even MORE, so she has no qualms or hesitations. And she'll be baptized before I leave this area!

We took Jocelyn, the awesome girl going on a mission, to a park and just read the Book of Mormon with her for a LONG time. And we talked and talked about amazing doctrine. She so gets it! I'm so happy for her and I admire her enthusiasm for the gospel!

I told the story of the Pre-Mortal existence to Maria's kids. Lol. It was so hard! 5 of them under 10! And they had so many questions! Which is great, but they could be random. :) I really love them though. We need to get their mom more involved so they can come to church. They have big hearts and wonderful desires to be close to God.

Alright, I had 2 AMAZING experiences with the spirit this week. Well, others did, and I was just lucky enough to be a witness. :) The first one was CC. She had the baptismal date for yesterday, and she needed an interview with someone in the mission presidency, so President Haight drove down to little Central Falls. :) For a background on CC, she has an auto-immune disease called Sarcoidosis. The top half of her lungs have completely shut down, she has a raspy voice, and the doctors said it's a miracle she's even breathing. This disease has also caused her bones to be brittle so they break far too easily, and she has sores on her body. :( She's black, 31, and bone thin. She has 3 kids. After her interview with President Haight, she asked him for a blessing. We were so privileged to be able to sit in on it. Short of my Patriarchal Blessing, I've never heard a blessing like that in my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, he commanded her body to be healed. She was promised that within the year, she would return to full health. He told her that Heavenly Father had a mission and plan for her that would require a strong, healthy body, and that she would get it. It was amazing. And that was only a sliver of it. There were many other incredible things she was promised, and the Spirit was so strong in the room. Some of them were deeply personal. But I know that CC will be honored for the work that she will complete in this life, and that her ancestors and posterity will be blessed forever because of her decision to be baptized. And she was baptized on Sunday. The very same day, we started teaching her teenage daughter, Lovely.

The following morning, for the first time ever, CC's Aunt was able to go to the temple to be baptized. She had been in the Church for four years. And Saturday morning she took her mother and her sister's names to the temple and was baptized in their behalf in the house of the Lord. I can't even explain how strong the Spirit was. It was another mission-wide recent convert trip, and all of these people had pivotal, life-changing experiences. We are so blessed to have temples so close and the knowledge that we have!


There's always more things I could tell you, but this email is long enough! I love you all! Thanks for your testimonies, support and example. You keep me going every day, even when times are tough. Well, you and the Lord. ;)

Pray for this area!

Love,
Sister Merkley

MBM Missionary

July 21 - Another week, another adventure!

Hey there, all!!!!

Lots to tell you, as usual. :) Ready to hear lots more crazy stuff?

Let's start with my favorite!!!! Kevin LaBarge got baptized!!!! Wahoo! I am so grateful for the permission I got to go see it. And for the member who drove me over 2 hours round trip to get there. And for him and his testimony. :) :) It was on Thursday night, and it was so cool to see everything again! The building, the members, my old companions, everything! I just loved it so much. Apparently Kevin got scared and tried to cancel his baptism TWICE that day. The adversary hits hard. :P But he told me afterward that he went to pray about it and just knew he wouldn't ever come back to church if he didn't get baptized. And he wondered why he was so scared. He has a great testimony. So he came, to everyone's relief! :) :) It made me so happy to see him there. He'll make an amazing addition to the ward. he even cheered when he came up out of the water!

Zone Conference was the beginning of this week, and let me tell you, there was a spiritual outpouring. It was amazing! Poor President Packard gets little to no sleep every night and just had surgery on his meniscus, but he still was able to blow all of us away. Pretty sure everyone cried. :) The trainings were great, and he gave us such great motivation and resolve to be better!

We had the greatest lesson on the Restoration with an islander named Dwight. He's awesome. :D And the member we brought was so nervous. He's a convert, and he just looks like he'd always be so confident, but we had him shaking in his shoes when he came with us to teach! But he brought a different kind of spirit, and his simple testimony was so genuine. Dwight was glued to everything he said. It made everything so real. :)

Toward the end of the week ALL of our appointments were falling through. People here are flaky. They cancel. Or forget. Which is lame, when you've scheduled your day around them. But one night, when we were bitterly doing stop-bys of less-actives and Do Not Contacts (I think Sister Platt has a death wish. . . she's determined to visit all the DNCs) we got a call from a stellar member who randomly wanted to invite us over for burgers! So that was fun. :) Her husband is a recent convert and was able to pass the sacrament for the first time this Sunday!

Crystal. . . yeah, she's a story. She was so ready, then Satan threw everything he had at her. As in, when she invited her family to the baptism, they said, "Why are you joining a church that used to reject black people?" Oh, the misconceptions. :( And she hadn't heard anything about blacks/the priesthood, and she's black so she felt like she'd be betraying her people. So we all got together the night before her "baptism" and talked about it. The same member that drove me to Kevin's baptism came with us and was amazing. (Sister Frandsen). We talked about what happened and not knowing all the answers and faith and the adversary. It was a neat discussion, and we left with high hopes, but the next day she came to ward conference late, and she told us she wasn't ready to be baptized yet. She still wants to meet with us and she says she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and she WANTS to be baptized. She just needs more time. Which is alright. The Elders had two investigators baptized Sunday. Super cool. :)

That's about all I have time for! But I love you all, as you very well know! There's nothing more important than sharing the gospel with everyone! I am so blessed to have this calling!!!!!

<3,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

July 14 - WHAT A LIFE!!!!

Hey everyone!!!!!

I have limited time again today! Because I'm heading off to see some amazing MANSIONS in Newport with my Zone! Can't wait! I love P-days.

But I'll tell you a couple quick things! :) :) :) We had a miracle with Crystal. She has a baptismal date for this Sunday, and we really didn't think she was going to make it. But we had a mission fast for all of those getting baptized in July, and we prayed our hardest, and Heavenly Father pulled through! Miracle. She made the necessary changes in her life, and now she's all set for Sunday!!!! I love her and her awesome spirit! Keep her in your prayers if you would--she's had a rough time of it lately!

A fantastic convert I just LOVE got her mission call to SALT LAKE CITY!!!! Wahoo! She's the best. Utah won't know what hit it. :) So weird that I got called from Utah to here, and she got called from here to Utah!

Do you remember Maria and the 5 kids we started teaching??? Well, we stopped back in and ended up teaching three of the girls (Ariana, Rosa, and Kiara) the entire Restoration! With the cups as the object lesson. Which makes it OH so much more fun. :) :) They were the CUTEST. So genuine and engaged and were bursting with questions. It made me so happy! I think teaching kids is my favorite. Everything is so black and white to them. It either makes sense or it doesn't. They either feel the Spirit or they don't. And when I testified that the Book of Mormon could speak directly to them, they made sure to tell us that they could feel the Spirit. So cute!!!!

We had a church tour with this amazing Portable Visitors Center display in the Providence Church. Not sure what I've told you about the Portable Visitors Center. . . basically, there are about seven different amazing displays these Sisters put together and set up around a church. One on the Restoration, one on Jesus Christ, one on temples, etc. There's an iPad stand and a TV hooked up to it where people can watch videos that explain about what we believe and why we believe it. Cool looking backdrops, the works. These Sisters are incredible. It looks so good, and they put together EVERYTHING themselves, even the videos. And there's this one station with Book of Mormons in evey language around a round table with Christ in the center. Anyway, these displays are often used for Church tours. And they or we take different groups of people around to each of the stations, show them the videos, answer their questions, and testify to them. It's been amazing so far. So the Providence church did it Saturday from 4-9. We came to help out. Part of the time we were inside giving tours, and the other part of the time we were personal contacting on the streets of Providence, trying to get people to walk into the church and see what we are all about. Hahahaha, that was an adventure. For multiple reasons! One, the Providence church is the second floor of a city building, and you never would have guessed it was a church. Reminds me of the Manhattan temple a little bit. Secondly, there were so many interesting people we talked to. Some sketchy ones, some lunatics, some gangsters, some decent people. We had a few good laughs and a few frustrating moments. I won't tell all the stories. . Providence was busy anyway, because everyone was there to see Water Fire. You should look it up if you don't know what that is. :)

I got a text from my old area. . . Kevin moved up his baptismal date to this Thursday! And I have permission to go see it!!


Those are some of the most extreme things that happened. Life is good. :) Heavenly Father is so aware of the details of everything we do, and everything that is important to us is important to Him. I miss all of you, but it sounds like we're all having crazy, amazing adventures! Keep your spirits up! Keep smiling even when things are difficult, and don't forget to pray!

Lots of love!

Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

July 7 - Independence Week!

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was. . . let's say slow. Yeah. Well, first of all, Sister Platt and I were sick off and on the entire week, so we kept having to bail on things for recovery's sake. And then about 80% of our appointments (carefully studied and planned for) were cancelled. Or people just weren't home when they said they'd be. One of the two. Needless to say, we didn't do too much teaching. :P Pretty bummed about that after such a week of miracles last week. Still, there were some awesome happenings!

For instance, we fulfilled Sister Platt's dream of having a BREAKFAST appointment at a member's home. :) They're awesome, and he is a professional chef, so it was QUITE delicious! They are preparing themselves to go to the temple for the first time ever!

At District meeting I received a box of things I left behind in my old area. . . Haha, that was pretty great. Especially since some letters came in for me there, too. A final call-out to make sure everyone is writing to my Rhode Island address! I'd hate to wait about a month to read a letter! And thanks for those. They're SO great.

We went to a funeral for an old man in our ward no one knew. :( It was sad. There had to have been 15-20 people total. And I had to give the opening prayer. What do you say in a prayer at a funeral for someone you know nothing about? It was a strange experience. And sad. I don't like funerals.

BUT! The next day was great. INDEPENDENCE DAY! Which happened to be the day of our Zone Meeting! So our Zone Leaders decked everything out in red, white, and blue and fed us a BBQ. Super fun!!! And then our meeting was super inspirational. We're aiming high! Setting goals and doing a mission-wide fast for investigators with baptismal dates! Can't wait! Guess what??? The first time I really see it rain in Rhode Island was the 4th of July. Of course. It DUMPED. I actually quite enjoyed it! Driving through rivers was a little scary, though. We had permission to celebrate that day, so the whole zone got together at our church that night and played games! Apples to Apples, Cranium. . . it was so fun. :) The next night we got to see the fireworks that had been postponed. The Providence fireworks were fantastic!!! There was a live orchestra and it was over the lake! Haha, I'm sure Carrie Underwood and the Stadium of Fire knocked it out of the park, though.

Sunday was pretty powerful. That was good. Hope you all know you're an inspiration to me and in my prayers! And this week is going to be a LOT more successful. We're feeling better and have set some great goals!

LOVE,

Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

June 30 - A week of MIRACLES --- from the smallest, poorest state in the US!

Well hi there again!!!!

P-days are the best. But we don't have enough time for everything we want to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, are you ready to hear about the amazing miracles of this week??? Because they're. . . amazing. Ahem! So. . . we more than doubled our teaching pool. And it wasn't exactly small to begin with. Yeah. 10 new investigators!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In one week. That's CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we went from 7 investigators to 17. Absolutely nuts. And really really REALLY cool to watch the process. :) :) :) :) I'm a little overwhelmed. . . Heavenly Father is entrusting us with a lot of his children. But what a blessing!!!!!!!

6 of these new investigators come from the same home! Maria is the head of the house, and she has a combination of children, grandchildren and a niece or something like that to make up the other 5. All of them are kids. :) :) :) Super cute! Jose, Arianna, Kiara, Rosa, and Nathan. The girls wanted to record me praying so they could keep it! Hahaha! We taught them the first part of the Restoration, and we can't wait to go back and teach them the rest!

Dwight is another investigator from some obscure island in the Caribbean. I think he's my favorite. :D He's a big black guy with long braided black hair. He's dating a woman in our ward named Melissa. And Melissa's DAUGHTER Mikaela is already one of our investigators. So we were teaching Mikaela (she's 9) a cute way to remember all the 10 commandments, and he meandered in and sat down to join us! Suh-weet! And then he started asking questions. All SORTS of them! We were trying to keep on top of them and remember all the answers and I just had a thought, "You know, this isn't what he's really asking. He needs to know about modern-day revelation." So I opened my mouth and explained a little about the Book of Mormon, then about having a living prophet on the Earth today. You should have SEEN his expression when he heard that news! He pulled out a notebook and scribbled down Thomas S. Monson's name! :) :) :) He said it made sense, but he was still burning with questions! So Sister Platt offered to come back just for him to answer those questions, and he snatched the opportunity. He didn't want to interrupt Mikaela's lesson, but the rest of the time he sat there writing down questions. I LOVE IT! I can't wait!

Donna was a hand-off from the sisters in Scituate. I like her. She's older with red, spiky hair. She's interested in learning for educational purposes, but is digging in her heels for anything else. We'll see if the Spirit will touch her heart.

Melissa was definitely inspired. (Different Melissa.) We started talking to her on the street. She's soooo sweet. She has been in a church ONCE and doesn't know anything about God and really wants to now. She's curious but shy about it. We testified that God knows and loves her and set up an appointment to come back. She couldn't stop smiling. :) :) I'm getting better at talking to random people.

We had dinner with a member who was ex-communicated. She's classy and really wanting to get her life back on track, and she has a daughter that is 9 as well. She wants to get baptized. So we're on it. :) :) :) She and I are buddies. I taught her how to play Cat's Cradle and I think I might have gotten her a liiiiiitle obsessed. :D

Someone who has been investigating for over a year got baptized yesterday! Her name is Lilian! her husband was able to baptize her, and it was the sweetest thing to witness. I totally teared up. So happy for them! :) Oh, I also spoke in Sacrament meeting. And cried like, the whole time. Awesome. :P
I'm aaaaalways tired! But it's a satisfying kind of tired, so it's okay. I hit the pillow exhausted every night and completely out of steam. There are lots of things between all these miracles that are hard, like homesickness or rejections. Still, Heavenly Father is continually outweighing the bad with the good. It's been neat. :)

The Elders we work with are great, as are the Senior missionaries. They keep me laughing! Sister Platt is super cool! We laugh a lot, too. Mostly about how OPPOSITE we are. But instead of clashing, we balance. :D

Don't forget my new address in Rhode Island! Miss you all!!! Thanks for the updates!

<3,

Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

June 23 - "Testimonies and Transfers and Trials and Triumphs!"

Hey there everyone!!!!!!!!

Crazy week doesn't even cover it. Not in the slightest. And you know what? You'd think I'd be better at goodbyes at this point. Nope. Still hate them. SOOO much.

But let me start with the BEST news!!!!! The day before I was transferred (Tuesday), we had my final appointment with Kevin and Katie. We decided to reteach the Restoration for Katie's benefit, and to hit home our testimonies. We had this great object lesson with a tower of cups building Christ's true church, then pulling out the Priesthood and it all tumbling, then rebuilding it again with Joseph Smith. . . it was pretty great. :D It was very clear. And amazing. The three of us were able to teach with the Spirit and testify of the truthfulness of the gospel. KATIE got emotional! And then. . . the best part. . . with the Spirit to back us up, we extended a baptismal date, for BOTH of them. And they accepted. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! It was amazing! The BEST way to end my lessons with them. Kevin is working toward August 3rd, and Katie is working toward August 17th! Pray for them! And I really hope I get permission to come witness it! They were filled with the Spirit and are soooo on track. :)

The next day was transfers. :( :( :( It was so hard to say goodbye. But let me tell you, I've never experienced anything like this transfer meeting. Talk about powerhouse. It's open to whomever wants to come, and so Kevin and Katie both came and sat by us! Both President Packard and his wife spoke, there were amazing musical numbers, then all of the missionaries returning home stood up and bore their testimonies. 22 of them. WOW. They kept it brief, but they did their best to capture in those moments exactly what their mission has meant to them. A lot of them directly addressed the investigators. It was AMAZING. I just sat there and cried. And I KNOW Kevin and Katie felt it, too. Afterwards, President had us (the missionaries) stand, and he left a blessing with us. The Lord is in this mission. It's an amazing thing to know that.

After the tearful goodbyes, I headed off to Rhode Island with my new companion, Sister Platt! She's cool. :) Very mellow. Nothing like my crazy last companions. This will be a very different experience. Somehow, with all of her mellow-ness, she keeps us constantly busy. Which is great. :)

Central Falls is GHETTO. SUPER ghetto. Dingy, crammed, dirty, and downright sketchy in lots of areas. Very different from Weston. But I'm already getting used to it. :) You should see the church building! I'll have to send you a picture. It's on a crammed street and looks just like another little office building. No steeple, so grass, no nothing. Just a gravel patch for a parking lot. The inside is better. I think it's kinda cute on the inside. Teeny little chapel with a couple teeny classrooms. The basement has a teeny kitchen and a font. :) So that's good.

People here are either AWESOME or crazy. Like, legitimately crazy. I've never met so many crazy people in my life. Sister Platt thinks it's funny that I have no idea how to react to these people. I think I'll gain a whole new set of skills! :) :) But the awesome people are beyond awesome. For instance, a stalwart convert we had dinner with bought me a CAKE that said 'Welcome Sister Merkley!' HOW CUTE!!!!!!! And the Elders and Senior Couple we work with are great! We're working with about 5 investigators. :) One of them is named Crystal. She's my favorite. She's a nurse, 22, sassy, and just bumped up her baptismal date to be July 20th! Wahoo!!!! There's such diversity in this ward, too. It was super awkward when I didn't know what Cape Verdean was. :D So many people here are from Cape Verde.

Anyway, life is good! Lots to learn. Lots to do! Keep me posted on life. Mail is the biggest blessing! You all tend to say exactly what I need to hear, when I need to hear it! I love all of you, and you're in my prayers!

Lots of love!
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

June - 16 "Mind = Blown. Unexpected, crazy news with T-texts!!!"

Dearest darlingest friends and family,

I have a love/hate relationship with the past week. So much of it was SO good!!!! And then. . . Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Okay. . . I guess I'll start with the big news. We got T-texts on Friday. TRANSFER NEWS. Everyone was guessing who would leave, and we were all pretty convinced Sister Slater was history. But guess what? Yup. It's ME. I'm LEAVING!!!! I've only been here 2 transfers, and if you're talking Weston 2nd Ward, only ONE! I am leaving everything I've known on the mission. First transfer. And guess what ELSE! I'm changing STATES. I'm going to Central Falls, Rhode Island. Wow. From what I've heard, basically I'm going from one of the richest areas in the mission to one of the poorest. Poverty-stricken area. BUT President told me that the ward I'm going to is preparing 8 people for baptism and has baptized 40 people in the last year. That's amazing.

I really don't know how I feel about this. First I was stunned. Then I was pretty disappointed. Then I was excited. Now I'm torn. A bit of both. The Lord knows best what I need and who needs me. So I'll gladly go. But Kevin is on FIRE and I would have loved to stick around to see the whole process to his baptism. And I feel like I JUST figured out everything I needed to to REALLY help make things happen in these wards! Man! I know, should have figured it out ages ago. It's a long process. One I get to start over very soon with a new companion. :) Her name is Sister Platt, and I hear she's so sweet. Can't wait to make another best friend!

As for actual events of the week, the Weston 2nd Elders connected us with their top investigators, Rafael and Tatiana. I love them! They are going through a rough time, but they're both so funny and sincere. She's from Brazil--he's from the Dominican Republic. Tatiana taught us how to make plantains, and we had a great scripture study with them!!!

Kevin had us and the Weston First Elders over to help him cut his Japanese Cherry Tree. And bushes in the back. In the RAIN!!!!!! It was soooooo fun! (Pictures coming!) And we can sooo sense how ready he is to be baptized. He talks about it and is so spiritually in tune. He'll be such an example to his family when he takes that step. And we've really connected with his daughter Katie! We are now officially teaching her as well.

Saturday morning we got to go to the temple to support a recent convert in her baptism trip. She's so funny! That was pretty fun. And we were so busy we had to go on a 3-way split!!!! Temple, Blood drive, and the ward BBQ! It was crazy!!!!!

The weather has been positively glorious. I not too hot or cold, some fun showers but plenty of sunshine.

I've started saying goodbye to people. Breaks my heart. :( But I'm heading out on another chapter of this book!!!!! I'll tell you all about it next week!

Miss you all! I love the news you give me! Michelle, whom most of you know, and one of my DEAREST friends, is now married. I can't even wrap my mind around it. She looked stunning. And my cousin just had a BABY! Lots of my friends just turned 20, too. Weird that life happens without me at home.

Love you! Keep in touch!

~Sister Merkley

MBM Missionary

June 9 - "Quickest of quick updates."

Hey everyone!!!! How's it going in the rest of the world?

I really have no time. . . again! So I'll keep it brief-er than usual. ;) Let's see. . .

We did lots of painting this week for service! And laying out brown paper and lots of painting. . . That was fun. Our teaching pool is fairly empty. We're trying to find more people to share the gospel with, but it's a long process to start from scratch. Haven't heard from Jackson since the bad news. Golden is in China. Kevin is still on fire! But we're employing a lot of finding tactics now. . .

Brother Clites, the Weston 2nd Ward Mission Leader, is AMAZING! He's so inspired, and we've been practicing inviting and teaching with him. He gets us so excited to do the Lord's work. You can feel the energy flooding from him. AND he's brilliant. Just graduated from Harvard and you can TELL.

We had lots of rain and meetings. Sunday was even MORE hectic than usual. We're building trust where we can with the members so we can work more closely with them. I met an author who is sooooo super funny and amazing!!!! She and her husband are going to the temple soon to do baptisms for the first time as well!!! Can't wait!!!!!

Oh, and President gave an amazing training at Zone Conference. Seeking personal revelation. It was very spiritual, and I know he's inspired. That's about it.

More details next week! Sorry so short and not as exciting this time!!!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Misisonary


P.S. If any of you ever travel to Boston, GO TO THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE. A-MA-ZING. I'm pretty sure I have the best P-days out of ALL of my friends! I'll send pictures. . . sometime. . . :D

Just 2 - "Another week of ups and downs."

Hey family and friends!!!!!!!!

Well, life is a roller coaster here in the Weston Wards of Massachusetts. :) That's for sure. I don't have a ton of time, so I'll just outline some of the craziest things!

Let's start with the bad news, shall we? Jackson. :( No baptism again. And this time, we tried contacting him all week before we cancelled it the day before. That was hard. He finally texted us yesterday morning. . . Turns out his mom was NOT supportive. AT ALL. In fact she "rejected" the invite he gave her and forbade the baptism. Which, you know, is kind of crazy because he's 22 and has only known his mom for a year. He moved to America from Uganda at age 21 and in with the mother he had never met, who threw a lot of rules at him he's not happy with. But he has to obey because he has nowhere else to go. . . :( It's a hard situation. So if you could keep him in your prayers, that would be amazing. We don't really know what to do at this point. . . contact is minimal, too. We don't want to make things worse for him.

On a positive side. . . Sarah!!! I love this girl! She's 13 and part of a less-active Haitian family we're working with. SO SPUNKY. We're good friends. :D But this girl has never taken a dance class in her life and hasn't been given very many opportunities to shine. We were granted permission to attend the Middle School talent show she made it into to support her. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I have NOT seen that much talent in a 13-year-old, particularly in one without any training. She blew everyone out of the water!!!!!!! Completely. It should have been on TV or something. Talk about fighting for your dreams and showing the world what you're capable of. She danced like a PRO. Sister Slater started crying. It was amazing. :) :) :) Use the talents God has given you!

Kevin (Brother LaBarge, as we now like to call him) is doing great! Seriously! He came to church again on Sunday and Bishop White was FINALLY able to talk to him! Score! AND he paid fast offerings. Yeah, he asked US how to pay them. He's always so ahead of us. So excited for him! Now we just gotta get his daughter to girl's camp! :D

Another miraculous event - the Martinez family. WOW. Joe Martinez was baptized 3 days after I entered the MTC. His process inspired his less-active wife, and they were able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the first time EVER this weekend! And we were lucky enough to be there. I was able to bear my testimony of family history and temple work with them, and help him prepare the names of his grandparents and great-grandparents for his first step ever into the House of the Lord. They both so GET it. He said he felt it as soon as he walked into the temple. She was nearly in tears the entire time. And I was even allowed to do baptisms with my companions! So beautiful! I love the temple!!!

That was Saturday. We also went trackting (spelled right?) for awhile on Saturday. . . that doesn't happen very often. And I got fried. :D Big sunburn. But it was an adventure. Some slammed doors, plenty of funny looks and awkward conversation starters. So worth it when we found Joe and Beverly, then later on Oscar. :D Tell you more about them if anything comes of it.

Gotta get going! Love and miss you all. Sometimes things get hard, but I've been blessed to be able to hit the reset button every time I get up in the morning. :) I appreciate hearing from you. It makes my day!

Sincerely,
Your Favorite Missionary ;)
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary