November 9 - #callnoah . . . Cuz there's going to be a FLOOD!!!

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

We receive constant updates about how we're doing with the monthly goal from our Zone Leaders and from President Packard. And yes, we use hashtags. :D #callnoah is one of the popular ones, hence the subject title.

Speaking of updates on our goal, do you want to hear about it???? We have. . . well. . . last I heard, we have 12 baptisms done this month, but yesterday was Sunday, so I'm sure there's more now. And we have 127 baptisms still set for the rest of the month. Can you believe it???? It's amazing! We have set even MORE dates! These next two weekends are really going to be big ones! We're working so hard over here, and it's definitely going to happen. We're going to go over our goal. I can't wait!

We had a big part in the success this week, too! Last Monday night, Sister Fernando and I had the opportunity to go to President Haight's home to teach an investigator named Wilmur for Family Home Evening. President Haight is the second councilor in the mission presidency, and he is such an incredible man. He's of the same mold as President Packard. He has mastered charity to the point that when he just looks at you, you can feel the pure love that Christ, and he, has for you. I've talked about him before. He's the one that gave CC the most incredible blessing I've ever heard after her baptismal interview. That whole family is amazing.

Wilmur, who we were able to teach, isn't really in our area. He's in the Revere Spanish ward, but President Haight found him and he's commonly fellow-shipped in his home, so we have permission to teach him now and then, joined with the Revere Spanish Sisters). He's young and awesome. He has been investigating for a few months, but he was always hesitant about the subject of baptism. He wanted to feel ready. Sister Fernando and I had been praying for ways we could contribute more to this monthly goal, and we decided he needed to be extended another baptismal date. . . for November. After this incredible lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ, after reading 2 Nephi 31 with him and the Spirit being so incredibly strong, President Haight explained the blessings of baptism and invited him to be baptized November 22nd. Without hesitation, and with tears in his eyes, he said yes. It was so beautiful! We're teaching him the last couple lessons (with the Revere Spanish Sisters) and doing everything in our power to help him be ready for this wonderful day! We're so excited! And now he knows that the adversary is going to do everything in his power to stop this baptism from happening, and he's braced against whatever opposition comes his way. I'm so happy!!!!!!!!!!

In other amazing news, Susan got baptized! Wahoo! She was married on Tuesday, baptized on Friday, and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday! She did it! And we're so proud of her. She has a wonderful spirit. She was so nervous, but I've rarely seen anyone as ready as she was for this amazing step. So many of the missionaries in our zone showed up too, to bring THEIR investigators with baptismal dates, and other missionaries that taught her came, and the Portable visitor's Center Sisters came, and her family came. . . it was just a hit. It was also one of the more elaborate baptisms I've ever seen. For instance, have you ever seen a wedding cake at a baptism?? But that's just Belmont. :)

Hahaha, Sister Fernando and I do service at this Indian home. An older brother and sister live there. They're so sweet and funny and have the cutest Indian accent! We were raking their leaves this week and crammed as many as we could into the trash can, but it required some extra pressure, so Sister Fernando sat in it. Picture attached. It was very funny. :) Also, Sister Fernando is obsessed with doughnuts. She dragged me to a doughnut shop and ended up buying one of every kind they had. It was crazy!

I had the most amazing blessing of my life this week. Except for my Patriarchal Blessing, of course. But it was so incredible. Powerful, special, eye-opening, and full of hope. President Haight gave one to both Sister Fernando and I, and we truly understood that the Lord was speaking directly to us. It was an amazing experience.

Also, Muzzie sent my birthday and Christmas presents early, which is so great and completely like her. :D I thought I'd enclose the picture!

Thanks for everything!!!! I love you all so so so so so so so so so so so much!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

November 3 - Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!

Good morning, everyone! And what a beautiful November morning it is!

It's been an incredible week. So incredible. I hope I can explain it well enough to portray the kind of empowerment we felt from the Lord.

On Thursday, we had a visit from Elder Larry R. Lawrence. This man, if you're interested: https://www.lds.org/church/leader/larry-r-lawrence?lang=eng We had been preparing to see him for a long time, and we were so excited for what this wonderful man and his wife had to say!


Sister Lawrence spoke to us first. I want to grow up to be like her! She is amazing! She taught us some good, solid doctrine about the literal gathering of Israel, fore-ordination, and being the elect that I had never fully understood before. She brought the Spirit and opened our eyes to a number of beautiful truths!


After that was the most significant part of our week. Let me explain: 110 people in our mission have committed to be baptized in the month of November. That's unheard of. It's amazing! But the thing is, a large number of our dates that are usually set are not retained, because the adversary is working hard against us in this work. President and Sister Packard stood up together, along with all of the missionaries in leadership positions. They had all counseled together, with Elder and Sister Lawrence, and discussed what we could do to really retain the baptismal dates that we set. They told us that together, after much prayer and seeking for revelation, they decided to set a goal to retain at least 70 dates in the month of November. The highest we have ever gotten in one month is 59.

Our mission has never been a mission of numbers because it's really the people that matter, and numbers have the potential to distract from that. But every single one of us felt the Spirit in that room as they told us of this goal. The number represents 70 very real people with hopes and dreams and fears that could open the gate to their personal salvation this month. So altogether, we made a commitment that we would do whatever it took to make it happen. Every single missionary is making a personal sacrifice--committing themselves more than they have ever committed before, in an effort to bring the blessings of heaven into this goal. We all also committed to pray for this goal in every single one of our prayers, personal and public, until December 1st. We're praying for every single one of these people by name many times, and we're fasting as a mission.

This is one of the most exciting things that have happened to me on my mission! I've never felt more consecrated or had as much desire for a righteous goal! And I know--I know--we can do it. In fact, I don't want to limit the Lord to 70. That's the minimum we are aiming for, and we're ready to do whatever it takes! The entire mission is on fire, doing everything they can to live the higher law, be exactly obedient, and love the work!

I'm telling you all of this not only because I want you to know what's so important to me at this time, but to solicit your faith and prayers in behalf of these amazing investigators here in New England. We can't do this alone! We need the members here, we need you! We're not waiting on the Lord--He's waiting on us!

All of this was confirmed to us as Elder Lawrence stood up and testified. He was there when the goal was set, and he knows we can do it. He told us of a time he was in Russia as a mission president, and the mission set a goal to DOUBLE the number of baptisms from the previous year. They, too, sacrificed, prayed, fasted, and worked harder than ever to bring the blessings of the Lord into their mission. And they succeeded.

If you can't tell, we're excited. :) :) :) :) :) Thanks for reading all of that. This is going to happen!

And guess what? SUSAN is one of those amazing investigators getting baptized this month. I love her! I actually passed her off to Belmont from Weston six months ago! How crazy is that? She absolutely loves the gospel, and she's ready to make this covenant with Christ. In fact she's getting married TOMORROW in order to be ready for her baptism on FRIDAY! Please please keep her in your prayers!

That's the most important news. :) Oh yeah, there was Halloween, too. So we had a fantastic lunch with our zone, and Sister Fernando and I were in charge of the Fear Factor! We had them eat slugs and octopus and such. Don't worry, all fake. All edible. But pretty convincing. :) Sister Fernando is a natural. Then we had to be in early.

We also had Stake Conference and a marvelous fireside by Beauty Redefined-- twins with an awesome message for the world! You should look them up!

One last thing before I check out. Sister Lawrence so loves our goal that she wrote a song to the tune of I Stand All Amazed for us. :) :) :) It's basically the best.

I pray for the goal that the Lord has revealed to me.
I know in my heart that it will be reality.
I’ll work and I’ll show that I’m ready to sacrifice,
For blessings will come if I’m willing to pay the price.

Chorus:
It will be heavenly
When we reach seventy
Oh what a memory!
It will be heavenly—heavenly to me.

Thanks again for EVERYTHING! I love you all so much! Miracles are happening here in the MBM!

Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

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!!!!!!!!