Sister Syd

Monday, March 8, 2021

Canada Week 78: My cup runneth over!

To all my wonderful friends and family who have been there and supported me through this wild, amazing roller coaster journey of a mission - I want to say THANK YOU! I cannot believe this is my last weekly email I will ever write as a full time missionary for the Lord. This last week was special and hard all in the same breath, but my heart is full, and "my cup runneth over" with love and gratitude for so many things.

This week was the same as any other week - we taught lessons, had teaching appointments, performed services, ate our suppers, and went for walks - but this week was a little different and will always hold a special place in my heart. This was the week that Tyler took the step of baptism. He chose to follow his Heavenly Father and Savior. It was a very sacred, special experience that I will forever cherish and hold close to my heart. I may not have been there from the beginning, but I am overfilled with joy and gratitude that God allowed for me to be a small part of his journey towards Him and His son, Jesus Christ. Tyler is such an amazing example to me of truly humbling yourself and allowing Christ to help change you for the better, and accepting that through Christ our sins CAN be forgiven. I will never forget the joy on Tyler's face as he was baptized. He was bursting with light and happiness and it was the sweetest thing. He has come such a long way and I only saw part of his growth. He chose to give up things he loves for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, who he has come to love even more than those things. The spirit that filled the room as he was baptized was beautiful. I am so grateful for a gospel that has such a special feeling about it that allows for these beautiful moments to occur. I am truly grateful and humbled for this opportunity I have had to serve in the Canada Edmonton Mission and to be part of so many people's lives.

I have had so many thoughts shuffling around in my head about what I wanted to share in my last missionary email. It all keeps coming back to the very simple understanding and testimony that I have grown to have and hold near to me. I could be here all day long listing the lessons I have learned, the ways I have grown, the many beautiful and not so beautiful moments, and the endless amount of people that have made this experience everything and more to me. My mission has been the wildest ride. It has been one of the most sacred experiences that I have been a part of in my life so far. There were many bright wonderful days, and there were many dark days I had never anticipated. My heart will always have a special place for the memories, the endless moments, the people, the lessons, my growth and everything in between that has all worked together to create the mission I had, and the mission that God knew I needed. Jesus Christ truly is our Savior. He is our older brother and and our friend. I am truly humbled and grateful to say that I KNOW Christ lives and loves us and is always there for us. I know God is there and is always listening no matter how silent. I have had dark moments where it truly felt like heaven was closed, but I can testify that as I persevered and pushed through the light would shine again. The light will always shine. It may be little by little, and come in the simplest of moments, but it WILL come. This work is beautiful, and it has been the most incredible thing to feel the love God has for His children, through me.

It will be bittersweet to go. A little piece of my heart will always be in Canada. I will be forever grateful for the experiences and memories I have made here. This wild and amazing adventure I have been on for the past 18 1/2 months in the Great White North has been unforgettable! ♡

Much love to you all! I will see you very soon!

Love, Sister Merrill

Sister Merrill - CEM - August 2019-March 2021

Tyler's baptism!

Sister Jordan, Sister Merrill, Sister Crowe

Saying goodbye to the amazing Sorochan Family!

Bittersweet to say Goodbye to the CEM

Monday, March 1, 2021

Canada Week 77: Always make the choice to believe!

Hello hello my beautiful friends and family! It is truly bittersweet knowing I am entering my last full week as a missionary here in the Canada Edmonton Mission.

The past week was full of fun and adventure and goodness! Last Monday President Cowley informed us that our companionship would soon be a trio! Wednesday morning we picked up our cute new companion Sister Jordan. She brings such a strong spirit to our crew, and it has already been such a blessing to serve with her. We not only received a new companion, but also all of the areas she was covering. We now serve in 7 wards which is pretty crazy and pretty awesome if you ask me. As you can imagine we taught a lot of lessons this week. They were all wonderful and it has been fun to meet more members and investigators. I'm excited to stay busy and work hard the last couple weeks of my mission. Tuesday we were able to have an in person MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and it was so fun! It was so nice to be with other people after so long of not. Besides the craziness of back to back lessons this past week we also enjoyed the outdoors, walked the dogs, performed our weekly services, and heart-attacked another friend's door. We enjoyed many moments of joyous laughter and fun! I will forever say that laughter is the best medicine for anything life throws at us! Laughter and happiness bring my soul immense joy.

This week I had a lot of emotions and thoughts swirling around in my mind. I want to share some thoughts from a talk that struck me called "Choose to Believe," by L. Whitney Clayton. He touches on the fact that each of us, at one point or another, will go through our own spiritual wilderness where we will face rugged, emotional journeys, turmoil, hardship and dark, hopeless moments. Yet, there will ALWAYS be a spiritual light beckoning to us, giving us hope of rescue, and that light shines from our Savior, Jesus Christ. He says that recognizing the Savior's light starts with a willingness to believe. "Every day each of us faces a test and it is the test of our lifetime. Will we choose to believe in Him and allow the light of His gospel to grow within us, or will we refuse to believe and insist on traveling alone in the dark? The Savior provides His gospel as a light to guide those who choose to believe in and follow Him." It is a choice - it will always be a choice - each and every day! I know I have mentioned similar thoughts before, but I loved the focus and emphasis Elder Clayton gave on our personal choice and action. An impactful line that I loved states, "The decision to believe is the most important choice we ever make. It shapes all our other decisions." I am here to personally testify of the power of choosing to believe. I know that some days it takes more effort and that other days it seems effortless, but I can say that it is 100% worth choosing God every single time. Faith and belief just don't happen to us - we have to work, and hope, and then ACT on them. Choosing God is more than a blessing. I know the mental hardship of making that choice some days, but I also know the goodness and strength that comes from doing it each time. It may not always be recognizable, but it will always be worth it in the end. I have found that making the choice to believe changes our focus from merely stating things in the gospel to living the gospel and truly making it a part of our heart and of ourselves.

I have a firm testimony that God loves us. He loves us enough to provide the ability to choose despite the heartache it may bring Him at times. He loves us enough that he sent His son to suffer and die for us. He knows how to succor our every need. He truly is running to heal us, to lead us along and to help us back home. I love this gospel. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love feeling the joy, love, peace, and excitement that life brings - even when there are dark moments.

Thank you for all of your love and support along this crazy amazing mission journey I have been on for 18 months. It has meant more to me than I can express. I pray everyday that the words I share will touch someones life in some way. I love you and will see you soon!

Love, Sister Merrill

Sister Crowe & Sister Merrill

Sister Crowe, Sister Jordan, Sister Merrill

The new trio!

Mission Leadership Council

Trish's dogs they walk each day ;)

Beautiful Sister Merrill!

Monday, February 22, 2021

Canada Week 76: God meets us where we are!

Hello my friends and family! Hopefully everyone found reasons to smile this week! I have discovered that joy is often found in the simplest and smallest of things. :)

Fun facts of the week: It warmed up and thawed out our frozen zone - our freezer and refrigerator are LOADED with lasagna (9 to be exact) - we delivered some more heart attacks - we tried DQs red velvet blizzards with brownies that we actually got to eat there and not take home!

Sister Crowe and I had a great week. We had a few lessons and meetings get cancelled, but we were still part of so many good things! We had some really awesome member lessons. We have started sharing M. Russell Ballard's talk called, "Write Down a Date." In this talk he challenges us to set a date to a find someone for the missionaries to teach. We have been challenging our members with this and it has been really neat! The spirit has been so powerful and I love it! We also had some amazing lessons with the people we are teaching and even put a couple of them on date! The first is a girl named Clerissa. She has previously been taught and we recently contacted her and began teacher her again. This has now led to us to setting a baptismal date for her the end of March! The other is our friend Trish. She is the cute lady in our building that we serve by walking her dogs each day. We had a wonderful phone call with her this week and ended up setting a baptismal date for her too for the beginning of May! It is so incredible and God is so good! We are so happy our friends have chosen to become closer to their Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ!

This past Thursday I had another interview to discuss My Plan and a few other things before I return home in a couple weeks. I also attended my last Zone Conference. The conference was amazing and I felt such a special spirit. All of the missionaries going home had opportunity to bear their testimony. It was a very tender moment for me. I am so grateful for everything God has allowed me to go through and learn the past 18 months as a full-time missionary.

As for my thoughts this week, I have found myself pondering about people and experiences placed on our paths. Every minute of every day provides us with opportunities for emotions, attitude, and choices, and we can choose how each moment affects us. We can choose to learn and grow or not. It has always baffled me that God knows exactly what we need, how we need it, and when we need it - even if it takes us forever to come around to the same understanding. How does He do it? How does He keep track? I don't have the answers, and this week we taught a lesson to an investigator who had similar questions. During the lesson I felt prompted to share Mosiah 4:9 which says: "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." This scripture is such a good reminder for me. that ALL we have to do is believe. There are so many things we don't understand, but we can trust in God's love, choose to have faith, and to take things one day at a time. I am learning to truly live by the line, "Come what may and love it!" I tend to be a planner and a worrier, but I am learning how to take things one day at a time when I need to. I am grateful for a merciful God who has more patience than I seem to acknowledge. He is more than willing to wait for us as long as we are still moving forward, still trusting in Him, and still desirous for righteous things. There is also no timetable in which we have to achieve it. He let's us go at our own pace, and He will meet us where we are and build us up.

I am so grateful for God and His goodness. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon that helps me recognize and understand God's love and mercy. I testify that He truly is there. He loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, here to fulfill all that was necessary. They have more love for us than we know, and they will always be there for us no matter what.

I love and miss you all - but I'll see you soon! Find a reason to smile this week because God loves YOU!

Love, Sister Merrill