Canada Week 20: 5 Months!!!!!

Hello friends and family!!  I hope everyone is well as January comes to an end.  CRAZY!  I can't believe it's almost February.  Time is weird on a mission.  I am so grateful for the time I've had here and for the time yet to come!

This week began with transfers.  I got a new cute companion, Sister Costas.  She is from Spain and is so great!  I still live in the same place with Sister Jensen and her new companion, Sister Quadra.  My new companion and her new companion both speak Spanish so I think I'll get to learn a little Spanish this transfer ;) 

On Saturday we were blessed to participate in a large community service event.  We were able to help people get fitted for ski boots, skis and poles.  It was so fun to be with everyone and talk to the people!  Every person has cool stories and backgrounds and I love hearing about them!  We even got to experience some fun Canadian things:   
- homemade snow rolled maple suckers
- fire roasted apples rolled in cinnamon sugar
- push sleds (like dog sleds with no dogs)

One absolutely amazing thing I have learned as a missionary is just how much love Heavenly Father has for each of His children.  It's a unique experience as a missionary because we are constantly serving and loving those around us, and Christ helps us to love them without even knowing them!  Getting to love all these people has made me think even more about the first two great commandments we are given which are to love God and to love our neighbor.

This week I studied Jeffrey R. Holland's October 2012 conference address, "The First Great Commandment."  I've been thinking a lot about the phrase that Christ asks Peter as they went to cast their nets for fish.  Christ asks Peter, 

"Do you love me?" 

What a powerful phrase!  I put myself into Peter's shoes and asked myself what I would say or do if the Lord asked me this same question.  What will I have to present at the end of this life.  Holland stated, "the crowing characteristic of love is always loyalty."  The Lord says, "if ye love me, keep my commandments."  We show our love to God by our actions and intents.  If we truly love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we will want to follow them and keep the commandments and always strive to have the spirit with us and do our best.  Holland also stated, "We have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord.  We can’t quit and we can’t go back."  Everyday is a new day - a fresh start - a chance to start anew!  What a beautiful gift!  I am so grateful for the chance I have everyday to start over and try again.

Another thing I focused on this week was the power of the atonement.  This is something I know I will continually study for the rest of my life.  I love that Heavenly Father created a plan for us and that it includes a way back to Him.  He gave His only begotten Son for all of us.  All we are asked to do is to try our best and God's grace will make up the rest!  We don't have to be perfect - we just have to try and continually strive for our own individual perfection.

Miracle of the week!  I was blessed to teach Trevor.  He is a guy who lives in Colorado and reached out to me on Facebook wanting to learn more about our church.  He wanted me to teach him about the glorious gift of the atonement and God's eternal plan of happiness.  It was such a good lesson and the spirit was so strong!  I am so grateful that I was able to have that experience.  We finally got to pass him on to the missionaries who live in his area in Colorado!  Everything worked out so perfectly it was incredible!  I love this work!  I love being a missionary and I love the opportunities God provides for me!

My companion and I were able to visit some less active members in our ward and see how they were doing this week and it was so good!  They were all so happy to see that someone cared and knew about them.  It made my heart so happy to know that we could bring a smile to their faces just by stopping by!

I love this mission.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in this incredible place meeting incredible people!  God truly is in every second of our every day and it blows my mind. The plans He has for us are so complete and so connected that they can be hard to understand sometimes.  We just need to have faith and trust that God knows what is best for us. 

Keep smiling!  Keep the faith!  Always remember that God is so good and that He is always waiting to hear from us, to guide us, and comfort us always.

I love and miss you all!  Have a good week!

Love, Sister Merrill <3

Not frozen yet!

Sister Merrill & Sister Costas

Waiting at the bus stop

Sisters Cuadra, Jensen, Merrill & Costas

Homemade snow rolled maple suckers

Beautiful Edmonton Sky

Canada Week 19: Eyelashes can FrEeZe?!

Well hello again!  Another week has come and gone.  Last Monday night all the missionaries got the message that transfers were being cancelled and moved back a week due to severe cold weather.  So transfers are tomorrow.  I will be staying right where I am but I am getting a new companion - Sister Costas.  They are splitting the two areas that I've been serving in since I got to Canada.  Now my new companion and I will be serving the family ward and my current companion, Sister Jensen, will be serving in the YSA ward with her new companion.  All four of us will live in our current place.  I am so grateful for the chance I've had to serve in both of these amazing wards for so long, especially the YSA.  Serving there has helped me transition here on my mission since I came from an awesome YSA ward at home.  I have met so many amazing people and have learned valuable lessons I will cherish forever.  I'm so grateful God let's us experience and learn so much as eternally progressing human beings!

This past week was COLD!  Did you know eyelashes can freeze???  I can now say I have experienced and survived -51 degrees Celsius - which is about -60 degrees Fahrenheit.  It was surreal!  Your body almost doesn't register that it is actually as cold as it is.  Surprisingly I never felt frozen but we weren't allowed to be outside for more than a minute to get to our car.  We had a 3 day slumber party with our sister training leader and her companion to finish an exchange from earlier in the transfer that was cut short.  We were able to learn from one another and have fun together before transfers.  It warmed up slightly just in time for us to go to our service at the hospital. While we were walking back to our car after service my eyelashes FROZE!  Never have I ever experienced anything like frozen eyelashes.  Your nose hairs also instantly freeze the second you walk outside.  It is one of the weirdest feelings.  It's crazy up here in Canada - but man is it exciting and I love it.

We were able to teach a few lessons this past week with members and recent converts.  People here are so awesome!  It's amazing to witness other people's lights.  They are so full of the spirit and are trying to be the best they can be.  We have one recent convert who is constantly trying to find ways to serve and be there for others.  He is so awesome!  It is such a neat experience to serve the members and to be here to help and listen to them.  All members of the church need help and support with things just as much as someone who isn't a part of the church.  This is definitely an important lesson I have learned on my mission so far.

Something amazing and exciting this week was that Jaera came to church with us!  His mom was baptized last month and introduced us to her son.  He is so good.  We set up a return appointment to start teaching him!  Even though I won't be able to continue teaching him due to transfers, I am so excited for him and I will continue to pray for him.  I'm so grateful God allowed me to meet him and experience a little bit of the joy on his journey ahead.  It gives me a glimpse of what I can only imagine our Heavenly Father feels when one of his lost sheep begins to return to the fold.

I am always grateful for my personal studies each week.  I want to share some things that stood out to me this past week.

*God is a constant help for each us.  For some odd reason I sometimes forget just how much of a help He can be.  He is amazing!  His arms are always stretched forth and He is so eager to answer our prayers and to be there for us in any way possible if we let Him.  One of my favorite scriptures from this week that I studied is 2 Nephi 9:20-21:
20 "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep."
21 "He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh."

*God has a constant love for us and our tiny mortal brains can't even begin to comprehend even a sliver of it!  I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of such a merciful and loving Heavenly Father who knows literally EVERYTHING and can help in ANY way possible!  We just need to get on our knees and pray with real intent and then really listen. It has taken a lot of practice for me to be still and listen to Him when I pray.  I know this will be a life-long journey, but I'm grateful for the experiences I've had and can't wait to see what else God has in store for me and the people I've been able to meet.  Life sure is a wild ride and it's hard to sometimes understand how God is in the intricate details of our lives.  It has been crazy to witness small.things in my life unfold and then look back and see how they happened and all the things that happened to start the domino effect for the rest of the events!  God has all of it planned out - and we have to have faith in Him and our plan and constantly strive to learn and understand.  We also need to believe that God can handle it and knows what He's doing.  We also need to realize it is okay if we don't understand all of it - it we did we wouldn't need to be here.

Another scripture that stood out to me is found in 2 Nephi 9:52:  "Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice."  I love this verse because it says to remember which is one of my favorite words in the Book of Mormon.  It also reminds us to pray continually and to give thanks which are also two of my favorite things to do!  I have found that I am a much happier person when I choose to have a rejoicing, thankful heart.  It is easier to see the small and simple tender mercies of the Lord in my life when I am feeling thankful and being more grateful.

I want to express my love and gratitude for my Heavenly Father and for my Savior for their help and influence in my life.  They are incredible beings and I'm so grateful to be part of this amazing work!  "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstance of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives."  I'm so grateful that my one and only focus right now is to bring others closer to Christ!  How amazing is that!  I pray that all of us can find small ways to be examples and lights to those around us.

I hope everyone has an amazing week and stays warm!  I love and miss you all!
Thank you for all of the support and prayers!

Love, Sister Merrill <3

Sister Lynch, Sister Jensen, Sister Brown & Sister Merrill

IT IS REALLY COLD IN CANADA!

Canada Week 18: The FrOzEn NoRtH

Hello hello friends and family!  I hope everyone is just wonderful :)  I also hope everyone is staying warm wherever you are.  The temps keep dropping like crazy here in Canada!  So much for having one of the rarest warm winters....it has now become one of the coldest winters with a quite a bit of snow.  And fun fact - I will supposedly be in one of the coldest part of the world next week....-40 plus wind-chill (feel like -55) ... here I come!!! 

This past week was really great!  Our new investigator, Jaera, came to our YSA ward FHE activity Monday night and built legos with us.  We were so happy he could come!  We are hoping to start teaching him more soon.  His mom was recently baptized -WOOT WOOT - and is super amazing!  Last week we got to go to the temple with her and help her with baptisms and talk to her about the importance of temple work.  We also had our first apartment bound excursion.  We were grounded due to buckets of snow and extreme cold temperatures.  We were able to do more studies which was nice.  We have been challenged by the mission president to read the entire Book of Mormon before general conference in April.  I also studied a lot about God's influence and about His hand in our lives and how He always reaches out with love.  No matter what our situation or story, every time it is with love. 

Another great thing this past week was our first practice with the mission choir on Friday.  I auditioned and made it into the choir as an alto awhile back.  I am so excited for this opportunity but I soon felt very under qualified as we practiced.  Hopefully God helps me out with that like He always does ;)

Sunday night was a blessing in my life.  We had the amazing opportunity to have supper with our mission president and his wife at their home!  We ate moose and creamed corn - it was so much fun!  They are the best people and I am so blessed to be here in this mission serving with them.

Something I have been thinking a lot about lately is our thought patterns.  A lot of our life revolves around our thoughts.  A thought leads to an action which leads to a habit.  If we get caught up in a negative thought process we will find ourselves getting stuck in a rut.  I have found myself doing this way too often.  Satan uses everything in his power against us to drag us down.  I have given into his negative thoughts that I can't do it - that I'm not enough or that I don't know anything.  I discovered this was weighing down on my self-confidence.  This past week we had our interviews with President Cowley and he reminded me of a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 121:45-46 that reads:

"45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."

I love this scripture!  It was exactly what I needed to hear.  He reminded me that the more I seek for God's influence in my mind through favorite hymns, primary songs, favorite scriptures, etc. the less influence Satan will have and the less I will give into those negative thinking patterns.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly.  By doing so, our confidence will wax strong and the Holy Ghost will be our constant companion.  What beautiful promises made to us by simply keeping our thoughts aligned with the Saviors.  I know that the more we try to feel God's influence and focus our thoughts on the Savior, the more we will feel His spirit in our lives.  I also know that we will achieve greater strength against the adversary and be more open to the spirit's influence and God's guiding hand in our lives.

Another thing I studied this week that really struck me was Elder Brook P. Hales conference address, "Answers to Prayers."  The overall message was all about the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and how perfect that love is.  One manifestation of that love is how involved God is in the details of our lives!  I love that and am a true believer in this.  One thing I have tried to do on my mission is keep a tender mercy journal.  This has allowed for me to see just how involved He is all the time and how willing He is to bless us ALWAYS!  Heavenly Father knows ALL.  Because He knows all, He knows the best answers to our questions to give to us when we pray.  This has been a hard lesson for me to learn, but over time it has gotten easier as I put my full trust in Him.  We will always get answers to our prayers.  Sometimes our answers might not be what we expect, and sometimes we may think God isn't listening or answering us.  We have to pray for the eyes to see and the heart to understand.  With that being said, there are some things we just won't get answers to in this life, but we are promised that knowledge in our life to come.  When we do receive answers we aren't expecting we have to choose to trust God.  He sees the end from the beginning.  He has "eternal lenses with an eternal perspective" and we have "mortal lenses hopefully with an eternal perspective." He knows what is best for us and maybe we won't always understand, but that is the beauty of faith.  As hard as it is to accept sometimes, I've learned that I just have to trust Him and pray for the strength to get through anything that is placed in my path.

I bear my simply testimony of God's influence in the details of our lives!  I love that I have such a loving Heavenly Father and know He is so merciful and aware of me all the time!

Have an amazing week everyone! Love and miss you lots!  Put a smile on your face because God is so good!!!

Love, Sister Merrill

God is Good and Canada is Cold!

District Council

Dinner with the Cowleys

YSA FHE

I LOVE the Book of Mormon!

Exchange Party!

P-Day Sports!

Not frozen yet...

Sister Jensen & Sister Merrill

Ice Ice Baby!

It's all good!

Sister Jensen after 5 hours of snow shoveling

Livin' my best life!

I LOVE being a missionary!

Canada Week 17: H A P P Y! N E W! Y E A R!

It is 2020 folks!  How crazy is that!  I hope everyone had a fun new year celebration and set some goals.  Life has been pretty great up here in the cold north - although it hasn't gotten too cold yet.  They tell me this is one of their rarest winters with hardly any snow and in the positive temperatures!  I'm still waiting for the cold cold to hit.

As a district we were recently challenged to read M. Russell Ballard's talk, "Return and Receive."  He talked about setting goals and pointed out the difference between a goal and a plan.  He stated, "a goal is a destination or an end, while a plan is the route by which you get there."  For example, Heavenly Father's goal is to 'bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.'  He wants us to return to His presence and has set a route for each of us through His plan of happiness!  I have been thinking a lot about goals with the start of the new year and Elder Ballard's words helped to clear my mind as to what direction I should take.  He stated, "A key to happiness lies in understanding what destinations truly matter - and then spending our time, effort and attention on the things that constitute a sure way to arrive there."  He later stated that goals should be simple and straightforward and should be stepping stones to one ultimate goal.  We as members of the church should all ultimately have the goal to return to Heavenly Father's presence.  We need to set small and simple goals for ourselves.  I know that the small efforts we put forth are noticed by our Savior.  He just asks for us to do our best and to include Him in all of our efforts.  The more we focus on and include Him in our plans, the more achievable life's goals and obstacles will become.

While we can make plans and set goals - it isn't always easy and we can fall short and life can get really tough.  I have learned that lesson even more since coming on my mission.  I heard some of Miley Cyrus's song "The Climb" and was reminded of some of the lyrics, "there's always gonna be another mountain - I'm always gonna wanna make it move - Always gonna be an uphill battle - sometimes I'm gonna have to lose."  When applied to the gospel there will always be another thing, another hardship, another trial and so forth, but when we include the Lord in expending our own efforts we are carried through again and again.  He is always there with us by our side, strengthening and carrying us when we think we can't go on.  I am beyond grateful for the strength He has given me to keep going.  I have been on the wildest roller coaster in my life and have thought many times that I can't keep going, but as I continue to rely on my Savior and pray for His help, He continues to show me that He is always there!  He has carried me without me realizing it in the moment and I've learned His help isn't always given in ways that I would have thought of.  He is such an individual God and I love Him more and more every day!

This week we only spent a few days in my area because of exchanges in another area.  It was super fun to be with other sisters for a few days.  Our zone did a 3 day quest and we we able to participate in a bunch of fun challenges!  You can see some of them in the pictures I attached.  It was fun!

A couple things I learned from my studies of the Book of Mormon this past week came from reading and studying the introduction and testimonies of the witnesses.  I kept thinking about how we have these witnesses and testimonies to help strengthen our own testimony and to receive a spiritual witness for ourselves that the Book of Mormon is true.  A quote I found and loved about a witness is from James E. Faust that reads, " Knowledge comes through Faith.  In our day and time we must come to know the truthfulness of what was on the golden plates without seeing them....seeing an angel would be great, but it's far greater to come to a knowledge of the divinity of the Savior through faith and spiritual witness."  We don't need to see the physical plates or have an angel come down and tell us the Book of Mormon is true.  We can come to an understanding of its truthfulness through the spirit and by reading it with an open and sincere heart.  God is willing to talk to us and let us know, but we have to be open and willing to listen.

I want to share my testimony of the love God has for each and every one of us.  His son Jesus Christ suffered for EVERY SINGLE PERSON!  He has felt everything we have felt, will feel and even things we might not.  He loves us more than our mortal brains will ever comprehend.  I can't find the words to express my gratitude for his sacrifice.  I hope to always strive to do my best and continually give thanks to Him.  I pray that we can all find little ways to thank our Savior for everything He has done for us! 

Love and miss everyone!
Love, Sister Merrill <3

Beautiful Sister Merrill!

Exchanges with Sister Brown & Sister Lynch

Happy New Year!