Canada Week 37: Farms, Mosquitoes, and MIRACLES

Hello friends and family!  I hope everyone had a grand week!  Life out here on the mission roller coaster is great!  Many ups and downs but God never ceases to be good! 

This past week I found myself thinking a lot about trials and how they come in many different shapes ans sizes.  They can be mental, physical, emotional, spiritual or other.  Sometimes we learn our greatest lessons amidst our darkest days or hardest trials.  It isn't always easy to see what God wants us to learn, but looking back we can see His hand and the blessings that come from hard times.  I was listening to a devotional by Hank Smith called "Trial, blessing or both."  He was explaining how our trials can be some of our greatest blessings - just not in the moment they are happening.  Sometimes we may never even find out what blessings will come from a trial until the next life.  We can find peace knowing we will come to an understanding of things in the next life.  This is such a beautiful part of the gospel.  I found a quote that reads, "Righteousness brings PEACE not an easy life."  The gospel provides us with the peace we need to keep going.  Living the gospel and living righteously is not always going to be easy - it isn't supposed to be easy.  Christ's life here on earth wasn't easy so why should it be easy for us.  We are so blessed to have a Savior who understands EXACTLY what we are going through.  This is such a beautiful thing, yet sometimes very hard to comprehend.  I have learned that we aren't supposed to fully comprehend how it works or how He does it or how He truly feels everything we do - and it's okay.  A scripture I love to remind myself of is found in Mosiah 3:7,

"And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people."

The pain and anguish He felt for us was nearly too much for Him to withstand - He bled from EVERY pore.  He asked the Father if there was any other way, but there wasn't. This helps me visualize that Christ has truly felt everything I have felt - or everything that I will feel.  He suffered it all - For each and every one of us!  I am so grateful for Him and all that He does for me!  I urge you to strengthen your relationship with your Savior.  It is a beautiful thing and it is such a blessing.

My week sure had some moments.  I found myself overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for the love I feel from my Savior and my Heavenly Father and the opportunities and miracles they provide for me everyday.  This week was FULL of fun opportunities and miracles!  We were able to visit four different farms and it was so fun!  Baby animals are the cutest!  It was wonderful to be with the members outside and get to know them better and to help and serve them!  We held baby chicks and played with baby horses and helped with their gardens.  I also learned that with lots of farms here and summer approaching that this brings mobs of mosquitoes!  I got 12 bites on my legs.....whoops.  Time to break out the bug spray!

This week was also full of MIRACLES!  So many miracles!  We got a call from a former we called a while back and she wanted us to come say hello.  We stopped by and had a good visit with her and got to know her more.  She has known missionaries forever and says she is what they refer to as an "eternal investigator."  We are hoping to continue teaching her and helping her understand the importance of our message.  She is super sweet and it was the coolest thing!  Another miracle was that we finally got to go visit a less active member and his non-member kids.  To add to this miracle, it was really rainy and we were worried we would have to cancel the visit, but it stopped raining while we were there and then started raining again right after we left!  God is so good!  We were also able to have lessons with a lot of our investigators this week and they all went pretty well.  It is so cool to witness people come to a knowledge of the goodness of this gospel and of God!  I love it!  It is also amazing to truly see that this the Lords work!  He works through us and with us.  I love learning how to allow God use me as an instrument in helping to further the work.  It gets hard at times, but I am learning to trust!

I want to share a couple insights from my studies this week.  Come Follow Me is SOOO GOOD!  I loved this past week's lesson in Mosiah!  The first and last sections of the lesson especially stood out to me.  We truly are responsible for our own faith and testimony.  We all need to go through our own conversion process and come to know Christ for ourselves.  During my studies I also kept thinking about the new focus of 'Hearing Him' and thinking about how I Hear Him.  How do you Hear Him? 

I hit my 9 month mark as a missionary last Thursday!  CRAZY!  I can't believe I am already halfway through my mission.  I am so grateful for the strength and peace my Savior has provided for me daily.  I wouldn't be where I am without Him.  He is my rock and He has become my everything.  I am grateful for all of the love I have felt from my Savior and my Heavenly Father and am so blessed to have the the opportunity to spread that love to others!  I am so happy to have represented my Savior Jesus Christ for the last 9 months and can't wait for 9 more!

Love and miss you all!  Have a wonderful week!!
Love, Sister Merrill

Pretty cute chick! :)

9 MONTHS!!!

Sister Poore & Sister Merrill

FARM LIFE

Virtual Teaching

Sweet Sister Merrill

Canada Week 36: God will always be God

Hello friends and family!  I hope all is going well back home!  I heard some restrictions and are starting to be lifted.  We actually just got news last night that the Covid schedule we have been following as missionaries is now lifted and we can go back to following the regular missionary schedule in our handbooks!  It's exciting and again a time for adjustment.  We can be with people a little more, but still have to maintain social distancing and follow Alberta health rules.

There is a song that I have really come to love on my mission called "Lean Back."  I found myself listening to it and thinking about the lyrics this week.  It says, "lean back in the loving arms of a beautiful Father - breathe deep and know that it's good - He has a love like no other."  How beautiful is that?!  We can always lean back into the arms of our loving Heavenly Father.  He is always there for us.  I am so grateful for the peace I have found in being able to lean into His arms through fervent prayer with Him.  I know I can lean into Him in every aspect of my life - in the good and the bad and during the hard things that come my way.  We all get thrown curve balls in life and get knocked down, but with God we can pick ourselves right back up and keep going and come out stronger than before.  It is really interesting to look back on my life experiences and see God holding me and helping me.  He has also helped my think about the lessons I learned during those hard times and helped me find my purpose in it.  Find His purpose in it.  My whole mission has been an experience and a half.  It has not been what I had an expectation for, nor was I prepared for things that I have gone through.  But I am beyond grateful for this experience and for the opportunity I have to be here.  The love and peace I have felt as a missionary is immeasurable, and the lessons I have learned are timeless.  What a time to be alive!

This past week we got to do some fun things.  We helped a member plant her garden and helped in her mini greenhouse in her backyard.  It was wonderful to help and serve and be with them!  We also got to have a few suppers outside - a yummy barbecue and some picnics.  It is still quite strange to eat 6 feet apart, but it sure makes for some fun memories!  We also got to visit one of our member's amazing property.  They have a large pond and have built a huge pirate ship and a giant swing set.  It was really fun.  A couple of sisters stayed with us over the weekend.  We had a fun lesson outside with a family and played spike ball with them 6 feet apart - that was definitely an exciting change to the game.  I am grateful for the chance we get to be outside with our members.  It is just a wonderful to be with them and serve them and get to know them.

My studies have consisted of reading and finishing the Book of Mormon - again.  WOW!  What an incredible book!  It is full of so may stories, promises, lessons, advice - basically everything you need to be happy and find true joy in life!  I made the goal a couple weeks ago as I was starting to read 2nd Nephi that I wanted to finish the Book of Mormon by transfers today, and with God's help - I did it!  It was such a neat experience.  The spirit and peace I feel that come from reading the Book of Mormon is so wonderful.  I am beyond grateful for the testimony and knowledge I have gained by reading this book! 

A couple cool miracles happened this week.  We were able to have a couple lessons with some people we are teaching.  One was with a lady we found through our Facebook page.  Another one was with a guy that commented on a post I shared.  We messaged him and now we have a bible study set up with him.  As slow as the work can be some weeks, I know God is still working in the details of everyday.  He is still preparing people and we are sometimes blessed to see the fruits of it.  It has been a hard, but neat experience switching to a lot of online missionary work.  The miracles are still happening.  God will never cease to be God and He will never cease to be good!  We just need to do our best and He will take care of the rest!

I am so grateful for my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and for all that He has done for me and for all that He continues to do for me. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon. I know it is true and that it truly is another testament of Jesus Christ.  The reality of His presence and His hand is in our everyday lives.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be serving and sharing the same love and peace that I feel in my life with all those around me!

I hope you all have an amazing week!  Keep smiling and remember God never ceases to be good!

Love ~ Sister Merrill

Canada Week 35: Immeasurable Peace and Love!

Hello!  I hope everyone had an enjoyable week.  Even if things didn't happen how you planned, I hope you were still able to find things to smile at!  Quarantine is such a roller coaster so let's learn to enjoy this unique time!

My companion and I had a pretty good week overall, despite all but one of our lessons falling through.  It happens.  These weeks do happen, but the happy thing is we get to begin a new week.  Funny how that works.  I think it is similar to the gospel and our progression.  Sometimes we repeatedly fall short and make mistakes, get down on ourselves and experience hard weeks, but the beautiful thing is with God we can pick ourselves up and try again.  We can try again every minute if we need to.  There is no limit on God!  How incredible is that?!

I received news Tuesday morning that my sweet 11 year old cousin passed away.  He suffered from a rare genetic disease called GM1 Gangliosidosis.  This disease slows and eventually stops the body's development and progression.  I am happy/sad about his passing.  I am happy because he is now free from his earthly suffering, but sad because I won't be able to be with him in this life anymore.  I have had a neat experience with this whole situation and processing it on my own away from my family.  It has provided me time to really turn to God for comfort and peace.  I found myself wondering what I really knew about God's plan.  More than once I felt an overwhelming sense of peace as I thought about Eli being free from the pain in this life.  I felt peace knowing he is now with God and those who have also passed before him.  I know he will now be an angel to his family as they go through life.  I'm grateful I had a chance to visit him in Arizona last March and feel of his amazing spirit (picture attached).  I found great peace in my knowledge of eternal families, knowing that I will get to see Eli again and that he will be whole!  I have greatly admired the faith of my aunt and uncle who raised and loved him and his two brothers, who also suffer from the horrible genetic disease.  They are able to raise these 3 boys amazingly and I know they have also found comfort in their knowledge of gospel's eternal plan of happiness - knowing they will see their sweet boys again and be together for eternity.  I am so grateful for the comfort and peace I feel through my Savior and my Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for my knowledge and for my testimony of the plan that our Father in Heaven has for all of us.  It is beautiful and perfect despite the trial, hardship and heartache we experience.

It was a tender mercy that my study of the Book of Mormon this week consisted of multiple accounts of the blessings that Christ's atonement has in our lives.  I was studying in Mosiah this week, a couple days after I heard of Eli's passing, and came across Mosiah 16:6-9;

6 And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption.
7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

Death is not the end!  I love that it states that He is the light and life of the world!  HE IS!  He is the ultimate source of all light, life and joy!  He is the reason we can find hope among our deepest sorrows and peace among our greatest afflictions.  As I continued my studies I read about the sons of Mosiah in Alma and was reminded of their sufferings and how they found great comfort in the Lord!  There are so many accounts and examples in the Book of Mormon for us to learn from as we experience our own hardship and trials.

I want to bear my simple testimony of the comfort we can find from trusting in and praying about each of our individual plans God has for us. I am so grateful for eternal families and for the peace found in that knowledge. I know that my Savior feels and understands exactly what I am feeling and going through.  I know that He knows EXACTLY what we are going through and experiencing whether it is happy, sad, or anything in between.  We have a Savior who suffered for each of us and who overcame sin and death.  Turn to Him.  Build a relationship with Him.  I love Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father with my whole heart and I am so grateful for the experiences they give me and for the love I feel from them.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here in Canada as a missionary sharing this same knowledge and love with others!

Happy (day late) Mothers Day to all the mommas out there - especially to my cute momma!  I'm so grateful for all that she does for me and continues to do for me so many miles away!  I Love you mom!  I hope everyone has a fantastic week!  Smile, laugh, and enjoy every moment - even if every moment isn't enjoyable.  Positivity is everything!

"You can wake up everyday with hope smiling brightly before you because you have a Savior!" ~Julie B. Beck

Love, Sister Merrill

I love you Eli!

More Quarantine Cooking

 Sister Merrill's at home tripod for making their restoration video

MTC August 21, 2019