Canada Week 42: Miracles, Transfers and Love

HELLO!!!  Crazy another week has come and gone.  I hope everyone had a good week - if not, I hope this one is better! :)

So many miracles happened this week.  The first miracle is WE GOT TO GO BACK TO CHURCH!  What a beautiful blessing!  Our Drayton Valley ward had a trial run with members who are part of the ward council and their families.  It was so good to be there.  It was different to see everyone wearing masks and sit socially distanced in the pews, but it was so worth the special spirit we all got to feel from being gathered together again!  Our bishop shared some insights that Elder Bednar recently shared about our right to gather and worship.  It was a wonderful message and a cool insight.  I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to be gathered together at church and to partake of the sacrament.  The second miracle was talking to and teaching the cute Mohapi family in South Africa!  I LOVE THEM!  What an incredible family!  We taught a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the steps we must take to progress in this life to prepare to meet Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  They asked us about baptism and how they could be baptized again if they were already baptized into another church.  We are hoping and praying to have another lesson with them soon about baptism.  They are super sweet and have blessed my life.  God is so good! 

Last night the Canada Edmonton Mission was blessed to have a Facebook live with Brother David Butler.  It was amazing!  He began the live by talking about "divine manifestation" and asked us what divine manifestation led us to be missionaries.  I thought about my experience with the sister missionaries on USU campus one afternoon that was a direct answer to my prayers.  Brother Butler taught that we need to have full confidence that we will continue to have divine manifestations on our missions and throughout our lives.  He told us that we as missionaries are messengers sent by God and that God has a work for each of us to do.  This work is for the whole world and we need to share it.  Sometimes it is hard to see the great work that God is doing behind the scenes, but we just need to continue to have faith in Him and in His work and serve Him.  ALL of our efforts are counted!   God never gives up and neither should we.  We are all a manifestation that God doesn't give up - that He cares for each of us.  I know that God cares about me and all of the people here in Canada.  I know I have been sent here by God to bring people hope and to love them.  I am learning to look for opportunities, find them and seize them!  I know that Jesus Christ loves me.  I feel His love every day as I wear the tag.  I need to always remember this love and to share it with EVERYONE!  God can use me for good.  He is using me for good.  I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity to serve him as a missionary in Canada.  There is nothing that prepares the heart more than gratitude does.  

This week I studied a really good talk by F. Enzio Busche called, "Freedom From or Freedom To."  It teaches about free agency.  He explains the difference between having a freedom from something is the absence of malice, pain or suppression, and having freedom to do something is the ability to act in the dignity of our own choice.  Everything we do, and even say or think has consequences.  It made me really think.  I have always heard that our thoughts lead to actions and our actions lead to habits.  If we have a negative thinking pattern, we will have a negative outlook and may not say positive things about what is around us or even about ourselves.  This feeds Satan.  How we think is OUR CHOICE.  In the talk He shared a scripture I really like in John 8:32, "and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." I know that we can gain a greater understanding of things in this life when we open our hearts to learn about God's word.  Knowing the truth ultimately sets us free because as we come to know the truth and know what is good, the less and less we feed Satan power.  He stated, "We are beginning to become alive as we take, knowingly full responsibility for our own life and as we stop blaming circumstances."  This teaches us that we become more alive as we take responsibility.  He also makes a point that Christ WANTS to empower our lives!  This is one of the many gifts of the atonement.  Christ's atonement enables each of us with power and strength to overcome whatever is necessary.  I know and can testify of this power in my own life.  I am so grateful for Christ's sacrifice and for the strength it has brought into my life.  This strength has helped me overcome difficult times in my life.  I am so grateful for this beautiful gift.   

This week we had some crazy experiences - including the weather.  The weather here in Canada is bipolar almost everyday.  Some days it can't decide if it wants to rain, be windy, or have the sun shine.  It sure has made for some fun walks and adventures.  We even got to experience some meals with members in the rain.  On Wednesday Sister Smith and Sister Walton came to visit and do a home inspection.  I always LOVE seeing Sister Smith!  While they were here we went to one of our member's farms to see and play with the baby animals.  It was so fun!  This week we were also blessed to teach some wonderful lessons.  We had some people express concerns regarding our beliefs in the church.  It really opened my eyes as to what is truly important in someone's understanding of the gospel.  I am so grateful for the opportunities and experiences God provides me with here everyday!  

This Wednesday - July 1st - is Canada Day!  It is also transfer day.  Last night I received my transfer call from President Cowley.  He told me I will be staying in Drayton Valley and that I will be training a brand new missionary!  I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to train again.  I am sad to see Sister Poore go, but I know God has big plans for her.  I've learned that God always has bigger and better plans for our lives than we do.  I am forever grateful for His understanding of everything! 

I have a testimony of this Gospel. I know it can and will work miracles in our lives. There is so much to learn, and as we remember and count the small things we learn everyday, we will continue to grow and progress!  We will also strengthen our knowledge and personal testimony of Heavenly Father and of our Savior Jesus Christ!  

I hope everyone has the most amazing week!  I love and miss you all!

Love, Sister Merrill 

Sister Walton, Sister Poore, Sister Merrill & Sister Smith

Sister Poore and Sister Merrill with the amazing Hewitts

Canada is Beautiful!!!

Canada Week 41: God is a God of perfect love

Hello my beautiful friends and family!  I hope everyone had a splendid week!  My companion and I had another roller coaster ride of a week, but nonetheless, GOD IS SO GOOD AND MIRACLES UPON MIRACLES ABOUND! 

The week started quite slow.  Everything we had planned on Tuesday ended up falling through and rescheduled for Wednesday.  Then Wednesday EVERYTHING got cancelled again and it was pouring rain!  In the moment it just kind of sucked.  We tried to do some finding at the store and that didn't go so great.  I then had the thought to do  some Facebook finding.  I had joined a Facebook Bible study group a while back and decided to go to the page and post a scripture or question to interact there in some way.  I got on the page and saw that some guy had posted about a negative experience he and his wife had with a deceiving pastor.  He asked how they could know prophecy is from God and how to know if they are speaking on behalf of God, or in other words, a prophet!  I knew I needed to tell him that we have a prophet of God on Earth today!  I made a group chat with him and my companion and sent him some scripture verses.  As a result we are NOW TEACHING THE COOLEST, SWEETEST FAMILY from South Africa!  We met with them over video chat and a couple days later they asked if we could teach them a lesson.  WHAT A MIRACLE!  As I now look back at the hard beginning of the week, it has allowed for me to think about how good people can experience hard things in life.  Sometime the greatest miracles and blessings will come from our hard times in life.  I am so grateful for the many miracles that followed those two hard days! 

I've thought a lot this past week about lessons I have learned, about expanding my knowledge of the gospel, and strengthening my testimony.  I know that I tend to think about things way too much.  I think as humans we often think too much.  But when it comes to the gospel, we need to remember that the gospel is very simple.  A friend once told me that while the gospel is simple, it isn't shallow.  This is so true!  The gospel is simple and the basic foundational truths are simple, but that doesn't mean it isn't deep.  There is always something to study and deepen our understanding of.  We could spend our entire lives studying and deepening our knowledge of the gospel, but we always need to  remember the simple truths and principles.  My favorite simple truths about this gospel are that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  It can be hard as mortals to fully comprehend God's power and Christ's atoning sacrifice for each of us, but we don't need to understand everything.  If we did, we wouldn't need to be here on Earth and God's entire plan would have been for nothing.  We are here learning how to trust Him.  We are learning how to strengthen and exercise faith in Him.  We can continually learn more and more about Him, but we must try to never forget to trust and have faith in His power.  It's hard to come up with a logical answer to complete faith and that's OKAY!  This is actually something that has always kind of frustrated me.  I could never come up with a logical explanation as to how God was listening to my prayers while there could be two billion other people praying to Him at the same time.  Simply put, He loves us and He is always listening to us....somehow.  I can't give you a logical reason to how He does this, but because I trust Him and have faith in Him I can bear testimony that HE IS LISTENING!  I have witnessed this in my own life - in my own experiences.  Sometimes it doesn't happen until I've looked back on my life and various experiences I have had, but I have seen His hand in my life and He has listened to and answered my prayers.   

I mentioned that one of my favorite simple truths is that God is our loving Heavenly Father.  HE IS!  HE HAS A PERFECT LOVE FOR US!  I personally feel we can't fully comprehend how much love He actually does have for us.  Yesterday during home church we were discussing with a family about God's love.  We talked about how God could still love Nehor even though he burned innocent people.  It is because He is a just and merciful God.  The atonement is infinite!  While we maybe can't comprehend or understand how He could still love someone who has done such horrible things, we don't need too.  It isn't our place to judge.  It is our job to just love as God loves and trust in His perfect plan.  He knows ours thoughts and our choices even before we do.  I can't tell you how He does, but I testify that He is all powerful and all loving. 

This week my companion and I were asked 2 questions.  I want to share the questions and my answers with you.   

1- Why did I drop everything back home to go on a mission? 

I shared this on Facebook a while back about my "why."  My simple answer is because of my love for my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ, and for the love I have felt from them.  I continue to serve everyday for this reason.  I will serve Him everyday for the rest of my life for this reason.  Serving Him is a beautiful way for me to give back to my Heavenly Father a penny of the priceless fortune that He has given to me. 

2- What is one of the greatest lessons I have learned or hope to learn on my mission? 

I thought about this and came to the conclusion that one of the greatest lessons I am learning is how to align my will with God's will. I need to let Him truly direct my sails as I ride the waves of life.  I am also learning how to truly listen to and discern the spirit in my life.  I am also learning just how incredible the atonement is. 

I want to bear my simple testimony that I know God lives and loves us with an immeasurable abundance of love!  I know He has perfect plan and that everything happens for a reason!  I know that God is a God of miracles!  I am so grateful for the experiences, opportunities I have had and for the miracles I get to see everyday! 

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

Love, Sister Merrill 

A baby pig!

Canada Week 40: Adventures full of God's love

Hello everyone!  Another week has come and gone - time is so crazy!  This week was full of fun and adventure!  We had some really good lessons, adventurous walks, and went into the city for exchanges and zone conference.  We were also able to serve a few of our members.  Service has always had a BIG part of my heart.  I have loved the countless opportunities and ways I have been able to serve while on my mission! 

Some of our adventures this week included holding baby kittens, playing with big dogs, and weeding gardens.  We even had the crazy opportunity to try a food dish from the Philippines called balut - it was interesting.  We ran into one of our members while we were getting gas and watched a gorgeous storm and admired a beautiful sunset! 

My companion and I got to go on exchanges with our STL's on Thursday which was wonderful.  We stayed the night and then attended Zone Conference the next morning.  It was supposed to be a district conference, but due to recent restriction lifts we got to meet as a zone.  It was really great to see other missionaries!  On exchanges I GOT TO SERVE WITH MY BEST FRIEND - my cute MTC companion Sister Smith.  It was so fun to work along side each other again and catch up.  God is truly in the details of everyday!  That has been ever so evident in my life, especially on the mission.  I am so grateful for His hand in my life and for the people He has placed on my path along the way.  I am so grateful for the countless blessings He continues to provide.

Zone conference was so great and full of some much needed training.  It was all about adjusting back to doing missionary work outside again and having natural and normal interactions with people we meet at the store, on a walk or really anywhere we find them.  It was so good - I love normal and natural!  The biggest message President conveyed was just about having 'positive interactions' and 'planting seeds.'  I felt an amazing spirit there.  God is just so good and in every detail - all we need to do is look! 

We also had some really awesome lessons this week.  One that really touched me was our lesson with Danny.  We discussed the importance of conversion.  It is one thing to come to know and believe things, but to truly be converted to Christ we need to show it in our actions and in the way we live our lives.  I shared a quote with him from Elder Bednar that says, "Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony.  Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion."  Living our lives as Christ would is a slow, continual process - it doesn't just happen over night.  We need to hold on and be patient and persistent in our pursuit to true conversion.

There is a song that I have absolutely loved lately called, "I am His Daughter," by Russ Dixon. The chorus says, "There's so much more to me, He helps me see that I have so much to offer, I am His daughter. He loves me the way I am, He's my strength when I stand, He is my king and my Father, I am His daughter."  I have loved listening to this song and hearing that God sees so much in me - He sees so much in all of us.  We are His children.  His love for us is immeasurable.  The line, "He's my strength when I stand," has particularly made an impression on me.  I would not be where I am today without the strength I have received from both my Father in Heaven and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I have had so many ups and downs in my life.  My mission has been a wild ride - a wild roller coaster ride!  But I have learned that I would much rather be riding a roller coaster than a "merry go round" or "ferris wheel" in life.  I talked about this with my Mission President in my interview with him this week.  While the downs are hard, we will always make it through with God's help and His strength. 

One of my favorite scriptures is found in 2 Nephi 22:2, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation."  So good!  I know if we place our complete trust in Him, there is no need to fear things in life.  We need to turn to Him and allow Him into our life because He is our salvation - He is our strength! 

I want to bear my testimony of some things from my studies this week. I loved re-reading Joy D. Jones talk from the last General Conference called "An Especially Noble Calling."  From this I learned and loved two things:  1 - 'The Lord LOVES effort', and 2 - 'Heeding personal revelation leads to personal progression.'  I have seen snippets of this in my life.  I can testify that the Lord truly does love effort.  We also need to heed personal revelation to help with our progression and conversion.  We need to LISTEN then ACT.  It takes effort to do both, and God takes note of what we offer.  We just have to do our best and He takes care of the rest, especially if it is done with good intention and desire.  I love this work with my whole heart.  I love my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ and am eager to continue on my own path of conversion each day!  I also know that God loves each and you with an infinite love!  Just keep hanging on to the hope only He can give! 

Love and miss you all -

Love, Sister Merrill 

Video of Sister Merrill eating Balut - Enjoy!

Baby kittens!

Sister Merrill & Sister Smith together again!

Another amazing Canadian sky :)