Hello my lovely friends and family! I hope everyone is doing well! It's hard to believe another week has come and gone - it's wild! I also still can't believe it will be August next week! I hit my 11 month mark this past week as a missionary! SO CRAZY! Time is really flying and I am grateful for every day.
Service, service and service oh my! I love service! I know I have mentioned how much I love service before and I will mention it again! I just love it! I love the joy I feel from serving God's children. It is exactly what a spirit needs to be re-energized! I love seeing how happy and grateful the people are for our simple services - it never ceases to amaze me. Service can be so simple -whether it's pulling weeds in a garden, helping the elderly in their home, simple smiling and visiting. Of course there are bigger ways to serve, but some of my favorite ways to serve are in the small ways like smiling at everyone I see, waving or complimenting someone with the hope that it will brighten their day. Whatever it may be, I am so grateful I have opportunity to serve others and God in so many ways!
This past week a few lessons fell through, but we were still able to teach a couple people. We had one of our lessons at a member's home and he willingly performed a short version of a play he was in about the Plan of Salvation! The best part was the "light bulb" moment the investigator had after the member performed. He said that it made sense and it just clicked in his head what this plan that God has for us is! It was so awesome! Sister Petelo and I then shared some of our favorite things about the plan and we bore testimony of it and shared experiences we have had. It was pretty amazing and the spirit was so strong!
Another fun part of the week was going into Edmonton for a Facebook technology training. It was wonderful to receive more training on how to effectively use Facebook as a missionary tool. We can use it for finding and teaching those who are looking for peace and Christ. It was also fun to see all the missionaries in our zone. After the training we then had a district council and the spirit was oh so strong! We did one of my favorite activities where we are timed and have to come up with as many names/titles that Christ is known by. I love thinking and sharing about my Savior. The spirit is always so strong and I get overjoyed with the love I have for Him, and for the love I have felt from Him every day. My favorite title of Christ is simply friend. Christ is my best friend. He is my everything and as I have grown closer to Him. I have grown to love and appreciate the love He has for each of us. He is my support, my listening ear, my strength, my advocate, my source of peace, and my joy. There are so many more things I could say, but simply, Christ is my best friend. I know He loves each of us with a pure indescribable and incomprehensible love. I am and will forever be grateful for Him. To close our district council we all stood and sang, "Called to Serve." It was absolutely incredible. The spirit in that room was so strong - I can't find the words to describe the peace and joy that filled my heart as I pondered on my call to serve. My year mark as a missionary is coming up and I am beyond grateful for this experience - the good, bad, hard, and fun.
This week I studied a talk that my wonderful cousin shared with me called, "Value Beyond Measure," by Joy D. Jones. It was amazing! It was all about our value as daughters of God (this can also be applied to all of God's children). One of my favorite things from the talk is the thought "comparison is the thief of joy!" Too often we compare ourselves to those around us either subconsciously or consciously. It's ok. It happens. It is natural. That is why Mosiah 3:19 is so important. We NEED to put off the natural man. "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." We are so loved and so important and we tend to forget that. I know I can be guilty of this. It can be hard to wrap our heads around the idea that one God can love all of us the same, but I can testify that HE DOES! I have not only felt this in my own life, but I have felt His love for those around me. This is one of the best parts of missionary work! I LOVE loving others! Everyone deserves to feel loved!
I want to share a couple more quotes from the talk by Sister Jones.
"As we remove the distractions that pull us toward the world and exercise our agency to seek Him, we open our hearts to a celestial force which draws us toward Him. If the love we feel for the Savior and what He did for us is greater than the energy we give to weaknesses, self-doubts, or bad habits, then He will help us overcome the things which cause suffering in our lives. He saves us from ourselves."
"If the pull of the world is stronger than the faith and trust we have in the Savior, then the pull of the world will prevail every time. If we choose to focus on our negative thoughts and doubt our worth instead of clinging to the Savior, it becomes more difficult to feel the impressions of the Holy Ghost."
I am so grateful for her testimony and the words shared in this talk. It is so important for us to understand who we are and who we can become. It we put our trust in the right source we can come to understand more fully that Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ love us beyond measure! I just want to bear my testimony that God lives and loves each of us. His son died for us out of a perfect incomprehensible love. I know that we are understood and known by someone perfectly and that we are loved perfectly and individually. Our individual worth is worth more than can be put into words. I know that if we pray for the eyes to see ourselves as God does, we will. We need to try not to compare our worst to someone else's best. Staying positive doesn't mean being happy all the time, it means that even when you have bad days, you know there are better ones coming.
I love and miss you all! Go smile at something :)
Love, Sister Merrill
The "Sistrict" at the Edmonton Temple
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