Canada Week 59: Pumpkins! Snow! Exchanges!

Hello from the wonderful cold, winter wonderland of the Great White North!  I hope everyone had a good week and that you smiled at least once!  It is always an adventure up here in Canada for sure.  My week wasn't too crazy, and as always, full of missionary fun and love.  Here are some of my thoughts and testimony from the week.  

I am so excited to say that one of my little best friends here, Brady Bryanton, received permission from his mom be baptized!  WHAT A MIRACLE!  We are still working with him and his family and it would be greatly appreciated if you could keep them in your prayers.  As for the other friends we are teaching, we were only able to teach a couple lessons this week.  One lesson that was really good was with Tresor.  We have been able to meet with him a couple times, and he always has really solid questions and a great desire to learn and really understand the gospel for himself.  It is incredible and I can't wait to see what God has in store for him.  Agency can sometimes be tricky to work with, and I often wonder how God has the patience for it.  Then I think about what a beautiful gift agency is, and how much it means to witness someone CHOOSE to follow Christ! 

This week we were blessed with some fun activities and service.  We helped some of our ward members with their Christmas chocolates.  They have a family tradition making Christmas chocolates and caramels and invited us to help them.  We spent a lot of time dipping, rolling, cutting and packaging - it was so fun!  They then sell some of them, but give most of them away.  Talk about a nice service full of love!  Friday and Saturday we went on exchanges with some sisters in our zone that Sister Hill and I are STL's over.  It was nice to have them come and visit us in Drayton Valley.  We all went and carved pumpkins with a member in our ward. We were joking that it seemed weird to be carving pumpkins with lots of snow on the ground, and then just ended up laughing about Canada's crazy weather.  It will be a fun memory! 

My thoughts this week have revolved around God's mercy.  What is mercy?  When I think of mercy I think of compassion.  Mercy goes beyond love.  God will never stop loving us, even though He may be unhappy with some of the choices we make.  When it comes time to meet God, I think His mercy will be conditioned upon our agency, and if we chose to fully repent when given the chance.  I also think about God being a just God.  If He wasn't a just God then we wouldn't need mercy.  We had a discussion on this topic with some missionaries this week and concluded with the following scripture:  

2 Nephi 2:13

 "And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away." 

Another thought I had about God's love and mercy stems from trial and hardship.  So many people often wonder why God?  Why this, why now, why me?  Why, why, why? Sometimes we fail to remember that it is BECAUSE He loves us that He allows trials to happen. I like this quote by Richard G. Scott that says, "When the trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidences that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more!"  Trials are evidences.  Have you ever asked God for evidence - for a sign that He is listening or that He cares or truly loves you?  This is when we can take a look at our lives - the good and the bad - and ponder upon things that have led us to where we are now.  There will always be evidence that God loves each of us.  Sometimes it can even be as simple as recognizing the details of coming to Earth at this time.  This is the exact time that God needed you to be here throughout all generations of time.  You are each so loved by God.  I can PROMISE you that! 

I hope that we can all put on our eternal glasses and remember WHOSE we are.  I tend to let myself get wrapped up in the complexities of things, or in being a perfectionist.  I have also learned that Satan loves using this against me.  But of this I am sure - GOD LOVES US PERFECTLY!  He isn't holding us to some level.  Even if there is a "mark" we need to attain, He will never be disappointed that we missed it.  He simply wants us to just keep trying! 

I love you all and miss you all.  Thank you for all the sweet messages, emails, love and support.  It truly means more than you know!   

Love, Sister Merrill <3

Making chocolates!

Canada Week 58: Jesus Christ knows us each individually

Well hello!  What a week!  It began in Drayton Valley with some really good lessons, visits, service and our first snowfall of the season.  Then we spent a few days in Edmonton on exchanges after a Zoom Zone Conference. 

This week we were blessed to meet with a couple of our people and it was such a neat experience.  Lately I have felt the impression and set a goal to be more bold in life and in missionary work.  My companion and I also decided together to just be bold in all our efforts!  During a lesson this week we were able to stress the importance of the decisions we make in the church, and how following Jesus Christ and God is so important!  This includes taking steps, such as baptism, to work toward the goal of entering the temple.  As a result of our boldness a couple of our people expressed that they want to work towards being baptized!   

Edmonton!  It was good to go into the city on exchanges with Sister Smith and Sister Simmons for a couple days.  It was so fun to serve with my cute MTC companion Sister Smith once again.  We were able to catch up while enjoying missionary work and made more memories like freezing our legs off and then thawing them in hot water!  While in the city we were able to see some of my favorite members.  The first night we had supper with the Sorochan family and it was just what my little heart needed.  Then the next night we enjoyed supper with the Sager family.  I met both of these amazing families during the first few transfers of my mission.  God truly knows exactly what we need at exactly the right minute!  I'm not sure I would be where I am today without them.  We also visited with the sweet member I lived with the first 7 months of my mission, and enjoyed lunch with some other missionaries.  Serving in an outlying town we don't get to see other missionaries very often so it was nice to see and catch up with all of them! 

The title of my email stems from a very needed conversation I had this week.  It was also a reminder that my Savior Jesus Christ knows us each individually.  I have been thinking a lot about the idea of generalization.  How often do we generalize our thoughts and generalize ideas and truth in the gospel?  How often do we merely think about things in a big general sense rather than in a personal sense?  Maybe no one does this - maybe it's just me?  Saying or hearing something is different than LISTENING and HEARKENING to that same thing.  As much as I have heard, and even often said, Christ truly is personal.  I guess sometimes I just have a hard time really thinking about it because then I start to think about all the people in the world and put it into a general sense.  This weekend I felt the spirit so strong as a member shared their testimony of the individual atonement of Jesus Christ.  I too know that our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for ME and for YOU.  I also know He knows EVERYTHING I feel because of His atonement!  He has atoned for each of us individually because He knows us individually and He loves us individually.  

I want to end by sharing a quote by Chieko Okazaki that was shared with me.  It touched my heart and I hope it does the same for you.  

“Well, my dear sisters, the gospel is the good news that can free us from guilt. We know that Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane. It's our faith that he experienced everything- absolutely everything. Sometimes we don't think through the implications of that belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don't experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means he knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer- how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He experienced Napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism.

Let me go further. There is nothing you have experienced as a woman that he does not also know and recognize. On a profound level, he understands the hunger to hold your baby that sustains you through pregnancy. He understands both the physical pain of giving birth and the immense joy. He knows about PMS and cramps and menopause. He understands about rape and infertility and abortion. His last recorded words to his disciples were, "And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20) He understands your mother-pain when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down syndrome. He knows your mother-rage when a trusted babysitter sexually abuses your two-year-old, when someone gives your thirteen-year-old drugs, when someone seduces your seventeen-year-old. He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only children are visitors, when you hear that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years. He knows all that. He's been there. He's been lower than all that. He's not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don't need a Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He's not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief.”

                   

I hope you have the most wonderful week!  Love and miss you all! 

Love, Sister Merrill

Canada Week 57: A grateful heart is a happy heart

Hello!  I can't believe we are almost halfway through October!  I hope everyone had a splendid week!  It's Thanksgiving up here in the Great White North today.  I am Thanksgiving fooded out!  Our weekend was spent eating and eating, with a special fast in between, which was beautiful and wonderful!  Being able to partake of the sacrament at church is one of my most favorite things ever!  The added focus on my Savior and His sacrifice for me is such a special experience and the spirit is so strong.  I am so grateful for my knowledge of Him and what He did, and what He continues to do, for me is very near and dear to my heart. 

I have written in a gratitude journal for most of my mission.  The speaker in church shared the message that only being extra grateful once a year isn't enough, and that it should be an all the time thing.  While it is wonderful to give extra thanks on Thanksgiving, each day we need to open our eyes, open our hearts and open our arms.  We can open our eyes by praying and asking for help to see the beauty around us.  I would also add to see others deeply as was stated in General Conference.  Each day we need to develop our Christlike attributes and be the best that we can be.  A member I love dearly here reminded me of a wonderful quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley, "Try a little harder to be a little better everyday."  What a simple and powerful reminder that takes that "be perfect" load off.  This leads into opening our hearts.  We can open our hearts to others by serving them, and in return this will open our hearts to God.  We also need to be open to correction and humbling ourselves to be a little better everday.  God will always help us become the best we can.  Lastly, to open our arms.  To me this means TO LOVE EVERYONE AS CHRIST DID!  Developing Chistlike charity is one of the GREATEST things we can ever do.  After all, the first two commandments are to LOVE God and LOVE our neighbor.  This is a gospel all about LOVE!  This was another focus that I loved about General Conference and felt so much love as I listened to the words spoken.    

The rest of the week was full of service, wonderful lessons, visits and more.  We helped a member release a skunk from their trap, and went hiking through the bush on their beautiful property.  We also have a stellar member who did stop by visits with us.  One visit was with a non-member famiy they knew.  We were blessed to share a lesson on the plan of salvation hoping to ease the troubled mind of the boy who had just recently lost his father.  The spirit was so strong.  Talk about miracles!  It was so beautiful to be a part of this, and I am so grateful I was able to testify of my Savior and the love He and God have for us as His children. 

Each week we also enjoy some fun things as you can see in my pictures.  We got to hang out and teach some of my favorite people on planet earth, THE BRYANTONS!  They are seriously the cutest, sweetest spirits and I love them with my whole heart.  This week I gave each of them their own copy of the Book of Mormon.  I created each child their own special book with pictures of the Savior and my testimony.  The reaction on their faces was unlike anything in this WOLRD!  My little heart exploded with love!  This week our district had a challenge on "wheeless Wednesday of who could find and take pictures with the most stop signs so that was fun!  Also, those of you who know me know that I love sloths.  A cute member gave us little gifts and mine was a sloth!  I loved it!  Oh, and baby kittens are just the cutest, tiniest things! 

I am so grateful to be a missionary here in Canada.  I am grateful for the opportunity I have to wear my Saviors name on my chest.  Testifying of His love for each of us is unlike any other feeling I have ever felt and I have no words to express my gratitude.  I hope and pray you all work everyday at building, strengthening, and deepening your relationship with your Savior Jesus Christ!  HE LOVES YOU!

Have a wonderful week my beautiful friends and family!  If you could, please add President Cowley, my mission president, to your prayers this week as he is dealing with some health issues.  He and Sister Cowley are such a blessing in my life and I love them.  I also love and miss you all immensely!

Love, Sister Merrill 

Sister Merrill & Sister Hill

The District

Brother Hewitt's Moose

I love sloths!

The Bryanton Family

God loves you!