Canada Week 64: There is always room for growth!

Hello my beautiful family and friends!  I hope everyone is finding ways to smile during the craziness of life right now.  My week wasn't as exciting as some, but there was good because God is good, and He will never cease to be good no matter what is happening around us!  

This past week we were blessed with member lessons, a few investigator lessons, member referral miracles, farmer's market adventures, jokes, laughs, calls after calls, gratitude, and AMERICAN THANKSGIVING!  Covid restrictions continue here in Alberta and strict guidelines are in place.  During this time is has been wonderful to video chat with our members and see their bright smiling faces.  So many members here have become like family to me since I have served here for so long.  I hit 8 months in Drayton Valley yesterday.  I am so grateful to have spent so much time here because the members are so amazing.  I really love our member lessons - they are just as important in missionary work as anything and anyone else.  As a full-time missionary I have learned the importance of member missionaries and working together to strengthen ALL of God's children!  It is truly a beautiful thing to witness a person's countenance change when the spirit speaks to them during a lesson - when they hear exactly what they needed to hear.  We were also able to have a few lessons with some of the friends we are teaching.   Helping others understand the doctrine is a really neat experience no matter how simple your knowledge is.  Honestly, the simpler the better, at least for me.  I tend to over think, so a simple, powerful testimony is my favorite!  It's really easy to get caught up in things we don't know or understand, but I testify as we cling to the powerful things that we do know, like the simple truth of God being our loving Heavenly Father, we can do anything! 

Other weekly adventures this week consisted of going to the local farmers market and interacting with people there.  One of our friends has a candy table there so we like to go chat with him.  He likes selling retro candy and I like seeing his joy in doing this.  We also went on some drives while calling members to find Christmas lights.  I'm grateful for all the moments of laughter.  They are my favorite.  A miracle we were blessed with this week was a couple referral we received from one of our members.  We were able to talk to them and they are interested in learning more.  We hope to start teaching them soon and they said they would come to church next week! :)

This past week was American Thanksgiving and I was so grateful for the opportunity to talk to family and give thanks.  I LOVED President Nelson's invitation to flood social media with gratitude.  I know it was greatly inspired, and I was grateful our mission president gave us permission to participate in the experience.  President Nelson said, "An attitude of gratitude gives us better perspective and more peace of mind and heart."  I thought this was wonderful.  Choosing to be grateful, and looking for the happy can give us a more hopeful outlook in life.  There is still good among the bad, and there is always an opportunity to stay positive!  After all, Alma teaches us to live in Thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings God bestows upon us! (Alma 34:38)

This week I have been thinking a lot about mindset.  I remembered a devotional I was a part of in the MTC about having a fixed mindset verses a growth mindset.  I have thought about this a lot on my mission as I have studied the Book of Mormon.  The more I read about the stories of missionaries in this book, the more I see the difference between their mindsets.  Are we fixed on an idea of what things are "supposed" to look like, or do we develop an idea of growth and view things as an opportunity to keep trying and changing?  We read again and again that this life is the time to prepare to meet God.  We came to this earth to learn and to grow so we aren't doing ourselves any favors by staying in a fixed mindset.  It is really hard to not get fixated on everything we CAN'T do right now - especially now with Covid restrictions.  I know I am a little guilty of this.  It is tricky when we don't get to do missionary work how "we think it should be," but God is teaching us that there are just NEW ways to do things.  Right now nothing is the same, things are different, and we are adapting to our "new normal."  I know we can develop a growth mindset and look for ways we can be innovative during this crazy time.  We can think of new, creative ways to do things we always have done.  In some ways, I think this pandemic can be an opportunity for some rapid growth.  If we allow God to help us think outside the box, and as we are obedient to the commandments, laws and ordinances we have been given, including abiding by local laws and rules, I know we will be blessed.  In a way it shows Heavenly Father we are willing to do what we need to do.  We are willing to do what HE wants us to do.  Another thing I like to think about as I study mindset is this idea of resilience.  At the beginning of each year I choose a word that I want to have an added focus on.  Ironically this year I chose the word resilience - a year that has been full of opportunities to choose resilience over road blocks.  To choose faith over fear, and embrace the opportunity to grow during set backs instead of looking at them as failures.  I am so grateful God has given us the ability to think and choose for ourselves. It is always more profound when we discover things for ourselves rather than just being told.  Once again I testify that God is good and He will always help us no matter what!

I am so grateful for this gospel and the blessings it brings into my life.  I am grateful for my knowledge of my Heavenly Father and my Savior and older brother, Jesus Christ. They are truly there for us always!  God's hand is in our daily lives, especially as we choose to trust in Him.  Those who put everything in God's hands will eventually see God's hands in everything.

I love and miss you all!  Go find a reason to smile or simply just smile - it will brighten your mood - I promise! 

Love, Sister Merrill ♡ 

Sister Hill and Sister Merrill

Missionary Zoom life 

Face mask fun!

Canada Week 63: Receive with JOY!

Hello my wonderful friends and family!  I hope all of you are well and are loving the extra gratitude being spread worldwide!  Hopefully it helps bring a smile to your face here and there.  We are so lucky to have an inspired prophet of God! 

Another week has passed here in the beautiful, snowy, white North.  I loved the message of hope and gratitude from our beloved prophet, President Nelson.  We were blessed to teach some member lessons, and a couple lessons with cute friends.  We loved helping with more outdoor service, hanging out with dogs, and warming up with hot chocolate!  We also found joy in tiny ketchup bottles, fun lights around town, and a wonderful Zone Conference.  I also hit my 15 month mark as God's little missionary! 

I have just a few thoughts to share this week.  Have you ever been guilty of saying "once this happens...then I'll be happy?"  Playing this game and placing our happiness in everything but reality is not fun.  By doing this, we may find ourselves wishing for happiness in a future sense, but the thing is, our future won't change if we don't change our NOW.  We can say "once Covid is over then I'll be happy," or "once I finish school and get on with life, then I'll be happy."  I could go on and on.  I am sometimes guilty of this attitude.  It's easy to get wrapped up in everything that feels off or wrong, and then Satan can step in and fill our minds with even more negativity.  We need to learn how to find the happy NOW, and receive things with JOY!  I loved that President Nelson said to try expressing gratitude for our trials and hardships.  We go through tough times because God sees that we are ready to grow and He has something He wants us to learn.  Trials can be HARD, but I can say with full confidence that God's tender mercies can be found throughout them.  He will NEVER leave us no matter how quiet He seems.  After all, the teacher is always quiet during the test.  He is still there.  Last week I wrote about accentuating the positive.  As hard as it is, we need to try and find the good among our strife, heartache, and confusion.  We need to CHOOSE to look for the good.  If we want to see the good we will.  If we want to see the bad we will.  We will usually find what we are looking for. 

I want to share part of a quote from Corrie Ten Boom that has touched my heart.  It says, "Never be afraid to trust an UNKNOWN future to a KNOWN God."  The future is always unknown - ever more so right now.  No one knows when this pandemic will be over, but we can find peace knowing that God knows and that He has a plan. 

I love this gospel and the overwhelming feelings of peace, joy, comfort and happiness that it accentuates in my life.  Choose happy now.  Look for the good.  May we choose to receive all things with Joy! 

I love and miss you all! Thank you for the support and prayers - they are felt! <3

Love, Sister Merrill  

Joy in playing the ukelele

ZONE CONFERENCE

Finding joy in mini ketchup bottles

It's winter in Canada!

Outdoor Covid dining 

The Sisters with Katie dog

Drawing of Sister Merrill by her DL

Canada Week 62: Accentuate the Positive!

Helllloooo!!!  Hopefully everyone found a reason to smile this week!  My week was much better than the previous week.  God truly never ceases to amaze me.  He is SO GOOD!  We were able to help with a couple outdoor services, maintaining covid health regulations, and had some good lessons and witnessed MIRACLES!

I love service!  We were able to help with more cow preg checking this week.  The member family we previously helped had more cows at their place in town, so they invited us over to help round up cows and get them through the shoot.  Cows are honestly hilarious and they made my whole day.  It was also wonderful to be around members even if it was outside.  They have been missed during this crazy covid time!  Our second service opportunity was to help a member pack up her outdoor shed because she is moving in December.  We were so grateful for the nice weather this week that allowed for us to serve outside because we aren't allowed inside homes right now.  Service brings my little heart SO much joy.  It always has.  Even the simplest things can mean so much to people around us.

This week we were also blessed with some wonderful lessons and MIRACLES upon MIRACLES!  I was so grateful to my Father in Heaven this week.  We met the CUTEST old guy at a store here in town.  We were there doing some contacting and saw him standing by the ice cream.  I felt very strongly that we should at least go say hello so we did! His name is Sam and he is the sweetest.  He was so surprised and grateful that we came to say hello.  We had a wonderful conversation about God.  We got his phone number and called him later in the week.  We had another wonderful conversation with him talking about the Book of Mormon.  He asked if we could call again and teach him more about Jesus Christ.  HOW BEAUTIFUL!  My heart was so full of love and joy for this man!   We also had another amazing lesson with an awesome guy we are teaching from Tanzania.  One of our members was also kind enough to join us.  This week he had so many good questions that the lesson just flowed beautifully and the spirit was strong!  One of my favorite things to do is bear simple testimony of my brother and Savior Jesus Christ.  Feeling the spirit bear testimony through me to others is so powerful.  I am beyond thankful that I have had the opportunity to do so.  This has happened so many times here in Canada as a missionary and I will never forget this feeling. 

Accentuate the positive!  The title of my email this week comes from a Hank Smith devotional called, "Be of Good Cheer!"  I have listened to this a few times, but this week the line "accentuate the positive" just kept running through my mind!  Thoughts are POWERFUL!  Our thoughts can influence our attitude which reflects on our mood and our actions.  Almost everything in our lives is a choice.  It is so important to learn self discipline when it comes to making a choice so we don't fall into sin and temptation. Our mental health is so important - Satan also knows this and he can thrive there if we let him.  I made a goal for myself to accentuate the positive and to exaggerate even the smallest joys in my day - even if this just was laughing at how ridiculous this may seem.  I testify that this has really lifted my spirit!  Laughter is also one of my favorite things to do, and it can truly be an effective medicine for any situation.  It can brighten a room immensely and makes a heart so happy!  Finding small things to make you happy everyday and choosing to have a positive attitude makes all the difference.  So choose Christ and choose happy.  Joy is powerful and Christ is Joy!  "Christ doesn't make UP the difference, Christ makes ALL the difference." 

I bear testimony that Christ is our advocate.  He FEELS what we feel.  His arms are always outstretched, and we merely need to choose his embrace.  Agency is a beautiful gift.  It can also be a blessing and a curse of our mortal lives.  Choice can be hard, but choice is wonderful.  In the words of President Gordon B. Hinkley, "May we ever choose a positive attitude!"  

I love and miss you all!  Keep smiling!  Keep laughing!  Good days are coming!

Love, Sister Merrill 

Sister Hill & Sister Merrill

Art by Sister Merrill

Fun on the farm!