Hello hello my beautiful, wonderful family and friends! I hope you were all able to find some good this week. God is always there and each day His hand brings a smile to my face. I hope you can feel that love and happiness as well!
Crazy how another week has come and gone. This one was full of lessons, meetings and service. I am honestly so grateful for the members here. They are so supportive and our member lessons are always so needed and filled with the spirit. We were also blessed to meet with a few people God has given us the privilege to work with. Sadly, due to some personal things, Tyler who was on date to get baptized later this month is considering moving his date back. It would be appreciated if you could keep him in your prayers. We had a lesson with another guy and felt prompted to ask him where he was at with the idea of baptism. He is going to ponder it this week and we will catch up with him again next week. In our MLC (mission leadership council) meeting this week, President Cowley stressed the urgency and importance of inviting people to be baptized and helping them enter the baptismal waters. Sister Crowe and I made it a goal to always invite. After all - the success is in the invitation. If we give them the opportunity to choose then the rest is up to them. Missionary work can be intimidating and hard because we always expect the fruits - the end results - and sometimes we forget to enjoy all the moments of the process. It is amazing to love, serve and teach others as Christ did - and as He still does. Everyone deserves love and opportunity, and we are here as instruments in His hands to provide that for them. This week we also had more secret heart attacking adventures and got CAUGHT 2 out of the 3 times....obviously we are not the best at the whole "secret" part. We also had quite a few meetings to attend, but they were all uplifting and helped us gain a new perspective on the work here. Our mission is doing what we call "February Fit" and we are also having a Facebook frenzy all week. Each day we will try a new Facebook tool to find God's children. I am so excited! Our mission has found, taught, and baptized more people through social media than any other resource right now. Honestly, it is pretty amazing how everything has played out over the last year with the pandemic. True evidence that God loves all of His children and all of His missionaries. We had our first Facebook meeting as page administrators for the page Sister Crowe and I cover. It was so fun to lead and collaborate about ideas from so many wonderful missionaries. God is so good and provides us with just what we need, exactly when we need it, EVEN when we think we don't need it. I am so grateful for His constant daily influence.
As for my thoughts this week - there were many - but today I will just share a few simple ones. Last week I shared some of my thoughts on personal revelation. Ironically, this past week our Come Follow Me lesson was ALL about it! My wonderful mother emailed me a cool lesson on revelation and it was exactly what I needed in that moment! REVELATION COMES IN SO MANY WAYS! It doesn't have to fit our predetermined "boxes" of understanding. It is so many things! In Galatians 5:22-23 we read about the fruits of the spirit and it is one of my favorite reminders. Feeling joyful, good, love, peaceful, having greater faith, courage, gratitude, hope, and more is feeling the spirit. It is being inspired. It doesn't have to be extravagant. It is simple. It is line upon line. It is a still small voice. It is quite assurances. Tender mercies. God's goodness is ALL around us. He truly loves us and wants to hear from us. A member reminded us in a lesson this week that, "if we want to talk to God we get on our knees, and if we want God to talk to us we read the scriptures." Revelation is a two-way process. It is simply amazing and can be so simple. We need to keep if simple. Another thought I have is about "humble confidence in Christ." I listened to a few different talks by Hank Smith this week and was reminded of God's ability to work from the inside out. Our goodness and confidence stems from the inside in knowing who we are and where we came from. Knowing this will give us a greater ability to love and trust ourselves and it will shine through us. We will then have greater strength and ability to put that trust in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We truly need humility if revelation is going to work to its fullest potential. We have to be humble ourselves enough to not only trust God, but to also RECOGNIZE that it is His work. His divine intervention. His help. We see this over and over in the Book of Mormon - the famous pride cycle. It doesn't matter how strong we are, how prosperous and blessed we are or how strong our faith is. The second we fail to remember the Lord, His goodness and mercy, we may fall. When we start to slip it gives Satan the greatest opportunity to sneak in and take hold of our hearts. We HAVE to be stronger than Satan and his influence. This is ever so important in today's world. There is a saying that I absolutely love that reminds us how to recognize Gods influence over Satan's. It says, "God stills you, reassures you, leads you, enlightens you, forgives you, calms you, encourages you, and comforts you. While Satan rushes you, frightens you, pushes you, confuses you, condemns you, stresses you, discourages you and worries you." Remember who loves you. Remember your worth. God doesn't see the sinner, the mortal in a fallen state, the one who lags or is lazy. God sees His beloved divine child who is BEYOND loved and cared for.
I am more than grateful for this beautiful knowledge I have. I am grateful for my simple understanding of God's love and for the opportunity I have to share it with others. He truly watches over us, cares for us, knows us, and WANTS us to reach out! NO MATTER WHAT! Your Heavenly Father will always be there for you. He doesn't care how far you feel, or how far away you are. He LOVES you. Please remember that and always know you can always turn to Him.
I love and care for all of you more than I have words. I am grateful for the immense love and support I've had on my mission. I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful, mercy filled week! Always remember to smile - some days it is the best choice we can make! ♡
Love, Sister Merrill
It's getting cold in Canada!
Matching Hats!
Dog walking service!
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