Canada Week 48: I love God's creations!

Hello my beautiful, wonderful family and friends!  I hope everyone reading this is doing well and staying safe and healthy!  This week was full of adventure-filled FUN!  We were blessed to do so many amazing things.  Last Tuesday I finally got to go to Jasper National Park.  It was soooooo beautiful!  While I was there I couldn't help but feel so full of joy and gratitude for all of God's beautiful creations!  It was so fun to explore some of the park and make memories.  Holy moly - I didn't realize how much I missed the mountains until I was in them again.  Another blessing this week was teaching seminary in SOUTH AFRICA!  My heart has such a soft spot for that place now because of the miracle Mohapi family.  We have the opportunity to teach seminary every week and I am so grateful for it.  We also got to serve by helping clean a member's cabin and hang out with them and their cute kiddos!  

At the end of the week we had the opportunity to go to Red Deer on EXCHANGES.  It was great to be with the wonderful sisters there - especially Sister Crawford.  She is one of my best friends who was a member of the YSA ward I served in when I first got to Canada.  She is currently a Visa waiting missionary here in the CEM.  It was such a blessing to serve with her and her cute companion.  A highlight was playing Family Feud gospel edition live on their Facebook page    

On top of these fun opportunities we had some awesome lessons.  We were able to meet again with my favorite Bryanton kids.  I love testifying of God's love!  It is my most favorite thing as a missionary!  We also taught another lesson to our friend who is really shy.  He has politely declined saying the prayer every time, except this week!  He said the closing prayer of our lesson and it was absolutely wonderful!  I am so beyond grateful for the experiences and opportunities I have had and continue to have here as a missionary.  God is amazing and provides so many wonderful tender mercies along our way.  

I want to share some insights from my studies this week that stood out to me.  One study in particular was on prayer.  Prayer is something I have studied my whole mission. One thing I read this week was exactly what i needed to be reminded of.  It is found in 3 Nephi 13:8, ".....your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him." God literally knows what we need - All the time!  This is also much easier heard than applied like most things in life.  I continually strive everyday to understand as I pray.  I pray for help in understanding - and day by day, little by little, it becomes clearer in my mind.  I can testify that we just need to hold on and trust God!  Another study that touched my heart this week was on "light."  One definition of light that I found and absolutely loved said, "to come to rest, settle."  I applied this to what Christ has done for me in my times of need.  When I have been overwhelmed, anxious, scared, or stressed I have thought of His sacrifice for me, and when I do I have been able to find rest EVERY TIME!  Christ has the ability to help us because He knows what we are going through to perfection.  He knows us to the point of perfection that enables Him to help us handle each situation EXACTLY how we need to.  He will provide rest.  I also studied many wonderful scriptures about light and a talk by Richard G. Scott called, "The Power of Scripture."  He stated, "Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high."  I love this!  The scriptures truly can provide enlightenment in such a way that nothing else can!  It may take time to learn, but we need to trust the process and be grateful for those moments when answers come and understanding clicks!   We also need to be grateful for each opportunity we are given to study, ponder and pray. 

I testify that God loves all of us perfectly and individually.  You are a perfect beloved daughter or son of God with infinite worth and potential!  Satan works hard on all of us, but we need to stick together and learn to defeat him!  God is always on our side and has the power to help us accomplish anything! 

I love and miss you all!  Remember to smile! :)

Love, Sister Merrill 

JASPER NATIONAL PARK!

Sweet Heather!

Souvenir shirts from Jasper

Sister Merrill & Sister Petelo

Feed my Goats!

SERVICE!

Sister Merrill & Sister Crawford

Exchanges!

Elder Burton & Sister Merrill

"Bertie Boy"

Family Feud Gospel Edition

Canada Week 47: I LOVE Christ's genuineness

HELLO!  I hope everyone is doing well!  Crazy how another week has come and gone again - I know I say that every week - but it's true!  Somehow it is AUGUST and I'll soon reach my year mark as a missionary.  I'm currently writing this letter as we drive to Jasper National Park.  I am so excited!

This past week there were many Sister Merrill missionary adventures in serving and teaching and running.  We were once again blessed to love, help, and serve others around us.  This is my absolute FAVORITE THING to do - it makes my heart so happy to do service upon service!  We are becoming absolute experts in yard work and painting.  We have truly loved being able to help those in need with their yards and homes.  As we serve we love to share little messages and the spirit is oh so sweet :) God is so good!  We were also able to have some incredible lessons with amazing people we are teaching.  With that being said, Satan never ceases to work incredibly hard to stop this work.  We will never let broken arms and heart attacks stop us.  I can testify that God's power and strength is unstoppable!  We have seen many mini-miracles that could be easily missed if not looked at with the right perspective.  I want to express my absolute love for some very cute kiddos we are teaching - THE BRYANTON FAMILY!  They have my entire heart!  I have no words to express my gratitude for my Heavenly Father for placing me in this area at this time so I could meet and teach this beautiful amazing family!  We were able to have a couple lessons with them and they were just oh so good!  We taught them about the atonement and the blessings it can bring into our lives if we allow it.  Their little faces were so bright I almost cried.  I love each opportunity I get to share and bear my testimony about my beloved, wonderful Savior Jesus Christ!  

Thursday we got to go to Onaway for the annual Canada Edmonton Mission 5k run.  We received training from our mission leaders in the morning.  After we ran, had lunch, and played lawn games.  It was a fun day and nice to be with other missionaries for a bit.   

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of God's ways being higher and the power He has to perform miracles according to His time table.  This has led me to study more about trusting in Him and what that looks like just for me.  I read a few talks about this and one that stood out to me was by Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled, "He Will Place You On His Shoulders and Carry You Home."  The focus of it was finding those who are lost.  One part that caught my attention was this, "Just as the Good Shepherd finds His lost sheep, if you will only lift up your heart to the Savior of the World, He will find you."  Emphasis on the "if."  Our part can sometimes be forgotten, or looked over as we need or want various things in life.  We need to expend our own efforts.  I know as we continually strive to do our best, those small efforts start to pay off.  Just like most things in life, it takes time and practice.  Another focus of mine in studying trust is in humility.  What is this idea of humility?  What does that mean?  I have tried to deepen my understanding of this.  In Preach My Gospel it teaches that humility is a Christlike attribute we should strive to attain in our lives.  We have to put our full trust into Him and be humble and willing to submit to whatever God's plan is for each of us.  If we learn to trust Him, then we will learn to trust in His plan for us.  I know that He can make our lives better than what we could ever do on our own no matter how hard it gets.  This includes believing that everything will work out and that the blessings will come.  As I strive to truly trust God on my mission verses just saying I'll trust Him - I can see a big difference.  I can feel it inside of me.  I testify that everything comes down to Him.  All of it.  I know that if we put Christ in the center of our lives we will be forever blessed for it.   

I want to bear my testimony of the pure, genuine, Christlike love that is available to all of us.  I know that as we love on another in the same genuine way that it can go a long way - sometimes we don't even realize how much.  We really have no idea how many lives we affect or hearts we touch each day even just with our simple interactions and examples.  I often wonder what the reunion in Heaven will be like.  Will we get to meet those we affected in this life and had no idea?  Who knows?  I truly love serving and loving others as Christ did!  I am SO grateful for the opportunities He provides, and for the experiences He allows for me to have each day as a missionary.  

I love and miss you all!  Always remember to smile :) and never forget that you are oh so loved! 

Love, Sister Merrill 

Sister Merrill and Sister Petelo

CEM 5k

Sister Merrill & Sister Smith

Canada Week 46: You are worth more than words!

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