Correspondence

To correspond with Elder Merrill you can email him at tanner.merrill@myldsmail.net he may not be able to email you back but he can write to you and he loves the letters.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Nov 10, 2014

Hey Syd,

Well, the weather is getting dreich, which is Scottish for bad.  The temperature is dropping daily, today is freezing outside.  Luckily it’s a calm day.  Some days the winds blow and the rain falls and it is just frigid.  Lots of cloud cover and very little color is anywhere to be seen. Just a bit of green and lots of grey.  I'm doing great, working hard.  We get busier and busier as we find more and more people to teach about the Gospel.  I think about home here and there, and even have begun to have a few dreams about being home, which tells me where my subconscious is at times.  Nevertheless I work harder and longer every day. I love being a missionary, it’s a hard thing to do sometimes but it’s never anything less than purely satisfactory.  Nothing could be more fulfilling at this time in my life than doing missionary work.

I look forward dearly to seeing you again, and witnessing how much you've grown.  You'll be 18 when that day comes.  How is school?  Seminary getting any better since we last spoke of it?  Work?

I hope your life is full and busy, it is so important to stay busy.  Even return missionaries can fall away.  It’s extremely important that no matter how strong you feel that you remember the basics of living the gospel, that is:

Reading the Book of Mormon daily.
Praying daily.
and taking the Sacrament each week.

If you do these simple things, you will never be tempted to commit any serious sin and you will be happy.  I promise.
I love you sis, have a great week.

Elder Merrill

Mom and Dad,

This week was good and we got a lot done even though it was moves week.  Elder Oldham showed up.  He's a great guy.  He is humble, obedient and has a strong testimony of the Gospel and Personal Revelation.  He's a good guy and I am seriously excited to see how much we will be able to do in the next six weeks.  We will accomplish lots and lots of work, we both feel and know the Lord has prepared us and many others to come closer to Him.  We will find teach and baptize.  We also got roped into choir practice this week, as the ward prepares for the Stake Christmas Spectacular.  I knew very little of the music and lyrics, as much of it was from Frozen and other conventional Christmas songs.

..... and ..... have baptismal dates for the 6 of December, which I found out yesterday is stake conference weekend so it may have to change.  Nevertheless they will be baptized in December.  They are good kids.  Others have come into the picture as investigators.  We had a good meeting with bishop last week where we went over the ward list.  It was good to be in close communication with bishop and I know he felt great about us carrying out his agenda with his ward.  I've learned many great skills about how to work with ward councils and wish with all my might that I knew these things at the start of my mission.  I would have done so much differently.  Humility is a characteristic quality I'm working on now and I pray and study over the subject constantly.  I know the Lord compels his children to be humble, so I am humbling myself before he does that.  The scriptures say, blessed is he that humbles himself without being compelled to be humble.  And also, blessed is he that has faith, without needing to see, in reference to Thomas at the visitation of the Resurrected Christ to the apostolic assembly in Jerusalem. I love and read the scriptures daily and will speak more in my letter to you. 

Forgive my poor communication skills.  I love you and think of you all often.  Thanks for all you do to bless my life the lives of others.  I'm grateful for righteous examples as goodly parents like you who I can look up to and hope to be like someday.  Life would be much harder without you. 

I love you; have a great week my lovely Parents!

Your son,

Elder Merrill

 

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