No Snapbacks Allowed

 

Okay hello everyone. I just wanted to start out by letting everyone know that MISSIONARIES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WEAR SNAPBACKS.... and that I learned that the hard way. My cool zone leader gives me a sweet purple and gray snapback, so naturally I wear it on P-day to the library... and naturally THE MAN WHO GAVE IT TO ME TELLS ME TO TAKE IT OFF AND THAT I CAN'T WEAR IT IN PUBLIC. It's okay because I'm still cool and I'm wearing my purple unicorn sweater. I'm fine. Everyone calm down (also for you old people snapbacks are like baseball hats.... you're welcome).

ANYWAYS, now for the good stuff. CATHERINE GOT BAPTIZED AND IT WAS PERFECT. We had a huuuuuuuuuuuuge turnout! President and Sister Irion even came (after my constant nagging, it's fine). The program was beautiful! When she game out of the water she said something like "Hey guyz, I'm Mormon!" Okay that's funny. She invited tons of her non Mormon friends and they came! The whole ward supported her too! We sang Beautiful Savior as a trio and it was pretty good. I sang the alto part. We had to do it again in Sacrament meeting, and yes, I'm still alive. Righteous.

The sweet part about it was that her family came. Her mom hadn't been supportive and told her she wouldn't be there, but then 5 minutes before the baptism she showed up! Her dad and brother Will were also there. It was great that her family came together to see her follow the example of Christ. And so they could see for themselves that Mormons aren't psycho.

I would just like to give a personal shout out to my #1 member missionaries of the week AMY AND GREG GOLDING (my sister and brother-in-law)! Helping out with a church tour for their neighbor Monica! And fellowshipping here so she feelz that Mormon LOVE! Now that's a Valentine's gift. What are y'all going to give Jesus for Valentine's day?

So it's time to wrap this one up. I love you humanz.

xoxoxoxoxox

Sister Merrell

Blizzards, Apostles, and 5 MORE DAYS!!!

Hi y'all!

So this week was certainly an adventure, WE GOT A WHOLE INCH OF SNOW!!! So obviously that means all the schools have to be shut down right? Yeah Tennessee is definitely wimpy about snow. They don't have snow plows really though so all the roads were crazy. We live at the top of a hill, so when we were going home for dinner we got stuck. So naturally I floor it and drive zig zags till we get up the hill. When we got home we were informed that we were not allowed to drive the car so we had to stay home. The next morning the roads were still bad so we decided to walk to our appointments. Don't worry I only fell like....once.

Okay other cool stuff, L. TOM PERRY CAME AND SPOKE TO OUR STAKE! It was sweet! It was all about member missionary work! He really emphasized the impact of our personal example, which I wholeheartedly agree with! He made me laugh soooooooo much! I loved it because missionary work is fun, and people gotta realize that! But hey that's coming from someone who thinks it's funny when people slam the door in their face (me). Elder Perry shared an awesome scripture that I think about all the time now when that happens:

Alma 17:11- And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

Laughing when someone slams the door is the epitome of patience. And sometimes slamming the door is not so literal... People sometimes reject fellowship, aren't interested, treat you like garbage, etc. but hey everyone needs to be loved. Just keep on, keeping on!

Okay, last but certainly not least, Catherine (my favorite person in ALL of Tennessee)'s baptism is THIS SATURDAY! That's like 5 DAYS AWAY!!!! Okay I am so pumped. My first baptism, but really she did it all herself. She is the GOLDEN investigator that missionaries dream about. And also, she really is a best friend of mine. It's crazy. It's like we've known each other forever! We (Catherine, my comp, and I) are singing at her baptism, and then in sacrament meeting on Sunday when she gets confirmed. Yeah we are going way over the top for her baptism, but she deserves it! She is going to be a strong member for the rest of her life!

Well that's all I got! Love your hearts! (That's my new southern slang)

Sister Andrea Kate Merrell

Wazzzzzzzzzzzzup dawgy dawgz??

Jan 27 at 9:51 AM

Okay so obviously I think I'm really funny, because of this title, but in reality I'm going to give the credit to the preach my gospel dvd that I'm quoting... so yeah I'm not that funny. But wait. I'm hilarious.

ANYWAYS, WE HAVE CATHERINE'S BAPTISM SCHEDULED FOR FEBRUARY 8TH AND I'M SO FETCHING EXCITED ABOUT IT!
Catherine's boyfriend is on a mission in Ecuador. She wanted to take the lessons for herself and not him so she waited till he left on his mission before we could teach her. We've known her for a while though. So the first lesson last Tuesday, she tells us she wants to be baptized! Okay, awesome. I didn't think it could get any better until on Saturday we sit down for our lesson:

"Guys I have to tell you something..."
"What is it?"
"I'm going on a mission... Heavenly Father wants me to.."

HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER FROM ME BECAUSE THIS WAS JUST SURREAL

-----------------------I literally could not stop---------Too much awesomeness.-----------------

 

Andrea and Diana

Diana lives in an assisted living center and is paralyzed. She loves cheese and scary movies.

 

It was a good that day started off teaching Catherine, because then it got really... interesting. We go visit this family with unbaptized kids over the age of 9. We knock on the door and the husband lets us in right away and gets his wife. Then they tell us they want to feed us so we sit down for dinner. They tell us their classic story, he went on a mission, came back, and they met at BYU. He taught at the MTC and they got married in the temple. Great right? Well then they told us they us "they just aren't believers anymore..." Uh what? The husband didn't believe in God anymore... and the wife didn't want to talk about what was going on with her... But they told us how happy they are...
When I looked into the wife's eyes she looked exhausted. When the husband was telling us how he doesn't believe in God and happy he is--his face was literally twitching. Yeah homiez, you're really happy I can see it... NOT. They are making themselves miserable.

This reminded me of a quote that I wrote in the margin of my scriptures once:

"All that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war,....empires,—is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." -C.S. Lewis
AMEN BROTHA LEWIS.

Anyways that's really all I got for now. Stay classy Seattle.

Love,

Me

I HAVE A DREAM MY FRIENDZZZZ

Hi,

I'm so sorry that Martin Luther King Day got in the way of emailing (the library was closed) but everyone raise a glass and say I HAVE A DREAMMMMMMMMMM! Hahaha I did that with the bishop's daughters at dinner last night and we were laughing because I'm a funny fun friend.

I'm really tired because Sister Weight is here on an exchange so obviously we stayed up all night giggling and catching up. Don't worry we still got up at 6:30. Love me hate me love me hate me.

Last week's visit to the science museum was SO MUCH FUN! We learned all about the history of Oak Ridge and the atomic bomb. Yesterday we had a really fun p day because we went to Farragut and played sports with like 20 other missionaries. And we ate burgers and helped the Elders pick out new ties (but we do that every freaking p day because they are ALL obsessed with ties baha).

At zone training meeting Sister Gotchy and I had to give a training on companionship unity. It was so great and unified.
We made this acronym: SPIT--
Same purpose
Positive relationship

follow the spirIT

President Irion loved it, so at least I did something right. Sister Irion also alerted us that breaking the dress code (Elders wearing patterned socks) is the first sign of rebellion.... hahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahaha ROLLING ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING.


So remember that non-member that bore her testimony in sacrament meeting that I told you about? Well we're having our first lesson with her in a few hours. It's gonna be great.

That's all folks.


Love,


Me
PS here's a picture in celebration of MLK jr. Day

That's Wazzup!!! January 6, 2014

Greetings Earthlings!

So yesterday was a miracle in it's self. A bunch of less actives came to church AND a non member BORE HER TESTIMONY. Holy cow it was awesome. We are going to teach her after her boyfriend leaves on his mission because she wants to take the discussions for herself, not her boyfriend. His farewell is next week. Kewl.

I have a new companion, her name is Sister Gotchy! She is from Layton. She is the most innocent person I know. She also hates biking. Welcome to the kingdom of heaven whut whut!!! Also the brakes on my bike are broken...hahahaha I have no idea what to do, that's just what happens when your bike gets ran over by a car and then your companion involuntarily bails! Let's just say I have double the fun riding down hills now!

Okay so at transfers, this Elder gets up and says he's from Salt Lake. I'm starring at him. Holy freak I know this kid from somewhere, but where? WHAT THE HECK COUSIN THOMAS FOWLER!! He's a visa waiter!! Isn't that nuts? I talked to him after the meeting and oh gosh that was so cool! He's in athens in a bike area. Woot.

Anyways I'm about out of time! Love all of you! Write me! I haven't gotten any letters since LAST YEAR!!!!!!!!!! I'm not being dramatic man!

xoxoxoxoxo


Sister Merrell

PS here is a pic of me and Elder Fowler and the other is me and my best friends out here on the mish: Sister Weight, my old district leader Elder Parkinson, Maria and Wiley Valez the most awesome members ever!

Agency Whomps

Heyyyyyyyyyyo.

What's up everybody? So I forgot my planner and that's when I outline what I'm going to share. So this is going to be all over the place. FYI. Maybe... Who knows maybe I have skillzzzzzz.


So if you haven't remembered, I'm on a mission in Tennessee where everyone already has their set ways with religion and are pretty stubborn to change. Okay not everyone but you get the point. So we had been teaching this lady and she said she was going to get baptized as a Christmas present to herself. Well time went on and she stopped progressing for some reason. I had ZERO desire to drop this lady and her daughters, I have seen the potential in them since day one out her in Tennessee! But she told us she didn't want to progress... so we told her we couldn't come teach her anymore. Her daughter asked if they could still go to the celestial kingdom if they weren't baptized... Welp... there's still time for baptism! I just hope they come around eventually... some way, some how. Agency whomps.

We have been trying to find members with unbaptized children over the age of 9 to teach, and we saw a family last night from the list! They fed us dinner and we taught the restoration! I don't know what their commitment level is, but I had to talk pokemon for like 30 minutes with their son so they'd let us teach them and we could be on their good side. Hopefully my pokemon expertise continues to help us!

Welp we ate at this cool restaurant with the zone leaders and our district leader and his comp. It's called riverside grill and it's so awesome! It has an amazing view too! That was cool. Also we went running this morning and made the Elders come.. Okay Elder Brown wanted to come we had to make Elder Hagans. So great. We are going to a science museum with a ward member after this so that'll be fun.

That's all I could come up with! I hope y'all are being good. Pray for me, my companion and I have to give a training at zone meeting this week (BARF)... Hopefully no one throws any rotten fruit. Everyone be good and remember to love me! I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUU

xoxoxoxoxo

Sister Merrell

Goodbye to my Precious Trainer

Dec 30 at 2:18 PM

Hi!

So Christmas was good! Maxine gave me a Cinderella Barbie doll... Because that's what she calls me. So many people gave us treats. So many treats. The best gift I got though was Mucinex because I was/am sick. The day after Christmas I had a fever and had to stay home. I missed district meeting and I was super bummed out. Oh well, I still have a cough but I'M FINE.

On Saturday night Sister Weight and I got a text telling us that one of us would be in leadership and on the conference call. She thought I would be training but I knew I wasn't because President told me not this transfer (but eventually) because there is only one sister coming and she's a Spanish speaker. I KNEW it was going to be Sister Weight becoming the next sister training leader... AND I WAS RIGHT!!! Bahahaha so she is leaving me for sure and is going to be cooking with the big dawgs. Crazy. Also our district leader, Elder Parkinson, is getting transferred too... and he is a zone leader now. Also my friend Elder Russo is leaving. I've made some tight friends here in my district and I am sad to see them leave. Hopefully the new people are fun. I'm feeling pretty anxious for transfers. Mainly because Elder Parkinson and Sister Weight have been here in Oak Ridge in our ward for a long time and know the area.. and now I'm the "seasoned veteran". So I have to know who everyone is and where they live and all that jazz! Ahhhh! Hopefully I know enough. I'm so nervous! We'll see how it goes!

So Sister Weight just hadn't had enough health problems so she decided to get a nasty rash ALL OVER HER BODY!! It's so gross and she itches. It's because she's allergic to penicillin and she got put on an antibiotic when she went to the dentist for her tooth pain to kill the infection. Poor girl. The mission nurse acted like she didn't even care when we called. So I had to get all dramatic about it and trick Sister Weight into going to a member's house so we could text pictures of the rash to the nurse lady so she could figure out how bad it was for herself! So now she is on steroids and it's starting to go away.

Last night we finally went and visited the guy who hit Sister Weight with his car, Blake. Guess who our newest investigator is? Blake! I'm not sure how serious he is about it though, it may be out of pure obligation. But I do believe that we were brought into his life for a reason. I think he is ready but we'll see!

I had a really good chat with my zone leader about agency the other day. Sometimes we find people who have been prepared, and who are ready, but they still choose not to listen! It's hard, it's frustrating. But as I have studied many times in preach my gospel, my success as a missionary isn't measured by other people's choices. It's measured by MY efforts. Anyways that's how I don't get discouraged because sometimes people to tell us to come back and then they just don't answer the door, give us the wrong address, put a sign on the door saying go away, put a lock on their fence, yell at us, slam the door in our face, etc. etc. And I just laugh about that stuff now hahaha because what else can you do? I'm doing all I can, so I laugh. Sorry... not sorry.

Anyways thank you all for your Christmas love! You're the best!!!

xoxoxoxoxox

Sister Merrell