Gone Fishin', Goat 4 Sales, & Spiritual Stuff

Hiiii guyzzz burgers and fries

This week was been pretty good! Sister Neil and I along with the Elders and our ward mission leader went fishing this morning! It was so fun and I didn't even freak out when I baited my own hook. HOLLA.

So I know you've all been on edge since last week wondering what the animal of this week would be... well it's a goat! It's name is Daisy and the Sharps are giving it away because they are moving to Louisiana. So if you want a goat, let me know! I'll put in a good word!

 We had a lesson with Travis and Katie, finally! They are a really cute couple, Katie is 20 and Travis is 24. They have a cute little boy named Jason. I love going over there not only because they are such nice people, but they are really good Christian;you can notice that right when you meet them. We didn't have too in depth of a lesson because we wanted to see where they were at, but DANG was the spirit strong. They were both really kind and complimentary to us. I feel really at home there. Travis said the prayer and it almost brought me to tears as he thanked God for our service and asked for blessings for us. It wasn't the standard "bless the missionaries and thanks blah blah" addition to a prayer. It was just sincere. I can't even explain it.  They really love and rely on the Lord. We are going back this week.

We had a lesson with Sister Stanton, but this time she invited her non-member grandson Tharin. He has a lot of questions so we weren't able to follow-up with Sister Stanton. We are going back this week and having a separate appointment with Tharin.

I also was able to give a training at district meeting.I trained on relying on the spirit. I based it on this great quote by President Monson:

"The sweetest experience I know in life is to feel a prompting and act upon it and later find out that it was the fulfillment of someone’s prayer or someone’s need. And I always want the Lord to know that if He needs an errand run, I will run that errand for Him."

 I know that I want the Lord to know that I am willing to do anything that he asks me. I want to be willing and I am trying my best every day to overcome the obstacles I face to help God answer prayers.

Love y'all. Keep being awesome!

Love,

Sister Merrell

Voicemailz and Tombstonez

Heyyyy guyzzz,

These week has been jam packed with success! We got a lot of new investigators and we are super excited! 

Sister Stanton came to church yesterday and we had a good lesson with her earlier in the week. She said that she has no problem with being baptized she just very attached to the people that go to her church. We are trying to help the relief society sisters involved so yesterday at ward council we were very adamant that she got visiting teachers assigned. She almost came to the relief society activity this week (retro women's night) but she ended up having a conflict. Dang right? It would have been great having her there. We are going to try and get her to come to relief society next Sunday (they normally leave after Sacrament meeting). Investigators concerns fall into two categories: social concerns and doctrinal concerns. The missionaries are great resources for helping them overcome doctrinal concerns but dealing with social concerns falls into the hands of the members. It is so important that we always try and look for the best in everyone that we meet and to try our best to see each other how God sees us. We are all His children. We all should want everyone to feel comfortable, loved, and cared about especially when they are coming together with us at church.

Anyways, preachy, sorry, let me tell you about the MAJOR HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK! We met with our investigator, Rick. We went over the restoration for what felt like the millionth time. We talked about the priesthood and then he randomly told us that he would pray about baptism without us even bringing it up. Okay well that's a little bit awesome. We left with a good feeling about Rick and went to our next appointment. After that we checked the phone and we had a voice mail. Rick said that he wants to be baptized... next Sunday! Bahahahahahahah! Awesome right? It won't be that soon though. But hey he has the desire so that's awesome! And he has already come to church once so HECK YEAHHHH!!! So hopefully all goes well with that!

Finding people to see on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons has been a little bit difficult for us. We were driving around this week and had tried 2389423897 people and none of them were home or wanted to talk to us. We kept driving passed this really cool historical cemetery so finally we decided that we were going to go walk around in there and leave plan of salvation pamphlets on some of the tombstones. Hahaha it was pretty cool. They had a section for the slaves and there were just a bunch of unmarked rocks for their tombstones. It was quite fascinating.

Well, that's it folks! Have a splendid week! Love y'all!

Sister Andrea Merrell

 

 

Cats and Dogs and Rooster Calls (minus the cats and dogs)

Hey y'all

This week has been 2 kewl 4 skewl. Sister Neil and I are having a blast out here doing the Lord's work in Bristol!

We had a lesson with a part member family, the Stantons. Sister Stanton is not a member and is Methodist. Brother Stanton is a funny little guy and he as previously a college professor. We taught the Plan of Salvation. It was pretty awesome. We read Alma 40:12- 

"And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

She said she felt peaceful when she read it. We know it was the spirit! She is so prepared it's amazing! We talked a lot about her baptism for her church and how great of an experience it was for her. We explained to her being baptized with the priesthood would only add to that experience and bring her closer to Jesus Christ. She agreed to pray about a baptismal date. WHOOPEEE!

We also had a great lesson with our investigator Don. Don has never had religion in his life before so it is a bit different teaching him without a Christian foundation. We talked about the importance of understanding the gospel with not just your head and mind but with your heart as well. He recognized that he had not asked God with his heart if the gospel was true.That's his assignment for this week, but we're eating dinner with him and some ward members tonight!

Yesterday, I picked up this rooster. I have a weird thing for picking up random animals because I think it's entertaining.

Also yesterday, I was asked to lead the music in sacrament meeting and so I went for it. It was a disaster! Hahahhahahahahah. Life long embarrassment but it's okay because Sister Neil and I have been laughing our heads off about it ever since.

Well that's about it. Bless your hearts folks!

I Belong in Bristol!!!

Hey y'all, coming at ya live from Bristol, Tennessee, but only Tennessee because we're on the Tennessee side of town right now!

From the moment I got here I have known that this is where I belong! My new companion is Sister Neil and she is 24 years old and from Nevada! She has been on her mission for 16 months so I will probably be with her until she dies. She is one of the most loving people I have ever met! She has helped me a lot! I LOVE HER!

So here's a little bit about Bristol. It is on the border of Tennessee and Virginia. The state line is state street that runs though the cutest part of town. There is a restaurant there called Burger Bar and they love Mormons! When we walk in they say, "Oh hey it's the Mormons!" There are also really cute shops and there are cool murals on some of the walls. Our church building is on the Virginia side of town; I told Sister Neil to tell me every time we are about to go into Virginia because to me it's still a big deal!

Right when I got here we went right to work! We have so many people to serve here and many people are open to our message because of their humble circumstances. It's heartbreaking to see, but it is great that we get the opportunity to serve them. Every Wednesday we get to serve dinner to homeless people at the Salvation Army. It is really fun because of all the crazy things they say to us when they come through the line. We also get the opportunity to pray with them because we bless the food before we serve it.

On Thursday we went to go visit someone with a member (I sat on a peeled banana in her car...ew) anyways that person wasn't home. So then we drove to someone else's house who wasn't home and then finally we drove to Teresa's trailer park. She was home and she let us in! She got baptized about 3 years ago and became less active soon after. Well she told us how she was really down for a lot of reasons. The member that we brought (Sister Davison) had gone through a similar experience and they were able to connect. They exchanged numbers and BAM a beautiful friendship was born. Teresa came to church on Sunday! AWESOME! I know that Heavenly Father put us in that situation that could seem frustrating to lead us to Teresa who needed to feel his love through us and Sister Davison.

Here's to new beginnings and doing the Lord's work!

LOVE YOU GUYZZZZ!!!

 

Sister Andrea Merrell

 

 

Imma Baller

Hi, it's me.

We did lots of service this week! We planted flowers for Sister Fritz (our eternal investigator who recently broke her leg). We planted flowers at the entrance of President Irion's neighborhood! President came too and he was wearing sweats! Hahaha I loved it. Afterwards we played a quick round of Bball, Elder Byron and I vs. President and Elder Bradd. I scored the game winning lay-up. I'm getting pretty good at basketball! We also did a bunch of weeding for Marie. That was fun. I love that woman. We taught Josh and he said he is a hands on learner. I suggested that he learn the gospel through experience. He committed to pray and ask God what he should do. We don't have a return appointment at the moment. Debbie Downer... BUT WE'RE HOPEFUL! 

That's all I got folks!

Love y'all!

We're the Cheapest Free Labor in Tennessee!

Hey Folks.

We've been doing a lot of service!

 

This week we cleared a swamp, spread mulch, worked at the bishop's storehouse, spread more mulch, and painted a porch!

When we cleared the swamp thing it was located in the backyards of about 12 surrounding houses. All of the run off drains into there when it rains. I don't really know why they wanted clear it all out but it sure was fun! Also we're the cheapest free labor in Tennessee, I mean that to be redundant not that we're cheap quality because we're the best.

Every year Liberty Mutual dedicates a day to local service. This year they had two projects, they volunteered at the bishop's storehouse and they helped spread mulch for a lady in our ward who is going through a rocky divorce. So we basically spent the day with the Liberty Mutual employees, which was awesome! The Elders ended helping one of the employees move the following day. Kewl.

We helped spread mulch for a member in the ward and he bought us snappy tomato pizza afterward. Yummmmmm. He also told us his conversion story; it was awesome!

We went over to a less-active lady's house and it was kind of awkward at the door. I saw behind her that they had a cage in their living room. I asked if they had rats and they got really excited. I pretended to be excited too and they let us in so I could hold their rats.. We offered to help them paint their porch and she said yes so we ended up doing that the next day! So I had to hold some nasty rats in order to obtain an opportunity to serve and establish a relationship with this family... was it worth it? Yes.

Anyways that's just another week in the life of a glorified yard worker. 

Bye.

 

 

I'm Not Hungry Josh!

Hi, it's me

Well the big success of the week came on Sunday when we went over to the Coy's house (PM). We were really nervous to ask Josh if we could teach him but eventually we brought it up. He told me to tell him what food I hate so he could make me eat it (rumors state he made a sister who used to be in my area eat eggs cooked in bacon grease which resulted in her vomiting). I told him that I'm not interested in bargaining and that we just want to teach because we are missionaries and the message we have is important. He looked very shocked because he didn't expect that response, probably because he calls me Amanda Bynes and says I act just like her. Whoops. Guess what? Sister Merrell has a serious side whut the whut??? Anyways, we're going back on Friday to teach him muahahahahahahhahahahahahahahah!

Anyways Tennessee is Tennessee. Have I mentioned that on the street we live there is this scary Jesus bus that has lots of fire on it too? I love baptists. I'm sorry my camera has been dead all week or else I would have taken a picture with it! I will soon! I love all of you and I'm excited to talk to y'all on mother's day!

Love,

Sister Andrea Kate Merrell