The beginning of week 3

Okay--so I will say, I hope his typing or grammar gets a little better!


Oi!!! Hi there family!!! Still can´t enter... oh well :) So yes!! Probably like mission tie davids emails might be better i don´t know do both!!! :) I get letters from him faster haha. Tell brother minor I got his letter! haha. So my companion is Elder Ransom! He is a pretty cool guy!! Sometimes does some things that bug me but that~s okay. I just need to learn patience! yeah I probably gonna use some mr cheney cookies today! So most of the people here are from Washington, Oregon, and California. There is like over 90 people I heard at Provo!!! I feel very blessed to have gotten my visa when I did. So we had one of my first friends leave today! Elder Gonçalves! He was such a funny guy and awesome! But because he~s Brasilian and he is speaking Portuguese he only stays for a little bit! haha. We have another brasilian friend named Elder No Nascimento. He is crazy awesome! He knows Portuguese and knows some English but he is going to Columbia on his mission and speaking Spanish! Man and I thought I had it hard. :P that´s what I need to keep thinking though. When times get hard I´m just learning one language and I have support of all these Brasilian missionaries here. They are really awesome! So not only am I playing the Brasilian National Anthem but I am playing piano tonight for Devotional and piano for different things like choir as well as violin! So I´m very happy that I get to play :) Dad´s gonna be a high counselor?!? And Is this part gonna be have to cut out? or do people know yet? Man that´s crazy :P What a good guy ;) haha. So how is Steven doing?!? Did his baptism go well?! So lately we have been doing lessons in Portuguese and man.. It´s sooo tough!! The whole time I´m concentrated on trying to form sentences that I don´t realize he was trying to have me say get baptised!!! hahah. It was funny cause everyone else knew what was going to happen :P Oh well! It´s super fun learning the language and knowing that I will speak it and teach the Gospel to all those around me. I love this Gospel! It brings so much joy into my life! One thing that I have learned is that prayer is the most useful ever. It has helped me out so much and I am so thankful for it. Tell Phil I read his book all the time too :) It brings a lot help into my life here at the CTM. So What do you guys have planned?!? And seriously?!?! Did the McClures get hurt?! That´s crazy! The hard knock life of being a bishop though i guess. Try looking where I put all my shoes in my closet mom! I´m not sure where else... haha. I love studying the gospel and reading scriptures all the time. This is just the hardest and best thing yet :) hahaha. I miss you guys a lot and Love you guys, but we are still in the same Gospel and still living and moving on. I´m grateful for you guys and for everything that you have provided for me. It´s really just the best having you guys (mom and dad) as parents so thank you so much :) I love you! 
Love, Elder Grant Shaw Merrill                                                                                                                                                                           

Grant's First E-Mail Home!

So here is Grant's first e-mail home--I did not do any editing this time--I thought you would have a bit of fun deciphering. Anyway, he sounds good--I'm a grateful mom!


Oi!!!

How is everyone doing?? It´s really good to hear from you all! ?The keyboards here are really hard to type correctly on so sorry about that! So the flight! I met up with a bunch of elders in Dallas, but first I met up with one in Portland. He´s cool. He is one of my roommates. I have 4 other roommates and they are my district. We have a very small district!! It´s pretty crazy! Thanks for the gift certificate mom :) very nice! Our flight at Dallas got delayed by 2 hours because a jet engine was leaking so that was fun hahah. Enter does not work here so I can´t do paragraphs sorry! My companherio (companion) is pretty cool!! He isn´t super motivated but he´s a cool guy!! The food here is awesome! Well... most of it :P haha. Some of it is kind weird tasting. Like there is this really slimy fruit that´s just.. bleh! haha. And the bread isn~t the best but that~´s okay I still love it. Beans and rice are pretty awesome :) The place where phil got his bag is still in excistance! 45$R though. But I think it~s worth it. How´s your foot mom? Still there or amputated? :P haha. I went to the temple today! It was awesome! It´s cool cause it~s the same thing haha but very awesome :) Sâo Paulo is sweet! The city is SOOOOOO compact!!! Buildings just to no end. It´s amazing how much stuff you can fit in one place. There are some drive in stores as well. Very interesting but sweet! Umm.. How~s Phil´s work? Still got the job? and Jess´s fetus? hahahaha. Congrats to Sister Cannon!!! No brasilians in my room or district but that~s okay I made some brasilian friends. Btw Brasilians are AWESOME! haha. They are just so much fun and I think half the time I~m getting made fun of but that´s okay because it´s so much fun. I can pray and testify in Português now. And I´m memorizing a bunch of verbs. I love it :) It´s a lot of fun!!! I know this is where I should be. So I´m playing the national anthem on the piano in about 2-3 weeks... hahaha. Phil will understand why I´m nervous for it. It´s SUPER fast! ?But I can´t really say no and It will but fun and I don´t want to say no. It´s an opportunity to play piano! You guys should´ve or should get a letter from me. It was sent by pouch for free, but only time pouch is used I guess. So tell Jeavoni I think I gave her my mission home address not the CTM one! Btw I left a pair of shoes there hahah. But don~t worry until I´m in the mission field because by the same you send it and it gets here I probably will be in the field haha. Lucky. Aoubt Harry Potter. Sorry I keep doing ~and not ´ the ~ is where the ´ usually is. I miss home and you guys a lot!!! I was a little sad a while ago but I´m all good now :) It´s a happy place and it´s right where I should be. Tell Dad he is still my favorite Bishop :P That is sad but it´s good!! Good time for a change! I changed too haha. I can~t wait to be out in the field but I´m going to use this time wisely and learn as much of the language as I can and the gospel. I give my 100%! Oh and you soon find out that yes..we are missionaries but still 19 year old guys. Some a little too much but that´s okay hahaha. Basically my days are wake up, eat, study, eat, class, eat, class, sleep. And I´m not even exaggerating anything hahaha. That´s basically it. But I wouldn~t have it any other way. My favoirte times are calss and studying and eating and sleeping. :) hahahah. But class is way awesome! My teachers Irmâo Viana e Irmâo David are the funniest and best guys. They help so much learning the language and wha~ts great is that we teach them english too!!! Tell phil I can~t resond back to his email this week not enough time. Maybe next week :) haha. On August 1 the whole program is cahnging. And I think it~s where we the elders are teaching more in portuguese rather than the actually instructors. So that will be fun. Well I should wrap this up. sorry for horrible spelling and yeah. Well |I love you guys so much and I~m doing very well so don´t worry about me! MOM! haha ;) Well I´ll talk to you guys next week! I love you!! This gospel is true!!! haha.
Love Elder Grant Shaw Merrill

Farewell Photos

Elder Merrill Arrives in Brazil

Elder Merrill left for the MTC in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Tuesday, July 12, 2011! We received an e-mail from the MTC President and his wife along with a picture of all the new missionaries who arrived at the MTC. It warms a mother's heart to know her little boy has arrived. We look forward to hearing from him next week.