What to put here...

Oi!

Hi family and friends! What´s going on? Things are going well here! This week wasn´t as good as I had hoped but things are moving on. Tomorrow is transfers again. I can´t believe that! This transfer went by super quickly! Man, they don´t stop going quicker and quicker. I can´t believe that it´s time again. This has been a good transfer. Baptized a lot, gained confindence in the members here and really helped the ward move along. It´s been good. I don´t know why but I keep getting this feeling that I will be transfered soon... don´t know why. I´ll know in a couple of hours if i will.

Black Butte is so awesome lucky! haha. Gavin is awesome! yes! Elder Adams is a good friend of Jordan´s and I knew him before the mission and I´ve seen him here :) He´s awesome :) Good missionary too. I will know tomorrow if my package came or not. What?! Johnny is going to mexico? that I did not know! haha. Sweet! Right now, it´s super hot! Ridiculously hot! Freak! But it´s all good! :) My companion is a good guy. He has about 7 months on the mission and he´s doing well. We are working well together! :) Man, time has been eaten up now. I´ve already got to go, but I´ll let you know what´s happened with transfers next time! :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

Let´s go district!

Oi!

Hey what´s up guys?!? Well, we had a baptism this week! Woot! And Dulce and her son André were confirmed. And Victor who was baptised last week got confiremd this week! Woot! Things are going well in this area. I met the guy who threatened me again. But he didn´t remember me. haha. I got super sick on thursday. That wasn´t super fun at all. I think I had a fever but I´m not sure. It made it real hard for work and we had to go home early. Man, I don´t like getting sick, then how am I supposed to help people if I can´t even concentrate hahah. But what eves I´m all good now! I did a lot of interviews this past weekend. Man! I love doing interviews! :) It´s one of my favorite things to do! So awesome :) You really grow and learn so much like the person who is preparing to be baptized, it´s awesome.

I was really wanting our entire dirstrcit to baptize this week but it ended up not happening. I really am wanting to be a better disctirct leader  and I really want to apply the things that I'm learning more and more. It´s a fun calling to be a leader and I learn sooooo much. The sisters baptized and we did too but the elders of my district didn´t baptize. The family they were preparing gave up last second. Saddness but there isn´t much to do.

So I have random moments that I just think of random things and random memories and the other day we were walking and I remembered when mom boosted the boat onto the curb and then ran away from the scene :P haha. That was a good time! hahah.

I definitely felt confident about the language the other day. I did a division and while we were doing it we were talking to a woman. I told her that I was American and continued to talk. But she insisted that i wasn´t American. She said there was no way I could talk so good and be American :P hahah. Woot! That happened three times that day So it was cool :)

Oh funny story! When I did get sick, one of the missionaries made some food for me and gave me a cup of the hot chocolate and a sticky note that said: "Relax man, tomorrow is P-day!" in english haha. It´s a funny thing we always say now haha.

How is Grandma doing? And now how is Aunt Karen doing?! man! Let´s stop now :) haha. Man! Next time I wish to go fishing with dad :P Man, I don´t know why but I really really want to go fishing! I can´t believe that Gavin will be that old already! Wow!

Well, I hope you guys are doing GREAT! that´s all :) I love you guys!

com amor,
Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

Happiness

Disclaimer: I used to try to clean up Grant's grammer and spelling, etc. But lately that task can seem daunting--haha! So for now, enjoy the ride! Coleen (Grant's mom)

Oi!

hey family! man! Things are going so great here :) We had 2 more baptisms this week and I think we will have one more this next week. Man, things are super exciting here. I´m loving this area so much! So sunday I was threaten! :P haha. It was awesome. hehe. This man came to church but no one knew who he was. He went to gospel principles and started talking during the class. He said how he got baptized that day and the professor of the class looked at me and I just nodded my saying giving her a big no haha. But he was a little crazy. He would randomly talk during class and finally he grabbed the professor´s bible and a pen and started writing in it. So I grabbed the book from him and he got super offended saying that if I took something out of his hand again he was hit me in the face. He grabbed his stuff and left saying that he would wait for me to kill me :P haha. So one of the brothers of the ward made sure he left left. And he did :P He was a wacko. I was all excited cause I thought he would be a investigator to be haha :P but what eves hehe.

So Dulce and her family and going great. She is loving the church so much! :) It is great. This week I really am going to try and find another elect family :) We are trying to work really closly with the Lider of mission of ward here so that the bishop and the ward really know what we are doing. We also are doing that same acitvity that I did in my other area here. Pies in the faces of the missionaires. hehe. It´ll be GREAT! woot! I almost baptized a blind lady! She was really wanting to get baptized. But she gave up and she was wanting to be able to see before getting baptized. I almost cured her too. haha. Seriously :P I swear that I felt the spirit really strong to cure her but I got scared. Fear is bad and of satan :P haha. 

I´m speaking like a gaúcho (a person who lives in the south of brasil) now. Because I´m living with one, I´m using all the language from there. It makes me remember David :P haha. How is he? I haven´t recieved any recent e-mail from him. That´s so crazy that Jared is in Russia! Man! That´s crazy-go-nuts! Love that guy. I hope he´s loving the mission as much as I am :) I´ve got to write him! Jonny Lightheart and bybee will be going on missions soon?!?! What the?! What is happening?! I´ve only been out 1 year and 3 months. (david should be making 1 and 6 now right?) 

This past week we had a trainning with president. It really made me want to be a better leader. I´m really trying my best to be! The sisters baptized again this week. But this week I want that every area in my district baptizes! That would be the best :) I´m really trying to apply what I learned in my follow-ups with my elders and sisters. They´re awesome missionaries :) I have this feeling that I will be a lider of zone this next transfer. I also have a feel that the area where I am will be the area of the liders of zone. But lets see. What ever happens, I wish to stay here. I´m really glad that I have familys in each of my areas.

I met a brother from my first area the other day! :) It was so good to see him! Things are going great in my first area. They have a new bishop and lider of mission of ward. Most of the people that I baptized are still going to church and that made me soooo happy :D And someone that I baptized but didn´t get to confirm got confimred :) Man that was one of the best feelings ever :) The other person that didn´t get confiremd moved to vila ré which is a area of the sisters. But I want to go there so bad and find her and confirm (or rebaptize if it passes a year) her. I wrote a letter to a family that I baptized there. They are still firm and I´m so happy about that :)

I can´t believe that I have a year in the field and that Ruby has 1 year! I want to meet her so bad!haha. Sara has 4 months? That´s crazy! There is a brother in the ward here that I just love! He loves mario and video games and legos. It´s like me :D And he´s married so there´s hope for me too! :P hahaha. But He loves to collect legos. He wants to build a lego city.

I hope that I´m a good example in your lessons haha :P Taylor´s engaged?! Crazy! Sweet! That´s awesome! HEY! yeah there is a strike... So no package! I can´t even remember the last time I recieved a letter, then again... Ican´t remember when I sent one :P hahaha. Woops! Alright I´ll repent and write haha. Requests.... Ties? Recipies? garments? names of all the brothers and sisters on both sides of the family and all their sons and grandchildren and stuff :P and umm.... I have no idea... haha food :D umm.... I´ll think more! 

I saw the photos of grandma! Man! That looks like it really hurt! I hope she´s okay! :) I miss her tons! I´m definitely going to visit her a lot when I get back :) By the way dad, I´ve leaned over and asked another american missionary how to say a lot of words. So yes my english is bad haha. I don´t speak it anymore. No reason to. haha :P I love you guys and miss you guys! :) Things are going great here!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill (can I be elder forever :D)

Baptisms!

Oi!

Hey guys! So this week went by really fast. But it was really good. It´s really amazing everything that you can learn in one week. I feel that way each week. Really when you pray and put the things you learn into practice, you grow a lot. The things that are possible with just a diligent attitude really gets a lot done. Sometimes you feel like you have nothing else and you just want to be done for the week, but persevence and diligence really make a difference. 

So I believe I told you guys about the family of a mom and 8 kids. Her name is Dulce and all her kids are boys and have names starting with A haha. It´s awesome. Anyways, their ages are 2-17. 2 of the kids can´t be bapitzed because of age and 2 others just are interesting at all. But the others are really. Yesterday we had the baptism of 3 of the kids and the mom and the next week the other kid will be baptized. It was just awesome :) It´s wonderful to see this family really coming together more becasuse of the gospel. I think baptism and performing the baptism is my favorite thing ever. It brings so much happiness to me :) And to them of course :P haha. Anyways we had 4 baptisms yesterday and we´re planning on 3 more this next week. I´m really loving this area. the people here are awesome and the members really are helping. We are forming  a good relationship with the members here too. i´m trying everyday to be a better leader as well. It´s definitely a learning process.

So where I leave everynight we get to hear the wonderful sounds of the rats that live in our ceiling. It´s so great :P hahah. Hey did I tell you guys how I met one of phil´s companions, twice? haha. I forgot his name but I met him on the metro. He really looked up to phil. He was a junior when phil was his companion. That was super cool :P

Man conference was super good. It might of been my favorite. I think it´s because this time around I really was trying everything to learn by the spirit and apply the principles I learn later. There was some pretty awesome talks given. I really felt like a lot of them were given for me haha. Something I´m trying to getting better at is faith. Elder Anderson talked a lot about this. I really enjoyed it a lot. The things that we can learn from the apostles and prophet is amazing. They are greatly inspired men and know exaclty what we need. 

It´s crazy that guys can leave with 18 and girls with 19 now. So awesome but weird! haha I like it though :) My companion has 7 months on the mission. seems like so little time :P me with my 1 year and 3 hahaha; :P man.. it´s strange how time passes.

anyways, I hope you all are well and having a good week! It´s been great here. the sisters of my district had a baptism this week. Things are going great! :) I´m as happy as could be :) Love you guys!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

Going well!

Oi!

Well! This week went really well. We had 5 people in church this week. That was awesome :) We had the potential of having 11 people but I´m happy with 5 people. We found a family this past week. A mom and 8 kids! With 6 of them with more than 8 years of age. But 2 Aren´t really wanting much with the church. But I´m super excited to help them get bapitzed. We are really finding a lot of wonderful people in this area. We are working well with the ward here and also now I have a area book! :) Woot! When I first got here that wasnt here so now we are good. My companion reminds me of a brasilian version of Grant Collins. haha :P It´s awesome! So anyways, this area really as a lot of great potencial.

Something that I´ve really gained on my mission is testimonies for specific things. For example, the principles of the gospel. I´ve gained huge testimonies for faith, repentance, prayer, fasting, etc. Because of specific experiences i´ve been having on my mission I´ve really gained bigger testimonies of these principles. It´s something that I´m really grateful. 

It sounds like you guys are doing great! I´ve got to get going but just know things are really looking up here in this area :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill