Called to serve....

Well...

It´s come! This week I will be home. Tomorrow I will go to São Paulo. Wednesday I will go to the temple and then start my journey home.. It´s weird.. but good!

Well, This week we had an activity on friday. that took TONS of work. We made the relief society room look like an airplane. The bishopric room look like outer darkness and other areas look like kingdoms of glory. It was awesome. The members learned a lot about the plan of salvation. It just was really stressful because we didn´t have a lot of help and it  was a lot of work but we did it. There was a point that i just was doing work haha.

This week i´ve been sick. fun!! but oh well. I´m almost over it. I hope i get over it soon!!! :) 

Well, I´ll take a photo of me on a bike today and well I´m not sure what else to write to be honest.. It´s weird. I´ve been have really weird emotions. Yesterday I watched the training thingy. I was crying throughout that realizing that I won't be a missionary any more. Well, I was called to serve and now my time is up. I love you guys and i´m very excited to see you guys...

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Well...one more....

Oi!

Family! what´s up??! HAPPY FATHER´S DAY!!! I´m so grateful to have the best dad ever!!! He´s soo awesome :) What a great dad :) Thanks for being it! 

I almost saved people from fire! Yeah! well, what happened. we were walking when we saw a fire coming from a house, it was the biggest fire I had ever seen in fire in my lifetime. (since i borned) and it was crazy. So I gave my bag to my companion and was ready to run into the building, but i noticed that someone in the building was getting the fire down with a hose and that the fire was going down really. So it was almost cool!!! haha. The fire came from a bbq grill.. man :P haha.

Hey!!! things are going great. We had a baptism (probably my last in my mission) this sunday. GUESSS WHAT?!?! do you guys remember elder Hedrick? My third companion. well he is here in brasil with his family and guess what?!!? he came and visited caraguá so i got to see him! It was the best ever. He´ll be here this next weekend! He´ll be returning home on the same day i´m going home! woot! He was probably one of my favorite companions (if not my favorite) I learned a lot from him and he inspired a lot of my mission. I love that guy. He´s doing well. And now his parents say that i got a second home :) haha. They live in South Jordan. It´s sweet.

I´m giving a talk this sunday now, and the next one too huh?! daora. so it´ll be sweet! one in portuguese and one in english. (speaking of, how much time will i have to talk??) This week we have conference with a 70. That´ll be cool, just weird thinking it´ll happen a week before i go home. Crazy go nuts!!!!

Hey, I have other white pants at home right? I´m trying to leave a lot of things here. I´ve bought all the souveiners except for one, that i´ll have to wait until I go to the temple next week to get. I´m super excited about  that because the last time i went was in february of 2012. so yeah. it´s been a while.

My last week we have a activity called flight 103 (haha funny cause we will get a "plane" so i´ll get 2 :P hahah) but in the activity the plane crashes. and then they go to the spirit world. And we learn about the plan of salvation. It´ll be sweet. Then i´ll get another flight, and survive! (hehe i´m kidding sorry mom :P)

Vietnamese?!?! Craziness!!!! congratz a ele! How much time does he have? not much huh? hey who are all the peeps in brasil now? curious and has skyler already come home?

Yeah, dad can´t be sore. Got to take me fishing in alaska :P hahah :)

Hey!!! So this is my last week! And I´ll do my best to leave a great memory here :) I love you guys and see you soon!!!!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Tired

Oi!

Well, this was a crazy hectic week! Tuesday and wednesday i was at Ilha Bela just doing divisons trying to help them out and fix some problems. I think things will go better now. It was great fun but i´m super tired. We have been doing a lot of more activties this week in our area and it´s been super good! :) We have been getting a lot of references and other things. I can ´t wait to just keep going and work hard until the end. We baptized a kid that calls himself Alex this week. And Porto Novo (a area in my zone) baptized 3! This is the best month yet in my zone. I´m happy to leave my zone well off. 

We had zone council that works a little differently now because there are special sister trainers for the sisters. Annoucement is that there are now 6 assistants! 2 that just travel. 2 that train Liders of district and 2 regular ones that help out pres. It´ll be cool but I won´t know hahaha. I´ll be gone. I´ve been feeling tranquil lately about going home. It´ll be weird. as heck. 

I just got a call from a family that i baptized! :D They are going to try and visit me this next week! :D :D :D :D: D: D:: :D ::D  :D: :D I´m super excited! :D woot! This week has been a week of us trying to fix some problems in the zone too. I think things will run a lot smoother now.

This week we plan on having 5 baptisms (in just my area) if all goes well! :) It´s weird to think that here in a little the people I will be taking to church I won´t be here to baptize..

Hey and what about hannah is she not coming down? Well, I just supposed that i would be talking on the 30th haha. I just want to know the topic to prepare :P haha. Craziness that Phil will be someone important soon.. haha just kidding :P hahaha.

Dad you´re a running machine! crazy go nuts! 

Well, it´s been harder and harder to write long letters when I just get anxious hahah. But Just know that I´m working the hardest I can, doing what I can to leave this area better than when I entered. I´m getting close to finishing D&C again and the new testament. I hope i will be able to do it... Lets go!!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill! yes that´s me!! :D

one more down

Oi!

well fam! What´s going on? Thinks are going well. Zone is going better. We had three baptisms in the zone this week and Zeze was confirmed too. We did a lot of divisions this week and I will continue to do a lot. So for that, we were barely in our area. This week will happen my last zone council. That´ll be weird! It´s cool though. 3 more sundays. I´m going to be going to Ilha Bela and São Sebastião this week with divisions so that´s cool.

Hey, what should i get Valerie? I´m not sure... Give me some ideas. It was my companion´s birthday saturday and so i bought him a cake. It was a good cake too. We had a fast lunch on saturday with the branch. It was awesome! Super good food and we made some good visits with the branch. It was a good activity and we got some good referencias like this. 

I´m not sure yet about getting out of the security yet, but that would be cool. Dad what´s EQ? haha. And I´m excited to give my talk. (and to know my subject)

These are some excited times in the mission, we are making some evaulations to see what missionaries are going to stay in mission são paulo leste and which ones wont! President is wanting me to evaluate the work of some of the missionaries in my zone to see who will take my place as zone leader. Weird.. haha. It´ll be cool that when I get home one week will happen 4th of July!

My companion is way cool, he is helping me a lot stay foucsed these last couple of weeks :P haha. I'm learning so much from him too.

Well, things are going well. And I can´t wait to see you guys! did you guys say that the collins will 

come up on saturday? Because I think it might be easier if I just waited to see them until saturdaythen. But i´ll think about it :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Baptism!

Oi!

Well, Zeze got baptized! :D:D:D:D:D It was probably one of the best baptisms that i have had on my mission yet. Serioulsy, it was just a great spirit there. I´m soooo happy that she was able to get baptized :) It was wonderful! :) We found the most golden family too on saturday ever! I know we will be able to get them to church and baptism them! ah I just want to baptize baptize baptise! yes :P agora, they remind me so much of an american little family too, maybe that´s why I love them hahah :P haha.

It sounds like you guys are still having fun without me ;) haha. I bet that new star trek was awesome :P gots to see it. Mom, this itinerary i have been buggin the secretarties about for a bout 3 weeks and I finally recieved it too :p haha. But yes,l I bummed that i have to wait an extra 5 hours waiting! haha craziness! Hey, what are you shirt sizes? But It´s all good , it´ll give me time to think :) also phil and jess shoe size?

I think mountain mikes is what i want for dinner the night i get home :P haha. thinking about american food makes me trunkie :P haha. 

I can´t believe shawn is going on his mission! That´s craziness! This week I´m going to take out money just to let you know. Just in case money :)

Well, I got to keep going for a couple more weeks then I´ll see ya! :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Change!

Oi!

Well, I stayed in my area, obviously, haha and i have my new and last companion. HIs name is Elder Câmara, and he is exactly what i needed to help me endure to the end haha. He is a great missionary and very focused and it´ll be awesome. He´s kind of the oppoiste of my last companion that he´s really organized. So that´s good. We had really good sucess this week. We have 6 people that are possilbe to be baptized this week. One from last week fell through. But she is marked for this week now. So i´m pretty excited about that. If all goes well, we will bapitze her this week, a family of 4 and another lady. The other lady, Cíntia, is super interested in the church and it be great to teach her. I hope to contact another family we have but we still haven´t been able to do that. We are helping the zone out. This week was rough for them but we are planning on helping them out a bunch this week.

Hey, my reteiner (how do you spell) is getting old and gross. Is there any way that I can mark with bro bennion and get a new one? also, my card expires next month, so I think i will take some money this week just to make sure, so just make sure I got some money on my card , thanks pals :P hehe. 

So Adam is like offical now? that´s cool. 

Are the collins going to be here when i get home? I´m just wondering. 

Well, things are going well. I´m happy, working hard, and hopefully continue to baptize well. :) I love you guys and 5 more emails :P haha. But that´s for later :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

6 more weeks

Oi!

It was great to see you guys. What a wonderful time. And now chegou the final 6 weeks of my mission. And it's time to go hauling. It seems like the wedding has fallen. After calling you guys, we went and visited them, and it didn´t look good. But, we probably will be having another baptism this week. I hope so.

It was great to talk to you guys. Hey, funny thing I did a while back! I shaved my chest. It got all prickly. hehe. oh well , it was fun. I hope that I can terminate my mission on a strong point. I will do what I can so that can happen. I can´t believe that gavin is talking already. It´s craziness! WHOA!! Haha... Man.. well, I guess I´ll have to wait to meet the others hehe. :P well, after seeing you guys, I don´t have much to say, I´ll have experiences this week, and let you guys know how this next week will go! :) (ps. my companion is so ready to go home :P haha)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

My companion has one week left O_o

Oi!

Well, we had a baptism this week! It was awesome! It was Carlos. He's a guy that we have been teaching for some time now. And finally a baptized and confirmed member. Firme as heck. Him and the other carlos both bore their testimonies this week. Way sick man :P daora.

Sad fact. Luana's parents didn't get married so we had to postpone the mom's baptism. They had a little fight because the dad forgot the rings :P haha. Oh well, rescheduled for the 17th. It'll be sweet!

It sounds like the YSA thingy was sweet! I'll be their soon :P haha. I'm not sure if i remember all of funky town dance. David will have to reteach me haha. Thanks dad for the list haha.

Yes 4:30 skype (12:30 your time) and i'll be skyping in the church so I'm pretty dang sure it'll be a good connection. But in just under 2 months we'll have a great connection :P hahaha. jk i'm focused hehe.

The zone is slowly getting better.

I can't believe I'm entering into my last transfer...

com amor,

Elder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Progress

Oi!

What´s up my peeps?!?!  This week was better. Some people that were to be baptized ended up not being baptized but there were some that were baptized. But another miracle did happen! This man that we had been teaching for sometime now, but recently he had been traveling, found us again and told us that he wants to be baptized! :) Yay! He had been going to chapel to chapel working for the church even. So he had a lot of contact with the church haha :) Taht´s great! So now, we will prepare him this week and get him ready for baptism! :D

Things are going well. We had a wedding on friday and then she´ll be baptized the saturday and confirmed sunday. woot woot! We got a lot of possibles in our zone this week. I´m pretty exctied! Here in a little bit this zone will be part of a new mission, but I´ll be home already! Whoa! Craziness to the max times 3!!!!!!!!!! For the past 3 transfers since I´ve been here in caragua we´ve had bikes, forgot to mention that. That´s been interesting... haha. We don´t ride them all the time, but if we are in a hurry or searching for people on sundays we use them. You should see me trying to ride a bike again :P haha. ... scary stuff man... I´m getting better.

We recieved a new washing machine! But! I think we burned it up, because it aint working. So still washing by hand. De boa. Just go! :)

So, probably 4:30 my time will work! I´ll make sure and let you know :) But sweet!!!!! That´s pretty exciting for Dallin! :) I bet he´s excited! It´ll be good for him. Is Jared happy with the new change? I bet a little sad a least. Dad! you keep making me want to go fishing more and more :P haha.

Alrighty, I`m heading out to clean up the house. :) See ya later!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!!

P.s (If there is work in the bardyard for me to do when i get home, I call dibbs :P haha)

G-man jr, to the rescue!

Oi!

Man, it´s super disappointing when you have a lot of hope for something and then it doesn´t happen. But oh well, we baptized a lady in our area this weekend so that was good.She is a super awesome lady too! She is Marisa. She´s a miracle. She´s someone who we found my first transfer here in Caraguá and then the other missionareis here in caragua´ ended up teaching her. But nothing happened with her, then one day she found me and my companion on the road and told us that she wanted to go to church. So we went to her house and talked to her. She has cancer and had read half the book of mormon and prayed recieved an answer and like that she accepted getting baptized and really wanted to and went to church and then this week too and got baptized. And now she will be a firm memeber of the churhc! Woot!

So we tried a different tactic this weeek. Soccer :) We got a good turn out with it took and we hope to get some more references with it :P

Carlos (a recent convert) Got the priesthood this sunday. boom headshot! it was awesome :) He´s doing super well too.

This week we found some new peeps including a family. They seem prettty sweet. And the missionareis 5 years ago married them. Just still not baptized, so let´s finalize it! yeash! woot woot! Let´s go!

We went to Ubatuba today! Man, I want to go swimming :P haha. It´s super beautiful there :P It´s 10. It was funny there cause we had a little lunch and we got followed by a bunch of animals. Goose were being folgado (have phil translate the word I can´t think of a word for it) It´s like they were up in our faces and trying to eat all of our food. There was geese there, turkey, chicken, and other stuff. haha sweet.

That´s got to be rough for Jared, but I know he´ll be able to deal with it okay. I feel for him though, I would not have liked to do that. I miss that kid! I loved the picture.

It´s still weird thinking that DAvid is in house. I´m trying my best to concentrate on this mission :) don´t worry I´m working my butt off :P Just it´s interesting when you have a companion going home in a couple of weeks, your best bud is already home and you are going home in the next transfer. Won´t lie it´s a hard thing to concentrate, but that´s what I need to do right now, Because I really want these last 2 months to be the best theycan be :) (Ps. I think about those nachos a lot :P ahhahaha.)

So techinally I do have a date, just cause I know when the next transfer will end but my ticket hasn´t been bought yet, it´ll be bought in the next little bit though. So I´ll get home home on a thursday june the 27th. I´m guessing I´ll be gettting home around noonish. For example, my companion lives in Chico, Cal, and he gets home at 12:29 on may 16 and chico is close to home, so I suspect a similar thing. (ps. I want natalies :P hahaha. but that´s still to far away to talk about haha

Hey dad, I´m definitely calling. My companion doesn´t need to call. He´ll call and two-three days later he´s home hahah :P haha.

I heard about the boston marathon taht´s super sad, man.

Well, my peeps and other peeps, I´m kind of hyper and need to prepare some mad deep douctirne training haha just kidding. Man, I love being a missionary and I really am looking forward to some progress here in a little.

amo vocês. Eu tenho mutio orgulho por ser representante de Cristo. Não tem um chamdo mais sagrado do que esse. vou ser um pro resto de minha vida. Descuple mãe, não vou voltar ;) kkkk. tô bricando. te amo mãe, você é mais querida pra mim e sempre serei o seu filho querido.

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Come on!

Oi!

Well, our zone is still kind of stuck in a hole right now. We haven´t been having a lot of success lately and I´m trying to figure out what we could do differently to have more success. The last time it was like this for me was when I was in my second area. But in that case it was just my area and not the entire zone. But we will be able to get through it. We did find a miracle! In our area, we meet up with this woman that I had known a while back. Basically, we found her by visiting less active members and she was there and then we were going to visit her but we had to wait until after carnival but after carnival the other elders took the liberty and taught her. Well, they stopped visiting her because they never were able to find her in house and then she saw us on the sidewalk and told us she wanted to go to church. So we passed by her house and turns out she had said a prayer and received a response and read half the book of mormon and was wanting to get baptized! :) That´s the best ever! 

Luana´s parents marriage is marked for the beginning of next month! :) yay! it´s going to be so awesome :) 

I got to go, but I can´t believe DAVID´S HOME!!!!! THat´s crazy! ... man... really weird.. Tell me hi! probably alfready did haha... Hey I haven´t opened my garments yet but it looks like you just got those priests ones again? Could you get some souppy (how do you spell) neck ones too? Thanks :) It´s crazy that i have 2 and 1 half months left.... really strange, but let´s keep going until the end! :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!!!!!!

ps. first picture you sent me, is that shaun or tom?

I Knew it!!

Oi!

What´s up family! Well, this month was pretty rough for us here in the zone. But we are trying to get better. This past week we weren´t really even in our area. My companion had to get his visa renewed and we also had zone council so we weren´t really in our area this week. Carlos is doing well. Confirmed and firme! He went to priesthood session with a suit. It was awesome :) He´s doing really well! We are waiting for the documents to make the marriage of luana´s parents! I think that´ll come very soon! I´m super excited for that. I believe that I will stay here in the area for the transfer, but who knows! I can´t believe David is going to be home this week! That´s craziness! man.. time really flies by!!

So did I tell you how there was a flood in our city a couple of weeks back? Yeah that was crazy and it made it really hard for people to go to church. It ruined some people´s houses. There was even boats on the roads! :P haha. Well, when we came back home on friday after the zone council. All my clothes on the line drying were on the ground because of a wind. Well, that wind was super strong and blew down huge trees and signs of markets. It was crazy. Also, when we got back, a truck totally busted up some telephone wires on our road. Well, it didn´t affect us, but it was crazy to see. Speaking of clothes, I´m not liking washing my clothes by hand anymore :P so much work hahha. I want a machine again, but it´s taking some while. Oh well. I got some washing this mornning and we cleaned the house pretty nicely.

Happy birthday to Jess, Hallie, me, grandpa, and Blake Muir! :) haha. Anyone else I missed out happy birthday too! :) I got the package thanks parents! You are awesome! It was super creative and tasty, thanks for the garments!! I also got your letter Jess! Thanks so much! It´s good to get letters! Woot!

So, I totatlly called it! I knew Presidente Moreira (Joaquim Moreira), my old President, was going to be 70! AHHH!!! Thanks so awesome :) Now, I  don´t know if it will be harder or not to visit him :P hahah. But that´s awesome. Also, temple in Rio! WOOT! That´s way dang cool. I´m excited for that and i´m never even been there. Even though I am pretty close to Rio right now. haha. I got to see a family that I knew in Jaraceí! It was way good to see them! They are very special to me and it was very good. It was a family that the daughter went to Walnut creek for 6 months. The mom and daughter are going to orlando later this year, I want to see if it´ll work out to visit them.

Because of conference, people from são sebastião came up to caraguátatuba to watch it. And I got to see a lot of people i knew even someone that I baptized. :) Super good to see them and how she was doing. She´s firem still :) YAY! I´m happy for that! Things are going well. I´m hoping to see some progress in our zone and area. I´ll felt pretty useless these past couple of weeks. But I know that the Lord has a purpose with everything. I´m excited to continue forward. I´ll trying to be a better leader, sometimes doesn´t feel like it, but I know I just need to do my best. I really want to terminate my mission on top, but I know I just need to be obeient and diligent with the work and all will be okay.

This conference was very especial and I learned a lot. I wish I had my notes with me to remember everything, but I forgot it. It was super good mesmo. I think it was my favortie. I learned a lot about hte Lord´s mercy and grace. and how the savior wants to forgive us. I learned as well a lot from Uthcdorf´s talk about the titles. That was very good.

But let´s keep pressing on! I love you all!

 

:)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

hard month

Oi!

Well, looking back at this week, i´ve realized it was a pretty harsh week on the zone. We´ve got a look to improve on. And the month of april will definitely be better. It´s got to be. It´s my birthday month :P hahah. I liked that story about me! haha it was funny!

We found a possum in our house! :) That was fun haha. it touched my foot though as I was trying to take it out of the house. I can´t believe that David is going home so soon! Craziness! Sorry this is short... I´ve got little time today! I love you guys! I`ll have a nice big letter next week :) Pinky promise!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Better Week

I know I have said this before, but truly, Grant will need to brush up on his English skills and/or typing skills when he gets home! Haha! Happy reading!

Oi!

Well, this week was way better! Things are going a lot better in our area and zone. Today, we went to the island and it was awesome :) Ah, I love living here. :) This week we had a zone conference with a 70, elder Cruz. It was awesome. He explained a lot about rules (something the mission needs to get better at as a whole) and about baptisms. Explaind about how our mission is one of the most baptizing missions but it´s been a while since a stake as split. The reason behind it is because there are not enough men being baptized and a lot of children. That was something I noticed a lot in the beginning of my mission. But my mission definitely has changed. And Heck I might have another mission in the end. Who knows! But I want to baptize every week but well today.

Because of the conference, I was able to visit the family that i bapitzed in Jacareí. That was the best ever! :) I love them so much :) I missed them so much and it was really good to see them. Althouhg I was not able to see the dad ,but that is okay :) Let´s keep going! 

This week we worked out butts off. It seemed we were leaving house super early and keep home super late too. It was good though. We did a division on tuesday and that was good. I stayed in my area, the day didn´t go exactly has planned and I got hooked into playing a song at the birthday of relife society thingy. That was fun. It was a fun song, I had to basically sight read and practiuce it on sunday, because i had no other time. But I did well, they liked it. Wendsday was the conference and thursday we helped with a moving. a less member was moving and we helped on thursday, and saturday. It was good. she has two granddaughters (twins) That went to church this week and are being prepared for baptism this week. We baptized a young man this week (Carlos) 16 years old. He´s super awesome and will be a great addition :) I ´m excited. We have tons of guys that we are teaching and just need a little ´push to baptis m:P haha. But we are working with them :) I hope that they will make the decision here in a little. :) Our group of teaching is big just they aren´t feeling ready for baptism. I know they are, but they don´t :P haha. Well, We will be teaching them this week and looking for more. I´m really enjoying the work right now. Gets my mind off of home ;) hahaha. Joking, but it´s weird, because my companion will go home in the next transfer and then it´s me O_o weird. Say hi to david for me :P hahaha.

Hey! When I get home I think I need to get some sort of shot thingy...for school because I´m here in brasil. I don´t know. Also! I comptetely forgot what I was going to say. But I ´ve go to go prepare for a meeting! Love the hekc out of you peeps! I want to go fishing! Tchau!

Luana´s parents will be marking their marriage this tuesday! :d yay! woot!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

pepper? Good... but that´s not!

Oi!

Well, my fam bam! Things are going swell here in Caraguá! This week was not the best but we are getting better. In fact it wasn´t a good week at all. In our area or zone. I got pretty stressed out. but I´m all good now. We were going to baptize a rapaz (young man) this week, but he got sick and had to stay home. We will be working with him this week to help him get baptized. This past week we had only 1 person at church... in the zone... so it was pretty hard hahah. But A lot had to do with rain... yeah, rain made it really hard for people to go. Also we only had wednesday and half of thursday and saturday to work this week. Friday was counsel and tuesdays we do intense divisions where we leave our areas completely.

Well, this week I went to São Sebastião to do interviews. I had an interesting expíerence there... So I did the first interview, done and we started to leave and there was a pepper plant there. One of the elderes took the best and we split it. It was pretty hot but not horribly hot. But somehow I got some of it up my nose! Gah that was horrible. And it burned, but it soon stopped. Then... I went to do another interview and while I was doing the interview, I whiped my eyes and got pepper in my eyes. AHHH! That burned. I threw water on my face and my intire face burned like crazy. Well I continued the interview and it soon passed. Later, I went to the bathroom to go number 1 and well... I´ll leave the story there. But that was crazyness to the max. 

I got no more idea sadly. But this week will be awesome love you guys :)

Tchau!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

This time I´ll remember

Grant sent lots of pictures today. I will try to get them posted!

Oi!

Alrighty,

This wasn´t as great of week. The work was a little slower. Although, we didn´t work super hard either. We needed to be a lot more diligent. So we will be trying this week. Zone council was cancelled this week so now this next week we will have zone council. Because of that and divisions we will be doing this week, tuesday and firday we will not be in our area. Giving us 3 days before sunday to get work done. It´s going to be hard and a busy week. Our zone was bad this week. I´m not sure what we need to do to get better, but i´m searching to know. 

In our branch we had a fireside where i gave the message about missionary work. It went really well. I talked about a lot of things and showed a video too. I talked about the great importance of members in the work and how they are essencial to the work. The members seem pretty excited now. :) They really enjoyed it and the food there :P haha. But something cool is that we are receiving dinners and not just lunches now. Because there are so many sisters that want to give food to us :D woot! hahah.

So much hotness in this city. and beautiful beaches :) haha... Good times. can´t swim though :P hahah. I definitely want to buy a house here :P it´d be sweet to the max X 3!!!!!! heheh... But with all this hotness there is a loooooooooooot of rain and thunderstorms but still hot. Oh well it´s Brasil!!! :)

The parents of luana are changing jjobs and it´s looking like they won´t work on sundays. I hope so :) They will get married this month and baptized to :) Well at least the mom but the dad we got to teach more and help him recieve a response to prayer and go to church. Man I don´t know how to speak english no more.

Hey new scriptures and going to be coming out. Que daora! Sweetness! Also, the last transfer of my mission, (if i´m still here) I could make part of a new mission. But who knows. I think that would be cool. How many people from our stake are on missions (or will be going) and how many of them are in brasil. I always tell people that I have friends all over brasil. It´s awesome. How´s jordan and Louie doing? It´s crazy how small this world is. Thinking about it. I´m living with someone from where louie is right now (João Pessoa), I´ve met missionaries that were companions of Phil and others that served with David, i´ve met missionaries that were part of Peter Williams Zone when he was a zone leader and david went to the ward where Elder B. Lima lives (an elder I lived with a coupple of months ago) and saw a photo of me. Awesome :) 

So now... Yes I realize I had a weird name for my last email. Well, I forgot to tell the story. I left the Lan house and realized, man, they´re going to think I´m weird, well... I am but more weird. It´s nothing super awesome but funny haha. It´s like this: We got home one day from a hard day of work and I opened up the door, in that moment I saw something on the neck of my companion but before I had time to say anything it was already in his mouth :P hahaha. And it was a nasty cockroach. hahahah. :P It was super funny. Then we went inside of our house and went to our room and we were talking and in portuguese said, Why is there a cat under my bed?!?! haha. And out ran a cat and starting messing up our area book and stuff. But we got it out :P oh it was good. It seems like I just get home, and i´m already dead wanting to just sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. I´m so tired all the time now. But it´s good :)

yesterday, I read a talk given at BYU one day by I forgot who about Grace. I think I´ll send it to you guys. It was a super good talk :) It was very good. I loved it :)

I´m getting tired of washing my clothes by hand. It´s really hard to get it  as clean. I´m excited to soon recieve a machine. I hope!!! Yeah I´ve known that David would be going home on my birthday :P We have the same transfers here.

Hey, I´ll help at work! Well, I´ll take whatever work when I get back. I would love to work at the ranch again, but I´ll take work :) But can´t even think about that, I got loooooooooooooots of time left :P hahah....

Dad, you´re like becoming muscle muscle man haha. :P I got to catch up.. hehe..

Well, I´ll leave it at that. I love you guys! I love my friends and miss them lots. I hope jared is well in Russia. And Keep going David, don´t get trunkie ;) hahaha

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

Cockroach and then a cat!

Okay, a little preface...first I think Grant must have forgot to tell a story based on the subject of his e-mail...cockroach and then a cat! Also, this e-mail needs a lot of "clean up" but I just don't have the energy. I really have not been editing his e-mails for a long time...adds character...but this one seems to have a bit more grammer, spelling etc. errors! Oh well, gotta love Grant!

Oi!

Well family, it´s that emailing time again! Woot! Alright, this week was good. We didn´t have any baptisms in the zone this week but a lot of progression. I feel like i´m taking all that i´ve learned as a missionary and applying it into this area. We are progressing well. We are gaining well the members confidence! We gave out a little cadie to all the members on sunday with our number on it and a note. We are getting a lot of references now from the members I´m loving it! :P hehe. 

Here in Litoral, by june is going to be part of a new mission. Brasil São Paulo Santos. So if I`m here by the end of my mission I might make part of a new mission. Who knows! Craziness! haha. 

Luana´s grandpa (Odélio) was supposed to go to church this sunday. But didn´t go! AH! I want him to go so badly. We´ll figure out what he needs so that he can go. but her parents are getting married! :) That´s the best ever :) Ah,  I was so happy to hear that news!:) So we´ll be helping them getting married. Let´s do it :) 

Deovana is a girl we are teaching. She want´s to be baptized and everything but her dad is letting it happy. (he´s atheisit ) but let´s keep helping her.

Pablo is a one of the couple of newphews of our LMA that we are teaching. He is sooooooooooo close to being baptized. I´m sure he´ll be baptized this week i know it :)

Things are going well :) I`m happy to hear that things are going well for you guys too! :) My new companion is Elder Atkin. He´s 27 super tall and american. I already knew him, since like the beginning of my mission. He´ll be going in the next transfer. He´s an awesome elder and loves to fish :) Makes me want to fish more. So yeah, we might go fishing :] hehe. Well, peeps I´ss gotss toss goss :) Tchau!

love to all a goodnight..... hehe

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

transfers!

Oi!

Well, transfers have come again! Wow this transfer went by super fast. I can´t believe it. My companion Elder Santos, will be trasfered and start his last transfer opening a new area and training. I don´t know who my new companion will be yet. I think it´ll be an american (Elder Atkin) but I´m not sure and i´ll know later tonight!

We did well this month as a zone. We baptized well, confirmed well. It went well. I´m super excited for march. There will some new elders in the zone and it´ll go well. More and more of Luana´s family are becoming part of the church! This last sunday the husband of Luana´s grandma was baptized in one of branchs in our zone. It was great! We are still working on more of her family! haha.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! haha daora. Deve ser legal pra ter 50 anos... talvez... hehehe. Things are awesome here! Really weird that David is starting his last transfer now! WHAT?! Speaking of I meet a guy who served his mission with david. His name is... dang it... I forgot his name in house. I´ll bring it next time and show you... also... forgot my camera O_o sorry! next time. :P But the guy loved david. Said he´s an awesome missionary. He also said David is an assitant now?! Sweet! Where´s his emails? hahaha. :P Now´s my turn to be one! It would be fun to be one.

Being a lider of zone is cool. I do enjoy the administrating part. I realized that I work a lot with numbers. What I mean by that. my brain works with numbers. I make lists, planning things, and other things all the time. It´s how I relive stress. I have sooooooooooo many papers with different lists, etc, on it. My companion noticed this too. Like I made a list of my entire mission in according to weeks. And I put where i was, how many a baptized each with, with who i was, and other things. It´s funny haha.

I "passed" in Peter Williams zone. He was a zone leader and one of the areas was the Campinas temple. So the third time i went there he was zone leader and I talked to some missionaries that were some of his missionaries. It´s crazy how many connections I´ve had here on the misssion. I´ve known 2 guys that served with David, two companions of Phil, etc. It´s cool. I´m really wanting to make this last past of my mission the best. Sometimes I feel sooooooooooooo tired. Seriously, I´ve been the most tired I´ve ever been on my misssion this past little while. But I want to give it my all. I´ve been praying more, fasting more, and really just doing everything I can. With that being said, I have a lot to improve on. I need to do better. Sometimes Satan really tries to work on you saying taht you aren´t a good missionary and he tries to convince you to compare you with others (like with phil, other missionareys here or other firends), but you can´t. We are all at different levels on the gospel and we are all progressing (or should be). 

By the way, I think there might be a chance of spliting our mission. With all these new missions (especially sao paulo west and santos) those two are very close of ours and it ´s possilbe. Our mission does have 11 stakes with 2 stakes on the verge of splitting. Craziness!

Speaking of people going on missions. I think the chrucch did this so there would be no girls left for me to date when I got back :P hahaha. :P jk. But it´s funny, cause all the girls and either getting married or going on missions hahah. Dang it man :P haha.

LOVE YOU ALL MORE THAN YOU GUYS! I MADE THIS FOR YOU!!!!!!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

çalsjfalsdjf ks sorry umptified... ;)

No Subject from Grant!

Oi!

Well, good week. We baptized well and confirmed well. Luana´s two grandmas were baptized! One in our area the other in Porto Novo. Wow that was awesome. We had the baptism together. It was a great expierence. I really enjoyed it. Cecília is her name. Cecília was getting more and more excited about her bapitsm and this past week finally accepted a date. and she stopped smoking :) Man that was good. Hey I might have to go now! Sorry it´s super short! next week will be better love you!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Oi!

Well, jk! I have more time. haha. Anyways, This was a good week! We were able to get a lot of references and help from the members. We fasted again this week and I contribute a lot of the reason why Cecília being baptised to that. It was great! Well, I´m hoping to complete the family. Just the mom and dad need to get married. haha.

The zone is going well, I´m hoping to help my old companion more, (elder olson) as he is having trouble still with portuguese. Which is normal :) But I feel bad for him. So I set some goals with him.

Last zone meeting I talked to the elders about the importance of desire. We had two recent converts bear their testimony too. All in all, I was pretty satisfied with the result of the training I gave. I hope they learned, as I did too.

I´m learning a lot with my companion. it´s awesome. I´ll send pictures next week okay :P Promise! and my companion is a zone leader. 

I think I know who Kelsey Cole is. But hey, now I really have to go. I promise next time will be a little longer :) okay :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

This will be a good week

Oi! Well, what´s rocking fam e amigos?

Well, it was a pretty good week this week! We started doing the divisons this week. It went well. We are trying to help more the missionaries in our zone here. We have great missionaries in our zone. They are awesome guys. I´m trying to help in the best way I can. 

We are teaching the grandma of Luana. She´s super awesome. She was smoking but she´s stoping. She´s a miracle :) Man awesome. A couple of weeks ago, we were trying to get her to church but she wouldn´t go because she doesn´t like leaving her house. So we were trying and trying but she wouldn´t go. Finally, we invited her two weeks ago and we went to get her and she was ready and waking up her grandaughetr who is a member too (Carla). Man, it was a small miracle that is slowly turning into a great mircle. We are trying to help her be baptized this week.

This week in our zone, we have a lot of people to baptize. I´m pretty excited about it :) 

It sounds awesome about the people going to mission. And I feel really bad for Dallin.. I would not like to go home early. I have 2 years to serve and that´s what I want to do. 

Today we went hiking. Woot! I got to go already sorry it was rushed and short, it´ll be better with pictures next time :)

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!!!!!! love it :P

Helping the zone!

Oi,

Well, this week was fun!

We are losing a recent convert. A woman from another church has been talking to her and she has been listening to her. The problem is that the woman is telling lies about the church. So sadly she has been believing her and almost calling the cops on us... :( Sadness! But okay.

The zone baptized 3 this week. We were supposed to have a baptism in our area this week but the grandma didn´t allow it, because she got offended when we talked about authority and how in our church we have it. Well, we are still working with her and hoping that the grandma will understand.

We didn´t have lights in our house for about 5 days. Which means: cold showers,  no lights, no fans, no fridge. Taht was fun hahah. Almost our washing machine is broken so we wash by hand now O_o hahah. 

We taught this lady who her son almost went on a mission but left the church little before. And because of that and of other things, she´s not a fan of the church really. But we are working with her and hoping to see results from that :)

We had zone counsel this week. Super good. I love the president :) he´s awesome. Bascially I`m super excited to be an LZ and it´ll be good. It´ll be a lot more work now because we have to do divisions 2-3 times every week. (closing our area an entire day O_o) but it´s to help the zone grow together. I know it´ll work well :)

Luana (a recent convert) went to the temple :D Super exciting. She´s super awesome :) Man, I was so happy for her :) She absoutley loved it too :) Man, It´s great to see such progress :)

It was so hot the other day taht I got a huge migrane from the sun. Not fun :P hahaha. But oh well.

Hey, how much money do I have in my bank?

I had a drream the other night that on David´s last transfer he came to my mission and was my companion. hahha. I can´t believe that he´ll be going home in the next transfer! That´s crazy. By the way, wheres his emails? Oh my companion will be going in the next one too! Crazy go nuts!!! I think I will stay here in this area for 2 more transfers and then go train in another. That´s what I think though. 

Hey, question, do you guys have pictures of my baptism? Cause I can´t remember mine :P hahah. Just wondering.

So wow! Fiji! Craziness! Can´t believe it. The guy you saw in the photo with me was Elder Diniz. He spent his last transfer with me (my 2nd companion). He´s awesome :)

Well, it sounds like you guys are doing great :) keep doing great then :P hehe. I love you guys!

 

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

First Week

Oi!

Well what´s up my g-unit parents!?!?! hahaha...

It´s been weird this week. Being the zone leader. I have way more responsabilities now and I guide the meetings now too. But i´ve been loving it. It´s been really good. This week we had a baptism. :) Super good. :) We´ll have another one this week. We are working pretty well here. It´s been raining every day ever. Man, it´s ... fun :P hahah. We are having a good time though. Elder Santos is my companion. Our District/Zone meeting was good too. We have another area in our zone now and I hope that we can really help things go better.

We found a woman who is friends with a member that we will be teaching. She´s super awesome and loves the message we have. The craziest thing of it all is that she has cancer. I hope all goes with her.

A recent convert here is going to the temple this  saturday. Super exciting for her :)

So because the other elderes didn´t pay their bills... for 3 months... we haven´t had energy for a while. Whoa... Not sure when we will get it back :p hahah. Also, our washing machine is broken. FUN! hahah. But whateves só vai. :P We have a consel meeting this friday. That´ll be fun :) 

We had surpries interviews with President this saturday. Friday night at 11 he called us up saying that we would have interviews with him saturday at 11 in the morning. haha. So that was cool :) I learned a lot with him. He told me some interestings stories about some elderes in my zone. It was good. I learned a lot and I know how I can help them better.

Craziness about Johnny! haha. Well, it´s good that we don´t even have bikes then :P hahah. Though we´ve been trying to get some for our areas here in Litoral. Because the areas are huge. 

We had a bbq today. It was super good :] Loved it hahah. Can´t get any better! hehehe.

Thanks for the advice dad :) and I´d like to run in that marathon haha.

Well I´ve got to go.

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

ps. I don´t know if this is sending corretly hope you get it!

I´ll be transfered!

Oi!

So this week was pretty good. We worked with Diogo and he was baptized on saturday and confirmed on sunday. It was awesome :) He´s an awesome kid and has wonderful faith already. We are working with his parents but not a whole lot of progress there. A daughter in law of a member went to church this past week. We have already taught her a couple of times but she hadn´t been progressing. Now that she´s gone to church I really hope she starts to progress more.

Yes I´m still with my american companion (kind of). His name is Elder Olson. I say kind of well because today will be my last day with him. Tomorrow is transfers and well President wrote me today saying I will be going to Caraguatatuba as a leader of zone. Caraguá is in the same zone. So I´ll be in the same zone and over my companion now. I really hope that I can do my best as a leader of zone. Probably I´ll be one until the end of my mission. Taking into the fact that I have 4 more transferes to do. There is be entering in way more missionaries than there will exit from the mission which means not a single area will be closed and  a lot opened. I´m super happy for that, that´ll be awesome :)

dad you reminded of something. The importance of home teaching. Soooo essencial! It´s hard to find an area here where it´s done, but it must be done. That makes part of how people stay strong in the church. people need that support. Especially because the missionaries cannot be there always. There needs to be an intergration and a support system for these people. If not, they will just fall away! Unforetunetly that has happened a lot in this area.

Well, carnival is coming up and I´m starting to tell. Every night has fireworks and this are slowly getting more rouwdly. I have a feeling being on the beach during carnival is going to hinder the mission work a little. Probably we will have to go to our homes more early. But I´m not sure I´ll guess we´ll see. I´ll be companions by the way with an elder Santos. He´s pretty cool :)

Hey dad, I made a goal. I want to go on a marathon about a year after my mission. Do you think I could do that? Or sooner? or longer?

Hey say hi to the Immenschuhs for me! :) I love them! They are an awesome family :) 

Seems like I´ll be going home to a bunch of new stuff huh? That´s cool! But I don´t think I´ll be going home :P I´ll just stay here doing this work forever :P

Cool thing! Almost forgot! My second companion came and visited me :D haha. elder Diniz! He lives in Brasilia and terminated his mission a year ago with me! Well, he was visiting some places here in the mission and passed by to say hi :) Love that guy. Really good to see him and reminded me of the family we baptized in my first area. I´m so glad that I have families that I´ve baptized in each of my areas. As far as I know, they are all active too :) :) Greatest happiness in my life. I truely love this people so much. Sônia, João Paulo, Augusto, Eliane, Evandro, Rafaela, Carlos, Isabel, Dulce and her kids, Nair and her family, and here Maria José and Antônio. They are all just wonderful and I´m thankful for the internet and technolgy that we have so I always can keep in contact! :) :) :) 

Well, I´ve got to go! I love you guys!

ps. I´ll still be on the beach in my new area, so it´s still paradise :P

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Progressing!

Oi!

What´s up?!? Well things are great here! This week we will have a baptism for sure :) It´s pretty exciting. His name is Diogo. He´s 10 and is really wanting to be baptised and his dad already authorized it and everything and well His dad will be going to church next week. This week we will be helping a family getting to church to! I really hope they go! They have to! They missed it this week. But we´ll help them. 

This week we taught a drunk man, well the first time we met him he wasn´t drunk at all. But then we went to his house and he was out of there. His mom was there with him and his daughter. Well, that´s not even the cool part though, we were offered mango juice and as we started to drink it well we noticed is was fermented badly. hahah. :P

We were doing contacts one day and talking with these two women. We asked if we could pass by another day. It went like this: "Sim" "Não." Basically one said yes and the other said no at the same time! haha :P We eventually got them both to say yes. So yeah :P

Another time we were teaching, and my companion started to yawn a little and well the lady we were teaching thought that maybe he´s pressure was low. So she checked his pluse and gave him more salt to  eat. It was pretty funny. The whole time I was just cracking up :P haha. It was funny :P

It seems liek you guys are doing well! I love you guys! The picture of the car was awesome :P :P bye!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill

No Title

Oi!

Hey peeps! the week past by quickly here! wow.. Time surely goes by fast! We´ve been trying to teach edson but he seems to never be in house. I´m not sure what we can do with him. He´s missed the past 3 weeks. These weeks have been hard because we have investigators but they aren´t progressing at all.. It´s hard to find those that will progress. Especially right now it´s been hard because there are soooooooooo many tourists here. SO many. For this city and the island. So we make contacts with a lot of forigenrs. But it´s going well I guess. 

Elder Olson and I both like to write music, with his perfect pitch we make an excelent team :P haha. It´s fun writing music again :)

The weather here has been weird. super super hot and then rains A LOT. haha. it´s weird... but cool! but it has been super hot and i hope I can take more of it :P hahah. just kidding. But things are going well. We´ll be starting a new reading the book of mormon program in the mission. it sounds pretty cool :) 

I really really want to see that movie! AH! Of course I know the musical! haha Who doesn´t :P haha. It looks very very good :) Lucky bums! haha.

It´s crazy to think that johnny and blake will be going on missions soon! that´s crazy awesome :P It´s a great thing a mission :) Biggest life changer ever. Really big eye opener and really has helped me soo much. It´s funny Elder Godoy Talked to us about our presidents and how we learn things from them and how they are actually very similar to what we learned from our parents and when we tell our parents they would say: "I´ve been telling you that you´re whole life!!!! And now that someone else says it, it enters in your head?!" hahaha. But It´s kind of true :P hahaha. The mission is the best thing ever and has really been helping my testimony grow immensly and changed me to be a better person in all aspects...

but got to go! Love :D

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill!

Well that was fun!

Oi!

Hey what´s up? It was super awesome to be able to speak to you all on christmas :) It was pretty cool. Sorry about skype qualities, I was using an ipad :P hahah. So things on the beach are going well. We´ve been having trouble getting our investigatores to church but this week we are going to be really looking for those that will progress. I love my companion he´s way awesome. Things are looking up here and I´m loving the members here as well.

This week was hard because of christmas and new year but once those get out of the way, things will progress a lot smoother! Tonight I probably won´t be sleeping because of all the fireworks. You guys will have to let me know what you guys did (will do :P) 

So I got flashed by another woman who decided to breast feed during the lesson. Man that happens a lot it seems haha. 

We are teaching this man, Edson, who is getting so close to baptism but he´s just still a little scared. I´m not sure exactly what he needs, but i´ll find out. Things are going well though.

Mom, I remember that story about the boat, it´s funny that it basically happened again :P hahaha. yeah :P I´m craving some Natalee that´s a good place. 

We´ve been working a lot more with recent converts here, but sadly no results. A LOT of recent converts don´t want to come back at all.. It´s pretty sad that there is a lot of that. But we are still working to find some more. There´s a lot of members here just not a lot active ones. 

Well, it seems like you guys are doing awesome! I love you guys!

com amor,

Élder Grant Shaw Merrill