Mission Report

Once a missionary arrives home, they are scheduled to report to their congregation about their mission. Ryan reported to the Morning View Ward in the Stansbury Park South Stake on Sunday, November 11, 2018. Many family and friends came to show their support. He talked about faith. He shared storied how his mission helped build his faith in Jesus Christ. He bore his testimony of the Savior, Our Heavenly Father's Plan, and the restored gospel. We are grateful to those in his mission who supported, loved, and took care of Ryan. His growth is tremendous! We are grateful that he had this opportunity!! 

I wish I had remembered to take more photos!!!

Ryan Is Home!

On Wednesday, November 7, 2018, Elder Ryan Merritt returned from his 2-year mission in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. His plane arrived at 1:30 pm. He had family waiting to greet him. It was his mother's birthday. We all made signs to welcome him home! 

He was flying in with 3 other missionaries. As he came down the escalator, he was holding his own sign he made. It read, "Happy Birthday, Mom!!!" He had a bow. He was the present!! It took him a while to come down because he had an injured knee. But, he made it! And everyone was crying and giving hugs!! We are so grateful he's home!!

Week 24 in Fayetteville: I Killed Darth Vader...and Coming Home!

Heidey Ho Everyone!

Well, it's finally here! My last P-Day which means my last email. Our week was just getting the apartment ready for the new missionaries, and packing up. 

On Wednesday, I got to take my funeral pictures. Pretty crazy!!

Fun story: We have been playing a Star Wars board game Monday nights for the past 4 weeks. Today we finally finished it! I was the one who won it for us by killing Darth Vader. It's been goal ever since we started, so it's a good way to end my mission!

Over the past two years, my testimony has grown tremendously! It's been awesome to work with amazing people who have helped me grow in ways I never thought I would. The love I have for this place is insane considering I have only been here for 2 years. God definitely has let me see people the way He sees them. The Church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet. And Jesus is the Christ! He is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He loves all of us! I am grateful for the opportunity I had to represent Him! I'm excited to go home and use everything I have gained out here in my life everyday!  See you all soon!!

Love,

Elder Merritt

PS Last pictures:

My Funeral

 Me and Elder Nmesirionye

Week 23 in Fayetteville: Down to Single Digits!

Hey, Everyone!

So today marks the day I am in single digits until I am home! It's insane how fast time has flown by!

This week had some good things happen even though I can't do much. I had my last zone conference. That means I had to give my departing testimony. It was pretty weird to have to do that. 

On Thursday we went to an orthopedic surgeon who is a member in the other ward in Fayetteville. He drained my knee of fluid, and   told me he thinks I tore my meniscus. I've been on crutches for a week. I'm supposed to take it real easy, so I don't tear it anymore. 

I hope you all have a good week! I'll see you in a few days!!

Love,

Elder Merritt

PS Pictures of zone conference:

Week 22 in Fayetteville: A Pretty Cool Visitor!

Hey Everyone!

So we had a pretty cool surprise come up this week! 

My knee is starting to get a little better. Still can't do a whole lot on it. So, missionary work was little slow this week.

Our surprise happened on Friday night. We found out about it Tuesday. So we got a text from our Elder's Quorum president saying that President Oaks was going to be at our church building Friday night.  He was giving a devotional along with Sister Bingham (who is the General Relief Society president), and with Elder Carter of the Seventy.  It was pretty cool to hear from them. They came and talked about how proud they were of our efforts with the hurricane relief stuff. There wasn't a lot of spiritual stuff said, which kind of surprised me! It was more of a casual devotional. It was really cool to see that side of the General Authorities of our church. 

I was supposed to give a talk in sacrament meeting, but a high councilor came and took my spot. I was kind of disappointed, but oh well. I did get to go talk to the junior and senior primaries on what being a missionary is like. That was pretty fun!

Well, that's about it for the week! Hope you all had a good one too!

Love, 

Elder Merritt

A few hurricane relief pictures:

Week 21 in Fayetteville: I Hurt My Knee

Hey, Everyone!

Well, this week was actually pretty boring. Not because nothing happened, but because of what happened. Wednesday night we were at mutual with the youth. We were playing basketball( I bet you can tell where this is going) with the young men. Well, I took a shot and came down wrong. I felt my knee bend in, and I heard some crunching and popping noises. I was on the ground! Basically, I've been bed ridden ever since. We did go to the doctor, but somethings happened and we weren't able to see him. Hopefully, we will be able to go this week to see what is wrong with it. 

That's it! I guess that's what happens when you're dumb and play basketball in dress shoes! So don't do that! I hope you all had a good week. See you in 3 weeks!

Love, 

Elder Merritt 

Week 20 In Fayetteville: General Conference Weekend

Hey, Everyone!

We have had a crazy P-Day! We had slow week, however. We had General Conference which is always a good thing. We only got to watch the Sunday sessions because we were doing hurricane cleanup on Saturday. We watched it a Jen's house (a non-member we are teaching who lives in a part member home). They had the idea of turning our dinner into an episode of "Chopped." They gave us the ingredients, and then we had to make our main course. I made Beef Chiles Rellenos. They turned out good. My companion did a version of tacos. 

We had a pretty interesting thing happen on Wednesday night. I was on exchange with Elder Wright, and we stopped by the church to print some stuff off. Well, when I put the key in the door to unlock it, the whole lock slid out! Someone had tampered with the lock! We were thinking that someone broke into the building, so we did what any young person would do. We went inside to check it out!

Looking back on it, it wasn't the smartest, or safest thing to do...But hey, I'm still alive!

I hope you all have a good week! Talk to you next week!

Love, 

Elder Merritt