5th Week in Durham: Christmas Doesn't Come From a Store

So this past week has been pretty good! Not very productive, but we had fun! Monday and Tuesday weren't very interesting. On Wednesday we sang to some old people in a retirement home. And that was pretty much it.

But, On Thursday, we did exchanges with the Chapel Hill 1 Elders. Elder Evans and I stayed in my area while Elder Rawlins went with Elder Haslam to Chapel Hill. Exchanges are one of my favorite things (not because I don't like my companion). It' s fun to hang out with the other Elders and see what they like to do. After we finished for the day, we went to Chapel Hill and spent the night in their apartment since we had to wake up early for our Christmas Zone Conference the next day.

On Friday we had our Christmas Zone Conference, and it was AWESOME! We had to do a musical performance, so me, Elder Rawlins, Elder Haslam, Elder Evans, and the Zone leaders got up and performed, Hombre Religioso. I'ts the song from Nacho Libre that everyone knows. It was so fun to do. We had fake mustaches and we messed up a couple times, but it was still great!

Saturday (Christmas Eve) we just tried to do normal missionary work and no one was home. But after, we went with the Chapel Hill elders and the Zone leaders and slept at the Zone leaders apartment. This way on Christmas morning we could all open the presents we got from home. Well, that's where the sad part of the week comes in...I was told my gifts would arrive on Tuesday. Well, now it's Saturday and I never got them! I am pretty sure they got stolen (but I still have hope that during this week they might show up)!

Sunday (Christmas!) we woke up and opened presents. After, Elder Hawks (Zone Leader), made us pancakes for breakfast. We went to church from 10-11. The best part of the day was calling home and talking to our families. It was great to talk to them!

That wraps up the week!

Love,

Elder Merritt

4th Week in Durham: Twas the Week Before Christmas

Hey everyone!

Nothing too exciting to share this week, but I do have a couple stories.

So, we volunteer at this place called The Scrap Exchange, and it's this place where people make art or buy old stuff (kinds like the DI). They had a time capsule outside the store that was 50 years old, and they opened it this week. Elder Rawlins and I went to the opening party/celebration for it. And I have never seen such a strange gathering of people in my life! There was a family of hippies next to us and their kid was dressed as a dinosaur...and the dad was dressed in leopard print and purple pants. The wife was dressed the same, but she had a tambourine she was playing.

At District Meeting we had zone leaders who asked if anyone wanted a Lazy Boy for their apartment. Elder Rawlins and I said we wanted it. The zone leaders brought it over a few days later, and I carried it in because Elder Rawlins was too busy taking a picture of me carrying it to help. When I set it down, I realized there was no handle to recline it! But my smart dad packed me a crescent wrench. And now we use it has a handle! Thanks Dad!

Other than that, our week has been pretty dull. Lots of finding efforts and a few lessons. But that's it! Tell everyone thank you for the 12 Days of Christmas package. It has been fun opening it!

See all of you next week!!

Love, 

Elder Merritt

PS A few updates on some people we have been teaching. 

Pam- We are still trying to teach her.It's just difficult because she doesn't like to respond to out texts or calls, and never answers the door. The only time we catch her is when she is outside the apartment.

Jim and Carrie- They are pretty cool! We taught them The Plan of Salvation a couple weeks ago, but they said they wanted time to read The Book of Mormon and they were busy during Christmas. We are going back after Christmas to see how they are.

this is how we entertain ourselves

my wall of fame

Elder Rawlins

 a member made us doughnuts

3rd Week in Durham: Teaching in the Woods

This week hasn't been too exciting, so this won't be a super long letter.

Tuesday, around 5 pm, we got a call that we needed to go to Duke Hospital to give a little girl with Leukemia a blessing. The mom gave us all the information we would need to give the front desk to get to the floor she was on. Well, when we show up, they don't check you in or anything! We just waltzed into the hospital and straight to her room. Where is the security in this? Someone could just walk in and blow the place up because of how little security there is.

On Wednesday, we went to the Raleigh Temple for pretty much the whole day. Nothing super interesting happened that day.

We had a district meeting on Thursday. Afterwards, we had exchanges with the Chapel Hill elders. I was with Elder Haslam( Who, by the way mom, went to school with Scott. Ask him if he knows him). We had an appointment that night to teach some homeless people at 7. They live in the woods in a little tent village. It was something out of a horror movie! We had to walk into the forest with only our lantern and it was pitch black. But the lesson was good!

On Saturday, Durham had it's annual Christmas parade. We went to it, but it was so cold we couldn't find a way to get warm. It was really cool to watch except Elder Rawlins wouldn't let me catch the candy they were throwing out.

Nothing really on Friday, or Sunday.

But we saw something really cool/sad this Monday morning. We are pulling into Marshall's parking lot (we were going to buy Christmas ties) when we see this falcon/hawk sitting on top of a seagull it had attacked. It flew away after a little bit, and the seagull was barely alive. We had no idea what to do, so we kind of just left it there. It was so sad to see.

I hoe you all have a good week!

Love, 

Elder Merritt

Second Week in Durham: Tracting and more Tracting

This week was awesome! We actually had people to teach! But, before we get into that, I have a couple funny moments of the week.

Story #1:

So, we were out tracting (knocking door to door) in an apartment complex. We knocked on one door a couple of times and no one answers. We turn around to knock on the door behind us. Well, they answered and so did the people of the previous door we knocked on. Elder Rawlins and I just kinda looked at each other. We were so confused! So, he turned and talked to one and I talked to the other. These people looked just as confused and uncomfortable as we did!

Story #2:

We were tracting again (Anyone sensing a pattern here?). I think I have this magnet that attracts weirdos and angry people. The doors I knocked on comprised of these people. Crazy cat lady, some one who could have easily been a witch, a guy who looked like the stereotypical lumberjack, and an angry grandma.  I want to focus on the angry grandma. As we approach the house, I looked around and I told Elder Rawlins, "I think a nice old lady lives here." I was right about the old part. It was my turn to knock on the door and when I do this lady answers. I said the usual missionary thing. "Hi, how are you doing today? We are missionaries from..." She cuts me off and yells, "You need to revise your tenants!" And shuts the door. I look at my companion so confused. I asked him, "What does that mean?" We both just stood there looking at each other and started laughing.

Now, here comes the best part of the week! It's Tuesday night and we are knocking on doors in a neighborhood. We get to the point where we are about to leave to a different area, but Elder Rawlins suggests, "Let's just do one more." So we walk up to the door and an elderly guy opens up and his little dog bolts out the door into the yard. Well, we started talking to him and found out his name is Jim. He's a Nazarene. We started talking about our church. He invites us inside and we start talking to him about the restoration for about 20 minutes. We ask him if he'd like us to come back and talk more, he said yes. His wife and daughter walk in the door at this moment, his wife just kind of stops. She looks at us and just has this confused look on her face. We told her who we were and left. Our return appointment is for Sunday at 7 pm.  Sunday comes and we knock on Jim's door. He lets us in, but this time his wife is there. She sat down with us and said, "We aren't interested in changing our religion. We just want you to tell us about your church." She was sitting there like she really didn't care about what we had to say. She looked like she just wanted to prove us wrong. She asked us some questions that were pretty hard, but when we answered them she seemed surprised that we had an answer! We went into the restoration again and taught both of them about it (the restoration is our belief that when the apostles had all been killed, the Gospel of Jesus Christ no longer was on the earth. We believe that Joseph Smith restored Christ's church on the earth again). At the end of our lesson, when we were about to leave, Kary (Jim's wife) told us, "I'm going to be honest with you. When you left last time, I asked Jim why he invited you back. But now I want you to come back! There's just something about you guys!" It's like the stories you hear other people tell, but think it will never happen to you. She started off by not caring about what we had to say then she wanted us to come back so she could learn more!

Well, that's all for this week! I have some pictures I want to share. Talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Merritt

PS I have to add this because Ryan wrote this just for me! He ate broccoli for the first time! He said, "You better be proud of me, Mom!!"

the mess we were left with to organize the area.

the trees in front of the mission home

my first attempt at fried chicken

I still have an addiction to the Dew