Week 6 in Durham 2: Transfer Time Again!!

Transfers are tomorrow! The good news is I'm staying in D2! Elder Tellez is going home and Elder Haslam is going back to Jacksonville. I don't know who is coming here with me, but I will find out at transfers tomorrow. Our week was pretty solid!

Monday was P-Day. We did P-Day things. We also got a call from the Assistant telling us that President James wanted to meet with us 3 on Wednesday. 

On Tuesday, we had a lesson with Koddah. It is probably the best lesson I have had on my mission so far! We taught the Restoration and watched the Restoration video. He is super solid and always asks questions. 

Wednesday we had District meeting and interviews. Also, since Elder Tellez is going home, we took funeral pictures. When a missionary goes home they "die" and that is why we take funeral pictures. That night we were at the church and it started raining. We had our bikes and were trying to figure out how to stay dry. We decided to get some garbage bags to use as ponchos. They worked!! 

We were at dinner with members on Friday. On the way back, we saw a church sign that had something pretty funny on it. It said, "thank you Jesus for AC and lemonade!" It's so hot here and that statement is just so accurate about how we feel about the heat. 

Sunday was normal day. Well, except that I had to talk in Sacrament meeting. It wasn't too bad. I talked about member missionary work and the lessons we teach members about it. Nothing too hard. Koddah came to church and we had a lesson during Sunday School. We taught: The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went pretty well. We also had dinner with the Draughon family. 

That was my week! Next week I will have new companion to tell you about!! Love you!

Love, Elder Merritt

Week 5 in Durham 2: The Day I Wore A Collared Shirt (my mom came up with the title)

This week was awesome! We tracted and found 4 people who want to meet with us. So that was good! hopefully more happens with them so I can talk about them. 

Here's how the rest of the week went:

Monday- was normal P-day. We emailed, shopped, and all that good stuff.

Tuesday- we helped someone move. They gave us each a $10 Wendy's gift card, which is awesome for us!

Wednesday- we had District Meeting and exchange. This time, I went to D4 (Durham 4th) with Elder McConkie. We taught their investigator, Ancilla. I met her once before when I was in D1. Elder Edman and I went to the hospital and gave her a blessing. She is getting baptized, so we went over everything. We also had a lesson with a recent convert. He is going to the temple soon to do Baptisms for the Dead for his kids.

Thursday- before we exchanged back, Elder McConkie and I went and did a service project. We pickaxed and dug some holes. We also painted some pictures for the  place we were at to hang by the pool.

Friday- nothing excited happened. But, this week Elder Haslam introduced me to Chinese chess. He has been destroying me! Until this night. I finally beat him! It only took all week and 20 games, but I did it!

Saturday- nothing

Sunday- Koddah and Hannah both came to church. Sadly, Hannah is moving back to her town. She was staying here for the summer. We won't be teaching her anymore.

That was our week. It was pretty great!! Talk to you next week!!

Love, Elder Merritt


PS Here's me in a collard shirt! Just for my mom!

Week 4 in Durham 2: Painting A White Picket Fence

Hey, everyone! This week was awesome. We didn't find anyone to teach, but it was still a lot of fun!

On Wednesday we went on Exchange with the Durham 4 elders. Elder Qioa (pronounced chow) came to Durham 2 with me and Elder Tellez. We had a lesson with Hannah. She wanted us to answer some of her questions she had from church last Sunday. After our first lesson, we had to home for the night. In our apartment we have a pool table in the leasing office. Sometimes, we go to the pool room and play when we get home at night. Elder Qioa is a really good pool player and I am trash. He beat me every time, but it was still fun. 

On Friday we got a call from a random number. It was from Sister Barrington who is an excommunicated member. She wanted to know if we would help paint her fence. So, that's what we did Friday and Saturday. We painted a white picket fence!

In the empty time we tracted, ate food, and Elder Tellez did My Plan ( a thing for missionaries going home). 

See you all next week! 

Love, Elder Merritt

Week 3 in Durham 2: Temple Trip!

Hi, All!

We had a really good week! We only found 1 new person to tech this week, but he'll be at the end of the letter. 

Wednesday we had our Zone Conference and our Temple trip. It was pretty awesome! Temple trips are the thing we all look forward to. Sad thing is, they are closing the Raleigh temple in January of 2018 for renovation. So next year there won't be any temple trips. 

Thursday we had a planning meeting. That's always sooo much fun! Just kidding, not really, but it is a necessary evil. We also went to TROSA. It's a giant thrift store that has everything known to man in there. It had a Philadelphia Eagles clock for only 2 bucks! I bought it! Now, I have my wall looking a little more fancy. 

On Saturday, we went to Brother Cummings home to help with some landscaping. I got to use a pickaxe on t the driveway which was pretty fun! But, since this place is so humid and hot, we were all drenched in sweat by the end of the day. Up until this point we hadn't found anyone to teach, but tomorrow was probably the best day of the week!

So, Sunday we had church. Guess who was there? Hannah and Kodaah! It was awesome! Kodaah even brought his friend to church. He's already doing missionary work! During church, the Sister missionaries gave us a referral that they couldn't see because he was a single guy.His name is Bobby. After church, we went to see if Booby was home. We knocked on his door and he let us in! We started to get to know him and he told us why he was wanting to find a new church. We taught him the Restoration. He really liked it and wanted to be baptized! We set a date with him for July 29th! We get to back and see him on Tuesday. 

Well, that was my week! Talk to all next week!

Love, Elder Merritt

Week 2 in Durham 2: Biking is So Great!

Hey, Everyone!

This week was awesome! Trio life is a lot different than what I'm used to, but it's pretty fin having two companions. There's never any silence and that's great! This week has been bike week. Being on bikes reminds me of Apex. I love riding bikes! It makes you feel so accomplished once you get somewhere. Here's our week:

On Monday we went to the Stake Center in Chapel Hill to play basketball with the elders in the zone.  Pretty fun! Our team did pretty good.

On Tuesday we went on Exchange with our District Leader, Elder McConkie.  It was a good day! Elder Tellez and i stayed in D2 with Elder McConkie. We tracted pretty much all day. We found a guy name Jim Allison. He was super nice! He knows one of the members of the ward who lives across the street from him. He also said he wanted to have a church tour! We are setting that up with him and the member. Later that night, we had a lesson with Hannah. It was a pretty good lesson. We talked to her about why reading the Book of Mormon was so important to knowing if  what we talk about is true. We gave her some passages to read from the Book of Mormon. 

On Wednesday we had another exchange. This time it was with Elder Jones, one of our Zone Leaders. Guess what we did that day? We tracted! Pretty much our entire day was tracting. But we had dinner with our Ward mission leader. Hannah came for dinner too! It was pretty good. Afterwards, she went to Young Women's. 

Friday we helped the mom of someone in the ward move. On Saturday, we helped another ward member move. The member who drove us over, brought his non-member friend, Kodaah, to help. Koddah asked us about what we do and stuff. 

Sunday was just like any other Sunday. Except, Koddah came! It was awesome! He even went up to bear his testimony! We taught the Gospel Principles class too. 

That was our week! It was pretty good! 

Love, Elder Merritt