Week 10 in Fayetteville: 100 Day Countdown

If you can't tell, I'm excited! Today is my last day in three digit numbers until I go home!

Monday was a normal P-Day. We played basketball with the zone leaders.

On Tuesday, we went over to Oscar's and got to know him a bit. We talked to him about what his expectations were with us coming over. He wants us to help him quit smoking, so he can be baptized. We are  going back over Wednesday and Saturday to see him. 

Thursday night we set up a gym in the apartment. We helped the F4 sisters move into their new apartment-it was the F4 elders old apartment. There was some workout stuff! We took it home with us. So now, I have 100 days to get rid of my mission weight. 

 Our home gym

Saturday we had our ward party. It was pretty fun. Played some basketball with the young men- I wrecked them, but that's beside the point. Played some games and ate good food 'cause that's what we Mormons do!

 Elder Ford and me

Oscar came to church on Sunday! That was our week. I hope you all had a good one too! 

Love, Elder Merritt

Week 9 in Fayetteville: Haircut

Hey, everyone!

So, we had a good week. But, not because anything happened. It was a good because we set up stuff for this week. 

We finally were able to contact Oscar. We have been trying ever since our last transfer. We are going to visit him on Wednesday. He was taught by missionaries for a while, but we just couldn't contact him. 

Also, I got a haircut. But, I got it from another missionary, so I didn't have to pay for it! It actually turned out pretty good!

Well, that's about it for the week. Hopefully everything works out this week, so I'll have something to talk about next Monday. Talk to you all next week!

Love, 

Elder Merritt

My Haircut:

Before

After

Week 8 in Fayetteville: Always Follow The Rules

Hey, Everyone! So, it was another slow week this week. We didn't have  whole lot happen.

We had dinner with the Jefferson's on Tuesday. Jen, the wife, is one of our investigators. After dinner and a lesson, they asked is we wanted to light some leftover fireworks. I was excited to. Then i remembered we aren't supposed to as missionaries, but we did anyway. Well, as we were lighting them, some of the sparks from the fuse hit my thumb. It burnt it pretty bad, I guess it wouldn't  have happened is I was following the rules! 

Well, that's it for the week. Elder Ford and I are having a blast! Hope you all have a good week!

Love, 

Elder Merritt

Week 7 in Fayetteville: The Weeks Are Starting To Blur Together

Hey Everyone!

So as I sit here and try to write this email, I am realizing that all my weeks are blending together! I trying my hardest to remember what happened this week. 

We got to meet President and Sister Holland on Tuesday. They had a small Zone Conference with us. We were able to meet their kids they have here with them. President Holland seems pretty cool! I think I will enjoy the next few months I have left with him.

We had exchanges on the 4th of July with the Zone leaders. I stayed in my area with Elder Cox (who used to be my district leader when I was in Wilmington). We tracted and found a couple of people. When evening hit, no one was home! So, around 8, we went to Walmart to store contact. We found some cool heads of famous characters.

That was about it for the week. It was pretty slow. Hopefully, this week will be a little more fun. I need something crazy to happen, so I can have a good laugh about Fayetteville next week. 

Talk to you all next week!

Love, 

Elder Merritt

PS Here is a thought Ryan shared on Facebook for the 4th of July:

I just wanted to make a post about the 4th of July! This day represents our freedom gained by the sacrifice of many brave American heroes. One of the freedoms we are blessed with because of their sacrifice is the freedom of religion. I am also grateful for all those who serve our country today. Their sacrifice is what makes it possible today to enjoy these freedoms still! It's because of one of my best friends, Kason Bowles, putting on his uniform; that I can put on my uniform everyday! Thanks for your service!

Week 6 in Fayetteville: A New Mission President And Meeting A Knight

Hey, Everyone! So, this was a good week. I got a new companion, Elder Ford! And, President and Sister Holland arrived in the mission! I get to meet them on Tuesday this week.

We had a couple experiences this week that I wanted to share.

1. One of the people we found this week was named Sir Kilo. He is an actual knight of England (I din't know they still had those!)! He was in the army, and he was in England for deployment where he met another knight of England. That knight knighted him and a few other people he was with. He told us about an experience he had with the LDS missionaries and the Jehovah's Witnesses before. The JWs showed up at his door while the missionaries were in his home.  Sir kilo and the JWs kinda started arguing. that's when one of the missionaries stepped into the argument, an the JWs left. He told us that he likes us a lot more than the JWs. His exact words were, "I like you guys a lot more than the Jahovah's Witnesses! you aren't trying to shove things down people's throats!" Needless to say, Sir Kilo is a pretty cool guy! I'm kinda hoping that when we go see him next, he will dub us knights. It would be the coolest missionary story of all time!

2. This comes from Elder's Quorum last Sunday. We were talking about temple attendance. The Raleigh temple has been closed since January and won't open until next July. The members have to go to the Columbia South Carolina temple when they go. From Fayetteville, it's about a 2 1/2-3 hour drive. Well, one of the older members of the quorum brought up that it should be longer than that. He asked if people were driving the seed limit. All of the guys in there said they usually drive about 5 miles over. This older brother started to lecture all of us about obeying the speed limit! He said that we should all drive below, or at the speed limit. This made all the rest of us laugh. But, he was dead set on making sure that when we left church that none of us would drive over the speed limit again! He went on for about 20ish minutes before someone found a way to bring it back on topic. A few minutes later, he brought it up again! Which led to another 10 minutes of trying to bring the topic to the center of conversation. While this was going on, my companion and I just sat back and watched everyone roll their eyes at the whole thing. 

Now, you may be wondering why I brought this up. As I thought about it, I started tho think about how often we are "speeding" through this life. How often are we moving so fast, that we are missing everything that is happening around us? Now, I am definitely not siding with the side of going slower than the speed limit, but one other question. Does life have a speed limit? No, it doesn't! We were given agency to determine at what speed we want to go through life! Some people like to live in the "fast lane." While others just want to enjoy the ride. But in the end, we all reach the same destination. What matters is what we did on the journey there! 

That's it for the week! I hope you all had a great one too! Guess who only has 4 months left? THIS GUY!! Talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Merritt

PS Here's some pictures from transfers:

 Me and Elder Mitton

Elder Wright, ?, Me, Elder Mueller, Elder Ewing