1/27/15
Hello there family and
friends. This week was a guddun.
Well I’m not too sure if
I told you guys last week but my comp Elder Senzig and I are really FUN. No
but for real we have a lake real close to the house that is about 6.5 miles
around so we got up at sunrise and went on a bike ride around the lake.
It took about 45 minutes and it was sweet. I’m totally gonna be doing it
every P-Day for my exercise.
We went to a member’s
house and he showed us a huge zit thing that he has on his arm. I forgot
what he was calling it but I shook his hand and then they always say goodbye to
us with a hug and a kiss if they are men.
So when we left the
house my comp was like "hey man did you know that he had staff infection
on his arm...?" I was like "nope... why is that
important?" and then he proceeded to tell me that staff is spread through
the oils of the body... and that Hermano touched me a good bit... so the
chances of me getting it are pretty good. You could say I would have beat
Lance Armstrong in a race home to scrape off my skin where he touched me.
I ain’t gettin no staff.
We started out a lesson
with a fighting family. It was super super great. Then I tried doing a
little question to help them listen more and it was like letting a trained bear
out of the cage. Usually it works so well and it cooperates. But
every once in a while it just goes crazy and tears everybody that it sees to shreds.
The question that I asked was definitely the second type. We were
pinned down in that house for the next 2 hours trying to hide from the
bear.
We found out this week
that a member sold another person’s house without their consent while they were
on vacation. Welcome to Argentina.
We told a menos activo
that we were going to his house to pick him up on Sunday. He was super
stoked and told us that he would be ready. So Sunday came around and we
went to his house to go help him out and see if he wants to come with us.
When we got there we saw him asleep outside. We clapped, and clapped, and
clapped... for probably 5 minutes. I didn’t think it was possible but he
was more passed out sleeping than I was when I was younger. So finally
his son comes home and we asked him if he could wake up his dad. He
walked over, found a wine bottle next to him and said "I don’t think he’s
gonna be able to make it..." Dang it...
Buuuttt... the good news
is that even though he didn’t come to church we had 20 people come to the
branch for the first time!!! WOOO!!! I’m
all riled up.
Today we had our zone
activity where we had an egg toss and played some games and we had to walk
about 15 kilometros to get there and back. Haha we walked so much. On
a scale of not far to far, I would say pretty dang far. We also had a little bit of time to kill so I
suggested that we played lava monster on the playground. Did 20 grown men
end up playing lava monster on the kid playground? Yes. There were some little
kids watching us like we were crazy. Whacha doin here little kids? Ya’ll can’t
play here, Don’t you know this is our turf?
Also when we were coming
back I lost my wallet with all of my cards, money, license, passport copy, 2
bank cards, DNA, just some important stuff. So I was freaking out. We
started stopping all of the busses asking if they can let us look cause they do
a little loop around the block and we couldn’t find it anywhere. So finally I
did a little prayer asking for an answer. I don’t care what it is, just
an answer. And then it came to my mind "You lost it. It’s just
paper that you can always replace. If God wants you to have it He will
help you find it. If not, there is a reason for it." I sat pondering
on that response that I shouldn’t be so stressed out, but if I didn’t find it,
it may serve as a lesson.
15 minutes later we got
a call. We answered it and I heard a voice "Elder Merkley?" we
started talking and I found out that it was a buddy from my MTC group named
Elder Whetten. He told me that he found my wallet on the bus and that he
had it in his hands at that moment. I just thought to myself "Thanks
big man yet again."
So we had a super sick
week finding new people to teach. You could say the last couple of weeks
have been like trying to find a needle in a haystack—a haystack that is about
15 miles long. And called Monte.
This week we were riding
by this house and a guy yelled at us "God bless ya!" So we did a
little turn around and went and talked to him. He wasn’t that interested
but his sister, Liliana, started talking to us. She said that she has 2
little girls and wants to start going to go to a church to help her kids have a
better future. We taught her about the church and we taught her about praying
and even before we invited her she said "I’m going to pray every single
day." Well... that makes our job easy.
The second person, Oscar,
was a reference from an investigator. He only had like 10 minutes to talk
the first time so we got there and taught him how to pray and then we headed
out.
The next time we went he
said "Ya I’m reading and praying every day! I feel great! When do you guys
have the reunions?" We just looked at each other in pure shock...
WHO ARE YOU!??!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!!
The last one is a family
who had a son try to commit suicide this last week. We went and they only
had a couple of minutes so we also taught them how to pray. We gave a
sweet prayer and then when we finished, they were all crying.
It’s interesting to see
how such a little thing like prayer can help so many different people in
different situations—whether it’s a lost wallet, a worried mom, a recently divorced
father, or a family who is passing through hard times. Such a little
thing can change our day and help us think more clearly.
In Jeremiah 29:12-14 it
says
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you,
saith the Lord
Prayer really can change
our whole day or even whole week. If we can just accept what comes and
realize that God will guide us towards the best life, it really does take a
turn for the best. If we do it we can and will feel a change and a
different happiness. If not we will stay the same as always so why not do it?
God is listening.
I love you all and I
hope everything is good. Take care
Love,
Elder Merkley
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