Temples and Christmas

12/9/14 

Favorite line of the week "sorry about my grandchildren... they are like those savage Indians."

We were tired of sleeping for 3 hours every time that we have to travel on the bus so this week we got up in front of like 30 people and talked loudly so that they could all hear us and we gave out flyers and cards.  We found some sweet people so we started doing it every time that we have gone by train or bus.

Speaking of buses.  We went to Canuelas and we barely missed the first bus so we had to wait for 2 hours and then the 2nd one was running late and they told us that we have a lot of time so we went to grab something for my companion to eat and while we were there the second bus just flew by so we had to wait for another 2 hours.... great...

While we were eating we had 20 pesos (like 2 dollars) to buy us both lunch so getting real creative we went and bought the cheapest juice and 2 pounds of bread.  Nothing says good lunch like bread dipped in tang.

Also while we were waiting we have a bus driver friend named Osmar and he told us if we have to use ties every day he finished using his tie for the year in his work so he just gave me a free tie.  What a great guy.

I saw a rainbow

We went and taught a super sweet lesson with another member to a menos activo and then they both went with us to go teach #ifyoucantbeatemjoinem

It rained on us even though there weren’t clouds 

We were walking super fast and my comp said... " I think I’m gonna puke"

and I said "Sure..." and kept on walking. Then I heard it hit the cement.

We had to Go to Acevedo because on the 20th I was going to the TEMPLE!  So I went with my old companion Elder Varela to do splits.  We ended up going to a member’s house, Nico and Graciela, who were super sad and we gave a sweet lesson about how God can help us.

The other Elders ordered some pizza but I wasn’t that hungry so I didn’t eat it at night.

The next morning I woke up and ate some good ole pizza and then we went to the temple to go see the Family Ormeno and Alberto from my first area sealed together.

There were so many dang people that when we went there were 2 spots left and there were 3 of us; Elder Varela, Alberto, and I... So of course I drew the short stick and for 2 and a half hours I had to wait outside.

Then to make things worse the pizza came back for revenge and started killing my stomach forcing me to run to the bathroom several times to take everything that I had in my body out.  BEST TEMPLE TRIP EVER!

Then after that the whole family didn’t show up to get sealed for like 2 more hours so we were a little bit behind but the sealing was super sweet and happy for them.  So all of the sickness was definitely worth the pain.

I was so happy to see them there together—the whole family.  It was just a great day.

I also finished the Bible for the first time on Johnny’s birthday.

We booked it to Monte forgetting half of our stuff where we stayed and then we had a ward Navidad activity.  It wasn’t the best but it was super funny cause the little kids did almost all of it.

I called you guys this week. We got lost getting there. I had a nice chat with the Rubio family that I came to know in Ezeiza, who let use use their computer on Christmas and stuffed me like a pig that they were going to slow roast.  

We had a Christmas party with Noel and Silvana in Ezeiza with 4 other missionaries and their family.  We played cards, ate, looked at fireworks, watched Tomas (the 4 year old brother) open Presents and got home and slept. I ate a huge breakfast of Granola, milk, jam, German pancakes, syrup, smoothie, and ice cream... all mixed in one bowl. 

We got home and went to go teach a family and I started feeling super sick.   They gave me some stuff to take so that I would feel better.  I took them and then we walked outside, I leaned on the fence, and threw up so much... Haha I don’t know what happened.  They were all asking me "What did you eat today?"  Definitely not a bowl of Granola, milk, jam, German pancakes, syrup, smoothie, and ice cream.

We have been teaching a menos activo member since the first day that we got here and he would always say yep... I’m going to church this week or yep... I’m going to start reading today and then he would never do it.  So we taught him again this week and we had the most spiritual talk ever and we talked about his Patriarchal Blessing and he told us how he was going to go look for it in that moment and he was going to read it and go to church tomorrow.  Then the next day he didn’t come to church, but his wife did.  So we started talking to her a little about the Patriarchal Blessing and she told us that when she got home they would read it together....and then we didn’t hear anything from them again.

The next morning I heard the alarm and thought "no... it’s already morning..." and I hit the alarm... and then I heard "Andrew...?" 

When I heard my name in the pitch black I started getting freaked out cause I know that it wasn’t the voice of my companion.

As quick as a bolt, I shot up and looked around the room and nobody was there but I heard my name again. I looked over to my left and the dim glow of the phone.  I can’t see anything without my glasses, but being night time I was blinder than a bat without sonar or whatever the heck bats use to see. But as I held the cellphone an inch away from my nose I could make out the name "Mario Leiva."

I started talking to him and he told me that they read his Patriarchal Blessing together and that starting in this moment everything is going to change. And they started saying thanks for all of the work that we do and things like that. And I think that they invited us to eat at their house the next day  

Dazed and confused, I hung up the phone and my companion mumbled "Who called and what time is it?"  I looked at the phone "Mario Leiva and 1 in the morning."

At 6 in the morning we woke up, wrote, worked out, ate some breakfast, and then when we were just about to leave we started talking about the phone call that we had received and neither one of us were sure that it was real.

So we called the Hermano and asked him.  He told us that he read his Blessing and that he was so happy to have it and that he was going to change from that day on. 

It was one of the most satisfying things to hear on my mission.  But even more satisfying is when yesterday he came to the Church for the second Sunday in a row. God puts us where he needs us in the moment that he needs us.

Like it says Ezekiel 34:11

 11 ¶For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

It is so interesting to see how God guides us day by day and the great things that happen if we just try our best to listen to him.  He guides us to those who need us, so be looking.  have a great week and Be safe

Love,
Elder Andrew Huber Merkley

Suck it up, Soldier!

12/16/14

Alright well... this week my comp and I were having a little heated discussion--(jk it wasn’t that heated, just really hot outside... and kind of heated)--and his bike broke.  So he flipped it over to put the chain on and his helmet fell off.  

So he fixed his bike and then we talked for a bit more and when we were leaving he picked up his helmet and I saw that it was dripping.  I looked over to the right and saw a black dog with his eyes full of guilt.  I told my companero to stop and check if it was pee.  The results came in positive.

I saw my first humming bird here:)

We have a plum tree that makes it rain plums. Sometimes when I am collecting them, I sing "its raining men" but I replace men with plums.  The other day parakeets were eating all of our plums so I ran out side and threw a plum at them.

I saw a girl biking with high heels this week.  I looked at her and thought  "if Its hard to walk on high heels, she’s gotta be a keeper"

We were teaching a lesson and little caterpillars kept on falling on us from the trees.  The people were all freaking out saying that they are poisonous and they burn your skin if you touch them.  One touched my companions arm and he started saying "oh... it burns... it burns..."  I just thought to myself ‘suck it up soldier.’

3 days after we went back and the caterpillars were waiting for us.  They were kinda like the ice cubes at the bottom of your glass and then when you hit it, they all attack at the same time. (All credit to Dmitri Martin.) I sat down and out of nowhere like 4 were on my shirt.  I flicked them all off and then I put my arm down and felt somebody stab my arm.  I looked down and there was a little black caterpillar that was stuck in my arm.  I started saying "holy crap that burns... oh man that burns..." then the parts that it touched got hot and swollen and white.  Then the words "Now I know how my companion feels" came to my mind.  And then I thought, "Shut up conscience"

After that lesson that we had we asked the woman if she could pray for us.  We taught her how to do it.  Then she said "Padre Celestial...." and then everything was quiet... for one minute... then for 2 then 3 minutes rolled around. 4...5...6... in pure silence.  Then I thought to myself "alright this is getting out of hand. Is anybody praying here?" So I peeked and said... "Amen?" and they all said amen.

We had intercambios with some elders from an area called Speggazzini.  All 4 of us stayed in our area and did some work.  We had to go farther so my companion and one of them went by foot out to the boonies.  At 9 pm we finished our lesson and it started to drizzle and there was a lot of lightning so we booked it home.  We called the other elders and we couldn’t hear them and then out of nowhere it just started pouring rain.  It poured and poured and poured--kinda like a shower turned on all the way. Then my companion walked in—like a lake monster.

We tried teaching some 10 year old kids and I felt like I would have had more success teaching a dog than I did with them.  Lesson learned: If I have the choice of teaching 10 year olds or a dog... go with the dog.

We also had a Christmas conference this week where we just had a bunch of asado (BBQ kind of) and then we had to put on a play about the Scrooge and the missionaries taught him about why we celebrate Christmas. And who had to be the missionary? If you guessed elder Merkley you would be right.

After that we went to Canuelas cause our area is so far and we had a sleepover there.  I don’t know why but they are always so fun.  I guess that after being with somebody for 24 hours a day 7 days a week, its just kinda nice to talk to somebody new and hear new stories.

The next day we went to a house where the floor had been sinking for like 10 years, to the point where there is almost a hole in the floor in the center.  The family had a priestess come and look at it and she said that there was somebody dead under there and in Argentina you never know. I didn’t believe it, but my companion was getting freaked out and adding to their imagination even saying "yep... there is somebody dead..."  I just looked at him with a good ol glare to the soul telling him to cut it out. So we went and blessed the house and then somebody started screaming and climbing up the wall and we had to lock her in the room until...

Na just kidding I just wanted to spice it up a bit. We just blessed it and got the heck outta there.

Also this week nobody bought bread for the Sacrament so what did we do?  Use some crackers that we found.  During the prayer it was my turn to say it for the bread.  When I got to the part where I have to say, "Bless the bread,” I didn’t know what to say…bread or crackers? Bread or crackers?  I had a 50/50 shot.  So after 5 seconds I thought "this isn’t bread... they are crackers..." so I went with "and bless these crackers for all the..."   Did I have to do that blessing again? Yep but its a good thing that I blessed the crackers too.

This week we had quite a bit of people tell us that they didn’t want to listen to us at all or accept us.  This is normal.  Nothing to see folks but I was reading this morning and I found this scripture.

 Rev3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

There are so many people that have no clue what we are sharing and they don’t even know how happy it can make them.  But until they open the door we cant do anything.

It is the same with all of us.  The days that I am not reading the scriptures, I have doubts.  The days that I do I feel a difference.  God gives us the scriptures so that we can know for ourselves the truth and what decisions we should take in our lives, but we will never know until we take the decision to open up the door and experiment with his words.  We will never know if God lives if we never look for him. So that is what I invite you all to do in this Christmas season, open up the door.

I love you all and have a great week

Love, Elder Merkley

The Laughing Stock

12/2/14 

Well... this week we have officially become the laughing stock of the town.

A couple of weeks ago some drunk guys made a scene with us with half of Monte watching us.  This week we went to one of the only grocery stores here in Monte and when we went to go pay we didn’t have money.... and we had to go scrounge for it while the other half of Monte was watching.

So now we are either "those kids without money" or the "drunk guys friends", take your pick.

We also had cambios this week.  Did we not get to change? No. Did I confuse some of you with that question? I hope so.

Last week we accidentally stayed for a bit longer writing than we should have and so I was thinking a little bit about what it means to serve God with all of you heart, might, mind and soul.  That its not important what you are doing but that you will put him over everything to make sure that you can help other people.  If you have to sacrifice a little bit, you gotta sacrifice to get the job done.  I don’t know why but I felt that I should add that little side commentary.

Right after I was thinking my companion wasn’t looking or paying attention and the car in front of him stopped.  It was kind of like in the Superman movie where you see the bullet in slow motion hits superman in the eye and then the bullet crunches like an accordion.  My companero was the bullet and the car was superman.

We were teaching a woman this week named Ayelen.  We almost finished teaching her a lesson that took like 40 minutes when her kids walked in.  So we tried teaching them too and it took like another 40 minutes and right as we were about to end it again her husband walked in. So we started it up again and taught for another 40 minutes the exact same thing. We were getting close to finishing and it was like watching the end of the race in little rascals where they are so neck and neck that you are biting your fingernails, Ya I was watching the door with that much anticipation.  Praying that nobody else would enter the door and that my companion would just say amen and then start saying the prayer. And luckily that is just what he did.  

Great news.  We got some sun this week.  Bad news. It was super hot and dusty. Good news we were working hard this week. Bad news nobody was letting us in. Good news I got so tan. 

A little punk kid tried riding on my bike so I told him that the only way that he can ride it is if he uses a helmet.  They don’t ever use helmets here so he agreed and then when he was like 20 feet and in a mocking face looked at me and took off the helmet...

...or at least tried to.  It was clipped on the bottom and he couldn’t find out how to take it off so he had to keep it on.  Sucker.

I saw a hat that said YoungMoneyCashMoneyBillionaires.  I don’t know why I thought that it was so funny.

We went on my companions first divisions where he went to go teach some investigadors when I went to go teach a lesson too. They grow up so fast...

But anyways I got to the house and the 8 year old kid with my same birthday was playing with legos and bionnicles.  I felt like I was right at home and played hard for a good 20 minutes.  Man I really miss my legos sometimes.

I killed a spider the size of a quarter yesterday.

Anyways, the work here is kinda slow but there is a reason to everything, right?  I was reading 1 Corinthians 9:10 today and I felt like it was talking to us.  God wants us all to learn something.  If we keep going with hope and faith that things will get better we will be partakers of this hope.  Good things will come to pass.

I love you all and I hope that things are going well.

Love,

Elder Merkley

Hard Times in Monte

11/24/14

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARE, ANTO, SHAUNY, CART AND THE PEOPLE THAT I WILL WRITE TO NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I’m gonna see how fast I can write.

This week I was throwing out some trash and I thought that I threw away some keys so I went and grabbed the trash out of the trash can right as a biker passed and he said to me "hungry huh?"... Dang it...

We had some sweet Asado (Argentine BBQ)

We had intercambios, I went with my buddy from the coast named Elder Wilson.  We had a splendid time.

We had lunch with Noel and Silvana from Ezeiza again and then they gave us a sack of like 20 milanesas because we didn’t eat them all.

While we were on the intercambios we were walking and we saw a butterfly pass in front of my face and I did a cup clap thing And when we looked inside I totally caught that little guy.  I’m kinda like Steve Irwin (the crocodile hunter.) 

We woke up bright and early and I don’t know how but we somehow got into the talk that we should go to the Catholic Cemetery down the street in the morning.  So we went for a nice morning stroll in the cemetery.

We had a sweet lesson with some members and about how one of them should go on the mission.

We broke our bike the night before on the intercambio (folded my tire like a hard shell taco) and we only had one bike.  So I drove and my companion sat on the steering wheel thing.  We were going and there was a little bump so he tensed up his hands and it ended up forcing us into a ditch, crash landing and catapulting him off the bike.  The only times that I have heard a scream like that is on Lord of the Rings when Frodo gets a good ole sword to the stomach.

In this week we have been having all sorts of bugs enter in the inch of space that we have in our front door and the ground.  Yesterday they made a plan to flank us.  Literally 50 beetles started flying around in our house.  

Also in news of bugs we have found some good ol leeches and fleas in our house:)  yay:)

We have been having some hard times here in Monte.  There aren’t that many people who are listening to us so we decided to do a fast to find some new people.  I don’t know.  During the fast I just felt a new hope and it was sweet to see how many people started saying that they would love to listen to us.

We don’t always see eye to eye on everything but these past weeks I have been asking a question and then everything I read I am looking for an answer.  So the other day I asked, " How can my companion and I get along better?" and I came across Romans 12:10-18

 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; inhonour preferring one
another;

 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

 14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weeps.

 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

I thought that it was the sweetest answer ever.  Especially the last verse.  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Sometimes it is so tempting to just show that you are right.  But that’s not what life is about.  We aren’t here to be right but to become better people.  Sometimes we have to do what’s right and defend ourselves but in other occasions we just have to slow down and listen.  If we look for an answer from God he will always answer us. If you need something from him you just gotta ask.  Good luck and have a great week.

LOVE

ELDER MERKLEY