Calamba 1st

Kamusta Everybody

 This past week has gone really well! I was transferred to Calamba Laguna and my new trainee is Elder Nikau from Australia. We have spent a lot of the week getting to know the area and meeting the members.  Wednesday for New Years we had to be in the Apartment by 7. We woke up at around 11:30 and sat outside to watch all of the fireworks. Our apartment is really close to the city plaza so we were really close to the big fireworks show.  Everyone also had really loud horns that they blew at midnight. 

 We have been doing a lot of tracking and were really blessed to find the Mozo family, one of the first people we tried to talk with. Brother Mozo was outside and we stopped to ask for directions. We talked with him a little about the church and then he invited us to come back. We got to teach him and his wife on Saturday and it went really well. His wife is very familiar with the bible and said how she really wants their family to be able to attend church and be united. We're excited to be able to teach them again tomorrow. 

 The ward here is somewhat small, about 70 members came to church yesterday. And there are a lot of less active priesthood holders. I'm excited over the next while to be able to try and help build up the ward here. The Bishop is really excited about the work and gave us a list of members to find and visit. 

 I hope everyone has a great first week of 2015!

 Ingat

   Elder Merrill 

Home away from home

Magandang Hapon sa inyo lahat!

 This past week has been great. There has been so much going on but it’s been really fun and there have been lots of unique ways to be able to share the gospel. Today is my last day here in Tanuaun. This next transfer I will be training and reopening another area again. It will be sad to leave but I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend my last week.

 On Thursday for Christmas we were able to visit several members and a few investigators. My favorite part of the day was how everyone was really happy. People gave gifts but you could feel that that wasn't the most important thing..even for the little kids. Everyone was focused on the Savior and their families. Even with the gifts that were exchanged it was easy to see that they were given with the person in mind and lots of thought had been put-into it. 

 Then Saturday was Fiesta. It was hard to teach because everyone was either cooking or eating, but we were able to find some potential investigators while visiting a few members. It reminded me of a quote by  Elder Christopherson in Preach my Gospel about how we should always have our nets in the water, or in other words, we should be looking for opportunities to share the gospel. Even the busiest day can be productive if you look for opportunities to accomplish your purpose. 

 Yesterday, several of the members prepared a really nice birthday dinner for me. I am officially no longer a teenager!!  It was really kind of them to prepare something and it made me feel like I was in my home away from home. 

I hope everyone has a great new year!

  Ingat

     Elder Merrill

Merry Christmas

Maligayang Pasko sa inyo lahat!

 This past week has been great as we have been preparing for Christmas. While there may not be snow or very many Christmas lights here there is still a lot of excitement. For me the best part has been teaching members how they can help others feel the Saviors love this Christmas. 

 On Saturday we had the ward Christmas party. It was luau themed and went really well. We helped decorate the chapel to look Hawaiian and the other members helped cook and made presentations and the Relief Society and Primary did dance numbers. The Primary was very funny, I was impressed by how good they were. 

 Sunday night we had the Baptism of Raell. The final member of the Gallinero family to be baptized. It was an amazing baptism and the spirit was really strong. President Mangum, as well as the other couple missionaries, were able to attend. Raell bore a great testimony and it was wonderful to see his father baptize him. That was the best Christmas gift this year. 

 I hope everyone has a great Christmas day and can find ways to bless others as well

 Ingat

 Elder Merrill

Typhoon Ruby

Kamusta Tropa!

Sorry it has been several weeks since I last emailed. A few weeks ago there wasn't enough time and last week our email time got cut short due to the typhoon.  As missionaries and members we were well prepared, the fear was for those who weren't. The suspense of waiting for the storm was unnerving, I think suspense is certainly the worst kind of fear.  The storm passed through on Monday and we were blessed that it wasn't strong, just heavy rain and some wind. 

The weather on Friday was really nice and it didn't seem like there was a typhoon at all. That day we actually had a few really great lessons about the second coming. If we are prepared we have nothing to fear but we feel anxious for those who aren't well prepared, even though they know it’s coming. We also talked about how we need to strengthen our spiritual foundation, just as we need to strengthen the foundation of the roof for the storm. You can never be too prepared.

Other than that we have been having a great time teaching about the Savior as we prepare for Christmas. Our mission president challenged us to read the Four Gospels. I finished last week, and  as I have come to better understand His love for me I feel anxious to help others feel the same. I think it is no coincidence that after the four gospels there is the book of Acts. Just like the apostles, as we come to know the Savior we should act and share the gospel with others. 

 I hope everyone is doing well!

 Ingat

 Elder Merrill

Happy Thanksgiving

Kamusta Tropa Ko!

 Ang init dine sa Batangas eh. This past week has been really good! My old companion Elder Moleworth was transferred and I got a new companion, Elder Poblete.  Elder Poblete is from Cebu but he speaks fluent English and is very Americanized. Cebu daw (he said) has a lot of foreigners. He is the first companion I’ve had who also loves jelly beans so I think we are are going to get along great!

 This week we had stake conference and theme was “Strengthening Families”. I really liked the story that one of the speakers shared, she told a story of an anthropologist in Africa who wanted to observe how little children there played so he set up a game. He bought a bunch of candy and put it in a basket at the base of a tree and told the children that they were to form a circle around the tree and stand 100 meters away.  Then when he said “go, they could run to the tree and the first one there would win all of the candy. However, when he said “go”, instead of running the children held hands and walked to the tree together, so there was no winner or loser, and they could all share the candy. She said how when we are that unified in our family, and there is no competition, we will truly be happy. 

 I hope everyone has a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving!

 Ingat 

Elder Merrill

Opportunities to Teach

Kamusta Everybody!

This past few week has gone really well! We’ve been seeing a lot of success and surprise blessings. I am realizing how important it is to recognize every opportunity to teach.  Recently, we’ve been able to share a few messages with members and less actives. One of the best lessons was with a Sister Mae.  She has two sisters, one is a very active member and the other is not yet a member.  However Sister Mae and her dad are members but less active.  We had previously been focusing on the sister who isn’t a member but this past week, that sister wasn’t home so we shared the message with Sister Mae instead. She was really receptive and said how she had been waiting for a push to get active again. It made me realize how there are usually people around us that need a little help but sometimes we don't realize it. 

 On Saturday, our recent convert, Grace, had her 21st birthday.  Her family lives really far away and so she was feeling sad when she told us she didn’t have any plans for her birthday. In the Philippines, a girl’s 21st birthday is usually a big occasion. We set up an appointment on Saturday, to teach her, and so she thought we had forgotten it was her birthday, but we’d actually planned a surprise party with the other SA in the ward. When we got to the house my companion and I went in, like we were going to teach, and then the SA’s knocked on the door. Grace was so surprised she even cried! She said she was really happy she had a family here in the church and it was the best birthday she’s had. 

 I hope everyone has a great week! Here is something one of the members, Sister Anne, said that I really liked: 

“Other churches change for you, but here we have to change for the church and for God"

 Ingat

   Elder Merrill

Nov. 3, 2014

Kamusta  Everybody,

 This past week has been great! We had several uplifting meetings. The first was on Tuesday when Elder Robbins, on of the presidents of the 70, came and spoke to us. He talked about the companionship doctrines of agency, responsibility and control. He had us help him make a list of excuses that people make, for example blame, self justification, self pity, rationalization etc.. He then explained how when we use any of these excuses to try and avoid 100% responsibility that we give up control over our lives. He used the example of Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon. They repeatedly used these excuses and eventually Satan had complete control of their lives. Essentially when we refuse to make excuses and accept full responsibility for our lives we will be in complete control of ourselves. 

  On Sunday night we were also able to watch a broadcast given by Elder Oaks. He was in Manila and addressed all of the Philippines. His talk was really good. It was interesting because he quoted heavily from a talk he gave 10 years ago when he was the area president of the Philippines. And all of the things he said back then are still very applicable today. For example daily scripture study, paying tithing and giving up cultural practices that aren't in harmony with the gospel. It made me realize that God won’t give us much new revelation until we do things what he has already said. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

 Ingat

   Elder Merrill