Look Who's Back

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Look who's back, back again! :-) 

I am so thankful for the most incredible year and a half.  Ukraine, Moldova, & Florida have been so good to me.  The church is so true! :-)

Пока пока!

      November 9, 2020

     The time has come!

This Wednesday, my wild year and a half long journey will come to an end:( Although this is a pretty bittersweet time, I am mostly feeling overwhelmed with gratitude. 

I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve in two incredible missions, under the direction of two inspired mission presidents. Having the unique opportunity to participate in missionary work in different places in the world has been a wonderful experience. It is evidence to me of how much God loves His children in every nation in the world. The way that each of my missions have gone about doing missionary work has been completely different, but has catered to the individual needs of the people that live there. 

I am so grateful for the people that I have grown to know and love. Every member of the church, friend I made, and person I talked to on the street in Ukraine, Moldova, and Florida have a special place in my heart. My mission wouldn't be the same without....

 

Miss Alphie, the ex Ukrainian gang member that we taught, the woman with the raccoon, Gina with the three legged cat, the man who would give me a poem he wrote every Sunday, all of my English class friends who taught me the importance of wearing tracksuits while playing pingpong, the babushkas that would guard our apartment, and the classic "Florida men" that look straight out of the news. These people provided quality content for my emails. 

I am also grateful for the members of the church in Ukraine, Moldova, and Florida who remain faithful despite challenging circumstances. Many would come to church every Sunday and diligently serve others even though they were dealing with very difficult trials. They are great examples to me as they strive to magnify their callings and serve as Christ would.

I am thankful for the friends of mine who completely changed their lives because of the testimony that they recieved from learning the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Often times, this did not come easy and was not convenient for them, but they were steadfast and immovable in their devotion to the Lord.  I admire them and am so thankful to have been able to witness the changes that occurred in their lives because of Jesus Christ and his gospel.

I am grateful for my parents. I am at this point in my life because of them! Not only did my parents prepare packages for holidays and made time to chat every Monday throughout my mission, but their example of making Christ the center of our home has become SO important to me. As I prepare to return back to the real world and face "big girl" decisions, I cannot help but reflect upon the diligence and faith that they maintain while raising our family. My parents' genuine desire to serve not only me and my brothers, but everyone around them has helped me understand how I can be an instrument in the Lord's hands. 

My parents are the most Christlike people that I know and I will never be able to repay all that they have done for me. I love you Mom and Dad!

I am grateful for all the memes that my brothers have sent me. Seriously. They have provided some much needed laughs during tough times:)

I am grateful for the opportunity to experience and fall in love with the Ukrainian culture and Russian language. It is just awesome.

I am grateful for the power of prayer. I have developed a new relationship with God because of what I have learned on my mission and the changes that I have made in my life. I can come home from my mission and say that I know my Heavenly Father and I know that He loves me.

I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My knowledge and testimony of the greatest gift of all time, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, has been refined over the past year and a half. I have seen people around me completely change their perspectives and ultimately their lives because they recognize that our Heavenly Father has given us the opportunity to repent. Not only has this principle changed the lives of those around me, it has directly impacted my view of life, and understanding of God's love for me. Because Christ died for me, I can become cleansed from sin, I can live with my family and my Heavenly Father again, I can overcome trials, I can have hope amidst pain and suffering, and I can become better every single day. There is and will always be peace and hope in Christ

I am grateful for God's individual plan for me. As I reflect upon the wild ride that my mission has been, I cannot help but feel so loved by my Heavenly Father. He has been aware of my every feeling. He knows how much I love Ukraine and Moldova. He knew that there were things that I needed to learn in Flordia. He knew how heartbreaking it was for me to leave my friends and mission in Ukraine/Moldova.

He also knew which companions that I needed to serve with to help me adjust to Flordia mission life.  He knew that in the Palm Harbor ward, I would have some crazy connections with people that I loved in Ukraine. He knew that a Keiv Deli was a couple miles down the road from my appartment. He knew that that one time we knocked on the wrong door, an Armenian woman would answer and I would get to speak to her in Russian. He also knew that in Tampa, a Russian restaurant would be right across the street.

He knew that I would learn skills and experience things that I wouldn't have been able to if I had stayed in Ukraine. He knew that I would have to rely on Him more than I had ever done in my life as I adjusted to a new mission. He knew that because of that, I would become converted, and develop an unshakable testimony.

God is so good! These are just a few of the incredible tender mercies that I have experienced in the past little while. I could go on and on about how thankful I have been to be able to give my will to the Lord, and witness His unimaginable plan for me. 

Here is your last photo dump! 

See you soon:)

-Cестра Меррил

Miss Alphie's Favorite

 Monday, October 19, 2020

Hi, everyone!

I just wanted to hop on here and update you all on the past few weeks. 

I have been transfered from my lovely Palm Harbor area and am finishing up my mission here in Tampa! My area covers the mission office and a Russian restaurant called Babushkas, so only good vibes exist here. 

I miss my companion, Sister Leiseth, and roommates, but I know that Palm Harbor is in good hands:) Some final epic moments that I spent there included cleaning out a hoarder's garage, unsucessfully trying to find manatees in the bayou, being loved and spoiled by the members in the ward, and praying that the bottles we were throwing out were filled with yellow Gatorade as we cleaned out another hoarder's garage. I miss Palm Harbor ALOT, but the Tampa area as been treating me well. 

We are teaching some pretty cool people here! Each one of our friends have different backgrounds and trials that they are facing, but the message of the gospel has been able to help each one of them feel the peace that comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It has been wonderful witnessing how the teaching of the gospel are able to address their concerns and questions individually. We were able to invite two of our good pals, Raymond and Michael, to be baptized last week! November 7th and November 14th will be great days:) They are both super awesome and we are excited for the both of them.

Our area covers a pretty sketchy part of the city so I have already had my fair share of experiences where I have had to ask myself, "hmm should we be here?". On one particular occasion, we were searching for the apartment of a woman who had previously wanted a Book for Mormon. As we wandered around the dilapidated apartment complex we saw a woman dancing her heart out in the middle of the street. We said "hi" and before we could introduce ourselves, she yelled into her soundless microphone that the Mormons have arrived! At first, she introduced herself as Miss Alphie but as we began talking to her, she kept changing her voices and switching conversation topics. At one point, she had a really deep voice and said, "I am God. The Alpha and Omega." Turns out, she is schizophrenic, BUT she just wanted to share a message of love and joy with the people in apartment complex at 8:30 pm! And so did we! Although Ms. Alphie and I had different ways of going about spreading peace and joy, I am grateful for her efforts and dance moves that made my night. And by the way, she kept pointing to me saying, " I like you the most."

I am excited to be in an area with a lot of work and plan to give it everything I have until the very end. The end actually has a date now, I will be completing my mission on November 11th.😮 Yep, you heard it. But there is so much more work to do before I go:)

I loved hearing the words of our prophet last General Conference. I am so grateful that God continues to direct His church today through prophets and apostles. I know that President Nelson is a prophet of God and I love him! If you would like to know more about why we need modern day prophets, shoot me an email! 

I love my mission! I love you!

С любовью,

Sister Merrill

Сестра Меррил

Pictures!:)

1. Goodbyes to the blonde-tourage

2. Selfie with our girl, Miss Alphie. As we were leaving she let us know that we were her soldiers. A high honor. Selfie with Sophia:)

3. Handing out flowers to people coming to get food from the community food pantry. The girl on my left is Ashton and she taught me a pretty cool Tiktok dance😎 if you respond to this email I will send a video of us both performing in my next group email👀.

4. Selfie with Sophia:)

5 & 6. Just quirky Florida things🤪

7. Party at the farmers market.

Sister Merrill Update!

 Monday, September 7, 2020

Hi friends!

Long time no letter.. so sorry! I am still thriving here in the Palm Harbor area, along with my Chinese speaking companion and the other sisters working in the ward. I hope that I can update you all as concisely as possible:)

•Our neighbors bought us a cake to thank us for everything that we have done for them which includes that time that we set the fire out because the mom didn't know how to work a fire extinguisher, that time that we had to save the mom because her arm was stuck behind the coach, and that time that we had to help out when they didn't feel a great spirit in their apartment. It is a well deserved cake! Then they proceeded to ask if we could braid their hair. I'll attach a photo below.

•I have been able to get some groceries from my favorite Keiv Deli down the road and befriend the workers there. They really want to practice English with me because apparently they only socialize with people who speak Russian even though they live in America... pretty interesting! Maybe we will have to open a Russian speaking branch here;)

•Evelyn (our 90 year old queen) is getting baptized! We set her date for November just because the conditions with COVID are still kinda crazy but she is so awesome! She wrote an essay about repentance and also told us that she is addicted to the Book of Mormon... What an icon!

•We have been having a tough time finding new people to teach, so we have decided to get cReaTiVe! One morning, we went to a park and drew a bunch of uplifting stuff on the sidewalk with chalk. And wOw the park goers loved it. A whole swarm of older folks gathered around us and fawned over our mediocre art. One of them even offered to draw a Lamb to represent the lamb of God...I will attach a photo of it. It is a masterpiece. 

•We usually spend our language studies outside in different parks so that we can talk to as many people as we can if they happen to come our way. We have been able to chat with some pretty incredible people, including Gena! We met her and her three legged cat, Cougar! (Speaking of cougars... Catch Sister Merrill at BYU this winter!🎉). After chatting with Gena, we were able to get her info and we met at the church that next day. And wow... Gena has had a really tough life. Basically anything hard that could happen to someone has happened to Gena. It was difficult testifying to Gena about how much God loves her when she believes has had a life void of blessings or love from Him. 

I have been thinking a lot about why my life has been so different compared to Gena's. She is also a child of God, but she has had so many different experiences than I have had.

While hearing about Gena's life and hardships, I was reminded of this scripture in 1 Nephi 11:17.

"And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

I know that God loves all of His children. God loves Gena. God loves you! He has sent us here on this earth to learn and grow and we must go through unpleasant things in order to appreciate the pleasant and beautiful things that are to come. We may not understand the reasoning behind what is thrown at us, but God does! He will shape us into who He needs us to become. God will never give us a trial that we cannot overcome and this principle was evident while I listened to Gena and saw exactly what God sees in her. She is so strong and had been lead to the park that evening for a reason. We are excited to learn from Gena and continue to help her see the light that comes from Jesus Christ.

I love you all! Thank you for your support!

Sister Merrill

普通话, Майнкрафт, and Miracles

 Monday, July 6, 2020

Translation: Mandarin, Minecraft and Miracles

Hello everyone!

I apologize for my lack of updates, but I assure you that this email will make up for it! We are trying to staying positive and are working hard under these circumstances. We still cannot visit members unless it is for service, but I have been so grateful for the ward and their kindness towards us. They have been supplying us with endless amounts of service projects so that we can serve them and get to know them better. Palm Harbor rocks!

I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Leiseth and she has come straight from the home MTC where she studied Chinese for nine weeks. She has already studied it throughout high school and college so she is basically fluent. Serving together has been a blast. She has been able to teach in Chinese already with our recent convert friend, Yi!

I am just going to jump right into the crazy miracles that have happened in the past couple of weeks. 

1.We taught our friend, Evelyn (our favorite 92 year old Wii bowler) how to zoom! She considers herself a "zoomer". Oh... and... she wants to be baptized! She is living in an assisted living facility so we have not been able to meet with her face to face but we pray that after the restrictions ease and conditions are better, Evelyn can become a member of Christ's restored gospel:)

2. There is a Kiev Deli two miles down the road! It is complete with all the classic Ukrainian treats and dishes. Yep, God loves me.

3. I got to zoom my OG mission in Ukraine! I bore my testimony in one of their devotionals last week. I never thought that I'd spend my 13 month mark baring my testimony at 1:00am in the morning through zoom. It was so nice to see everyone and say my final good byes to President and Sister Kumferman. They have been the most incredible examples to me and I loved serving with them.<3

4. Okay here is the coolest miracle ever. Backstory: In Ukraine, there is a babyshka named Tatiana who makes beautiful Ukrainian dolls and every single missionary wants a doll from her before they leave the mission. I was fortunate enough to have served in ward that Tatiana and her husband lived in so we became friends. She would have us over all the time to eat traditional Ukrianian food and teach us how to make these beautiful dolls. I pushed off the thought of buying one of her dolls and other souviners until the end of my mission (big mistake... huge;)) but due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to buy one. 
Flashforward three months to me sitting at our dining room table, finding a member of the ward that I am serving in who is friends with Tatiana on Facebook! So random, right? Well, after getting in touch with this member, Carol, I found out that Tatiana's daughter married Carol's grandson! wHaT! And Tatiana had visited Carol when they got married in the Orlando temple! Mind=blown. So, we went to drop off cookies to Carol and had a great time getting to know her better. She is the nicest, most thoughtful woman ever. As we were leaving, she gave me a bag with one of Tatiana's beautiful dolls in it. I started to cry because in that moment, I felt God's love for and awareness of me so powerfully.

God knows that I left my heart in Ukraine. He knows that it has been tough to leave and start a new mission in a different country, with different people, and different everything. There is no coincidence that I was sent to Tampa and more specifically, this ward! The fact that there is a recent convert in the ward from Ukriane, that there is a literally a Ukrainian deli two miles down the road (I mean seriously, I had never even heard of one of those in America!😂), and that I had the opportunity to connect with Carol, all show me how much God truly is aware of me. 

I promise you that God loves and is aware of you. He lifts, He carries, and He saves! 

I love you all so much. Thank you for your constant love and support throughout these past 13 months. It has been quite the journey;) 

Сестра Меррил

P.S- If you ever decide to serve a mission, read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and study up on your Minecraft knowledge. You will become automatic BFFs with all the seven year olds at service projects if you flex on them with words like, enderman, creeper, and diamond sword.

A whole bunch of photos for you;)

1) Tarpon Springs

2) Big Fish

3) OG Ukraine mission zoom call

4) Birthday lunch with Sister Vogel

3. Carol and I

4. My doll and I😭💙

8. Fourth of July party rock

9 EVELYN AHH SO CUTE 

Ukraine-> Moldova-> Idaho-> Florida

May 11, 2020 

Greetings from humid, jungley, alligator-lacking Florida! 

 Like all of you are experiencing with your plans, I am shocked but not surprised to be here. These days, it seems like anything goes:) My transfer at home in Idaho was awesome. I was so sad to cut my time in Ukraine short, but I loved spending time with my family. We spent our time hiking, biking, and catching up on movies:) One of the best parts was having my mom as my companion! I miss our drives and talking to her literally 24/7. 

 I received my call on April 28th and had one week to get ready! We spent that time learning more about my home for the next six months and shopping for *pants! *My mission is a pants only mission while proselytizing because of the bugs. Saying good bye to my family a second time was hard, but I am so grateful for the time that we had together! 

 And now I am a missionary in the Florida Tampa mission! Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive. I flew in last Wednesday equipped in a mask and rode with a whole row to myself on both flights:) My mission President and his wife are INCREDIBLE and are so excited to have 180 more missionaries joining their mission throughout the next 18 weeks. Insane. I flew in with 14 other missionaries who were reassigned from South American countries. I have had to do a lot of explaining as of why I am here when all of the Europen missionaries stayed in their original missions. And I am looking forward to finding the person or the "why" behind it:) 

The first day, we were assigned companions and l was not given one or two.. but three! I have three awesome companions! There is Sister Hartshorn from Washington, and Sister Nestman and Sister Vogul from Utah! They are so awesome and I am so bLesSed to serve with them! We are serving in an area called Palm Harbor. It is so beautiful! Everything is just so... Florida. The trees are so pretty and we are right next to the ocean. Apparently, there are not very many alligators here:( There is an area called Tarpon Springs and it was settled by Greeks and it still has that Greek feel to it. They dive for sponges in the bayou and even have a sponge museum AND factory! What more could you want in an area?! 

 I have only been here for four days so I have not met all of our friends that we are teaching but we have a lot of potential in this area! I am pUmPeD! My companions are really passionate about learning Russian so that has been super fun. They have the alphabet down and love the word breakfast (завтрак). So they walk around all day saying breakfast in Russian.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! It's been a good 20 years. We are going to grab some Mexican food and eat it at the bayou to celebrate. I hope that I can see some manatees. I mean, if I can't see any gators, I HAVE to see some manatees.

I'll keep you all updated. Love you all! 

P.S: Carol Baskins' Big Cat Rescue is a couple miles down the rode from us. Maybe next P day we will check it out;) I promise that I will take more pictures this week. 

  (Photo) We put the quad in squad

Florida Tampa Mission Reassignment

 April 30, 2020

Missionary Temporary Reassignments

Dear President,

Thank you for your help in supporting missionaries who return home and were furloughed due to COVID-19. We have new information for Madeline Ruth Merrill that we ask you to provide to her.

Sister Merrill has been temporarily reassigned to the Florida Tampa Mission. She will report to the mission the week of 5/6/20. The exact reporting date will be indicated on the travel itinerary that she will receive in the next few days. The length of service in this mission is unknown, and reassignment to her original mission will be based upon conditions associated with COVID-19.

Please contact and inform Sister Merrill and her family of this temporary reassignment and start date. Sister Merrill has been reassigned by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and we invite you to help her feel the sacredness of her call. She will not receive a reassignment letter.

Tomorrow, Sister Merrill will receive an email to her missionary.org and personal email accounts with additional information on preparing to depart. The email will direct her to visit the Missionary Portal where she will find important requirements to complete before departure. Please emphasize the importance of visiting the portal as soon as possible and to follow the additional instruction there.

Please interviews and set apart Sister Merrill before she is scheduled to travel. (see General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 24.8.3). Make sure that she has a valid temple recommend.

Please notify the Missionary Department if Sister Merrill is unable to start on the date listed above.

If you have any questions, please contact the Missionary Department at (801) 240-2179.

Sincerely, The Missionary Department