Hello Friends!
Another incredible week has passed by! Sister Garner and I have been busy with exchanges, visiting with members and investigators, and mastering the art of Ukrainian doll making!(The members are so kind to us) I absolutely love the area that I am serving in and the people that are serving alongside me.
Just a little bit about the area that we cover, which includes one ward and a branch: The Borschagovski ward is the biggest in Ukraine (Native Ukrainian and Russian speaking members)! We cover a large area and often times we travel all the way across Kiev to visit members of the International branch (This congregation includes missionaries and people from Nigeria or America who live in Ukraine). Last week, when attempting to visit a family in the branch, we found ourselves at the doorsteps of the US Embassy! We take little buses and the metro on the daily. I am starting to feel like a true local now that I am understanding bus routes and am in charge of the metro card. Power moves only!
The youth in our ward are AMAZING! This week, we had an activity where we talked about the importance of missionary work. We all got into groups and went to apartments of members of the church who have not attended in quite awhile. We went to five or six members and only one of them answered the door, but the youth were still so positive and happy to be doing missionary work. Some of them even asked us if they could contact with us on Friday night... What?! These darling girls want to spend their Friday night outside in the cold, sharing the gospel! How cool is that! I am so grateful for their examples.
Another incredible young person is Kate! Kate is 17 and she loves learning about the gospel . She is excited to be baptized and absolutely adores the temple. Kate lives very near to the temple and she has always wanted to go inside. On Wednesday, we were able to take her inside to sit in the waiting room so that she could feel the special spirit that the temple holds. It was such an incredible experience.
We had an awesome lesson with our friend Nazar! My favorite part of our lesson was when we asked him to read a scripture from the Book of Mormon and before reading he said to us, "I need to read this with respect and emotion because this is a very sacred book". Wow! It was a great reminder for me that the Book of Mormon is a holy book and it really should be read and treated with the utmost respect. Nazar and his mom, Valentina have come to church everyday for about a month now and they love the spirit that they feel at church and when they learn about the gospel. 
This week, Sister Garner and I had the opportunity to visit a little city outside of Kiev called Zhytomyr. There, we went on exchanges with other sisters, including my MTC companion, Sister Melendez! It was so fun teaching and learning from the other sisters. We spent the day contacting and teaching. It was a blast! Sister Melendez and I reminisced over MTC memories and it was so fun seeing how much we have grown since then.
Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support. I feel it!
Christ knows each of us individually. He loves us and wants us to return to Him.
Love,
Sister Merrill
1. Got a Vishivanka!
2. A whole lot of vareniki
3. Sister Melendenz and I!
4. Yum!
5. Our district family photo at our mini thanksgiving:)
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