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.