Week 26 - Caught in the Whitewash

Friends and Family, Aloha.

This week's been really crazy. We just got the news that both Elder Hill and I are going to be transferred out of our area. Here we call it whitewashing when both missionaries are taken out and two new ones are brought in. If you don't remember, my last area I was in was whitewashed when I came here to Big Island. My new area is back on Oahu, in Waipahu. I'll be serving in the all-Marshallese branch with a Marshallese companion, so hopefully my language skills will pick up.

I'd been praying for Heavenly Father to give me more opportunities to use Marshallese because I hardly get to use it in Honoka'a, but this isn't really the answer I was looking for. I've come to love the people here so much and don't wanna leave, and the members feel the same way about us. We had almost everyone in the ward come up to us after they sang Aloha Oe and thanks us and tell us how much they're going to miss us. 

When I first came into this ward there was basically nothing. There hadn't been a baptism in who knows how long, we had no with dates, and almost no investigators. But my companion and I worked hard, got a baptism, built our teaching pool, and got the ward members to start coming out with us to teach! It still amazes me how close you can become with people you met only a few months ago.

The hardest person to say goodbye to was our recent convert Haunani. She hates seeing people she cares for leave and could barely stand the thought of one of us leaving (which we thought was going to happen) Then when she found out both of us were going, she said she cried all night. And although it's hard, the important thing is that her conversion is to the gospel, not to us. While she loves and respects us, she has a deeper love for God and recognizes that when she puts her trust in Him, He'll provide, and that everything will work out in the end.

One of the speakers in sacrament meeting yesterday talked about how important it is to hold fast to that conversion when you face opposition in your life. He talked about how he didn't receive his conversion until 19 years after his baptism. It wasn't until then that he developed that true love for, and relationship with Christ and His gospel.

And I feel like I can relate in a lot of ways. Especially growing up in the church, I feel like I often took the gospel for granted in my life. I can honestly say, I don't feel that I received a conversion until I came out on a mission. Nothing has strengthened my testimony more of the truthfulness of this gospel and the blessings it brings, than testifying of it every day and seeing the blessings first-hand. And even now, my conversion is still an ongoing process. We can never become too close to God, or too converted. And that's why it's important to always keep pushing forward and stay true to what we know.

I love you guys and I'll let you know next week how things are back on Oahu. Ofa lahi atu!

Week 25 - The Dunk

We had a baptism!!!!!

So a baptism's kind of a big deal, but for our ward, it's a huge deal. Like I said, we've had a baptism drought in Honoka'a for the past roughly eight months. We had our investigator Haunani that I talked about get baptized this week and it was awesome!

Pre-baptism miracle. So Hauanani was supposed to be baptized a few weeks ago, but postponed her baptism because she wanted her parents to be there, but they were staying in their house in Hana, Maui (a different island). We worked and worked with her, and she finally agreed that this was her day, and that the most important person to be there was her, because this day is all about her and her choice to follow Christ. So she agreed to be baptized, and move forward with it regardless of whether her parents would be able to be there or not. So we had everything all set for the baptism, and the day before she went to the next town over to do some shopping for white clothes. While she was there, she ran into her dad, who didn't even tell her he was coming to Big Island! He asked her if she wanted to come watch the super bowl with him on sunday, and she replied no, and that she was going to be at church. She also told him she had her baptism tomorrow and invited him to come. He accepted and said he'd love to be there to support his daughter. He showed up at the baptism and supported her through it all!

We've also been meeting with this guy Ted. He has such a profound love for Christ, one I haven't seen in a lot of members, but he tells us he's looking for the truth and can't seem to recognize when it's right in front of him. He keeps going to all these different churches, but seems timid about giving ours a try. We invited him to Haunani's baptism and he said he'd love to be there to support anyone who's taking a step to bring them closer to Christ. He showed up and had the best experience. He called us after and told us that he thinks he's finally found what he's been looking for! He loved how Christ-centered, loving, and caring the members were. He told us he felt the Holy Spirit witness to him that this is the place he needed to be going. And on top of that we introduced him to Haunani after, who was glowing, and they just talked briefly, but she ended up telling him "hopefully you'll be able to get baptized soon too!" And he agreed.

Everything went perfect and Haunani couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day. After the ordinance of the baptism, she gave her testimony to everyone there. She was so full of the spirit and showed and told everyone how much she loves and respects Christ. It was great for her dad and Ted to see how much happiness and fulfillment the gospel has brought to her life. The spirit was crazy strong. And I love how in Hawaii they give leis after big events. She had leis up to her eyes and I don't know how to describe it other than she was just so happy.

She told us that after the baptism was over and everything was cleaned up, she got home at around 2:30. She fed her dogs, and then went right to sleep because she wanted it to beSunday already so she could get the Holy Ghost! Her excitement about the gospel is just what our ward needs, and she's already begun to make a difference and boost people up! After I gave her the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting she was crying, and again just so happy.

I love this work and seeing the change it brings about in people. I, along with Haunani, know the blessings that come from this gospel and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the chance I have to be a part of it.

Ij iakwe kom!

Aloha,

-Elder Sammy Merrill

Week 24 - Back to Basics

Aloha friends and family! Also friends of family, or family of friends...whoever reads this!

A lot has been happening here in the Honoka'a Ward on the Big Island of Hawaii. We have the first baptism in about 8 months in our ward set up for this saturday and a lot of our other investigators are progressing well also! You could really say we're seeing miracles, and the ward recognizes that as well. They keep telling us how they're gonna call our mission president and ask him to keep us both here for the rest of our missions.

But in the middle of all these things that are happening, there's one subject I wanted to talk to everyone about, and that's going back to the basics. This, as you might've guessed, includes your typical primary answers: going to church, reading your scriptures, praying at least every morning and night, and going to the temple.

I'm going to share two examples with you that I've seen over this past week of people who do these things, and who don't. There's this lady, her name is Auntie Kipi. She used to be one of the strongest members in the ward. She was the primary president, seminary teacher, and the main person over genealogy work in our ward. She also worked at the temple twice a week. She had such a strong testimony, but over time she stopped doing these basic things. She stopped reading her scriptures, then stopped praying, then was referred to anti-mormon literature by her "friend". Because she didn't do those basic things, when she read this stuff, she didn't have a strong enough foundation to withstand it. You could say every time she didn't read, didn't pray, skipped church, she moved her house from a rock foundation to a sandy one. And when the rains came down, her house washed away. She now doesn't even come to church and won't talk to anyone in the church or have anything to do with it.

The second story is a lot happier. This is the story about our with date, Haunani. She has been an investigator for about 5 months and has made an incredible change over that time period. At the beginning, she'd blow off appointments, and never keep her commitments. But when I came in, my companion and I continually challenged her to read from the Book of Mormon every day, taught her how to pray, and eventually she accepted the invitation to come to church! As she did these things and strengthened her foundation, she had a complete change of heart, and has been able to withstand the many floods of temptations that have been thrown her way. The gospel has had such a profound impact on her. She gave up smoking and drinking, re-established contact with her parents who she hadn't talked to in years, and broke up with her boyfriend, who she depended on for almost everything. But what she always tells us is "I know the Lord will bless me if I give everything up to follow Him." She knows that even though things are hard right now, it's all going to be worth it in the end. And the reason that she has that faith, and that strength to press on is because she does these basic things and daily strengthens her foundation.

I know sometimes it's hard and these things seem tedious or boring, but it really is through small and simple means that the Lord brings about great miracles. I hope we can all revert back to basics so when the rains and the floods come, we'll be firmly anchored on the rock of Christ!

Week 23 - WARNING: Spiritual Feast Enclosed

Aloha!

This week was a good week. We set records for member present lessons in our area, and got a bunch of new investigators, then to top it off, we got to go the the temple today! I really wish I would've had the desire to go to the temple like I do now when I was back home. As missionaries, we only get to go every other transfer, so it's a real privilege and kinda a big deal when we get to go to the house of the Lord! My favorite part is sitting in the Celestial Room. It's such a peaceful place and the spirit is so strong there. We pray for our investigators and seek revelation on how we can better help the work progress in our areas. It's awesome!

I really wanted to focus my letter this week though, on a conversation we had with a member last night at our dinner appointment. We got into talking about choices, and how important it is to make the right ones, especially because we have the knowledge of the gospel. Then he talked about how lucky we are to have that knowledge and be able to share it with people in this life, and the next. After a while, I told him living the gospel is hard sometimes, and then asked basically "Why do we have to live the gospel and keep the commandments, when there's other people who can do whatever they want in this life, then just accept the gospel in the spirit world and receive exaltation as well". Then he gave me the most spiritual dinner conversation I think I've ever had.

He went on to tell us how he had been less-active for 21 years because he got caught up in the things of the world. He figured it was more fun to not live the gospel. He said the whole time, he didn't recognize what he was missing until his daughter dragged him back to church one day. He said he sat in the back of the chapel, hungover, with sunglasses and a polo shirt on. But the spirit he felt there reminded him of why he used to go to church. He said every song, prayer, and testimony that was given, felt like it was meant just for him. However, he said that it was almost as if there were walls or as it mentions in the scriptures "shackles" preventing him from fully partaking of the spirit that he yearned to feel. He could feel the Holy Ghost, but not with the intensity, or in the way that he wanted to. He said he attributes it to his past choices, in choosing to stray away. He told us that even today, after he's worked so hard to build up his spirituality, he'll just remember something of his past life, then all that building up will be torn down, and he'll have to start from square one again. He said he feels like, even though in the spirit world they can accept the gospel, they'll have those same hindrances, slowing down their eternal progression.

A question I always hear from converts in the areas I've served in over here in Hawaii is "Were you born in the church?" When I tell them yes, every time the answer is "You're so lucky". I guess my membership in the church my entire life is something that I take for granted a lot. Once someone is truly converted, like these people, they see the joy and blessings that come from living the gospel, and wish they could've had this their entire lives. We really should be thankful for what God has blessed us with. I think that in the pre-mortal life, it was such an honor, and privilege to be selected by our Heavenly Father to be born and raised in his one true church restored on this earth.

The member continued to say that choosing worldly things is like sliding down a hill. It's fun sliding down, but difficult climbing back up. He pleaded with us to always stay strong, and never let yourself fall into the mindset of thinking you're strong enough to handle temptation "just this one time". He said he admired Gordon B. Hinckley so much because every time he talked about his mission, he didn't mention the number of converts he had, he only talks about how his mission converted him. Then from that true conversion, he was able to go on to eventually become a prophet of God, and his example, leadership, and firm testimony has brought millions to the knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel.

I'm so thankful for this knowledge and truth that I have in my life, and I consider it such a blessing and privilege to be a member of this church. I know it's not always easy, but by being fully converted, we can do so much good and help so many others. I think of temple work, and how rewarding it's going to be to get to the other side of the veil, and have thousands of people coming up to me and thanking me for doing for them what they couldn't do for themselves. And I just think how much better my life is, because of this truth which I have in it.

And this is all possible through our Savior. I'll never forget our member looking at us through tear-filled eyes and telling us over and over, how thankful he is for Christ and how much he owes to Him.

I love you all and hope you're able to recognize how lucky you are to have the gospel in your lives.

-Elda Merrill

Week 22 - Aloha from Hawaii

Aloha!

This week was really good for us as missionaries. We had our area 70 and our mission president come do a fireside for the stake on hastening the work. There was the broadcast back in July, but not much has happened since then and members haven't really been doing much as far as helping missionary work progress in their area goes. So this fireside was sort of a wake-up call for the members to help the missionaries. They told the stake the full-time missionaries are there to help them in missionary work, not to do all of it by themselves. They shared some really good almost motivational videos then talked about how if you really love and care about someone, you'd want to share the gospel with them even more because you desire for them to receive the blessings and happiness having the gospel in your life has brought you. President Warner also talked about how when you receive a prompting from the spirit, you usually have about a five second window to share that prompting before it's gone, or the conversation has moved on. You have to be in tune with the spirit and willing to share it in the moment it's given you. 

He shared a story about a senior missionary in our mission who met a person on the street who agreed to meet with the senior couple and accept a Book of Mormon. The senior couple went to the library where they had decided to meet, and waited for an hour, but the guy never showed up. They got up to walk out the door, Book of Mormon in hand, and walked past the librarian. As they passed him, he called out to the missionary "What've you got there?" The missionary instantly replied "a history book" The librarian said he loved history and asked if he could read that book. The missionary gave him the book, shared with him a little about the history of it, then invited him to read and pray about it. The missionary said he has never introduced, or even thought of the Book of Mormon as a history book, but in that moment, that's what the spirit gave him and that's what that man needed to hear.

In addition to this fireside, we had one of two missionaries from our little ward return home. He was a super solid missionary, and gave a great homecoming talk, urging the members to more actively participate in missionary work. 

With the fireside and a still on-fire returned missionary, things are starting to pick up for our Honoka'a ward. We have members calling us to go out with us whenever they have free time. We'll get a phone call saying: "Elders I've got some people we need to go see, come pick me up in 15 minutes" I think members really are the key to missionary work. They're the ones who can make the relationship and connections with the local people here, and they also know those who might be ready to hear the gospel.
My old companion was from an island, and he told a story I like to relate to missionary work. He said the first time his dad took him out fishing, he drove their boat out a ways into the water, then stopped, and looked around with his hand over his eye. My companion asked "Dad, why are you looking up? The fish are under the water" His dad payed him no mind. My companion dropped his line, but caught no fish. Then suddenly, his dad started up the engine and jetted off. He was driving right toward a flock of birds flying around on top of the water. He cut the engine, dropped his line, and immediately started catching fish. The birds knew where the fish were.

I think this is the same with members and missionary work. The full-time missionaries are the fishermen looking for fish. But the ocean is so big, it's almost impossible to catch a fish without the birds(members) to direct you to where the fish are.

I'm so grateful for loving members who care enough about their friends to share the gospel with them! I hope you all have a great week, and remember to share what matters most to you, with who matters most to you. Jeramman!

-Elder Merrill

Week 20 - Mele Kalikimaka!

Aloha everyone!

I hope you all had a merry Christmas filled with joy, and love, and Christ and such. Here, it didn't really feel like Christmas, it was sunny and 75 with no snow and hardly any lights and no Christmas tree. Christmas for me was just like the rest of the holidays, spent with my missionary family. We baked like 600 cookies the night before, then on Christmas day, after we'd all skyped our families, we went caroling and delivered all the cookies to widows in all the wards in our zone. It was cool not having to worry about presents and instead focusing on the Christlike spirit of Christmas and serving others.

One of the other sets of missionaries in our zone baptized a guy this past saturday with a really cool story. Our zone leader, a year and a half ago when he first started his mission had met this guy, Isaiah. He was the first door he knocked on his entire mission. They started to teach him, but after a while Isaiah started hiding when he saw the missionaries and eventually the elder was transferred. A year and a half later, we had a meeting and were all gathered together at the chapel of the ward he had served in. After the meeting, all the elders walked outside and saw a guy, sitting on one of the benches hungover and crying. We went over to talk to him, and the elder recognized it was Isaiah. Long story short, he told about how he wanted to change his life, and couldn't think of any other place to go. He accepted the invitation to start taking lessons from the missionaries again and was baptized three weeks later! He has such a strong testimony and completely turned his life around. Right after he was baptized, he came out of the water, and hugged his friend that had baptized him. They stood in the font embracing for a long time, but no one moved. The spirit was so strong because everyone in that room knew what he had come from and how much of a change he had to make and how much it meant to him to be baptized. He told all the missionaries how grateful he was for us and that when we get discouraged, to keep on going, because you never know what'll happen down the road. It took him a year and a half to finally realize he needed to change his life, then to recognize how much the gospel could bless his life.

I also had to give a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting. Because we have such a small ward, when someone doesn't show up to church that's scheduled to give a talk, they just ask the missionaries. I focused my talk on Christ, in the spirit of the holidays. I talked about how great it is that at Christmas time, the whole world comes together to remember Christ's birth, but now that Christmas is past, we can't just forget Christ, instead we move on in His life, in remembering what He continued to do for us after His birth. His atonement, and dying for us on the cross. I also talked about trials. How God will never try us above our capacity, so when we're faced with a trial, to look at it as a blessing and be thankful, because God is complimenting you, saying "I know you can do this, and when you overcome, you will only be stronger". I shared what a bishop in my last area told me about the refiner's fire. He said when a silver is refined it has to be put through intense heat first to break it down and purify it. The silver is finished being refined, when the refiner can see his reflection in the product. Then I related that to us, and how we need to be put through intense heat to humble and purify us, to realize we need Christ and to turn to Him. But once our trials are overcome, we better reflect our Savior and His life. I know trials make us stronger, and I hope by pressing forward, that Christ will be able to say to us as he does in 1 Nephi "I have refined you".

Happy Holidays!

-Elder Merrill

Week 19 - Christmas!

No letter from Elder Merrill, but we were able to Skype with him!  He looks great!  Happy to be serving a mission. Here are a few Christmas day pics that he sent...

Week 18 - Brothers and Sisters....Talofa

I. Hate. Satan. He's really good at what he does, and our investigators keep dropping like flies.

Yesterday at church another one of our investigators decided she didn't want to meet with us anymore. The temple president came and spoke to our ward and of course he had to go all deep doctrine on us. He started talking about other worlds and how Jesus' Atonement applies for "aliens" as well. Our investigator had apparently gotten into anti-mormon stuff online and said that when the guy mentioned that, it was just too weird for her to continue taking the lessons. Then she started attacking and asking all these stupid, really weird questions in our gospel principles class.

On a good note, we had our ward Christmas party on friday which was awesome. For a lot of members, at least the ones here, it's pretty hard to just start talking religion with your good friend and then invite them to meet the missionaries. So the Christmas party was a really good and easy way for our members to invite their friends to a fun church activity, then once they were there, they introduced me and Elder Hill to their friends. We ended up meeting lots of new people, both investigators, and less actives we've never met before, so we're excited!

Most the crazy stuff that happened this week was to other missionaries in our zone. The sister's investigator made out with their ward missionary and now they're dating. Then a drunk homeless guy came and knocked on their door at 3am and demanded they bear their testimonies and sing hymns.

They also had a Christmas concert in the chapel of the next ward over. There was people from all kind different religions and they'd go up in groups and perform a few Christmas songs for everyone. The coolest was one of the kids from a ward in Waimea. His name's Kuha'o. He's blind, but he's like and organ/piano prodigy. There's a Mormon message about him and it's super cool how he just plays everything by ear and can't see a thing.

Something cool that we've been challenging all of our investigators and members to do this Christmas season is to think of a gift that they can give the Savior. Something that they can give up, or something they can do more to help them come closer to Christ and remember the true meaning and spirit of Christmas. It's crazy because here, even people who have nothing give all that they have to others. In ward council we shared stories about how we help bring the Christmas spirit into our homes. Many people talked about how in their families their kids will give up a toy, or they'll pick a family that they can go help have a good Christmas. Almost without fail, they said it's not that much because we don't have much to give, but it helps us focus our holiday season on the Savior.

So I'd like to leave all of you with this same challenge. Thinking of something that you can present to Christ on his birthday this year. I love you all!

Aloha, Elder Sammy Merrill

Week 17 - Aloooooooha!

Aloha and iakwe friends and family!

This week's been like a roller coaster. I've had some high highs, and some low lows. We had two of our investigators call us this week and tell us that their boyfriends don't want them to meet with us. They thanked us for what we had taught them, and said hopefully sometime down the road, they'd be able to start taking the lessons again. That happened within an hour of each other. Then that night, we had a lesson with our only with date, Georgia, and found out that she semi-lives with her boyfriend, so they have to get married before she can be baptized, so we have to push her baptism date. But she's doing really well. She just recovered from her illness which the doctors determined was withdrawls from her quitting smoking cold turkey. She really wants to change, and has a real desire to be baptized! So we're excited for that.

We are also teaching this couple, Kelton and Kehau (friends of Brandon from my letter last week). They've been coming to church every week and are currently living with a part member family. They're completely changing their lives around. They've given up their friends, drinking, smoking, drugs, and are completely making a change for the better! During our lesson this week we asked them what they thought the next step was in continuing to follow Christ. The boyfriend, Kelton said "I want to be baptized!" Kehau wasn't so enthusiastic, but she said she'd pray about it. We then taught the law of chastity to them and tried to help them move closer to marriage, so that they can eventually be baptized!

We also had this lady Haunani who has social anxiety disorder, so basically, she's too terrified to leave her house. She had also told us in the past how she doesn't even have a car and doesn't have a way to get to church, even if she wasn't scared of going out in public. We worked long and hard with her and finally got her to commit to coming to church. I felt like I should tell her that if she had faith and prayed for help, she would have a way provided for her to get to church. My companion and I prayed really hard that night for a miracle... The next day we got a phone call from her so excited we could hardly understand what she was saying. She told us that she had just received a check in the mail from some company had made a mistake in some situation with her in the past. She said she had enough money to pay off all of her debts and even to buy a car! She also said her son was coming to town so she had a ride to church on Sunday! It was a really cool experience.

And just yesterday we had a member bring a girl he had just met the day before to church! She stayed all three hours, accepted a book of mormon, return appointment, and is coming back on wednesday to do family history work at the church!

I guess the main lesson I've learned from this week is that when the Lord closes one door, he opens many others. We were pretty upset when we lost those two investigators, because we don't have that many in the first place. But we kept pressing forward, trusting in the Lord, and He provided a way! It's easy to get upset, depressed, and even angry when you have an opportunity taken away from you, and that's why it's so important to turn to the Savior and put your trust in Him, because he knows perfectly how to help and comfort us, and in turn, will present us with opportunities and blessings which largely outweigh those which were seemingly taken from us before. I love my Savior and am so grateful for His hand in my life!

I hope you guys have seen, and continue to see the Savior's hand in your life!

Ippen Iakwe, Elder Merrill

Aloha

Week 16 - It's me, Elder Merrill

Malolelei friends and family!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Holidays out in the mission field are a lot different than back home. We don't really have friends to go cruise with or family to go see, so we just got together with our makeshift family (the missionaries in our zone) and play some football, rugby, ukulele, etc. Then we went to a member's house (I guess you could relate them to like an awkward cousin) and had dinner with them. We were fed plenty, and I had a lot of different things to be thankful for.

This week we got a with date! She's going to be just the second baptism for our small Honoka'a ward this entire year! Her story is actually really cool, so I'm gonna paraphrase it for you guys.

Her son, Brandon, joined the church a while back, and shortly after went inactive. After him and his family went through a lot of trials, they decided that they needed the Lord's help, and they needed Him in their lives, so they started to come back to church. As they consistently came to church, prayed, read scriptures (the small things) they gained the spirit in their lives and the Lord was able to lift them up. They completely changed their lives, giving up their old lives of partying, drinking, etc. They are now some of the most faithful members of our ward, and a lot of our work and investigators come from his example that he's set. Friends that he used to party with notice the change in him and how much happier he is, so they ask him about it, and he invites them to start taking lessons from us!

Anyways, relating back to his mom, Georgia. She also noticed the change in him and his wife and how much happier they seemed to be. She also wanted that same happiness in her life and started taking lessons with us. We taught her the plan of salvation this week, and it really opened her eyes as to how life continues after, and why what we do here on Earth is so critically important. She started crying and saying that she should've been the one teaching this to Brandon, and that she should've been the example of him while he was growing up, because she's his mother. But she said instead, he has been the example to her and has helped her find greater happiness. She smoked since she was 14, and for the past two weeks, hasn't smoked a cigarette! We didn't even address the Word of Wisdom yet, she just knew it was something that she needed to stop, and she knew with the Lord's help it was possible. 

Brandon's story bore testimony to me of how important it is to be that example for all those around us. He says that it's hard, at work he's like the outcast and he's not invited to go out with his friends on the weekends anymore, but he also says he's so much happier and wouldn't trade this happiness for anything. He and his wife are preparing to be sealed to their family in the temple! And he told us that his mom making the decision to get baptized on the 21st is the best Christmas present he could ask for!

So go out and be that example that Christ needs you to be always!

I love you guys and thanks for all the prayers and support!

-Elder Merrill