Wacky Weather as Summer starts to approach

November 25, 2013 ~ Apparently Elder Merrill is having a mixed up month of weather.  However, it's not crazy insane life-altering weather, so we are glad for that.  We are so thankful for the safety of all the missionaries in the Philippines and the stories of miracles and blessings that have come out of that hurricane.

Hey everyone!  There’s some rain here too.  Yep.  Even though it´s summer, we´re having a rainy day today.   But not a lot. And to top it off, even though it´s summer, it´s cold outside. If you can imagine having to wear a jacket when it´s May, that´s how it is for us right now. I haven´t needed a jacket for like 3 weeks, and suddenly, we had a cold day today. But it´s all good.  It´s not too cold outside. I think that it´s interesting how the weather changes over here.

         LOL, while explaining why there might be any spelling errors, you misspelled brief. (Cat – blocking the screen AGAIN!) That´s okay though, I worry that I may have misspelled one or two words because I´ve forgotten a little bit of English. That´s what´s happened to me a little. I keep on speaking in Spanish with one or two words when I try to speak in English. That´s interesting about the storm that you guys got on the west, and then Dad feels the after effects in the east.

     Good to know things are still basically the same back at the house. I hope things are fine and calm. I hope that your classes are going good too. I almost forgot that you were teaching again this year! How´s your class going? Do you enjoy it? I bet the kids have a fine time with you as a teacher. I hope that things are going well for your class.

         It´s getting close to the time when I get back, so there are others like Andrew who´ll be coming home soon as well I guess huh? Well, I can´t wait to get back and swap stories with all the other missionaries. I´m excited for Christmas too! I can´t wait to call you guys again and talk to you all!

        Well, my week has been interesting, I haven´t had anything weird or strange happen, just interesting because of the weather. When I say it´s crazy, that means crazy. First hot, then cold, then rain, then windy.  We get all kinds of weather and all within the duration of the week. Our area isn´t REALLY big, but enough to work in and keep busy. We walk around a lot and that seems to be just fine. We get to talk to a lot more people that way.

        Yeah, I take enough pictures, but you´re right, it´d be easier with a camera of my own. Don´t worry, my companion lets me take a lot with his camera.  I have a lot of good pictures of Argentina I think.

        I know that grandma probably misses talking to me, thinking on it I was always the one to answer the phone....I think.  You are quite right. They don´t celebrate thanksgiving over here. Kind of a bummer, but they have a lot of other little holidays, and Argentina is one of the countries that has the most holidays in the world. I hope that jess made a good turkey.  She´s good at cooking, (I think.) (um…well let’s just say Brad likes to cook more…lol)

          You have an awesome week as well! Just know that I´m thinking about you and that we´ll be talking on Skype soon! I´ll see what I can do about using Skype, I know that you guys will be waiting anxiously, I know that I sure will! Have an awesome week, I sure love you, I can´t wait to see you all again! See ya later! Love you lots! Bye!

                    -Elder Ethan Merrill

A testimony of faith and blessings

November 18, 2013 ~ It's another good letter from Elder Merrill who tells about getting to open his birthday box (finally!) and getting to meet an Apostle! What great leaders we have, who travel constantly to uplift and teach Saints all over the world!

I know my family has been blessed!  I really do.  I´ve seen a lot of things on the mission that I just can´t help but think that God really is here helping all of us and especially his missionaries. I know that sacrifice brings blessings, but the mission doesn´t feel like much of a sacrifice; I get a subtle joy everyday while working, so I enjoy this work a lot. It feels natural and I´m happy to do it.  Overjoyed really!  I know that this is what God wants me to do, because it´s helping others come unto him through the gospel.

         It´s good that it´s cooling down in Tucson.  It´s getting hotter here.  Not a lot but enough to make me wish that we had air conditioning.  In our apartment, we don´t have a fan at the moment, so it´s kind of uncomfortable right now.  We need to go buy one this week because like I said, it´s getting hotter.  But the weather in itself is really weird. It´ll be sunny at one moment, then the next, pouring rain, then sunny and hot again and then cold in the night.  The weather here is really insane.  No consistency at all.

          I opened the box last Monday when I got home from working! Thank you for the Twix, Doritos, cookies and fruit snacks! The 2 ties are awesome and those 2 games are fun! I like phase 10 but my companion likes the frog game more. (we sent him a silly little game where you try to get these plastic frogs to leap around by pressing down on one end of them – but when you are limited on what you can send, sometimes silly is just what they need!) Thanks for having everyone sign those cards for me! It was pretty heartwarming to see everyone´s signature. If you REALLY want to send me a package you can.  :)   Just be sure to send it before the end of this month. I don´t want it to get lost and stay in the mission forever.  But I think that it´s going to get here fine if you send it. I don´t have anything specific in mind, at this point but I´m not too fussed at this point. I´ll leave it up to you. If you want to send Christmas related snacks or something, and Doritos too.  I never get tired of Doritos.  You choose what you want to put in.

           We went to a conference where D. Todd Christofferson came to meet us. It was awesome! Not only was I about 10 feet away from an apostle the whole time, but I actually got to shake his hand! It was a pretty cool experience, but it didn´t last for long, it was only like 2 hours long and there were 4 different speakers. I still enjoyed it though.

           I hope Kyle is doing well.  Stuart and Jess and Brad too. That´s good that Kyle is working still.  It´s fun and a good way to build up money. I think I´ll take your advice and get a job first when I get back.

          Thanksgiving is in exactly 1 week right? I´m gonna miss you guys (and the food) so much! But there´s always 2014.

            I laughed at the story that you told me about Kyle and Stuart eating the super hot salsa. Things aren´t spicy here in Argentina, in fact, it almost doesn´t exist. I´ve never tried tamales before....I´ll have to try some when I get back. But I´m not sure if I´ll like them, spicy or not. 

             I hope that you guys are doing good, I´m fine here, just taking it one day at a time. I can´t believe that I´m seeing you guys so soon! I hope that we´ll see each other in what feels like a short time! I love you lots and I´ll see you all next week! See ya then! Bye!

                                -Elder Ethan Merrill

Better a late letter than no letter at all :)

November 11, 2013 ~ We usually get Elder Merrill's letter around 11am Tucson time. His letter was a bit late today and we were a little anxious, but not seriously…anxious in a good way as we always are when we wait for his weekly letter. 

Hi mom.  We had a meeting with the mission president today.  We went and listened to him and that was fun.  But we don’t  get the chance to relax during this week, so that´s kind of a downer.  But we´ll be fine.  I hope you weren´t too worried about getting this late.  

       Well happy Veterans day to you then! Yep we got some rain. The mud that we get out here working in the fields is HORRIBLE.  We are slipping and sliding all over the place.  I’m  grateful that we didn´t fall.  Cleaning up mud can be seriously hard at times. At least it´s sunny back home

         Oh. So Bishop Bahr is still the bishop.  That´s good.  He´s a good bishop. (there was some confusion-he thought the bishop not the bishop’s counselor had been released)  That´s nice about all the people sharing their testimonies. I never get tired of hearing about the faith that people have in the gospel. Again, thanks for all the inspiration that you send my way!

        Hey, the package arrived! I haven´t opened it yet, but I´ll get around to that later on this night. I can´t wait! Things are good here. I can wait to see you all again! This week marks 20 months for me! The big 20!  That thing about ordaining Kyle an elder sounds awesome!  (his brother has said he wants to wait to get ordained until Elder Ethan Merrill returns home, so he can participate in that) I’m fine with that, I´d like to see him off. 

           That´s pretty crazy about the hurricane! I´m glad that Dakota wasn´t hurt. (his cousin Elder Dakota Roy who is serving in the Philippines currently and luckily wasn’t in the path of the massive hurricane) Yeah, Argentina doesn´t have any natural disasters of any sorts as far as I know.  Maybe a tidal wave....but I doubt it.  (funny enough, moms tend to worry about things like this and so I might have looked up info and discovered that Argentina does not get hurricanes – hooray! – but we won’t talk about earthquakes, volcanoes and flooding….)

          Yeah, I don´t much care for the rule that we can´t play sports, but people here can get pretty heated with the sports.  Also, long story short, the washing machine wasn´t broken, just turned off.  What doofuses we are. I have to live in a house where there´s enough space for 4 elders, but that´s about it really.  Thatś funny about the granny cottage story! I never heard that term before. (I was telling Elder Merrill that in Hawaii, the little house behind the main house that he and his companion are living in is referred to as a “Granny cottage” because it is often used for a grandparent to live in so they can be somewhat independent but also taken care of.)

             I miss Eggnogg French toast! I haven´t had anything to remind me of home in such a long time! But I bet I´ll find something good in my package.  Hey, I sure love you guys as well! I´m doing well here and I hope that you guys are the same! I´m sorry if this is shorter than usual, I’m in a hurry today! I love you lots and I´ll write more next week, I promise! Love you lots and I´ll see you around! Love you! Bye!       Elder Ethan Merrill

Washing machine NO match for Elder Merrill

Nov. 4, 2013 ~ Elder Ethan Merrill is quickly approaching his 20 month mark.  He sounds busy, which is good!  I asked him how Halloween was there and told him that it was a super slow trick-or-treating session this year. I didn't even empty half the bowl of candy! But quiet years can be fun too.

It was boring, but it really doesn´t exist here.  I just didn´t see anyone going around in costumes or dressed up for Halloween. Well, apart from that we had a good week. A slow Halloween isn´t all too bad. Like you said, you still have a lot of candy leftover.

             We live in a house that is in the back of the house of a member. We take a path through their garage and a short walkway and we arrive at a small house that is separate than the house of the member. The house is a little bigger, a bit more space to do stuff inside, so that´s all good and fun. Luckily enough, the member has a washing machine and we get to use it. But I broke it by accident.  :(   Somebody is coming today to repair it, but apparently if you stuff it with too much clothes, it doesn´t work. Well, I don´t think the problem will be hard to solve really. We have a fridge, but I think the production of the fridge was stopped sometime in the 70´s. It´s SO OLD! It works, it´s just....weird looking. I can´t wait to come home and deal with ´´modern´´ ágain.

            I´m good. Everything is fine here. It´s supposed to be spring here, entering summer, but it´s still cold during the night and sometimes the day if it´s cloudy. The weather is super unpredictable here. Rain one day, than sunny the next. It´s a little weird. I´ll tell about my shoes when I call home for Christmas. How funny that it´s just a month away...........

            Our area is interesting. On one half it´s all fields and farmers and on the other half it´s a busy downtown. I get a really wide range of personality here. I hope that people enjoyed their Halloween, I can´t wait to see you all again! I hope the majority of the people are still there when I get back. Our mission president doesn´t like us having fun, so we can´t play sports on P-day. We basically sleep, and clean all day.
            I´ll see if the box arrives tomorrow, but I doubt it. I think it´ll arrive in the middle of November or something. Now remember, don´t send me a package for Christmas, I don´t think it´ll arrive in time! Just seeing you guys again will be enough of a happy surprise for me.

            Hey sorry this is a little short, but things are about the same here. Just going along and doing my thing. I´ll let you know if anything interesting happens, but things are smooth flying for right now. See ya around! Love you lots!
 

                                                             -Elder Ethan Merrill