Easter in Argentina

April 1, 2013
It's Easter time and as I reflect on the blessing and miracle of the Savior's resurrection, I want to express my gratitude that my son loves Jesus so much, he is willing to sacrifice 2 years of his life and time to be a missionary. Elder Ethan Merrill, we love you so much and we praise God for your example and courage. Happy Easter son!

How are you doing guys!  Life is pretty good here. Thanks for the Happy Easter! I was given a chocolate egg from one of the members of the church and I bought one today to celebrate. It was a pretty nice Easter overall. I haven´t had too much different things happen besides Easter though. I haven´t seen any April Fool’s fishes, but I´ve been in the house most of the day; It´s p-day after all. (I was telling Elder Merrill that some European countries have an April Fool’s tradition of trying to sneak paper fishes onto someone’s back.) I don´t know if this is true or not, but the other Elders said that the branch president wants to take us to the beach, but it’s a different beach, so that should be fun again.

           I´m grateful for the resurrection too! I can´t tell you how much the gospel means to me now that I´ve been on the mission and have learned so much about the gospel. I bet the neighbors to the church are evangelists. I think that is the most popular religion here in Carmen de Patagones, I have a lot of experience talking with them.

            They say in the rules that I´m not supposed to write anything bad in my letters home. So I won´t tell you how my week was. Nothing bad happened to me, but we just started having a lack of success lately. That´s all I´ll say. No worries, my spirits are high and I read recently in preach my gospel that we should have faith that the lord puts people in our path, so I´ll make an effort to talk with everyone I see. I can´t wait to see if you´re still primary worker when I get back. Are you ready for a new calling or do you enjoy where you are?

             I´m glad that you still have a lot of contact with Jess and Brad, I want to still be able to talk with them and stuff, like before they were married, I wrote them a happy anniversary letter. I can´t wait to see what Kyle´s quilt looks like! I really enjoyed mine, and I know Stuart did too. They don´t have any traditional meat for Easter I think, but there is the Holy week here in South America.

             Well, even though it´s raining, I´m going to work in another hour. If you´re there, sweet; If not, don´t worry, I´ll see you next week. I love you lots and tell the family that I´m doing great! See you all next week and have fun! (Here´s a hug from me.)

                                                          -Elder Ethan Merrill