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

Transferred!!!! Sort of!!!

Oct. 28, 2013 ~ October is winding down and it's time for our weekly letter from Elder Ethan Merrill...always a huge moment of excitement and anticipation!  I wrote "Here's a hug for you" in the subject line of my letter to him...but now I'm afraid to ask what it actually I said...lol

A hug for you as well – it is almost correct what came out of google translate.  Don´t worry though.  I understood it when I read it. LOL. I´m doing great this week! I´ll tell you what´s been happening.  I got transferred the day after I wrote you last week, but I got sent to an area in the same zone. AGAIN.  I´m actually working in the same exact city, Necochea, just in a different part of the city. I get the feeling that I´ll finish the mission in this zone. Maybe even in this area. I only have this transfer and maybe 2 more. I also am with the same companion still, which is weird. Finally, the new area I´m in only had 2 elders before and now there´s 4 here. So we have to reorganize the house a little. We´ve had to start literally with nothing too.  No people to visit, no investigators, nothing. I feel like I´m opening an area really. So we´ve had to talk with EVERYBODY to find people to teach. Yesterday was a little hard, but I think this week will be better. We´ve got people who told us that we could pass by later. So we´ll see if they really want us to pass by or not.

           Well, all the craziness of the transfer is settling down. We got 43 new missionaries in this mission! Things are pretty crazy with how many there are here. I think that it´s amazing to see the growth of the gospel in an exponential way though.  

           Thanks for sending pictures of Kyle’s birthday! It´s fun to see Kyle and James and Jared and CJ and Stuart and Jess and Brad all at once. I hope Kyle had fun.  LOL, I bet that´ll be fun to see how things go with the students after Halloween. It´s not too popular here, but it does exist.  

            To answer your question:(is it noisy where you are? people noises, animal noises, or just country quiet?) it all depends on where I am. Noisy animals or neighbors can be a huge problem, but I personally haven´t had much of a problem with it. I remember in my first area though, one of our crazy neighbors decided to scream at the top of her lungs at her kids or husband at 3:00 in the morning. I didn´t understand anything, but I could make out the muffled yells through the wall. But like I say, it all depends where you live. In this new house, we don´t have a problem with it.

            I found the story in Turkey funny.(Happy Hotel, a nice beach spot but the room was bed, bathroom and sink in about 4 sq ft) It sounds a lot like our bathrooms here. A shower, sink and toilet all in the same spot basically. You could use all three easily at the same time.

           I hope that everyone in the ward is doing fine. Tell everyone that I say hi.  Like I say, your letters of support always keep me going and lift me up! Thanks for always writing me and I´ll see you all soon! Have fun this week and tell everybody that I miss them! I´m thankful to be here and to be a part of the Lord´s work. Stay safe and know that I´m thinking of you guys always! love you lots! See ya! Bye!

                          -Elder Ethan Merrill