Sunday, January 5, 2014

Saying goodbye to 2013 and ready to welcome in 2014

December 30, 2013 ~ Well last week's Skype call from Elder Ethan Merrill was so wonderful and fantastic!!!  He looked awesome and he sounded great!!!! I have missed that grin so much! He did show us his shoes which currently look as if every stray dog in Argentina has had a chance to chew them for a bit, but he is determined to keep using them until the end! So crazy!  John got to join in so we had a 3 way call and that was pretty cool.  Jessica and Brad, Stuart, Kyle and Mom were all here in AZ so it was a great event!  Dearest son, we are so pleased with your efforts to work hard as a missionary and to serve Heavenly Father with faith and dedication! All too soon the phone call had to end, but we have our weekly letters to keep us going! Here is his latest:

What a blur! It feels like so long and so short ago!  Talking with you guys it really felt like it lasted only 5 minutes! I was so excited to talk with you all I couldn´t remember all the things that I wanted to say or ask, I swear my brain shut down from the excitement. I was super nervous, I wanted to call at 11:00, and I was waiting and I couldn´t sit still. (We were just as excited here at home too!!! Mom must have let out a monstrously loud cheer when Skype started ringing that a call was coming in!)
I promise to always give it [my mission] my all and stay focused on the task at hand.  I´d heard about this new temple video that they put in the temple. I wonder if they´ll have it here in Buenos Aires? I don´t know if I´ll get to visit the temple here or not but it would be a fun experience. We do get a lot of blessings from the temple don´t we? People need to understand that the things found in this religion are necessary for our salvation; the authority to do these things, baptism, sealed forever, all that are blessings from heaven, given to man if they seek it. 
           I´m super excited for the New Year. It´s weird, I have trouble remembering that it´s 2013, I´m still stuck where I left off in 2012. So if something was made in 2009, I think ´´oh, that was 3 years ago.´´ instead of 4. LOL.  There´ll be A LOT of fireworks for the New Year here. So much that we probably won´t be able to sleep again. But that´s fine. It´ll still be fun. I´ll let you know the moment that the box arrives!
           I´ll write Charlie a little note or something like that. I´m interested to know his thoughts about serving a mission and all that. That´s good that it´s such nice weather back home. Here, we´re having record heat. They say that it hasn´t been this hot in 43 years. What a blast that I get to be here during this special time. LOL. Don´t worry, it´s nothing that I can´t handle.
           I hope that you guys have an awesome new year! I´m good here and I can´t wait to see you all again! I´ll write you all again next year! I´m just doing what I can here and I´ll be seeing you all soon enough! Bye!

                              -Elder Merrill 

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