Quick Note from our Clever Missionary

February 25, 2013

It's a quick little note from Elder Ethan Merrill this week but I liked the part where he is pleased about how well he lives on his budget. He is doing such a great job being a missionary, living in a foreign country and taking care of himself. What a great guy!

Hi family! You really got snow in Tucson?  When was the last time that happened? I hope that it wasn´t too cold to have a bit of fun! Funnily enough, it has been slightly good over here right now. I haven´t had much success with snow here, but it has gotten colder. I don´t know when winter starts but we are in the rainy season now. For the past 3 days, we´ve had nothing but clouds. I miss not being there to have fun with Kyle and James, but I´m doing good here. Glad to hear that things are just about normal.

     Thank you for always keeping me in high spirits and keeping me going with your letters! I really do get an energy boost when I hear from you guys. Dad couldn´t write for a little while because he didn´t have internet huh? That´s a bummer. Well, now he does, so that means you can also communicate with him by E-mail and Skype right? That´s good fun. I´m glad that we have this opportunity to communicate by E-mail, and that we can talk easily. I know that we have a long distance between us, but with E-mail, it doesn´t seem that far at all.

     I´m doing fine clothing wise, no worries. I might be optimistic with this, but I think that my clothes and shoes will last through the mission. There´s a ton of dogs everywhere in Argentina truth be told. I will probably never go to an area where there aren’t a bunch of dogs running around. Thanks for saying that I´m smart with the budgeting! I never run out of food, or rather, money to buy food, and I never have to use personal funds to buy anything that I need to survive. I´m rather proud of myself truth be told. I hope that you guys have a great week too! Stay safe, and remember that I´m thinking of you and love you! See ya next week!
 

              -Elder Ethan Merrill 

 

Elder Merrill's description of a typical P-day

February 18, 2013
This has to be one of my absolute most favorite letter Elder Merrill has written so far!

Hi everyone! These p-day´s really do roll around surprisingly fast. How is life going? Wow, I knew dad was going to North Carolina, but I didn´t know you were too! What a crazy adventure! Driving through all those states! I bet that was a fun drive! LOL, 3 straight days of driving. I can imagine that you were ready to stretch your legs a bit whenever you guys stopped for lunch or a place to sleep. That´s really nice that dad´s boss, or supervisor, whatever, is a member. And a snowstorm while you were there? That was probably an interesting sight. 

I don´t mind that it´s a short letter, having flown from Florida to Argentina, and all the other flights that I´ve done, I know what it´s like to finally arrive at a place with a bed. I´m glad to hear that Jess and Brad still visit. I was wondering what it would be like with their new apartment and all, but if they still come over now and again, that´s nice. I realize that you are probably asleep as I write this, so this letter should be a nice surprise when you wake up. I hope that things have been calm back home, with not too much to worry about. Thanks for all the prayers that you guys send on my behalf! I´m praying for you guys too. Oh buy the way, I forgot 2 items for my package. If you´ve already sent it, DON´T WORRY. I´ll be fine. If you want to include Hot Chocolate and Jelly beans, that´d be awesome.

      I have a lot of time today, so I thought I´d write about what I do on a normal P-day. here´s how it goes:

  6:30 - Freaking alarm. It feels like I just went to bed an hour ago. It takes about 5 minutes but I finally roll out of bed. Exercise. We have a bar that someone poured cement on the ends, so I use that for doing various lifts. Breakfast and shower are next. I usually have corn flakes. We all alternate showering until its 8.

  8:00- study time. You wouldn´t believe how easy it is to fall asleep during this time. I manage to stay awake though and read the Book of Mormon in Spanish and also preach my gospel in Spanish.

  9:00-study time with my companion. We read the missionary rules, this is like my 12th time reading this book. It´s all good though. We talk and share about what we learned, and then it´s officially P-day.

 10:00- Oh this awaited hour! Now we get down to business. P-day is never really the same, or the order that we do them, but the things we do are usually the same. We clean the house, talk a bit, and start laundry. We actually have a machine in this area, so that´s a new experience for me.

12:00- we usually leave to buy groceries and we go to a large store called the Anonima. Buying the groceries is fairly simple, I get the same food every week, with one or two different things. Don´t worry, I´m smart about how much I spend and what I spend the money on. Now we gotta carry the food home. Holy cow, the walk home never seemed so long, we gotta carry a week’s worth of food all the way back to the house. It´s about 7 minutes or so, but it feels like 15 with all the extra weight.

1:00- lunch and sleep. Our favorite part of the day. Sometimes we´ll go into the town and look around central, where all the excitement is, but today, we silently agree (or we all decide in our minds) to just sleep. The room is nice and dark and cool. We listen to music and my companion has Enya on his speaker system, and it makes me think about home. Mom used to play that whenever she´d clean the house, or if she was just in the mood. I´m home in Arizona for 2 seconds, then I fall asleep.

4:30- we wake up at different times and we get ready to leave for the computer place in town to write our families. Last bit of freedom.

6:00- we finish writing at around this time, say our goodbyes and leave for work. Shame, the day seemed so short.
9:00- we return and get ready for the next day, plan, get dressed for bed, and then it´s time to sleep again.

10:30- The lights go off and we slowly drift off to sleep. We have a long week ahead of us, with lots of people to see and lots of lessons to teach. But its all alright, because we know how fast P-day can come if we focus and work hard. My eyes close, and before I know it, my alarm goes off, signaling the next day.

        This is more or less the day that I have every Monday. I don´t know if you wanted to hear about a work day, but that´s a bit hectic to write about. so I chose today. I hope you enjoy this letter! This feels like the longest one I´ve ever written! I hope you have an awesome week and I´ll see you all next week! Love you!

p.s. No, nothing really new. I did have some delicious beef though!

                      -Elder Ethan Merrill

 

Requests for the 1 year celebration box

Ok, it's time for some serious catching up on the blog! Here is a fun letter and email exchange from February 11, 2013:

Hey there.  How are you?  Things are good here. Sorry to hear that Kyle is a little sick. I´ve been having a small case of allergies; sneezing and stuffy nose, but nothing severe. It´s been a good p-day, we got ice cream and we´ve been relaxing in the house. Wow it’s hot!  Swimming would be so awesome. That´s one of the first things on my to-do list when I get home. Which is in about a year! Can you believe it? The mission has gone by so freaking fast, I don´t know what the last year of the mission will be like, but every elder tells me that it´s even faster.  I can believe that. I hope that it doesn´t go by too fast though, I enjoy the mission.

     I am glad that dad has some new work, but that stinks that you guys can´t see him anymore. At least for a little while. I hope that he has fun with this work, or, has fun traveling to these different areas. Everybody in South Carolina told me that North Carolina is where all the nice people are and that South Carolina is where all the mean people are. But people were nice enough to us in South Carolina, so there you go.

      Is there a possibility of us moving? If so, I´m a little nervous. I want to come back to our house, and I want things to be familiar. I always said I was afraid that when I´d come back, things would be really different and that worries me if we´ll be in a new house or another state. Well, more or less I want to still see all my friends, that´s what I want when I get back. But whatever happens, happens I guess.

     Oh, here´s just some things that I´d like, for my 1-year box, if it´s possible:
-doritos.     

-reeces pieces (you know, the peanut butter and chocolate candies.)

-m&m´s

-twix (don´t worry, they didn´t melt in the last package.)

-skittles

-duct tape.

-axe paste hair gel

             If you have any questions about these, let me know. You can send me anything more if you want, but these are the things that would be awesome. Thanks for always writing me and sending me love and support! I always love hearing from you guys and I hope that we´ll be together soon! Have a fun week! Tell everyone I said hello!
 

Elder Merrill and I were able to have an email exchange again before he ran out of time:

Mom: Hi son! I was just walking upstairs and saw your letter appear! WOOHOO! Ice cream sounds fun! Sure love you!

Elder Merrill: Yeah, it´s a little hot, but that´s fine. The mission has been one long summer for me, but I´m fine with that. I´m used to the heat really. LOL, at least Sparky is the same. We´re 4 missionaries in our house here, and Elder Gonzalez is good. We don´t really have dinner. Just lunch. It sounds funny, but with a large lunch, we don´t really need dinner. We have a building about the size of our building back home, but there are about 12 people who come. We´ll work on making that bigger.

Mom: Oh cool, I didn't realize there were 4 of you elders there. Yeah, I can see how a late and large lunch makes dinner not really necessary.  Just a snack if you need it I guess. Wow, you have a big church building then, that's cool. I LOVE that you want to fill it up! How is that  young man you wrote us about a few weeks ago, is he still coming to learn about the gospel? No news yet on when they will start the groundbreaking on the Tucson temple, that can take up to a year so we will see. Oh, it looks like it is raining outside now.

Elder Merrill: Nope, they don´t have anything besides Oreos. I like something called Milneseas, it´s a kind of flat chicken with breadcrumbs. When you fry it in oil, it´s a bit like a chicken nugget. Alfajors (a cookie.) are a pretty good treat. They have the same things here though, there´s not much variety.

Mom: The chicken thing sounds good! Yeah, I was telling Sis Bahr yesterday about you will have 2 summers, 1 winter and another summer on your mission, which she was like HUH? How did he do that?  Travel the right way and it's possible, lol. 

Elder Merrill: Yeah, things are hot and we don´t have much variety in the food but I really do enjoy the mission. I always love hearing about home. It´s raining now? We´re in a time when it´s going to rain a lot here. I´ll be sure to wear a coat. Yeah, he´s getting close, we think we can baptize him this Saturday. This is a crazy mission with 3 summers and a winter, but they tell me it gets pretty cold here. I´m gonna go now, but I sure love you and the family I´ll be here for one last good bye E-mail.

Mom: I sure love talking with you and I'm so glad to hear how you are doing. I love Mondays!!!! lol.  I hope you have a great week and that you and your companion are able to share your testimonies and your service. Stay safe and healthy, stay strong and remember to pray always. LOVE  YOU SO MUCH SON!!!!!!!!!!!!   You are so precious to us :) oxoxxo bye son. Love mom

Elder Merrill: love you too. -Elder Ethan Merrill

Feb. 4, 2013 - an email chat with Elder Ethan Merrill - yippeee!

Mom: Hey son!!! You may not be on still but if you are we LOVE you and we LOVE the picture!!!! oxoxoxo Love mom                                                                                                 

Elder Merrill: still here for another 15 minutes!                                                                       

Mom: Hooray!!! I am SO GLAD the box finally arrived, I can't believe how long it took! I can send you something for your one year mark but it most likely won't make it in time. Anything in particular you feel like having to celebrate? It is so good to say hi to you!!!!!                            

Elder Merrill: I´ve made a list of stuff that I would like, small things really, that can fit in the package. I don´t have it with me now, but the next week, I´ll give you what I have. I know it probably won´t come in time, but that´s fine by me. how are things back home?                     

Mom: That is a good plan. I really like the picture of you with your ties and your scriptures. Is that from your new place or your old place? Things are good here, everybody is pretty much doing the school and/or work thing. We had a great testimony meeting yesterday, lots of the men from Elder's Quorum actually bore their testimonies and they were good ones. Dad and I have a running joke that 99% of the time it's the women or the High Priests bearing their testimonies, you almost never hear from the 25-35 year old men. Not sure why, but anyway it was good to hear them talk about the influence of following the spirit and how grateful they are for their families.  The weather is good today, still cloudy but  no rain and good temperatures.  How about you?

Elder Merrill: Thanks, this picture is me here in Carmen de Patagones. I haven´t had much rain here but like I said, it´s pretty freaking windy at times. I have learned to get over this fear of public speaking, there´s about 15 people in the branch here, so either everybody bears their testimony on fast Sunday, or I have to get up there too. It gets easier with practice. How´s Kyle doing? he´ll be out of school in a little while, right? Stuart’s good too?                                 

Mom: Yeah, when we lived in Turkey, I think we usually gave a talk about every 2 to 3 months. So I understand completely. I can't wait to hear you give your first talk back here at home too. Kyle is good, seems to be focused on finishing with good grades, which is a good choice.  He wants to go to Eastern Arizona College for a semester or two but I told him he should think of doing Pima here at home or go out on his mission. No decision yet, but that is understandable.  Stuart is doing really good. He likes his job at the theater and is looking forward to finishing up at Pima and moving on to a technical school here in Tucson. Everyone here is in good health. So crazy windy huh?                                                

Elder Merrill: Yeah, the wind is pretty crazy. I would say that a good choice before the mission is work instead of college. If you had a semester already, you would need to go back with the supposed knowledge you gained form that semester, and I´ve forgotten everything out here. Good to know that Stuart and Kyle are good! Hey, I need to go soon, but I have time for one last E-mail from you.                                                                                                                             

Mom: The working is a great suggestion, thanks! I am so glad we got to say hi today. I am always praying for you and I love hearing from you. Have a great week, enjoy the box (FINALLY!) and know that we love you so much son! Tell Elder Gonzalez we said hi and you guys take care! Love you LOTS son!!!! :) Mom                                                                           

Elder Merrill: Tell Kyle and Stuart that I´m thinking of them! I´m gonna go work now, but I hope that you guys have an awesome week too! I´ll be sure to enjoy the box! I love you lots and thanks for always thinking of me! See ya around!

I will tell them :) Bye son!