Service is awesome!

Hey guys!  This week was pretty exciting.  We were challenged by our 
zone leaders to do a bunch of service so that is what we did - lots and 
lots of service.  It was great!

Tuesday we had a district meeting about service. Then Elder Gonzales
and I went on an exchange.  We went down to serve in his area.  We 
didn't have a car so things were a little rough.  We were able to visit a 
few people and have really good conversations with them.  I’m going to 
be really sad when he returns home to Chile in 2 weeks. We have really
become good friends.  He might attend BYU for school so that would be 
awesome.  Our exchange lasted until Wednesday

Thursday for service we went to a park and picked up a bunch of trash.
It was pretty fun and we got to talk to a lot of people which was good. 
We even met a few Hispanics but they ended up living an hour out of 
town.  That night we rode the bus up above our apartment and visited 
a less active member.  It was his birthday so we went to the dollar store 
and bought him a birthday card, balloon, and big glass mug.  He was 
super happy because not a lot of people had visited him.  It made us so
happy to see him happy.  Service is awesome!

Friday and Saturday we had some bus adventures.  Friday we rode the 
bus downtown and walked around the park hoping a lot of people would 
be there for Spring Break.  We were wrong.  We ended up getting lunch 
and then headed back home.  We tried a few more people but no one 
seemed to be home.  It was just one of those days.  Saturday we rode 
the bus all the way down to the church.  This requires us to go downtown 
for a transfer at the bus station.  We finally made it down south and had 
lunch at a members house.  After lunch we cleaned his whole house for 
service. He offered to give us a ride back to the church.  When we were 
at the church we realized we were going to miss our bus.  We hurried and 
set out for the bus stop but on our way there we saw the member on the 
side of the road.  His car had broken down.  We pulled over on our bikes 
to help him.  We ended up biking a mile down the road to buy a part that 
he needed.  We actually did this twice because we we got the wrong part 
the first time. By the time we did all that we had missed the bus but then 
we realized the next bus would be coming in about ten minutes.  Blessed 
by our service!  We decided to go back down town to the park again and 
try to find people since we were still there.  There were a lot more people 
there this time to talk to so that was fun.  

Sunday was the best day of the week. We went to Jonesboro to sing in a
missionary musical program!  It was really awesome to go back and see 
all of the members I used to serve while I was a missionary there.  It was 
crazy to see how many members had moved out but it was great to see 
the ones I did.  I saw Freddy!  I took a picture with him.  It was wonderful 
to sing with a group of missionaries again.  Singing always strengthens my 
testimony.  It is crazy how much my heart is touched when I listen to sacred 
music.  I know that when we listen to sacred music we will always feel the 
spirit very strong.  I know I do.    

President Hansen always says the 3 things that invite the spirit are: 
1. doctrine  2. testimony 3. sacred music.   

Love Elder Merrill 

Elder Anderson and Elder Merrill

Arkansas State Capitol Building

Missionary Program in Jonesboro, AR