Missionary Birthday Party!

Hey guys!  This week was a great one!  We had a few crazy adventures.  
Monday night a little puppy followed us home.  We let it come in for a bit 
and fed it a hot dog.  After that it didn’t want to leave.  We aren’t allowed 
to keep pets so this was a problem.  We ended up taking it to a neighbor 
for the night.  The next morning it was at our door again so we took it to 
a vet.  It was adorable and we were sad to see it go. 

Tuesday we had our district meeting and then went to work. Wednesday 
was a pretty slow missionary day.  We worked hard and tried our best to 
contact people -- knocking doors, giving out cards, but not really teaching 
anyone.  Thursday was an awesome day.  We biked down to the edge of 
our area.  There is a street down there that has a few Mexican tiendas so 
we can talk to a lot of people there by just hanging out around them. We 
talked to a few promising people which was good.  Since we were down 
there we stopped at a BBQ food truck for dinner that night.  It was pretty 
good but not Memphis BBQ good.  I really miss Memphis BBQ.  

Friday we stayed in our apartment for a bit to do our weekly planning.  
After that we went to visit a less active member that we hadn't seen in
awhile.  We had an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon!  That 
night I went on exchanges with the zone leaders.  We also had a pretty
fun birthday party for Elder Anderson and I!  His birthday was this week
and mine is next week.  Elder Jorgenson was in town visiting the ALRM 
with his parents so they came to the party too.  It was really great to see 
him again!   

Saturday was a good day.  I was still on exchanges and we spent the day
in a town called Bryant.  It is a really spread out town.  It was also a gloomy 
day so not a lot of people wanted to talk to us.  That night I had an interview 
with President Hansen.  He said I might stay in Little Rock for the rest of my 
mission!  He also said Elder Anderson and I would serve one more transfer 
together and then I would probably train my last two transfers here.  So we 
will see if all of that actually happens.  Sometimes President Hansen says 
things and then the opposite happens so who knows.  I will happily serve 
wherever the Lord wants me to serve.  

Sunday was great as usual.  We had dinner with the Branch president and 
family.  They are really awesome.  She made us falso conejo - I’ll let you look 
it up - haha.  It was pretty bomb!  It's hard to believe I am going to turn 20 
next week!  It's even harder to believe I only have 3 transfers left!  Thanks 
for everything!  I love you guys!  

Love Elder Merrill

Missionary Birthday Party! 

Elder Gonzles, Conner Jorgensen, Elder Anderson & Elder Merrill

A party wouldn't be complete without Dr. Pepper!  

Elder Merrill and Elder Anderson 

with their new 4-legged friend

Super missionary Elder Merrill