Elder Marriner Kaden Merrill: I could in no way deny Christ

Hey guys! I think I officially feel like a real adult now - 20 sounds way
older than 19 - it's a little weird.  Guess what I bought with some of my
birthday money?! Some spankin' nice Clark dress shoes for $25 bucks!
They were normally $135 but the store is closing and I got a sweet deal!
I figured I could use some good shoes when I come home because mine
are pretty beat up.  I’m pretty proud of myself.

We had a great week here in Little Rock.  Tuesday we were blessed to
be part of an awesome service project at the Mosaic Church in our area.
They have a food pantry every Tuesday to help the homeless people. It
was so great to go and help them out. I even got to use my Spanish a
little bit so that was awesome. They even sent us home with a bunch of
left over food so that was really nice.

On Wednesday our district went and served at the biggest food bank in
Central Arkansas. It was a very cool experience. We boxed up cans of
corn for about 4 hours. It was a really fun experience. Then that evening
we were invited by an English ward in the area to be part of a missionary
panel discussion with their youth. We first played some get-to-know-you
games and then the youth were able to ask us questions about missions.
The panel consisted of 2 young women who were about to submit their
mission papers, 4 missionaries, and 4 returned missionaries. I think the
youth were able to hear many perspectives about missions. They also
asked some really awesome questions. It was really fun to be a part of.

Thursday we went with the English Elders to downtown Little Rock. We
had lunch and walked around and talked to a bunch of people. We ended
up finding some members so that was cool. However, we did not find many
Hispanics so we probably we won’t go back there to work again. Overall it
was a good day and really fun to see everything.  We also took some pretty
cool pictures around town. Little Rock itself is really pretty small but it's a
cool city. It has grown on me. Memphis is probably double the size of Little
Rock. Jonesboro is smaller and a lot like Logan.  I've really enjoyed all the
areas I have served.

Friday we had to get the tires on the the care changed and it took forever.
There was a guitar store across the street so we went there and I played
around for a little bit while we waited. We also went to the only Cold Stone
ice cream shop in our entire mission. It was delicious and brought back a
lot of good memories.

On Saturday we worked. We went to go and buy a bus pass but the place
was closed.  We will probably go again this week to get one because the
mission will reimburse us for the pass. Then we can take the bus to places
that are too far to bike and this will help save miles on the car.

Thanks for all the birthday surprises. They were awesome! I finally received
the watch - it’s so sweet! It weighs like nothing - the box said that most of it is
made from bamboo so that’s pretty cool.  It was definitely a great last birthday
on the mission but I'm looking forward to the next on at home. :)

This week we have Zone Conference that I am looking forward to. They are
always awesome. On a more spiritual note I have almost finished reading the
Book of Mormon again. I am going to try and read it one more time out here
on my mission before I return home in four months. I am always so touched by
Moroni’s testimony about not denying the Christ. I have definitely come to the
same knowledge Moroni had - I could in no way deny Christ and this amazing
gospel. I love this gospel so much and have learned so much as a missionary.
The best thing is the more I learn about the gospel - the more I desire to follow!
I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love Elder Merrill