Elder Marriner Kaden Merrill: The Light of Christ

Hey guys! It was so great to talk to you yesterday! Happy Mothers Day
Mom! This week was great! I went to Jonesboro on Tuesday with Elder
Russell. He is from Richmond so we talked about a couple mutual people
we know. He is a pretty funny guy. We got to go see the Welch Family!
It was so awesome. We talked for a while and caught up on life. They
were both really happy for the Goodwin family.

Elder Pickering and Elder Merrill in matching Walmart ties!

Elder Merrill with the Welch Family

I returned to Batesville on Wednesday. On Thursday we headed over to
Habitat for Humanity to do service. After we headed to the neighboring
town of Salado to contact a referral and find others. It went pretty well.
We met a lot of old people who said they would never leave the Baptist
church. There are always a few of those people around.

Saturday was really fun. We went to serve at the Methodist breakfast in
the morning. After serving there we went and taught a lesson in Hardee’s
and set a baptismal date with a guy. It was awesome! We then went and
knocked on some doors in a neighborhood - I think we talked to 3 people
in almost 2 hours. We tried......and we will try again.

Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. It must have been a pretty
amazing talk because people told me after they didn’t notice that thirty
minutes had gone by because they wanted to listen.  I talked about the
Light of Christ. I really enjoyed studying about his subject and learning
more about it. Everyone is given this light when they are born. When
they are baptized the light grows even brighter with the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Then that light grows brighter and brighter until the perfect day,
or in other words, until we have a perfect knowledge. Good stuff! I am
so very thankful for that gift as a missionary. The light of Christ helps me
everyday! Serving here in the South I have gotten to the point where I
notice more when the light is gone almost more than when the light is
present in someone's life. I absolutely love seeing people being touched
by the light of Christ as we share this true gospel message.

It was also wonderful to stay to all three hours of our block meeting. Since
I have been singing in all of the missionary musical tributes for the past six
weeks this was the first time I was able to stay and get to know the people
I am serving here in Batesville.  After church we went to the Wahlquist home
for the rest of the day. The best part of the day was talking to my family!
Thank you so much for all of the love and support you give me each day.
I love you guys!

Love Elder Merrill