Monday, October 1, 2018

Dear family member, friend, acquaintance, compadre, stranger, pal, relative, or random pair of eyes that happen to be gracing these words. I am typing this up as i try to wrangle together all of the thoughts and feelings. If things seem scattered, just know its normal, its me, so don't be worried. It will be a great to get some of these thoughts off my chest as one chapter of my life comes to a close. I am not sure what i can add to all of the stories and words that have been said about the experience as a missionary. I have come to know and love many amazing people that have left a perdurable effect on my life. Missionaries from all over the globe, people in the humblest of backgrounds, leaders that have truly been inspired, the plethora of them all. I have grown in many things. I know for sure that my testimony has been immeasurably changed. I can remember being petrified in the preparation for me leaving all my comforts and going who knows where, to talk to who knows who every day for the next 730 days. I had a lot of great influences, but the jump into the biggest unknown of my life was there at the doorstep. I told everyone that I was getting my mission call to England. No body would have predicted that I would be called to the Kenya Nairobi mission. It still does not seem real to me that i have been out here for as long as i have. The time has really flown by. I had no perception of what it would be like. What would I eat? What would the people be like? Could I stand the climate? What about mosquitoes? Was the church big there? Just a lot of questions I decided to keep a positive attitude and look forward to the adventure and see how it all turns out. So I waited for what felt like a good deal of time, 6 months, with a lot of my closest friends being picked off one by one on their own call the serve the Lord. The day came for my farewell and setting apart. To say a goodbye to the people who have been the closest to me. Friends and family. Some of which friends and family situations will never be as they used to when i left. Getting dropped off at the airport and giving my final hugs to my family members was one of the hardest experiences of my life up to that point. Flash forward to the MTC, it was a journey of its own and from what i can now say, is nothing like how my mission is. But the preparation and friends i made there had a monumental impact on my mission. I don't know what I would have done if was left to consider what I had gotten myself into. I didn't think I would be very good at teaching or sharing the gospel. And practicing it seemed to prove my point. I was concerned about how I would actually do when I taught real people that really need to know what I'm sharing. But I could quickly see that it had nothing to do with my eloquence or intellect. Which is good to know, I'd be doomed otherwise. I can see if I keep up with this this is going to end up being a novel. I know that all but one or two of you at this point have stopped reading or caring. But I'll try to stick with being brief. Well, relatively brief. I arrived in Africa. And it was a shock. My first 4 transfers in Eldoret was the refining fire for me. I had the best trainer out there. But a brand new area we were opening, I had no idea of how things worked here. But my perspective rapidly changed and matured as I got into the flow of things with the help of all the people I was blessed to be around at that time. Things dramatically changed on my mission in Eldoret and it was the roughest part of my entire life. Thoughts that you would never think a missionary had came to my mind as i tried to stand all of the burdens that were all of a sudden placed upon my shoulders. I did not know if I would be able to take it. But looking back i can see the Lord was really carrying me through it all. I had the smallest hope and faith things could ever get better. But by some unknown chance things slowly and gradually grew better. Including the growth that the Lord was having take place in my life. Moved to Buru Buru in Nairobi and there I was placed amongst another great group of amazing people. One of my favorite memories of Nairobi is seeing all the missionaries on P-Day, going to town on the crazy buses that transported us everywhere there, and getting a different angled view of missionary work. Before i knew it I was off to Kitale, the "bush", or so i thought. It was a short 6 weeks there before the terrifying call came from President Msane. I was moving across the entire country, over 850km away, to train a new missionary and open an area there. My body was not prepared for the humidity. But i miss it dearly. The sudden reality of humidity that wont retread. The warm moist air, the brisk ocean breeze, the soothing sound of the waves rolling up on the white sand beaches. Things were still on the climb upwards but they were better than i ever thought possible. There i met some of the best people I have ever had the privilege to meet. Great companions, great zone, putting it all into perspective it was a small slice of the cake of heaven. A hard fought bar-fight for the spot of my favourite place on my mission, as i have been blessed with areas to serve in. Leaving Mombasa was something I never wanted to happen, and to me its time still came too fast. A few short months and i was out, being transferred to the hardest area in my mission. Mautuma. I thought i knew how to be a great missionary until I was thrown into the real bush. Everything was completely different in every single aspect from what i was used to for the previous 16 1/2 months of my mission. I cant explain all the differences, but it pushed me right back down to the ground. As i tried to learn the gibbery Luuyah language, and my kiswahili was being sharpened and tested, lots of growth has occurred. It is the only "bush" area left in the entire mission and I have really got a different view of happiness and of the way of life. With its never ending muddy roads, white water rafting rain storms, and lush green beauty all around. It is another slice from that cake of heaven. Couple that with the amazing people I have met and helped to find lasting happiness here, it has really changed my life and its been an honor to finish my mission here. So now that I'm back full circle, here I am now, at the end of the line looking back at all I had done. As I consider it, I would not change what I've had throughout all this time. Are there possibly things I could change for what I think better, that would have been nicer for me or helped me improve more? Well, yeah, probably. But that's not what happened. What I have been given and what I have experienced has happened, and it's all been more than I could have imagined or hoped for in my wildest dreams. I was given some good advice before I had left, quoting from Elder Wirthlin's last talk: "Come what may, and love it." There's been so many good things that I have loved. Chapati is one of them. Same with chips mayai. Singing the hymns after we had MLC is another. I could list so many other simple things. One of the best things for sure is the people I've come to know and love. These people I've served, and who I've served with. A good number of you I am sending this email to. There's been plenty of bad. The roads here are bad. Just awful. Most of the music I've heard played out here, sorry, but being frank, I cannot stand. Being crammed in the public transport is interesting at best. I've seen more fake promises given to us than I've seen fake watches. And I've seen (and named) quite a few. And there has been a myriad of internal struggles. I don't know if I loved those things so much at the time. But going in review, particularly about those things that matter most, I am thankful for everything I've gotten. I'm grateful I've had the chance to serve the Lord and help spread the truth, at least a little. I don't really know what effects I have had, I don't know how many changes I've made, I'm not even sure how really devoted I was at times. But I definitely hope that I have played at least some small part in sharing this good word. It is good. It is so true. And I couldn't live without it. So. There it goes. It's surreal to be through. I'm really nervous now about what's next, but I guess looking back, I've felt the same way. And look where I am now. I've gone through okay, and gotten more than I could have hoped for. So there's good stuff ahead. There always is. I love each of you and thank you for all the influences you've had in my life. I wish the best for each of you. I've said it before and I will say it again, I wish written or spoken language could truly shed some light on the feelings, thoughts, memories, and experiences I have had. I hold it all dear to my heart and am happy with the person God has shaped and molded me into. Thank you all for being a part of the best 2 years for my life. May God bless each and every one of you and may his love abide with you until we are blessed to meet again. Lots of enduring love, Elder Christian Merz

Monday, September 24, 2018

To start of the week i went on my last exchanges with Elder Mukengela in Misikhu. the exchanges went really well! We got caught in 2 random rain dumpings and one of them got pelted with hail for some time and then the other we found some cover in one of there investigators homes! We had some really really great contacts in there area and we found many many people who they can begin to start teaching!! :) while i was on exchanges elder Jameson and Bigirindavyi told all the people that i left! They were sad haha! They were happy to see me again. I will really miss them though when i sadly do have to leave. We had another great lesson with isaac. He IS reading the book of Mormon now! That is the most powerful tool in conversion. it really helps and blesses people in all they do! He is really progressing well, i love that man. We also got some GREAT referrals from members this week! They are both fathers (so have families), speak English, and are interested to know more about the gospel. Christopher and Joshua are there names. Joshua even came to church and really loved it!! We visited Brother francis and his wife Metrine and their family. They took the Book of Mormon challenge we have given to the members and have been reading it daily as a family!! They could explain it almost perfe tly what was happening so far as well! Super exciting to see people doing it and the happiness it is bringing to them! :D Our zone also killed it this week! We all had confirmations and great great numbers! We are also excited to see where things go! I am finishing in such a powerful zone!!! :) Lots of love and wishing you all many blessings! :) Elder Merz

Monday, September 17, 2018

Where has all the time gone to? I had my last zone conference as a missionary this last week. And luckily for me it was probably one of the best ones i have ever had. We had our interviews on Thursday after working in our area on Wednesday. The interviews went really well. Even this far in my mission i continue to learn ways in which i can improve in the work and grow more. Our zone conference was basically a big counsel of things we all needed to talk about. So there was great organization and structure to it, but every contributed and talked and discussed together. It was a proper zone conference. Let me share with you some quotes that i liked from the leadership meeting and the zone conference itself. "In life you always have an influence on someone, you have no choice over that, the choice that you do have is whether that influence will be good or bad." -President Msane "Help each other, not judge each other." -Elder Shongwe We were talking about our struggles as missionaries and how we should be with our fellow missionaries. Let us love before we judge. "Change and fix mistakes before they become habits" -President Msane "Each missionary has a desire to be a better person, that's shows by seeing them out here as missionary." -Elder Shongwe I liked this one because it is so true. When i left i knew i wanted to learn and grow on my mission and become a better person than i currently was at home. that was not my motive for coming out, but each missionary has that desire for change within themselves. "Our best effort includes using our resources. Its not just doing all i can think of, but using all that I have." -President Msane I have never really thought of this that way before. Doing all i can is not just what i can think of. But i need to as well use the resources around me that i have before the Lord will fill in the gap. "There is a difference between faith and believing. Faith is not enough, we have to believe that we can be successful at what we're doing." -Elder Reck "Life without a plan us useless." -Elder Molutsi These are just a few quotes you can ponder and think on if you like. I really enjoyed all of the zone conference though. Sitting there i was getting quite hit by the fact that in a few weeks this will all come to an end. My mind was caught up on all of the memories and the small little things that i will miss about Kenya and Eldoret itself. Words can not express the feelings of the soul in how this place has changed my entire life. I love this place. There are 4 in my group who bore there testimonies. Elder Christensen went first, then Elder Fraga, then me, and we finished up with Elder Wilson. My group is so powerful and I love each and every one of them. My heart was beating and pounding so hard when it was my turn to go up. I don't really remember much of what i said but people thanked me for my testimony afterwords and expressed how they will miss me. So i guess the spirit was speaking not me. What a surreal feeling it was. We got to party it up in the Huruma flat with Elder Fraga, Ntlebi, Molutsi, Card, Bigirindavyi, and I. Man i will really miss so much from this place. What an eventful day that was, one that cant be forgotten. Lastly, we had a baptism on Sunday of Kingsley. He got interviewed on Tuesday and passed and wanted Elder Bigirindavi to baptism him. We had a great attendance for the entire program which was good. We are working with the members to build up the kingdom of God here in Mautuma. We have 2 full weeks in our area, so I am looking forward to that. I hope you all have a great week and can make small consistent improvements in your life each and every day. By doing so you will become better in ways you now are not able to experience. Happiness will flow into your life and you will see it for all those around you! Lots of Love, Elder Christian Merz

Monday, September 10, 2018

This week we got 1 day to work in our area. Saturday. We had our monthly MLC on Thursday. It was a really great meeting that we had together. A lot of it was more focused towards missionaries but i would like to share a few things from the meeting that I think would be good to share. We watched a video by Elder Uchtdorf and here are a few things he said that i liked. He said how as missionaries we are here to make true disciples of Jesus Christ. Go study and look at what a disciple of Jesus Christ really is. It has a great meaning for me. Also he talked about how referrals are important to get from members. But we "cant take the responsibility away from each missionary of becoming a fisher of men." He also stated "Should we fail at the first 2 and great commandments, we will not be successful in building the kingdom of God." It was a really great MLC and i learned a lot. Luckily i still have one more left on my mission. At MLC i also got to meet a new senior couple to the mission. Elder and Sister Turner. They are from Birmingham, England! I talked with them a lot and one of the nights they shared stories with us and we talked about England. What a place. They kind of opened up my mind a little bit and gave me some new thinking. They are such a great couple. I love people from England! They are like my old English grandparents. Traveling back from MLC was (and always is) a blast. Its so fun to travel for 8 hours with Elder Fraga, Ntlebi, and Bigirindavyi. We have all become such good friends and just laugh and talk the whole time. As well as we contacted the people around us and got them in on some fun as well. We traveled to Eldoret and the next day had a spectacular correlation meeting with President Kogo (the district President). He submitted the stake papers and are hoping at the beginning of November Eldoret will be a stake. We did our meeting a little bit different and we all brought up concerns or ideas for how we can improve and counciled about them together or what we each thought. It was a really nice meeting and it was good to see that he even had a full page of notes of things he can do or whatever he was writing. But a full page of notes none-the-less. As i said we only got 1 day to work in our area because on Sunday we had to travel again all day to do some baptismal interviews, which is always an experience that i enjoy to have. But we met with our investigator Isaac and read some of the Book of Mormon with him. We are really focusing on that with everyone here. Because both Elder Big and I saw a huge change in Mombasa when we focused on that there, and from what the missionaries there say, they still do that and it has a big lasting impact. We also met with Racheal, Sharon, and Barbra. We left them to read the Book of Mormon story book and they DID!! They are great RC's. They have really come to enjoy reading it and when we asked them to explain what they read they did almost perfectly! I am really trying hard to just enjoy each and every last thing that comes my way on my mission. What an experience it has been so far and what an experience it will continue to be! Love you all, Elder Merz

Monday, September 3, 2018

So i forgot to ion last mention last week that Elder jameson came here to the zone to be our district leader. Somehow last week when i packed up my stuff i forgot to pack a white shirt...one of the only things that is a constant in what i wear! So thanks to him i got to borrow one! For our investigators birthday, Racheal (the one who was just baptized), we splashed her back and she took it like a champ! She didnt even try to run she just accepted the fact! That same night her and Barbra brought us some little snacks, it was super cute! Those girls are the best! They are my younger sisters since i dont have any! One day at lunch the place we usually go was SUPER full. So we were cracking jokes with all the guys and then we contacted them all, it was a cool random experience i thought i would share haha!! We also did some service for 2 of our investigators. they have shops, and we organized and cleaned them for them so they look super nice! They were very appreciative. Its important to serve our investigators as well as everyone! We also served one of our members and became shamba boys for a big part of a day. We helped him to harvest his maize. Woooow there was a lot of maize to harvest but it was all good! :) i got about a million pocky things on my clothes though haha! I'd also like to share a quick experience of how prayers are answered. One morning when we were leaving i prayed for us and said specifically that we would be able to find a family that speaks english, the father is self-reliant. Throughout the day we worked hard and were busy and the last hour we had we were contacting people and went to this home and the father welcomed us inside. We sat down even! He is a teacher, knows great english, has a little family. So it was an EXACT answer to our prayer! We need to have faith that the Lord will provide for us and help us! I love when you can recognize little things like that in your life!! :) I dont have much time this week but love you all lots! Only 5 weeks left! Loove, Elder Merz

Monday, August 27, 2018

The last 2 weeks i have kept many different transactions and thousands of shillings spent all in my mind. From many different money sources (my monthly money, personal money, and our zone working fund). But i have remembered it all in my head and then was able to account for it all later on and could remember the exact days and amounts of all the money that we spend on things. And in the end after the accounting, everything all lined up. I am quite impressed by my mind! Linda, one of our investigators, is so awesome!!! We had a few lessons with her this week and she reads the material we give her and keeps her commitments we give her! She has great questions and her heart is really being opened to receiving the message. Its a cool relationship we have because she doesn't see us just as missionaries. But even considers us her friend. She opens up to us, trusts us, and really love it when we come! She even cooked us some lunch which was really nice! We also got to meet with Yusuf again, the muslim guy we are teaching here. We go to his mosque and teach him and he is the best guy. He has SUPER good questions and like every time we go he expresses how he loves how we actually help people to understand. He has questions that literally we have to think about and we for sure don't have all the answers for. So it is a nice challenge for us. Our branch mission leader is also giving us a lot of help! He calls us and tells us we should go visit our Ministering families and wants to take us to go visit some less-actives. He is really such a great help to us. He has a positive attitude towards things, like how we biked quite far to go see a less-active who was not even home. She just smiled and we laughed as we rode our bikes together back to mautuma. He even took us to go and minister to our assigned families who 2 of them are less-active families and they both came to church with there whole family on sunday, so there is the fruits of our work! Some interesting things for the week. I had to draw water from a near by well to be able to wash my clothes because no water at our flat, as well as i had to do it in the little sunlight i had. But i got to wash with the company and stories of my great companion Elder Bigirindavyi. Apparently as well, a girl cant get married here until she knows how to slaughter and prepare chicken really nice to the liking of her possible husband. Haha so girls at home dont complain. You would probably scream even just seeing a chicken flap its wings. Elder Big's birthday was on the 22nd. It was a nice day and our last appointment just next door to where we stay (where Sharon, Barbra, and Racheal live) i planned it out with them that after the lesson when we were going that they would "wash" him. It all worked out according to plan. he got some nice big buckets of water dumped on him 😂😂 Last thing for this long email, HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO MY DAD!!! I am so thankful to have him as my father and for all the many things he has taught me and helped me with. His influence and love and direction in my life has really helped me become who i am today! All the best birthday wishes to you Dad! i love you soooooo much! Cant wait to see you in a few weeks! :) Racheal was also baptized on sunday!! it was a really great day and time! She was glowing like an angel and was standing out like a Princess! She is one of my best friends here and is like my adopted younger sister! Love her! "If the world is to be improved, the process of love must make a change in the hearts of men." - President Hinckley Love, Elder Merz P.S. - hope you like our new ride, the big road smoother machine....

Monday, August 20, 2018

The week we got a whopping 1 day to work in our area, Wednesday. It was a really great day none-the-less. But wow. We took like the only car that goes to mautuma, we hopped in and hopped it would take us to somewhere where we could get to Eldoret faster. Luckily it worked out really nicely and we got to Eldoret in 90 minutes! We had our interviews with President Msane and the next day our Zone conference. Somethings that stuck out for me is how when we pray, we must pray with real intent. That means that you are willing to act and submit to the will of God no matter what the answer may be. Whether it is a yes, no, or wait. I also liked the quote from President Benson that says "Vision without work is a dream; work without vision is a drudgery; work coupled with vision is destiny." We went and visited some members from Eldoret that i missed a lot. One in particular was sister Jane and her family. They were all super excited and happy to see me. We got fed and played/talked with the kids. It was seriously so nice. We also went and taught a really cool blind lady who is investigating the church in Huruma. SO we got to work with Elder Fraga and Ntlebi. It was a super cool experience! She even has a Book of Mormon in brail that somehow we were able to get here! We had our district conference and it was really cool to be able to see some people from mautuma be sustained to receive the Melchizedek priesthood! The talks that were given were very powerful and if the members apply the things that they talked about and learned, we will see great progress in the branches here in the Eldoret district. Thats about it for the week! Have a great week all! Love you! Sincerely, Elder Merz

Monday, August 13, 2018

Bigi got sick this week....but it was okay because Peter (the guy who manages the missionary flats) came to Mautuma and brought us some stuff we really needed! Like hmm...some pots and pans, cups, bowls, a broom...ya know just those luxurious things. haha Also enjoy your constant water and power for me. We didn't have power or water for a few days this week. Makes things interesting 😂 We met with Rachel twice this week and she is really progressing well. She is super smart and remembers things very well. Its cool because every time we teach her, her aunt Mary Ann and her little sister Barbrah (the one we baptized) come and join the lesson and help us teach. We have also started reading the Book of Mormon story book with them to help them understand the stories in the Book of Mormon. It is going really well. They have a really nice sisterhood relationship, they are more friends than just sisters. I know you all think there are starving kids in Africa. But in reality there are starving kids everywhere. But here in mautuma i think it is impossible. We got fed a mega breakfast at our branch presidents until we could barely walk out the door. Then we got fed at the next 2 appointments. Then the next day we again got 3 suuuuper big meals right after each other....so if any one is worried, since i am out surviving in the jungle, if i am getting food. YES I AM!!! Fridah got baptized on Sunday, brother Simon baptized her. It was a really special day for her and looots of people stayed behind after church to support her! :) I love the members here in mautuma! I have a request for some people that are interested. We have started a big family home evening in different areas where people live here. But we are looking for some very simple, and fun games we can play with them. Please have them easy to understand and explain because we will have to translate to swahili. But nice easy fun games we can play with some paper, pens, idk. Any suggestions send em my way, and thank you in advance! :) I would like to quickly talk about prayer. Lots of people pray, and know how to pray. But a loooot more people feel they dont get answers to there prayers, so this might cause them to stop praying. But i would like to help you understand how answers come. The answer wont come as a notification on your phone, an old fashioned letter in the mail, or an angel appearing to you and telling you the answer to your prayer. "The Holy Ghost speaks with a voice that you feel more than you hear. It is described as a 'still small voice' [D&C 85:6]. And while we speak of 'listening' to the whisperings of the Spirit, most often one describes a spiritual prompting by saying, 'I had a feeling....'. Revelation comes as words we feel more than hear. Nephi told his wayward brothers, who were visited by an angel, 'Ye we past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.'" -President Boyd k. Packer. So when you pray please make sure you are in the environment and have created the climate for you to Feel the promptings of the spirit. Let us never be "past feeling" that we can no longer recognize the spirit speaking to us and guiding us. I wish you all well as you pray this week and focus on the feelings you receive, rather than the words you hear. Love, Elder Merz

Monday, August 6, 2018

I dont have much to report on for the week, as i have not been in my area for another week.... On Monday we went to Kitale and emailed, Tuesday we had our DDM and after we went and contacted for the Kitale elders and found 9 men who are interested to know more and serious. We put in some good work for them. Its so weird being back in an area where there are lots of people to talk to. Wednesday we went to Eldoret and had a correlation meeting with the District President and talked about how the areas are progressing. Us and the Huruma Elders went and got a super nice hair cut. We slept on there floor for the 3rd day in a row and woke up to the mosque outside praying at 3 am. I just had to join the prayer session so i prayed it would stop. Thursday we traveled to Nairobi with the Huruma Elders (Elder Fraga and Ntlebi) and the Eldoret STL's. We had a fun 10 hour bus ride together and enjoyed each others company. We had too many jokes to tell and share. It made the trip quite bearable. We got there and got taken to the Assistants flat. So us 4 elders, and the Kisumu Zone Leaders (Elder Card and Nyanhamo) and the assistants all slept there. We had a great time together and Elder Fraga and Carlson (both in my group) talked into the morning hours. Mlc went well the next day and i was able to learn that the only opinion of me that matters is the Lords. We traveled back Saturday and only got Sunday to work. Buuuut we had 3 great lessons after church and Baraka was also confirmed. It was nice to sleep in my bed and not to floor for 2 days. But Sunday i woke up next to a huge spider....i should have asked him i guess to sleep on his bed.... We are looking forward to having time to work in our area this week and continue to progress the great and legendary Mautuma. We are close to becoming a ward when the stake comes to Eldoret. I got my flight info which is weird. the calendar tells me it is August 2018 but in my mind its not real. Oh well sorry for the not so good email, but there's not much to say when i am traveling all week. Love from the bush master, Elder C. Merz

Monday, July 30, 2018

The first thing i HAVE to say is i found a long lost treasure in one of my suitcases! So waaaay back when i was in Eldoret with the best couples ever, the Pehrsons, they gave us missionaries in Eldoret some cake Sister Pehrson calls 1,2,3 cake. You basically put like 3 scoops of the mix, 2 tablespoons of water, and cook for 1 minute in the microwave. BOOM! IT WORKS!!! And we have had some cake this week in celebration of some hard work and good days! What a blessing the Pehrsons have been in my life and they're legacy lives on! One thing i have come to dislike is people who waste my time. Some people we planned to meet with said that they would come FOR SURE and then never show up. When we try to call them their phone is off....come on guys i did not travel all the way from America to come here and play around. I have a very limited time! Oh well, try to be nice and keep a positive attitude. We have had some miracles and blessings this week. Like honestly this last week has been one of the best weeks! We met with Elias twice and had 2 really great lessons about the restoration with the help of the branch mission leader. He is understanding well about the Restoration and is in the category of a "kingdom builder" which is who we are looking for! We also got 3 referrals for one of my best friends here in Mautuma, Simon. They are 3 of his really good friends who work super close to where we stay and are so so great!! We met on Sunday after church with them and they stay RIGHT NEXT to the chapel! We got another friend there so we had a verrrry powerful lesson about the Restoration with those 4 and Simon helping us. Interestingly enough they all go to different churches but again, they are all in the kingdom builder category. (The kingdom builder category consists of these characteristics. Self-reliant, between ages 18-30, English speakers, potential priesthood holders, have a family) These 4 guys fit all of them except the family part. One is a teacher, one is a medic, one owns a shop, and the other i forgot...BUUT they are all super humble and prepared by the Lord for us! I am super excited about them if you cant tell! On Sunday Barbra also got confirmed and i baptized Baraka! He is such a great boy! I felt so honored to baptize him. We met with the parents and him and really requested that the father baptize him, but he was insistent that i baptize him! What an honor to keep that moment in time together with him. The week has been the best! Mautuma is really booming! We had loots of people there at church and i could notice that we were still missing some people! We have lots of really really great people we are teaching, as well as lots of help from members! The zone also had an incredible week! I think it was the best week for the zone combined in the whole year!! I love being a missionary! Love from ya Bush Man, Elder Merz

Friday, July 27, 2018

Last week we went to Nairobi so that show that we are good and legal to be here in the county. We had to do all this stupid stuff to show we are good to be here, so literally the entire mission went through Nairobi last week. But while there we got pizza one night and we shared stories with Elder Call, Fuller, Segale, Bigirindavyi and I at the Assistants flat. Sleepin on the floor with a little mattress has just become something i am now used to. We also got to go to the mission home and i got to see a lot of my good friends! Such as Elder Bandi who is training someone and STILL in Mombasa!! Lucky guy! I also got to see the missionaries that were going home! My good friends Elder Cox, Cotts, Covarubias, and Elder Egbert! We went to the upperhill chapel and got our papers saying we are okay to be in the country and then Elder Fuller, ncube, Bigirindavyi, Shongwe and I walked to the immigration center in town. We got our stuff sorted out after some hours. Elder Fuller had a problem where on one paper it said 10,000 and the other it said 100,000. So we had to go up to some rooms to figure it out, all they did was just scribble out the 100,000 and write 10,000 hahaha niiiiice. Ncube left to fly to Dar Es Saalem and the rest of us went and got all you can eat pizza from a Pizza Hut there in town. We destroyed the place. The evening we got dinner at the mission home and got to meet the new missionaries more and the trainers. Saturday was a bit rough. We had 3 interviews total for the zone. For the day i biked a total of more than 40 km uphill and the interviews literally took the entire day for us. That is something hard about being in an area soooo far away from others. Barbra was baptized on Sunday! It was a great great day! She was super happy and the service went very well. She is a super smart girl and we gave her a little CTR ring that she wears every day! Randomly during the week i got a smell of like a Nelson summer BBQ....ALSO we are the LAST bush boys left. We are the only missionaries now serving in one of the "bush" areas. Another good week but super busy with unexpected travels to Nairobi. Good thing we got registered though or else they would have deported us or taken us to jail. Hope you all have a great week. I know it must be weird to get an email from me on a Friday, but on Monday we traveled for 5 hours to go and email and the internet places did not really have internet they were just playing around. It took 20 minutes to try to log on and then 20 minutes to just log off. So here we are. Love, Elder Merz Sister Msane got us super nice new blankets!!

Monday, July 16, 2018

On my 2nd to last transfer...its a surreal feeling. Is it really July? Do i really go home in October? I still find myself super excited and not tired of this great work at all. We have starting teaching someone called Samuel. He is the Deputy at a good school here in Mautuma. He is basically the Vice Principle in American terms. He is a smart guy and even quite young to be a VP. He really loves our church and knows its a good church. He was working at another one of the schools here and the church's charity help program thingy build the nicest and best toilets in all the land for that school and he was a teacher at that school. We are excited to start teaching him. On Sunday we are having a baptism of Barbarah. She is a great girl and learns very fast! I have talked about her before, but it is finally her time to get dipped in the water! We are also teaching a part member family and teaching the son, his name is Junior. He is also progressing very well and understanding the lessons. The gospel message is simple, don't think about it too much in depth. I have even heard that if you are struggling just go back to the basic truths! We got to meet with Brother Francis and FINALLY finish helping him with his family history. We sent 10 names to the temple!!! And 33 ordinances total! AND there are more still we can send. We were missing some information but i guess it made him so happy because on Sunday he showed me a sheet of paper full on the front and back of ancestors he found out from his family that he didn't know about and wants to add them. As well as a lot of the missing information. WOW it is incredible!! The last absolutely insane thing i will share is a combination of Saturday and Sunday. So on Saturday we are getting lunch and there is another guy just chillin there. I decide to spark up a conversation. We talked about the World Cup, about our different countries. He told us about his job (He is an accountant). He is a very smart and i am guessing successful accountant just from what he was saying. We then talked a little about the gospel. He is just visiting him home village (Mautuma) but he lives in Mountain View Nairobi. He lives not far from the Mountain View ward and used to go play basketball there a ton, but never attended a service on Sunday. So we invited him to church the next day and he said he would come. HE ACTUALLY CAME!!! That is suuuch a big thing. Lots of people say they will come but don't....but HE did! I sat by him in Sacrament meeting and he was singing the songs that he didn't even know, but was trying! Then in the Gospel Principles class and in Elders Quorum he was participating and asking questions, answering others questions, and saying very intelligent things for not knowing anything but just listening and learning! I wish you could have been there it was truly incredible! Also one of his best childhood friends is a member in Mautuma and they haven't seen each other in over 20 years so it was also a great little reunion for them! Then one of the members was showing the World Cup at his shop and one of the members invited him to come see it with him, AND HE DID!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH wow this man is powerful and ready to receive the biggest blessings in his life from the restored gospel! He is truly prepared and ready for his life to be changed and happiness to be more in his life. We are going to send the Mountain View elders his number so he can receive them! Our week was superb! But sadly my companion Elder Ncube is being transferred! He is going off to Dar Es Saalem. I will really miss him and it has been a short 6 weeks with him, but i have learned things from him! My new companion is Elder Bigirindavyi. I will say more about him next week, but this week.....more not so fun adventures so stay tuned Haha! Loads of love from Obamas fathers home, Elder C. Merz

Monday, July 9, 2018

To start off the wonderful last week we traveled to Eldoret and had a correlation meeting with the District President, President Kogo. We had a good correlation how the branches in Kitale zone are moving forward and how the missionaries are focusing on the right things. Afterwords we went to his home and got joined by ALL the Eldoret missionaries!! Including Elder and Sister Reck, the new couple there, since the best couple Elder and Sister Pehrson went home. Wow his home was full of missionaries and it was such good food and an incredible privilege to have dinner at his home again! I never though i would get that again as a missionary, but he specifically had it that day so that we could join them. I love President Kogo!! After his home we went to this new mall in Eldoret called Rupas. I heard they have some nice deo there, so we went and they were wanting the equivalent of $10 for ONE stick of Old Spice!!! So i got some nice smelling AXE and i found a Snickers so i spoiled myself and got it! For my 4th of July i got to travel 10 hours on a bus to Nairobi....i talked to a lady sitting next to me i could tell does not live i Kenya. So i started talking to her and she is Kenyan but has been living in the us for the past 22 years! She was on her way back right then. She is a minister in another church (wont mention the name). But i was asking her things about what they believed and i got her....she was saying things and ALL i was doing was using scriptures from JUST the bible to ask her questions. She is a nice lady but is lost....i can see how people can be so lost and confused without the additional knowledge of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We had MLC and talked about many different things but one that stood out was about mediocrity. We need to rise above doubts, fears, and things that might set us back. "We must use time wisely and forever realize taht the time is always ripe to do right." -Nelson Mandela. "A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things" -Barak Obama. I believe it takes action, determination, faith and consistency to make a change. Lastly i got to go on exchanges with Elder Carlson. We came out on missions together and have become good friends! He is from St. George and is the senior assistant here for our mission. We had a great day working in there area. Good lessons, and we found some great great people who could build up the church! As we were leaving their chapel to go and find some people there was a guy in his 20s with a metal skateboard just outside the gate sitting down!! Elder Carlson and i both know how to skateboard as we skated at home. So we contacted him and he let us ride his board a little bit, do a few tricks, and then we contacted him! He has actually been to the church before so i think God set that up JUST PERFECTLY for us! Have a great week all! I will be enjoying my sleep in MY OWN BED this week! 😉 Love, Elder Merz

Monday, July 2, 2018

So last week on Tuesday when we were traveling back to our area and we were packed 26 of us in a matatu. The road was suuuper muddy because it was raining. There was some stuck cars we passed. Our matatu was super heavy and as we passed them i said in Swahili "Our fatness makes us stong", it made the entire matatu laugh LOL but it was true!! This guy named Brother Chyulu came to Mautuma branch and supplied us with a new printer that also scans and copies, he also got us a new battery pack for when the power goes out, and he fixed the wifi!! Guys like him are so nice, they just come and fix things! This week we called a lot of the people that we got there numbers the week before. From it we got 5 new investigators!! And 4 of them are adult men who have families and speak English, EXACTLY what we are looking for! One of them is named Simon he has some really good potential. We gave him a restoration pamphlet and we met with him the next day and he read the entire pamphlet and had lots of questions and wants to know more about Joseph smith and the book of Mormon!!! We went to the branch presidents house for breakfast one morning. He really loves us, and we love him back too!! He is such a great branch president! Probably the best!!! We then went and visited another member named Euphresia and she gave us some food after the lesson and on there tiny little tv somehow there was WWE. Her mother was soooooo into it hahahaha i was laughing so hard!! She was clapping and making sounds and having the time of her life LOL! After church on Sunday we visited some investigators and then we went to the 1st counselors house and roasted some maize together "This is beautiful" In his own words! It was such a nice time! We talked about the church, his conversion story, family, and just the simple life in Mautuma. Also about the dangerous animals around, like green and black mambas that can kill you between 30-minutes to 3 hours if bitten.... We have a busy week ahead of us but i am really loving the mission and trying to get all i can out of it!! 😄 make sure to keep a smile on your face! it will make you happy and those that see it happy!! 😊 I wish all the best week ever! May happiness be in your life and good vibes come your way! Enjoy the 4th of July for me you beautiful Americans [?] Love, Elder Merz

Monday, June 25, 2018

We had a great great DDM last Tuesday with the zone. Me and my companion reported on things we got from MLC. One of the big subjects and things we were supposed to train on was about Giving it our all. We asked the questions What are we actually here to do? Why is giving it your all important? How will it help us? How will we do it? and then also some scriptures that come to mind. We had a very great discussion together. This is also an important principle to apply to our everyday lives. In EVERYTHING we do we need to give it our all. No half efforts here. If you give it your all you will excel in whatever you are doing! We are teaching a 10 year old girl named Barbara. She is Sharons little sister. She is soooo smart!! We teach her the lessons in a more simple way that she'll understand and teach the most important points. She understands and remembers them suuuuper well!! I haven't seen someone like her before she is truly incredible! We have a few lessons with her and hope to have her baptized soon!! We did loooots of finding and contacting this last week. We now have a load of numbers we are going to be following up with this week. We have also gotten some referrals from members which is the best for finding because then you have someone to help you teach them and they already have a relationship with someone in the church! We have been biking a lot the last week and some of the days i was just dead tired. I was out at like 9 one night! Saturday we were at a funeral all day and then went and taught an investigator with the help of a member. We visited sister Jane again and she came to church again!! It then started raining super hard and we were up on the mountain so we went to another members for shelter and we got some ugali and pumpkin leaves out of it!! Wooow its suuuuuuper good!!! A new favorite food with ugali!! Congrats to my cousin/best friend Tim for finishing his mission this week!!! I cant believe it is already time! I still remember when you left!! I know he'll get a great welcome home!! Love ya bro!! Congrats!!! :) thanks for leading the way for us! Thats about it for the week!! Enjoy the smiles around you! Love, Elder Merz

Monday, June 18, 2018

This week we had Zone Conference in Eldoret so we slept in our flat for one night and then last Monday we were here in Kitale emailing and then Tuesday we went to Eldoret. Our zone conference was great!!! We talked a lot about the Doctrine of Christ and how it is so important. Go and study yourself these chapters. 2 Nephi 31-32, 3 Nephi 11 & 27. The question was asked How does our understanding of the Doctrine of Christ manifest itself? There were many great answers and contributions but i would like to share 2 quotes, i guess you could call them, from my mission president. He said "A lot of this is in the doing. Not just talking about it." A lot of living and following the Doctrine of Christ is in actually DOING something. Everyone can talk about it. And lets be honest, talk is cheap. Where things happen is in the action. The other thing he said was "We need to understand it that it does in fact, change our natures." I really love my mission President. I am sure everyone can say theirs is the best, but mine is no acception. It also all comes down to HOW we understand the Doctrine of Christ. The more we UNDERSTAND it, the better we will be able to follow Him and the better we will become each and every day. It was interesting, so Elder Card got transferred to Kisumu. And so we were once again together at zone conference. Once again together in Eldoret....i never in my life thought we would both be back in that city at the exact same time. We slept at the Huruma Zone Leaders flat and Elder Card and I slept on the floor on some mattresses. the only thing that bugged us was......a nearby Mosque at legit 3AM starting "praying" and they turned up there microphones to world on like full blast. It woke us both up and we just laughed about it together at 3am haha! This week at the end of the week we extended 3 baptismal dates! We are getting back to work now. And i like that now i am in charge. We are really working on finding new people to teach. We visited manyyy members this week and took them My family books to help them start their family history. We visited this super less-active lady and helped her start to fill out the book with her own information. She loved telling us stories and remembering things and a Miracle happened!!! SHE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! For the entire church block as well as participating in the classes!! Blessings truly do come from Family History! DO YOUR OWN and feel the love for those loved ones you have. Find out their awesome stories. I had a great week and i hope that all of you have a fantastic week as well!! Enjoy the blessings that God will grant you this week! Love from your village boy, Elder C. Merz

Monday, June 11, 2018

So let me explain how last week went. Elder Limu and I woke up at 5 to get picked up at 6 by a taxi guy. The taxi got stuck in the mud and didnt show up until 7. We had to load up his stuff and drive suuuuper fast to Misikhu to pick up Elder Brown and Elder Phokane. We did the drive in 40 minutes, and we were FLYING!! Thats like world record speed LOL. We picked them up and then the guy had to drive super fast as well to Kitale so that they would not miss there bus, which left at 9 sharp. We met with the Kitale Elders there, printed the tickets and they caught the bus by Gods grace!! Elder Brown is going to Kayole to be a Zone Leader, Elder Pratt is going to Lucky Summer Nairobi, and Elder Limu is being transferred to Zimbabwe LOL. Then my new comp. Elder Ncube came that evening but we had to sleep in Kitale. The next morning we took Elder Konyana (Elder Pratts old comp) to the bus station because he is going to Nairobi and training a new guy. Then we had to wait all day and pick up Elder Munayiri who is the new District Leader here and is with Elder Phokane. But our areas are way to far to go there so we slept another night in the kitale flat even though no kitale missionary was there. The next morning we took a taxi that dropped those guys at there flat in Misikhu and then took us to Mautuma. The mud roads were more of a horrible slip-n-slide due to the rain. But we made it. Elder Ncube got to unpack a few things and pack his bag for Nairobi and the taxi took us back to Misikhu. We were in Mautuma for about 30 minutes. We took a matatu to Kitale and slept there again! 3rd night in a row! And then we left in the morning from the Kitale bus station to Nairobi for MLC. (Missionary leaders meeting with the Mission President). We picked up the Eldoret Zone Leaders and the sister training leaders, so it was fun the travel with them! Especially with my boy Elder Fraga! We had MLC and i learned some great things (i will share in a minute) then Saturday we traveled back to the western part of Kenya. After a 10 hour bus ride and some traffic and traveling issues we had to stay with the Misikhu elders because we would have gotten home super late if we went to our area. So then Sunday we had to wake up super early again (5am for the 3rd time this week) and travel to Naitiri where we attended church and then we went to the flat and slept there last night. So we were in our area 1 day the whole week. We are so sick of traveling, buuut lucky us we have zone conference this week so we are traveling to Eldoret tomorrow LOL!! In MLC we talked about how we can give it our all as missionaries. The Lord really does and will help us as we learn to trust in him and do what he wants us to do. Miracles are happening here in Kenya and each companionship should be able to experience them! I hope this week everyone can trust in the Lord more. His promises are real, and can not be broken. He WILL hold up his end of the deal, but is up to us if we are going to follow through with our end. I love Him and the blessings that he has given me. Even though this last week we were not in our area he still blessed us with a new invistigator who we even set a bapitsmal date with. He knows us, and our situatuions. He loves us soooo much, even if you are sitting on a bus for 10 hours traveling cross country. I wish you all the best this week as you trust in the Lord more. And feel of His blessings, love, and peace. Lots of Love, Elder C. Merz

Monday, June 4, 2018

I slept in my bed 2 times this last week, we went to Kitale and had a going away party for Elder Limu. We just got some meat and Elder Pratt and I made some chapatis and we had some fun together! We did some flat checks again and then Elder Limu went back to Mautuma with Elder Phokane and i went to Misikhu with Elder Brown. It was so awesome to go on exchanges with my first MTC companion. Let me just say we are MUCH better than we were in the MTC lol! We visited some less-actives and some investigators and had really great lessons. He is so powerful and a great missionary. We also got to share some memories of people in Buru Buru (since he replaced me when i left). It was a great great exchange and from it they were able to see a few less actives that we visited come to church. That was for tuesday and wednesday. We also got some new invesitgators and referrals together!! Thursday was an adventure of its own. So we had an interview that needed to be done in Mautuma so we waited in a matatu for over an hour until it left. On the way it broke down AGAIN and so we had to help the driver fix it and then off we went again. We passed the other Elders coming from Naitiri and we stopped the cars, switched keys and continued forward. Long story short it took us about 5 hours to get from Misikhu to Naitiri. We grabbed the bikes that the other Elders left for us and biked to Mautuma. The chains fell off about a milliion times because the chains are super loose and dryer than Elder Browns home state of Arizona. We arrived in Mautuma he did the interview, we grabbed a few things from the flat and biked up the massive hill back to Naitiri. We got there and got a ride to the main road where we got another Matatu back to Misikhu. So literally the whole day we were traveling and did an interview, welcome to Western Kenya. Elder Limu and I then went to Eldoret for a correlation meeting with the district president and we stayed in the night there with Elder Mahanzu and Elder Fraga (who i also came with). Let me just say I love Elder Fraga and have so much respct for him. He is one of my great great friends and i am thankful for him! Elder Limu is off now to Zimbabwe and I will really miss him! Its hard to have a companion go home but i realized someday that will be me. So i am trying to soak everything all in and not let the smallest or biggest things bring me down. This is the Lords work and i have a privledge to help Him in this part of His vineyard. This next week is already crazy and we know what is going to happen but stay tuned for that next week haha! Lots of love from the land of the Lion, Elder Merz

Monday, May 28, 2018

The week has flown by!! I guess that comes with traveling during the week... We had our zone conference in Eldoret on tuesday and wednesday. Honestly not even too many notes were taken. It was a different kind of zone conference but i still learned a lot!! There are 4 friends that are going home at the end of this week so they bore there last testimonies. These are a few things that were said that i really like and know to be true. "We cant help somebody if were not on higher ground." -Elder Manu-Tunei "Each one of us has the potential to become like him." -Elder Limu When we traveled back from Eldoret we had an adventure. We stopped and checked the Kitale and Misikhu flats. We then got in a matatu to go to Naitiri. The roads were suuuuper muddy, slippery and bumpy. But this guy thought we were in a rally car or something. So he was flying and kinda drifting all over the place. We were bouncing like crazy, the 4 of us that were squished in the back. Then we got to a super slippery part and thats when we realized his "professional driving" broke part of the steering column...so one wheel would be straight and the other would be turned. We were trapped out in the middle of no where until the driver was able to ghetto-rig it together. We got to Naitiri when it was dark and we had no option but to ride our bikes home. It was already past our curfew and we had 1 tiny little torch on Elder Limus bike and the road was suuuuuuper muddy, slippery, huge puddles, and we couldnt see. Haha i wont explain all of the situation but it was definitely something else. Also it was raining, i got a rock flung into my shoe but had to keep biking, and yeah it was pitch dark because we are kinda in the middle of no where. Hakuna Matata!! 🦁 I will just send lots of pictures from the week. Its sad to think that Elder Limu is going home at the end of the week but he has done his time!! Haha! Thats basically it for the week. Elder Limu also got sick so we had to be inside for a day. Buuut we had a confirmation and we are re-activating people! I love the work!! :) Continue to pray. All is well in Zion Love, Elder Merz

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

This week we went on exchanges with the DL. I went to Misikhu with Elder Phokane. We focused on finding good places to do community service. We went to about 4 hospitals or clinics and i found out there that i am really good at talking with people. Not just about the gospel but also in a situation like that. We had some great success and we helped the people there to see our church is a good one and also 3 of them said they would love for us to do some service there!! It has been raining a looooot recenty and so doing some of the usual work is a bit hard. As traveling the roads are all very muddy and sometimes dangerous with all the rain. But we are still putting in the work to do our best. We got some help from some members as well and had some very great lessons. I love it when an investigator asks serious questions to try to understand better. It makes me feel good to see there interest in the gospel and to truly just understand. Thats all we do as missionaries is help people understand. Sunday was a quite a day! We biked allll the way to Naitiri for the branch conference they were having there but had to leave after sacrament meeting and bike back to Mautuma for the baptism we were having there!! I dont know whats going on but we had 17 LA's, 8 investiagators, and 8 recent converts in Mautuma. And 5 less-actives in Naitiri!! The work is really really going well. People are coming to church, paying there tithing, reaching out to each other and just doing what they are supposed to and they ARE recieving the blessings!!! I am also helping members open family search accounts and on Sunday I helped the first member send some names to the temple!!!!!! 😃 family history here is so different from other places. So that is a biiig big step!!! We were so excited and it was a very special moment! Last thing. Just yesterday this guy who i think is crazy was walking by us. He would like go in front of us do something crazy but we'd keep walking and then he would catch back up to do something crazy again! He had like an empty jug that he set down in front of him and we walked past then he picked it up and got in front of us and then threw it. He also had a stick with him. He stopped and drew a 16 in the dirt then got in front of us again and threw the stick.....then he went and retrieved his stick LOL hahaha like i dont know how to say it but it was super funny! Gotta love all of Gods children!! :) From your favorite mzungu, Elder Merz

Monday, May 14, 2018

I'd like to start of this email by saying that they finally gave us something nice in our mission!! We are now driving Ford Rangers!! (Check the picture) This week we helped a recent convert open up a Family History account, they were really excited about it when we were doing it and wanted to do it for like 5 hours!! but we only gave them 1 and said we can continue another time haha!! We visited lots of members this week. Lots of less-actives and active memebers. We got nice breakfast and the branch presidents house and we did some contacting to an old couple who we had basically no way to communicate because they were speaking there tribal language and we dont speak it as deeply as they do! but it worked out in the end. We also did some other finding and found 3 other people who are intersted to know more about our church! 3 is a great number for Mautuma! Remember we are in the middle of no where! haha We are planning to have a baptism on Sunday of Sister Sharon. Her mother is a member in Buru Buru 2nd ward (where i served) but she is here schooling and staying with her aunt, who happens to be our land lord. She is a great girl and has grown up in and around the church it will be great! We are working with our other investigators and they are loving the lessons!! The work is much different from everywhere else i have served but i love it. I love the change and the new challenges i face here!! Church we are setting records i think haha!! We had 20, yes TWENTY, less-actives at church!! Church was sooooo full!!! We had 87!! That is a loooooot especially in Mautuma!! We are super excited for all the progress we are having and how the work is going!! :) I love to be a missionary!! This might sound horrible especially as a missionary. But we work with a member named Evans. He has a mountain bike and i find joy in his bike making lots of noises like it is breaking and how his chain skips. We also cleaned out Mautuma of phone credit 2900 shillings worth! for the whole zone to call home for mothers day! Also one of the best feelings in the world is when you are under your mosquito net in bed and you hear one of those pesky things trapped outside buzzing around. haaha!! Hope you all have a great week!! Lots of love Elder Merz! PS- We dont really have cars....that is the new senior couples truck in Eldoret.

Monday, May 7, 2018

This week Elder Limu and I went to Nairobi again for MLC. What a looooong ride it is. We went and stayed the night in Eldoret because we had a meeting there and then we went to Nairobi the next day. We took a shuttle (a car) instead of a coach (bus) and we got there about an hour and half faster. It is like a culture shock going from Mautuma to Nairobi. There are so many cars, people, shops, nice things, hahaha it is weird! I learned a lot from MLC and the great missionary leaders we have. The mission has really changed and we are definite stepping up as a mission! I absolutely love President and Sister Msane. They are so smart and really love each of us missionaries and help us to grow. Not much to report since MLC took about the whole week. We got more African rain storms, and extended a baptismal date to Bro. Tom. He is progressing very well, loves church, and is even singing the songs and participating in classes. He is really prepared and is understanding the truth. Being a missionary is the best thing ever 😊 So a few funny things from this week....hey Will, Luis, Spencer, or any of my Uncles....ever seen someone do an alignment for a car with ropes? Yep these guys were using ropes to try to align everything "straight" i wish you could have seen it you all would have laughed so hard! Another one....So this one comes from MLC. So it takes us in total about 14 hours to travel to Nairobi from my area. And here they dont have stop lights, just speed bumps. So we were coming back to our area and the bus drivers switched. We we going pretty fast and the driver didnt see a speed bump so we hit it and EVERYONE was out of there seats in the air, scattered around the bus. And they also dont use seat belts....so like me i was in the very back (where it is the worse for bumps) i was laying down across the seats sleeping and then we hit it and my legs hit the seats in front of me, my feet hit the windows, and i fleeeew into the air and off onto the floor....hahaha it hurt and like everyone was upset, buuuut it was a fun experience haha! Just imagine now being someone not in the bus but on the road...you see a big bus (a coach) flying towards you and you know there is a speedbump...but the bus does not seem to be slowing at all....the bus hits the speed bump and probably gets some air its self and then you see everyone inside go flying hahaha!!! What an experience!! 😂😂😐 #OnlyInKenya Shoutout to my Sister Alexis who is getting married on the 10th!!! I wish i could be there in person but ill be there in spirit! Enjoy your special day and know that ill be thinking about you!! ❤ Until next week, Elder Merz

Monday, April 30, 2018

Elder Brown is our new District Leader here. It was a fun time picking him up. Our Zone stayed in the Kitale flat and him and I talked about mission and about people in Buru Buru (since he replaced me) it was a great time and i am very excited to work with my first MTC companion now out in the field as we both have experience behind us. This week we did some community service and washed at a Hospital in Naitiri. It was a great thing and the guy was even like "So what do you want me to tell the community about you guys?" hahaha what a great thing to ask us. Let us tell you who we are and who we are representing!! On Thursday (the same day we did that service) we went to the Sitati home. Elder Sitati's family is in Naitiri and we went and saw them and got to visit with them and even get some dinner!! It was FAAAR though!!! We biked over 50km that day in mud, rain, and up huge hills (Again on our super hard bikes). My chain fell off twice and once going down this huge hill so i had no brakes, but i survived. Elder Limu's came off once. We were biking in the dark as well, like pitch dark on mud and bumps, haha i cant explain it good but it was an adventure! Then a miracle happened. The member that was with us was borrowing a bike that has a very slow leak in the front tire. We got to this big hill where we go home and his tire was flat. A few seconds later an older gentleman was passing us on his bike (we passed him before) and on his bike he had a bike pump. No one carries a bike pump with them, especially here. But at the exact moment we needed it so that we could arrive at home safely and on time for curfew our angel showed up. And he had a Christlike heart and stopped, helped us fix it and we were all on our way. We gave him a pamphlet and told him about us obviously. Was it a coincidence? I dont think so. I think it was the Lords perfect timing and hand in that situation. It was by Divine Design. (Go read the talk from Elder Rasband called Divine Design from the October 2017 conference) and to finish off that day we got home and were wearing all the amount of rain we could wear hahaha!! What a spectacular day!! Church was also great! We somehow had 18 less-actives!! I think that is a record!! The church was very full and even a guy who we recently brought back to full activity in the church baptized his son! We are working hard in all of the branches to get to a stake! There is lots of work to be done and I have the privilege to be a part of it! I know this gospel is true. This is the Lords church on the earth today. This is the place to find that thing that you have been missing, and didn't even know you were missing it. I love Jesus Christ and I am not afraid to tell anyone about Him. I love Him. Love, Elder Merz P.S. - Shoutout to Johnson and Murphy shoes. For an prospective Elder those are my favorite shoes. They are the most comfortable, they have held up the very best, look the best, and your young little missionary feet will stay nice and warm because they are also waterproof and i can testify they are!! Go get some if your going out to serve especially here in the wonderful continent of Africa!

Monday, April 23, 2018

Transfer news was saturday and Elder Limu and I are staying the same. He goes home this transfer so i will be "killing" him 🔪 We visited a less-active family and the wife was telling us that a group of people were saying that a mzungu preached to them at the funeral a few weeks ago and that i talked about Easter and read from the bible and "another book" that they said sounds like a nice book. They really really enjoyed it and were wondering where I am now. The member said i am a missionary and invited them to church, they did not come this last week but we are hoping they come soon!! A great missionary opportunity for all! The work has been hard the last week. We kept getting cancled on or we would travel for like an hour to see someone just to have them not at home or say they are busy and to come back another day. So one of the days we were doing some contacting and then after leaving someones house my back tire was flat 😐 i got a puncture. So we had to walk allllll the way back to Mautuma to the one place where they can fix it. And on the way we met a lady who is good friends with a member and who knew who we were (missionaries) and wants to learn from us!!! I love to see the hand of the Lord in things. Might sound crazy but if my tire was not flat and we did not have to go back to Mautuma then we would not have met that lady!! Also a piki-piki passed away and the all the guys went crazy.... The week has been good!! We are pressing forward and working our hardest to accomplish what the lord knows we can! I am now in my 4th quarter of my mission. The last 6 months. Somehow the time has already arrived. I have found myself recently being more bold and straightforward with this life changing message. I want people to find true and lasting happiness and the truth. Somewhere where everybody fits in, somewhere where everyone can be loved and truly come unto Christ. Just as in american football the 4th quarter is when the players play the hardest, when they give it there absolute all. That is how i am feeling now. Even more than i have been giving before, and i look forward to see the growth and progress that will come from it! Love, Elder Merz

Monday, April 16, 2018

To start off the week we were able to do some work in our area on Wednesday. Some people we had planned to see weren't around but we were able to fill our time with some meaning full activities. Then on Thursday we traveled to Eldoret....we left our flat in mautuma at 8:30 and got to Eldoret at 3.....that's what happens when your in the middle of no where and have to rely on other people for transport hahaha! 😊 We had interviews with President Msane and we slept at the Sosiani flat with the Kitale Elders and one set from Kisumu. Sister Esther (one of my favorite people and families in Eldoret) she invited Elder Limu and i over for dinner...hahaha so we went and she fed us very very very well!!! It was kind of sad though. Her daughter who my age was not there, because she is in the Ghana MTC going to go to Ivory Coast!! It was still a great time. The next day we had zone conference and i learned a looooot but sadly as i type this i forgot my notebook in mautuma....we talked a looot about personal revelation though and how essential it is in our daily lives. Not just a the Lords representatives but also as normal people at home. That night Elder Limu and i enjoyed the city since we dont get to see lots of people or shops, or supermarkets. So we went in town and had some good laughs together! In one of the supermarkets i found a MAC & CHEESE!!!! Elder Pratt and I made it and he is lucky i am nice. I split it with him. Elder Pratt is in Kitale and one of my new best friends on mission. He is from the avenues in SLC. What a great guy! On our way back in a Matatu i had to get out due to someone getting out. The guys greeted me in there tribal language, Luuyah. Little did they know i know some Luuyah...so they greeted me and I replied back. They then all just freaked like "ohhhhhhhhhhhh" then they all wanted to be my friend hahaha. Also the kids around Mautuma dont call me a mzungu (white guy) anymore. When they greet me instead they say "Habari mwafrica" They say i am now African, so my life has been complete LOL. Because we know kids cant lie! 😄 Also my good good brother Elder Call called and talked to me yesterday for 25 minutes. What a blessing it is to have friends like him on mission. Thank you all for your continuing love and support. Africa is going well! Sadly even though the Prophet Russell M. Nelson is in Kenya as i type. And Elder Holland. We did not get to go to Nairobi for the meeting and the chapels here were not broadcasting the meeting, and sadly the link we got does not work. So hopefully the conference goes well and i'll be able to view it later. I hope those stupid Nairobi boys enjoy it! 😉 just kidding haha Welp that is about the story of the week. We met with some people who have baptismal dates and look forward to an undisturbed working week this week! Love, Elder Merz

Monday, April 9, 2018

Elder Limu and i traveled back to Nairobi this week. We had a meeting with the mission President. Us and the other leaders in the mission. It was a great meeting and i got to see some of my great great friends again! Some of them for the last time as missionaries like Elder McGrath! Plus we got to sleep in the very nice mission home and get Sister Msanes food,that is always a big plus!! So we did about 20 hours of traveling in 3 days just on a bus but it was alright! We got to come back to this side with Elder Fraga and his companion! I love my group of missionaries so much! We are the best!! My highlight i guess you could say of the week was Conference! What a historic, spirit filled indescribable conference!!! My heart and soul are so lifted up and i am still buzzing about the conference! i loved it so so so so so so much!!! These were my favorite talks!! Study them and read them and help them bless your life! :) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/precious-gifts-from-god?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/am-i-a-child-of-god?lang=eng (people said i look like this guy haha) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/even-as-christ-forgives-you-so-also-do-ye?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/the-heart-of-a-prophet?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/until-seventy-times-seven?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/pure-love-the-true-sign-of-every-true-disciple-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/his-spirit-to-be-with-you?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/small-and-simple-things?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives?lang=eng (When president Nelson was speaking i got a very very warm good feeling in my heart. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I got my confirmation that he really is a prophet of God) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/inspired-ministering?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/ministering-with-the-power-and-authority-of-god?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/be-with-and-strengthen-them?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/ministering-as-the-savior-does?lang=eng (I realllly loved the 2 talks about the new Program Ministering. What a step forward for the church!! I look forward to it!! What great talks this one and the one by holland above are!!) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/behold-the-man?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/it-is-all-about-people?lang=eng As you can see i realllllllly loved conference!! The announcement of the temples in Russia and India!!!! WHAAAAT!? My mind was blown!! Words cannot describe my love for the conference and the talks. But i hope it had or will have the same powerful effect on you as it has had on me! :) We had little time to work in our area but the time that we did have we had some great success!! :) Thanks for all the prayers and love that you have sent my way!! Not too much to report on this week but know that is well on this side. The bush is still....well bushy haha! Much love, Elder Merz

Monday, April 2, 2018

I better send off this email before the internet pretends it is not working. We visited many less-actives this last week. We are trying to focus on meeting with members, and less-actives and having them give us referrals who we can then teach with there help. At church we saw 7 less-actives! So i guess you could say we saw the fruits of that work. Part of our missionary purpose is to also help those people who have joined the church but are now in the group we call "less-active". These people just need some help with seeing the gospel change there lives and it is a privledge to help them. Speaking of baptisms though. I don't know if i mentioned it last week but last Sunday we had a baptism of a girl named Justine. We finished teaching her and then she got baptized. Her whole family is members but did not get baptized at 8. So we baptized her, she is 10 if your wondering. Then this Sunday, yesterday, we had 2 baptisms. Sister Matrine and one of her daughters Trizah. The husband to Matrine is a member and he baptized both of them. It has been a great couple of Sundays! Sundays are my favourite day of the week so far. We are teaching this guy named Paul. Last time we saw him his sister was there and we taught them the restoration. When we went back yesterday he said how him and his sister really love how we teach and also what we teach. He then proceeded to ask how he can join our church, it caught us a bit by surprise but we were more than happy to answer! We explained how we need to go through the lessons, he needs to keep commitments, come to church, be interviewed, and overall develop his own testimony of the truthfulness of what we are sharing with him. I am loving the people here, they are so great. On Saturday we also attended a funeral. The guy was in his 20s and was baptized in our church and then went to Nairobi and got kinda lost from the church. But he was barried here. The funeral was unlike anything i have ever experienced in my whole life. I cant explain all of it. But lets just say we had a good time. Being the only white guy in i think the surrounding 50 or more kilometers i was called upon to give a talk at the funeral. And since its like a village there was lot of people there. So i on the spot got up and gave a talk in front of like 250 people. I connected Matt. 28: 5-7 with Alma 40: 11-12. A lot of the people thanked me for my talk and said it was a very nice one. When it came to barrying they sang some songs, then some drunk guys put the casket in the hole and started smoking some weed and there was lots of noise and just something else. I dont really know how to describe it! But i loved it! We afterwords went to Bro. Donalds house for some lunch, i helped clean all the dishes for all the members of our church that went there. I love to give others help and service. My prayers and heart go out to my dear Grandpa. I love you with all my heart Grandpa. I have spent countless hours with you and i cherish them. I look forward to spending more time with you and creating even more memories and laughs. Get well Grandpa, I love you. Words can not say or share how much you mean to me and how much i care about you. You really are my best friend. Stay strong Grandpa. Love, Elder Merz

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

I have been moved out of Mombasa. I will miss the people and the place very much. It was one of the hardest places for me to leave. That place has a part of my heart. I am now in this tiny tiny place called Mautuma. It was about a 18 hour trip here. This is BUSH! The nearest paved road is 2 hours away....1 hour bike and 1 hour car ride. This place is so tough honestly. Its super hilly. We have bikes called Buffalos. So imagine going Mountain Biking, but on a 50+ pound massive BMX bike, that is what it is like here. But i love it. My new companion is Elder Limu, another Zimbabwean. I am excited to work with him and he goes home in 9 weeks!!! We have lots of fun so far! I dont have time today to email everyone back but hopefully next week, i seems i am saying that every week but hey maybe one day. I have pictures to show and send you so i will let them be my email for this week. Lots of prayers to my best friend, my Grandpa Fred. I love you so much Grandpa ❤ Love, Elder Merz

Monday, March 5, 2018

Lucy is a new investigator we have this week. She was a referral from an awesome member who lives in Provo who came here for a few weeks and he met her on the beach and gave us the referral and she is now progressing great!! We had a lesson with her and just got to know each other, more of an introductory lesson. She has come to church twice now and has already made some new friends with people around her age at church! We went and met with Glory at her new home. She moved from Utange and now lives in Majengo. We were able to go see where her new place is and have a very nice lesson of the Restoration. There is a lot of power that comes from the little 20 minute Restoration video. We saw it and she loved it!! We are excited to continue to meet with her as well. We did some great contacting this week and we had an incredible experience, at least to me. We knocked on this door and a lady came to the window by her door and opened it and so we talked to her through the window. We introduced who we were and gave her a pamphlet to read. She then asked if we have a minute that we could help her. We said of course. She came to the door opened up and then we had about a 20 minute conversation about families and the gospel. She very sadly got cheated on by her husband and even left being a Christian for her husband who is a Muslim. She said she went back to Christianity and believes that one day he can join us as well. We expressed the love the God has for her. How His son knows all of the pain we are going through and how the unique gospel that WE have will change not only her life but also her husbands. It will change her family forever!!! That was such a cool spiritual experience for me. This week has many birthdays!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best brother ever! My younger brother Spencer turned 17 on the 4th and is still kickin it and slaying! Happy Birthday bro cant wait to hang out with you again!! Also to my great cousin Tim who is on his mission in Cali, he is killing it out in the field and helping so many people! He is an example to me and such an incredible person! i hope he had a fantastic birthday turning 20! Elder Bandi (my companion) his mothers birthday was also on the 3rd like Tims! So they are now only giving us an hour to email....so my weekly emails and emails back to everyone will probably be shorter since now i have no time....thanks.... the week has been very well and I wish the Lord blesses those loved people i have back in that foreign country called America. My prayers are going out to one of my very good friends Erik Haas. He was in a huge accident back in downtown, Salt Lake. He was taken to the hospital is extreme critical condition but heard he is doing well. So during this next week if anyone wants to include him in your prayers. Lots of love for you Erik. Stay strong bro! Love is in the Boost Love, Elder Merz

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Not much time today to email so for the personal replies please be patient i will get back to you!! They announced on Sunday that the President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Holland will be coming here to Kenya! To Nairobi! Not sure if we will get to go but hey it is a huge blessing to the members here!! We are now teaching Hezbon and Silvias other daughter Rose. We are there to kind of control the lesson, but they are the ones teaching her, because we feel it is important for parents to teach there children. It has been awesome so far. She is going to be baptized on the 18th of March and we also thought that Hezbon should be the one to baptize her. Hezbon was interviewed and on Sunday he received the Aaronic Priesthood!! There has been so much progress with them!! 😃 Yesterday we didn't email because we were living in a construction site...they re-did our whole kitchen and one of our bathrooms so everything was in a horrible mess. I dont like things to be dirty and so Elder Bandi and I cleaned our flat for 5 hours yesterday and then went and saw Monica again. She came to church and is progressing well! The week went well and we had some great lessons with people. I love helping people and seeing the changes that come into there lives! It is a blessing to be able to help these great people here. We have some people that the Lord has truly prepared and we are always excited to meet with them again and again. Susan and Lilian got interviewed yesterday and they are going to be baptized this next Sunday on the 4th. Its a birthday gift for my brother! Haha They are very excited and when they were asked who they wanted to baptize them, they said "Someone with the priesthood authority!" hahaha what a perfect answer! My birthday was a great great day! We went and visited Silvia and work and Hezbon was there even there 2 daughters that are still at home, they didn't have school that day. We got some free lunch from them and shared some good laughs together. We went and saw Susan and Lilian and had a great lesson with them, and saw how the Book of Mormon is changing there lives. We went to the beach with Juma (a priest), and then went and saw Erida and Roney and had like the best lesson ever with them. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity and the spirit was just really there. They were able to understand them well and wanted the blessings that come from following them! They fed us some really good food. ANNNNNDDDD I got drenched again...they got me with buckets of water so i went outside and then like 10 of there neighbors and a bunch of kids all got me wet as well. Hahaha i think that is such a funny tradition and yeah i gotta go home we once again. The missionaries called me or texted me wishing me a happy birthday and Sister Msane as well. The week was a great one, and my birthday was one I wont forget! Have a great week and stay blessed! Love, Elder Merz

Monday, February 19, 2018

So after i logged off last Monday we went and met with Monica as planned. We had a fantastic lesson with her and she is a very nice lady. She is 24 and has a daughter. She is interested to know more about the gospel and I have really come to see just how special the message is that we get to share with others! She texted us a few times even during the week just wishing us to have a good day! She is so great!! We also met with this lady Alice. She lives right by the church and had a good time introducing ourselves and the church and yeah!! It was good!!! We went to Chyulu again for zone conference so the week did not have too many things to report on. But one thing i really loved that is so true is what President Msane said. He is a successful businessman and his conversion story is something else!!! Him and Sister Msane both know about the game of money. But he said "The success of any person depends on how well they use their resources." That is so true and i just felt i should share that with you guys. USE your resources that you have. No matter if you have many or a few. If you use the resources you DO have you will go somewhere. On our way back after getting off the train we still had an hour bus ride to town and then another hour matatu ride to our place. Well our bus from the train broke down and we chilled there for like an hour in the hot sun packed like raisens. We had no time to see anyone so we went and did our weekly planning on the beach! At church on sunday there was around 25 white people from Burley, Idaho at church!!! Then like 4 from diferent parts of Utah and 1 girl from SLC!! I dont know why they were there but it was really....well...FREAKY!!!! Too many white people!!! But it was awesome. The church has never been so full before LOL We are looking forward to some baptisms in just a few weeks so stay posted! Thank you all so far for the Birthday wishes....its on the 23rd but i wont be on then so thank you in advance for the ones i see next week!! :) Love you all and next year...i'll be celebrating it at home.... Love, Elder Merz

Monday, February 12, 2018

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." 2 Nephi 2:11 This week has been a much better week than the past ones. We were able to meet with some of our investigators and had some great great lessons with them!! We had some miracles happen this week though. So the first miracle is that we were waiting at a supermarket for someone for an hour and we gave a few people some pamphlets that would take one, and then we went inside and got some water so we wouldn't thirst. The lady at the till was very wondering who we were and we gave her a pamphlet and we wrote our number on the back. That night she texted us saying she wants to know more! But the best part is that she came to church EARLY and she really really enjoyed church! Most people want to meet with us and have a lesson or whatever before they come to church. So that was definitely a miracle and after i send this email Elder Bandi and I are going to have a lesson with her! The second miracle is that we got bounced by someone we had planned to meet with and so we did some contacting in the area. We contacted some people and as we were leaving I saw this guy and something just told me to contact him!! So we contacted him. Harold is very very friendly, nice, a family guy, and it was like a golden contact, he even said he'd come to church. We invited him again on Saturday night and on Sunday HE CAME!!! He stayed for the whole of church and really really enjoyed it! He says he will be back next Sunday and bring his family! The Lord really will place people and opportunities in our path if we are doing the right things and are open for them!! The third miracle is an experience with tithing and fast offerings. So we visited Hezbon and Silvia and Silvia told us her miracle. She showed us a 20,000 shilling check for the family, but more specifically for June, to pay all of her school fees until she graduates from High School. And here a lot of families struggle to pay school fees for there children but that is definitely a miracle for them!! Silvia also told us how at Hezbons work there was a massive break down and the company was going to go bankrupt and he would be out of work. But one of the MP's (Or like one of the political leaders in the area) payed for the entire thing to be fixed and helped Hezbon keep his job and he even got a promotion from it!! The Lord really does us to PROVE HIM (Malachi 3:10) with tithing and fast offerings and see if he wont open the windows of heaven for us. I really love that word Prove. It is like a challenge, the Lord is saying "Try me i dare you!" before they were even baptized they started to pay tithing and fast offerings once we taught them about it. And they continue to do it, and now they are seeing the miracles of the Lord because of it!! This week has been so nice. We even gave Susan and Lilian baptismal dates of the 4th of March. Right on my little Brothers birthday! So that is how i plan to celebrate his birthday! Remember to keep positive and don't let life bring you down. When you are down it is a time to stand up, and go again. Never give up and keep trying. With anything! I have been able to feel the love, peace, and comfort from the people i care about most. I invite you to just ponder about these words: Opposition in all things. Think of how you can turn the negative oppositions in your life around! Have a great week and happy Valentines Day to all you lovers out there. I know i'll be spending it with someone special......Elder Bandi 😂😂😂 Love, Elder Merz

Monday, February 5, 2018

The week was up in the air and floated away like a balloon. So on Tuesday Elder Bandi arrived here in the middle of the day so almost our whole day that day was ruined because it can take some time to travel between different parts of our areas and so we had to stay close by. So we went and did some contacting basically all day. Elder Mathemera, Elder Breidenbaugh, and I. Wednesday we had DDM in Likoni which was very very good. We set very specific goals and are going to be accountable to each other. I have learned to really love setting goals and achieving them, or doing all i can to achieve them! But after DDM we waited FOREVER to catch the Ferry back to the other side and then I had to go do an interview for the Changamwe Elders waaaaaaaaay out in there area. Like the farthest place! With the traveling to get there and the interview and traveling back to our area. We arrived back in our area at 7:15. So that was our whole day. Thursday was a pretty good day. We had some lessons and did some great contacting and are finding some new people to meet with and teach! Friday was another halfday in our area because I had to do an interview for the Likoni Elders at 6:30 so we also had to stay the night with them. Saturday was a great day. We met with some of our investigators and we went and visited a member Sister Lydiah. She is super nice and self-reliant and actually had some good questions we had no idea the answers too!! She was the first person to also offer me some juice or ICE CREAM! Believe it or not we took the juice! Sunday was the best day of the week though!! We got a new investigator. Had 3 full and very very good spiritual lessons and they all learned a lot! I really love our investigators and am seeing the miracles of the Lord working though these people. With this girl Glory I learned to sometimes shut up. Sorry for the harsh words but sometimes i get to excited to reply that i dont get the whole message or point they are trying to get across. But i was quiet and the spirit worked in all of us in that fantastic lesson! This week will be a much better week. I love being a missionary and helping others to answer the questions of there soul. Or even to help them receive answers to there prayers. I have a strong love for everyone here. Christian, Muslim, anything. They all have touched my heart and I look forward to every morning going out in the super hot being cooked and fried all day just to even help one person!! Kwaheri nakupenda, Elder Merz

Monday, January 29, 2018

On Sunday Silvia got confirmed! You should have seen the happiness and the smile on her face. Seeing people happy from the gospel and the changes it brings. It is the best thing. We did some good contacting this week and had some good success! We got some new investigators from it and look forward to meeting with them this week. We are having some great lessons and meeting with lots and lots of people! The German guy Frank showed up at Church!!! We were dazed about that!! We are hoping to extend some new baptismal dates this week to Susan, Lilian, and Michelle. They are all progressing very well and we feel they are ready for it. They have even expressed that they want to be baptized. This week has been long and very tiring. So this email is not going to be too good. So the news is that Elder Tshangu is being moved to Nairobi and Elder Mwanziu is being transferred to Mwanza TZ!! So my mission family is splitting up!!!! My new companion is Elder Bandi from Zimbabwe. He has been out a little bit over 6 months and I look forward to working with him. I am glad to be staying in Mombasa. I really really love it here and love the area, the people, everything!! Congrats to my Sister for getting engaged Love you all and hope all is going well!! Elder Merz

Monday, January 22, 2018

Ended the week with white jumpsuits!! Sister Silvia got baptized! The Bamburi 1 Elders also had a baptism of Sister Jacklin. Elder Mathemera baptized both of them. It was such a great day! Silvia bore such a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the truthfulness of the Restoration. How she has seen changes in her home from this church and how it has made it her way more happy then she ever knew was possible! Ahhhh it was so nice! We went and visited Silvia after church and we watched the Hour long version of the Restoration. She really enjoyed it and it helped her testimony grew and then she fed us a feast! It was the best way to end the day. We had some great lessons this week with Eric, Michelle, and Erida and her son Roney. We gave Erida and Roney baptismal dates of the 25th of February! They are very excited and we know they will get there. Let me just tell you the powerfulness of the Book of Mormon. When people read it, they come to a higher knowledge and receive the truth. Obviously your heart and mind must be open. But EVERYONE who truly reads it DOES gain that witness that it is true. We met with Susan, Lilian and Robert also this week. On Wednesday Robert wasn't around but we went over the Law of Chastity with Susan and Lilian and it was a great lesson! Its so great to see people accept to follow. We saw them again on Sunday and they are also gaining that witness. Susan is in 2 Nephi 2, Lilian is just a few chapters behind and Robert is in 1 Nep. 20!! Susan texted us this last week and said she's sorry she wouldn't be able to come to church but she said she really wants to be baptized in our church. We expressed our excitement and asked her why. She said she loves our church and knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God!! I love that family as well!! I finished the Book of Mormon this last week again. I always put Moroni's words to the test. "3. Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." I prayed again and got my witness again that it is a true book. Its so simple!! Just read, ponder and pray and YOU CAN know for yourself. You dont have to ask Google, or your parents or friends. Ask God who knows everything and doesn't want you to be lost or confused, you are his child. If you have not yet gained your own witness of it. I invite you to just give it a try. It WILL change your life. Nina jua kanisa niakweli. Naikwamba Joseph Smith ni nabii wa mungu. Na kupitia Joseph Smith kanisa limerejeshwa. Ninajua pia Kitabu Cha Mormoni kina matunzo yote ya Yesu Kristo. Nina jua sote ni watoto wa mungu. Na inatupenda na anajibu maombi yetu. Mmeona na kusikia upendo wa mungu. Kina jua Kristo anaishi na ninampenda kwa moyo wangu wote. Niwajibu kuwa mmojo wa watoto wake. Na mwisho najua injili inabariki familia na zaweza kuwa pamoja milele. Ninasema haya yote kwa jina la Yesu Kristo amina.