The Mergenthaler Family

Merry Christmas from Zuster Mergenthaler: Wow so much has happened and it was an awesome Christmas week. One of the best christmases of my life. I am so grateful the Savior was born. Now the streets of suriname are all smoky because people go crazy setting off fireworks. I dont have time to update, but I wanted to share this super cool story that happened yesterday: We were going out to contact and we were just gonna go on the gongrijpstraat but when we went over the bridge of iniquity I had a very distinct picture in my head of this building where we used to teach the portugese dude addicted to ecstasy (haha did I tell you about him? Anyways....) so we head over there because I know this is from the spirit. Then when we get there, I feel like we should contact the street behind it. At the end of the street was an old investigator who was SUPER ELECT but told us to stop coming. We contacted the whole street up to her house but didnt really find anyone cool. I was a little dissapointed,...

Hallo iedereen! Another wonderful week in Suriname. It's rainy season and we just biked an hour to our Zone Activity, but it started raining halfway through, so we got a little damp and now we smell like our favorite kind of dogs: Surinamese dogs! I'm sitting here trying not to smell myself while I write this email lol. Lekker eh. Some stuff that happened this week..... --We set up a booth in front of the church for people to grab a cookie and pamphlet/book of mormon. We were practically chasing people down while caroling at them haha. We met some really prepared people, which was so cool. I told one guy we have another testament of Jesus Christ and he goes, "No shoot!" yessir! We also had a crazy guy try to punch some of the elders and there was almost a fight, but he couldn't really touch them. He was like lunging but couldn't. I know what was stopping him was the power of God cause God protects his missionaries.  --taught this suuuper elect jamaican woman n...

I am in the middle of a winter sign-up storm, and I'm afraid I might not make it out safely. Sign-up Genius is a huge blessing of convenience for event planners.  I have used it myself when in charge of gathering volunteers to help with activities.  It's a great way to let people know how they can help--even better, they can look through an organized list of items to give or times to serve and choose an option that works for them. How great is that? Here's the problem, though--this time of year everybody needs help with everything.  The month of December is packed with parties, school and church events, service activities, winter sports, and more.  The accumulation of small sign-ups here and there has grown into a full-blown storm and I am overwhelmed. I should have heeded the storm warnings broadcast in school newsletters, social media, and church announcements. The holiday season is upon us! Are you ready for Christmas? How will you share your gifts this ...

Two weeks of missionary emails: December 2, 2019 — This is a light you FEEL It was Justin's birthday this week, so we walked all the way to his house to give him our homemade cake and talked to everyone on the way that wasn't looking at our cake too hungrily haha. Anyways, we were sharing about Light the World and he goes, "This is a light that you feel" and just grins this big Justin-grin. I love that man to death. It's so true! The light of Christ is especially strong in Decemeber and you really can feel it. And it wasn't the only light we felt this week.....it is BLAZING hot out here....I don't think I've sweated so much in my life haha. Definitely feeling that Christmas Suriname sun. But it's so worth it and this week was awesome. Every drop of our sweat payed off. Some stuff that happened last week/this week.... --went to the farthest part of our area and met some Surinamese hillbillies out in the way back boonies. More goats than teeth. Robby...

You might think Emily is the only one of our children we care about because my only posts lately are her emails. Wrong! It's just that I don't want to get behind on sharing/preserving those emails and they're easy to throw on here because they're already written. Sharing the rest of our family events takes more time and thought. For today, I’ll spotlight some of the funny things Gavin has said lately. Let’s go all the way back to June when we were deep into the hot Arizona summer. While watching Lion King, Gavin yelled, “Mom, Simba needs sunscreen right now!” (Except he pronounced it scunscream). "Scunscream" is super important no matter where you live, but its application is essential here--especially with a backyard pool. After Gavin met his preschool teachers, I asked, “what did you think of Mrs. Castelari and Mrs. Gardner? Did you like them?” He smiled and said, “Ya. They’re my girls.” After nearly four months of preschool, Gavin still loves it. He is ...

The title of Emily’s email this week is actually, “I’m sweating out of all the orifaces of my body,” but it was a long title and I’m not sure if orifaces is a word. Spellcheck doesn’t think so. We had a great video chat this week, but super short because all of the Suriname sisters were meeting up at the cyber to head off on some adventure together. When I say, “all of the sisters,” you should know what a big deal that is. Last Thursday, the count of sister missionaries in Suriname went from two to five. That’s huge and the work is now moving forward. I’m so glad these lovely ladies (and Elders) got their visas. Here’s the email: I am a mother! My companion Zr. Penman, who visa waited in Utah for a transfer, is finally here where she belongs. And GUYS. I LOVE HER. She and I were definitely meant to be together. She is hilarious, a hard worker, has amazing Dutch, and likes to have fun. President also changed my area to Rainville, so I'm back where I started my mission for good! This...

From Emily on Monday: Elder Garcia made this comment at coordination and I was cracking up...It's come to that point on the mission....you can't tell the difference between the dirt on my feet and my sandal tan haha. This week was so awesome. We definitely ended the transfer strong. Some cool stuff: -had real cake and ice cream at the Ibrahims. Wow. I didn't even complain in my head about being overfed. Love those people.  -we were on our way to a lesson biking on the highway when I had this strong impression "there will be someone on the side of the road you need to stop" so every person we passed, I stopped pedaling to see if that was the person we were supposed to stop. It was really dark, so I couldnt see that well, but then I saw this bright yellow security vest and knew this guy was the one. We stop him and end up giving him a Book of Mormon. He promptly pulls out his Bible, telling us he's so grateful for more scripture because he loves God's word. ...

Zuster Mergenthaler hasn't been able to send emails the last couple of weeks because of limited time and dinosaur computers.  This is her most recent email from October 28.  I think she meant to include pictures, but they weren't attached. We have been able to have video chats with her through Google Hangouts.  She looks great.  She's busy and happy.  Things are going well. Here's her email: Our old lady neighbor isn't all the way there sometimes and so occasionally she just decides to bathe with the yard hose. We were taken by surprise one afternoon by that, so there ya go...quote of the week haha. After I said that, zr. McGuire realized and goes "oh my goodness, why did you say that you made me look." Just what good companions do. But wow, this week was pretty great. Some stuff...... --the Tamenga church building was broken into. There was blood all over and it was a mess. We found out the dude that did it hurt his hand in the process of robbin...

Here are Emily’s last two weeks of emails with the newer one first. She is still not 100% since the accident, but she’s doing her best and learning a lot. She and her companion are very busy covering two areas and acting as assistants for the Elders that have taken over the Vermeeren’s duties. They just had zone conference. My impression was that is was good but stressful because she taught during zone conference and didn’t feel confident in herself. She still has a smile that lights up a room and a personality that puts others at ease.  October 15, 2019 Why are you the way you are? WOW! I learned so much this week. Title comes from our friend silas who is constantly surprised about why we are here as missionaries and why we try so hard. I thought it was funny. Its the gospel, goshdangit silas. Anyways, so many spiritual experiences this week. Heres a few... --got a blessing on Tuesday. It was super special. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the power ...

October 1, 2019 Email to Everybody: It was my mom's birthday yesterday (hit her up if you haven't already) and I got to Facetime her really quick right after church. I took the camera around for everyone there to say happy birthday and Cavin goes, "I'm the darkest man you'll ever see" I was dying haha. I don't know if he understands we definitely have Creoles in America too. This week was super-duper. Some stuff that happened............ --CLINT GOT BAPTIZED. yeeeeeeeeee. It was such a good baptismal service. He came in his nice white shirt, and his testimony was so sweet. He was choking up and talking about how he's changed MAN. And he's basically part of the branch now because he was holding someone's baby at church and joking with Cavin the whole second hour.  --you can call me Surinamese because Vigi taught us how to make Roti!!! It was so lekker, but it wrecks you afterwards. Worth it. --one of our investigators on date in Kwat...

Zuster Merg's Weekly: Title comes from the one and only, the hilarious, the elect: John, who is getting baptized in October (fingers crossed).  This week was good, kinda hard, and fun. All around the spectrum. I try not to sugarcoat things, so I'm just gonna give you all of it! Some stuff that happened.... --had Zone Conference and got PUMPED about missionary work. I want to be better at seeking and fulfilling the Lord's vision for my day. Every morning, we plan our day out knowing that things won't go according to plan. But the more I've been on my mission, the more I've realized that is just God using us to fulfill his vision for the day. He has a work he needs us to do, but we have to answer the prompting of the Holy Ghost to find out what it is.  --we learned we will get the senior couple car when the Vermeerens leave to travel back and forth every week between our two areas. Normally I'd be really excited because that means we are more efficie...