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Kindness Before Criticism


I'm posting Emily's last two emails a little out of order because I don't want you to get bored and miss the paragraph that starts, "Miracle of the week," in her most recent email.  

It's no surprise that serving a mission is very difficult--even for senior missionaries, but, I think, especially for these young adults whose life experiences may not have prepared them for daily rejection, intense discussions about their beliefs, people being disappointed in you, or people being downright rude. Those are hard things for anybody to deal with.

Our Mother's Day phone call was rough because she had just had a horrible week. I'm glad we could talk but sad I couldn't just reach right through the phone to give her a big hug and with that tell her that she is enough--more than enough, actually.

Our phone discussion was a big reminder for me to give people the benefit of the doubt--especially our church leaders and our missionaries who are simply doing the best they can in their circumstances. We don't know everything beneath the surface. My new mantra is "kindness before criticism."  I hope I can practice that better this week for Emily's sake.

Here's her email:

May 13, 2019 -- It was a rough week, but in the words of Kelly Clarkson

...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Zuster Mac and I definitely did some growing this week. Highlights:

--Aquiles didn't get baptized this week....and it probably won't happen next. But I believe in miracles! Our last lesson we promised him if he'd plan the baptism, God would bring his daughter there. I felt the Spirit so strongly. Hopefully he can exercise his faith because we need that man in our branch! 

--ANDY SAT IN ON A LESSON WITH HER HUSBAND. I REPEAT. SHE MADE TIME TO LISTEN. And it turns out she's the smartest person ever, and I've never taught someone who just "got" the restoration of the church more. She goes, "wow, I need to pray about this and I KNOW I'll get an answer." Yes, ma'am, you will! 

--ward BBQ at the beach! Aquiles took his un-official calling as ward photographer and magnified that baby to the max. He showed us his cropped, edited pics of everyone. Cutest thing ever.

Miracle of the week: We had a rough day on Saturday, so at the end of the day I was just apologizing to Heavenly Father for all of my shortcomings and weaknesses. I felt like a pretty sucky missionary. The members weren't happy with us, our investigators were ignoring us, and we had just contacted a bunch of pretty hard-hearted people. While I was listing everything I'd done wrong to Heavenly Father, I feel these chicken arms hug me from behind. My sweet companion had been praying, but couldn't get out what she wanted to say because God kept telling her, "Go give your companion a hug" At this point the tears were flowing like Suriname rain during wet season haha. I'm so grateful for the love and help of Heavenly Father. He sent me a hug right when I need it. I know that we never have to do things alone. No matter how imperfect we are, Heavenly Father loves us. And when we feel like a failure, He's just waiting to give us a hug :)

I love you guys! Have a great week.
Zuster Mergenthaler

Image result for hug from savior

And here's last week's email:

May 7, 2019 -- Flat tire on the way to a baptism

This week was awesome! Highlights:

-met this hilarious man named Danny who went off for an hour while cleaning most-likely-stolen bike parts (I don't even remember about what he was talking about). He kept saying, "Boom-shaka-laka!" so now Zuster Mac and I have been saying that everywhere we go and hosing ourselves.

-last week we had a lesson with Melody, who is struggling with Netflix addiction (not really, but seriously this girl is so pure and she was like "I don't read my scriptures enough because of Netflix") and we told her we had the same problem before our mission and promised her God would help her find the time to read her scriptures and get over Netflix. Literally 5 minutes after we left, her internet went out for a week....dudes, that is not a coincidence! I know she was really worried about it and this shows that God is worried about the little things in our lives just like us. He helps us out :)

-had a singing session with Gibi! THIS MAN. His voice is like pinda saus on a nice fried plantain. so good. We sang for like half an hour with him to the Beatles, Aerosmith, etc... It was so fun. Video attatched

-had a first lesson with a cute 16 year old we met earlier that week named Aida. It was so spiritual--literally, when I was testifying, my heart was burning! We shared the first vision of Joseph Smith and she goes, "Dang! (except not that word because she's 16)" I know girl, haha! We asked her what it would mean for her if the Church of Jesus Christ was restored. She replied that it would mean a lot, especially since everyone claims their church is from God. We explained that as missionaries, we aren't here to convince people--we're 19 years old for heavens sakes, what do we know-- but just to invite them to pray and ask God for themselves. We both shared our personal experiences getting a testimony and she goes, "so if I ask God, my answer will be feeling REAL happiness" WAT. The spirit literally told her how God communicates with her specifically. Amazing!

-Audrey is a Book of Mormon reading machine! Don't worry, beach pics from his baptism soon ;)

-oh, yeah, my title. So Marijka, the Spanish sister's investigator, was baptized this Saturday. Aquiles attended so he can know what his baptism will be like next week. The Bonaire sisters did a musical number before we drove down to the beach and in the middle of it, Aquiles comes to the front with his phone and starts taking pictures of us like 2 feet away from our faces! We lost it and ruined the musical number. We had to explain to him that we ususally don't take pictures during baptismal services hahaha. So we drive over and halfway to the beach, I hear something weird in the car....we have a flat tire. President Albus pulls up behind us and decides the flat tire is fate, so we just walk down to the ocean right there and Marijka was baptized! It was so sweet.

Anywaaays, long email, but that was my week! I know my Savior lives. He is the reason we are here--so we can become like Him and return to Heavenly Father! I love Him. I hope ya'll have a great week!
love,
 Zuster Mergenthaler

Aaaand, here are a few pictures that Sister Jones shared on Facebook. Sister Jones is a senior missionary who, I believe, mostly serves in Curaçao and sometimes Aruba, but the girls needed help this weekend.







I think the above picture is Emily’s side of our Mother’s Day video chat from Sister Jones’s hotel room. Fancy!

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