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Ronny’s Baptism, Dog Grave, Didn’t Die





July 15, 2019

AWESOME WEEK. GUESS WHAT. RONNY GOT BAPTIZED. some other stuff....
--Ronny got baptized on Saturday morningvery early before he has to take all his pills. He was so sweet. His pants almost came off in the water, so he was really embarrassed, but all the members gave him so much love. He cried bearing his testimony and gave us the biggest smile after getting the Holy Ghost on Monday. I love that man!
--Pablo and Aquiles came to church and became friends. It was hilarious to watch them interact. I love both of them more than life itself. Pablo goes, "I love this place! I'm coming back every single week." They both want to be baptized August 3rd so yayayay!
--Omar told me he planned to come back to church next week. I was dead shocked. I couldn't stop smiling, even though he kept telling me, "Sister, get a hold of yourself. You look way too happy." Man, I can't wait for next Sunday. Omar is gonna help the branch so much.
--Sent Zr. Woolsey home. I miss that woman, but good thing she lives in Utah.
--Taught a super awesome dude named Carlos this weekend. He confessed to us that he actually got married and divorced within 6 months. I was kind of confused why he thought he should confess that, but then I realized divorce is a sin in the Catholic church, where he's from. We were able to testify about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. He goes, "I've been searching all my life for the truth." and I was like, "My dude, you've found it!!!" (not an exact quote haha but I do have problems calling our investigators dude sometimes)
--also, my MTC companion, the most Christlike person I've ever met here on the mission, Zr. Tulaga is back with me killing it here. I love her. We have had a ball together.
--We are caring for the Albus' dogs while they are gone (we live with them). One of them, Charlie, is like 100 years old human years and has a tumor in her eye, so Zr. Albus asked if we could take her to the vet and if she died to dig her a grave. We took her to the vet, but when we got back home, Charlie was not looking so hot. We said a prayer that she would rest in peace (basically asked God to take her because she was having seizures and her eye was falling out) and then I dug the grave while my comp held her. We had to go to a couple lessons, so we left her on the porch, expecting to bury her when we got back that night, but when we did SHE WASN'T DEAD and her eye was fine. It was the weirdest thing. Probably a miracle, so that's cool.
 
That's all the time I got folks, but things are going great, God is great, miracles are the best, baptism is the best step anyone can make, and Jesus Christ is our Savior. I love you all! Have a great week.

Zr. Mergenthaler

Pic 1: Charlie, the almost dead dog
Pic 2: Zr. Woolsey with dog blood on her tag. If that isn't a faithful missionary, I don't know what is.
Pic 3: Zr. Tulaga and Ronny
Pic 4: At the beach baptism!
Pic 5: One of the hardest parts of missionary work is staying awake while studying, so sometimes I sit different ways on my chair. Zr. T thought it was funny so she took a picture.










July 8, 2019 — You’re not gonna die!

This week was awesome! I sucked writing in my journal, but lets see if I can remember some stuff....
--Met this adorable man named Pablo who's from Bonaire but lived lots of his life in Florida in front of the hospital when we were taking one of the Hermanas to get her foot checked out (and that's a whole other story....) and he invited us to come teach him. He is officially my favorite person. He's really searching for the truth and our first lesson was SO spiritual. There were definitely tears in those eyes when we explained the first vision. 
--we were contacting on Tuesday and went to talk to this guy washing his car. we were expecting him to come out and talk, but as soon as we yelled bontardi this man comes careening out of the house and starts talking in really fast, loud dutch. i couldn't understand him, so i looked at sister Woolsey to see if she was getting any of it and she looked very confused. turns out the guy was crazy and on drugs. he kept telling us about his dream about king kong and the number 789 (i want to know more of the plot, but that's honestly all i got). after talking to him for a good 10 minutes, i realized how hilarious the situation was and was trying not to laugh. just then, our investigator billy rolls up on his bike, totally interrups crazy guy, and proceeds to tell us about his day. at this point, i completely lost it. it was hilarious. when i started laughing, the crazy guy thought i was laughing about his dream and started telling me how serious it was. the whole situation was like my favorite moment this week. it was a little bit of suriname in Bonaire. man i miss that place!
--on Wednesday, we biked a ton. my legs were starting to hurt, so i pulled over to talk to a guy on the side of the street, but he ignored me...awkward. so we got on the bikes to keep going to our next appointment and i accidentally pulled out in front of a car. it scared me, so i yelled really loud "I'm gonna die!" across the street, this guy yelled back "you're not gonna die!" he was right hahaha. now every time I see that guy, I think of his reassuring words
--had to stop teaching Gibi. I cried. It was so hard, but I am just hoping he will come to church so we can teach him again. I love that guitar-playing man!
--Omar's dog, brownie, who i fondly call "little rat" peed on my leg during our lesson. I was talking about a personal experience and then all the sudden felt something warm and wet...it was unpleasant
--Ronny is getting doped Saturday!!! and he fed us liver soup this week. it's not my favorite, but I'm a poser so I told him I loved it and asked for the recipe. Am I gonna get punished for lying about that? I hope not haha. and if any of ya'll want to make cow liver soup, I got you

well, that's about my week! I love the gospel. I've changed so much in Bonaire. My love and understanding of the Savior has grown so much. I'm excited to rock this last transfer on my favorite island in the carribean!

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

pic 1: zus wools cut my hair! so photoshoot
pic 2: for some reason, the mosquitos attacked my legs and they swole up really big so my legs looked like lumpy hot dogs and it was gross
pic 3: zus wools and my favorite Dominican members
pic 4: after an hour biking in 100 degree weather you rethink wearing pink haha








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