Skip to main content

It’s For the Bad Spirits

From Emily January 20:

We asked our cool young friend tony what his bracelet means and the title of this email was his answer. It didnt look like the other voodoo stuff I have seen, so it caught us off guard. Voodoo is sketch people. Always remember to wear your protective bracelets. This week we......
-almost died because i was really sick but the elders brought this whack juice and it literally healed me. Cant explain how. Prayer works though because I told Heavenly Father we had too many lessons the next day and I couldnt afford to be sick and boom genezen. I was super grateful for that.
-found a super cool girl named exantha. We actually gave her a Book of Mormon a few months back and went to follow up. We finally got a lesson. When we were asking her who god is for her, she goes "You know, I want to know who he is better. I dont really know right now." That touched me a ton because her humble answer of I dont know led to a super spiritual lesson. Humility is really the door to revelation.
-we were feeling overwhelmed about all the work that has to be done in our area with the branch and were just sitting there on sunday on the verge of tears. Then we had this thought--if we are feeling this way, so is the relief society president, branch president, elders quorom, ect. So we spent half of our study texting all those people some encouragement. We felt SO much better after that and we got so much love back. SPREAD THE LOBI
-accidentally got a kids meal at mcdonalds. And we are broke now because mcdonalds is super expensive here, but it was worth it.

Thats all I got time for, but it was a great week. Love you all!!!
Zr Merg







And January 27:

ZO! Another week achter de rug. Me and zr Elm have been trying to speak as much Nederlands as we can to prepare her with an exchange we have this week....the veterans are leaving the greenies together to fend for themselves haha. They'll be fine, but she's nervous, so I've just been firehosing her with Dutch. Also side note I love zr. elm. If we stay together this next transfer, I would be super happy. Some stuff that happened this week.....
--when to my first surinamese funeral. We had to talk there, even though I didn't know the lady because she was a less active member of the church in another area, but yeah we just followed the spirit. It was really heartbreaking to see all her family members so sad. 
--had zone conference! It was another one for the books. Any other missionaries reading this....I'm sorry to inform you that your mission is just not as cool as ours is haha. But actually I go super pumped for setting goals and meeting them. Sometimes I set my goals like a mathemetician--like if we used every possible minute of the day efficiently, this is how it could turn out, but I realized it's more important to set goals by the spirit, so that's what we've been trying to do.
--for all my members out there, today we were contacting and met a cool lady named nancy. when we said the name of the church, she goes, "Oh, I know about you guys!" she went on to tell us how the branch president in Tammega had told her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and how she would love to read it. wooohoooo. members maybe you think people aren't listening when you share the gospel with them, but THEY ARE. 
--fixed a flat tire AND contacted a cool spanish dude at the same time all in 13 minutes. you could say we are bike boss ladies at this point. 
--lost my companion for a solid 10 minutes because I got a flat tire on a super busy road and my voice wasn't loud enough to call at her. all the creepy winkel men were yelling and cat calling me as I passed, which made me a lil scared, but I just sung I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus in my head and all was well.
--we were talking to each other in british accents on the way home last night and a guy we passed heard and looked at us with the most confused look on his face haha. It was hilarious (*said in a British accent*). 
--had a really spiritual experience in the sacrament. I've been worrying about burning out in this area, seeing as it is only my second area of the mission and I might actually die here(aka end my mission here, not actually die), but when I was leading the music and just looking at everyone in the branch that I love so much, I knew I could never burn out because of the love I have for these people, so I don't need to be worried about it. It was a cool "I know Heavenly Father knows how I'm feeling and He's talking back" kind of feeling.
--this mean lady named Bibi whom we are teaching has made a 120 change on her way to a 180. seriously amazing because she used to be so mean to us and now she just smiles and the spirit is so strong! 
--FINALLY got in contact with Jose after a week and had a now or never lesson with him. In his prayer he goes,"Please bless me when I pray tonight that I can get an answer if all of this is true". Yes Jose yesss. Hopefully we will have some baptismal dates next week. 
Yeah, that was a ton, but yeah I hope you guys have a good week!!!
LOBI
Zr merg







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That Sinking Feeling - Real Talk From Your Mother

Also found at Letters from the Nest:   https://open.substack.com/pub/lettersfromthenest/p/that-sinking-feeling?r=48qui&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Dear Nestlings, I hope you don’t mind a little stream-of-consciousness letter today. I don’t know if I have anything specific to share, so let’s see what floats to the surface. It’s a bright fall Friday morning. These last few weeks in central Pennsylvania have been lovely, sunny, and warm. I know winter is coming, so I try to be outside as much as possible to take advantage of the sun before it hibernates. I just completed the forty-minute round trip to drive one of you to the high school. You know who you are, but maybe in a few years, when you read this, you won’t know because every one of you has missed the bus sometimes and has endured lectures about planning better and showing your respect for my work by not requiring forty minutes of my life for your convenience. Anyway, everybody is at school and work except...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gavin in a Million Words or Less

 Way back when Emily was in 6th grade, her teacher, Ms. Grey, asked parents to write about thier children in a million words or less. I posted what I wrote about Emily on our blog. I wish I were more organized and tech-savvy to find the link to that post and put it here, but I'm not. It's a nice idea that maybe I'll do later. Anyway, you get to read what I wrote to Gavin's fifth grade teacher who made the same requests of parents: Gavin is the youngest of seven children. His three oldest siblings have flown the nest, so he talks to them on the phone and looks forward to holiday visits. This summer, his oldest sister had a baby, so he’s an Uncle! He has three older brothers, who sometimes make life tricky for him, but are also sources of wisdom, rides to the store to get candy, and annoying TikTok phrases. He sometimes wants to be more grown up than he actually is. This little guy is academically oriented. He loves to read BIG books. He rarely reads a standalone nove...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back To School Meanies

 Letter From the Nest August 15, 2025 https://open.substack.com/pub/lettersfromthenest/p/back-to-school?r=48qui&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web One August, more than twenty years ago, at an evening book club discussion, my “older” friends (now I look back and know those women were the age I am now), were discussing the woes and triumphs of back-to-school season. One woman was anticipating her youngest child’s senior year of high school. She said, “For more than two decades, our lives have revolved around the school district’s academic calendar. I don’t know how I will plan my life without knowing about school breaks or holidays.” I remember her bittersweet tone as she anticipated freedom from school schedule constraints but also mourned how those constraints guided her choices. What would she do? Other women joined the discussion, wondering if their kids would have good teachers, if they’d be able to balance volunteering in the classroom, how to streamline school supply pu...
Post a Comment
Read more