Week 46 - June 20, 2016

From: Jordan Mark Merrill [mailto:merrill.j@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2016 11:15 PM
To: Lauri Merrill <lauri.merrill@usu.edu>
Subject:

Magandang hapon sainyo lahat:) So my last 2 weeks’ worth of letters have all been about my not so fun days here in the mission. The toilet and bleach have been my best friends but since then I’ve found some better days :) I’m actually feeling much better this week, I do still have times where I’ll eat or drink something and it’s not very fun in the gut but it goes away after some time. Since I’ve had some time to reflect on what the cause may have been I’ve come up with a few plausible reasons. #1. My eating habit. The junk food here is dirt cheap so instead of taking time to cook or prepare a simple meal I’ve just been satisfied with eating chips and junk for my meals. Over time that doesn’t do well with the system. #2. Our summer here is getting over and were getting into the wet season so after some time of no rain it finally poured and when it rains all the water goes to wells then the people here with their 1000% immunity resistant stomachs can handle the water that’s a little dirty but then you have the white boy American that is used to drinking anything and not worrying about a thing, takes a sip of the freshly dirty water and the 2 don’t go good together. The combination of the dirty water and unhealthy diet was I think my problem. Since then my appetite has come back and I’ve finally developed the desire to eat larger meals so I bought a ton of veggies (I was craving veggies over fruit which was weird) and I started a diet of good foods. So far every morning I eat a big ole sandwich with tons of good foods, kind of like a subway sandwich loaded with veggies. I put on 2 pieces of clean cut ham, a piece of cheese, mustard, mayo, cucumber, tomato, and a lot of crunchy lettuce. Hits the spot every time but of course all the stuff tastes different so it ain’t no Subway but after I eat it I feel amazing. I’m drinking a ton of water too, cold water has been hurting my stomach so I’m sticking to room temp water (warm...) ever since then I’ve felt muuuch better. So because I have the ability to work.  We've kicked it in gear this week and tried to get a lot of teaching appointments and so far we've been pretty successful. Our branch is trying to become a ward so we've kind of focused on getting members back but that is a little tougher, sometimes they've been offended, or they lost the spark, or some odd reason. We have even found members with their tindahan selling things like beer and cigarettes so ya, we’re working on it. But our work is alright here in Tula x2. The day of President Guanzon going home is really close and also the day of transfers is coming quicker than we know it. I’m going on 6 months here and Elder Witehira goes home next transfer so we don’t really know what is going to happen. I really want to stay but then again I wouldn’t mind an apartment with running water. Our dishes have been sitting there for I don’t even know how long without being washed and I’m not lazy to clean them it’s just the water we get is worth its weight in gold so we need it for better things. Anyway, I have mixed emotions of if I want to transfer or not. I’m really close to a couple families and it would suck really bad to leave them and not being able to see them again. But we'll let God choose what’s best for us, whatever happens is for a reason right? Maybe me getting .01 close to dying happened for a reason (or not...). Oh I don’t think I’ve made it known to everyone but some friends, but this August 5 I’m going to start drinking soda again after 10 years of being sober from it. The soda here is cheap and from what I’ve heard delicious so I’ve made the choice to drink it in celebrating my 1 year mark in the mission. If there are any objections or complaints, let me know and I’ll probably just ignore them :) Maybe if I get a good reason not to I’ll consider it. Um, not sure what else to say except to tell you to continue to read your scriptures personally and with family along with prayer, personal and as a family. Follow the commandments at all cost because I’ve seen families’ lives change just by the small and simple things. Poor to rich, unhappy to happy just by keeping the commandments. It’s a promise coming, not from me, but from God :) He always keeps his promises! Well, love ya all! Ingat kayo ya? :)

**Elder Merrill**

Photos compliments of Sister Garcia!