Week 49 - July 11, 2016

From: Jordan Mark Merrill <merrill.j@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 7:33 PM
To: Lauri Merrill
Subject:

Iiiiiiiiiiiits not the beavers or bears, it’s not the pickles or the pears, it’s not last night or yesterdaaaaaaay... today, today is your birthday:):)😁 HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Well... yesterday for me… BUT today for you, is your birthday!!!!!:) And yes I know I’m sorry, I didn’t take the time to make some elaborate poster saying "Happy Birthday MOM I LOVE YOU!!!" But I figured if I make this email good enough it will make up for it and maybe, just maybe, I’ll buy a chocolate cake later and put your name on it then I’ll eat it and take lots of pictures just to let you know how delicious birthday cake is;) But really happy birthday:) you’re at home enjoying the cool summer weather, eating those free 7/11 slurpies and eating American food while I’m here with diarrhea :D but its chill no biggy. I hope the fam makes it the best for you and send my love your way:) So maybe I’ll talk a little about my week cause I’m sure you'd rather hear about that then me trying to say Happy B-day. So ya it was transfers this week and I figured I’ve been in Tula Tula for 6 months and my comp goes home next transfer so maybe they'll transfer me so Elder Witehira can lead the area to teach him a little before he leaves so I was like 99.9% sure I was dippin. Then we got the text and nope… I’m still here! Which I had very mixed emotions about 1. I haaaaate to live in the hallowed brick structure. But 2. This transfer is pretty big here in Tula Tula. August 4th a member leaves to his mission in San Pablo then August 5 is my 1-year mark then August 12 (I think?) is a member’s b-day, August 18 is my Birthday and I share that exact b-day with 2 others here (not members, but fathers of members) then Elder Witehira goes home August 26, So ya:) Plus we got a new ZL and 4 new sisters, one of them is fresh out of the MTC. All 4 of them got pulled out, well actually one of them was just here for a temporary mission her real mission is in Arizona and a guess part of her mission is in Utah. Cool huh?? Another cool thing that happened that I probably shouldn't tell you, and before I say it I’ll say I’ve learned from my mistakes, so I left my wallet in a small side store and then when I realized it wasn't on me I went back and it was nowhere to be seen so I was like "craaaaaap..." it had about 3,000 pesos, 3 ATM cards, my driver’s license, and some other less important things. So I just faced it and went on with life. Then the other day I was told someone found it, a little kid actually, and guess where he found it? On the side of a small river laying open. He picked it up and took it to his mom, his mom told a member and then she told me. I went and got and ya, not to my surprise it had no money in it. All my cards were in different places but it still had everything but the pesos. They left my American dollar and the older type of peso bill. I’m guessing they saw it, grabbed it, stuffed the money in their pocket and chucked it over their shoulder into the river BUT he missed the river;) So ya I’m broke and lucky. Um, another less cool story was the other day we were invited to eat at a member’s house but they needed help preparing. So they told us we need to catch 2 ducks and prepare them. After 20 minutes of chasing them around we finally got 2 (in the process I fell in like quick sand type of mud that stunk to the high heavens and back, I was too scared to ask why there’s a stinky mud pit in their backyard...) then we took the ducks and they brought out a bowl and knife and was like next step! So they handed me the knife and I grabbed the ducks head and Elder Wits grabbed the wings and stretched his neck out then bam! dead duck! But the knife was just a little dull so it took a couple slits and it made the sound of death then came the blood, I pulled off the head and it started spraying blood everywhere and it was doing like a 360 with its head stump and spraying Elder Wits everywhere and he hated it so in a panic he tried to hand me the duck and I ran away so he got covered. After that ordeal we had another one left so it was Elders turn and he puts the knife to the neck then backed out so I was like Yay:) I get to do this one too. This time I held the duck and he got the head and this time it didn’t freak out but it sprayed and then corn-like stuff shot out of the gullet ha-ha!!! After that we did the boring part of plucking them and boiling them but later that night we had a good dinner of boiled salted duck, YUM:) Getting to another subject, the typhoon that’s passing by isn’t really affecting us, ya it’s raining a lot but nothing too serious. The thing about me and the rain is I really do love it... when I’m inside! If were walking home it will be like totally sunny and hot, then bam dark and pouring. Then we get to dry our shoes for the next 3 days. The thunder here is freaking cool too. You’ll see a flash of lightening pretty far away then you’ll hear a faint thunder and it get louder and louder than its like right above you and it cracks and sometimes causes the power to go out! Gotta love it:) With our work here in Tulax2, we have a baptism this Saturday but he’s just turning 8 so it technically doesn't count on us but it’s alright. We have 2 scheduled for August 6, they’re really cool, we got them to come to church the day after we first taught them and the older girls wants to serve a mission so hopefully we can help them enough to get them to their baptism. But other than those few stories, I got nothing. This transfer should be more exciting for me and hopefully have some progression in the area. Mom again, happy birthday and I love you to the stars and back:) The number of spiders in my apartment couldn't compare to the number of times I would kiss you:) Looooove love love you❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🐒

**Elder Merrill**

This week's pics are from Sister Garcia and she told me she said she knew how to clean my nails and do a pedicure so I asked her to cut and clean my feet then I got 1 nail painted just for fun.