POST

So there are tons of 6 feet tall (creepy) bunnies all around town now, and to add onto that there is a giant tomb and a garden tomb type area set up. It is very interesting here.

Also had a very interesting experience, so Saturday we got a call that the General Relief Society stream was having some issues, so me and elder cross headed that way to see if we could find any obvious problem. The problem was out of our reach, and sadly it seemed that everyone just gave up after they realized there was a problem so there was a very fast exodus.  After I managed to change the projector language from German into Spanish for them I walked back out side and Elder Cross was talking to a taller white fellow.... an American named Greg Sailem.  He and his wife and two kids are from North Salt Lake but recently just finished being a mission president in Houston (Sugarland?  not Katy) and he was coming back to see if he could find any converts from 24 years before when his ZONE (my zone for example is Obera) was all of Missiones. (Missiones is the name of the province in which is my mission) And he traveled all over the place. We helped them out a bit and gave them some general directions and such. His Spanish was a bit rusty but it was enough to impress the Branch President. We talked with his sons and his wife some and they ended up coming to church with us the next day. President then invited the father to share a quick message during church, meaning a good 25 minute talk during which I was translating for the sons as fast as I could. It was a fun experience and a well needed spiritually uplifting one.

Have you watched the new Mormon Message?   It's very powerful!
http://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=99115411


Some of the pictures!
Some scenery and the Overa sign, a mad ostrige, my comps throwing knife skills..face dance sign, Carlos (Jewlrey maker, member) me and my comp hiding behind big leaves, some knives a investigator was selling, Easter EGGS!! for the mission confrence, Titanic games and out paper hats! Some Comp Pictures and then a small gold bar...78g at 18k... nearly 3000$...

ALGO MAS!!!

So oh my goodness have we done allot of stuff this past week. Haha so the big thing was the Activity.

At the end of every month the Obera Mission has a activity that they put on, on Saturdays. So we had the idea of doing Titanic! So everyone comes in to the Titanic, gets some money playes games and such and then the titanic crashes and we take a inventory of everyones gains. But we put a spiritual Plan of Salvation twist on it. But ill get to that.

We came up with a bunch of different games. The sisters in our ward came up with Bowling, Watergun knock over cup thing and also eat the apple off the string type game. Me and Elder Cross came up with table shuffle board, ring toss and three towers (a ball and cup throwing type game) we also did a fake money game. And then in one of the back rooms of the church we had a Book of Mormon testimony writing activity.

So all the kids got to the church and the first thing everyone was given was paper hats which are super easy to make, everyone colored and  drew on theirs, I wish I had a picture right now but I apologize that I don't, But on one side i had a feather, and on the other a drawing of Trogdor...

Each colored their hat, then was given 200 fake pesos. I was in charge of three games, the shuffleboard, the ring toss and the three towers.  Elder cross was in charge of the money game, which was where most of the kids and some parents lost all of their money. The sisters were in charge of the other games, and Ezekiel (the wards secretary and a RM) was in The Book of Mormon room. After a lot of fun and game playing the ship began to sink and everyone scrambled to the lifeboats (the Chapel) we took an inventory and even though some doubled, tippled and even quadroupled their money, it was not important in the end based on the fact that they did not receive a golden ticket from the Book of Mormon Activity. It was a bit harsh but some needed the lesson. In the end it turned out well. It was interesting seeing how some parents had tickets while some of their kids did not. It was a good learning experience for everyone in the end.

Peeps

I have met some great people here.

First off there is a Minus Activo whos name is Carlos, He is a Jewlery Maker....With Silver and Gold. It is super cool! I am getting a HLJ (CTR) ring made from him. His reasoning for being a less active is a bit sad. He was converted to the church and worked to convert his family for a total of 10 years with no prevail.  He eventually went inactive. He still loves the missionaries. He practices Guananese and also English. He also reads a ton. I was poking around in his metallurgy like laboratory and he has stacks and stacks of history books. He knows so much!

We also ran into a family named that Familia Fuxs (fooks) is how its said. They are super cool and are very strong investigators. The mother and the Father of the family are working on getting legally married right now and are both reading The Book of Mormon. The father is a door to door knife salesman and they are giant knives...

We had a awesome noche de Jugar (mutual night) last Saturday. In where we cleaned the doors and windows to the church and then after the Jovenes played football, and also a couple with their school laptops were playing Counterstrike together haha.

This would proabably have to be my fastest six weeks so far! And i just start forgetting what happened on what days. Ill start to jot down little experiences so I can write a lot more next time! (Sorry for not having pictures, i forgot the cord for the computer..)

Love Elder Merrell

Transfer

So! Oh my Goodness oh my goodness...

Leaving Hernandarius was tough, and kind of heart wrenching and sad but it needed to happen. I visited everyone I could in the time that I had. It was tough to say goodbye.  I said bye to the AranaGonzalo family, Nuarte, Benitez, Carno, Carmen and the Santa Cruz family. It was a wonderful experience to talk to them on how one of my goals on my mission was to grow my family, And I can confirm that I am growing my family here.

I was thrown onto a bus after stuffing my bags which in the end resulted in a wheel on both luggage bags breaking but the trip was fine. I got to Incarnacion (the city across the river of Posadas) and there I ran into Elder Collins, (I didn't get a picture with him) I also saw Hermana Percival and Hermana Sorenson and they are on their last transfer! Its sad...So got across the river and into Argentina and then went straight to the terminal.

That is where I met Elder Cross (he is the elder in which we took a selfie in the middle of the road with) He is from Las Vegas! He has been in the mission for a year and a bit more then 6 months. He has been in Obera For two transfers and before that was in cuidad Del este (not in my zone but i saw him on occasion in pizza hut) So it was cool to catch up with him! And we hit the ground running and the work is hard but it is very satisfying. He has a few progressing investigators but right now we are focusing on fortifying them and finding new investigators. Surprisingly, it is very diverse here. There are a lot of Germans and Brazilians here.

Umm...I got to use a Bidet for the first time, which was...interesting to say the least..haha

Obera is a much larger place. It is about between Cuidad del Este in the city aspect, but more city like then Hernandarius was..So its right in between.. There is a huge plaza with a super cool ground fountain and its just a really nice quaint little place to live! The house is nice, it was for 2 companionships so four elders. But this transfer it is just me and elder cross.  The ward is not a ward, it is a branch and its pretty big! so i enjoy it but it isnt quite a ward yet. And i didnt do much at church yesterday, i did help teach the Principles of the gospel and such

Oberá

This week has been an off week for me. You know those days where you wake up and it just feels like you are moving through water? And then everything seems to move at that speed. It was a interesting feeling week. Everything seemed to have a sway or a spin to it. Haha, I was a bit Space Cadetish this week. Not to sure why.

But the week was good none the less, We had divisions with Elder Balcaza, my former companion,  It was a wonderful experience to see and hear Elder Balcaza Bear his testimony with the Arana Gonzalo Family. It was a wonderful experience to see how much they have grown through the Eyes of elder Balcaza.

We received a reference from Victor, a returned missionary in our ward. We were fairly hesitant in contacting the house. I'm not sure what it is, but I can contact a random house easily and with out fear. But when we know that the person we are about to talk to has a mutual friend. There is a perceivable pressure that is added to the situation. We walked up to the house and began talking with a very animated Hugo Basket (Probably misspelled) He and Victor have been friends since childhood and have always been very close. Hugo is very religious and has been attending a Prayer Circul for the last 6 months, We invited him to church this coming Sunday based on the fact of how much he respected the focus that the family receives from the church, however, he wasn't able to make it the which was a let down. He told us later that his religious life revolves around his wife and we haven't been able to meet with her yet. But we have been told she is super nice. Just hoping we will be able to catch her some time and talk to her!

But that reference will have to be handed off to the next elders in the area. I am being transferred to Oberá Argentina as of tomorrow (Tuesday) And also Elder Baldeon will be being transferred and they will be ¨white washing¨ the area. Basically meaning that two elders new to the area will be coming in. My new companion is going to be Elder Cross.

More information about my new area next week!

Elder Merrell