Christmas Week!!

December 19th, P-DAYYYY

today was a lot of fun! besides the heat! We went to Funland again and we hit FOUR JACKPOTS!!!!!!! We have over 1,000 tickets! I think were gonna save up till we can get matching RC Helicopters for 6,000? Either that or Monopoly the board game! hahaha 

Later tonight we went Christmas caroling! we went sooooooo far away though! I could have sworn we were out of our zone but apparently our zone is WAYYY bigger than I thought! we definitely need to buy a map of our area cause there's a lot we didn't know about it! We passed a place called Crock-World! Apparently they have a bunch of live crocodiles there, so were gonna go check that out next week! haha:) Anyways, we Christmas caroled for about 5 families and then gave them some cookies:) they really appreciated it! 

Wanna play a game? its called "GUESS HOW MANY BLIND PEOPLE ARE IN OUR WARD!!!"

not one, not two, not even three,... now try guessing four... well if you guessed four then youre 100% WRONG! we have FIVE blind people in our ward right now! most famously is our bishops wife! Well thats all for today, folks stay tuned for our next episode of "GUESS HOW MANY BLIND PEOPLE ARE IN OUR WARD!!!"

Thursday: December 22nd, 2016

Well today was a lot of fun:) I got lots of Birthday wishes from people at church! I really like these people, and I'm making lots of new friends:) a little 7 year old girl named Buthle called me and sang happy birthday to me:) she's adorable. We're best friends btw! Anyway, a few more families said happy birthday to me, and my mission Presidents wife called and talked to me to wish me happy birthday:)

OH!! and today to celebrate my birthday we went out to eat at a delicious all you can eat pizza place! well its all you can eat on thursdays, which was perfect! They even gave me a birthday chocolate pizza cake thing:) It was really good! haha

But this morning we had to do a SUPER INTENSE cleaning of our apartment because they're doing inspections to make sure our apartment is clean and were not just up here cooking meth all day...I hear the Wood's are super strict when it comes to their apartment checks so i guess its gonna be interesting in the morning! :/ 

 

But all in all my birthday was pretty darn good and im loving it here in Africa!! haha I guess its the first year i didnt see snow on my Birthday... but i did see plenty of monkeys! haha

Friday December 23rd

Today was aweessommmeee:)) we had lunch with sister bell, shes reallllyyyy old and adorable! haha shes really nice:) she even gave us some cookies so that was awesome:)

We just went on a walk and played catch! we walked down to the beach and when we got there a super cool lighting storm started! it was Beautifulllll!!!:) then we walked back because it was getting bad! haha i walked back without my shoes and it was so weird to feel hot water run down the street over my feet! it was so cool:)

Saturday december 24th, Christmas Eve!:0

Today was also a lot of fun:) This morning our entire zone went to kwaMashu and we played soccer for like three hours! It was so much fun and I got to know all the people in my area a lot more, so that was nice.. I think this was the first time in my life that i got a SUN BURN on Christmas Eve!

And tonight we got invited to a member house and we did a braai:) they live in the township of Isipingo.. its kinda like a ghetto area... but the food was delicious!!! they even brought their truck up and played a bunch of zulu music really loud and they taught us some funny zulu dances! hahahah it was so much fun!! hahaha And i was helping this guy cook some chicken and he was like ÿo whats yo name man?"... öh its Elder Merritt:)"And he was like, "Maaaann we all *iggas out here. ima just call you merritt. we cool?".. it was so hard to keep a straight face when he said that hhaha

Alright I'm gonna get some sleep:) I love you guys! haha

Latest Email from Mitchell

December 14th, 2016

well today we had a bunch of appointments, we met with brother Greig and his wife. his wife is a non-member but she decided she wants to join the church and be baptized end of January, so that was a very successful appointment! they even gave us some food:) then we went to meet a guy named Alfred in Kwamakhutah... he doesn't live in a very prosperous area, we go tracting their and the people love to listen to us but the town is really far away from the church and a lot of people cant afford to taxi to church each week so its really hard for them:( and they live in really small houses and the main problem we have when going to appointments is barely any of the houses have an actual address... so its nearly impossible to find them.. I was talking to a 12 or so year old kid named mozi for about ten minutes and th whole time a little girl, about 3 years old, was walking around in a dirt field with a stick on top of a piece of bread. she loved her bread and stick and was really enjoying rubbing the bread in the dirt! it was the sweetest thing, it really made me feel super blessed for what i have:)

after that we went to phindys house and she fed us and it was AMAZING! hahaha 

December 15th, 2016

wow today was a HOOOOTTTTTT day! it was miserable today! everyone went to the beach and we had to wear collard shirts and ties with long pants. it pretty much sucked.

but tonight we went into the ocean to help the reises. they own the fish shop and needed help getting salt water! so we carried tons of big jugs and filled them all up carried them to the car, then filled up a big 250 gallon tank... then filled up all the jugs again and carried them back to the truck on the other side of the beach. I'm gonna be really sore tomorrow! but now i can say I have been in the Indian ocean... granted it was was only up to my knee, and i was in a white shirt and tie... but hey, it counts!

December 16th, 2016

today was really hot again. and my shoulders are killing me from last night! today we went and visited a few members, ate some food, and gave a blessing to sister nkosi who's sick.. so it was a pretty successful day........up until our car broke:/ so that kinda sucked.. the battery keeps dying... even when we drive it just shuts off. so we left it at the church and i think were gonna take it in on Monday. 

December 17th, 2016

Today was the Missionary Christmas party! it was a lot of fun and it was really nice to get to meet all the other missionaries in this area:) we played a bunch of games, ate some really good food, did a couple skits, and listened to president Thompson and his wife's little lesson thing! they even went out and bought a bunch of new ties for all the missionaries as gifts:) theyre really cool! i got a red one hahaha! today was a pretty good day!:) then we went to McDonald's for dinner:)

(the party went from 10:00am-4:30)

sorry guys it was a slow week... not a big email this time..

December 5th, 2016:)

Today was our P-day and it was soooo much fun! I gotta email my family then we played football in the park for hours! There's a bar at the park? or a booth? of picnic tables and a bunch of older guys were drinking and watching us play catch! Elder Nielsen isn't very athletic, he's more of a musical/Theater kinda guy.. but the guys drinking we could hear them making bets on him, if he catches the ball or drops it, or if he throws a terrible pass! it was pretty fun cause Nielsen was really cool about it! Then as we were leaving the guy came out and said " do you guys wanna make some money?" and i was like "well it depends what we're doing!? haha".. he told us he'd give us 100 bucks (Rand) if we throw the ball as far as we can to Nielsen, and if he catches it we win! We were like "well i mean we can try? its worth a shot at least!" so he said you get 3 chances to do it.. so we sent Nielsen out in the field and we started filming him! it was pretty exciting! First throw Elder Lesueur threw it way to short and he dropped it.. and we were laughing so hard! it was a lot of fun! haha then I gave it a throw and he actually caught it!!!!!!! it was CRAZY!!!!! the guys went crazy too! it was so much fun! then he told us he'd give us an extra 100 bucks if he could throw it all the way back and he was like 50 yards or so away....... he probably through it a little over half way.. But still we won 100 Rand so we went to the store on the way home and we each bought 2 litres (yeah thats how they spell 'liters'.. I know its annoying.. and they spell 'fiber' 'fibre' ) of soda! haha it was a really good day:)

after we showered and got cleaned up, we went to the Reise's house for family home evening:) we ate rice with like chicken and peppers and baby corn all mixed together.. it was sweet and actually pretty good:)) haha then we gave a spiritual thought (a little mini lesson) , sang a song and then Vicus taught a longer lesson.. and then we played the Dictionary game again:)) it was a lot of fun! after family home evening we always draw a little coin that either says "lesson, Opening Prayer, Treats, song, closing prayer, and spiritual thought:) i drew Opening prayer so i think im gonna try and memorize a short prayer in Afrikaans and try to impress them! hahaha well see though! haha:)

love ya:) gonna get some sleep! haha

December 6th, 2016

well today was nice, we worked a lot:) we got the car fixed today so now we can drive around:) So we went tracting again and i got chased by a monkey! that was by far the scariest thing that's happened to me in africa! there was like 15 monkeys or so just doing there own thing right in the middle of the path and my companion and i had to walk right through them... We did manage to give one of them a pass along card though! hahaha but that wasn't the best idea because when we did that they all thought we had food and started walking closer to us.. so i walked a little faster.. and faster.. and faster.. then i just ran  because those things are creepy looking and will bite ya!

after we did that we went to illovo and interviewed a kid for baptism:) him and his family lived in a township in an old house made of Cinder blocks.. when my companion and i pulled up at their house about eleven little kids surrounded us, jumped on my back, hung from my arms, and really wanted to play! they were soooo cute! it was a lot of fun!!!

then we all drove to the Reise's house to practice our christmas skit and play some games!:) our skits gonna be pretty bad and totally embarrassing! so if someone films it ill be sure to send it to ya! hahaha

December 9th, 2016

The last few days have been a lot of work.. but ive been enjoying every second! well.. most of the seconds.. im still not very happy with that monkey from the other day.. but last night was so cool! there was a HUGE lightning storm and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! it lit up the entire sky, we got a few pictures of or view and you would think its the middle of the day but the lightning was just super powerful! i took a bunch of videos so ill try and send them to you! hopefully their not too big!

Today is my companions birthday sooooo same thing as yesterday! haha 

nah a member made us a big birthday dinner and we played some games, it was a lot of fun! hahaha

December 10th, 2016

today we our ward Christmas party and boy was it fun! i was in two skits and it was completely embarrassing! but in a good way! haha ill try and send you guys one of the videos! haha for our skit we were in a "car" with our "mission President" on our way to the air port as if our two years were up and we were going home! and... well.. i dont wanna give anything away but i can do a sick macarena! hahaha hopefully you'll see from the video.. they filmed kinda far away so its hard to hear what were saying so i hope it makes sense! haha

then we did a bigger skit but it was a huge flop, too long, didn't make any sense, and the old guys in our ward can't read their lines very well... i'm not even gonna bother sending it to you or explaining it.. but i wore a plastic bag and my name was "Mr. Price"

then i learned how to Brai.. i think thats how you spell it? its basically barbecuing but everyone bring their own meat and we all cook it together!

December 11th

Today i had to give a talk in church!  i crushed it by the way! but i felt really bad because i went first and the last speaker, our stake president or something, didn't have much to say cause i took all of his info!.... i felt really bad! this bishop gave all three of us the same topic.

November 29th, 2016

Well I feel like we do almost the same thing each day so I'm not sure exactly what to write in this anymore... it would get pretty repetitive and boring if i told you guys everything we do each day... so I don't think my emails will be as long as the first few:/ 

hmmm... tomorrow I have a meeting with our mission president   he seems like a really nice guy:) we met him a few weeks ago when we got to Durban... but holy cow, no joke he's a BILLIONAIRE! he was telling us what his job was and he's a super successful business man and was like the CEO of DELL... he travels all over the world and was the guy that started opening more.. umm.. Units, companies,whats the word? stores? you know to help their company spread all over the world! Either way he made bank!

November 30th, 2016

The interview went great:) he's such a cool guy:) "now were gonna go get hair cuts and pick up some bread and stuff:) then drop it off shower, get changed and head to our appointments:)" 

.... well that was our plan.. it seemed pretty straight forward but after we changed and headed to our appointment we were driving down the road, all four of us, and there was a branch that broke and was hanging all the way across the road.. my companion was driving and didn't see it because it was right as we came around the corner...  he thought the branch looked small enough to go through...buuuuutttt, it shattered our windshield and now we cant use our car till it gets fixed:/ just one of those things that happen I guess.. nobody's fault, just kinda sucks.. so we had to cancel our Dinner Appointment and call to let the office know what happened... then we just watched the best two years...

I hope that doesn't happen again hahaha

DECEMBER 1st, 2016

Wow. its ALREADY December!! the days are FLYYIINNGG by right now! 

oh my haircut from yesterday looks great! I had to cut it cause people at church were judging me! oh well! I buzzed the sides and left it long on top:) talk about terrifying! I hate going to see new hair barbers! The guy barely understood English! I told him how much i wanted taken off in inches and I forgot they don't use those here, so it was an awkward conversation for a little bit. then I said he should just use scissors.. then he looked at me and started buzzing away....... whatever, it looks good.. hahaha

Today we TRACTED ALLLLLL DAY. Nielsen and Eastmond dropped us off on beach road, because we don't have a car yet, and we talked to almost every.single.person. we got FORTY peoples phone numbers! were gonna call most of them tomorrow and see if we can set up appointments to come talk to them:) 

so to celebrate an AWESOME day of work we went to an ALL YOU CAN EAT PIZZA PLACE!! It was Sooooo good! i had 16 slices of pizza and I'm soooo full! 

but holy cow these days are seriously going by sooo fast!! honestly I'm really happy our time difference is so different because I would drive myself crazy thinking "I wonder what mom is doing Right now?" now I know she's just sleeping so it's easier to not think about it.. then its harder to get homesick.. ya know what I mean? 

but I do miss you a lot! I wanna be at home more than anything,, so I can watch Mary, Jake, and Aspen play basketball, and watch Max, and Trevor at wrestling:) 

I miss you guys so much! i wish i could be with you!

but after what happened today, I know I'm here for the right reason. these people need to hear the gospel. And some for a few, I believe that I'm the only person that can help bring them closer to the gospel. If that is bringing them to church and baptizing them. or even showing them that they should change something super small in their life to help them become more Christ-like.

 

I love you guys so much. and I'm Super excited to see you on Christmas:) <3

December 3rd, 2016

well its been kinda hard to go place to place without our car because weve been sharing it with the other two guys... they wont let us drive ours because of the windsheild:/ so we haven't been able to get to all of our appointments, but we've done our best.. But this morning we did service at the church. Our church has a HUGGEEE Garden that wraps all around the building! it's really cool:) it was hot but i had a lot of fun:) one of my favorite people in our ward is Vicus! hes so cool! he played pro Rugby and is the coolest (most normal) guy here:)

then after the service project we got some McDonalds :) After Mcdonalds we went to Macro and I bought a new camera and i LOOOVVVEEEE it:))) i got the canon PowerShot SX620 HS:) ITS AWESOME! then we were gonna go talk to people but elder Neilson apparently got bit by a spider while we were in the garden so we had to call the Medical couple, sister Wood. she told us to go to a pharmacist and get some stuff.. but by the time we got there it was closed so we called her again and we had to go to our room so she could bring him some cream and stuff... So Elder Eastmond and I went on exchanges to a Members house that is in his area:) the Cebo's, and they were super nice:)))

Elder Neilsons fine... i don't think it was even a spider bite... I swear it's just a thorn. I think he's overreacting.. but the thorns here are super intense!! I dumped some weeds in the trash pile and a thorn stabbed straight through my SHOE! that was pretty eye opening and terrifying! but don't worry I put some ointment stuff on it, so I will be fine! hahaha

I LOVE YOU!

L-Durh Merritt

Sunday December 5th

Today was fast sunday... but whats nice about fast sunday's in this area is that we have a family that'll feed us after church so we can break the fast:) but their food was disgusting.. so that was pretty disappointing.. haha

oh and we've been practicing some skits for next saturday at our ward christmas party:) if they film them I will definitely send them to you! hahaha

after that we just kinda chilled all day  cause ya know, its sunday. and sundays are pretty slow.. but tomorrows P-DAYY!!! im excited cause we getta sleep in an extra hour:)) oh and I getta send you this email and hear how everybody is doing!:)

love ya, and I will talk to you next week:)

November 21st

Today we emailed you guys for a bit and then we went to FUNLAND!!!! it was so cool! for 115 Rand we got a bunch of tokens for an arcade, Free Bowling, Bumper cars, and a free Lunch:))) it was great!!!! I had a lot of fun... but I'm a terrible bowler! hahaha 

After Funland we went to the mall for elder Nielsen so we could get him a white shirt... he got a fricken expensive shirt! it was like 300 rand!!!! but then I went to the store next door and got a rubber football! I'm really excited for it! I've wanted to play catch sooo bad these last few weeks!!!

Then we came back to the apartment to get changed and showered, cause it was SUPER hot and muggy! For dinner and family home evening we went to the Reises again:) guess what we ate.......... I'll give you a hint.. IT WAS DELICIOUS! We ate OSTRICH spaghetti!!!!!! Instead of beef in their sauce they mixed it with ostrich! It was soooo good:)))

But I'm all sweaty again and they shut off the water to our street so they can conserve water in South Africa.. I guess they do it all over the place but just by sections of each town.. and  I guess tonight is our night:/ I wish they'd give us a heads up though! luckily i had just done laundry so my clothes all got washed, so I put on a wet t-shirt and I'm just gonna sleep in it as my shower for the night... its so hot and humid here..

sleep tight, 

merry Christmas,

Elder Mitch Merritt

November 24th

We went to Funland and we all got black light pens.. ya know the ones with the invisible ink... well they work really well so we drew all over the place and you can't see ANYTHINGGG!!!!!! its so cool:))) and at night when we turn all the lights off its like a little party house! hahaha

We've been teaching lots of people and talking to a lot of new members lately:) it's been a lot of fun! and it's really cool:) its not so much BLOW THEIR MINDS with a huge powerful lesson, it's more testifying of what I know.. so thats super nice:) 

today were about to leave for ZTM, Zone training meeting, so im excited to see all the missionaries in our zone:)

Well, the missionaries in our zone are really cool! Elder Adams was there and he served here in Toti as well.

But last night was really fun, we actually went to the Reises house for Thanksgiving so that was really nice to have... they obviously don't celebrate it in Africa...

Friday November 28th

Crap I lost my thing in my closet and didn't write in it the last few days... sorry about that!

Sunday November 27th

Max's mullet is looking SIIIIICCCCKKK!!!

and I'm loving it over here! this week wasn't too hot but today is the start of a heat wave....... wish me luck! haha... and I wish I could send you some more pictures but something happened and all of them got deleted? I need to log onto the computer that I used last time and see if I can save them? But I haven't been taking a lot because its annoying, everytime I take a picture I have to wait like 60 seconds or more.. and nobody wants to stand for a picture that long... so I have to just hope I get a good one the first try:/ 

I can look at cameras around here and check back with you next week? 

and I heard the ducks lost:( oh well i guess it just shows who are the true duck fans:/ but on a dropped game winning pass is really sad:(

I love you! I will try and find my pictures and take more:) 

This Thursday for the Worldwide Day of Service our Goal is to Teach FORTY LESSONS IN ONE DAY!!!!

I'm excited to try this but I know its gonna be EXHAUSTING!!

and we've only had 1 baptism but were hoping for 6 by Christmas! wish us luck:)

November 14th, Night of my first P-day;)

Wow. I love this place:) besides the driving (I've been getting car sick) but I love these people! we did family Home Evening at the Reise's house and they're so much fun:) they made us like some sort of stew with curry rice, which was pretty good:) then we had a little lesson and got to know each other... I've noticed that whenever I tell a white person I'm from Portland Oregon they ask me if I've heard of grim and we have a good conversation! and when I tell a black person I'm from Oregon they ask me if I've ever been to Compton!! because the ghetto areas here, like illovo, is very similar to Compton i guess... minus the guns!

I'm getting tired of all these monkeys though... one tried to steal my little notebook thing they give me.. but it set it down, I left it on top of the car and saw the darn monkey holding it.. so i yelled at him and he dropped it and ran away! oh apparently a missionary killed a monkey last year and what's interesting about this type of monkey is that they have blue nuts! so the Elder cut off the monkeys scrotum and sewed it into a little coin purse. true story. it was a BRIGHT BLUE! they're almost neon blue... or baby blue!

Also, the driving here is very strange! like if someone wants to thank another driver for something they flash their hazard lights at them a few times... its kinda weird to think about but its kinda nice:) also, the stop lights (they call them robots) don't have cameras and sometimes they stop working and will just stay red for like 15 minutes or more.. so its ok to drive through red lights when its safe... or anytime when the roads are empty.. that's kinda sketchy. also people here are CONSTANTLY walking on through and all around the roads! SO MANY PEOPLE GET HIT BY CARS HERE!! they're so stupid for that!!!! They drive us crazy!!!!

November 15th, 2016

today was pretty good:) it went by really fast!! max asked me what the most "first world thing" they have here is... guess what it is... their McDonalds has the greatest meal deal of all time!!!!!! its called a "share box" it comes with 2 big macs, 2 cheese burgers, 2 large fries, 2 small fries, to medium drinks, 2 small drinks, 10 chicken mcnuggets, 2 dipping sauces, and 4 ice cream sundaes! all for 160 Rand!!!!! so thats equivalent to only 11 U..S. Dollars! It's beautiful! my companion and I shared and on one of my burgers they forgot the Patty! so that was funny! hahaha like it was just Bread>cheese>ketchup>bread. 

anyway after lunch we got a phone call to go give an old Indian man a blessing.. he was about to have Liver Surgery and was a little nervous.. i know id be! but he was a nonmember so i hope surgery goes well and he gives us a call again:) he was a really nice guy...

but African Hospitals are supperrr sketchy! I saw two dead bodies with like the cloth over their bodies.. and they were doing construction on the building.. they were laying more bricks on it like 5 stories above us and people were just walking on by underneath.. no care in the world that a giant brick might get bumped and fall off from the top of the building and come falling down on an innocent civilians head... I don't remember getting a Hard hat.. ya guys really should have laws that prevent stuff like this from happening!

sorry that was me ranting about African Hospitals.. I don't trust them...

also, we went tracting today and ive decided Zulu people are super cool!! they're probably the nicest people ive ever met! and they love white missionaries so they'll ask them a bunch of questions.. which leads to lessons, which leads to Dinners, which leads to friendship, church, baptism, and BOOM next thing ya know they're in the celestial Kingdom and its all cause im White!

my companions been here for 14 months so hes teaching me some Zulu.. its pretty difficult but I'm kinda understanding a bit of it! hahaha 

ok I'm gonna get some sleep:) love ya to the moon and back and then alllllll the way from me to you! :)

November 16th 2016

Ttoday went really well!!! I had a lot of fun street contacting:) all i do is share a very brief message about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then I give them a pamphlet to read with our number on the back:) and literally every. single. person. asks to have the little book:) its so nice! these guys here are so chill and nice:) I'm starting to really get used to it here, and really appreciate everything and all the people.. and talking to the people here is really easy:) I'm getting used to it:) oh but they've said in our teaching lesson time they really really realllyyy emphasize talking like the people and trying to be like them as much as possible.. talk like they talk, walk like they walk, eat what they eat, and all that.. so I'm picking up a bit of a weird accent.. and they said ill know how to speak Zulu when i get home and maybe even Afrikaans:) so that'll be cool

Oh and today we went down beach road to talk to the people.. in Africa if you need money people will put on  neon vests and help other people back out of their parking spots and they help direct them to open parking spots.. its actually pretty cool, it gives the homeless guys something to do so they don't just beg for money.. they help us out, and we give them a small thank you:)

anyway, we talked to all those guys today so whenever they see us they smile and are all chill and want to be our friends:) they're actually cool guys:) I don't remember any of their names cause they're all Zulu people... but we made lots of friends today:)

one guy stopped us in our car and asked for bread.. so we gave him like less than 1 rand.. then another guy asked us for weed and we were like "bro we don't smoke.." and he was like "whaaaaaaaattt? what do you do then, cuz?" so we explained the church and mission stuff to him then gave him a Word of Wisdom pamphlet.. he said he'd read it and give us a call! Hahaha

November 17th, 2016

today I gave a lesson to a kid named Jarrod about the restoration:) my companion and i taught the restoration he was really getting into it and he loves what we have to teach him:) we ended up watching a little movie about Joseph smith and how are church came to be.. the spirit was really strong and he said hes gonna come to church next week.. and we gave him a book of Mormon:) hes a pretty strange kid thats SUUUPPPER dyslexic.. so when he texts us its pretty funny! hahaha but ya know, the gospel is open for anyone so next lesson I'm gonna ask him if he wants to be baptized so that'll be fun;) 

so far mission life is really fun.. i love talking to the members in our ward and playing games with them:) I'm already getting comfortable with these guys and having fun:) yesterday we went over to Phindy's house and she's about to go out on a mission in a few months so that's super exciting! She feeds us every Wednesday and she cooks A LOOOOTTT of food for us! and she makes us eat ALLLL of it! otherwise, we don't come back! her family is super cool so we played tons of games!

Today went by really fast and I'm tired so I'm gonna get some sleep! I love you and i'll see ya in like 23 months:)

love, Elder mitchie.Com

November 18th, 2016

Today we did a TONNN of service helping a family at church! they own a fish shop.. like they sell live fish.. not the dead ones... so we helped them move all their aquariums and fish tanks over to their new shop which only like 100 feet down the street.. they have some really cool fish there! but the coolest fish tank is at their house! We ate there on Monday, the Reise's, it's the prettiest one I've ever seen. They have all the fish from Finding Nemo except a puffer fish and starfish.. they even have the little crab guy!  I'm quiet jealous!

November 19th, 2016

Today we finished helping the Reises move their fish tanks and it takes forrreevvverrr! They're so heavy and they break and then there's glass.. It's a mess! But afterwards we went and made dinner at a girl in our wards house, Zama.. she lives in the inna street ghetto part of South Africa and it was tight yo! then we got some delicious freezerburnt ice cream! 

Today I saw a few new animals! first, i saw a Huge lizard while walking to our car! second, a baby gecko... actually I saw like a ton of them.. its getting hot so they're all coming out to stand in the sun! and finally, my favorite, I JUST SAW FIREFLIES FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!! They're soooo coolll!!!!! At first i was like huh.. some guy must be burning his field, cause that's what they do here.. when their field gets overgrown they just light it on fire and its all good... anyways I thought it was an ember or spark or whatever but then it came a little closer and i was like, what the heck why is it green? THEY'RE SO COOL!!!

Anyway, I'm really tired cause we worked for 11 hours today.. I'm gonna go to bed! 

I love you<3

Missing home

Nov 8th, 2016

hey guys:) i miss you and I'm realllllyyyy happy that my alpha smart works:) and my mission president ok'd me to have it so that's awesome!

I'm sorry I don't think i ever told you guys what we do at the MTC.. my B..

So these guys are teaching us everything we NEED to know about the gospel! and then they teach us how to, you know, teach it to other people:) so most of the time its reading, highlighting different stuff, and role playing with my companion or someone else from my district! then we later have a "investigator" that we teach! for example, today we finished teaching Jake Awuni, he own a small business in Johannesburg and is engaged to his girlfriend, they have two kids, and before we came to teach him he was wondering why god gives us such huge challenges... today was our second time teaching him and we got him to commit to baptism! that was pretty exciting to do:) however, when you teach Jake hes actually one of the MTC teachers so its super stressful teaching him because he knows wayyyyyyyy more than i do about the gospel and how to teach investigators! but I'm starting to get it all down and tomorrow we teach Benni, who was an atheist before we started teaching her but tomorrow were gonna invite her to baptism as well! 

one of my favorite teachers here is either brother Wentzel, who grew up in Durban and served a mission in England, or brother Ramiaramanana ( yes thats how you spell it... i checked haha). Rami is from Madagascar and served his mission in south Africa and it actually saved his life going on a mission. When he got to his mission he had heart problems and needed open heart surgery, an he never would have survived if he had done it Madagascar because south Africa is much more civilized than Madagascar.

Anyway, I love you guys and I wanna see pictures of Max's game and hear more of the stats and scores that happened! hows Trevor doing, and Jake, and Milo? Has Max had any sacks? He told me he basically won their game on Friday after Trev knocked the ball lose and I'm really excited to hear how he does this week! it sounds like its gonna be a really good game and I'm super happy you're team is starting to realize how good you guys actually are! Tell everyone good luck and that I love them:)

NOV 11th.. First day in Durban

Wow. This place is just how I pictured Africa to be:) Kinda civilized but it has a bunch of African trees! like the ones on the lion king:) it is beautiful here! I went and saw the temple sighting and its in such a perfect spot! it looks over a cliff and is beyond perfect! and they said it should be done when im still here! meaning, i may get to usher people through for the open house:)) im really excited!

i haven't met my companion yet but his name is elder....... crap i forgot:/ but i got called to serve and be trained in  the  Amanzitoti area! its the lowest area in my mission area, and i heard my mission home looks over the beach! I'm really excited!

Today I met another elder who picked us up at the airport, his name is elder Adams! hes so cool!! He's from Germany! BUT GUESS WHAT!!!! he  grew up in OREGON!! hes awesome!he lived in madras mostly, and a little bit in Portland, Eugene, and bend. we talked about OMSI, Seaside, he actually stayed in the same hotel that we did after the Astoria game!so that was really nice! hes a duck fan too!!!! he also served in my first area that im going to! he said I'm gonna get fed a lot!! and he told me one family that is apparently SUPER COOL!! and LOVE to feed the missionaries! I'm so excited! 

Also, I drove on the left side of the road for the first time! like behind the wheel! its so weird because there's tons of new road signs, everything  is in the metric system! kilometers, Celsius, everything!!!!! it sucks! and I'm not used to it yet! hahaha ill get there though!

Nov 12th

Well it was my first day with my companion and he seems pretty cool so far! his name is Elder Lesueur! hes from Arizona aaannnddd.. yeah! i got to our mission home and its pretty darn nice! its got a huge ocean view! its so nice! and its built for 4 missionaries so I'm here with elder Neislsen who was in the MTC with me, and some other guy that i don't know very well? hahaha

but today was cool! we went into town and did a little shopping and when we were driving there was a really baad accident. imagine you're on like HWY 26 and waiting in traffic... now picture a bunch of guys going through the grass to turn around! TONSSS of cars did that! its extremely illegal in the US but the cops don't enforce any traffic laws here! like you could literally speed RIGHT passed a cop and they'd just sit there! one time a cop actually did pull over an elder and the cop tried to write him a ticket but the cop was SO DRUNK that he couldn't so he let the elder go! hahaha or at least that's what my trainer told me...

I also saw my first albino black guy.. they call them "creatures" here because they're all homeless and come up to your car and beg for money! they're so scary! ill try and get a picture of one to show you! cause they also don't have all their teeth, a bunch of birth mark skin tab things, and ya know black people hair? well its white with a little orange..I feel really bad for the guy! 

but whats nice is today was pretty easy, tomorrows Sunday so it'll be easy, and Monday is our P-day! so its a nice break! hahaha

Sunday, November 13th 

well today i met my ward and they're really nice:) its less than 80 people which is actually pretty big over here. tomorrow were gonna go have dinner with them and i get to email! im so excited!and at church i helped teach the primary kids about reverence:) they're so flippin' cute!!! 

oh and i went to give an old lady the sacrament today so that was a lot of fun:)) except, she said Toti gets really hot and most of the time its 80-100% humidity here during the summer so im not looking forward to that:/

but today I saw so many monkeys! like at least 20 or so! it didn't rain so they were all over the place! im gonna try and send a bunch of pictures but most of them are blurry and bad so don't share any of the bad ones! hahaha

I miss ya and I love ya to the moon and back!

-Elder Merritt:)

Made it there safe and sound...

October 28:

Hey mom and dad... well I made it here safe and so did the other missionaries:) the airplane ride was easy but I couldn't sleep much.. actually I've  only gotten like 4 hours of sleep in the last two days! so I'm gonna get some sleep.

I emailed you earlier today but they only gave me a few minutes to do it and Africa has terrible WiFi! hahaha but everyone here's pretty cool and I think my P day is gonna be on Wednesdays i guess? idk? we'll see! 

I miss you and I love you and I'll message you when I can!

also, let me know how Max does on Friday:) tell him good luck!!

October 29:

All the other missionaries showed up.. a lot of them are actually from south Africa so its kinda been nice asking them what Durban is like. A sister missionary that's been called to Madagascar grew up in Durban and she said, with a heavy accent, "oh ya goin'a love Durban. They gonna feed ya very very well there you know." but then she told me I might eat worms or even DOG so I get to look forward to that I guess... but she did tell me that it is gorgeous! I don't know if I can trust her though.. I mean I told my buyers that my pig was gorgeous and you say the same about Mary.. haha just kidding.. that would be very mean to say about the pig.

Later today she gave the closing prayer in Zulu! It's the one that has all the clicks, knocks, and kissing sounds.. It was really neat!

Also, we got to play a little basketball and about half the guys at the MTC are from some part of Africa or Samoa.. you'd think they'd just be tearing it up on the court but another Elder and I, Elder Maughne (sounds like Lawn but with an M),tore em up.. in half court basketball where nobody keeps score! haha nah hes pretty cool, he's from Idaho and is also going to Durban. Did you know they don't send any sister missionaries to South Africa because the crime rate is so bad? There's only three sisters here and they're all Africans going to Madagascar..Also I got my first companion today, Elder Ott. 

Update on the other guy that got off the plane in Atlanta.. he went home. and his mission has been delayed so keep him in your prayers. I don't know his name but he looked like a Lloyd? haha

October 30:

Remember if you write me a letter or send a package in the mail,  when you write South Africa to mark it "S.A." not "SA" because it sometimes gets mixed up with southern Australia! just a heads up:) 

The other day I was showing a bunch of the South African Elders how to play American Football and oh my goodness! I thought teaching 5th and 6th graders how to play was difficult. hahaha

Then the next day they taught me rugby, and it looks like I'm really bad!! Elder Iloa, from Samoa, taught me.. he's in my room actually and hes going to Botswana. But I had a lot of fun and got to hang out with another missionary from London England! he has a realllyyy cool accent! haha his name is Elder Summers and I'm pretty sure he's going to Jo-burg..

At the MTC there's about 28 people, 11 Americans (Idaho, California,me, and the rest are from all over Utah), 3 sisters from SA going to Madagascar, 1 from England, 1 from Canada, 2 from Samoa, and the rest are guys from African! Just a heads up so it gives you a better picture:)

Sundays are really easy! We even got a nap.. and after  the nap I got some free time so I hung out with a different kid from Durban, Elder Lesch.. he's the only white African at the MTC... anyway he showed me where to find all the animals! he said the monkeys are all over the place and are seen a bit more than raccoons! And zebras are seen as much as deer! But the elephants, hippos, lions and giraffes are all gonna be out on reservations...if i get sent out towards Kimberely I'll see them a lot more often! Also, the penguins are mostly down in Cape town! but its common for some to swim up to he Durban beach!

October 31:

Happy Halloween guys:) this is the first year I haven't celebrated it, and it kinda feels weird? hahaha let me know what Max and Mary were and send pictures of Brinley too!!:)

today Elder Simiyile (sim-uh-ee-lay... or elder smiley) explained the rules of rugby to me a lot better and I'm kinda getting the hang off it:)

 Ionly have ten more days here and they're slowly speeding up.. I'm learning a LOT about the gospel and it's all coming to together for me.. I mean, before I came I knew a lot of all the bits and pieces of the gospel but now they've taken all those bits and pieces and glued them together! Which is pretty sweet! But I wanna get out of here ASAP! hahaha

November 2:

Yesterday i got to email you guys and it was realllllyyyy nice! i miss you guys a lot! It was really nice, but when they took our laptops away it started pouring down rain.. and it was also sports time! so we played Rugby in the rain! I scored SIX times! im really getting the hang of it and I'm having a lot of fun! but then the lightning started so we had to go inside.. the lighting here is CRAZZYYY!! there's WAY MORE than ANYTHING i've seen before in my life! it's so cool:)) 

Today the lightning started again! you know how you guys are going into winter right now? well they're going into they're Summer.. and i guess its also their rainy season.. and with the heat and rain they get SOO MANY LIGHTNING STORMS!

Also, today a guy came and talked about all the disease and crime stuff! And now I'm terrified! hahaha he just said be clean, be smart, and be careful! I'll do my best! haha

November 3:

Today we went to the temple and it was GORGEOUS! the Jo-burg temple is a lot smaller but the sealing room was, in my opinion, prettier than Portland.. is that ok to say? Idk? But the celestial room is much smaller than Portlands. Outside of the temple was gorgeous! I forgot my camera today but were going again next week so I'll be sure to take some then! 

Oh just a few hours ago we got new companions! I got Elder Iloa actually, the super buff tongan that taught me Rugby:) He's a really nice guy and had troubles getting a visa so hes been out on his mission for two and a half months already, he served in Tonga:) OH and president Ashton made me the senior companion which is really exciting!:) I'm having a lot of fun here but at the same time I want to get back out of the gate! 

Today was also the most terrifying day of my life! Today we drove on the LEFT side of the road! I really hope they don't give me a car because I would have crashed at LEAST ten times just on the way to the temple! hahaha and the people that drive here are terrible drivers! The roads are smaller! And the cops never pull anyone over! While Ii sat in the car I looked at the houses in the city and they all have electric fences AND razorwire fences!! Some of the fences have like blades and knives at the top! The crime must be REALLY bad I guess!they also taught me that when you stop at a red light beggars come out and walk through all the cars! SOMETIMES if you have say a phone on the dash board people will run by your car, smash the window reach in and take it then run! But they stay away from the first car because if he drives the other cars can follow, but if they leave it alone everyone else is trapped!

buuuuuut.. no need to be scared I will be fine! hahaha

I love you guys!

P.s. Apparently all of the internet goes down in South Africa so if I don't email you for a couple weeks, I'm not dead! haha its pretty common I guess? haha

November 4:

Today was pretty good! I got a compliment from President Ashton's wife after rugby! She said I was the fastest white boy out there! I laughed so hard when she said that! hahaha:))

November 5:

Awww today was a really sad day! Elder Summers, my friends from England went home just out of nowhere! He didn't tell anybody that he was feeling homesick but apparently he was getting literally sick, like ill, because he was missing his family so much:( Remember to pray for him.. and we were just starting to get to know each other, he got transferred and put in my district (my classroom) and he sat right next to each other.. we were partners a few times and we teased each other and made fun of each others accents! hahaha.. I'm gonna miss that guy but I guess I can follow him on instagram or something when I get home:/

Other than that we played rugby again and I scored two or three times and had two other assists! Monday we're gonna play American football so I'm really glad I brought my gloves:)

Oh and guess what stinks! when you fast on your mission they make you do a super legit fast! It started at 5 PM today and we can not eat anything until 5 PM tomorrow!!!!  WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR AGENCY THAT YOU'VE BEEN TEACHING US ABOUT!??? Sorry I'm getting hangry cause its 10 o'clock and i havent eatten in FIVE HOURS! Tomorrow is gonna stink:/ I'll let ya know how it goes in tomorrow night! But I miss ya and excited to go to Durban and meet my first companion next week! Also NEXT Tuesday I'll send you guys a few pictures:) #iloveyouguys.<3

Nov 6th 2016... Fast Sunday!

Well its noon, church is over and we have five more hours till dinner.. today was nice because in class President called me and Elder Mnisi to the front and said that he would be very happy, and confident if tomorrow morning him and I were white washed into an area and went straight out on to the field! As long as you testify of what you know. (whitewashed: when the previous missionaries are BOTH sent out of that area at the same time and two new Missionaries, that have no idea what the area is like, are put in their place).. that helped  a lot because I can't really read President Ashton, I couldn't tell if he liked me or not? I think this means he does? Either way I'm excited to get out of the MTC and start talking to other people!

Today President Ashton called me over to talk to me, he told me he thinks I should really consider playing college football when I get back:) If that's for a small local school that is kinda cheep, maybe I can do that for two years or so:) maybe even go talk to George Fox and play with Trevor:) or Linfield, or even Western with Twister:) I don't know but I'm gonna see when i get back, and I'll do my best to stay in shape while im here... well maybe that's cause I fasted for 24 fricken hours!

hahaha I love you guys and im excited to see you on Christmas! haha