Welcome to the Good Life

I woke up this morning and sat under a dim light and tried being honest with myself. I felt.... happy. That kind of happiness isn't too easy to find without Christ. I might even go so far to say that it's impossible. I feel really grateful today. More so than usual. My heart rate is steady, my hands are sure, my mind is clear while the sun is shining on all those who live in Oak Harbor. Happy day for the believer who once called himself Trent.

That's me workin the scarf. I don't know why I look so unhappy.

This has been a week of thoughts outside of the box. We started to notice that our stats were going down one night and we were thinking... that's probably not good. So we took a good hard look at what we were doing. Most of the time, if we didn't have lessons or appointments, we would just knock some doors till our knuckles were sore... then we knocked some more. It actually hasn't been terribly ineffective but I'm thinking there's some better ways that we haven't looked into. So we started brainstorming and reading Preach My Gospel for some more finding ideas. We went to the hospital and signed up as clergy to talk to people who are in crises. Hopefully that goes well. We have a ministerial certificate from the Prophet. We'll talk with the Chaplin to see if we can make that happen. We are going to shake it up here on the Island and make something special happen... hopefully. I am praying a lot for ideas and for inspiration for what we can do here to bring more souls to that happiness that comes in the early morning... under dim lights. You know what I'm talking about.

I love riding the bus to different parts of our area. We always get into interesting conversations. People come up to us and ask us things like, "Can Mormons wear Pajamas?" and, "Where does the word Celtic come from?" That wasn't just an exaggerated example.. Those are the questions from this week ha... and then we get the opportunity to share what we really believe. The Truth.

Thanksgiving was good. I forgot to say that earlier. I figured you would want me to touch on that somewhat. It was like a full day p-day so we just played games at a members house with the other Elders and laughed our heads off. The mom was just dying laughing and it made me laugh the whole night. It was pretty dang fun.

Last night we were looking in the area book and saw a former investigator who was taught seven years ago ha. We looked at each other and figured what the cuss... why not. So we stopped by and the husband was like, "What do you guys want!?" And I kind of ignored him ha and asked if his wife needed help carrying in the stuff in her hands. Then they opened up and we joked around for a bit and they invited us in for some Hot Cocoa. We talked with them about life, family and deception pass. They were so nice to us and we set up a lesson with them for this Friday so I'm quite giddy. Like.... pretty dang giddy. I don't really like that word. I'm excited.

My planning mustache. It's my muse. 

Elder Pectol's planning mustache.

Last night I was at Dinner at a members house and the husband is taking philosophy right now. His wife said that he's always complaining, "Ugh why doesn't Elder Merrill just come over right now and help me." haha I had him print out some of his essay questions because I was so excited to read them.. It seems i'm quite nerdy..

Today I think we'll play some basketball because I haven't done that yet. Then we'll hit up some thrift stores and get some christmas decorations and I don't know just have a chill day.

Well this day is to you my dear family and friends,

Elder Trent Jay Merrill