La Florida
The last three months of my mission were a whirlwind. I was serving in Barrio La Florida in Rosario. My new companion was Hermana Tapia, another Chilena. She was solid, a hard worker and obedient.
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| Hermana Tapia Our apartment was a garage |
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| There was a dog that would follow us everywhere. He would sit outside our apartment all night. He was our dog angel, our protector. |
One really funny thing happened while I was with her. We were headed to have lunch with a member when we noticed that black rain clouds were approaching quickly. We were walking fast, trying to get there, but didn't make it before the rain hit. It was a downpour. The streets filled up and we were knee deep in water. We were walking in the street, so I tried to make my way over to the sidewalk. I forgot that between the street and the sidewalk was a ditch. The dirty water from the houses drained into the ditches. Often they were filled with dead rats and garbage. I stepped right into one and was up to my neck in nasty, dirty, stinky water. We made our way to the member's house, told her what had happened and went back to our apartment to get cleaned up. I stunk so badly. After I showered and changed we went back for lunch.
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| You can see the end of my hair had gotten wet in my fall. Check out the bathroom in the picture. We had to straddle the toilet to take a shower. |
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| ditches on the side of the road. Not the best picture. |
I only spent one month with Hna. Tapia before I got called to the mission home to pick up a nuevita, Hermana Proctor. Hermana Proctor was super sweet. We did a lot of tracting in apartments buildings but she was having back pain, so we took a lots of breaks. I heard that she went home not long after.
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| apartment buildings |
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| Hermana Proctor |
My time with Hermana Proctor was short, just one month. My last companion was Hermana Zamora and she was a blast. She was always happy. We taught one young lady that was 9 years old. She was the grand daughter of a less active family. She had never been baptized, so we made sure to get that taken care of.
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| Hermana Zamora |
During that time, I had lots of visits from President Ontiveros. We had some wonderful conversations. President Hinckley spoke in Uruguay, and our President was asked to translate for him. He told me all about the experience. He said that when the prophet spoke, the spirit brought the words into his mind in Spanish and he just had to speak the words. He also said that his whole body was burning with the spirit. What a cool experience. He also shared some experiences he had with prayer. The night before our visit, one of the missionaries had left his apartment by climbing out the window while his companion was praying. He had not returned. The President had never been so scared. He was worried that the missionary had killed himself. He said that he got down on his knees and offered the most sincere prayer of his life. Afterward, he felt the spirit tell him that Elder Merritt would be okay, so he went back to work. That morning they found him. He had started hitch hiking home, but they were able to bring him back. On another day, the President decided to come work with us. We were in shock, but it was a lot of fun. I really felt so blessed that he was my mission president. We had a special relationship and I just loved him.
The last 10 days of my mission started out great. We were tracting and teaching and things were good. My last district meeting was great and I was ready to finish strong. But that didn't happen. My throat started hurting, my ear and head were hurting and I had a fever. We called La Hermana and she came and brought me some pain medicine and an antibiotic. It didn't seem to help at all. A few days later I was still in a ton of pain and my throat was covered in pus. The mission president came and got us and took us to the mission home. I could not sleep. Every time I swallowed I wanted to cry. I wandered the house crying that night. The next morning I was taken to the Otolaryngologist where I was diagnosed with both a strep and staff infection and told that I would need to rest until the end of my mission. I spent many days in bed and couldn't eat, which ended up being somewhat of a blessing. I had gained 20 pounds on my mission, but lost 10 of them in the last week. When I returned to the states I found out that my eardrum had also burst.
The day before I left, the mission President let me go explore Rosario with my companion and a member that had become my friend. She went out to work with us on occasion.
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| my member friend, Cristina |
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| Rosario |
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| Rio Paraná |
On the day I left the mission we had a final meal at the mission home. Then we flew back to Buenos Aires, I was with Hermana Strang again. We stayed in the dorms that night at the Buenos Aires temple and did a session the next morning before we flew back home.
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| The mission home and neighborhood were beautiful! |
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| bunkbed at the temple |
My flight arrived in Salt Lake about 30 minutes early, so nobody was there when I got off the plane. I waited for a few minutes and then started walking toward baggage claim. They finally arrived and it was a warm welcome home.
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