I have never witnessed a military dignified transfer before,
but it will be safe to say that it has changed my life and view on things. As we go on with our dailies lives we forget
that there is a war going on and men and women are targeted to be killed. Some escape death, but come home seriously
injured where their lives have been changed forever and we still go on with our
lives. I have always appreciated their
service, but my appreciation has changed to a more deeper and humbling respect
for the sacrifices that have been made in our behalf, so we may go to dinner
with our friends and family and catch a movie to escape reality. Cody Towse was worried that his sacrifices
would go unnoticed. We proved to him
yesterday that we do care and we honor him.
We grieve with his family and will miss him deeply. Thank you Cody. And Thank you to all the many
other service men and women who are fighting for not only our freedoms, but
also of those around the world who have and are suffering at the hands of
evil.
On January 27, 2011 Eric Merkley was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. An aggressive cancer that we hope and the doctors to this point seem confident that is contained to one spot on his leg. Prognosis is good. Treatments and recovery will be long and painful.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
New from Sacramento
With everything that has been going on with Cody, I have
failed to update you on Eric. Last week
he had a really cool email I would like to share.
Oh gees so where do I even begin?! This past
week was a really good week in the work, we were able to see a lot of success
with 8 member present lessons which really helped a lot of our investigators
progress. We were also able to find a few people who make me really excited to
teach and get to know them and help them receive the gospel.
We had a very
special experience with a lady this past week. We told her to be ready
to break down the walls between her and the Savior. Only then will we
truly receive the blessing that he wants to give to us. We have
really been trying to help her get a true solid answer that the church was true
and that she had to be baptized. We meet with her and this is the story that
she told us. “ I knelt down just before bed just like I always to, I
said a pray to ask God if the church was true and to ask for help
in revealing an answer. I ended my prayer and went to bed. As I was
sleeping I had a dream that a man of great brightness came and appeared
to me with very white hair and beard. The glory of this man was amazing that I cannot
explain it. He told me that the church that I was learning about, was His church
and that I need to enter into that church. He then showed me two young men in
white shirts and ties next to him, they were elders. He then said the
words" THESE ARE MY DISCIPLES LISTEN TO THEM". She
knew that the message was from God and that she had to listen to it. I think it
was Jesus Christ :)
Eric was made District leader, which generally does not
happen to the foreign speaking missionaries in Sacramento. He has enjoyed learning more about leadership
and working with the Mission President.
This is what he said this week about the Mienh members.
All of the Mienh members love me. Ha ha They
were all really impressed with how good my Mienh is already and say that I have
a lot of potential in the language. Whatever
that means haha we will see what will happen :)
Calvin is the little guy that taught Eric how to pray. Eric just loves this little guy.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
A fallen soldiers return home
Cody Towse is our friend, neighbor and an American Hero. Cody was killed in action in Afghanistan last
week. He will arrive back to Utah on
Wednesday at noon at the Provo airport.
There will be an honorable transfer ceremony and a military procession
from the airport to his home in Elk Ridge Utah.
The procession will go through Main Street in Spanish fork, Salem and up
Elk Ridge Drive. If you are free and
want to honor Cody and his sacrifice, please line the streets with your flags
to welcome our fallen soldier home.
The Funeral will be held at Salem Hills High school on
Saturday June 1st at 11:00 am.
The closed casket viewing will be on Friday evening May 31 from 6 – 9 pm
at 234 S Shayda Circle Elk Ridge Utah.
In
lieu of flowers, The Towse family would ask donations be made to the PFC Cody
Towse Memorial Scholarship Fund at any Wells Fargo bank branch.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Memorial Day
Memorial Day will have a whole new meaning in our home. For the 3rd time since Eric has left on his mission, we will need to inform him, that yet another friend of his is no longer with us. Our neighbor Cody Towse was serving in Afghanistan and was involved in a deadly incident and is presumed dead. While the Towse family awaits confirmation, our hearts and prayers go out to them. I have always appreciated all the many tears, sweat and blood that has been shed in behalf of our nation. But I have never been this close to the tears.
This is PFC Cody Towse
Monday, May 13, 2013
Happy Mothers day
Any missionary mom will tell you that they literally wait by the phone for that special phone call on mother's day, well I was no different. We had a great visit with Eric. Our experiment with facetimeing with Tonya and Clint while skypeing with Eric did not work well. So Tonya ended up listening in during our conversation via speaker phone. She did join in the conversation, but was limited. Here was Eric's testimony in Meihn and Laotian.
It still amazes me that he can say and understand these 2 languages. I am sure proud of him.
He is doing well and can not believe that he is coming up on his 1 year mark....I can!
He is doing well and can not believe that he is coming up on his 1 year mark....I can!
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Update from Sacramento
Eric gets pretty excited about packages.... especially from girls!! :) |
I have thought about making up my own stories to these pictures, but it may embarrass him, so.....Well he does deserve to be embarrassed...... Nah! |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)