If you know how to copy over the merging information also please let me know.

I found this function in the help but I haven't altered it yet and I expect
that it will slow my code down even more.

ActiveWorkbook.Styles.Merge Workbook:=Workbooks("TEMPLATE.XLS")

Theres also the merge area, mergecells, and merge functions / properities
which I will probebly need to use to accomplish this task. Is there a better
way to accomplish all of this through the database?