Mail merge with excel

I have created a mail merge letter that is meant to merge in dates taken from my excel spreadsheet.  I have in there a statement that says something like, The start date of this event is “Date” to “Date”. Another words, Begin Date and End Date. The problem I have is the end date will not display or print the end date as a date. It will only show or print as numbers representing the date. I have tried switches to no avail. I’m pulling my hair out here. Anyone know how to fix this.  I have my dates in the decline formatted as date and switches attached to the mail merge fields. Just can’t get it to show the dates I so desperately need.  HELP

CARL