3.28.16

Hi everyone 😄

This week went by sooo fast. So I guess I'll just go day by day.
Monday we had an awesome family home evening with the family Meza.
They are the family that was inactive for 3 years, and they've now
been to church three times in a row!! They are doing super awesome,
and we have made the next goal to get sealed in the temple! It's
pretty exciting to see their change in such a short time.

Tuesday we did some finding, aka tracking. But we knocked on more
doors than I ever have in a day. I know in comparison to other
missions it's nothing, but it's harder because we have to ask people
hey who do you know that speaks Spanish, and then we go to those house
or we "racist tract" and look for wind chimes aloe Vera plants, mops,
etc hahaha. But ya we knocked 35 doors in about 4 hrs. It was fun. We
got 3 return appointments and 2 New Investigators. Well those weren't
actually from the knocking but still I'm pretty pumped about it. I
guess they were former investigators, who were close to being baptized
but some stuff happend n ya, but they invited us back and we have a
lesson with them tonight!

Wednesday  is actually when we found them. And we went back to Waldo's
tacos and I had a asada torta, tacos al pastor, and tacos de tripas.
They were all way good. I was a bit scared of the tripas because I
guess it's fried stomach and intestine, but it tasted like Chicharon
so it was good. Haha

Thursday we had a awesome zone meeting with our president. He kinda
best down a little on a few things but it was really good.

Friday our ward had a baptism in the other area and it was really
good. It was two sibling James 14 and Priscilla 16. They have changed
a ton from when they first started, and it was really cool to see the
ward welcome them in and love them. It was cool.

Saturday we had exchanges again, and I was with elder Tomayo. I love
that dude. He's so cool. We had really fun time and I learned a lot
from him. We are actually going home the same time, he just came out a
few weeks before because he's a native. It was the bomb.

Then Sunday came around and I didn't realize it was Easter until I got
to my studies. I set it up where I got,to study Christ's death and
resurrection on Easter and that when I remembered. It was pretty cool.
I think that's one of the coolest things to teach people is that there
is life after death. That because Christ was resurrected and live
today, we all have a life after this world, and we have the chance to
be with our families forever. The hope and joy that it brings to
people is beautiful to see, and I can't believe that I have this
amazing opportunity to be out here with these people, brining them the
spirit and letting him change their lives.

I love you all so much and hope you all had a wonderful Easter.
Talk to everyone next week
Elder Miller

3.21.16

What's up everyone.

This week was pretty sweet.
Since we are in a US mission, we have very few Spanish missionaries 22
to be exact, out of like 200 in our mission. So that being said every
once in a while we have Spanish training! It was super fun, especially
because we all got to see each other. All the Spanish missionaries
came down and we had a college Spanish professor come and teach us
things to improve our Spanish for a good 5 hours. It was pretty fun. I
got to really talk to elder wells my trainer for the first time since
I left Monte Vista. I learned a lot of little tricks and things I need
to work on. We also realized that right around my year mark over half
the Spanish missionaries will be gone. They almost all go home
together at the same time. Hopefully we'll start getting some new ones
but at this rate we are going to be pretty slim on Spanish
missionaries.

Sadly once again, no new investigators, buuuut we finally got back in
to the Jalapas house, and nailed it. The spirit was so strong, and
they accept the date for April 9!! We are excited and the ward is
super pumped as well because they have been working with them for over
a year now. We just have to get them to keep their commitments more
frequently like coming to church each week and reading the scriptures
more.

Adreina kinda disappeared 😔 we havnt been able to talk to her for
almost two weeks now. We went by her house a couple times with no
answer, and when we finally did get and answer, it was only the
husband who doesn't want anything to do with us, but he did say it was
okay that we were teaching her, so hosts good (if we ever get to teach
her again😕) but we'll keep trying!

So there is a family in our ward that owns a good truck. It's called
Waldo's tacos and it's AWESOME. It's probably the closest to authentic
tacos I've had in the us. I tried their tacos de asada and tacos de
cabeza, and they were both really good. And they had some awesome
salsa, and just ya it was good. I can't believe we've waited this long
to go.

I don't know if you remember Ricardo from my last area, but he was
supposed to,get baptized this Saturday, and I got permission to go,
and we were all excited, and then they decided he wasn't quite ready
🙁 so hopefully they can help him, and the new goal is mid April so
we're still  hoping 😄
The Meza family is doing awesome as well. They are the inactive
family, but they are loving it. They came back again this week, and
are seeing so many blessing. We went by this week, and they were all
crying and telling us he incredible blessings and joy that they had
this week after just coming to church one time. They are doing great!

Oh it was my comps birthday, so,that was fun. Everyone giving him all
the attention this week I think made him feel pretty good. He still
pretty quiet but he coming around. It was pretty cool, one of his
weekly growls he made was that he wanted to tell me something new
about himself each day😊 it doesn't sound like much, but that's a huge
change from week 1 so it's going good.

That's it from sunny Arizona
Have a great week!
Elder Miller
Take a look around.

3.14.16

What's up everyone!!!

I had an awesome week this week. So Wednesday we had our training, but
it started at 7 so we were up at 5, it felt so much earlier than that
haha. I don't know how any of you guys can get up early like that.
But we got over there and were introduced to elder Arnold of the 70.
He was a super cool guy. He also was very blunt hahaha. He "gave it to
us straight" haha. But it was incredible. We were there for 8 hours!
But I don't think I've ever learned so much in one day as I did during
that training. A huge factor of that was the spirit. The spirit was so
strong and constant throughout that whole time. We talked a lot about
finding new investigators. He kept saying " now you all know that
numbers aren't everything... But they kinda are." Haha. He definitely
let us know we need to pick it up, and then gave us some pretty
awesome ways to do it. Things I've never thought about doing, but he
says they work, so here we go 😄. He never said it was his theme per
say but overall it was "Becoming more serious about the work, and
sensitive to the spirit." We aren't a bad mission, he said we are
actually 2 in the west, but he knows we can do better, and so he sorta
lit a fire under us haha. It all was just super awesome.

Me and elder Pennington are getting along pretty well 😊 The hard part
right now is he's soo quiet and then I feel like I talk way too much.
But it's good, and he's slowly talking more.

We didn't end up finding any new investigators this week, but we
definitely were led to some people that needed our help. One day elder
Pennington found a family that he'd never met, and was interested in
who they were. So we went and stopped by. They are a family of 4 with
2 daughters, and were baptized about 4 years ago but just sorta fell
off and stopped coming. But when we got there they were super happy
and excited we were there. We had a nice lesson and at the end Hermano
Meza the dad, started to cry and said we were answers to their
prayers, that they just needed something small, a little push, to get
them back. I'm happy to say they did come this Sunday, and are
planning on coming to a ward family home evening tomorrow. After
church they came and told us how happy and good it felt to be back in
church, and can't believe they ever left.

There was also another family that had been taught in the past but was
dropped, and for some reason we had the feeling to go there. Similar
story to the last family of 4. 2 daughters, but they have not been
baptized. They are the Jalapa family and are really cool. So
apparently they have been investigating for over a year now, and just
never fully committed. We had a awesome lesson, and they told us that
they know most the stuff, and that they e always sort of had one foot
in and one foot out, and that it was time to choose 😃 They invited us
back and we've felt really good about them, and want to invite them to
be baptized April 9. We would normally like to do it earlier, but with
conference and some stake stuff it may end up that far off. But we are
super excited, and I'll definitely let y'all know how it goes.

Another person we have started teaching is a woman named Adreina. They
found her about a month ago, but never were able to teach her. We
finally were able to and she seemed very interested. She listened very
intently and seemed to accept everything we taught. At the end of the
lesson we invited her to pray and things were a little fishy. Haha.
She accepted the invitation with out hesitation, and immediately began
her prayer without asking twice of how to start it or how to end it.
There was nothing wrong with the prayer, it was a great prayer, but
almost too great haha. She not only knew how to pray, but used words
and phrases that a member would use haha. She definitely known the
church before somehow, but nothing was bad. It was a good lesson, the
spirit was there, and she invited us back for Tuesday. We just need to
find out a little more :)

So, a much busier and better week this week, and next is just going to
be that much better.
I definitely felt the strength and help of your prayers this week,
thank you, and I hope you all know that I love you guys sooo much, and
always praying for you as well.

I hope your week is as awesome as mine 😉
Love y'all
Elder Miller

3.7.16

What's up guys

So not much to report this week.
We sadly didn't find anyone this week, but that just means we'll find
double this week😋

Ya it's been a lot of just trying to get things going. Our ward is
awesome, and are super wiling to help. President Juchau from the
mission came down and talked during our ward coordination and did
awesome. It was really cool and are getting ready to take off, right
now we're just making sure everything is set and safe to take flight
😜

Ya so not much this week, a little service here and there, but next
week should be good. We had one project where I'm still trying to
figure out the purpose, but we pretty much too a garage full, and I
mean full of stuff out and in the driveway, to them "organize it" and
put it all back in. It took five hours and her organization skill
could need a bit of help to say the least. It looked exactly the same
when we finished as it did when we started. Oh well. I had fun because
she had a bunch of old stuff, including a bunch of stuff I remember
growing up around, and I had quite the memories flood back haha.
We have a mission wide training from a 70 on Wednesday and I'm pretty
pumped, not only will it be awesome and spiritual and I'll learn a
ton, but I also get to see all my old buddies 😊 I found out my
trainer elder wells is training again, so I get to meet my "brother"
haha.

Umm I don't really what else haha sorry. But next week will be better
I'm sure of it.

Love you guys so much.
Talk to ya next week
Elder Miller

3.1.16 pictures

3.1.16

Hey Guys!!

So I got transferred his week to an area called Agua Fria. It is in
Peoria and I love it! I'm super pumped to be here. My new companion is
elder Pennington. He's from Alabama and he's been out double me so
about 14 months. He knows Spanish really well, and I'm excited to be
his companion. He's a super nice guy, a little quiet but not by the
time I'm done with him 😜 I met the ward yesterday and they are
awesome. To start out with, they not only get there on time, but early
so that they can all say high to everyone. They are super nice and are
like a family. It's a really small ward actually in a little building
but it's awesome. The bishop definitely knows what he's doing, and we
are going to get some serious work done here. Our ward mission leader
is quite the man. He seems to care a lot about us, but he tells us
what's on his mind haha. He reminds me somewhat of my bball coach ev
hahaha. My apartment is huge compared to my last one, and we have wifi
here so I'm not panicked as much to try and get to a church to get
your emails, and try to all write u.

Sadly we don't seem to have anyone to teach right now, and there
hasn't been a baptism here for quite some time, but that's not
stopping us. I'm just super excited to be here and we are determined
to work hard. Our big goal this week is to find two new investigators
this week. We're not sure how yet, but we're praying haha.
The members here seem really open to helping us and going to lessons
with us. It's been really weird that getting members to lessons is a
big thing here in our mission, when I hardly heard about it back home.
Maybe it just because I never was around the missionaries, but ya it's
a super big thing here, and I'm really happy that we have people
willing to go with us.

So real quick, I started working out a little harder again this week
and my knees have been really hurting. I have patella tendinitis, but
I have heard of people " getting rid of it". If anyone has anything on
that or any tips I would be very grateful😊

I've started studying the life and ministry of Christ for the first
time and it is incredible. He truly is the Son of God. My testimony
has grown so much as I've been studying more, and I continue to become
more and more great full for the incredible sacrifice and gift he has
given all of us. Fun little fact there are over 55 names/ titles used
in the New Testament alone referring to Jesus Christ, all describing
his magnificence. I love my savior and am so great full for him and
his love for me.

I hope you guys all know how much I love y'all, and hope you guys are
doing good.

Talk to ya next week😁

Elder Miller