Hey guys!
Great week this week! We've reset ourselves and got back to really
trying to talk to everyone we see, and we've talked to some awesome
people, and got a lot of return appointments this week.
We've really been pushing with Jesus this week trying to get him all
ready for his baptism his Saturday!! Heavenly father has truly blessed
him to open his mind and learn so much so quickly. This is the fastest
I've ever taught anyone and he is one of the most converted! It's been
such a blessing because we were worried to baptize him and him just
leave to boot camp. But he's great! He came to another wards baptism
last night and he's just so pumped!
We had a really special lesson with him this week where we taught the
law of tithing. During the lesson I felt really be able to promise him
huge specific blessing if he would pay his tithing for the rest of his
life. I love teaching and having the spirit be with us. It's the
coolest feeling ever then be worthy to be a tool in he lords hand and
help others come closer to him.
We also had a cool lesson with Jordan on Saturday and taught the plan
of salvation. As I've said before that's probably my favorite lesson
to teach and it was awesome. We focused the plan this time in helping
understand the "whys" of life, and he really enjoyed that. It helped
him understand why the gospel is so important if it is true. He is a
very logical guy and the spirit is helping everything click. It's so
cool to see that the spirit works in such different ways to
individualize everything for each person.
Transfers are next week, and no one has any idea what's going to
happen, all we know is elder clough, our roommate and old companion,
is finishing his mission, and we'll be sad to see him go.😩
Well, that's kinda it from here. O we did es changes and I was back on
bike and it was fun, but it was 110 and I was a bit wet by the end of
the day 😋😷
Love you guys!
Elder Miller
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Monday, May 29, 2017
5.22.17
Hey guys,
Sorry I didn't write last week. We went hiking and my companion forgot
to mention we took a different rout than I though and it was a 8.5
mile hike rather than a 4 like I had anticipated. But we're back this
week, and wow were we blessed. In they last two weeks we have had 7
new investigators! It's been super cool. 2 in the Spanish and 5 in the
ysa!! And the ysa hasn't had investigators in forever, they have only
had 2 baptized in the last 2 years, so we are all super excited. I
cant remember if I talked about Jesus, but he is an awesome kid. One
day he just decided to text a friend that is a member here, and asked
if he could come to church. He cam and he loved it! We have now had 3
lessons with him, and he came up to us after church and said he guys,
i don't know how to say his, but I mean I think I'm ready to be
baptized!! So he is going to be baptized Saturday the third! Idk if
he's more excited or the ward, they both are pumped!
We also had stake conference this weekend and it was very powerful.
There were two different 70s with us, and they were great! Elder
hallstrom is from the presidency of he 70 and elder Macoon just was
called this past conference.The two big themes were Sabah day
observance and truly keeping it holy. We don't need the list of what
we can and can't do, but we need to ask our selves is this what I want
Heavenly Father to see me doing on his holy day. " our Sabbath day
observance is and outward showing of our inner faith"- elder hallstrom
The other teme was truly becoming converted to the lord. We should be
able to ask our selves is here absolutely anything that would push us
out or away from the church. And if we really are converted we can
answer, with 100% certainty, no there is not. And the way we become
converted is through consistency in the small things. Reading the Book
of Mormon going to church saying prayers going to the temple. And when
we do is when we see miracles.
Sorry not too much more.
Love you guys!
Elder Miller
Sorry I didn't write last week. We went hiking and my companion forgot
to mention we took a different rout than I though and it was a 8.5
mile hike rather than a 4 like I had anticipated. But we're back this
week, and wow were we blessed. In they last two weeks we have had 7
new investigators! It's been super cool. 2 in the Spanish and 5 in the
ysa!! And the ysa hasn't had investigators in forever, they have only
had 2 baptized in the last 2 years, so we are all super excited. I
cant remember if I talked about Jesus, but he is an awesome kid. One
day he just decided to text a friend that is a member here, and asked
if he could come to church. He cam and he loved it! We have now had 3
lessons with him, and he came up to us after church and said he guys,
i don't know how to say his, but I mean I think I'm ready to be
baptized!! So he is going to be baptized Saturday the third! Idk if
he's more excited or the ward, they both are pumped!
We also had stake conference this weekend and it was very powerful.
There were two different 70s with us, and they were great! Elder
hallstrom is from the presidency of he 70 and elder Macoon just was
called this past conference.The two big themes were Sabah day
observance and truly keeping it holy. We don't need the list of what
we can and can't do, but we need to ask our selves is this what I want
Heavenly Father to see me doing on his holy day. " our Sabbath day
observance is and outward showing of our inner faith"- elder hallstrom
The other teme was truly becoming converted to the lord. We should be
able to ask our selves is here absolutely anything that would push us
out or away from the church. And if we really are converted we can
answer, with 100% certainty, no there is not. And the way we become
converted is through consistency in the small things. Reading the Book
of Mormon going to church saying prayers going to the temple. And when
we do is when we see miracles.
Sorry not too much more.
Love you guys!
Elder Miller
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
5.8.17
Hey everybody!
We had a pretty awesome week!
Once again tuesday we had our big training together as a mission and
it was very interesting. Because the mission president goes home the
first week of july he is sort of just pouring all of his love and
wisdom on us and it is really cool. As i feel most are, mission
president are so in tune with the spirit and have so much wisdom that
just being around them you feel great. We sadly don't get to take back
our training as we used to in our zones, because they have asked the
missions to stop doing zone meetings, so I'm not sure what we truly do
as zone leaders anymore haha. But it's fun to be with president.
Then throughout the week we have been blessed with miracles. Sometimes
i can't understand why he blesses us when sometimes we haven't really
done anything to deserve it. On Wednesday we were going around trying
to find new people to teach because we sadly just dropped everyone
because no one would come to church. So as we are getting back into
the car, this old lady yells at us asking us to come over. So we jump
out excitedly and start talking to her. Her name is Dominga and she is
68 years old she said she had talked to missionaries is 70's in
Nicaragua but nothing really came of it. She asked us if she could
learn more about joseph smith and his story again! I was pumped, she
invited us to come back Friday. So Friday rolls around and she talked
about how she is just excited to learn more, and how she wants to come
to church and all these awesome things, and lo and behold she came to
church! It was awesome. We didn't really get to talk to her about her
experience because we had to run to the ysa ward. But we have a
lesson tonight with her at 6!
Sunday morning we also received a text from a random number asking
where and when church was. This woman shows up and says her name is
Griselda. She tells us how she has been a jehovah's wittiness her whole
life, but then she lost her faith in it. She then said she lost her
husband and her job. At first she thought it was a sign but didn't
want to go back to the church. So she said she prayed and prayed and
prayed, and wanted to know what path God wanted her to go on and all
the sudden she found a job, working for a Mormon bishop, and she said
she then took it as that was her answer and was now going on faith
and came to try it out and said she really enjoyed it. We are going to
her house on Friday!!!
Then even more in the ysa a kid brought a friend to church and is open
to talking to us and learning more! Don't know much more about him
than that but this all happened so quickly and it is incredible to see
how much Heavenly Father is taking care of us. I think in the past I
would be sad because we would struggle to find people to teach, but I
was sad because we just didn't have much to do, now I feel down when
we do, because I love teaching so much and to not being able to share
it with someone now is what is hard. I love this gospel and am amazed
everyday at how much the Lord loves us and wants to bless us.
Thanks for everyone last week for the birthday wishes they were really
special!😊
Love you guys! Have a great week!
Elder Miller
We had a pretty awesome week!
Once again tuesday we had our big training together as a mission and
it was very interesting. Because the mission president goes home the
first week of july he is sort of just pouring all of his love and
wisdom on us and it is really cool. As i feel most are, mission
president are so in tune with the spirit and have so much wisdom that
just being around them you feel great. We sadly don't get to take back
our training as we used to in our zones, because they have asked the
missions to stop doing zone meetings, so I'm not sure what we truly do
as zone leaders anymore haha. But it's fun to be with president.
Then throughout the week we have been blessed with miracles. Sometimes
i can't understand why he blesses us when sometimes we haven't really
done anything to deserve it. On Wednesday we were going around trying
to find new people to teach because we sadly just dropped everyone
because no one would come to church. So as we are getting back into
the car, this old lady yells at us asking us to come over. So we jump
out excitedly and start talking to her. Her name is Dominga and she is
68 years old she said she had talked to missionaries is 70's in
Nicaragua but nothing really came of it. She asked us if she could
learn more about joseph smith and his story again! I was pumped, she
invited us to come back Friday. So Friday rolls around and she talked
about how she is just excited to learn more, and how she wants to come
to church and all these awesome things, and lo and behold she came to
church! It was awesome. We didn't really get to talk to her about her
experience because we had to run to the ysa ward. But we have a
lesson tonight with her at 6!
Sunday morning we also received a text from a random number asking
where and when church was. This woman shows up and says her name is
Griselda. She tells us how she has been a jehovah's wittiness her whole
life, but then she lost her faith in it. She then said she lost her
husband and her job. At first she thought it was a sign but didn't
want to go back to the church. So she said she prayed and prayed and
prayed, and wanted to know what path God wanted her to go on and all
the sudden she found a job, working for a Mormon bishop, and she said
she then took it as that was her answer and was now going on faith
and came to try it out and said she really enjoyed it. We are going to
her house on Friday!!!
Then even more in the ysa a kid brought a friend to church and is open
to talking to us and learning more! Don't know much more about him
than that but this all happened so quickly and it is incredible to see
how much Heavenly Father is taking care of us. I think in the past I
would be sad because we would struggle to find people to teach, but I
was sad because we just didn't have much to do, now I feel down when
we do, because I love teaching so much and to not being able to share
it with someone now is what is hard. I love this gospel and am amazed
everyday at how much the Lord loves us and wants to bless us.
Thanks for everyone last week for the birthday wishes they were really
special!😊
Love you guys! Have a great week!
Elder Miller
Thursday, April 27, 2017
4.25.17
So it's pretty crazy day as a zone leader trying to figure transfers
and helping people know where to go and how to get there. And probably
wasn't the best day to get haircuts at a members where they also had a
big lunch for us that lasted almost 2 hours haha. Havnt had anytime
today.
I had an interview with the mission president on Friday and he asked
me to stay with my companion 1 more transfer. So I'll be with him for
6 more weeks and then I'll have someone else for about 9. This will be
the second time I've been in an area longer than 3 months haha.
But not much happened this week. Its been a really slow week
actually😕 And we don't have anyone to teach. We have the couple I
talked about last week, but they are out of town, and then everyone
else we've dropped 😕 definitely the hardest thing for our mission.
Finding people to teach.
Actually but we did have a awesome baptism on Saturday! Little metzly
got baptized and it was super special. People actually came this time.
I called so many people trying to come support. We really hope all of
this will help her parents soon get married and baptized 😊
Sorry this has been probably my worst letter of the mission.
I'll do a better one next week.
Love you guys!
Elder Miller
and helping people know where to go and how to get there. And probably
wasn't the best day to get haircuts at a members where they also had a
big lunch for us that lasted almost 2 hours haha. Havnt had anytime
today.
I had an interview with the mission president on Friday and he asked
me to stay with my companion 1 more transfer. So I'll be with him for
6 more weeks and then I'll have someone else for about 9. This will be
the second time I've been in an area longer than 3 months haha.
But not much happened this week. Its been a really slow week
actually😕 And we don't have anyone to teach. We have the couple I
talked about last week, but they are out of town, and then everyone
else we've dropped 😕 definitely the hardest thing for our mission.
Finding people to teach.
Actually but we did have a awesome baptism on Saturday! Little metzly
got baptized and it was super special. People actually came this time.
I called so many people trying to come support. We really hope all of
this will help her parents soon get married and baptized 😊
Sorry this has been probably my worst letter of the mission.
I'll do a better one next week.
Love you guys!
Elder Miller
Friday, April 21, 2017
4.18.17
Hey guys!
Crazy day today. his morning we went to a members house from the English ward, and he does a hot wings challenge and it was super hot and fun. Then we did a zone activity where we did a massive water balloon fight with over 1,500 gallons. It was in the parking lot of the church and we set up an arena with our cars, we had tables up as walls and garbage cans full placed all across the arena it was awesome! We were all soaked.
Here are a couple awesome highlights this week.
To start, we had another awesome lesson with David and Rosalina. They are great. Rosalina was struggling with reading little so we talked about faith and how we really need to show our faith through our actions. Do we really have the confidence in Heavenly Father that if we do the things he's asked, then he'll do his part and bless us. David loves the Book of Mormon though and he told us several times to come back, to please not leave them. He knows there's something here and it's really cool to have someone that has this desire to figure out what we have and watching him apply it in his life. It is through those acts of our faith when we receive our answers and blessings. It's so cool.
Then Saturday we had Metzlis baptismal interview. She is the little girl we have been teaching. She is so smart, and its been very fun. Her parents have been investigating for a few years now, and just havnt made the push to get married, but I think with Metzli being baptized it going to be huge for them. This is going to be the push they need. The baptism is going to be next Saturday and we are pumped!
Then Sunday was perfect. To have the whole day solely focused on Christ and his beautiful love for us was amazing. And because we get to be in two wards we got double. It was a great Easter, but to make it just that much better, Brenda and Ernesto, from the Estrella area, were baptized! I found them with elder jones in dec and taught them the first three lessons and fell in love with them. I don't think I have ever felt the kind of joy I felt at their baptism. I was so happy for them. They have had such a hard life and now they have made this incredible covenant with God and it will change their life forever.
I love being a missionary! His gospel is what brings happiness in this life and I've been filled with the joy of helping others come unto Christ this week!
I hope you all had a special Easter and I pray you all have a great week!
Love you guys so much.
Elder Miller
Crazy day today. his morning we went to a members house from the English ward, and he does a hot wings challenge and it was super hot and fun. Then we did a zone activity where we did a massive water balloon fight with over 1,500 gallons. It was in the parking lot of the church and we set up an arena with our cars, we had tables up as walls and garbage cans full placed all across the arena it was awesome! We were all soaked.
Here are a couple awesome highlights this week.
To start, we had another awesome lesson with David and Rosalina. They are great. Rosalina was struggling with reading little so we talked about faith and how we really need to show our faith through our actions. Do we really have the confidence in Heavenly Father that if we do the things he's asked, then he'll do his part and bless us. David loves the Book of Mormon though and he told us several times to come back, to please not leave them. He knows there's something here and it's really cool to have someone that has this desire to figure out what we have and watching him apply it in his life. It is through those acts of our faith when we receive our answers and blessings. It's so cool.
Then Saturday we had Metzlis baptismal interview. She is the little girl we have been teaching. She is so smart, and its been very fun. Her parents have been investigating for a few years now, and just havnt made the push to get married, but I think with Metzli being baptized it going to be huge for them. This is going to be the push they need. The baptism is going to be next Saturday and we are pumped!
Then Sunday was perfect. To have the whole day solely focused on Christ and his beautiful love for us was amazing. And because we get to be in two wards we got double. It was a great Easter, but to make it just that much better, Brenda and Ernesto, from the Estrella area, were baptized! I found them with elder jones in dec and taught them the first three lessons and fell in love with them. I don't think I have ever felt the kind of joy I felt at their baptism. I was so happy for them. They have had such a hard life and now they have made this incredible covenant with God and it will change their life forever.
I love being a missionary! His gospel is what brings happiness in this life and I've been filled with the joy of helping others come unto Christ this week!
I hope you all had a special Easter and I pray you all have a great week!
Love you guys so much.
Elder Miller
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
4.10.17
Hey guys,
We have had so much this week its been awesome. Our mission president
tried to get a big push going for people to find ysa age people and
refer them to the ysa missionaries. Which means more people for us!
This week we have had 7 referrals and its been sweet.
Then we found some amazing people for spanish. 1 was a family of
three, where the dads coworker is a member and invited him to listen
and their sons who is 10 is super pumped. He loves the kids Book of
Mormon and the parents want to find a church that they can all go to
as a family. They are pretty cool, they are the Leon family. Then
yesterday we found a woman and her husband who have been super
prepared. They were raised catholic, but they said through their
personal studies of the Bible, feel that it is not true according to
the teaching of the New Testament. Then they tried 1 or two others
that they really liked, but then struggled with the people being very
hypocritical. And they said they just haven't felt any of them have
been right yet. It was an amazing first lesson and i really hope that
they can progress. David is form Puerto Rico and Rosalina is from
Guadalajara. They should be awesome.
This week we had exchanges with the APs and it was so cool. One of my
favorite exchanges of my mission. I was with elder walker and he is
so cool. I learned so much and had a ton of fun. He is from Idaho and
is a great guy. I would really like to stay in contact with him after
the mission.
On Thursday we got to go to the temple again! Its was super fun. As a
zone last transfer we had 1 baptism for companionship, and so the
reward is going to the temple! The phoenix temple is a pretty cool
temple.
I found out that a family that I taught in an old area is going to be
baptized next Sunday, and im so excited. Our stakes share a stake
center and that's where the baptism will be, so I get to go to it! Its
Brenda and Ernesto. They are so cool. I'm so happy for them.
On Sunday the young couple were baptized and it was perfect. I was sad
for them tho, because none of the ward showed up, which reflects what
kind of ward this is, but other than that it went perfect, and they
have been super ready. I didn't really get to teach them anything
before, because they have been ready for a while now, but for the
first time in my mission do I get to be with someone that I was there
for their baptism and I get to stay after to help them to continue to
grow their testimony and become converted, so im pretty happy about
that. Everywhere else I've been, I've moved every three months so I
never got to be with people after their baptism.
We have a lot of work this week so we should have a great one coming up.
You all will too 😄
Talk to you next week!
Elder Miller
We have had so much this week its been awesome. Our mission president
tried to get a big push going for people to find ysa age people and
refer them to the ysa missionaries. Which means more people for us!
This week we have had 7 referrals and its been sweet.
Then we found some amazing people for spanish. 1 was a family of
three, where the dads coworker is a member and invited him to listen
and their sons who is 10 is super pumped. He loves the kids Book of
Mormon and the parents want to find a church that they can all go to
as a family. They are pretty cool, they are the Leon family. Then
yesterday we found a woman and her husband who have been super
prepared. They were raised catholic, but they said through their
personal studies of the Bible, feel that it is not true according to
the teaching of the New Testament. Then they tried 1 or two others
that they really liked, but then struggled with the people being very
hypocritical. And they said they just haven't felt any of them have
been right yet. It was an amazing first lesson and i really hope that
they can progress. David is form Puerto Rico and Rosalina is from
Guadalajara. They should be awesome.
This week we had exchanges with the APs and it was so cool. One of my
favorite exchanges of my mission. I was with elder walker and he is
so cool. I learned so much and had a ton of fun. He is from Idaho and
is a great guy. I would really like to stay in contact with him after
the mission.
On Thursday we got to go to the temple again! Its was super fun. As a
zone last transfer we had 1 baptism for companionship, and so the
reward is going to the temple! The phoenix temple is a pretty cool
temple.
I found out that a family that I taught in an old area is going to be
baptized next Sunday, and im so excited. Our stakes share a stake
center and that's where the baptism will be, so I get to go to it! Its
Brenda and Ernesto. They are so cool. I'm so happy for them.
On Sunday the young couple were baptized and it was perfect. I was sad
for them tho, because none of the ward showed up, which reflects what
kind of ward this is, but other than that it went perfect, and they
have been super ready. I didn't really get to teach them anything
before, because they have been ready for a while now, but for the
first time in my mission do I get to be with someone that I was there
for their baptism and I get to stay after to help them to continue to
grow their testimony and become converted, so im pretty happy about
that. Everywhere else I've been, I've moved every three months so I
never got to be with people after their baptism.
We have a lot of work this week so we should have a great one coming up.
You all will too 😄
Talk to you next week!
Elder Miller
4.3.17
What's up everybody, sorry I didn't write last week it's been kinda crazy around here.
So last week I was transferred, and I'm in the same zone, even the same district, just different area. I am also zone leader so that kinda fun to be with the mission president a little more, and be able to help the new missionaries out. Just about 80% of the missionaries are 9 months or less, so it's a very different mission now, and we are trying to help build a awesome culture, especially getting ready for the new mission president in 3 months. With being zone leader, I went to a training on Tuesday and it was really cool, it was for the zone leaders and we then needed to take back all that we learned about to zone meeting and train there. It was fun, the other zone leader is elder Campbell and he's an awesome guy. He's from Canada, and he's actually a French speaking elder here. So it's fun to be with him and working with him to fire up the zone and keep it going strong. We are the top baptizing zone in the mission right now, so we definitely want to keep that up!
Speaking of baptisms, we have three coming up soon! One is with a young couple that they had been teaching for quite a while, and that will be next Sunday. The other is an awesome little girl we started teaching. Her parents have taken he lessons and really like church, they go all the time, but they are not married yet sooo, we are now teaching their 8 year old daughter and she is so cool. She is super smart and understands everything. Right now she has a goal for the 22 of april.
We have a ton to do here. Its pretty crazy actually, we have so many referrals for ysa because its basically everyone 18 to 30 in the whole zone so we have 10 sets of missionaries finding for us haha. Its really fun tho.
General Conference was super awesome this weekend! There were so many amazing talks. I am so grateful for the love ive gained for conference, it makes it so much better haha. I feel like with every conference, i get more and more out of it. Especially as a a missionary I received some awesome revelation for not only myself but as well for how to help investigators, my area, and our companionship.
The prophets are such an incredible gift. The fact that in today we have men that speak with God to know how to help us y guide us is so special.
I love you guys, and hope you enjoyed and got as much out of conference as I felt I was blessed with.
Love yall,
Elder Miller
So last week I was transferred, and I'm in the same zone, even the same district, just different area. I am also zone leader so that kinda fun to be with the mission president a little more, and be able to help the new missionaries out. Just about 80% of the missionaries are 9 months or less, so it's a very different mission now, and we are trying to help build a awesome culture, especially getting ready for the new mission president in 3 months. With being zone leader, I went to a training on Tuesday and it was really cool, it was for the zone leaders and we then needed to take back all that we learned about to zone meeting and train there. It was fun, the other zone leader is elder Campbell and he's an awesome guy. He's from Canada, and he's actually a French speaking elder here. So it's fun to be with him and working with him to fire up the zone and keep it going strong. We are the top baptizing zone in the mission right now, so we definitely want to keep that up!
Speaking of baptisms, we have three coming up soon! One is with a young couple that they had been teaching for quite a while, and that will be next Sunday. The other is an awesome little girl we started teaching. Her parents have taken he lessons and really like church, they go all the time, but they are not married yet sooo, we are now teaching their 8 year old daughter and she is so cool. She is super smart and understands everything. Right now she has a goal for the 22 of april.
We have a ton to do here. Its pretty crazy actually, we have so many referrals for ysa because its basically everyone 18 to 30 in the whole zone so we have 10 sets of missionaries finding for us haha. Its really fun tho.
General Conference was super awesome this weekend! There were so many amazing talks. I am so grateful for the love ive gained for conference, it makes it so much better haha. I feel like with every conference, i get more and more out of it. Especially as a a missionary I received some awesome revelation for not only myself but as well for how to help investigators, my area, and our companionship.
The prophets are such an incredible gift. The fact that in today we have men that speak with God to know how to help us y guide us is so special.
I love you guys, and hope you enjoyed and got as much out of conference as I felt I was blessed with.
Love yall,
Elder Miller
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
3.20.17
Hey guys
Crazy week here in arizona. So we started off the week making sure everything was getting ready for Nancy and Hannys baptism. We got a lot done and it was good. We taught a few lessons and found a few promising people. Then Wednesday comes around and transfers come and go and there's no changes so we just kept working. Well at about 2 that day I get a phone call from the mission president telling me I have a few hours to pack and leave because I was being transferred. That was hard. Especially because he had previously told me that i would be staying there the rest of my mission. I really loved that ward, and area, and we had so much going on it was great. Im now in a area a little west of my old area called La Joya. It's definitely different from the last ward so well see how it goes.My companions name is elder johnson from Georgia. He has been out 3 months and doesn't seem to want to be here, so itll be the goal to help him want to learn Spanish and be a missionary. We also cover a ysa in english so thats a pretty big change too haha. So well see how this transfer goes.
I am in the same zone and district so that's kinda fun.
Saturday and sunday were really good tho. Saturday morning Nancy and Haney were baptized and it was perfect! It was the first time ive had a bpatism were something major did not go wrong. It was pretty cool. Then on sunday i was able to go back and do the confirmation for Nancy. It was a really special experience to be a part of.
Sunday was packed with stuff. So we had a meeting at 7 and we had to go pick up some other elders so we were up at 530 to do everything. Then we ran to Cielito at 9 to do the confirmation. Then we ran to la joya for another meeting at 10 then had church at 11. Then we left mid way, and ran to he ysa ward at 1. Its super weird and quiet haha. I felt weird haha. The we had dinner at 5, some finding with a ysa member and then a lesson at 8. It was a long day haha. Luckily we were able to do this because i am no longer on a bike haha, which im surprisingly sad about. I had just accepted my fate of being on bike and was enjoying it.
I guess that's how the mission goes. As soon as you feel good and are getting comfortable it means its time to change.
Hope you guys are all doing good!
Love ya'll,
Elder Miller
Crazy week here in arizona. So we started off the week making sure everything was getting ready for Nancy and Hannys baptism. We got a lot done and it was good. We taught a few lessons and found a few promising people. Then Wednesday comes around and transfers come and go and there's no changes so we just kept working. Well at about 2 that day I get a phone call from the mission president telling me I have a few hours to pack and leave because I was being transferred. That was hard. Especially because he had previously told me that i would be staying there the rest of my mission. I really loved that ward, and area, and we had so much going on it was great. Im now in a area a little west of my old area called La Joya. It's definitely different from the last ward so well see how it goes.My companions name is elder johnson from Georgia. He has been out 3 months and doesn't seem to want to be here, so itll be the goal to help him want to learn Spanish and be a missionary. We also cover a ysa in english so thats a pretty big change too haha. So well see how this transfer goes.
I am in the same zone and district so that's kinda fun.
Saturday and sunday were really good tho. Saturday morning Nancy and Haney were baptized and it was perfect! It was the first time ive had a bpatism were something major did not go wrong. It was pretty cool. Then on sunday i was able to go back and do the confirmation for Nancy. It was a really special experience to be a part of.
Sunday was packed with stuff. So we had a meeting at 7 and we had to go pick up some other elders so we were up at 530 to do everything. Then we ran to Cielito at 9 to do the confirmation. Then we ran to la joya for another meeting at 10 then had church at 11. Then we left mid way, and ran to he ysa ward at 1. Its super weird and quiet haha. I felt weird haha. The we had dinner at 5, some finding with a ysa member and then a lesson at 8. It was a long day haha. Luckily we were able to do this because i am no longer on a bike haha, which im surprisingly sad about. I had just accepted my fate of being on bike and was enjoying it.
I guess that's how the mission goes. As soon as you feel good and are getting comfortable it means its time to change.
Hope you guys are all doing good!
Love ya'll,
Elder Miller
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
3.14.17
Hey guys,
Kinda a crazy day trying to figure out transfers. A bunch of different stuff was going on but I will be staying in Phoenix with elder Lewis.
Its been a little harder week, but we had an awesome weekend! Especially saturday, we didn't stop all day. we got and exercised and went over to a members and had breakfast and helped take down their Christmas lights haha. It was really yummy. Then we brought a change of cloths and biked over to Hermana espinozas house. She was the inactive that moved here from Mexico but wanted to become active again, and then her daughter who is 17 had a baby like two weeks ago, and the ward did a amazing job loving them and bringing them in by throwing a baby shower. It was great. Anywho come to find out the babies father is named Daniel and he is super pumped about the gospel and learning! We taught him the first lesson, and he told us about how he knows he is going to be baptized, he just wants to learn more, but that baptism is already a goal for him! That's pretty sweet. He is very prepared, and really wants to learn more. He said he was not only willing, but excited to search for an answer to the the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! It's awesome.
Then we rode on over to nancys house where we starting figuring out her baptismal program. She seemed so happy talking about it. It was a special gift to see her so happy. Haney decided that she wanted elder Lewis to baptize her, and im super happy for him, not only is this his first baptism in the mission, but he gets to do the ordinance as well. It's going to be great! Nancy asked her cousin who is a recent return missionary to baptize her, it was really cool to see.
Then we went over to have a lesson with Nuvia and hna correa. It was really good, and Nuvia seemed to pay attention a lot more when hna correa was there. It was probably our first lessons where she got a large part out of it haha. It was good tho. Hna Correa is probably the best missionary member ive worked with in my whole mission. I got to be with her at the very begging of my mission as well so it's super fun to be back working with her. She is the relief society president and she is fantastic.
Then we biked up to dinner with the familia cid. Hna cid was in California, so Hno took us out to eat. But to get there he drove us in his big 12 seater van, that instead of seats he had big lazy boys 😂 haha it was great. We had some fun at a Chinese restaurant, but then had to keep goin. We then spent a large part of the night looking for more people, until we finally came home, and took an hr or so to do some personal study. We really worked hard, and it felt awesome.
Then on Sunday we had 7 people come to church including Rylan the little 10 year old, and his mom who also isn't a member. It was really cool. then that night we found this guy named Julio and he is from cuba. He is a really nice guy. We only got to be with him for a little but after our short little lesson, he asked if we could come back. He also told us he wanted to be baptized! The only problem is that he works on sundays. Ugh nothing is that easy haha. But itll be good, were excited to go back.
So we finished off well 😊 Heavenly Father really helped us in the lessons, and we have some amazing people we get to teach and be apart of their growth. I love seeing them grow and learn of the hope Christ brings. I love this gospel and can't imagine living without it. I truly have a testimony of it, and the blessings it brings, now my goal these last 5 months it that I really am trying to work on is becoming converted to the lord. Ive been studying about it, and thanks to some advise from some amazing people, i think a big key is consistency. Consistently doing the things Heavenly Father has asked us to do like prayer and scriptures. Every single day, and then adding upon it. Trying to be like christ, do the little things too. There is so much power and blessings we receive when we do these things. so as missionaries do all day, i want to give you an invitation. I invite you guys to try it, if youre not already, to read and pray everyday for a week and see if you feel a difference. One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is promising blessing too. So as a representative of Jesus Christ I can promise you if you try it for a week, you will see some incredible blessings in you life.
I love you guys, and I want you guys to know how much i love this Gospel.
Have a great week!
Elder Miller
Kinda a crazy day trying to figure out transfers. A bunch of different stuff was going on but I will be staying in Phoenix with elder Lewis.
Its been a little harder week, but we had an awesome weekend! Especially saturday, we didn't stop all day. we got and exercised and went over to a members and had breakfast and helped take down their Christmas lights haha. It was really yummy. Then we brought a change of cloths and biked over to Hermana espinozas house. She was the inactive that moved here from Mexico but wanted to become active again, and then her daughter who is 17 had a baby like two weeks ago, and the ward did a amazing job loving them and bringing them in by throwing a baby shower. It was great. Anywho come to find out the babies father is named Daniel and he is super pumped about the gospel and learning! We taught him the first lesson, and he told us about how he knows he is going to be baptized, he just wants to learn more, but that baptism is already a goal for him! That's pretty sweet. He is very prepared, and really wants to learn more. He said he was not only willing, but excited to search for an answer to the the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! It's awesome.
Then we rode on over to nancys house where we starting figuring out her baptismal program. She seemed so happy talking about it. It was a special gift to see her so happy. Haney decided that she wanted elder Lewis to baptize her, and im super happy for him, not only is this his first baptism in the mission, but he gets to do the ordinance as well. It's going to be great! Nancy asked her cousin who is a recent return missionary to baptize her, it was really cool to see.
Then we went over to have a lesson with Nuvia and hna correa. It was really good, and Nuvia seemed to pay attention a lot more when hna correa was there. It was probably our first lessons where she got a large part out of it haha. It was good tho. Hna Correa is probably the best missionary member ive worked with in my whole mission. I got to be with her at the very begging of my mission as well so it's super fun to be back working with her. She is the relief society president and she is fantastic.
Then we biked up to dinner with the familia cid. Hna cid was in California, so Hno took us out to eat. But to get there he drove us in his big 12 seater van, that instead of seats he had big lazy boys 😂 haha it was great. We had some fun at a Chinese restaurant, but then had to keep goin. We then spent a large part of the night looking for more people, until we finally came home, and took an hr or so to do some personal study. We really worked hard, and it felt awesome.
Then on Sunday we had 7 people come to church including Rylan the little 10 year old, and his mom who also isn't a member. It was really cool. then that night we found this guy named Julio and he is from cuba. He is a really nice guy. We only got to be with him for a little but after our short little lesson, he asked if we could come back. He also told us he wanted to be baptized! The only problem is that he works on sundays. Ugh nothing is that easy haha. But itll be good, were excited to go back.
So we finished off well 😊 Heavenly Father really helped us in the lessons, and we have some amazing people we get to teach and be apart of their growth. I love seeing them grow and learn of the hope Christ brings. I love this gospel and can't imagine living without it. I truly have a testimony of it, and the blessings it brings, now my goal these last 5 months it that I really am trying to work on is becoming converted to the lord. Ive been studying about it, and thanks to some advise from some amazing people, i think a big key is consistency. Consistently doing the things Heavenly Father has asked us to do like prayer and scriptures. Every single day, and then adding upon it. Trying to be like christ, do the little things too. There is so much power and blessings we receive when we do these things. so as missionaries do all day, i want to give you an invitation. I invite you guys to try it, if youre not already, to read and pray everyday for a week and see if you feel a difference. One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is promising blessing too. So as a representative of Jesus Christ I can promise you if you try it for a week, you will see some incredible blessings in you life.
I love you guys, and I want you guys to know how much i love this Gospel.
Have a great week!
Elder Miller
Monday, March 13, 2017
3.6.14
Hey guys
We had some more great lessons with nuvia and Nancy, and they are both progressing well.
Nancy and her daughter are so ready to be baptized on the. 18!
I think the highlight for me would of been exchanges with elder clough! He was my companion in cottonwood. He is one of my favorite companions. He's such a great guy.
This is a little blurb from my journal that day.
3-4-17. Exchanges with clough
Today was quite the day. I got to be back with elder clough for a day! It was awesome. And then our companions were together and they are both elder Lewis so I wondered how that went haha. But to start off, they had a bunch of cereal over there, and I havnt had cereal in at least a year now, and I just caved in hard. I had apple jacks and fruity pebbles and captain crunch, it was so good haha 😂. That really buzzed me awake haha. Then we got out and biked a pretty good way to a recent converts house. He was a little 8 year old who just got baptized and he is awesome. He knows so much and just is so great. And his parents are awesome too, they just need to figure out a divorce from a past marriage to then be able to get married and get baptized, story of the mission. But they are super nice, and they are Eloteros, where they ride their bikes around and sell elotes. They hooked us up with what they call Tosti locos. It's some salsa Tostito things, and then he puts in cabbage, cucumbers, those Asian peanuts, lime, chili, and chamoy and you eat it with a spoon. It was so good. I loved it. And to sit there and listen to how hard they work and their story about coming across and how hard that can be. He was such an awesome guy tho.
Then we headed over to the church and studied together.While we were at the church, elder paddon and walker come in and walker is doing a handstand on a chair thing, so of course clough tries and then I follow. As I go up a slightly start to fall and so I tried moving my legs to catch my balance.... and rip my pants all the way down the middle hahaha. We were laughing so hard. So some elders drove us home and I grabbed new pants and lucky it all worked out, but it was bad haha.
Then we went to a crazy house with 8 kids from age 7 to 22 and it was just madness haha. We didn't really get to teach they just all sorta talk at the same time and it was super loud, and ya haha. Then we did a little finding and talked all about cottonwood and memories and all that. It was super fun being back with him. At points I completely forgot we were on exchanges, that today would have to come to an end😕
The just kept going. After having a nice dinner we are playing catch outside with a football and then we end up needing to leave. As we are ridding away, elder clough wants to catch in while riding his bike, so the girl we are with tries to pass it to him. It ends up being super short, and the ball gets stuck right under his wheel, and he just goes flying. He flipped over his handlebars and just skids on his back. He said it didn't hurt too bad, but it looked painful. She felt so bad, but the rest of us were all laughing pretty hard.
Later we had a lesson with a inactive family. Just as most, they had had some trials come up and had just stopped coming. We shard my favorite video gracias a el, and it always bring the spirit. We talked overcoming our challenges and how He is always right there just waiting for us to take our step and do our part. I think they were all touched by the spirit, and all decided together they were going to come back to church tomorrow! It was really cool to see.
Of course we had to finish off the exchange right and just like the old days we went to sonic and got shakes 😏 it was fun to be with clough again. I love him. He really is my favorite companion I've had. He is just so happy and positive all the time. I really want to be like that. I'm still trying to figure out just how to do that. But I really would love to. He just talked about how good he feels and happy and everyone can see it and just loves being around him. He's a good guy. I hope I can still be friends with him after.
Then to make the end of the night even better, 10 of us packed into the Aps apartment and we learned about Sally up. It is where you put on a song that say "bring sally up and bring sally down..." and you do push-ups to it, and it gets hard. I only made it a little past a minute, but elder paddon hit 2:30 it was impressive. It was fun to be there all together and it's a fun little workout.
It was a great day, I feel great, we worked hard, and I'm ready to go to bed.
So ya haha there were a few other part but ya it was a super fun, spiritual packed day.
This area is packed with Hispanics so it's been great. On Sunday night we stopped by a less actives house that is coming back to church these last couple weeks, and we met their daughters boyfriend who is pumped to talked to us. He told us he wants to be baptized but just wants to make sure he learns a little more haha. He is a super nice kid and seems to really want learn so it should be awesome.
Well that's kinda it for this week
Love you guys
Elder Miller
We had some more great lessons with nuvia and Nancy, and they are both progressing well.
Nancy and her daughter are so ready to be baptized on the. 18!
I think the highlight for me would of been exchanges with elder clough! He was my companion in cottonwood. He is one of my favorite companions. He's such a great guy.
This is a little blurb from my journal that day.
3-4-17. Exchanges with clough
Today was quite the day. I got to be back with elder clough for a day! It was awesome. And then our companions were together and they are both elder Lewis so I wondered how that went haha. But to start off, they had a bunch of cereal over there, and I havnt had cereal in at least a year now, and I just caved in hard. I had apple jacks and fruity pebbles and captain crunch, it was so good haha 😂. That really buzzed me awake haha. Then we got out and biked a pretty good way to a recent converts house. He was a little 8 year old who just got baptized and he is awesome. He knows so much and just is so great. And his parents are awesome too, they just need to figure out a divorce from a past marriage to then be able to get married and get baptized, story of the mission. But they are super nice, and they are Eloteros, where they ride their bikes around and sell elotes. They hooked us up with what they call Tosti locos. It's some salsa Tostito things, and then he puts in cabbage, cucumbers, those Asian peanuts, lime, chili, and chamoy and you eat it with a spoon. It was so good. I loved it. And to sit there and listen to how hard they work and their story about coming across and how hard that can be. He was such an awesome guy tho.
Then we headed over to the church and studied together.While we were at the church, elder paddon and walker come in and walker is doing a handstand on a chair thing, so of course clough tries and then I follow. As I go up a slightly start to fall and so I tried moving my legs to catch my balance.... and rip my pants all the way down the middle hahaha. We were laughing so hard. So some elders drove us home and I grabbed new pants and lucky it all worked out, but it was bad haha.
Then we went to a crazy house with 8 kids from age 7 to 22 and it was just madness haha. We didn't really get to teach they just all sorta talk at the same time and it was super loud, and ya haha. Then we did a little finding and talked all about cottonwood and memories and all that. It was super fun being back with him. At points I completely forgot we were on exchanges, that today would have to come to an end😕
The just kept going. After having a nice dinner we are playing catch outside with a football and then we end up needing to leave. As we are ridding away, elder clough wants to catch in while riding his bike, so the girl we are with tries to pass it to him. It ends up being super short, and the ball gets stuck right under his wheel, and he just goes flying. He flipped over his handlebars and just skids on his back. He said it didn't hurt too bad, but it looked painful. She felt so bad, but the rest of us were all laughing pretty hard.
Later we had a lesson with a inactive family. Just as most, they had had some trials come up and had just stopped coming. We shard my favorite video gracias a el, and it always bring the spirit. We talked overcoming our challenges and how He is always right there just waiting for us to take our step and do our part. I think they were all touched by the spirit, and all decided together they were going to come back to church tomorrow! It was really cool to see.
Of course we had to finish off the exchange right and just like the old days we went to sonic and got shakes 😏 it was fun to be with clough again. I love him. He really is my favorite companion I've had. He is just so happy and positive all the time. I really want to be like that. I'm still trying to figure out just how to do that. But I really would love to. He just talked about how good he feels and happy and everyone can see it and just loves being around him. He's a good guy. I hope I can still be friends with him after.
Then to make the end of the night even better, 10 of us packed into the Aps apartment and we learned about Sally up. It is where you put on a song that say "bring sally up and bring sally down..." and you do push-ups to it, and it gets hard. I only made it a little past a minute, but elder paddon hit 2:30 it was impressive. It was fun to be there all together and it's a fun little workout.
It was a great day, I feel great, we worked hard, and I'm ready to go to bed.
So ya haha there were a few other part but ya it was a super fun, spiritual packed day.
This area is packed with Hispanics so it's been great. On Sunday night we stopped by a less actives house that is coming back to church these last couple weeks, and we met their daughters boyfriend who is pumped to talked to us. He told us he wants to be baptized but just wants to make sure he learns a little more haha. He is a super nice kid and seems to really want learn so it should be awesome.
Well that's kinda it for this week
Love you guys
Elder Miller
Thursday, March 2, 2017
2.28.17
Hey guys,
Another awesome week in the books. I sadly dont have a ton of time
we've been doing some errands and what not, but the lord is really
blessing us right now. We had eight people come to sacrament
yesterday! And the other companionship in our ward had 4 so there were
12 non members in church. It was awesome. Sadly the one person we
really needed to come to church was the 10 year old boy rylan. We were
pretty sad, because now we have to push his baptism back because he
actually hasn't ever been to church. But he is such an awesome kid! I
love him.
We had some really good lessons with Nuvia as well where we made a
goal with her to baptized on march 25! She loves church and all the
people and texts us all the time about how much she likes it.
I think the highlight for me was teaching Nancy last night. We taught
her the plan of salvation and once again, i have to say how much i
love teaching it. She talked about how much more hope and confort she
had after learning that god has a plan for us and that there is a
purpose for this life, and that we know where we are going after. The
spirit was really strong and helped her understand the importance of
baptism. As we were finishing up she asked us if her daughter who just
turned 8 could be baptized as well! Her name is Haney and she is so
cute. She came to a baptism about a month ago and learned that you can
be baptized at 8 and has been wanting to ever since. We ended up
deciding that they were both going to be baptized on the 18 of march!
The work is going great, my companion is doing great, learning a lot
little by little, we live with two others that also serve in our ward,
so really it just feels like we are all companions so its fun. Weve
had a lot of interesting experiences with people that just seem to
walk around doing nothing, but always want to talk with us about
something crazy that happened to them haha.
Gotta go.
I hope guys aren't dying in more snow haha.
Love you,
Elder Miller
Another awesome week in the books. I sadly dont have a ton of time
we've been doing some errands and what not, but the lord is really
blessing us right now. We had eight people come to sacrament
yesterday! And the other companionship in our ward had 4 so there were
12 non members in church. It was awesome. Sadly the one person we
really needed to come to church was the 10 year old boy rylan. We were
pretty sad, because now we have to push his baptism back because he
actually hasn't ever been to church. But he is such an awesome kid! I
love him.
We had some really good lessons with Nuvia as well where we made a
goal with her to baptized on march 25! She loves church and all the
people and texts us all the time about how much she likes it.
I think the highlight for me was teaching Nancy last night. We taught
her the plan of salvation and once again, i have to say how much i
love teaching it. She talked about how much more hope and confort she
had after learning that god has a plan for us and that there is a
purpose for this life, and that we know where we are going after. The
spirit was really strong and helped her understand the importance of
baptism. As we were finishing up she asked us if her daughter who just
turned 8 could be baptized as well! Her name is Haney and she is so
cute. She came to a baptism about a month ago and learned that you can
be baptized at 8 and has been wanting to ever since. We ended up
deciding that they were both going to be baptized on the 18 of march!
The work is going great, my companion is doing great, learning a lot
little by little, we live with two others that also serve in our ward,
so really it just feels like we are all companions so its fun. Weve
had a lot of interesting experiences with people that just seem to
walk around doing nothing, but always want to talk with us about
something crazy that happened to them haha.
Gotta go.
I hope guys aren't dying in more snow haha.
Love you,
Elder Miller
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
2.20.17
Hey guys.
We had another awesome week! This area has so ugh to do, and our
biggest problem is not being able to be every where at once. we think
we finally got the area down. Yesterday was the first day we didnt get
lost haha.
To start off the week, we were invited over to a innaactives house. We
didnt know them, so we were excited to get to know them. They are the
Perez family, and they are super nice. Come to find out, it is the dad
who is inactive, but his wife and children are not members. The mom is
very nice, but she isn't very interested, but their ten year old son,
Rylan is super interested. That is why we were invited over. Rylan
goes to boys scouts each wednesdays and has kept hearing about
baptism. He began asking his dad what it was and how he could get
baptized. He is a super nice kid, and is so excited. The struggle is
going to be figuring out how to get him San his father to church. We
are hoping this will help push his dad to comeback.
We also met Miguel this week. He was over at a brothers house when
missionaries came by, he liked their message and wanted us to come by.
He seems to want to learn more and is willing to have us over
whenever, but the problem is going to be catching him home,because he
says he works at random hour, so we'll see. We had a good first
lesson, where elder Luis said the first vision for the first time. It
was cool.
On Friday, we had a cool zone conference where we talked about the new
schedule and getting the most out of it, and they really stressed
teaching repentance in every lesson. It really made me think a lot.
They really startedmakingthepushforthis last year during the first big
broad cast we had, where the titledit, teach repentance, baptize
converts.
Repentance is such an incredible thing. And i know sometimes i take it
for granted. The Knowledge of being able to try again when we mess up,
to be able to start over, the change and learn from our mistakes is
something so amazing. I think that is one of my favorite parts of
teaching, sharing with someone that there is hope after mistakes, all
thanks to our savior. My favorite door approach is showing the video
Because of him, from the gospel library. I love that video because it
says it so simply but beautifully that everything we have and do is
thanks to him and it always brings the sprit 😊
Oh there were so many good things this week. We also went back to my
very first area for a baptism for one of elder Lewis investigators and
it was awesome. I cant believe its been a year and a half since i was
there. It was super cool to see old friends
We also had a awesome lesson with Nuvia. We broke the restoration down
super simply and slowly, but we think she got it. She then came to
church, and the rest of the day and this morning texted us about how
god she was feeling after going to church. She is the lady we met last
week who is going through a divorce right now. It was great.
I think the best one tho was with an investigados named Alejandro. He
is a really old man, who was just floating in our area book so we die
die to drop by. He didnt know much about the church, but told us liked
the Book of Mormon. Then out of the blue he asked us why there were so
many churches, and we took off from there. We explained the
restoration and answered his question. But the best part was seeing
elder Lewis teach. He has been struggling with the lessons, but the
sprit guided him, and he taught as if he was fluent in spanish and had
been teaching for a year. It was special, and it moved Alejandro to
tears.
There is just so much to do here and not enough time because no one
can meet until after 6, so its a little hard, but the spirt is guiding
us and things are going awesome.
Sorry this is so long, just one more thing.We were at dinner last
night and our conversation just made me think about if I had not come
on a mission, how different would my life be right now. But as i was
thinking that the sprit touched me and just made me feel so good, and
i literally couldn't even imagine what it would have been like if i
hadn't come out. I love the mission so much Ive learned so much, met
so many people, but most of all i have been able to learn of the truth
and greatness of this gospel. And the best part is I still get so many
more experiences and opportunities to share my love for this gospel
with so many people.
I really hope you guys know how much i love you.
Hope you are all doing good,
Elder Miller
We had another awesome week! This area has so ugh to do, and our
biggest problem is not being able to be every where at once. we think
we finally got the area down. Yesterday was the first day we didnt get
lost haha.
To start off the week, we were invited over to a innaactives house. We
didnt know them, so we were excited to get to know them. They are the
Perez family, and they are super nice. Come to find out, it is the dad
who is inactive, but his wife and children are not members. The mom is
very nice, but she isn't very interested, but their ten year old son,
Rylan is super interested. That is why we were invited over. Rylan
goes to boys scouts each wednesdays and has kept hearing about
baptism. He began asking his dad what it was and how he could get
baptized. He is a super nice kid, and is so excited. The struggle is
going to be figuring out how to get him San his father to church. We
are hoping this will help push his dad to comeback.
We also met Miguel this week. He was over at a brothers house when
missionaries came by, he liked their message and wanted us to come by.
He seems to want to learn more and is willing to have us over
whenever, but the problem is going to be catching him home,because he
says he works at random hour, so we'll see. We had a good first
lesson, where elder Luis said the first vision for the first time. It
was cool.
On Friday, we had a cool zone conference where we talked about the new
schedule and getting the most out of it, and they really stressed
teaching repentance in every lesson. It really made me think a lot.
They really startedmakingthepushforthis last year during the first big
broad cast we had, where the titledit, teach repentance, baptize
converts.
Repentance is such an incredible thing. And i know sometimes i take it
for granted. The Knowledge of being able to try again when we mess up,
to be able to start over, the change and learn from our mistakes is
something so amazing. I think that is one of my favorite parts of
teaching, sharing with someone that there is hope after mistakes, all
thanks to our savior. My favorite door approach is showing the video
Because of him, from the gospel library. I love that video because it
says it so simply but beautifully that everything we have and do is
thanks to him and it always brings the sprit 😊
Oh there were so many good things this week. We also went back to my
very first area for a baptism for one of elder Lewis investigators and
it was awesome. I cant believe its been a year and a half since i was
there. It was super cool to see old friends
We also had a awesome lesson with Nuvia. We broke the restoration down
super simply and slowly, but we think she got it. She then came to
church, and the rest of the day and this morning texted us about how
god she was feeling after going to church. She is the lady we met last
week who is going through a divorce right now. It was great.
I think the best one tho was with an investigados named Alejandro. He
is a really old man, who was just floating in our area book so we die
die to drop by. He didnt know much about the church, but told us liked
the Book of Mormon. Then out of the blue he asked us why there were so
many churches, and we took off from there. We explained the
restoration and answered his question. But the best part was seeing
elder Lewis teach. He has been struggling with the lessons, but the
sprit guided him, and he taught as if he was fluent in spanish and had
been teaching for a year. It was special, and it moved Alejandro to
tears.
There is just so much to do here and not enough time because no one
can meet until after 6, so its a little hard, but the spirt is guiding
us and things are going awesome.
Sorry this is so long, just one more thing.We were at dinner last
night and our conversation just made me think about if I had not come
on a mission, how different would my life be right now. But as i was
thinking that the sprit touched me and just made me feel so good, and
i literally couldn't even imagine what it would have been like if i
hadn't come out. I love the mission so much Ive learned so much, met
so many people, but most of all i have been able to learn of the truth
and greatness of this gospel. And the best part is I still get so many
more experiences and opportunities to share my love for this gospel
with so many people.
I really hope you guys know how much i love you.
Hope you are all doing good,
Elder Miller
Monday, February 13, 2017
2.13.17
Hey guys!!
This was another awesome week filled with beautiful little miracles.
We had another lesson with Nancy this week and we talked about the
Book of Mormon. It was really powerful and she has the perfect
scenario to be baptized. It will just be up to her, as with everyone,
but she lives with her aunt who is a member, who is also a ride to
church every week. The members son is a return missionary. And her
kids love going to church. She has everything going for her at this
point, and the spirit is definitely working on her. At the end of the
lesson elder Lewis extended his first baptismal commitment and it was
great! She accepted to work to the goal of February 4! It was awesome.
Another day we received a call from a lady asking to see if we could
come by and see her. We said yes and set up a time and that was about
it. We showed up, and found out she was a member of 10 years but
hasn't been to church for a good 7. She is a really nice lady and
really want to come back with her family. She has a daughter who is 17
and her husband are both members. The daughter wants to come back too,
and to make it even more special, her soon to be husband says that he
was taking the lessons in mexico and wants to baptized. We havnt met
him yet, but it could be good.
As we are walking out of the lesson, we went over to the corner of
the parking lot to unlock our bikes. As we are about to leave a truck
with a big trailer cuts us off and asks if we ca n talk for a second.
He seems super nice so we say yes. He gets out and stats talking. As
soon as he starts talking I realize we are completely cut off, between
a gate, a brick wall and a truck to finish off the triangle. We sit
there for over an hr listening to him, in a very friendly, almost too
close and touchy, way tries to convert us to Catholicism. It was
pretty weird. Almost nothing he said made sense and it was super
weird. And the only way we got out was by basically me asking about
what i should study to learn more. We tried so many time to leave and
it j use never worked.. But during all this I wasn't as mad as i
thought i would have been. Here is this crazy little guys hugging me,
telling me this crazy doctrine and wasting our time, and i felt the
sprit really strong. It was actually really cool, because it kept
confirming to me that our church really is the true church. That we
are doing what the lord wants and that he is pleased with our work. It
was special. Super nice guy, just super confused.
We had five investigators to church yesterday! And the inactive and
her daughter came too. It was awesome! At church a hermana comes up to
us and tells us about a friend of hers named nuvia, and how she has
had a really hard last couple of months. She is now in the middle of a
divorce and wants god to come closer to God. We went over the same
night and met her. Shel is. Vey nice and is definitely searching for
help. she seems very scared to try coming to church, not sure why, but
the sprit was very strong and she was crying, and seemed sad when we
were only able to be there for a bit. We have another lesson set up
this saturday.
Then to wrap up the week with the sprit, the other elders in our ward
had a baptism and Nancy and her daughter came and seemed to love it.
The baptism was two kids and and Nancy's daughter was so excited when
she found out that she could be baptized to. The was the goal of
getting them there and it was beautiful. Her daughter just turned 8
and that was talked about in one of the talks before the actual
baptism.
I lobe baptisms, of course for what they are and the blessing that
come, but just being there is such a special thing. even though you
may not be the one being baptized. The spirt testifies to you that
this person is doing the lords will and that he is pleased, just like
when Jesus was baptized. Experiences like that have really helped me
grow my testimony and faith in this church. I know that this really is
Gods church, and that if we really are trying our best to follow what
he asks us to do, even tho its hard sometimes, that he will bless us
and help us through the hard times. I love this gospel and am so grateful I still get six more months to serve my King.
I love you guys and hope you can see the hand of the Lord throughout your week.
Love,
Elder Miller
This was another awesome week filled with beautiful little miracles.
We had another lesson with Nancy this week and we talked about the
Book of Mormon. It was really powerful and she has the perfect
scenario to be baptized. It will just be up to her, as with everyone,
but she lives with her aunt who is a member, who is also a ride to
church every week. The members son is a return missionary. And her
kids love going to church. She has everything going for her at this
point, and the spirit is definitely working on her. At the end of the
lesson elder Lewis extended his first baptismal commitment and it was
great! She accepted to work to the goal of February 4! It was awesome.
Another day we received a call from a lady asking to see if we could
come by and see her. We said yes and set up a time and that was about
it. We showed up, and found out she was a member of 10 years but
hasn't been to church for a good 7. She is a really nice lady and
really want to come back with her family. She has a daughter who is 17
and her husband are both members. The daughter wants to come back too,
and to make it even more special, her soon to be husband says that he
was taking the lessons in mexico and wants to baptized. We havnt met
him yet, but it could be good.
As we are walking out of the lesson, we went over to the corner of
the parking lot to unlock our bikes. As we are about to leave a truck
with a big trailer cuts us off and asks if we ca n talk for a second.
He seems super nice so we say yes. He gets out and stats talking. As
soon as he starts talking I realize we are completely cut off, between
a gate, a brick wall and a truck to finish off the triangle. We sit
there for over an hr listening to him, in a very friendly, almost too
close and touchy, way tries to convert us to Catholicism. It was
pretty weird. Almost nothing he said made sense and it was super
weird. And the only way we got out was by basically me asking about
what i should study to learn more. We tried so many time to leave and
it j use never worked.. But during all this I wasn't as mad as i
thought i would have been. Here is this crazy little guys hugging me,
telling me this crazy doctrine and wasting our time, and i felt the
sprit really strong. It was actually really cool, because it kept
confirming to me that our church really is the true church. That we
are doing what the lord wants and that he is pleased with our work. It
was special. Super nice guy, just super confused.
We had five investigators to church yesterday! And the inactive and
her daughter came too. It was awesome! At church a hermana comes up to
us and tells us about a friend of hers named nuvia, and how she has
had a really hard last couple of months. She is now in the middle of a
divorce and wants god to come closer to God. We went over the same
night and met her. Shel is. Vey nice and is definitely searching for
help. she seems very scared to try coming to church, not sure why, but
the sprit was very strong and she was crying, and seemed sad when we
were only able to be there for a bit. We have another lesson set up
this saturday.
Then to wrap up the week with the sprit, the other elders in our ward
had a baptism and Nancy and her daughter came and seemed to love it.
The baptism was two kids and and Nancy's daughter was so excited when
she found out that she could be baptized to. The was the goal of
getting them there and it was beautiful. Her daughter just turned 8
and that was talked about in one of the talks before the actual
baptism.
I lobe baptisms, of course for what they are and the blessing that
come, but just being there is such a special thing. even though you
may not be the one being baptized. The spirt testifies to you that
this person is doing the lords will and that he is pleased, just like
when Jesus was baptized. Experiences like that have really helped me
grow my testimony and faith in this church. I know that this really is
Gods church, and that if we really are trying our best to follow what
he asks us to do, even tho its hard sometimes, that he will bless us
and help us through the hard times. I love this gospel and am so grateful I still get six more months to serve my King.
I love you guys and hope you can see the hand of the Lord throughout your week.
Love,
Elder Miller
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
2.6.16
Hey guys,
So transfers happened and a lot of unexpected things went down. So I
ended up leaving Estrella, and moved to Cielito which is back over in
good old phoenix. Then I found out that I would be with elder Lewis,
who is three months out, then I found out that we were being doubled
in, meaning that we would both be new to the area, and then to put the
cherry on top we are an all biking area. Lots of change, lots of room
for growth haha.
But im actually really happy, not saying that its easy, but i feel
great. This area has so much potential, elder Lewis is a great guy who
wants to work, and besides the pain of my rear on bike and my knee
being kinda sore haha, i love biking. Its fun being outside, being
around people, seeing the city a little more, it's fun.
We are still trying to get used to the area and get to know some
people, but in the meantime we found some new investigators and got
them all to church.
One of the lady's we started teaching is named Nancy. She is a niece
to a member that just came to live with her from mexico. We met her on
saturday and introduced the plan ofsalvation and eternal families. As
we mentioned the plan of salvation something clicked for her and she
really felt the spirit. She didnt really have time so we invited her
to church, and we set up a time to come back the next day. Sunday
morning comes and shes there! She said she reallly enjoyed it and was
excited for our lesson.
We go over later that night and as we are saying the prayer a had a
strong impression to ask her if it would be alright that we taught
about the plan of salvation the next time. She seemed a little sad,
but said OK. Instead we taught the restoration and introduced the
church a little more. Elder Lewis did a great job with the first
vision and the Spiritwas there and I was getting flash back of when i
was just starting in the mission, and it was just great. I think she
really has felt the spirit and is intrigued to learn more. I am really
excited for her.
I'm not sure why but I have thought a lot of about the. Plan of
salvation this week. Especially with it being my sister aspens
birthday. I have thought about heaven and how it is supposed t one the
best place ever times a bajillion. And then i thought about how some
people don't know about an after life, or if they do they dont
necessarily think about the opportunities for an eternal family. I
don't think I can imagine the best place ever without my aspen and the
rest of my family. It has been 16 fun years with her and I am so
thankful that I get eternity more with all of them. I definitely took
the gospel for granted before my mission, but I have been blessed to
learn how important it is and how incredible of a blessing I have to
be sealed to my family forever and it all started with my parents and
being incredible and faithful in the gospel I am so great full for my
family and how much they have helped me and blessed my life.
I love all of you guys so much.
Have a great week
Elder Miller
So transfers happened and a lot of unexpected things went down. So I
ended up leaving Estrella, and moved to Cielito which is back over in
good old phoenix. Then I found out that I would be with elder Lewis,
who is three months out, then I found out that we were being doubled
in, meaning that we would both be new to the area, and then to put the
cherry on top we are an all biking area. Lots of change, lots of room
for growth haha.
But im actually really happy, not saying that its easy, but i feel
great. This area has so much potential, elder Lewis is a great guy who
wants to work, and besides the pain of my rear on bike and my knee
being kinda sore haha, i love biking. Its fun being outside, being
around people, seeing the city a little more, it's fun.
We are still trying to get used to the area and get to know some
people, but in the meantime we found some new investigators and got
them all to church.
One of the lady's we started teaching is named Nancy. She is a niece
to a member that just came to live with her from mexico. We met her on
saturday and introduced the plan ofsalvation and eternal families. As
we mentioned the plan of salvation something clicked for her and she
really felt the spirit. She didnt really have time so we invited her
to church, and we set up a time to come back the next day. Sunday
morning comes and shes there! She said she reallly enjoyed it and was
excited for our lesson.
We go over later that night and as we are saying the prayer a had a
strong impression to ask her if it would be alright that we taught
about the plan of salvation the next time. She seemed a little sad,
but said OK. Instead we taught the restoration and introduced the
church a little more. Elder Lewis did a great job with the first
vision and the Spiritwas there and I was getting flash back of when i
was just starting in the mission, and it was just great. I think she
really has felt the spirit and is intrigued to learn more. I am really
excited for her.
I'm not sure why but I have thought a lot of about the. Plan of
salvation this week. Especially with it being my sister aspens
birthday. I have thought about heaven and how it is supposed t one the
best place ever times a bajillion. And then i thought about how some
people don't know about an after life, or if they do they dont
necessarily think about the opportunities for an eternal family. I
don't think I can imagine the best place ever without my aspen and the
rest of my family. It has been 16 fun years with her and I am so
thankful that I get eternity more with all of them. I definitely took
the gospel for granted before my mission, but I have been blessed to
learn how important it is and how incredible of a blessing I have to
be sealed to my family forever and it all started with my parents and
being incredible and faithful in the gospel I am so great full for my
family and how much they have helped me and blessed my life.
I love all of you guys so much.
Have a great week
Elder Miller
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
1.31.17
Whats up everybody.
So im getting transferred but idk where to so not really sure what more to say than im really sad to leave the area, really sad, I love this ward, and we have some awesome investigators, but im ready for some change so itll be good.
This has been a packed week.
It started off with the world wide broadcast for all the missionaries. Our zone got together to watch it and it was good. This time was a little less teaching and more informing and going over last years broadcast. We learned about the new schedule that president griffin had told us about. I like getting out of the house earlier. They also changed what we report to salt lake. We now dont report on lessons, who they were with or even how many we have. The only things are people at sacrament, new investigators, people with a baptismal date, and people baptized. So thats been interesting, but I think it will be good, and help a lot of missionaries do more productive things.
Then we had some pretty awesome lessons. We had another spirit packed lesson with Brenda and Ernesto. Our ward mission leader came again, and he connects so well with them, its been the best match up of my mission haha. And they love everything. At the end they talked about how they love the feeling that we bring when we are in their home, and hate when we leave because so does that feeling. That has been one of the coolest parts of my mission is learning how great the gift of the spirit is, and how blessed I have been to have had that in my home my whole life. How incredible it is to really have it and the change and effect it has on people. I love this gospel and how it can really change peoples lives and make people happy.
I had a hard time saying goodbye to them. They are probably the most solid family I have met on my mission and im sad not to be able to see them continue to grow, but I know they will get baptized at some point.
Then we had an some really cool lessons with the Hernandez family. I dont know how much I have talked about them, because weve been teaching them on and off for three months. They are a huge family, and some of them are baptized and some are not. There are three families living together. Mariana who is a member, and some of her kids are, but they are inactive,her husband is not a member either. and then her brother Rafael has been who we were focused on, and he is really starting to catch on, and little by little is growing, and then his kids and wife who are not members either, and then their parents and a niece from a different sister, so ya lots of people, some listen some dont, but they are learning and progressing and I was pretty sad to leave them too.
Then this weekend and monday we did service all day. It was crazy. We havnt had service my whole time here, and then we got dumped on these last few days. On saturday, we woke up early and went to a food bank at 6;30 and helped sort and give people food. I love helping people like that, because you get to be there with the people and see the results and see them happy and idk its cool. Then we went over and helped clean up a baseball field and that was a lot of work haha. And then we went and helped move in a family, a really big family haha. It was a lot of work, but it was cool because we found a lot of opportunities to share the gospel. The family we moved agreed to listen to the missionaries, some people at the field asked about our church and what we believed. but the best one was the food bank. A camera crew from pbs came by and was doing a thing on the community giving back and we were there and they talked about the missionaries being there to help, and then I got to be interviewed for a little and that was kinda fun. So it was cool to just be out there showing people that we just want to help and that we arent as crazy as everyone thinks we are haha.
Then on monday we spent all day shoveling rocks and it was crazy. It was a non members back yard that was full of them and he wanted them taken out. He said there was over 300 tons of rock. It was super hard, but we had the zone there and it was fun.
I love seeing how happy people are when they see people helping them and see that people care for them. I know that that was a huge reason that christ served people, was to share and show his love for everyone, and I have loved being able to help people be happy 😁
Well love you guys
hope you guys get out of the cold soon. Its 75 here today
Elder Miller
So im getting transferred but idk where to so not really sure what more to say than im really sad to leave the area, really sad, I love this ward, and we have some awesome investigators, but im ready for some change so itll be good.
This has been a packed week.
It started off with the world wide broadcast for all the missionaries. Our zone got together to watch it and it was good. This time was a little less teaching and more informing and going over last years broadcast. We learned about the new schedule that president griffin had told us about. I like getting out of the house earlier. They also changed what we report to salt lake. We now dont report on lessons, who they were with or even how many we have. The only things are people at sacrament, new investigators, people with a baptismal date, and people baptized. So thats been interesting, but I think it will be good, and help a lot of missionaries do more productive things.
Then we had some pretty awesome lessons. We had another spirit packed lesson with Brenda and Ernesto. Our ward mission leader came again, and he connects so well with them, its been the best match up of my mission haha. And they love everything. At the end they talked about how they love the feeling that we bring when we are in their home, and hate when we leave because so does that feeling. That has been one of the coolest parts of my mission is learning how great the gift of the spirit is, and how blessed I have been to have had that in my home my whole life. How incredible it is to really have it and the change and effect it has on people. I love this gospel and how it can really change peoples lives and make people happy.
I had a hard time saying goodbye to them. They are probably the most solid family I have met on my mission and im sad not to be able to see them continue to grow, but I know they will get baptized at some point.
Then we had an some really cool lessons with the Hernandez family. I dont know how much I have talked about them, because weve been teaching them on and off for three months. They are a huge family, and some of them are baptized and some are not. There are three families living together. Mariana who is a member, and some of her kids are, but they are inactive,her husband is not a member either. and then her brother Rafael has been who we were focused on, and he is really starting to catch on, and little by little is growing, and then his kids and wife who are not members either, and then their parents and a niece from a different sister, so ya lots of people, some listen some dont, but they are learning and progressing and I was pretty sad to leave them too.
Then this weekend and monday we did service all day. It was crazy. We havnt had service my whole time here, and then we got dumped on these last few days. On saturday, we woke up early and went to a food bank at 6;30 and helped sort and give people food. I love helping people like that, because you get to be there with the people and see the results and see them happy and idk its cool. Then we went over and helped clean up a baseball field and that was a lot of work haha. And then we went and helped move in a family, a really big family haha. It was a lot of work, but it was cool because we found a lot of opportunities to share the gospel. The family we moved agreed to listen to the missionaries, some people at the field asked about our church and what we believed. but the best one was the food bank. A camera crew from pbs came by and was doing a thing on the community giving back and we were there and they talked about the missionaries being there to help, and then I got to be interviewed for a little and that was kinda fun. So it was cool to just be out there showing people that we just want to help and that we arent as crazy as everyone thinks we are haha.
Then on monday we spent all day shoveling rocks and it was crazy. It was a non members back yard that was full of them and he wanted them taken out. He said there was over 300 tons of rock. It was super hard, but we had the zone there and it was fun.
I love seeing how happy people are when they see people helping them and see that people care for them. I know that that was a huge reason that christ served people, was to share and show his love for everyone, and I have loved being able to help people be happy 😁
Well love you guys
hope you guys get out of the cold soon. Its 75 here today
Elder Miller
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
1.23.17
Hey everybody,
We had an awesome week this week! We finally found some investigators
that are open to listening.
So we started the week with exchanges with the APs and it was fun. I
stayed in the area with elder paddon. He's a cool guy. He's had an
interesting mission. He was called to the Ghana Africa mission and was
there for a full year when his visa ran out and he couldnt get it
renewed. Two days after it ran out they called him told him to pack up
and he got sent here. He's a hard worker and he really wants to help
the mission keep growing and doing good. It was a cool experience
because I havnt done a real exchange for over 6 months, and it was fun
to see how much Heavenly Father has helped me grow especially with my
Spanish. I felt fully confident doing everything, which I didnt the
last time I had one. We also ended up finding a family that wanted us
to come back and take them to church. Their names are carlos and
crystal and they seemed pretty excited to come to church, but sadly
didn't end up coming.
Then we had a day where we had a huge service project where we helped
a ton of homeless people come and get some help to hopefully help them
start to get back on their feet. We were there from 7 am to 3 and
there was 5 zones there, so over 50 missionaries. It was really fun.
That same night we had our second lesson with Brenda and Ernesto, and
we brought our ward mission leader hermano Vargas. He was perfect for
them. He is a convert as of 3 years and had so many of the same issues
and problems and doubt that they had. he has a child that also has
autism and speech problems, he also went through a lot of pain
wondering why his son had to go through it, and also wondered if God
still was there. It was and incredible lesson. We read through the
introduction of the Book of Mormon and the first chapter. To make it
all the better, they came to church this Sunday and seemed to really
enjoy it. We didnt really get a chance to ask them about it, but at
least their kids loved primary haha.
We also had a great lesson with Roberto. We talked about the laws of
tithing and fasting and it was probably the easiest accepted lesson
ive ever taught. He asked a few questions to clear some things and
then once he understood, we asked him if he would follow it. His
response was so cool, and he began talking about how, Why wouldn't he?
If it a commandment from god, and its really going to help others then
of course. The spirit was really strong and its been cool to see him
progress. It has been a week now since he has smoked or drank coffee
and you can just see the difference in him. He is happy and just looks
super good. The only sad part was he told us he would come to church,
he said he bought a white shirt, I had a couple ties for him, and then
he didnt come :/
Sunday was the best day tho, because even tho crystal and carlo, nor
Roberto came, there were 7 other investigators that came. A few we
hadn't seen a a while and then Brenda Ernesto and their 3 kids. The
ward did an awesome job helping them all feel good and feel like they
were part of the family.
So this Wednesday we have the big broadcast and im super excited. I
really enjoyed the last one and have studied, and learned a lot. Its
going to be fun.
This next week is transfers and we've been told a lot of changes are
going to happen. for sure one of us are leaving but not sure which. Id
be pretty sad to leave, especially after this week of finding a lot
and this ward is really fun.
We'll see how it all goes.
Love you guys,
Elder Miller
We had an awesome week this week! We finally found some investigators
that are open to listening.
So we started the week with exchanges with the APs and it was fun. I
stayed in the area with elder paddon. He's a cool guy. He's had an
interesting mission. He was called to the Ghana Africa mission and was
there for a full year when his visa ran out and he couldnt get it
renewed. Two days after it ran out they called him told him to pack up
and he got sent here. He's a hard worker and he really wants to help
the mission keep growing and doing good. It was a cool experience
because I havnt done a real exchange for over 6 months, and it was fun
to see how much Heavenly Father has helped me grow especially with my
Spanish. I felt fully confident doing everything, which I didnt the
last time I had one. We also ended up finding a family that wanted us
to come back and take them to church. Their names are carlos and
crystal and they seemed pretty excited to come to church, but sadly
didn't end up coming.
Then we had a day where we had a huge service project where we helped
a ton of homeless people come and get some help to hopefully help them
start to get back on their feet. We were there from 7 am to 3 and
there was 5 zones there, so over 50 missionaries. It was really fun.
That same night we had our second lesson with Brenda and Ernesto, and
we brought our ward mission leader hermano Vargas. He was perfect for
them. He is a convert as of 3 years and had so many of the same issues
and problems and doubt that they had. he has a child that also has
autism and speech problems, he also went through a lot of pain
wondering why his son had to go through it, and also wondered if God
still was there. It was and incredible lesson. We read through the
introduction of the Book of Mormon and the first chapter. To make it
all the better, they came to church this Sunday and seemed to really
enjoy it. We didnt really get a chance to ask them about it, but at
least their kids loved primary haha.
We also had a great lesson with Roberto. We talked about the laws of
tithing and fasting and it was probably the easiest accepted lesson
ive ever taught. He asked a few questions to clear some things and
then once he understood, we asked him if he would follow it. His
response was so cool, and he began talking about how, Why wouldn't he?
If it a commandment from god, and its really going to help others then
of course. The spirit was really strong and its been cool to see him
progress. It has been a week now since he has smoked or drank coffee
and you can just see the difference in him. He is happy and just looks
super good. The only sad part was he told us he would come to church,
he said he bought a white shirt, I had a couple ties for him, and then
he didnt come :/
Sunday was the best day tho, because even tho crystal and carlo, nor
Roberto came, there were 7 other investigators that came. A few we
hadn't seen a a while and then Brenda Ernesto and their 3 kids. The
ward did an awesome job helping them all feel good and feel like they
were part of the family.
So this Wednesday we have the big broadcast and im super excited. I
really enjoyed the last one and have studied, and learned a lot. Its
going to be fun.
This next week is transfers and we've been told a lot of changes are
going to happen. for sure one of us are leaving but not sure which. Id
be pretty sad to leave, especially after this week of finding a lot
and this ward is really fun.
We'll see how it all goes.
Love you guys,
Elder Miller
Monday, January 16, 2017
1.16.17
What's up guys!
I told you guys, we just needed to wit a few weeks and then wed have
an awesome one.
It started off with interviews with the mission president. We had a
really good one, and really long one actually. We talked about all
kinds of things, and how I can really grow these last 8 months. He
talked about some things I want to work on until next transfer when we
talk again. He also told me about how we are going to have another
worldwide missionary broadcasts next week. There are som changes and
one is that we will have interviews every transfer now so thats pretty
cool. Another big one is the fact that our schedule is changing. My
whole time on the mission. We would start studies at 8, have a doctrinal study, a personal study, a companionship study, lunch, and Spanish study leave the apartment at 1.And we would plan our day out at night after we came home. Now we plan for the day at 8:30, personal study at 9, out of the house at 10. then a half hour lunch whenever we have open. So its pretty different. We are going to find out more next week but so far its been really different. especially after doing it for almost a year and a half now.
We finally got back in contact with a investigator named Roberto. He says he wants to learn more about the church and invited us over this week. Talked and about and read from the book of Mormon, and had a really cool lesson. He talked about how he knew it was true, and that he really wanted to change. He told us some of the things he is going to have to over come but he said it will be worth is. He also said something clicked for him and obedient and how when we are obedient to Gods commandments that he really blesses us and watches over us, and he really wants that. He sadly didnt come to church this week, but we are going to see him tomorrow.
We finally found some people yesterday and it was sweet! so lst night we wernt really having much luck. One person we were looking for turned out that she was a lady that died a few months ago, so we wouldn't be finding her anytime soon. and then the next person we were looking for too us forever to find in a trailer park, and right where her house was supposed to be was a big pile of dirt. So not a huge ton of success. But then the next person we had down to go look for was a couple we contacted a few weeks ago, but hadnt been around. They live in a apartment complex and fall the gates were closed so we weren't sure what to do. we waited for a little bit but then we started to walk away. As we were leaving a car came through. the problem was that by the time the car had come, we were a good distance from the gate. we started sprinting to it. We were about a basketball court length away as it started to close. we barely slipped through and was a second or two from getting squished haha. We knocked on the door and they were super happy and let us in. We started talking and found out they Brenda and Ernesto. They are both ex cops from Mexicali. They have had a lot of hardships, from trying to get out of a bad situation in mexico, to then getting their papers, but then not being able to find work, to their kids being born with a lot of problems, and yet they are still so happy. They told us how it has been really hard, but they feel stronger and in such a better condition then in mexico. We then taught the Restoration and they seemed to really be interested. They said they have been around a lot of different churches, but none of them felt like a family, none of them felt right. The hope is they come this next sunday, and are able to feel the spirit there, and feel that it really is right. It was probably the strongest ive felt the spirit in the lesson since ive been back. Especially when I got to tell the first vision. One promise that ive really seen come to pass on my mission has been the power of testifying. Not necessarily for others, even though I know it helps, but for yourself. The prophets say that your testimony grows each time you share it with others. Every time I share the story of Josephs smiths vision, ive been able to receive a confirmation from the spirit, that Joseph smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It has been something really special for me, and a blessing that im so glad to have received.That is a cool part about the restoration, is that if you know 1 of the things is true you can know all of it is. So if you have a testimony of the book of mormon you can know joseph was a prophet and that this is the true, and same for each. Im so grateful that I was able to be born into this church and received so many blessings.
I love you guys and hope you guys are all doing great!
Elder Miller
I told you guys, we just needed to wit a few weeks and then wed have
an awesome one.
It started off with interviews with the mission president. We had a
really good one, and really long one actually. We talked about all
kinds of things, and how I can really grow these last 8 months. He
talked about some things I want to work on until next transfer when we
talk again. He also told me about how we are going to have another
worldwide missionary broadcasts next week. There are som changes and
one is that we will have interviews every transfer now so thats pretty
cool. Another big one is the fact that our schedule is changing. My
whole time on the mission. We would start studies at 8, have a doctrinal study, a personal study, a companionship study, lunch, and Spanish study leave the apartment at 1.And we would plan our day out at night after we came home. Now we plan for the day at 8:30, personal study at 9, out of the house at 10. then a half hour lunch whenever we have open. So its pretty different. We are going to find out more next week but so far its been really different. especially after doing it for almost a year and a half now.
We finally got back in contact with a investigator named Roberto. He says he wants to learn more about the church and invited us over this week. Talked and about and read from the book of Mormon, and had a really cool lesson. He talked about how he knew it was true, and that he really wanted to change. He told us some of the things he is going to have to over come but he said it will be worth is. He also said something clicked for him and obedient and how when we are obedient to Gods commandments that he really blesses us and watches over us, and he really wants that. He sadly didnt come to church this week, but we are going to see him tomorrow.
We finally found some people yesterday and it was sweet! so lst night we wernt really having much luck. One person we were looking for turned out that she was a lady that died a few months ago, so we wouldn't be finding her anytime soon. and then the next person we were looking for too us forever to find in a trailer park, and right where her house was supposed to be was a big pile of dirt. So not a huge ton of success. But then the next person we had down to go look for was a couple we contacted a few weeks ago, but hadnt been around. They live in a apartment complex and fall the gates were closed so we weren't sure what to do. we waited for a little bit but then we started to walk away. As we were leaving a car came through. the problem was that by the time the car had come, we were a good distance from the gate. we started sprinting to it. We were about a basketball court length away as it started to close. we barely slipped through and was a second or two from getting squished haha. We knocked on the door and they were super happy and let us in. We started talking and found out they Brenda and Ernesto. They are both ex cops from Mexicali. They have had a lot of hardships, from trying to get out of a bad situation in mexico, to then getting their papers, but then not being able to find work, to their kids being born with a lot of problems, and yet they are still so happy. They told us how it has been really hard, but they feel stronger and in such a better condition then in mexico. We then taught the Restoration and they seemed to really be interested. They said they have been around a lot of different churches, but none of them felt like a family, none of them felt right. The hope is they come this next sunday, and are able to feel the spirit there, and feel that it really is right. It was probably the strongest ive felt the spirit in the lesson since ive been back. Especially when I got to tell the first vision. One promise that ive really seen come to pass on my mission has been the power of testifying. Not necessarily for others, even though I know it helps, but for yourself. The prophets say that your testimony grows each time you share it with others. Every time I share the story of Josephs smiths vision, ive been able to receive a confirmation from the spirit, that Joseph smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It has been something really special for me, and a blessing that im so glad to have received.That is a cool part about the restoration, is that if you know 1 of the things is true you can know all of it is. So if you have a testimony of the book of mormon you can know joseph was a prophet and that this is the true, and same for each. Im so grateful that I was able to be born into this church and received so many blessings.
I love you guys and hope you guys are all doing great!
Elder Miller
Monday, January 9, 2017
1.9.17
Hey guys
So ya wasnt a whole bunch of teaching this week. We cant get in
contact with Ariana's grandma, so we havnt been able to set anything
up with her for a new baptismal date.
We havnt found anyone new either but there may be some possibilities
soon. We havnt had much progress in this area, but we are really
trying to pick something up before feb 1, because of transfers, and
wanting to give anyone new, if there are changes, something to work
with.
It was a weird week full of a bunch of meetings, which actually were
pretty good. haha.
On Tuesday we had Mission leadership council, which is all the zone
leaders, sister training leaders, APs, and mission presidency but i go
because my companion doesn't have another zone leader. Some of it was
just on some training for newer elder, which 70% of the mission is 7
months or younger, but then we talked about how good the mission has
been doing. In 2016 we had almost 50 less missionaries on average than
the year before, but we had 553 baptisms which was 53 more than 2016.
We weren't trying to just talk about numbers and only worried about
numbers, but more of showing that we were doing good and worked hard,
and smarter than before, even with less missionaries. Than we had a
really cool discussion from president Griffin on fear and getting
through our fears. So we had that which went from 10 to 3 and then
takes an hr to get home and then we have dinner and have our lessons
all cancel for what ever reason or just don't want to answer their
door, and then we go try and find people the rest of the night haha.
Pretty fun 😑 but its okay because that just means we are going to
have a bomb week sometime soon.
We had a meeting on Wednesday with the ward about the work and
preparing goals to bring to a bigger meeting on sunday.
Then we had a meeting with the relief society, which was super awesome
because they came to us and invited us over. We talked about people
they want to work with, and how they would come with us, and we set up
a bunch of lessons so its going to be sweet.
Then Friday we had zone meeting where we came back and taught the zone
what was taught at MLC.
And then sunday we had two meetings, one with the ward, where everyone
brought their goals for the new year, and it was really cool to hear,
because they all had a part to do with missionary work and helping us
so that was cool. And then we had a meeting with the stake president
and we talked about his vision for the stake and things we want to
start doing.
So a lot of good planning and learning this week, to hopefully take
off this next couple weeks.
Hope everyone's doing good.
Elder Miller
So ya wasnt a whole bunch of teaching this week. We cant get in
contact with Ariana's grandma, so we havnt been able to set anything
up with her for a new baptismal date.
We havnt found anyone new either but there may be some possibilities
soon. We havnt had much progress in this area, but we are really
trying to pick something up before feb 1, because of transfers, and
wanting to give anyone new, if there are changes, something to work
with.
It was a weird week full of a bunch of meetings, which actually were
pretty good. haha.
On Tuesday we had Mission leadership council, which is all the zone
leaders, sister training leaders, APs, and mission presidency but i go
because my companion doesn't have another zone leader. Some of it was
just on some training for newer elder, which 70% of the mission is 7
months or younger, but then we talked about how good the mission has
been doing. In 2016 we had almost 50 less missionaries on average than
the year before, but we had 553 baptisms which was 53 more than 2016.
We weren't trying to just talk about numbers and only worried about
numbers, but more of showing that we were doing good and worked hard,
and smarter than before, even with less missionaries. Than we had a
really cool discussion from president Griffin on fear and getting
through our fears. So we had that which went from 10 to 3 and then
takes an hr to get home and then we have dinner and have our lessons
all cancel for what ever reason or just don't want to answer their
door, and then we go try and find people the rest of the night haha.
Pretty fun 😑 but its okay because that just means we are going to
have a bomb week sometime soon.
We had a meeting on Wednesday with the ward about the work and
preparing goals to bring to a bigger meeting on sunday.
Then we had a meeting with the relief society, which was super awesome
because they came to us and invited us over. We talked about people
they want to work with, and how they would come with us, and we set up
a bunch of lessons so its going to be sweet.
Then Friday we had zone meeting where we came back and taught the zone
what was taught at MLC.
And then sunday we had two meetings, one with the ward, where everyone
brought their goals for the new year, and it was really cool to hear,
because they all had a part to do with missionary work and helping us
so that was cool. And then we had a meeting with the stake president
and we talked about his vision for the stake and things we want to
start doing.
So a lot of good planning and learning this week, to hopefully take
off this next couple weeks.
Hope everyone's doing good.
Elder Miller
1.2.17
Hey guys!!
Happy new year, if you havnt already heard it enough😜
This week was another interesting week with it being the days after
Christmas and then New Year's Eve and New Years. Not many people home
and if they were they were pretty drunk and or grumpy haha. But during
one off our many hours for looking for people, we found a woman named
Andria! She is a really cool woman who loves Christ and loves us
coming over. We havnt really been able to have a real lesson with her,
but she is really excited to learn more. we were pretty excited, so
well see how it goes.
We havnt been able to see Ariana (the 11 year old girl who loves the
Book of Mormon) for 2 weeks now. So sadly she cant get baptized next
Saturday as planned, she so ready too, but her grandma hasn't been
bringing her to church, and there are a few more things we need to
talk about.
Today i had a interesting experience at the barber shop. We tried out
a new place today and for the first time while getting a haircut, the
lady cutting my hair asked about our church and what we do as
missionaries. We talked for a while and turns out that she was jehovas
witness. It was the first time i have been able to just talk to one
and not it bein a bash or them trying to just yell at us. It was kinda
of nice. Not much more came out of it but was a good experience.
Well really other than that not a whole ton more happened. We sat at a
pep boys getting out truck fixed for 3 hours on Thursday. We ended up
just weekly planing, first time for everything i guess.
Hope you guys had a fun New Years and have some good goal, that will
last longer than a mont or two😋
love you guys
Elder Miller
Happy new year, if you havnt already heard it enough😜
This week was another interesting week with it being the days after
Christmas and then New Year's Eve and New Years. Not many people home
and if they were they were pretty drunk and or grumpy haha. But during
one off our many hours for looking for people, we found a woman named
Andria! She is a really cool woman who loves Christ and loves us
coming over. We havnt really been able to have a real lesson with her,
but she is really excited to learn more. we were pretty excited, so
well see how it goes.
We havnt been able to see Ariana (the 11 year old girl who loves the
Book of Mormon) for 2 weeks now. So sadly she cant get baptized next
Saturday as planned, she so ready too, but her grandma hasn't been
bringing her to church, and there are a few more things we need to
talk about.
Today i had a interesting experience at the barber shop. We tried out
a new place today and for the first time while getting a haircut, the
lady cutting my hair asked about our church and what we do as
missionaries. We talked for a while and turns out that she was jehovas
witness. It was the first time i have been able to just talk to one
and not it bein a bash or them trying to just yell at us. It was kinda
of nice. Not much more came out of it but was a good experience.
Well really other than that not a whole ton more happened. We sat at a
pep boys getting out truck fixed for 3 hours on Thursday. We ended up
just weekly planing, first time for everything i guess.
Hope you guys had a fun New Years and have some good goal, that will
last longer than a mont or two😋
love you guys
Elder Miller
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