12.21.15

Merry Christmas everyone!!😄

So I had another awesome week. To start off we hit standards again! So
hitting standards isn't huge, because it's called standards, but it's
not just something easy you get by waking up and walking around ya
know. The hardest for us right now is finding new investigators. On
Tuesday we came across this guy who was setting up some pretty cool
lights in his front yard. Started talking to us and he invited us in.
He seems pretty open and had a lot of questions. So there's 1 new
investigator!. Then I was going through the ward list a saw that there
was a 9 ur old that wasn't baptized. We stopped in wed and his mom
said that she wanted us to teach him so his baptism meant more to him.
So that's what we're going to do! 2 boom we hit standards. We are
going to see how many times we can do it in a row. 😁
Everyday I can count on something awesome from my 12 days of Christmas
letters. Everyday I get different letters from you guys and it's the
best. Thank you for all your letters and love and support, but
especially thank you mom for setting it all up for me😊 and the tree
is looking pretty good haha. So with that plus grandmas treats from my
other 12 days things it's been Christmas everyday! And I keep getting
different packages and I'm super excited to open them. The only thing
is I don't know who their from? But Thank you! Haha it definitely felt
more like Christmas this week with the presents and tree, but
especially with the spirit that I've been able to feel throughout this
week. We had lots of different lessons and neat experiences with all
kinds of people at the beginning of the week, and the weekend just
made it perfect.
We had our Christmas conference on Friday and it was incredible. So we
split the mission between three different days, but my group was
Friday. Anyway we all met up and rode a bus together, about 70
missionaries, to the Mesa temple! We got there at about 10 and got to
tour their newly reopened visitors center. It's awesome. They have all
these really neat new displays/exhibits. It was really cool. Then we
watched a movie of Christ's birth.  I think I forget most years that
Christ was born pretty much in a cave. Like you think of a nice little
stable or something, but this video shows this dirty cave and it
reminded me truly how humbly he came into this world. That our King
and Savior was born in a gross little cave. It then went on and showed
parts of his life and was through narration of the apostle Paul. It
was cool. After the video we went out side and president talked to all
of us and bore his testimony of the atonement. It was awesome. He is
such a spiritual man, and every time he talks to us he puts things
ways that just are perfect. We then all went and did an endowment
session. Wow. It was so cool to see that many of us in the temple all
together with our president and his wife. I also felt the spirit so
strong, and received so much love and comfort from Heavenly Father.
The temple is such a powerful place. If you are ever down, need the
spirit, have questions, the temple is the place to go. I know that
it's the Lords house and the spirit will always be there. I love the
temple so much.
After, we went to an awesome buffet. It was funny because we pretty
much took the whole restaurant hahaha. After dinner we went back to
the temple and got to walk around the lights. They were really pretty.
It's was weird with having seen the salt lake lights, like I wouldn't
say they were worse or better, just different, and both really pretty.
They had  some a awesome displays and the last one was the manger with
president monson voice reading from Luke. It was a fun night, kinda a
big break time to hang with other friends, and feel the spirit really
strong. It was a pretty awesome day.

So if that's not enough for this week, Saturday at about 11:00 we get
a phone call. It's our mission president, and he says he'll be there
in 2 min! We were all freaking out trying to clean, and figure out why
he would be coming, and it was crazy. He arrives, and has us sit down.
He starts off with how sometimes there has to be emergency transfers
and that when that happens one companion ship has to get split up and
they didn't do anything wrong. Well turns out that elder Rodriguez is
getting transferred 😢 I'm actually really sad. He's a super nice guy,
he's the one that knows the area and the ward, and he's been the one
taking us around haha. So then on top of him just leaving in the
middle of the transfer he's going up north in the snow and he has no
warm clothes, so president gave us permission to go get him a coat and
stuff. So we're just at the mall on a non pday haha it was weird. Then
we spent that night/Sunday visiting members for him to say goodbye. So
he leaves tomorrow morning. I really am sad though because he's a
super nice guy, and we've had some fun.
After getting him all ready to go, I was able to go back to Monte
Vista for valdomeros baptism!! He's the 9 year old boy that we were
working with that I put on date a few weeks before I left. It was
awesome to see such a young boy mature while learning about this and
see he choose to do this. He was nervous every but kept saying how
excited he was. It was super fun to see elder wells again and a lot of
the members including Nikki! It was fun. I love being out here, and
the feelings at baptisms are the best.
Sunday, it being the Sunday before Christmas, we sang in a little
choir for the sacrament meeting, as well as later that night in a
stake fireside. It was a very well done program and there were a bunch
of different musical #s all celebrating our savior.

A lot of you have told me how I am lucky to be out here especially at
this time of Christmas, and you are all so right! It has been an
incredible Christmas season full of the spirit and remembering our
savior. In just this short time my testimony of my savior has grown so
much. I am so grateful for Him and the atonement. The feeling of being
able to be forgiven from our mistakes is indescribable. And then the
strength and comfort he gives because of His perfect love is
incredible. I love Him and will always be thankful for him.

I love this scripture. As a mission we read it every morning since
I've been on the mission. It's Alma 7:10-12

10 And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the
land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen
vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the
Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.
11  And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and
temptations of every kind;and this that the word might be fulfilled
which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his
people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of
death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their
infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to
the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his
people according to their infirmities.

Love you guys soo much
Merry Christmas everyone 😄🤗😜😊🎄🎄
Elder Miller