October 10

Blog:

Hey everyone! Well this week I was assigned to train.....(drum
roll).........ELDER STEPHENSON!!!!! Elder Stephenson is from Eagle,
Idaho, he's super great!! He speaks Spanish well, is fearless in
speaking to people and is a hard worker! I was super nervous about
training but it's super great! It's weird, now I reflect back on the
beginning of my mission and remember some of the experiences I had.
It's funny Elder Stephenson and I are really alike, we both sang in
choir, we love BYU, he's very outgoing and friendly and I just feel
sooo happy to be able to train him.
He's been being a champ, this last week we had to divide the island
because they split our area and it's been tough. All of the
investigators, except one lives in the other Elders area and actually
we just received the news that our only investigator is moving to
their area this week....it's been hard on Elder Stephenson, because
all we do is contact people and knock doors. I mean I love it, but I
feel bad because it's tough for a new missionary to have to come into
a situation like this. It'll be good for him though and I'm just
trying to help him feel better and learn to love the work, because
it's truly THE BEST!
We did have a huge miracle this week, yesterday it was raining and all
our visits we had scheduled for the day canceled on us at the
beginning of the day, so we started talking to people and teaching in
the streets and that was pretty tough too(people aren't so fond of
having a conversation in the street when it's raining outside), but
after getting shut pretty hard lots of times Elder Stephenson contacts
a lady and turns out she's a Jew from Mexico. Her name was Gisselle
and she told us she had lived with Mormons in Guatemala. She also
spoke PERFECT English so she spoke to us in English, so Elder
Stephenson could understand. She to,d us she had actually just been
dreaming of Jesus Christ and asked God for help in her life and we
showed up! She was super receptive and is super excited to start
meeting with us. I love the mission because we get to see such
miracles like that, I've really learned to come to treasure moments
like that, those moments are truly sacred.
Elder Stephenson is doing great! If you all could pray for him and for
our area that we can find good investigators so we can have people to
teach and so he can start off his mission good it would mean the world
to me. We're working really hard and I know the Lord will help us,
anything is possible with his help! I hope you all have a great week
and PS it's my moms birthday this next week on the 17th, just so you
all know! Love you all, have a great week!
-Elder Miller

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Oct4

Well some big news this week! I hit my one year mark in the mission!!
And we have transfers this next week and the mission is actually
splitting our area and I'm going to be training a brand new
missionary!! I don know who he is yet but I'm going to Barcelona to
pick him up and meet him. Also I was privileged to see one of the
GREATEST conferences ever!!! General Conference this year was
SPECTACULAR!! Seriously I think this conference has been my favorite
conference as a whole, so many inspired words from our Lord's chosen
servants!

So this week has been really great! One of our investigators, Anthony,
from Holland has been making some HUGE progress. Anthony is a 18 year
old basketball player who came to Ibiza so his parents could start
their own business here. He's really good at basketball and so is my
companion(both have a high potential of making it in the NBA in the
future), so we've got together and played some basketball and then
taught him after! We've been teaching him about the Book of Mormon and
he said he really likes it, but Friday we passed by his parents
restaurant and we taught him the Restoration. That lesson will forever
be one of the most special moments of my mission, the Spirit was soooo
strong during that lesson that it brought tears to all of our eyes, I
felt a confirmation from the spirit too that Anthony also knew that it
was true. Although music was playing in the restaurant and there was a
lot of commotion, it seemed as though we were in a bubble of peace and
calm. It's hard to explain really, but Anthony told us after we bore
testimony that he was feeling something within him, something that
just told him that what we were saying was true. He also told us of
the change that he's seen in himself as he's began meeting with us and
we showed him that he has been feeling the Holy Ghost. We asked him to
pray about it that night to receive a confirmation from the Holy Ghost
and he called us the next day saying, "Elders, can you come and meet
with me today? I prayed and I had the MOST special feeling." We told
him we'd pass by later and when we came by he told us, "Elders, I know
this book(the Book of Mormon) is true! Without a doubt I know it!
God's answered my prayers". After this we taught about the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and invited him to read 2 Nephi 31, he's a little
hesitant about baptism right now but he told us he would read and pray
to God about it!

So on my year mark, Thursday, we went to eat with a member family and
they let me burn my white shirt on their terrace, I'll take a screen
shot from the video and send it. So to explain about the white shirt,
it's a tradition on the year mark of a missionary to burn one of their
white shirts representing one year completed and one year to go. It
felt unreal to reach that moment, I can remember my first moments in
the mission, saying goodbyes in Ontario Airport, arriving to the MTC
in Madrid and entering into my first area in Barcelona. It feels like
all that just happened last month, but time flies....I can honestly
say that this past year has been the greatest, hardest, most
challenging, but most of all most rewarding year of my life. The
mission is not easy, but I have realized neither is life! I've learned
to love my trials and always grow. I've been constantly reminded of my
weaknesses and my need to grow, but have been comforted to know that I
have a loving Heavenly Father who will always support me in doing
what's right. I've also learned that the hard times are what have made
my mission such a sweet experience, how great has been my suffering
during some trials during the mission but the Lord has made me into
who I am today because of those hardships and how great is my joy now
as I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Spain. I know
that Jesus Christ gave his life for us, I know God loves us and he
will support us through our trials if we just put our faith in him. I
know God and Jesus Christ spoke to a young boy in a grove of trees in
1820 and that wanted to know the truth, and called him to be a prophet
of God. I know that he was used as a instrument in the hand of the
Lord to bring to pass his great purposes. I've also learned that as we
learn to be humble and always act out of love things will improve,
that God will magnify our humble acts to bring to pass his marvelous
work and bless his children. Also I've learned as we lose ourselves in
the service of others, we truly find ourselves. If we wake up every
morning and ask the Lord what can I do to bless the lives of your
children, we will be guided to those who need us and that we will find
the answers we personally need. The mission has truly changed the
person I am and I have come to know who my Savior is, I still have
much to learn and I am very excited for all the work that lays ahead
of me!
Thank you everyone for all you have done for me to help me become the
person I am today! I truly love you all and hope you have a great
week! Love you!!
-Elder Miller
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Sept. 26, 2016

Hey todos! Don't have much time to write but it's been a very
stressful week haha, but it's all good we've seen lots of miracles!
It's been stressful with branch, there's just a lot going on out here
and the branch needs a lot of help. It's a super super great place,
it's just been a little stressful with some of the situations and
things that go in the branch here. Other than that Emilio wasn't
baptized, he needs some more time to prepare himself! We found some
super amazing new investigators and got stuck in a rain storm on
Mallorca when we went in for Zone Conference!
Well to start off the week we got a call from Emilio telling us he
doesn't want to be baptized and that he doesn't want anything. We
calmed him down and met with him and he just got nervous about
baptism. We explained that he wouldn't be baptized if he wasn't ready
and he's all good now. We're going to take it slower with him now!
Later in the week Elder Woodmansee, my district leader, came in for
companion exchanges but the office couldn't book my companion a flight
out to the other island elder Woodmansee just worked with us in a trio
haha! It was funny and kind of awkward, after working in twos for a
year having three feels super weird! But it was good, we worked hard
and had a good time.
This week we went in to Mallorca for Zone Conference and it was super
good!! We learned about teaching with the spirit and set a pretty
great goal of doubling the baptisms in the Zone in the next three
months! I know the Lord is preparing people and we're going to work
hard to find those people who are ready and help them come unto
Christ!
So after the conference we went out to eat, upon leaving the
restaurant we realized that it was raining cats and dogs!! Literally
everything was flooded! We ran all the way back to the church where we
left our things and we made it back completely soaked head to toe
haha. It was pretty funny!
But other than that everything's good! I'm working hard and time is
flying by....by the way I hit my year mark this Thursday....ahhhh sooo
crazy! Time flys but it just gets better and better! Hope you all have
a great week! Love you!
-Elder Miller
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Sept.19, 2016

¡Hola todos! ¿Cómo estáis? Well the weeks are just FLYING by now!!!
I'm going to hit my year mark coming up soon.....and it's soooo crazy
to think I've spent a year of my life in Spain on my mission! Time
flys, literally the weeks go faster and faster, I heard the saying
"Days are weeks and weeks are days" but really now it's more like
"Days are hours and weeks are days". It's trippy! We're SUPER busy out
here in Ibiza, there's soooo much to do. Last week we had to spend two
days outside of our area(which I'm not too crazy about) to go to a
Mission Tour where we were able to hear from W Craig Zwick from the
first presidency of the Seventy and Elder L Tom Perry's wife(she's
President Dayton's sister) and it was AMAZING!! Later we worked on
covering visits and making sure we saw everyone we needed to see for
the week after haha.
So during the conference I learned so much! Elder Zwick speaks PERFECT
Spanish and we did the conference in Spanish and it was super great!
He spoke about simplifying, intensifying and testifying when we
teaching, gaining trust of members, and overcoming temptation and
spiritually progressing! It was a very spiritually edifying experience
for me and all the other missionaries who attended. It was also nice
being able to see Elder Islas and Tyson. I also got be in my first
area in the mission! We went to visit a member family that was the
best when I served there, Talia and Andres. They were surprised by the
visit and we didn't have much time but after saying good bye she
handed us two tubs of ice cream and said "Here's some food for the
road!" Haha I really have been blessed to meet some of the sweetest
people I've ever met during my mission. I also was asked to sing in an
octet for the conference and I actually sang a solo, haha I was pretty
nervous because we were singing in front of a general authority and
110 missionaries. We sang a song called, "How Can I Keep from
Singing?" And I remember just being super nervous to sing because it's
been so long since I've performed in front of people and as we got up
on stage I was like shaking haha but the moment I started singing my
solo I felt a warm peaceful feeling come over me telling me everything
would be alright.
As for the work here in Ibiza we have been working with Emilio. He has
a baptismal date for this weekend, but he's struggling with quitting
smoking and so we might have to push his baptismal date back a little.
Also he FOUND A HOME AND A JOB!!!! Thank you everyone who has prayed
for him, he's been searching for so long and finally has been blessed
by the lord with a place to live and a job to support himself. What a
HUGE miracle the Lord has worked in his life!
Well other than that things have been good! Time is just flying by and
I'm loving every second of my mission, I'm working hard and trying to
really to serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I'm not
perfect but I know I'm doing my best and I feel good about that! Love
you all, have a great week :)
-Elder Miller

Sept. 12, 2016

Hey everyone! This week has been a little slower but it's good, there
wouldn't be amazing weeks without some normal ones mixed in with the
bunch haha! But we also were very blessed and saw some HUGE miracles
this week!!! An investigator finding the church through us after 13
years of living in Ibiza and later a friend of a member who they've
been to trying to share the gospel with for about 1.5 years has
finally had a change of heart and wants to change his life! The Lord
has been so merciful upon us here in Ibiza.
First off we spent a lot of the week running place to place trying to
cover visits, and because we had lots of visits, but people talk a lot
here and so we try to get out of visits timely but people talk and
talk and talk and talk, which is good because a lot of people are
opening up to my companion and I but sometimes it gets a little long!
Haha we've had several people tell us their whole life story in our
visits this week! Which is great, BUT we have other visits set so
sometimes it puts us in awkward situations. But nevertheless we are
working hard and improving!
So this week we went out to another city on the island, Sant Josep, to
have dinner with a member family and as we got off the bus, a woman
driving down the highway in her car sticks her head out the window and
yells, "ELDERS!!! Come over here!". She promptly pulled off the road
and waved us over, she told us she was a "member" in Peru and that her
brother was a member of the church and she was investigating and
coming to church with him, but moved to Ibiza before she was able to
be baptized. We gave her the Book of Mormon and her eyes lit up! She
was sooo happy to finally find the church and we have a visit with her
this Wednesday and so we're super excited to go teach her!
Directly after that we went to visit that member family and they
invited their Buddhist friend, Christian from Argentina and we went
and had a great time with them! He shared some really personal things
with us and we had an amazing lesson with him. He came to church this
Sunday, dressed in the suit he was married in! He told me at the
dinner we had that he didn't like coming to church because it was
boring but he likes to learn from us, so he comes whenever that family
invites him. This Sunday he came with an open heart and the spirit
touched his soul, I saw him towards the end of Sunday school and tears
were running down his face. I literally was stunned, but it's true.
Truly there is no person who is exempt from the redeeming power of our
savior, Jesus Christ. If we just let him in our lives will never be
the same! We are really excited for him and he told us that he wants
to change his life and he's ready to do what he needs to do to change!
I know that Jesus Christ gave his life for us and that he loves each
and every one of us. He knows us and only asks that we follow him.
"Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy
are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive
you."
(Alma 5:33)
I hope you all have a wonderful week!!! Love you!!!!
-Elder Miller

Enviado desde mi iPad

Sept. 5, 2016

Hola todos! This week has been super good! We've been working more
with Emilio and he's making progress little by little. We've been
working hard but this week has been filled with lots of canceled
visits and street contacting! But it's great, I'm really enjoying this
time I have with Elder Morley, we get along well and we are improving
and working hard!
So this week we've been meeting with Emilio, our investigator who
lives in the street and he's been giving us a little bit of a hard
time. I believe he has some social problems, so he's been saying rude
things to me and some other members but we're being patient with him
and just loving him no matter what, plus he really seems to connect
with Elder Morley so that's good! He had a baptismal date for last
Saturday but he wasn't ready so we decided to set a date for the 24th!
We're super excited for him and we hope he can make the right
decisions that will help him become prepared for that day!! If you
could pray for him to be able to stop smoking and to find somewhere to
live that would be greatly appreciated!
We have a couple other investigators were meeting with but it's a
little tough because everyone is working 10-12 hours a day, everyday
during the summer here in Ibiza to support the tourism until October
or November, so we have about 15 investigators just waiting to have
more time so they can meet with us, so we've been spending a lot of
time finding and working with whoever can right now.
So I've set a goal for myself that I want to reach before the new
year, I've set the goal to lose 10 KILOS or 22 pounds! I'm super
pumped to do this, I'm working out hard and eating healthy(no soda or
sweets)! I'm super pumped for this new goal and I've lost 5 pounds
this first week. We'll see, may I can lose more before the new year!
I've really come to realize that there's ALWAYS going to be
tribulations or hardships, during my mission and for the rest of my
life and that it won't ever be easy, and that I just have to find the
joy in whatever situation I'm in! Before I used to feel super anxious
leaving apartment knowing we were just going to go contacting all day
or sad when people rejected me, but now I just have come to love the
work! I remember on Wednesday we were just walking for like 4.5 hours
straight just talking to people in the street and I thought to myself,
"This is great!". Honestly the mission is just the best, I've really
learned to love life, whether it be hard or easy. In the words of
Joseph B Wirthlin, "Come what may and love it", I've come to see that
that's so true. We can't control whether or not we have trials BUT we
can control how we react to these trials. And that as we positively
react to our difficulties the Lord will bless us much more. Life is
not meant to just be endured or tolerated, ITS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED!
"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy"2
Nephi 2:25
I invite you all to find the joy in your personal situation and to
look at the positive side of things. I promise you that you'll see a
great difference in your life! I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Miller

August 29, 2016

Hey everyone! Great first week with Elder Morley, we are working hard and seeing lots of miracles! Literally this week has been just filled with miracle, after miracle, after miracle! It's amazing!! Elder Morley and I get along really well and things are going great! We also have met some pretty crazy drunk people and averted our eyes as a nudist protest bike parade was going on through the city, it was just a bunch of men, but still....gross. The people here remind me of my brother, Andy when he was little, always trying to take their clothes off but not too bad, just enough to give us some funny stories! 

So on our first night, we went to visit a less active woman from the Dominican Republic named, Altagracia and her nephew, Alberto! He's super great and is really interested. We taught him the restoration and he really, really liked it! He accepted a baptismal invitation and we're going over to visit him again this week, he's really great and we're excited to start teaching him! 

We also had our first official visit with Emilio, that man from my miracle story last week, that we met as went to go visit someone else. During he first lesson, as we taught him the Restoration, he told me, "I know that this is true. Elder Miller, I want you to baptize me in two weeks" I was totally shocked because we hadn't even gotten to that part of the lesson and that he specifically asked me was.....WOW, definitely something super special. It was a SUPER intense lesson and the spirit was super strong. I've never had someone ask me to baptize them, especially not in the first lesson! It was crazy, he told us, "You came into my life in the precise moment when I needed this the most. I've been searching for so long and I've found it now." It was amazing and tears came to my eyes as I heard him tell us this story. Definitely an experience I'll never forget. But he has a hard time with smoking so it looks like we're going to have to push back his baptismal date a little for him to be baptized. 

Another miracle we saw is we had an impression like we should pass by an investigator named, Norma from Paraguay whose been investigating for a 6+ months now and is just waiting on getting married to be baptized now, so we passed by her house and it turns out it was her birthday! As we talked in the door briefly, she told me that since the first lesson we had with her boyfriend, they've had lots of problems and her family doesn't want her to meet with us anymore or anything, and she told me, "Elder, I know these things are true! If he's not go to support me in this, I would rather live alone and be baptized and have this gospel, than stay with my boyfriend and not have it". Hearing this touched my heart so deeply, knowing that someone would give up everything they had so they could be baptized and become a member and come closer to their Heavenly Father. It reminded me of the talk that Gordon B Hinkley gave, when he told the story of a man from India who was baptized into the church in the United States during college and upon returning home to his family, he was kicked out of his home and shunned by his family. President Hinkley asked this man after he heard his story, "So why did you do it all? Why did you keep on following despite all the tribulations you have faced?" The man responded, "It's true, isn't it?" "Yes." The man then responded, "Then what else really matters?". How many of us are willing to give up everything for what we believe? If it's true, then what else really matters than that? I testify that I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, that the kingdom of God has been established and that if we are struggling putting our priorities in order, just ask yourself that same question, "Is it true? And do I truly believe it?" I love you all soooo much! I hope you have a great week and can ponder on our own personal testimonies and conversions, if you have time take a look at John 21:15-17 and see how the Lord counseled Peter after receiving his testimony and really knowing that it's true. Have a great week!!

Love, 

-Elder Miller