Hey everyone! How goes it?! This week has been super great! I'm just
about to finish up my training (the first 12 weeks of the mission are
called "Training"), and so next week either my companion or I will be
transferred to a different area and the other will stay! So I'll be
emailing next week on Tuesday(maybe Wednesday if I get transferred
really far away). Exciting!!
I can't believe Grandpa and Grandma Porter are finishing their
mission!! I felt like they just started their mission, how glad I am
to still have so much time left in my mission!!
Well things are going great out here :) This Preparation Day we went
to this huge Monastery called Monserrat and it's super high in the
mountains and was sooo beautiful! We woke up early, took a train there
and it took about 2 hours, then we took another train up the mountain,
looked at the cathedral and the little village up there, then did a
hike up the mountains it's on! The whole thing was just stairs and
that part was not that fun, even though it was super pretty! We
climbed up and right above the fog(it was SUPER foggy that day) and
found an outreach of rock and decided to take pictures on it then we
made some pretty great music videos singing hymns as a District! It
was super great, but most of the time I was just nervous I or someone
else was going to fall off the mountain! It was soooo sketchy, there
were several hundred foot drops on either side and yeah....but Elder
Miller fears no man or mountain! Just falling off the mountain does
Elder Miller fear.....hahaha.
This week was super good, we have one investigator who has a baptismal
date for this weekend, Jose "Pepito" Bores! He is that Catalan man I
wrote about last week. He is sooo close! We aren't 100% sure if he'll
be ready to be baptized this weekend, we taught Word of Wisdom on
Sunday and he said he needed a day to see if he's 100% committed to
doing this and take some time to pray about it. We have a lesson
tomorrow so we're praying hard that he will recognize that this is
what he needs to in his life to help him come closer to God. He's sooo
close!
Our District also pretty much single handedly planned, set up and ran
a whole ward activity, Mormonopoly, which is pretty much Mormon themed
Monopoly but made HUGE! It took up all the room in the gym and we
spent a good 8-10 hours working and setting it up, and only 15-20
people showed up...AHHHH!! It was pretty frustrating and the member
who had the idea and was kind of running it was yelling at people who
were confused about the rules of the game, it was not good.....I
honestly still don't understand the game but it was super confusing!
Nevertheless the work is good here, we are finding lots of new people
to teach, working with the members more and doing everything we can to
bring souls to our Heavenly Father!
I know this gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of
God! I love you all and know that your Heavenly Father loves you too!
Talk to you next week!
Elder Miller
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Hey! Another week living the dream being a missionary "in the greatest
mission on the earth's great face", as President Dayton puts it! This
week has been pretty stinking cold, low 40s, humid and windy, Perfect
weather for weather for missionary work! My companion is still getting
over being sick so he didn't appreciate the cold as much as I did. We
had a good week though and have two investigators who are getting
baptized on the 30th WOOOOOOOO!!!!! And one of them is an old Catalan
man, named Josep "Pepito" Bores, which is significant because Catalan
people are usually pretty stubborn and hate religion and missionaries.
To explain Catalan people are from the province of Catalunya in Spain,
they have their own language "Catalá" or Catalan, which is pretty much
a mix of French and kind of Spanish. All the schools are taught only
in Catalan and by law all the road signs MUST be in Catalan so yeah
that can be confusing at times haha. But everyone speaks Spanish here,
so yeah most official things are generally in Catalan but most people
on the street will speak in Spanish with the occasional old person
speaking in Catalan. So generally they are not super open to
missionaries, especially the older people, so it really is a miracle
this man is so nice and he always feeds us this SUPER bomb flan
whenever we come over, and is just such a sweet, humble man. He
currently is having a hard time praying, no matter how many times we
explain he can't get his mind wrapped around having a conversation
with God through prayer, but he'll figure it out soon enough! He has
prayed everyday, BUT his prayer consisted of reading out of the
Restoration Pamphlet on the part that explains how to pray so we're
working on that. He's grown up his life being forced Catholicism and
so that's all he really knows so it's all pretty new to him.
The first time we invited him to pray we got on our knees to pray,
closed our eyes and waited.....15 seconds went by in silence and I
looked up at my companion but he told me just to wait. We wait...30
seconds then a minute and my companion and I are trying to figure out
what to do because Pepito was just kneeling there with his eyes shut
and arms folded, so we didn't know if he was praying so we wait
another minute in silence and then I say, Can you say it out loud? And
he says, "Oh I forgot how to do it! I was confused haha". So we
explain again very clearly, and then pretty much tell him exactly what
to say to pray and it was just like a 5 year old praying. He finishes
and says "In the name of Jesus......I mean Heavenly Father....I mean
dang it! Elders what do I say?" And we tell him and he closes
correctly and man it was funny! He's soo great and we are sooo excited
to keep on teaching him and help him prepare for baptism! We're
bringing our Bishop to our next lesson with him so he should be able
to help out.
There are SOOO many prepared people everywhere we go. I truly know
that Lord prepares people to hear the Gospel and that as missionaries
we are here to harvest those people who are ready!
I love you all so much and want to bear my humble testimony to you in Spanish:
No sé muchas cosas, pero sé que Dios nos ama. Sé que porque Dios nos
ama, Dios nos ha dado Su Unigénito Hijo, Jesucristo, para sufrir y
permitirnos a regresar a él. También Dios nos ha dado El Libro de
Mormón, cuál es verdaderamente otro testamento de Jesucristo. Por
medio del Libro de Mormón podamos acercarnos más a Dios y aprender de
Su plan para nosotros. Sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdad y pueda
bendecir su vida si ustedes lo lean. He visto el Libro de Mormón
bendice las vidas de muchas personas y sé que el Libro de Mormón y la
Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de los Últimos Días les traerán
más felicidad y paz en sus vidas.
Os quiero mucho, espero que tengáis un semana maravillosa.
Con amor,
Elder Miller
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Hey everyone! How's it all going? Things are still going here in
Barcelona 3B! This past week there was a big Spanish holiday on the
6th named Día de los Reyes, which is a celebration of the coming of
the Three Wise Men! It was pretty interesting haha, the streets were
COMPLETELY empty on that day! So we tried to catch people in their
homes, but not much became of it! It was kinda tough but it's okay.
This week we received a Golden reference from a member and he's an old
Catalan man named Jose but he likes to be called "Pepito" haha. He is
really great and very interested in learning more about the gospel. He
came to church this Sunday and we could see he really started feeling
the Spirit as the meeting went on. He is a very humble man, we visited
him and challenged him to read a Pamphlet and some of the Book of
Mormon and he said it would be hard because he doesn't really know how
to read very well. I was very touched by his openness with us and how
he still wanted to read even though it was hard for him. How many
times have I chosen not to read my scriptures and I can already read!
And this man who really did struggle pretty bad with reading
committed to reading.
Also at church the Sisters brought an investigator, who they already
challenged to baptism for the 30th and turns out he lives in our area!
So they set us up with him and he also seems Golden too! He said he's
going to buy a suit so he looks more respectful at church! What a
stud!!! His name is Edgar and I didn't have much time to talk to him
but from what I hear he sounds great!
Things are starting to pick up in our area and we are getting back
into the swing of things after being sick for so long!
God loves you! Don't be afraid to share his love with those around
you!! It's very easy to get focused on yourself, but take a second to
look up and see what you can do today to help someone else who is in
need. Love you all!!!
-Elder Miller
P.S
We had Zone Focus this week and the Zone Leaders always do something
to announce our Baptismal goal for the month. So they took us into the
gym and there lie a HUGE mound of flour. They explained to us, our
baptismal goal is in the flour and you can ONLY use your mouth to find
it.....which would be great except we all were in suits or dresses.
Soooooo I think my grey suit needs some serious dry
cleaning.....ha...hah.haaaa(sighs). I was completely covered in flour!
Here's a picture! Our goal is for every companionship to have AT least
one baptism in the months of January and February in the mission! We
have some great people getting ready for baptism this month so we'll
see what happens!!
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Happy New Years!!! Hope everyone had a wonderful New Years Eve! Mine
was pretty amazing! Btw Thank you Graves and Allec Family for the
Christmas Cards and the packages, Ian and Serena, I really loved
those! We had two dinner appointments back to back and we were dying!
The people here are so sweet. Both families were doing things after
and eating dinner at a different time but they still cooked us full
dinners and just watched us eat haha. Our first one was a Recent
Convert named Marina from Salvador and then another Recent Convert,
Andres and his member wife from Ecuador! The members were incredibly
nice but sadly the was not so nice.....haha all the Elders in my Piso
got food poisoning from the Gambas(shrimp) so ONCE again we were in
Piso sick. Fun times haha, I was able to do splits with the other
trainee on Friday before I started getting too sick and we found a new
investigator and he's great! His name is Jaga and he is from Senegal,
a small country in Africa and he is Muslim(haha our third Muslim
investigator!). On our first lesson with him that actually was taught
by the other trainee and I, we committed him to be baptized on the
16th of this month! He came to church on Sunday, so we'll see how it
goes!
Being sick and in Piso has been pretty hard. Being a missionary and
not able to work is the worst! Hopefully this is just food poisoning
and we'll be able to get out working here soon!
I found a good scripture that I think really applies during this time
of the year, Ether 12:4
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better
world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh
of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them
sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to
glorify God." We need to not only hope for a better world but a better
you! Those who truly believe that we can progress day by day and truly
leave our bad habits behind. I think having Christmas and New Years so
close is great because we are reminded of why we can be better and
that's through our Savior, Jesus Christ. When you have faith in a
better you, you show your faith in Christ. You can achieve your goals
and become better as you apply the atonement in your lives daily! Love
you all so much and ¡espero que podáis sentir mi amor para vosotros!
-Con amor,
Elder Miller
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