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
Enviado desde mi iPad

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