Sept. 20, 2011

so far the new area is going pretty good. I actually quite enjoy it. the area is pretty much right next to the layton area i was just barely in and actually have to travel through the old area in layton to get some parts of the new area. but also about the new companion...his name is Elder Sullivan, he is from texas and has been out for now 7 weeks. so he is pretty much a brand new missionary. but he also has asperbergers and it makes it really hard. he is socially awkward. the first day his bike was broken so we walked and he just talked about anime for the whole day and i was like, well we need to get that bike fixed! but the only reason why i wanted to ride bikes is so i didn't have to listen to him talk the whole time... but we eventually got his bike fixed and the first day i guess i rode him to the ground because he is also over weight and not really athletic so whenever we got up to a little hill he would always just get off his bike and push it, but now we have been riding our bikes for this week and he has been doing alot better, he still is really slow but doesn't get off the bike which is good. but enough ranting on my companion.

we actually have a baptism happening today at 7:30, the person who is getting baptized name is cody and actually his mom called up last night and was like, hey can we do the baptism tomorrow, and so we were like why not? so that baptism is going to happen today so we are pretty excited about that. but things have been going pretty good in this area. it is kind of hard becuase elder sullivan doesn't really pay attention with alot of things like when i first came to this area he didn't really know where anything is, or what our investigators names were or what we were teaching them or how far the investigator has progressed. so it really felt like i was white washing the area....but this experience isn't really that bad because has really forced me to work a little harder to get to know the investigator and also the area a little harder. which i like and it is forcing me to find more investigators to teach. Usually when i see somebody walking on the street i usually just wave say hello and pass them. but now i am trying to get more people to teach so i am just going up to everybody and talking to them, which mind sound weird but i have met some really good people and also some really weird people.

but there was also this weird experience that happened this week. but anyways we were trained by our zone leaders to vision everybody we see as children of god and that our mission is to treat everybody like we would treat our brother's and sister or as Jesus would treat us. so i took that pretty seriously and i was just on fire talking to people and treating them as jesus would treat us. but anyways we went to this one apartment coplex and knocked on this door and nobody was home and across the parking lot there was this Christian church and there was also this band tour bus there. and it was called adams road band and it was actually a pretty nice tour bus and i was going to check it out to see if they were a good band or not and actually when we were right about to check it out one of the band members came out and just started talking to us and he was super nice and he was wearing a cross and stuff and also the other band members came out and then the original guy that was talking to us was like yeah i remember when i served my mission and then the other band members came out and they said yeah we all served missions. they were all really nice also. but in my head i was like, you guys all served missions yet you wear crosses and stuff? so i asked them if they were members and they said that they all grew up members, served full time missions and now they left the church because they studied the new testament, and they said that the new testament says that all they need to do is have faith in Jesus and that the grace of god will save them because of that...which is ridiculous and there are so many ways that we could bash that but we didn't because we remembered that we should treat them as our brothers and we just talked to them. but they gave us one of their cd's and actually took a picture with us, but hopefully they come to the truth and come back one of these days.

Love

Elder Miller

Sept. 13, 2011

Dear Mom,

so guess what...i am getting transferred out of layton and i am moving again...!  i am going to clearfield and i am not really too happy about it. that is going to be 2 areas that i have been in only 1 transfer. I am a little disappointed because good things are happening. i am also going to be in the smallest apartment in the mission. i will have to take a picture for you to show you how small it really is. my new companion's name is elder Sullivan and i have no idea who he is or where he is from. but i guess the lord really needs me in clearfield, so that is where i will be going. but things have been really good here. since i have been here we have had 5 baptisms this transfer and we have 3 more lined up for this next upcoming transfer. but i guess i am really close because my new area pretty much is bordering my area right now so i guess will be able to come back to the baptisms. but i am really bummed that i am getting transferred again. but i guess i know clearfield a little bit because sunset is right next to it and i went to clearfield a couple of times during my time in sunset.

but this week was pretty good. we saw 1 baptism 2 confirmations happen this sunday and it was really good. but our one investigator steve got confirmed this sunday and also one of our other investigators aaron was baptzed this saturyd and then he was confirmed on sunday, but it was really funny with both of the confirmations becuase both of them came in a little late to both the sacrament meetings, so when steve came in they were announcing that he just got baptized and then he walked in and was confirmed and then later that day the same thing happened to aaron. but it is really good to see some baptisms.

 

but i really don't have much to report on this week. i am not too excited to go clearfield. i really enjoyed serving with elder ortiz becuase we were practically friends before we served with each other. but i guess my attitude will have the most to do with it so i am just going to continue to have a good attitude and seek those who are willing to listen to us and to be baptized!

 

Love

 

Elder Miller

Sept. 6, 2011

but this week i hit my year mark so i was able to burn a shirt! (don't worry, it wasn't my shirt) i will send you some pictures when i get a chance to do that. but this week we had 2 baptisms so it was pretty awesome! the one girl Michelle got baptized so that was pretty awesome! but it was a really aweosme experience, her parents are non-members and they came to the baptism and the baptism went really really well, but her parents definetly felt the spirit, her dad is in the Army and he was shedding some tears and was like really excited after the baptism telling people that he felt the holy spirit and he was like checking out the font and was like saying that he was ready to be baptized right now! but during sacrament meeting michelle got confirmed and it was really awesome and it was testimony meeting, and remember what i told you about what Elder Bednar told us about pure testimonies telling us that we shouldn't give a thankimony, instead just bear testimony about how you know that christ lives, but anyways a bunch of little kids bore pure testimony and the spirit was really really strong and i was about to get up and then Michelle's dad got up and bore his testimony saying that he felt the spirit and was so proud of Michelle's decision to be baptized and also about how he would want to follow her in her footsteps soon!!!! (and this was the same dad that wouldn't let her get baptized until she was 18) but anyways after the meeting her mom had to go back to work and i thought that her parents were only going to stay for sacrament, but instead Michelle's dad stayed for gospel principles so that was awesome!!!

 

but also this other guy named steve got baptized this weekend also, he was at michelle's baptism because he wanted to see an LDS baptism before he got baptized and he was like a little kid at the baptism telling everybody that he was going to be baptized but he got baptized on sunday so he won't be confirmed until next sunday, but anywyas his girlfriend or supposedly girlfriend, lives in brigham city and she got pulled over and she had some warrants so she got arrested on saturday night but got out on sunday morning and she said that she was going to come down for the baptism but at the last second she became gay and backed out saying that she was too scared to drive and that made steve really mad and he almost didn't get baptized because he wanted to be there but he got baptized and after he was baptized he said he was really glad he did it now. so that was awesome!

 

Love

 

Elder Miller

Aug. 30, 2011

so we were supposed to have 2 baptisms happen this week, and they didn't happen.....but they will be baptize soon, but anyways the one girl, who was supposed to be baptized this saturday didn't tell her parents that she was planning on being baptized and she is knid of afraid to tell her dad these things and Elder Ortiz and i waited for her to tell her parents, and she hadn't yet so we just went over there thinking that we were going to have a negative outcome with the parents, but when we went over there the visit went well and the parents who are non-members were qutie supportive of her decision to be baptized, except they were like the 27th is too soon and also the Dad had to work this past friday and saturday, and sunday so he said that he wouldn't be able to make it so we are planning on having her baptism this upcoming saturday or sunday, which will hopefully happen then. and then the other guy that was supposed to be baptized said that he couldn't do it becuase none of his family was going to show up, so he wanted to do it next week, except next week is labor day weekend and his girlfriend who is his fellowship said that she was going to be gone taht weekend camping so he decided to be baptized on the 10th...which kind of sucks. agency sucks sometimes. but if we take away agency, that sucks even more, becuase that is what satan wanted to do!

 

but this week we have another baptism going to come up also, the missionaries before me in this are have been teaching this guy named steve and he knows the church is true except he has a problem with smoking and so finally he came up with a baptismal date himself! and he wants to be baptized this next sunday at 7, so that will be awesome. also we have found another 9 year old kid who hasn't been baptized and when we first went over we just talked to his Dad and the Dad agreed with us to teach his son, but the kid wouldn't even come out of the house to say hi to us, so we set up an appointment and yesterday we taught him and he was like a totally changed kid, he was way excited to meet with us and the whole time he was like when can i get baptized?! so that was cool and also Elder Ortiz and I were concerned that this famliy wouldn't even come to church becuase the work on sundays and when both parents work on sunday the kids usually don't come to church, but the parents during the lesson were said that they sent off their kids to church this past sunday and that kids will just come to church on their own which is awesome! and also we have another little girl who is the same age who is also the same way!

 

so also we have started teaching another guy who is from the east coast, but has moved out here becuase of the air force. he has a girlfriend who is LDS and he is living with her, which was kind of a concern. but anyways we taught him a first discussion and it was going really well. usually when we teach a first discussion which is the restoration, this mission uses something called the spirit sandwich, and what the spirit sandwich is, is that we first talk about what the feelings of the holy ghost are and pretty much tell them if they feel the spirit in the lesson that means that it comes from god and throught the feelings of the spirit it is true. and then we ask the question, if you feel the spirit tonight will you devote yourself to god, and most all people say yes, so then we go into the lesson and before we discuss the first vision we talk over the spirit again and then tell them to look for the feelings of the holy ghost when we tell them about the first vision, and then after we tell the first vision we discuss the feelings of the spirit and then we commit for baptism.

 

Love

 

Elder Miller