Happy New Year from Madrid!

Segovia

Happy New Year!

We are in Segovia today, by the way. We had to do piso checks and I wanted to visit. The elders in Segovia live in a different piso than when I was here with Elders Jensen and Peterson. We are emailing right near the aquaduct. It is so nostalgic to be back. There is snow in the mountains, and it is as cold as I remember it was. It is interesting to be back going to the pedido mail meetings again, and piso checks and locutorios checks and stuff.
Thanks to Ginny and Joe for a Christmas email. I really loved it. It was a way good long one. Also thanks to Merkie and Gary, Grandma Judy, Evan, and to Dotty again.
Wow, a White Christmas, a wedding and a family party or two, what a week. I was sad to hear about Keith Warshaw, I always loved getting dragged along to their house with you. Thanks for keeping things going well at home with school and life so there isn’t a worry about you all. I love you all so much and hope you had a great week.
We get a ton of referrals in our area. Like, we got 7 in the last two days from other elders. We turn in like 20 plus weekly to other areas. We went to the Joseph Smith movie with 2 recent converts, who brought 2 investigators and 1 menos activo. Leonardo a new investigator, who has a baptismal date, came as well. Manuel Robledo is doing well and quitting his vices. I saw the temple Christmas lights when we went to the movie.
I got to talk to the guy who is coming to the U.S. for school. He is the Executive Secretary, I think. He is awesome. His name is Luis Huerta. He brought a non member friend to the Ward Christmas party the Friday before Christmas. He offered to deliver my package to you, but we only had Sunday night to get it to him, and we couldn’t work it into the schedule. So I will send the package the normal way in a bit. I love the Ward, and the Ward Christmas party was awesome with a huge buffet 4 tables long. Also, there were 7 of the investigators from our area and 3 menos activos, which was awesome for fellowshipping.
We had 3 great Christmas meals last week, well 4. First, on Christmas preparation day we cooked 2 chickens as a piso and made mashed potatoes and gravy, and it was awesome. Also we had 2 roast roosters that were fattened up and raised for the Christmas season meals. They were cooked with bacon on top, in a bed of potatoes and onions, and stuffed with pine nuts, jamon, hard boiled eggs and spices - just succulent. We also had soup to start-jamon and egg, followed by La Mancha queso, the best, and jamon, salchichon, chorizo, and lomo, the main Spain deli meats. Then we had the main course - poularda, and then dessert cookies and brownies, we made, and tons of Spanish desserts like turron, candied fruits, polvoron (cinnamon flavored things that are dusty, and so you crush them in the rapper before you eat them, and then some cakes. It was all from a recent convert Spaniard in our area named Andres de Batres, just a saint. He is super kind. Then we had paella and cornbreadish stuff from Paraguay called "sopa" which means soup here, but cheesy cornbread in Paraguay. I don’t know why. The meal we cooked was for Christmas Eve lunch. Andres’ feast was on Christmas Eve night, and Christmas day lunch was the paella and bread we had for dinner. Christmas night, right before the phone call, we had soup with chicken, and my companion’s serving looked like he got an extra special part of the chicken foot. They sell the whole feet, but it looked like his had been cut off just above the dedos, so there weren’t like claws or toe/finger things. Then we had fried chicken with mixed vegetables that were all red from some kind of weird sauce, and then pizza. So it was over the top on both of our dinner meals, and on all of them really, but it was a good Christmas.
Thanks for everything.Have a great week.
I love you all.
Much love from Segovia.
Elder Miller

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Dad! What a week for emails! Thank you Hadley, Stephanie, Vickie, Doug, Grandma, Sarah, Becky, Marty, Michelle, Dotty, Isaac, Clint and Amanda, Hawkins, and Elder Jackson Brown, who just returned home from his mission; I am in Barrio 5 - Sol. If I forgot anyone, thank- you too! I got a package from Brian. We listened to the EFY cd’s yesterday at medio dia. I also got packages from both Grandmas and the 2 from Mom, Dad and Evan as well. The box with the Thai books came in time that I was able to write in them at Christmas Zone Conference and give them to Elder Haynie to take to Tak and Rei. Speaking of which, Tak and Rei sent a Christmas card with Elders Haynie and Parry for me, just a simple Christmas card but it made my world. Elder Sewell loved the BYU hoody. Thanks so, so, so much for sending the packages for me.
I was made a Zone Leader again with this transfer, so I will probably stay here for 2 or 3 more transfers and then I will go somewhere else for my last few transfers.
Christmas Conference was amazing. There were two parts - a skit part at the beginning where we made impromptu skits, and also there was guessing about missionaries in the down time. We sang Christmas songs in Spanish as well, and then we ate a delicious honey baked ham, smothered in Dijon mustard horseradish sauce (kind of a strong flavor), and then pineapple on that. We also had baked potatoes with all the fixins, croissants and a spinach salad. For dessert we had Roscon, the traditional Spanish Reyes Day (6th of January) celebration cake. It is a circle like a donut with whipped cream in the middle. It was great. We also had a spiritual half where there was a choir presentation with a ton of songs and solos and quartets and a ton of talented missionaries sang. Then President and Hermana Farnsworth both spoke and we received our family letters. I also got one from President Lattin. Then President Farnsworth handwrote one to everyone just like last year. It’s weird to be on Christmas number 2 in Spain. It doesn’t feel a lick like Christmas, except when we were caroling in Sol and at Christmas Conference.
Mom, I would love it if you took some pictures at Elise’s wedding for me of the people there.
Have fun snowmobiling and snowboarding and all of that cold stuff. I love you all a ton, and the people here love us as well. Don’t worry mom. We have a dinner appointment tonight and one tomorrow, and both days are full of citas. If all we did was walk around and contact on Christmas, I would be just fine, though. I hope I don’t get my camera stolen again, that was way bad last Christmas, and then we also had emergency transfers on Christmas morning last year.
This week at church there was about 120 people there, which is awesome. There are people from the USA, South America and Spain. It’s kind of crazy, especially because 2 wards meet in the same building. It is a bajo, or a basement to a big apartment building, but on the ground floor. Here in Spain, they leave all of the ground floors of buildings for stores, offices, bars, restaurants, businesses, and Mormon capillas... that’s convenient.
As far as investigators goes, we are teaching some people that Elder Ott taught. A man who we thought was a member until we found out he isn’t a member. We found him in the old investigators section of the area book, with Elder Ott’s name on the back as the last one to teach him. So that’s weird. He is coming to church and we have a baptismal date with him even though he was baptized 17 years ago with no records of it. So we have to recreate the baptism. The problem is that he smokes a lot, and has lots of problems we are trying to help him overcome. His name is Manuel Robledo. We also have a new investigator that we taught for the first time last night. Her name is Dora and we also taught her brother-in-law Quirico. They are both from the Dominican Republic. We are hoping to teach Dora’s sister and Quirico’s wife in the next lesson. They are awesome and were so intent, and feeling the spirit as we were able to tell them that amazing message of the restoration of the Gospel. We also have another former Elder Ott investigator, Ascensio. He had a baptismal date with Elder Ott and disappeared the last week, and then another after he was found and taught again, until in the last week he called his wife in South America and she told him not to get baptized. So we are trying to figure that out so we can baptize him. Work is going well. Have a Merry Christmas!
Remember the reason for the season!
I love you all tons.

Love, Elder Miller

Merry Christmas from Madrid!

I'm in Madrid!

From: Morgan Miller elder.miller@myldsmail.net

Elder Morgan Miller
Spain Madrid Mission
Avenida de Espana 17, Local 01-1
E-28100 Alcobendas (Madrid)
SPAIN

I got transferred to the center of Madrid. That Christmas tree that you sent me a picture of is in my area. I am in Barrio 5 where Elder Ott was before he went to Ciudad Real. My new companion is Elder McBride. I am way excited to be with him. Elder McBride was in Fuenlabrada when I was in Mostoles, and then afterwords as well. By the way, Fuenlabrada has grown so much in the missionary work since I was there 1 year ago. There are 4 elders there now, instead of 2. Mostoles has grown as well, and yesterday received a companionship of Hermanas. So that is awesome. Elder McBride is from West Jordan and his dad owns a restaurant called Geckos Mexican Grill on 10600 South 781 West. You should go there. That would be cool. He is in the same group as Elder Peterson, my 2nd companion in Segovia. Sorry about last week’s short email. I sent the first one, and then I typed up another one just as long, if not longer, all about what happened the week before. So the computer kicked me out about a minute early and poof went the email. So, sorry about that. I will try to type that stuff up next week.
On the Christmas phone call, it would be splendid if you could call at 7:50, and then Elder McBride’s family will call at 8:50. Our area is way crazy as far as the work with the metro travel. I am a fish out of water here, and having a struggle to adjust to the work. It’s a weird style. we have to take the Metro about 30 minutes between appointments, and make contacts and commute in super close quarters, and sometimes pressed up against people. It’s so different! We don’t have a super lot of investigators, but we teach a bunch of members, menos activos, and the 7 recent converts from last transfer and the ones before that. In this district is Elder Weinert, the District Leader with Elder Goldhardt (cousin of Mark Goldhardt). Then there are Hermanas as well. They are Hermana Salas from South America and Hermana Thompson from Alaska. It’s kind of interesting with Hermanas now. We have the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, Sol, and lots of museums in our area. We live 2 Metro stops from Atocha, and the Reina Sofia is just down the street. Santiago Bernardo, the Real Madrid stadium, is right next to our area as well. So what I said about never serving in Madrid isn’t true anymore. It sounds like the hustle and bustle is going in full force back home.
If you could call Elder Brown for me, and invite him to the house for dinner when he comes to Utah that would be awesome. He just got home today or yesterday. If you could give him a call, that would be great. I gave him your number and address for when he is in Salt Lake and invited him to dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s one Sunday night.
Thanks for the updates on everything. Thanks for the packages, and thank Grandma Judy and everyone for the paper Christmas tree and ornaments. It is up on our wall with of the presents underneath, but it doesn’t feel an ounce like Christmas. The piso here needs some cleaning, and so we are going to whip it into shape today. It was really sad to leave Ciudad Real. They gave me the opportunity to bear my testimony and I almost cried, but didn’t. Just to say good by to the Pedrajas, the Sanzs, Jose Antonio, Luis Gallego, Arnaldo and Arnaldito, Denis, Irma, the Lopezs, and the investigators who were just doing great when I left was very hard. We had a noche de hogar on Saturday with 32 people there and 6 were investigators. Teo and Estefania were there with their new baby boy, Oswaldo and Luz, Takisne and Rei, and then at church the next day were Patrick and Takisne and Rei. Also at church was the Primary Program, which is hysterical wherever you go in the world. We have the Barrio 5 Primary Program this week so I get back to back Primary Programs. I think that is one of the best Christmas presents I have ever received, and to be on a mission, and to serve the Lord here. Like I said, it is kind of hard to shift gears from La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote to here, but I will do my best. I know Elder Haynie will take over with no problem, and my replacement as District Leader is awesome. He is Elder Parry from Logan. He lives next-door to the Lamberts and has been snowmobiling at the cabin. I’m in a new chapter of my mission and it will be an interesting one. We have Mission Council on Thursday, and that will be awesome I am sure. That’s the Zone Leader meeting at the mission home, and this one is the one where we set the goals for next year. Also, we are going caroling on Saturday night as a Zone, and then we have Christmas Conference on Monday. The Zone is Cuatro Caminos which includes Segovia, Salamanca, Valladolid, Barrio 1, Barrio 5, Villalba, and that’s it, I believe. Elder Sewell is in Salamanca, Elder Fairbanks is in Barrio 1, and Elder Jarman is in Valladolid. So that should be fun to be around those elders, and I will get to go on exchanges with Elder Jarman, as well. Our piso is smaller than in Ciudad Real, with just one bathroom and one bedroom, and a small living room and then 2 study rooms, and a small kitchen. But it is amazingly placed right in the heart of Madrid, so that makes it all worth it. So far I have just taught lessons to members, but today we are going to teach 2 investigators.
The spiritual thought is Alma 7:10-13. It gives an awesome description of the Atonement, the best Christmas present ever, and everyone who wants it can receive it.
Have a great Christmas season, and I love you all oh so much.
Have a great day.
Love, Elder Miller

Toledo

We're In Toledo for P-day

We are in Toledo today with the elders serving here, and we are emailing from the cool castle library again. I’m here with Elders Karren and Read from Puerto llano and Elder Ostler and Hutchings that are serving here, also Elder Haynie. Elder Karren and I left Puerto llano from exchanges at 6:15 am, and then our companions got on at 7:00 am in Ciudad Real, and then we got here at 8:30 or so and took the city bus up to the library. We are in Toledo for about 7 hours until the 4 o’clock bus takes us home. It wasn’t the most convenient travel to get here from pueblo to pueblo, but we should have a way relaxing unrushed, fun visit today. I am going to get some Christmas stuff and get that off to you ASAP.
Happy 16th birthday Ian! Thank Jenn for the email. I loved hearing about James and soccer, and being scouted. Way to be James. Thank Grandma Judy, Dotty and Tess for their emails too. Tess asked when I come home, so let her know its July.
Takisne told us this week "I want bautizma" that’s what baptism sounds like it Thai, and she wants it. So we are trying with the super limited English, to teach and prepare them. Mom, those books you are sending should be amazing and maybe the key to it all.
I am telling more and more Grandpa Allen jokes by the day, and I think they are a little bit funny.
The spider bite was on my calf. It is just fine, just a big old scab, but it will be a sweet battle scar.
Higinia came for the 4th time in a row to church this past week, and she is just beaming. She has changed so, so much to a happy member of the church. It has been awesome to see her go from down in the dumps spiritually to being active in the church and happy again. Sorry my time is so short!

Love, Elder Miller

It's December

Teo and Estefania had a baby boy, and are doing well.
Elder Korongo has 6 months exactly until he goes home. He goes home with Elder Sewell.
Just a side note, I talk in my sleep and teach lessons and contact in Spanish nightly in my sleep, so I kind of feel bad for Elder Haynie on that.
I bought a new tooth brush that is good and soft, and I will be sure to do my little circles while brushing. My gums aren’t painful or tender. I floss like 3 times a day at least. And I brush for a little too long I think. I really like brushing my teeth and flossing. It’s weird.
So this week was good for emails, and I was shocked about Elder Wirthlin. We had a good week in the work as well. I went on exchanges with Elder Gamarra who was in the Madrid CCM with me, and is from Peru. Exchanges were in Alcazar and went great.
The crazy thing this past week was the spider bite I got while I was sleeping on the couch. It was already a blister full of puss about a centimeter wide when I woke up. It had a red ring around it. It grew until Sunday when it popped during church. It is a scab, and kind of a deep hole. The red is going away and all is well. It was pretty cool though, and mixed things up a little bit.
Also, I had exchanges with Elder Read on Monday in Puerto llano, so I have been on exchanges in each city in La Mancha that has missionaries now. Elder Read is awesome, and I just have a blast with him. We taught 2 lessons to their 4 different investigators with baptismal dates set, and then we went to a member Noche de Hogar. It was great. When we were coming home, Elder Read bought his ticket for the 30th of December and we so missed our train trying to switch it. The next train to get to Zone Conference on time was an Ave. We take Avant normally, which is only 55 minutes in on the train to Madrid, but the Ave is 5-10 minutes faster. So it is double in price, 30 euros instead of 15. We had to take it though, and it was worse seats, and a movie we couldn’t even watch and they gave us a candy. I was hoping I would at least have a cool "I rode the Ave train" story, but I just found out it is super lame and expensive.
We stayed in Mostoles after Zone Conference on Tuesday. Elder Peterson is there, and Elder Guerrero, and Elder Swartwood, who goes home with Elder Brown in less than 2 weeks. So it was good to see them all. The temple was amazing this time as always. I got to say my goodbyes and I hadn’t seen Elder Brown since General Conference. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to say good bye to him. Also, we played futbol and basketball in the Stake Center and there were 30 plus missionaries, which is 1/4 of the mission. So that was fun. One of the Elders there was Elder Sewell, so we caught up. I hadn’t seen him since General Conference either.
The area is going just amazing. For the 2nd time in 5 weeks we were able to teach at least 20 lessons. It is going great. We are still working towards the 27th of Dec. with Oswaldo and Mabel. Patrick’s date was moved to Dec. 27th due to not finding work, and thus not being able to move out. In Mostoles, I got to see Miguel Angel and his wife Marlene at the capilla, and we ate at Julio’s from Mexico again. I also saw Juan de Dios Vaca again, and Rebecca who is from Africa. That was awesome.
We are headed home now. Higinia came to church again, and she brought a friend.

Love, Elder Miller

Almost December!

From: Morgan Miller (elder.miller@myldsmail.net)

Hey everyone! I thought I would tell you what the Madrid mission does around Christmas. I would guess at this time they do Christmas lights on the Madrid Temple Square, and then the Madrid elders carol on Christmas Eve at Plaza Mayor. I haven’t seen the lights and didn’t do the caroling last year because I wasn’t in that area. Hopefully this year I will at least see the lights on Temple Square.
We had our Zone Mission Home night for the holidays on week 2 of this transfer, so like a week and a half ago. This week there were 3 more exchanges since last Wednesday. We have 3 more this transfer with Alcazar again on Friday, and then Puerto llano on week 5 and 6 of the transfer. It is wacky because we have so many exchanges, more than anyone else in the mission, even more than the Assistants and other District Leaders over large districts, but it’s all right because Elder Haynie is a top-notch amazing missionary, and takes over the area like a champ. Teo and Estefania had their baby, and all is well. Elder Decker and I went to visit them on exchanges. Elder Decker is way sweet. He is our Zone Leader and I get along with him really well. He is in my MTC group of missionaries, so we have been on our missions the same amount of time, but he waited 6 months in the Baltimore, Maryland English speaking mission for his visa.
The work is going amazing here, better than I ever imagined it could possibly go. It is Wednesday morning, and we still have 5 days in the week of teaching, and we already had the opportunity to teach 12 lessons on exchanges in the past two days. The exchanges were with Elder Dorner and Elder Korongo. I have served around Elder Korongo a lot. In each of my areas he has been in my Zone. So now I have finally been on exchanges with him. You might remember him. He is the very tall, dark guy in the picture with me a few months ago. He is an interesting person. I have always gotten along with him.
Mom, will you ask Tom about my gums around my molars? They are receding a little bit. I can’t figure out why. Am I brushing too much, or not getting enough vitamins, or what? The members feed us a ton here, so it isn’t by any means malnutrition, and I don’t think that’s a reason for it anyway. Thanks!
The good news is my suits are holding in there. My shirts are always ironed and clean and my shoes stay polished. Holidays pass like nothing happened. The days are going faster and faster. I sleep deeper and deeper. I am happier and busier than I have ever been, and I love my family more than I ever knew before.
Happy Thanksgiving! It won’t feel any different here, but we are going to buy a roasted chicken and have chips and dip. We are going to make the pumpkin muffins Grandma sent, salad with ranch dressing, and of course, mashed potatoes. I haven’t had mashed potatoes my whole time here, well a couple times the instant mashed potatoes, but we are doing the real thing.
Patrick is doing great. Elder Haynie and Elder Dorner gave him a blessing yesterday of council and comfort, and it went “out of this world” well. Also, Oswaldo is doing well, even though he went to Madrid last weekend and didn’t make it to church there. We just had a great lesson with Higinia from Bolivia. She is a menos activo lady who just came back to church. I think I mentioned her last week. It was an awesome lesson, and the members are taking her right back in and loving her to death. It’s great! This unit of the church is amazing here, and I am glad to be a part of it.
We were able to teach José Antonio’s sister and dad. His dad is 97, turning 98 in January. He lives with his brother Ramón and sister Ana. Missionaries have never visited them from what Ana told us, and Elder Dorner and I just figured we would ask if we could come over. It went great and we have another lesson on Saturday with them. José Antonio is the only member of the church in his family. He is amazing, and loves, loves, loves missionary work. He goes with us at least once a day to lessons. Also, we taught a Colombian woman named Mabel, who is golden. She came to church and accepted the baptismal date for the 27th of December.
We are way excited for her. She was telling us how the Lord sent us to Spain to help her see the light and find the truth. It was awesome. We got to serve some members and trim there patio trees, and sweep up their leaves. They didn’t have a rake because it is a weird thing to live on the bottom floor of a building, and even weirder to have a patio with trees. It is more normal here in Ciudad Real, but in Spain as a whole, it is different. It was way fun, and we had a great time helping out the members. It was surprising how much fun manual labor was. I absolutely loved it, weird.
Hermana Nieves, who lives a roller coaster life with depression, is doing great right now, and is consistently praying, reading the scriptures, and just doing great with all of her problems, so that is just awesome. She is helping others find the gospel as well. Her latest ones are her friends Lourdes and Amelia. So we are going to teach Amelia for the 3rd time on Saturday, and Lourdes for the first time.
Have a great day! The spiritual thought this week is in Doctrine and Covenants 109 verse 14.
Love, Elder Miller

11-19-08

Well, first of all thank the Petersons for the email and family updates.
I sent an email to Jessica to help her with her report on Spain. I thought you might like some España facts so here it goes:
The jobs for Spaniards are usually the nice business men office jobs, where they wear nice suits and fancy clothes. The teens don’t work and don’t get married until 30 or near there, and they live with their family until then. They have school just like us with Colegio, then Middle School, then Instituto or High School. Then they go to the University or Universidad. There are trees, but no grass in the cities except for 2 or 3 parks. They like plazas and parks, and open mall stores like at The Gateway. There are just a ton of apartment buildings except for in the little towns. But houses are hooked together, or small. They live mostly in the big cities and don’t spread out across the country. There are way to many cars and not enough room to park them. Public transportation is popular. There are a ton of immigrants. I have met people from all over the world including every nation in South America, Central America, USA, Canada, all over Africa, all over east and west Europe, and then Russia and China, and all over the place. The most common stores are lottery stores, pharmacies, snack stores and candy stores, clothes stores that aren’t in the United States, tobacco stores, banks, real estate agencies, restaurants and bars. Also, the famous people from Spain are Rafael Nadal from tennis, Torres from soccer who plays in England, and Pau Gasol from the Lakers. A former Utah Jazz player Raul Lopez is from here, Antonio Banderas, and I don’t know who else. But good luck with the report. I get home in a little under 8 months. Love you tons, Elder Miller

Well also, I would like to request the Angel’s Landing hike at Zion’s for whichever age group I fall in, but I always loved sitting at the kids table, so you can send me up there with Jake, Abbie, Tessa, Tyler and Cole if you want.
Have fun snowboarding this season Evan. Don’t break anything but have fun.
About the nativity sets: I haven’t seen anything too cool, or anything much at all, just cheap stuff from chino stores that looks way lame. I will search a bit. Most of that stuff is going to be in Madrid, but I have really only been in Madrid on my mission about 10 days of tourism and that includes the temple in the morning and back to missionary work at 6:30, which leaves about no time to run and see one thing. I will try to find one, with zero guarantees.
Well we had exchanges on Monday with the Alcazar elder’s trio here. I went with Elder Ogden, and then Tuesday with Elder Lundell. The baby of Teo and Estefani should be born any day or is already born. Patrick came to church for the fifth time and Takisne and Rei came for the 4th time. All is well with them. We are trying to figure out how to teach Tak and Rei still with their limited English and almost non-existent Spanish. Also, Oswaldo from Ecuador has a baptismal date for the 27th of December. He is awesome and prays always and reads the assignments, along with Tak, Rei, and Patrick. Another menos activo lady came back to church. Her name is Higinia. She is very nice and Elder and Ott and I contacted her about 3 months ago. I use the Ranger Cookie recipe from Grandma Judy, by the way.
To answer Grandma, I can’t remember if Hermana Farnsworth received the cookie book. I think I gave it to her. Tell Dusty and Katie “Hi” if they come to dinner on Sunday. Have them drop me a line if they have a minute. I would love to hear from them. I miss getting Dusty’s emails every week.
Elder Haynie and I are lost in the work and are just having a blast. I am having the time of my life helping the District and loving the members and missionaries. Our investigators are good ones, and the Lord is just blessing us a lot. Thanks for the prayers. We had District Preparation Day today. We played soccer this morning on a little turf field at a near by park here in Ciudad Real. Elder Karren from Skyline High School knows a bunch of people I do, and it was fun to be around the other elders. I gave Elder Reid a hair cut. That is about number 15 or more, and Elder Karren needed a trim. All is well, and the work is going as it should. Tell everyone “Hi and I love them”. The spiritual thought this week is a good “endure to the end” one in Alma 1:25. Keep on keepin on. I love you all.
Much love from España Elder Miller

Autumn in Spain

16 months!

First off, thanks for everything you all do. Grandma Judy made it sound like you didn’t like the Christmas don’t send list, sorry. If I could think of other things I would let you know, but none come.
Mom, could you get in touch with Justin Dolan and ask what materials are in Tai for me. Don’t send them; just give me a list of the things that are available. As far as movies we have shown them “Finding Faith in Christ”, and “The Restoration” in Tai. If you could also ask Justin and Steve how in the world they transitioned from Buddhism to Christianity. They love church and have been 3 times and to 2 Noches de Hogar. Takisne is in Mosiah 26 in the Book of Mormon already in her reading and is praying nightly. So kind of crazy!
Patrick didn’t move out of his apartment with his girlfriend last week and he wasn’t kicked out to force him to. Things stalled with his progress towards baptism, but we set a new date for the 13th of December and made a 6 step plan including scripture reading, moving out, getting a job, prayers daily, lessons 2 times a week, and 4 more times at church. He didn’t come this week because he was embarrassed that he came up short on the goal. So we are going to turn him into a “rock solid” convert in this next 5 weeks and be sure he can’t go astray. I think it is better this way anyway.
The bucket of cake that I mentioned last week ranges from a 4 gallon bucket to about a 1 gallon bucket, full of cake scraps that they don’t throw away because the District President saves them for us. So we just eat it like a community bowl of cereal with spoons. It’s great!
I was so, so, so happy to hear that Coach Smith finally quit at Olympus. I am sure getting fired was inevitable and he probably wouldn’t want to keep teaching at a school he got fired from as coach.
I just wanted to make sure the food storage back home is doing well with the crazy times we are in. I am going to have to buy a new suitcase for about 23 euros at a chino, due to the big one loosing a wheel getting here to Ciudad Real.
Our trip to Madrid went well and the events were eventful. I am sure things like Zone Conference, District Meeting, Interviews and stuff like that are really boring to read in my emails. Sorry, that’s kind of my life here. We have 8 exchanges this transfer, so that is going to be nuts. Also, last week went really well as far as our success in teaching. We were able to teach a bunch of lessons and help a lot of people. I really love this city, and the Lord is helping these people come to Christ. One funny thing is that the toilet at the Leganes Capilla flooded again during interviews this transfer just like it did last transfer. So that was pleasant with the water coming out of a storm drain in a closet - way fun to clean up in suits and church shoes.
We are teaching some awesome people. Amelia is one of Hermana Nieves’ friends. She is great. She is from Spain and had a baptismal date back in July, but cancelled it. We picked her back up and are going to work with her. Also, Estefania and Teo came to the Rama Noche de Hogar on Saturday and were fellowshipped great as usual. We took our newest favorite, Ranger Cookies. Elder Haynie and I have made 4 batches in a couple of week’s time to take to people. We substituted crushed Werther’s for Skor bits though. So maybe Grandma could send some Skor bits. That would be great! Then we didn’t do the Werthers after that because it melted and then the cookies were like glass.
We also have a new investigator named Daniel from Brazil and Oswaldo and Luz from Ecuador. So things are going great and people are popping up all over the place.
This week’s scripture is missionary related: Doctrine and Covenants 24:12

Love,

Elder Milller

Laundry day in Ciudad Real

November 5

Well it was a good week this week. As far as transfers, Elder Haynie and I stayed together for hopefully another six weeks, at least. So I will probably be here in Ciudad Real until the next transfer on the 15th of December. As far as the rest of the district: Elder Hinton went home, and he was replaced by Elder Gamarra, from Peru and in the Madrid CCM with me. Elder Lundell was in Valladolid while I was in Segovia and we were in the same district. Elder Korongo replaced Elder Porter in Valdapeñas, so Elder Korongo and I have been in the same zone 4 times now. Elder Read was made a senior companion for his 4th transfer, and is with Elder Karren from Skyline who is in his 3rd transfer. So there are 2 experienced companionships, one inexperienced, and then Elder Haynie and I are a mix of the two. District Meeting went great. We have a trip to Madrid on Monday morning to renew my residency, and then to go to the mission home that night for the holiday dinner as a zone, and then stay over, and go the next morning to Leganes for interviews. Then we will be back home Tuesday night to Ciudad Real. I got your package by the way, and I love the calendar. Also, I got a tape and pictures from Greg. We have been way blessed with investigators lately. Patrick is doing great. He quit smoking, drinking alcohol and coffee, and is moving out tomorrow or Friday. Pray for him that all goes well and he can be baptized the 15th. He came to church for the 4th time in a row. He has such a strong testimony that as we teach him commandments he just accepts them and says he wants to do anything to follow the Savior and be baptized into the church. It is awesome to see him grow, and learn and prepare. The members fellowship him amazingly, as well. Also, Takisne and Rei came to church again. We spell there names phonetically in Spanish so we can understand the names. We watched the Restoration DVD in Tai with them on Saturday, and they came to church on Sunday again and brought a friend, Suni. Then we at Tai food at their house after church that wasn’t hot, because they know we are Americans. But they did have us try a chili, and my mouth was on fire. Also, there is this man named Manuel. Elder Ott will remember him as the old man of 80 years we taught and he didn’t seem to listen or understand anything, and he had some interesting tangents. So it has been about 7 or 8 weeks since we last went by, but we decided to go by in planning last Thursday. When we went by, he was home and reading the Restoration pamphlet. He has accepted the Book of Mormon amazingly, and we went back the next day, and he had read the first 18 chapters of first Nephi. How amazing is that? I am so excited for this man, and we will see what we can do to help him know of the truthfulness of the gospel. Also Renilda and Bruna, we taught and challenged to baptism, and they said they would when they know it’s true. They are still reading. We just need to help them pray about it. There was a friend of theirs named Marilyn who was there that we taught last time. Estefania is due in about a week I believe, and is resting a lot. My hair cut is kind of interesting right now. It is just fine. I did the usual 19 cm. on top and 7 on the sides and then blended between. Elder Haynie helped me finish the blending to line up the back and around the ears. Well, with the one last stroke above my left ear he took out a chunk of hair. So I have one step in my haircut. I could add two more and be way retro if I wanted, but I guess we will just try to fix it after it as grown for about a week or so. Also this morning, we studied in the light of the patio door because a light bulb blew up when Elder Haynie flipped the light switch this morning. So we waited until our dueño, who’s on vacation in Barcelona, was for sure up, and called to find out that one of the paintings is hiding the breaker box. Good to know- and the lights are back on. We had a dinner appointment at the Pedraja’s again Monday night for family night, and then the Lopez’s for stew on Sunday night. On Monday for medio dia we had pasta with beef sauce at Nieves’ and then the Tai food Sunday for medio dia, and then Thursday we go to Luis´ for paella. The members are awesome, and I love this area, the investigators, and the people of La Mancha or Manchegos. We got a bucket of cake for the 3rd time since I have been here from Pres. Pedraja who is a pastelero, or a pastry baker. Things are going amazing in the district and area, and the Lord is blessing us a ton. I love what it says in Alma 5:49 I believe it is. We preach to everyone and help all to come unto Christ and especially here in a way diverse country. Love, Elder Miller

Elder Ogden and Elder Miller in Merida

Almost November

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 Hey everybody! First off, Happy Birthday Mom, next week. I don’t want to forget it so I will say it a few days early. Also, I got 15 emails this week so that is way awesome.
For this week, we had some more great meals. At Hermana Nieves´house we had a way good tuna and potato salad and then onion rings, croquets, chicken nuggets and empanadas. At Hermana Ana’s we had Fideos soup and something else.
On exchanges, Elder Hinton, who goes home on Tuesday to Mesa, Arizona, and I ate at the Pedraja´s house. He is the District President, and was in Uruguay before now. We were preparing for District Conference. By the way, our District Conference went amazing, and there was a packed room for the investigator/recent convert meeting. Then for the actual conference it was crazy. There were 100 or more in our Chapel. We usually have 25, so it was packed. Elder Ford and his wife were amazing, and the same with President and Hermana Farnsworth. The talks were all great, especially the ones from Elder and Sister Ford in English translated to Spanish. I didn’t have to translate them to English for our two new Thailandes women who are investigating. They both loved it, and Patrick was there as well. Patrick got to meet President Farnsworth and shake his hand, and have a little conversation. It was spectacular.
I did more exchanges. The last of the 7 for this transfer with Elder Ogden who I went to Merida with on exchanges back in Mostoles.
Ana Maria and Dora are both preparing and getting ready for baptism. Now we just need for something to change so they can come to church. We will keep working with their situations. The girlfriend situation with Patrick still hasn’t been resolved, but hopefully today we can make progress. Other than the girlfriend, Patrick is a pretty awesome investigator.
We taught Teo yesterday and it went great, but Estefania was too tired and is super, super, super pregnant. She looks like she is a month or two over due, but isn’t due for 2 weeks.
This week we are set to have 4 dinner appointments with the 2 we have already had, and then 2 more on Sunday. It’s the 4 investigators that Elder Haynie and I have been trying to get, but we can’t ever get them all. This week we hit the Grand Slam though. Also, we are super excited for two new investigators who were referrals from the Alcazar elders. Their names are Renilda and Bruna, both are about 30 and from Brazil. They are so awesome. We had a lesson yesterday and are going back tonight. They are awesome and told us how even though they haven’t been baptized before, their prayers are just like ours, and they believed the whole Restoration Story, and already had been given a Book of Mormon by a friend in the past.
Anyway, have a fun weekend. I imagine there is snow in the mountains. It is super cold here, 3 degrees Celsius this morning for running. I will be way sad if I leave Ciudad Real. I hope to be here at least one transfer more. Well everyone have a Happy Halloween and I love you all. Keep on keepin’ on.

Much love from España.

Love, Elder Miller

October 22

So, let’s start about the week we have had. Last preparation day was nuts, and then we had a night of work, and then planning session, and then another exchange until Saturday with Elder Dorner and Elder Porter the Valdapeñas elders. They come up and stay with us because of the crazy travel, and we can do more work and less travel that way. It all went. I went to the Branch President’s house in Miguelturra, just right outside of Ciudad Real with Elder Porter. It was the first of our pueblos I have been to. All of La Mancha is covered with pueblos and there are only 8 elders in 4 cities. Each of us has a bunch of pueblos, but we have too much to do in Ciudad Real itself, so I haven’t ever made it out of the city. But it was a great cita they gave us Pringles, which was something I hadn’t had in a long time. The Branch President is Presidente Sanz. He is a Spaniard. He has a wife and 3 little girls Adriana, Nirella and Laura (8,5, and 4 respectively). They are a great family, and we had a great lesson on the Christ like attribute of faith. We shared scriptures and drew pictures of seeds that can grow like our faith into trees. It was a good chapter that we all know and love. Alma 32 is the spiritual thought for the week because of that lesson.
So anyway we also made some great meals while those elders were in town. We made taco soup, and potato cheese soup with bacon. They were both way good and then on Sunday, Elder Haynie and I ate at Ana’s house. We had breaded pork chops and tuna salad and pesto which is like salsa, and then for desert we had natillas, which is like the best vanilla pudding ever, but more runny than normal and they put cinnamon on it and cookies on top. At Nieve´s house on Monday, we had fried fish and chips and salad and then brownie pudding and natillas. Basically we ate a lot this week.
This transfer we have had 5 total exchanges spanning over 7 or 8 days with half days in there. So it was kind of crazy for Elder Haynie in his first transfer. But we only have two more with Elder Ogden and Elder Hinton from Alcazar.
We taught Olinda and her family this week, without the dad though. But Francisco was there, a referral from a member, so that made it 6 in the lesson. It was the 3rd lesson in that household, but the other two have been incomplete combinations of the kids and mother. This time it was everyone. It felt great teaching a family all around us about the Book of Mormon. We also taught Ana Maria and she couldn’t come to church because of her crazy Alzheimer’s woman she takes care of. We teach her twice a week, but it has just been an absolute battle with church, same with Dora and her Alzheimer’s woman. So Dora’s and Ana Maria’s baptisms should both work out, but for later in November. Patrick is still on board for the 15th. He got to talk to Nieves about her conversion and baptism and things like that. It went great. Also, he came to church on Sunday. We are going to keep teaching him 3 times a week to prepare him for baptism, but the big hurdle is still the girlfriend living in the same piso. So pray for all to go well with the marriage, break up, or move out. Obviously, the marriage is the best option, but one of the 3 has to happen for Patrick to be baptized.
Zone Conference went awesome yesterday and we stayed with the one and only legendary red headed rapping super bajito Elder Ott and his piso mates in Barrio 6, right next to the temple. That made it convenient to get to the temple this morning for a wonderful session. The temple is amazing, and I love to go there and learn in the University of the Lord. Elder Ott and I were able to catch up a little last night, and it was truly grand. I have missed him, and it sounds like he misses “the stain” (La Mancha). Elder Haynie and I took foam camping pads that we had in our piso up to Barrio 6 because they don’t have any couches or spare beds. We slept well, and the mats roll up kind of small, and then we tie them with a jump rope and my other belt... sweet.
We are headed to the Prado today and maybe to see the Rembrandt special that is there right now. We are going with Elder Dubray and Elder Read and I am super excited about that, but the Prado will be a cultural experience that I will be able to say I had.
This week we have District Conference in Ciudad Real, which should be great. There will be the whole district and then also Cuenca as well. So there will be 10 elders, and then the investigators and recent converts of each area will be there for a sweet meeting with Elder Ford of the 70 and President Farnsworth. It should be so great. Elder Haynie taught these two investigators this last week on exchanges, and they came to church. They are a couple who is expecting a baby in a month and they are friends of the members because they used to come a lot. It should be great to teach them, Teo and Stefani, and hopefully now is their time, since it wasn’t last time the elders were teaching them.
Also last night, working in Barrio 6, right next to the temple, we had a great night. We went to a little grocery store to buy some lunch after Zone Conference, and while we were leaving, we met a man that is a refugee from Kenya named Prince Bright. No, you didn’t read that name wrong, he is Prince Bright, wow Africa. We took him over to the temple and had a temple tour with the hermanas there. It went great. He was saying he needs to get baptized and he really felt something different on temple grounds. So we get to send over a pretty amazing investigator to Elder Jensen because he lives in Parla.

Love you all.

Love, Elder Miller

9 months left

Hey everyone! Wow let it snow let it snow! I can’t believe it snowed there already. We were pretty hot here today so far.
Dora couldn’t come to church due to work again on Sunday, but we have another cita on Saturday, and are going to reset her baptism day for the 15th, I believe. Ana Maria is doing great and we had a great Plan of Salvation lesson yesterday with Luis in the capilla. She is still on to come to church on Sunday and for a cita Friday, and then her baptism the 15th of November. She is doing great.
We have a new investigator named Patrick. He was a referral from a month or more ago, and then the address and phone numbers were wrong. Elder Reid (from Mesa) and I were on exchanges Thursday night and found Patrick and his girlfriend on a bench. We taught him on Friday with Elder Dubray on exchanges and baptismal challenged him for the 15th of November. He is on for that date, and came to church on Sunday. He is from Ghana and his girlfriend is from the Dominican Republic. He has been here 3 years and they are both about 30 and 35. He is awesome, and we had another lesson with him on exchanges here with the Zone Leaders, Elder Jones (from Mesa) and me in the capilla. It went great.
This week consisted of planning Thursday morning, then exchanges with Puerto llano for 2 days to go with both elders here in Ciudad Real. On Saturday night, Elder Haynie and I were back together again. Then Sunday, we had 2 dinner appointments. The first appointment was after church, to eat cocido which is soup with noodles and garbanzo beans, and then meat and garbanzos that were cooked in the soup and are served separately on a plate. It is chicken, beef, and jamon (ham) that are in there. It is way good. Then on Sunday night, we had fish, potatoes and tomatoes/green olives in olive oil (like on a plate as everyone just grabs more olives or pieces of tomatoes when they want a bite of them. We finished that meal with lemon pie American style. The first meal was with Ana who has a daughter Anita, who is 21 and is thinking about serving a mission. The second meal was with a couple who is from Alcalá where there are a ton of members. The husband is in the District Presidency. They were on a vacation for 3 months, and so Elder Ott never even met them his whole time here, but they are a great addition to the branch. They have 2 little boys, so now the Primary is 8 strong, and it is awesome. There were 24 at church this last week as compared to the last two of 12 or 14. Last transfer, with 4 elders we were averaging 25 or so weekly.
On Monday we had a dinner cita with Nieves, and we had something I don’t even know what it was. It was like mushroom, chicken and potato soup, but the mushroom thing was definitely not mushroom, but still delicious. There were also gambas or shrimp, but with heads on, and then green olives. I love green olives, and you just pop the heads off of the shrimp and some juice comes out all over your hands, and then they taste like normal shrimp. We are going to get 4 dinner appointments this week with those 3 plus President Pedraja of the District Presidency is getting home from a Uruguay trip. He is a pastelero, and makes pastries and gives them to us by the bucket full, literally- a 5 gallon bucket. We are glad to have him back.
The work is going great. We found a family of 7 this week at paseo playground, that’s what Elder Haynie and I call it.
Elder Jones and I had our companions in Getafe, where the Zone Leaders work, and then we were here and we taught 4 lessons. It was great. We had piso checks, and we went to Valdapenas last night. Mom have Elder Baxter’s mom send you all of the pictures of the angel statue because we ran there this morning at 5:45 and then ran back, and then went to Alcazar, and then our companions went to Puerto llano. They are coming to meet us here in Ciudad Real. We have run all day long. It was 6 kilometers to the angel statue, and 6 back. That was the longest I have ever run. Well, I’ll talk to you next week.
Much love from Elder Miller in Spain.
Oh yeah, the Zone Leaders were doing piso checks today. That’s why we ran all over the place.

Elder Miller and friends at General Conference in Madrid

Elders Dubray, Hutchings, Peterson, hermana, Haynie, Miller and Nicoll

October 8

Hey everybody! Elder Haynie and I are doing great. So about Dora, things are still on track for the 1st of November, and we have a lesson on Saturday with Luis Gallego. She came to the capilla on Sunday and the internet didn’t work there. She was there with Luis and Jose Antonio. She knows both of them from lessons, but still hasn’t had the opportunity to attend church. We are hoping for this week. It was sad she didn’t get to see or hear conference, but we are going to watch a talk from the last conference on Saturday with her. Luis took advantage of the situation to teach her about family history and the temple and the importance of it. She wants to go to the temple now. So, Luis is awesome. To bad the internet didn’t work but life goes on.
General Conference was amazing for me. We had interviews in Leganes on Friday, and then worked in Elder Jensen’s area on Friday night. We stayed there in parla with Elder Jensen and Fairbanks and there companions in a real stand alone house. Way weird, and it has 4 floors! We worked there on Saturday morning and then that night, we saw the Saturday morning session. We saw all but the Sunday night session on Sunday. I got to see a ton of elders, and loads of members from Mostoles, one from Fuenlabrada, and non from Segovia. We had one member from Ciudad Real there. It was just great.
Well, time is going by way to fast, and I wish I could slow it down. Good things are happening here – well, great things.
I talked about Ana Maria back with Elder Ott. We taught her 3 lessons, two of which I wasn’t there for because of exchanges. But anyway, she was a referral from Irma. She is awesome. She has been super stressed and on vacation from the crazy Alzheimer’s woman she takes care of. We had an appointment last week that she couldn’t make it to, but this week we had the first appointment in about 4 weeks. We reviewed the first lesson and it went just great. She told us she felt the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Both of which are great signs. Then we both felt like a baptismal challenge of the 15th of November was perfect, and so did she. She accepted, and we are so excited to prepare Ana Maria and Dora both from Bolivia to be baptized in the month of November.
We had a way awesome experience yesterday. Well, we had our plans a little messed up by people not being at appointments, and so we went to one of our back up plans which was parque pilar in the east area where I am learning the area still. We were just contacting there, and saw this man walking calmly without one ounce of hurry or "prisa". We walked after him, and after a little bit caught up. We just introduced ourselves and got to know him, and contacted him as we do everyone. He was a nice man from Brazil named Henry. He was here because he studied his doctorate in law here at the university, and lived here 4 years. He is 40 now, and was just coming back to visit a teacher he had (and to meet with us). He has a member friend her in Madrid, and also his cousin in Brazil where he lives is a member of our church. He told us he was going to the train station, and that he was going to Germany next, and then back home to Brazil. He speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish and German by the way. He told us he was just walking with a prayer in his heart that he could find some friends, good genuine people. He told us how he had just finished his prayer as we walked along side him and said “hi”. How amazing, the Lord answers prayers, and Elder Haynie and I got to be an immediate answer for Henry. We told him to keep praying and keep having faith that Heavenly Father is listening.
We also found a family of 6 from Peru last week, but they lived in a pueblo more than an hour away. So we didn’t really have a way to teach them. We went over to Jesus and Kriss´ house to teach them, and they were like – “we are going to have a family come over for you to teach them”. So they gave us as a referral the of same family of six who just moved here to Ciudad Real 2 days ago. We started teaching the family yesterday and have another cita tomorrow. We haven’t met the father Raul yet, but Olinda the mom, and the 4 kids are just awesome. The kids are Cindi -18, Jeni -16, Alexis -12, and Jorge’- 11. We are so excited for this family that Heavenly Father helped us come back into contact with and teach this amazing gospel that blesses families.
We have exchanges in Puerto llano tomorrow until Saturday, and then with the Zone Leaders Tuesday. District Meeting went great on questions in chapter 10 of “Preach my Gospel”, and then we also talked about language learning plans. It went great. I love it here, and we continue to work with the great members here. We took Arnaldo, a very humble member to a lesson. It was amazing to hear his testimony. It was so powerful- even though he has only been a member for about a year and a half. I love these people and this amazing work. Elder Haynie and I will continue to work hard, be obedient, and pray our guts out. Love you all!
General Conference was just amazing. I didn’t get to watch the last session, but I know it was amazing as well. My Grandma shared this quote President Monson shared. He reminded people that "stresses will come no matter what." He said, "We must deal with them the best we can, but we should not let them get in the way of what is most important...and what is always most important almost always involves the people around us. Often, we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Despite the changes which come into our lives, and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days as much as we can with those things which matter most." There were just so many great talks. Take a look at them if you get the time. Well have a great week, and use your time wisely. Thanks for all that you do for me. Much love from me to you all.

Love,
Elder Miller

Elder Miller at the Madrid Temple

It's October!

Hi Everyone!
Zone Conference went just great. Elder Gorts was awesome, and helped us out a lot. There was a workshop where we had 3 different stations of teaching skills in chapter 10 of "Preach My Gospel". I learned a lot.
I'll tell you some things about Elder Haynie since mom asked. He is from Escondido, California, or in English "hidden." He is way cool and we get along great. He played soccer in high school on the defense. He played in the Turkey Shoot a couple times and his team is the Rancho Bernardo Renegades, if James or Ian ever played against that club in the turkey shoot. He is from a family of 4 sisters. One is older and married and has a baby. He has one brother who got married just before Elder Haynie came on his mission. That brother served here in the Spain Madrid mission as well, but we found out he didn't serve in La Mancha. Elder Haynie had already been to Spain to pick up his brother, and even to the mission home, Toledo where his brother served, and Sol and Valencia and all over the place. His dad is a Stake President and he is just an amazingly prepared missionary. He got a 35 on the ACT so he is way smart as well.
Elder Lambert went home at the end of last transfer, and his family came to pick him up because they planned it without him knowing. He wasn't super happy about it. He just wanted to go back to Gunlock and ride the wakes. I would imagine he is back by now.
Today we had a lesson with a member referral from Puerto Llano. The woman's name is Maricruzes and she is a way nice 37-year-old Spaniard woman. It was so hard at the end when she didn't want to hear more or have another lesson with us. It was really sad, because the spirit was there so strongly, and then she didn't want to hear any more. Oh well, I guess this isn't her time.
We taught Dora last Thursday and then again on Monday. We challenged her to baptism on Thursday, actually Elder Haynie did the actual challenge and it went really well. She accepted for the 1st of November. In the district there are 4 other baptismal dates coming up. The district is catching the vision of baptismal challenges weekly. District meeting went well on using scriptures and teaching to needs. I did a practica with asking hard investigator questions and then everyone would search for answers and then we would hear one of them and then get a bunch of scriptures to answer some hard questions. It went well, even though I made it sound really confusing.
We also had a paella dinner appointment with Nieves and family and it was delicious. We also had a noodle paella dinner appointment with Ana and Anita, members of the rama who were in the other elder's area that we get to visit and teach now. The work is going great and we are getting a good base of teaching the members from both areas. I like it a lot here, and am really excited for General Conference. The spiritual thought will be whatever you learn in conference this weekend.
Love,
Elder Miller

Elder Ott and Elder Miller studying

Changes

From: Elder Morgan Miller (elder.miller@myldsmail.net)
Sent: Wed. 9/24/08
To: terryandlaura@msn.com
Well René is still in Bolaños for now, but hopefully he will get the job, but it seems like he hasn’t yet. Dora couldn’t make it to Relief Society even though Irma called for us to remind her. I guess we will work towards her coming this Sunday. We have a lesson with her tomorrow and we will challenge her to baptism in that lesson. We will try to have Irma help her read, maybe a reading night with the two of them.
Wow Evan is on Youth Council, that was a way fun thing for me. Tell Adam Kimball “hi” from me. Tell him to drop me a line in email and I will send him a letter. I remember for our youth council retreat is what we did instead of a barbeque. We went to the Kimball’s cabin, talked about the youth council responsibilities, and ate, and received blessings or got set apart by the Stake Presidency. It was an amazing meeting with all of us receiving blessings. I still remember it very clearly. Have fun Evan. Just enjoy it. When we were done with the year, we got to go to a Grizzlies game in a suite and had all you can eat food.
Elder Ott was transferred to be a Temple Zone Leader, and he thinks he is pretty cool to be serving in his third zone leader area because it doesn’t ever happen. Well as for me, they dissolved my zone into a district of La Mancha. We report to the Las Afueras zone which has the zone leaders in Leganes right near Mostoles and Fuenlabrada. So I guess I will be back in the same old neighborhoods some more. The Zone Leaders actually live in Fuenlabrada. So kind of crazy! President Farnsworth asked me to be the District Leader of the La Mancha district, and to train a new elder. Elder Starley and Elder Cavanaugh were sent out to Badajoz and Cuenca in that order. So their area closed, and now the two of us have this whole piso to live in and the whole city as our area. We just got really, really busy. I stayed in Madrid Monday night after transfers and was serving in Barrio 2 for the night with Elder Nicholl and Elder Brown who are both also training. Then on Tuesday, we traveled to the mission home and met the 5 new elders coming in. Also 2 Hermanas came in, one being a 39 year old single woman who is a physician’s assistant, her name is Hermana Miller. Kind of crazy! We had the training meeting and got some advice from the assistants, and then a spiritual meeting with President and Hermana Farnsworth, the assistants, and office elders all talking. It was just like last time with Elder Peterson but with different talks and we took the pictures outside because its still summer kind of. We had Mexican volcanoes for lunch, and they were just amazing.
I was put with Elder Haynie from San Diego. So now I have another Californian companion along with Elder Gunn who was from there as well. Elder Haynie did a year at BYU before the mission, and he is really prepared and ready for the work. He speaks well, and I am really impressed by his Spanish. We are going to work hard, and have a great time down here in Ciudad Real. We have 7 exchanges this transfer, so that should be hectic to plan those, and then there is General Conference. So we will travel up to Madrid to watch that. We have a special Zone Conference tomorrow and Elder Gertz, of the 70 will be coming to speak to us. (I think that’s how you spell his name.) So it should be a great opportunity for us to learn, and we will also have 2 to 3 hours of practice teaching. Friday is our first La Mancha district meeting, and it should be crazy, because instead of the elders in Alcazar and Valdapeñas having there own district meeting, we are all in the same district now. So, all 8 of us will come here, and that makes for a lot of travel for those elders. It should be a really fun transfer. We get along really well, and I am sure we will have a fun time and learn a lot from each other like Elder Peterson and I did when I trained him. So that’s about it for this week. I love you all, and hope the best for you. Have a great week. The scripture this week is in 2 Nephi 9:52 about prayer.
Love, Elder Miller

Elders Baxter, Cavanaugh and Miller at Zone Conference

September 17

From: Elder Morgan Miller (elder.miller@myldsmail.net)

Well, hi to you all at home. I hope all is well.
So things still haven’t gotten back on track with José Luis, or Sergio, but we talked to Ana Maria in the park this week and hopefully we can meet with her soon. I don’t know if you remember René from the beginning of this transfer who had a baptismal date and moved to Valencia. He moved back to Bolaños and is working there. The transportation is crazy and so he can’t make it to church here unless he comes on Saturday afternoon, and then travels back home on Monday morning, or if he rode a bike like 5 km to a nearby town with an early morning train and then rode a train back that night. So it hasn’t worked out for him to get to church here yet, but the happy news is that he might move to Manzanares. It is a town here in La Mancha near Valdapeñas. Nearly all of their members live there and would be amazing at fellowshipping him, and he would get baptized there. So pray for René, that he will get the job in Manzanares, or whatever has to happen so he can move there and receive more light and knowledge and progress in the church towards baptism.
We are still teaching Dora. It has been one lesson a week on Mondays for the last 3 weeks. We have had to take it very slowly, because she almost absolutely does not read, which is really sad. She is a nice Bolivian woman about 30 years old. She can’t ever find the page we are reading in the Book of Mormon. This last week, we had a lesson with het and Luis Gallego and Irma came along. We read through the Introduction to the Book of Mormon but Dora wouldn’t read, we think because she can’t. She prayed after the first lesson, but a Padre Nuestro, or “The Lord’s Prayer”, as I said. Monday she told us in her personal prayers she starts with Padre Celestial, and ends en el Nombre de JesuCristo, Amen. So that is a victory and a little bit of progress. But it took these last 3 appointments to teach the first lesson to her, so it is going to be a slow process, especially because Dora is a workaholic, not by choice but out of necessity. She hopefully can come to church at 11 until 12 for Relief Society. It was awesome because Irma is the Relief Society President, and when she invited Dora to Relief Society, she accepted to come. Also a crazy thing is that Irma knew Dora already, and when we showed up for the lesson, Irma and Dora both remembered when Irma contacted Dora in the street and invited her to hear from the missionaries and to come to church. So Irma is just about the best member missionary. She is a true full-time finder, as Elder Bednar taught us. Luis is an A++++ Branch Mission Leader and Elder’s Quorum President. I love this work. It is so important for us all to be “full-time finders”, and to pray for missionary opportunities. We have used that message with all of the members here. It is just amazing.
Well, I don’t know what will happen with transfers on Monday. If Elder Ott gets transferred it would be way sad to see him go. We are the least likely companionship to get split up in our Zone. If we get split up that will mean all of the other areas get changed as well. So it would be a whole new La Mancha Zone. Who knows? Not me, but the Lord does.
The news of the week, I would have to say actually should have been in last week’s email, but I forgot to write about it. Two amazing people that I taught with Elder Van Dyke in Fuenlabrada were baptized on September 6th. Amas and Miriam were both baptized, and are now members of the Fuenlabrada Branch. They were found about April or May of 2007 by Elder Swartwood and his companion. I taught them for 4 months or so with both of my companions while I was there. We made 3 baptismal calendars to go along with 3 failed baptismal dates. It just wasn’t their time I guess, but now was their time. I am so overjoyed for Amas and Miriam. Also Fuenlabrada with Elder McBride and his second trainee in a row, have 6 other baptismal dates, a few of which might have already been baptized. So since I left Fuenlabrada, there have been 4 baptisms; Amas, Miriam, Raquel (an old woman who is a friend of a member and died about a month after her baptism due to her cancer), and then Alejandra (who I got to interview while with Elder Brown), and maybe 6 more. I am so happy for that area of Fuenlabrada which didn’t yield any success as far as baptisms, but helped me grow immensely while I served with Elder Van Dyke and Elder Gunn. So I thought you would like that little update.
Back here in Ciudad Real, we got in yesterday after knocking on doors at a building. It was actually José Antonio’s building. He is a really funny old man. He was baptized a little more than 15 years ago. He has had a hearing aid that didn’t work well at all, but he just got a new one that he doesn’t use very often because I guess he is saving it for special occasions. So it makes it so he can’t hear us very well still. Thank heavens he has an eye appointment on the 15th of October, that he so frequently reminds us of. He is a hoot. He is always saying the funniest craziest stuff. We sing with him and Nieves to practice for Nieves´ directing the hymns. He also accompanies us to a ton of lessons. Basically, we have a ton of member present lessons due to José Antonio and Luis. Anyway, we were knocking on doors at Jose Antonio’s building. After we had tried to visit some members that were lost and he helped us find them. So we dropped him off at his piso and went up to the 7th floor to knock on doors. On the 4th door we got in to teach Impidio and Maria, a way old couple of Spaniards who are way nice, and love to talk. They talked our heads off as we tried to teach them about the restoration of the gospel. We only got through half the lesson. Then we knocked our way down to José Antonio’s floor and were contacting a man at his door when who walks out and stands behind us, non other than the one and only hilarious José Antonio. He always talks to himself I guess, is what we learned from Impidio and Maria. Everyone in his building thinks he is crazy. José Antonio really does have one of the most pure hearts of anyone I have ever met. He is just amazing. He is little weird but has amazing desires.The spiritual thought for the week is a scripture I found this morning in studies:
D & C 104:42, I believe. It is about the blessings that come from obedience to the commandments, and my grandma also sent this great quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a former airline pilot: "The Lord's commandments are not restrictions or obstacles, but a flight plan for life that offers a safe and direct path to Heavenly Father." So I love you all very much, and hope you have a marvelous week. Keep up the good work.
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

September 10

From: Elder Morgan Miller (elder.miller@myldsmail.net)

I forgot to mention that I was sick last week. That was my first real sick time, and I was disappointed because I had to stay in for the first time. It was so boring and crappy, but I got better, and Elder Ott gave me an awesome blessing. It was a pretty brutal Friday night though.
We are teaching Dora tonight, and it should go well. We are teaching her a review of the restoration, and it should go pretty well with Hermano Luis Gallego helping out. He is our Branch Mission Leader. He just is a work horse and really helps us out. He kind of looks like a turtle though.
José Luis has been a weird situation. We can’t get a hold of him through the phone because his wife and mom don’t want him to listen to us, and they are always answering the phone. They just answer "hola, que tal", and then when we respond, they just sit there in silence as we try to ask for José Luis and to talk to him. So they are keeping the truth away from him, and hopefully we can teach him. Other than, that Ana Maria and Sergio have both kind of stalled out and aren’t progressing or keeping appointments.
Elder Ott and I are in Barrio 5 in Madrid by the way. We are emailing and then going to eat some donor kebab. We are with the Puerto llano elders and then the Barrio 5 elders as well. It is right next to the train station Atocha and so it is really convenient to leave your bags there. Elder Brand is Elder Ott’s favorite missionary and he is in Barrio 5.
Brandon Brown wrote me a letter and I am way grateful. I am going to write him back, so it should come in a month or so, the response that is. The trip to Madrid was interesting on Monday. We had studies and then correlation with Luis Gallego, and then we had District Meeting. We cooked a meal at the piso with the other Ciudad Real elders and the Puerto llano elders, our district. Then we caught the Avant train up to Madrid, and then the Renfe local Madrid train to Chamartin, and then the metro one stop to Plaza de Castilla, and then a bus to the mission home just above San Sebastian. It was about 3 and a half hours total, I would guess. But, we got there and started up interviews.
The assistants talked about our stewardships and bettering the member work and the progress records that we give to the Bishop or Branch President and the Ward or Branch Mission Leader. Then Elder Ott and I taught about receiving referrals from members, and demonstrated with a practica. Then we had interviews with President Farnsworth. During the interviews, there were apple slices and crackers and cheese, and then afterwards we had chicken enchiladas that were delicious. Hermana Farnsworth came through again. Then we slept in the garage of the mission home which is a bunk house with a bunch of bunk beds along the walls. The next morning we had Zone Conference which went well, and we traveled there in the mission vans.
So, a little background on Zone Conference- I got a call on Friday, I believe, to direct Zone Conference. It was a little bit nerve racking to think about. I picked the hymns, the piano player- Elder Ott, the music director- Elder Brown, the translators- Elder Hinton and Hermana Layton, the prayers -Elder Giler and Hermana Lester. It went really well for the most part. The two hook ups were when I said resucitar instead of rescitar the missionary purpose. I caught myself after I said it and changed what I said, but still to resurrect the purpose is a little different than to recite it. Oops. Then on the 3 minute talks, President picks missionaries to do them during the conference, and I said Elder Bringham instead of Elder Pringle. The President corrected me and said,” At least Elder Bringham is awake now.” So all went well, and then we still had our 5 minute presentations and the Zone Meeting of about an hour. It went really well and we learned a lot about planning something. President taught us last November, so it was a review and a reminder and a great help. I am really excited to get back to work tonight. Zone Conference just really energizes you.
So all is well and I am having a great time here. Thanks for all of the updates you give me. Well, that was the week, and we are looking for some new investigators this week, and I will tell you how it goes. Love you a ton.
Well, just a little quote for a spiritual thought. It is a thought from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (talk given October 1996 General Conference.) He said: "Jesus Christ brings a troubled world and the troubled people who live in it, solutions to personal struggles and human sinfulness, a source of strength for days of weariness and hours of genuine despair. In that spirit we declare to all the world that for real and abiding peace to come, we must strive to be more like that exemplary Son of God."
Well the church is true and God loves you. Keep on keeping on, and much love from Madrid.

Love, Elder Miller

Elder Miller and his Zone at a BBQ

September 3

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net

Ok, so it’s crazy to be in September again. On the 11th, I will have been in the field for 1 year. All the landmarks will have passed, one year as a missionary, one year in Spain, done with over half of my transfers, and now one year in the field. Kind of crazy! It will be single digit months. It blows me away.
Nieves is doing better. Going to the hospital and getting medication really helped her out with her depression. She is doing awesome. She seems happier than I have ever seen her in these 3 weeks.
Thanks for the pictures. It sounds like Lake Powell and Colter Bay were both fun trips. I remember we shared a cabin with the Madsen’s forever ago when we went there, and we took my Nintendo 64. We played a ton of games and Turok which was brand new then. Every one of us played Game Boy all day, Pokemon, and Brandon cried his eyes out. I believe it was him, when his game got erased, and we all wore vests. Wow, random memories are flooding back.
Well, so I will start on my week with Elder Ott. We have been to Valdapeñas this transfer, Puerto llano 2 times, including today when we went to switch back from exchanges and visit their email sites. So it has been great to get to know La Mancha areas, all but Alcazar. We have been on exchanges with all of the other 4 companionships in this last 2 weeks. This next week will be interviews and staying at the mission home, and then going to Zone Conference. We have exchanges with the assistants and then the temple on Wednesday, and who knows for the rest of preparation day before we return to La Mancha.
This time I exchanged with Elder Hinton from Arizona and Elder Coley from Arizona as well, who was Elder Ott’s trainee. Both were fun and both were here in Ciudad Real. It is a pretty simple city, and easy to get to know your way around. Today in Puerto llano, a mining town with way nasty water and a strip mine line Kennecott Copper Mine, we hiked up a hill. It was pretty tall. On the way up there is this huge miner statue and then on top is a huge squared chimney. Well in Spanish it is the chiminea cuadrado, and it is about 30 feet tall. It has an amazing view of the city and the roundabout plains. It’s really cool and was a fun little activity. We just have a little shopping to do, and then back to work at 6:30.
Elder Ott and I taught a way neat woman named Dora, like unto Dora the Explorer. She is way humble and nice, but we aren’t sure if she can read, and for her prayer we tried to explain it for like 5 minutes and she still just said "the lords prayer" or padre nuestro. So we will sort that out. Elder Coley and I got into a house knocking with a member named Jesus and taught a nice middle-aged Spaniard named José Luis. So things are good. The thought for the week is from President Henry B. Eyring. He quoted 2 Nephi 4:15 which says, "My soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children." He then said: "Sometimes I go to the scriptures for doctrine. Sometimes I go to the scriptures for instruction. I go with a question, and the question usually is, 'What would God have me do?' or 'What would He have me feel?' Invariable I find new ideas, thoughts I have never had before, and I receive inspiration and instruction and answers to my questions."
Well Grandma Judy, I took another spiritual thought from you. It’s a good one every time, so sometimes I reuse it.
So everyone have a great week and enjoy the cooling down weather. It’s so much better than the smoking hot kind.
Much love from Spain. Love, Elder Miller

August 27

So, the week in a nutshell went as follows: We just had an awesome preparation day. It was a Zone Preparation Day, and all 10 of us were here in Ciudad Real playing basketball and hand ball (way awesome). You play handball like soccer and basketball mixed, and there is dribbling, and then soccer nets. Actually Ciudad Real has a World Championship team of hand ball, and Spain took 3 medals in the Olympics, from what I heard. Also we played fútbol. It was with about 6 youth who were at the field- about 14 year olds, and then the Branch President Sanz (about a 40 year old Spaniard), and then Luis, the Branch Mission Leader and Elders Quorum President (about 60 or a little less Spaniard). So it was really fun and we played for about 2 or 3 hours, then had sub sandwiches (or bocadillos if you prefer) and Spanish horchata which is different. Then everyone parted ways and got back home.
I cut Elder Griffin’s hair, and he really needed it. Also, I cut my own about a week ago, as well as Elder Ott’s. He has gotten a few compliments on it. So I am getting better at the hair cut thing. We then went to a Chinese/Asian buffet for 6.95 euros. You get all you can eat food that comes around the restaurant on a conveyer belt to the tables and you just take off the stuff you want as it passes. Elders Ott, Cavanaugh, and Starley each ate about 20 little plates of everything you can think of. It was just delicious. Then they give you ice cream to go with it.
We went on exchanges 2 times this last week. On Friday I went with Elder Starley in their area, so that was interesting because we had both only been here 2 weeks. But it went well and we found a really cool Spanish family for them to teach. Then we did exchanges in Valdapeñas, I went with Elder Baxter. It went really great. We found 2 of their investigators who had gone missing, and then taught a new homeless man in a park- a frustrating lesson. The exchange was a blast, and it was really fun to work with Elder Baxter, after living with him twice already. We have exchanges tomorrow with Alcazar and then Saturday with Elder Cavanaugh here. So that should be good.
Sadly René moved to Valencia because he was out of work, we had set a baptismal date with him for the 6th of September, so hopefully that works out in Valencia since we sent over all of the information to the Barcelona mission. We found an awesome new investigator named Sergio from Brazil. He is awesome. More on him next week… Well, thanks again Grandma Judy for the spiritual thought I pirated and re-gifted. But this is from President Monson "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.That is the phrase I believe in. You just plow in and go to work. I've done that all my life. I haven't had a period in my life that I can remember when I didn't have any thing to do. I do have a good work ethic.”
So make good choices team, and keep on keeping on.

Much love from Spain.

Love, Elder Miller

8-20-08

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net Hey how are things going? It sounds like things are going well. Elder Sewell stayed in Mostoles and received Elder Guerrero who is from Ecuador as his new companion. He was in the CCM with Elder Ott and me. He is way awesome, Elder Sewell is way lucky. Well, a kid who is 6 yrs old who is named Arnaldito is here at the email place with his aunt. He is way funny and is the only boy in the Primary of 5. He is way cool and wears spiky hair. He is way funny. He is kind of distracting, but he doesn’t know that we only have one hour to do emails. Well, thanks for everything and for giving me the updates. A man told us there are around 80,000 people living in Ciudad Real but I am kind of iffy about that. We had a meal at Nieve’s house on Sunday with her son Javi, her daughter Veronica, and her husband Toy. It was interesting food, that was pretty good, but usually it is way good there, so I am looking forward to the future meals we eat there every Sunday after church. We had an awesome lesson with a new investigator named Augusto from Bolivia. He was in Parque Gasset when we met. He and his wife have an 11 month old baby. He is an awesome new investigator for the pool of not very many. We are working to find new people through our efforts, and the members are helping by giving us a bunch of references and helping us in that way. Also, they are awesome for coming to lessons. It is just great. Also, we taught a new investigator who was a member referral. The member is name Yrma, and she is awesome. She does street contacts and shares the gospel. We met a man the other day in a parque who had Yrma’s contact information and the church address. She is awesome and she put us in contact with a woman named Ana Maria who is a new investigator. We taught her with the Branch President on Monday morning. So the work is picking up, and I like it here in this area with Elder Ott. Every Saturday we have a noche de hogar, and so that is a good opportunity for members to bring friends as well. But last time it was just 3 members, and Yrma had no clue how to play Hang Man. So it was way frustrating on her turn because she didn’t catch on to the game. We ended up just finishing the game by guessing all the unused letters. There were 25 people at church on Sunday, so about the same size as Fuenlabrada was. I have enjoyed the members so far and getting to know the city has been fun as well. We do a lot of street contacting and knocking, and so we are out and about all over the place. I gave out HLJ rings or haz lo justo/Choose the Right, on Sunday in church. The Primary children loved them, so that was good to get in with the rama. Arnaldito just closed my email, but luckily he didn’t close the email itself just the mylds page, so I was able to copy the email and re-log in. So I am short on time, but I want to let you know that I love you guys.
Well, for a spiritual thought this week, I will take a thought my Grandma Judy shared with me, and the thoughts were taken from an Elder Wirthlin talk, May 2005 Ensign which said: "Kind words not only lift our spirits in the moment they are given, but they can linger with us over the years...Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known. Kindness is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes...Kindness is the essence of Celestial life. Kindness is how a Christlike person treats others. Kindness should permeate all of our words and actions at work, at school, at church, and especially in our homes....We never need to repent of kind words we've spoken, or regret kind deeds we've performed." well make good choices team, and have a very extraordinary week. Also, I will be going on exchanges in Valdapeñas next Tuesday. Much love from Spain. Love, Elder Miller

Cuidad Real

Windmills of Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real, the "Royal City", lies between the rivers Guadiana and Jabo'lon.It preserves few remains from its glorious warlike past. Now chieftown of its province, it lies in the center of La Mancha, the home of Don Quixote, the "knight of the rueful countenance".

New Area!

Well, I will cover the end of Móstoles first, and then tell you where I am now. Elder Sewell and I had an amazing week, maybe the best week of my mission. We taught 21 lessons, and accomplished the raised standards of our mission’s weekly goals of 20 lessons, and other important aspects of the work to be balanced missionaries. We call it equilibrio. It was an awesome week.
On Sunday afternoon, we needed 1 more baptismal challenge, and got 2. One was to our investigator Jesus, who accepted. But that wasn’t until Sunday night. He still wasn’t able to come to church, but we were able to set a baptismal date for the end of September. He will have to come to church 4 times, preferably before then, and I don’t know how it’s going to work out. But the Lord will find a way. He is probably moving back to Colombia in 2 months after his contract runs up. He will live with his family, and I believe he will end up getting baptized over there. We could use his help here in Spain. Colombia, I am sure, already has armies of amazing members.
The other was to a different guy named Jesus that we found in Parque Lliana. We were just like, “We will contact the next person and challenge them to the 20th of September to be baptized.” Well, I started the contact by telling him about faith in Christ, repentance, and baptism. Then Elder Sewell talked about baptism, and then gave the baptismal challenge. Jesus, our brand new contact, accepted the challenge. We taught him about prayer and committed him to pray about this date and set an appointment for this week. I hope all goes well with that. It was quite the amazing experience. Most contacts just walk away or say “no”, and those who listen aren’t usually interested very often.
Rita came with us in Paul’s car to the Joseph Smith movie and a temple tour afterwards. Paul is the Romanian member of 15 years, and he has a girlfriend, who happens to be an investigator with the other Mostoles elders. So she came as well. Her name is Arnovis. She is from Colombia, and will be getting baptized this Saturday. I am sooo sad to be missing it.
Also at church on Sunday, after 18 weeks of hard work, was Christina. You probably forgot about her a long time ago, but she is from Romania and fed us some crazy food twice. So we couldn’t meet with her to say goodbye, and so we finally got her to church by telling her we would say goodbye there. She came. Kind of a lame reason, but she will hopefully keep coming now she sees there is nothing crazy or anything. It’s weird because she has already been to a fireside, the Joseph Smith movie, and a Ward Noche de Hogar. Now she has finally been to church.
I was so sad to leave Mostoles. What an amazing area! I absolutely loved the investigators, and people there. The members were exemplary, and we haven’t shopped for food for 4 weeks because they fed us so very often. I love the people there, and am so sad to be gone.
I have been transferred to be with Elder Ott in the La Mancha zone. Our area is called Ciudad Real, and we live with 2 other elders, Elder Cavanaugh from North Carolina, and Elder Starley from Ogden High School. Elder Starley is in Elder Ott’s and my group, and we have a fun piso. The piso is nicer than the one in Mostoles, and bigger. I like it a lot here, even though it is a little pueblo where we do a lot of contacting. It is just unreal to be with Elder Ott again. I can’t believe it! Elder Baxter, that I have lived with twice before is also in the zone, along with 2 other areas here. I lived with Elder Baxter at the beginning of my mission in Fuenlabrada, while Elder Van Dyke was training me, and Elder Baxter was training Elder Cutler. We lived together for 7 weeks that time, and then in Mostoles for a little over a week. He has been fun to serve around. So all in all, we are 4 cities down south, with 4 elders here and then 2 a piece in Valdapeñas, Alcázar, and Puerto llano. Our district is Puerto llano and just the 4 of us. Kind of crazy - I hope this all makes sense.
We had an amazing day for a pueblo yesterday, and taught 2 lessons with a member present to René and Delfin, each separately. René is amazing, and we took him over to a member named Jesus´ house and the lesson, which was a review on the plan of restoration, along with a dvd. It went amazing. The 20 members down here are great, or at least the 5 that I have met so far. We had correlation with the Rama Mission Leader and it went great. District meeting went well also. I think I am really going to like it here. It’s kind of a crazy change of gears though.
The church is true.
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller and Elder Ott too.