10 Months!

Well, to start out we are in Getafe today. It is on the Madrid sur metro belt as well as Mostoles, Fuenlabrada, Alcorcon and Leganes. Now I have been to them all except Leganes. We went to a huge factory outlet store, and I got a long sleeve, size 17, well fitting shirt for 8 euros. It is a way nice Zara brand. So I am pretty excited about that. It was a way cool mall, and just huge. There were tons and tons of clothing stores. We went with Elder Slade and Elder Korongo from Fuenlabrada. Elder Korongo stands about 6 foot 6 inches tall. He is from Russia or the Ukraine, or a parent from each, I’m not sure. But he lived in Malaga before his mission, in the south of Spain. He is kind of a funny guy. Elder Slade is on his last transfer coming up, so this was a “check out the clothes before the end of my mission” trip for him. We had a great time, and just had some doner kebabs for my companion’s birthday, which was yesterday. Also, we had a way good cake yesterday at district meeting to celebrate as well. The cake was a white cake with white frosting, and then like a delicious flavored frosting on top kind of like butterscotch. Then all around the sides had nuts or like toffee brittle tasting stuff. It was way good, and a good birthday for him. We also taught 3 lessons that all went really well.
I was sick last Thursday until Friday afternoon, but we worked through it just fine. It was like a stomach flu for about 30 hours or a little more.
This last week was great. We made Equilibrio, which is when you teach 15 lessons. It was Elder Brown’s first time doing that, a pretty good birthday present. For transfers next week, I would love to stay with Elder Brown for one more transfer. He has been here for 3 and a half transfers, and will probably be out. I would stipulate that my possible companions are Elder Brand from my MTC group, or Elder Frost, Elder Ott’s current companion. They are both in a situation to move to another zone leader area. So that’s just a guess, but we will see.
We have had some really good dinner appointments as of late; the members here are very generous and nice as in all the world. They are also willing and ready to work. We have been utilizing the members we have here, and teaching with them regularly with our investigators. Our main investigators include Christina, Arley, Antonio and Andréa a Brazilian couple & unmarried; Carlos and Aline who are also Brazilian but married; Jessica, the wife of an inactive member Luigi; Mari and Flavio, who live in Villaviciosas and are from Romania; Angel, the Dueño of Wilson; and then Corina, who is atheist and was living with her member boyfriend.
So the best was Miguel Angel Fernandez. He was baptized this last Saturday. He has been investigating the church since June or July of 2005 in Aranjuez, so almost 3 years. He has read the Book of Mormon 4 times, and is now married to a member named Marlen. They live in Navalcarnero, about a 10 minute bus ride out of Mostoles. It is a really nice, nice clean town. It is like a resort town. I didn’t meet Miguel Angel until last Sunday, when he came to church. Starting from the beginning, he was married for years to a woman, and they separated about 4 or 5 years ago. Then Marlen from Bolivia came into his life. They had one son named Brian who is absolutely adorable. He is just a perfect little “sit quietly and doesn’t fuss” little kid. They never got married due to Miguel not being divorced. He started investigating with Marlen’s help, and has been that way for a long time. They were awaiting the divorce that took so long because he was having it done by a lawyer who was doing it for free, and it just never got to the top of the pile of things to do. Miguel was also a smoker. My companion has been teaching him since he came to Mostoles on December 26th, and tons and tons of missionaries before him. It was just one big group effort that I just happened to be at the end of. Miguel’s divorce was finalized January 22, and he also quit smoking that day. Well, the next step was marriage. This was put off due to the stipulations of getting the family of the Montaños, Marlen’s family, to Bolivia. They just gave Elder Brown and his companion a wedding announcement one day near the end of March, and then told them they would be gone the whole month of April for the wedding. While there, they had their wedding, and also brought back llama cheese that they have fed us a couple of times. It’s just absolutely disgusting. Also Miguel Angel is a Spaniard as well, which is just awesome. So anyway, they just showed up 2 Sundays ago after they got back from their wedding. We were thrilled, and they were both just grinning from ear to ear. We set a lesson for Monday the very next day, and went to Navalcarnero. We caught up with him, and set a baptismal date for the 24th. We went back the next day to teach him again, and I just kind of thought to myself why not this Saturday. I suggested it to my companion. We were thinking it was a rush and hurry to baptize him on Saturday, but he was all ready, and so, so, so, so anxious to finally be baptized. We set it as the 10th and then called the Assistants to the President, and the Bishop, and then the Mission President. The bishop gave us the thumbs up and that he, having interviewed Miguel Angel over the years, thought he was ready, and backed us in the decision. Then, after talking together, President and the assistants, including Elder Manning, who served here in Mostoles didn’t come to a decision. So President left it up to us, since we are the teaching missionaries, and told us to “let it rain”. This was a reference to a quote by President Packer or Scott who instead of just getting water to the end of the rope, likes the rain - so rain, meaning revelation, personal or for the stewardship of our area or zone. He put a really difficult decision in our hands, and we didn’t know what to do with the ball in our court. We went into the lesson on Wednesday, planning on helping Miguel wait until the 24th. Well, the spirit directed the lesson, and our hearts were softened to know that Miguel was ready, and that the baptism should be on the 10th. So we called President afterwards and proceeded to prepare for the baptism. The interview was on Thursday by Elder Glad, and then we taught him on Friday one last time. We filled the font on Saturday, and the baptism happened at 7:00 PM. It was awesome, and there was great support from the ward members. There were about 30 people that came on really short notice. It all went smoothly, and then he was just the happiest guy in the world. He was baptized by his father-in-law. Elder Brown and I were witnesses. Then he was confirmed on Sunday morning in church. We are preparing him to receive the priesthood this Sunday. So it was a great week.
I love you guys. It was great to talk to Dad, Mom and Evan on Sunday!

Love,
Elder Miller