Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Hey y’all hows it going?


Today we are emailing from the library up near the famous cathedral and the Plaza Mayor, centered about a 2 minute walk one direction from the aqueduct and the other direction the castle Alcazar. How sweet is this? Today we went to the green field under the castle at 11:15 after studying, to take the famous pictures up at the castle. My companion and I both pulled off the hand stand and one handed hand stand photo. It was pretty awesome. Then we walked over the bridge and through the woods, not to grandma’s house, but to the library. It was an awesome walk and then a hike up some stairs. Cool stuff here in Spain for sure.

We are still teaching Patricio’s kids, and also helping them with English. They are way smart and learn way fast. Oh yeah, transfers came and went without any changes in our companionship. I am super excited for this next transfer. Elder Peterson has had the opportunity to start trying his hand at the cell phone. He has taken a couple of calls, and made some calls. We have a great time doing the work of the Lord. Thursday we found a potential investigator in his house. He is named Juan and from Honduras. He lives with another investigator who has been on vacation since I got here to Segovia. Juan is awesome and said the closing prayer after we taught him a first lesson. The spirit was so strong. I hope to see good things come from Juan.

Last week was planning on Thursday as usual, but for this week, the first week of the new transfer. It is always interesting planning for a week that you are not sure you will work in this area. I am so glad to be here in Segovia another transfer though, it is amazing here. Friday morning we went to Avila to teach 2 menos activos or less active people. Here they call these people less actives even if they are inactive. But none the less we taught 2 of our 6 members there in Avila. One was Sergio who we taught last time at his tienda, and then also we taught Ana. Ana has a super sad story, and has had a hard life. She is about 55 or so, give or take 5 years, and has two daughters and had one son. Her son, who lived with her up until last April, when he died in a car accident, was investigating the church. He attended church with his mom regularly, and has accepted the church in the spirit world with open arms, I would assume. She has those 2 daughters who live in Madrid. I don’t know what the situation is with her husband, but she lives alone in Avila. We try to call her and visit her. This was our second visit and luckily this time we were able to take her to Sergio’s herbal medicine tienda to teach her and him. It was an awesome lesson and we gave her a lot of scriptures on faith and hope in our restoration lesson we taught. It was amazing.

We also, on a more happy note, saw the amazing cathedral there in Avila with its amazing wall. Take a look at that on the internet. I bet some photos would be easy to come by. Noche de hogar, or family night on Friday was awesome. We taught Patricio’s family about tithes and offerings, which the parents obviously knew about already. But it is one of the last lessons to be taught to Kenneth, Kelly and Clayton, before we start reviewing them all. One or two principles at a time, we have been keeping the attention of these kids and teaching them. Our God is a God of miracles (Mormon 9), and this was nothing short of a miracle.

Also, Hermana Loli, Presidente Galera’s wife had surgery this last week on her heart and is recuperating in Madrid still until probably Friday, but all went well.
Sat. morning we got to teach Victor from the huge family and the window contact. He helped us learn and write down some Bulgarian words, and I wrote them phonetically so they are probably so misspelled it isn’t even funny. I am glad I don’t have to learn Bulgarian. Also, we taught him an awesome charla using Alma 32.

On Saturday, also we served members of the family of Patricio to move some furniture. We moved the equivalent of closets, but as furniture. I dunno it was like a dresser, but basically just a huge closet. So anyway, we helped them load those up and unload them at their new house. Yes, I said house, they live in a house, like without neighbors above, below and on every side. They moved to a pueblo out of Segovia, but they still live in our area. Oh, by the way, our area is all of the Segovia and Avila provinces, which are huge. So they could move like 2 or almost 3 hours away in one direction and still be in the Segovia area, and in our capilla boundaries. Also, we each gave a talk in church.

Til’next week.
Much love from Segovia!
Elder Miller

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Hey everyone how's it going?


Hey everyone, how’s it going? With Elder Ott’s area last week it was an amazing night. We worked for 3 hours and made a ton of knocking and street contacts. I couldn’t believe how many amazing people there were just flocking on the streets. I can’t even wait to be in such an area. It was amazing, and we got 4 referrals for the areas down there in what is called Aluche. How awesome.

Sorry to Tiffany Evans for not responding still. I started a tape one week, finished it the next, and then for the last three, I have been unable to print out a couple of pictures, but it is coming. Also, sorry Jesse too, I need to print out your email to respond, so hopefully this next week will be the week, super sorry, but eventually I will get a letter off to you.

Also, at zone conference last Thursday President told us the statistic that 54 percent of our mission has under 10 months total in the mission including MTC, so only 8 months in the field. Wow, we are super young, but a lot of elders are getting responsibilities super soon, and causing us all to grow much faster than we ever could imagine.

It was great to talk to Elder Ott, and to catch up.

It has been weird lately since I have been up in Segovia, without talking to other missionaries and just groups of people in general. Other than district meeting for an hour and a half, we can go 3 weeks just talking to our companion, and then of course members, all nine of them, investigators, and contacts. So then when we are in groups of people and missionaries it is super weird and uncomfortable. Not until I come home back to Segovia, do I feel back to normal. I love the quiet, and tranquility, and the amazing opportunity to really, really know my companions.

Transfers are coming in a couple of days, and I hope to be with Elder Peterson here another transfer, but I want what the Lord wants. I may be adjusting to a new way of life soon. It’s just the quiet streets, and the quiet piso are just amazing. No joke.
Elder Peterson got his Valentine package on Valentines Day at zone conference. His family gave me some sweet sweets, and some valentines. Like the amazingly awesome elementary school valentines box ones, Valentines boxes are so sweet. Anyway, one was a teenage mutant ninja turtle one, it was pretty sweet. The littlest things just are invigorating also. Weird.

We had exchanges this last Monday I was in Valladolid with Elder Abbot from Texas. He is in the same group as my trainer, Elder Van Dyke and will be going home in 3 months - how weird. We have been teaching some awesome lessons, and Kenneth is really doing awesome. Also, Kelly is increasing in interest, which is amazing. She asked to read a scripture in the last couple of lessons, and prayed the last two times. So things are going good. We couldn’t even get her to listen or participate for a while. We struck her interest, or she is having a change of heart. I prefer the second.

Also, I was here in Segovia with Elder Lambert who is our district leader and goes home in October. He is awesome, and we had a splendid time, and awesome conversation, which isn’t always the case with exchanges. He is a way awesome guy from Snow Canyon High in St. George. He likes wakeboarding, and wake surfing, and is a skate boarder and played football for a while and was on the high school baseball team. It was a great day of work, and fun to get to know another 2 missionaries.

We taught an awesome lesson with Patricio’s kids at noche de hogar, family night, with the drawings on the chalk board. Between my drawings and scriptures and questions we kept them learning and entertained for the last 4 principles of the plan of salvation. Everything that happens after this life. It was awesome. See, we can usually count ourselves as amazingly lucky to get through 2 principles with there attention span. I am expanding my teaching and Elder Peterson and I are having a great time learning and growing together. Also, Patricio’s kids always want to read and pray and are bickering as to who gets to. It is way fun and funny. Also, we buy the noche de hogar treats and make them and stuff. So of course they are always delicious. We have been taking orders and suggestions from the members lately.

Oh yeah, a couple of things I don’t know if I have mentioned yet about Segovia. There is a pet world here with a pet lynx, like the real deal- a full on lynx. That’s pretty crazy and cool. Also we saw 4 lizards on this wall along the Plaza de toros or the bull ring for bull fights. I didn’t think that there were lizards here, but I was dead wrong. Anyway, much love from Segovia. Talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Miller

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

7 Months


Hey, what´s up in your life?

I am doing great! My mom will probably have to do some editing on this letter cause I am emailing from a keyboard with a sticky backspace and A key and E key, so it is a real chore to try and punch down those buttons at all. My pinky is getting tired already and I just started.

First off, we went to the Leadership Worldwide Broadcast. I think I scrambled those words up, but we went to it in Madrid. All of the missionaries traveled to the nearest viewing location. Funny thing is that it really talked a lot about marriage and families, so for the most part I will save the notes I took for a year and a half.

Also, the whole mission watched the funeral of Gordon B. Hinckley from a locutorios on the internet or through satellite broadcasts. It was an amazing hour and 40 minutes of spiritual enrichment.

Right now we are in barrio 3, where Elder Ott lives. We are staying with them tonight for our zone conference tomorrow, here in Madrid, and we are working in their area tonight. Also, we had a zone preperation day at the mission home with tennis, soccer, ping pong, and Mexican haystacks made by our Mission President’s wife - delicious, and she made some delicious carrot cake that was to die for. It was a fun day, but we had to get up and hurry to get ready, and then catch a bus to the bus station. Then we caught a bus to Madrid from Segovia, and then we took the metro taking 2 different lines to Plaza de Castilla. This is where those two leaning towers are. Anyway, we got there and took another bus to the mission home in San Sebastian or Alcobendas. We spent the day there, and then bused back to the plaza, and then 2 more metro lines to be here. Now we are emailing and go out to proselyte for the night when preparation day ends at 6:30. What a tiring day!

Happy Valentines Day to everyone- random thought! My family made me valentines and they are all over our kitchen door. Thanks!

Last Saturday, the one with Gordon B. Hinckley’s funeral, we had an appointment after the funeral. It was kind of far away from the piso in Segovia, and we had to take a bus home to the other side of town. We were fasting as it was fast Sunday that week. We went to this cita or appointment and they brought out a bowl of oranges and Coke and some Bulgarian pastels. We were fasting and so I just told my companion to take an orange and peel it as slow as possible. We only had about 25 minutes until the bus, so we peeled those oranges as slow as possible and accumulated a pile of peelings, or rather a mountain of peelings. It took us 15 minutes to peel the oranges, perfect. We had almost stalled the entire time. To continue, I took one slice and put it in my coat pocket. Then we had to go so I was like “oh sorry we have to run and snag a bus right now”. They were like “here take these pastels and we will see you later”. Perfect! We had the pastels the next day after we had broken our fast. It was an awesome escape if you ask me.

Also that fast Sunday, Kenneth bore his testimony, how awesome. He was super scared though, and kind of shaky and crying. There were only 9 of us in the audience and 3 were his family members. I don’t know what he would do in front of a ward of 200 members... also Kenneth can pray in English now, and does it on a regular basis; he is so smart and learning so fast. Last Wed. night we taught them some English and the gospel, and we were teaching the 10 commandments. We had taught thou shall not kill, right. So we were done with the lesson and about to go, Kenneth by the way closed the lesson with a prayer in English. There was a cockroach on the floor, and Clayton kind of freaked out. He was like “ah, what should I do?” Then he was going to kill it. I just shouted “no matarĂ¡s” right before he was going to hit it, which means don’t kill us. We all thought it was pretty funny and were laughing for a good 5 minutes. Then I had to explain how that commandment applies to people, not bugs. We made Kenneth and Clayton chapas or nametags with Elder Guzman on them, there last name. They like them a lot, and they wear these little blue suits with zip on ties, so they can now wear there nametags. It was a cool family night - every member a missionary lesson.

We saw a huge protest, but actually it wasn’t very huge just loud. They had sirens going off and chanting and whistles. Super annoying! Their signs said stuff like justice, and equal wages, and stuff like that.

I taught the lesson in the Joseph Smith manual this week, lesson 3. That is an amazing manual. I wish I could read it daily, but I would encourage you all to take the time to prepare for your classes on Sunday by reading the lessons. The ones I read to prepare for the lessons have been top notch.

Anyway, I am doing great, and making some awesome memories out here. I get to stay with Elder Ott tonight, so the hour we spend before bed should be some fun conversation and the travel tomorrow too. I am really excited for zone conference tomorrow. It should be great as usual. That’s just another first I get to have with Elder Peterson. Thanks Becky for the email, and Grandma for the package!

Much love from Spain!

Elder Miller

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Hey ya’l how’s it going over in wherever you happen to be?


Hey ya’l how’s it going over in wherever you happen to be?

The last 2 days we have been in Madrid. We left yesterday at 9 in the morning to Cuatro Caminos capilla which is the 1st ward of Madrid’s capilla. So that’s where we had district meeting at 11 and then had interviews. Interviews consisted this time of a practice with questions and improving our questions with the zone leaders. Also we chatted with Hermana Farnsworth while our companions were being interviewed. She had us all signing a card from the missionaries to the former MTC Madrid president and his wife who are leaving this week. They have served 3 years, and there time is up. Then a session with the assistants for each companionship individually, about using members and helps from Preach my Gospel to urge us along with member missionary work. Overall it was a draining day. We have a zone of 24 missionaries so 12 companionships that had to rotate through all of this in the hours between 2 and 8 or so. Wow. Then after we did that we rode with the 5th ward area elders who have downtown Madrid in their area including Plaza Mayor, the palace, Gran Via, Sol, and many other awesome things in that vicinity. We worked in their area for the 45 minutes we had of proselyting yesterday.
Then today we woke up at 5 in the morning. Yep you read right, 5 in the morning after going to bed at 11 our bed time in this mission. Wow- am I tired after this long preparation day. So we went to the 8 o clock session in the temple and it was Elder Peterson’s first time in the Madrid temple. So that was of course amazing. Then we went to Sol and bought some delicious pastels or pastries at this place right out of the metro mouth in literally the center of Madrid. This is where the bear leaning against the tree is and all that. We stopped through Plaza Mayor, and then went to the Royal Palace and the cathedral right there, and then past a garden, then past the opera house and back to Sol. At the palace we got extremely lucky that on accident we stumbled across a really neat thing. The first Wednesday of every month at 12, the royal guards have a changing of the guard. This includes thousands of watchers, and a parade-like display of mounted and armored soldiers. They’re not dressed like modern day soldiers; they had cool old outfits that I can’t explain. When I say armor, I mean like shiny, silver, cool, almost medieval armor on there chests. There were also Clydesdales pulling cannons and all kinds of stuff. And a bunch of the troops with spears and then a troop that was like a band. They very orderly marched in to the palace gates and then did all kinds of riding in circles with the cannons, horses, and all kinds of completely indescribable stuff. Anyway, I guess you had to be there. But it was cool take my word for it. Then we bused back here and the zone leaders checked our piso and internet location, and took some awesome Segovia pictures, and then they headed back to Madrid. Now we are emailing and did our shopping already. But the groceries are behind us and we have to take the bus back and be back on the streets at 6:30. What a day.

Last Sunday Elder Peterson taught Sunday school and it went well. Like I told him, if he used the manual, that we went over together in language study he would be fine. Also, asking questions is the key. People have lots to say. You just have to provoke it with a good question. And then, at least with a Sunday school lesson with members, they cover what you wanted to. So it went great for him. Also, the week before, I left the Sunday school manual on the bus bench... oops, but thank goodness no one wanted to take it and learn about the Book of Mormon. So it was there when we got back, but I was kind of disappointed- not a soul for 3 hours at that bus stop even would touch a Book of Mormon manual. Maybe that would be a good finding method, or not. Also, for that lesson, the 2nd counselor to President Farnsworth came to Segovia for sacrament and Sunday school. He was just making sure everything was running well. So it’s a good thing that I was able to teach the lesson I had prepared from the student study manual. It went well, but required a fair more amount of effort than your normal Sunday school lesson.
Last Sunday, the week before, we taught Andres from Colombia with his dad. They are awesome, and have been potentials that we stay in contact with forever since like 2 months before I got here. So we finally got into teach Andres, a 16 year old futbol player and his dad. Awesome first charla, and dad, they loved your Colombian money as all Colombians have so far.
I finished my first journal last week which is pretty crazy. Good thing I was prepared and had another one I bought at the distribution center in Madrid a while back.
Also, I got a hair cut so I have a new do right now. I like it pretty well, and I am picky with haircuts. I distinctly remember the Sunday I wouldn’t go to church because of my haircut. I don’t know if you remember that mom, but I do.
Noche de hogar or family night went great this last week, with a less active who came. Her name is Ivanca and we are going to try and get her to teach with us because she speaks Bulgarian and Spanish, a translator of sorts, how cool. Also, we asked Kenneth and Clayton if they remembered any prophets in the lesson and we expected Bible ones like the classic Noah and Moses, maybe Abraham. But we were shocked to hear Joseph Smith, Moroni, and Mormon. How awesome is that.
So I typed a good 50 minutes to get this all out. I hope you enjoyed our goings on here in Segovia. But until next week I’m signing off, and I just want to say much love from Segovia.

Love,
Elder Miller

And a little extra love for the upcoming lovers day, which is completely irrelevant for missionaries. But, you can be my valentine and send me a little email if you want.