Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Valle de los Caidos

Hi!


Wow!
Thanks for the packages, Zone Conference went great! Thank you Grandma for the snickerdoodles. They weren’t even hard, but they were just delicious. I made the Oreos. I made 7 dozen, and then I made one huge cookie that filled the whole pan to finish the dough. I took them to district meeting for treats. Everything traveled well and I am very grateful for all I received.
We went to Valle de los Caidos today, and it was in Paul’s car. Zone Conference went way great. Elder Sewell and I had our 3 or 4 minute presentation and then later, a 1 hour contacting as a companionship lesson and practica and evaluation. It went way well and was fun. Elder Peterson did a great job on his presentation in front of everyone. Francisca’ baptism is set now for the 6th of July, right after church. I am really excited. We might have to put Ramido and Ovidio on the 26th as well with Antonio. I gave a talk in church on Sunday about missionary work, and I got to the pulpit with about 8 minutes left in the meeting because Elder Brown spoke for 20 minutes, and there were a bunch of announcements and ward business. So I just testified about “Preach my Gospel” and its importance to us as missionaries and to them as members. I also shared my favorite scripture - Alma 29:9, and my dad will be proud-the meeting ended on time because I just talked for under 4 minutes to be sure everyone was home for lunch on time.
Hermana Benito was at our sacrament meeting with her family, she was one of my CCM teachers, and then my other teacher, Hermana Suarez´s mom lives here in Mostoles. We saw her with her mom 2 times in one day, I believe it was Monday.
On transfers, my companion won’t get transferred, but I wouldn’t be surprised to be gone to another area or be here, it’s 50/50 for me. Francisca’s whole family came to church on Sunday, well her mom and dad. They also came to the baptism of an 8 year old member named Emily Vaca. She is the little girl who did the testimony, and cried and then fell into her sister’s arms. She did the same thing, just into her dad’s arms this time. It was really funny, and a great baptism.
I hope Evan has a great time at Trek. I had a bad attitude going into it, and didn’t realize until afterwards how much I learned and grew spiritually, and that’s when I became close friends with Isaac and Lance Matheson from the 9th Ward.
I love you guys.
Love,
Elder Miller

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I'm 20!


From: Morgan Miller - elder.miller@myldsmail.net


I can’t believe I am 20 and not a teenager, its really weird and hasn’t really hit yet.
I didn’t get the birthday packages yet because we have Zone Conference tomorrow, and I will get them at that. They decided not to do Pedidos meeting where we get the mail on Friday because we had Zone Conference tomorrow. The elders in my piso are awesome! They had a surprise birthday party for me last night. They made cookies and cream ice cream out of real Oreos, not the cheap imitation ones, and 2 tubs of vanilla ice cream. They had party poppers as well. We took lots of pictures. President and Hermana Farnsworth gave me a birthday call, as they do everyone the night of their birthday. They are amazing.
Tell the Ginny and Joe Hi from me. I am so happy for them and wish I could be there.
The trucker strike didn’t really affect us, but that’s only because President Farnsworth told us to buy double the food last week, incase something went goofy because of the strike and we couldn’t get food, but everything was just fine. The trucks were all lined up on the Madrid freeways, I hear though.
Ramido and Antonio are doing great. Antonio was an investigator who didn’t ever really progress while I was with Elder Brown, and he came to church once before I was here. Since Elder Sewell has been here, it has been nearly impossible to meet with Antonio, until a week or two ago. We had a charla with him and just decided we were going to baptismal challenge him and either get out his doubts or challenge his faith and get him a goal to shoot for. So he responded very well and told us he would pray and read the Book of Mormon. He had read and prayed in the past to no avail. But he read 3 Nephi 26-30 and prayed about it. It was a Saturday, and he came to church the next day. The members were great with the fellowshipping. Then, since this his girlfriend he was living with, was the main stumbling block before he could be baptized, they broke up and she moved out. So he is home free for the 26th of July and we are going to continue to work with him to prepare him for that day. Then there is Ramido, who Elder Sewell and I contacted the first week he was here. We both felt a real need to contact him, and were really excited when we got to teach him for the first time. We have taught him 4 or 5 times, and took him to the Charla Foganera, or the fireside on Sunday nights at the temple. We taught him a first lesson on the restoration our first meeting, and the second one we baptismal challenged him after reviewing his reading assignment of 3 Nephi 11 that he read. He accepted. We are also working on helping this amazing 33 year old Peruvian man be baptized on the 12th of July. He has a daughter who is 4 and was married to his wife 5 years ago. The wife and daughter live in Peru still. The work is going amazing, and Francisca is still doing great. She has been to church 5 times now, her mom twice, her sister and dad each once. So we are working on her family, and to prepare Francisca for her baptism. Also, we met a former investigator named Ovidio from Guatemala, who we baptismal challenged and he accepted for the 12th of July, so we will continue to work with those 4 investigators along with finding new ones, and working with the zone. Things are busy and that’s the way I like it, but I try not to get too stressed.
We are going to play fútbol today with Elder Peterson and his companion, and Elder Matthews and his companion, and the Leganes Elders, and the Fuenlabrada Elders. It should go great! We are going to the capilla to play b-ball and fútbol. I am way excited. I am having a blast, thanks for the emails and photos. I got 20 emails this week and was just thrilled.
Well, the scripture of the week is Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9, so hopefully that can benefit someone somewhere. It is a sweet scripture. Thanks for all of the emails and love from back home. I love you guys a ton, and have a great week.

Much love from Elder Miller in España.


Wednesday, June 11, 2008

11 months!


Hey everybody, how is life?

I haven’t gotten the Birthday packages yet, but hopefully I will by my birthday on the 17th. Thanks for everything.

We went to Cotos, the city which is in the 7 Peaks mountains. It was 3 different trains, for a total of 3 hours there and then back. We went on a breathtaking hike for 2 and a half hours, and now are back in Mostoles. Elder Sewell has been in Badajoz with Elder Brown on exchanges for the last 3 days. I am here with Elder Fairbanks. Today was a great day, and we had a great week.

Happy Fathers Day Dad! I hope it is a great one, and I hope you get some cool stuff to go along with new shirts, socks, maybe a tie or two. Have a great Father’s Day.

Our area is doing amazing. We have a baptismal date with Antonio from Brazil, Francisca the 11 yr old girl, and with Ramido from Peru, who we found 3 weeks ago. I will keep you updated on how they progress. The first baptism is planned for the 29th of June, a Sunday. Christina is in Alma 20 in the BOM, and doing great, but we are still helping her to get a baptismal date.

I just wanted to tell a little more about Francisca. Her dad dropped her off for Noche de Hogar this week, which was awesome, and then her parents couldn’t come to church, but she did. Her dad came to pick her up, and we got him to go and talk to the bishop in his office. So all is going awesome with her, and looking pretty good with her family. I will have to tell you about Ramido and Antonio next week. I am sorry to leave you hanging but you will enjoy it next week.

Hey, here are just a few awesome scriptures to buoy you all up, at my Grandma’s request. Deuteronomy 31:6, D&C 103:38, Alma 26:27. They are all amazing in there own ways.

The Euro cup is going on right now and España is supposed to have a good chance, so watch some games and see them play. It’s a really big hype right now.

I love you guys a lot and can’t wait for the packages. So enjoy and have a great week over there because I know I will here.


Much love from Spain.

Elder Miller


Wednesday, June 4, 2008

It's June!


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

Hey everyone, how are things going?
Today we played some futbol at el Soto which is a huge turf field. It was way fun, and it was way hot as well. We went to the temple as a district, and then we went to play futbol here in Mostoles with the district as well. The district includes Elder Sewell, Elder Brown, Elder Fairbanks, Elder Finlay, my Madrid CCM companion, and Elder Matthews from Skyline High. We had a great time.
We had exchanges on Monday night until last night. They went really well, and I was here with Elder Slade from Fuenlabrada, who goes home to California in 4 weeks. We had a great time, and were able to teach 2 lessons. The work has been going really well in our area, and the whole zone - the whole mission for that matter.
Christina is doing really well, and is now in Alma 10 in her reading of the Book of Mormon. She got the chicken pox over the weekend, and couldn’t come to church, but is feeling better. We taught here yesterday, the word of wisdom, with Elder Slade. She smokes, and so it will be a battle for her to quit, but she can do it. We had the Romanian member, Paul there, and he was able to testify of his conquering smoking and drinking 15 yrs ago. She doesn’t drink, and so that is lucky, but we will keep helping her.
We had a neat experience when we taught a man named James on a bench in the plaza. He was just a contact, and it turned out he had given us false information and didn’t show back up the next day. We were there on time, and he didn’t show. A woman came up and contacted us. She is named Maria, and has been here for like 4 weeks, and is here with her husband who is a non member. She is a member and he dad is a bishop in her home, which I believe is Peru. Then there are 3 other non members there to be taught as potential investigators. So that was a blessing for sure.
We had a way awesome Sunday, and had 2 investigators there. Francisca, the 11 year old, was there with her parents, and they were awesome to have there. They really want to help their daughter to be baptized, and they are reactivating. It’s just awesome to see, as this 11 year old’s example is changing her family and bringing them back to Christ. It’s awesome!
The other investigator is Aparí. He is from Guinea Equitorial, and is the cousin and nephew of a member family. Rebecca the mom has 3 kids, a 20 yr old Virgilio, 18 yr old Amadeo, and a 5 yr old. I can’t remember her name. I think its Naomi, though. Yeah it is. So anyway, we were going over to sign up Virgilio for basketball camp, summer slam. His cousin was there and his girlfriend and we were able to interest them all and sign up Aparí right there. Then Aparí came to church on Sunday. The sad thing is, that we found out Aparí lives in the other Elders’ half of Mostoles, but he will be a great investigator for them.
On Monday, Elder Viñas of the Presidency of the Europe west area came to our pedidos meeting. He talked to us for a little under 1 hour. It was just amazing! It was such the opportunity to here from a General Authority. He told us that Spain will be the center of the church in all of Europe in 5 to 10 years. So mark that on your calendars because I know it is true. Our mission is doing awesome and seeing miracles. Elder Viñas told us to focus on chapter 10 in Preach My Gospel and how important it is to be spiritually in tune and doctrinally prepared. It was inspirational and just awesome.
Noche de Hogar was way fun last week, when we played “Do you like your neighbor”. The members really had a fun time, and hopefully more will start coming. One of the members on Sunday at church bore her testimony. Well, more than one member did, actually it was one of the best testimony meetings I have been to - just testimonies not stories. But anyway, this little 7 year old soon to be 8, started to bear her testimony. She all of the sudden got scared and started crying and was super hysterical. She said two things and then ended sobbing. Her sister was on the stand and she just fell into her sisters arms. It was super cute and funny.
I love you guys a ton, and have a great week.
Love, Elder Miller