Morgan's Homecoming Talk

Morgan is speaking in Sacrament Meeting tomorrow, July 26th at 10:50 am at the Winder 6th Ward (4366 South 1500 East).

He's home!

Almost here!

Morgan's plane has left New York and is headed for Salt Lake City! Only a few more hours left!

Morgan's coming home!

Morgan's plane has landed in New York City and he will be home at 7:50 tonight!!!

Elder Miller's last email

*This is Morgan's last email he will send from his mission. He will return home on Tuesday, July 14th, and will be speaking in church on July 26th at 10:50 am. The address of our church is 4366 South 1500 East. We would love to see you there. Thank you so much for your prayers and support for Morgan and our family over the last 2 years.

Love, Laura


I want to thank the Shaws, Merki & Grandma, for their emails, and let Grandma and Sarah know I got the birthday card from Oliver and I am very grateful for it. Tell Had thanks for his encouraging email. Tell Grandpa “Happy Birthday” on Thursday, and thank Grandma for putting that in bold so I would comment on it.

That is so awesome that the missionaries will be moving into Gene Flowers' basement. I am so excited!

Mom, for sure you should go to the Farnsworth's homecoming, and you could hopefully get in touch with some missionaries and invite them to come to my homecoming if they knew me or remember me.

Thanks for all you do for me and for keeping me in touch this whole time. Thanks for everything. I love you so much and whatever you plan when I get home sounds good. I will just fly by the seat of my pants and try not to be to weirded out about not being on a mission, and embrace the change that will be interesting.

This morning we had an amazing accidental experience, in that we were late to the temple session by a couple of minutes, so we were left with a 1 hour wait until the next session. Luckily, one of the temple workers, I think he was one of the counselors in the temple presidency, was nice enough to offer to let us do sealings until the next session, which I had never seen or done before. The temple president acted as the sealer and just was amazing, teaching us and letting us ask questions, and it was just awesome. Then we had a temple session that went extremely well.

I got to say good-by to some elders, and then also we stayed there at the Stake Center to eat a district lunch and play some group games and then told funny missionary experiences about the language, investigators, awkward moments, and embarrassing moments. It was great, and then I was oh so grateful to Elder Karren who was there with our district. He got me some sweet gifts, some funny ones like a Hannah Montana notebook and tissues, and some awesome ones like a framed picture and a picture cube with photos on each side. It was a farewell luncheon you could say, and it was way fun.

Everything went well with picking up and dropping off Elder Gerrbo, and it was weird to be at the airport. It was so awesome to be Elder Read's companion for 3 days, even if it was crazy to juggle our areas with the downed metro. The metro re-opens for our area on the tenth. We had a goodbye dinner last night at Alex's restaurant, where mashed potatoes and gravy and cheese cake were the stand-out items on the menu. Also we have 7 more dinner appointments with the members before I leave, 2 on Friday, 3 on Saturday and 2 more on Sunday. Craziness, but it should be a really fun time and a great way to see the members I love so much at least one more time.

Elder Jeppson is doing great and now has insoles that are helping his feet. We had an awesome Monday of 5 lessons, one of, if not the best Mondays of my mission. Also, on that Monday, Freddy a Colombian, that we contacted at his store, and have taught 4 times since, accepted a baptismal date. Alex and Alejandro are still working on it, but don't have much time to meet.

I love this work, and the Lord really blesses us so, so, so much. May he bless you all.


Much love from Elder Miller, from Spain for the last time.

July 1

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net

Well its been a great week, and it sounds like it was there at home as well. Thanks to the Ginnie and Joe for the package they sent me for my birthday, with some sweet jerky from Wyoming. Also, thanks to Elder Braghini, Elder Brown, Evan and Kelly for their emails. Grandma Judy can feel free to send me weekly emails my whole life. I love them.
I had a feeling Dad might be the new bishop. It will be interesting. Dad will do an amazing job, but that's lots of work and stress. Good luck Dad. Steve Allen and Tyler Healey will be amazing counselors. Brian Mecham will be a great executive secretary, and Daniel Marriott will be an awesome ward clerk.
Today we are going to Islazul (the big shopping mall) one more time to grab some last minute stuff, hang out with Elder Karren, and have some Taco Bell.
I didn't really mention what we did later in the day on my birthday, but the members were just awesome. When we got back from Segovia that day, we went to Gonzalina´s house, from Ecuador. She has two kids, Johnny and Veronica. They had balloons all over the ceiling and a cake and a bunch of snacks for us. It was really fun. Then Alex and the young single adults made me a cake that I got at church on Sunday. Also, Alex had a party at his restaurant with some of the way awesome young single adults. We had cheesecake that they made, and then Alex made chicken wings, and ribs, and bread with cream cheese and salmon on top. It was way awesome that the members are so generous and went over the top for me. The elders in my piso put up a banner and cleaned the piso. So don't worry Mom. I was well taken care of for my birthday. I've been trying to serve extra ever since, to make up for it all.
On a less cool note, we have 2 metro lines going through our area. We live 2 stops from our area, riding line 6 of the metro. Our area starts and goes for 3 more stops. Those stops that we cross every single day to get in and out of our area and through it are all closed down until the 10th of July, and have been closed for 3 weeks. We also have line 3 of the metro that goes south that isn't closed, but we have to take a replacement special service bus to get there and to get into our area. That has put a damper on traveling, and makes it harder to teach as much, but we keep on keepin on none the less.
This week I had exchanges with Elder Gerrbo from Sweden, which was awesome, and then yesterday with Elder Read. I have now been on 4 exchanges with Elder Read, more than anyone else I have been on exchanges with. That was my last of 73 exchanges that I have been on, as far as my count goes. We have a trio going on this weekend from tomorrow morning until Sunday morning. We are taking Elder Gerrbo to the airport tomorrow, bright and early. He is going home for his father's funeral. He passed away 2 Saturdays ago from cancer. Elder Gerrbo has handled it like a champ, and I haven't seen him sad about it, but that's only because he has the opportunity to bear testimony of the plan of salvation so often, and feel the refreshing comfort that comes from this lovely plan our Heavenly Father has for us. Elder Gerrbo didn't even really tell anyone, until about 3 or 4 days ago, only Elder Read and I knew, and President Farnsworth as well. Everything will be okay for him. It should be a good opportunity to attend the funeral, and put everything in order, and put it all in the past. Then he can prepare to finish the year and a half of his mission that remains.
Elder Jeppson is doing well, other than a sore foot and back, but he is getting insoles from a foot doctor tonight and has a muscle relaxant to take before bed for his back, so everything is under control. We had a crazy experience when we went to a less active member's house as a back up plan the other day. We arrived to find him freaking out with depression, a panic attack, and hyper- ventilating. He hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since early in the morning when he threw everything up. He was laid off from work, and super nervous about that, and it just threw him head long into health problems. We walked with him to the hospital, ten minutes away, and called his sister to come and be with him. She is one of the hermanas' investigators. Now everything is doing great with Francisco. They have everything back in balance.
The Joseph Smith movie was way awesome on Saturday because Alex brought 3 cousins as referrals, but sadly their parents won't let them have anything to do with the church or Alex now. He is having lot of resistance from his family, but his mother stays by his side, and even if she didn't, he would stay strong in the church. We were able to participate in Alex receiving the Aaronic priesthood in quorum meeting on Sunday. It was simply splendid. Even though they had to do it twice because they messed up the wording. Also, Jose came to the Joseph Smith movie, and loved it. He is still studying with the Jehovah's witnesses, but is getting more and more convinced by the spirit each lesson.
Israel, one of our old investigators from when I was with Elder Karren, and attended Barrio 5 for 4 weeks while I was there, was just baptized on Sunday. It was awesome. Another young single adult(23 year-old Bolivian) to add to the great group here in Barrio 3. I was so glad the other elders were able to bring him along to baptism.
I had a farewell noche de hogar with the Torres family of Barrio 5. They are the Colombians. They had us over because John Freddy left today for Mallorca until after I leave. So it was fun to see them all one more time, and they gave us Dunkin Donuts, which was extremely nice of them.
We are teaching some awesome referrals from the hermanas, Alex and Alejandro (20 and 11). They are brothers from Bolivia, and their mom is getting reactivated. They accepted a baptismal date in our second lesson yesterday for the 2nd of August, so that is just awesome. Last night we had an amazing noche de hogar with Jose Viences, the referral from Gonzalina. We were able to give Johnny and Veronica blessings for their nervousness to journey to Ecuador for 2 months. It was amazing, and the spirit was so strong. I love this work and I love you all so much.
Keep on keepin on.

Love, Elder Miller

Last Zone Conference

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net

Hey, thanks for the love and support, I love you all so much.
Thanks to Matthew for the note and pictures he sent me, and the Shaws for their email as well, and then Sharon and Grandma Judy for their awesome emails.
Well, I just deleted part of my email, so I will try to remember what I had typed. I was telling about Zone Conference and how it went with the goodbyes to President and Hermana Farnsworth. They are just so amazing. It will be sad to see them go, and weird to have a new President and Hermana here for a few days. But the Lord guides this work and loves us enough to give us exactly the situations that we each need for our optimal growth. At Zone Conference I got to say goodbye to lots of missionaries and then also I gave my final testimony that we do at our last Zone Conference. No one went first, so I just jumped up to the podium, and it went well. I just felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the opportunity to serve the Lord in the mission field. Also, the bbq went really well, and was lots of fun with our zone. We had hamburgers and hot dogs, and then s'mores and root beer floats. It was awesome and fun to be in the mission home, but sad to have my last interview with President Farnsworth. I owe President and Hermana Farnsworth the world for all they have done for us missionaries.
Also today, we went to Toledo and it went well. Elder Ott and Elder Wolfley from Wyoming came to pick us up in the mission van, which was nice to have an air conditioned car to go in, and faster and cheaper. It was our district and then Elder Ott. The trip went well. We got some great pictures and an awesome view from the back side of Toledo on the other side of the gorge and the river. Also we saw the cathedral from the outside and then the city. We also saw those plates that they hand press with gold being made. It was way cool, and it was one of the things that I still really wanted to do in Toledo.
Now we have shopping, and then cleaning, and then working tonight. It has been great here in Barrio 3 and Johnny is still doing pretty well. We had a great lesson on Saturday and found out he is in 1 Nephi 17 in the Book of Mormon, and doing really well with reading daily. We just need him to come to church next week, something he has had a problem with due to other commitments the last two weeks. On Sunday morning, we had a great lesson with Randy and finally with his mom and younger brother, and another member referral Sergio. They are all family or friends to Victor and Julia, members from the Dominican Republic. The lesson went really well, and then afterwords, we were able to give Victor a blessing of health, due to his stomach tumors acting up. Elder Jeppson did a splendid job. His Spanish is improving daily. Also that night after church, we gave a blessing to Karina, who had surgery. She is the wife of Jaime the menos activo member who contacted Elder Karren and me in the street one morning. Both blessings were awesome spiritual experiences. It was also great at church to see 9 less active members come to church. It was just awesome. Two of them found us, or we found them during this transfer. I love this work.
Much love from Spain.

Love, Elder Miller

I'm 21!

Hey everyone-

I love you all so, so much and appreciated so very much the birthday package that was oh “so beautifully simple, and simply beautiful, like the gospel”. I am going to make the caramel brownies soon. I just got the package yesterday, and haven't had time yet.

We just had an awesome day in Segovia. It was just splendid to go back and remember times with Elder Peterson and Elder Jensen, and the members contacts, people and places. I wish I could take it all home with me in my bags. It was awesome because we were able to go out on the balcony off the front of the castle - the far point of the cliff where it has never been open before when I was there. It must be a summer thing. We were going to go with our district, the six of us, plus Elder Karren and his companion. It almost worked out, but Elders Read and Gerrbo didn't come, and the Barrio 9 hermanas, who live with the hermanas in our district decided to come with us.

So that rotten old Elder Ott can stop giving me beef about preparation days with hermanas. The elders are just flaky on our plans sometimes, and wouldn't it be funny if I had to flake on the Toledo plans with him for next week.

I got 23 wonderful birthday emails! I think that's a new record for me. Jackson wrote me an email. Can you thank him? The letter he sent me a month and a half a go got lost, or is hopefully on the way. I hope it comes before I leave. Also, I want to do a general thank-you to Rusty, Ike, Sophie, Tess, Susie, Mike Manning, Yasmin and her family, Elder Ott (even though it was a half shout out, half stab in the back), Eliza, Dad, Mom, Merky and Gary, Grandma and Grandpa, Nancy, Ashley and Evan. Thanks so much for taking the time to shoot me a line. It was all well received and super appreciated.

I just wanted to check that my new home email address is morganmiller88@gmail.com. If that isn't it, can you please get in touch with Hermana Farnsworth through Facebook or email to tell her what it is. We have Zone Conference next Wednesday, and I haven't used that email ever, so I'm not sure if I remember it. I have to tell the mission office my home email, so they can put it in the newsletter they are going to give out on Tuesday at the first-last Zone Conference. I want to make sure I give them the right email, so everyone can stay in contact with me if they want to.

So, this week I will start off with talking up the members of Barrio 3 again, because they are the best I have seen on my mission. We taught 11 less active member or recent convert lessons last week to great people who are coming back to church. Every week this transfer, at least once, we have had an encounter with a new less active member that just found us on the street and contacted us and didn't know where the church was, or we contacted them thinking they weren't members. There are 4 that I can recall right now, and one that came to church last week is doing great. We found another one yesterday, and I hope he and his family get reactivated soon. A lot of the work Elder Jeppson and I have been offered by the Lord this transfer, has been teaching members and asking for referrals, working with less active members, and helping them back to church, and then working with amazing recent converts like Alex and helping other recent converts be more like Alex.

We do have a sweet investigator now, though. He is Bolivian and about 25 years old. He is oh so nice, and oh such an amazing person. He was a referral from Elder Read and is just awesome. In this district, more than any other, we have a great unity and just an awesome passing of investigators, referrals and we work together as a team. The hermanas have a baptismal date with Narcissa, who had stopped progressing and her husband wouldn't listen or participate. They both are just doing awesome now and have baptismal dates for the 4th of July to be baptized. The other elders have a date with Israel, who moved from our area to their area. The referrals just flow through from one to another. Its great, and we are all just working “one for all and all for one”.

We had an awesome lesson with Johnny on Saturday, and it was just amazing. Afterwords, he read 3rd Nephi 11 and prayed, and felt the confirmation that it is a true book and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. So we have a great stepping stone with him, and will work towards baptism with him.

We have weekly Family Night at the chapel for the ward members, and the missionaries can come if we take investigators. This week, the missionaries put it on, and I gave the lesson on the Book of Mormon. It went really well, and then we had brownies from the hermanas and cowboy cookies from me. (Elder Read's mom's recipe with chocolate chips or in Spain, chocolate chunks, coconut, oatmeal, and corn flakes.) They're great, and the noche de hogar went awesome. Both of the members we asked for referrals on Thursday brought them to the noche de hogar on Friday. The hermanas are going to teach them, seeing as they are all women, but it was awesome to see the members just being great missionaries.

I love this gospel and I love this missionary work, and I hope to be a missionary my whole life as a member, if I can't stay on a full time mission for the rest of my life.

I love you so much.

Love, Elder Miller

6-10-09

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009

Well, another week has flown by too fast! I need to slow down time. Thanks Ginny and Joe Shaw, Becky, Abbie, Grandma, Mom and Dad for the awesome emails. I loved seeing the photos. It was sweet to see Evan's hair so long. It will be interesting to see it short again. Also, I liked the ones of the little cousins. Please thank Grandma Linda and Doug for the birthday card and the letter. It was so very much appreciated. I especially was touched by Grandma's comments on Memorial Day and the specialness of it. Thanks to all the grandparents for their support financially as well.

As far as President and Hermana Farnsworth, they are headed out between the 1st and the 4th of July, and we have one last Zone Conference with them on week 4 of this transfer, and then a Zone Conference week 5 with the new Mission President the week after that I think. We have interviews on June 18th at the mission home with a bbq, which should be just delightful and awesome. Hopefully the birthday package comes by next Monday and if not, it will come eventually.

By the way, Elder Matthews is living in a piso with the other Elder Miller.

So last week, I didn't give details about the District. Elder Murga the Peruvian, left to go to Valladolid, and Hermana Cachari (p.s. Hermana Cachari told me I look like Oscar de la Hoya. Correct her if she is wrong. I can't remember what he looks like, so you will have to be the judge.) left to go to the Barcelona Mission. The new-comers are Hermana Ball, a trainee with Hermana Lester, and then Elder Gerrbo from Sweden is with Elder Read. Elder Gerrbo is 6´4, and blond, and looks way Swedish. He knows tons of languages and is a Taekwondo black belt. He is way funny and off the wall. One interesting fact about him is that the Cammans live in his Ward in Sweden. Brother Cammans and Elder Gerrbo were both Ward Missionaries together. Brother Cammans is way close to Elder Gerrbo's sick dad, and visits him all the time. Also, Patrick Cammans was in Young Men's with him and they switched from doing it in Swedish to English when Patrick arrived. We are going to send over a letter with a picture to the Cammans with the two of us together. What a small world.

Like I told you last week, I am now with Elder Jeppson. He is way interesting. He is struggling with the language, but we work on it daily and we are teaching a ton of members, and practicing the missionary lessons which is helping him open-up. I´ve decided he is a mix between Sean McPharlin that went to Olympus with me and is in our Stake, and Diego, the kid that was Evan's age and came to our ward for awhile. Elder Jeppson played football in high school and at Dixie State. He also did drama and lots of stage crew stuff. He is big into computer games, but bigger into Halo and video games. He is from a way little town in California, and is the youngest of 8 children. He´s the only red head. His family is spread all over from Missouri, North Carolina, Idaho, California, Arizona, and none in Utah. He´s a way big country music fan, and I only know one Rascal Flatts song, and one Garth Brooks song. Our common ground is football and missonary work. So we just work our tails off. Elder Jeppson has had some interesting moments, and often looses his train of thought during lessons, always leading to funny moments. After his first lesson, he fell down the stairs while a member and I both watched helplessly. I love Elder Jeppson. He keeps me happy and having a great time.
Well, we will keep making funny memories and working hard. Have a great week.

I love you all so much.

Much love from Spain.


Love, Elder Miller

Last transfer

Hey everybody!

With transfers first off, I´m still in Barrio 3, but not with Elder Karren, sadly. I am with a new missionary in his first transfer. It's way cool because Elder Peterson, that I trained, is training as well, and we got a picture with him and me and his trainee. So my new companion is Elder Jeppson from Blythe, California, near the Arizona border. He is way nice and I'm excited to be with him. He has big desires and so we are just going to work our guts out.

Alex´s baptism went great! Actually, it was amazing! Elder Karren ended up doing the baptism when the member who was going to do it couldn't come, but other than that change, it went flawless. Alex´s mom came! She loved it and just was crying a lot, a lot. She loved it, and is really opening up to the hermanas. I gave a talk at the baptism, and then the rest was members singing to Alex and talking and bearing testimony. The young single adults did amazing for him. This was the second young single adult baptism in Barrio 3 in the transfer, so they are just awesome members to help us with our investigators of those ages. Wow, confusing sentence, sorry.

I got a great email from Hadley a few weeks ago, and I just loved it soo much, and then forgot to mention it. Thanks Had!

That is crazy about the swine flu at the Provo MTC.

Thanks for the emails and all the updates. Now, to let you in on what's going on here. We have Carlos and Elma still, but they haven't come to church, sadly. Also, we have Randy, and things are going really well with him. He came to Alex's baptism, and it went way well to have him there.

Thanks for everything you do.

Love, Elder Miller

5-27-09

Hey how are things? Tell Tiffany thanks for the email, Tiffany formerly Evans that is... weird. Today we went to the temple at 8:00 and now we are emailing and we are going to go hang out at the capilla with the district and some other elders in the mission. We are going to cook up some good grub as well. It should be a relaxing preparation day as apposed to the traveling ones we have been having. That's so great that Becky Swim, Kathy Jones and Emily Bourne are going on missions. Elder Karren is actually friends with Emily's cousin from Skyline, Lizzy Bourne.
Our address, I'm not sure which building it is, but it is on Calle Juan Francisco, and I would guess it's number 1. It's on the very end nearest the Plaza Oporto we live by.
As a birthday request, I would just like some hard copy pictures of me with long hair and Evan with long hair, however many you want to send, I think that would be a fun present. Other than that, you don't need to send any banners or birthday stuff. I kept the ones from last year to use throughout the year for other elders, and then for my birthday next month, and Elder Karren just got a bunch of party hats and stuff that we saved. But, a box cake mix of sorts would be neat. I don't really need anything though.
So as far as this last week in church, Robert, the 28-year-old Austrian who was in Barrio 5, came to Barrio 3 this week. I think to see a girl he likes who is in our young single adults. He is so awesome and it was fun to see him. Also we saw Thomas, who lives right next to the border between Barrios 3 and 5. We were on our way to Alex's and we got to talk to him and catch up a bit and have a nice laugh. He is so funny and just a dynamite recent convert. At church, tons of less active members came this week, which was awesome. We had quite a few lessons with less active members the week before and were able to light the fire under them a little and get them to church. Carlos and Elma couldn't come to church because he works until 4 or 5 every day, and so we need him to be able to get off at 4:00 at the latest so he can come for Sacrament Meeting at 4:45. I hope it works out this week. We are teaching them tonight and their little girls are as nice as ever, and their parents are great investigators.
So the big transfer news comes next week, and I sure hope Elder Karren stays here with me next transfer. That would be by far my number one choice. He is helping me with my workout plan. It involves getting up early, the 20 minute "repentance run" as I have named it, due to the fact that you just give it all you've got down hill for 8:30 seconds and then back up is exactly that - UP the whole way and a real leg work out.
The even cooler part is that the destination is the Athletico Madrid Stadium Vincente Calderon, right on the Rio Manzanares. The freeway goes under the stadium. It's a great sight right before we trek back up the hill. When we get back, we just do a general piso work out. Elder Karren and I just get along amazing! We have a fun companionship and work well together.
The best news of all is about Alex. ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡HE PASSED HIS BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW!!!!!!!! I am sooooo excited for him. He is so changed to a man of God from a man of the world. He came to church 40 minutes early to watch Kenny, the teacher who always sets up the sacrament, and learn how for after his baptism, and he didn't want to be late. He told us he made food on Saturday so he didn't have to even cook Sunday, but rather he could just focus on keeping the Sabbath day holy. He is so excited for home teaching you would think he was going to get a Ferrari if he does it, but he just wants to visit the members and share the First Presidency message with them. He has been really integrated with the young single adults who are going to do a special musical number at his baptism and then lots are participating in the program. His baptism is going to be Saturday at 10:00, so we will see what crazy thing decides to go wrong, and try to think on our feet to fix them. I hope all will go well. Elder Karren hasn't given a blessing in Spanish or English yet, let alone a confirmation, but I helped Alex choose him so he could have the opportunity. He will do great, but he is pretty nervous. Alex's mom is coming along super slowly, and we still haven't been able to teach her a sit down lesson, but she is reading the Book of Mormon. Alex is in 2 Nephi: 23, and just eating up the Book of Mormon. I just can't say enough amazing things about him. He is the most changed and prepared investigator I have taught on my mission.
I love this work. The Lord prepares his elect. His sheep are numbered and he knows their names. He wants us all to come unto him and is always extending his hand to us and wants us in his fold or to come back to the fold.
Have an amazingly awesome week wherever you may be. I love you all. Much love from Spain.

Love Elder Miller

Oh yeah, Mom, can you send this email to Elder Karren's mom again. Thanks!

Consuegra, Spain

Hi from Consuegra!

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net
Date: Wed, 20 May 2009

Today we are in Consuegra, where there are sweet windmills and a castle. It is in La Mancha near Toledo and Ciudad Real. Last week we went to Ventas the Plaza de Toros, the bullring of Madrid, which is spectacular. We took a tour, and it was awesome. The month of May is the biggest month for bullfights and they have one every day with 4-6 bulls fought at each one. We didn't see a fight, but just being there was fun and we got to take pictures the torero's cape, which is pink and yellow. Then the red cloth that he uses at the end when he has the finishing sword at the end of the fight. It was great. Next week we are probably going to go to Tony Roma's with Elder Sewell and his companion as a goodbye. He has plans to visit for 1 or 2 weeks during Thanksgiving later this year, so hopefully that works out, and you all can meet him then.
Last night we taught an awesome mother and father who are actually legally married. They are just way nice and had amazing questions. Their answers to our questions showed that they were really applying themselves to learn what the spirit was whispering to them. They are Carlos and Elma from Peru, and they are about 30 and have 2 little girls - Fiorela (5) and Mirella (9). They are a referral from Elder Murga and Elder Read. They are just great. They were sad when the first cita didn't work out, and we were worried that it wouldn't work out the second time or ever. But then last night it went great and they ate our message up. They are way excited to have the next lesson with the girls there, who were out playing at the park with a friend and the friend's mom. The littlest girl, Fiorela, ran to the door when we were leaving and was like, "Wait- I want to give you a chuche. (A little candy, usually soft and delicious but sometimes rock hard because the stores have had them on the shelf so long, but this was a good one). So it has been rough only having Alex to teach, but he is amazing, and now we have 4 investigators so its great. The members are awesome though, and so we have 1-5 member lessons depending on the day. Its great, and we are just following "Preach My Gospel" teaching the missionary lessons and getting referrals. I love teaching the members because they almost always put a lot into the lesson, and when people really want to learn they do from the spirit. But also you get out of it what you put into the learning experience and so that's why we have to find the elect. Alex is golden. We found out one rough part in his past from Ukraine, where he grew up until 12 years old and then came here. President Farnsworth will be doing his interview and it should go well because Alex understands repentance, wants with all his heart to be baptized, recognizes what's gone wrong, wants to make it better. We will see how it goes on Sunday, but pray for Alex. He accepted tithing, offerings, fasting, word of wisdom, chastity, and its like he would have lived them his whole life if he only knew about it all. He got frustrated when we contacted a person in the street on the way to the fireside this week The fireside was with the 2 former mission presidents of the Madrid Mission, tons of former missionaries, current missionaries, and members. It was a great experience. They rejected us really hard, and Alex was just like "How could the people do that to you? This message is true, and if I had known this stuff all along, I would have been living it. I just had to wait to finally receive it." He is really excited to prepare for a mission, and oh, he is just amazing.
Also some old investigators that I taught in Barrio 5 got baptized. Alcides and his wife got baptized by Elder Moreno in Barrio 8. They are family of Bernardo and Lorenza, recent converts who gave us tons of referrals in Barrio 5. Alcides is the one who waited to pick up his wife from Paraguay to get baptized, and his son was already baptized in Paraguay. That's awesome. Also, Eva and Juan Carlos, who were also referrals from Bernardo, were baptized in Paraguay. They are the ones who moved back the week before Elder McBride left Barrio 5. They got married and baptized. Its just wonderful the blessings the gospel brings to families. Miguel Angel from Mostoles was sealed in the temple, and I just found out today. I was so sad to not have found out before because I would have been able to attend, since Elder Brown and I taught him, and then he was baptized while we were there. But the important part is that they are an eternal family with their 2 boys. This gospel is so amazing.
We had Zone Conference yesterday, and it went really well. We learned about the atonement, and practiced contacting. The main focus was creating Zion in companionships, then districts, then zones, and just being a team. It was kind of like a "one for all and all for one" theme. It went well, and I learned a ton. Elder Sewell gave his final testimony at the Zone Conference, and I was way sad to see him up there for two reasons. He is going home to England, and I am next. It is really surreal. It scares me and makes me sad more than anything.
I have been able to cut a lot of hair here in Barrio 3. I have cut Elder Read's and Elder Murga's hair twice now, and then Elder Karren's once and my own once. I'm getting pretty proficient with a missionary cut tapered, and just long enough to part. So, have a great week, have fun in Lake Powell and at Tiffany's reception. Tell everyone I say "Hi".
Thanks for all you do for me and your support and love. I love you all so much.
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

5-13-09

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net

The fireside with Elder Bednar on Sunday night was very interesting. We took Alex, our investigator from the Ukraine with us, and he really liked it. He told us how much he could tell that Elder Bednar knew the problems of these days and the needs of teens and young people. It was great, and afterwards we had a temple tour with Hermana Salas and Hermana Toone. Alex loved it and gave amazing answers to their questions. He says he is counting the days to go to the temple grounds again for the next charla foganera or fireside.
The Madrid Open started last Friday and goes until this Sunday. The arena it takes place in is very near us. You will have to check out some of the matches.
Elder McBride's dad is doing amazing. He did have to get a pacemaker, but it all went well and life is going good for him.
Jose is doing all right but he works like a mad man. He accepts everything, but doesn't have time to come to church or hardly ever can he meet. Alex, as I said, is doing great. He has quit the occasional social cigarette he would smoke, drinking, and coffee, his real addiction. He works at their restaurant that has a bar where he prepares all of those things and sells them to others, and is able to resist them. He is amazing. He hasn't missed a single lesson out of the 4 a week that we have had. He has been to church 3 times now. He is coming to the baptism of Diana (20 from Ecuador) an investigator of the hermanas'. Alex's mom isn't a believer in religions, but does believe in God. She was raised in the Ukraine in a time when they weren't aloud to practice religion I think, and so it just made things hard for her. Besides, the Orthodox Church has some interesting beliefs.
We ate at the restaurant that Alex and his mom own, and it was way good. They served us a catfish that was about 10 inches long with its tail in its mouth, so it was in a circle. Then it was battered with the skin and all and deep-fried. It was way interesting. Alex studied to be a chef/bar tender/waiter for 4 years so he is just a way good cook. I love the people here. They are amazing! I love being in Barrio 3 and I love the mission.
Much love from the happiest place on earth, not Disneyland, Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

5-6-09

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net

Today we are going to a restaurant at the mall Isla Azul. It is pretty sweet and really close here in Aluche. They have a Taco bell, the only one in Spain, in the food court. I will have to give it a try. We are going to eat at the Brazilian buffet that is like Rodizio Grill but not as expensive.
Some huge news for Spanish speakers all over the world is the Latter-day Saint version of the Spanish bible coming out in September. It will have a better translation. The Joseph Smith translation will be in the footnotes and it just should be an amazing blessing for these amazing people in Spain and those all around the world. Another news flash is that jackets came off on Monday, so we just wear our nerdy white short sleeve shirts. It feels way weird without a coat and the shirts just beam. It doesn't make us sweat half as much though. Also, the Madrid Olympics might become a reality in 2016. That would be awesome. Keep your fingers crossed. The Madrid Open for tennis will be hosted in our area at the metro stop San Fermin-Orcasur. It should be a huge tournament, and it is going to be in the Caja Magia or "magic box". It's a huge arena, "the largest in Europe" is the word on the streets from the people. So those are the updates from Spain in general, now to the most important, the people we are working with.
We have an awesome investigator from Ukraine named Alex who works at a restaurant with his mom. We are going to start teaching him. He came to church the last few weeks as a member referral. We taught him for the first time Monday and the second time yesterday. He is preparing for baptism for the 30th of May, and there are 3 other baptisms with the hermanas and other elders before then. Alex is amazing, and he does his reading and prays and went to the fireside with the young single adults on Sunday. He is about 20 and speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Ukrainian, Russian, and English. I would say he has the gift of tongues for sure. He is just a sharp guy with amazing questions and oh so elect. He is one of the people talked about in the Doctrine and Covenants 29:6-7 and Alma 13:24. Barrio 3 is amazing. We are going to teach Alex's mom soon as well. We saw home teaching being done again when we went to visit a member family and teach them. We got to hear the tail end of the message, and it was great. Then we added our message and it was just a great experience. Also, we are teaching a man from Spain which we do sometimes but not that often, and even with less frequency here in Aluche. Part of our area, metro stop San Cristóbal, is the lowest priced housing in Madrid, and so there are just tons of humble immigrant people to teach. Jose' is awesome and is from the church Cuerpo de Cristo, or "body of Christ". He accepts and believes in the restoration of the gospel, the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We will probably find some differences in the plan of salvation, but he should be getting ready for a baptism challenge come the 2nd or 3rd lesson. The hurdle will be the unmarried problem with him and his member girlfriend who he lives with. She is from Bolivia.
So that was a trial of our faith for a couple of weeks without investigators. Teaching members, inactive members and recent converts has now turned into awesome work with investigators who want to learn. We kind of did an overhaul of the area book and whipped it into shape and just have been working really hard. The Lord blesses us when we bear with patience our afflictions.
We get to take an investigator to a fireside after church on Sunday that is a broadcast with Elder Bednar. I am looking forward to it.
Keep on keepin' on in the world that's been turned on its head and during this economic crisis that people can't stop talking about.
I love you all and wish you a very merry week.
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

Almost May

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net





I saw Elder Rodriguez on Sunday and he had taken a photo with Grandma and Doug in Barrio 6 while they were here. It was so crazy!

I got the package on Tuesday with the amazing cookies that they left for me. Thanks Grandma and Doug big time! I hope you have a great trip!

The ward in Aluche has about 180 members and it’s really focused on missionary work. I love it. We have 6 missionaries assigned to the ward, but then as the members we have 8 ward missionaries that come to coordination meeting and come to lessons with us.

So far the week has been great. Last week by the way, for preparation day we went to Isla Azul, a big mall, and shopped. Well we looked around and ate at a salad bar buffet place like Souper Salad. Today we are in Aranjuez, and it has an amazing palace. We came with Elder Glad and his trainee, and Elder Finlay and his new companion, and then the hermanas in our district. Elder Murga didn’t want to spend money so they other elders didn’t come. It has been fun. We got some pizza at an Italian restaurant with the elders from here in Aranjuez, Elder Pringle, and Elder Castro. They are both from Texas. Elder Castro’s parents are from Mexico, so he’s bilingual from the start. He has been out like a month.

We visited the Torres family in a part of our area called Orcasitas. There is Iaad, his mom Blanca, and John Freddy was there as well. He was the awesome member in Barrio 5. They made us platanos machos covered in cheese, battered and deep fried. It was way good and really rich. We are going by again Saturday for roast chicken.

We had a crazy experience. We had our first plan fall through the other day, and then our back up plan as well. Then we got lost onto a calle where we had previously been lost twice earlier in the week. I felt like we should knock the street and it was good, but we just got one pass back, and then went on to the next thing. Instead of taking the metro, we walked and took a way zigzagging through the city. Then we asked for directions upon nearing our destination, and the man pointed us down a street. I felt distinctly like “don’t go down that street". So knowing it was the way to get to where we wanted to be we walked past. On the very next corner a man contacted us. He is from Peru and was baptized at the age of 15 in Peru. He has been inactive here for the 3 years. Since he has been here he never found the church. He is about 30’ish and has 4 kids. 2 of them are baptized, and the others are still too young. The kids are all still in Peru, but his wife who isn’t a member is here and the hermanas were able to teach here on Saturday. They took her to the Joseph Smith movie. So it was just amazing to me how the Lord had us right where he wanted us on the exact corner at the exact right time to help Jaime, and to help his wife Karina prepare for baptism.

This week was also neat in that during two of our visits to recent converts or less actives, we were interrupted by home teachers and visiting teachers. You don’t understand how amazing this is. Home and visiting teaching is happening in our ward! I love it. It’s just awesome to be in such a functioning, working, missionary enthused ward. One cool connection in Barrio 3 is that Kenny, the bishop’s son, was on my basketball team that I coached in the Summer Slam basketball camp last year. I was always like, “someday maybe I will serve in Barrio 3”, and now here I am. We have a decent sized Primary, and a good amount of youth and single adults. Another crazy connection is that Francisco, a recent convert from Barrio 5, gave us a referral of his sister while I was there. Now we teach her, well the hermanas are going to teach her from here on out because her sons and husband don’t want to get on board yet. We had a great lesson with Francisco and Narcissa though.

Thanks for everything you do.

Much love from me to you.

Love, Elder Miller

Aluche

Last Transfer

I was transferred to Aluche, just amazing! I always wanted to serve here. Elder Ott served here in Barrio 3 as well, but he was in Barrio 3 Arriba and I’m in Barrio 3 Bajo. Our district is awesome of the 6 missionaries who serve here. I’m companions with Elder Karren, who was in Puerto llano while I was in Ciudad Real and he is the one who lives on the Watts’ street and went to Skyline. Mom, you should get in contact with his mom.
The District Leader is Elder Read, who I just love, and then Elder Murga. He is 26 and from Peru. Elder Trujillo and has been in Barcelona for like 10 years and is a convert of 3 years. He is way sweet and speaks almost perfect English. It’s a way great piso. I’m so glad to be with Elder Karren, and living with a native finally and then also to be with Elder Read who is just hilarious. There are 2 hermanas in the district. Hermana Toone is new and from Bountiful, and then Hermana Lester from Washington, a convert of 3 years. That is so crazy that Grandma and Doug will be in Madrid this weekend. I hope they have an amazing trip.
That’s so great about Brian’s mission call. Elder Jarman and Elder Decker both waited in the Maryland Baltimore Mission - English speaking until they got their visas and they loved it. The only thing I know is that the cool souvenir to take home that all the elders got was a grill, like the platinum and gold diamond studded mouth pieces. Pretty sweet Brian! Good luck and baptize like crazy. That is so crazy Brian will be gone when I get back. We won’t see each other for 4 years.
I got the card from Sharon and Tanner and I thank them a million times over for the 10 euros. They went towards my 13 euro pair of Chino shoes I bought so I could get the toe of my Eccos re-glued. The Chino shoes are great, black with silver buckles and very Spanish looking.
Angel was just doing amazing when I left on Monday and I’m sure Elder Finlay took over just fine. Everything should work out for him to be baptized as he has gotten out of the shop deal and is just selling off the products until they are gone. He is going to close on Sundays from now on and has now been to church 5 weeks in a row. He received his testimony on Easter Sunday as he was reading the Book of Mormon. He just felt the spirit tell him super strongly that the Book of Mormon is true and that the church is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. It’s pretty awesome, and now he just doesn’t have any reservations or hang-ups before baptism. The first lesson after he signed to get out of his rent of the location he rents he just told us “I’m ready to get baptized now. When can we do it?”
So, here is just some Barrio 5 info. It was super hard to say goodbye after the 4+ months there, but one cool thing is that the Torres family from Colombia that was baptized by Elder McCoy and Calderon from Barrio 5 really lives in our area in Barrio 3. So we get to go and visit them on Friday, so I didn’t really have to say goodbye to them. It was a great week last week and we got a ton of member referrals and were able to do a bunch of meeting house tours, a big focus recently in the mission. They went really well, and the members are just getting more on board every week. Along with Angel at church on Sunday were Emilio, Manuel, Augustin, and Oliver, most of the eternal investigators I taught while I was there. They keep investigating kind of, but now they really seem to be changing, especially Manuel who came to church all dressed up in a new suit with glasses on and just looking changed. Here in Barrio 3 we are working with some people I don’t even know yet so I can’t really fill you in. We have 8 ward missionaries though, so that is awesome and is 8 more ward missionaries than I have had in the other 5 of my areas. President told me I would be finishing here in one of the most powerful mission wards with one of the best Bishops he has ever worked with in Spain or Utah. So I am overjoyed. Have a great week. Much love from me to you all…and much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

4-15-09

Well, I hope everyone had a nice Easter.
Today we are going to the wax museum with the district and with Elder Ott and Elder Monson.
So first off, there is Angel over here who wasn’t ready for his baptismal interview, so we had to wait on his baptism. We need him to get an answer to his prayers as to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the church as the only with the priesthood authority on the earth. It makes sense to him mas o menos, but he hasn’t had the spiritual confirmation yet. Lessons with him go really, really well though and he always does his prayers and reading and is really going to be ready when the time comes for him to be baptized. He should be closing down his shop this week and is trying to rid himself of all the food on the shelves, counters and fridges so that he can sell the spot to someone else, and then he is going to get a piso in the ward and make clothes and tailor clothes for a living instead of his terrible situation at a store that doesn’t make any money.
Also, an update on Alcides and his wife that he went and picked up in Paraguay; they have returned to Spain and have a baptismal date in Barrio 8, so that is way sweet. Eva and Juan Carlos liked conference and are still receiving the missionaries and noches de hogar from them. Also, I forgot to mention about Thomas’ confirmation. I confirmed him in Sacrament Meeting in English. It was kind of hard to do it in English. It went way well though, and then this last Sunday he received the Aaronic Priesthood from the High Priest group leader who is from Missouri, and it was in English for Thomas as well. It was way sweet, and all of the 4 of the Barrio 5 elders the bishop and Hermano Wilson were in the circle. It was great, and an amazing blessing. So thanks for everything. I love you all a ton. I will let you know what happens with transfers.
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

Happy Easter

Thanks to both of my Grandmas, the Stevens, and Elder Brown for their emails this week.

Well today we went to a museum for the blind. It sounds weird but it was neat. They had all miniature models of famous buildings and monuments, 3-D art, brail books, and then history of the blind culture as far as like the inventions leading up to Braille and stuff. It was sweet, and you could touch all of the models because that’s obviously how the blind people figure out what’s going on with each piece. There was a Segovia overview, the Statue of Liberty, the Roman Coliseum, tons of famous cathedrals and building around Spain, the Eiffel tower, and much more. All of the things were all pretty big and impressive.
Thomas is doing great, and the other elders are teaching him as a recent convert because he moved into their area. He is just on fire, and came to all of the possible 4 sessions of conference we could attend and loved it. It was so fun to have him there in English with all of the missionaries. Also we watched one session in Spanish with Angel, who stayed for 2 sessions on Sunday, one with Andres and the other with us. We saw tons of members, and it was just awesome. Also, one of the coolest things was seeing Hermana Ana Camarero, who I knew as Anita back in Ciudad Real. She is in the Madrid CCM right now since last week. She is going to Barcelona on a mission, and it was great to talk with her about Tak and Rei who were put in the Primary presidency after I left. Conference was just amazing, amazing, amazing. I loved the sense of hope it gave to the world that has most obviously been turned on its head more and more since I have been in this bubble-world, free of doubts and fear of the real world.
I had a good exchange with Elder Ellsworth. He is from a small town in Arizona, Shiloh or something like that. He is was cool, and is in his first transfer. We had a great opportunity to teach some lessons, but one in particular was just awesome. We were put in the hard situation of teaching some member referrals for their first lesson. It was to a mother about 50 and her son Erik 25, and then Erik’s girlfriend, a member of Barrio 1. The tough part about the situation is that Jenny, the daughter, committed suicide last Saturday, due to a problematic life of suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We taught them on Monday while they were still very sad and in shock as you can imagine. We taught them the plan of salvation, but mainly it was a short lesson focused on the atonement and it’s all encompassingness of all of our problems Alma 7:11-13. He is with us and helping us. We also taught about faith in preparation to give Erik a blessing he had asked for, prompting the visit. So it was super intense. The tension could have been cut with a knife. Elder Ellsworth is new, and doesn’t speak fluently yet, and so I had most of the lesson. It was a great opportunity to just be completely guided by the spirit the whole lesson and then during the blessing was just amazingly spiritual. I felt just an overwhelming calming feeling. Then the mother asked for a blessing, and when she said either of the two of us could do it, I got Elder Ellsworth to agree to do it. It was his first blessing; Spanish or English. It went great. He spoke Spanish better than he usually speaks. The gift of tongues helped him, and the Lord was helping this hard-hearted mother follow her son’s example to come more unto Christ. It was just a priceless 30 minutes and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Angel was doing just amazing and had jumped all hurdles we could toss in front of him; chastity, which has been a problem throughout his life, and the word of wisdom, which helped him quit drinking coffee and tea, and having the resolve to not even drink occasionally as he did before. Then we came to the Sabbath day and we just can’t get him to close his store. It was hard the first time to get him to church and close the tienda, but then it happened now 3 weeks in a row and so we need to get him ready to close on Sunday which looks super grim right now. But, I guess we will have faith instead of fear and we will do what we can and leave the rest up to the Lord.

Thanks for everything! I love you all so much.

Love, Elder Miller

Segovia

It's April!

From: Morgan Miller (elder.miller@myldsmail.net)
Sent: Wed 04/01/09 10:26 AM
To: terryandlaura@msn.com

Happy April Fool’s Day! We are in Segovia right now doing email. We had an exchange and I went to Valladolid with Elder Scott from Los Angeles. It was a good exchange. We were there from Monday before pedidos until we switched back here to do the piso (apartment) check in Segovia. Today we have a preparation day with Elder Boyce and Elder Muller here in Segovia, and Elder Scott and Elder Moreno, the Valladolid elders we did exchanges with. It should be fun to see Segovia today and maybe for the last time on my mission. I love Segovia. It is so charismatic and nostalgic.
So now for the update on Angel; he is doing great and progressing towards his baptismal date the 18th of April. He walked 35 minutes to church this week, the walk we did with him the week before. Even though it was Daylight Saving Time, he still made it right on time. Also, he came to Thomas´ baptism on Friday.
So now for Thomas’ story from the start until now; firstly, he is from Kerala, India in the south, and speaks perfect English with a way funny accent. He was in Mongolia a year ago teaching English like he has done also in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Maldives. He saw on the internet, video footage of President Monson meeting President Bush, and that was his first contact with the church. Then he found the local LDS church in Mongolia near his house, but didn’t attend. He went to the Czech Republic and studied a little more in Prague for an international certification allowing him to teach throughout all of Europe. Then he came here to Spain. That was 5 weeks ago. Four weeks ago he located the Madrid temple and attended church at the stake center. Elder Dubray and Elder Cummins referred him to us because he was staying in our area. Thankfully Thomas called us that Sunday night and we met the next day. We met with him 4 or 5 times a week with 6 different members to prepare him for his baptism on the 27th (Friday). It was just amazing from the get go with Thomas. He was so elect and prepared. Thomas was living in a co-ed hostel like I have said in other emails. The problem with him getting baptized was only the living situation. Thanks to Andres de Batres going to the piso visits with Thomas, and John Freddy finding the pisos online and then setting up the citas (appointments), everything worked out - even though when he moved in with Quirico, his wife kicked Thomas out. When we were trying to find another place for him to stay, we kept running into pisos who wanted just men in there piso, but just wanted gay men... so that wasn’t going to work out. Right now Thomas is 44 years old, and finally got baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He bought himself triple combination scriptures after he had known about the church for only a week or so, and is just dominating in his scripture study. It was a bumpy road with crazy money and piso problems and scheduling stuff, and then the Ward Mission Leader was 20 minutes late to Thomas’ baptism and didn’t have the programs. Thomas had to drop his chastity problems and quit drinking coffee, but everything worked out. He is just awesome, and I recognize how much the Lord blessed him every step of the way.
The missionary reduction in Spain starts as my group leaves in July, and the mission will only receive 2 or 3 missionaries to replace 13. Then they will just keep receiving fewer missionaries than are going home until the mission is at 64 missionaries, which makes one companionship for each of the 32 units (branches and wards) in the mission. So the affects will firstly cause the city wards like Barrio 5, the other 7 barrios and then the suburb wards like Mostoles, Leganes and Alcala, to reduce to just 2 missionaries. So immediately there shouldn’t be cities without missionaries. But once the mission is spread thin and a city explodes with success, they will pull missionaries out of other areas to put them in areas where the work load is unbearable. What does this all mean? The members will have to step it up and be full-time finders. Elder Bednar told us he has only seen baptism numbers go up after the missionary number went down, so it’s a good sign. The Lord has huge plans for Europe and this mission.
Hey, so have a great next week. Thanks for keeping me posted on everything.
Much love from Spain!
Love, Elder Miller

Love, Elder Miller

Salamanca, Spain

3-25-09

Hey Mom thanks for emailing me the article about Spain from the Church News. I saw the Avila wall from the article, today from the bus to and from Salamanca. We went up after our exchange with Elder Sansing and Elder Stearns. Elder Sansing and I were here in Madrid, and left today with Hermanas Thompson, Swasey, Wilcox, and Hardcastle to go up and meet Elder Finlay and Elder Stearns, the Salamanca district leader. We had a grand old time and saw the great sights of Salamanca a lot more thoroughly this time, and went to the Roman bridge and up in the tower of the cathedral. It was great.
I finally wrote Elder Brown today and Hermana Thompson wrote him too, so he should be getting that. So anyway, we contacted Jaime in a plaza and he said he knew some missionaries who were probably home by now who served in Villalba. They contacted him in the street and showed him pictures of a ranch. So it’s a small world and Jaime remembers Elder Brown. Elder Brown, you should write him he is a way cool guy.
I talked with President Farnsworth and he said to get online and check out the registration for the University of Utah. I found out that my registration period is the General registration that starts July 27th or June 27th. I guess we won’t be doing this any time soon, unless you can try to talk to someone at the U and change that so I can enroll earlier and actually get the classes I want. I guess it will all work out how it should. So yeah I guess we will just roll with the punches on that. Thanks for jumping through the hoops you have so far.
This week has been a good one. I am not sure what to do with my suits, they are too big to get taken in or used after the mission. My green one has taken a beating but has been repaired good enough to still look alright. It’s just too big. The black one we got at Mervyn’s has a nasty stain on the collar and on both sleeves, where it lost its coloring, and both pairs of pants have oil and cooking and eating stains on them. So I don’t wear that suit any more. I am going to get the black suit with brown pinstripes tailored, and the brown one is great. So basically, I am going to throw out the black one, and then the green one would just be being kept to be a keepsake. What should I do with it? So that was random.
I had an exchange with Elder Glad last Friday that went well. He is working way well with the ward and things are getting done. On Wednesday night last week after we got back from Alcala, we had a great experience in a meeting with Elder Paya and the other zone leaders. He had a talk/presentation planned with a PowerPoint, some hand outs he gave us and didn’t use, and then obviously a talk to go along with it. He started out with Zone reports and put some elders on the spot a little about priesthood not getting to the recent converts, which is a common flaw that happens here in Madrid because it’s hard to get them into interviews with the leaders, and have them take over the recent convert sometimes. Then after those, he had the assistants start a council amongst us about how we can apply the things learned in the mission tour to the mission. This went on for 2 hours of us bouncing around ideas about baptismal calendars, baptismal interviews, progress records to the ward, nightly planning, and some other things. It was way great and we were all able to see how to improve and get better as a mission. Then he stopped the council after about 2 hours and noted the spirit in the room brought by a council done the right way, like they are done in the organization and leadership of the church. He told us he did it as a practice, and that it would help us all as we went forward and served in the church as future Young Men’s presidents, Bishops, Elder’s Quorom presidents, Stake Presidents and wherever else the Lord would have us serve. He got really teary-eyed and emotional, then President Farnsworth bore his testimony tearily, and then Hermana Farnsworth, and then Hermana Paya. It was a great experience and I just loved the amazing spirit that was there.
We had some sweet new investigators this week both found in a “faith” street that was selected by a member, John Freddy (who also took us to Burger King again yesterday). One is Angel. He is a great Ecuadorian man, and he came to church on Sunday and then in the cita (lesson) on Monday he felt the truthfulness of the restoration, and was just in tears during his closing prayer. He is finding the truth he was looking for. Also Mom, there is a girl here as a nanny and she goes to our ward. Her name is Brittany Clark and she is a year younger than me. She went to Uintah Elementary as well. Also, she knows Cami Pendleton and Elder Finlay because she went to Alta her sophomore to senior year.
Things are going really well over here. The members in our area treat us just dandy, and are giving referrals and helping investigators like Thomas come to baptism. Thomas has his baptism on Friday at 8pm and it should be awesome. Andres de Batres, the Spanish recent convert, is going to baptize him. Andres and John Freddy were our heroes on this one for searching and checking habitations with Thomas to get him in the situation with 2 men in his piso that he is in now. Things are going great with him and he is just super prepared. I need to tell Thomas´ story in detail next week, with the hoops we jumped through and stuff and how prepared he was from day one. More next week…
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

Happy Birthday Evan!

From: elder.miller@myldsmail

Happy Birthday on Friday Evan - the big 17, holy cow I can’t believe it!
Hey thanks Dad for the email and all you do for me, I am running into Colombians like crazy. They are all over the place here. Keep Evan in line and have fun on his 17th birthday Can you believe he is 17 and me almost 21? Its ridiculous how fast time flies!
Hey mom, first off can you thank Ruth Stevens for the email, and tell her they still have the English classes at the temple, and that Elder McBride is the teacher now that he is over there in the temple zone, so those people are in good hands. Also tell Kelly I was way glad to hear from her, and hope all goes well in their move. It will be sad not to be able to visit them in Virginia again. Tell her I got the post cards, like the Harry Potter School one and stuff and I loved them.
Elder McBride’s new companion is Elder Nicholl who Elder Brown knows because they are both from little towns in Arizona.
Manuel is doing way well on quitting smoking, and he is getting some pills from a doctor today to help him. We will see how the actual quitting goes. With the Thomas baptism, it has been a crazy roller coaster. Quirico’s wife didn’t like having Thomas there, but I think it’s just because she doesn’t like the church and stuff. She has never liked us, and is atheist. So she has always been a problem. They kicked Thomas out and back to the hostel after a little over 24 hours. So craziness on that, and then members have been looking on line for him, and Andres has been helping him find a situation that would work out. Then when we finally got one we felt good about yesterday, and he was going to move in today, and had the cash out and everything, the man with the habitation pulled out. So we are high and dry with the baptism on Saturday. It got moved because the ward mission leader has to work Friday, and so he wouldn’t be able to fill the baptismal font. So stay tuned till next week to see if the overly prepared Thomas is baptized this week or next. He is just an amazing man, and went to the temple to buy himself a triple combination because he wanted to have the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price so bad. He has a testimony, the members have taken him in really well, he has been to church 3 times, he came to the Joseph Smith movie on Saturday and loved it, and he is keeping all of the commandments, and passed the baptism interview questions when we went over them with him. Andres will hopefully get him in to stay at the Red Cross today, which is the best hope. We will see what happens, but the Lord’s will be done is the most important thing.
This week was another great week at church with Thomas, Manuel, Augustin, Gisela, and Oliver all there. Carl accepted a baptismal date for the 18th of April. We hadn’t taught him in a little less than 3 weeks and then he just turned up at Miriam, a Filipino member’s house for our lesson with her and Thomas. It was awesome to hear Thomas and Miriam both bearing testimony to Carl and helping him in his decision. Also, Augustin and Gisela are praying about the 18th for their baptism as well, so we will see in our lesson on Friday how they feel, but they finally understand authority and the apostasy and the restoration. They have been to church 4 times as a family.
The conference yesterday was just amazing. Elder Gorts had medical problems just before the weekend and so the plan was changed to have Elder Paya come, who came to the mission while I was in the CCM. He is from France and was mission president here 20 years ago. He spoke to us in the CCM and talked for 4 hours about Zion. It was way good then, but I appreciated his help in the mission field more than I did as a CCM missionary. It was just great. Also, Elder Ott did a good job translating, I didn’t have a headset, but I could hear him because he kind of talks loud. So then also I got called out by Elder Paya to teach about commitments out of the blue. He just said, “And so now we are going to learn from Elder Miller a little about commitments for 5 minutes”. He asked me to answer 3 questions with my talk, but I was so nervous I don’t remember what the 3 questions were, but I have heard I answered them with what I said. It was in English, and just a really great experience to stand up and speak with nothing to say and have the script play out for me as I said each new word and sentence that came to me. It was scary but a good experience. It was weird though, because they didn’t call on any other missionaries to do anything else, other than answer questions and stuff. Tonight we have a Zone Leader meeting for 3 hours with Elder Paya and it should be just great. Today we are headed to Alcalá to see the sights over there with Elder Ott, Elder Monson, and the Alcalá elders. Elder Haynie and Elder Coley are the two you have heard of. So it should be way fun. We are going to eat some donor kebab as well.
Elder McBride and I ate cow tongue at Bernardo and Lorenza’s his last Sunday. I don’t know how it slipped my mind. It was way good, and I loved it until they told me when I was over half way done with it. Then I scraped off some of the sauce that was covering our beefy meal and saw little taste buds and discovered why I had been finding so many stinking blood vessels in my meat. Another weird food experiences in Spain, to add on to the cow stomach, intestine, pig ear and tail and mussels and all sea creatures, and just a whole list of things I would never touch with a 39 and a half foot pole before the mission.
The chocolates from Grandma arrived and they were delicious. I sent a copy of that article with Elder Sewell’s family over to him, how funny. I would love some Samoas and some Thin Mints if Grandma is willing to send them. Thanks so much, Grandpa, for having missionary experiences and sharing them with me. I hope she gets baptized. You should offer to call her a few times a week to help the missionaries maintain their daily contact with her, they should be way glad for your offer because it is hard to get members to do things like that.
Hey mom what is the deadline for sign ups at the U of U? I will talk to President Farnsworth and then get online to put together a plan as well, but if you could send me what I need to sign up for as in the general areas I still haven’t filled, and then the Science and Math I still need to fill it would be awesome. If you could coordinate an institute class with Elder Ott, that would be great. I will get with your report and try to see what I think we should sign up for and stuff. Then I will tell you and you could do the actual signing up and add and drop classes and stuff. That would probably be the least stressful on my end.
Tell Elder Brown that I am trying to get his emails responded to today on the train to Alcalá. We will see how it goes.
Thanks for everything you do. I love you all very much and hope the best for all of you.
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

Transfers

From: elder.miller@myldsmail.net

As far as transfers goes, here’s the scoop: I am still here in Barrio 5, and Elder Weinert completed his mission and went home to Tennessee. Elder McBride went to be a Temple Zone Leader in Barrio 6. Hermana Salas, from Barcelona went to Barrio 6 also. The new faces in the district are Elder Glad replacing Elder Weinert as District Leader. He was my District Leader back in Mostoles my 6th transfer. We get along way well and he is way funny. He is from Copper Hills, Utah. Hermana Thompson is training a new missionary from Emery High in Castledale, Utah named Hermana Swasey. Right now my new companion and I are emailing together at a locutorio or internet store, and we did a temple session together this morning. I am with Elder Finlay, my companion from the Madrid CCM, which is just crazy. It really shows that we have both matured a lot, and it is fun to be back with him. So now I have been companions with both my Provo MTC companion and my Madrid CCM companion in the field as well. It’s really weird that I will be here in Barrio 5 for one more transfer and then 2 more in just one more area. It’s sad to think about. It was also sad to see Elder Weinert and Elder McBride leave, and its always different getting used to teaching with a new companion and stuff. I am excited for the usual exchanges, interviews, piso checks, locutorio checks, Mission Council and that stuff.
Elder McBride’s dad’s surgery went amazingly well, better than expected. It was under a 50 percent chance that he would live before, but he will recover and be better than before the surgery because they took some platelet thing out of one of the valves that was causing him mini strokes regularly. So it was amazing.
I am so excited for Thomas´ baptism on the 20th. He is so awesome, today he is moving into Quirico’s piso so that he isn’t living in the hostal with single women. He also committed to keep the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. We have taught him 6 times with 6 different members and he has been to church twice now. He does his reading, prays and receives answers from the Lord consistently during personal study and the lessons. It is just awesome. He talks about our church, and asked Andres, the recent Spanish convert of 4 months, to baptize him. It is just a miracle. We are going to finish up teaching him in the next 5 lessons and then take him to the Joseph Smith movie on Saturday. He will have his baptismal interview next Thursday. Pray for him please.
Manuel is doing well and passed all of the baptismal interview questions when we went through them to give him a feel for the interview, except the word of wisdom. I hate cigarettes. He needs some help with that and so he asked for a blessing and we are going to give him one tonight. We are going to have a member who is 18 and just got the Melchizedek priesthood to give the blessing. It will be a great opportunity for Jaad, from Colombia, and Manuel Robledo the baptismal candidate. By the way dad, Jaad´s family was baptized in 1981 or 82 and he wanted me to ask if you know his family. It is the Torres family and they were baptized by Elder McCoy and Elder Calderon, a Colombian, in a city right near Cartago, Colombia. I wrote down the city but I don’t have that planner with me.
Agustin and Gisela were at church on Sunday again with little Agustin, and then Thomas, and Oliver too. It went way well and there were 149 people there, a record since I have been here in Barrio 5. There are usually around 115ish on Sunday, so that was awesome. Right now we have had to drop quite a few investigators and we are in the search for new ones. We mainly just have Thomas, Manuel, Agustin and Gisela and kind of Quirico and Carl, but neither of them is progressing real well right now.
Elder Gorts is coming to our mission again and we have a Zone Conference with him on the 19th. I am way excited. On my mission we have had Elder Johnson of the Seventy come, and Elder Viñas of the Seventy as well. Elder Lopez visits regularly. Elder Gorts is coming for the second time, and Elder Bednar. It has been amazing to hear from them all.
I am loving the work, and learning more than ever as we try to apply the teachings of Elder Bednar. It really has revolutionized my mission.
I love you all a ton and I hope you all have a great week. Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

El Escorial

It's March

We went to El Escorial today and it was awesome. It is a palace in the northwest part of Madrid, near the huge cross I went to a few months ago. It was so sweet. It is huge and has tons of paintings. It is right up next to the mountains in the north of Madrid and has some great views. Then after, we went to Mi Wok, an oriental buffet. It was so, so good and you could have tons of prepared food, desserts, and then pick your own ingredients to get cooked wok style. We ate a lot and then traveled home an hour on bus.
Eva and Juan Carlos have a situation update. They are going home to Paraguay this week because Juan Carlos lost his DJ job, due to not having residency papers. So they just bumped up there flight from the 1st of May until now and are headed out. It is a blessing in disguise because they will be able to get married and baptized faster. They are so strong and are way excited for baptism. Manuel’s baptismal date got pushed back. Unfortunately, in his week to quit, he couldn’t do more than 24 hours. It’s great though, because he was able to get down to 5 or 6 a day, from 50 about 4 months ago. He has a job that he got on Monday this week, so that is really great for him.
This last Sunday was a great week in church, and there were 5 investigators. It was a great Fast Sunday, but Saturday, night Elder McBride got kind of a scary call from President Farnsworth. He found out his dad was getting heart surgery number 4 tomorrow and that he went into the hospital yesterday. He was way nervous. It was an awesome experience to give him a blessing with Elder Weinert on Saturday night. What an awesome opportunity to help Elder McBride. He wanted the blessing to help him focus on the work, and he has been as focused as ever. Keep his dad in your prayers, and please put his name on the prayer roll at the temple when you go tomorrow. The surgery is to put in 2 pig valves and replace old ones. It is going to be 5 hours.
At church as I was saying, Manuel, Alcides, Julia, Augustin, Gisela and Agustinito were all there. It was awesome. Alcides went back to Paraguay about a month ago to pick up his wife. He was waiting to get baptized with her, and their son has already been baptized. He is with his grandparents in Paraguay. They are related to Bernardo and all of the other Paraguayan members and investigators here. So that’s great they have a bunch of friends already. Both Alcides and his wife have had all the lessons already and we are just way excited to help them get baptized. Agustin and his family were back at church after not going for about 4 weeks. It was great to see them again. He has been to church 5 times now. We just need to be able to teach them more regularly, which is hard to do with the crazy schedules they have.
This last week I was on exchanges with Elder Garcia. His home is near Barcelona, and we were working in our area. He serves in Villalba, and my companion was over there with Elder Cardon. On Sunday, we received a call from someone named Thomas on a Czech Republic phone number, and the guy tells us he is from India and wants to meet on Monday. He went to church in one of the barrios near the temple, Barrio 6. The elders there gave him our number because he lives near us. He is about 40, and we thought he was a member. He isn’t, but wants to be, and we had an awesome lesson in English. He has a crazy story. He was born into a Catholic family in India. He has lived in England, Hong Kong, mainland China, Mongolia, Maldives, and now he is here for 2 weeks. He has been searching for this his whole life, the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and has now found it. On Tuesday, Elder McBride and I set a baptismal date for him on the 21st of March and Thomas wanted it sooner, so we are doing it the 20th. By the way, they are usually scared of a baptismal date, or at least hesitant, but he was like, “can we move it up any sooner”.
Well I love you all a ton. Have a great week. Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller

PS. Tell Grandma Lois Happy Birthday, and tell Elder Brown, Grandma Judy and Evan thanks for the emails. I was way bummed to hear that Evan broke his arm. That's sweet that Elder Brown went to Sunday dinner. Also, daylight savings isn’t until later in the spring here.

Hi!

From:elder.miller@myldsmail.net

Hey everyone, I am back to full health, and the Mission Conference was amazing!
I had 4 exchanges last week and one on Monday this week. Friday I got the opportunity to do 4 baptismal interviews, and Elder McBride got to do one in Salamanca. It was a crazy, crazy week, just jam packed with spiritual experiences.
The conference was just spectacular. It was amazing and life changing all wrapped into a 3 hour revelation-receiving session. I learned so, so, so much. It was just awesome how they conducted it and great to have the whole mission there and the CCM missionaries and teachers as. There were about 150 missionaries in attendance total. Richie Romney’s little brother was there. First, Sister Oaks spoke about companions and the importance that every missionary has a good companion. She talked about charity towards our companions and helping them and teaching and learning from one another the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then Sister Bednar spoke about companions a little bit as well. They had 3 missionary sons who went to Finland, Bolivia, and I think Brazil. She talked about some motherly advice: be the missionary our mother thinks we are- be the missionary the Lord expects us to be- and then one other piece of advice that was just dandy but isn’t coming to mind.
Then it switched to Elder Bednar and an open discussion/lesson/questions/applying scriptures/nothing like I’ve ever seen. He started with “Don’t take notes. Just write the promptings of the spirit and what the spirit says, not what we say”. He guided the meeting for the next 2 and a half hours. He occasionally directed comments or questions to President Farnsworth (just 2 or 3 times), but more often to Elder Robert C. Oaks. It was amazing to see the area of Europe’s goals in line with the Spain Madrid mission goals and how we are unified as a team. Elder Bednar taught from Doctrine and Covenants 44:1 and 2 to start out with, and did questions like “what do you observe and learn from that scripture?” He just kept asking and prying and getting more and more out of such a small window of passages in the scriptures. He later opened up to questions from us, and there were some great questions asked and answered by the spirit. It was a one on one experience with the spirit, in that they taught us better how to teach with the investigators receiving revelation through inspired questions and scriptures. As they mentioned numerous times, it was better than just preparing talks and giving them, because the revelation was received and would continue to be received, and our learning would continue long after the conference. They taught about scripture study and scrutinizing the scriptures, and one amazing activity to read the Book of Mormon for 6 months daily as many times as possible in those six months, and study the whole time about the atonement and then write about the atonement a 1 page paper on our learning and knowledge and understanding gained through diligent scripture study. It was awesome because all of this came up through elders’ questions to an apostle of our Lord. It was just amazing. It was one of the best experiences of my life, bar none.
My studies have been going amazing this week as well, ever since trying to apply what I learned. The fireside was awesome as well, and they invited the missionaries in the conference to not write anything down, just pay attention to the teaching method as they opened up the whole hour and a half to open questions from the audience of a jam packed Stake Center. I love a scripture that Elder Bednar shared in Psalms 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” Also, he shared many other inspired and amazing things. Our investigators ate it up and just loved it. We have been applying it in our lessons with the members and investigators by sharing scriptures and just ripping them apart with questions and helping the investigator receive revelation. It’s awesome.
Eva and Juan Carlos both came with Alejandro to the Fireside with Elder Bednar. Also, Quirico came, Manuel, and Aurelio the Spaniard that I talked about a while ago. So it was just awesome, awesome, awesome. Eva is just amazing and she received her answer as to the need to be baptized. She had a dream twice, in which she was just scrubbing and cleaning and trying to get out a stain from some of her clothes. Then she realized that she couldn’t get it off, only by baptism and through the cleansing power of the atonement. It was just amazing for me to hear. I am so excited for them.
Manuel quit smoking on Monday at 11ish, and we just had an awesome lesson with him a little bit after. It was one of the best lessons I have had on my mission about obedience using 1 Nephi 3:7 & 15. It went awesome and he was just on fire, then we called him Monday night, still no smoking. Then on Tuesday morning, still no smoking. Then he didn’t show up to the 7 o clock lesson we had at the church. We called and found out he had fallen in and was smoking again. So he has a couple more days to try and quit. He has got to make it more that 24 hours and quit for a life time. The 20 years of smoking is hard to break but it’s possible. So we will see what happens.
Also Ever is doing awesome and he loved the fireside. He made a promise to his member brother, a recent convert, Bernardo, that he would come to church each week from now on. He came! So that was great and we taught him and his girlfriend. The big challenge is the girlfriend Diana has got to turn into Mrs. Ortiz so they can be baptized.
Dinner at VIP’S was awesome with the Whitmore’s last week. They made us order appetizers (mozzy sticks, chicken tenders) and desserts (ice cream sundaes) and drinks (lemonades). On top of that I had ribs. It was so, so good and way out of our missionary price range. It felt like being out to dinner with parents.
I love you all so much. Good luck this week in everything you do. The church is true.
Love, Elder Miller

We got the official letter from President Farnsworth yesterday.
Morgan will by released to return home on July 14th.
That's less than 5 months! I'm sure the time will go by quickly.

February 17

Hey how’s things? I’m feeling better, but Wednesday night was the peak. After we got back from working Wednesday night I felt crappy, and I had a 102.6 fever. The elders in the piso gave me a blessing and I took some Nyquil and went to bed. The next morning I still had a little above 100 degree fever, but I slept a little more until weekly planning and felt somewhat better. We have just been doing the work as normal and it seems to be as good a cure as any. All is well and I haven’t been so unlucky this week. My elbow is just fine.
Stake Conference went just great, and best of all 4 investigators were there. Manuel and Oliver were both able to go, even though we weren’t able to get in touch with them all weekend. They just showed up. We took Camilo, an awesome Dominican with us and the Paraguayan family clan took Eva and Alejandro her baby. Eva is such a trooper to bring a 2 year old to Stake Conference as an investigator. She has a testimony and reads and prays daily, it is awesome. She and her future husband Juan Carlos still don’t have plans to get married until after May 1st when they go back to Paraguay. They both want to be baptized then. We want them to get married in the embassy and baptized sooner. We will see what happens.
Interviews went really well. With 4 districts, the scheduling was a little bit crazy. The assistants had to do the number report Monday morning until oneish, and President Farnsworth started at 10:00 doing interviews. The assistants and president finished both at about 5:15 and then we had one more presentation to make to a district, and then we were done as well.
Last night we did exchanges with 2 of the elders from Valladolid while they are down here for Mission Conference. I went with Elder Ford and Elder McBride went with Elder Gamarra. It went well. Tonight we are going on exchanges with two of the elders from Salamanca. I’m going with Elder Sansing from Riverton. It should be good. He is about 6 ft. 4 and he is way nice. He played football for Coach Miller all three years in high school. That is something I would have loved to have done. Also, he wrestles and hunts and I really get along well with him.
It’s weird emailing on a Tuesday. That’s for sure. I also went on exchanges with Elder Goldhardt last Friday and it went way well, he lives in our piso and is companions with Elder Weinert. They have 4 baptisms this Saturday, and that should be awesome. They are baptizing a couple, and then a mom and her son. Anyway, Elder Goldhardt and I ate another interesting thing from the kitchen of Andres.... cow intestine. Gross, it was cut open and in squares about 3 inches by 3 inches. It had a skin like lining and then a thick layer and then the lining which looked like barbeque pork. It didn’t taste as good though. The way you prepare it is by soaking it in salt and vinegar for 7 days to purify and clean it, and then cook it with a ton of spices for a long time to produce a not very appetizing meal.
Today we are in Fuenlabrada to visit a family Elder McBride baptized. We are even emailing from the big library right by the piso. It is super weird to be back, and to walk the same walk I did on that first day not to long with Elder Van Dyke.
The work is going well and we are mainly working with the three investigators who were at Stake Conference - Manuel, Camilo and Eva. Manuel is doing well, but is jobless right now, and is still on for the 7th of March the last day of this transfer for his baptism. The only problem is his smoking, although he has cut down, he hasn’t quit. The goal we set for the 19th is Thursday, and we are hoping Elder Bednar will say some inspiring and life changing things to help him quit. Camilo lives right above Bernardo and Lorenza and is coming along well. He is about 50 and Dominican. He is oh so nice and punctual. He came to our appointment on Saturday, 30 minutes early and just waited on a bench clipping his nails. He speaks with a drawl as do lots of Dominicans, and is such a simple guy. He has been to church now twice and we have taught him twice. We are hoping to get his 17 year old daughter, 21 year old niece, his 10 year old son, his 7 year old son and his wife Juanita in on the teaching. As of now, none of them have been taught or come to church. The sons are the only ones who would really come right now, but hopefully they can set the example with there dad for the girls.
As far as food, we had Burger King from one member last week, and steaks from another. This week we are headed to a restaurant called VIP’S with an American couple the Whitmores. It should be a great week.
Thanks for all your help and prayers. Keep on keepin’ on and much love from me to you.
Love, Elder Miller

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope this email gets to you in its entirety! I’ll hold my breath. Firstly, thanks for the emails this week from both my Grandmas, my Mom, Becky Brown (Happy Birthday), Tiffany Evans and Jackson Brown. I got Grandma’s box and the cookies were simply splendid. We all loved them in the piso. Also, Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone, before I forget.
We taught Quirico yesterday and were able to show him the testimony of President Thomas S. Monson. It was really powerful, and I am especially excited to have Elder Bednar come on the 18th for our Mission Conference, and then a fireside for the investigators and members. The Mission Conference next Wednesday should be interesting. We will have preparation day on Tuesday instead of Wednesday next week, so keep that in mind for emails, to get to me next week they have to be sent by Monday night in your time zone. I hope all goes well in another fantastic week.
We rented bikes at the park with Quirico last week. We went to Juan Carlos Primero Park on the north side of Madrid near the airport. We had so much fun, but Hermana Salas crashed and so the hermanas left. Elder Goldhardt was also with us and all he had was a copy of his passport and no residency card due to being in the process of renewal. So it was a good thing we had thought to invite Quirico the night before.
Well, you have had a pathetic amount of updates on my mission in the past two emails so here goes. We had an awesome experience yesterday, in that the other elders started Spanish classes to teach the Filipinos and Americans, and afterwards we had a Noche de Hogar with a family of Filipinos. They brought some of their other family members that went to the Spanish classes, and we taught them about an hour after the other elders had written their information to give to us last night as a referral. The Lord helped us to contact a reference before it was even received. Miracles happen every day.
I have been focusing a lot on prayers which are just vital, and as Elder Bednar told us last conference, your nighttime prayer leads into your morning prayer which should stay a prayer in your heart throughout the day, thus creating a big blessing merry-go-round if you do it right. I am being impressed alot lately with one thing at least to improve on as I show my willingness to change and act on those promptings. It definitely doesn’t feel like it has been 19 months. It really leaves me questioning where the time went and how I can cherish the rest of the Lord’s time.
Has anyone been to Elder McBride’s parent’s restaurant Gecko’s yet on 10600 South and 781 West, across from Mulligans? You should all go there because the food my companion knows how too cook from learning from his dad is amazing. I can only imagine what it is like to eat at his teacher’s restaurant. It took me a minute to spell restaurant. I can’t really sound out words in English anymore as I could before, so I hope my mom is a good editor as she always was for every single paper in my years of school up to now.
Andres is just an elect man that is super dooper prepared, and will be receiving the Melchizedek priesthood on Sunday at Stake Conference. Andres fed us paella yesterday, and is just an amazing member who wants to learn so much about the Lord from the scriptures and how to follow him. He is going to work miracles with the restored power of God on this earth, the priesthood.
I have of late been on exchanges with Elder Sewell last week, and with Elder Moreno from Cadiz, Spain in the south. They were both awesome experiences loaded with teaching opportunities and finding ways to improve.
Yesterday, I had a funny experience on a rotten day for me, and a great day for the work. I fell going down Quirico’s stairs with he and Elder McBride. Quirico lives on the second floor and I took the first step with just my heel and the second as well, which led to a pile of Elder Miller on the stairs after skiing down the least gracefully possible and landing on my hip and elbow. Wow that hurt! But wow how it was something to remember. I have a great goose-egg to remember it by on my right elbow. While eating spare-ribs after the Filipino lesson, I was all done and I set my plate on the table, half on half off, like my shoes on the stairs earlier, and yep it fell of spilling bones all over my shoes and the floor. At least I had eaten those suckers clean and there wasn’t any rice left on the plate. Then last night I got sick with a head cold and fever, but the fever broke about 3 hours after it started. So this is an adventure for sure, where things go wrong, and things go amazingly spiritually miraculous, and everywhere in between. That’s what a mission is, and I love it. Interviews are on Monday next week, and then preparation day on Tuesday, and then the Mission Conference on Wednesday. It should be a hustle and bustle week.
Tell someone you love them for Valentines Day, especially Jackson Brown to the special someone in his ward.
Much love from Spain.
Love, Elder Miller