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