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