#15

Hey! So I wrote something for literally forty five minutes to put on here..but apparently the internet stopped working and hardly any of it saved. And now i´m out of time, basically I´m doing well and I´m excited for general conference and Hermana Crockett is going to Murcia and so it´ll just be me and Hermana Andrew here in Almería!:) We´re excited.  Thank you for your prayers.

Love, A slightly frustrated and disappointed but super super happy Hermana Miller

Us eating these delicious Smints on the bus!

This is what we made Hna Crockett for her nine month mark! I´m right by the CCM, hermana Andrew is at 8 months, Hna Crockett and nine, and Elder´s Vosters and Cortés are on their way out! #OverTheHill

Eating the Huge shrimp with José Miguel!

Me and Elder Lopez rocking it at paddle ball!

District Meeting!

The p´day bbque! (Miguel Angel, Eld. Lopez, Eld. Queirolo, Barbosa, Eld. Cortés, Hna´s Crockett and Andrew, Eld. Moran, and Me!)  Elder´s Sandelin and Vosters were off doing something..

Our delicious barbeque! (Left to right- Miguel Angel (RM in the ward), Elder Cortés (who goes home next week) and Elder Queirolo!

I love getting to see Hermana Israelson!

#14

Ah this week has been stressful/hard/Wonderful!

Where do I even start?  Well our ward mission leader and his wife are amazing! They fed us three times this week! Ha, they felt bad that no one had signed up to feed us on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday so they just kept offering to feed us! And Mirta is an amazing cook so of course we accepted.  It was awesome, eating citas everyday!

Also we had intercambios again with the SHE´s!  Hermana Crockett went to Málaga and Hermana Andrew and I stayed here and Hermana Israelson came to Almería! Ah it was amazing, I love Málaga, but I was glad to get to stay in Almería.  Literally it´s so bad, I am in love with this city and these people and I never ever want to leave them!  Ah I LOVE ALMERÍA.  This place is so engrained into my heart I wouldn´t mind being here my whole mission.

Also a few weeks ago after church we were at the bus stop, and I turned to this lady next to me and told her I liked her purse and asked where she got it, she told me and we talked a little, then Hermana Andrew came into the conversation and we talked to her for a while waiting and on the bus.  We got her information and this last week we had our first lesson with her!  It went so well, she says she believes in God and has been looking for peace in her life.  It was so perfect, if you´re looking for peace you only need to look as far as the Libro de Mormón!  So yeah, we´re pretty excited to see where this goes!

This last Friday we had a karaoke night at the church!  It was so much fun!  It felt a little weird/jack to be listening to people sing the worldly music, but it was a blast!  Ha, we obviously couldn´t participate by singing normal songs, but Elder Sandelin (an Elder in my district from Sweden) sang you raise me up and ´´Oh Holy Night´´ in Swedish! Oh man it was great, and the obispo sang Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash! And his son who just came home from a mission in London sang ¨Defying Gravity´´ from Wicked, he said while he was serving they get the chance to see The Lion King or Wicked and he chose Wicked!

Friday we went to eat with a couple who are members, it was just me and Hna Andrew because Hermana Crockett wasn´t back from Málaga yet, and they are incredible!  They are studying English and help us with our Spanish.  She is so nice, whenever I talk to her all I have to say is ¨Como esta?´´ And she kindly tells me how well my Spanish is coming along- ah I just love her!  Everyone should try learning a different language, because then you can empathize with the missionaries who are struggling with the language!  Anyway, so they fed us this delicious paella, and it had mushrooms in it which i don´t like but they weren´t bad and yeah it was really good! But then on the top there was this massive shrimp! And this is gamba, not like a peeled shrimp, but like a shrimp that looks like it just got done swimming in the ocean.  I felt terrible, but i think by the look on my face they could just see my fear/apprehension! Hahah i was like, ´´I dont know how to eat it...´´ and the husband then showed my how you rip off the head (that still had little eyes) and peel the skin off and eat it including the little spine! Hahaha oh man it was hilarious! It literally took me like 20 seconds of staring at it before i could even pick it up! Ha, they were all laughing and saying, ¨No Hermana you can´t use your fork you have to use your fingers!¨ And i did it and ate it and they offered me more and I attempted to politely decline but I´m sure it was pretty tactless hah.

Today P-day has been great! We actually started out by having a lesson with a less active woman and her friend, which is out of the ordinary, but last week when we asked her if she knew anyone who we could share this message with she told us yes!  Then gave us her number but was like, actually let´s just call her now!  So she did and set up an appointment with her in her house, so we weren´t about to pass up an opportunity like that- we were just thrilled she gave us a reference!  So that went well, and then we met up with the Elder´s to play paddle ball, which I swear I played in P.E., it´s like tennis so I was super grateful to get to play, it was a blast!  Then we went to the store and bought tons of food and had a district barbeque, and two Return missionaries from the ward came!  One of them just got home from his mission, and he actually served here in Málaga so everyone still just calls him ´´Elder Barbosa.´´ It was the best! We had it on theconcrete fútbol field behind the church and it was delicious and it felt like my favorite- the 4th of July!

The work has been going well.  We tried so so hard this last week to get our investigators to church, but in the end only 1 menos activo man we´ve been working with showed up.  It´s so hard to motivate people to come!  We have tried so hard but people just aren´t attending...so we don´t know, but we were so grateful that Paco, the less active man, came!  We just met him a few weeks ago, he hasn´t been to church in like 10 years!  But we´ve been meeting with him and he´s been asking really tough/good questions, and he came to karaoke and church so hopefully he´ll remember those good feelings he felt when he was first taught by missionaries! 

This is hard work, but it´s a blast!  The other day we were sitting there, the three of us, planning for the week.  We were talking about how we walk around all of Almería all day, but when we´re sitting in our piso we´re too lazy to get up and get our scriptures that are like 6 feet away, it´s hilarious!  Hermana Andrew said something like, ¨Sometimes I feel like I just want a break from working so hard.¨ And I was like, ¨Well you can rest when you´re dead.¨  Ha, then Hna Crockett, in her Senior companion wisdom was all, ¨No you can´t because you´ll be preaching to all these people who are ignoring us now!¨ Hahaha we died laughing! But it´s so true, the work of Salvation is moving forward on both sides of the veil, and we all have the chance to be apart of it!  It´s the best thing ever.  I am grateful every single day for the opportunity I have to be here, I´m still shocked about it.  I still don´t know how I got so blessed to be called on a mission, let alone to the Málaga Spain Mission!  I get to breathe this air everyday, talk with these amazing people, sometimes when i get down about my Español, I just think, I get the chance to know these amazing people, even if they do speak a different language, I wouldn´t trade the opportunity to know them for anything in the world!

Life is good! The Lord is good!  I feel the Spirit so abundantly, because I seek for it and ask for it.  And as we live worthy of it the Lord won´t withhold his peace from us!  What a blessing!

Have a fantastic week!  Thank you for your prayers in my behalf.

Love, Hermana Miller

Docterine & Covenants 27:15-18

#13

Oh man! This last week´s been great! 

We went to Granada yesterday for a meeting with Presidente Deere and other ward mission leaders in our zone! It was mostly for them but I learned a lot about how to better work with the ward mission leader and ward councils!  Our ward mission leader is UNREAL.  He and his wife have a daughter serving in Barcelona, and they are unbelievably good to us!  They feed us and go to lessons with us and drive us places...they´re wonderful!  And he is always encouraging my Spanish and telling me not to be embarrassed, what great people!

We finally went back to Aguadulce!  We are hoping to work more out there so we were looking up people from old registros in our area book, ha, but one thing I didn´t realize before coming out in the field about missionary work is that you do a lot of walking and knocking on doors and no one´s home.  I think I´ve heard it, probably many times before, but yeah time just fly´s by as you´re going from house to house searching for people and before you know it it´s been five hours and you´ve only taught one lesson and it´s time to go home! But it´s super fun and we have a really good time, I´m definitely not complaining about getting to walk around this gorgeous place for hours!

Today was super fun also!  We played fútbol at the capilla with the Elderés!  I am terrible at fútbol but I love love love trying!  Ha, mostly I just get in the way and don´t help out much but it´s a blast!

Oh my, and I don´t know how I forgot to tell about this!  So about a week and a half ago we were at a members house, her name is María and her mother´s named María and her legs aren´t very good, so she cant walk very well, she´s probably like 85 or 90.  So I went to go beso them, and the mother María was sitting on the couch.  Well, I bent down to beso María....and my boots kinda suck and they´re slippery...and I think you know where this is going, I slipped and fell into old María´s lap!  Hahahhaa it was hilarious!  Her eyes got huge, and as I looked up into her wide eyes I was just so confused like, ¨what the heck just happened.´´ Ha, I felt terrible!  I asked her like 100 times if I hurt her legs and she just kept asking if I hurt my knees! Oh my it was funny.  Hermana Andrew was laughing so hard she started crying, she´s been out 8 months and said she´s seen some funny things, but this was in the top 5.  Oh my, we didn´t stop laughing for forever!  And even just last night Hermana Andrew randomly started laughing, and we finally asked her why and she said the image of my falling into Marías lap just popped into her mind, and we laughed some more!  Ha...good times.  Things like this happen quite often to me, but this one was just too good.

Ah, I have seen the Lord´s hand in my life so so much.  He strengthens me everyday, and one thing I´ve really learned out here is that the merciful obtain mercy.  I have learned a lot about being patient and praying instead of opening your mouth sometimes.  As I´ve tried to let things go more and give my burdens to the Lord I´ve seen that He truly does take them.  Many things seem unfair about life sometimes. Sometimes we might feel misunderstood or like we were unfairly judged or that people underestimate us sometimes.  I have felt that way many many times out here, but I just take so much comfort knowing that the Lord knows my heart, and all that is unfair about life is made just through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  And sometimes when it´s hard for me to let something go that someone said or did, I just think about how Heavenly Father is constantly forgiving me, even when I don´t feel I deserve it.  If He can keep on forgiving me as I try to do better, then I can forgive others.  We´re all on the same team, in the same boat, all imperfect, all of us make mistakes and say things we don´t mean sometimes.  But all of us have to try to be merciful to one another on our journey´s to purity.  It´s not easy, believe me, but the Lord is okay with us talking about our frustrations to Him, I think. I sometimes just have to talk to Him and tell Him how I really feel, and what´s really on my mind.  That helps.  And as I ask for His help He really does take the burden.  Partaking of the Sacrament helps a lot too. 

Friday was one of the hardest days, sometimes I let superficial things get to me.  This isn´t easy, I didn´t expect it to be, but sometimes little things can get ya down.  Keep on keeping on, I just try to find rest and solice in our Lord as I try to humbly do what He has asked of me. 

Life´s great and I´m so happy!  I´m at peace with what I´m doing here, and I truly truly appreciate all your prayers in my behalf.  There is real strength that comes from them!  Thank you!

Love, Hermana Miller

Mosiah 5:12-13

#12

This week has, again, BEEN THE BEST WEEK EVER. 

Oh man, I say that every week, but literally I always think the weeks can´t get better, and there´s no way i can be happier, but some how the weeks get better and better and I get happier and happier!

What has made the biggest change is I read Elder Tad R. Callister´s talk about Becoming a consecrated missionary.  My dad sent it to me several weeks ago, I printed it off but never got around to reading it.  My companion, Hermana Andrew, told me it was amazing and that I should read it. Well i did and it has changed my mission, and not to sound dramatic, but it´s changed my life.  I now know what I need to do to be successful out here.  Not only what I need to do, but what and who I need to become!  I don´t want to go home the same person I came out here as, I want to be changed, and be a better and more loyal disciple of Jesus Christ, and I´m not gonna lie, that talk had a few wake up calls for me.  I needed to change a few things, and I´m continually changing and trying to become better day by day and a level that I have never before tried in my life.  I am so far from being a consecrated missionary, but the progress I´ve made over the last few days has been leaps and bounds past what I have previously been and done.  I´m so excited! Ah, I want to read his talk every week, so I don´t forget, and slow down on my progress. 

I went through my planner, and at the top of each day wrote, ¨What can I do to be a better missionary?¨ Seeing this, and asking myself several times a day, ¨What can I do to be a better missionary?¨ has changed everything.  In his talk, Elder Callister talks about changing our thoughts, and this has helped me so much! Instead of entertaining thoughts, I have made an active, conserted effort to fill my mind with good things, obviously I´m not perfect but the difference this makes is astounding! I feel burdens lifted off of me and strength through the Savior! 

Also, this past week Hermana Crockett has not been feeling well, Saturday it was so sad, she could barely move, and we didn´t go out at all Saturday night, and Sunday she was so strong and we went to sacrament meeting even though she was so week she really should have- but it was nice because we got the opportunity to take the sacrament thank heavens!  But after sacrament meeting we went back to our piso and got to have several hours to read El Libro de Mormón!!!!!!!! Ah, I´m so in love with that sacred Book.  Seriously, I just love it! And oh man, did you know other languages don´t have quads (the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Docterine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price)? Uh, yeah so that made me start a gratitude journal- I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES. And I´m so grateful I can hold them all, right there in one hand! Hahaha sorry if you´re reading this and are wondering why I´m so weird. My comp´s thought I was weird when I freaked out with excitement yesterday about having a quad in our language and how much I love the scriptures.  Hahahaha oh man, we have such good times. These Hermana´s are the best, we seriously love each other so much, and ahh, i´m so grateful to know them, they´re wonderful.  Today we spent the day at the medical clinique so they could try to figure out why Hna Crockett isn´t feeling well, it actually was a great way to spend p-day!  Haha we were there for several hours, and i tried to read Jesus the Christ, but my progress in that book is slow because I have to re read sentences over and over again to grasp the concepts (James E. Talmadge is a genius)! 

Oh yeah, and last p-day we watched Legacy! We quote it all the time...not sure if that´s okay or not but hey, we´re missionarys, we basically can only quote the district, legacy and the testaments, I don´t remember anything else!

We also had zone meeting in Granada which was fun!  They talked a lot about the importance of contacting in the streets, it´s given me a lot of confidence! I really do try so hard to talk to people on buses, and my companions arent really big fans of talking to people in the streets and on buses and stuff so I really try to make an effort to just do it.  I´m getting way better at having conversations with random people, i love the people here, for the most part they´re so kind and ah talking to them just puts me on a high!  But i do need to get a lot better at keeping conversations going and bringing up the gospel more and trying to get their info so we can teach them! But poco a poco...

But yeah, life is so so good!  Heavenly Father is so merciful, the scriptures are amazing, and the Atonement of Christ reaches out to us all! He is my best friend.  He loves me regardless of my faults, and even though there´s progress to be made, I know with His help I can do it!

Thank you for the support, the prayers being said in my behalf are being recognized, i can feel them! Thank you!

Love, Hermana Miller

Alma 7:23-25

#11

This week was awesome!!!!!

We had interviews with President Deere Friday! Oh my, it was awesome!  Hermana Deere was there and I just love those two so much, they are truly incredible people!  And it´s like a two hour bus ride to get there, oh my, such a party with our district!  I love these people so much.  Elder Vosters is probably the funniest/coolest person I´ve ever met in my life!

Also, Milagro!!!!  This past week was great!! Elders Vosters and Sandalin gave us a reference for someone they contacted in the calle. So we went to visit her but she didnt answer, then we went again another day and still no answer. We were thinking about what to do for a second next to an edificio. Then a man walked out and had things in his hand so Hermana Crockett held the door for him and we decided to knock doors in the building. We knocked one door and this 28 yr old named Julio answered and since we´re a trio now we were able to go in and visit with him (if you only have two hermana´s you can´t meet with a man if he´s alone, but with three hermana´s we can meet with any gender/number of people!) and ahhh, we think he is so prepared for this gospel. His mother passed away and he said he has to believe there´s something after this life. I am just so excited, he is great!  We´ve taught him about the book of Mormon and the Restauracion and he just seems to really be taking it to heart!  It was awesome seeeing how even though the contact from the Elder´s hasn´t quite worked out yet, it made it possible for us to be in the right place at the right time to meet others who are prepared, the Lord always has a plan!

Also, Manolo, Manuela, Noelia, and Daniel, who were baptized on Febrero 22, went to the Madrid temple this past week!  The kids are too young, but Manuela and Manolo got to do baptisms for the dead!  So cool, they´re easily on their way to being sealed next year and that just makes me so so happy!

And the trio is the best!  Having three around makes things way more enjoyable, it´s so much fun!  These Hermana´s are the best.  Ha, one night this last week I got out of the shower and Hermana Crockett had made me the most delicious egg sandwich I´ve ever eaten in my life!  And today she made us pancakes! So awesome.  

Last pday was so fun!  We all pushed our beds together and watched 

¨The Testaments¨ oh man that movie is the best!  Ha, so many quotable lines (that´s what we´ve realized happens on the mission..you can´t remember lines from ´regular´ movies so you find yourself quoting The Testaments and The District a lot, it´s the best!) and it was also the best because these girls don´t cry...and I´m a crier (spelling?).  Ha, so as the movie was ending they´re just sitting there unphased and they look over at me, and I have mascara everywhere and my face is just soaked with tears. Hahah then we all started laughing and oh my, it was hilarious!

Also, it´s a good thing my life is just awkward, and I´ve pretty much been awkward my whole life!  In the streets I just love going up to random people and trying to talk to them, but my companions aren´t super huge fans of it.  Ha, but it´s the best cuz I don´t know enough Spanish to keep the conversations going! Haha, so i walk up to people, say a few simple phrases, then it gets a little awkward and my Spanish speaking comps have to come in with something! Hahaha it´s so funny and obnoxious of me.  But yeah this last week I saw these two young boys and i thought we should talk to them, so i go up, say all i really am capable of, then my companions finished it up and got their addresses and stuff, and as we walked away Hermana Andrew was like, ¨Well that was the most awkward two minutes of my life¨ haha and I didn´t think it was awkward at all!  Like for reals I thought it went so well and perfectly! Ha,  but yeah they both thought it was awkward...i guess I´m just socially oblivious to everything, nothing new!  Ha, but yeah...anyway...

I love life and I love this gospel!  I love how we´re never too far away to turn back to Christ, and how His arms are always extended towards us. It is the most comforting feeling in the world to have Him by my side!

Have a great week, thank you for your prayers!

Love, Hermana Miller

Mosiah 29: 19-20