My beloved Almería Man (actually called an Indalo).  I´m obsessed with this symbol, it´s all over Almería!

They sell creepy pig heads here...Gross.

Four month mark! On a bus headed to Málaga!

When my incredible family sent me an incredible, American package!!!!!

Our last district Pday together after playing paddle!

The saddest day when Elder´s Vosters and Cortés got on the bus, heading for home!  And i love this picture because it just describes us so well haha.

Our awesome picture taken at the Plaza 3 de Abril, on the 3rd of April...we couldn´t help ourselves. 

The parade/processions here for Semana Santa were so interesting and incredible, we got to see a couple of them for a few minutes while we were on the streets! They had these every day last week, each day honoring the corresponding days of the Saviors last week!

#19

This week was one of the best of my life!!!!!!!

It´s funny though because looking back there´s not tons to say. 

We went to our pueblo, Aguadulce a couple times, and were able to meet with a couple less active people which is my absolute favorite thing to do!  It was so cool because one of the girls is 16.  Hermana Crockett and I tried to find her a couple months ago but the address we had for her wasn´t right, so anyway, last week she showed up to church for the first time in a long time and bore her testimony, and said her uncle, who´s on a mission, told her that it´s the best thing he´s ever done and that she needed to go back to church, so she did.  So we went to Aguadulce to visit her and it was so much fun!  She is so honest about her concerns and doubts and it was so refreshing! So yeah, we were grateful for that little miracle. 

Also I almost died! Okay, that´s dramatic.  But really, I haven´t seen hardly any bugs since being here and I´ve thanked Heavenly Father for that because I just can´t do bugs.  Oh my. So literally, on Wednesday, we´re on the bus and I told Hermana Andrew that I hate bugs, and how grateful I am to be serving here, where I´ve never even seen a bug in our piso.  Well THAT fetching NIGHT we get home from English Class, and usually I try not to eat that late, but I was super hungry, so I go to the kitchen to get some yogurt and suddenly something moves on the floor and it´s a cockroach and I have chills even just thinking about it now...So of course I let out a super loud shriek and Hermana Andrew is in the bathroom and was just panicking because she thought I was getting murdered...so embarrassing. But yeah i ran out of the kitchen and shut the door and ran to a different room and tried to calm down and haha the situation just escalated very quickly in my mind. Haha but yeah the story´s even longer than all this and got more dramatic but thankfully Hermana Andrew is cool and went in and killed it.  So crisis somewhat averted. Hahaha.

Also I think my Spanish is improving, I´m really putting forth more of an effort to do better and the Lord´s really blessing me!  Haha don´t misunderstand and think I can speak this language, haha, but it´s better than before.  I´m still getting many verbs mixed up and thinking someone´s dying when actually someones moving...haha and everyone laughs because this happens quite often where I misunderstand and I´m pretty off with what´s going on haha!

Also a man who hasn´t been to church in months and months and months came to english class 2x, a baptism, a ward activity and church within the past couple weeks!  Milagro!  We´ve been working tons with less active people, especially this past week! We hardly had any other lessons, mostly just with menos activos.  It´s great, I love working with them.  Most of the time they have a testimony and it´s so great to hear their stories and see their desires to follow Christ and do the right thing. 

Hahaha also the lady who called us out last week for our jewelry...we met with her again and my oh my it was the funniest! We hardly wore any jewelry this time, just small earrings and watches and she just kept preaching to us that if we would read the bible we would know the truth and would quit wearing make up and looking like prostitutes! Hahaha we were like, did she really just say that?! Oh my. It was...interesting.  But we just tried to uplift her and testify of the truth of the gospel and commit her to pray so we will see.

But yeah, this week was Easter/Semana Santa and wow, it was great!  I love Easter, and here it is great, there´s such an emphasis on Christ all throughout the city and even though their views of it are kind of depressing all week it was a great opportunity to more fully reflect on His sacrifice, and most importantly His resurrection!  What a blessing, what a gift!  My uncle works for the church, and his team put out an incredible project ´´Because of Him´´ and it is incredible! It was awesome this week, we had the opportunity to share the video (in spanish!) with several members and several less active people and a few investigators.  It is very powerful and really brings the spirit.  I´m so grateful for Jesus Christ, for His friendship, that He never gives up on me even when I´m about to give up on myself.  He knows how we feel, He knows what we´re going through, and when we pair our strength with His we can do all things!  It´s funny...even with the simplist of things. Hermana Andrew and I have had the goal to go jogging every morning of this transfer (besides Sundays when we have church, Mondays because we clean, and the rare occasions when we have to be on a bus to Granada at 7 30am), and so far we´ve been doing it! It´s so hard because we walk around a ton as it is, so it´s easy to be like, eh let´s just not go today we´re tired, but the Lord has helped strenthen me even in our desire to exercise! There is nothing beyond His reach, and when things are important to us they´re important to Him.

I love Him and I love this gospel, being a missionary, a representative of Him, is the greatest privelege I´ve ever recieved. Thank you for your prayers and love!

Love, Hermana Miller

1 Peter 2: 21-25

#18 Continued.

I can´t believe I forgot to say this! So this past week the Elders passed an investigator in their area to us, because she speaks English (she´s from Nigeria) and they´re both native spanish speakers so they thought it´d just be better if we taught her!  So we go meet with her and want to tell her about the Book of Mormon, and as we sit down to talk with her she just starts chastising us about how ´´Make up and jewelery and rings, these things arent from God, Jesus don´t want that.´´ Hahaha and Hermana Andrew is just like, ´´Well a little bit is okay...´´ and she was just like ´´No.´´ Hahaha it was so hilarious and awkward! So i was just like, ´´Yes, you are right, we should try to put off the things of this world and put God first.´´ and then tried to move on in our explaination of the Book of Mormon, but she would not drop it! Hahaa she kept randomly bringing it up and staring at my necklace.  Then she told us she used to have a bad profession where she did naughty things but then a pastor saved her and now she wants to tell everyone that you´re not supposed to wear make up and jewelery.  Hahah so finally at the end I was just like, ´´I know this Book is true, I prayed about it and received an answer from God that it is true.´´ then she was all, ´´You prayed about it? You prayed about the make up and the jewelery?´´ and we were just like, what?! Hahaha it was so hilarious!

#18

Hey heyyyyyyyyyyyy.

This week was good. Really good.

We had specialized training with Presidente Deere in Granada, and we got to take a train there! Ha, it didn´t get us there any faster but it was fun for a change.

It was so great, because to be honest this past week, more than ever before I have thought, ´´Oh man...I still have 14 months left...I seriously don´t think I´ll ever be done.´´ Haha, it was a weird feeling, I don´t know, usually I feel like, ahh i don´t have any time left, time is just flying by! But for some reason I was just like, man...I´m gonna be on this mission forever.  Haha. I guess maybe it´s just because I feel like there´s so so much to do and I feel like I don´t have time or capablility or capacity to do it all.  But President Deere said exactly what I needed to hear and oh man it was great.  He talked about how the Lord has expanded his capacity to do what he needs to do, and I know the Lord can do the same with me! The thing that stood out to me the most was that he said, ´´Estoy cansado. Estoy cansadisimo.  No importa.´´ -- I´m tired.  I´m really tired.  Doesn´t matter.

This meant a lot to me because even though this past week has been good I just kept thinking, man, i´m exhausted, I don´t know if I have it in me to do this for another 14 months...but I can and I love it and I´m honored to have this opportunity.  I truly do love it.  And if President is tired then it´s okay that I´m tired, but we all just keep pushing on and serving!

Also funniest thing happened! So Hermana Andrew and I were walking around Aguadulce, and we had just had a really awkward experience with a menos activo (a less active member)  haha so we were just walking down the street, and we were really just needing a good laugh, and what do you know! This guy walks up to us and, in spanish of course, is all, ´´Do you have the picture? Show it to me?´´ And we were just like, what is this guy talking about??  And so we just are like, ´´A picture of Jesus?´´ And he never actually said yes, but he just kept saying, ´´Show me the picture´´ so we just start pulling out all the pictures of Jesus that we have, on pass along cards, in the first pages of the Book of Mormon, pamphlets...and he just kept saying, ´´Nope´´ to every one we tried to show him.  Finally we just had no pictures left to show and we were just like ´´Sorry that´s all we have´´ and he´s all ´´No, it´s okay, I know it´s hard, I know it´s hard...´´ and keeps mumbling as he just walks away!  Hahaha it was the funniest thing ever! We just stood there in shock and laughed for a while...it was the funniest thing ever!

Also!  I had such an incredible experience this week.  I see the Lord´s hand in my life every day, but this experience is a very obvious example that the Lord is ever mindful of us:

So this past Monday night, as I was kneeling down at my bedside saying my nightly prayer, I suddenly had the strangest feeling come over me.  I looked around, and I kinda felt a little nervous/uneasy.  This was weird because I have always felt good in our piso.  So I really tried to shake it off but I just couldn´t.  I tried to tell myself, ´´Just lay in bed, you´re just being paranoid..´´  but luckily the feeling persisted.  So then I decided to go check the locks on the door.  I was pretty sure they were locked but I got up anyway and checked them.  Just as I´d thought they were locked.  So I pretty much told myself I was just being nervous for no reason.  Just as I was about to turn back and go to bed I looked over at our washer room, and thought, ´´Okay maybe I should try to lock that sliding door..´´ which doesn´t make sense because we´re on the third floor and I don´t even think the sliding door locks.  But yeah, so you have to walk through the kitchen to get there, and as I was about at the sliding door I just glanced down and saw that the oven was still on!  The oven was broken for the first 2 1/2 months of my being here, so I´ve only used it a couple times.  Just that day I had been cooking something and I guess I forgot to turn the oven off. It had been on for several hours, but I can´t even imagine how bad it would be to have it on all night long!  I don´t know what happens when you leave it on too long, but i do know that I, myself, would have never thought again to go turn it off.  I have never ever felt uneasy before going to bed, I usually say my prayer, lay down, and go to sleep within minutes.  I absolutely know it was the Lord looking out for us.  I know it wasn´t a coincidence-- it was a tender mercy from Him.  Miracles happen everyday!

Also this week is the Semana Santa!  Spain, especially in Andalucia, has all these processions/parade things, apparently some people have told us it´s a lot bigger than Christmas!  Lots of our investigators are going out of town though, which is a bummer, but I´m excited to see what this week brings!

Love, Hermana Miller

Alma 37:36

#17

Hey!  Oh man this week was a rollercoaster!

So Hermana Crockett left for Murcia, that was a lot harder than I thought it´d be.  I cried a lot, ha, it was bad, I would randomly just start crying, sometimes in front of members..then I would just try to say it´s because I´m happy for all the people there that get to be taught by her!  She is great, I´m grateful I had her as my trainer, she is an awesome missionary and I learned a lot from her! 

And also the Elders left, oh my I cried then, too!  They all just probably think I´m the biggest baby but man, having Hermana Crockett and Elder Vosters leave in the same week was rough!  I haven´t been out in the field without them, but it´ll all work out.

AND AHHHHHHHHHH GENERAL CONFERENCE OH MY OH MY OH MY.  It was unbelieveable!  Hermana Andrew and I watched it in the church office in English, what a blessing!  I just needed conference so badly.  I learned a ton and wow, what a great way it was to spend the weekend! Yesterday we watched like 8 hours worth, we were at the church all day!  And it was so nice to watch the Saturday morning, Sunday morning andSunday afternoon sessions live!  It made me feel so connected with and home and it was super special..while watching the womens conference I just sat there and cried, ha, it was pretty pathetic.  All I could think of was my baby sister, Anni.  When they asked the girls 8-11 to stand and sing teach me to walk in the light, I just thought about her and what an amazing family I have had the opportunity to be with.

But yeah! So we got to watch all the sessions of conference, and got permission from Presidente Deere to watch the Saturday afternoon session live!  So we watched it from10pm-12am.  It was so amazing! After the Elders called a taxi for us! We were fine with walking home, but they were too nervous about us taking the thirty minute walk home that late with crazy drunk Spaniards roaming the streets! Ha, which is funny cuz when the taxi dropped us off right outside our piso there was a drunk guy close to our door and he started talking to us all creepy like and just stood there and stared at us while we tried to unlock the door to our building! Ha, it was pretty awkward but funny.

But yeah, ah, conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just loved it so much.  Hermana Andrew and I have a bit of an obsession over Elder Holland, ha, so when he was called to speak on first we pretty much freaked out! Oh my, his talks are always so powerful and amazing, after his talk we were just like, ´´okay I guess we can just leave now..´´ obviously kidding.  Ha, and good thing too because there were so many amazing talks! I especially liked when President Eyring said, ´´If you let Christ be the leader of your family things will work out.´´ Also President Uchtdorf saying that we should see gratefulness as a way of life, independent of our current situation. Oh man. And i loved so much. 

Ha, oh man.  Well out of time.  But I love this gospel.  I love that we have a living prophet.  I love general conference.  Oh man, Saturday was the best! We watched the Womens conference, and took Noelia with us cuz her mom had to work, (noelia who got baptized in February) then we went home for Medio Día and watched my favorite, the Joseph Smith movie, then went and visited an investigator and then Sunday morning session! Ah...general conference mission life is just the best.

Welp, until next week!

Love, Hermana Miller

DyC 1:38

#16

Hey hey hey!!! So this week has been great, and we got transfer calls, and everything´s changing up and oh man...lot´s going on!

So yeah, we got transfer calls and...thankfully I´m staying in Almería!!! #BestCityOnEarth

But Hermana Crockett is leaving to go to Murcia, ironically with one of Hermana Andrew´s old companions!  But yeah, Hermana Andrew and I are staying here, with just the two of us!  It´ll be weird and probably a little awkward going back to just two but it´ll be good.  The only downfall is that with three you can go into anyone´s house, but with two you can´t be with just one man, but it´s all good, the weather is warming up so maybe we can just do lessons outside at parks or something!

What more...oh yes! We went to Málaga this week for Zone Conference! It was so good, kinda weird cuz everyone is so excited to go see all their other missionary friends, but I don´t really know many other missionaries, but I got to meet some there so that was fun! And we got to hear Presidente Deere talk and oh my he is absolutely incredible!  He is so wonderful, he makes you want to be and do better but at the same time he does it with love and you still know he´s proud of you.  He´s great! And Hermana Deere also gave an incredible talk!  And hers was in English, which was nice, because even though I can usually understand a lot of the spanish (if it´s an American speaking spanish not a native spanish speaker) it´s nice to hear a talk where you know you understand every word and you know you´re not missing anything! Ah it was so good.  She talked about faith, and wow...at one part she was writing down all these things in life that we trust but they could let us down or disappoint us.  Literally pretty much everything and everyone can let you down.  People are human, even our parents and family members.  But then she wrote down, ´´Heavenly Father forgiving us if we sincerely repent´´ and you can´t touch that.  Heavenly Father has promised us that He will forgive us, and He cannot lie, so that is something we can have all of our faith and trust in, that will never disappoint.  Pretty much it was just awesome, it was such a good reminder that God´s love is always there for us, and He will never abandon us.  And the ride to Málaga was so long, like 4  1/2 hours, we left Wednesday at five (conference was Thurs. morning) we went through every pueblo on the way there I swear! Ha, no not really but it felt long and I got a little car sick...okay quite a bit.  It was a tender mercy that nothing happened haha.  But yeah the other Elders went down earlier that day, so it was just me and my compañeras and Elders Morán and Lopez, and we played Uno on the way there and it was super fun!  I didn´t play a ton because I felt super sick, but yeah, good times anyway...

When we got to Málaga, we went and stayed in Hermana Andrew´s old piso with her old companion!  Hermana Andrew served in Málaga for the first six months of her mission, then came here right after so that was cool to go see where she used to live!  We had a fun little sleepover, and the next morning was conference! Then right after, at like 5 30 we got back on a bus to Almería!  On the way home we had to stop for twenty mintues in a little place called Motril, and they had this little candy store with huge panini like pizza things for 1 Euro! It was pretty sweet.  And that was a pretty pointless detail but anyway...but yeah the bus ride home was a blast! Our district is so much fun! Oh my...I try talking to the natives and i usually just make a fool of myself but we have a good time, and they´re patient!  Oh my, I´m so so sad Elder Vosters and Cortés are going home..it´s definitely not going to be the same without them, they´re so so funny!

On Saturday the young women invited us to play volleyball with them! Oh man, the ball was so hard, I got a sweet bruise on my hand/wrist, but oh my it was so worth it! I love love love playing volleyball and it just brought back some super good memories of the fourth of July and highschool P.E. and the CCM and yeah. It was fun.  We probably played for longer than we responsibly should have, a couple hours eh he, but it was a super good time!

And yesterday marked the first day of Summer Schedule!  Before we would wake up at 7 and go to bed at 11, but now we wake up at 7 30 and go to bed at 11 30! Which is ten times better because usually at 11 I am not ready to go to bed and at 7 I don´t wanna wake up yet! So it works out well. Our hours and things we do are still the same though, so it´s basically the same thing, just adjusted to fit the late schedules of the Spainards during Summer!  If we´re teaching someone we can stay out until 10:45! 

Okay, so this was part of my last week...I had tons more other unimportant details but they didn´t send or save so yeah, I´ll just send this and forget the rest- other than that Elders Cortés and Vosters went home, which is super sad and man...it´s just not the same without them.  But I guess that´s just la vida de la mision.  And we got two new Elders, Durfey and Reynolds!  Reynolds is a ginger, so that´s super guay! #AlmeríaNeededMoreGingers

But yeah anyway. Cool.  Ha.