#23

Hey!!!! So I´m in Benidorm!

Oh man, it´s great here.  It´s not easy, but I love it.  I was so so so sad to have to leave Almería, but I got here and I´ve already fallen in love with the people here. Our ward mission leader and his family live right down the street from us, which is an enormous blessing! Because since this is a branch, everyone is spread out, they don´t live close to each other.  Seriously there are lots of members that live 1 hr or more away! In Almería of course there were a few that lived far away, but the majority lived fairly in the same area.  But yeah here, the work is spread out! Our area that we work in is HUGE. Like, one end of our area to the other is a couple hours by bus..haha it´s crazy.  But so fun! So yeah, we spend a lot of time on buses.

But yeah, our ward mission leader is fantastic and I loved them within the first five minutes, they are great! 

We´re right by the beach so that´s cool.  Obviously we can´t go to the beach but our buses sometimes pass by and I like looking at it!

There´s lots of work out here, and I´m really excited to dive into it! It´ll be a challenge, but hey, that´s what I´m here for right?  Also there is TONS of stuff to do on Pday, so that´ll be fun.  And Hermana Roan is GREAT. Like, fantastic. She´s kind and fun and can cook really well so she´s trying to teach me. And she has the voice of an angel! Literally it´s amazing, so I just love to hear her sing, it´s wonderful. And we do only get to see other missionaries once a week, but guess who´s in my district?! Elder Nyland, one of my best friends from the MTC! Oh man I literally freaked out. He´s such a great person and friend and missionary and I´m really grateful to get to serve with him.  And our piso is fantastic, too.  I HAVE MY OWN BATHROOM. Man, it´d been like six months without my own bathroom, and it´s so so nice. And the piso is just big and nice and I have a queen sized bed now so that´s cool too. But yeah working out here is crazy different!  Like, you have to be really good at planning time.  Because in Almería if we had a cita with someone and they weren´t there, we had many back up plans that we could go check out.  But here, like on Saturday we had a cita with someone, and he lives like 25 minutes away by bus and like 15-20 minutes walking after that.  So we left, and we couldnt call to confirm because our phone was out of minutes, and we got to his house and he wasn´t there! Hahaha so there we are, without minutes to call him and a ways away from any other member or investigator. Haha, so trying to visit that one person basically took up our whole morning. So yeah, planning well is essential out here!  I´m excited to learn to be more responsible haha.

Also we have Interviews with Presidente Deere tonight in Alicante which I´m so excited for!!! They´re only like once every three months and can only be for like 10 minutes but I just love being around him, he shines with the love of Christ and is just incredible!

Really though I love this area.  I have already seen so many blessings...they Lord has really helped me to understand Spanish better.  The people here speak more clearly than the people in Southern Spain, but also I can feel that the Lord is just blessing me to be able to understand. I can understand pretty much everything people say, obviously sometimes there are words that i just don´t know and things like that but it´s a night and day difference compared to even just a couple weeks ago in Almería...ha, just like three weeks ago Hermana Andrew and I were sitting at the bus stop, and I couldn´t help it, it sounds pathetic but I just broke down in tears.  She was confused and asked what was wrong, I was so embarrassed and frustrated but I was just like, ´´I can´t imagine myself ever being able to learn this language.  I´m five months in the field and somehow still don´t know it.´´ It´s hard because I tell people all day that the Lord can help us overcome everything, and with Him we can do anything, but you have to really believe that. And I do, but sometimes I just get a little overwhelmed...But I can feel the Lord blessing me for my efforts out here.  I still can´t speak super well, but I can communicate well enough to get the idea across, and I´m really grateful I can understand them! What a tender mercy, and like my friend told me the other week in an email, we have to not only believe in Christ, but we have to believe Christ and that with Him we can do all things.  Because it´s true.  And being here is so different and I´m excited for the learning I have coming up...haha.  In Almería a member of the ward taught the gospel principles class, but here we teach it.  And in Almería it sounds bad but literally you could go all of relief society only half paying attention because there were so many people that everyone always had something to say so you had to fight to comment on something, hahah but yesterday there were like 9 or 10 women in relief society and the teacher actually ASKED me a question. Like flat out, haha I was like, yeah no day dreaming in Benidorm during relief society! I love it. There were like 50 people there yesterday which is actually a lot for here, it´s like a little family and I absolutely love it!  I´m excited.

Thank you for all your love and support, and here´s my new address!

Hermana Whitney Anna Miller

Paseo de la Castellana

N·46, 2·A

03502

Benidorm (Alicante)

España

Love, Hermana Miller

John 16:33

#22

So this week was CRAZY.  Oh man. We had transfer calls and Mother´s Day skyping and it´s been busy!

So.....I´m going to Benidorm!  I´m super excited, I´m going to be with Hermana Roan, who was Hermana Andrew´s trainer!  I know her because she was in my zone for my first transfer, and is literally one of the nicest people I´ve ever met.  She´s one of those people that from the first moments you talk to her you just know she´s sweet and kind and so motherly, I love her! So I´m excited.  And Benidorm- ha, apparently it´s a little branch, where like 30-50 people come to church depending on the week.  There are only two Hermana´s out there, so me and my companion, and the closest other missionaries are like 1 1/2 hours away.  So basically we´ll see other missionaries at district meeting once a week and that´s it. Hahaha it´s going to be so different from the EIGHT missionaries we have here in Almería. But it´ll be good. Ha, every time I tell someone that´s where I´m going they make this face that I can´t describle, and I can never really tell if it´s good or bad, ha mostly it´s just like a smiling surprised face. Haha, they said during the Summer there are TONS of tourists from England and lots of young people partying and old people on vacation, and apparently it´s gorgeous! Someone said it´s like the Las Vegas of Spain. Hahaha well I can´t really imagine trying to preach the gospel in the party places of Vegas but I´m excited, it will be interesting!

Anyway, but this stuff only applies if I can get out of Almería...which I´m still not 100% sure if I can leave. Hahah kidding but really it´s going to be a trial to leave this incredible place, I know the Lord needs me to go to Benidorm and it´ll be great, but I am leaving a huge piece of my heart here in Almería.  I cried during sacrament meeting, but thankfully got myself together to bear my testimony to the congregation.  I love these people so much! In this ward about 130 people come each week, and that´s really big for Spain! The Saints here are just really faithful and wonderful and I have made friends here that I hope to keep for eternity.  This city stole my heart. Also, it would make it a little harder to leave if I had a hard companion, but NO. Hermana Andrew is just amazing and she´s one of my best friends so yeah, that makes it even that much more difficult! Seriously I have loved working with her. But also I know we´ll stay friends so that´s good. 

And last night I got to skype my amazing family! AH. It was great.  I miss them loads but for the most part the time is going by quickly...but it was so wonderful to see their faces and hear their voices again! 

Also before I forget! Several weeks ago my dad asked what ´´besos´´ were (the thing I was doing when I fell into Maria´s lap haha) and it´s the kisses on the cheek, like you see in movies! In other places apparently the besos vary, but here it´s just one kiss per cheek.  As missionaries we don´t give besos to men, haha but since it´s just the culture around here it´s put us in some pretty awkward positions sometimes and I´m pretty sure it´s offended some people as we tell them we´re not allowed...but anyway yeah we give them to every female around here, even if it´s your first time meeting them you give besos, it´s interesting. It was hard to get used to at first since it´s so different from the culture in the United States, but it´s super normal now and even less awkward than a hug, so anyway, yep!

Also we had a lesson with one of our investigators this week that went really well!  I don´t know if I have mentioned her...she used to not believe in God but we´ve continued to teach her and little by little her walls seem to be coming down, and in the last several weeks she´s been reading parts of the Book of Mormon and praying- but we could never get her to pray out loud.  She said it wouldn´t leave her, and that it´s easier for us.  But finally this last week we really asked her to do it and after literally pretty much planning out the prayer before hand, she said one out loud! The Spirit was so strong and it was incredible.

Also that guy we met last week on the streets then he came to church the next day, well we taught him about the Book of Mormon, then our next lesson he brought a friend!  They both don´t have homes, which is really sad.  And his friend is really in some rough situations, she cried as she told us about her past and her family and her financial situation, then turned to us and said, ´´I need help, can you help me?´´ Oh my, it was intense.  It´s so hard, because of course the gospel can help her, but we don´t know exactly how the church can help her physical circumstances...and it just felt weird being like, ´´We all have trials in this life that help us grow...´´ it´s like, this lady is without a home and can´t see her child and has health problems and all sorts of stuff and we just didn´t know what to say.  We said we could help her but she´ll have to talk to people at the church to see what else could be done to help her, but that we´re here to teach and we would love to help her find inner peace in her life through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was cool and she came to church with the guy and they really seemed to enjoy sacrament meeting! So we are just praying that we can help her to find rest in the gospel of Christ.

Also I had to say goodbye to our incredible english class, which wasn´t easy.  They are the best!  There are several older men that regularly attend, and have been coming for over 10 years! They´re not members and they are hilarious! They speak english quite well.  They love us and seeing them is one of the best parts of the week!  It´s cool how they´re not members, but they have a great respect for the church. One of them told us a couple weeks ago that one of their friends who lives in France needs help and direction in her life, and he doesn´t even know tons about the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but he knew they like to help people, so he looked online for a church building close to her house and told her to go there and ´´Ask the mormons.´´ It made me so happy!  What a good thing, to have the word spreading across Europe that if you need help, Ask the Mormons.

We also met with this one kid, who´s about 22 I think, and he´s from Sierra Leon. He speaks english well and is here studying, while his family is still in Africa.  He is Muslim but knows a lot about the Christian religion and it was amazing getting to talk to him.  He has so much respect for religion, and he has a firm belief in God.  He fully believes in the docterine of Christ as far as I could tell, which is interesting, because he believes Christ was only a prophet. It was amazing, talking to him about the Quaran, and about the Muslim religion, it just really made me realize that we all believe in the same God, and hearing about other religions just really affirms my testimony in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.   Not because others are so wrong, just because there are so many similarities...it´s incredible. I know with all my heart that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints contains the fullness of the Gospel of Christ.  I´m so grateful to have the knowledge that my Savior loves me, and that I can overcome all my trials and weaknesses with His help. 

So yeah, life´s good, I´m happy! I love Almería, but I´ll go where the Lord calls!...if I can fit all my stuff in my suitcase because right now it´s not looking so good haha. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Love, Hermana Miller

Helaman 3:35

#21

La Semana de Consagracion-- good times.

So this week was great! We saw many miracles and the Lords hand was very emminent!  Where to start...

So we found several people, futuros, that we´ve been looking for for a while!  It was great.  We also had intercambios with the She´s!  I luckily got to stay in Almería! I love Málaga so much, but I´m in love with Almería, Hermana Andrew said I love it more than any healthy person should haha, so it was good to get to stay here.  Especially since I think next week I´ll probably be transferred to another city....ah. I just keep trying to sing, ´´I´ll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord..´´ because man it´s going to break my heart to leave this incredible place with these incredible people!  But yeah odds are I´m getting transferred, so send stuff to the mission home as of tomorrow, or else I won´t get it in time here and it´s possible, but more difficult to get it from piso to piso.  So yeah, anyway...Hermana Grant came here and it was great!  We taught the Noche de Hogar (Family Home evening) at the church Friday, and we taught the Restoration which is my absolute favorite thing in the world! So that was fun, and after we all played Te Gusta su vecino, (do you love your neighbor) which brought back good memories of my extended family playing that game! Then the next day, we taught a couple lessons to less active people, and after it was time for lunch, so as we were walking back we were stopped at this stop light, and there was a man smiling at us, so we smiled back and said, ´´Hola´´ but I wasn´t planning on carrying on the conversation further than that, but Hermana Grant said, ´´Let´s talk to him.´´ So we did, and in the end we gave him a Book of Mormon, commited him to reading the introduction, and meeting us at this one spot to go to church together the next day (since he didnt know where the church was).  It was cool, but you never know with people you just meet on the streets for a few minutes..so the next day Hermana Andrew and I went to that spot- and there he was! It was so great, so we caught the bus and went to church and he said he felt so much love from the members and he loved the service and the classes and he even made comments!  It was great.  And he has read a little in the Book of Mormon, we´re super excited!

Also on Saturday it was cool.  Ah, i just love the mission! Because out here, as we´re trying our best to comply with mission rules, we´re not even close to perfect, but at least you know you´re worthy to recieve revealtion.  It´s incredible.  I´ve learned a lot about the Spirit here, and one of the most important things i´ve learned is that a lot of the time it´s just a thought you have.  It´s not anything super loud or huge it´s just a simple thought.  So we were on our way to surprise visit Manolo and Manuela, and they were the plan we had written down, but suddenly i just looked across the street at a building where we had knocked doors and had one really good potential investigator.  We have knocked on their door TONS the past couple weeks but we never seem to find them home.  It´s been pretty sad, but anyway, so suddenly I just had the thought, ´´Maybe we can check them out first, before going to Manolo and Manuela´s.´´ So i turned and asked Hermana Andrew what she thought, she said she didn´t know.  So we just pretty much didnt even decide consciously we just started walking over there and got in the building, knocked on the door, and HE ANSWERED.  It´s been forever, but this time he was home! And it was so great, standing in his doorway he was just like, yeah you can come monday for a real appointment, but could you tell me more about your church now? So we gave pretty much all of lesson one standing right there in the doorway and it was amazing! Then after we went over to Manolo and Manuelas and ate their yummy burgers(did i mention he is a cook for a living? He is a fantastic recent convert for several reasons. Hahaha).  But it was just cool, because it wasn´t like we had some overwhelming feeling of, ´´lets go try that future´´ it was just a thought, but there´s no doubt it was a prompting from the Spirit.

Also, today, our ward mission leader Julio and his wife Mirta took Hermana Andrew and I in their car and we drove around the coast of Spain and took tons of pictures and had a little picnic right near the ocean and wow it was so fun! I love them so much, they are such great parents to the missionaries out here.  Their daughter is serving in Barcelona so they´re very good to us.  And Hermana Andrew and I are such great friends! Literally we are always laughing and talking and I am so blessed to have he r in my life. She is a great missionary, she teaches so well and her spanish is unreal! She studied it for six years before the mission and man, you´d better believe she knows everything about the grammar! Ah,,,i wish i could just serve with her here my whole mission! Seriously one of my best friends! Love this girl.  But we´ll see what the next week brings.  It´ll all be good, the Lord knows what He´s doing! 

Love, Hermana Miller

Alma 39:14

#20

Hey hey hey!

So this week was good.  Hermana Andrew celebrated her half way mark, and I celebrated my five month mark! Crazy how the time passes.

This week we were able to meet with so so many people, many investigators and less active people! It was so fun, I love these people! 

There is this one woman we visit every week, she is so great! Literally missionarys have been visiting her every week without faith for many many months, at least like, 9ish.  She is less active, ha, but Hermana Andrew and I joke that she is the most active less active person we´ve ever met.  She absolutely LOVES the gospel of Jesucristo.  She has all the scriptures on tape, and she is retired so she listens to the scriptures for hours and hours a day.  She has lived in London so her English is pretty good, and every week she reads something to us from the Liahona in english.  Seriously she has such a strong spirit and I feel the spirit so strongly in her home. Hahah, but she just says she´s too lazy to come to church on Sunday because it´s too early.  She also lives a little ways a way and it´s kinda hard to catch a bus, they only come every once in a while.  But yeah, everytime we go she wants to read a scripture and watch video, it´s so great, and she loves sharing the gospel!  How funny it is.  She just loves taking control of the lesson, like last week we were like, ´´We were thinking about watching this twenty minute video,´´ and she was like, ´´Why don´t we just watch the Joseph Smith movie, i´ve never seen it.´´ Hahaha and we´re like, ´´It´s an hour,´´ and she´s like, ´´That´s okay,´´ and just plays it, oh man, i love the opportunities when we get to watch that movie of course, it´s literally my absolute favorite movie of all time, it was just funny how we weren´t planning on it and ended up watching it with her.  But I´m not complaining, it´s my favorite movie!  And I´ve seen it so many times that watching it in Spanish is so fun, because I know what´s going on so it´s some good language study. 

Also, we went to eat with one of our investigators! She´s a single 45 ish year old woman, and it was a blast!  There are many bar type places around here that have really cheap food and drinks if you buy them together, they´re called ´´Tapas.´´ So yeah, we went to a place literally on the coast called, ´´La Cabaña de Tío Tom,´´ Uncle Tom´s Cabin.  It was great, eating Spanish food, drinking grape juice stuff, looking out at the beach with our investigator.  She had a beer...haha so yeah we definitely need to cover the Word of Wisdom soon!  Ah, she is so kind, honestly one of the most Christ like people i´ve ever met.  Which is interesting because when I first met her she didn´t believe in God.  And she hasn´t exactly said it out loud yet, but now she does believe in Him.  She´s praying and reading the scriptures, she says she wants to feel peace in her life all the time.  That sometimes it´s there but she wants that feeling to stay.  How great, because literally the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to that question!  That is the best blessing it brings to my life.  I feel peace in my heart knowing I´m doing what He wants me to do.  That i´m living in a way He would approve of.  I´m not perfect, but I´m trying to have pure thoughts and a pure heart, and that desire to do good is good enough for Him and so I feel peace. I love it!  So yeah.  She is great, and after we ate she invited us over to her house for strawberries and condensed milk and she´s just always being so kind and Christlike, so I just pray we can help show her the way to obtain the peace His gospel brings. 

This week is our missions Consecration week!  We of course should always try to be obedient, but this week we are just putting forth extra effort to be exactly obedient! It´s a struggle, not gonna lie. But yeah, we´re excited to really stretch ourselves and see the Lord´s hand! And it´s Hermana Andrew´s birthday this week, so that´ll be fun!

I´m so happy.  One of my very very best friends since the fifth grade is getting married this week, and I´m not there. Many times I miss my family, ha, I shed a few tears yesterday at church singing Eternas Puedan Ser las Familias, Families can be together forever.  I shed a few tears thinking about them, and how much I miss them...but then I had a smile on my face and shed a few more tears because I´m so happy and grateful that it´s true! I am away from them now, and it feels far and like a long time, but if we´re worthy and faithful we´ll have the rest of our lives and eternity together- what a blessing!

Also, this week I was reading Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmadge.  Ha, Hermana Andrew and I were talking about some doctrine, and somehow we got on the subject of Eternal Progression.  How we will constantly be learning and progressing and creating and how there´s never really a break from it.  Like, sometimes I think, well I can work really hard now and then at the end of my mission I can rest.  Ha, but that´s not true, then you have to work and go to school and get married and lots of other things..then it´s like, well I can rest after this life.  But no, we get to teach and learn and progress even still.  And wow, it even goes from there but basically there´s always work to do, always progression to be made.  Thankfully we can find rest and peace in the Savior.  We can find strength to press forward through His atonement.  It´s not only to cleanse us, it´s there to empower us. Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed at what is expected of me.  But then I realize what the Lord really wants us to do is try, and to come unto Him during that process so He can help us do the things we need to do.  He doesn´t expect us to do it alone or to do it perfectly.  What a blessing it is to have a best friend who understands, and who desires to push along through life by your side.  He´s by my side, I feel it.  I have felt it even more the past several weeks, several times I have felt Him speaking through me to the people we´ve been teaching.  He loves them.  A lot is expected of each one of us, His isn´t a gospel of ´´say you believe and then go on with your life,´´ His is a gospel of believing and acting and asking for His help and Him lifting the burdens so they´re not as heavy, and strengthening you so they dont feel quite as heavy.  His is a gospel of change, it´s not comfortable sometimes, and most of the time I´m like, ´´This is bigger than me. I´m not capable of doing all this.´´ And I think I´m right.  Ha, it´s a lot bigger than just me, this is eternal salvation for my brothers and sisters here in Spain.  And I can´t do it on my own.  Thank heavens that´s not what He wants me to do anyway. 

I love life! I love España! And I am in love with Almería.  Leaving this city, whenever I have to, will be a trial.  This is the greatest city.  Thank you for your prayers, I really am giving it my all to honor them, and I feel strength from them through the Spirit. 

Love, Hermana Miller