#27

Oh man...good week!

 

We´re exhausted and loving it!  We´ve been working really hard and we´ve been seeing miracles!

 

Last week we went to Terra Mítica! It was super fun!  It was Elder´s Nyland and Alomia, a 19 yr old in our branch Melissa and one of our investigators Suleyka!  It was a fun group and we had a blast!  It is a really cool theme park and the ambiance is amazing, also it´s kind of in the mountains, so when you´re on the attractions especially you just have this great view of Benidorm and the ocean and it´s beautiful!

 

We also made burritos for a couple in our branch. Hermana Roan can COOK. They were super good. 

 

Also we´ve literally been inviting EVERYONE to our activity at the end of the month.  Like, Hermana Roan is the greatest.  She takes every opportunity we have to invite.  On the bus, in the streets...it´s been great and i´ve learned a lot! 

 

Also, as everyone knows, the World Cup is going on now. And oh man. I´m in Spain. It´s the best thing. These people have a passion for fútbol like I´ve never seen..it´s beautiful and wonderful.  Haha we were with one of our investigators trying to read Alma 14, but of course while we´re reading Spain scores a goal (...the only one the scored in the game, they lost 5-1...awkward. Haha) and everyone went nuts! I´m just like, ´´Y Amulek digo..´´ and everyone just starts screaming and shouting and blowing all sorts of horns and it was awesome! Hahah but seriously people in the streets were screaming, the investigators family inside the piso was screaming and haha we couldn´t hear anything! Like, seriously we couldn´t focus and had to catch our tram so we were just like, ´´yeah just finish the chapter on your own...´´ I love España! This is just one of the many reasons..but they´re undying, ridiculous love for fútbol is contagious.  But since Spain lost the people in the street weren´t quite as loud all night, there were still people out talking and I could hear them at four in the morning, but they weren´t yelling!

 

Also we had another funny experience, we were at a park reading with one of the less active people in our branch, and we were reading 3 Nefí 18, and Christ is talking and it´s super special and great and we´re reading then suddenly like, a little clump of dirt hits Hna. Roan in the foot and we looked around and saw that these two young teenage boys were throwing them at us, but we didn´t do anything, we just kept reading, and it was so funny cuz they jsut kept doing it and missing but then i was testifying after we finished the chapter and a clump got in my hair and in like one motion i just grabbed it and threw it out without stopping talking and I think it really confused them and after when we were walking away I tried to say hello to them but they just ran away...it was funny. And I have this quote written in the front of my agenda, and it´s from the Becoming a consecrated missionary talk from Elder Callister, well I guess President Callister now, and it says, ´´Whatever the world throws at them, they throw back a smile, because they know they have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.´´ Hahaha I wasn´t expecting that to be literal, and it made me laugh!

 

Also we´ve been having such good times with our exercise time! Our ward mission leaders wife sometimes comes running with us and she showed us this sweet stadium a few minutes away from our piso that has a track and so we go run around it and it´s a blast, this place is jsut incredible and the people here are some of the best I´ve ever had the opportunity of meeting, literally our ward mission leader and his family are like family to me, I have grown to love them so so much over the past five weeks, and they will be life long friends for sure!

 

Also yesterday something funny happened! Well actually it was really cool!

So I woke up, and knelt down to pray, and I prayed that I would have the opportunity to bear record of Joseph Smith and the Restoration and that I would recognize that opportunity.  So then about five minutes later we got a text from our branch president asking me to give a talk in sacrament meeting and also he asked Hna Roan and I to sing a duet, ´´Joseph Smith´s First Prayer´´ to the tune of ´´Come thou Fount.´´ Good thing I´ve sang in duets in front of large groups of people tons, hashtag not! Oh man..so we had two hours to shower, get ready, prepare a musical number for sacrament meeting and for me to prepare a talk in spanish! Hahaha it was fun.  Now it´s at the point where i´m just like writing down a couple things i wanna say then i just say things that come to my mind in between, it´s like, use the scriptures, general conference talk, Preach my Gospel and follow the Spirit. It was awesome though because we read the text and i hadnt even thought about something to talk on yet and Hna Roan was like, hey if we´re singing that song you could talk about the Restoration! And wow, there was the answer to my prayer right there. It was awesome!  So I just read a couple lines from Elder Hollands talk from the April 2013 conference about how we need to rely on what we do know in moments of doubt, and I just bore testimony of how, when i have questions or doubts all i need to do is just remember that i know without a doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Christ and I can continue on from there until further knowledge comes. I also read my favorite line from PMG, that says, ´´This message of the Restoration is either true, or it is not.´´ How powerful! And that´s the truth.

 

And our musical number went well!  It was awesome. Because I just don´t worry as much about how my voice sounds, I just pray that I can bear testimony through song and the Holy Ghost can touch the hearts of the people.  And I hit the wrong notes several times, but it´s all good, because the people could feel our testimony´s, and it doesnt hurt that Hna. Roan is an incredible singer! Haha, no but really it was such an awesome opportunity. I love this place! I love this branch! I sometimes get distracted but I´m really trying to give my all and I feel the Saviors strength.

 

I love España! I love Benidorm! And even though the mission is SUPER HARD I love it too. Those hard moments come to be some of the best.

 

Love, Hermana Miller

Doctrine and Covenants 78:7

My sincerest apologies

My name is Hannah Shill and I am the one doing Whitney's blog. I have had a crazy couple of weeks and have not been around the computer. I will begin to post weekly again, I just wanted to apologize for any inconvenience.
-H

#26

Hey hey! So this week has been full of so many emotions. We have seen many miracles!

 

For the month of Invitation we have a lot of big plans!  We have worked really hard this week trying to work out details of what we´re going to do!  And yesterday we had a consejo de rama (Branch council) and everyone is on board to do our Luau at the end of the month, and we´re basically in charge of it!  It´s stressful but we´re excited! 

 

We got to visit with tons of people this week!  It´s awesome, because before in the mission we wouldn´t really set up a ton of citas, we would just plan to visit certain people and go knock on their doors without calling first and just see if they have time then.  But in this area, since every one is so spread out you have to plan citas out and call to set them up, because you cant just travel 25 minutes by tram to their house just to find them not there and only have a couple other people you could go by in that area. So we really work to set up our appointments!  And really I love it so much more that way!  We have the chance to visit with so many people and have really meaningful citas and I love it! We got to teach about the Restoration a lot this week. It is incredible, because my testimony of Joseph Smith is so strong, I know without a doubt he was called of God and when I have the opportunity to bear testimony of that it means a lot to me.  So that just made this week so incredible!

 

We saw a lot of progress with one of our investigators, one of my good friends- a 15 year old girl from Ecuador who lives here.  I just adore her and she´s wonderful! But this last week her stepdad told us they´re sending her to Ecuador to live with her grandma!  So that was really sad.  But that same day we taught her the restoration again and she just really soaked it all in..and was just like, ´´ah, i´ve always wondered why there are so many churches, and that makes so much sense!´´ It was super cool and powerful, and I know she´ll be a member one day, maybe we won´t be the ones to baptize her here but in Ecuador maybe! We are planning on telling the missionaries there to go teach her!

 

But yeah today we got permiso to start p-day early because we´re going to a roller coaster park called Terra Mítica!  We´re so pumped! And the San Vicente Elders, Elder Nyland and Elder Alomia came and we´re all gonna go together, and with the 15 year old investigator and a member who´s 19 and she´s planning on serving a mission soon!  So we´re pretty pumped.

 

So yeah this week was incredible.  I´m just in love with being here.  Don´t get me wrong though, I´ve had some rough times.  I just got really tired this last week. I feel like I haven´t been doing as well as I should be.  And i´m not one to get down on things like that, but I was just like, ah, I know the Lord understands that we have weaknesses and we make mistakes, but I keep making the same mistakes and I just wanna be better! But I know, with His help, little by little, I´m making progress.  There´s a song that i´ve been obsessed with out here, called Not the Only One by David Osmond, and there´s a part that says ´´I am not the only one, who´s been rescued by mercy, in exchange for my slivers of perfect faith.´´ We´re all dependent on the Savior´s grace and mercy, and it´s not only saving but EMPOWERING.

 

I love this gospel! I know my Redeemer lives! I rejoice in His mercy, the strength I recieve from Him to continue on, even when people around laugh and mock.  I have also found a lot of strength in Elder Holland´s last conference talk, ´´The Cost- and Blessings of Discipleship.´´ I think that´s what it´s called.  I read it a few times this week, in Spanish and English, which really helps me to understand it better just in general.  I know this gospel is worth every effort I´ve got, everything we´ve all got.  THIS is what brings true happiness.  We aren´t perfect, but nevertheless He sends help, and He blesses us as we try.  He loves each one of us, individually! I will forever praise His name for the miracles He´s allowed me to see, the tender mercies He´s blessed me with.

 

Love, Hermana Miller

Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5

#25

Hey hey!  This week was crazy and busy and exhausting and amazing and we saw many milagros!

 

We went to someone in our wards house, she has cancer and it´s hard for her husband to cook, so we went and made them crepes and a little lunch and it was so fun and good! Thank heavens Hermana Roan can cook and I´m trying to pick up on some of that skill!

 

Also we had a lesson with some a little family of investigators, we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit was so strong!  It is a wonderful opportunity, to be able to teach about the simplicity of the gospel, and testify of how these simple things will bless their lives, and you know it will! It´s the best. But the only hard thing was we got out of the cita a little later than we´d planned and we were in a place pretty far away from our house, at least like an hour away walking time.  So we hurried to the bus stop, checked the schedule, and the last bus was supposed to have passed 20 minutes earlier.  And the buses here are very punctual, and also we were broke. It was super unsafe, i literally had 27 cents in my wallet.  So we were like, shoot! So we just were hoping maybe a taxi could charge it to our card, so we start walking away, we got a little ways away, then suddenly Hna. Roan turns around and the bus was coming! So we just ran and threw our hands up in the air and thankfully he stopped and waited for us!  Then we got on and he was like, ´´I´m 20 minutes late tonight or else you would´ve been out of luck.´´ and we knew it was not a coincidence! It was a tender mercy from the Lord and we were so so grateful! He knows we´re trying and He has blessed our efforts!

 

Also yesterday at church we were able to teach third hour and we really prepared a lot for this lesson to try to get the members motivated for the month of June, our mission´s month of invitation!  We´re working really hard to have a Noche de Hogar with every family in the branch, and have them invite their friends and family, just to try to get them introduced to the idea of the church...we just really know that incredible things can happen in this area if we work hard this month, so we´re really trying! 

 

We always have incredible fun and wonderful experiences, but it´s hard to write them all and describe how wonderful it is...just eating citas with the members and singing for them and having Hna. Roan sing for them with her incredible voice and laughing for hours with our ward mission leader and his wife because they´re just so wonderful and funny and I feel like they´re family..oh man I love the mission. But obviously I get overwhelmed a lot of times and sometimes I feel like, yeah i speak this language a little and other times, like yesterday at church i met a couple of the youth for the first time and i dont know why but i just could not speak any spanish and i couldnt understand them! Hahah it was sad and frustrating, haha and they´re like, how much time do you have in the mission? And i´m like 6 months and it´s just like I should know more by now...but I´m trying and the amazing times, aka most of the time is worth the hard and trying times.  Like my ward mission leaders wife told me last night after i told her learning Spanish just takes a lot out of me and is really difficult, she said, everything good in life does.  And it´s so true! So yeah, just moving forward and trying my best and I´m so happy! Lovin´ the mission life here in Benidorm!

 

Love, Hermana Miller

Alma 26:35-37

#24

Oh man it´s been a crazy, fun week!  Last Monday night we went to Alicante to have interviews with President Deere and it was amazing! He always makes me feel so good about myself, but also makes me want to the very best I can! He is just incredible, I feel so blessed to have him as my mission president, and my group leaving to go home is the last group that will go home before he goes home and for that I am so so grateful!  

Also we went to Alicante for district meeting the next day, so we were on a train for six hours total in less than 24 hours, which was fun! And we went with our district out to lunch Tuesday and got Dominoes all you can eat, which let´s be honest, that´s the last thing I should be eating right now #missionweightgain but it was really good and we don´t get pizza that often haha so we enjoyed it!

And oh man I´m obsessed with Spain!  It´s literally the best. So many funny things happen here all the time...a.k.a. like right now at this internet cafe there´s some pakistani lady skyping some guy and saying the funniest things I´ve ever heard, saying like, ´´You´re so gorgeous baby, I saw you changed your status on skype to ´in love´ when are we going to be official, why dont you love me?´´ But anyway, other funny things, there was a fútbol game between the two Madrid teams the other night, and we were at a park reading scriptures with this guy and I started to say why I loved one of the verses and suddenly there was this huge, loud roar coming from literally all around us, then people started opening up their windows and yelling out and people came running out of the bars and we´re just so passionately joyful because I think a goal was made or something...but man it was just so funny, and there we are reading scriptures and trying to ignore all the noise! It was great.  

Also we had a milagro!  So one of the Elders I was in the MTC with called my companion a few weeks ago and said his great aunt lives in our area and she´s not a member and that we needed to go visit her. Well she lives far away and we walked a long way to get there, and we finally come up to it and she was outside cleaning.  Well we started talking to her in Spanish but she speaks english! Then she saw our name tags and got really excited and invited us in!  It was the warmest invitation I have ever seen!  We talked to her for a while, and then it got to be lunch time but we were just thinking, it´s worth it to be late for lunch to get to talk to her, but then she was just like, ´´why don´t I take you out to lunch?´´ then she took us to this nice little restaurant and it was so fun! We got to know her a lot, and as she was driving us home she was like, ´´Will you come back to visit me?´´ We don´t get that a lot so of course we assured her we´d be back! She´s wonderful and hasn´t ever been married but has had some awesome experiences...so we are very grateful now to know her and we´re excited to see what happens!

Also I gave my first real talk in Sacrament meeting!  The branch president texted us about 2 hours before church while we were getting ready and asked us both to give 12 minute talks...I would freak out about that in English, but in Spanish?!?! I was like hahahaha...oh shoot he´s serious.  So we hurried and tried to get ready and write talks and it was a crazy morning..but we did it! I can carry on a fine conversation in spanish, but a talk is just you.  There´s no break so it was a bit of a mess, i didn´t have my notes organized like i would´ve liked to..and I´m also pretty sure I said ´´wine´´ at some point accidentally...but hey, for short notice I was just like, I did the best I could. Hahaha. And there were only 29 people there, and I don´t know what´s harder, talking in front of hundreds of people of talking in front of 29. But it was a funny experience and something tells me it won´t be the last time, so I´m gonna prepare another talk just in case.

I´m so happy here and all is going well!  We´re working hard and having fun and living in a beautiful place with beautiful people and laughing a lot (especially with our ward mission leader and his wife, they´re wonderful! Hahaha and yesterday I just found out I was calling him ´Hubo´and his name is ´Hugo´ so we died laughing about that but he´s nice and patient so it´s all good...haha). Also I just love Hermana Roan..I´m learning so much about scriptures I´ve known my whole life with her, it´s the best!  Thanks for the letters and prayers and support!

Love, Hermana Miller

Alma 37:38-47