#41

Hello everyone! 

This week has been one of the craziest. But so fantastic and I´ve learned a lot.

So last week we saw lots of milagros.  We went and visited several former investigators and had some success! We went to this one lady and she freaked out, she is from Nepal and she´s lived here for like 11 years though so she knows spanish well.  But she wants to practice english because she can speak it pretty well as well. So she told us she´d love to come to english class and also meet with us to talk about the gospel. It was awesome! So we went and talked to her and she´s just so cute and kind and we love her so much!  And last night it was so cool, she was telling us how she prays, and she always walks around with a prayer in her heart to God, and she told us, ´´but I do it in Nepali, not in english, I don´t know how to pray in english..´´ and I just told her, ´´It´s okay, God speaks Nepali.´´ The Spirit was so strong, and just testified to all three of us that God is our Father and I know He loves and listens to all of us, regardless of our race, religion, lo que sea.

Also we were talking to someone about questions he has about the Book of Mormon- which is so good! It´s so good to have questions. And we had answers for the questions, so we were answering them, but really Hermana Garcia taught me a lot that night. She really just testified to him that we can talk to others about our questions, that´s a great thing to do, and we can help each other out with our questions and doubts, but in the end we really need to take our questions to the Lord. He can answer all of our questions, and in a way that will really satisfy our souls.

We also went to a less active woman´s house and man, I´m serious I just love the people here! They never fail to surprise me.  I´ll just preface this story with the fact that we´ve been exhorting her to read the Book of Mormon for months, and every once in a while she´ll read a little bit but she´s very open with us about the fact that it´s not easy for her to read it and she´s not the biggest fan haha.  But this last week, when we went to go visit her she told us, ´´Hermana´s I have something strange to tell you.´´ And then she went on to tell us that she had had a nightmare and when she woke up she just suddenly had the instinct to grab the Book of Mormon and start reading it.  It just made me so unbelievably happy to hear that!  I love love love seeing that change, and of course it´s little by little, but seeing other people learn to turn to God in every moment...it just helps me to want to do that in my own life. To get to the point where it´s just so natural in times of fear, doubt, joy and sadness to turn to God, who´s always there with a listening ear. 

Then the crazy stuff.  So last Friday we went to a Noche de Hogar at a member´s house, and their friend was there. She has come to church once and has been in our noches de hogar a few times. Well she just broke down to us and told us she´s moving to Paraguay and she wanted to be baptized before her trip- her bus left Sunday night.  Yeah, and let me just say this- I am the LAST missionary who wants someone to be baptized unready. I don´t want people to be baptized just to set them up for inactivation. But we prayed about it and I just felt like she needed to be baptized, that we needed to do everything in our power to prepare her for baptism. So against all logic we go over the requisites for baptism and the next morning,Saturday morning, we just head over and start teaching her all of the missionary lessons.  It was rushed and weird but the Spirit was there, I could feel it and so could Hermana Garcia and this woman.  It was such an interesting experience! Not gonna lie, I felt like we were just throwing huge gospel commandments at her without enough explaination, but she was willing to do anything. She was like, ´´Yeah I drink a little bit of coffee everyday but I´ll give it up to be baptized.´´ It was crazy and cool and stressful. But then, as she was packing everything and we left to go to another cita (with the intention of going back to finish teaching everything that night) things just started feeling off and not working out.  We talked to our leaders and al final, said a prayer to our Father in Heaven.  Baptism is a big deal. A life long commitment, and even more. I didn´t want to mess up either way. I didn´t want to have her get baptized unprepared, but also if now was the timing of the Lord I didn´t want my stressedness or lazyness to get in the way of her not being baptized if now was the time.  So we decided now probably wasn´t the best thing for her, and we took that decision to the Lord. Once we prayed I felt a very peaceful and calm feeling, and knew that the witness I had recieved the night before from the Holy Ghost hadn´t been wrong, she does need to be and will be baptized. I think I needed to feel that, to feel that anxiety to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and Joseph Smith and the Restoration of Christ´s church and His gospel, so as to prepare her for that future day, when the missionaries teach her in another country and she remembers those feelings and witnesses of truth that she recieved from the Holy Ghost that crazy morning here in Benidorm.  That experience has taught me a lot and I´m so grateful it happened and that I got to experience it with Hermana Garcia- I´m telling you that girl works well under pressure! She´s awesome!

Also the man that we taught last week about the Book of Mormon, who was the former investigator, this last week showed up to the church when we happened to be there getting ready for english class and he asked for a tour of the building! It was a cool experience and fun. 

It´s been raining for the past couple days here, and on Saturday night, we were walking back from an investigator´s house, and we passed by the building of one of the recent convert´s, Ventura and a member José was with him with their families. They asked us if we wanted to come in and eat and then they ordered chicken and yummy food and spanish bread and we went in and ate and shared a message and it was just so fun! As we thanked them for being so kind to us, Jose told us that we´re like family here in Benidorm. And it´s so true, sitting there, in an unplanned cita eating dinner with our little Benidorm branch family on a rainy night just felt so homey. I love this place and these people! 

Also, we started the Book of Mormon as a mission last Monday, and oh man can I just say how much I love that book! I seriously can´t believe it was a struggle for me to read it before. There have been times in my life where it´s been like a chore. I remember reading it because I knew it was what I was supposed to do, but now I can seriously say that my soul delights in them. My question this time around reading it is how can I better learn to listen to the voice of the Lord and recieve revealation. Today as I was reading 1 Nephi 15, it amazed me the things I learned from it that I never have before.  This doesn´t really have to do with my question, but as I was reading verses 30-32 it reminded me of the conference talk in April 2014 by Randall R. Ridd I think, ´´the Choice generation.´´ And how it says that every thought we have, and every action and deed literally, physically has an effect on our bodies, that is plainly visible to God.  And Hermana Garcia and I were talking about how the physical ordinances we do in the church literally have a physical effect on our bodies, and how incredible that is when you think about the sacrament. Because honestly, the sacrament means everything to me, and I know there´s importance in the emblems of the bread and water, but today we talked about how those literally, physically heal us.  How as we participate in that, it literally changes our physicality and cleanses those marks that we made throughout the week by our unworthy thoughts or deeds. (I hope this isn´t false doctrine eh he...). But really, this gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is just something so real and incredible that it´s without words. I just love it!

But anyway. Life´s so good. Hermana Garcia is great and I´m seriously so blessed to be her companion.  We´re having a good time out here in the boonies of Benidorm!

Thank you for the letters and prayers, I seriously need all the help I can get so I appreciate every one!

Love, Hermana Miller

1 Nephi 15:8-11  

#40

Hey! Things are going well out here in Benidorm!  My new comp, Hermana Garcia is fantastic! Her spanish is awesome (she lived in guatemala for 4 years) and she has such a positive attitude! She´s so nice and is always complimenting and encouraging me, I lucked out, I just love her!

She came straight from the Provo MTC, but she´s adjusted to the time change quickly.  We have had lots of good experiences already in our first few days!  She teaches really well and asks inspired questions, I´ve seriously got a lot to learn from her.  

Our branch president asked us both to speak yesterday (seriously this poor branch has got to be so sick of the missionaries speaking I´m trying to think of a tactful way to say, ´´maybe you need to ask the members first and if they cant we will.´´ haha I like speaking but it´d probably be nice to give some others a chance..).  It was funny cuz it was just her 1st sunday! I could´ve never done that, i still barely can, but yeah she rocked it! I spoke about the Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith, because 191 years ago yesterday he appeared to Joseph for the first time to tell him about the Book of Mormon. I mostly just focused on how him repenting led to that experience and how we can each recieve revealation when we humble ourselves and repent. It was good times...

There´s not tons to say about this week.  We had some incredible lessons and the spirit was so strong.  We´ve seen lots of tender mercies.

 Going back to the mission home was a blast! Seriously some of the funnest couple days I´ve had on the mission. Hna Grant and I and other elders took the 9 hour bus ride down there, and it was a party! Oh and the p´day before that Hna grant and I got pizza and talked for hours, ah, it was the greatest. I miss her so much. But i´m just grateful I got to spend three months with her here, we had some of the best times!

But yeah the ride down was fun, and being there was just a party, seeing tons of other missionaries (which i´m not used to being all the way out here in Benidorm) so i just went crazy trying to meet and talk to everyone!  There were two elders going to be trained in Almería and I told them they´re going to the best city in the world, and it was fun talking to the Elder´s who are there now.  The ride back was a party too, I just love the missionaries in this mission! Seriously they´re the funnest. It was great.

But yeah, life´s good, the work´s hard but so fun! Thanks for your prayers!

Love, Hermana Miller 

Doctrine and Covenants 65:2
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At the baptism with Ventura, Adolfo, and our branch President!

Lots of awesome missionaries from our zone came to Benidorm for the baptism!

Our district this transfer, we´ve had some good times!

 Me and cute Wilhelmina that we visit at the residency every week.

It was so cute, to say goodbye to Hna Grant they sat her in a chair and everyone went around and said what they like about her, all the while tying her up haha let´s be honest none of us want her to go..

Baptism of Ventura y Adolfo!

The Noche de Hogar when Ventura told us he wanted to get baptized this month!

With our mini missionary, Karen! We had such a great week with her.

Gorgeous Benidorm Sunsets!

My cute trainer Hermana Crockett, we had a little reunion at the mission home last week, because she´s training too!

Eating paella con Jose Manuel and his family.

#39

Hey hey hey! So this week was crazy and good and fun!

So first off, last Tuesday we left for Alicante/Málaga at 7 30 in the morning, so that was fun haha. After dropping Hna Grant off in Alicante, my district leader (who´s also training) and I got on another bus and headed for Málaga. Then I was on a bus all day, well, until like 5 and I got to go with several fun elders so that was good. And since I can read while I´m on the bus I got to read lots of conference talks so that was fun! Preping for next conference, I´m so excited but I still feel like I haven´t fully taken advantage of this last one!

So yeah, then we got to Málaga I saw TONS of missionaries! It was so much fun! It was crazy. I got to see Elder Farrell again, who I went to elementary school and junior high with, and Elder Adamson who I went to Junior high with, they´re both training so it was way fun talking to them! And also, surprise- Hermana Crockett, my trainer, is training too! So we got to catch up lots which was super fun!  I was freaking out.  The training was incredible, and I felt the spirit very strongly, I know I have lot´s to work on and I know this will be a great opportunity to be a better missionary!  I´m excited. I love her already, well I don´t know her but I do love her, and I love the people in this area so we´re gonna have a blast, i just know it!  I feel kinda bad for her cuz this area has a ton of buses and trams and complicated things to learn, and I´ll probably only be with her for 1 1/2 months since i´ve already been in this area for 4 1/2 months, and it´s super rare for our mission to stay in an area for more than 6 months.  So yeah, we´ll need your prayers so that I can help her to learn everything, I mean honestly it was rough for me to take over this area after 1 1/2 months and it wasn´t my first transfer in the mission field, but I can feel that she´s awesome so I´m sure it´ll all be great! I´m pumped!

So yeah, that was fun last week, and it was so fun being back in the mission home again, I feel like I was just there coming into the mission myself but I guess time just flies by!...Sometimes haha.  Then we had to leave at 6 in the morning to catch a tram to catch our bus! It was crazy, then I was on a bus all day again, and I slept a lot.  I don´t know if I mentioned before, but Hna Grant and I bought these matching neck pillows that also have a vibrate button that massages your neck. Well, let me tell ya, best by ever when you spend 17 ish hours on a bus in two days! #Win

Then, remember several weeks ago when we walked for like 1 1/2 straight 3x in one week up and down hills and such to find the recent convert who´s 12 and just moved here from Austria? Well this last week, his mom´s family, who aren´t members, invited us over to eat paella and practice english with him and his sister! It was so much fun, and kind of embarrassing when they have questions about english that you can´t answer haha I just think of Elder Nelson´s talk ´´Ask the missionaries!´´ and i´m like, yeah ask the missionaries about their own language and we´re like, ´´eh he...umm´´ how sad haha. But yeah, and they came to pick us up so that was nice haha no long walks down sketchy carreteras. 

Then we met with Adolfo and Ventura, the son and father, several times this last week to get everything ready for their baptism! It was amazing. It was way stressful, but al final, everything went well and they were baptized! Several missionaries from Alicante came out to support them and there were almost more missionaries there than members, haha it was great and the spirit was really strong.  They are so solid. I know they know it´s true, and they´re truly converted to the gospel.  It was amazing, they just ask things i would never even think to ask. And they know things that just testify to me that the Lord has been preparing them for many years.  

I love this gospel. I know it´s true. I was born into this gospel, but I´ve been converted and I will never deny my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is my Savior, and He is sanctifying me. I can feel it everyday. 

I love these people, I love my comp who´s going home this week and even though i´m just trying not to get down about that haha i´m excited for my next comp! Keep us and Benidorm in your prayers. Thank you! 

Love, Hermana Miller

Ether 12:27

#38

Okay so this week has been fun and incredible and CRAZY.

So first off I´m training. I don´t know why but I am haha. No, I´m super excited! I´m nervous but I know it´ll all be good. I´m going down to Málaga tomorrow to the mission home to be trained on being a trainer, and it´s nine hours by bus to Málaga, (so over the next week and a half i´ll be on a bus for about 36 hours haha) and I´m so excited to go back to the mission home to see President Deere and the other missionaries! I´ve heard that there are four hermana´s coming in, and one´s from Norway and i think the other´s are from the USA. But we´ll see. Pray for me i´m feeling a little inadequate right about now haha.

Also we had our other mini missionary and it was AMAZING. We had so much fun, and she doesnt speak much English so it gave us a good opportunity to speak Spanish more than we usually do in the piso...haha. And she is 25 and so cool and had so many questions and it was just fun. Also she taught us how to make tortilla de patata which is basically the best thing in the entire world. 

We saw some serious miracles during the last week! 

So there´s a family that lived here, and they still have a house here but they live in Germany right now for the dad´s work, but they were here and they invited us over to have a family home evening and dinner with our investigators, Ventura and his son Adolfo. This is the same guy who I was talking about last week who called us and asked us to come over and was really anxious to take the lessons again. Well anyway, we´ve tried setting a baptismal date with him several times, but every time he gives excuses and says he wants to learn more and basically no for now.  Well last week, as we´re sitting there eating he´s like, ´´I have a surprise for you guys.´´ And i was just like sort of listening, and then he was like, ´´I am going to get baptized this month.´´ And then we were just like, freaking out inside but just calmly trying to congratulate him and tell him he´s doing the right thing, but then he told us he still didnt want a fecha and he thinks his nine year old son isn´t ready yet.  So anyway, a few days later we had another lesson with his and taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we talked about how we wanted to set a fecha (baptismal date) with him.  He agreed to the 13th of SEPTEMBER. This weekend! The baptism is at 10am and we´re so excited!  But really, his son knows WAY MORE than I knew when I got baptized, so I know he´s ready, so we talked about it, that same night, and he was like, ´´Alright Adolfo it´s up to you. It´s your decision.´´ and he wants to get baptized too! So yeah, they´ll both be baptized this Saturday and we are pumped. Really, Ventura is incredible.  The other night we had a lesson with him, and afterwards we found out that his home country, the Dominican Republic had been playing some historic fútbol game during our lesson (a lesson where we just taught the ten commandments which claro he already knew), and he missed the whole thing! Literally like, the last time this kind of game happened had been like many many decades ago! We felt so bad but he told us, ´´You have to learn to put the most important things first.´´ That was a really good lesson for me. I am just amazed by the people out here, they have such great faith, and they teach me so so much everyday. 

Also, I went on an intercambio and I got to go spend a day in Alicante! It was fun! I went with Hermana Blake, and she´s incredible! She´s such a fun, hardworking missionary. We saw many tender mercies.  We met this one family, a mom and her two daughters (they were a reference from another area, the mom´s dad is recieving the lessons) and their prayers were so sincere and the 16 year old said in her prayer, ´´I don´t want to go, not even one second, without feeling you´re by my side.´´  And the mom thanked God in her prayers for sending these ´´chicas´´ to her door, to help her to learn more about Him. She was just so grateful. When we thanked her for letting us come by she told us that her door is open to us, because she knows if she rejects us she´s really rejecting God. Ah, it was so cool!

Also we taught this one guy. Hahaha  it was so funny! We quickly met him in his building once but really dont know him, and so i rang his bell and we yelled up and he let us in. He was like, ´´You have three minutes to explain to me about this book.´´ (The book of Mormon) haha so we introduced it and then gave it to him, and he said ´´I gave you three extra minutes, but yeah i´ll read some parts of your book.´´ Haha so our fingers are crossed with that! We´ll pass by again and see what happens!

I love this! Thank you for all your support!

Love, Hermana Miller

2 Nephi 9: 3-4

With our mini missionary!

Drinking spanish drinks with Melissa who got her call to England!

Colombian arepa

Delicious Colombian heart attack

#37

This week was crazy and stressful and I complained way too much haha. But yeah it´s been good. We had our mini missionary, which was fun and stressful. But yeah, it was so cool, because there is this investigator and his son, who lived near Alicante, and they were being taught by the Elders there. But then they moved here, and we started teaching them, but they got really busy and we couldn´t really meet with them. Well, last week they came to church, without a reminder from us, then monday he called us and was like, can you guys come over tonight? So we went over and taught him the Plan of Salvation and it was amazing, the nine year old boy knows everything, he´s read the pamplets several times and really wants to be baptized! Then last wednesday we call him to ask if we can come over Thursday and he´s like, ah, i wish you´d come over tonight but yeah, thursday is great!  So we taught the Restoration Thursday and it went so well. They are just so incredibly prepared!

But yeah, I don´t know why but having a mini missionary wore me out! I forgot that trios are kinda tough...and then our district leader called and asked if we´d do another mini mission with a girl from the alicante ward so of course we said yes! So we have another mini missionary this week, so that should be fun! 

Yesterday we had branch conference and there were 91 people at the church! Okay so most of them were probably from the stake or on vacation from England but it was still so cool, we had to keep adding more chairs and making more rows, usually we have from like 40-55 so it was just a crazy and fun change!

Also we ate with members several times this week. Really good, Colombian food too! We ate arepas with yummy stuff on it one night, and then next day we ate this HUGE meal, full of meat and beans and rice and it was just so much food, so good, but we were literally just dying after, haha you should have seen us walking home, we could barely walk haha.

But yeah, this week was awesome. We had several opportunities to testify of the Plan of Salvation, and I just was so grateful for it. I am so grateful for it. I´m also very grateful for prayer and the sanctifying power of the Sacrament. Seriously this week, when I got down or distracted I just thought, ´´Okay, i took the sacrament. I need to tap into that power now and use it to overcome my temptations.´´ Then i just tried to hold on until yesterday, when I got the opportunity to take it again, and renew those covenants, and recommit to trying a little harder, and feeling that power of the Spirit with me a little stronger. What a blessing to have the knowledge of this restored gospel!  The only knowledge that brings us true and lasting happiness, a fulness of joy. 

Thank you for all your prayers!

Love, Hermana Miller

3 Nephi 17:16-17