#49

THIS WEEK WAS FULL OF MIRACLES.

Seriously, one of the best weeks. Ever. This week we went over to our investigator, Aremi´s house.  She is the 15 year old from Paraguay, her and her twin sister are our investigators! We went over and watched the restoration video with her, and set a fecha (baptismal date) with her!  It´s for the 7th of December! Her sister was asleep so she didn´t watch it with us and we didn´t set a fecha with her that night. 

I seriously just love the members here. There´s a mother and her daughter (21) and her son (10) that live close to us, and apparently a few months ago they were less actives, but they are fully active and incredible now! They have us over every week to do a noche de hogar and are sharing the gospel with their friends nad feed us and they´re amazing! They´re from Paraguay, and they make this amazing red sauce thing, and it´s so great cuz they put it on everything! They made us chicken and other night hot dogs and another day pasta and every one of those had this salsa stuff on it that is delicious! I just love their family. There´s also another family that´s from Argentina, and i´m obsessed with them.  They have a daughter in the Barcelona mission, and they have us over once every couple weeks and also they have a 20 year old daughter and we talk about school and music and she´s just awesome! And when we share spiritual thoughts she just looks so interested and she just is wonderful and she loves us.  I don´t know, I wish I could give you a better picture of just how awesome they all are here, and the fun we have together and the spirit we feel but it´s hard to describe.  

OKAY so i´m an epic fail! This week Elder Kearon, the general authority came, and i forgot to bring my notes, i just seriously want to tell you everything that happened and everything he said because it was just amazing! We had two separate conferences for all the missionaries in our mission, which means in each gathering there were about 110 missionaries! We had the luck of being here in Málaga, ward 1, because they picked to do it in our chapel! So we had like an 8 minute walk to the church, and some people had to come on buses for like 9 hours!  It was a nice change for me to be right here where the conference was taking place.

He talked to us about dilligence and ´´attacking our morning´´ meaning that when we wake up and do our morning exercises they shouldn´t just be done going through the half hearted motions but we should put all we have into it! Even with our showers, he said, ´´give it a cold blast at the end, get yourself pumped up for the day!´´ and said even showering and getting ready ´´dilligently´´ can be a symbol for our dilligence for the day, showing the Lord that from the moment that clock rings 7am we´re going at our day hard! I just loved that. It was especially funny, because Hermana Cameron loves to run, so we go on runs in the morning. And i really like to run to, but man, this girl is a trained athlete. She is going super fast, and even though I go without stopping, she´s literally running circles around me, but she is so awesome, because she knows i´m giving it my all so she doesn´t mind.  But yeah, the morning of this talk with Elder Kearon we went running, and I tried to go harder than usual, so we felt really good about our morning workout.  Then that day, as he was talking about dilligence in our workouts, suddenly he turns to President and Hermana Deere and then turns to us 110 missionaries and is like, ´´Can we have Hermana Cameron and Hermana Miller come up here please?´´ and I was like, oh my is he going to have us bear our testimonies on morning workouts!? (because the week before we told our district leader that was one of the things we did well haha kinda as a joke!) . But then he just had us do a practice with him, where we had to contact him in the street, and say the things we´d normally say, just with no excitement in our voices. It was funny and weird first of all, contacting in english (cuz he´s from england, oh yeah so i forgot to mention our whole reunion was in english! it was such a cool thing since normally they´re all in spanish!), and second of all doing it without smiling! Haha. But it was cool because after, President Deere said in our leadership meeting that we had the day after with Elder Kearon, that Elder Kearon had asked him for a companionship that is just really happy and smiley (to make the practice funnier since we had to have no enthusiasm), and him and Hermana Deere said Hna Cameron and I. He said in the leadership meeting that those two are just full of light, and it meant so much to me.  I don´t know, of course i´m not boasting in myself, but it just meant a lot to me that in a meeting with 110 missionaries, when someone asked my mission president and his wife for someone happy and loving, they would think of me.  I just want to live worthy of that, I love this work and I love this gospel and the hope it brings to us. One of our investigators asked us the other day, ´´how are you two so happy?´´ and it´s funny because literally we just looked at each other and were like, ´´well, It´s really just because of the message we have, because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.´´ A true joy comes from knowing you´re a child of God. I´m literally obsessed with the new children´s song, ´´La familia es de Dios.´´ or in english ´´The family is of God.´´ I carry it around with me in my bag, i love when it says, ´´Our Father has a family, it´s me, it´s you all other too we are His children.´´  How simple is that truth? But it´s funny because I´ve met people out here who question that, or are even offended by that, saying it´s offensive to the Almighty Creator that we claim to be His children.  But I know of the strength and conviction and peace and joy that come from knowing that simple truth. Elder Kearon also had all the Hermanas stand up and recite the young women theme, it was powerful.  But also, I dont want to give people the wrong idea that i´m just out here smiling 24/7 and always thinking, ´´life´s good because I know who I am´´ no haha. Especially this week had rough times, Monday I got sick and I´ve been sick ever since, i have a terrible cold and my nose is constantly running and at night it´s hard to breathe and teaching lessons in spanish when these people can barely understand me with my accent as it is, and now it´s this american ginger speaking spanish with a rough accent and rough voice because I´m sick haha it´s frustrated me. I´ve been like, ´´God I wanna give you more but I don´t have much to give right now!´´ and also my feet have been killing because all my good shoes got trashed from walking so much, so I´ve purchased some other shoes that i thought would be good, they seemed good in the stores, but they just KILL my feet. And once we were out in the street, we didn´t have time to go back and change them, so I walked around in them all night and just tried not to cry, but man I´m sure my smile walking around that night looked pretty fake, haha but I was trying. Literally putting one step in front of the other because each step hurt. Hopefully I was just breaking them in because I dont spend more money on shoes haha. But anyway, I´m just saying that this week I was not feeling to great, but of course we just went and worked like normal and even though it wasn´t much, i just tried to give the Lord what I could by being mostly obedient, and really pushing to get our investigators to read the Book of Mormon and pray and especially come to church.

Well, Friday night we did intercambios and a brand new missionary came into my area with me, and I was in charge of the area alone for the first time! It was intense and went so so well! Even though i felt gross, we went to our citas, and hardly anyone failed us! We taught the plan of salvation to the twins, and set a fecha (baptismal date) with the other twin! So they´ll hopefully be getting baptized in two weeks! Then we went to one of the recent converts´ families home.  His sister in law had a fecha for Nov. 30, and when we got there she said, ´´When did I say I would get baptized again?´´and we told her and she said, ´´great, will you put my husband down too? We´re getting baptized together!´´ She is fully commited, and I dont know if I even told the story of her, she´s been recieving the missionaries for a while, but she always said she wasnt ready for baptism, and one day we taught her the plan of salvation and asked her to pray with us to know if it was true, then she prayed about it, and when she asked about the plan the spirit came so strong. Then she went on to ask about the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit was even stronger, and when she finished she was just crying. That was a few weeks ago, but yeah, now she´s getting baptized this sunday and we´re excited! So that was a miracle!

Another miracle! So i was going through the area book my 2nd day in this area, and I was calling a lot of the old potential investigators (or street contacts) and i called this lady named Joy from Nigeria. Well long story short, for my whole time here we´ve been trying to meet with her but for one reason or another (her fault sometimes, our fault other times) it just hasn´t worked out. Well one day we were walking in the street and I hadnt tried for a while, and suddenly i just thought to call her, so I did, we set up an appointment and finally it worked out! We went and showed her the Book of Mormon and set a baptismal date with her in the 1st lesson! Which I don´t know if i´ve ever done before, but she´s just so prepared! Then we invited her to church, and she came! It was awesome, everyone kept coming up to her with the biggest smiles on their faces and asking her name and introducing themselves and i was just like, ´´wow, members are SO CRUCIAL to the work!´´ and she just kept saying, ´´í like being here, people are happy here´´ and it was awesome. So she came for all 3 hours, but really we had worked so hard to get our other investigators to church, especially sacrament meeting.  So i was like calling the recent convert and asking if his family was coming and calling the twins and they said they were coming, haha it was just funny, i just really wanted them there so they could feel the spirit that we find in the church! Well, finally, 5 MORE INVESTIGATORS walk through the door at the beginning of sacrament meeting (we have sacrament meeting last in our ward) it was such a blessing! I have never had that many in church! I just wanted to cry and kept thanking God with the prayer in my heart for letting us see this miracle! It really proved a lot to me. It helped me see that God works the miracles, and I am nothing, but also that it is through our dilligence that the Lord can work His miracles, I felt like that dilligence was lacking in me the week before, but this week, even though I didnt have much to give, I gave what I had and the Lord worked with it.  Elder Kearon talked about the miracle of Christ feeding the 5000 with the little bit of bread and fish, and how the disciples gave that to Christ, and that was all they had, but look what Christ did with the little they had? He fed a multitude. I know it´s the same with us. Even when we feel like we don´t have much to give to the Lord, because of sicknesses or weaknesses or fears or whatever it may be, as we give Him the little we´ve got, and we are dilligent and just sacrifice a little bit of our effort and time for the Kingdom of God, He can take those little offerings and work miracles with them. And as a reward we can feel the peace and pure happiness that come from knowing the Lord does His work, all He requires is that we try. So then i realized even in my snotty and pained foot state, trying to hold back the tears and keep walking...the Lord can work with that. We just have to let Him work with that, so when we´re in those hard situations, we cant let them turn our hearts hard, but instead we just have to turn our hearts to the Lord, and let Him work miracles with the little we have to offer Him. What a cool thing to be an instrument in His hands!

I love this work. I´m not perfect. I have hard moments, but I´m grateful that the Lord will work with me and that He´s allowing me to change, even if it´s really slowly...He´s patient haha. 

Thank you all! And have a great Thanksgiving!!!

Love, Hermana Miller

Psalms 100:1-5

#48

This past week was crazy and super stressful and emotional and so great!

We had two intercambios, one here and one in Almería! They went super well, but since I don´t know our area too well yet I left for both of them so I felt weird being out of my area so much!  The first one we did here, super close to our area, in Málaga. These Hermana´s are super awesome! We knew they had been struggling though with several things, so we just kept praying that it´d be a good, insightful intercambio, and it was!  When i was in their area, we just kept praying to find miracles, and we knocked on someones door that they had taught a while ago, and it was the wife of the man they had taught. She said he wasn´t there, and just as she was about to shut the door I remembered something Hermana Heaton had taught me on one of our intercambios, to just ask people if they have 5 or 10 minutes right then that we could come in and share a quick message. Most people make up excuses and say no, but when we asked her, this woman said yes! It was awesome, we entered and started talking to her and her brother and I don´t know why but I randomly asked the guy if he was married and he told us his wife died a couple years ago, then he went on to say that he´s felt her several times since she´s passed away, and he asked us why. It was incredible, it gave us such a good chance to teach the plan of salvation, and testify to him that his wife knows about this plan, and she wants him to learn about it.  Then the hermana I was on the intercambio with told them we´d been praying for a miracle before we´d got to their house, and the Spirit was super strong.

And i got to go to Almería this week! While we were walking in the streets I saw several people I knew and that was super fun! We also ate with Manolo and Manuela and their family, and they asked me to say the prayer (like they always did while I was serving there so I´d learn Spanish) and after the prayer they all freaked out and were like, ´´You´ve finally learned it, you´ve gotten so much better!´´ haha and I laughed cuz my spanish is still pretty bad and I was just thinking about how much worse it must´ve been when I was there haha.  It was so great to walk those streets again, and it really freaked me out how it felt like I had just been there days before, like no time had passed since I left but everything had changed. I feel like I´ve changed a little, and the area has changed a little, but it was interesting because as I asked her about some of their new investigators I realized lots of them are my old investigators. I really am hoping that some of their times have come, and that while they weren´t being taught for several months that they had been being prepared to be taught again and embrace it this time! But we´ll see!:)

When I got back Friday night we went and had a Noche de Hogar with a family, and with one of their nieces, who isn´t a member. She´s 12 and has been recieving the missionary lessons for 1 1/2 ish years and wants to be baptized so badly but her mom wont let her! It´s so sad, but she´s awesome and is doing personal progress right now, so she taught the lesson on repentance. Ah, I just love the youth! Seriously I can just tell they´re so much stronger than I ever was, or even am and I just am lucky to know them. I seriously just look at some of them and am like, ´´I´m looking at future stake presidents and apostles´´ they just love the gospel, and they get it like I never did.

Saturday night we had a talent show, and it was so so fun! Haha and like 3 hours long so that was a little awkward cuz we had 2 investigators there, two 15 yr old girl twins from Paraguay, and they were like, ´´when´s this gonna end´´ haha but it was good. Us missionaries attempted to prepare something, one of the elders had changed the words to a really popular song here by Enrique Iglesias and he changed it to be about baptism instead of partying and it´s the most clever thing ever! Haha our execution of it was kind of embarassing due to our lack of time to prepare..but it was still so fun! 

Also another cool thing happened, so mom, that cake mix you sent me for my birthday, well saturday it was a young adult girls birthday in our ward and so we were like, okay she´s coming to clean the church the morning of her birthday so we´ll bake it for her and give it to her there! Then she ended up not coming, but another young adult girl was there and i was thinking, ´´i think she told me my first sunday here that it would be her birthday today too..´´ but i couldnt remember, but then one of the members confirmed to us that it was! So we ended up singing for her, and when we walked in the room and started singing to her she started crying! It was so cute and cool and awesome to see that the Lord remembers all His children, even if we´re forgetful humans, He works through us to touch other people.  I just love the Lord and I love that He knows me, and I love that He knows all of us. He is the God of Abraham and Moses and Isaiah, He parted the red sea, and He created the earth and He guided the children of Israel out of Egypt, but He is my Father.  The One who sends me tender mercies, the One who comforts me when I say embarrassing things, the One pushes me when we´re running in the morning, the One who sends revelation to my mind as I kneel to say my prayers before bed. What a miracle!

Also my address!

Hermana Miller

c/ Alfredo Nobel N·8, 2·F

29010 Málaga

España

Love, Hermana Miller

Alma 38:9

#47

Can I just say I just absolutely love this?  I love it so so so so so much. La Obra Misional. I am just so grateful for life.

This week was INCREDIBLE.  So first of all, last week I had my first concilio, which is leadership council. It was super fun! I was stressed out because on Friday I knew we would have to tell our zone what our leaders were telling us in the concilio, so I was taking notes like crazy!  But yeah, first of all, Hermana Cameron and I went and walked around this gorgeous centro in Málaga, and took pictures next to cathedrals and pretty buildings and had so much fun! Then we met up with some of the zone leaders from the mission and walked around and shopped a little, then headed over to Fuengirola- where the mission home is!  

I got to see tons of awesome people I know that I haven´t seen in a while, and I also got the chance to meet tons of new missionaries! It was fun. Hermana Deere cooked us café rio, which is the best! It was fun and yummy. Then we listened to the AP´s talk, and Hna Deere and President Deere also talked. They talked a lot about obedience and getting people to church. I really wanna focus on these two things, which is what our mission if focusing on especially this month! It´s awesome because getting people to church has always been so hard for me, this last week Hna Cameron and I hit our mission´s standards- minus having people in the church (given it was stake conference and we went all the way to Granada, so I think that didn´t help our situation, but still!). So yeah, this month our mission has a goal of getting 250 investigators in church on November 30th! Y vamos a lograrla/alcanzarla!

Also Tuesday I got the best birthday package ever- thank you SO MUCH family!

Speaking of Spanish, so Friday we had zone meeting and we had to give a talk on what the AP´s talked aobut, and since the AP´s are in our district, they of course were there to hear it, ah talk about pressure, I´m just like, they´re right here and they did it perfectly and now I have to try to copy that in front of them! Needless to say I prepared a lot, and in the end we did alright! Hna Cameron is just great at public speaking so she did an incredible job, I just tried not to hold her back too much haha. It was awesome because right before, we were doing interviews with President Deere, and man he is just amazing! He really made me feel calm and realize that I just do my best, the Lord called me here and He´s who I work for, He´s who I´m trying to represent.

We met tons of new people this week and found several new investigators! Mostly we found them by contacting potential investigators (people we contacted in the street) and teaching them and they happen to bring their friends or we meet their friends/family members at their house! We´ve seen many miracles.  One of our goals was to set more baptismal dates, and we were able to set a couple this week with some very prepared people!  

Also I got the chance to go on an interchange this week, my first one! Her name is Hna Arce and she´s from South Carolina and I learned so much from her! We taught this one young girl who is so prepared! She brings up things she´s heard in church and is like, ´´so can you explain more to me of what this is?  should i be living ___ law?´´ she just wants to make sure she´s doing everything the Lord asks of her, and she hasnt been baptized yet and already has her mind set to the temple! What an example for all of us.

And, TENDER MERCIES. This weekend we had stake conference in Granada! And I saw tons of people from my Almería ward!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah it was incredible! I saw Manolo and Manuela and their kids (the family that was baptized in February!) and tons of other friends and it was amazing! I also saw the amazing Hna Andrew again, it had been like 6 months and I freaked out to say the least! I also learned a lot from the speakers in the conference haha. They really focused on small and simple things and having consistency in them. The stake president gave 3 suggestions, 1)When was the last time you told your wife, husband, kids, and other family members ´´I love you, and I need you.´´ 2) When was the last time you bore your testimony of this gospel in front of your family, in day to day living? 3) Be firm and constant in small and simple things (family prayer, family home evening, family scripture study) and he said we shouldnt let our kids leave the house without having our family kneel in prayer to send them out into the world. 

I love all these small and simple reminders that are the keys to living a happy, Christ centered life. I want them to be engrained into my soul. God is good. Jesus Christ lives. Joseph Smith was His vessel to restore His church once again, and we have all the tools we need to return to live with Him after this life!

I love you all and want to say thanks for your prayers in behalf of the missionaries, they are felt and I am so thankful for faithful prayers!

Love, Hermana Miller

3 Nephi 27:19-21-- we´ve shared this with a lot of people this week, and really focused on talking about the doctrine of Christ with everyone! One thing I´ve really realized these past couple weeks is that Christs atonement can cleanse us every day through the Holy Ghost. It doesnt only happen one time with baptism, or even only every week with the sacrament, everyday we can feel that blank page, renewing power that comes from The Atonement of Jesus Christ, what a blessing! Also Hna Cameron said something that really impacted me, she told some members that when she prays at night, she thinks back on her day, and goes through the gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, recieving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) and makes sure she´s lived all 5 of those steps everyday. I started doing this and I love it! Really helps me give an account to the Lord and myself of what I´m doing each day.

#46

Can I just say I just absolutely love this?  I love it so so so so so much. La Obra Misional. I am just so grateful for life.

This week was INCREDIBLE.  So first of all, last week I had my first concilio, which is leadership council. It was super fun! I was stressed out because on Friday I knew we would have to tell our zone what our leaders were telling us in the concilio, so I was taking notes like crazy!  But yeah, first of all, Hermana Cameron and I went and walked around this gorgeous centro in Málaga, and took pictures next to cathedrals and pretty buildings and had so much fun! Then we met up with some of the zone leaders from the mission and walked around and shopped a little, then headed over to Fuengirola- where the mission home is!  

I got to see tons of awesome people I know that I haven´t seen in a while, and I also got the chance to meet tons of new missionaries! It was fun. Hermana Deere cooked us café rio, which is the best! It was fun and yummy. Then we listened to the AP´s talk, and Hna Deere and President Deere also talked. They talked a lot about obedience and getting people to church. I really wanna focus on these two things, which is what our mission if focusing on especially this month! It´s awesome because getting people to church has always been so hard for me, this last week Hna Cameron and I hit our mission´s standards- minus having people in the church (given it was stake conference and we went all the way to Granada, so I think that didn´t help our situation, but still!). So yeah, this month our mission has a goal of getting 250 investigators in church on November 30th! Y vamos a lograrla/alcanzarla!

Also Tuesday I got the best birthday package ever- thank you SO MUCH family!

Speaking of Spanish, so Friday we had zone meeting and we had to give a talk on what the AP´s talked aobut, and since the AP´s are in our district, they of course were there to hear it, ah talk about pressure, I´m just like, they´re right here and they did it perfectly and now I have to try to copy that in front of them! Needless to say I prepared a lot, and in the end we did alright! Hna Cameron is just great at public speaking so she did an incredible job, I just tried not to hold her back too much haha. It was awesome because right before, we were doing interviews with President Deere, and man he is just amazing! He really made me feel calm and realize that I just do my best, the Lord called me here and He´s who I work for, He´s who I´m trying to represent.

We met tons of new people this week and found several new investigators! Mostly we found them by contacting potential investigators (people we contacted in the street) and teaching them and they happen to bring their friends or we meet their friends/family members at their house! We´ve seen many miracles.  One of our goals was to set more baptismal dates, and we were able to set a couple this week with some very prepared people!  

Also I got the chance to go on an interchange this week, my first one! Her name is Hna Arce and she´s from South Carolina and I learned so much from her! We taught this one young girl who is so prepared! She brings up things she´s heard in church and is like, ´´so can you explain more to me of what this is?  should i be living ___ law?´´ she just wants to make sure she´s doing everything the Lord asks of her, and she hasnt been baptized yet and already has her mind set to the temple! What an example for all of us.

And, TENDER MERCIES. This weekend we had stake conference in Granada! And I saw tons of people from my Almería ward!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah it was incredible! I saw Manolo and Manuela and their kids (the family that was baptized in February!) and tons of other friends and it was amazing! I also saw the amazing Hna Andrew again, it had been like 6 months and I freaked out to say the least! I also learned a lot from the speakers in the conference haha. They really focused on small and simple things and having consistency in them. The stake president gave 3 suggestions, 1)When was the last time you told your wife, husband, kids, and other family members ´´I love you, and I need you.´´ 2) When was the last time you bore your testimony of this gospel in front of your family, in day to day living? 3) Be firm and constant in small and simple things (family prayer, family home evening, family scripture study) and he said we shouldnt let our kids leave the house without having our family kneel in prayer to send them out into the world. 

I love all these small and simple reminders that are the keys to living a happy, Christ centered life. I want them to be engrained into my soul. God is good. Jesus Christ lives. Joseph Smith was His vessel to restore His church once again, and we have all the tools we need to return to live with Him after this life!

I love you all and want to say thanks for your prayers in behalf of the missionaries, they are felt and I am so thankful for faithful prayers!

Love, Hermana Miller

3 Nephi 27:19-21-- we´ve shared this with a lot of people this week, and really focused on talking about the doctrine of Christ with everyone! One thing I´ve really realized these past couple weeks is that Christs atonement can cleanse us every day through the Holy Ghost. It doesnt only happen one time with baptism, or even only every week with the sacrament, everyday we can feel that blank page, renewing power that comes from The Atonement of Jesus Christ, what a blessing! Also Hna Cameron said something that really impacted me, she told some members that when she prays at night, she thinks back on her day, and goes through the gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, recieving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) and makes sure she´s lived all 5 of those steps everyday. I started doing this and I love it! Really helps me give an account to the Lord and myself of what I´m doing each day.

#45

Hey Hey! So this week has been crazy and emotional and wonderful! I spent my last couple days in Benidorm well, I absolutely LOVE my little family there with all my heart. I feel bad for the people who don´t get the opportunity to serve in branches during their missions, I got so close to all of them, and I seriously just felt so good being there, I love the Benidorm branch.  But also, something we realized is that there is SO MUCH WORK THERE. Benidorm kinda gets a reputation for being a tough area with not a lot of work, but once we tried breaking out of the cycle of visiting the same people every week it helped us to see that that area has tons of potential, and I know Hna Garcia is doing so well with it up there! The last night I just spent hours and hours cleaning and packing...I never got the chance to sleep but it was okay! Hna Garcia got super sick and it was so sad, and I still hauled her around all Tuesday night to say goodbye to people, she´s such a trooper!  But yeah, so I spent all night doing that, and then the next morning we headed out from Benidorm at 7 30am. It was actually funny because I called one of our investigators Tues. night to say goodbye to her, because we werent gonna have time to go to her house, and she told us she was going to Alicante Wednesday morning too! So we were on the same bus and that was fun. And then from there in Alicante, me and some other missionaries headed out towards the direction of Málaga! It was a fun bus ride, and even though it´s 8 hrs it never feels like it to me. I love it! I think I slept for like 45 mintues so that was good.  I got to know some more missionaries, and it was a great, beautiful ride.  Then when I got here to Málaga, I met Hna Cameron, who is so great! Oh my goodness I freaking love her already. She´s from Idaho and is so cute and athletic and smart, and I´m so excited to be working with her. I have learned a ton from her already! During the week of finding, the week where all over the mission we really focused on finding new people in our areas to teach the gospel to, her and her companion found over 30 new investigators! So we´ve got a lot of work ahead of us! She is ending her mission December 10, so I´ll be ´´killing´´ her.  I´m sad I´ll only get a transfer with her, but hey, I´ll just be grateful for it! 

It´s a little nerve wracking because since she´s ending so soon, I´ll only have a transfer to learn this area. And most likely I´ll get a companion who´s never been a S.H.E. (sister training leader) before. We also do intercambios (interchanges) like, once or twice a week with the Hermanas in our area, which includes Granada, Almería, Fuengirola, and the 4 companionships of Hermana´s here in Málaga. I´m excited to work with all of them, they all seem awesome! But yeah, for the first couple week´s I´ll be the one to leave the area, since I don´t know it well enough yet, and after that I´ll stay here for intercambios, which means it´ll be on me to know the area well enough to work it without anyone else´s help. Hahaha it´s rough. But i´m excited, it just means I have to try harder than I ever have before! I seriously am just trying to memorize streets and houses and keep my eyes alert. Ha, and church, oh my it was great! It was so different, I´m used to our lil branch of 40ish in Benidorm, and here there are 2 wards that go to the same church building (there are 4 wards total in Málaga), and our ward alone has like 150 people that come weekly! Um yeah, I have a goal of knowing everyone´s name by my 3rd Sunday here, so yesterday I was just talking to everyone, and as I was fasting I just had the most sincere prayer in my heart, asking Heavenly Father to help me memorize their names and faces. I just know how important working with the members is, and I want their trust and I want relationships with them like the ones I have with the members of Benidorm.  I know it won´t be the same, cuz it´s not the same size and there are other missionaries here, but I know with the Lord´s help He´ll expand my mind and help me do things I couldn´t do on my own!  Also knowing Spanish a little better is helping me out too, jaja.

It was so great, my first night here we had english class and a weekly noche de hogar that we do with ward 2 (i´m in ward 1). Hna Cameron and I had the lesson, and she had decided we´d teach lesson 1, the restoration. I´ve taught that a million times but I was so nervous, also, unlike giving talks in Benidorm, there are other missionaries there too which for some reason always makes me more nervious (for this reason I need lots of prayers this week, because at zone meeting Hna Cameron and I give talks in front of only other missionaries...in Spanish, haha I know I´ve been here for 11 months but I´m still way scared. Not to mention our zone is the biggest in the mission. Seriously your prayers are very very welcomed!)  but it went well. There´s this cute return missionary in our ward who gave us a paper after that said ´´Advice´´ and had notes on things we could do better. It was cute and I had a great time getting to know the members and missionaries!

Then on Friday we didn´t do anything for Halloween #lame. There was a Halloween party for the young single adults that the Castillos (senior missionary couple that I love!) put on.  We taught a lesson in the church to one of the recent converts in our area (His name is Michael, he´s from Nigeria and speaks english! It was so weird, we taught a few lessons in english this week which was 1) a little difficult just because I´m used to using spanish words to explain the Book of Mormon and the gospel and 2) made me think that i´d probably be a better missionary in english and then realized even more I got sent to Spain to be humbled through this language and to learn, which i have). But yeah this guy is amazing! He has such a strong testimony. He met the missionaries here this summer and was baptized in 10 days, and is golden! Ah, I really do love our ward and investigators. We were very blessed this week to have people put in our path! More than a few times we were in the houses of less active people, and investigators and they had family there, or friends walked in and we were able to introduce them to the gospel. 

Tonight we have concilio, which is like a meeting with the zone leaders and sister training leaders and ap´s at President Deere´s house and I´m excited! I´m excited to learn and see friends from all over the mission! Thank you for your prayers and wish me luck! 

Love, Hermana Miller

Mosiah 4:16-21

#44

Okay so this has been the craziest, most exhausting, best week! 

So first of all, thank you again for all the birthday wishes! I literally had the best birthday of my life! It was incredible. So as I said we went to the Alicante castle, and that was incredible! Then later that night we went to some citas and found some potential investigators, then we went to a Noche de Hogar with Lourdes and Hugo (our ward mission leader) and Ventura and Adolfo (recent converts) and a couple other members and it was amazing! We talked for a while, then shared the mormon message ´´Fathers´´and talked about God and family history and it was awesome. Then after we ate dinner and then they brought out my favorite- cheesecake! And sang me ´´feliz cumpleaños´´ and it was an amazing moment. Looking around, surrounded by my family here in Spain, everything felt very complete and full. It was a beautiful moment, my first day meeting Lourdes and Hugo I hoped I would get to spend my birthday with them- and I did! Then after I teared up and thanked them, I have so much love for them, and I know they love me. It was an amazing day! 

And this week was the week of finding, as a mission we had a goal to find 888 new investigators- and we saw SO MANY MIRACLES. We found 14 potential investigators and 9 new investigators and met and talked with many other people, I learned so much! We really went through our area book and found new people that were really investigators from years ago!

In our english class there´s a woman named Maria, and she´s incredible, ah i just love her! She´s not a member, last week we shared Romans 8:35-39, and talked about Jesus Christ.  She was like, ´´Jesus es como la gasolina divina´´- the divine gasoline.  I laughed so hard, but it´s so true! He´s what keeps us going. And that´s what I´m really trying to remember right now, because Saturday President Deere called and I´m leaving Benidorm. Friday night I just broke down (before we got the call) and was bawling in the bathroom, I just cant imagine leaving this place. I can´t lie, I was a little aprehensive to come, but honestly these past six months have been some of the best of my life. I have met literally life long friends here. One of the older members we visit a lot told me he felt like I was his daughter or little sister, ah and I´m just like trying to smile through the tears, I just love these people! And church was the hardest! oh man. I was planning on being pretty strong, but then an hour before church the branch president called and said, ´´Hermana tengo buenas noticias- tiene un discourso hoy!´´ So yeah, the good news was my unprepared talk hahaa.  I decided to get up and share my story about why I decided to become a missionary, and testify of Jesus Christ.  I shared a few scriptures about how we feel weak, and I talked about how Christ atoned for our sins, but He also felt our pains and weaknesses and inadequacies, and how applying the Atonement in our lives daily helps us overcome the depressive feelings that come from our weaknesses.  It was amazing though, because as I was talking I was probably just rambling on, and then our branch president hands me a note that says ´´tiempo!´´´and I knew I was supposed to end.  But then I suddenly felt like I needed to share an experience I had on my intercambio Saturday (Hna Heaton came to Benidorm and Hna Garcia went to Alicante to work for a day). We were knocking doors, and suddenly a 19 year old girl opened the door, and there was a dog barking and it seemed a little stressful but she let us come in and we had one of the most incredible lessons I´ve had on my mission.  We talked about her family, and she told us she hasn´t talked to them in months, they´re having issues, she just works here in Benidorm.  She was telling us how she used to believe in God, but for the past few years she´s lost that belief because people in her family that have passed away and there have been a lot of hard trials that have happened in her life. We just testified that God has a plan for her, and that through Jesus Christ she can find healing and peace. She was like, ´´okay, share this message with me then, I need help!´´ and then we pulled out the Book of Mormon and she was like, ´´Wait, you guys are mormons?´´ and we told her yes, and she told us she went to school with a mormon, ´´Eric!´´ And i was like, I´m sure it´s the Eric in our branch, and turns out it was! And she was like, ´´He taught me about your church a little. I haven´t seen him in a while but I actually have plans to hang out with him tonight!´´ It was incredible, seeing how the example of people just living the gospel and sharing their basic beliefs prepares people to recieve the Gospel later!  As I shared that in sacrament meeting I felt the Holy Ghost fill the room and everyone seemed more alert, and I cried and thanked them all and told them their efforts are not in vain.  Although not all of us will have the opportunity to see the fruits of those efforts, they are there, and one day we will be able to see what came of the good we did here.  It was really incredible too, because with this young girl, she told us she hadnt prayed in a long time, and she was embarrassed to do it. We explained that it´s simple and just a conversation with God, and when she prayed at the end of our cita, Hna Heaton and I were almost in tears. We could feel Heavenly Father looking down on that place, so grateful because He´s been waiting to hear from her for a long time. Ah, it was amazing!

Then we had a great experience after church, one of the members who has been telling us for weeks that she really wants to share the gospel but just doesnt know how, invited one of her friends to church, and after we went to her house to eat and we laughed and talked and then watched the Testaments and talked about Christ visiting the Americas and the Book of Mormon and the member invited her to listen to the missionaries and she said yes! And mind you, this woman has had member friends for years who have tried to get her to listen to the missionaries, ah it was just such a miracle!

Also, since we were going through old investigators in the area book for the week of finding, we found a list of people who went to english class a while ago, so we decided to pass by and reinvite them all to attend the class again! Well we passed by this one man, and we buzzed the outside buzzer thing, that you talk through the speaker to them (i have no idea what the name is) and there was some miscommunication and we thought he was the guy we were looking for but he really wasn´t, but he said he would let us in his building to talk to him face to face about our free english classes. Well we also invited this Ecuatorian man to our church (that was the next day at 10) and he said he would come, AND HE REALLY DID. It was hilarious, being like, there are investigators we´ve worked with for hours and begged them to come to church, and then we talk to this man for 5 minutes in his doorway and he comes the next day with his little 6 yr old girl. It was beautiful! 

So yeah. Week of milagros.  And last night we met with a guy named Romeo, he´s 25 and so legit! Haha, kinda like a gangster, but who told us he wants to do the things in this life that will please God, and I could feel that he meant it.  I love seeing these people with a real intent to find the truth!  And last night we met with Ventura and Adolfo in a park and played uno and drank bifrutas (milk-fruit drink) and ate brownies and had such a good time. I am gonna miss these people a ton, but I feel priveleged to have served with them here in this blessed city of Benidorm.  

Oh yeah. I didn´t even say where i´m going! I´m going to Málaga! My comps name is Hermana Cameron, and Hna Grant told me when we were together that she absolutely loves her, I´m so excited to serve with her! I think we´re in ward one. And also I get the opportunity to be a sister training leader, which means I get to travel around several cities in Spain and work with several Hermanas in this mission doing intercambios! I´m scared out of my mind. I feel really inadequate. But when i got the news, i just went over into a corner and told Heavenly Father that I didn´t choose this, and that if He was going to call me to it I was going to need His help. And although I´m still super nervous, I know He´ll provide. I need to improve my spanish. I just need to improve overall as a missionary. And I know this will be a good opportunity to do it! So yeah. It´ll be good. And good news, this means I get to do intercambios in Almería! So yeah, I´m going back there and I´m stoked!  But yeah. I really do need prayers at this point. And always. But especially now.

Love, Hermana Miller

Jacob 5:47,71-72