#61

So this week has been crazy. Full of joy and beauty and talks and other churches and I´ve loved it. Haha.

So for starters last week on Pday we went to a huge, beautiful Catholic Cathedral. It was big and gorgeous! It always surprises me that there are no pictures of Christ resurrected in their churches...they´re very dark and solemn,  but stunning.  I have to send you pictures!!!

So this week we got several surprise calls from people wanting to learn aobut the gospel. One of them was a woman who knows one of the members of our church. He talked to her about the gospel then gave her our number! We went and taught her in the church and set a baptismal date with her!...She happens to live in the elders area (ha, this always happens where the people live in the elders area not ours). Oh and i forgot to mention, Our mission had a goal this last week to set 250 baptismal dates, so we worked super hard, and as a companionship we got 7! We´re really excited. The mission as a whole got 252, and there were 14 baptisms this weekend! It was a good week. But yeah, one of our friends with a baptismal date, Johnny, he came to church for the second time yesterday and the youth were so good with him, and made sure he went with them to class and ah...it was awesome. 

Also, funny story. So last week a man in our ward spoke, and he said that as he has been a member of the church he has learned how to speak in public, and he doesn´t mind it. Well...i dont like speaking in public. In English or Spanish. But i was thinking, ´´wow, i want to change that weakness into a strength!´´ So, what do i do? Well that night i pray to be able to love public speaking. And, just as i said in my talk in front of our ward on sunday, I´m here to tell you that the Lord answers our prayers. Hahaha, two days later a man in our ward calls me to speak. I haven´t seen a missionary speak in this ward, i dont think they normally do...but yeah, the Lord was willing to arrange something for me haha. So yeah, i spoke on how the worth of every soul is great in the eyes of God, and He wants us to ask questions, and search and once we find the truth, through Jesus Christ, it changes our hearts (Alma 5:6-7). Then with that change of heart we recieve desires to share the gospel, and it converts into being a joy rather than an obligation. It went well, I think! Once i got up there i wasnt nervous, but it´s just been a long time since i´ve spoken in front of that many people! In Benidorm there were only ever like, 40 people in the congregation, and in our zone meetings we speak in front of like 34 ish missionaries! Haha. So 130 was bigger, but it was fine. 

I saw a lot of my weaknesses this week also. So that was...fun. No, but it was just a testimony to me of Ether 12:27, that the closer we come to God, the more we can see our weaknesses. But I know He gives us strength, and I found a lot of strength in the sacrament. I need to go to church, every week, to feel that strength. I depend on Him so much. 

Also, another cool thing! So I went on an intercambio this week in a gorgeous place called Fuengirola, and we worked in a soup kitchen! I seriously LOVED it. I really was working as hard as i could, and I would love to do that all the time. I loved being able to talk to all the people, from many different countries and serve them hot food, most of them dont get a hot meal except for that one time a week, and ah, it just filled me to be able to talk to them, hear about their lives, and try to serve them in the smallest way. I hope to do that more when I go back.

Then later in the week we got another call from a woman who got a pass along card from a missionary in the street, went tomormon.org, talked to someone who lives in the United States, and he searched for missionaries here for her, and she called us! So we went and taught her at the church too, and her friend! Set baptismal dates with them too! ...They live in the elders area, but it´s all good! Good thing the elders in our ward are literally the best missionaries I´ve ever met, so i love passing people to them! I´m like, these investigators are lucky to be taught by such good Elders. Haha. Really though.

We also started teaching the bishop´s daughter´s boyfriend. He´s been in a lot of our family home evenings we have every week, but just this last week we officially started teaching him. Things are going well, but pray for him, his name is Samuel and his baptismal goal is March 08!

Also, our other friend with a baptism date is Eugenia, and she´s wonderful! She´s the one who cried when she saw the Book of Mormon.  She is trying to overcome some hard things so she can be baptized, but she REALLY wants to, so keep her in your prayers, too. 

Thank you so much! I love you all!

Love, Hermana Miller

1 Nephi 20:11

#60

So yeah. Best week ever. 

I just love my life! Freak...So for starters, last week for pday we went and rode electric bikes again, and it was so fun!  Then later that night, we went to go meet with one of our investigators, Eugenia, who has a date to be baptized (fecha).  So we go to meet with her, and we brought a big Book of Mormon with large print, because she has eye issues. Well, we met with her in the street, and when we handed it to her she started crying. She was so excited to get it, and that made Hermana Jones and I tear up, and then we had the most amazing lesson with her! We talked about Prophets, and how we have a living prophet on the earth today, and she was so surprised and excited! And when we told her that God still speaks, and works miracles in our lives she was like, ´´God doesn´t do miracles anymore, that stopped after Jesus, right?´´ and we were so happy to stand there, with tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces, and look her in the eye and testify that God really does work miracles still. She was like, ´´really?´´ and the Spirit was so strong! It was powerful. And as we explained the Book of Mormon, and that Christ visited the Americas after His death and resurrection in Jerusalem, and we shared the scripture from the bible that says, ´´Other sheep I have which are not of this fold..´´ she was like, ´´yes, that makes sense!´´ and ah, it was just an incredible night. We have met with her every other day of the week, and she´s progressing so well! She is working on quitting smoking. She´s doing well, but it´s been difficult to drop it completely, but she´s almost there! We invited her to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and baptism, and she called us the next morning and was like, ´´I got my answer to the first question but with the other two I didn´t feel anything.´´ and she was so excited that now she knows Joseph Smith is a prophet! In the next lesson we just tried explaining to her that if she knows that then that means the Book of Mormon must be true.  She is amazing, and yesterday at church she was getting to know all the members and asking them questions about the temple (haha she wants to go really badly!) ah, we´re just excited. 

Also, I went to Granada this past week! With an Hermana named Hermana Giler, and she´s amazing! So needless to say we had a great time and I learned a lot from her. Plus Granada is gorgeous so it was fun to see that!

Oh, and how could I forget! So i mentioned last week, i think, about the less active woman who was going to the catholic church and her husband and daughter had fechas (to be baptized)? Oh yeah i did! Because then i was saying we just need to invite! Well, yeah i know the daughter and mom had a great time at the church,but the dad didn´t come. Well Tuesday we call him to confirm that we were coming over that night and he told us nicely that he doesnt want us to pass by anymore and that they´re good in the catholic church! Well, yeah i was so confused and asked if i could talk to the wife and he said no. Then i just said i just wanted to say goodbye to her, and he wouldn´t let me. So yeah...i don´t know how much i believe that her and her daughter don´t want us to pass by...just keep them in your prayers. We gave the 9 year old girl a book of mormon with the comics, and last time we talked to them her mom said those two read it together every night, and so i hope that even if the dad prevents us from seeing them, that they will continue to read and progress spiritually. They´re wonderful!  But yeah that was kinda sad. But this is where the members are going to be because we´re gonna make sure she has visiting teachers and that the members don´t forget about them!

Aw man there´s so much more to say but that´s all I have time for!

A man in church yesterday though said some things that really impacted me, he said that ´´God doesn´t need us to go to church every week to take up a seat, he needs people who are willing to live the gospel every day. He also said that the church gives us opportunities to serve, and that the church of Jesus Christ is the means by which God gives us the capacity to be more like His son. It´s a church of action.´´ Ah, I just love the amazing leaders here in spain! And they´re all converts, or their parents are converts and i just love how young the church is here! Seriously, it´s powerful and it´s growing! These converts are raising strong children, and the 15 year olds i see here are on such a high spiritual level, the Lord is preparing this blessed country!

also Valentines was funny. We didn´t really have set citas so we walked around and were passing by people and we contacted several people in the street and had some funny experiences! One of them was golden, super nice, from france...then an hour after meeting him he sent hna Jones a text asking her to marry him. haha. Then another one said he didn´t believe in God, and after I testified that we have a loving Heavenly Father that cares about us, hna Jones was all, ´´and, if you want, you too can know that God exisits.´´ and he just looks at us, and is like ´´no.´´ then walks away! haha and that was like after talking to him for a few minutes! haha it just caught us off guard and we got a good laugh out of it. We were laughing basically all night for various reasons and we had a fun day! haha. We also went and bought cupcakes. They taste american. Haha. So that´s always fun.

Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Miller

Doctrine and Covenants 11:12-14

#59

Hey! This week was amazing and crazy and stressful!

We really worked hard to get people to church this week, and we saw so many fruits from that! 

There is one family we´re working with right now, the mom was baptized about 12 years ago, but went inactive soon after. She has been going to the catholic church for years now, and we´ve just recently started visiting her.  Her husband and 9 yr old daughter aren´t members.  It´s funny though, because we´ve been teaching them the missionary lessons, and we´ve talked about a lot of things. We´ve invited them to pray about Joseph Smith, the plan of salvation, read the Book of Mormon, pray as a family, many things. But I´ve never known why she decided to switch to the Catholic church. I´ve been going over it in my mind for weeks, trying to study out her needs.. then this last week we go over, and Hna Jones hasn´t visited them lots of times, because she´s usually on intercambios when we visit them. So we go, and she just asks the lady straight out, ´´so how come you decided to go to the catholic church?´´ and the woman then told us that she went to our church when she moved to Málaga, didn´t know anyone, only went twice, then found out there was a catholic church in her neighborhood that was closer and she just started going there. Hermana Jones then invited her to come to our church on Sunday, and she told us she´s been wanting to come back to our church, and she wants to bring her daughter!  It just hit me really hard that if we don´t invite people they can´t accept.  I was trying to think hard about things, never invited her daughter or husband to baptism because I was too afraid of offending them.  We invited them that night and they both said yes. The husband is having a more difficult time, but the daughter came to church with her mom yesterday and it was amazing! They loved it. It just really built my testimony that we can´t be afraid to invite people, they will then choose their way, but it´s our job/joy to invite them!  How many of us have people in our lives that are ready to accept an invitation to listen to the gospel (if they´re not members) or an invitation to come to church or come back to church? We sometimes complicate things I think, for the fear of offending or thinking ´´well i don´t know why they don´t come...´´ well if you don´t know just kindly ask. I´m sure they´ll have an answer, and most likely it will not offend them especially if they know we´re just doing it out of love. So ask them, and most of all invite them. Give people the chance to say ´´yes!¨ It was a cool learning experience for me. 

Also, last pday we had concilio! It was so fun! We talked a lot about charity and obedience and about scriptures in the Book of Mormon that talk about baptism and repentance. I just have such a great love for the Book of Mormon and for President and Hermana Deere. Seriously, I just love the mission. I broke down a couple times last week, ha, once in companion study as we were reading ´´I´ll go where you want me to go´´ I just feel very lucky to get to do this, talk about the gospel, the thing that matters most to me and has brought me so much peace and joy, everyday.  Mom, I was reading that convert´s letter to Harrison last week and it really impacted me.  It made me want to give even more than I´m already giving. I promise you I´m working hard, but sometimes I worry that I´m not reaching my full potential as a missionary, and that scares me, especially when I look at the calendar. I just want to take full advantage of this experience, I´m relishing in every minute. It´s still hard, people keep failing our citas and sometimes not answering our calls, but we´re finding lots of news and we recognize we can´t control other peoples actions.  But something cool that happened! So, on friday we had zone meeting (we gave our taller on obedience and charity- Hermana Jones is the cutest and unlike me she actually enjoys speaking in public so it was fun to do it with her!), but yeah so after we always go eat with our zone at dominos. Well, this man walks by, and I´ve seen him several times but never talked to him. So I point him out to one of the elders, and was like, ´´elder, if you ever see that man you need to contact him, the next time i see him I´ll do it but if you see him before me you do it!´´ and then one of the elders was like, ´´Hermana, why don´t you just go contact him now?´´ and haha how embarrassing that I hadn´t just done that before haha. But yeah, so anyway, I get Hna Jones and we run up and talk to him and he´s not interested. But we gave him a card with our number. Well, that same night he calls us! He was like, ´´yeah, it´s Pablo.´´ and we mouthed ´´who?´´ haha and we paused and he was just like, ´´the one who you talked to today...?´´ and we were just really surprised! Cuz lots of people say they´re gonna call but they never do! Also another man that we apparently met like 2 months ago and gave a card called us this last week and we met with him in the church and set a baptismal date with him! So we´ll have to see where that goes. Fun stuff though.

Well, have a great week!

Love, Hermana Miller

3 Nephi 27:19-22

#58

Hola! So this was such an amazing week!  Also in response to your email, mom, Hna Jones is from Seattle, Washington! How sick is that?! I was telling her I´m glad to have a companion from there, because I´m literally in love with that city and I need more excuses to go there. She goes to BYU for now, though.

I forgot to mention last week, so. We had a ´´dia de diamonte´´ where one day, last wednesday all the missionaries in our mission contacted all day long! It was amazing! But i´ll start from the beginning-

So Monday was super fun! We went with the elders in our district and the Hermanas from ward 2 (aka some of my best friends Hna Becerra and Hna Merrill (the one i knew in high school)) to the castle here in Málaga! It was pretty much like all the castles here in Spain, but I enjoy going to them! They´re fun, and they have gorgeous views! I need to send you pictures of all of the things asap! I always forget to bring my camara cord. 

But yeah, this last week we´ve seen Miracles! Oh so many tender mercies. So Tuesday we did intercambios with Barrio (ward) 2. Hermana Merrill came to my area with me and hna Jones went to Hna Becerra´s area.  We worked so hard and man, the Lord allowed us to teach so many people and find so many people!  We went and taught this young boy named Jonathan from Bolivia, it was so fun teaching with Hermana Merrill, ha, it´s funny, I see now why I needed to come to the mission when I did. Cuz literally I needed a 7 month start on some of these missionaries. Literally, Hna Merrill teaches so well and speaks Spanish so well and I feel like we´re equals when we teach, so yeah, haha I needed to come out so I could be somewhat closer to her level by the time she got here! She´s amazing and it was so fun and surreal getting to work with her! She saw how busy we are and we seriously were runnning for the majority of the exchange to try and get to cita´s on time (haha except for the time when we just had to take a taxi because we were going to be super late) and we laughed a lot even when I would accidentally run across the busy streets and almost get hit by cars...good thing the spaniards are chill and just laugh when I do that because I would be annoyed if I were them. Haha but don´t worry, we´re safe and I´m trying to be smart.

Then the next day we had our ´´dia de diamonte´´ where we contacted all day, and for the first 3 hrs I worked with Hna Merrill, but this one is a different one who I didn´t know before the mission, she´s new, she got into the field like 1 week ago! So we had fun, even though the first 30 people we talked to were atheist and didn´t want anything! It was so weird, because usually people say they´re catholics but not practicing, but ALL these people were atheist. It was really sad. People kept asking me what evidences I had that God really exists. Most of the time they wouldn´t stick around to hear my response...but it was just interesting. We kept our heads up though, the mission had a goal to get 2015 futures total that day, so we had to keep looking! We saw lots of miracles and talked to lots of cool people who wanted to learn more! Then we went and met up with all of the other Málaga missionaries, and we ate at Burger King, then for the next 3 hours I worked with the Hna Merrill I did know before the mission in her area, and we had a blast! Her area is a little tough, but we talked with tons of people, and it was fun contacting with her! Then we met back up at the church, ate some brownies, and got back with our companions to finish up the night in our area and with our comps for about 2 hours.  Hna Jones, that girl is just amazing! Seriously I LOVE working with her, she has taught me TONS. So yeah, we found so many people that want to hear more about the gospel and we had some great conversations with people and we just had lots of fun! All in all, as a mission, we got 2426 potential investigators on Wednesday! It was awesome!

Then on Thursday we had a few citas with some of the futures, only 1 ended up working out, then we had intercambios again! Hermana Jones went to Málaga ward 4´s area and I stayed here. Hna Buechter, who just came into the mission about 1 1/2 weeks ago came to my area! Also another Hermana named Hna Olsen (who is currently serving in my beloved Almería) came and worked with us because her companion had to come to the mission home.  So we had fun, I felt kinda bad because basically all of our set appointments failed and we spent most of the night walking around, knocking on doors of investigators, futures and old investigators. But it was fun! And we got to teach the plan of salvation to a family where the mom was baptized like 10 years ago, but she has now turned catholic and her husband and 9 year old daughter aren´t members. It was great, asking them if it was something they would want, to be in the celestial kingdom together, and hearing them say yes.  But nothing is happening yet, but I´ll keep you updated. Right now we´re just working on them praying together as a family! 

Also, we met this guy last week! He was an old investigator, and we called him, and met with him, and he has a daughter on a mission in Florida! It´s crazy. He doesn´t seem too interested in our message yet, but we´ll see!  He doesn´t seem to know a ton about the gospel, so we´re gonna try to get him to listen to what his daughter is teaching all the way over there in FL! Also, we met this one man, who´s family was all baptized like 10 years ago, but they´ve been inactive for a while. We´re really gonna try to work with him and his 19 yr old and 25 yr old daughter, and his wife to get them to come back. I think they want to...they just need to know they´re missed there.  That´s really what everyone needs, to know that someone wants them there. And I know God does, and lots of times He gives us opportunities to show that love towards the people in our lives who have maybe forgotten or have never known that someone wants them there at the church on Sunday. So they can feel of the aliviation that is found there. This past week we really really stretched ourselves to get people to church, and not tons came, but a few did. Something really hit me as I was sitting in the sacrament room that made me cry. One of our new investigators came, and I thought about her ancestors, and I feel strongly that they are rejoicing in the heavens because she is one step closer to getting their family back together forever! One day. 

I just love the mission so so much! I can already feel how much i´m gonna miss this place so I´m soaking in every single second. I just crave it. I love sharing this gospel. I love it so much and I love my Savior. Mom, dad, family, thank you for sacrificing so I can be here. I´m meeting people whose testimonies are molding me and I will never forget it.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Miller

Alma 37:33-34

#57

Okay so this was one of the most miracle full/saddest/funnest weeks ever! 

So Hermana Bangerter left. That was rough. And Elder Rojas, one of the nicest nicest people i´ve ever met in my entire life went home to Mexico, too. So yeah. There were a lot of tears shed this week. But it was also a way fun one! So yeah, on Tuesday we got to go and welcome in the new missionaries! That was way fun, we had a big group come in! We went out and contacted with them and went to lessons and it was a fun time. And also, Hermana Andrew, my old Almería comp, her companion had to come in for training, so she came in early and we got to go teach a lesson together on Tuesday! I wanted to show her I´d improved in the last 9 months, haha which is prideful of me so basically for half the lesson I couldn´t speak Spanish and was explaining things poorly, and I was laughing as we walked out and Hermana Andrew was just like, ´´I just wish I could explain to you the progress you´ve made. It would blow your mind.´´ So yeah, that was fun. Then her, Hermana Bangerter and I went to eat at Elenir, a member´s, house. She is the one we were with on Christmas eve, who lives out in the gorgeous fields in a beautiful home, and ah, we had a blast! Then the rest of the night we just went and worked, all three of us, and it was nice to spend the day with 2 of seriously my very very best friends. We had a good time! Too good of a time probably, we were like working, but man being with those two it just felt like a vacation. I´m just obsessed with those two. Then we stayed up til like 4 in the morning (I did that a few times last week, staying up talking to hna bangerter and trying to organize the area, but thankfully I still havent felt the effects of it even though we keep waking up at 7am like always) talking about the mission and just life. Ah, I just love love love being here and I am enjoying every day. 

And Hermana Jones is making me enjoy it even more because joline this girl is incredible!!!!!! But like really though. We get along so well and for the past few days we´ve just gone around declaring repentance to all and being bold and it´s been so fun! Because we´re doing it with love, so it just feels like we´re doing our jobs. Telling people of the benefits of the gospel and really asking if they´re willing to change their lives. We had a lesson with this one guys we visit every week, and we have been promising him amazing blessings, and I know they´re blessings that come from God. But he still doesn´t do what we ask him to do, so we were just like, ´´It´s not enough to say you believe in Christ. If you truly believe in Him you´ll be willing to act, to repent and come to church and be baptized!´´ and it was funny. And actually really sad because he´s not willing to put in his part so we pretty much broke up with him. But it was just cool, because he´s divorced and he was like, ´´I don´t have time to do this stuff because I have tons of other responsibilites with work and as a father.´´ and I was just like, ´´I´m not asking you to put aside your duties as a father, I´m asking you to magnify them but putting God first and living the principles of the gospel and teaching them to your children, because I know that one day when we stand before God parents will have to answer to Him when He asks them, ´how well did you teach your children the gospel of My Son?´´ Then I testified to him, that my parents have done a lot for me in my life, and have given me many of their things and time, but the best thing they have ever given to me has been a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That´s the best thing any parent can give to their child. Because other things will only last so long, but helping our children grow in the knowledge that they have a Father in Heaven that loves them, and showing them the steps they need to take to have true joy and to get back to Him is the most lasting and profound thing, that will affect every aspect of their lives.

Speaking of us being God´s children! This week we talked with a muslim and it was the saddest thing ever. I actually think after talking to this man that the muslim religion is very similar to our religion, in many different ways! It really surprised me. But the few things we have different are key and change everything. This man told me that God is our maker, but not our father. That we should respect Him but He does not have a relationship with us like our earthly father, and also he told me that Jesus Christ is not our Savior. It really was hard to stand there and hear these things, it made me sad. I asked him how it is then that we can enter into the kingdom of God, and he told us that god is merciful and if we try to do what´s right he will forgive us of our sins. I do know that my Heavenly Father is merciful, but I also know He´s just. Mercy cannot rob justice. Someone has to pay for our imperfections. I know that Christ is our Savior, He paid the price, and although we might not understand every aspect of that Atonement I know it covers all who lived before Christ and all who will live after Him. I know that the bible is not perfect, that is why God has revealed to us the Book of Mormon. I will never, ever complain for having more of His word. Someone told me this week that ´´the bible is more than sufficient´´ and i´m here to say that It Is Not.  We need the second testimony to clarify what we read in the bible. They are one book, the testify together and we cannot think that the Book of Mormon takes away from the Bible, it´s the opposite! It edifies and adds to the testimonies we read about from ancient Jerusalem! What a blessing. But yes, we are not perfect. That all of us have clear. But one thing I think people, at least the people I spoke with this week, don´t understand is that we can do all the good works in the world and it will still not be enough. You can go about serving others, following in that aspect of Christ´s ministry and I know He recognizes those efforts. It is key that we do that and if we don´t we won´t even desire the kingdom of God in the end. But I testify that there are special, sacred ordinances that we must follow through with or we cannot enter into His kingdom.  Christ paid the price for us to be cleansed at the end, to be worthy to enter in.  We need a Savior, God is just, that is why He sent His Son. Let us not reject or take for granted the simpleness of the way, and let us be humble enough to follow the narrowness of the path. As we stop fighting the truth and start asking questions with real intent that lead us to the truth, you can literally feel your heart softening. And even more so, as we follow through we that seed of faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we have a REAL belief that leads us to humility and repentance, and commitment to actually DO things, that´s when we feel the Atonement start to work in our lives. Let us not fight against God or His word. The one man, the wonderful father who I mentioned earlier (also dont worry we show this man and tell him we love him lots, we dont just repremand him), his friend said, ´´wow, these are some hard things you´re telling us.´´ and we said, ´´yeah they are hard things for those who arent doing them.´´ and of course we then told him that we only want them to do these things because we love them, and really it´s not us inviting them it´s Jesus Christ. I hope you all know we are showing love to these people, but this week especially I have just seen the need there is for some people in this work, including myself (especially myself), to step it up a bit and realize that God expects somethings of all of us. And He loves us infinitely but He does expect us to act. I am grateful for His mercy, especially with me because I need it. I´m the least perfect of us all, and I pray that as I have this wonderful privelege to declare the good tidings of this gospel that I too will continue to be purified. This has been like the refiner´s fire for me and I realized today while I was reading Jacob 5 that all of us go through the refiner´s fire, and it´s our choice if we want to come out better or burned. Let us chose to be molded into what the Savior wants and knows we can become. Being out here he has showed me many of my weaknesses, and I see them. Some of them, too many, are really apparent and I´ve had lots of opportunities to repent even just this past week. And as I´ve done that, and then have opened my mouth to share the joy that comes from repentance, I have felt whole. I have felt whole again. And I know this healing only can come from one source. I am grateful for my redeemer, and for the simpleness of the way. I hope I can always remember to follow it! I love you all!

Thank you for everything! Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Miller

Acts 4:7-14