#69

Hey! This week has been wonderful! Hermana Hurtado and I have way too much fun together. And we´re working hard and seeing so many miracles! The Lord has blessed us a ton! 

This last week, as we were walking through the street, we saw a woman with heavy grocerices, and normally when we ask if we can help the people say no.  And understandably so...but this time the woman was like, ´´Yes! Ah, thank you so much, I didn´t know how I was going to make it all the way home, you are angels!´´ And so we helped her carry her groceries home, and on our way there she told us that her cousin in Peru is LDS! She has heard quite a bit about our church, and she invited us into her home and we sat and talked with her for a while. We taught her about the Restoration and she is willing to read and ask. So we are very excited about that! She´s way cute. And she´s peruvian so my companion made an instant connection with her.  We have talked to several people from Peru this last week, and it´s so fun because Hna Hurtado can quickly connect with them.  She has a fun, crazy and outgoing personality and I love being around her! 

Also, how did I forget! 2 weeks ago we went to a family in our wards house and had a BBQ- they´re americans! They are her because the dad works in the military, but yeah, it was so fun, we ate meat with bbq sauce and baked beans and salads (with Ranch instead of olive oil and vinegar! But I actually really love salads with olive oil and vinegar now so...)  and they bought me Jif peanut butter! It was a happy day. We had so much fun, just all freely speaking in english and being in an actual real house!" Haha, we got permission and all 6 of us missionaries went.  It was a fun experience, we were all like, ´´Is this what it would be like to serve in the states?´´ haha.

Also, last week we went to Sevilla to check out the Fair! Every year there is a huge fair, and people come from all over to see it! We went Monday during the day...and it didn´t open up until the night haha. So there wasn´t much to do but we still had fun walking around, and we saw lots of people wearing flamenco dresses and it was a cool atmosphere. 

I have to tell you about the most incredible little girl! I think I mentioned her last week, the one who is 10 and understands the scriptures so well! Yeah, well this last week we went over and read 1 Nephi 6 with her, which is a fairly short chapter, but she just expounded the scriptures to us in such and amazing way...I was shocked. Then we asked her how she feels when she reads the Book of Mormon, she told us she feels good because she knows it´s the word of God, and that He inspired men to write it.  Then we asked her how she came to that conclusion and she said, ´´I read it, thought about it, and then prayed. You have to read it if you want to know, and God hasn´t told me immediately after, but little by little, the more I read it the more I know it´s true.´´ I told her she is a lot smarter than a lot of other people, and she was like, ´´That´s because lots of people don´t want to do anything, they don´t ask God, or they don´t read and just expect to know, but you have to do your part!´´ It was incredible, I was in tears at hearing this little girls testimony of the Book of Mormon, it´s so simple and she understands that. We invited her to be baptized, and she had a few questions, she asked us if maybe there could be more than one true church, we explained the restoration to her, and she was like, ´´This sounds right to me, but can I have time to pray about it?´´ We told her she absolutely could. But we set a baptismal date goal with her and she´s reading and praying everyday to know.  I have not seen such real intent.  I feel so blessed to be here, to be able to be taught by the examples of humble children.  It amazes me becaue I am telling you kids are just coming into the world so much more prepared now! I know this has been prophisized (spelling?), but I haven´t seen it so first hand like I am now. 

Another woman in our ward has cancer, and because of low defenses she can´t come to church, so we told her the bishop could come pick up her son if he wanted to come. He´s 11, and so cute! He loves coming to church. And Saturday we forgot to call to see if he still wanted to come to church sunday, and so we call at 9:30am, and when we asked if he wanted to come she told us, ´´Oh yeah, he got up a while ago, he´s already showered and dressed and ready,´´ and our church doesn´t start til 10:30!  And sure enough, he came with a huge smile on his face...just so cool.  All of the prepared people.  I love seeing the examples of why Jesus Christ commands us to be like little children...submissive, meek, humble, and curious.  I never want to forget their examples.  

Something else I´ve also noted has been the huge effect that parents´ examples have on the children. It´s mainly adults that we talk to that tell us, ´´Yeah I´m not reading in the Book of Mormon...I just don´t have time!´´ Members and non members alike. I´ve only gotten that excuse from a few children (and those are the one´s who I´ve heard their parents say the same thing time and time again). And of course I understand that, as we get older there are more worries and more responsiblilities...and I used that excuse A LOT before. But I hope I never get roped into that lie again, because reading in the scriptures and doing what the Lord asks us to should be #1 on our list of ´´to do´s´´ those are the things that are going to shape and mold our character little by little, day by day, and verse by verse, and the difference isn´t always notable, but with time it is.  I don´t know...I´m just grateful for our Savior, who always has time. Is always willing to listen, always willing to strengthen, constantly has His arms outstretched...let´s take it. And not look back.

Love, Hermana Miller

Helaman 3:27-28

#68

AH I LOVE MY NEW COMP. Guys. She´s so cool! And really it´s quite fun talking in spanish all the time. We do practice english sometimes though, so she can learn it. But it´s quite fun, cuz you have a native right there who can correct you! Except for she´s said several things wrong since she´s gotten here (like, wrong in spanish!) so we joke that just being around me is making her spanish worse haha. But we´ve had fun and have seen miracles already! 

She is peruvian, and cooks so well! She likes to cook and I like to clean, so I try to clean while she cooks. It´s a good little system we´ve got going on. Ha, but I told her she has to teach me how to cook because I can´t live with a peruvian for 6 weeks and leave not knowing how to cook some peruvian dishes! 

But yeah, really there´s not tons to say about this week. We´ve just been working hard, talking with everyone, lots of people don´t want it for right now, but that´s okay! We´ve talked to many people who do, and they need it.

Also on saturday night we were at this beautiful little park, right in the center of Dos Hermanas. There are tons of bars by it, and a beautiful fountain, tons of trees, it´s gorgeous! I love it. But yeah, we were sitting on a bench, waiting for an investigator, and there were two little boys and a little girl playing futbol, and I told them it had always been my dream to play fútbol with little kids in Spain haha, so they let me play and we had a blast! We took pictures together, I will for sure send them next week! 

Also, miracle! We´re teaching this little 10 year old who is incredible! Her name is Mari and she´s so prepared. We read the book of Mormon to her and she explains it to me better than I can even explain it. The other day we read about Nephi killing Laban, and she explained to us that he had to do it, so that his children, and all of the people could have the commandments. God allowed him to break that commandment, so that everyone else wouldn´t break all the rest of the commandments for generations. I was like, I literally didn´t understand that until several months ago...it´s unbelievable. And she came to church with us Sunday, so yes, keep this beautiful little girl in your prayers!

Love, Hermana Miller

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

#67

Gente! This week was....interesting. So many ups and arounds (i would say downs, but they weren´t downs, just weird...haha) but overall it was a great week! 

So first off, we have transfers! So that´s pretty sad since Hermana Read is one of my best friends. She literally is like a mix of Kylie and Taylor and I love her and we just have way too much fun together. So yeah Í´m gonna miss her, and she´s going to be comps with one of my best friends, Hna Rocha in Jerez! So she´ll still be going to concilio and I´ll see her there! And yeah, so I´m getting my first native comp! Hermana Hurtado, I met her 2 weeks ago for like 5 minutes and I like her! She is Peruvian, but has lived in Madrid for a while I believe. I´m way excited! 

As for Evans...so first off, we switched his baptism to the 11th, and the ward planned everything. Literally I´ve never seen a ward like this, they planned out the program, had his calling ready for him, they just had it all together! But yeah, so on our way to the church to fill up the font, we see one of his friends, and we asked if he was coming to the baptism, he said, ´´He´s not getting baptized, his dad doesn´t want him to.´´ And Evans had told us that, but he is a grown man, so it´s not like he needs his fathers permission, but of course he wanted his fathers blessing. So he´s going to wait, and be baptized later! He´s still good though!

Love, Hermana Miller

Matt. 4:19-20

#66

Happy CONFERENCE WEEKEND gente!

So this last week was great! Conference was basically the best thing ever and man, just what I needed!  Also our talk in concilio went well, we felt really good about what we did! Then when we had to give it again it wasn´t quite as good, but it still went fine. Haha, it was about the importance of the area book and organizing it...because guess what?! WE´RE GETTING iPADS. So yeah, finally, we will have that tool of sharing the gospel in an even more effective way and i´m so excited it´s going to change everything! I am grateful I get to be around to see this switch. We will get them the second week of may, and I´ll get to participate in the switch for a couple weeks and then have to leave it. But we have a couple of general authorities, Elders Allen and Dyke coming to introduce them to us and train us at the beginning of may. I just have a testimony that we have the technology we have to help advance the work of the Lord, and even though there are risks that come along with such a huge tool, I know that this is what the Lord wants us to do- use technology to further His work so it reaches more of His children. 

Speaking of technology- I also loved general conference and all of the references to technology and not wasting our time. I know I wasted so much time before my mission with technology, and I don´t want to go back there. I want to apply all the things I´ve learned here, and really I haven´t feel any empty holes in my life from not using all the technology I used before, so I just want to be smart and use my time wisely so I can achieve my full potential. Elder Bednars talk about fear was so written for me also.  I have been pretty sad and a little scared about coming home soon, I really have just fallen in love with my life here and I cant imagine it being any other way.  I really felt an overwhelming feeling that I need to just always keep my eyes focused on the Savior. As disciples of Jesus Christ our purpose never changes, we are always inviting others unto Him. It doesnt matter what the winds and waves of life bring- keep your gaze focused on Christ and maintain a ´´consistent focus on our heavenly destination.´´  I am enjoying and trying to take advantage of my time here, but it comforted me to hear his words.  I also loved how right before that the choir sang your favorite song dad! ´´I stand all amazed.´´ You could say that was Hna Read and I´s theme song for the week. We had several opportunities to learn more about the atonement through our weaknesses and imperfections, and it brought us closer together and closer to the Savior. I testify that He lives and that the relief that comes from repentance is so worth it! Some people don´t feel worthy to pray, whether it be for big or little things they´ve done. We know that´s a lie, but I know how it feels. Just to feel like you´re constantly falling short, and sometimes you know you even knew better before. That´s when it´s really hard. But I know that the Savior is our Healer. It isn´t always easy to humble ourselves and come unto Him, but I know by my personal experience that it is worth it. That relief is found in His arms.  

I am so grateful for the resurrection! This past week has been ´´Semana Santa´´ and it is huge here in the Sevilla area! They have parades and images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary going through the streets all the time! It was crazy, we went out on our porch Thursday night and there was a parade and TONS of people in the streets. And it´s been like that all over town all week! I´ll have to send pics it was crazy! Haha, and on Friday morning we woke up at 7 30 and needed to take our trash down, so we get our exercise clothes on and go out and there are tons of people out there who had been up all night and the Virgin Mary was outside of our piso building! haha we were dying. But anyway, there was just a lot of focus on His death, which was so important, but I was grateful for the conference focus, on that He lives! The tomb is empty!

Love, Hermana Miller

Moroni 10:32

#65

Ah, this week has been wonderfully crazy! We have been running all week..but literally we just run everywhere. It was fun and we stayed super busy!  

First of all, on monday for pday our district went to Sevilla, and we went to some beautiful gardens! It was free after a certain time, and right as we walked in it was nothing special, and we were like..okay...but then it turned into this gorgeous garden and it was wonderful! We took tons of pictures, i´ll have to send them to you! I love my district now, we have so much fun together. And it was also funny because as we were standing in line waiting, there was a couple who spoke english from holland behind us, and so we started talking to them about their lives and what they liked to do, and we also talked to them about why we´re here, and told them it was our ´´preparation day.´´ It was so funny because at the end of our conversation we asked the woman if she would like missionaries to come visit her in Holland, and she said no. So they we pulled out a ´´Gracias a que Él vive´´ card, (Because He Lives), and commited her to looking up the video when she got home. She laughed and was like, ´´I thought this was your day off!´´ and we laughed and told her we want to share it with everyone so really there are no days off. Haha it was funny and she was nice. 

Then on Tuesday a senior couple came to our chapel and district meeting, and the other district in our zone came too, and after the meeting they made us waffles! But like..American waffles. It was wonderful. And they gave us sausage too, and links and it was the most american thing I´ve eaten in 16 months. It was soo fun and good. With peanut butter and...it just felt so home-y. It was a fun little tender mercy for all of us Americans I think. Not that I don´t enjoy the meat here in spain it´s just...different sometimes. Unique, you could say. Haha, i dont know if it´s actually unique or if it is just interesting to me because they have cured meat here that you can leave out of the fridge, which i´m sure we have there, but it´s just a lot more common here.

Then we did intercambios in Sevilla, and I got to be with Hna Garcia (the hermana i trained)! We had so much fun. But so much fun. I loved catching up with her! We had such a fun time! 

Then on friday we went to a chinese buffet with a member named Gloria and her son Angel, for Gloria´s birthday. Gloria was inactive for many years, and she was recently reactivated and her son (who is 14) was baptized the week before I got here! They are absolutely wonderful, she´s like our adopted mother/best friend here. It´s so fun. And then i tried to sing ´´happy birthday´´ in chinese (like i think you taught me dad!) and the chinese lady told me i was wrong. It was awkward hahha but funny. 

Then Saturday morning we had a good time! We went to help a family move, and we spent a solid hour going up and down stairs carrying heavy boxes and things of wood...it was exhausting but so fun! Then we got to clean and paint a little and we had a good time. They thanked us by feeding us colombian food after. And of course, we don´t need to recieve anything for our service...but Colombian food is so good that we weren´t going to turn it down! 

Then on Friday President called us and asked us to speak in the concilio in Málaga (today). So wish us luck on that..should be fun. (All of the great opportunities the Lord is giving me to learn to love public speaking haha). 

And yes, Evans is doing well! He will be getting baptized after general conference on Saturday night, if all goes well! So keep him in your prayers, and thank you for your prayers. I feel them and I know the Lord is listening!

Love, Hermana Miller

John 5:5