Monday, July 25, 2016

Silver City Week 4

I think this is my fourth week on Silver, but I'm not sure. Things are great; we got a new investigator - Betsy - who's husband is a member.
According to Elder Coyne she is a lot more open to learning about the gospel than she was before, so that sounds pretty hopeful. 


This next coming week we have another part member and member referral lesson planned already, so we've got a good amount of people to teach. Plus I'll be in a trio covering an extra ward these next two weeks, so we're going to be pretty busy.
We're still trying to get Marie and Carrye to come to church. Carrye
has been having having an extremely hard time with her son lately
though, so it's been hard to get them both out there. Do pray for them if you can remember. 

I went on exchanges for the first time on Thursday. I spent the whole day with Elder Kapele who is our district leader. He had really bad allergies the whole day and couldn't really do much, so I did nearly all the talking in all our lessons and contacts that day. It was a very good learning experience; I'm by no means a sociable person but is certainly starting to get better. Sorry for the short emails, but I really typing on these iPads.

Elder Miller



The picture above (and the two below) was taken at Apache National Park. Elder Miller and his companion were able to stop and visit on their way to Arizona this morning with another set of Elders.


Monday, July 18, 2016

Silver City Week 3

Hello everyone,
I'm actually not in New Mexico right now; today and tomorrow Elder Coyne and I are staying with another set of Elders in the thriving metropolis of Clifton, Arizona (it's not big at all). There library is so much better than Huntington's; I just drove in from another state and I was able to sign up for card no questions asked. In Huntington, they'd charge you a million dollars before you could have access to anything! We'll be in Arizona because Tuesday we have to go to Safford for a trainer trainee follow up meeting.
Marie and Carrye are still on date for baptism, but we're still trying to get them to church. We had Bro. Hand - a recent convert - come with us to our last lesson with them. He shared his personal experiences with the Spirit and how he eventually convert to the Gospel. It was a powerful teaching moment. Hopefully Carrye can get her vehicle fixed soon so they can finally experience partaking the sacrament; I think it will really help increase their desires to be baptized.
We finally taught Canuto - the JW - again on Saturday. I started to explain that we believe in modern day prophets and revelation when he began going on a huge tangent that there were no more prophets after John the Baptist (who was Jesus, Peter, and the Apostle Paul then?). It's amazing to see how many different ways the simplicity of the Gospel has been distorted throughout history; I'm so thankful I have the knowledge that it is restored and that living prophets and apostles are on the earth today. It's disheartening when we present that information to other and they reject it. As nice of a guy he is, we will have to drop Canuto, unfortunately, as he is clearly firm in his beliefs with no desire to change.
Funny story, on Tuesday, Elder Coyne and I specifically were challenged by the zone leaders to hand out two Books of Mormon out before the end of the day. We spent an hour and half knocking doors trying to do so. The last two doors we knocked on were the ones we were the ones we were able give a book to. The last one I had to do all the talking for (scary!); luckily he was a police officer who are always nice to talk to. Not only that, but he was a less active who is trying to get his wife to take the missionary lessons! We were so excited that we had two potential investigators in the end. Only after the fact, we realized we had been knocking doors in the sister missionaries area the entire time. Maybe next time we'll work in our own area instead.
Talk to you all later, and do pray for us to find people to teach,
Elder Miller

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Silver City Week 2


My first week in field is officially in the books. My first lesson was with a Jehovahs Witness named Canuto (pronounced "can you too"). It was very interesting; we were only able to teach a few principles as he spent most of the lesson sharing his own scriptures and expounding on his beliefs. He's a very nice guy, just very strange and difficult to teach. Before we left I asked him if we could share some of our own scriptures the next time we meet. He agreed so hopefully we can at least deliver the basics of the gospel this week. On Thursday, we visited with an investigator named Pauline; she's been an addict most of her life, but she has accepted the gospel and is checking herself into rehab for the next month. Once she. Once she comes back and is reunited with her family, they will all be baptized! It's just another wonderful example of how the Atonement changes lives. Saturday night we had a practice lesson on the Plan of Salvation that we gave to the ward missionary Bro Jones; in which I completely spaced out in the middle of a transition, which was very awkward and embarrassing. Thank goodness it was only a practice lesson.

Last night we went to an amazing fireside. It was held by Devon Shelly who is the Director of Distribution of media for the entire church; turns out he's a native of Silver City. He played an active role in the production of the Meet the Mormons movie, and that was what he was talking to us about. He also made an announcement that the two stories that were cut from the film will be shown in all the church visitors centers in the US starting this month. So if you're traveling this summer you can check that out.












Love you all, have a good week,




Elder Miller