New Investigators!

Very excited about this week since we've got new people to teach for the first time since being transferred - seven people to be exact. That is a record for me personally on the mission. It is quite a blessing. How it happened was we had an open night for dinner last Tuesday and a less active we've never met from La Canada signed up for it. When we go over there, she tells us she has a friend who wants to have the missionaries come over to teach her and her kids. Plus Sis. Beauto - the less active - has a daughter who is participating in the cultural celebration for the Temple, but she hasn't been baptized, yet! So we taught her (her name is Sierra) along with the family who's friends with Sis. Beauto together on Thursday. The family's names are Melody (the mother), Bobby (father), Janea, Lalony, Andreas, and Lorenzo (can't use last names, sorry). It was a good lesson, and we gave them a chapel tour on Saturday, too. And guess what? They actually came to church yesterday! They received a very warm welcome from the ward (and by that I mean they were completely mobbed by members after sacrament meeting). They had to run right out after the block meetings (I hope we didn't scare them), but from what our ward mission leader told us they seemed to have a positive experience. We'll go back to teach them again on Tuesday.
This is the first time this area has had new investigators in at least two transfers, so it's quite a blessing to be a part of all this that is happening now. We now have a completely new non member family, an unbaptized child, and a less active who wants to come back to church to teach!
Elder Miller

Fourth Area

I don't think I have sent a mass email since I've been transferred out of Central Ward (I probably have, just have bad memory). Anyways, I'm in Rancho Vistoso and La Canada wards in the community of Oro Valley - pretty much still Tucson. We live a twenty minutes drive out of our area, so we get a pretty nice monthly allotment. The area we cover is pretty much all housing additions - half of which are still being developed. The church building is super nice and was built less than ten years ago. The ward members are incredible as well and very eager to help us find more people to teach. They even hold a stake class once a week, focusing on helping members learn how to share the gospel to others.
The work here is pretty slow right now, as it is summer. Our recent converts and investigators are all out of town/country until next month (I haven't even met any of them yet). The one investigator that is still around has been coming to church for over a year now, but still doesn't feel ready to be baptized (incredible). We're going to begin going over the lessons with her again with one of the priests in the ward to give him some teaching practice. Hopefully, we can make something of that. We're planning on a fair amount of tracting this week, but I'm just fine with at. The people in this community are very kind (and normal). We haven't had any takers yet, but everyone will at least have a good conversation with you for a little while. Everyone you run into knows a member in one of the wards, too, because they are literally everywhere! The space we cover is not big at all, but still makes up two wards.
My new companion Elder Lamb is tons a fun; he has a great sense of humor (and is a They Might Be Giants fan - what are the odds?). Will go for now, but I hope you all stay safe and have a good week
Elder Miller

July 10, 2017 - Getting Transferred

Just got some surprising news on Saturday night: I'm leaving Central
Ward already! I'm going to Tucson North Stake - La Canada Ward
(pronounced keen-yadda).This was only my second transfer here, which
is a rather short time to be in an area. I wasn't expecting that kind
of news to be honest. It's too bad to; we have so many things that are
coming up for us with all the people we saw this last week. Just on
Saturday when my companion and I were on exchanges, Elder Lorenzen
invited a new couple to church they ran into, and they actually came!
Not a normal occurrence, by the way. The lady who we gave a Book of
Mormon to last week wasn't there, but we're keeping a close eye. We
also got a referral from other elders in Tucson. The people they
referred us to turn out to be ex-members. The wife had her name
removed and the husband got baptized into a different church that she
was going to - thus getting his name taken out, too. He was a
bishopric member in Michigan years ago, and he really wants to get
back into activity. His wife on the other hand, doesn't really believe
in our faith, but she is very nice and said she would go to church to
support him. So that's a start. We're finally getting referrals from
the Temple Open House as well. They've just started coming in. Elder
Lorenzen gets to contact them with his new companion while I have to
leave:/ My new area is more affluent like my last area, so the work
probably isn't going to be as good, but that's alright - just have to
look up.
I love you and miss you all. Will go for now,
Elder Miller