Another transfer has ended and it turns our I'm staying in Lakeside and Saguaro Park ward even longer. This will be my fourth transfer here, which equates to six months. The only other place I've been in that long is Silver City New Mexico.
This week has been a good one. I'm the Lakeside ward we've been trying hard to get less actives to church and three of them came! Julianna should be getting baptized the first weekend in April. We also found a new person to teach in Lakside named Ray. We've only talked to him, but we've invited him to all his family to hear or message. He said would. It's been a while since I've taught a no member family, so I'm anxious to see how this one turns out.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Monday, March 12, 2018
Referrals are great
We've been able to have a few great teaching oppertunities come our way lately. A bishop in Latyon, Utah told us an investigator just moved into our area in Arizona. Her name is Lexi and she's here to take care of her grandma and will probably be moving here permanently soon. We met her for the fist time on Saturday. She's been through pretty much all the lessons and wants to be baptized! She just has a few things to work out as her situation is a little hectic at the moment. We also got a call from someone in Idaho and he said we really needed to see his aunt. He wasn't joking, she was a complete mess. She recently lost her husband and got robbed while in the hospital a few months ago. She was SP glad we came and she really wants to learn and be a part of the church. She seems to be desperately searching for help and also for some answers and hope in her trials. It's going to be great being able to teach her for the next little while.
Monday, March 5, 2018
What’s up??
These past few weeks have been pretty good. It’s just been hard lately getting into contact with a lot of the people that we teach. Matt - who I thought was making good progress the last time I met with him, hasn’t had us back in weeks. It almost seems like we need to kind of start over from scratch in our teaching people and just start dropping people. It’s quite an act of faith, because you’re never sure if you’re going to find enough solid people to teach. It’ll be hard, but I’ve done it before; I’m starting to feel like it’s what’s going to need to happen in order for our work to progress. On the bright side, Julianna is still progress toward baptism and it should take place on the 24th.
Elder Williams and I had the opportunity to speak on sharing the gospel in Saguaro Park Ward. The family that we had dinner with that night was actually listening to it too. I mentioned something about setting a date with the Lord to find someone to share the gospel with and they said they wanted to hear more about it. They have a missionary out in North Carolina, so that’s probably a big reason why. It was just really cool to see that someone actually wanted to apply something they heard in a talk at Sacrament Meeting.
We got smartphones last Tuesday. Not really that much of a change. It was actually a bit of a inconvenience because we got the wrong phone and didn’t realize it until after conference. We weren’t able to make any call for the evening and ended up missing an appointment because of it. That’s all fixed up now, so it’s all good.
I hope you have a good week. I’m very thankful for this time I have to serve and I thank you for all the emails and support you’ve shown.
Elder Miller
Elder Williams and I had the opportunity to speak on sharing the gospel in Saguaro Park Ward. The family that we had dinner with that night was actually listening to it too. I mentioned something about setting a date with the Lord to find someone to share the gospel with and they said they wanted to hear more about it. They have a missionary out in North Carolina, so that’s probably a big reason why. It was just really cool to see that someone actually wanted to apply something they heard in a talk at Sacrament Meeting.
We got smartphones last Tuesday. Not really that much of a change. It was actually a bit of a inconvenience because we got the wrong phone and didn’t realize it until after conference. We weren’t able to make any call for the evening and ended up missing an appointment because of it. That’s all fixed up now, so it’s all good.
I hope you have a good week. I’m very thankful for this time I have to serve and I thank you for all the emails and support you’ve shown.
Elder Miller
Monday, February 12, 2018
Hey everyone. Real excited about his new transfer, new companion, and new district. My district is pretty interesting. It consists of two Spanish elder companionship’s and American Sign Language Sisters. Oh yeah, and a senior couple. When I go on exchanges it will be Spanish area, so that’ll be fun. Elder Williams is from Jacksonville and he has a pretty thick southern accent that’s pretty fun to listen to.
I had gone eighteen months without getting sick once on my mission, but last Thursday I got sick for the second time in less than a month! We got some bad pizza from Dominos and it destroyed our stomachs!
The teaching continues to got pretty good. We should be setting a baptismal date with Julianna soon. We picked up a new person to teach named Chris who just married a member in the Lakeside Ward. He has had so many wonderful experiences with latter saints during his time going through the prison system and whatnot. He said he’s all for having us over to learn more and he is an individual the lord has certainly been preparing. Let it be know that our examples as members has a huge impact on people and can even bring them closer to the knowledge of their God.
I love you guys and I hope you stay safe this week!
Elder Miller
I had gone eighteen months without getting sick once on my mission, but last Thursday I got sick for the second time in less than a month! We got some bad pizza from Dominos and it destroyed our stomachs!
The teaching continues to got pretty good. We should be setting a baptismal date with Julianna soon. We picked up a new person to teach named Chris who just married a member in the Lakeside Ward. He has had so many wonderful experiences with latter saints during his time going through the prison system and whatnot. He said he’s all for having us over to learn more and he is an individual the lord has certainly been preparing. Let it be know that our examples as members has a huge impact on people and can even bring them closer to the knowledge of their God.
I love you guys and I hope you stay safe this week!
Elder Miller
Monday, February 5, 2018
New Zones, New Companion, New Transfer
Lots of changes this time around. I'm staying in Lakeside and Saguro Park wards, but Elder Esplin is going to Silver City, New Mexico where I started my mission a while back. I'll be getting an Elder Williams who is fairly new in the mission. Plus all the zones in the Tucson area have been redrawn. It used to be there was a Northwest, Central, Southeast, and Spanish Zone in Tucson. Now there is a North, South, East, West. My area is in the new Tucson East Zone, and I'll still be a district leader - only I have no idea who's in the district now and we haven't really received many details, yet.
We had a few good things happen this week. On Tuesday we were out trying to find a former investigator. We knocked on her door, but there was no answer. We walked toward an apartment complex across the street when we heard our ward mission leader Bro. Parrish calling for us. He had just decided to try to find the same investigator at the same time we did! We took that as a sign meaning we need to keep on trying to get a hold of her. We tired later in the week with no answer, but we're not going to stop until we find her! Anyway, since he was already there, Bro Parrish decided to just start knocking other doors with us. We when down the road and tried to find a less active we haven't met. We were greeted by a nice, young man who was living with him named Dovante. Bro. Parrish and Elder Esplin talked to the less active we went to see while I broke off and talked to Dovante for a few minutes. He's not a member, but he said he'd really like to get back to church. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him if we could come back later next week. We should be going back on Saturday, so I'm pretty excited about that.
Wednesday, we were going to see our investigator Matt with our stake president, but just as he was coming to pick us up Matt canceled. So we decided to go see a part member family that has been coming to church that stake president hasn't met yet. We talked to the wife who's a member and she mentioned that her nine year old daughter hasn't been baptized quite yet. We asked her daughter if she'd like for us to come back on an other day to teach her and she agreed. Her name is actually Julianna. We should be going by to give her the first lesson later tonight!
On Sunday, we had a whole new family to teach come out of nowhere. It was a recently married couple who just moved into the Lakeside ward boundaries. The wife is a member but the husband is not, however he learned quite a bit about the Mormon beliefs during his time in prison a while back. They went to church for the first time in an other ward at the stake center, but the elders there told us about them and we were able to set a time to see them this week as well. So there have been quite a few teaching opportunities that have come our way this week.
It's incredible to think that I'm starting the first of my last three transfers. That's going to go by before I know it! I love you guys, and miss you. I hope you all have a good, safe week,
Elder Miller
We had a few good things happen this week. On Tuesday we were out trying to find a former investigator. We knocked on her door, but there was no answer. We walked toward an apartment complex across the street when we heard our ward mission leader Bro. Parrish calling for us. He had just decided to try to find the same investigator at the same time we did! We took that as a sign meaning we need to keep on trying to get a hold of her. We tired later in the week with no answer, but we're not going to stop until we find her! Anyway, since he was already there, Bro Parrish decided to just start knocking other doors with us. We when down the road and tried to find a less active we haven't met. We were greeted by a nice, young man who was living with him named Dovante. Bro. Parrish and Elder Esplin talked to the less active we went to see while I broke off and talked to Dovante for a few minutes. He's not a member, but he said he'd really like to get back to church. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him if we could come back later next week. We should be going back on Saturday, so I'm pretty excited about that.
Wednesday, we were going to see our investigator Matt with our stake president, but just as he was coming to pick us up Matt canceled. So we decided to go see a part member family that has been coming to church that stake president hasn't met yet. We talked to the wife who's a member and she mentioned that her nine year old daughter hasn't been baptized quite yet. We asked her daughter if she'd like for us to come back on an other day to teach her and she agreed. Her name is actually Julianna. We should be going by to give her the first lesson later tonight!
On Sunday, we had a whole new family to teach come out of nowhere. It was a recently married couple who just moved into the Lakeside ward boundaries. The wife is a member but the husband is not, however he learned quite a bit about the Mormon beliefs during his time in prison a while back. They went to church for the first time in an other ward at the stake center, but the elders there told us about them and we were able to set a time to see them this week as well. So there have been quite a few teaching opportunities that have come our way this week.
It's incredible to think that I'm starting the first of my last three transfers. That's going to go by before I know it! I love you guys, and miss you. I hope you all have a good, safe week,
Elder Miller
Monday, January 22, 2018
Not sick among other things
This week was quite a bit better than last week as I was not so limited by health this time around. We were able to see our investigator Matt in the Saguaro Park Ward on Wednesday. We brought our stake president with us - who is a convert who had investigated the church for many years prior to his baptism. He seemed to be a good match for him as they have very similar backgrounds. With the intentions of reading the Book of Mormon with him, he surprised us by saying he had actually read what we had left with him the previous visit. We’ve been meeting with him for a few months now and that was the first time he had ever made the effort to do so. So we ended up going over what he read and discussing it. It was Mosiah 5:8-15 which talks about Christ being the only head under which we are free. It’s transitioned smoothly into a commitment to be baptized when he comes to know that the Book of Mormon is true. He said that he would once he does. We had been thinking of “dropping” him for a while while, but he has suddenly made a lot of progress.
I got to give a talk yesterday on the Gathering of Israel. Inevitably, it morphed into basically a talk on doing missionary work as members. I drew out a few experiences from my mission thus far. I hope it was of some use to someone who heard it. Speaking has tended to become much easier for me on the mission, as you get plenty of opportunities to be put on the spot. It’s just a matter of listening to the Spirit and saying the things He would want you to, rather than just something you thought would be good.
Aside from that, the Lakeside Ward has a good amount of less active that have taken up a good amount of our time in the evenings. In fact, we got into contact with a new part member Family in our complex who are actually named the Millers. We’ll be going back there for dinner on Saturday, so I’m pretty excited for that.
Hope you all have an awesome week
Elder Miller
I got to give a talk yesterday on the Gathering of Israel. Inevitably, it morphed into basically a talk on doing missionary work as members. I drew out a few experiences from my mission thus far. I hope it was of some use to someone who heard it. Speaking has tended to become much easier for me on the mission, as you get plenty of opportunities to be put on the spot. It’s just a matter of listening to the Spirit and saying the things He would want you to, rather than just something you thought would be good.
Aside from that, the Lakeside Ward has a good amount of less active that have taken up a good amount of our time in the evenings. In fact, we got into contact with a new part member Family in our complex who are actually named the Millers. We’ll be going back there for dinner on Saturday, so I’m pretty excited for that.
Hope you all have an awesome week
Elder Miller
Monday, January 8, 2018
Happy New Year!
I know the New Year has been a few days already, but I was never able to get an email out last week. I dropped my iPad on the sidewalk just before Christmas, so I need a library computer now. Anyway, today marks nineteen months I've been out on the mission (but like I've said before, who's counting?). I really enjoy being a district leader and being able to serve other missionaries in this capacity; I just hope I'm not screwing things up too bad.
This past week was very good. On Tuesday we went back to see Afa, who accepted a baptismal date for February 3rd! I don't know if I've mentioned her before, but I'll say she is certainly someone who has been prepared to received the gospel. She's Russian and from a Muslim family, but she wants to turn away from that and follow Christ, and she even asked us how it is she'd go about doing that. It's people just like that the we as missionaries are sent out to find and it's always such a joyous occasion when we do.
We had two investigator lesson lined up later that day, and we even had our stake president come and give us a ride for both, but guess what - they both fell through! We talked to a few people in the streets when President Thies thought it'd be good to see an inactive family he knew - the Alstons. I never met them till then, but it turns out they have quadruplets who are three! I've never seen that before. They let us in and were super welcoming; the dad even acknowledged they weren't coming to church but ought to be. President Thies afterwards said that it was probably a significant to have with them.
Aside from Afa, we have mostly been working with the less and inactive in our wards (since so many of our investigators are flaking out on us lately), but it's alright - whatever keeps us busy.
I'm pretty excited for this New Year; it's always as good a time as any to make resolutions to leave the old things behind and move on to better things. My district decided to start things strong by making a goal to talk to a combined one thousand people this month! I don't know if we're going to get all of them, but you'd better believe just trying is going to have some great results!
Hope you all enjoy your week and are having a great start to the new year!
Elder Miller
This past week was very good. On Tuesday we went back to see Afa, who accepted a baptismal date for February 3rd! I don't know if I've mentioned her before, but I'll say she is certainly someone who has been prepared to received the gospel. She's Russian and from a Muslim family, but she wants to turn away from that and follow Christ, and she even asked us how it is she'd go about doing that. It's people just like that the we as missionaries are sent out to find and it's always such a joyous occasion when we do.
We had two investigator lesson lined up later that day, and we even had our stake president come and give us a ride for both, but guess what - they both fell through! We talked to a few people in the streets when President Thies thought it'd be good to see an inactive family he knew - the Alstons. I never met them till then, but it turns out they have quadruplets who are three! I've never seen that before. They let us in and were super welcoming; the dad even acknowledged they weren't coming to church but ought to be. President Thies afterwards said that it was probably a significant to have with them.
Aside from Afa, we have mostly been working with the less and inactive in our wards (since so many of our investigators are flaking out on us lately), but it's alright - whatever keeps us busy.
I'm pretty excited for this New Year; it's always as good a time as any to make resolutions to leave the old things behind and move on to better things. My district decided to start things strong by making a goal to talk to a combined one thousand people this month! I don't know if we're going to get all of them, but you'd better believe just trying is going to have some great results!
Hope you all enjoy your week and are having a great start to the new year!
Elder Miller
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