Greetings From San Jose

Hello Everybody,

My time is just slipping away from me. This week we kept pretty busy and so now it has just rushed by. My companion is down to only two more weeks left and it doesn't help that every ward member keeps asking him what his plans are and how soon he goes. But it's a fun yet sort of depressing experience for me having a companion leaving. I love it out here but sometimes just being around him I get into a state of thinking that we are in the same position. I think "he's going home soon" and I get it jumbled into thinking that I must be going home soon as well. But then when I correct myself and recognize that I haven't even been out here 6 months it's sort of a shock. But I should really stop thinking about that.

The work is going okay. Could always use a few more investigators to teach but they are an elusive specimen around here. Our assistant ward mission leader told us that we need to stop finding all the people with so much baggage. He was just joking but it's kind of true. Everyone we find has an ordeal to go through before they will be able to get baptized. One lady we were teaching lives with her son and his father. A man who she severely dislikes and has a wife and kids back in the Philippines. She had to keep her lessons with us a secret from him and recently he caught her reading her Book of Mormon and so to save herself and her son the grief that he would dish out she said she had to stop taking lessons from us. So it's very sad and she's in a tough situation but once she can get her own apartment and get out from under his tyrannical control she'll find her way back to the church and so it's just a matter of time. That's the way I feel about most of the people I've taught. I don't see myself baptizing any of them but many of them I see it as just a matter of time.

We had interviews with our President and the whole district shows up and waits in the chapel while one at a time we are interviewed. The rest of the people in the meantime are each expected to prepare a 4 minute talk and speak to everyone and Sister Jackson and her mother happened to be there as well. I had forgotten about the preparing a talk thing and didn't have one written when we got there but fortunately I was the second to last to speak and so I had time to mentally prepare one and I think I did an okay job. Sister Jackson is a big critic though. This is all organized by her and she takes notes on everybody and asks for feedback from everyone. If you have any sort of twitch or poor habit as you speak she'll point it out to you. I think my posture was okay and I didn't shift my weight but I used filler words like "um" a few times. But it was good.

Well I hope everyone is doing well and braving the Oregon weather. I'm pleased to say it's actually quite pleasant here.

Sincerely, Elder Miller