Hello Everyone,
This week was quite exciting. Just so you know, missionaries consider Monday to be the start of the week so I am technically correct when I include Sunday as part of last week. Anyway, starting off on Thursday I was on exchanges with another member of our district, a new Elder in the spanish program named Elder Dunham who is pretty fun to be around. He talks pretty much non stop but I like him. Part way through the day we had to drive up to Seaside to a building there with a bit of a view of the Monterey bay so that was fun. We had a Zone meeting in which President and Sister Jackson told us about their plans for all of us to set goals to make this Month our best one yet so that we can usher the Jacksons off their mission with a bang of success. It was a fun meeting and kind of thought provoking.
Then on Friday I spent all day with what we call the other "district monkeys". Since my companion is a district leader he has to attend meetings in San Jose every once in a while and I go with the companion of another district leader. So the district leaders companion is usually referred to as the district monkey cause all they do is hang around the district leader and do little chores for them. But the day was fun. The other district monkeys and I spent the day in Salinas and looked up less active members and things of that nature.
The real fun was on Saturday when we spent pretty much all day in the church setting up for our baptism. I got the font temperature just right and perfect and it was all going well until we went back to check on the water level and noticed that there were dust bunnies floating all in the water. I guess the font had been collecting dust and we didn't notice before we turned the water on. We tried to fish out the most obvious ones but there was just no combatting them, they seemed to multiply like bunnies too. Eventually our baptismal candidate came with his family and extended family and a few other families of the ward came and our bishop conducted the meeting and it all went well and was actually one of the shortest baptisms that I've ever attended I think. And I think I know the reason why. The speakers on baptism and the holy ghost were teenagers. That's the problem with other long baptisms, they get close family members who feel like they have to talk for half an hour. Those talks were simple and sweet and kept peoples butts from getting sore. So it was a fun event and a success.
Sunday the kid we baptized was late to church so he was confirmed after the sacrament which was a bit of a blunder but not too bad. Then after church we had a quick lunch/dinner and then got a ride from a less active couple to the last outgoing fireside for our president and his wife and family. It was packed. 900 people came to this fireside it was pretty unbelievable and really hot in there. It was fun and good though and the only problem is that we didn't get home until about 11:30, which is 2 hours past our curfew and an hour past our bedtime. We were kind of tired on preparation day but it was worth it to see the last outgoing fireside for our mission president. It's really weird thinking that even though he's been my mission president for the last ten months and will kind of be for the coming month, I'll have the new one for even longer and technically a majority of my mission.
Well gotta sign off.
Sincerely Elder Miller
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Hello Everybody,
This week was fun. We got our baptismal candidate interviewed by our Zone Leader while I was on exchanges with him for the day and it went well. The only tough part was when I was having the father of the boy fill out the baptismal record form putting down a bunch of information. At the part where he had to put his sons birthdate he put it down as October 11th 1998. The boy is 11 years old. The father had the good habit of saying what he was planning on writing down on the document before actually starting and I tried to hint at and correct him on the birthdate thing but he felt certain that it was 1998 and wrote it down. I didn't really think it would end well if I told him that he didn't know what year his own son was born, plus I was still trying to double check the math in my head to make sure that I was correct. Anyway, we double checked the membership records that we have just to be sure and went back and changed it to 1999. These baptismal records are the solid copy that actually is kept by the church for all time and eternity so it seems like it would be preferable that they are as correct as possible. Only now we are wondering if the boys middle name really is spelled A-R-R-O-N or if that's a mistake as well. If only the mother hadn't been preoccupied with a phone call, this all would probably not be confused. But we are excited. This will be the first convert baptism in the area in a year. And the first baptism that I'm a part of.
Then on Saturday we attended a meeting for our whole mission, all 200 missionaries, at which we were pleased to shake the hands and hear the voices of Elder Ballard, Elder Clayton, Elder Packer (not Boyd), Elder Hinckly, and Elder Allan. It was awesome and all pretty much dealt with how to work with the members of the church to help them increase the work and the effectiveness there of. A lot was said concerning "The Rescue" which refers to how few converts actually remain active compared to the number that are baptized. That's why members involved in the process are so wonderful. An immediate supports system to help an struggling converts.
Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
This week was fun. We got our baptismal candidate interviewed by our Zone Leader while I was on exchanges with him for the day and it went well. The only tough part was when I was having the father of the boy fill out the baptismal record form putting down a bunch of information. At the part where he had to put his sons birthdate he put it down as October 11th 1998. The boy is 11 years old. The father had the good habit of saying what he was planning on writing down on the document before actually starting and I tried to hint at and correct him on the birthdate thing but he felt certain that it was 1998 and wrote it down. I didn't really think it would end well if I told him that he didn't know what year his own son was born, plus I was still trying to double check the math in my head to make sure that I was correct. Anyway, we double checked the membership records that we have just to be sure and went back and changed it to 1999. These baptismal records are the solid copy that actually is kept by the church for all time and eternity so it seems like it would be preferable that they are as correct as possible. Only now we are wondering if the boys middle name really is spelled A-R-R-O-N or if that's a mistake as well. If only the mother hadn't been preoccupied with a phone call, this all would probably not be confused. But we are excited. This will be the first convert baptism in the area in a year. And the first baptism that I'm a part of.
Then on Saturday we attended a meeting for our whole mission, all 200 missionaries, at which we were pleased to shake the hands and hear the voices of Elder Ballard, Elder Clayton, Elder Packer (not Boyd), Elder Hinckly, and Elder Allan. It was awesome and all pretty much dealt with how to work with the members of the church to help them increase the work and the effectiveness there of. A lot was said concerning "The Rescue" which refers to how few converts actually remain active compared to the number that are baptized. That's why members involved in the process are so wonderful. An immediate supports system to help an struggling converts.
Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Hello Everyone,
My companion and I were really looking forward to this past Wednesday because we had quite a few appointments scheduled. All but two of them I think actually worked out. But one of the ones that worked out we managed to give a baptismal date to them and they accepted and should be baptized on the 28th of this month. It is a boy who has less active parents and he is eleven years old. The parents seemed really excited and jumped right on the invitation when we extended it and the boy accepted so I can't figure out why he hasn't been baptized before now, but I guess I'm assuming that he will get baptized now. The efforts of many other missionaries and members have been focused on this family but for some reason they still haven't had their son baptized. So I'm hopeful but it seems likely that some unexpected concerns may crop up. If he is baptized then the real challenge will be to keep him active and truly reactivate his family.
On Thursday we had a zone conference but it was an outdoor one. It took place at Uvais park and we sat on wood arena benches and deer walked casually by as we listened to our Mission President talk to us about prayer. We got to go on a hike during lunch and take pictures by waterfalls and then we got 40 minutes by ourselves to sit by the creek and pray or ponder prayer. I personally wrote a poem. I don't know why but I felt impressed to and did. Not a very good poem, one which I very much doubt I will ever share with anyone. But the poem involved prayer and the solemnity of Gods power and love. In short I had a good time. Then we drove the long trip back to my area and played 20 questions. Everyone got mad at me when I picked a Lemur as my animal and when they were guessing continents that the animal lived on I answered no when they guessed Africa, because I figured Madagascar is its own island and doesn't belong to the continent but they disagreed. So the week went well and this one should be good too. I have to write an e-amil to my mission president real quick but thanks for reading and writing and have a good week.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
My companion and I were really looking forward to this past Wednesday because we had quite a few appointments scheduled. All but two of them I think actually worked out. But one of the ones that worked out we managed to give a baptismal date to them and they accepted and should be baptized on the 28th of this month. It is a boy who has less active parents and he is eleven years old. The parents seemed really excited and jumped right on the invitation when we extended it and the boy accepted so I can't figure out why he hasn't been baptized before now, but I guess I'm assuming that he will get baptized now. The efforts of many other missionaries and members have been focused on this family but for some reason they still haven't had their son baptized. So I'm hopeful but it seems likely that some unexpected concerns may crop up. If he is baptized then the real challenge will be to keep him active and truly reactivate his family.
On Thursday we had a zone conference but it was an outdoor one. It took place at Uvais park and we sat on wood arena benches and deer walked casually by as we listened to our Mission President talk to us about prayer. We got to go on a hike during lunch and take pictures by waterfalls and then we got 40 minutes by ourselves to sit by the creek and pray or ponder prayer. I personally wrote a poem. I don't know why but I felt impressed to and did. Not a very good poem, one which I very much doubt I will ever share with anyone. But the poem involved prayer and the solemnity of Gods power and love. In short I had a good time. Then we drove the long trip back to my area and played 20 questions. Everyone got mad at me when I picked a Lemur as my animal and when they were guessing continents that the animal lived on I answered no when they guessed Africa, because I figured Madagascar is its own island and doesn't belong to the continent but they disagreed. So the week went well and this one should be good too. I have to write an e-amil to my mission president real quick but thanks for reading and writing and have a good week.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Hello Everybody,
This past week was good although pretty slow. We taught just about no lessons but our success is better measured in getting a hold of a bunch of potential investigators and former investigators in order to schedule lessons for this week. Wednesday should be jam packed. Looking at my planner I don't think I've ever had so many appointments lined up. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the possibilities there. On Thursday we have a zone conference but not just any old zone conference. It is an annual outdoor zone conference. So I think the whole plan is to reenact not the Joseph Smith prayer but the prayer of Enos and to further our knowledge of prayer and the revelation that can come through it and how we can better teach our investigators to take advantage of this gift that we all are commanded to use.
In other news my face stamp made some progress yesterday. I met a return missionary out here who when he served in India a bunch of Elders there had rubber stamps made of themselves. I really liked the idea and figured that I could make my own. I got some foam and had some spare time yesterday and managed to make a decent stamp of me. I appear to have adopted some Asian features but I'll work out those kinks next week and pretty soon anyone who gets a letter from me can count on having my face stamped on there. I am sure this will encourage more and more people to write me. Just so I will reply and send my face.
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the weather. I don't really know how the weather is back in Oregon but here it is hot much of the time recently.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
This past week was good although pretty slow. We taught just about no lessons but our success is better measured in getting a hold of a bunch of potential investigators and former investigators in order to schedule lessons for this week. Wednesday should be jam packed. Looking at my planner I don't think I've ever had so many appointments lined up. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the possibilities there. On Thursday we have a zone conference but not just any old zone conference. It is an annual outdoor zone conference. So I think the whole plan is to reenact not the Joseph Smith prayer but the prayer of Enos and to further our knowledge of prayer and the revelation that can come through it and how we can better teach our investigators to take advantage of this gift that we all are commanded to use.
In other news my face stamp made some progress yesterday. I met a return missionary out here who when he served in India a bunch of Elders there had rubber stamps made of themselves. I really liked the idea and figured that I could make my own. I got some foam and had some spare time yesterday and managed to make a decent stamp of me. I appear to have adopted some Asian features but I'll work out those kinks next week and pretty soon anyone who gets a letter from me can count on having my face stamped on there. I am sure this will encourage more and more people to write me. Just so I will reply and send my face.
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the weather. I don't really know how the weather is back in Oregon but here it is hot much of the time recently.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Hello Everybody,
This past week was a long one. Getting a new companion always makes the week feel twice as long as normal. Plus my new companion is the district leader and so the Thursday after I got him we had to drive for half an hour to attend a meeting that he needed to be present at and then the next day I had to drop him off with our Zone leaders an all the other district leaders so they could drive to an even bigger leadership meeting and I spent the day in Marina with another Elder. That half a day in Marina was kind of lame but fun. The Elders serving there had used all of their allotted car miles so we planned to use bikes. I had gone about 50 feet when I squeezed the brakes at the end of a hill and they failed on me. Luckily the white pick up truck that was crossing had seen my companion and then me and stopped for me. But I was freaking out. We fixed the brakes, or at least diagnosed the problem and figured they should work all right but my temporary companion now seemed kind of unsure as to my bicycle safety abilities. He probably didn't want to be responsible for me if I got run over so we just walked all through the windy seaside town.
Today for district meeting we talked about the importance of prayer and how we help our investigators recieve revelation through prayer. There was a quote in Preach My Gospel that said "No one can know the truth of things without prayer." That is a pretty definitive thing to say and Preach My Gospel is scripture so it really showed us how important prayer is and how necessary it is for our investigators to have in their lives.
Well next week we have a multi-zone conference and it will be out doors which I guess they do once a year. So we get to wear jeans and sneakers and white shirts and ties. I think it will look pretty ridiculous but we will be at a park where they have redwood trees which I think will be pretty majestic and awesome. Everyone is looking forward to reinacting the Joseph Smith story themselves. Praying alone in the woods.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
This past week was a long one. Getting a new companion always makes the week feel twice as long as normal. Plus my new companion is the district leader and so the Thursday after I got him we had to drive for half an hour to attend a meeting that he needed to be present at and then the next day I had to drop him off with our Zone leaders an all the other district leaders so they could drive to an even bigger leadership meeting and I spent the day in Marina with another Elder. That half a day in Marina was kind of lame but fun. The Elders serving there had used all of their allotted car miles so we planned to use bikes. I had gone about 50 feet when I squeezed the brakes at the end of a hill and they failed on me. Luckily the white pick up truck that was crossing had seen my companion and then me and stopped for me. But I was freaking out. We fixed the brakes, or at least diagnosed the problem and figured they should work all right but my temporary companion now seemed kind of unsure as to my bicycle safety abilities. He probably didn't want to be responsible for me if I got run over so we just walked all through the windy seaside town.
Today for district meeting we talked about the importance of prayer and how we help our investigators recieve revelation through prayer. There was a quote in Preach My Gospel that said "No one can know the truth of things without prayer." That is a pretty definitive thing to say and Preach My Gospel is scripture so it really showed us how important prayer is and how necessary it is for our investigators to have in their lives.
Well next week we have a multi-zone conference and it will be out doors which I guess they do once a year. So we get to wear jeans and sneakers and white shirts and ties. I think it will look pretty ridiculous but we will be at a park where they have redwood trees which I think will be pretty majestic and awesome. Everyone is looking forward to reinacting the Joseph Smith story themselves. Praying alone in the woods.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
