Hello Everybody,
This week was different, as all are I guess. Anyway last Sunday we went with our High Priest Group leader to administer a blessing to a girl in the ward who had dislocated her knee and wanted a blessing to help heal up and hopefully dodge having surgery. This is a family that we had attempted teaching before cause the husband is a non-member and they had agreed to hear all the lessons that we teach but we only ever got around to having one lesson back when I was with Elder Orgill here. So it was a little awkward sneaking back under the invitation of their home teacher to give a blessing but it went well and we even talked to the Sister and she said that she had signed up to feed us dinner so we'll be able to teach a lesson when we go for that and it should be good. On Thursday, I think I ranted a little about this last week but again our District leader gave the lesson duties to another companionship in the district to teach. And this companionship, well first heres a breakdown of how district meeting is supposed to flow. First we talk about how we accomplished goals last week, then we have a 25 minute lesson from the "district leader" and then we do role play type practice teaching lessons. So this companionship that was put in charge of teaching the lesson basically distributed the lesson onto everyone else by having us each go up and practice teaching a part of our first lesson in front of everyone. I'm mad at them yet jealous of their genius at the same time. They took an invitation to teach and basically do more work for District meeting and turned it around into an opportunity to reshift the work amongst everyone else and actually did less work than you'd do in an average district meeting. I wish my companion and I had thought of that when we went the previous week. Oh well. It was good yet right after the "lesson" we did almost the exact same thing so it was a little overkill. We get good practice though so that's the bright side.
On Friday we adopted another missionary for the day. Our Zone Leaders have a third companion who isn't a leader so when they go to leadership training meetings they have to drop him off at day care. He's a pretty cool guy. He came on his mission at the same time as my last companion and they are from the same place, La'ie Hawaii. He's part Samoan so he and my companion got along immediately, and I like him so our day was pretty fun together until my companion got sick later in the evening. That was the night of out ward halloween party but since my companion was sick we didn't go. Instead I read a little bit as my companion lay on the bathroom floor anticipating a puke that never came. It's okay though. I probably would have just eaten a bunch of food and candy at the party that I don't need.
Saturday we went and did some service for a lady that is a member of our ward I guess but I've never seen before. I think she manages a property that has a bunch of duplexs on it and a house that she lives in I think. Under the front porch of the house there was a bunch of tools and paint and random stuff, oh and spiders. Anyway we hauled it out of there and loaded it into a truck. We had another companionship come with us to help out. Funny how of all these missionaries I am the tallest but for some reason I was the one under a porch the whole time. The lady also had us move about some old rototillers and hose them off before loading them in a shed to store. She had a chicken coop, and we moved some old doors that had been sitting by the chicken coop for a while and as I know, where there are chickens, there are rats. Moving the doors unleashed a powerful rat urine smell that wasn't pleasant. She gave us a couple of rotisserie chickens and a bag of rolls and potato salad and we went back to our apartment to eat and then the rest of the day was pretty boring after that.
Yesterday was our Primary Program Sacrament meeting so obviously the chapel was packed. Somehow those little kids never fail to be really entertaining on accident. The third hour of Church was combined Relief Society and Priesthood and the bishopric was telling everyone about their plan to reach out to all the members of the ward that don't come. They split the congregation into four groups and had everyone pick a member off a list and agree that they visit that person and make them brownies or cookies and invite them to come to the ward Christmas party. Getting a jump start on it, I think it's a great idea seeing as there are like 663 people in this ward yet only about 170 come to church regularly. After church we had dinner with a family who happened to have chickens so I've gotten a lot of chicken time this week. They told about how the chickens escaped earlier that day and they had to wrangle them. The man had short sleeves and the evidence of chicken scratches were all over his arms. After dinner they asked us the 300 million dollar question. Which was "After your mission you go home and under your bed you find a suit case with $300 million in it, tax free, what do you do?" Both my companion and I were uncertain where to start so they offered up areas of spending and we gave some pretty lame answers I guess. But the whole point of the exercise that this couple likes to do with missionaries is that the dreams are all attainable without the vast sums of money to start. Aside from my companion wanting to own the Steelers. Of course we made it pretty easy on them, when asked what car we would buy I stuck with a Datsun 510 station wagon, of course that is attainable without 300 million dollars. Anyway it was a fun evening. Going to dinner with that family we sacraficed attending a fireside at which Steve Young was the main speaker but I wasn't too set on going to it. If you think about it, no offense to Steve but I'd rather turn up to play catch with him or something related to what he's famous for, not necessarily to hear him speak.
And that was my week in a nutshell. Hope everyone has a fun safe Halloween.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Hello Everyone,
This week was good. A couple of times we went on exchanges with our neighboring missionaries cause they don't have a car yet their area is larger than ours. So we helped them out and got to know them a bit better so it was fun. I got to be on bike for half a day and it was fun to change things up. Whenever we both don't have dinner with our members we just have dinner together so it's like a missionary version of having friends I guess. Every missionary is different and it's a good experience to see others in action and how they handle situations or talk to people and learn from them. We met with a less active man in their ward who I guess is or once held some sort of national title in wrestling and is now still a coach for mixed martial arts and other competitive fighting styles and whatnot. It's sometimes weird to think of some of the people who are converts to the church. It's amazing how some people you wouldn't guess are religious or concerned about that aspect of their lives but it just goes to show that we are all in the same position in life. Everyone on the earth is here because they wanted to follow Gods plan. Even though it is extremely buried from many peoples understanding that doesn't change the fact that they have the potential to connect with their original desires and accept the Gospel. This tough burly wrestler at one time felt the need to join this church and be baptized, and though he stopped coming to church his initial reasons for being baptized and coming are still there and are still valid, he just needs to be reminded of that and rekindle his desire to follow Christ. It's great working with all the people we get to meet and befriend.
On Thursday we had our regular District Meeting but our district leader discovered that it is acceptable to have other missionaries in his district teach a portion of District meeting. So my companion and I were invited to teach this week and it went alright but to be honest a district leader doesn't really have too many duties. It doesn't seem like district leaders have all too much else to do besides teach District meeting and now he doesn't even do that. I'm of course just saying all this because I don't like being in front of large groups and trying to teach. If I'm ever a district leader then I'll be sure to delegate lessons to members of the district. That's a great idea in reality from the position of leader.
We had a good lesson with the young couple that we went on a hike with last week and finally taught them the first lesson. The woman is a less active member and her husband isn't a member of the church. They're really nice and easy going. I don't think they have much socializing in their lives since they had a baby so they don't mind us coming over cause perhaps they enjoy other company and consider us friends. So that's all good. And then yesterday they came to church. We were looking out for them but weren't sure if they'd make it. And then after sacrament meeting ended I realized that they had snuck in and were on the back row. They took off soon after sacrament meeting probably cause they have a very young baby but we'll try and get them to stay next week. I'm a little glad that they didn't stay cause I found out that our gospel principles teacher wasn't at church and so the responsibility fell to me. I got the lesson going which was on the priesthood. In the past when this has happened my companions have usually been the eager type who take over and do all the teaching unbothered by the big class. My companion has already taught twice but that was when we had warning that the teacher wouldn't be there. So I took over and it's not hard to do cause the manual makes it pretty simple. Read a section and then ask questions or answer questions. The hard part is having a class that is uncooperative and quiet. For the most part this class is uncooperative, there were like thirty people in there and most of them don't participate. But luckily there are like 3 of them that are only too willing to make comments and participate so I called on them alot and we filled up the time and it went alright but still wasn't the best lesson. I survived however and that's all that matters.
After church we met with our regular investigator. He's excited about a new business that he's starting up and we're excited too cause if it's successful then he'll be able to quit his other job and come to church finally. It seems like he's got a good product, from what he says. It's some kind of box that manages electricity spikes on your home so it balances your electricity usage and reduces your bill each month cause apparently PG&E measures based off your spikes in usage and not the average so this box prevents surges or something. It sounds really logical and worthwhile. If ever I'm a homeowner I think I'll look into it. Anyway, so he's got another business starting and he's a really solid guy who we think will get baptized if he can make it to church.
That has been my week as far as highlights go. I hope everyone is doing splendidly and has a good halloween celebration.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
This week was good. A couple of times we went on exchanges with our neighboring missionaries cause they don't have a car yet their area is larger than ours. So we helped them out and got to know them a bit better so it was fun. I got to be on bike for half a day and it was fun to change things up. Whenever we both don't have dinner with our members we just have dinner together so it's like a missionary version of having friends I guess. Every missionary is different and it's a good experience to see others in action and how they handle situations or talk to people and learn from them. We met with a less active man in their ward who I guess is or once held some sort of national title in wrestling and is now still a coach for mixed martial arts and other competitive fighting styles and whatnot. It's sometimes weird to think of some of the people who are converts to the church. It's amazing how some people you wouldn't guess are religious or concerned about that aspect of their lives but it just goes to show that we are all in the same position in life. Everyone on the earth is here because they wanted to follow Gods plan. Even though it is extremely buried from many peoples understanding that doesn't change the fact that they have the potential to connect with their original desires and accept the Gospel. This tough burly wrestler at one time felt the need to join this church and be baptized, and though he stopped coming to church his initial reasons for being baptized and coming are still there and are still valid, he just needs to be reminded of that and rekindle his desire to follow Christ. It's great working with all the people we get to meet and befriend.
On Thursday we had our regular District Meeting but our district leader discovered that it is acceptable to have other missionaries in his district teach a portion of District meeting. So my companion and I were invited to teach this week and it went alright but to be honest a district leader doesn't really have too many duties. It doesn't seem like district leaders have all too much else to do besides teach District meeting and now he doesn't even do that. I'm of course just saying all this because I don't like being in front of large groups and trying to teach. If I'm ever a district leader then I'll be sure to delegate lessons to members of the district. That's a great idea in reality from the position of leader.
We had a good lesson with the young couple that we went on a hike with last week and finally taught them the first lesson. The woman is a less active member and her husband isn't a member of the church. They're really nice and easy going. I don't think they have much socializing in their lives since they had a baby so they don't mind us coming over cause perhaps they enjoy other company and consider us friends. So that's all good. And then yesterday they came to church. We were looking out for them but weren't sure if they'd make it. And then after sacrament meeting ended I realized that they had snuck in and were on the back row. They took off soon after sacrament meeting probably cause they have a very young baby but we'll try and get them to stay next week. I'm a little glad that they didn't stay cause I found out that our gospel principles teacher wasn't at church and so the responsibility fell to me. I got the lesson going which was on the priesthood. In the past when this has happened my companions have usually been the eager type who take over and do all the teaching unbothered by the big class. My companion has already taught twice but that was when we had warning that the teacher wouldn't be there. So I took over and it's not hard to do cause the manual makes it pretty simple. Read a section and then ask questions or answer questions. The hard part is having a class that is uncooperative and quiet. For the most part this class is uncooperative, there were like thirty people in there and most of them don't participate. But luckily there are like 3 of them that are only too willing to make comments and participate so I called on them alot and we filled up the time and it went alright but still wasn't the best lesson. I survived however and that's all that matters.
After church we met with our regular investigator. He's excited about a new business that he's starting up and we're excited too cause if it's successful then he'll be able to quit his other job and come to church finally. It seems like he's got a good product, from what he says. It's some kind of box that manages electricity spikes on your home so it balances your electricity usage and reduces your bill each month cause apparently PG&E measures based off your spikes in usage and not the average so this box prevents surges or something. It sounds really logical and worthwhile. If ever I'm a homeowner I think I'll look into it. Anyway, so he's got another business starting and he's a really solid guy who we think will get baptized if he can make it to church.
That has been my week as far as highlights go. I hope everyone is doing splendidly and has a good halloween celebration.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Monday, October 17, 2011
Hello Everyone,
This past week was unusual and great. Perhaps the coolest thing to talk about is the hike that we took with our investigators. When I first got to this area my companion had been working with a young couple who were expecting a baby. The baby came along which made it difficult to get in touch with them and set up appointments. That kind of settled but then there were some health problems with a young niece in southern California so the woman was frequently visiting down there and we couldn't teach them. But finally everything is back to normal and we visited with them one afternoon and were trying to set up a time that we could come back and teach them and they were thinking later in one evening because they were planning on going on a hike and they were sort of talking amongst themselves but turned to us and said, "unless you'd like to come with us on the hike." And we were like, "Sure." So that Friday we went and followed them to a wooded place higher up in the hills and there was a hiking trail and they had their baby strapped in one of those kangaroo carrier things and we just walked with them and it was awesome. Awkward thing was that we were still in our shirts and ties and slacks. It was a warm day too so I got rather sweaty but it was cool just sharing that experience with this nice couple. We meant to sit somewhere and teach them but we didn't end up finding a spot and we were getting close to having to make it to our dinner appointment so we set up another day that we could just visit them at home and teach. So we went to our dinner appointment and that was really great. It was technically with our Relief Society president but her sister happened to be visiting and her and her husband offered to prepare dinner. So we got dinner made by our Relief Society president's brother in law who lived in Italy for 17 years and made his favorite dish which was a creamy cheesy pasta of some sort that was really tasty. Anyway, during the dinner conversation we talked about the hike we just went on and we admitted that we didn't really know exactly where we had gone for the hike so they were trying to narrow the possibilities down. One person asked if we came to an intersection with a restaurant at it and I said yeah I remembered that. And they said that that was Alice's Restaurant. And I was like "wait, like Alice's Restaurant from the song by Arlo Guthrie?" and they said that it was one-in-the same. So I may have to go back somtime and eat there just so I can say I did.
On Saturday we had a lesson with a lady and her less active husband who are from Seattle but they are Tongan and have relatives in Utah so naturally my companion knows them and is actually like good family friends with her brother. So my companion has high hopes that we can teach and baptize this lady. She seems really nice and two of her children have even been baptized but for some reason she herself goes to the Methodist church. The problem is that she seems more set on the influence coming from just socializing rather than actual belief and faith in what we teach. That works but it's not a true conversion that is necessary for someone to really be prepared to continue on in the faith.
Not much else going on I guess. We have some pretty solid people we're working with and are looking to get more always. Halloween might be pretty exciting. Apparently Willie Mays lives nearby and on Halloween he hands out baseballs. They're not autographed but still it might be worth trying to get one. I'll let you know how that goes. And my Dad's birthday is soon so heres a shout out for that. Happy Birthday Dad!
Sincerely, Elder Fletcher Miller
This past week was unusual and great. Perhaps the coolest thing to talk about is the hike that we took with our investigators. When I first got to this area my companion had been working with a young couple who were expecting a baby. The baby came along which made it difficult to get in touch with them and set up appointments. That kind of settled but then there were some health problems with a young niece in southern California so the woman was frequently visiting down there and we couldn't teach them. But finally everything is back to normal and we visited with them one afternoon and were trying to set up a time that we could come back and teach them and they were thinking later in one evening because they were planning on going on a hike and they were sort of talking amongst themselves but turned to us and said, "unless you'd like to come with us on the hike." And we were like, "Sure." So that Friday we went and followed them to a wooded place higher up in the hills and there was a hiking trail and they had their baby strapped in one of those kangaroo carrier things and we just walked with them and it was awesome. Awkward thing was that we were still in our shirts and ties and slacks. It was a warm day too so I got rather sweaty but it was cool just sharing that experience with this nice couple. We meant to sit somewhere and teach them but we didn't end up finding a spot and we were getting close to having to make it to our dinner appointment so we set up another day that we could just visit them at home and teach. So we went to our dinner appointment and that was really great. It was technically with our Relief Society president but her sister happened to be visiting and her and her husband offered to prepare dinner. So we got dinner made by our Relief Society president's brother in law who lived in Italy for 17 years and made his favorite dish which was a creamy cheesy pasta of some sort that was really tasty. Anyway, during the dinner conversation we talked about the hike we just went on and we admitted that we didn't really know exactly where we had gone for the hike so they were trying to narrow the possibilities down. One person asked if we came to an intersection with a restaurant at it and I said yeah I remembered that. And they said that that was Alice's Restaurant. And I was like "wait, like Alice's Restaurant from the song by Arlo Guthrie?" and they said that it was one-in-the same. So I may have to go back somtime and eat there just so I can say I did.
On Saturday we had a lesson with a lady and her less active husband who are from Seattle but they are Tongan and have relatives in Utah so naturally my companion knows them and is actually like good family friends with her brother. So my companion has high hopes that we can teach and baptize this lady. She seems really nice and two of her children have even been baptized but for some reason she herself goes to the Methodist church. The problem is that she seems more set on the influence coming from just socializing rather than actual belief and faith in what we teach. That works but it's not a true conversion that is necessary for someone to really be prepared to continue on in the faith.
Not much else going on I guess. We have some pretty solid people we're working with and are looking to get more always. Halloween might be pretty exciting. Apparently Willie Mays lives nearby and on Halloween he hands out baseballs. They're not autographed but still it might be worth trying to get one. I'll let you know how that goes. And my Dad's birthday is soon so heres a shout out for that. Happy Birthday Dad!
Sincerely, Elder Fletcher Miller
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Hello Everyone,
This week was alright. We really worried about one investigator we have that we never seemed to get in contact with. Normally he doesn't do much and we just catch him sitting at home but when we went by he was in a bad mood according to his roommate so we left him alone that day and tried back later and missed him. It's not too heartbreaking cause he wasn't much of an investigator if that doesn't sound too mean, but he wasn't showing much commitment. We'll still try to visit him but I guess it's not the worst thing if we have to drop him as an investigator. Sorry to say it but he's had more than his share of opportunities to embrace the Gospel.
Transfers are today and I'm e-mailing today because yesterday was Columbus day and the library was closed. I'm not being transferred and neither is my companion but I heard that the many people are being moved around. The other set of missionaries close to us and in our same district, one of which is going home so we are anticipating finding out who the new companion will be. Much is at stake to see if they'll be fun to be around on Preparation Days and whatnot.
On Sunday we met with our investigator who is dating a member of the Spanish ward and I'm not sure what the state of their relationship is but basically we have started meeting at the church instead of the members house cause our investigator has realized for himself how outspoken and pushy his girlfriend is. I think I already talked about this but it's amazing that he is still meeting with us despite that it seems like his relationship is strained. He has the tendency to talk the whole time we meet with him, just all these thoughts he has it's incredible how he transitions so fluidly and nonstop. I bet, if sleep weren't a necessity, that he could talk forever. Anyway we finally got a member of our Bishopric to sit in on a lesson with us and as missionaries we are taught to above almost all else be patient listeners so our investigator tends to take advantage of that I guess. But our 2nd counselor in the bishopric was expert at just inserting his comments and finding the most miniscule pauses in our investigators speech to slip in and revert back to a scripture in the Book of Mormon or whatever. I was very impressed and extremely glad that we invited him to sit in on the lesson. I think our investigator got more out of it and really connected with another member that is actually in our ward, cause he has yet to make it to church due to his work schedule so it was great that he is meeting some people so perhaps next week when we meet with him we'll get another bishopric member. I know our bishop is dying to meet him at least.
Probably the most exciting thing that happened on Sunday however, *SPOILER ALERT TO MY PARENTS AND THE LETTER I'LL SOON MAIL HOME EXCEPT THAT IT'S NOT REALLY THAT BIG OF NEWS* is that in ward council the leaders brought up the halloween party and they seem to expect us to come and in costume. So we'll probably pull out all the stops and go as Men in Black or secret service or something. One member suggested that we be Nuns, which would be awesome but harder to actually get our hands on that kind of costume.
Either way it should be fun.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
This week was alright. We really worried about one investigator we have that we never seemed to get in contact with. Normally he doesn't do much and we just catch him sitting at home but when we went by he was in a bad mood according to his roommate so we left him alone that day and tried back later and missed him. It's not too heartbreaking cause he wasn't much of an investigator if that doesn't sound too mean, but he wasn't showing much commitment. We'll still try to visit him but I guess it's not the worst thing if we have to drop him as an investigator. Sorry to say it but he's had more than his share of opportunities to embrace the Gospel.
Transfers are today and I'm e-mailing today because yesterday was Columbus day and the library was closed. I'm not being transferred and neither is my companion but I heard that the many people are being moved around. The other set of missionaries close to us and in our same district, one of which is going home so we are anticipating finding out who the new companion will be. Much is at stake to see if they'll be fun to be around on Preparation Days and whatnot.
On Sunday we met with our investigator who is dating a member of the Spanish ward and I'm not sure what the state of their relationship is but basically we have started meeting at the church instead of the members house cause our investigator has realized for himself how outspoken and pushy his girlfriend is. I think I already talked about this but it's amazing that he is still meeting with us despite that it seems like his relationship is strained. He has the tendency to talk the whole time we meet with him, just all these thoughts he has it's incredible how he transitions so fluidly and nonstop. I bet, if sleep weren't a necessity, that he could talk forever. Anyway we finally got a member of our Bishopric to sit in on a lesson with us and as missionaries we are taught to above almost all else be patient listeners so our investigator tends to take advantage of that I guess. But our 2nd counselor in the bishopric was expert at just inserting his comments and finding the most miniscule pauses in our investigators speech to slip in and revert back to a scripture in the Book of Mormon or whatever. I was very impressed and extremely glad that we invited him to sit in on the lesson. I think our investigator got more out of it and really connected with another member that is actually in our ward, cause he has yet to make it to church due to his work schedule so it was great that he is meeting some people so perhaps next week when we meet with him we'll get another bishopric member. I know our bishop is dying to meet him at least.
Probably the most exciting thing that happened on Sunday however, *SPOILER ALERT TO MY PARENTS AND THE LETTER I'LL SOON MAIL HOME EXCEPT THAT IT'S NOT REALLY THAT BIG OF NEWS* is that in ward council the leaders brought up the halloween party and they seem to expect us to come and in costume. So we'll probably pull out all the stops and go as Men in Black or secret service or something. One member suggested that we be Nuns, which would be awesome but harder to actually get our hands on that kind of costume.
Either way it should be fun.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Monday, October 3, 2011
Hello Everyone,
This week was great. Went by super fast because we had a trip to the Temple on Wednesday and then of course General Conference ate up our Saturday and Sunday. On Wednesday we actually got our Bishops parents to give us a ride to the temple even though they are actually members in a neighboring ward. But they are super cool. We showed up to their house around 8:15 and they had us load up in their mini van and we headed out. The sister had water and candy mints to give us and we had a pleasant ride up to Oakland. We crossed the San Mateo bridge I think and it was huge. They mentioned that it used to be the longest in the country but I think one recently supassed it in Florida or something. Normally I hold my breath over bridges just for fun but I would have passed out five times at least if I had tried on this one I'm sure. That took us across to the East side of the bay into Hayward and then we headed North to the Oakland Temple. I guess we made pretty good time but about 20 minutes from the Temple my companion realized that he had forgotten his recommend, but we didn't say anything to our hosts. We got to the front desk in the Temple and I was surprised to see a member from my last area which is almost a 2 1/2 hour drive but he's one of my favorite members from back in King City who rides unicycles. Anyway we told him the situation and my companion had to fill out a little form and they had to try and contact our Mission President to validate my companions worthiness I guess. They eventually let us in and we managed to make the 10 o'clock session and it was great. Then we headed back to Redwood City and the couple stopped for lunch at In n' out burger and it again was pretty good. We have two In n' out burger joints in our area alone but that's the first time I've eaten in one of them. So it was a great temple trip, pulled it off successfully.
Then this weekend was spectacular, mainly in the sense that we got a ton of free food. We picked up some other missionaries on Saturday morning and we watched General conference at our Stake Center in Menlo Park and it was great. We took a lunch break between the sessions and had to drop our fellow missionary pals off at a members house where they were watching the second session and then we watched the second session back at the stake center. I have real difficulty remembering which general authority specifically spoke about what even though I took extensive notes. But an overall feel I got from conference was a resolve to read the scriptures more and really study them as well as renew my abandoned plans to memorize the scripture mastery scriptures. After the second session we were about to leave but were invited by members of the Tongan ward to their youth conference where we had to introduce ourselves, share what we learned from Conference and then sing a hymn in order to earn a meal. It was a good meal and they had doughnuts so the effort was all worth it. Then we went to the Priesthood session which is always a little more comedic than the rest of conference so it was great as well.
Then yesterday we had much the same pattern, except that after the first session a bunch of members set up on the stage for a lunch and all the missionaries were invited and we didn't have to perform anything to get a meal this time. We did break down all the tables and chairs afterward though but we ate a lot so we needed the exercise afterward to try and burn off some calories. Then we watched the fourth session and it was great. I don't remember if it was that session or not but I really enjoyed President Monsons story about the tour bus in Texas of all the churches.
I hope everyone enjoyed hearing from our Prophet and take the counsel from it seriously. I consider conference more of a mormon new years. Time to evaluate and apply new things into our lives.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
This week was great. Went by super fast because we had a trip to the Temple on Wednesday and then of course General Conference ate up our Saturday and Sunday. On Wednesday we actually got our Bishops parents to give us a ride to the temple even though they are actually members in a neighboring ward. But they are super cool. We showed up to their house around 8:15 and they had us load up in their mini van and we headed out. The sister had water and candy mints to give us and we had a pleasant ride up to Oakland. We crossed the San Mateo bridge I think and it was huge. They mentioned that it used to be the longest in the country but I think one recently supassed it in Florida or something. Normally I hold my breath over bridges just for fun but I would have passed out five times at least if I had tried on this one I'm sure. That took us across to the East side of the bay into Hayward and then we headed North to the Oakland Temple. I guess we made pretty good time but about 20 minutes from the Temple my companion realized that he had forgotten his recommend, but we didn't say anything to our hosts. We got to the front desk in the Temple and I was surprised to see a member from my last area which is almost a 2 1/2 hour drive but he's one of my favorite members from back in King City who rides unicycles. Anyway we told him the situation and my companion had to fill out a little form and they had to try and contact our Mission President to validate my companions worthiness I guess. They eventually let us in and we managed to make the 10 o'clock session and it was great. Then we headed back to Redwood City and the couple stopped for lunch at In n' out burger and it again was pretty good. We have two In n' out burger joints in our area alone but that's the first time I've eaten in one of them. So it was a great temple trip, pulled it off successfully.
Then this weekend was spectacular, mainly in the sense that we got a ton of free food. We picked up some other missionaries on Saturday morning and we watched General conference at our Stake Center in Menlo Park and it was great. We took a lunch break between the sessions and had to drop our fellow missionary pals off at a members house where they were watching the second session and then we watched the second session back at the stake center. I have real difficulty remembering which general authority specifically spoke about what even though I took extensive notes. But an overall feel I got from conference was a resolve to read the scriptures more and really study them as well as renew my abandoned plans to memorize the scripture mastery scriptures. After the second session we were about to leave but were invited by members of the Tongan ward to their youth conference where we had to introduce ourselves, share what we learned from Conference and then sing a hymn in order to earn a meal. It was a good meal and they had doughnuts so the effort was all worth it. Then we went to the Priesthood session which is always a little more comedic than the rest of conference so it was great as well.
Then yesterday we had much the same pattern, except that after the first session a bunch of members set up on the stage for a lunch and all the missionaries were invited and we didn't have to perform anything to get a meal this time. We did break down all the tables and chairs afterward though but we ate a lot so we needed the exercise afterward to try and burn off some calories. Then we watched the fourth session and it was great. I don't remember if it was that session or not but I really enjoyed President Monsons story about the tour bus in Texas of all the churches.
I hope everyone enjoyed hearing from our Prophet and take the counsel from it seriously. I consider conference more of a mormon new years. Time to evaluate and apply new things into our lives.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
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