Hello Everybody,
This week was amazing. On Monday yet again we got to teach the family with 5 unbaptized children that we have been working with and we taught them on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My companion bought a bunch of pizzas to keep them satiated as we held them through their dinner hour. The kids uncle who is in the bishopric of a single adult ward was able to come with his family and we had a great lesson. These kids are really bright and always remember the things that we taught them in the past lessons and keep right up when we teach the new stuff. I think they have kid of been learning from their mother their whole lives even though she wasn't active in church she was still an example and rubbed off a lot on them. The scariest thing for this family was the prospect of telling the grandmother that they were going to be baptized. The moms mother in-law is who they live with and she is an old lady set in her ways and very determined to hate our religion. It was only 5 days until their baptism when they decided they better tell her and even invite her. The next night we met with them yet again the teach them all the commandments as their last lesson with us. They let us know how the discussion with the grandmother went and I guess it wasn't as bad as it could have been cause they were still permitted to live in the house but she wouldn't be attending their baptism or giving much moral support. So it was good that the worst thing that happened was merely a little show of disappointment. In my first area, our neighboring missionaries had a man about to be baptized and the day of his baptism his in-laws were kicking he and his wife out of the house and so he was going to cancel the baptism but the missionaries helped them move real quick and still got him to his baptism. Wednesday was kind of a dull day. Understandably most of the people we have been working with kind of requested a few days off to celebrate the holidays. We mangaged to find a few people to visit and then we gave our car to the other Elders cause one was to be training so he had to go pick up his new missionary in San Jose.
Thanksgiving day we still didn't have our car and so our whole day was basically a big meal time at a members house. My worries about the Tongan people not having traditional meal items were quickly banished when all the food was placed. Turkey and ham, delicious chunky mashed potatos and yams and green beans and pie and cake and all the best stuff. I was wonderfully content. Thanksgiving was oddly enough just a warm up for the next two days however.
On Friday we attended a wedding for a young man in our ward. He is Tongan as well and this was my first time attending a Tongan wedding and it was pretty impressive. The church gym was packed and the buffet like food line was incredible. All types of more food I was continually stuffed since the day before. Tons of hula type dancing and the giving of mats or area rugs as gifts to the families and guests of honor. I didn't get any wedding cake however and it seemed like part of tradition is to give a whole layer of cake away to the families and guests of honor. I remember we once delivered a Tongan mat to our Bishops wife and she was almost upset cause since her husband has been the bishop they have gotten tons of these mats and they have no use for them. Hand made mats that a lot of effort are put into but they have no real need for them and they end up in bags in their attic. Anyway, our bishop got like ten more at this wedding. The wedding was supposed to end at 6 cause the other ward had reserved the building for their thanksgiving party but it was obvious that it would take a lot of effort to clear out all the partiers. We worked hard to clean up and the other ward was a little upset but we tried to clear out as fast as possible. Without the effort of a lot of other people the wedding party probably would have gone all night. Short of calling in crowd control we did all we could. I wonder if the cops have ever been called on a church party. Anyway, that night we printed up a copy of the program for the baptism the next day and then we went to bed.
On, Saturday we prepped the Stake Center baptistry and filled the font. There were no dust bunnies this time which was good, but there was a bit of plaster from the wall that had chunked into the font but I fished it out easily. The plan had been to have the oldest son get baptized and then recieve the Aaronic Priesthood and baptize his siblings but he didn't really feel comfortable so instead his uncle was still to baptize him and then my companion and I each baptized two of the other kids. That may have been decided according to relative back strength. I ended up baptizing the oldest girl and the youngest boy, aka the lightest ones. I'm not certain how it was determined but my companion baptized the two kids, a boy and a girl who both are pretty big kids and play football. The turn out for the baptism was incredible, we didn't have enough seats for everybody and the the spirit was amazing to feel. It was over too quick but was wonderful while it lasted. That is the first time I have ever baptized anyone and it was marvelous. I wish the oldest son had done it but I'm delighted that I had the opportunity as well. Afterward there were refreshments which was really a whole meal and it was great. Our mission President came and he told me that when he had just recently been considering transfers my name was moved four different times but ultimately he kept me in this area and he said that he was glad that he had left me where I was, and that makes two of us. This was probably the greatest experience of my mission thusfar. After the refreshements we then got taken out by the family to get more food which was too much but we were grateful.
So it was a food fun filled week and I will always remember it. On Sunday a sister from the ward got back from her mission in Canada and is now tri-lingual and that was really great to hear from her. It was weird sacrament meeting cause we had a baby blessing and then 5 confirmations and then a return missionary speak. Great great week and I am sort of wondering how the coming weeks can possibly compare but they don't have to. Christmas will be great too and hopefully there will be future events to trump even this one. I hope everyone had a grand Thanksgiving. I am thankful for many things but presently the main one is to be where I am at this moment and having the experiences that I am having.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Hello Everybody,
FALSE ALARM!! Turns out I'm not being transferred. It is hereby safe to keep sending me letters and or candy packed boxes to Redwood City still. I would have bet untold amounts of money that I would be transferred but I guess I'm sticking around which is a relief to me. I assumed that I would be transferred because my companion only has two transfers left until he goes home and usually they rotate people into new areas and give them two transfers to get used to the place before they boot the old guy out. My companion told me that he has been including in his weekly letters to our President, pleas or really more like hints that it would be a good idea to leave in the area still. Hopefully that wasn't the real reason I stayed since our transfers area supposed to be influenced by the Holy Spirit but I'm not complaining that I'm staying. I will now get to be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's too but I don't really care about New Year's so much.
Anyway, this week was pretty amazing. On Monday we had a lesson with a woman and her 6 kids. She is a less active member who, when she got married kind of just started going to her husbands church and her in-laws are kind of against our church as well so that didn't help anything. Unfortunately her husband died a number of years ago and long story short she has recently been coming back to church with her 6 kids tagging along. Our Bishop met with her and invited her to have us teach her and her children at his house and we did that Monday night and it went great. My companion and I are now sharing our car with some neighboring elders so we had their bikes and had to bike across our area but we got there and had an amazing first lesson. All 6 kids said that they wanted to be baptized, one of them is 7 years old though so she'll have to wait a little while but the other 5 are on board. The mother is just great with them. Obviously with children you expect parents to the shot callers but this lady told her kids that it is their entirely their decision. She didn't expect them all to accept a baptismal day but they did. So it's not ideal if some them are just succumbing to the pressure of their siblings but perhaps that will work out in the long run. The oldest son is amazing and really wants this for himself and since his father died he's kind of like the father to his siblings. He really takes a heavy amount of responsibility upon himself and they're all good kids. Their baptism is set for this Saturday. They were obviously ready and so we didn't waste any time getting them to this ordinance. We just have make time to get in all the lessons we need to teach them.
The rest of the week we didn't have any more lessons with the miracle family but we have been meeting with a man who has lung cancer everyday who I think I wrote about last week. His memory is just going so we have to be patient, which is easy cause he's such a likable man. More than anything he enjoys the company. He just spends all day at home and his wife kind of likes us to come over and teach him so she can get some other things done. It'w been really eye opening to teach him cause we are always teaching people the Plan of Salvation, and what is in store for us after this life but I've never taught to some one who is so close to that stage of their life that they really take it all in. Younger people don't think it over so much cause death is a long way off. I do the same, it's a nice concept but when you know your transition is near that's when you better start believing in somthing. Anyway, it's been great meeting with him. He gets anxiety attacks and so we often walk alongside him in his new scooter and stroll through the park periodically stopping to teach more important points and catch a little bit of the senior softball league games.
Yesterday we were able to meet with the large family that we are teaching right before church and teach the Plan of Salvation. The oldest son who is 17 is just so focused and into it it's amazing. He came with questions cause he's been reading the Bible and Book of Mormon, not just reading but studying. He really wants to know everything and he embraces it. It is really inspiring and he's the best investigator that I've ever had as far as desire and motivation go. Our investigator with lung cancer came to the second hour and sat to listen to the lesson in sunday school but he fell asleep alot. After church we were able to witness a returning member who we've been working with recieve the Melchizedek priesthood. That was really special. And afterward our Bishop spoke with the family who is to be baptized on Saturday about the possibility of having the oldest son baptized first and receiving the pristhood and then baptizing all his siblings, The Mom had been telling them that in order to kind of respect the missionaries who were teaching them they should have us baptize them but I think it would be way better and more special and meaningful if their brother does it. So we have a lesson with them tonight so we'll bring that back up and let them know that we won't be offended in fact we'd much prefer if they had their brother baptize them. If it works out that will be a for sure highlight of my life.
This week is looking spectacular. Lessons with our lung cancer investigator and Thanksgiving is with our Ward mission leaders family, who are Tongan. Normal dinners are like a feast so when an actual feasting occasion arises I'm looking forward to see what kind of food quantities will be achieved. And then there is to be a wedding on Friday for a young man and his fiancee which counts as our dinner so we'll pig out at the reception, which is also a Tongan function, and then the baptism on Saturday. Should be an amazing week. Hope all of yours are fun as well and that you can be full of thanksgiving and not just food.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
FALSE ALARM!! Turns out I'm not being transferred. It is hereby safe to keep sending me letters and or candy packed boxes to Redwood City still. I would have bet untold amounts of money that I would be transferred but I guess I'm sticking around which is a relief to me. I assumed that I would be transferred because my companion only has two transfers left until he goes home and usually they rotate people into new areas and give them two transfers to get used to the place before they boot the old guy out. My companion told me that he has been including in his weekly letters to our President, pleas or really more like hints that it would be a good idea to leave in the area still. Hopefully that wasn't the real reason I stayed since our transfers area supposed to be influenced by the Holy Spirit but I'm not complaining that I'm staying. I will now get to be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's too but I don't really care about New Year's so much.
Anyway, this week was pretty amazing. On Monday we had a lesson with a woman and her 6 kids. She is a less active member who, when she got married kind of just started going to her husbands church and her in-laws are kind of against our church as well so that didn't help anything. Unfortunately her husband died a number of years ago and long story short she has recently been coming back to church with her 6 kids tagging along. Our Bishop met with her and invited her to have us teach her and her children at his house and we did that Monday night and it went great. My companion and I are now sharing our car with some neighboring elders so we had their bikes and had to bike across our area but we got there and had an amazing first lesson. All 6 kids said that they wanted to be baptized, one of them is 7 years old though so she'll have to wait a little while but the other 5 are on board. The mother is just great with them. Obviously with children you expect parents to the shot callers but this lady told her kids that it is their entirely their decision. She didn't expect them all to accept a baptismal day but they did. So it's not ideal if some them are just succumbing to the pressure of their siblings but perhaps that will work out in the long run. The oldest son is amazing and really wants this for himself and since his father died he's kind of like the father to his siblings. He really takes a heavy amount of responsibility upon himself and they're all good kids. Their baptism is set for this Saturday. They were obviously ready and so we didn't waste any time getting them to this ordinance. We just have make time to get in all the lessons we need to teach them.
The rest of the week we didn't have any more lessons with the miracle family but we have been meeting with a man who has lung cancer everyday who I think I wrote about last week. His memory is just going so we have to be patient, which is easy cause he's such a likable man. More than anything he enjoys the company. He just spends all day at home and his wife kind of likes us to come over and teach him so she can get some other things done. It'w been really eye opening to teach him cause we are always teaching people the Plan of Salvation, and what is in store for us after this life but I've never taught to some one who is so close to that stage of their life that they really take it all in. Younger people don't think it over so much cause death is a long way off. I do the same, it's a nice concept but when you know your transition is near that's when you better start believing in somthing. Anyway, it's been great meeting with him. He gets anxiety attacks and so we often walk alongside him in his new scooter and stroll through the park periodically stopping to teach more important points and catch a little bit of the senior softball league games.
Yesterday we were able to meet with the large family that we are teaching right before church and teach the Plan of Salvation. The oldest son who is 17 is just so focused and into it it's amazing. He came with questions cause he's been reading the Bible and Book of Mormon, not just reading but studying. He really wants to know everything and he embraces it. It is really inspiring and he's the best investigator that I've ever had as far as desire and motivation go. Our investigator with lung cancer came to the second hour and sat to listen to the lesson in sunday school but he fell asleep alot. After church we were able to witness a returning member who we've been working with recieve the Melchizedek priesthood. That was really special. And afterward our Bishop spoke with the family who is to be baptized on Saturday about the possibility of having the oldest son baptized first and receiving the pristhood and then baptizing all his siblings, The Mom had been telling them that in order to kind of respect the missionaries who were teaching them they should have us baptize them but I think it would be way better and more special and meaningful if their brother does it. So we have a lesson with them tonight so we'll bring that back up and let them know that we won't be offended in fact we'd much prefer if they had their brother baptize them. If it works out that will be a for sure highlight of my life.
This week is looking spectacular. Lessons with our lung cancer investigator and Thanksgiving is with our Ward mission leaders family, who are Tongan. Normal dinners are like a feast so when an actual feasting occasion arises I'm looking forward to see what kind of food quantities will be achieved. And then there is to be a wedding on Friday for a young man and his fiancee which counts as our dinner so we'll pig out at the reception, which is also a Tongan function, and then the baptism on Saturday. Should be an amazing week. Hope all of yours are fun as well and that you can be full of thanksgiving and not just food.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Monday, November 14, 2011
Hello Everybody,
This week was quite good. I'm not sure if I can explain exactly why but it was a good week. Perhaps it has to do with a few lessons that we taught that were just really open and progressive discussions. One investigator confided to us that he has been having some weird dreams that as far as I can interpret make him feel like he is lost and I think that's a good thing cause we are here just in time to guide him. He also told us that he has been having some odd neurological problems as well. Some members in our ward invited this couple over for dinner and as far as we could tell it was a successful and fun evening for them all. But apparantly our investigator lost his memory of that whole evening. All these efforts are spent to fellowship our investigators by our members and our investigators lose their memory of it. That's insane and though I don't want to attribute it all to the adversary, there's something going on that is rather disruptive to our investigators' progress. It's great that he told us all of this so we know how to help him from here.
On Tuesday I was on exchanges so I went around Palo Alto with a couple of Tongan missionaries from my district. It was fun but when we get into lessons I'm kind of useless not being able to speak any Tongan. Most of them speak english so it's not a complete failure when meeting their investigators and members. I found myself getting a little frustrated though cause both of the missionaries being straight from Tonga, don't have drivers licenses and so I was driving but I don't know the area and taking instructions from someone who has only been speaking english for a year is kind of difficult. We almost ran out of gas on the freeway at one point and I was not happy. I just don't like driving in general and when I switch to unfamiliar cars my back starts to hurt. I probably need to work on my posture, and oh shoot I'm probably boring everybody right now, sorry.
On Wednesday we had our second lesson with a man who has lung cancer. His good friend just happens to be the Stake Mission Leader and in his current condition he has really been concerned with what happens after we die and his friend has been able to teach him a lot. His memory isn't very good given all the drugs he has to take I assume and so we just power through the lessons and we're almost more concerned with teaching his wife than him. He kind of just accepts it all because he really trusts his friend, but we want to help his wife discover the truths as well so that they can eventually be sealed and have that great hope of being together again in the eternities.
On Friday we went with some other missionaries to volunteer at a local church that has a soup kitchen. It was great, that's the first time that I've ever worked at a soup kitchen and it was fun and all like 450 people that came in and I dished up steamed squash to were grateful and often times in cheery moods despite the rainy outdoors they had just been waiting in. We got free breakfast there and were offered lunch as well but I was full enough from breakfast. There was one little old lady who came up to us and insisted that we turn our name badges around since it was a non-denominational church we were at and they didn't promote any specific church. I didn't really notice an issue and so complied but my companion ignored the lady until she came back again and they argued a little bit. It turns out the lady wasn't even in charge of anything, she was a fellow volunteer and the head honcho guy didn't care if we kept our tags or not. I felt kind of guilty having so quickly removed my tag that is my symbol of faith and discipleship of Christ. Another missionary bickered with the lady too and uncovered that she just held a grudge against our church. But still it was an enjoyable service day.
Saturday we attended a baptism for a couple of children in our ward because we had an investigator come. It was a good service and we were glad our investigator got to witness it. Our area authority a week ago on Sunday in a missionary oriented fireside quoted some statistics and said that 70% of investigators that are taught in members homes are baptized and 80% of investigators that attend someone elses baptism get baptized. This investigator is doing both of those things and so I'm confident that she will make the commitment to follow Christ but she has a few things in her way to overcome first and I'm planning on being transferred next week so I probably won't be here when she does finally accept and gets baptized.
Yesterday was good as well. We had ward council and it went great. There are always some good laughs to be found even though serious issues are discussed as well. Our bishop had been talking about potentially changing our 1pm start time to 11:30 for Christmas but everyone seemed to object and the primary reason was so people would have more time to lounge in their jammies. Right when I walked into the room Bishop and his 2nd counselor started talking to me saying, "okay Elder Miller let us have it, no need be humble or hold back." I had no clue what they were talking about. My companion caught on before I did, somehow he knew that Oregon had beaten Stanford so they were awaiting my cocky jibes I guess since I'm from Oregon. I didn't really care, especially since I have no clue what the score was or how that affects teams standings. I've never really been one much to follow football but given I'm on the mission I know and care even less than normal. After church we had a lesson with our investigator who has still never come to a church meeting though we meet with him directly after church every week. Partway through the lesson my companion got pulled out and replaced by our ward clerk cause our bishop was meeting with a family and wanted one of us their to ask them to listen to the missionary lessons. This is a family where the mother is a member but has 7 kids that aren't baptized and they have recently been coming every week for the past month or so. They agreed to take the lessons, in fact our first one is tonight and they are counting on being baptized. The older son is a senior in high school and I guess a really good running back/lineman and he got a call from BYU wanting to offer him a scholarship but he's got hair like Troy Palamalu and they told him he'd have to cut it. His response was to hang up the phone.
That was my week. Do people like how I write my e-mails? A day by day breakdown is kind of easiest for me to remember.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
P.S. I'm planning on getting transferred next Tuesday so all letters should either be sent to the mission office or wait until I find out my new address to mail them.
This week was quite good. I'm not sure if I can explain exactly why but it was a good week. Perhaps it has to do with a few lessons that we taught that were just really open and progressive discussions. One investigator confided to us that he has been having some weird dreams that as far as I can interpret make him feel like he is lost and I think that's a good thing cause we are here just in time to guide him. He also told us that he has been having some odd neurological problems as well. Some members in our ward invited this couple over for dinner and as far as we could tell it was a successful and fun evening for them all. But apparantly our investigator lost his memory of that whole evening. All these efforts are spent to fellowship our investigators by our members and our investigators lose their memory of it. That's insane and though I don't want to attribute it all to the adversary, there's something going on that is rather disruptive to our investigators' progress. It's great that he told us all of this so we know how to help him from here.
On Tuesday I was on exchanges so I went around Palo Alto with a couple of Tongan missionaries from my district. It was fun but when we get into lessons I'm kind of useless not being able to speak any Tongan. Most of them speak english so it's not a complete failure when meeting their investigators and members. I found myself getting a little frustrated though cause both of the missionaries being straight from Tonga, don't have drivers licenses and so I was driving but I don't know the area and taking instructions from someone who has only been speaking english for a year is kind of difficult. We almost ran out of gas on the freeway at one point and I was not happy. I just don't like driving in general and when I switch to unfamiliar cars my back starts to hurt. I probably need to work on my posture, and oh shoot I'm probably boring everybody right now, sorry.
On Wednesday we had our second lesson with a man who has lung cancer. His good friend just happens to be the Stake Mission Leader and in his current condition he has really been concerned with what happens after we die and his friend has been able to teach him a lot. His memory isn't very good given all the drugs he has to take I assume and so we just power through the lessons and we're almost more concerned with teaching his wife than him. He kind of just accepts it all because he really trusts his friend, but we want to help his wife discover the truths as well so that they can eventually be sealed and have that great hope of being together again in the eternities.
On Friday we went with some other missionaries to volunteer at a local church that has a soup kitchen. It was great, that's the first time that I've ever worked at a soup kitchen and it was fun and all like 450 people that came in and I dished up steamed squash to were grateful and often times in cheery moods despite the rainy outdoors they had just been waiting in. We got free breakfast there and were offered lunch as well but I was full enough from breakfast. There was one little old lady who came up to us and insisted that we turn our name badges around since it was a non-denominational church we were at and they didn't promote any specific church. I didn't really notice an issue and so complied but my companion ignored the lady until she came back again and they argued a little bit. It turns out the lady wasn't even in charge of anything, she was a fellow volunteer and the head honcho guy didn't care if we kept our tags or not. I felt kind of guilty having so quickly removed my tag that is my symbol of faith and discipleship of Christ. Another missionary bickered with the lady too and uncovered that she just held a grudge against our church. But still it was an enjoyable service day.
Saturday we attended a baptism for a couple of children in our ward because we had an investigator come. It was a good service and we were glad our investigator got to witness it. Our area authority a week ago on Sunday in a missionary oriented fireside quoted some statistics and said that 70% of investigators that are taught in members homes are baptized and 80% of investigators that attend someone elses baptism get baptized. This investigator is doing both of those things and so I'm confident that she will make the commitment to follow Christ but she has a few things in her way to overcome first and I'm planning on being transferred next week so I probably won't be here when she does finally accept and gets baptized.
Yesterday was good as well. We had ward council and it went great. There are always some good laughs to be found even though serious issues are discussed as well. Our bishop had been talking about potentially changing our 1pm start time to 11:30 for Christmas but everyone seemed to object and the primary reason was so people would have more time to lounge in their jammies. Right when I walked into the room Bishop and his 2nd counselor started talking to me saying, "okay Elder Miller let us have it, no need be humble or hold back." I had no clue what they were talking about. My companion caught on before I did, somehow he knew that Oregon had beaten Stanford so they were awaiting my cocky jibes I guess since I'm from Oregon. I didn't really care, especially since I have no clue what the score was or how that affects teams standings. I've never really been one much to follow football but given I'm on the mission I know and care even less than normal. After church we had a lesson with our investigator who has still never come to a church meeting though we meet with him directly after church every week. Partway through the lesson my companion got pulled out and replaced by our ward clerk cause our bishop was meeting with a family and wanted one of us their to ask them to listen to the missionary lessons. This is a family where the mother is a member but has 7 kids that aren't baptized and they have recently been coming every week for the past month or so. They agreed to take the lessons, in fact our first one is tonight and they are counting on being baptized. The older son is a senior in high school and I guess a really good running back/lineman and he got a call from BYU wanting to offer him a scholarship but he's got hair like Troy Palamalu and they told him he'd have to cut it. His response was to hang up the phone.
That was my week. Do people like how I write my e-mails? A day by day breakdown is kind of easiest for me to remember.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
P.S. I'm planning on getting transferred next Tuesday so all letters should either be sent to the mission office or wait until I find out my new address to mail them.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Hello Everybody,
Mighty fine week! Actually on Tuesday we drove another companionship to the mission office where there is a doctor that meets exclusively with missionaries on tuesdays for a few hours. Heres the story. Our neighboring missionaries are in the Valparaiso ward and they have a ginormous area and are on bikes because previous missionaries didn't use their car very wisely and it was taken away. The current missionaries have been trying to get a car for quite some time now but there just happens to be a car shortage in the mission. I think roughly a quarter of the missionaries in this mission are on bikes and they usually are in areas that are small, like parts of downtown San Jose. In the weekly e-mails we get from our Mission President it sounds like there have been quite a few car accidents recently and so there are even fewer cars floating around. It used to be that missionaries could claim health issues such as back or shoulder pain and they'd be given a car to cope. My first companion for instance had a "shoulder injury" some time ago and so was given a car even though he was in a tiny area. Anyway the the missionary now in Valparaiso has extreme exzima and the tips of his fingers are always peeling and riding a bike and having to grip the handlebars makes his hands bleed. He didn't want to draw attention to it but his new companion tried to exploit it in the hopes of it getting them a car, and it resulted in us taking them to San Jose to have a doctor check it out. It didn't change anything. But it was fun to drive to San Jose and it was the day after halloween and the office workers had candy put out in trays on their desks and I helped myself quite happily. So that was Tuesday, and then on Wednesday we had our Zone conference.
Zone conference went well. It started off with an amazing presentation by a member who was the former Chief of Police of San Jose. His presentation didn't really have anything to do with his career or field of expertise which I found strange but he talked about the different levels at which we should be capable of teaching. He brought up how people learn in different ways. Touch, listeners, visual. And correspondingly we should be able to provide multiple ways to help them understand. Our mission president hit it off by briefly telling us to not be boring when we teach. Try and connect with people logically, emotionally, and also give them something to do, put something in their hands to grab their attention on all levels. It was a great message and I think extremely helpful. Probably the best part of the conference so it was kind of sad that we started with it. We had lunch though and I got to catch up with a couple of missionaries from past areas I served which was fun. Members of the Relief Society always prepare lunches for us and they do a great job and we are always so grateful. And then for some reason our tradition is to repay them with a rousing verse of "Called to Serve". After lunch we did some role plays and learned a bit more how to practically apply what we were learning and also to set goals for it. Fun day.
On Thursday our bishop took us out to lunch at his favorite new Mexican Restaurant. He said the name translated to "little bright star" or something like that. And then I remembered that he served his mission in Brazil so I was wondering how he knew that unless it's the same phrase in Portuguese as it is in Spanish. And he said that he couldn't remember what star is in Portuguese but that for some reason he knows quite a bit of Spanish. It seemed odd to me. Anyway, had a good meeting with him and he was pleased with the update we were able to give on who we've been trying to work with.
On Friday we had a referral from a member to go teach one of his friends who is dying of lung cancer. We went over there right at 10:00 am and attempted to teach him but he was kind of impatient, and rightfully so I'd imagine. He first asked "what happens after death?" so we tried to start teaching the plan of salvation, but he wanted it in brief and after that he asked "what do I have to do to make it to heaven?" so we started on teaching the main points of the gospel which is generally the third lesson we teach. Throughout he asked us questions that drew from all 4 lessons we teach and in the time that we did it I don't think he got very much out of the encounter. But he was already set on coming to church because of his friends influence and my hope is that we'll be able to meet with him more and try and get more across. Later that day we got a call to give a blessing to a lady in the hospital who had had an emergency C-section on halloween and lost her baby and now had an infection from the incision. It was a really peaceful and pleasant visit with this lady and her mother and step-mother were there and it was just nice. I think she really appreciated the blessing that I gave and was truly comforted by her Heavenly Father.
On Saturday we played basketball with our ward members and then afterward we got to help an inactive family with some backyard cleanup. They had ivy taking over their fence and so we trimmed it back and got to spend some quality time with them. They have two teenage sons that were never baptized who could really benefit from just having new friends in church. They are considering being baptized. And after that we got to teach our investigator who Elder McKenzie knows quite a bit of her family back in Utah. She has a really tough time understanding the Book Of Mormon but we read a chapter with her and kind of translated it into easier terms and she picked up the principles and message from it no problem and we could tell that she accepted it all as things important to her life.
On Sunday we were on our way to church when we got a call from some members in San Jose whose parents live in our area. They were calling cause their father had slipped from his chair and the mother wasn't able to lift him back up. So we abandoned the ward council meeting that we were headed to in order to help this old guy out. We got there and he didn't seem to be in much distress, he was just sitting on the floor leaning against a chair watching television. But we hefted him up and on his wheelchair and his wife took him to use the bathroom and give him a bath. We waited around in case she needed further help with him. She wheeled him out eventually. He has Alzheimers and can be pretty difficult with her. She said she could handle it from there so we went back to church. Church was good. The man with lung cancer did indeed come with his wife and so did the young couple with a baby that we've been teaching. It was a good turn out. After church we met with another investigator who says he has some presentations to give concerning his new product that saves elctricity in LA so he may soon quit his other job and come to church. Then we had a good dinner with a family. We were sitting on the couch waiting for dinner to be finished when the dog was let in. It came rushing in and stopped on the rug and spat something up out of it's mouth. It was bright red and I at first though the dog had puked up something and at first glance I thought it looked like a heart. I was freaked out for a split second until I noticed a bunch of seeds in the juice on the rug and realized that it was a tomato. Sparky's a maniac.
After dinner we went to our stake center to catch the tail end of a fireside that our mission president and area authority were doing to inspire all the members on how to assist the missionary efforts. It was great. After that it was bedtime and today I'm writing to you all.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Mighty fine week! Actually on Tuesday we drove another companionship to the mission office where there is a doctor that meets exclusively with missionaries on tuesdays for a few hours. Heres the story. Our neighboring missionaries are in the Valparaiso ward and they have a ginormous area and are on bikes because previous missionaries didn't use their car very wisely and it was taken away. The current missionaries have been trying to get a car for quite some time now but there just happens to be a car shortage in the mission. I think roughly a quarter of the missionaries in this mission are on bikes and they usually are in areas that are small, like parts of downtown San Jose. In the weekly e-mails we get from our Mission President it sounds like there have been quite a few car accidents recently and so there are even fewer cars floating around. It used to be that missionaries could claim health issues such as back or shoulder pain and they'd be given a car to cope. My first companion for instance had a "shoulder injury" some time ago and so was given a car even though he was in a tiny area. Anyway the the missionary now in Valparaiso has extreme exzima and the tips of his fingers are always peeling and riding a bike and having to grip the handlebars makes his hands bleed. He didn't want to draw attention to it but his new companion tried to exploit it in the hopes of it getting them a car, and it resulted in us taking them to San Jose to have a doctor check it out. It didn't change anything. But it was fun to drive to San Jose and it was the day after halloween and the office workers had candy put out in trays on their desks and I helped myself quite happily. So that was Tuesday, and then on Wednesday we had our Zone conference.
Zone conference went well. It started off with an amazing presentation by a member who was the former Chief of Police of San Jose. His presentation didn't really have anything to do with his career or field of expertise which I found strange but he talked about the different levels at which we should be capable of teaching. He brought up how people learn in different ways. Touch, listeners, visual. And correspondingly we should be able to provide multiple ways to help them understand. Our mission president hit it off by briefly telling us to not be boring when we teach. Try and connect with people logically, emotionally, and also give them something to do, put something in their hands to grab their attention on all levels. It was a great message and I think extremely helpful. Probably the best part of the conference so it was kind of sad that we started with it. We had lunch though and I got to catch up with a couple of missionaries from past areas I served which was fun. Members of the Relief Society always prepare lunches for us and they do a great job and we are always so grateful. And then for some reason our tradition is to repay them with a rousing verse of "Called to Serve". After lunch we did some role plays and learned a bit more how to practically apply what we were learning and also to set goals for it. Fun day.
On Thursday our bishop took us out to lunch at his favorite new Mexican Restaurant. He said the name translated to "little bright star" or something like that. And then I remembered that he served his mission in Brazil so I was wondering how he knew that unless it's the same phrase in Portuguese as it is in Spanish. And he said that he couldn't remember what star is in Portuguese but that for some reason he knows quite a bit of Spanish. It seemed odd to me. Anyway, had a good meeting with him and he was pleased with the update we were able to give on who we've been trying to work with.
On Friday we had a referral from a member to go teach one of his friends who is dying of lung cancer. We went over there right at 10:00 am and attempted to teach him but he was kind of impatient, and rightfully so I'd imagine. He first asked "what happens after death?" so we tried to start teaching the plan of salvation, but he wanted it in brief and after that he asked "what do I have to do to make it to heaven?" so we started on teaching the main points of the gospel which is generally the third lesson we teach. Throughout he asked us questions that drew from all 4 lessons we teach and in the time that we did it I don't think he got very much out of the encounter. But he was already set on coming to church because of his friends influence and my hope is that we'll be able to meet with him more and try and get more across. Later that day we got a call to give a blessing to a lady in the hospital who had had an emergency C-section on halloween and lost her baby and now had an infection from the incision. It was a really peaceful and pleasant visit with this lady and her mother and step-mother were there and it was just nice. I think she really appreciated the blessing that I gave and was truly comforted by her Heavenly Father.
On Saturday we played basketball with our ward members and then afterward we got to help an inactive family with some backyard cleanup. They had ivy taking over their fence and so we trimmed it back and got to spend some quality time with them. They have two teenage sons that were never baptized who could really benefit from just having new friends in church. They are considering being baptized. And after that we got to teach our investigator who Elder McKenzie knows quite a bit of her family back in Utah. She has a really tough time understanding the Book Of Mormon but we read a chapter with her and kind of translated it into easier terms and she picked up the principles and message from it no problem and we could tell that she accepted it all as things important to her life.
On Sunday we were on our way to church when we got a call from some members in San Jose whose parents live in our area. They were calling cause their father had slipped from his chair and the mother wasn't able to lift him back up. So we abandoned the ward council meeting that we were headed to in order to help this old guy out. We got there and he didn't seem to be in much distress, he was just sitting on the floor leaning against a chair watching television. But we hefted him up and on his wheelchair and his wife took him to use the bathroom and give him a bath. We waited around in case she needed further help with him. She wheeled him out eventually. He has Alzheimers and can be pretty difficult with her. She said she could handle it from there so we went back to church. Church was good. The man with lung cancer did indeed come with his wife and so did the young couple with a baby that we've been teaching. It was a good turn out. After church we met with another investigator who says he has some presentations to give concerning his new product that saves elctricity in LA so he may soon quit his other job and come to church. Then we had a good dinner with a family. We were sitting on the couch waiting for dinner to be finished when the dog was let in. It came rushing in and stopped on the rug and spat something up out of it's mouth. It was bright red and I at first though the dog had puked up something and at first glance I thought it looked like a heart. I was freaked out for a split second until I noticed a bunch of seeds in the juice on the rug and realized that it was a tomato. Sparky's a maniac.
After dinner we went to our stake center to catch the tail end of a fireside that our mission president and area authority were doing to inspire all the members on how to assist the missionary efforts. It was great. After that it was bedtime and today I'm writing to you all.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
