Greetings From San Jose

Hello Everyone,

I was actually just perusing the updated lds.org website and I think it's awesome that it let's you log on and check out an online ward directory. Unfortunately I didn't recognize most people in the ward so I'll have a lot of greeting to do when I get back to the Maplewood ward I guess. This past week had some great parts to it. Foremost of which (I hope this doesn't unveil my mixed up priorities but,) we got a new car. My current companion has been vying for a new car for quite some time now, and not just any new car it is a brand new Chevy Cruze. I think my companion would have gotten the car no matter what cause he was pretty much the only missionary aware of it's coming and bothered to pester our Vehicle Coordinator for it. The fact that we serve in Santa Cruz makes it way cooler that we have a car called the Cruze however. It's pretty nice. I've noticed there isn't as much leg room as in the Malibu we had but the turning radius is much better and that is a trade that I am fine with since mission rules state that the passenger must exit the vehicle and signal the driver whenever the car is backing out. Better turning radius means that I don't have to get out of the car in the rain and look like a dork as often. It's a shorter car but the trunk space is surprisingly good. Upon inspection our district leader said in appreciation "Wow, you could probably fit four dead bodies in here." I'd say two living bodies though cause four would be uncomfortable if you could feel it.

New car aside the week was good. We have an investigator that is progressing nicely. He has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and that is really all it takes. He knows that it is true and whenever he comes to us with concerns, we can give him answers and they are true but he's never convinced until he studies it out himself and finds his own answer through the Book of Mormon. At first it seemed like it would be no problem to get this man to the waters of baptism and then we met with him some more and he seemed less certain on some things. The next time we saw him he said, "I know that I want to be baptized and soon." We asked how he had come to this decision so assuredly and he just said that he was reading in the Book of Mormon and found a section talking about the importance of baptism and it moved him.

On Sunday we managed to make it over to San Jose for the departing missionary fireside. Our investigator made us really late but it was great to get to go and see the finishing missionaries bear their testimonies and also the testimonies of some very strong recent converts and hear the beautiful music we could sing all together. The investigator we brought tends to be very open and we accidentally introduced him to Sister Watkins, the wife of our Mission President, and this resulted in Sister Watkins being stuck listening to our investigators life story for 20 minutes. He's a talker alright. We also were able to bring with us a less active member who we have been meeting with and a guy in the Singles Branch who hasn't made up his mind about whether to serve a mission or not. He'd make a great missionary but I think all the pressure from church members is having the opposite affect on him, causing him to push back.

Today was transfer day and both of the district leaders in the Santa Cruz zone were switched up. My new district leader is an Elder that I've seen around but never gotten to know like at all so it will be great to get to know him better.

On Thursday we were able to go and do Habitat for Humanity again and it was lots of fun. It's a good work out and also kind of relaxing to pound some nails into a floor. It's really neat to see the construction at like week intervals and notice slight changes and try and envision what the final product will look like. I guess I should probably say something to that effect about my investigators as well. It's neat to see them make changes over time and look forward to the growth that they will make in their knowledge and understanding.

We were also able to do some service at a soup kitchen that we go to every week but this time we got a less active member that we have been working with to come along, actually he volunteered and invited his girlfriend and roommate to come and the Elders Quorum President came along as well. Some of the other volunteers seemed a little unsure, like the Mormons were taking over their Catholic Soup Kitchen, but most of them are super friendly. Actually there are quite a few UCSC students at the soup kitchen and a few visits ago my companion got talking to one of them and they were interested in all the same stuff. Japanese culture, anime, math, D&D, you know, nerd stuff. But she is a poor college student and so welcomed the invitation to any activities we might host that involve a free meal or refreshment and we got her to come to an ice cream social that the single adult branch held and it was great. We couldn't stay but for 10 minutes cause it went past our curfew but we heard that she had a great time and we were very excited about that. Then we are planning another activity that will take people on a tour of their own death, but in delicate terms, fictitiously put on as a plane ride in the chapel that crashes. It should be fun, my companion and I will act as post mortal guides, showing the "deceased" through the plan of salvation.

That's about it for me. I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the times.

Sincerely, Elder F. Miller