Greetings From San Jose

Hello Everyone,

Our week was pretty busy. We had something out of the ordinary and big just about every day. From Monday night through Tuesday we had exchanges with some other missionaries which actually didn't feel a whole lot like exchanges because both set's of us ended up working together to help a less active man in our ward with moving a bunch of furniture and things out of his house. That took a few hours and then the rest of the day was spent in the far reaches of the other companionships area. They cover a string of little towns in what's known as the San Lorenzo Valley and then they also cover a branch called the Alma branch which is north on Highway 17. There isn't much going on in the Alma branch and so the missionaries only devote one day a week to working in that area since it is so far removed from the normal beaten path. I happened to be with them on that day. It wasn't bad. We tried to visit a bunch of potential investigators and less active members and then we finally had dinner with their Branch Mission Leader and his family who are awesome. The Brother showed me his prize rock candy crystal which was huge. Seemed like a neat little project to have going without having to devote really all too much time to it. You just let the sugar grow on the string and check it for months until you get a good sized specimen.

Wednesday didn't work out as we planned cause we had a bunch of appointments bail on us, but we had a member who just happened to need help moving stuff out of his storage locker. It was no coincidence that he needed our help exactly when we were left wondering what to do. It wasn't a miracle either though; that guy just always needs
help. He was moving his stuff from his storage locker into a much smaller storage locker and so a bunch of the stuff he needed to have taken to his tiny apartment. We were actually a little reluctant to try and move his stuff cause we didn't want the risk that comes from loading items into our new car. We were pushing it when his old heavy tv was crammed into the back seat and close to leaning against the window. Had we gone over any major bumps recklessly there's no telling the kind of damage that could have been done. But we helped him move what things we could and then we were off to some other appointments. That night we met with members of the stake presidency and our mission president as some new protocols are being put in place to try and help investigators who accept baptismal invitations into become better welcomed by the ward members. It's a whole phone texting chain that will result in assignments being given to members of the ward to go and welcome the investigator to church or activities or what have you. I haven't seen it in action yet but I'm skeptical as to how the average investigator will feel having even more strange people standing on their doorstep. Ideally we invite investigators to be baptized the very first time we teach them, and usually it's more of a conceptual baptismal invitation. In my experience a solid baptismal date acceptance right off the bat isn't common at all. Primarily we'll be dealing with people who agree with the idea of baptism but won't be fully committed to it until much later down the line. So I'm afraid the new plan may scare more people off. But I'm often wrong and I hope I am this time.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference which was great. We watched this wonderful talk in the spirit of Easter given on the subject of mercy and it was really insightful and funny. My least favorite part of zone conference was the lecture on proper dinner etiquette. I think I'm mostly a pleasant dinner guest, no major flaws to be done away with. The only things that came up that I think I can improve on are things that don't make any sense to me and therefore I don't want to improve on them. The main one is concerning the consumption of bread. They said that it is to be broken off bit by bit and if you're using butter then to slather it on an individual basis. Considering my love for bread, this particular rule would probably prolong our dinner visits by up to an hour, and no one wants us sitting at their table for that long. Unless the purpose of the rule is to keep people like me from eating too much bread. If that's the case then I REALLY don't like this rule. Anyway, after zone conference we actually drove to my old area in Redwood City because a missionary in my zone that we had driven up needed to go and pick up some shoes from another elder now serving there. It killed our day. I don't know why but sitting in meetings and driving a bunch just wipe me out. My companion as well. That night we helped set up for an activity that was being put on by our Single Adult Branch.

The activity took place on Friday evening and was essentially a walk through the plan of salvation. We started off with a plane ride. The hallway was decorated to look like the inside of a passenger jet with black plastic to cover up the brick walls and little oval windows cut out of blue construction paper. Seats lined the walls and our Branch Mission Leader was the pilot. A simulated crash was made by flickering the lights and banging on the walls and doors and then my companion and I dressed in white as angels bearing flashlights guided the deceased first to the spirit world and then through each kingdom of heaven. At each destination they learned more about the station and were left to ponder what it would be like to remain eternally in each place. The lowest kingdom was a dark room with only glow in the dark stars all around it and with a heater in it to make it a little uncomfortably stuffy in there amongst the 30 people crammed in. The middle kingdom was the relief society room which was nice and spacious and had some good plants but kind of plain and boring. And then the chapel was the highest or Celestial kingdom and it was brightly lit with pleasant music and a family from the Santa Cruz ward sitting on the stand just looking good. We had the father stand and bear his testimony on how this kingdom was the best and only place where families can be together forever. And then from there we went to heaven on earth, the kitchen, for refreshments of root beer floats and cookies. It was really great and such an eye opener for some people to get to physically kind of tour and somewhat feel on a more real level what it's going to be like.

On Saturday there was an emergency preparedness fair that we volunteered to go to and greet people and answer questions if anyone had them. It was small and not well attended but has been very successful in years past supposedly. There was a bread making class in the kitchen which we hit up often to get some good bread and there was a lady doing "Cave Man BBQ" which was just cooking chicken on top of charcoal in a pit in the ground. It was super simple but tasty.

And then yesterday I gave a talk in church. No topic was assigned cause it was assumed that I'd just talk about missionary work. Not that I didn't want to talk on missionary work it's just that I didn't want to go at it without a new or good angle to come from. So I infused service in there. That is one aspect of missionary work and so I just kind of focused my subject to that and it was okay. Super unresponsive crowd in the Singles Branch, made me very nervous while giving my talk, especially since I had just written it that morning and didn't feel sufficiently prepared.

Then last night we finally got around to performing with the stake choir as they were joined by the BYU-Idaho Sinfonietta. A bunch of string instrumentalists came and made us sound good. We rehearsed right after church and then had dinner provided by a lady in the stake and then we performed. We were expecting more people to show up but it was still a fine turn out. Our music was called or by Faure, I'm not really sure. It included pieces called Agnus Dei, Libera Me, and Sanctus. We also did a song by Vivaldi called "All Earth Rejoice". The most of our songs were in Latin and fun to sing though. And there were a few soloists, one of them in our ward and a member of the mission presidency. He has a killer baritone voice and stole much of the show. Then there was a soprano who was really good as well. But perhaps the most exciting thing for some people was the fact that Steve Young and his family were in the audience. I guess he is really good friends with the bishop of the ward that shares the building with us and so he came for the stake choir performance. He was surrounded at the end of the show and I didn't attempt to talk to him. Perhaps a cooler statement is that Steve Young applauded my singing performance. I guess it would be more amazing if he complimented my football skills, but that's never going to happen.

So that was my week for the most part. We are doing well and having fun. We have the same guy that really wants to be baptized but he has been too busy with work to meet with us. On Sunday we were able to set up an appointment with him for tonight, so we can better assess how long it's going to be before he's baptized. There was also this whole family that came on Easter Sunday that are good friends with many members in the ward and we are hoping to get to teach them soon. It seems likely that we'll get to eventually so it's just a matter of sooner or later.

I pray that everyone is doing well.

Sincerely, Elder F. Miller