Hello Everyone,
Well I don't know about you but my Christmas was pretty great. Hopefully yours was special. My week was actually pretty boring until the holiday came closer. My family started sending me a "12 Days of Christmas" package a day type thing which was super fun. Among top gifts, my sister sent me a pretty legit ninja throwing star which I have always wanted. It's kind of sad that I got it on my mission where I don't have much opportunity to really use it but nonetheless it's pretty cool. Normally I open things and see that they're made in China and think to myself that it's a little less authentic than hoped for, but a ninja star being made in China really made it way cooler in my eyes. Anyway, my other sister sent me some fake mustaches which are awesome, and I got some much needed sweatpants and an amazing t-shirt made by one of my many sisters which says "Keep Your Friends Close And Your Sandwiches Closer". And a hacky sack and delicious mudbars and the fixings for Tim Tam Slams which I got to make use of while skyping with my family.
On Saturday we had a mission wide breadfast. We all congregated in San Jose and were fed steak and eggs and pancakes and pop tarts. Then we had a white elephant gift exchange. We separated according to which zone we were in so we exchanged with the missionaries that we see all the time and know best. If I learned anything from that it would have to be that our zone is full of a bunch of cheapskates. Myself included. I just regifted. Other zones had like Chinese yo-yos and nerf guns and nice ties and candy. I got an old teddy bear. Anyway, that's not important. That night was pretty neat as we got to eat dinner with a family in the ward who was baptized 364 days ago. Last Christmas they became members of the church and Christmas eve a year later we got to be with them for dinner. It was great, and I had a fun time teasing the little girl about Santa Clause. Her mom mentioned that she knew about santa and so I asked the girl, "You know who Santa is?" in my most serious interested voice and stare. She said "Yeah." and so I had to ask, "Well who is he?" and she replied "My Dad." I kept it going and asked if she had let any reporters know cause this was newsworthy information. I should have asked her why her Dad was still at the dinner table with us if it was Christmas Eve shouldn't he be out making deliveries. Perhaps it was stupid but I had fun and so did the family.
Christmas was fun. We were invited to have breakfast with a family in our ward and I had some of the best waffles of my life. Putting blackberry jam on there is the key. They were so generous. Their son used to come out with us all the time to help teach lessons but he is now in the MTC and I guess they don't have missionaries in the MTC call home cause there probably aren't enough phones or just too much of a hassle maybe so they were slightly bummed about that, but he'll get to call when he flies out of Salt Lake in a few weeks I guess. Then we had church for just one hour which was kind of neat in that we were able to convince some less active members to come. Church only being one hour sealed the deal a little bit. This only happens once every like 7 years I guess so better advertise it well. One less active guy actually came to perform "Oh, Holy Night" and he has an amazing voice. It was great, and members handed us goody bags with candy in them. After that we went to a recent converst house and he let me use his iPad to skype with my family. That was fun. Catching up with everyone and doing synchronized Tim Tam Slamming. Which if you don't know is taking pepperidge farm cookies called Tim Tams and using them like a straw for hot chocolate so the hot chocolate melts the inside of the cookie and then you eat it and it is divine. I had fogotten how good those molten cookies are. My companion called his family all normal like on our cell phone and talked for a long time. I figure since a picture is worth a thousand words my skyping and his extended phone call are about equal.
Then on Monday I exchanged some shirts my sister had gotten me for the most expensive pair of pants I've ever owned, and then we got to play some basketball, volleyball and then ulitimate frisbee which was super fun. I'll likely be transferred on January 3rd and I hope my new zone gets together as often for sports on P-day as this one cause it's really great to get to play sports each week.
This whole week past we had a great time going around and sharing Christmas messages with our investigators and members. Nothing too special but I guess recounting the Saviors birth and discussing the atonement is always special. I mentioned how happy I was with all the Christmas gifts I recieved this year and that's not a bad thing as long as I remember that in reality they are to be representative of the ultimate gift that comes from our Heavenly Fathers love for us. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..."
I hope everyone had a great holiday season.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Merry Christmas Everyone,
My week was pretty good. Some memorable moments. The end of it was when it picked up. First few days were not so great. Wednesday night we started our exchange with our Zone Leaders. I went into their area and we have two zone leaders and they have a third companion who isn't a zone leader but I was with Elder Bunker and Elder Teo'Tafiti and Elder Sotele went with my companion in our area. It was fun. Our Zone leaders serve in a Tongan ward as well as a "pulangi" (white) one. So we drove mostly about East Palo Alto throughout the day and visited a bunch of members and were sharing little Christmas messages and also trying to visit their investigators. In the car we had some Christmas music by some Italian opera singer. His music was beautiful but we couldn't help but giggle when he sang "everybody knows a Tourkie and some mistletoe". His accent just didn't quite make the right sounds some times. It was fun visiting the Tongan members and hearing my Zone leader converse with them. This really slim skinny white guy from Utah speaking Tongan like he's one of them, awesome. They were fun to be with for the day and get to know some other elders a bit better.
On Friday we had a great lesson and got a new investigator because of a very enthusiastic sister from our ward that just got back from her mission. She went ahead and invited an old school friend over for lunch and invited us as well to teach her. It was really great. The first time I've eaten with that family because it's a single lady but we finally got another guy to come with us. This lady, as tradition, makes every meal member display a talent at the end to kind of pay for the meal in a sense. It was fun. I juggled and three people sang someone drew a picture and another played the piano. It's a cool tradition that I think would be awesome to start doing if/when I have dinner guests. Fun way to end the session. Anyway, after that we went and were roped into helping set up for the ward Christmas party to be held on Saturday evening. It was quite the endeavor. When we got there it was little unorganized and we were told to start setting up tables but then a member showed up and was like "Why are all these tables already here?" They have a huge canopy made from like 12 parachutes sewn together that they put up to kind of mute the lights. So first we had to string lights all the way across the cultural hall which was actually kind of fun. Then we strung up the parachute canopy, the lights took most of the time and then the canopy but after that we got the tables placed and chairs and it was mostly done. It was fun climbing up and down ladders and working on stuff. Different kind of satisfaction that comes from that than you can get being a missionary otherwise.
So on Saturday we left the apartment early cause a baptismal candidate of the neighboring missionaries needed to be interviewed by our mission president and my companion being district leader needed to be there. So we waited at our stake center for a while and then she was interviewed and passed so her baptism was set for later that day at 12:30. We went back home and got lunch and changed into our suits and then went back for the baptism. The same missionaries had two baptisms later at 5pm as well and imbetween those there was a stake childrens baptism, where our first counselor in the bishoprics daughter was baptized and then another ward in the stake had a convert baptism. That pretty much ate up our whole day. Running around helping prepare for all those and doing what we could to help people. We had our ward Christmas party and we were there for a bit then had to pick up the Elders who finished with their baptisms and then went back to the party for the end of it. It was great. I really had my heart set on getting a picture with my companion and Santa Clause but we didn't make it in time. Had some good soup though and ice cream and then we broke the whole set down. Put all the chairs and table away and then dropped the canopy and folded it up and then we cut the lights down. Lots of work for a couple of hours of party but it was fun.
Yesterday we went to church and it was great. The program was a bunch of speakers giving little talks based on the perspectives of certain people in the nativity story. Really interesting and neat. One brother spoke on the Innkeepers perspective and I had never really given it that much thought but he mentioned how the man is known in scriptures to be this heartless man who wouldn't let a pregnant lady and her husband in cause there was no room. The speaker started off by saying that he felt sorry for the man, that he's learned who he rejected by now and is probably embarrassed in the spirit world. But in reality how was he supposed to know who it was knocking on his door. The best part of sacrament meeting though was a less active woman and her non-member husband who we have been teaching finally had their little baby girl blessed by our bishop and we got to stand in circle. The first baby blessing I've gotten to participate in. Also we got a new Ward Mission Leader. I don't think I'll get to work with him much, he goes on vacation for two weeks and I think I'm leaving in two weeks. But still he seems like an awesome guy, just moved into the ward with his wife and child from Boston where he was in the bishopric and he and his wife both served missions in Hong Kong.
A member who we visit often and his wife were at Stanford Hostpital due to pregnancy complications so we were invited over there to give his wife a blessing. One funny thing was that on the way to the hospital room we had to get visitors name tags and the security guard in charge of writing out our nametags was Indian I think and he noticed that we already had nametags so he first asked my companion his name and wrote his correctly but he didn't even bother asking my name cause he thought he saw it on the nametag. So when I got my sticker it read "Jeasus C." I was pretty happy with that. Really funny.
Now is Monday and Christmas is coming up. Should be good. On Christmas eve we have a mission wide breakfast which is a new thing and should be fun and then on Christmas our day will probably be spent going around sharing little messages with members and then accepting whatever cookies or treats they feel obliged to offer. Good times ahead. Merry Christmas Everybody.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
My week was pretty good. Some memorable moments. The end of it was when it picked up. First few days were not so great. Wednesday night we started our exchange with our Zone Leaders. I went into their area and we have two zone leaders and they have a third companion who isn't a zone leader but I was with Elder Bunker and Elder Teo'Tafiti and Elder Sotele went with my companion in our area. It was fun. Our Zone leaders serve in a Tongan ward as well as a "pulangi" (white) one. So we drove mostly about East Palo Alto throughout the day and visited a bunch of members and were sharing little Christmas messages and also trying to visit their investigators. In the car we had some Christmas music by some Italian opera singer. His music was beautiful but we couldn't help but giggle when he sang "everybody knows a Tourkie and some mistletoe". His accent just didn't quite make the right sounds some times. It was fun visiting the Tongan members and hearing my Zone leader converse with them. This really slim skinny white guy from Utah speaking Tongan like he's one of them, awesome. They were fun to be with for the day and get to know some other elders a bit better.
On Friday we had a great lesson and got a new investigator because of a very enthusiastic sister from our ward that just got back from her mission. She went ahead and invited an old school friend over for lunch and invited us as well to teach her. It was really great. The first time I've eaten with that family because it's a single lady but we finally got another guy to come with us. This lady, as tradition, makes every meal member display a talent at the end to kind of pay for the meal in a sense. It was fun. I juggled and three people sang someone drew a picture and another played the piano. It's a cool tradition that I think would be awesome to start doing if/when I have dinner guests. Fun way to end the session. Anyway, after that we went and were roped into helping set up for the ward Christmas party to be held on Saturday evening. It was quite the endeavor. When we got there it was little unorganized and we were told to start setting up tables but then a member showed up and was like "Why are all these tables already here?" They have a huge canopy made from like 12 parachutes sewn together that they put up to kind of mute the lights. So first we had to string lights all the way across the cultural hall which was actually kind of fun. Then we strung up the parachute canopy, the lights took most of the time and then the canopy but after that we got the tables placed and chairs and it was mostly done. It was fun climbing up and down ladders and working on stuff. Different kind of satisfaction that comes from that than you can get being a missionary otherwise.
So on Saturday we left the apartment early cause a baptismal candidate of the neighboring missionaries needed to be interviewed by our mission president and my companion being district leader needed to be there. So we waited at our stake center for a while and then she was interviewed and passed so her baptism was set for later that day at 12:30. We went back home and got lunch and changed into our suits and then went back for the baptism. The same missionaries had two baptisms later at 5pm as well and imbetween those there was a stake childrens baptism, where our first counselor in the bishoprics daughter was baptized and then another ward in the stake had a convert baptism. That pretty much ate up our whole day. Running around helping prepare for all those and doing what we could to help people. We had our ward Christmas party and we were there for a bit then had to pick up the Elders who finished with their baptisms and then went back to the party for the end of it. It was great. I really had my heart set on getting a picture with my companion and Santa Clause but we didn't make it in time. Had some good soup though and ice cream and then we broke the whole set down. Put all the chairs and table away and then dropped the canopy and folded it up and then we cut the lights down. Lots of work for a couple of hours of party but it was fun.
Yesterday we went to church and it was great. The program was a bunch of speakers giving little talks based on the perspectives of certain people in the nativity story. Really interesting and neat. One brother spoke on the Innkeepers perspective and I had never really given it that much thought but he mentioned how the man is known in scriptures to be this heartless man who wouldn't let a pregnant lady and her husband in cause there was no room. The speaker started off by saying that he felt sorry for the man, that he's learned who he rejected by now and is probably embarrassed in the spirit world. But in reality how was he supposed to know who it was knocking on his door. The best part of sacrament meeting though was a less active woman and her non-member husband who we have been teaching finally had their little baby girl blessed by our bishop and we got to stand in circle. The first baby blessing I've gotten to participate in. Also we got a new Ward Mission Leader. I don't think I'll get to work with him much, he goes on vacation for two weeks and I think I'm leaving in two weeks. But still he seems like an awesome guy, just moved into the ward with his wife and child from Boston where he was in the bishopric and he and his wife both served missions in Hong Kong.
A member who we visit often and his wife were at Stanford Hostpital due to pregnancy complications so we were invited over there to give his wife a blessing. One funny thing was that on the way to the hospital room we had to get visitors name tags and the security guard in charge of writing out our nametags was Indian I think and he noticed that we already had nametags so he first asked my companion his name and wrote his correctly but he didn't even bother asking my name cause he thought he saw it on the nametag. So when I got my sticker it read "Jeasus C." I was pretty happy with that. Really funny.
Now is Monday and Christmas is coming up. Should be good. On Christmas eve we have a mission wide breakfast which is a new thing and should be fun and then on Christmas our day will probably be spent going around sharing little messages with members and then accepting whatever cookies or treats they feel obliged to offer. Good times ahead. Merry Christmas Everybody.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
Monday, December 12, 2011
Hello Everyone,
This week was fine as usual. We have experienced quite the slow down which is to be expected once your main investigators get baptized and you no longer teach them. Our most exciting days were probably Thursday and Sunday. On Thursday we had interviews with our mission president. So we went at 9 o'clock to our stake center and met with President Watkins. They did a few other things that aren't normal however. First off this time our president was set up to have every missionary practice teaching a couple in one of the rooms and we were filmed and assessed on our teaching. It was a little nerve wracking waiting to teach while on camera and being evaluated but once I got in there I saw that it was a simple situation and designed to help us be at our best. Our presidents goal is that we can each receive a copy of our teaching so we can evaluate ourselves and recognize what we can do better and change. I was told I took too long to start smiling. On their sheet they had a check box for whether the missionary was smiling or not and at first they wrote me off as not smiling but for some reason I started near the middle of the lesson and so they went back and said that I did indeed smile but not until I'd gotten warmed up I guess. Obviously I knew most of what they were looking for and those are things that I kind of naturally do so I would kind of start checking the points off in my head. I never conciously thought about smiling though so that was a little eye opening that I come off as too serious or something for the most part. Then we all met with our mission President individually. He's a great man and although I imaging meeting with your mission president is supposed to be a whole game of intimidation our president has a real gift to put people at ease through humor and his comments. So it was great getting to chat with him briefly. He confirmed that I will most definitely move to a new area at the start of January. My companion also was told that our President was considering having him train his last transfer in the mission. We were told that there would be no more trainers that would only train for one transfer because a new program was started in which new missionaries have a study manual that they take two transfers to complete with their trainers but I guess our mission president is pleased with my companion and wants him to train and especially in an area as amazing as this one is. I think he'd do a good job but I'm not sure if he wants to train. After that we actually met with Sister Watkins who was talking to us about personal study tactics and a new program that we could use if we want to study. It's called SP90X. Taken from the popular workout program P90X, SP90X stands for Spiritual Power 90 eXtreme I guess. It's a ninety day calendar and accompanying study topics that would plan out for you to finish the Book of Mormon and all of Preach My Gospel in those ninety days. It's pretty neat and I think I'll do it once I finish up the program I'm already doing during my study time.
On Friday we got to teach a lesson to a lady who is staying at a half way house right down the street from us and she really wants to be baptized and we are happy to teach her. She called the Creche hotline when it was going on and the lady in charge of Creche let us know and we stopped by and have taught her just the first lesson but also gave her a blessing and she came to church yesterday. I guess her father is a less active member but she grew up in Utah and attended primary as a kid and was married to a member of the church and she has finally realized that she wants to change her life and is depending on the church to help her do it. She's very nice and has a great desire to change her life.
On Saturday after we played basketball we were asked by our bishop to help a single mother move who isn't a member but I think a friend of our bishops wife. We didn't have our car that day so we had a young man from basketball give us a ride. We showed up to the house and realized that it was the house of some members in our ward but apparrently they have a studio apartment in the back that they rent out and I had no idea that anyone lived back there. Just looking at the layout of their house fromt he street I wouldn't have even known that there was room back there for a little apartment. Anyway we gladly helped her move all of her things out and our bishop came along with his family and were fun to have around and help out. Instead of renting a u-haul the lady had her father come with his big flatbed truck that had a cool hydraulic lift on it and so we had some fun loading the furniture and other items. After that we didn't have a dinner appointment so we gladly accepted a lunchtime invitation to our ward mission leaders house. They were having a small party as they watched the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona soccer game and so we showed up right after the game ended and scrounged up some chili dogs and nachos. Their Barcelona team won so they were all super excited. I guess that it's one of the biggest rivalries and they won 3-1 so celebrating was in need. Plus their niece was having a soccer tournament a little later so they were all in a soccer mood.
On Sunday, we had ward council which was a little long, since there is no activities committee anymore the auxiliaries were all argueing almost trying to determine whether to have ice cream or cookies for some activity and then determining which auxiliaries should bring what. Pretty important stuff. I was able to show off my sacrament cup placing skills to our recent convert as he was learning to prepare the sacrament. Our investigator at the half way house was brought to church by some awesome members and then the young couple that we had been working with but haven't been able to meet with recently due to sickness and some other issues, they showed up for the first time in a while. It's pretty interesting. We haven't been able to meet with them for a while but the families of other young couples with children we kind of set them up with, they've still been hanging out with them during the week. They have kiddy dates to the library and other things so it's great to see that they came to church not because they had us at their door reminding them but because they have made friends and truly feel comfortable coming and just seeing other couples like them that they can relate with. Hopfully we'll get back to teach them soon, but if not I'm sure it's just a matter of a little more time before they recognize that they are so happy around these other couples and the church because what we have taught them is true and is the spirit is the source of their joy.
Today we've done laundry and received the unfortunate news that the man that we have been teaching who has lung cancer passed away last night. I'll miss him and being able to visit him. He was a truly nice guy and I know that he would have been baptized if his condition hadn't prevented him. So he'll accept it immediately beyond the veil and I know that I'll get to see him again. We hope we can provide his wife the same comforting information now.
I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the season.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
This week was fine as usual. We have experienced quite the slow down which is to be expected once your main investigators get baptized and you no longer teach them. Our most exciting days were probably Thursday and Sunday. On Thursday we had interviews with our mission president. So we went at 9 o'clock to our stake center and met with President Watkins. They did a few other things that aren't normal however. First off this time our president was set up to have every missionary practice teaching a couple in one of the rooms and we were filmed and assessed on our teaching. It was a little nerve wracking waiting to teach while on camera and being evaluated but once I got in there I saw that it was a simple situation and designed to help us be at our best. Our presidents goal is that we can each receive a copy of our teaching so we can evaluate ourselves and recognize what we can do better and change. I was told I took too long to start smiling. On their sheet they had a check box for whether the missionary was smiling or not and at first they wrote me off as not smiling but for some reason I started near the middle of the lesson and so they went back and said that I did indeed smile but not until I'd gotten warmed up I guess. Obviously I knew most of what they were looking for and those are things that I kind of naturally do so I would kind of start checking the points off in my head. I never conciously thought about smiling though so that was a little eye opening that I come off as too serious or something for the most part. Then we all met with our mission President individually. He's a great man and although I imaging meeting with your mission president is supposed to be a whole game of intimidation our president has a real gift to put people at ease through humor and his comments. So it was great getting to chat with him briefly. He confirmed that I will most definitely move to a new area at the start of January. My companion also was told that our President was considering having him train his last transfer in the mission. We were told that there would be no more trainers that would only train for one transfer because a new program was started in which new missionaries have a study manual that they take two transfers to complete with their trainers but I guess our mission president is pleased with my companion and wants him to train and especially in an area as amazing as this one is. I think he'd do a good job but I'm not sure if he wants to train. After that we actually met with Sister Watkins who was talking to us about personal study tactics and a new program that we could use if we want to study. It's called SP90X. Taken from the popular workout program P90X, SP90X stands for Spiritual Power 90 eXtreme I guess. It's a ninety day calendar and accompanying study topics that would plan out for you to finish the Book of Mormon and all of Preach My Gospel in those ninety days. It's pretty neat and I think I'll do it once I finish up the program I'm already doing during my study time.
On Friday we got to teach a lesson to a lady who is staying at a half way house right down the street from us and she really wants to be baptized and we are happy to teach her. She called the Creche hotline when it was going on and the lady in charge of Creche let us know and we stopped by and have taught her just the first lesson but also gave her a blessing and she came to church yesterday. I guess her father is a less active member but she grew up in Utah and attended primary as a kid and was married to a member of the church and she has finally realized that she wants to change her life and is depending on the church to help her do it. She's very nice and has a great desire to change her life.
On Saturday after we played basketball we were asked by our bishop to help a single mother move who isn't a member but I think a friend of our bishops wife. We didn't have our car that day so we had a young man from basketball give us a ride. We showed up to the house and realized that it was the house of some members in our ward but apparrently they have a studio apartment in the back that they rent out and I had no idea that anyone lived back there. Just looking at the layout of their house fromt he street I wouldn't have even known that there was room back there for a little apartment. Anyway we gladly helped her move all of her things out and our bishop came along with his family and were fun to have around and help out. Instead of renting a u-haul the lady had her father come with his big flatbed truck that had a cool hydraulic lift on it and so we had some fun loading the furniture and other items. After that we didn't have a dinner appointment so we gladly accepted a lunchtime invitation to our ward mission leaders house. They were having a small party as they watched the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona soccer game and so we showed up right after the game ended and scrounged up some chili dogs and nachos. Their Barcelona team won so they were all super excited. I guess that it's one of the biggest rivalries and they won 3-1 so celebrating was in need. Plus their niece was having a soccer tournament a little later so they were all in a soccer mood.
On Sunday, we had ward council which was a little long, since there is no activities committee anymore the auxiliaries were all argueing almost trying to determine whether to have ice cream or cookies for some activity and then determining which auxiliaries should bring what. Pretty important stuff. I was able to show off my sacrament cup placing skills to our recent convert as he was learning to prepare the sacrament. Our investigator at the half way house was brought to church by some awesome members and then the young couple that we had been working with but haven't been able to meet with recently due to sickness and some other issues, they showed up for the first time in a while. It's pretty interesting. We haven't been able to meet with them for a while but the families of other young couples with children we kind of set them up with, they've still been hanging out with them during the week. They have kiddy dates to the library and other things so it's great to see that they came to church not because they had us at their door reminding them but because they have made friends and truly feel comfortable coming and just seeing other couples like them that they can relate with. Hopfully we'll get back to teach them soon, but if not I'm sure it's just a matter of a little more time before they recognize that they are so happy around these other couples and the church because what we have taught them is true and is the spirit is the source of their joy.
Today we've done laundry and received the unfortunate news that the man that we have been teaching who has lung cancer passed away last night. I'll miss him and being able to visit him. He was a truly nice guy and I know that he would have been baptized if his condition hadn't prevented him. So he'll accept it immediately beyond the veil and I know that I'll get to see him again. We hope we can provide his wife the same comforting information now.
I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the season.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
Monday, December 5, 2011
Hello Everyone,
This past week went by really fast. Last Monday, perhaps I already wrote about this, but we were volunteered for service at the Creche exhibit in Palo Alto. I guess Creche is an old French word that means crib essentially and is now used to denote old nativity scenes. I don't know who started it but every year they display hundreds of nativity scenes in a building and they heavily set up for it. I spent much of the day hauling tables to set up and hanging garlands along the walls of the cultural hall. Well yesterday we were called upon for a shift. Apparrantly missionaries weren't technically allowed in the beginning of the Creche because it wasn't necessarily a mormon event, it's coordinators also include people of other religions. But a missionary asked if he could set up a hot chocolate table outside and remain out there and draw people that way without being intrusive. And so for however long that was missionaries have been at the Creche passing out steaming cups of cocoa. We went last night and it was sadly not very well set up. And we ran out of cocoa pretty quickly. As far as missionary opportunities go this one wasn't that great. The majority of people that come are members and all the hot chocolate is snatched up by all the little kids, and missionaries. It was pretty hot as well, I burned my tongue good. We did get to wander around inside and check out all the Creches though and that was pretty neat. Kind of amazing how many there were. It's nice to know that the awareness of our Savior is worldspread. Items from Poland and Japan and South America and everywhere. Lots of them had little signs next to them and talked about how many were picked up by missionaries as souvenirs upon leaving their missions. I thought about what kind of nativity I could find here in California that would embody the area as well as tell the story of Christ's birth. I guess just carve it out of a Redwood tree, or perhaps a surf board. There were some from Vietnam that used recycled paper rolled up and glued in some fashion.
Anyway, on Thursday we had our first district meeting with my companion recently assigned as the new district leader. I however missed most of it because I had to go with one of my Zone Leaders so he could interview the man we have been teaching who has lung cancer. He passed the interview and is actually scheduled to be baptized today at 2pm so I have to wrap up this e-mail quick. He has an intravenous pump that we'll either have to have taken out real quick then baptize him and put it back in or wrap it in plastic and hold it out of the water. He also suffers from a lot of anxiety attacks and when he's drugged up he's not really with it. We are rushing this baptism cause unfortunatly he is not expected to live much longer. It is really sad but I'm glad that we have gotten to know him and taught him and he has accepted it all. When we taught him the plan of salvation and we had the knowledge that he was planning on dying soon it was strangely peaceful to let him know exactly what was in store for him and he was looking for just that information. That this life was not the end but that he has a long future ahead of him. He's counting on being with his wife in the after life as well so we hope to continue going over there and teaching her more and see if she can hope to be with her husband again too.
Actually nothing else all too exciting happened during the week. I'm not sure why it seemed to pass so quickly. We're doing well though and are gonna have to find some more people to teach since the ones we have been spending so much time with have kind of graduated up and we spend less time with them. I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the things the seasons bring.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
This past week went by really fast. Last Monday, perhaps I already wrote about this, but we were volunteered for service at the Creche exhibit in Palo Alto. I guess Creche is an old French word that means crib essentially and is now used to denote old nativity scenes. I don't know who started it but every year they display hundreds of nativity scenes in a building and they heavily set up for it. I spent much of the day hauling tables to set up and hanging garlands along the walls of the cultural hall. Well yesterday we were called upon for a shift. Apparrantly missionaries weren't technically allowed in the beginning of the Creche because it wasn't necessarily a mormon event, it's coordinators also include people of other religions. But a missionary asked if he could set up a hot chocolate table outside and remain out there and draw people that way without being intrusive. And so for however long that was missionaries have been at the Creche passing out steaming cups of cocoa. We went last night and it was sadly not very well set up. And we ran out of cocoa pretty quickly. As far as missionary opportunities go this one wasn't that great. The majority of people that come are members and all the hot chocolate is snatched up by all the little kids, and missionaries. It was pretty hot as well, I burned my tongue good. We did get to wander around inside and check out all the Creches though and that was pretty neat. Kind of amazing how many there were. It's nice to know that the awareness of our Savior is worldspread. Items from Poland and Japan and South America and everywhere. Lots of them had little signs next to them and talked about how many were picked up by missionaries as souvenirs upon leaving their missions. I thought about what kind of nativity I could find here in California that would embody the area as well as tell the story of Christ's birth. I guess just carve it out of a Redwood tree, or perhaps a surf board. There were some from Vietnam that used recycled paper rolled up and glued in some fashion.
Anyway, on Thursday we had our first district meeting with my companion recently assigned as the new district leader. I however missed most of it because I had to go with one of my Zone Leaders so he could interview the man we have been teaching who has lung cancer. He passed the interview and is actually scheduled to be baptized today at 2pm so I have to wrap up this e-mail quick. He has an intravenous pump that we'll either have to have taken out real quick then baptize him and put it back in or wrap it in plastic and hold it out of the water. He also suffers from a lot of anxiety attacks and when he's drugged up he's not really with it. We are rushing this baptism cause unfortunatly he is not expected to live much longer. It is really sad but I'm glad that we have gotten to know him and taught him and he has accepted it all. When we taught him the plan of salvation and we had the knowledge that he was planning on dying soon it was strangely peaceful to let him know exactly what was in store for him and he was looking for just that information. That this life was not the end but that he has a long future ahead of him. He's counting on being with his wife in the after life as well so we hope to continue going over there and teaching her more and see if she can hope to be with her husband again too.
Actually nothing else all too exciting happened during the week. I'm not sure why it seemed to pass so quickly. We're doing well though and are gonna have to find some more people to teach since the ones we have been spending so much time with have kind of graduated up and we spend less time with them. I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the things the seasons bring.
Sincerely, Elder Miller
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