Hello Everybody,
This week has been mostly fantastic. Last Sunday we had a family tell us that they were signed up for dinner on Monday and that they were going to have a family there for us to teach. When that time came we were super excited. We had a nice dinner and then were able to share much of the message of the restoration of the gospel with them. Then we asked if they would be willing to be baptized when they knew for themselves that what we taught was true and they said sure. It was great and then we scheduled with them to tour the chapel on the following evening.
On Tuesday we were in San Jose for the whole first part of the day. First we had interviews with our mission President and it was just our Zone so we were there pretty early. After a few of us had been interviewed and were just waiting around president Watkins asked us if we'd already had breakfast and gave us 40 bucks and sent us to McDonalds to get some grub. It was pretty cool, I'd eaten some toast that morning but an extra big breakfast plate was a welcome addition. The rest of our mission showed up after that as we were being addressed by Elder L. Tom Perry and also Elder Richard G. Maynes and their wives. That was pretty terrific. Elder Maynes spoke about how as missionaries we are looking for what he called "searchers", people prepared and ready and looking for the gospel. And he said they are like a needle in a haystack and we need a magnet to get them out easily. That magnet was compared to the members and how they are a kind of filter for finding the right people, prepared people. Not really anything new but he did have a power point presentation animating the magnet and haystack and needle so it was pretty impressive and seemed new. And Elder Perry mainly talked about how we are in the midst of a great "mormon moment". I think he works closely with the public affairs cause he was mentioning that a lot of press has been seeking interviews from the church and what with the broadway play and the presidential candidates and apparently some guy doing the temple work for a holocaust victim, a lot of attention is being payed to the church and it doesn't matter if it's good or negative cause ultimately it just manifests as more questions be asked by people interested in what we believe. Elder Perry was really energetic and actually cracking quite a few jokes and telling some fun stories so it was a delightful meeting. An interesting part he got speaking about was how the President of the church is placed. He mentioned that he is the number 2 apostle after Elder Packer. "Now we don't walk around wearing jerseys that display our number but we all know them, Elder Christensen is number 12." He was just saying that it's not a popularity contest. There are the senior apostles if Elder Packer is meant to be the next President then when President Monson dies Elder Packer will assume the role but if it is meant to be someone else then the apostles ahead of the person that is meant to be the President will be "called home". I thought that that was really interesting cause I've never had it spelled out like that before to me.
That evening we were able to give a chapel tour to the family that we had taught the previous evening and we were kind of late and they had some fidgety kids so the chapel tour wasn't the best but it was alright. We took the opportunity to kind of reteach the first lesson cause the husband hadn't been with us the firs time. We tried to offer them an exact date on which to be baptized but they declined saying that they were pretty tied up in the middle of an adoption process that keeps being put back. So they may be a slower progressing family than we initially hoped but they are being fellowshipped by a really great family so we hope they will come along nicely.
On Wednesday we had the great pleasure of going to lunch with a senior couple that has been serving in the zone but are finishing their mission and so they took us to eat at Applebee's. It was fun and good but sad to see them go. They actually leave tomorrow but that was their last day of having district meeting so that is the customary time to say goodbyes. I guess the Senior couples don't follow our transfer schedule. They must be serving like exactly 18 months and so they'll just drive home.
On Thursday I was with another Elder all day for exchanges and it was a great day we were able to teach quite a few lessons and did some service for Habitat for Humanity nailing up a ton of plywood. Well we actually only did a few sheets of plywood but each one takes like 50 nails and it was a lot of hammering and my hand would cramp up. My companion for the day was less familiar with construction type work than me and so struggled with the hammer a bit. At one point we were on ladders and he was nailing plywood around the opening of where a window is going to be and he missed and threw his hammer through the window opening and down into another section of the house. Lucky he didn't hit anyone. I was reminded of that movie "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" when they are at the barn raising and the brothers rivals pick fights with them. One of them "drops" a hammer on one of the brothers heads. Anyway, a big brawl didn't break out which ultimately demolished the home we were supposed to be building. Instead the hammer just hit the ground and no one was harmed. We all wore hard hats anyway.
I'm running out of time but the rest of the week was great and now we are supposed to throw a beach party as a zone activity so we'll see how that works out, I can see storm clouds out the window, or maybe the window is just tinted. Anyway hope you all have a great week.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
Monday, March 12, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Hello Everyone,
My past week was pretty great. We finally got a new investigator who is actually a former investigator but that still counts. We had just planned to visit a less active woman in the ward and while we were there we met her daughter. They were very open and frank about all their feelings towards the church and everything and we were able to simply offer to come back and answer some of the questions that they have. The daughter had been involved when her mother and father were investigating the church a number of years ago but she had been more skeptical and hesitant than the rest of her family and so they sort of ostracized her and made her feel bad for not just jumping on the bandwagon. Honestly she seems like the type that will never do what another person wants her to do. A rebel to the core. Her first sentence when she came in and sat down was to state that she found our church services extremely boring and too serious. But she still has questions and is willing to listen to the answers that we can provide so we are excited to teach her and she also has a son who has expressed interest in religion. And I think she is the kind of free spirited mother who would demand that her son choose for himself and then support whatever his decision may be. So her son may be more likely to get baptized than she would but we hope that they will both receive the Gospel to a good understanding and make a decision together.
Last night we were called upon by another less active woman we have visited cause her non member husband needed a hand moving a set of steps. We were glad to help and I think it did great things in terms of our relationship with this man who has avoided becoming a member of the church for so many years. Earlier in the week we were able to teach them and their grandson who lives with them just a simple lesson on faith again using the magic pen where the ink disappears with the fire. They thought it was the coolest thing and that was great again cause we are building a relationship with this young man who has been leading a rough life.
Tomorrow we as a mission are going to receive a visit from Elder L. Tom Perry and that is most exciting. We actually have to be there way early for interviews with our mission president and then we will be addressed by Elder Perry and see what revelation we can gain from that. And that about sums up the week I guess.
Thanks to all who read this and respond to me. Congratulations to my cousin who got married and to my sister who seems popular about getting offered internships.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
My past week was pretty great. We finally got a new investigator who is actually a former investigator but that still counts. We had just planned to visit a less active woman in the ward and while we were there we met her daughter. They were very open and frank about all their feelings towards the church and everything and we were able to simply offer to come back and answer some of the questions that they have. The daughter had been involved when her mother and father were investigating the church a number of years ago but she had been more skeptical and hesitant than the rest of her family and so they sort of ostracized her and made her feel bad for not just jumping on the bandwagon. Honestly she seems like the type that will never do what another person wants her to do. A rebel to the core. Her first sentence when she came in and sat down was to state that she found our church services extremely boring and too serious. But she still has questions and is willing to listen to the answers that we can provide so we are excited to teach her and she also has a son who has expressed interest in religion. And I think she is the kind of free spirited mother who would demand that her son choose for himself and then support whatever his decision may be. So her son may be more likely to get baptized than she would but we hope that they will both receive the Gospel to a good understanding and make a decision together.
Last night we were called upon by another less active woman we have visited cause her non member husband needed a hand moving a set of steps. We were glad to help and I think it did great things in terms of our relationship with this man who has avoided becoming a member of the church for so many years. Earlier in the week we were able to teach them and their grandson who lives with them just a simple lesson on faith again using the magic pen where the ink disappears with the fire. They thought it was the coolest thing and that was great again cause we are building a relationship with this young man who has been leading a rough life.
Tomorrow we as a mission are going to receive a visit from Elder L. Tom Perry and that is most exciting. We actually have to be there way early for interviews with our mission president and then we will be addressed by Elder Perry and see what revelation we can gain from that. And that about sums up the week I guess.
Thanks to all who read this and respond to me. Congratulations to my cousin who got married and to my sister who seems popular about getting offered internships.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Hello Everybody,
This week was pretty fantastic. We were prepared last Sunday and managed to corner a bunch of unsuspecting members and invite ourselves over to their houses so that we could share a message with them. Our missions goal every week is for every companionship to teach 20 lessons. That is the standard that we are supposed to aim to meet and up until this week I don't think I've ever done it. The key to doing it when you don't have very many non-members to teach is to teach a lot of members. So we set up a bunch of appointments beforehand and throughout the week it worked pretty well. Our total came out to 21 lessons, and not all with active members. You may ask yourself "what is the point of teaching members?" and that is a valid question. Most often we don't end up teaching something that they haven't already heard a billion times, but the value really comes from the spirit that is brought into the home and not so much the message that is shared. From doing this we had a couple of really great experiences. With one family we shared a message about eternal marriage and that was basically in order to fulfill an assignment we had received from our District meeting. We were supposed to teach that specific lesson and we just figured this was already a solid family so they don't need much and we have this lesson that we are supposed to essentially practice teaching. When we got into the lesson and then finished and asked what they felt about what we had shared they were really touched by the spirit and expressed much gratitude because they said what we had shared was a topic on which they had both been thinking about for a while. This is a couple who has been sealed in the Temple and are worthy of their covenants and so they weren't exactly any where near questioning their marriage or anything of the sort but rather they had just sort of forgotten the importance of what their being sealed in the Temple means. A topic that is only brought up specifically in church every so often and so allows time to just kind of fade from your memory. They just felt it was perfect to bring it up and turn their thoughts towards something that isn't always present in your mind every day. So that was just great to get to be a part of.
On Thursday we had a really busy day planned and it mostly worked out. Starting off we did service at the local soup kitchen and that was great. They let you take old donated pastries from starbucks as a breakfast and then put you to work chopping cauliflower and cutting up bread. One thing that entertains me every time I go to this soup kitchen, and perhaps it's just mean spirited, but there are yellow pieces of paper taped on all the entrance doors that warn the homeless people of the dangers of sleeping in dumpsters. I mean I guess I grew up with the stereotype of homeless people living in dumpsters but I had never really thought that it was so commonly practiced, not too mention prone to causing garbage truck related accidents. So maybe I'm just insensitive but I really want to grab one of those pieces of paper or get a picture. But it was great to prepare some of the food to be served out and then we stayed about for the lunch that they serve to all the volunteers. Split pea soup and salad. I got to talk with the director of the place, a very nice man. He learned that I was from Portland and so asked if I had seen a new tv show called Portlandia. I guess it's supposed to be pretty funny and in good humor. Everyone there who'd seen it said that the show could just as easily be hosted in Santa Cruz. Very similar cities they all agreed.
After the soup kitchen we had a lesson with a recent convert which went great, educating him on the responsibilities of the priesthood which he had received on Sunday and we were preparing him to pass the sacrament for the coming Sunday. Then we had a lesson with another recent convert and that went great as well. It is wonderful to see him doing so strong and eager to keep learning more and just soak up as much as he can. After this we were supposed to meet with a less active man and his family, a lesson that we had high hopes for since his wife and children aren't members. We had arranged to bring the primary president with us and win over the kids and the wife I guess but they called right before and said that he hadn't really checked with his wife and now the house was full for a girl scout activity that she was putting on so we'd have to reschedule for a later time. Bummer. But we got to try and contact some people on the street instead and that was alright and then we were headed off to dinner which was great. One of the daughters in the family we had dinner with had her boyfriend over as well and he was not a member and probably pretty resistant to any efforts to change that but we weren't very pushy and just got away with teaching an after dinner lesson to the family that was great. We have a neat lesson on faith and Lehi's vision in which we draw a picture of the tree of life and then scribble over it like it is obscured by a mist of darkness and then we know a trick to cause the mist to dissipate by passing a flame across the back of the piece of paper. It's pretty neat and gets peoples attention.
On Friday we were all set to do some more service but this time for a less active guy that we have been stopping by and visiting. He has this big old aquarium that was just extremely grimy and the sides were covered in algae and there was a dead algae eater in there and only one other fish that was alive. So we helped him siphon out the water with a garden hose and then clean it out. And then we got him to come along with us to teach a lesson to another member. It was really great.
So this week has been fun and we'll hopefully have another successful one to write about next week.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
This week was pretty fantastic. We were prepared last Sunday and managed to corner a bunch of unsuspecting members and invite ourselves over to their houses so that we could share a message with them. Our missions goal every week is for every companionship to teach 20 lessons. That is the standard that we are supposed to aim to meet and up until this week I don't think I've ever done it. The key to doing it when you don't have very many non-members to teach is to teach a lot of members. So we set up a bunch of appointments beforehand and throughout the week it worked pretty well. Our total came out to 21 lessons, and not all with active members. You may ask yourself "what is the point of teaching members?" and that is a valid question. Most often we don't end up teaching something that they haven't already heard a billion times, but the value really comes from the spirit that is brought into the home and not so much the message that is shared. From doing this we had a couple of really great experiences. With one family we shared a message about eternal marriage and that was basically in order to fulfill an assignment we had received from our District meeting. We were supposed to teach that specific lesson and we just figured this was already a solid family so they don't need much and we have this lesson that we are supposed to essentially practice teaching. When we got into the lesson and then finished and asked what they felt about what we had shared they were really touched by the spirit and expressed much gratitude because they said what we had shared was a topic on which they had both been thinking about for a while. This is a couple who has been sealed in the Temple and are worthy of their covenants and so they weren't exactly any where near questioning their marriage or anything of the sort but rather they had just sort of forgotten the importance of what their being sealed in the Temple means. A topic that is only brought up specifically in church every so often and so allows time to just kind of fade from your memory. They just felt it was perfect to bring it up and turn their thoughts towards something that isn't always present in your mind every day. So that was just great to get to be a part of.
On Thursday we had a really busy day planned and it mostly worked out. Starting off we did service at the local soup kitchen and that was great. They let you take old donated pastries from starbucks as a breakfast and then put you to work chopping cauliflower and cutting up bread. One thing that entertains me every time I go to this soup kitchen, and perhaps it's just mean spirited, but there are yellow pieces of paper taped on all the entrance doors that warn the homeless people of the dangers of sleeping in dumpsters. I mean I guess I grew up with the stereotype of homeless people living in dumpsters but I had never really thought that it was so commonly practiced, not too mention prone to causing garbage truck related accidents. So maybe I'm just insensitive but I really want to grab one of those pieces of paper or get a picture. But it was great to prepare some of the food to be served out and then we stayed about for the lunch that they serve to all the volunteers. Split pea soup and salad. I got to talk with the director of the place, a very nice man. He learned that I was from Portland and so asked if I had seen a new tv show called Portlandia. I guess it's supposed to be pretty funny and in good humor. Everyone there who'd seen it said that the show could just as easily be hosted in Santa Cruz. Very similar cities they all agreed.
After the soup kitchen we had a lesson with a recent convert which went great, educating him on the responsibilities of the priesthood which he had received on Sunday and we were preparing him to pass the sacrament for the coming Sunday. Then we had a lesson with another recent convert and that went great as well. It is wonderful to see him doing so strong and eager to keep learning more and just soak up as much as he can. After this we were supposed to meet with a less active man and his family, a lesson that we had high hopes for since his wife and children aren't members. We had arranged to bring the primary president with us and win over the kids and the wife I guess but they called right before and said that he hadn't really checked with his wife and now the house was full for a girl scout activity that she was putting on so we'd have to reschedule for a later time. Bummer. But we got to try and contact some people on the street instead and that was alright and then we were headed off to dinner which was great. One of the daughters in the family we had dinner with had her boyfriend over as well and he was not a member and probably pretty resistant to any efforts to change that but we weren't very pushy and just got away with teaching an after dinner lesson to the family that was great. We have a neat lesson on faith and Lehi's vision in which we draw a picture of the tree of life and then scribble over it like it is obscured by a mist of darkness and then we know a trick to cause the mist to dissipate by passing a flame across the back of the piece of paper. It's pretty neat and gets peoples attention.
On Friday we were all set to do some more service but this time for a less active guy that we have been stopping by and visiting. He has this big old aquarium that was just extremely grimy and the sides were covered in algae and there was a dead algae eater in there and only one other fish that was alive. So we helped him siphon out the water with a garden hose and then clean it out. And then we got him to come along with us to teach a lesson to another member. It was really great.
So this week has been fun and we'll hopefully have another successful one to write about next week.
Sincerely, Elder F. Miller
Monday, February 27, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Hello Everybody,
This week has been spectacular. My new companion is great and has been a wonderful asset to me and this area. He is a well seasoned guy and is really helping me transform Santa Cruz into a great place to be a missionary. The second day I was with him we got into a less active members home and there was also a non-member friend there who was mostly unfamiliar with the church, or at least with the missionaries. We both introduced ourselves as Elder Miller of course and he asked about that. We explained that the Elder part is simply a title and a way to show respect, and he interrupted and said, "yeah yeah, I get the Elder part, but what do you have to do to become a Miller?" That was great, we were careful not to laugh too much and cause him to think we were making fun of him but we quickly explained that we both just happened to have the same last name. That was a really neat experience though. That day we had been fasting, our first full day together as a new companionship and we had started as a whole zone to fast just to try and spruce up the area. And the day wasn't particularly amazing but we were able to teach three lessons which is about on track for where a missionary should consistently try to hit, at least around here it is. Our area has been really low lately and so being average is a mark of improvement. Elder Miller and I have been fumbling around the area, I haven't learned it all quite that well yet so it's like we're discovering it together. It has been an enjoyable week and I'm looking forward to the next few.
Saturday was a major bummer of a day however. Normally the weekend is the best time to reach people all throughout the day. We had a big old list made up of people we wanted to try and visit and get in contact with and of course we expect to miss a few of them and just not connect up at the right time, but this time we didn't find a single person we had planned on dropping by. We blew through our list and then were left just with the worst feeling for missionaries which is just not knowing what to do next. We took a break from trying to find more people and did a little more preparation work by shrinking a map index down to assist us in our navigation efforts.
Sunday was great, we just scheduled a bunch of appointments with some active members and taught them and shared the spirit in their home and all came out the better for it.
My birthday, Monday was alright. We discovered a group of the young men were playing basketball cause of the holiday and they invited us to join so we played some and had fun. Normal laundry and other shopping. Then we actually went to the Delaveaga disc golf course which is supposedly one of the best in the world. Elder Miller got his disc stuck in a tree on the first throw of the day. Had to cut that a little short cause our housing cooridinator was picking up an old dresser from our apartment. And then we had dinner with our Bishop and his wife and it was great. They even got me balloons and baked me a cake. Really quite fun and I was really grateful to them for that.
I wanted to thank everyone who sent me a card or package for my birthday. I love you all.
Sincerely , Elder F. Miller
This week has been spectacular. My new companion is great and has been a wonderful asset to me and this area. He is a well seasoned guy and is really helping me transform Santa Cruz into a great place to be a missionary. The second day I was with him we got into a less active members home and there was also a non-member friend there who was mostly unfamiliar with the church, or at least with the missionaries. We both introduced ourselves as Elder Miller of course and he asked about that. We explained that the Elder part is simply a title and a way to show respect, and he interrupted and said, "yeah yeah, I get the Elder part, but what do you have to do to become a Miller?" That was great, we were careful not to laugh too much and cause him to think we were making fun of him but we quickly explained that we both just happened to have the same last name. That was a really neat experience though. That day we had been fasting, our first full day together as a new companionship and we had started as a whole zone to fast just to try and spruce up the area. And the day wasn't particularly amazing but we were able to teach three lessons which is about on track for where a missionary should consistently try to hit, at least around here it is. Our area has been really low lately and so being average is a mark of improvement. Elder Miller and I have been fumbling around the area, I haven't learned it all quite that well yet so it's like we're discovering it together. It has been an enjoyable week and I'm looking forward to the next few.
Saturday was a major bummer of a day however. Normally the weekend is the best time to reach people all throughout the day. We had a big old list made up of people we wanted to try and visit and get in contact with and of course we expect to miss a few of them and just not connect up at the right time, but this time we didn't find a single person we had planned on dropping by. We blew through our list and then were left just with the worst feeling for missionaries which is just not knowing what to do next. We took a break from trying to find more people and did a little more preparation work by shrinking a map index down to assist us in our navigation efforts.
Sunday was great, we just scheduled a bunch of appointments with some active members and taught them and shared the spirit in their home and all came out the better for it.
My birthday, Monday was alright. We discovered a group of the young men were playing basketball cause of the holiday and they invited us to join so we played some and had fun. Normal laundry and other shopping. Then we actually went to the Delaveaga disc golf course which is supposedly one of the best in the world. Elder Miller got his disc stuck in a tree on the first throw of the day. Had to cut that a little short cause our housing cooridinator was picking up an old dresser from our apartment. And then we had dinner with our Bishop and his wife and it was great. They even got me balloons and baked me a cake. Really quite fun and I was really grateful to them for that.
I wanted to thank everyone who sent me a card or package for my birthday. I love you all.
Sincerely , Elder F. Miller
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