August 16. 2010

Hey All,

So last week was the 2 year mark. How weird is that? I am now on overtime. I figure I should get paid double for that. Haha. Maybe just more hot-wife points. Anyways. It will be intersting to have sorts of meetings and stuff. But it will be nice to stay busy for this week, keep my minds off of things.

I had some fun adventures this last week. I will include some pics, get you all excited to see me.

1-The temple. It was a really good experience. It is always nice to go to the temple, and I have not been in about a year, so it was nice to be back. We also had the chance to walk though central park a little bit, and we got a Manhattan hot dog. It was pretty good. So it was a very fun trip. Manhattan is really nice and I always enjoy going there.

2- The Mets game. It was very fun. There were tons of missionaries there and we all had a good time. It was a quick game, nothing too exciting, but good. The Mets won 4-0, and ended the game on a double play. Santana, the pitcher, pitched an excellent game, with like 120 pitches, 12 stike outs I believes, and 75 of his pitches being strikes. So it was really fun to go and see. I am glad I had the chance.

3 - I finally got the chance to eat what is called Cui. It is something they eat in Ecuador. I have been trying to get some my whole mission, and right when I seem to find someone that is going to cook me some, I get transferred. But alas, a family here in Flushing, the Lopez family, got me some Cui. Ok, so now so you know, Cui is probably better known to all of you as Guinea Pig. It was alright, not bad, but way too much work for not enough meat.

I did really enjoy your card. It was one of the funnniest cards I had seen in a while.

So i gave President a hard time in my departing interview. I was joking I was mad that I never got the chance to serve in Riverhead, which is way out in Long Island. He said jokingly, well I can give you 2 more transfers out there. And then I said in a very serious tone, Ok. He was taken aback, he thought I was serious and was put in a tight spot. You could see him struggling trying to tell me he actually couldn't. It was funny.

Everything else is good. I'm going to keep this short, as I have no need to make it long. I am very excited to see you all, and I love you all very much.

-Elder Miller

August 8, 2010

Hey All,

This week was maybe the fastest yet. Fast enough that I really don't remember it that well. It is very hazy in my mind.

Oh yeah, sorry for this email being so late. We had a little bit of a different schedule today. I was with the Zone Leader running some errands and stuff. SO here is the email finally.

One of the errands was one I am very excited for. President Nelson approved it for us to go to a Mets game on Thursday. I am super excited. I was sad that I didn't get the chance, but in my last week, the chance came up. I am super excited. So today we went and bought our tickets. We are in the mega nose bleeds, keep the tickets cheap. Haha. But it will be a really good time.

Also this next week I have my departing temple trip coming up, on Wednesday, which I am really looking forward to. I have not been to the temple for over a year, and I really miss it. So that will be really good.

The feeling of leaving are still very weird. But they are not really noticable, as everything is still a surreal dream, so it makes the feelings not happen. I am sure I will have an onset of emotions when it becomes real. It will be hard to leave everyone here, but it is reassuring that I will be back a lot to visit. As long as money permits. Haha.

Diamond Bar is really close to Los Angeles. It should be really fun. We have already made some big plans. I am really looking forward to it. Elder Furlong and Nagaishi are great.

For the record, I do have my nametag on in my picture that is on the announcement thing, you just can't see it. It is attatched to my sweater, on my left hand side. Just so you know. And it does look super New York in the picture. It is actually one of my favorite. I think it turned out well.

I recieved your package. Thank you. It was great. It will be a nice little snack for the last week, though I better be watching what I eat for this last week, so I can make sure I go home looking good. Haha.

So one other interesting thing that happened this week is that I had my departing interview with President on Friday. You know like in the movie the RM where your mission president tells you to get a job, get and education, and get married, not necisaraily in that order. Haha. It was really nice though. He expresssed his appreciation for me and told me good job. I also asked him about getting a letter or recomendation for jobs, perhaps for the translator job at McKay Dee. He said he would be more than willing. He might be an alright recomender for McKay Dee, as he was its CEO a year ago. Haha. So it went really well.

Well, I don't have much time, but I love you all very much, and I will talk to you all next week.

-Elder Miller

August 2, 2010

Hey All,

This week for sure went by way too fast. It is super weird. It seems like the weeks last a long time while I am actually going through them, but when I get here to this computer on Monday and it feels like I just barely emailed you it makes me a little scared.

The end of a mission feel is something else. It is something I don't think can be described. There is way too many flows of emotions. I am not sure what to feel, but oh well. You just have to go on with in though. It is also the first time I remember feeling nervous in a really long time. Nervous is not usually something that I feel. But I am feeling it right now. So we will see how it goes. It all should be well. But I am not enjoying this whole time. I was talking to some other missionaries the other day and they were asking me about going home and such, and I told them I really wish there was something I could tell them so they could prepare for when it happens to them, but I don't think there is anything. I don't think if anyone would have told me anything it would have made it any easier on me. I think you just have to do it. Everyone does and it is hard for everyone. But that said, it is super weird to know that the calendar will not turn again while I am in New York. Hope it doesn't go too fast, while at the same time, I hope it does, so I can see all of you. There are those mixed feelings again.

So here it is. I believe me and Elder Furlong are planning on going on the road trip to Diamond Bar, California on October 15th and coming back on like the 22nd. Obviously it is not set in stone yet, but I just wanted to give you a heads up about it all. It will be a blast. We have some super cool plans.

Yeah, we will wait and see what happens about the Luau, sounds interesting to say the least. Haha.

It is weird that everyone is so old. It will be crazy to see everyone all big and such.

I should be good on test strips, but just in case will be nice. Pods are good. Should be no problem.

Everything else is going well with me. Nothing too exciting happening I guess. We found a few new people to teach that live on the 2nd floor of a Subway, like the restaurant. It was funny. They should be alright.

Yesterday this lady named Maria got baptized. She is super cool. I had the chance to do her baptismal interview this last week, and it was totally the best one I have done. She is super strong, was super ready, but also is super cool and super funny. It was great. The interview was full of smiles and laughs. It was maybe the highlight of my week, getting to talk to her for a bit and find her ready to be baptized.

I have received my flight plans. You should be getting them in the mail soon. I am flying Delta, nonstop. That should be fun. I am glad it is nonstop though. I big layover would be no fun. But yeah, I think I get in a like 1or something like that. But you should be getting all of the specific details. I think I got mine on Saturday, so maybe you will get yours today. They should have been sent out together.

Well, enough about talking about that. Haha. Everything else is going well. I love you all, and I will talk to you again next week.

-Elder Miller

July 26, 2010

Hello All,

Yes another week has passed, which is super weird to me. They seem to just be gonig faster and faster. I think I might be a little different in how I feel than you though. For you it seems like I just barely left, while for me it does feel like it went fast, it feels like life before was just a dream. Like it didn't really happen. I basically don't remember not being a misisonary. So it will be a weird day to have to do that again. You would have been married in 3 weeks, and I will be home from my mission in 3 weeks. Haha. Funny.

So within my Zone right now I have already told you, are Elder Furlong, who is Ambree's boyfriend, and then Elder Nagaishi who lives with me. Well the three of us have become really good friends and such, which the Elder Furlong thing is really funny, small world, weird connections. But yeah, me and Elder Furlong fly home together, and then Elder Nagaishi is coming home in 6 weeks. Elder Furlong and I are planning on taking a road trip to California, where Elder Nagaishi is from, and going to his homecoming, then maybe hitting Disneyland and stuff, and then bringing him back to Provo, because he goes to BYU. It should be a blast.

It sounds like your camping was fun. I am sad I missed it. We will have to see about the ward campout, because on the 21st I am going to the Something Corporate concert, so we would have to be back for that. Where are they having the ward campout?

Missionary work went really well this week. We found a couple really good people. One lady we looked up had met missionaries before, lost contact, and has been reading the Book of Mormon the whole time. How cool is that? So she is way ready it seems like. She has read most of the Book of Mormon by herself without the missionaries even being there. Really cool.

I am not for sure for sure, but the New York South mission I believe in geographical size may be the smallest mission in the world. And as far as population it is one of the biggest. Crazy. But yeah, the zones are pretty small, our zone just covers about a 4th of Queens. In our branch alone there are 5 missionaries. Obviously our branch is more like stake size back home, but still, pretty small areas and such.

Well, it seems like everyone is doing well. That makes me happy. I have 2 full vials of test strips left, and just started on the 3rd, so I have like 130 strips left I believe.

Well, I better run. I love you all. Talk to you next week.

-Elder Miller

July 19, 2010

Hey All,

So the interenet is going really slow. I just thought I would mention that. It has taken me like 10 minutes just to get my email up and read all of them. Now I am short on time to email. Oh well. Haha. It doesn't matter.

So another week gone, and what an interesting week it has been. It seemed to have gone really fast, but on the other side it seems to have lasted for an eternity. To think that my birthday was last week is really weird. It seems like it was ages ago. But oh well. So time goes I guess.

Things are still good with the new comp. He will be fun. A little socially awkward, but he keeps things interesting.

I have been pretty updated on what is going on in the NBA world, and it sounds pretty nuts. The Heat will certainly be a force to be reconed with. I am so excited to be able to finally watch it this year. How weird.

Yeah, I will just be sleeping outside. That is how I will like it. You all already know. :)

As far as the new missionary training program Preach My Gospel will stay exactly how it is. INterestingly enough, Matt will not even be taught this program in the MTC, they will still be teaching the old curiculum, and he will be taught it in the field. They will start teaching it in the MTC in about a year. They are doing that so that when the missionaries leave the MTC they go out to a field where all the missionaries already know it. I think that is ingenious. But yeah, the program is pretty basic, which is always good, going back to the basics. Focussing on how we can help investigators and such. So it will be really good.

I think this will probably be a pretty short boring email, because not much happened this week. I actually spent most of my week sitting in meetings being trained on these new programs. They have have been good, but man have they been long. And on top of that now I am in charge of going back and teaching all of them to the district. So that means in District Meetings it is a whole lot of Elder Miller talking, which I totally hate. I get bored, and I am the one teaching. Haha. I wonder how all the others in the district feel. But oh well. Just a few more weeks of District meetings, then I never have to talk in one ever again.

The new Zone actually doesn't affect me at all. It just divided one of the existing zones, one in Long Island, into 2 smaller zones. It is just weird because it has been the same my whole mission, and is now changing.

Investigators are still doing pretty good, but like I mentioned, I had limited time to actually do missionary work this week. I went on exchagnes with Elder Nagaishi and then my companion stayed with him, while we went to the meetings. And our companions spent most of the time working in the English Pool. So yeah, it was a pretty slow week for work. This week will be really nice though. The meetings are done for a few weeks, and so I get to just go and work. So happy.

They have actually now started calling Elders to Time Square, there used to be none. It was probably just beacuse tourists don't want to talk to stupid 19 year old boys. Haha. Just kidding. I am not sure exactly why it was that way. But it is for sure that they don't send sisters to places like Jamaica. We actually have entire zones in the mission that have no sister missionaries.

Well, I better run. I love you all so much. I will talk to you again next week.

-Elder Miller

July 12, 2010

Hey All,

So my new companion is Elder Larson. He is from various parts of Utah, I believe his parents live in Draper now. He is kind of a goofy one, but he should be good. He definitely won't be bad or annoying, so that will be nice, a good companion to finish off. He has been out about 14 months I believe, the same amount of time as Elder Jacobs, my last companion. So he has been good. It will be interesting to see how it goes. It will be weird, knowing it will only be 6 weeks. 6 weeks isn't much time to get to know a companion to well. Anyways.

I was very excited to hear that Spain pulled off the World Cup, I was rooting for them. I was a little upset that Germany got 3rd. Not even one South American country in the top 3. Kind of lame, but oh well. At least Spain won, right?

Thanks for getting my room back in order, feel free to leave whatever you want in boxes and whatnot, I am more than willing to go through all of it. It will be interesting, I don't even remember anything that I have.

I am glad to hear that the camping went well. I heard from everyone that you all seemed to have a good time. That is really good. I am really excited to be there with all of you soon. It will be fun.

So in the mission right now there are a lot of big changes going on. They have started a completely new training program, that they are starting out in the fields, and will start teaching in the MTC in a year. They are doing that so that the missionaries that come out to the field go out to missionaries that already know the training. So it is pretty weird. We are spending a lot of time learning these new training programs and everything, and though it is really good and I am learning a lot, it is frustrating a little bit, because I won't get to use it and apply it much. I kind of wish that I had more time so that I could use it all. But alas, I don't. So I will just enjoy learning it and applying it for the short time I have left. Also they changed a little bit of the schedules, we used to have interviews with President every 6 weeks and something called a Zone conference every 6 weeks, but now we are having both every 12 weeks. So unexpectedly, now I will have one more interview, and I will not have a Zone conference. My last one was my last one, when I was expecting one more. But it should all be good, and I am excited for it. They also changed the boundaries a little bit within the mission and added 1 zone. So yeah, lots of changes right before I leave.

This week we found a new investigator to teach, her name is Rosa and she is from Colombia. She is about 70. When we knocked on her door she let us right in. She was very talkative, but very nice. She also fed us flan. The Spanish culture is cool, but so different. I am pretty sure she would have offered us her whole apartment if I would have asked for it, and it was the first time I met her.

In the district where I am serving they changed it a bit. There used to be my companion and I, and 2 companionships of sisters. Now there is my companion and I and a trio of sisters. So one less sister, but we are still outnumbered. I think Flushing might be the only area outside of Temple Square that has more Sisters than Elders. haha.

Well, I have to get going. I love you all very much.

-Elder Miller

June 13, 2010

Hello All,

This week was an interesting one. Lots of meetings and stuff like that, which took up a lot of time. It was one of the biggest, what we call "juke" weeks ever. Juke would be when someone sets up an appointment, and then is not there when you come. When I got here in Flushing we had a pretty "dead pool" or not very many investigators. We've got that turned around. But so anyways, the first week we had like no set appointments, so just lots of finding. This last week we had like 10 set appointments, and out of those 10, 8 or them "juked". So that was very interesting. It's not really out of the norm I guess, juking happens a lot, but it was a very high pecentage and what not. So it made for a very interesting week.

One cool experience we had was during English class. We only had one person show up for English class, his name in Raul, he has been coming for a while. I am usually not in his English class, because I have been teaching the beginning, but anyways. So he gets taught English, and we always do a spiritual thought at the end, and the spiritual thought goes really deep, end up teaching all about the restoration and everything, and by the end he committed to be baptized on the 3rd of July. So that was really cool. Hope all keeps going well with him. He is 20 and from Guatemala. It is interesting how someone can go from seeming to have no interest to having tons in so little of time. It is amazing.

Other than that all things are going very well. One weird thing is happening today, which I am not really excited about. I live with Elder Nagaishi and Elder Pape (pronounced pop) and they are great. Well, today Elder Pape is going to be changed areas mid transfer, which is weird for him, because he only has 3 weeks left in his mission, so that will be a change for not very long. It is happening because there is another companionship that I guess is struggling quite a bit, so President thinks Elder Pape and Elder Naga can help both of them out, so one will be coming here with Naga, and Pape will go out and be with the other. It is sad to see Pape going, he is great, and only got 3 weeks with him. Hopefully the switch will help out the other companioship though.

Elder Hernandez left from California, I think he had been living there since he was like 10. Elder Oliva did come straight from Guatemala, had been to the states a couple times. His family is actually very well off. His Dad is a retired doctor, and now works for the church and an emergency response coordinator.

I will consider asking for something for my birthday, I will let you know next week, how does that sound?

I did get the other pakcage and it was great. Just what I needed.

So my eating went down the barrel last night as we were fed by a family, and they gave us what are called papusas, which have like 500 calories a piece, and they gave us both 9. That was enough calories for the week. Haha. So that was frustrating, but they were very good.

I do think I will be buying insulin this week, and so if you wouldn't mind checking my card, that would be great. I have been a little bit of a spender lately, sorry about that, but just getting some food things and what not, I really did spend a lot, sorry. I will not be spending much more for the rest of my mission though, so hopefully that will make up for that. Sorry again.

Well, taht is about all that is up with me. I will talk to you all again next week. I love you all so much.

-Elder Miller

June 7. 2010

Hey All,

So it does sound like you had a very packed full week. That is good though. Slow boring ones are always the worst I guess. But then again, I guess as a missionary we count weeks a lot more intensely then the normal person does. Everything we do is either on a weekly or transferly basis.

It is pretty crazy to me that Heidee is now graduated. She is still just the little baby. Weird to think she is all grown up and such. You will have to tell her congrats for me.

Yeah, the place I live is very nice. And I am really enjoying the side by side beds. I definately prefer them over a bunk bed setting, but having slept in a bunk bed for almost 2 years you get accustomed to it. But still, going back was nice. So no worries about where I am living, it is very nice. The days of living in Ghetto places are done.

Here is where my companions have been from.

Elder Hatch - Greely, Colorado

Elder Wahl - St Johns Arizona

Elder Powell - Lehi, Utah

Elder Hernandez - San Salvador, El Salvador and Englewood, California

Elder Heiner - Alpine, Utah

Elder Zimmerman - West Valley, Utah

Elder Goodman - Phoenix, Arizona and somwhere in North Carolina

Elder Alverson - Mesa, Arizona

Elder Oliva - Guatemala City, Guatemala

Elder Oakes - Mesa, Arizona

Elder Call - Kaysville, Utah

Elder Jacobs - Montpeliar, Idaho

So not too many have been too close by. But that is just kind of how it goes, that is where the majority of the missionaries are from, so it is easy for me to have companions from there.

The work is going alright. It is of course, hard. But the hard areas are the best. Totally tackling a hard area makes you feel great. So I am excited to do it again.

Nothing too exciting happened this week. Lots of hard work trying to find new people to teach in very hot weather. So basically it was a week of sweating and thirst. Haha.

I went and got some test strips last week just so you know. It ended up working out for $15, but I eneded up having to have the pharmancist call Dr. Tensmeyer and get the prescription sent there. So yeah, it all worked out. I also will probably be getting insulin in the next week or so, just so you know.

As far as my birthday, this is what I want exactly. And you know how often I tell you exactly what I want, so you better make it happen. Haha. JK. So this is what I want. This year I want my birthday to be delayed until September 13th or so. That is what I want. Lets wait until I am home, since it is like a month away. So as far as other things I may want as like presents, we'll wait on that. :)

Well, I think that is about it for this week. All is well. I love you all very much, and will talk to you all next week.

-Elder Miller

May 31, 2010

Hey All,

Yeah, last week was a weird one, but this week has been pretty normal getting back in the swing of things.

It is super weird to be back in Flushing. Getting to see a bunch of people I already know and love. I am sure it is going to continue to be strange. I will get used to it though. Well, I am already used to it, but it is just trippy to seem like I never left. My companions name is Elder Jacobs. He is from Idaho. I already knew him pretty well, because he was ina neighboring area when I was in Rego. He was also companions with Elder Call, so we share a companion. He is super cool and a good missionary. So I am back in an area that I already know, with a companion that I basically already know. So it is almost not like change, but still a change. And I will almost for sure finish my mission in Flushing, so the only possible other change that I could have is to get a new companion, but that might not happen either.

You will be happy to hear that I am now living in a very nice apartment. And by very nice I mean by far the nicest I have lived in so far. We have side by side beds, it came furnished when the church rented it, so we have very nice furnature, it is all hard wood floors, just everything. We have 3 couches. So it is way nice. It will be good to finish my mission living in a really ncie place.

The weather has been horrible. It has been like 80 degrees inside our bedroom at night. We need to talk to the office to see if we can get another air conditioner. I might die. But I am sure we can get another one. We already have 2 going full blast, and they just don't handle it.

So it was kind of a slower week. The work in Flushing, as it was before, is very hard, because there are very few hispanic people that live there, as you know, it is all Asians, but as you also know, I also enjoy really hard work. So most of the week was spent trying to find people and such. One kind of funny story, just yesterday I believe, I talked to this guy on the street. You'd never guess it, but he was a member, or so he said. He said he was El Salvador, and that he got baptized in Guatemala like 7 years ago. Now for the best part, guess who he said baptized him. . . Joseph Smith. He said Jospeh Smith baptized him. It was pretty interesting. I politely told him Jospeh Smith and been dead for some time, and that was not possible, but he persisted. Very interesting. The people you meet in New York City, no?

It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well. That is good. It is always good to hear.

Just so you know, I will have to buy test strips soon. I was expecting the package to be sent last week and get it today or tomorrow, so I will buy those today or tomorrow, I will remember to try to use that card and see if they will take it. So yeah, just so you know.

Well, all is well. I love you all very much, and will talk to you all next week.

-Elder Miller

May 23, 2010

Hey All,

So this week was one of my craziest weeks yet. You will hear why. So first things first I guess.

Got our transfer calls on Saturday. As expected I am getting transfered, so I am packing my bags today. I still don't know where I am going, and will not know until tomorrow, so that means you won't know until next week. Maybe I will get ahold of Hmo. Ovalle and have him text you so you know. If I could pick I think I would pick to go back to Lynbrook, but we will see what happens. So anyways, that is the big news on that. It will probably be my last area, which will be weird, with one or two more companions.

Okay, so now for my week, I think I will go day by day, so you can see how crazy it was.

Monday - P Day, and then after P Day we went and dropped off dinner for some of our investigators, after which we went to a member and less actives house and had a family home evening.

Tuesday - We had what is called "Deep Clean". We do it once a transfer to make sure that the pad stays looking good. We tore apart our pad and made it look really good. Then at night we had Coorelation, our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader.

Wednesday - Elder Call had to practice with a couple other Elders for a musical number. Then after that we went and did some service at a Senior Citizens Center. Then we went and looked up Media Referrals in Forest Hills, the nicer part of our area. Then we had a normal night of missionary work.

Thursday - went and looked up a few people, then we had our weekly planning. After planning we had another normal night of missionary work.

Friday - We had Zone Conference. Elder Ringwood from the Seventy came and talked to us. It was pretty good. It was nice to hear from him. Then we went home and ate. Afterwards there was a fireside with Elder Ringwood, so that took up the day.

Saturday - In the morning the office elders needed our help, because they were taking some things to go in storage in Manhattan, and when you get there you can't stop the car, so you need 2 elders to move the stuff, and 2 to stay with the car. Well, we get there and there is a Flea Market going on on the exact same street, so we end up not even being able to do it. Lame. So we came back. Then we had like a little picnic with Tatiana and Francisco, a kind of goodbye. It was nice. Then Elder Call had another one of his Firesides, so we went all the way out to Brentwood in Long Island. So that was the day.

Sunday - Church and such.

So it was way crazy and out of the norm. But anyways. Today Hmo. Ovalle is going to take us out to lunch which will be really fun.

Everything else is going well. Just kind of the same old same old. Nothing too crazy or exciting.

I think I am still good on supplies and all. You should be good to send the package whenever you want, feel free to put whatever else you want to put in it too. :) I don't think I can think of anything specific that I need though.

Oh yeah, I sent a couple packages your way just of stuff that I don't want to carry around anymore, so you should be getting those soon. If you could just put them in my room or whatever, that would be great.

Well, I love you all so much. I will talk to you next week, when you know where I am. Haha.

-Elder Miller

May 17, 2010

Hey All,

So things were pretty good this week. It was a really long week, I am not really sure why, but it sure seems like it has been years since I have emailed ya'll last. But it is all good, I had a pretty good week.

I will be coming home with Elder Furlong, we will probably be on the same plane, I am not sure exactly how many of us Utahns are going home that day, I know of at least a few, so yeah. It will be weird, you might be at the Airport with the Whettons, strange.

Weather here has been pretty warm, not very fun. Some few really sweaty days, not really my favorite. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain I think, that won't be fun either. But as we know, we only have more heat ahead of us, hopefully I will get transfered to a car area so i can get some air conditioning. But who knows.

The transfers will be a week from tomorrow, so next week I will be able to tell you if I am leaving or not, although it is 95% sure that I will be leaving, and next week I will probably not know to where, unless it is fluke, so you might have to wait another week to find that out.

Okay, so a couple fun things that happened this week.

-Okay, so remember Javier? He is the one who got baptized like 3 months ago now I guess. Well, so I guess a couple weeks ago he and Hma. Pepin, a great member in our ward, and actually the first person I met when I came to Rego Park, started dating. It is a kind of a weird looking couple, he is like a 50 year old Mexican, and Hma Pepin is like a 45 year old Dominican lady. Anyways, as the story goes the other Elders go over to Hma Pepins house on Friday to visit her, and she isn't home, but her Brother in Law is there. And he tells them, Um, she is not here right now, she is at the court house getting married. So yep, Javier and Hma Pepin are now married. It is super strange, it went super fast. But I guess you can't really complain, it is a great option, he is married to a great legit member, you can't ask for more for a recent convert I guess. Hopefully now all that is left is them getting sealed in a year. But yeah, that went quick. 2 weeks or so frrom starting dating to married. Crazy Javier.

-Something kind of fun we got to do, it Elder Call goes around the mission and does this Fireside things with other missionaries, and there has been this new one that was planned by some other missionaries called "He is Risen". Anyways, we got to go down to Brooklyn and do that one, so that was pretty fun. It was funny, because obviously everyone knew about it, including President, so it was all legal and approved, but on the surface it broke a lot of rules. Number 1 you are not allowed to leave your area, and obvioulsy, Brooklyn is not in our area. Secondly, to get to Brooklyn you have to take the train through Manhattan, which is obviously out of our mission. And thirdly, you are supposed to be home at 9:30 and in bed at 10:30. Well, the train ride home took like 2 hours because the express trains were not running, and we were still in Manhatattan at 10:30. Haha. So it was pretty funny. We ended up getting home at about 11:15. But it was really fun and went well.

Other than that the work is going well, we have a few new people that are looking really good, and our other people I have told you about are still doing well.

Okay, as far as the Bars and seasoning, wait until next week to send it if you would. Then it wil be after transfers and I will not have to pack it. So yeah, that would be great. I think I thought of something else I wanted, but I forgot, so I will see if I can come up with it, maybe tell you next monday. Anyways, so wait on it.

Other than that I think everything is going pretty well. This past week I hit my 21 month mark which was pretty cool.

Well, I have to get running. I love you all and I will talk to you all next week.

-Elder Miller

May 10, 2010

Hey All,

As you all know, it was great to talk to everyone too. It was good to hear that everyone is doing well. It was weird to hear about Heidee doing things it seems like I just barely did, and things like that. It really has been a while since I have been around. But that's how it goes. But it really was great.

You got the weather pegged here obviously. It seems like this week is going to be a lot of really sunny days that look beautiful, but are actually really chilly when you actually go outside. But that is about how I like it. Today we are going to have a Zone Activity, we are playing Ultimate Frisbee in Flushing Meadows Park, it will be really nice. Perfect wear a sweater and feel great weather.

The work is still going great like I talked about yesterday. So hopefully it just keeps going the way it has been, well, I guess I hope it progresses because progression is always great. But I don't have any complaints. :)

Well, I am sure as everyone figured this letter is probably going to stay pretty short, because, well since it has been one day I haven't come up with much else I can think to talk about. So just like you said this will probably be the shortest email ever. Haha.

Okay, so as far as the list.

1. I will tell you the things I needed/wanted next week if that is okay. I can tell you 2 things right now I can think of, one was possibly Cliff Bars, and the other one was the McCormick Chili mix stuff, you know what I mean, I am just explaining it really bad. But you are the expert at those things. So those were the 2 I thought of, but I am sure there are more if I take some time and think.

2. I totally forgot to bring my card. I promise next week I will send the pics and testimony.

3. I also didn't have time to get and exact count, but next week.

Well, I love you all tons. Longer email next week. :)

-Elder Miller

May 3, 2010

Hey All,

So I actually just heard about the car today. How interesting that was. I guess from the details I heard that it was all set up ready to explode, but for some reason it didn't go off, and the only reason that they caught it is because it was smoking. Crazy. It is weird to be right here where everything is happening.

Weather was pretty miserable this week. It was either way way way hot and humid or it was pouring buckets, which is not fun as a missionary either. You know that as a non missionary I would take that all day every day, or even if I was back in the island and had my car again. Haha. But not when I am on foot. But oh well. I will probably have to deal with the rain until i am back in Utah.

I most certainly got the box. Thank you so much. It was great. I am pretty sure you sent enough toothpaste to last for a year, haha, so I might end up giving some to companions or whatever. I started the white strips, I'll see if they give me the pearly whites I will need when I get home to drive all the girls crazy. Haha. Just kidding. The dried fruit is great. It will be a good little mid morning snack to keep me going without making me fat. Last week I purchased a scale. I am currently at 160 pounds. Not too bad. I think I have a goal of going home at about 153. That would be sweet. Anyways. I think my favorite part was the slinky. It is great. It is gorgeous too. It has like a very retro look to it, and it is black. It is the coolest looking thing ever. It is also a great unwinder. So thank you so much, it was great.

That is crazy that the film doesn't come out until 2011. It will be fun if we can go see, than I can tell you all about where it is filmed and such. Haha.

Pedro and Victor are both doing very well. We just purchased a Large Print edition of the Book of Mormon for Pedro, because he has vision problems. So he is loving it. We are currently teaching him the Gospel out of the BoM. It is going pretty well.

Victor is still doing good. He had his last class on Sunday last Sunday, so he will be able to go to church this Sunday, so just pray that all goes well and he can come without problems.

So let's see, one cool thing that happened this week. Yesterday we go in to go to gospel principles, and the teacher had just been released a few weeks ago, and they still haven't called a new one, so they have been having mostly the missionaries teach since then. But we walk in and they say and the teacher for today is going to be Javier. He is the one for got baptized not too long ago. So that was a special treat. He did a really good job, taught a little lesson on the atonement. It was cool to hear him and see how he has grown since he got batpized.

You can send the disk and i will see what I can do.

Okay so the calling should work perfectly, because you will get home at like 2:15, which will be like 4:15 here. We have church from 1 to 4. So we will probably be calling around 4:30 or 5. I will be calling from Brother Ovalle's cell phone. So yeah, that should work out great. It will be great to be able to talk to all of you. I have been looking forward to it forever. It is weird to think that it has come so quick. It seems like I just barely talked to you all. Come to think of it, it was actually in Rego Park, I haven't even changed areas since the last call. So that is kind of funny.

Okay, one last thing. I think I will be getting some insulin this week. So I don't know how much or whatever it will be, but will you check maybe on Friday or Saturday what is up with my card and where I am at and such. Thank you so much.

So I don't know if you will think this is funny or not, but I found it funny, so I will tell you. This morning for the first time in a long time I felt like sitting down and writing maybe, I don't know, poem/song lyrics? anyways, one of those 2. I haven't felt like that in a long time. So I sit down and open a notebook and get maybe 4 lines down. Stop. Then I write in my notebook, "Wow, well I think I am going to come back to this later, because those sounded very emo-cutter like." haha. It was funny. I had a great idea, and when I sat down and tried to get it out, it sounded horrible. Anways, I don't know if that story was funny to anyone but me, but it was funny.

Well, I love you all. I will talk to you all next week, wait, this Sunday!

-Elder Miller

April 26, 2010

Hey All,

Yeah, it really had been working without seeing much, but we are starting to see a bunch, and we will see some soon. I will talk about that a little later.

The weather has been great, unless of course you are a missionary. Haha. The last few days it had been raining tons, which as you know is exactly what I love, but when you are a missionary and you are required to be outside all the time it is about the worst weather. Kind of lame. But Ilove the temperature, so that it great.

It is crazy all of the natural disasters that have been going on lately. I heard someone say the other day that the 5 largest earthquakes in the history of the world have all been in the last like 10 years of something crazy like that. It is interesting how much it is going on, but I also believe that we need to not stress about it and just take it for what it is. Stressing is not good. Just be prepared and happy.

Okay, for a couple of stories I guess.

We have an investigator, his name is Pedro. He is from Guatemala. He is great man. He is about 45 I believe. We have been meeting with him a lot lately, and he has been progressing very well. The other day we had him over to Hno. Ovalle's house, who is also from Guatemala. It went very well. We watched the Restauration video and Pedro and Hno. Ovalle got a long very well, and Hno Ovalle did a great job teachign and testifiying. So it went very well. Keep Pedro in your prayers, we are hoping that he will be baptized in the next couple weeks.

Another investigator we have his name is Victor and he is from Ecuador. He is 21, so like our age. He has a wife and kid back in Ecaudor. He is doing great. He basically asked us what he needs to do to be baptized, and we talked about what he needs to change and what lessons he needs to be taught, and he made a check list in the front of his Book of Mormon, and had been checkign them off as we are doing them. The only thing that has been holding him back is he has had a class on Sundays, but it ends this sunday, and will be able to come after that. He also gave us the information of his wife to send to the missionaries in Ecaudor, so they can go visit and teach her. He said he wants her to be taught the same things he is, so when he calls, they can discuss it. He is great. So pray for him, we are hoping all goes well, he gets to come to church the week after he gets out of his course, and gets baptized 3 weeks later.

So a funny/cool story I guess. I was on a little exchange with and Elder named Elder Morales, and we were working in Astoria, an area in Queens, if I remember right, it is actually where Spiderman is from. Haha. Anyways, we were walking down the street and they were filming a film, we asked about it. It is going to be called Son of No One, and it is staring Al Pacino, Channing Tatum, and Katie Holmes. So if you hear about it, or it comes out before I get home, know I saw it being filmed. Haha.

As far as the box, just send whatever you want. I will be happy with whatever. As long as it involved dry fruit. haha.

Without talking about anything or making any plans, I would prefer the Jeep.

It sounds like all is well. I think that is about all that is up with me. I love you all and will talk to you all next week.

-Elder Miller

April 18, 2010

Hello,

So another week has passed by pretty quick. It was an interesting week. Really hard work, not a lot to show for it, but great pontential. Me and my companion both feel really good about it. It was a good week. One of those that you just sat down last night and said, yep, that was good. So that is, as already stated, good.

Ok, so for pods, i think I have about 14 left or something like that. Wait until at least next week, and I will get an exact count for you. I will need test strips again soon, as I am now down to my last vial again, so please send more of those in the package that is coming up. :)

Oh yeah, I don't think I ever told you, I got my A1C done, I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was a little higher than I wanted, but not bad high. So that is good.

The weather has been good here. It has been a little bit cooler, as well as not having to wear a suit. Those two combinations make it perfect. I make fun of my companion a little bit. He is a cold blooded one like mom, always cold.

Hermano Ovalle is the ex-communicated member who was baptized. He is great. One of my favorite people I have met on my mission. He is really goofy though. I didn't even know he was sending those texts until after you had sent a few back. He is goofy that way.

It sounds as all is going well. That is really good.

As it turns out, I don't think that I have almost any really cool stories to tell from this week. Like I said, it was a really busy week, with just normal stuff, that will hopefully lead to good stuff further on. It was weird to be working with just the one companion. I feel like I am missing something all the time, or I am breaking a rule or something like that. But it will be good, just take some time to get used to.

One kind of out of the norm thing that happened is we now have another missionary living in our apartment, and got made into a trio with the other Elders. His name is Elder Habberman, and it from Germany. So this is the story with him. He was in the Provo mission, and finished his mission, and was on his way home. He made it to JFK airport, and his flight to Germany got canceled due to a Volcano or something like that, I am sure you know better, you hear the news. But so he won't be able to get a flight until tomorrow. So he has been in the New York New York South mission for almost a week. What a nice surprise that would be, be on your way home, and then, wait, you don't get to go home for another week. haha. He is really cool though. It has been interesting to learn about the Provo mission, and how things work over there.

Let's see, you asked as far as things you could send me in a package. This is so not like me, but I think I will ask for some stuff. :)

1. Dried fruit is the fasted way to my heart. Mangos, Craisins, whatever. Anything dried fruit.

2. I could use some sort of something to entertain me. I know that is as descriptive as it gets. But something to do.

3. Ok, well this list is getting short quick, I am having a hard time coming up with stuff, but anything you want. Fun cool stuff.

Haha, Sorry for the bad list.

Now, what is it that I can do you any of you? Let me know.

I love you all so much, and will talk to you again next week.

-Elder Miller

March 29, 2010

Hey,

So about the whole weather being really hot. Well, that changed really quickly. The last few days have been freezing cold. But really not that bad for me, because you know me, I enjoy the cool more than the warm, so it has been alright, but the changing back and forth without warning is kind of hard and weird, but so is life I guess. Today it is raining pretty good, but the rest of the week is supposed to be sunny and warm. I don't know how I feel about that, but only like 6 more days of having to wear a suit coat, so I am excited about that.

Leandro got confirmed yesterday, so that was good. Everyone is still doing well. Javier is still good, Brother Ovalle is doing great, basically everyone is going good, so that is good. We are working with a bunch of really good people. We are hoping things go well, and maybe a few more baptisms in the next few weeks. But we will have to see. Our best prospect is this 20 year old-ish Dominican boy named Lenny. He is very intelligent, and is almost testing the church with his questions, which I love, I think more people should do that, because after testing you will be truly converted. He is doing great though.

Interviews were good, they are always about the same. He asks the normal questions that he has to. The are very unexciting actually. But I understand, he only has to do like 180 of them every 6 weeks. It would get old.

This week was another not very exciting as far as stories go week. But that is how it goes. On Saturday we had what is called a Zone Street Sweep, which is something when a bunch of missionaries from the Zone get together and go and talk to as many people as possible in an area. We did it in a train stop, and made a bunch of signs and stuff. It was pretty fun. There was a J-Dub that set up camp right next to us, and I actually went and talked to her for a good period of time. She was from Colombia and was really nice.

Okay, so here is the deal. I think I am still good on pods, I will check to make sure, I am not sure. But I am basically out of strips. I totally wasn't paying attention, but I am almost out, like 40 strips, maybe less left. Sorry for not paying attention, I will do better. So if you could try to get them in maybe the package you are sending tomorrow, that would be awesome. If i run out before I get some, I will just go buy some. I think I will be getting 2 more vials of insulin this week also, just so you know.

Well, other than that everything is going well. I love you all so much.

-Elder Miller

March 22, 2010

Hey All,

So here is the the weather talk, as that seems to be the first thing I always talk about. Haha. The weather this past week has been great. But there has been one downside. It has been a little bit on the hot side, like 70's, and we are still required to wear our suits. So with the suits and the weather, it has been really hot. But only 2 more weeks, and we only have to wear suits to Church. So I am super excited about that.

Next cool thing that happened. Leandro got baptized yesterday. I will try to include a picture or two. It was super cool. He is an amazing guy. He is proof of member missionary work. He had a member friend in Ecuador who talked to him about the gospel like 3 times, came to the US, met the missionaries, we got in contact with him, and got baptized 3 weeks later. So that was pretty exciting.

Other aspects of the work are all going well. Javier continues to be on fire. He is giving us referrals left and right. He is the bomb. He gave an awesome testimony during the baptism yesterday as well. As far as everyone we are teaching they are all doing pretty well. We also have a lot of really good potential people. So basically all is well with the work.

Saturday was Elder Call's birthday. It was fun. Elder Oakes and I got him some whitestrips for his teeth, because, well, I have become a little bit of tooth crazy on my mission, and have a lot of good tooth supplies, and it got him really excited about it, so we got it half as a joke, half as he would really like it. He really did. It was funny.

As far as how I am getting the fiber, a lot of different ways. I have tried a few of the fiber one cereals, I think the frosted shredded wheat is the best, but there are also other cereals that have just as much fiber and taste a lot better. The cereal that has the most fiber is All Bran, I haven't tried it yet, I think it will be horrible, but we will see. Also you can find bread that has upwards of 50% that tastes really good. And then just little things. I am eating lots of nuts. All fruit jam with added fiber. All sorts of stuff. So it is all going well. I need to work at getting more protein, and more fruit. I started buying fruit, but it is hard, and expensive.

It is sad to see Northridge HOSA going down. It used to be the best in the state. Mrs. Quilter just doesn't care. It is sad, but oh well.

Other than that I think things are all going pretty well here. Had interviews with the mission president last week. IT went well.

Anyways, I think I will include pictures of me at a place called Hunter's Point, the closest you can get to Manhattan that is still in our mission, and maybe a picture of me in front of PS 1, it is actually a school, but has a MoMA exhibit (Museum of Modern Art). We went last P-Day. It was way cool.

I love you all. Talk to you next week.

-Elder Miller

March 15, 2010

Hey,

Things are still going pretty well. This week was kind of that slow/fast kind of week, if that makes sense. Slow because not too much "exciting" happened, fast because, well, it went by fast.

The weather has been horrible. It hasn't stopped raining for a few days. If I was anything other than a missionary I would love that, but as a missionary, elements are the worst. But I guess I will take it for what it is, and just keep trucking on being wet. I don't know if it is the weather or what either, but I have been really tired lately, which is not fun. But oh well.

Yes, those pictures were of Rachel. It is exciting to see a dad and daughter come in to the gospel. They are both doing way good. The dad has actually gave us a few referrals that we are teaching and hopefully getting close to baptism. So he is great. We also have a guy named Leandro who will be getting baptized this Sunday or next, so that is really exciting.

I did get the shoes. They are perfect. Thank you so much.

It sounds like everyone is going pretty well. Which is really nice to hear. That always makes me happy.

So here is something you will laugh at mom and dad. So the other day I think I ask a question that very few people have ever asked. I asked if eating too much fiber is bad for you. Because well, the other day, by 11, before I had left the apartment to start working, I had already eaten 150% of my daily value of fiber. I am sure you will laugh mom, because you never would have saw me doing that, and am proud, and Dad, I am sure you will laugh because you think I am crazy. Haha. But so the healthy eating is going pretty well. The two hard things about it are 1) Hispanic people love you feed us, and they love to feed us lots of food, and the food they eat can be very unhealthy, deep fried and such, so that is hard, because you can't say no. and 2) Because healthy food is very expensive, and we don't get very much money for food. But I would say despite those 2 things, the eating is going well.

Well, I think that is about all that is up with me. Like I said, not a too exciting week. But all is well. I hope all of you keep doing well, let me know if there is anything I can do. I love you all.

-Elder Miller

March 8, 2010

Howdy Hey Hey,

So are is everyone doing? I hope that everyone is doing great. Things are going really good here, so that is good.

Transfers are indeed this week. We recieved transfer calls on Saturday, to let us know if we were leaving or if we were staying. All three of us will be staying together. It is very strange. I know if doesn't mean too much to anybody outside of missionary life, but trios are pretty rare in the first place (we are the only non-sister trio in the mission), and when they do happen, they never stay together for more than 1 transfer. But we are trend breakers I guess, haha. As the story goes President is really happy with the work we are doing, we are doing fairly well, and he didn't want to ruin a good thing. We are all super excited about it. Elder Oakes and Elder Call have been some of my favorite companions on my mission so far, and I know they feel the same way, so it will be fun to spend 6 more weeks with them, even though it is very rare. :)

I am getting over a little bit of a bug right now, it was really funny, because it has been a few days, Elder Call and I have the same thing, and Elder Oakes had it for a little bit. But anyways, we got our transfer calls on Saturday, and we were all super excited, but Elder Call and I were feeling very poorly, and so we couldn't be very excited, it was a very funny moment.

So here is the big news for this week. Hermano Ovalle got baptized on Saturday. He is the excommunicated member. It was one of the most amazing experiences on my mission so far. He is such a great man. I love him so much. It was so great to see him get baptized, and then on Sunday he recieved the Holy Ghost, and I got to take part of that. It is going to be great to have him as a member. He is a great leader and teacher. I already have promised him that I will come back and go with him when he gets his endowements taken out. He is the man. I will try to attach some pictures of his baptism.

Everybody else is doing really well. Javier's daughter did not get baptized last Sunday, but she is getting baptized this next Sunday, some things just came up. But it will be exciting, because Javier is recieving the Priesthood next week also, and he will be able to baptize her. It will be great. Norma we are still working with. She is stuggling a lot with her relationship right now, but she is doing well, and we are still working with her. We met a new guy this week named Leandro, he was found by the english missionaries. He had heard about the church in his country, and is really excited about it, believes it is true, and has accepted to be baptized on the 21st (I think that is the date) of this month. It was pretty awesome. So the work is flurishing. It is great to be a part of.

I haven't got the insulin yet, I will call in today, and get some. Is that still going to be okay, I know you mentioned the insurance was changing. If it won't work, just call the mission office I guess. But I will call and get some.

It is always good to hear that everyone is doing pretty well.

I think that is about all new that is going on with me. Had a good week, other than the sickness, we had a big snowstorm that wasn't very fun, but that happens. The Weather should be warming up now. Well, I guess I will get going. I love you all.

-Elder Miller

March 1, 2010

Howdy Hey Hey,

So are is everyone doing? I hope that everyone is doing great. Things are going really good here, so that is good.

Transfers are indeed this week. We recieved transfer calls on Saturday, to let us know if we were leaving or if we were staying. All three of us will be staying together. It is very strange. I know if doesn't mean too much to anybody outside of missionary life, but trios are pretty rare in the first place (we are the only non-sister trio in the mission), and when they do happen, they never stay together for more than 1 transfer. But we are trend breakers I guess, haha. As the story goes President is really happy with the work we are doing, we are doing fairly well, and he didn't want to ruin a good thing. We are all super excited about it. Elder Oakes and Elder Call have been some of my favorite companions on my mission so far, and I know they feel the same way, so it will be fun to spend 6 more weeks with them, even though it is very rare. :)

I am getting over a little bit of a bug right now, it was really funny, because it has been a few days, Elder Call and I have the same thing, and Elder Oakes had it for a little bit. But anyways, we got our transfer calls on Saturday, and we were all super excited, but Elder Call and I were feeling very poorly, and so we couldn't be very excited, it was a very funny moment.

So here is the big news for this week. Hermano Ovalle got baptized on Saturday. He is the excommunicated member. It was one of the most amazing experiences on my mission so far. He is such a great man. I love him so much. It was so great to see him get baptized, and then on Sunday he recieved the Holy Ghost, and I got to take part of that. It is going to be great to have him as a member. He is a great leader and teacher. I already have promised him that I will come back and go with him when he gets his endowements taken out. He is the man. I will try to attach some pictures of his baptism.

Everybody else is doing really well. Javier's daughter did not get baptized last Sunday, but she is getting baptized this next Sunday, some things just came up. But it will be exciting, because Javier is recieving the Priesthood next week also, and he will be able to baptize her. It will be great. Norma we are still working with. She is stuggling a lot with her relationship right now, but she is doing well, and we are still working with her. We met a new guy this week named Leandro, he was found by the english missionaries. He had heard about the church in his country, and is really excited about it, believes it is true, and has accepted to be baptized on the 21st (I think that is the date) of this month. It was pretty awesome. So the work is flurishing. It is great to be a part of.

I haven't got the insulin yet, I will call in today, and get some. Is that still going to be okay, I know you mentioned the insurance was changing. If it won't work, just call the mission office I guess. But I will call and get some.

It is always good to hear that everyone is doing pretty well.

I think that is about all new that is going on with me. Had a good week, other than the sickness, we had a big snowstorm that wasn't very fun, but that happens. The Weather should be warming up now. Well, I guess I will get going. I love you all.

-Elder Miller

February 23, 2010

Hey All,

Wow, that is pretty amazing. 30 years. I have not even been alive for 30 years yet. Haha. That is pretty weird. Being with someone 10 years longer than I have lived. But that is super awesome. Congratulations.

The pad has not been too bad. I don't know if this really makes you feel better or worse, but for the record, it is a lot better than the Jamaica pad was. So just for your information. Last week we mopped the floor in by our study room, and it looks a lot better. It was realyl nasty, and we put a little elbow grease into it, and it still isn't great, but it is looking pretty good.

That is interesting to hear about the Blietchau kid. You should tell Heidee to try to talk to him. It is great missionary oppurtunity. He is a great kid, and the teenage years are really when you are going to be making the decisions that will affect how you spend the rest of your life. SO that would be great for her to find out the deal.

As far as the work, everything is going really well. Javier got confirmed yesterday, so that is really good. His daughter Rachel was supposed to be baptized yesterday, but wasn't able to do it, because we could not get her taught everything, due to her living with her mother and such, but we taught her yeasterday, and only need one more visit, and she will be baptized this Sunday. Out investigator Norma also has a baptismal date for this Sunday, but we are not sure if it will happen. She is living with her boyfriend, so obviously has to move out to be baptized, and the boyfriend is now saying you can stay living with me and we can get married, or you can move out and I will never see you ever again. She does not want to get married, but wants to stay as boyfriend and girlfriend. So we are working with that. She is realyl stuggling and he is realyl giving her a hard time. But she will get baptized, it is just a matter of when. This sunday can still happen. As far as the ex communicated member he is doing great and is getter baptized this Saturday, his family is flying in this week, and his son is going to baptize him. It is super exciting.

I will call for the insulin this week then, and I will let you know what is up.

So something really cool happened this week. On Friday the ward had a Valentine's day party (a little late) and they asked the missionaries to provide some entertainment. We had a couple things we had come up to do, but we had a better plan, and it ended up working. We got Javier, the guy who had been baptized for about 5 days, to bring some karaoke cds and sing at the party. He used to sing as a professional in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. It was totally amazing. Everyone loved him. It was so good. It was way exciting. He said it was the first time he had sang in 4 years. He did a great job. Then my companion played and sang a couple Elton John songs and did a great job.

On tueday there was a Fireside put on by the Young Women on missionary work, and the asked to the oldest missionaries to bear their testimonies, and weirdly enough, it touched me to be one of the two. It was really interesting. It made me feel really old. Anyways.

I think other than that that is about all that is new with me. Things are still going pretty well. Transfers will be next week. We will see what happens.

Here are the answers to your questions.

1. Whatever kind is fine, something really good looking, maybe a square toe. Haha. Just kidding, whateveer is fine. I want them black. :)

2. Box yes, check still no, I will let you know.

3. Already told you. We met a ne great guy yesterday named Herman, that I think will be good. Our pool is really big right now though, there are tons of people I haven't even told you about yet. THings are going great in the work.

4. Test strips good.

5. I should be good.

Well, I love you tons, and I will talk to you next week.

-Elder Miller

February 16, 2010

Hey All,

Happy Valentines Day.

Everything with the new server is great. I am really glad they made the chagne. It is definately a lot better than it was before.

You have it straight, we ended up not moving again. We are just in the little place still. It is alright though. It turned out to be alright once we all got moved in and settled. It is still small, but it is alright. I don't think I will be there for much longer anyways though, I am pretty sure that I will be getting transfered here pretty soon, probably in the next couple weeks. But it is all good. I believe the actualy name of the city we live in is called Middle Village, i am not sure. It is on the border of Middle Village and Elmhurst. It is like 1 minute walking from the office.

I got the insulin and everything is good on that. Just keep me updated on what I need to do.

I do not know who the full time missionaries are. Chris and I are the only ones I know, are there others? Liz Love's BF? I have no clue.

So the work is going killer good. It was a really weird week this last week, because we had our Zone Conference, so that took away from out inthe field missionary work, then we had a snow storm that we were asked to stay in for, which ended up not being bad at all, and then we had to go get the staples taken out of Elder Call's head, and it took forever in the hospital. So it was a really interesting week. But it still ended up being good overall as far as the work went, and then it was all topped off in the end. . .

Javier got baptized on Sunday. It was great. He has really come a long way and is so pumped now. After he was baptized he gave the best testimony ever. he was talking about all of the other people he was going to bring into the church. He is so awesome. I will attach some pics of his baptism. But he is awesome. We will be baptizing one of his daughters probably next week. I am really excited.

All the other investigators are doing pretty well.

I am very jealous about the Jack's Mannequin concert just for the record.

So, I have something to ask. I know you asked me this just last week, and I said no, but I obviously was not thinking. I am actually in the need of some new shoes is that could be a possibility. Sorry. But yeah, if that could be worked out some how, that would be great. I'm 10 1/2, so, yeah. Again, sorry. But yeah.

So the excommunicated member that I told you about. He has a set baptismal date and time now. I am super excited for him. I really do love that guy, and it will be so cool to see him get baptized. It will be a funny thing, because his son is going to baptize him, and he baptized his on.

Well, I think that is about it for now. I will send another email with some pictures.

I love you all.

-Elder Miller

February 8, 2010

Hey All,

Well, can I say that the new email server is really nice and it makes me really happy. It is now G-Mail based so it basically looks exactly like you are using Gmail, which is of course really nice. So anyways.

The crazy week is now over, and we are back in the normal swing of things. I am glad you ended up getting my email and everything went well. It was a weird surprise when we went to the mission office and Sister Adolphson grabbed me and told me, but I am glad it got worked out.

We are now a little not packed in like sardines. It turns out we are not moving again, we will be staying in the same pad, which is ok, since we have known that and got unpacked from our suitcases and getting things organized it ahs been a lot better. It is still pretty small, since there are 5 of us in the pad, and it really is like maybe the size for 3 or so, but it is working out alright, and we shouldn't have any problems, we aren't really in the pad that much anyways. We now have a bunk bed, and I offered to keep my matress on the floor since we have 3, we could have got another single bed frame, but they didn't have any box springs, so it wouldn't have changed anything, and the mattress might have sooped. We do have a shower, so that is nice.

OUr investigators are all doing pretty well. Norma is doing great. Right now we are in some interesting situations with her and her boyfriend, I am pretty sure she is leaving him pretty soon (they are leaving together) and he is very not happy about that. Apparently he yelled at her for reading the Book of Mormon, so it is hard. Otto and Steffy are doing good, still working to get on their mothers good side. We have a few other things to work over with with Javier, but if all goes well he will get baptized next week.

I ahve not picked up the rest of the insulin, do I have to call them before, or what? I am still not sure how it is supposed to work. If you want to call again or whatever for this time, and call the mission office and have them tell me when to go pick it up, that woudl be great, and then just let me know when I need to call them from now on that woudl be awesome.

Yes it is a LDS church with the storage in it, it is like the basement of the church.

I am glad that the Saints won, I am not a Colts, also, I don't know if he still is, but there used to be a guy on the Saints who went to Northridge, so that is cool.

I think I am good on pods for a while, but I will let you know, I stil need to get the insulin like I said, alcohol and lancents I am good on for right now, I think most things I am alright on. The purchases on my debit card were some unexpectd things, like some cold medicine, because I have got a pretty bad cold, and so that was for that. A little extra money would be nice, if you could, but if you can't, that is fine too, I can live. Anything you want to send I am more than willing to take also.

I think everything else is going really well. Everything is going well. Let me know if there is anythign I can do for you.

Happy Valentines Day,

I love you.

-Elder Miller