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