October 19, 2009

Hey,

Yeah, it was super nice to be able to go to the temple and enjoy some cool new experiences. I look forward to being able to do it in the future more.

Well, so I realized something strange happened this last week. I actually didn't realize it, but had another missionary tell me. I have now officially been in New York for over a year now. That is pretty crazy. It is going by so fast.

The weather has really started to cool down, and stay cool. The other day the high was 43 or something like that. But oh well, you just have to deal with it I guess. But I am planning and buying some sweaters today, they will be nice, try to keep warm.


Thank you so much for sending the box. I don't get mail on Mondays, I actually get them on Sunday, because an office couple comes to church out here, and brings them with them, so I probably won't get it until this Sunday, but oh well. Thank you, and i am excited to get it.

That is crazy to me that the Hanson's are already home, because, well, I was in the MTC with them. Haha. But that is how it goes. Probably my best friend in the mission, Sister Heininge, who started at the same time as me, only has one transfer left before she goes home. That is really strange to me, because I have so much time left. But I love it, so it doesn't matter.

I believe I sent the little thing for Flavia a couple weeks ago, I will look and try to send it again.

The fire wasn't a big fire or anything, they will just have to replace the stove and and maybe the kitchen floor, it is tile, and it looks like some damage was done. But they are an awesome family, and really cared more about caring for us. It really was amazing.

So, what can I tell you about this week. One really fun thing we got to do this week. We were over at a members and they asked if we could help them tape up the cieling in a room they were going to paint. We said of course, but then we asked them if we could help them paint it. They said that would be awesome. The only time we could make it work was in the morning on Saturday, and the mom was going to be at work, the Dad would be home. But the mom was going to do all of the painting. So it was really cool, because we went and got basically the whole thing done, just a couple things because we ran out of time, had an appointment, but basically the room was done by the time she got home from work. So that was pretty cool.

It was District Conference, so we got to hear some good speaker and such. The temple president, the district presidency, and the mission president spoke. It was really nice. Also a new move in, Bro. Anderson spoke. He did an awesome job. I really enjoyed it.

We have one investigator right now who just got diagnosed with Lupus, and is starting Chemo treatments and the whole nine yards. He is taking it pretty well, getting a little depressed, but is doing well. But his mom is very stressed. I was wondering if you could think of anything we could do for her, since you have been through similar situations, maybe you would know what would help. Something beyond the typical answer of just be there for her, because we can and have bene doing that, but something above and beyond that would really help. If you could come up with something, that would be great.

This week while doing service in the park, one of the missionaries that I live with got Poisin Ivy, while none of the other of us did, which is weird, because we were in the exact same places. I guess he is just more prone to it. But it has got pretty bad, to the point he can't even cross his arms without it bugging him. He is taking it well though, but is having a hard time getting rid of it. He has tried creams, rubs, but he just got some soap the other day that guaranteed to get rid of it in less than a week, and it already looks like it is getting better. So that is good. But just something out of the norm that happened.

I am excited for Halloween coming up. We might be buying pumpkins today and carving them. I think that will be fun. Since I am now living somewhere where you can do that. Haha.

Well, I better get going. I love you very much. Until next week.

-Elder Miller

October 12, 2009

Howdy,

I was able to make it to the temple. It was the coolest experience ever. We got there a little early, so we went and walked to Central Park and took a couple quick pictures, I will send some I forgot my camera today. THen we went back to the temple and there were tons of people there. It was our District Temple day, and they had a lot of people show up. I actually didn't baptize or be baptized, because I wanted to let others have the chance, but I did get to do a couple other things that were awesome. I got to be a witness, and I also got to spend a long time as the recorder which I thought was awesome. In Utah it is always a temple worker who does the recording, I didn't even know just a normal memeber could do it. BUt so I got to be the one who put the name on the screen, and who marked off that the baptism was done and valid. It was so sweet. I enjoyed it so much.

The weather is starting to really cold down. The highs are still decent, but the lows are getting lower. I am really enjoying it right now, but This kind of weather doesn't last for very long in New York, it goes from this to really cold really fast, and I am not really excited for the really cold, because of the humidity, it is nothing like Utah cold.

I am looking forward to seeing pictures of the trailer.

I did not get with the pump lady, I will, and I will wait to contact the mission doctor until I have the license renewal. That way I know I am ready for him right then.

We had a pretty sweet week. On top of the temple, we had some good look ups, some good contacts, things just went pretty well.

We had an apointment last night with a man named Learie from Barbados I think he said, but he has lived in New York most of his life. He was a former investigator we looked up. He was amazing. Maybe the best I have ever felt in a lesson ever. It just felt good. He already calls us his family, after just knowing him for a couple hours. After we left the appointment my comp said, "That was great. You know, if they recorded that lesson and put it in the Preach My Gospel videos (the missionary training videos they show in the MTC) I would feel perfectly comfortable with that." It was sweet.

One other kind of crazy thing that happened, we were going over to a members that had invited us over for dinner, and when we got there they were all in the front yard playing. We went up, said Hi, and they said, well, we have some bad news. Turns out, while they were cooking dinner, there stove caught on fire, and the had to call the fire department and the whole bit. There wasn't much damage done, but mostly just a lot of sut. After all of that, they were just trying to figure out how to cook the rest of the food and such. Even after a fire in there own home they were trying to find a way to still feed us. I was taken aback. They are an awesome family.

Well, I better get going. I love you all very much.

-Elder Miller

October 5, 2009

Hey,

I am very exciting to be able to go to the temple more often. It looks like the rule is that we can go once a transfer, or once every 6 weeks. I am very excited. We might be going this week. I guess I will let you know next week.

I know I am a dork.

My companion is pretty competitive also, so we do try very hard when we are playing each other. It is always frustrating when it is a really close game and it comes down to losing by just one turn. That happened just the other day, he beat me, and if he wouldn't have that turn, I would have beat him the very next one, it was crazy. But we enjoy it a lot. We are both competetive, but we don't let it like heat us up.

I bought one sweater last week, it was about 30 bucks, and i might buy a couple more, but we will see.

I am still really good on supplies. Do I have to pick stuff up at the begining of the month from wal mart, or just when I need it, and that would be the soonest I can? Because I am still pretty good I think, let me know. I will send back the box soon.


As far as things I need go, I can't think of too much. Some foodish treats, other than that I don't know. You are the mom though, you always know whats best, so if you can think of anything, go ahead and send it, I won't complain. Haha.

Omni Pod rep will happen asap, I will let you know next monday how it went, or when it wil happen.

Send the form for sure and I will get it signed. My liscense doesn't expire for several years, but how it works is if I don't get that signed they will suspend it, and then if I do get pulled over, it says it isn't a valid liscense.

That is really exciting about the new trailer. I will be very excited to see pictures of it. I think that will be really fun.

Everything here is going well. The weather is starting to cool down a bit, hence the sweaters. The work is coming along, we have a lot of good things going on for us. So I hope it keeps going forward.

Conference was great to listen to. I have really grown in appreciation for it on my mission. My favorite talk was definately Tad R. Callister's. What an amazing man and an amazing spirit he brought.

Well, I have to get going soon, we are going to have a district BBQ today, and we have to go get ready for that. It should be really fun. We are going to play some tennis and handball, and have some hotdogs. It will be a nice little break, right before another week of great missionary work. I hope and pray all of you have a great week.

Love you all tons.

-Elder Miller

September 21, 2009

Hey,

I am glad you enjoyed hearing about my temple experience. It was great. I don't know if I told you, but the mission president just made a new rule. We can now go to the temple to do Baptisms for the Dead with Recent Converts once a transfer, so I should be able to go back pretty soon. I am very excited for the new change. As for the glasses, I bought them in Jamaica. I have always thought glasses were cool, and I found some plastic lensed ones for like $2, so I couldn't pass them up. I wear them for special occasions, to look smart. Haha.

I have not met with Brenda yet, hopefully this week. I will let you know in the next email.

Again, I am really sorry about the whole Bible thing. The new one should have came out last Monday, so it should be available and everything. I have actually held one already, that the Branch President had. I sent the number and everything in an email last week. I will send it again if I can. I have already thought about giving the bible to someone. Maybe just keep it though, I still really like it.

Ok, so now that that is all done with, the real big news. As I told you transfers were this week, and you'll never guess what happened. Ok, now that you are all excited, nothing crazy happened. LIke I told you, I am staying in Lynbrook, which I am excited about. i really like it here, though I do really miss the city and all it entails. But I am excited to be here. So it is just a new companion this time around. His name is Elder Alverson. He is from Mesa, Arizona. He has been out 6 weeks less than I have. We are already getting along incredibly well. I am really excited for it. I hope, and he has already told me, that we stay together for two transfers. It would be really awesome. So we are doing great. He is a jock, so we enjoy talking about basketball and such. But yeah, i am really excited for this companionship, we will do great.

The work is going well. Things are really picking up. We have made some awesome plans and we have some awesome goals for this transfer. We are going to be working really hard, but enjoying ourselves while we do it. That really is the key. Missionaries that are not enjoying themselves are never successful, regardless of how hard they work. But we have a few really good people we are working with, and a few potentials. We are also trying to work with the members a lot, and get them to get excited about missionary work. If you have any ideas on how to get them excited, let me know.

Man, missionary work is so awesome.

It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well. That is always nice to hear. On the Lilo situation, is there any way that you can have it amputated, and get like a wheel or something. I know that sounds weird, but I think I have seen it before. It might be cheaper, and then with the wheel leg, it would lower the risk of tearing the other tendon. It was just a thought I had a few nights ago when I couldn't sleep. I was just thinking that having the surgery and fixing it, it might be a pretty big risk of just tairing it again anyways.

Well, as you can see I am doing great. I don't really have any complaints right now at all, other than that I am tired a lot. Haha.

I think I will include a picture of a new game I have learned on the mission. It is called Xiangqi, or Chinese Chess. I learned how to play it when I was back in China Town, and have got a hold of board and started playing with my companions in the night before we go to bed. It is way fun, and I am excited to bring stuff like this home and show everyone. It just shows how true and awesome it is that I am surrounded by so many different cultures. I get to learn a little bit about everyone.

Anyways, until next Monday I guess.

I love you.

-Elder Miller

September 28, 2009

Hello,

We should be going to the temple to do baptisms within the next few weeks, so I am very excited. I didn't even get to go to the font last time, so I have never even seen it, so it will be really exciting to go, and perform a few baptisms. I am stoked.

I have been tempted to save up a few pennies every month, and buy a nice pair of glasses instead of the plastic ones I have. They work fine, but they coudl be easily broken, but I don't know. I don't know if I can really justify buying glasses for a lot of money, when I don't really wear them. But we will see. But yes, I am a dork.

Things are still going awesome with my companion. We get along super well. It is really nice. He is really into the Chinese Chess too, so we play that when we get a bit when we are at home before we go to bed. I don't know a lot about his home life so far. Just bits and pieces. I know he has brothers, four, two of which served missions. He has step brothers and sisters, and his dad passed away when he was like 13. He lived basically just with his mom from 13 until now. BUt other than that I don't know the details. He does really like it warm. Him and you would probably get along pretty well. Haha. But he is super cool and a great missionairy.

I really don't know what to say in a few paragraphs. I will try to come up with something and send it in another email.

The weather is starting to cool down a little bit. Speaking of which, if I was to buy a few sweaters at the store with my card, would you cover it? That woudl be great. I have one sweater I bought last year, but a couple more would be awesome.

Oh yeah, I learned about Chinese Chess while I was serving in Flushing and Dyker Heights, those are the chinese areas, and I am realyl good friends with all of the Chinese Missionaries. So that is when I learned. I just got ahold of my own board this transfer, so we are having fun with it.

I am tired do to work, I am not getting sick, so I am good. You will be excited to hear, the mission is going to provide us with Flu Shots this year, so we don't have to pay for them or wait for a million years in lines. So I bet that makes you happy. I still haven't got with Brenda because we have been super busy, but this week shoudl be a little slower. Sorry. I think i am pretty good on supplies as for right now. Do you still need taht little box back? I knew I said I would send it forever ago, and I still haven't. I should be sending it this week, because I need to send some stuff home anyways.

Things going great though. I am really loving the branch that i am serving in, just some awesome members. A new family that just moved in from Chicago had us over for dinnner, cooked us baked potatoes and steaks, it was so good. They are a very stereotypical mormon family too, tons of kids, all love BYU, except one. It is really funny. It was kind of weird being at there house, because it was a totally different environment than what i have bene used to for the last year. But at home it would have felt totally normal.

Well, all is well in Lynbrook. I am looking forward to the fall, my favorite time of year. The only problem is in New York fal lasts about a week, and then it is winter. Haha. But it will be nice.

I love you all very much.

-Elder Miller

September 14, 2009

Hey,

Ok, so sorry that I did not send an email a lot earlier, you were probably
freaking out like i was dead or something, but MyLdsMail was down, I don't
know why, and so we had to wait it out, and now it is up, so I am emailing
you now.

Okay, so obviously the high light of my week was the temple. Oh my
goodness, it was amazing. I want to go back so bad. But to answer your
question, we just went through and did a session. We met at the mission
office, then they gave us a little talk, gave those of us that needed metro
cards cards and we were off. You hopped on one train, right outside the
mission office, and then you transfered to another train at times square,
and get off and Lincoln, and you walk outside the station and the temple is
literally right there. You always hear that the temple is like a place to
get out of the world, that is cut off from wordly things, but it is no more
blatant anywhere else than the Manhattan temple. It is busy, noisy, all
sorts of stuff, and you walk in through the first set of doors, and it is
still noisy, then you walk through the second, and you are in the actual
temple, it is completely gone. Amazing gone. You can not hear anything
from outside. It is amazingly beautiful inside too. Very small, and very
amazing. That Temple very quickly became one of my favorite, if not my
favorite temple. The session was amazing. One of my really good friends on
the mission was there too, so that was awesome. After the session we went
outside, took a few pictures, and got back on the train. It depends on who
you go with, some missionaries go on a brief walk through Central Park, but
we didn't get to. Oh well. The city is crazy. Even though I was in it for
like 15 minutes total, you can just feel the difference. It is way
different than Queens or Brooklyn. I get the appeal of it now. It almost
felt cool. But yeah, so it was amazing. I can't wait until I get to go
back. I will include a few pictures, and I will send some more in the
coming weeks.

Okay, well I don't have much more time to write, but also tomorrow is
transfers. I will be staying in Lynbrook and getting a new companion, and
my comp will be leaving. He is going Zone Leader in a different Zone. And
from the rumors, my new companion will be older than me (mission wise is
what I mean) so we will wait and find out tomorrow, and I will let you know
next week I guess.

Other than that everything seems to be going well. I love you all very
much. I will talk to you next week.

-Elder Miller

September 7, 2009

Hey,

The landlord is not up to my discretion to teach. That is the other Elders
area, we have mentioned to them to talk to her, but it is not up to us. We
aren't allowed to teach people outside our area. So we'll see.

I wear most of the ties. Some of them are pretty old and kind of falling
apart, so I don't wear them as much just so they don't fall apart.

It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well. That is good. I hope that
you enjoyed your trip. I bet that was fun. I am jealous.

This week was about the same as the last week. It went by pretty fast, but
it was also really slow as far as work goes. Almost all of our
investigators were out of town, so we obviously couldn't meet with them, so
that is kind of frustrating, so we did a lot of finding. A lot of knocking
doors and such. It's not the most fun, but I guess it is what happens. We
also had tons of appointments that we had with liek recent converts and such
cancel on us, almost all of them. But this next week should be pretty good.
We already have quite a few set appointments with a bunch of people, and our
investigators should be back in town, so that is exciting.

I don't even know if I have told you let, but I get to go the temple this
Wednesday. I am so excited. It will be great. It has been so long since i
have been. I really miss it. It is a really big group going. They had to
combine the missionaries at there half way mark and the missionaries that
are at there 2 year mark because the temple was closed when we usually do
the year mark trip, so there will be like 29 missionaries going and then
President and Sister Nelson will be going with us, because they always go
with the departing missionaries. But it will be really fun. I am really
excited.


Well, I think that is about it for me. We have a Labor Day BBQ today, that
is district wide, so it will be most of Long Island, so that should be
really fun. I love you all, I will talk to you next week.

-Elder Miller