November 16, 2009

Hey,

Ok, before I forget, I need something. To renew my Driver's Liscense I need my Social Secuirty #, which I don't know. So if you can send that to me, that will be taken care of.

I will call Brenda ASAP, this should be a good week.

Ok, so I think that is all of technicalities. As far as if we have set plans for this Thanksgiving, the answer I guess is no. But not how you might think. It is because we have too many plans. We have been invited over to I think 9 different families, and we are trying to decide what to do, we want to say yes to all of them, but obviously we can't. So we will see what ends up happening. It will be great whatever ends up happening.

It is still weird to me to know that this time next year i will be home. But I guess I will get more used to it.

So this week was really good. We got a lot of good stuff done and had a lot of fun while doing it. We had some awesmoe appointments and some awesome lessons. Two kind of out of hte norm things I guess happened. Yesterday was the Primary program, and we were asked to sing with them during one of the songs. So we were part of the Primary. It was fun though, we got to practice with them and things like that, so it was great. People said we did a good job, but you know, people always have to be nice. We finally got a Branch Mission Leader called, so we are excited for that. He is from the Dominican Republic. He served a mission 4 years ago. He is great. Ok, and I guess the last thing is that we spoke in Sacrament meeting, but not in ours. We spoke in Hempstead branch. So it was kind of weird. I am still not very sure why we did, but we were aksed to, as well as the 2 missionaries that serve in that branch. It went pretty well. It was weird because it was the first time I had given a complete English talk in a long time.

Other than that things are going pretty well. The weather has stabalized a little bit, and I don't think that it will be really cold for a while, hopefully. Sister Anderson, the one that wrote you a note, called today and asked if there was anything I needed from Utah because she is going out there this weekend, and asked if I needed any Utah stuff or anything from home. I obviously couldn't think of anything, but I think it is amazing to see how willing to help people are.

This week we have something kind of fun going on. We are having a branch Thanksgiving dinner thingy, and as part of it, we as missionaries are going to put on a little Fireside. We are going to have little talk, and also we are preparing a musical number. We found an arrangment for Come Thou Fount for Piano, guitar, and voice, so Elder McGuire is going to play the piano, I will play guitar, and Elder Burk and Elder Alverson will be sining. Hopefully it turns out well. It will be really fun.

I think that is about it for what is going on for me, out of the norm. I got to get some P-Day stuff done, so I will talk to you all next week.

I love you.

-Elder Miller

P.S. Ok, so I had this idea that I thought you could help me out with. Here is what I want. I want as many people as are willing to, to email me there conversion story. Whether born in the church or not, we all have our conversion story. And I want to hear them. So anybody and everybody, you, Dad, the sisters, and anyone else you want to send this email to. I want to hear them. Easy enough, right?

So if you would do that for me Mom, forward this email to whoever you think would be willing to send me their story.

And in case when you get this email and you don't know mine, please email the story to elderellisbradonmiller@myldsmail.net.

Thank you so much, and I love you all.

November 9, 2009

Hey,

I did get the teststrips. I will keep you posted on everything else.

That is cool that you got a letter from Sister Anderson, but also weird, because I have no clue how she got the address. She must have talked to the mission office or something. Anyways, that is nice to hear. She is very nice. Your stereotypical mormon mom. They both graduated from BYU, they have a million kids. They are great though. They just moved here from Chicago. They are a great family and are fun to be around. You should write her back. Maybe you could become cool little pen pals or something. At least for while I am here in Lynbrook. Maybe you could send here you e-mail address.

Mom, you know that that is not fair to tell me that you bought me a present, but then to tell me you won't tell. But I guess it is alright. I will just not think about it. And before I even know it Christmas will be here. Time just seems to be going that fast.

We have been invited to one family so far for Thanksgiving, but they told us that if we had somewhere else we needed to be, we should go there. But it is the Malinka family, the other stereotypical mormon family we have. She is the one that grew up in Layton. I am excited to go there though, I"m sure we will go. I love that family, and it will be American food. Don't get me wrong, I love hispanic food, but that's all I've been eating for over a year.

Ok, so here is the exciting news for the week. On Tuesday we met a man named Matt Hazen. He had been taught a little bit by other Elders, but turned out to live in our area, so he got handed over to us. We got to know him and taught him a little bit. The next day he texted us and asked us some questions. One thing led to another, and we ended up committing him to be baptized over text messages the day after we met him. And you used to say that all my texting was just a waste of time. Haha. But we are really excited for him. Just a couple days ago he texted us and told us that he ordered himself a leather LDS Bible and Book of Mormon, as well as some other mormon litterature. He is eating everything up like a kid in a candy store. His only down fall is coffee right now, which he is really working on. So pray for him that he can get over that.

Other than that it was just a long crazy week. Saturday night I layed down in bed, I went to bed early, at like 10, and was laying there, and I was so tired that I couldn't sleep. It took to much energy to fall asleep. It was a really weird feeling. So the long work has been taking it's toll, but it is all good. I am loving it.

This week we had interviews with President Nelson, which was good. He is always good to sit down and talk with, as long as joke around with.

Yesterday we were asked to teach Elders Quorum. It was on the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. It went pretty well. We are pretty booked for the rest of the month too. Next week we are singing in the Primary Program in our ward, as well as my companion and I will be speaking in another branch, I am not really sure why, but we were aksed to. They next week we are putting on a Fireside for the branch. And then the next week we will be speaking in our branch in Sacrament meeting. Quite a busy month. But busy is the best.

Well, I have to get going. Let me know if there is anything I can do for anyone.

I love you.

-Elder Miller

November 2, 2009

Hey,

Ok, I will answer your questions first.

1. I haven't got it signed yet, have to get ahold of the mission Doctor, he has been in other states, he covers several missions.
2. Haven't got ahold of Brenda, it was another busy week. This week should be slower.
3. I haven't sent it yet, might actually be a few weeks.
4. I will tell you when I get it. :)

Anyways, I am really excited to be staying in Lynbrook. That means i will be here all the way until December, which is crazy. It is weird how fast time goes. Why do you feel the same way, that you want me to stay?

I may not be in Lynbrook for Christmas, probably not actually. We will see where I am at. I didn't bring my tree with me, but I just left it in Corona, which I could probably get a hold of depending on where I am, so we will just have to wait and see, and then I will let you know then.

Our Halloween Party was fun, nothing too exciting. It was mostly geared towards the youth, like primary, so that was about it. It was in the morning. We did a little trunk or treat, and do to there not being very many vehicles there, they had us use our car. So that was a little weird, but fun. We have a lot of really funny Primary age kids in the branch, so that was fun.

The night was pretty boring. We are not allowed to do missionary work on Halloween, kind of weird, everything I do every day, we can't do one day, so it is weird. But just like last year we had to be in out pad by 5 and stay in the whole night. So it was pretty boring. We played like Clue, and then we made some caramel apples with the caramel you sent me, but the carmel got a little burnt. Kind of tasted like burnt marshmellows. So that was about it.

Yes, the district presidency is our equivilant of a stake presidency. I live within a district, made up of branches.

I did get Sandee's package. It was so cool. It made me so happy.

I am sure you will do great with Thanksgiving. It will be interested to see what happenes this year for us. Last year I had like 3 hispanic Thanksgiving dinners. Now I am with hispanics, whites, everyone. So it will be wierd to see.

This week was pretty good. It went by really fast. With a bunch of meetings and such. We had a couple really good meetings with some people. The one investigator that i told you about hat has Lupus, he is finally starting to feel a little bit better, so that is really nice to see.

Well, I am off to go do some more P-Day activities. I love you all.

-Elder Miller

October 26, 2009

Hello,

So it is a new transfer, I don't know if I told you. And I think you know what that means. . . Potentially moving to a new area. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! So are you ready for it. The transfer call came last night, and. . . . I am staying. 6 more weeks in Lynbrook. I am very excited about that. I was really worried that I was going to be moving, and I really wanted to stay for just a little while longer. So I am very happy. A couple of the members here required me to let them know as soon as I knew, and they were all very excited to hear I was staying. It is really cool to build those kind of relationships and friendships, and it is always hard to leave them behind when you move to a new area. So that is about it for that. That means I will be in Lynbrook until the beginning of December for sure. Then I will probably leave.

It was a pretty crazy week, and I have a few stories to tell, but first I'll respond to everything in your email.

New York. What a place. In response to if I would live here, take friends on a trip, feel safe, get lost, nice people, etc.

When I started my mission I like New York, but I never thought I would love it. I can honestly say now that New York hold a special place in my heart. It is truly amazing. There is no other place like it. It is amazing. As for living here. . . Maybe a summer place. I could not live here all the time. The weather number one, is not my favorite. Just way too hot and then way too cold, all in a couple weeks span. Secondy, the stress level is way too high. Living here for a year I feel like I have aged 30, so living here full time would be lethel. But if I had like a summer home or apartment or whatever, and another one somewhere else, I would be down for that.

Take trip with friends, of course. There is tons of cool places to go and see. It would be way fun.

Feel Safe. I have been in some of the worst parts of New York, and felt just fine. I don't know if that goes away when the name tag comes off. But even the bad parts aren't that bad during the day, but I would't be going there at night.

Get lost. Depends on if it is New Area or not. I can get myself around pretty well and know where I am.

People nicer. Honestly, overall, no, but there are incredible people in New York that I love. You get to meet all sorts of new cultures and people that you wouldn't anywhere else, and that is amazing.

There is a branch party going on on Halloween that we should be going too. It is going to be a trunk or treat. It should be fun. We haven't carved pumpkins yet. Probably today.

Okay, so as for crazy things that have been happening to me. So you know how we had the black boxes in our cars, well, we were like a test mission for those, see how they worked and such, and so now the test is over, and they are making the decision on whether to use them worldwide on missions or not, so for the time being, they have taken them out of our cars. But something unexpected happened. On the Malibu's, which is what I drive, the black boxes when they were installed had been screwn into the gas tank, so when they removed them, it left a whole in the gas tank. So we had to drive a long way away to the Chevy dealership so they can replace the gas tank. That was last monday that we brought it in, and they had to order the tank and such, and we still don't have our car back. So we have been walking for the whole week. No so fun, since it takes us an hour to walk to our area, and then if we want to go anywhere else, it is longer. We have been walking at least a few hours every day. Luckily, the other Elders have been really nice, and when it doesn't interfer with there stuff, they give us rides. It usually turns out that we go everwhere, and then when times comes, they will give us a ride home. But it has just been crazy, lots of walking. Hopefully we get our car back today.

So something super funny happened yesterday. We were walking (yep) and we were at a light, waiting to cross, and this really nice, probably 69 Camaro drives through the light, and we are looking at it, and then from the other side, like the cross street, we hear this slamming on of brakes, and we look and it is a mini van that had almost ran the red light and hit the camaro. Then while looking at it, they roll down the window, and it is President Malinka, he is in the district presidency, and in our branch, and he says to us, "Never drive and look at your blackberry" and holds up his phone. Then the light turns green and he drives off. He must have been so embarassed. Then just a couple hours later, he calls us to ask us about some home teaching stuff, and while we are talking to him, he drives past us, again, and he was like, what the heck I run into you everywhere. It was so funny. So he just pulled over and we talked. So that was crazy.

So yesterday I got this package, and in it was a Spanish Bible! Thank you so much. It is the coolest thing ever. I am pretty sure I am just getting rid of my english scriptures now. Haha. But really, thank you so much. I am sure it is going to be put to good use. I have already been marking it up and such, and it has only been a day.

I should be sending a package home soon. Just some stuff I don't want to carry around for the next year. So some time, if you get a package from me, that will probably be what it is.

Well, I love you so much. I should probably get going. I will talk to you all next week. I will be missing the tacos on Halloween. :( But I will get them next year. I love you.

-Elder Miller

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