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