Week 26 - Viru

This week was a great week. It started out a little rough just trying to get used to the new area but it got a lot better and we had a great week. The Zone leaders here are so awesome. One of them is Elder Cook. He is from Utah and he played football in high school so we got to talk a lot about that last pday and that was fun. He also has helped me a ton. He has a really strong testimony and he has given me a ton of advice and answers to my questions that i have as a District Leader. Being a leader is such a cool responsibility. Its not easy and im definitely learning every day. It is very cool the little inspirations that you recieve for your district though. I have really been thinking and praying to have a plan for the Book of Mormon in our areas and in our companionships. Im excited to work with them this week and to develop this plan a little bit.

My companion and I had  great week. He is a really hard worker so that is a huge blessing. We have a few great families that we are working with. We have been working a lot with one family in particular. I talked a little bit about them last week. (he dad only gets one day off every month) We have been really thinking and praying for them lately and this week we had a cool lesson with the dad in the Church. It is really cool how these people get prepared before we find them and as we teach them as well. We are in the process of working with him and the members to find a new job so he can have more time with his family.

My companion and I also had a cool Missionary Devotional thing with a fire. The wood here is super dense by the way. It is super heavy! 

I also gave a talk in church yesterday and it went well. I used one of the talks from one of the new apostles. I dont remember his name(oops) but I really like how he said in his talk that the Lord doesnt call us because of what we have done but rather for what he needs to do through us. 

It was a great week here in Viru. I feel like I live in an oven that never gets turned off, just turned down a little bit at night. 

I love being a missionary and Im so grateful for the things Im learning even if it is hard at times. It will all be worth it in the end!

The Bonfire with his companion.

 

The church in Viru.

Elder Miller and the LIZARD he ate! 

(He said, "don't worry mom, it was cooked")  eekk!!!

 

Week 25 - Viru

This was Elder Miller's first week in his new area Viru.

My first week here in Viru went well. It is a lot different than Caraz, so its taking a little bit of time to adjust. Its been a pretty good start so far though. I got my birthday package this week as well so that definitely made my day and I've been enjoying it every day. Viru is more like desert. There are fields with crops, but the little mountains around us don't have any plants on them. It is super hot here all the time pretty much, so I pretty much shower in the morning and don't dry off all day because I'm constantly sweating. its kind of funny. I have been drinking lots of water so don't worry(mom) There is a church here though so that is so awesome. It is a really beautiful building. The members use it a lot so that is really cool to see.
My first week as a district leader went pretty well. I'm definitely learning. I just have to remember to be patient with myself and everyone around me. My last companion was really laid back and a pretty much always happy so I'm trying to follow his example. We also had a few baptims in our district this week so that was a really cool experience to see. We have a really awesome zone as well. I've got quite a few friends in the zone.
My new companion is Elder Herget. He is from Connecticut and his dad is actually from Lethbridge Alberta! So that was super cool to find that out. He is a really cool kid and he likes sports so this should be a fun companionship. He is also a hard worker so im excited for these next couple of months.
We have a family of investigators here that was definitely prepared for this message. They are so awesome and they come to church and read the Book of Mormon. The only trouble is that the dad cant come to church and we are working on helping them get married. The dad actually works 8 hours every day and only gets one day off every month. That blew my mind. We have plans to fast with them this week so we can find a way for him to be able to come to church and spend more time with his family.
Overall it was a pretty good week. I've definitely been praying a lot and its crazy how calm you feel after a sincere prayer. I'm definitely grateful for that.

Running with a Dog

Elder Miller wrote:  "My companion did get a head start I'd have you remember ;)"

Week 24 - Caraz

This is Elder Miller's last day in Caraz, he is being transferred to a place called Viru.  I'm anxious to see & hear all about his new area.

 

Here is Elder Miller's Summary and a couple pictures from him too.

Clouds on the mountains in the morning

The Whitney's from Arizona.

 

Wow This week was awesome. We had some pretty cool stuff happen this week. As i have been talking about we have been working with a family that has been progressing and coming to church, but the only difficulty was that the parents needed to get married. This week we decided to talk to them pretty directly about this in a lesson. So we did and the lesson went well and in the end they asked us "well we are already married with papers and everything." My jaw dropped and i just started laughing because i was so surprised. They thought that they had to be married in a church or something so they were confused and thats why they told us they werent married. So now they are on track for baptism in the next month.

We also had a cool experience with prayer this week with our pensionista. Her daughter had her baby this week on thursday, but things werent looking very good in the morning there were some complications and our pensionista was very worried and sad. After listening to her while we ate our breakfast I honestly had no clue as to how to help her. The only idea that i had was to pray. So thats exactly what we did. I invited her to kneel in her living room with us and I said a prayer for her and her family. At the end of the day we went and visited her and all went well. Her daughter and her baby are now at home. I was so relieved to know that all is well.

Yesterday we had changes because it was the last day of the transfer. IN the morning I was kind of nervous and discouraged because some of our investigators didnt come to church and I was also kind of home sick. We had a great church meeting though and the day got a lot better. In the afternoon my companion got a call from the assistents that he is going to train a new missionary and after they talked with my companion they asked to talk to me. Elder Weber was the assistent who I talked to and he told me that they had talked with President Rios and had been thinking and decided to give me the opportunity to be a district leader and that they felt really good about it. I was soooo happy and I accepted the responsiblity. Wow I am so excited and I feel so blessed that the Lord has trusted me with a new opportunity. The only bad part is that I am leaving Caraz. I am going to Viru. Nevertheless I am super excited for this new opportunity. I have had two great district leaders as companions so i have learned from them so I at least have a little bit of a base of how things should be done. 

I am so excited for this new transfer. We will travel on a bus all night tonight, so here goes another adventure. I love the mission.

Week 23 - Caraz

Here is Elder Miller's weekly update.

This week was a great week! The rain is finally here and I am welcoming it with open arms! I'm ready for a little break from the heat. It is so cool to see the clouds every morning because they are always so low and blanketing the mountains. Its pretty awesome. 

The work went well this week. We got to give a few blessings of healing this week which i always love doing. Holding the priesthood is such a privilege. One of the ladies we gave a blessing to is an investigator in the area of the sister missionaries and she works in a little store with fertilizer and animal products so it was really cool to talk to her about that stuff for a little while. This week we also had the opportunity to help a family who is members. They are passing through a little bit of a rough patch but it is so cool to see how strong their faith is. We were talking with the dad and wow we learned what a strong, but humble man he is. His sons had a youth activity this weekend at the beach with the stake and he wasn't going to let them go as a punishment, but my companion and I talked to him about how these experiences helped  us to have more friends in the church and to strengthen our testimonies. In the end of our conversation he called his sons down and handed them the list and told them to go pack.

We also have been working with a family of investigators this month and the mom and daughter love the church. They have been attending on Sunday and at our activity night. The dad is a little bit more difficult but we are working with him. He is super funny. He only has one hand(the other one got chopped off a few years ago). One day we asked him how he was doing and he said aahhhh more or less so we asked him why and he told us ¨my hand¨ hahahaha it was so funny. he is always joking.

I have also gained so much respect for our bishop. His calling is hard because we are basically in the process of establishing the church so like in the beginning with the church during the restoration it is not something easy. He is so powerful and faithful. I really admire him. 

It was a great week!

my district a few weeks ago on pday