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

Week 22 - Caraz

Here is Elder Miller's weekly update.  It's starting to warm up there and beginning to feel like summer.  Enjoy the e-mail & the pictures.

Canada VS. Peru

He received a package from the YW finally!  He's sooo happy.

This week was great! We had an awesome worldwide fireside training thing with the quorum of the twelve on Wednesday with our zone in Huaraz in Wednesday and I learned so much. One of my favorite things was that we need to teach less actives like they are investigators so that we can strengthen their faith or help them find it again.

This week I also received my package from the young women with snacks and my mtc survival kit! That was an awesome surprise! My companion and I have been enjoying the snacks this week for sure! I also really enjoyed the letters! Deer Lodge Ward is the Best! 

The work here in Caraz was really super slow at times early in the week, but as the week grew older we got busy with lessons so that was awesome. The days go by so slow when its hot and we are walking a ton to find someone to teach, so its really nice when we have lessons. One day in particular we were in Yura Coto a little town outside of Caraz and we had a few lessons with less actives which was great, but we were looking for new investigators and not having a ton of success until we went to a members house and we met her grandson and his girlfriend. Her grandson is a less active member and his girlfriend is not a member. We taught them the restoration and it went great. I have really seen the power that the message of the restoration has lately. Its pretty awesome. I have seen investigators go from not wanting to listen to us to asking about baptism after hearing this lesson.

I also found an awesome quote this week in a Mormon message that I really like. ¨Never let correcting someone be more important than loving the person¨ This is definitely something that is difficult for me, but its so important. Nobody is going to listen to criticism or advice if your not giving it with love.

It was a great week here in Caraz! The mission life is pretty awesome!

Week 21 - Caraz

This weeks e-mail Summary from Elder Miller.  He wanted me to Thank EVERYONE for the birthday wishes! 

 

From Elder Miller:

Wow this week was another great week! My companion had to go to Trujillo earlier in the week for a leaders meeting there so i got to proselyte in Huaraz with two missionaries there. It was a great experience. I got to learn a few new things from them on how they teach and study so that was great. I also spent a lot of time laughing. Elder Fernandez is from my group and he is so funny. he is from the jungle in a different part of Peru. 

This week was kind of tough at times. We could not find our investigators in their houses so that was kind of frustrating, but we did have a few lessons this week and I learned to appreciate the lessons a little bit more. We taught a part member family the proclamation and once again it was super awesome. I love using the proclamation in our lessons. 

Yesterday we went on splits and I got to go with Hermano Castillo and it was great! We taught two less active families. The first one was so awesome. The Husband drives a payloader for his job so I got to talk a little bit about that with him to get to know him. He told me that someday I can come check it out when he is working so I think I might have to do that one Pday. It is so much easier to help someone learn and come unto Christ when you get to know eachother a little bit. Hermano Castillo was great to have in the lessons as well. He has a very powerful testimony. He is part of the stake high council here. 

I have learned quite a bit in my studies this week as well. I studied Elder Hollands talk about the Godhead and wow that was so awesome. I studied his talk with a lot of the Chapters in John in the Bible and I learned a ton. 

I really am kinding of feeling like its crunch time. We havent really had any baptisms so I am thinking a lot of how I can become better and change to make that happen. I know this is the work of the Lord and that it will move forward. I am definitely learning patience.

PDay last week

Hermana Vilma and her family

 Wow! I feel so blessed this week. My pensionista had a little party for me in her house for my birthday with the missionaries in my district. She made me a cake and everything. It was kind of a surprise haha it was a good time for sure!

 

Week 20 - Caraz

Elder Miller turns 19 on January 14th.  If you feel like e-mailing him to wish him a happy birthday, I'm sure he would love to hear from you!

He had another great week and continues to improve his Spanish speaking skills. 
Here is what he wrote:

Hey everyone this was another great week here in the mission! We have been working with a few new families lately and it has been really fun. Almost all of them need to get married still so we are talking with them about that quite a bit. It is cool for me to hear why their families are important to them and also their testimonies of our Heavenly Father. There's a few that really have a strong desire to please our Heavenly Father and don't want to disappoint him so that makes me so happy. I honestly love working with the families. There's one family that we have that I know this gospel can help them so so much right now. They are the nicest people and always talk to us in the street, they just are having some struggles right now. We have also been working with a few young men who are at the age to get ready for their missions so that is super fun as well. We are working on trying to get them excited for the mission right now. I feel so lucky when I look back and see all the support I have been given to go on a mission from my family, family friends, missionaries, teachers, and coaches. This really is a great experience. It is so hard at times, but I have learned that the secret really is attitude and effort. We also had a little leaders meeting here this week in our zone and my companion is a District leader so I got to go to the meeting too. I love learning more about being a leader. While we were in the meeting something that the football coach said at the Seattle football camp came to my mind ¨the most important thing you can do in life is make sure that the people around you know they are important¨ that's basically what he said.(not sure if its word for word but close enough) so that is something I'm going to work at. I'm not a leader right now but I want to be a good one when the opportunity comes.

Today for Pday we went to the Laguna Paron that is in the mountains here by Caraz. It was so fun. We went with a few members and it was quite the adventure! My new companion is also very cool. He is from Lima and he knows how to surf. Pretty sweet talent id say. I am really learning from him to just relax and enjoy the mission a little bit more. The mission really is a blessing.

 

Laguna Paron - with his new Rugby Jersey

Laguna Paron - Miller Jersey

Laguna, with Companion & Hermano Castillo & his son

 

Week 19 - Caraz & Basketball

Here is Elder Miller's Summary and an email about playing basketball.  I love this kid!  His comments are pretty hilarious. 

Last Monday I got to play some basketball with some of the members in a  super nice gym in Caraz. It was sooooo fun to get on the court and compete a little bit. It was kind of fun to be one of the tallest ones out there for the first time in my life! I hope you all are enjoying college basketball at home for me! Go Michigan State!!!

PS Dad or Aunt Sarah will you forward this to your brothers please.

Basketball and look who is the TALL boy.  :-)

 

 

Here is Elder Miller's weekly summary:

Hey! This was another great week in the mission. I spent all day last Tuesday in Huaraz proselyting with Elder Fernandez and we actually got to do some pretty cool service. We found a less active preparing guinea pigs to eat so we got to help her out. It was pretty cool. She boiled them and then after we pulled off all of their hair. It was interesting.

My new companion Elder Rodriguez arrived here on Wednesday and we have been working in Caraz. He is a good companion. He knows a lot and is a very good teacher. He is from Lima. Our first day together we actually had quite a bit of success. We visited a few members then we kind of fell into a slump and couldn't find anybody. I had a prompting though to go visit a family that used to be investigators who is always super friendly with us in the street the Grandpa always yells ´Waowki!´ which means brother in Ketchua(the native language here). We went and visited them and they were very nice to us and have desires to learn more because they are having a little bit of difficulties and believe that this can help them. We also started working with a part member family that is less active. They are so awesome. Their family is united and its always fun to go visit them. We shared the family a proclamation to the world with them and wow that is so powerful. Its things like that that make our church special. I also had some great studies this week. I love study time. During one of my studies I compared Chapter one of James and chapter ten of Moroni. I love how they talk about praying with true intention. The example in verses 22 to 25 I think it is in James was awesome.

I am really enjoying my time here in the mission. It was a good week. I got a few compliments from a few less actives and investigators this week about my Spanish as well. So that made me happy!

I also gained a stronger testimony of the importance of attending church this week. I felt so good and peaceful at church yesterday. It was a great day.