Hello from Florida! September 29, 2008

Hola mi Familia!

Somos misioneros de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias.

Just practicing my Espanol. : ) I got to use it the other day knocking doors. A Latina lady and her son came to the door it was very obvious they could speak English but they pretended they could only speak Spanish. So my companion and I invited them to the fireside in Spanish. : )

I learned how to get referrals for the Spanish missionaries from my district leader Elder Burdick who is one of the Spanish missionaries. I went on an exchange to Apopka with Elder Burdick on Tues. It was a really good experience to be able to go to a different area with a different companion for 24 hours. I learned some new things (including some Spanish) and tracted and entire Spanish neighborhood. We talked to lots of people and even got a return appointment with a Jehovah's Witness.

It was so good to hear from all of you! Sounds like the Eagle Scout project is really coming along, Reece! Make sure you send me some pics of the finished product. : ) (I am going to be sending a envelope full of stuff today so it should get there in a week. It will have programs, a picture CD loaded with pics and all sorts of stuff from my mission. :) so a trade for a trade, huh?) And it sounds like you had a good campout, Remi! So Mom, are you almost done with your classes and can now become a librarian?

To answer your questions about the football team we have a return appointment set this week that we sent with Anthony's mom (not the players themselves) we actually haven't talked talked to them since our first lesson but hopefully that will change when we go over to their house on Thurs. And with Mauricio... we went over there on Sat. and talked to him and he said that he was starting to attend a church that someone in his family told him about, but he did say he had read a little bit in the Book of Mormon. I hope he really does read it and receives that witness. But for now there is not much we can do with him unless he makes an effort to keep his commitments. Dad, I did give him your letter and I sincerely hopes he reads it. It will be good for him to hear a testimony from Ecuadorian to Ecuadorian. : ) I explained it was you testimony and that you had done as I am doing, in Ecuador, serving a mission. So thanks for the help!

The fireside went really well! There weren't that many people there, but there were a handful of non-members and the spirit was strong! So I'm sure there will be good that comes of it. The members liked the musical number that me and the other missionaries and the Kelepi brothers sang. I'm sending you the program for keepsakes.

We've had a bunch of new investigators lately and have a lot of appointments this week. Carlos, Nikki, Ann Marrie, and more. I'll let you know how it goes later. and I'm almost done with the letter I've been writing.

GUESS WHAT! We have a Baptism on Oct. 11th with David S. at 11am. We interviewed him with the Bishop and he is going to be baptized. Cool! My first baptism. His dad is going to baptize him. I'll send pics afterwards.

Well gtg. I love you all and I'll write a lot more in my letter and package that I'm sending. ttyl. love you!

Love, Elder Miller

E-mails from Minneola September 22, 2008

Hello Mi Familia!

It was good to hear from you both in your emails and in your letters! I appreciate you taking the time to write me. : ) To answer some of your questions from both your letters and your emails... Yes, a lot of my friends have been dutifully writing me. : ) the Loyds, Justin, Andrew, Josh, and even Makenda wrote, too. All my friends have had some cool experiences including Justin getting to see a family go from his first lesson to baptism and he got to baptize one of the little sons. How cool is that!? My friends are good about writing so the ones that have written are doing well. Will you send me Jeff's address? Nathan's? And just anyone that you think I could use their address every once and while.

To answer more questions... I haven't talked to the football players since that first time with them because we haven't been able to get a hold of them or catch Anthony at home. Oh, well, we'll keep trying! and I haven't talked to Mauricio in a while either because we met with him again after his first lesson and he just said he wanted some time alone with the materials that we gave him and that he would move at his own pace. But I am going to go contact him again and give him your letter, Dad! I like it. Short and sweet.

I have a lot more experiences now, because to answer your question yes, we are all better and have been working hard. I will write a hand-written letter about these experiences, but let me share some with you now . . . Remi, our Ward's primary program was on Sunday. I felt the spirit so strongly!!! Have you done your Primary program yet? If so how did it go or how are the practices going? Ours went so well! Towards the end my companion and I sang in unison with the primary in a rousing rendition of Called to Serve and it was so powerful with us, the missionaries, standing amidst these sweet children. WOW~! And guess what? The spirit was so strong during the meeting that a non-member came up to us afterwards and asked to be baptized!

The person was Bother Scambia's sister (Brother S is an amazing man. He is an amazing chef and cooks for us all the time. He claims he is going to call you to tell you how much he appreciates us as missionaries. Ha, ha. I gave him your phone number so who knows. : ) But anyway, we are preparing and teaching his nine-year-old, adopted son, David, who has autism. And David was in the primary program. That's why Brother S's sister was there on Sunday. She felt the spirit so strongly that she simply asked us how to become a member of the church! And Bro. S's mom is now interested in hearing the lessons too! So all in all we may baptize three people all in the same family soon! I just wanted to share that experience with you for now and I will tell you more later. : )

I love you all and wish you the best!!

Love Ryan

PS
Well, I hurt my back just working out on the ground. I was doing these military leg lifts and it put too much stress on my back and strained it. But I told you that I received a Priesthood blessing for it, right? After that it was much better! From time to time this week it has been sore, but nothing bad enough to stop me from doing the work. : ) I'm doing great!

(Ha, ha, your cookies are great mom and all of the elders like them!) I want to hear more about everyone. How is everything going?? Wow, bright blue for the house, huh? I wonder what it looks like? I look forward to that picture. : ) How is school? I hope I get some replies to those letters bros. : )

Well, got to go but please continue to update me and I appreciate all the encouragement I can get! : )

Love you!

~Elder Ryan Miller

Post Cards from Florida

CITRUS TOWER

ONE OF FLORIDA’S FIRST "ATTRACTIONS," LOCATED IN
CLERMONT, OPENED IN 1956 AS A TRIBUTE TO THE
STATE’S CITRUS INDUSTRY, WHILE THE ORIGINAL
PLANS SPECIFIED A HEIGHT OF 75 FEET, THE COMPLETED TOWER ROSE TO 226 FEET.

141 N. US. HIGHWAY 27
CLERMONT, FLORIDA

Hey Family!
This is a really good picture of my area. You can see Citrus tower and some of the surrounding area. Minneola and Clermont are pretty much the same city, because some people who live in Minneola still have Clermont as their address (me included), ha, ha. So I just found this post card in the gift shop at the bottom of Citrus Tower (I haven’t gone to the top yet : ) ) and I thought it would be good for you to see my area. We talked to the lady at the register for a while (she’s a Jehovah’s Witness) and that was fun. Anyway I hope you enjoy this picture of my area and put it up somewhere in the house.
--Ryan (Elder Miller)

Greetings from Minneola September 15, 2008

Hello Everyone!

It was so good to hear from all of you! Although I didn't hear from Roxy or Truman. They didn't even send me an e-mails! Oh well, if they did it would probally look like this: asldfasdfjasdjfajsdfj. haha. So it's probally good they don't email me. : ) Just tell them I said hi!

So how is everyone?? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE "GREENIE BOX"!! It was so much fun to get all of that stuff from you. My favorite was the pictures and all your letters that I received this week. Thanks! I have already been eating and sharing the cookies, Mom.

And it was great to hear and SEE (pictures) about your Eagle Scout project Reece!

Remington, have fun riding the bus!

And Dad that is one awesome display you made for work!! I hope you all are doing well.

And yes you are sending things to the right address. I will be staying here in Minneola area for a while but I will let you know way in advance before my address ever changes. : )

Things here are going a little slow this past week but I know they will pick up. My entire apartment was sick (Not me but I threw out my back). But after I threw out my back I asked for a Priesthood Blessing and my back is completely healed. : ) The power of the Priesthood is real! My apartment is all getting better and this next week we should have a lot more experiences to tell. : ) I will keep you informed as we progress. We have been doing a lot of ground work and planning for this area and we should see results soon! The members are great and love us.

I hope you get my last letter soon. I sent a postcard, too! Coming up we are having a missionary fireside on the 28th and we encouraged everyone to invite their friends. We even made a newspaper add for it! Should be a good turn out and I am singing in it too, with a quartet. Well, keep the faith and know that I love you, too!!

Love, Elder Miller

Novella from Minneola!

9-2-08

Dear Family,

My first week out in the field was amazing! I hope you got my e-mail today. My P-day is on Monday, but I had to e-mail you today (Tuesday) because yesterday was a holiday and the library was closed. Right now I’m sitting in the doctor’s office (Centra Care) with my companion who is really sick. He has had a sore throat thing 3 weeks and now he is getting worse. I feel good I was sick my last week in the MTC, but I got better, thankfully.

I got your e-mail today and it was really good to hear from you. I guess I got used to hearing from you every day in the MTC and now it’s hard to wait a full week to hear from you. It’s all right; it just makes it more special that way. (Dear Elder was nice while it lasted though, being every day and all.) DearElder only does the same day delivery thing in the MTC I’m sure.

So in my e-mail I told you about my experience teaching the E. R. High School Football Team. Or six of them at least : ) it is amazing to see the everyday blessing & miracles that Heavenly Father shows me. I love doing the work! Sometimes it can be tiring, but it is always worth it!

So guess what? I’m in the city of Minneola (which is right next to Clermont) and it is one of the only places in all of Florida with big, rolling hills and is the highest point in all of Florida. (But it is not very high compared to California at only 400 ft. above sea level, at least that’s what I’m told about these parts). I live in a four-man apartment with Elder Holland (my companion), Elder Carlisle, and Elder Le Bel. We’re all from the western United States and are getting along great.
I’ll have to take some pictures so you can see everyone. I haven’t really had time to take any pictures since we got here and went straight to work. (I just finished unpacking yesterday night!)

By the way I’m sending (enclosed in this letter) a picture of me and my companion, Elder Holland, on top of a hill over-looking some of the city of Minneola, FL. It’s an awesome picture that we made for each of the ward families that we visit as our gift to them. (Dad, sorry we spelled disciple wrong, I know you’ll notice that. : ) That picture was one of the first things I did when we got here because we had to grab some stuff at Wal-Mart and the hill was close by Wal-Mart area. Wal-Mart is where we develop pictures here I guess and that’s where we made the text for the picture of my companion and I.

We ate some of your peanut butter fudge the other day, Mom. Maybe it was only yesterday, who knows! Ha, ha. It seems like a year since I got here! I can’t believe that on Saturday, Sept. 6th I will have been out for a full month already. It’s hard to believe it! Time passes so slow, yet soo fast! I’m enjoying every moment of it!

I should probably tell you about my first day! I sent you a letter upon arriving to the mission home. Did you get it? By the way sorry about the expensive phone call debit card thing. I didn’t realize how expensive it was. But it was definitely good to hear your voices! Anyway, on the plane on the way here I wasn’t able to give out a Book of Mormon (my seatmate did) but instead I gave out a 3 ways to a happier family pass along card to a grandma and her grandson. I was very glad to have that opportunity on the plane. When we landed, walking through the airport was a weird feeling because I knew that this was it! I was finally here! And everyone in the airport was watching our group of 13 missionaries. Sister Darrington met us at the airport and we rode with the AP’s over to the mission home in Orlando. We were treated very well at the mission home and got to know President and Sister Darrington a little better.

The next day (Tuesday, the 26th) we drove to the mission office and had an orientation for new missionaries in the mission. It consisted of paperwork, a driving instruction video made by my companion’s dad (Jeffry R. Holland). Just kidding, my companion’s not related to the apostle! And listening to the mission office workers speak. After orientation we were introduced to our companions and I was told multiple times that my companion was the best trainer to have. What an answer to prayers! I prayed that I would get a companion who was stalwart, hardworking, and excited about the work and that is exactly who I got! We went outside and found my bike, all put together, and got my luggage together. (By the way, my bike is really awesome! It is the best bike I have ever ridden!)

Then we piled my luggage, my companion’s luggage, Elder Carlisle’s luggage and Elder Le Bel’s luggage into the back of a very small blue pick-up truck. A very kind man who was a member somewhere in the area was the one who gave us a ride to Minneola. It was about an hour and a half drive from Orlando and I had to sit in the middle of the member and Elder Carlisle. The small truck was stick shift, so you can imagine how that was uncomfortable! : )
We arrived in Minneola at our apartment, all of us new to the area except for Elder Le Bell who had been there for one transfer, and we carried all of our stuff upstairs to the apartment. It is a very nice apartment and is a two-bedroom; has a living, dining and kitchen area and a laundry room. Can’t ask for much more! There is even an apartment gym by the office where we work out every morning.

(By the way Reece, I’m getting really strong because of working out hard for the past month and being outside all day so I’m starting to catch up strength-wise. Dad, I’m going to have to arm wrestle you when I get back. : ) And I’m catching up height-wise, too! I’m 6-foot now!!! . . . Just kidding! Ha, ha, not that you believed me anyway : ) anyway, I wrestled Elder Le Bel the other day, because he kept trying to wrestle me so I finally gave him what he wanted, a pin on the ground for 15 minutes. : ) We get along great so of course our wrestling was in good fun before we went to bed, but he was very surprised that a 5’7", 148 lb. guy could pin a 6’3", 180 lb. basketball player.

Anyway, my apartment is awesome and so are the Elders in it! We work very well together, as we should and we "share" a car between companionships. But the other Elders have back problems so we let them use the car. Besides, biking and walking are way more fun than driving. You get to talk to a lot more people that way. And we like asking the members to do service by driving us places. It builds our relationships much more that way.

So when we got to the apartment we didn’t unpack. We went straight to work after eating the pizza the man who had driven us had bought us for lunch. The first thing we did was Area Book Work (Dad please explain). It’s basically just the records of all the people worked within our area. . . . We love a challenge. By the way, as I mentioned in my e-mail, we are white washing the area, meaning we are both brand new to the area, me being brand new period. (My companion has been out for 23 months, and will stay for 3 more months).

Elder Holland served his first year in Sao Palo Brazil until he got extremely ill. He then had to go home for 8 months of recovery. For awhile it didn’t look like he was going to get to come back out into the field, or even live for that matter. After 2 months of recovery he was told to move on with his life because it didn’t look like he was coming back out. But eight months later, after doing a semester at BYU-Idaho he wanted to be absolutely sure about the possibility of coming back out. He finally got a call that said he was going to Florida in four days and to pack his bags. He has been out in Florida for 11 months and goes home in 3. Elder Holland is a great guy. He has taught me about faith, perseverance, gratitude, and loving people.

So after we did Area Book Work my first day we finally got to go out in to the town on our bikes. It was around three in the afternoon. Dad you wanted to know about my first door so here it is. : ) As we biked uphill through a neighborhood nearby, we talked to all the people that were outside doing yard work and other things. At first my companion did most of the talking, but then I started to get the hang of it and I started to do more of the contacting. I found it to be really fun. As I have gone through the days I have felt a love for everyone we talk to and I know that love comes from Heavenly Father towards His children. After street contacting for awhile we decided to knock some doors. My first door no one was home. But my second door (really my first actual door), a man named Mauricio answered. He lives there with his fiancé and his two dogs. He is actually from Quito, Ecuador, Dad. And I explained to him that my Dad had lived in Ecuador for two years doing the same thing that I am doing now. We set a return appointment to come back and teach him the first lesson and we have now taught him that lesson in his home. Tonight we go back to follow up with him on his Book of Mormon reading and his praying. How exciting! My first door!
By the way, in this envelope I’m also sending my plane ticket and a picture that one of the ward families drew for us when they gave us cookies (still don’t know who). : ) I just thought you’d like to see some cool things from my mission and I want you to save things I send home so at the end of my mission I can have memories to look at.

Anyway, so that was my first door. And I told you about the football players experience and commitment yarn in my e-mail. Let me tell you more about my first Sunday. I told you already about committing the entire youth program with the commitment yarn to give copies of the Book of Mormon to their friends. That Sunday we also gave everyone missionary name tags that my companion made. We learned their names faster that way and everyone saw that they are missionaries, too!

My companion and I both bore our testimonies in Sacrament because the Bishop asked us to and it was good for the ward to hear our excitement for the work! My companion is musical as well and is a pianist just like my companion in the MTC. Elder Holland (my current companion) played a beautiful rendition of Joseph Smith’s First Prayer, Hymn # 26 on Sunday. As he played I could really feel the spirit.

Overall, Sunday was an amazing day and it was wonderful to meet the members. I could tell you experience after experience (and it’s only my first week), but I’m out of space in the envelope. : ) I will continue to share my experiences with you through e-mails and letters.

I want you all to know that I continually see the Lord’s hand in all my experiences and that I am so grateful for all Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I know this Church is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and redeemer. I hope to get your letters soon and hear what you’re up to! I apologize for all the jumping around in this letter. Hopefully you understand it.

I love you all and I’ll write again soon.
Love,
Elder Ryan Miller

September 8th E-Mail

Hello Family!

I got all your letters! Thank You!! I take it that you didn't get the letter that I sent yet. Well, it should get there soon. I sent it off on Wednesday I think. Yea, that sounds right. In the letter (by the way it is a ten page letter -- I had a lot of time in the doctor’s office because my companion was sick) I wrote about more experiences and some day to day things that go on in the mission field. You’ll enjoy it I think! I also sent a cool picture and a card that some youth made my companion and I, and my plane ticket. (All stuff to save for me) : ) So how is everyone?

This is for Marvin: Hey Marvin, I just wanted to let you know that I greatly appreciate your example of serving a mission -- for me and all of 6th ward! You have been a good influence on us and now Andy Owen, Justin Mann, Josh Feil, and I are all serving missions. So thank you for setting the example and being the only missionary from our ward for a long time. I know even the youth will recognize your example. I hope all is going well for you and that you continue to grow and learn. Stay Strong! ~Elder Ryan Miller

Reece: Thank you for writing me! Congratulations on making some serious progress on your Eagle Scout project! That’s awesome. I hope the cement goes well and that you will get to finish your project soon. It’s been a long road and I know you have worked hard. But just like they say about a mission: "No one said it would be easy, they only said it would be worth it". Good luck and keep up the good work. I’m sending you a personal hand written letter soon so you'll hear more from me later. : ) Love you.

Remi: Hey buddy. It was so good to read your letter that you sent. I’m glad you had a good experience running for office at your school and I would encourage you to continue doing it. I hope school is going well for you and I want you to know that I love you!

Mom and Dad: I love you both. It was so good to hear from you in your letters and emails and I appreciate the encouragement. Read the letter that you sent and let me know when you get it. There are all kinds of experiences written in there. : ) The work is going great. My companion has been sick but as he gets better the work and experiences will increase! We are continuing to contact more people of Minneola and I’m so excited for the work. I love you and want you to know that I am safe and well. Say hi to Roxy and Truman for me. Thank you for working so hard to support me in my endeavors and thank you for sharing my experiences with the ward. I miss you a lot but I know I am doing the right thing in serving the Lord. Have a wonderful week and I will look forward to hearing from you soon!

Love you all, Elder Miller

Arrival in Orlando! (Out of order due to Snail Mail!)

8-25-08

Dear Mom, Dad, Reece & Remi,

Well, I made it safely to the mission home in Orlando! It’s dark and stormy outside and you can see the effects of hurricane Faye all around. Here it’s just a lot of water, but other places apparently had some damage done.

As soon as we got to the airport we were greeted by Sister Darrington and when we arrived at the mission home we were fed an amazing meal of lasagna, salad, and an amazing chocolate pie! After eating MTC food for 3 weeks this meal was Heavenly!

President and Sister Darrington are very nice and welcomed us into their home. Tomorrow I find out who my companion is and we will have a little orientation; then it’s off to work.
I gave a pass-a-long card to a grandma and her grandson sitting behind me on the plane. I hope she uses it. :-)

Well, I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying the new school year. Today (Monday) is our P-day and so far it has gone very well. I can’t wait to find out my area and companion tomorrow (and knock on my first door/place my first Book of Mormon through street contact)! I’ll let you know all about it next Monday when I write.

Take care everyone, I love you all and I hope you have lots of missionary opportunities. I’ll pray for you and I know I’ll be in your prayers. Talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Ryan Miller
P.S.
They’re sending some good pics with this! :-)

Complete Missionary Slideshow

First e-mail from Florida!

Hi everyone!

It was good to read all your e-mails and hear about the Ward fast, house situation, and your weekend off.

I'm pretty limited on time here at the library so let me tell you about a lot of the important stuff and then I will write you the rest of it in a letter. (By the way I’m sending a picture and some other stuff and I'll be sending a CD of pictures soon.)

Ok, so... I was called to serve in Minneola, Florida, a small town west of Orlando, it’s not that far away from Disney World (we drove through Disney World on the way here). My companion is Elder Benjamin Holland and he is an awesome trainer!! Everyone just told me that I was very lucky to have him and that I would learn a lot... and I really have learned a lot.

It's been amazing guys! Talking to random people on the street is a lot of fun and we've taught three lessons now. One of the lessons we taught was to a football team.

As my companion and I were tracting on our bikes we saw some one sitting in their car in the driveway talking on the phone. It was a teenage girl who didn't really want to talk to us but as my companion handed her a pass along card a truck full of football players pulled up and all of them jumped out of the car. At first I thought they were kind of scary looking (with tattoos and they were kind of big), but as we introduced ourselves and explained a little bit about our message they seemed interested. We asked them if we could share a 15-minute message with them and we couldn't go in the house but they said we could just teach them right there in the driveway. There were six of them, all wearing their jerseys because this was Friday and they were just hanging out before the big game. They all go to a local high school (East Ridge) and they were probably from 16 to 18 years of age. Surprisingly they were very attentive as my companion and I taught them about the restoration and shared our testimonies. One of them whose name is John said he had recently found Christ in his life through the football coach who has all of them attend a Christian football camp every summer. He said now that he knew about Christ he woke up happier in the mornings. We explained to them that through the Book of Mormon they could increase their faith in Christ and that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. We committed them all to reading the Book of Mormon and made a return appointment for this Friday (right before the next big game). We left them with a huddle-football prayer and encouraged them to read from the book of Mormon and pray about it before our next visit. What and awesome experience!

My companion and I have come to find out that our ward here is awesome!! And that the people of Minneola are all very friendly and will talk to us even if they don't want to. My companion and I are "white washing" the area, meaning we’re both brand new to Minneola. Elder Holland only has three months left but he is as excited as ever to share the gospel with the people here.

On Sunday we met the entire ward and committed all the young women and young men to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to a friend of theirs at school in one week. We used commitment yarn (more about that in my letter) and they all wrote their testimonies in the front of the copies that we gave them. Some of them have already done it as we found out from teaching seminary this morning!

Well, I haven't gotten a single piece of mail so I hope it comes soon! I love you all and just want to let you know that I am safe and that the hurricanes don't hit this area that bad. Elder DeLucchi is serving in the same zone as me so tell his mom that he is safe.

I love you and I’ll write more in my written letter! Bye!
~Elder Miller

P.S.
The computers at the library kick you off after 30 mins. But we’re allowed 45, so here's just another little e-mail :) Just wanted to let you all know that I love you and that I am so excited to be doing this work. I look forward to hearing form you (although I guess the mission office is doing a bad job about sending me my mail!!) I haven't seen a lick of it yet.

Well, I have already used my musical abilities through singing in members’ homes... the members are awesome!!! They are good missionaries and we have been committing them all to do things with my companion’s idea of commitment yarn. We tell them that that the commitment is important and that they can't take the piece of yarn off their wrist till they fulfill their commitment. It works!!

We’re being fed healthily and well. The members are great, and I work out every morning except Sunday. I am the healthiest I have ever been in my life! Working out, no TV/video games, eating right, getting about 8 hours of sleep a night, spiritually clean and everything just makes me feel so good. : )

Well I might get some service opportunities if this next storm goes over the area so I’ll let you know but right now the city of Minneola is doing good. Love you all and I will write soon!
Love, Elder Miller