Exciting News! 23 March 2009

Hello family!

Thank you for your emails, and Dad, thank you for your letter last week, I appreciated hearing from you and it was neat to hear that you had seen the shuttle launch, too!

Well, lots of new things are happening! We now have 7! baptismal dates set for the month of April and we are exited for our progressing investigators. I told you about most of the main ones in my last e-mail. The M family from Haiti has 3 dates, The V family from Puerto Rico has 3 dates, and Michael R from Puerto Rico has a date, all for the 4th and 11th of April. Then of course there are some who are close to baptism without a date: Harvey I, Eugene P (but he's moving to the Dominican Republic this week, because the Army assigned him to the embassy there or something even though he's retired), the K family, and Danny our neighbor. Please keep these individuals and families in your prayers. : ) They can sure use your help! And we will be setting many more dates this week so please pray for us for that, too. : )

So now for some even bigger news... Elder Urry is getting transferred. And I'm training again. : ) I will pick up my new companion tomorrow from the mission office. I'm excited for the opportunity to serve the Lord as a trainer again and I look forward to helping him work towards accomplishing our goals. Don't know his name yet but I will find out tomorrow when I meet him. There are only two new English Elders coming in so I have a 50% chance of knowing who I am getting but I'm excited and will let you know who my new companion is soon.

Now for the biggest news: On this coming Saturday, the 28th, at 4:00pm at the Clermont chapel, I will have the opportunity to baptize someone for the first time ever. Remember the K family from my last area? Well I taught the twin nine-year-old daughters the lessons and they are now getting baptized. Anna has asked that I baptize her and I am really excited for that wonderful opportunity. : ) And I will send pictures as soon as possible.

We were blessed with another awesome week with 11 exchanges, 12 lessons taught to an investigator with a member present, 3 investigators at Sacrament meeting, and 6 referrals. Thank you for your prayers. I know that they help! And when my new companion arrives we will continue to stoke the fire that is already burning!

In other news I have taken up racket ball as of late with our nice apartment racquetball court and we play every morning as a part of our exercise routine. You should come play with us sometime, Dad, J/K : ) We play on Mondays with the prospective missionaries from our ward and because I have been practicing every morning I actually beat Michael R for the first time last Monday and he's pretty good. We had dinner with the B's on Monday night. Brother B is a very successful business man who has started and owns many of his own companies including an alkaline water company and an orthopedic shoe company. I was thinking about the Rich Dad Poor Dad book you had me read dad and realized that talking to this brother was like reading one of those books in 3D. He's very knowledgeable about business and money management, etc. and he is willing to teach anyone, anywhere how to do what he has done for free. Just thought that could be a great learning opportunity in the future for anyone of us.

Regardless of anything you might have seen in past college clean checks of mine, we passed our missionary clean check last week. : ) So you don't have to worry about my cleanliness Mom and Dad. ; )

We had a great experience this week teaching and receiving a new investigator. Her name is Leandra and she is the girlfriend of a church member my age named Conrad. He is coming back to church and his girlfriend is now our investigator. We had an awesome lesson in Brother S's home (a close friend of Conrad and Leandra who has been like a father for them). We taught the restoration and committed Leandra to reading and praying about 3 Nephi chapter 11. We have had a lot of help from the ward and it is amazing to see so many of them so involved in the missionary work here. Especially the 16-19-year-olds who come out with us weekly. Reece, I would definitely encourage you to volunteer to go out with the Elders in 6th ward as soon as possible. The age requirement to go out with the missionaries is 16 and older so you are the perfect age. : ) And hey, when you move here you can just come out on exchanges with me k? : )

One investigator family that we are meeting with a lot is the M family. Nathan is really searching for is answer that this is God's authority on the earth today and that he needs to be baptized "again." His children already have received their answers. He is also suffering from diabetes and has recently lost his eyesight and has been on dialysis for two years because he lost both his kidneys a while back. Please keep him in your prayers.

Well that was my week. I love you a lot and I will continue to keep you in my prayers, too.

Love,

Elder Miller

Changes, changes, changes ; ) 16 March 2009

Hey family,

It sounds like lots of things are changing there, wow! And Dad's already here working, huh? Well, I am glad he got started and I know this is a great opportunity for him.

Sounds like the house is looking better and better, and ironically your leaving it just after it gets all fixed up. : )

To answer your questions... yep, I really did sit on a live, moving, 8-foot alligator. It was a lot of fun! And no, my mission president hasn't seen that picture yet. : ) Remi, it feels hard on top but its neck on the underside is really soft and squishy. By the way, the running zig zags from an alligator is a myth! That doesn't work according to the trainers of these beasts, and I believe them because they are with them everyday! So when you guys move here you should keep that in mind as you are running from alligators. ; ) Hey, you could go visit Gatorland, too it you wanted to!

Well, my week was awesome!!!!! The Lord is really blessing us as we work hard to find people to help into the waters of baptism. This week we were blessed with 14 new investigators (a personal and maybe even a zone record), 8! investigators at church, 14 lessons with an investigator with a member present, 13 member exchanges, 10 other lessons, 7 referrals, and 7 progressing investigators!!! What a week! Having 8 people at church was amazing Elder Urry, the members, and I all had to split up to sit with that many investigators. I have never had to do that before. What a blessing! Our ward mission leader told me that it's been years since Kissimmee ward had seen this much progression in the missionary work here. Our top investigators are: Harvey (a 30 something year old Puerto Rican man whose wife is a member and we just helped him quit smoking and he comes to church every week, hopefully he will accept a baptismal date soon, please pray for him to accept a date). Nathan and his family: his wife, Jenny, and their kids. (They are a Hatian family and are very positive! The kids came to church on Sunday and loved primary! They have agreed to be baptized we just need to set a date with them. Please pray for them to accept a baptismal date as well.) Eugene (the older gentleman who bore his testimony in sacrament meeting for the first time ever being in church.) He was there again on Sunday and please pray for him to accept a date as well as meet with us regularly. The K. family Jomyriz (the mom who's a member), Duane (the father who's our investigator) and three kids, Djuna is the oldest and she is 8 but taking the lessons from us. (Please pray for Duane to be open-minded to the church). There are many others but I don't have time to write them all down but please keep them in your prayers. Thank you.

On Monday last week we had a huge group of missionaries meet at one of the local stake presidents (St. Cloud, President Clark’s house) and we had a fun activity at his huge house. We played basketball, football, and played the many musical instruments he had at his house (piano, guitar, etc. no saxophone though. : ( That night we had dinner at our stake president's home, President Pratt. and it was nice to get to know him and his family. We committed them to using the new missionary approach (the "did you know questions") on one person each that week. On Monday we also met Nathan and his family for the first time and taught the first lesson. On Tues. we met the V. family (11 strong and only the father is a member) that would be a huge baptism! We are teaching them all tomorrow! On Wednesday we met with Harvey and taught the word of wisdom and also met with Nathan and Nathan Jr. and had a powerful lesson on the priesthood authority. Wow! The member I was with (Brother N.) and I bore powerful witness of the authority that is on the earth today in Christ’s true church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Thursday I went on an exchange with our zone leader Elder Hulon and we taught a lot of people in his area while Elder Urry and Elder Henz taught a lot of people in our area. On Friday we had two more awesome lessons with the M. family and The V. family. On Saturday we went with Larry to his 7th day Adventist church and it was held at the Celebration Hospital near Disney. They were nice people and a nice church; they were missing many important truths though. Later we had lunch with the K. family and taught them the first lesson. Sunday after a dinner with Harvey, his family, and the J. family, we went to the Hospital top give a non-member a blessing. Her name is Wanda S. and she has severe Multiple Schlorosis. In the blessing she was promised to be healed through her faith and I absolutely have the faith that she will be healed.

Last night we also saw the shuttle launch by just stepping outside our apartment. Did dad see it too?? [Yes, Scott did -- how's that for weird?] I took pictures, too.

Well, my week was awesome and we have a lot planned for this week, too! The Lord has really blessed us with so many investigators and he really has poured out a blessing from the windows of Heaven so large that we barely have room enough to receive it!

I love you all and I want to wish you a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

Love, Your son and brother,

Elder Miller

Hello from your new home! 9 March 2009

Hello everyone!

Well it's great to hear that you are moving to Florida. Congratulations on everything Dad! I'm glad the Lord is preparing the way for our family. I have to say it will be funny living a 40 min drive from our home, but like I said it doesn't affect my work in a negative manner at all. : ) I am happy for you that you have found a great offer. By the way, I have been surveying random members who know anything about Lakeland and I have been doing some research for you. I asked the member I talked to in Canoe Creek Ward to e-mail you some things he knows about Lakeland and their school systems. He has been a teacher for many years and highly recommended one high school in Lakeland. I can't think of the name but if I heard it I would remember and he should be sending you that info along with some other things.

That's great to hear from Elder Lopez, [Our ward's first of nine missionaries just returned home!] I’m glad he returned home safely. I sure hope I get to visit my home ward after my mission. : ) Tell Marvin I said hi and that I really appreciated his letter. Tell him I’m sorry I didn't have time to write him before he left his mission, but that if I get his address I can send him a letter still. Or I could just send it to you guys and you could give it to him.

So let me tell you about my week. First of all I’m sorry that I couldn't get my letter that I promised you out earlier but I officially sent it out this morning at the post office inside a package that I made for you guys. It will arrive to you in three days. It is a Birthday/Anniversary/St.Patricks day package! That’s why it took me longer that I thought it would because there is a lot of stuff in that package! There is a picture CD with 100 pictures on it, cards, other pictures, a letter, and stuff I am sending home to save. I hope you enjoy it!

The work here is going great! and my ward is really awesome! We've had three investigators at church lately (which is really good): Harvey, Larry, and Eugene. They are all really positive and progressing. We've had a lot of help from the ward with sometimes 7 exchanges a week! especially a lot of help from Allan S., Tanner B., and Michael R., the three guys from the ward preparing to leave on their missions. Allan is going to California Roseville Mission! Michael R. is the son of the sister I said you would make great friends with Mom. : ) To thank these guys for helping us out so much we got them unlimited access to our new racquetball court at our apartments. It is really nice and we are going to play a few games with them at 4:00 today. I really love the ward!

Guess where I went on Monday?? GATORLAND!! I had a blast with Elder Urry, Sister P, Erica P. (her daughter) and Erica's boyfriend, Omar. The P's were very kind to not only get us in for free, but also for paying for us to do everything once we got inside. And guess what ?? I wrestled a real, live 'Gator! It was a way fun day because I got to see, smell, touch, hear, and taste my first Gator for the first time! I sent you a ton of pictures and told you all about it in the package.

I have officially (as of last week) given out all your copies that you gave me of the Book of Mormon. Mom yours was the last one to go and I gave it to a guy my age named John. I told you all about it in my letter that I sent. Thank you everyone on really helping the missionary work progress here!

[I was surprised to tears this week to get an e-mail from my friend who lives in St. Cloud. I haven't seen her since her baptism years ago in Illinois, where we are both from. But we have kept in touch and I SO hoped that our Elder would meet here someday! Anyway, I got an e-mail from Norma that said, "Guess who I met today?" I opened it, and sure enough, there was a photo of my friend standing beside my Elder!]

To answer your question, Mom, here's how I got to meet Sister S:
Just to let you know Elder Bellamy serves in my area (Kissimmee) as a Spanish elder and District Leader over the Spanish work in the area. And your friend Norma lives in MY District Leader's area. Elder O’Brien in Canoe Creek Ward (covers part of St. Cloud). Elder O'Brien's companion is my MTC companion Elder Smith (remember him? : ) We went on an exchange together on Wednesday and on our exchange we went by and saw Sister S. The way you described things in your letter I thought Norma had just taken the discussions once, but I learned that she is a very active member in the Canoe Creek Ward. : ) She is really nice and it was a cool experience to show up on the doorstep of your friend as your son. It has been over twenty years since you last saw each other? And I was with my MTC companion! She even randomly took a video us me and Elder Smith when we went by Thursday morning to say good-bye. I think she is sending it to you soon. She also showed me pictures of you mom at her baptism and also pics with an old boyfriend of yours. Glad you chose Dad and not the mustache guy! [Me, too! LOL]

Larry came to church for the first time on Sunday and I think he enjoyed it. He said he didn't agree with everything that was taught but neither do most investigators. He enjoyed it and we will meet with him this week and go to his church on Saturday. We have also made a lot of progress with a part-member, inactive family in the ward and we are going to be teaching the non-member father and the 8-year-old daughter the lessons and doing service for them. Their name is the K. family.

Well I love you and hope to hear from you soon!

Love,

Elder Miller

Hello From Florida! 2 March, 2009

Hello Family!

Well, it was very good to hear from you guys. A lot has happened this week! This week I received two letters that enjoyed very much; one from you, Dad, and one from you, Mom. I really appreciated you writing those letters and letting me know what was going on.

Remi, I miss playing with you, too, bro! I always think about you and keep you in my prayers, specifically that you will do well in school and in Scouts and in all you do. : ) I took some pictures for you that you will really like! I'll try to print them for you today if I can! I think you will get a kick out of the pictures. I hope you get to go to scicon [Science Conservation Camp with his class] and that you have a wonderful experience there! I love you Remi!

Reece, It was so good to hear from you in the e-mail, bro! I miss you. I am glad you have such a positive attitude about the whole moving thing. I know personally that it would have been hard to switch schools and states my senior year and you've even lived there longer that I have, but I am really proud of you for the attitude that you have, and I know that it is Heavenly Father's will for our family to move, because he was blessed Dad with those job opportunities. That's really awesome to hear about your drawing being used in the Shakespeare play! Congratulations. And keep up the hard work in tennis. We played tennis with Elders Bellamy, Hoopes, Hulon, and Hens last Monday and we had a lot of fun. I thought about you when we played tennis together. I love you Reece!

Dad, thank you for your letter! It really meant a lot to me that you would take time out of your busy interview/work schedule to write me a letter from the hotel. Thank you. : ) And congratulations on doing such an amazing job at your interviews and I will pray for you as you make the decision of which job offer to take. I appreciate so much your hard work and sacrifice for our family. It means a lot to a son to see his father set the example every step of the way. you're not perfect, neither am I, but you have certainly done what Heavenly Father has asked of you as a father and have taken good care of your sons. Thank you. I love you Dad!

Mom, thank you for your "book" in the mail. It came the day afterDad's and it was really nice to hear from you. I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule with the library, columns, magazines, and taking care of your children to write me. It means a lot to me. Thank you. : ) I have a new friend for you. Her name is Sister R. and she is awesome. The R's had us over for dinner last night and I know you two would really get along! She LOVES to read and they have an awesome family just like you. Her oldest son is just about to leave on his mission and I told her about missionary moms. What is the address for that site again? Missionarymoms.com? [LDSMissionaryMoms.com] Elder Bellamy is awesome and he says hi back. He is a great friend and an even better role model for the younger missionaries like myself. Well, thank you for all the amazing things you do for our family both spiritually and physically. You mean a lot to me, Mom. I love you Mom!

Well, about my vote.......... to be honest I do have a vote (not that it should matter that much since it won't effect me for a year and a half), but my current vote is Florida. Although I really miss California a lot Florida has become my second home. I love the people here and as I share the gospel with them and bear my testimony to them I love them even more. But it is totally up to you guys because I think Wisconsin could be a great place as well. I will pray for us all as we make the decision that it will be the best for our family and what Heavenly Father wants us to do. I think you'll know where you're supposed to go (unless something else comes out of the woodwork). : )

I love you and miss you but I want you to know that I am really enjoying serving the Lord out here in Florida. The only con I can think of about moving to Florida is the summer heat, but for the entire time I have been here (August to present, March) the weather has been great! That's why people come here for winter vacation, because it feels so good. Mid-summer might be a little hot, but that's ok. I can tell you that it will not effect my work at all if you were to move to Lakeland. I am at a point in my mission where I am completely submersed in the work so it will not distract me if you move only 40 miles away because I know I have a responsibility given to me from the Lord to serve Him and His people. I love you all and I wish you the best in your choices.

Just to let you know I am writing a letter to you today with my entire weeks experiences because this week was a life changing experience that I need to write to you on paper. I have really grown a lot and I love the work!

I love you guys!

Your son and brother,

Elder Miller

Callin' home from Kissimmee 23 February, 2009

Hello my family!

How is everyone doing? It sounds like you will be moving, huh? Well, I am really glad Dad is getting a great opportunity to get this new job. I hope that wherever you go that it will turn out well for you. I know it will be hard to move, but where the Lord provides work for Dad is where our family needs to go. I know he will take care of each of you through the upcoming experiences.

I am glad you all got my letters (mom yours was in your Valentine card : ) and yes I did get my package, thank you very much!

My week was a very productive week and the Lord really blessed us with success this week. I am glad to hear that Sister P. called; that was very kind of her. She had us over for dinner Friday night and her son is serving in Idaho... I actually trained her son's district leader from the MTC (Elder Bradford was Elder P's district leader in the MTC). Small world, huh? : )

Sister P., her daughter and a friend, want to take us to Gator Land soon for a P-day. I’m excited because I will finally get to see a real alligator up close and personal and also get to eat some gator. That is very nice of them to take us and I will tell you all about it when it happens. : )

On Monday night we met with two of our investigators back to back and then met with them again, one of them on Saturday and another on Sunday. Their names are Larry and Cory. Larry is the legally blind man who is very open to learning more. (The one with Dad's copy of the Book of Mormon). When we went back to see him on Saturday at first it seemed like he was going to try to bash with us. But I prayed really hard in my mind that we would be able to answer his questions and that the discussion would go well. And Heavenly Father answered my prayer because the discussion went great. It turned out he just had some genuine concerns about some things he read in the Book of Mormon. (He thought that 3 Nephi 11 took place in Joseph Smith's time.) We were guided by the Holy Ghost to answer all of his questions and he is going to church on Sunday the 8th of March with a ride we are setting up for him with his neighbor who is a member. I really hope he enjoys the experience and listens to the promptings of the Spirit. He has so many truths already and if he chooses to listen to the Holy Ghost and come with an open mind then I know he will find the further truths he is missing and get baptized.

Cory is the young man (my age) who lives in our apartment complex and recently moved in. (The one with Remi's copy of the book of Mormon). His concerns as we met with him Sunday were he had been Catholic since 8th grade when he joined with his step mom, and all of the things that we shared with him were new to him and so he wasn't sure what to do. We explained to him that if he truly had a desire to know like it talks about in James 1:5 that he would be able to receive an answer as he prayed about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Mom, I shared with him your conversion story and I think it made him think about really giving this a chance. We also had a member there with us (Allan S.) who is our age and about to leave on his mission and he bore his testimony along with ours. I think Cory will give this wonderful message a chance and choose to really search the scriptures for truth. Allan also went tracting with us earlier in the week and it was a good experience for him to prepare for his mission.

There are four young men in our ward, three of them mission age and preparing to go, and one of them 16, who are all going out with us on exchanges and really having testimony building experiences. Reece, I really want to encourage you to go out with the missionaries. Give them a call or ask them at church if you can go out with them sometime and go proselytizing or to an appointment. It will really help your testimony grow as you share it with those who are investigating the church. Especially if one of those children of God that you testify to is baptized! What an amazing testimony building experience that would be to help someone into the fold of God at your age. I promise you that you won't regret going out with the missionaries.

On Tuesday we met with a brother in the ward who is a millionaire. He has done really well with the many businesses that he has started and continues to start more and manage the ones he already has. Some of his companies include: Alkaline water (some sort of water purification system) and a very nice comfort shoe company (I’m going to buy some shoes from him when and if I need new ones for a very inexpensive price). He said he is willing to teach anyone who will listen how to do what he did with businesses and investing. : ) And his son is hilarious. He is 5 years old but is very intelligent for his age and tells lots of funny jokes. He even has a lot of scriptures memorized. It's been great getting to know the members and a lot of them are really diligent in sharing the gospel!

On Wednesday we had district meeting and we have awesome Elders in our district (including a former AP [Assistant to the President] and my MTC companion Elder Smith. : ) We also were blessed with another new investigator on Wednesday who is a friend of a family that we had dinner with that night (the R. family) the investigator is my age and he is a friend of Michael who is also our age (he's one of the guys preparing to serve a mission). The investigators name is Seth and he is really positive about the church. We have an appointment with him at the R's on Thursday and I will let you know how that goes.

Our investigator Harvey is really progressing and we are starting the stop smoking program with him on the 8th of March!

On Thursday I went on an exchange with the district leader and I got to go to St. Cloud. It was a lot of fun and my MTC companion Elder Smith went with my current companion Elder Urry. On Saturday we got turned down from service when we talked to the owner of "Life in the Son," that homeless shelter I told you about. The owner said she didn't agree with the Mormon teachings and that she was afraid the people would get "confused" if we were there helping. She didn't want us to be "tempted" to share our message with them at their born again Christian environment. Oh, well. It's ok. : ) We will find service else where. That night we met a lot of people at brother R's 50th b-day party and it was a fun way to meet potential investigators, especially with so many members there! Sunday went really well too and Harvey sat with us at church. I look forward to another stellar week and I will let you know how it goes.

I love you!!

Elder Miller