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