Calling out from Florida to California May 4, 2009

Hello Family!

I am so glad your surprise weekend went so well! [Elder Miller was in on Scott's surprise trip home for a long weekend.] I bet it felt so good to be reunited again (even though it's only been a couple of months that can seem like eternity when you are away from loved ones). It makes me think of my surprise weekend when I came home from college and showed up on your doorstep at midnight and then hid under Reece's bedsheets and surprised him the next morning. : ) Those were great times, but don't worry, as easy as it would be I will not do that to you while on the mission! I am glad you had such a stellar week and that you all had fun spending time together this weekend.

Reece, I hope that your ticket wasn't too much. [Yes, on Prom night.] Sorry to hear about that but I am sure it didn't mess up your night. It sounds like you still had a lot of fun! definitely send pictures and look forward to getting your letter. It hasn't come yet but I hope it comes soon. Some pointers for your Eagle board of review: Dress in FULL uniform: Boy Scout socks, pants shirt, everything. Appearance counts for a lot so look sharp! Bring your fully prepared Eagle binder because they do look through it and make sure all the paperwork is signed and updated. re-memorize all of the Boy Scout sayings: the Slogan, the Motto, the Oath, the Law, etc. They had me say them at the review. And most of all just beee your self. I know you well and the Reece that I know deserves the very best! (In this case your eagle rank) so I know you'll do great! : ) And although it took a long time just think how much more it will mean to you to have it! I am proud of you, bro. I heard that the wolverine movie was really good! I will have to watch it with you and the family in Lakeland in about 15 months. : )

Remi, I know how much you miss Dad and I would have done the same thing. : ) [Come home from a Camporee early to be with Dad!] Keep up the awesome progress you are making with Boy Scouts, though, you are doing great!! I am very proud of you. : ) Thank you for your letter! I got it this week and it really means a lot to me to hear from you.

Dad, Your surprise visit sounds like it was a real success! Just think, you will be reunited with the family in less time that you were away the first time! Thanks for all your hard work and sacrifice! It's great to hear about the other elders serving from our ward because I haven't heard from them in so long. But I'm glad they are doing well! Will you please send me Josh's address information. I don't have it yet. thanks!

Mom, I look forward to getting your "book" in the mail! I always love reading those!

My week was awesome!!!!! On Monday we had FHE at the M's home with the R family. We watched the Reflections of Christ presentation and shared our testimonies afterwards. By the way, remember when you sent me that Reflections of Christ CD? I love that music and listen to it all the time! Speaking of things you sent me . . . a missionary (culprit still unknown) thought it would be funny to record over the message you recorded for me at Christmastime saying "yo,yo,yo" instead of your heartfelt message. So what I will do is when you move here soon and I send you my next package I will include that picture frame with a message from me so that you can hear my voice and then record it onto a computer and send it back to me with another message from the whole family. : ) Sounds fun to me!

To answer your question, yes, Roberto was baptized on Saturday and it was an awesome baptism! I will send you pictures ASAP. : ) He asked me to baptize him and I felt privileged and honored to help him into the waters of baptism! We had a great turnout for the baptismal service and we asked two youth his age to give talks on baptism and the holy ghost. They did an awesome job! Elder Nelson confirmed him on Sunday and his whole family was there to see it (as well as his baptism)! Another family member from that group is being baptized this Saturday (Rafael M., 17) along with Danny P., the 23 yr. old drummer who lives in our apartments. I am so excited for them to make this important step in their lives. The Lord is REALLY blessing us with baptisms and your prayers are definitely being answered! We have baptisms lined up every week with Roberto two days ago, Danny and Rafael this coming weekend, Jay L. (the really tall and buff 23 yr. old) on the 16th or the 23rd, Djuna K. (the 9 yr. old) on the 23rd, Trinidad (the cousin of Roberto) on the 23rd, Melissa T. (mid 20's) on the 31st hopefully, and possibly even Harvey R. (36) on the 31st.

What an awesome transfer this is going to be!! Today starts a new transfer period (6 weeks) and this is going to be my biggest transfer yet with tons of baptisms (including Cesar P. from my last area who I taught in Spanish for a long time, remember him?), I will hit my 9 and 10 month marks this transfer (May 6, and June 6), I turn 20!, and May 10th is mother's day and I get to talk to you all on the phone (that means you, too, dad. : ) I am so excited for this transfer and happy to be a missionary! Saturday on top of our two convert baptisms there is an 8-yr.-old baptism as well and Mackenzie and her mom have asked me to sing at her baptism. I will be singing a duet of "I believe in Christ" with Gloriane H. one of the young women, and there will be lots of non-member professional musicians there who are friends with the family of Mackenzie. That could be a little nerve-racking, but the Holy Spirit is the best musician on earth! I hope this hymn touches the hearts of those non-members and I will let you know how it goes.

So on Mother's Day (5-10-09) I will call you at approximately 4:00 pm your time. If it's a little earlier or later than that don't worry, I will get a hold of you! and Dad I will call you at approximately 7:00 our time unless of course we want to do a conference call with all of us. Just think about what you would like to do and I will call at about that time on Sunday and we can go from there. : )

We have been having some awesome member dinners lately and the members really trust us! I taught gospel principles class on Sunday and it went really well. We had three of our investigators in that class and the other three went to their other classes, with 6 total at church on Sunday! I also bore my testimony on Sunday, specifically for the R. family so that they could know of my conviction of this Gospel's truthfulness. And another one of our investigators bore their testimonies for the first time ever! It was Melissa T.! Normally she is shy but she got up there in front of the 300+ people in the congregation (we have a lot of Disney visitors) and bore her testimony!

Mom, Dad, Remi, and Reece, I want you all to know that the Lord is pouring me out a blessing from the windows of heaven and that there is not room enough to receive it! (Malachi 3:10) Reece and Remi, start preparing now to serve worthy missions for the Lord and he will bless you more than you can ever possibly imagine! As I sat in Sacrament meeting listening to the talks I felt the spirit overwhelm me with joy as I thought of that scripture in D&C 18:16 that says (paraphrasing), "If you should bring one soul unto my Father in Heaven how great shall be your joy! But if you bring many should unto him imagine that joy!" I am definitely experiencing that joy right now and I want you to know that a lot of it is able to happen because of you prayers. Thank you! As a mission we fasted yesterday for 100 baptisms as a mission in May. Elder Nelson and I are doing our part to make sure that we reach that goal.

I love you all... and Mom, have a happy Mothers Day!

Love,Your Son and Brother,

Elder Miller