RE: Howdy Elder! February 15, 2010

Dear Family,

It was so good to get your e-mail this week! I am glad that my new email address actually works. Although the church still uses "myldsmail" as the name they switched their service to google mail. It is a lot more reliable and faster, too! Remember all those times when my e-mail wouldn't send? Well those days are over, I hope. We'll see how the new service works out, but I have faith that it will.

Thank you very, very much for the awesome package you sent! It came on Friday and I loved it all! Actually the TP [For padding! LOL] did come in handy since we had run out and the Valentine's stuff was great, too! I absolutely loved the photos and picture frames and I already have the ones in frames displayed on my desk and the others (which were great, too!) in my family photo album for other missionaries to see as well. :) I loved the letters and everything! I will be sending you letters and pictures soon (I will be writing them today for P-day) so you can be expecting those in the mail soon. By the way, I finished Grandpa's letter (all 6 pages of it).

Dad, your design sounds ingenious! It was really neat to hear about that so thank you for sharing that with me. :) I am sorry to hear they had to let go the young man, I know the economy is tough. They definitely need your contribution to the company, though, so they better keep you for as long as you want to stay there! It was also cool to hear about the mine preserve [Scout service project]. It sounds like you and Remi did some great service. I always really enjoy service projects. what a great way to help the community and also be missionaries through example! I am sorry to hear that our family is sick, but I hope that everyone gets better soon and that you have another great week! Love you!

Mom, I am sorry to hear that you are sick. I hope you feel better today so that you can have energy for your training today. I am at the library right now and I was just thinking of the work you will be doing since I see all around me different library workers. I will pray for your success and accomplishment with that. I am glad that we still get to e-mail today even though it is Presidents' Day. Elder Henz still has one more week. His last day of full-time missionary work is on Sunday the 21st and he flies home on the 24th. I will let him know that you wish him the best. :) I know that I will at least have 6 more weeks of time in Viera after Elder Henz goes home because I will need to train the next zone leader on the area. But my guess is that I will be here for longer, possibly my last area like Elder Henz! I will let you know next week when I find out who my next companion is. I love you and I hope you have a great week at work!

Remi, so good to hear from you, brother. I am writing you a letter today that should get there soon. It was cool to hear about your service project with Dad. Elder Henz is excited to go home and see his family in Brazil, but he is also going to miss Viera and the members and recent converts here a lot. It is definitely mixed feelings for every missionary. So what are you doing in school these days? What activities do you have coming up for school or for church? I look forward to your letter. I also am excited to be your roommate when I arrive in Lakeland. You're a great brother and I can tell that you love and care about me from your frequent letters. I love you!

Reece, it is pretty crazy that your friend, Sam, is already leaving on his mission! I am so excited for him and the opportunities that lay ahead for him in his missionary service! It's amazing to think how fast the time will fly by for him on his mission. Just think, yours isn't that far away either! I will be praying for you to receive the art scholarship. Please do me a favor and ask mom if she knows of any scholarships available coming up for me that I should sign up for. I am not sure if I will have my scholarships that I did before my mission or not. That's something else I need to find out. I want to let you know that I really appreciated your letter. I don't know if you know how much it means to me to know that you look up to me and love me, but it really means a lot to me! Thank you! I am really glad you liked my letter and I am excited to be rooming with you at college! I love you, bro.!

This is an exciting time to be a part of the FOM! I really look forward to seeing the blessings that come from the efforts of all the missionaries who are working hard to achieve the mission and zone goals. I had a great exchange with Elder Bracero (one of the assistants to the president) and we set some important goals to increase our effectiveness as missionaries. We will be following up with each other this week. I have greatly encouraged all of our missionaries to take advantage of this missionary fireside with the Saints Unified Voices choir directed by Gladys Knight. I pray and have hope that they will invite their investigators to attend with them so that we can utilize this missionary tool the Lord has given us. Elder Henz and I already have a huge list of tickets that we have ordered for our investigators. Do you remember Takiya who was baptized? We invited her whole family to come and most of them are non-members (her mom, her great aunt, etc.). They are all coming and really looking forward to it! As a zone we will be setting goals to extend the Lord's invitation every day at least once to help us set baptismal dates with those who are ready. I look forward to seeing the blessings that come from this!

On Saturday we got a call from one of the couple missionaries letting us know that we are moving this week. I guess the office forgot that our lease was up on this place (and we definitely don't want to sign it again) so we will be moving, probably tomorrow to some apartments closer to our own area. The apartments are called Caribbean Isle and they look pretty nice so hopefully all will go well.

Today we have an awesome lesson planned with a new family that we are going to teach (the G. family) in a members home (the W's). We will be teaching them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and inviting them to be baptized. Please pray for us. :)

Brother C. is on track for baptism this Saturday. He is very excited and happy to be baptized! Brother G., his friend, got him a triple combination with his name engraved on it and he really liked that. He jokingly said, "I can't back out now, now it's official." He makes me laugh. :) The baptism is on Saturday at 2:00 pm. please pray for brother C., especially since his assisted living center was recently on lockdown due to a virus that had gotten inside and was very contagious.

I love you all and enjoyed getting your package and letters. I hope you had a great Valentine's day yesterday and that you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Miller