Dear Family:
I really appreciated your letters, thank you! I'm sorry I haven't sent mine yet. It's because I am also sending a package and it is talking me a while to put it together. I will send it this week. :) Thank you for your advice and telling me about your weeks.
In regards to college stuff: I have heard of Sunrise Village but I am not sure what they are like. I did love having a pool and game room at Rockland, especially since the pool was heated in the winter! We used it all the time. But I wonder what the new apartments have.
I will make sure to answer all of your questions throughout my email. My week was an amazing one!
At the beginning of this week President Darrington gave us this charge as our mission president and from the guidance and direction that he receives from the Lord in our behalf:
"We need some miracles in this mission. We have twenty more missionaries than a year ago. We just had the lowest month since January 2009 when 27 were baptized! In April we baptized 33. We are thankful for those who received this ordinance.
Elders and Sisters, we need to exercise our faith! We need to get down on our knees in mighty prayer and ask the Lord to help us in this work! Mormon said, "Behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles...
"And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.
"And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God miracles." (Mormon 9:11, 18-19)
Let's work some miracles in this mission!
Love, President Darrington
"One Lord, one faith, 100 baptisms!"
Elder Engemann and I accepted this charge and made it our own as we knelt in sincere and humble prayer, asking The Father for help on our behalf and on behalf of the entire mission to work some mighty miracles. As we did that this week with faith that we would succeed the Lord blessed us with an amazing week and we definitely saw miracles wrought by His hand! This week we set two new baptismal dates for this month and also had a new family at church. Karolyn and Jonathon came for their first time and really enjoyed it. Everything went as well as could possibly be expected: the testimonies were inspiring, the gospel principles class was friendly and engaging, the Relief Society really welcomed Karolyn as a visitor, and Jonathon fit right in with the Deacons in the ward. Karolyn said that it was an answer to her prayers! They have now met their fellowship family and we will be going to their home with Brother Mejia and his son on Tuesday to teach more of the lessons and invite them to be baptized into Christ's true church. I know the Lord does work miracles and He will continue to do so in this mission as we show Him our faith and diligence in carrying out His work.
On Tuesday we were finishing tracting a very long street and we saw a man about our age walking towards us on the opposite side of the street. Elder Engemann and I, in our efforts to contact everyone we see, walked to the other side of the street and introduced ourselves. His name is Nick and we had a good feeling about him. The Spirit also showed me that Nick was very open and willing to listen. I felt the spirit speak through me to tell Nick about our purpose as missionaries in helping people come closer to Christ and be baptized by His authority. Nick said that he would like to hear our message so we walked with him to his house. We went with him in his nice air conditioned home and shared the message of the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. While introducing the lesson I explained that we would invite him with the Lord's invitation to be baptized at the end of the lesson. While we shared Joseph smith's experience Elder Engemann and I could really tell that he felt the spirit because we could see his countenance light up. We invited him to be baptized on May 22nd and he happily accepted. I look forward to helping Nick make this special step in his life. We also invited Tiffany to actually pray specifically about the Book of Mormon being true and Joseph being a prophet since she had only been praying in general so far. We also we very bold with her and explained the importance of being baptized into Christ's true Church and not a church of man. She accepted the Lord's invitation for the 15th of May and when we called her the next day she said that she had prayed specifically and felt good about it. I am so grateful for the guidance of the Lord through His Holy Spirit and for being able to invite His children to be baptized as a representative of Him!
These experiences mentioned above were definitely the best of my week. The "worst" part of my week was actually a good thing because it gave me a sense of really laboring with all my might in the Lord's vineyard. Yesterday, after a great fast Sunday at Church, a short nap, and a meal to break my fast, we ventured off on our bikes for the 5 mile ride to our area plus the many more miles to our appointments. I'll be honest, it was definitely the hottest that it has been this whole year [90]and the humidity was very high, too. Although it was hot and the wind was blowing hard against us, I felt determined to pedal even harder. We made it to our appointments but neither one answered the door. I feel bad for them because it is their loss. We finished tracting the street for the next few hours (it was a VERY long street) and although we were covered from head to foot in sweat and probably smelled like wet dog, it felt good to be working hard for the Lord to bring souls to him. We talked with some very nice people, some who let us in for a minute to get cold water and explain our message. On the bike ride home in the cool evening air I knew we had worked hard for the Lord and that He will bless us for our efforts. And besides, on the bright side I am happy that I will be in great shape when I get home from all our working out and biking!
On Thursday I get to go to the baptism of Emilio and Fernando G., whom I taught in Viera. I am really excited for them and look forward to their baptism. I pray that as their parents see them make this special step in their lives that they will want to be baptized, too!
I wish you all the best this week as you come closer to the close of the school year and continue in your callings, activities, and jobs. You are in my prayers always and I love each of you. Mom, have a very happy Mothers Day!
Love,
Elder Miller
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