Hello from a Hot and Humid State! June 14, 2010

Hello Dad, Mom, Reece, and Remi!

Happy Early Father's Day Dad!

It's great to hear from you! It's good to hear that the fundraiser went well for the Youth. Yes, Karolyn was probably the one holding a baby (her son is almost 2 now). See if it matches her baptismal picture that I sent you via email recently. It sounds like Mom found the right one. We met with them twice this week and they came to Church so everything is going really well for them. We had a good lesson for Jonathan on the Aaronic Priesthood on Tuesday and yesterday he had his interview with Bishop Clark in preparation to be ordained to the office of a Deacon. It's really exciting to see great families like theirs progressing in Christ's church and it brings me a lot of happiness! They also took us out to Golden Corral for dinner on Saturday and we ate some great salads, steak, and dessert.

This week Alex came to church for the first time and said that she really enjoyed it. She was only able to stay for the first hour due to a family gathering in the afternoon but we look forward to having her join us in the gospel principles class next time and hopefully stay for Relief society, too. On Friday we we watched the Testaments DVD with her and two of her brothers, Adonis and Artrell, and the Spirit was really strong as we watched the movie and shared our testimonies on Baptism afterwards. We invited them with the Lord's invitation to be baptized and although they said that they did not feel ready yet they are willing to continue learning more and preparing to be ready. (the Lord's invitation for baptism is teaching the doctrine of Baptism with the Lord's words from the scriptures, testifying, promising blessings, and as representatives of Jesus Christ extending a "Will you..." invitation.)

This past week we were blessed with 12 new investigators and we contacted over 150 people. It has definitely been hot AND humid this week (most of the week in the 90's with high humidity). I am sure you have felt it over there in Lakeland as well. On our bike days I just make sure to stay really hydrated because I sweat a lot. It feels good to be working hard for the Lord and getting physical exercise while sharing the gospel; the only hard part about it is getting hundreds of bugs in my face (Reece, I'm right there with you man) and stinking really bad when I walk into peoples homes.

In December President challenged us to read the Book of Mormon while going through and marking all the passages that talk about or refer to Christ, and again recently he has challenged us to read it focusing on the principles of the gospel that are taught within its pages. Here is what President said about his experience:

"Tonight, I finished the Book of Mormon marking challenge. I started December 17, 2009 underlining in red references to Christ, any of His names or pronouns referring to Him. In addition, I marked words spoken by Him or by prophets when they say, “Thus saith the Lord.” We were challenged to finish the initial challenge within 3 months. The last three months, we have been marking in another color the doctrines and principles taught in the book. Also, writing in the margins what those doctrines and principles are.

This has been one of the most powerful study assignments I have participated in during this mission! In the North Central States, we focused on teaching the gospel from the Old and New Testament and using few references in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon was used primarily as a tool to testify to the truthfulness of Joseph Smith’s divine mission. In the Florida Orlando Mission, we have learned to teach the gospel in the Lord’s words primarily from the Book of Mormon, then from other scripture.

I have come to understand the power of this book, the strength of its message. It has furthered my testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. When skeptics in the Christian community minimize the biblical gospel message and cast doubt upon the authenticity of His miraculous birth, death and resurrection, a second witness is needed! The Book of Mormon stands “boldly, nobly and independent” as an enduring witness of Christ’s birth, His great redemptive sacrifice, and His marvelous resurrection. The Book of Mormon will stand the test of time and shore up the beliefs of all true Christians!

Please share with me in your remaining president’s letter the insights you have gained from reading and marking the Book of Mormon."

With Great Love, President Darrington
“One Lord, One Faith, 100 Baptisms!”

Here is what I shared with him in my reply:

Wow! It was very enlightening to read about your experience in reading and marking the Book of Mormon. To be honest I have not finished this marking assignment yet but I will continue to read and mark until I finish. It has been testimony strengthening for me to read through the Book of Mormon focusing on its powerful witness of the Savior. The special experiences I have had with it are not only personal experiences, but also involve using this assignment as an example to those we talk with to show them how it is a powerful witness of Christ and that it testifies of Christ on almost every page. I pray that more of God's children, especially those that are lost, will read the Book of Mormon and pray to know for themselves if it is true. Thank you for the opportunity to do this assignment!

I have learned a lot in reading the Book of Mormon and I encourage each of you to take the opportunity to read from it every day.

To answer more of your questions: Ryan [investigator]did not make it to church because he got called into work but at work he told them he will NOT be working next Sunday so hopefully he will be able to come. We are still on track with him on quitting smoking (right now he is cutting back little by little) and we look forward to starting the 7 day program soon. Stewart dropped us because he felt he and Wana were just wasting our time since they no longer felt like it was "the direction that they wanted to take." We did however stop by and give Wana a copy of the book of Mormon in Thai in hopes that she would take the opportunity to read it and pray about it. If she received an answer that it was true it would clear up so much of the false doctrine that she currently believes. We also gave Stewart another reading assignment and invited him to try coming to Church again soon since his first experience he mainly saw, according to him, "the business side of things" (hurricane preparedness in 3rd hour). I have faith that if they truly give this gospel a chance that they will realize it is true and want to have the blessings of it in their lives.

Elder Engemann is doing pretty well but hasn't been feeling well lately (tired and sick to his stomach). He will get better soon I'm sure. We enjoy teaching by the Spirit together and have seen a lot of success while here in Port St. Lucie.

Mom, let's definitely invite mission friends to come to my homecoming party; that will be awesome to have them share that experience with me!

Elder Henz responded to my email and said that he would not be able to go to BYU-I in the fall. Hopefully in the future, though!

Just another thought on the plane tickets: what day do we need to be at BYU-I? I know that I will have auditions for the music department on a certain day before classes start and Reece will have orientation if he wishes.

I love you all and I appreciate your love towards me. I know that our Savior, Jesus Christ loves each of God's children very much and has made it possible for us to return to live with God again. Know that you are in my prayers and I encourage you as well to pray for missionary opportunities. I know the Lord will bless you for your righteous desires.

Love,

Elder Miller

Re: Hey, Elder! June 7, 2010

Dear Family,

My birthday week went very well! Thank you for making my birthday a special day for me through your thoughtful gifts and prayers. I really appreciated and enjoyed your package and the Schwan's treats. The other Elders and I ate them in almost one sitting! But it was the perfect amount for 4 Elders. :) I really liked the slacks a lot and I hope I will be able to find the right size in that style because they were really nice! (I tried them on but they are a size too big- I still need size 30 waist and 28 length.) I need a 15 1/2 - 16 in. shirt size so I will exchange that as well. The gifts were all very nice and I will send you some pictures of my birthday. I am glad you had a fun party on my birthday! It sounds like it will be a fun welcome home party as well!

Ryan [investigator] is starting the stop smoking program with us this week. I am so excited for him! We met his girlfriend for the first time this week and she seemed nice. I hope she will be receptive to the message like Ryan has been. I hope that she will give us the time of day to share the message with her so that she can feel the Spirit and know that this is the right step for her in her life as well.

Alex and her family are golden and really kind to us. She even made me a birthday cake! (See picture) We are going to be watching the testaments DVD with them this week since we just went over 3 Nephi chapter 11 last week. It will be a fun way to review. We also have plans to set a baptismal date with their family. Please pray for us to be guided by the Spirit in doing so and for them to feel the Spirit and accept the Lord's Invitation. Stewart (60) enjoyed his first time at church yesterday. He said that it was a good visit and I hope he will come again next Sunday! We are preparing both Ryan and Stewart for the 26th of June for baptism. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Here is President's charge this week. I thought it was great for member missionary work!:

CHARGE
“If we are going to carry this message to every land, every nation, every people, every soul as our great missionary prophet-leader has directed us, there is still one part of this vital missionary force that has not been awakened. It is like a sleeping giant waiting to be aroused. When this sleeping giant is fully awakened, the day of the sickle will have come to an end, and the day of the combine will come in. The harvest will be in the millions in place of thousands, as it is today.” (Elder Rex C. Reeve, Sr., Conference Report, October 1980, 27-28)

Let us awaken that sleeping giant, the members of the Church, to this great work. Use this quote in your member missionary work.

With Great Love, President Darrington
“One Lord, One Faith, 100 Baptisms!”

I loved this quote! He's right!

You mentioned the plane tickets. Is it that time already? I guess you do have to purchase plane tickets in advance for them to be affordable. That makes sense. We will probably have to pack light (missionary style), huh? I am not sure with the limited time and the price if it would be feasible for me to visit Visalia before school starts but I would really love to visit sometime soon. If it could work out that way please let me know. Is the apartment decided on yet? Oh, and Mom, do you happen to know what day specifically I can sign up for my classes? Was it a day towards the end of June?

Congratulations, Reece, on a successful high school experience and your graduation from seminary as well (even more important in the eternal scheme of things!) It was really cool to hear that you went out with the missionaries, and that you got to teach part of the Plan of Salvation with them! That is one of the eternal truths that many families do not know about yet - and you helped someone to learn about it for the first time! Nice Job!

Dad, actually I only spent 2 1/2 weeks in the MTC so I have a little more time than that left, but you're definitely right that the time is going quickly and that it will never come again. I am glad that you had a successful finish to the school year for seminary and I am sure with how well you are doing that they will want to keep you for a while. :) Sorry I wasn't able to catch you during your lunch hour today. It was zone p-day so our schedule was a little different. Mom, I am pretty sure that is the right Karolyn you found because she mentioned that she used to have long hair. Go ahead and give her a try. I know she would love to hear from you and Dad about your conversions and testimonies. Thank you for your faith and your prayers!

Today our zone p-day was a lot of fun. We got up at 5 am to make to the beach for the sunrise. Early this morning we went to Stuart Beach and had a sunrise service with all of the missionaries in the surrounding areas. It was a lot of fun and I am sending you some pic.'s from our trip. (Do you like my shirt? ;) The other Picture at the beach is what I wrote in the sand- It's abbreviated : Elder Miller, Florida Orlando Mission, 2008 to 2010.

[Having problems with his pictures -- will post asap!]

Thank you all again for how special you made my birthday! I look forward to hearing again from you next week. By the way, Did you get my letter and the BYU-I forms that I sent last week??

I love you all and hope that you enjoy this first week of summer. Stay safe from the storms, okay? Keep being the awesome missionaries that I know you are. I will be praying for you to have missionary experiences.

Love,

Elder Miller

Thank you for the Birthday Wishes May 31, 2010

Hello Family!

Thank you for all of your kind birthday wishes! They made me smile. :) I can't believe that I will be 21 either, but come Wednesday there is nothing I can do about it. :)

This weekend I received the best birthday gift ever! Karolyn and Jonathon were baptized and confirmed and are now officially members of Christ's true church. The service went so well that it was definitely one of the best I have ever seen. Many of the ward members came to support them on their special day and lots of people participated. They were already a part of the ward on their first Sunday at Church but now it's even official. :) Karolyn asked me to baptize her and confirm Jonathan and Elder Engemann to do the opposite. It has been a while since an investigator asked me to baptize them so it was a very special experience to be in the water for this one! I really want to introduce you to their family and all of those whom I have helped on my mission to enter into the waters of baptism. There are some really elect people in Florida and I feel blessed to have worked with many of them. In the mean time since I can't introduce you face to face I talked with Karolyn on Saturday evening and she gave me her face book information so that you could meet her through facebook. She's really nice and Jonathan and her 20 month-old are great sons. I think it would be great if you could write her a email on facebook and tell her congratulations as well as give her the new member advice that you were talking about Dad.

I'll definitely have to introduce you to them in August! It brought me so much joy to see them make the step of baptism after all the lessons, commitments, and testimony building experiences that they had. The Lord has been helping them every step of the way! I now have a stronger testimony of Mighty Prayer and I know that their baptisms were an answer to our prayers of faith. The Lord is working miracles in our mission. I'll send a picture from their baptism. (see attached photo 001: Left to right- Elder Miller (my left arm was wet before the baptism because I had to wade into the font in my underwear and shirt to fix the plug since it was draining), Karolyn, Jonathan, and Elder Engemann (he's actually smiling!))

photo 002 (while tracting I noticed this seen with the light coming through both the tree and the thundercloud behind it and it reminded me of the first vision. Cool, huh?)

On Saturday we were invited over for lunch with some of our investigators- Alex and Ari. They are from St. Croy island in the Virgin Islands and they made some delicious Cruzan Curry. We began teaching them the restoration and everything was new to them because in their country they are not usually raised Christian. They are open and really nice and when Elder Engemann mentioned my birthday on Wednesday they offered to make me a cake! We are going to teach them more this week and also help them paint their house.

Our investigator, Ryan, is really solid and is looking forward to making changes in his life that will bring him closer to God. We met with him again this week and will be continuing to help him prepare towards baptism in June. Everything is going very well for us here in Port St. Lucie and I know the Lord will continue to help us prepare His children towards baptism.

Thank you so much for sending package(s) and Reece's grad announcement! I really look forward to getting those. :)

I definitely look forward to seeing you in action at Mimi's, Reece. I am so happy for you that you are succeeding with the Lord's help at your job. You have really shown commitment and dedication there. Keep up the hard work and have an awesome graduation this week! Remi, I hope you have the best end-of-the-school-year party ever! Have a fun summer, too, ok? Mom, I am glad you are enjoying working with the young women so much and I know the Lord will help you in all the responsibilities you have been given. I will pray for you, too! I printed out the two forms. [BYU-I stuff] I will fill them out today and then send them in the mail to you so you can fill out the parts I don't know.

To answer your other question: Missionaries actually go to Disney on Monday, and then the Temple on Tuesday. I would like to spend the night with the missionaries that I came out with and then be picked up at the mission home on Wednesday morning (you can choose what time on Wednesday. don't make yourself get up too early :) haha. I can imagine it's going to be hard to sleep that night. :) A returned missionary in our ward gave a talk on Sunday. He told me about a meeting that is held with the stake president to release me. Do we need to set that up at some point? Thank you for the forms and I will send those asap.

I look forward to a spiritually empowering zone conference on Tuesday. President has been a great leader in this mission and will forever be remembered by those who have served with him. I look forward to hearing what he has to say tomorrow in our final zone conference with him. This week finished off strong for us with the baptisms and confirmations of Karolyn and Jonathon. I know the Lord will answer your prayers, my prayers, and the prayers of members world wide as we pray with faith, sincerity, and real intent. Thank you for your prayers and faith (especially in the 10 baptismal commits, Mom!) and I know the Lord will help us in accomplishing His work here in Port St. Lucie. Have an awesome week and a great, fun-filled party on Wednesday! I'll be there doing gainers off the side of the pool in spirit. :)

Love,

Elder Miller