Christmas E-Mail December 22, 2008

Ryan wearing David S's Moon Boots on Christmas Day!

Dear Family,

It's been in the mid 80's last week, so it is definitely the warmest Christmas I have ever had!

So how are you doing? I'm sorry there are pranksters bothering you. Is it one of Reece's friends just having fun or do you think it is someone who is just out to get you? If that's the case then you might want to report it to the authorities. [Teenagers were "Power-housing" us -- turning off our power right when we were writing our weekly e-mail to Ryan. After the second time I did call the police and Scott put a padlock on our fuse box.]

So how is everything going? I hope you are all having a merry Christmas! Don't worry about the package, it will most likely get here, and even if it were not able to get here just the thought that you guys sent me something makes me happy. : ) I hope the package I sent you will get there today, too! I bought a tracking number for it as well and insurance in case it got lost or stolen. But I sent my package to you out early Friday morning so it should get there today or tomorrow. : )

My companion is doing better. He has been feeling much better. Earlier this week Elder Carlisle and I went on an exchange to share the LDS version of Green Eggs and Ham with David S. It was a lot of fun!

We have a LOT of plans for Christmas now: We already had one Christmas dinner at the D's (Bro. D. is the Elder's quorum pres.) last night and it was very tasty! I had homemade egg nog and pumpkin pie!! It was very nice of them to have us over. On Tuesday we might be spending the night in Apopka, Florida with the other elders in our district. On Christmas Eve we are going with the Clermont Elders (Carlisle and Sprague) to one of their members' houses for a special dinner. That day is also our P-day this week (we just get to e-mail today). Then on Christmas day we will go to the Lowe's house in the morning for a Christmas breakfast, the S's at 2 for "dinner" and the T. family later in the evening. In between we will most likely go caroling and visiting investigators. Sounds busy huh? (and very fun!)

We have a new investigator, is name is Will H. and he is 18. We met him last night tracting and shared with him the first lesson. We have a return appointment on Tuesday. The M. family is doing well: we went to their church with them on Saturday (a 7th day Adventist church ) and we were the only white people in the entire building. : ) The service was nice and they shared a good message about Christ. Then as part of our agreement Jude and Marie M. came to Sacrament with us yesterday. Well, they missed the sacrament, but were there for the talks and for me singing in the choir. Our choir sang "Still, Still, Still" and I think Jude really liked it. He is a committee leader at his church and he invited our choir to come sing at his church sometime. What a great missionary opportunity! On Saturday night I visited with AJ R. for a long time (18 yr. old who was in a car accident and his wife died). It was the most spiritual experience I had had all week and we talked a lot about the plan of salvation and the temple. Heather's dad, who is not a member was there and we taught him about the plan of salvation. AJ has such a strong testimony and he is an amazing example of faith and courage at this time of struggle in his life!

One experience when we were tracting this week was we knocked on a lady's door who said she already had Christ. Then as we were leaving she said, "Wait, come back!" So went back and she asked if we would pray with her. So on her front porch we all grabbed hands and she asked me if I would pray. As I prayed I felt prompted to ask for strength in trials for this lady. After the prayer she went immediately back into her house. We felt prompted again later to go back to her house and she ended up explaining to us that she was having a really hard time, because she is bipolar, her husband just lost his job, and she had gotten in trouble for overdosing on her medication. She told us that we had come just at the right time. It felt good to help someone out in need!

Well, my time is up but I hope you are all having a merry Christmas! I love you and wish you the best as you share the message of Christ's birth this Christmas season with all our friends and family.

Merry Christmas!

Love,Elder Miller