Hey there, Happy Haloween!!!
Well everyone I hope everything is going great. I´m doing very well here. This week I have been very pleased. One, because the work is going along awesome in Heredia, and two because ever since I`ve been on my mission I have had a brighter outlook on life.
This Saturday Morning we had the oppurtunity of having a baptismal service. It was probably one of my favorites, and the meeting was very spiritual. Carlos Campos has quite an amazing story of reaching his baptism, and I was so happy to be a part of it. He has such a strong testimony that If I never baptized again in my mission I would be happy with the conversion of Carlos. Yesterday was pretty sweet because he recieved the Holy ghost and the priesthood. In the second hour of church he even taught the investigator class haha.
My comp Elder Gomez and I have made some cool plans for the month of November. It should be another good couple weeks. As far as plans for Haloween today I`m not sure if there is any. Maybe a trip to the store, and trick-or-treating later on tonight. haha jk
Enjoy today everyone! I can`t wait to see pictures. Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
10/24/11
Hey guys! ¿Comó les va?
That was a very quick week. So last Monday night after we spoke I had a cool experience. We have been teaching a man named Carlos for 5 months, and I don´t think I have mentioned him in a while because he hasn´t been progressing too much lately. Anyways, when I called him he said Elder Miller I have great news, ¨I´m getting baptized Saturday the 29th of the this month.¨ I was super caught off guard, but very excited. Carlos has been familiar with the church for 7-8 years, and he knows a ton about the gospel. His baptism is going to be amazing.
So later on this week we found out that Carlos had been mugged on Tuesday and his phone got stolen. We weren´t able to contact him until Sunday. Luckily he was okay, but we were a little worried. Sunday we had some great things happen. Our recent convert Jason was able to recieve the priesthood. A member told us that her friend who we were teaching is going to get baptized this Saturday as well. Her name is Edith, and we taught her a few lessons until she moved to the sisters area in our zone. Hopefully we´ll be able to go to the baptism.
Marvin and Xinia, a new family we met recently went to church for the first time and loved it. This week we will be looking forward to putting a baptism goal with them.
My companion Elder Gomez completed a year in the mission on Thursday so we celebrated with some authentic Burros in a place called México Lindo. There was also the cremonial shirt burning, and pizza partying. That´s about all I can think of that happened recently. I really hope you guys are all doing great! Love you!
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
10/17/11
What´s up everybody?
Hope everything is going well for you guys. It´s a pleasure to be writing you again. Well not too much has happened from the last time you heard from me except rain, rain, and more rain. This has been a week of super wet shoes and missing umbrellas. I think I have gone through about 5 to 6 since my time here in Costa Rica. A good umbrella is very hard to hang on to (kind-of like pens). On Wednesday I bought a pretty good one. It was about $12 bucks. I enjoyed it for a great 4 days until I brought it to church on Sunday. Somehow it slipped out of my view for a short 20 minutes and before I knew it, it was stolen! I was pretty darn devestated. haha You´d think the chapel would be the safest place to leave an umbrella without it getting stolen. Well, I sure did. Now, I´m not so innocent. I commented to my comp as well, ¨What kind-of person who lives in a country where it rains 300 days a year doesn´t already have an umbrella?¨ I think some people use not buying an umbrella as an excuse to not leave the house. Yes, that is laziness of a tico for you. It definitely showed in our attendance in the chapel as well. We usually have an average of 180 attend the ward, but with the rain storm it dropped to 135. haha Well thank you for listening to my small rant.
My stolen umbrella set a tone for the week we had. It included dropping investigtors and frustrating appointments failed. Elder Gomez and I are not letting anything get us down though. We´re determined to have a solid time together. One thing that did go well for us was working with members. I found it interesting that my mom mentioned that to me in an email as well. We had one member in particular who was an all-star and gave us 4 refrences of families. She really went out of her way to help us and help her friends recieve the gospel. I found it really interesting that she was so excicted about missionary work so I asked her what her motivation was. I was pretty humbeled by her response as well. She said, a while ago a watched a video on the savior and the atonement and it created an amazing feeling inside me. I felt such a great debt towards him for all that he had sacrificed, and I decided I was going to dedicate myself in helping others realize the joy of having the atonement in their lives. That´s what I call a member missionary! haha
I hope to continue with the spirit of the work of the lord after my mission too. My mission has been great by planting a seed inside of me. I hope you all can enjoy the blessings of missionary work as well. Have a great week! Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
10/12/11
Greetings Everyone, How is it going?
We´re getting poured on here in Costa Rica. I hope you guys are more dry than I am.
So I´ll oficially be here in Heredia for 6 more weeks with Elder Gomez!! I was very excited to hear the news. This will be the longest I´ve been in area and think I´ll enjoy it. It gives you a chance to really get to know everything better, members, area, style of work etc. I´m hoping will be able to keep the success rolling as well.
The internet we´re at is proving to be pretty darn slow so this wont be as lengthy as I´d like it to be. Let´s see what´s new... One of our investigators, Edith who has a baptism goal is moving to another area close by. Unfortunately that area is covered by Sister misionaries and so we will have to hand her over. Also, Angel who came to conference last week went MIA, and we have no way of contacting him. Hopefully he comes back to church.
Our recent converts Jason & Tatiana and Miguel & Alejandra are doing very well. We did an activity with the other Elders in our area with them where we talked about temples and showed them a video. It turned out pretty well.
I´m very excited for the upcoming transfer and I´ll let you know more of what´s going on Monday. Thanks for everything guys.
Pura Vida
10/3/11
Hola everybody,
I hope you all enjoyed conference weekend. It was such a pleasure for me to just watch and take in everything. I´m glad we have a prophet that is a so jolly, but also a great orator who speaks by the spirit of the lord.
Coming into the weekend things were a little hectic because we moved houses. We just changed apartments around the corner, but it cut into our work time and we were not able to have a very productive week. Needless to say we were still very blessed. After baptizing the majority of the investigators we had the past couple weeks we were left with almost nothing as far as new people to teach. Fortunately we received several references from members after a month with not receiving one. I realized the Lord always provides means for us to comply with our calling. I was really surprised to see people pop out of nowhere right when we needed investigators. One of those people was Angel. The final session of conference he came and sat in the back. He was very moved by the talks and the spirit, and began to cry. We went and sat next to him. He later told us that he was walking by the church and felt he should enter. Years before he had also met with missionaries. We set up an appointment with him this Tuesday. I´m stoked for the upcoming days because we also have a conference with President on Wednesday.
The transfer also ends next Wednesday. I´m pretty much up in the air with staying or going. We have much to accomplish still in Heredia. However, a change in scenery would be nice as well. I´m trying to think of funny things that have happened lately. All that comes to me are pranks on Elders we´ve been doing. haha i.e. Pouring cold water on someone while they´re in the bathroom. I have been both the recipient and culprit. Not the most mature thing ever but we´re missionaries. We also got a good laugh of the owner of our old apartment. When she came into to do a final inspection she was horrified at the condition she found it. The walls were black and the bathroom a disaster. We tried cleaning up a little, but it wasn´t up to par I guess. She said "No one has ever handed me in a dirtier apartment." All we could really say was, "Sorry lady that´s what happens after Elders have lived in a place for a year." Hopefully we don´t destroy our new place too quickly. haha
Well Next Wednesday I'll let you know the news of transfers. Until then take care. Love you Guys.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
September 19,2011
Hey what`s up guys??
My apologies for the deleayed email this week. We just found on Sunday we`d be going to the temple this week. So our pday was moved to Wednesday again. Nevertheless it has been an amazing week!
First off we`re teaching an amazing new family. I believe I told you about Jason and Tatiana last week. Now that we have had a few lessons with them we`ve realized just how really chosen they are. They have accepted a baptism date for the 17th of this month. They will also be married on the same day. I`m super excited because this is the first family we`ll baptize since my first area. I`m blown away every time we teach them because of how prepared they are.
Jason is a baker and wakes up at 2 o`clock every morning to prepare bread, so he is even more hooked to coffee than the average Costa Rican as you can imagine. Yesterday we had a quick lesson with them on the word of wisdom and he accepted it right away. He even gave us all the coffee they had in their house. He also said if this is the purpose God has for me I need to follow it. Truly an awesome guy. Seeing their testimonies grow like small seeds of faith has been amazing to see, and helped mine grow so much more. I`m so glad we were able to find them and be a link to the gospel.
I was also very grateful for the opportunity to attend the temple today with the zone. President and Sister Galvez showed up last minute and were a part of the session with us.
Our district was also changed around with transfers so now Belen (the area where the temple is at) will be apart of our district. In other words we`ll have weekly district meetings there and see the temple every week. Pretty cool!
Anyways I`m super stoked. My Mexican companion is way rad and we have fun together. Hope all of you are well. Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
My apologies for the deleayed email this week. We just found on Sunday we`d be going to the temple this week. So our pday was moved to Wednesday again. Nevertheless it has been an amazing week!
First off we`re teaching an amazing new family. I believe I told you about Jason and Tatiana last week. Now that we have had a few lessons with them we`ve realized just how really chosen they are. They have accepted a baptism date for the 17th of this month. They will also be married on the same day. I`m super excited because this is the first family we`ll baptize since my first area. I`m blown away every time we teach them because of how prepared they are.
Jason is a baker and wakes up at 2 o`clock every morning to prepare bread, so he is even more hooked to coffee than the average Costa Rican as you can imagine. Yesterday we had a quick lesson with them on the word of wisdom and he accepted it right away. He even gave us all the coffee they had in their house. He also said if this is the purpose God has for me I need to follow it. Truly an awesome guy. Seeing their testimonies grow like small seeds of faith has been amazing to see, and helped mine grow so much more. I`m so glad we were able to find them and be a link to the gospel.
I was also very grateful for the opportunity to attend the temple today with the zone. President and Sister Galvez showed up last minute and were a part of the session with us.
Our district was also changed around with transfers so now Belen (the area where the temple is at) will be apart of our district. In other words we`ll have weekly district meetings there and see the temple every week. Pretty cool!
Anyways I`m super stoked. My Mexican companion is way rad and we have fun together. Hope all of you are well. Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
September 12,2011
Hey what`s up guys??
My apologies for the deleayed email this week. We just found on Sunday we`d be going to the temple this week. So our pday was moved to Wednesday again. Nevertheless it has been an amazing week!
First off we`re teaching an amazing new family. I believe I told you about Jason and Tatiana last week. Now that we have had a few lessons with them we`ve realized just how really chosen they are. They have accepted a baptism date for the 17th of this month. They will also be married on the same day. I`m super excited because this is the first family we`ll baptize since my first area. I`m blown away every time we teach them because of how prepared they are.
Jason is a baker and wakes up at 2 o`clock every morning to prepare bread, so he is even more hooked to coffee than the average Costa Rican as you can imagine. Yesterday we had a quick lesson with them on the word of wisdom and he accepted it right away. He even gave us all the coffee they had in their house. He also said if this is the purpose God has for me I need to follow it. Truly an awesome guy. Seeing their testimonies grow like small seeds of faith has been amazing to see, and helped mine grow so much more. I`m so glad we were able to find them and be a link to the gospel.
I was also very grateful for the opportunity to attend the temple today with the zone. President and Sister Galvez showed up last minute and were a part of the session with us.
Our district was also changed around with transfers so now Belen (the area where the temple is at) will be apart of our district. In other words we`ll have weekly district meetings there and see the temple every week. Pretty cool!
Anyways I`m super stoked. My Mexican companion is way rad and we have fun together. Hope all of you are well. Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
My apologies for the deleayed email this week. We just found on Sunday we`d be going to the temple this week. So our pday was moved to Wednesday again. Nevertheless it has been an amazing week!
First off we`re teaching an amazing new family. I believe I told you about Jason and Tatiana last week. Now that we have had a few lessons with them we`ve realized just how really chosen they are. They have accepted a baptism date for the 17th of this month. They will also be married on the same day. I`m super excited because this is the first family we`ll baptize since my first area. I`m blown away every time we teach them because of how prepared they are.
Jason is a baker and wakes up at 2 o`clock every morning to prepare bread, so he is even more hooked to coffee than the average Costa Rican as you can imagine. Yesterday we had a quick lesson with them on the word of wisdom and he accepted it right away. He even gave us all the coffee they had in their house. He also said if this is the purpose God has for me I need to follow it. Truly an awesome guy. Seeing their testimonies grow like small seeds of faith has been amazing to see, and helped mine grow so much more. I`m so glad we were able to find them and be a link to the gospel.
I was also very grateful for the opportunity to attend the temple today with the zone. President and Sister Galvez showed up last minute and were a part of the session with us.
Our district was also changed around with transfers so now Belen (the area where the temple is at) will be apart of our district. In other words we`ll have weekly district meetings there and see the temple every week. Pretty cool!
Anyways I`m super stoked. My Mexican companion is way rad and we have fun together. Hope all of you are well. Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
September 7,2011
Hey what`s up guys??
My apologies for the deleayed email this week. We just found on Sunday we`d be going to the temple this week. So our pday was moved to Wednesday again. Nevertheless it has been an amazing week!
First off we`re teaching an amazing new family. I believe I told you about Jason and Tatiana last week. Now that we have had a few lessons with them we`ve realized just how really chosen they are. They have accepted a baptism date for the 17th of this month. They will also be married on the same day. I`m super excited because this is the first family we`ll baptize since my first area. I`m blown away every time we teach them because of how prepared they are.
Jason is a baker and wakes up at 2 o`clock every morning to prepare bread, so he is even more hooked to coffee than the average Costa Rican as you can imagine. Yesterday we had a quick lesson with them on the word of wisdom and he accepted it right away. He even gave us all the coffee they had in their house. He also said if this is the purpose God has for me I need to follow it. Truly an awesome guy. Seeing their testimonies grow like small seeds of faith has been amazing to see, and helped mine grow so much more. I`m so glad we were able to find them and be a link to the gospel.
I was also very grateful for the opportunity to attend the temple today with the zone. President and Sister Galvez showed up last minute and were a part of the session with us.
Our district was also changed around with transfers so now Belen (the area where the temple is at) will be apart of our district. In other words we`ll have weekly district meetings there and see the temple every week. Pretty cool!
Anyways I`m super stoked. My Mexican companion is way rad and we have fun together. Hope all of you are well. Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
My apologies for the deleayed email this week. We just found on Sunday we`d be going to the temple this week. So our pday was moved to Wednesday again. Nevertheless it has been an amazing week!
First off we`re teaching an amazing new family. I believe I told you about Jason and Tatiana last week. Now that we have had a few lessons with them we`ve realized just how really chosen they are. They have accepted a baptism date for the 17th of this month. They will also be married on the same day. I`m super excited because this is the first family we`ll baptize since my first area. I`m blown away every time we teach them because of how prepared they are.
Jason is a baker and wakes up at 2 o`clock every morning to prepare bread, so he is even more hooked to coffee than the average Costa Rican as you can imagine. Yesterday we had a quick lesson with them on the word of wisdom and he accepted it right away. He even gave us all the coffee they had in their house. He also said if this is the purpose God has for me I need to follow it. Truly an awesome guy. Seeing their testimonies grow like small seeds of faith has been amazing to see, and helped mine grow so much more. I`m so glad we were able to find them and be a link to the gospel.
I was also very grateful for the opportunity to attend the temple today with the zone. President and Sister Galvez showed up last minute and were a part of the session with us.
Our district was also changed around with transfers so now Belen (the area where the temple is at) will be apart of our district. In other words we`ll have weekly district meetings there and see the temple every week. Pretty cool!
Anyways I`m super stoked. My Mexican companion is way rad and we have fun together. Hope all of you are well. Love you.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
August 31,2011
Hey everyone! How´s it going?
Well transfers went very well today. I'm very pleased with what happened. I´ll be staying in Heredia with my new companion Elder Gomez. He is from Sonora México! I can already tell we´ll get along super well. (what a relief after the last 3 months ha) I´m also very excited for the work will be doing. Were on a mission to baptize a family! Families are a huge emphasis for us in the San José Costa Rica mission, and I´m so glad we have that focus. After all families are the most important.
This week we found Jason and Tatiana; a great new family that´s ready for the gospel in their lives. They were a contact we made one day getting off the bus. Sunday was their first time in church, and they really liked it. In church we also had Miguel and Alejandra who we´ve been working very close with. Miguel has been struggling with alcohol for a while and so were trying to help him get rid of it completely. His weak times are in the morning so we´ve been trying to go out and run with him at that time. His family needs him to drop drinking so they can get baptized. Also, both of these families need to get married first. Hopefully we´ll find some funds to cover their weddings because they are quite expensive.
This transfer I´m determined to do all I can so that we have success. I know we can do it with faith and diligence. Big things are under way if we trust in the lord and work hard. Thanks for all your support. I love you guys.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
August 22, 2011
Hey eveyone how´s it going?
We´ve made it to the final week of the transfer here in Heredia. Next week you´ll hear from me on Wednesday the 31st.
So this has been one of the longer transfers in my mission, but definitely the one where I learned the most. I´m very grateful to be where I´m at and I wouldn´t trade the experiences I´m having for anything.
Well there´s not too much to report this week. I feel bad because there was a couple funny things that happened but they´re not coming to me right now. I need to be more prepared when I write home haha
Today we have been in San Jose all day tying to work out some civil papers for a couple we´re trying to marry soon. (Not the most fun pday). Their names are Eric and Esmeralda, and we found them last Sunday contacting in the street. He was actually baptized in Nicarauga and now they live together here.
You find those situations a lot because many people are baptized in Nicaragua and then come to Costa Rica to find work or for family reasons. It´s very similar to the U.S. and Mexican immigrants.
They are kind'of our last hope for baptizing this final week in August. We are also still meeting with Gilbert, but he´s been super busy of late.
Anyways I´m sorry to be short again but my time is up. I love you guys very much!
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
We´ve made it to the final week of the transfer here in Heredia. Next week you´ll hear from me on Wednesday the 31st.
So this has been one of the longer transfers in my mission, but definitely the one where I learned the most. I´m very grateful to be where I´m at and I wouldn´t trade the experiences I´m having for anything.
Well there´s not too much to report this week. I feel bad because there was a couple funny things that happened but they´re not coming to me right now. I need to be more prepared when I write home haha
Today we have been in San Jose all day tying to work out some civil papers for a couple we´re trying to marry soon. (Not the most fun pday). Their names are Eric and Esmeralda, and we found them last Sunday contacting in the street. He was actually baptized in Nicarauga and now they live together here.
You find those situations a lot because many people are baptized in Nicaragua and then come to Costa Rica to find work or for family reasons. It´s very similar to the U.S. and Mexican immigrants.
They are kind'of our last hope for baptizing this final week in August. We are also still meeting with Gilbert, but he´s been super busy of late.
Anyways I´m sorry to be short again but my time is up. I love you guys very much!
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
August 15,2011
Hey guys what´s up?
I have a few shoutouts first,
Congratulations to Nate and Rebecca on the wedding!
Happy Birthday to Elder Austin Taylor!
It seems like alot of things happened this week at home. I can´t believe summer is already coming to an end. That went by way too fast haha Time seems to be running along quick here in the mission as well.
This week was not really what I was hoping for, but what can you do? haha
Soo we weren´t able to put goals with our 3 progressing investigators. In fact we had one of them drop us instead of us dropping them. Carolina (the part member family) told us to stop coming by because shes going to do some, "Bible Investigating" on her own.That´s never a good sign haha. However that was after the powerful lesson we had about authority with her and her husband. We just gave her every scripture there was about the apostasy and laying on of hands that we knew. Her evangelical background is holding her back. An interesting aspect about the mission is that you really learn a lot about other churches at the same time as your own. I´d like to say that learning about others has helped strengthen my testimony on the church I´ve belonged to my whole life.
We have also been meeting with a new family that we found in the area book(A challenge Elder Hinckley gave to us when he was here. Find families and individuals that have fallen through the cracks of the area book)
Their names are Miguel and Alejandra. They are a cute family with 3 little boys. We took Alejandra and the kids to church but Miguel couldn´t make it.
We´ll also continue our focus with Carlos and Gilbert this week and see if one of the two can be set up with a baptism goal.
That´s about all from me today. Sorry if it´s short. I love you all and appreciate your support.
Pura Vida
I have a few shoutouts first,
Congratulations to Nate and Rebecca on the wedding!
Happy Birthday to Elder Austin Taylor!
It seems like alot of things happened this week at home. I can´t believe summer is already coming to an end. That went by way too fast haha Time seems to be running along quick here in the mission as well.
This week was not really what I was hoping for, but what can you do? haha
Soo we weren´t able to put goals with our 3 progressing investigators. In fact we had one of them drop us instead of us dropping them. Carolina (the part member family) told us to stop coming by because shes going to do some, "Bible Investigating" on her own.That´s never a good sign haha. However that was after the powerful lesson we had about authority with her and her husband. We just gave her every scripture there was about the apostasy and laying on of hands that we knew. Her evangelical background is holding her back. An interesting aspect about the mission is that you really learn a lot about other churches at the same time as your own. I´d like to say that learning about others has helped strengthen my testimony on the church I´ve belonged to my whole life.
We have also been meeting with a new family that we found in the area book(A challenge Elder Hinckley gave to us when he was here. Find families and individuals that have fallen through the cracks of the area book)
Their names are Miguel and Alejandra. They are a cute family with 3 little boys. We took Alejandra and the kids to church but Miguel couldn´t make it.
We´ll also continue our focus with Carlos and Gilbert this week and see if one of the two can be set up with a baptism goal.
That´s about all from me today. Sorry if it´s short. I love you all and appreciate your support.
Pura Vida
Friday, August 19, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Aug. 8, 2011
I Hope all are well.
Well let's see, where to begin. I really really enjoyed this week. It was super awesome for me. Part of that being the interview I had with my mission president; President Galvez on Friday. Interviews are such an awesome oppurunity to talk to the President one on one. I had been looking forward to meeting with him for months. We just talked about everything for a good half hour. I felt amazing because he gave me great advice and helped me set awesome goals. That really set a nice tone for the week.
This fast Sunday as well turned out to be amazing. One of the best in my mission. All three of our progressing investigators came and really enjoyed church. Fasting has a new meaning for me now. My comp and I shared our testimonies and Gilbert (investigator) almost made it up but the meeting had gone over time already. However lot's of members gave encouragement to him and others. I don't remember if I told you this but Heredia is a giant ward (compared to the rest of CR) and it continues to grow. We had 175 in chruch which is the most in a long while. They're making plans to split it, and we went to a group meeting they had afterwards which will be a new branch. Everyone is really excited about it. Oh yeah, we also found a new family of 4 last week and they showed up to church by suprise. We couldn't get a hold of them sat. night so I wasn't expecting to see them but they made it! Overall we had 7 in church which I think is pretty good.
Our challenge for the week upcoming will be to put baptism goals with Gilbert, Carlos, and Carolina. We've decided it will be a week of big baptism goals!
On Friday we also met a new investigator named Paulina. She's a single mom with 2 kids. Times have been very hard for her of late, but I think we met her at the ideal point in her life in order to help her realize the power of the atonement. I'm sure the gospel will be able to improve her situation.
I´m really glad everyone got home safe from Powell even if there was one casualty.(Dad) haha Get well. Love you all.
Thank you to those who sent me letters!!! It made my day. Ciao
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Aug. 1 2011
¡Hola todos!
Happy Monday everyone,
Well I have to tell you guys that one of my weekly goals this week is to not think about home at all. haha It was some sort of challenge that I read in a missionary book. I thought what better week to do it seeing as how you guys are at the happiest place on earth right now (lake powell). I think it will also help me be super focused on our investigators the next couple days.
Speaking of investigators we found a couple new ones this week! One is a woman who came to church with her husband last sunday. He is actually an RM and they`ve been married for a couple years. Apparently he went to her church for a while but now they´re coming to ours. Good choice! She`s very smart and should be progressing well. We`re also planning on taking them to the temple on Wednesday so they can realize their what they need to do in a years time :). So that is Carolina.
Next we ran into Robert and Alejandra, She is an old investigtor and we found him knocking their door. Unfortunately the only time Alejandra went to church it was a terrible experience. In the investigator class the teacher was throwning out candy (which she found inappropiate) and her son got hit by another kid in the primary. Now, she is scared to go back. Robert also works alot so we`ll se what we can do with them.
On Saturday we had a stake activity with the young men. It was "Be a missionary for a Day" A little bit like the mini mtc we do in our stake, but not nearly as organized ha. Anyways, we had a little support from the deacons and priests. We took them to the park and contacted so that was pretty fun.
We sort of ended the month on a sour note. We had Carlos and Gilbert ready for baptism on saturday, but Carlos fell through and Gilbert didn´t pass his baptism interview. So we weren`t able to complete our monthly goal. I did learn a lot about goal setting through that experience though. For August we set our goal for three and now were going to work our butts off to complete it.
My hump day on Thursday unfortunately proved to be a little borring. Whenever we get to the house at night there is a million things to do. Especially when all four of us are there. So I didn`t do anything special like burning a shirt. Maybe they`ll be time for that later. ha
That`s my news for the week. Take care everyone. Love you.
Pura Vida
Monday, July 25, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
July 20, 2011
How is it going everybody?
It's a pleasure to say hi to you all. Today we had transfer meeting and it looks like I'll be here in Heredia for another 6 weeks with Elder Castro. More opportunities to learn! I wasn't really expecting either of us to leave, and it's apparent the lord needs us together for a little while longer. I'm super excited for this upcoming change though. We've got a great area with a lot of new investigators to teach and baptize. We also have a very supportive ward with a brand new ward mission leader who's ready to work. He's just a convert of 2 years, but already has a lot of experience. The ward of Heredia is super sweet though. I think in my one change here we've received more references than in all of my other areas combined.
Our buddy Gilbert continues to impress us with how great of an investigator he is. Sunday he came to church with his own scripture case he'd bought at the temple store. The only thing holding him back is recognizing the fact that he's received an answer to his prayers and he knows the church true.
I'd like to add my testimony that I know the church is true and that Heavenly father loves us all. I love you guys all as well. Thanks!
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Heredia
Hey everyone How's it going?
So I realize my emails have been super lame the last couple weeks. So I decided to write you guys first before I do anything else. This week I've just been trying to get to know the area a little better. It's extremely big so it might take me a while to get it down. Heredia is super pretty though. My companion likes to run in the mornings so there's a small track we go to and it's got a great view. Heredia is one of the smaller provinces of Costa Rica and it's north of San Jose. It reminds me a little bit of Limon because it's very green. The area is separated by north and south. My comp and I have the north which is a lot more affluent so the work is tough but the members seem to support like crazy. In church they actually have a class for recent converts just to help them share the gospel i.e. pass out pamphlets to their friends and stuff. The ward mission plan is very organized.
So my Comp Elder Castro is from Honduras. My second Honduraneo. He is a convert of just a couple years so it's been cool to learn from his perspective. The other two Elders Haws and Whitlock are from Illinois and Arizona. We've been having a lot of fun together. I think sometimes my comp feels left out with the English but maybe it will motivate him to learn more. The house we live in is pretty good sized. A mansion considered to my last apartment. Two bathrooms but one shower doesn't work.
Today for pday we went and played soccer and made some tasty carne asada with grilled pineapple. The zone is the biggest in the mission I believe. For the first time Elder Stevens and I are together (mtc comp). Also, Sister Hunter just so happens to be in my district.
This week we found some cool new families. Last night we contacted a man with his 3 kids. He invited us over to his house and we taught them about baptism. Also, the 4 little ones were pretty rambunctious but we sat them down in front of us and sang Families can be together forever. It was a neat experience.
That's about all I can think of for now. I love you guys. Happy Birthday to Mom and Happy fathers day to dad.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
So I realize my emails have been super lame the last couple weeks. So I decided to write you guys first before I do anything else. This week I've just been trying to get to know the area a little better. It's extremely big so it might take me a while to get it down. Heredia is super pretty though. My companion likes to run in the mornings so there's a small track we go to and it's got a great view. Heredia is one of the smaller provinces of Costa Rica and it's north of San Jose. It reminds me a little bit of Limon because it's very green. The area is separated by north and south. My comp and I have the north which is a lot more affluent so the work is tough but the members seem to support like crazy. In church they actually have a class for recent converts just to help them share the gospel i.e. pass out pamphlets to their friends and stuff. The ward mission plan is very organized.
So my Comp Elder Castro is from Honduras. My second Honduraneo. He is a convert of just a couple years so it's been cool to learn from his perspective. The other two Elders Haws and Whitlock are from Illinois and Arizona. We've been having a lot of fun together. I think sometimes my comp feels left out with the English but maybe it will motivate him to learn more. The house we live in is pretty good sized. A mansion considered to my last apartment. Two bathrooms but one shower doesn't work.
Today for pday we went and played soccer and made some tasty carne asada with grilled pineapple. The zone is the biggest in the mission I believe. For the first time Elder Stevens and I are together (mtc comp). Also, Sister Hunter just so happens to be in my district.
This week we found some cool new families. Last night we contacted a man with his 3 kids. He invited us over to his house and we taught them about baptism. Also, the 4 little ones were pretty rambunctious but we sat them down in front of us and sang Families can be together forever. It was a neat experience.
That's about all I can think of for now. I love you guys. Happy Birthday to Mom and Happy fathers day to dad.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Sunday, May 29, 2011
May 23
Well family and friends, I`ve got some super good news and some not so good news. Let`s start off with the good. This Saturday Marta, Sebastian, and Nicolás Solano were baptized!! See the photo and program that I sent. Definitely my favorite converts by far till this point in my mission (if I`m allowed to have favorites- they`re all great) The service didn`t go exactly as planned. Well actually a lot of things went wrong, but they were minor things. For instance. While my companion and I were sitting there filling up the font we realized it was taking a super long time. People had already arrived and it was not even half way full. After a quick examanition the problem was discovered; a disfunctioning plug. So the water was just going straight out. We pulled a Mcgiver with a towell and a rock. When it was time to change I realized I was missing a white shirt. I quickly grabbed another Elder and we ran to the house. We wern`t gone for long, but when we came back they had already started. The Elder I went with was Elder Crellin my old comp. We assigned him to speak first and he missed his talk. oops! Marta was not baptized without a fight. She has a knee problem and couldn`t make it under easily. So Elder Vallejo baptized her 4 times. They loved it though. They are very happy little family. Yesterday all 3 were confirmed as well.
Now for the bad news. Last night as my companion and I came back to the house we found our gate open with no lock on it. A window broken and the front door open. Not good. We quickly looked throughout the house to see what was gone. My companion had his camera on the desk that was stolen. I usually keep a clean desk, but I leave my ipod out. Before we left yesterday I put it away along with my wallet. Luckily they didn`t find either. However, my Dakine backpack and about 10 of my shirts were gone. We were sad but grateful that most of our stuff was still there. We determined they broke our window with a couple rocks and entered onto my bed. Right where I have my pillow that says CHOOSE THE RIGHT on it. They weren`t discouraged by that or by the Pictures of Jesus all over our house. A scary experience to know that they were watching us and waited till we left. At least the family`s house whom we live with was untouched. Today we went with Milton (the member) and bought a new stronger lock. Were going to put an alarm in and bars over the windows now.
This is a few days after we some a man get jumped of his motorcycle by gunpoint. We`ve just got to be a little careful. I still feel safe though.
So those were the major happenings this week. I Love you guys very much. I know the church is true and that Heavenly father protects his missionaries. Thanks!
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Now for the bad news. Last night as my companion and I came back to the house we found our gate open with no lock on it. A window broken and the front door open. Not good. We quickly looked throughout the house to see what was gone. My companion had his camera on the desk that was stolen. I usually keep a clean desk, but I leave my ipod out. Before we left yesterday I put it away along with my wallet. Luckily they didn`t find either. However, my Dakine backpack and about 10 of my shirts were gone. We were sad but grateful that most of our stuff was still there. We determined they broke our window with a couple rocks and entered onto my bed. Right where I have my pillow that says CHOOSE THE RIGHT on it. They weren`t discouraged by that or by the Pictures of Jesus all over our house. A scary experience to know that they were watching us and waited till we left. At least the family`s house whom we live with was untouched. Today we went with Milton (the member) and bought a new stronger lock. Were going to put an alarm in and bars over the windows now.
This is a few days after we some a man get jumped of his motorcycle by gunpoint. We`ve just got to be a little careful. I still feel safe though.
So those were the major happenings this week. I Love you guys very much. I know the church is true and that Heavenly father protects his missionaries. Thanks!
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
May 16,2011
Hola! What`s up guys?
We`ve made it to the mid-way point of the change. I think I`m coming up on my fourth month here in this area. It`s been interesting because I was in my other areas for 3 and 1 and half months respectively. Here, I have been able to get to know the members and investigators much better. Part of that being I can communicate with them clearly now haha. There is an attendance of about 80 in the ward every week. I know every one by name and they know me which is pretty cool. Yesterday we want to the Muñoz familys house for lunch. They fed us super well. Chocolate cake and Ice cream. Ooh weeh I hadn`t had that in a long time.
On Wednesday we had the baptism interviews for Martha, Sebastian, and Nicolàs. It was an awesome day. They all shared their strong testimonies. When they asked Nico what tithing was he said 750. Huh? The Elder said. 750. My tithing is 750 colones. Ohh haha (That`s a little over a dollar.) I was so excited to see that each one was very prepared for baptism. That will happen this Friday I believe.
On Saturday we also had an oppurtunity to visit the temple. We rented a small bus with 4 other Elders and we took the investigators to see the temple. Everyone really enjoted it. It was raining pretty hard on the trip up there, but the sun came out as we arrived. The temple President also came and talked to all of them. I felt so good just being there and walking around.
To those that heard about the Earthquake. It was a 5.9 and was centered 45 minute or so from me. Definitely the strongest one I`ve ever felt. A lot of kocked over objects but no fatalites.
Have a good week Everyone. Love you all
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
We`ve made it to the mid-way point of the change. I think I`m coming up on my fourth month here in this area. It`s been interesting because I was in my other areas for 3 and 1 and half months respectively. Here, I have been able to get to know the members and investigators much better. Part of that being I can communicate with them clearly now haha. There is an attendance of about 80 in the ward every week. I know every one by name and they know me which is pretty cool. Yesterday we want to the Muñoz familys house for lunch. They fed us super well. Chocolate cake and Ice cream. Ooh weeh I hadn`t had that in a long time.
On Wednesday we had the baptism interviews for Martha, Sebastian, and Nicolàs. It was an awesome day. They all shared their strong testimonies. When they asked Nico what tithing was he said 750. Huh? The Elder said. 750. My tithing is 750 colones. Ohh haha (That`s a little over a dollar.) I was so excited to see that each one was very prepared for baptism. That will happen this Friday I believe.
On Saturday we also had an oppurtunity to visit the temple. We rented a small bus with 4 other Elders and we took the investigators to see the temple. Everyone really enjoted it. It was raining pretty hard on the trip up there, but the sun came out as we arrived. The temple President also came and talked to all of them. I felt so good just being there and walking around.
To those that heard about the Earthquake. It was a 5.9 and was centered 45 minute or so from me. Definitely the strongest one I`ve ever felt. A lot of kocked over objects but no fatalites.
Have a good week Everyone. Love you all
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Sunday, May 8, 2011
¡Fotos!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
May 2, 2011
¿Qué tal todos?
I hope things are well. So I`ll be talking to you on the phone in less than a week!!!
I`m pretty excited. It seems like just yesterday when I`ll said talk to you in 5 months. This next week we have stake conference and it ends at 4 so I`ll probably call you around 5 mountain time. So be ready at 4 o`clock!
We didn`t have anything incredible happen this week as far as missionary work. Just three made it out to church. It was Marta Solano`s 8th time in sacrament and 3rd time paying tithing haha. She`s more of a member than some of the other members in our ward, but just can`t pull the trigger on the whole baptism thing. She says she wants to be 100% sure that this is the right church for her. I guess we`ll just wait and see what happens.
On Tuesday we had a special visitor to the house. The One and only President Gálvez. I guess they do house inspections and interviews once a year, and this week was our turn.
We spent the entire morning cleaning and finshed just as they were pulling up. We passed the clean test pretty well. I forgot to write down what happened this week, and I can`t remember anything else so you`ll have to bear with me till Sunday.
I hope things are well. So I`ll be talking to you on the phone in less than a week!!!
I`m pretty excited. It seems like just yesterday when I`ll said talk to you in 5 months. This next week we have stake conference and it ends at 4 so I`ll probably call you around 5 mountain time. So be ready at 4 o`clock!
We didn`t have anything incredible happen this week as far as missionary work. Just three made it out to church. It was Marta Solano`s 8th time in sacrament and 3rd time paying tithing haha. She`s more of a member than some of the other members in our ward, but just can`t pull the trigger on the whole baptism thing. She says she wants to be 100% sure that this is the right church for her. I guess we`ll just wait and see what happens.
On Tuesday we had a special visitor to the house. The One and only President Gálvez. I guess they do house inspections and interviews once a year, and this week was our turn.
We spent the entire morning cleaning and finshed just as they were pulling up. We passed the clean test pretty well. I forgot to write down what happened this week, and I can`t remember anything else so you`ll have to bear with me till Sunday.
Monday, April 25, 2011
April 18, 2011
Yo Yo Yo What up?
So I`ll start off telling you guys about the highlight of the week which was Zone Conference with Elder Hinckley!! Him and his wife made the trip out on Monday I think and stayed until Friday. Wednesday we had our conference with him and it did not dissapoint. He was throwing out alot of compliments to our mission. I`m not sure if he does that on every mission tour, but it was fun to hear. He said we are the most organized he`s seen as far as goals. He loves our focus on families and priesthood aged men. He`s going to share our ideas in his meeting with the apostles. We also have the best Mission President in Central America if not the world haha
I loved listening to the conference because it was all in English so I didn`t have to concentrate much to listen. They hooked up all the latinos with headsets and a translator. Elder Hinckley gave us alot of advice and I walked away learning a ton. He said I hope if you get one thing out of this mission it`s learning how to work. My father loved to work and never took a vacation. Find joy and pleasure in working hard and accomplishing something everyday.
My comp got called on to do a role play, but I lucked out and just watched. Food was awesome there and I got together with buddies.
Friday we had the almost amazingly awesome experience. We came home from doing divisions Thursday and I was praying to see what we could do. Just then, the phone rang and it was the APs. They said Elder Hinckley was flying back to the states but wanted to go out with the missionaries for a bit first. They chose our area to come and meet with the Solano family. Here comes the sad part. We did everything we could to put an appointment with them, but they said sorry we can`t do it. Elder Vallejo and I were a little disapointed to say the least. Us and the Solanos both missed out on a sweeet oppurtunity. Oh well.
Their baptism didn`t end up happening on Saturday. She drank coffee in the morning, after a few days with out it. The good part is she said it made her sick and she`s never going to drink again. We`re going to do what we can to baptize them this week but they might be going out of town. This week is a huge holiday for the catholic religion or all of Costa Rica ha. Semana Santa it`s called.
We do have a set date for this Saturday with Jose Pavon though. A man we`ve been working with for a couple weeks.
Last week I believe, we were knocking doors and I contacted a woman named Cindy Lopez. She told us to come back Friday so we did. We had an awesome first lesson with her and she made it out to church and loved it. I was a little busy in church giving a talk and teaching gospel principles. The lesson went really well. Our 6 investigators and recent converts were talking about overcoming their challenges. At the end Cindy said I have question. What does coffee and tea have to do with anything? haha
We`ll explain that later I said. Gabriel, one of our recent converts also blessed the sacrament for the first time.
Well thanks for everything guys. Love you all.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Sunday, April 10, 2011
March 28
Heyyy What's up guys!
So I have a real excuse for not writing you on Monday. Write after internet last week I found out the zone was taking a temple trip today . Well, I`m writing you now so no worries haha. By the way next transfers are the 27th not 24th like I said.
Who`s excited for conference??? This Elder definitely is. There is something about being a missionary that just makes conference so awesome. I can hardly wait. Hopefully I`ll score it in English again like I did last time.
Like I said we went to the temple today. I guess we can only get scheduled in on Wednesdays. The last time I went was probably in October. Whoooh. The extended amount of wait definitely makes you appreciate the temple more, but hopefully I won`t have to wait so long to go again.
After visting the temple we headed back to San Jose and got some "tico" burgers. Not in the slight bit close to real american hamburgers but it`s the best we could do. Costa Ricans should probably stick to rice and beans. They also gave us some tres leches for dessert. I was the first Elder to eat it and downed it pretty quick. Then, Elder Garcia next to me ate his. A little while afterwards, the other missionaries realized the dessert smelled way too much like alcohol. hahah ummm... That may explain my slight tipsyness and headache right now. oops Hope that doesn`t come up in my interview in a couple weeks.
Well anyways now for the real news. La Campiña baptized two this week!! Yea Yeahh
Esmeralda ended up getting baptized up north in Escazu because the water heater didn`t work out. Karla also got baptized sunday after church. A lot of the ward stayed and supported. Man I`ve got a lot more stories, but no time. We do internet together as a zone so I can`t extend my time. I love you all! Take care
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
So I have a real excuse for not writing you on Monday. Write after internet last week I found out the zone was taking a temple trip today . Well, I`m writing you now so no worries haha. By the way next transfers are the 27th not 24th like I said.
Who`s excited for conference??? This Elder definitely is. There is something about being a missionary that just makes conference so awesome. I can hardly wait. Hopefully I`ll score it in English again like I did last time.
Like I said we went to the temple today. I guess we can only get scheduled in on Wednesdays. The last time I went was probably in October. Whoooh. The extended amount of wait definitely makes you appreciate the temple more, but hopefully I won`t have to wait so long to go again.
After visting the temple we headed back to San Jose and got some "tico" burgers. Not in the slight bit close to real american hamburgers but it`s the best we could do. Costa Ricans should probably stick to rice and beans. They also gave us some tres leches for dessert. I was the first Elder to eat it and downed it pretty quick. Then, Elder Garcia next to me ate his. A little while afterwards, the other missionaries realized the dessert smelled way too much like alcohol. hahah ummm... That may explain my slight tipsyness and headache right now. oops Hope that doesn`t come up in my interview in a couple weeks.
Well anyways now for the real news. La Campiña baptized two this week!! Yea Yeahh
Esmeralda ended up getting baptized up north in Escazu because the water heater didn`t work out. Karla also got baptized sunday after church. A lot of the ward stayed and supported. Man I`ve got a lot more stories, but no time. We do internet together as a zone so I can`t extend my time. I love you all! Take care
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
April 4
Buenas Dìas todos or Aloha to the vactioners out in Hawaii :)
Hope all is well. I enjoyed seeing the baptism pictures of Brody. Congrats Primito. Hopefully I`ll get to baptize in a pool by the end of my mission or even the Ocean!
Elder Vallejo and I are enjoying ourselves here. Pday in the morning usually calls for a couple of games of ping pong. In which I usually smash him in all. However, he`s picking it up pretty fast and managed to steal one from me today.
Missionary work is good as well. We do do that too. haha We picked up a couple new investigators off of refrences and maybe we`ll make good on a couple. 3 made it out to conference and all enjoyed it. I really enjoyed conference as well. My favorites were : Elder Cook saturday morning (he gave a shout out to mission viejo and Laguna Niguel stakes yea yeah) I really liked that story. Plus it was a good talk on appreciating the sisters. Elder Andersen in Priesthood. Just a cool one that I enjoyed. Elder Scott Sunday afternoon. Very heartfelt tribute to his wife and sweet talk on Marriage. Of course I also liked the two from our Prophet. He`s an awesome man.
The welfare aniversary theme made me think of a lady we are teching. Her name is Ana Lucia and she was baptized 2 years ago. She actually gave us the reference 6 months ago for Esmeralda who was baptized last week. Since her baptism she`s left the church twice and this time she says she`s not going back. Both being for the reason of not recieving help from the members or Bishopbric when she was in sore need of help. She is a little crazy but I can see why she would be offended. We try telling people this phrase when things happen and they fall away. La Iglesia es perfecta pero los miembros no somos. The church is perfect but as members we are not. There`s no need to leave the church for something that a member has done. I`m really grateful for having the oppurtunity to listen to the prophets speak this weekend. They truly tell us what we need to hear. Well I love you all. Have an awesome week.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Hope all is well. I enjoyed seeing the baptism pictures of Brody. Congrats Primito. Hopefully I`ll get to baptize in a pool by the end of my mission or even the Ocean!
Elder Vallejo and I are enjoying ourselves here. Pday in the morning usually calls for a couple of games of ping pong. In which I usually smash him in all. However, he`s picking it up pretty fast and managed to steal one from me today.
Missionary work is good as well. We do do that too. haha We picked up a couple new investigators off of refrences and maybe we`ll make good on a couple. 3 made it out to conference and all enjoyed it. I really enjoyed conference as well. My favorites were : Elder Cook saturday morning (he gave a shout out to mission viejo and Laguna Niguel stakes yea yeah) I really liked that story. Plus it was a good talk on appreciating the sisters. Elder Andersen in Priesthood. Just a cool one that I enjoyed. Elder Scott Sunday afternoon. Very heartfelt tribute to his wife and sweet talk on Marriage. Of course I also liked the two from our Prophet. He`s an awesome man.
The welfare aniversary theme made me think of a lady we are teching. Her name is Ana Lucia and she was baptized 2 years ago. She actually gave us the reference 6 months ago for Esmeralda who was baptized last week. Since her baptism she`s left the church twice and this time she says she`s not going back. Both being for the reason of not recieving help from the members or Bishopbric when she was in sore need of help. She is a little crazy but I can see why she would be offended. We try telling people this phrase when things happen and they fall away. La Iglesia es perfecta pero los miembros no somos. The church is perfect but as members we are not. There`s no need to leave the church for something that a member has done. I`m really grateful for having the oppurtunity to listen to the prophets speak this weekend. They truly tell us what we need to hear. Well I love you all. Have an awesome week.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Monday, March 21, 2011
March 26,2011
Hellllooo Family and Friends!
It´s been a while since I´ve heard from you all. We had transfers today! I´m not very good reminding you when those are so that´s why you didn´t hear from me on Monday. I´m guessing I´ll forget next time so I´ll just tell you now that next transfers are April 24th. All is well though. Actually, all is super well! I´m sitting next to my new companion Elder Vallejo! Way sick kid, and my first comp from Honduras! He brings 19 months of experience to the area of La Campiña, and I think this will be the last stop of his journey. I think this will be a fun change, but I´ve got to make sure we do work son haha. He is the new DL and senior comp but I´ll be in charge of the area for the next couple days because I know it.
Transfers meeting was way fun seeing old comps Stevens, Portillo, and Burgerner. Burgs told me Carlos Juan got baptized last month. He was the guy we taught who had been investigating for 18 years. Elder Portillo has 2 more changes and then my papi is outta here. President and Sister Galvez spoke and told us we weren´t a very "smiley" mission. We need to smile more :) and we´ll be more successful. January was a pretty good month for the mission though Let´s see what else is going on...
We have a lesson with the Solano family that im excited/nervous for. They´re incredibly hard to meet with so tonight will be important. I´m hoping the dad will have an interest in listening to us. I´ll let you know how that goes next week. This week we had 2 baptism goals set for the 26th. One is a señora named Esmeralda who has major heart and back conditions. She can´t get baptized in cold water or else she´ll have a heart attack. There is one chapel in the country with hot water so I think we´ll go there and do it. I´ll have to be careful with her if I do the baptism haha. Then there is Karla. The eleven year old with the attitude conditon ha! I´ve learned that teaching young kids is not my favorite thing to do in the mission, but you got to what you gotta do. She struggles with respect for her mom(reminds me of a younger someone I knew) and wanted nothing to do with the church. She´s comin´ along though and we´ll be ready in 2 saturdays. In Costa Rica there is a lot of single moms because the dudes just get their girlfriends pregnant and bounce. So that´s why we teach children so often. Well my short time is up. I love you all. Take care
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
It´s been a while since I´ve heard from you all. We had transfers today! I´m not very good reminding you when those are so that´s why you didn´t hear from me on Monday. I´m guessing I´ll forget next time so I´ll just tell you now that next transfers are April 24th. All is well though. Actually, all is super well! I´m sitting next to my new companion Elder Vallejo! Way sick kid, and my first comp from Honduras! He brings 19 months of experience to the area of La Campiña, and I think this will be the last stop of his journey. I think this will be a fun change, but I´ve got to make sure we do work son haha. He is the new DL and senior comp but I´ll be in charge of the area for the next couple days because I know it.
Transfers meeting was way fun seeing old comps Stevens, Portillo, and Burgerner. Burgs told me Carlos Juan got baptized last month. He was the guy we taught who had been investigating for 18 years. Elder Portillo has 2 more changes and then my papi is outta here. President and Sister Galvez spoke and told us we weren´t a very "smiley" mission. We need to smile more :) and we´ll be more successful. January was a pretty good month for the mission though Let´s see what else is going on...
We have a lesson with the Solano family that im excited/nervous for. They´re incredibly hard to meet with so tonight will be important. I´m hoping the dad will have an interest in listening to us. I´ll let you know how that goes next week. This week we had 2 baptism goals set for the 26th. One is a señora named Esmeralda who has major heart and back conditions. She can´t get baptized in cold water or else she´ll have a heart attack. There is one chapel in the country with hot water so I think we´ll go there and do it. I´ll have to be careful with her if I do the baptism haha. Then there is Karla. The eleven year old with the attitude conditon ha! I´ve learned that teaching young kids is not my favorite thing to do in the mission, but you got to what you gotta do. She struggles with respect for her mom(reminds me of a younger someone I knew) and wanted nothing to do with the church. She´s comin´ along though and we´ll be ready in 2 saturdays. In Costa Rica there is a lot of single moms because the dudes just get their girlfriends pregnant and bounce. So that´s why we teach children so often. Well my short time is up. I love you all. Take care
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Febraury 31, 2011
Buenas Dìas Familia y amigos
First off, wow what an amazing blog! Probably the coolest thing I`ve ever seen haha Thanks Mom and Kerstin.
Today is the 28th of so that means I`ve been a missionary for 7 months. Pretty exciting I know. ha Actually in my 7 months I`ve learned that time is not important at all, so I`m not really counting but I did realize it was the 28th today. You can be an effective missionary from day 1 till the trip to the airport if you`re willing to put in the effort.
Anyways this was a quick but very rewarding week for Elder Crellin and I. We started the week off with a couple investigators that weren`t showing too much promise, but we decided we were going to change that. As of now we are looking at 10-12 people that we are really excited about. We even had 7 of them show up to church. In that 7 was the Solano family, a young single mom named Marcela and a U student named Carlos. I think we were able to have a good Sunday in Church because of the 20 or so phone calls we made at 7 in the morning to everyone. We were determined to get people in the chapel.
On Thursday I had a pretty cool experience. We did a switch around and I went to Los Yoses for the day with Elder Hernandez from Honduras. Los Yoses is a pretty big city area. We had one lesson planned the entire day and the rest was spent on looking for families. Talk about a lot of contacting. I feel like I really improved on my street approach and knocking doors. It was tough but I think Im over my fear of tracting in the big city. We ended up finding 5 nice families.
Saturday the b-day! haha Not exactly the greatest day ever but very much enjoyed. We had every single one of our lessons and back up plans fail us. We covered our entire area walking and It rained for the first time in about 2 months. Needless to say we ended the day with subway where my comp sang to me ha No cake and no package but I was still very content at the end of the day because we worked hard.
Last story. Sunday night we went to follow up on a contact we made earlier in the week. We weren`t expecting much but what we got was more than we could ask for. Meeting Carlos Montenegro was one of the greatest experiences I`ve had in the mish. When we started talking he immediatley broke into tears and told us his whole life story. He told us he has felt alone his whole life. He lives in a house by himself and has no friends or life dreams. He can`t sleep because he is always depressed. He said us coming over was an answer to his prayers. We felt he was an answer to our prayers as well. He was incredibly prepared to hear our message and recieve and read the BOM. We left him with a blessing of comfort and told him to start reading from the front cover. I know his life is about to change dramatically and I`m so grateful that we decided to talk to him.
Now that these things are goin on a blog I have some incentive to make them good haha jk but i can`t promise the`ll all be this long, but I wanrted to share some special stories that we had this week. I love you all and I know the gospel is true. Thanks for everything.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Sunday, February 27, 2011
My most recent email...February 21, 2011
Hola Querida Familia
Sounds like everyone is doing very well. This was a week of a lot of walking! My legs feel like they're dead. Fortunately it paid off and we were able to find some great new investigators and recieved a lot of references from members. Also, we met with a great family last night who is prime and ready for the gospel. The Solanos are actually are neighbors from across the street and we started talking to them a little while ago. I felt really good about them and hopefully they`ll make some good progress here.
On Saturday there was a baptism in our chapel, but it wasn`t ours haha It was still a great family that we helped out from Los Yoses which the zls area right next to ours. They had no water in their church so they came over to ours. I`m short on time this week again which I apologize for because I know it makes for a kinda borring letter. Next week will be better for sure. Elder Crellin and I are doing really well and having fun together. Love you all. Thanks for the Bday wishes.
Pura Vida
Elder Miller
Saturday, February 26, 2011
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