30 December 2013
Hello Family and Friends,
Wow there is a lot to talk about in this email. Let's start
with the most important news which is that we had two baptisms, Paulo and
Ismael, this past Saturday. Everything worked out perfectly.
Paulo was able to quit smoking and his brother baptized him. Ismael
accepted everything from the start and has a lot of support from the Young men
in the Ward, and Elder Horst baptized him. They were confirmed Sunday by the
bishopric. Also, if everything goes to plan we will baptize another two this
week, a Young girl whose brother is a member and mentally handicapped man that
asked us to be baptized, he also has family that are members.
Elder Horst and I are working a lot with families which not
everyone is baptized and we are having success with this. It is a double whammy
because we can reactivate a family and baptize those that aren't yet. I am
liking our companionship a lot because we manage to work hard but we still have
fun at the same time.
This past week was rather relaxed. The first half of the
week we did not get much work done due to the fact that Christmas Eve and
Christmas are very complicated for missionaries. The people are with
their respective families eating and opening presents, enjoying each others
presence and the last thing they want is two strangers coming in making things
uncomfortable. Also, our thoughts were all on the Skype call home.
Christmas this year did not feel like Christmas at all. I
woke up Christmas morning and did my exercises before I even realized that it
was Christmas! It was hot and humid, and nobody has lights up or Christmas
trees so you can imagine how someone could forget. We grabbed some laptops
after lunch and quickly made our way over to the chapel and I waited in great
anticipation for my chance to Skype home. After a few hours a laptop was
available for me to use and I quickly called home.
The call was excellent to say the least. It had been 7
months since I had seen my family's faces and heard their voices so you can
imagine the emotion that was flowing within me. I kept it cool until the very
end and then I couldn't fight it anymore and let them know how I really feel
about them and the missionary work. I had been wanting to say that for some
time now and finally I got it out of me. Afterwards, I felt a real peace within
knowing that everything is well with them and that they know how I truly feel
about them. Frankly it was the greatest Christmas gift of my entire life
and I am being honest. There is nothing greater to me than God and my family
and I am so grateful I can share this with the world everyday.
This week we will have New Years which is even more celebrated
in Brazil than Christmas. For sure there will be craziness in the road New
Years eve. In addition we will have zone counsel with the Presidente which I am
excited for. All the zone leaders will meet with the president to talk about
the mission and how we can improve things. It should be cool and it is looking
like this week will be a bit laid back as well.
In conclusion I would just like to thank everyone that has
sent me a letter or a package this Christmas season. I was literally blown away
by the things that were sent to me. It was very contente knowing that
many people were thinking of me and went out of their way to
prepare something very meaningful for me. I thank you all so much.
My Christmas was wonderful and I hope yours was too.
Elder Miller
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