6 January 2014

Hello Family and Friends,

I hope that everyone had a good new year! My new year was very unexciting. We got home at 9:00pm and I was tired so I lied down and the next thing I know there were fireworks going off all over Restinga. The fireworks lasted for about 10 minutes which was pretty good for at-home-firework-enthusiasts. Shortly after I hit the bed again and it was lights out for me. The past two weeks have been horrible to sleep. It felt like a 100 degrees in our room and the fans were just blowing the hot air in our faces. Moreover when I finally would fall asleep the mosquitos would have a feast on my body. Finally midweek the rain came and took the humidy out of the climate so I am well once again.

The best news of the week is that we had another 2 baptisms! Y and M were baptized after our church meetings Sunday. I had the priveledge of baptizing M, 29, a man with down syndrome. It was a spiritual experience for me because of the sweet spirit this man has. He loves us and we are always pulling jokes on each other. His case is a little bit different than most people with down because he can carry on a full conversation with us as if there was nothing mentally holding him back. I feel this like baptism was to help me and my testimony more than it was for him, seeing that he doesn't need to be baptized. Christ's atonement has already given him his ticket to the celestial kingdom, but I haven't got mine and he helped me to be more determined in my daily efforts. Elder Horst baptized Yasmin. The day was absolutely perfect.

We are going to have another baptism this Satuday. Her name is A and she is so ready to be baptized. She has already been going to church the past six months and helps the ward a lot. She is getting married today and we are going to have a surprise party for her which is going to be awesome. This means that we are going to baptize three weeks straight which will be a new thing for me. We are working to try and baptize someone the week after as well.

We had zone counsel with the President Thursday. It was one of the best meetings I have had on my mission. All the zone leaders shared ideas and showed what was working in their areas. The President gave us a message about conversion which really had us reflect upon ourselves. We made goals and we saw the results of the past year. Our mission had a 30% increase in baptisms from the past year which was a huge success. President Castro is a really good mission president and I am grateful I will have my whole mission with him. Afterwards we went to a rather fancy buffet place and we stuffed ourselves and then we went back to our area.

Yep, so it was a good first week of the year for us and we are excited for all the adventures we will have this year. I know it will be the best year ever

Lots of Love,

Elder Miller