5 August 2013

Hello Family and Friends,

 

I forgot to mention in the last e-mail that today is transfer day!!!

But do not worry because none of us were transferred. I was grateful to hear that no one was transferred, because we are all working hard and have become great friends these past six weeks. Wow, that is crazy to say that I have already been here in Dom Pedrito for six weeks! As I always say to you all, it feels like yesterday that I arrived here.

 

 

The time is passing by so quickly it is rather ridiculous. In a little while I will have 1 year on the mission. I will have reached the mountain top and from there it is only a quick descent.

So this past transfer I grew a lot as a missionary and a disciple of Christ. Being the senior companion really forced me to be better everyday. I had exercise my faith and be a leader. I pushed ourselves to the limit a lot and sometimes I thought Elder Machado would give up, but he kept on pushing on no matter what, and at the end of the day he was always grateful for the effort we gave. We both agree that we learned more about life and the gospel in this past transfer than the rest of our missions put together. We are both working together to turn our individual weaknesses into strengths.

It is funny how you learn more about yourself and God when you have to overcome great difficulties. In the moment it can seem impossible to achieve anything, but what I learnt is that God always fulfills his part when we give 100%. He is never abandons us no matter what. I learnt that you have to humble yourself and never give an excuse for anything that you did or did not do. Every night I gave an account to God of what we did that specific day, and for the most part I was able to sleep soundly afterwards. Of course there is so much we need to improve in our missionary work, but in my opinion this past transfer was a great success. We have a teaching group now that did not exist when we arrived, we have gained the confidence of the members, and we have one investigator that is being prepared to be baptized.

This area has been deemed as the area that does not baptize, but we are all in full-gear to change that. In fact it has already been changed because the other Elders baptized this past Saturday, João and Leticia, a brother and sister. And Elder Machado and I are teaching Adriana, 24 young lady, and recently graduated lawyer. She is super smart and friendly, and is searching for peace in her life. She had told us that she feels the peace that she is searching for when hearing our messages and going to church. She always has inspired questions for us which really helps us teach her well. I think this transfer she will be baptized. Also, we are always looking for families which is one of my dreams being out on the mission, teaching and baptizing a family. I want all families to feel the happiness I feel when I am with my own family, which happiness comes from living the principles and ordinances of the only true and living gospel.

So I will be in Dom Pedrito for the next six weeks with Elder Machado.

Elder Beary and Elder Carlos will be companions again also. This transfer should be a little more relaxed now that we have opened up the area and everything else. I am liking this area a lot despite the difficulties. It should be a fun transfer.

Thats all for now,

Lots of Love,

Elder Miller

29 July 2013

Hello Family and Friends, 

This week was really rewarding, because after 4 weeks of hard work we are now starting to see the blessings.

This week Elder Machado and I sat down to review our past week and then set up our new goals for the week. We were still a little shaken by the fact that after so much effort no one showed up to church. 4 weeks without anyone in the chapel. So we prayed and started planning for this week as usual. We planned everything and then started putting down what numbers we thought that we could achieve. We arrived at the portion of our agenda that says, "Investigators that attended sacrament meeting." We thought deeply and both agreed on the number 2, two persons at church Sunday. This number was much more humble than what we are used to, 7 or 8, but seeing our results from the past week it seemed possible.

Later in the week, we had to travel to Pelotas to attend a training meeting with President Castro and the other zones. There we had some very valuable training meetings, but the one that caught my attention was given by Sister Castro the spouse of Pres. Castro. She spoke about humility, and I learnt a lot about being humble from her. She mentioned that we depend on God and that we must always subject ourselves to his will. Also, she noted that in order to demonstrate our humility we need to obey all of the commandments and rules of the mission with exactness, and we always serve arduous and are grateful for every blessing that is given to us, be it big or small. It finish her training she gave us the scripture D&C 112:10, "Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers." This scripture caught my attention and I pondered about it the rest of the day.

 

 

We arrived back in Dom Pedrito late Thursday night and Elder Machado and I conversed about what we had learned from the conference with Pres. Castro. In short, we made a pact to obey every little rule with exactness, for example, wake up and get out of bed 6:30 on point, no more wake up and take our time to get up and moving. It means exercising everyday, and be studying at 8:00 o clock no ifs or buts.

It means being out of the house by 10:30 and doing our 20 contacts for the day. It means being back at home 9:30 at night and always doing our daily planning for the next day. So this is what we did with exactness. In summary we worked as hard as we could, we were as obedient as was possible, and we did everything in our reach to achieve our goals this week, with goal of 2 persons at church in the back of our minds. We were confident that if we were humble, the Lord would lead us by the hand and would answer our prayer, and he did.

This week we were always in the right place at the right time. We talked with the right people everyday that are interested in the church. Really we were guided by the Lord, it was incredible. So finally we were at church and the first meeting had already passed by, (Priesthood Meeting) and no one had shown up to church. I still had a great hope that one of our investigators would come to church and I remembered that Adriana, an investigator, said that maybe she would be a little late to church, if she decided to go. I went outside the chapel and waited about 10 min anxiously. Then suddenly I saw her car coming down the street in our direction. Her car was gleaming with light from the morning sun. She parked and got out of the car and entered into the chapel with us. I could not stop smiling the whole time as much as I tried to wipe the smile off my face. She participated in the Gospel Principles class which was great. Then when we left the classroom I looked down the hall and to my amazement Glessimar, another investigator,  was conversing with some members waiting for sacrament meeting. My joy doubled in size and I quickly went to greet her. And there it was our 2 investigators that we had planned at the beginning of the week. God had answered our prayers. We had been led by his hand the entire week and it was because of our obedience and humility that put forth the entire week.

It is difficult to write this letter because I am almost breaking out into tears from the joy that we felt yesterday. I am so grateful for the answer to our prayers, the reward for our hard work these past 5 weeks. Simply, I know that our Lord lives. I know he answers our prayers. I know that sometimes blessings do not come when we want them to, but they always come to those who humble themselves and subject themselves to His will. I am so grateful for every little thing in my life, I am grateful to serve others.

Thanks you for all your prayers and support I love you all, Elder Miller

22 July 2013

Hello Friends and Family, 

It is getting cold down here in the South! The humid cold literally cuts through our clothes and digs into our bones. I basically live in a icebox in our house as well, because we are only allowed 1 hour of heating because of the costs. Welcome to the mission! Besides the cold everything is alright. We are working hard even though things are not going our way.

 

 

This week we tripled our numbers in just about everything which was cool. Like I mentioned last week, a few extra missionaries came to our area to help out a bit. I went on a division with an Elder named Dos Santos. It was a great help because he had already served 6 months in the area so he showed me everyone that he was working with when he left the area. We marked 4 baptisms in about 3 hours! He is one of the best missionaries in the mission. Right now he is the leader of a "group" of members in Bagé. A "group" is even smaller than a branch which I did not that even existed. In 4 weeks he already has enough people organized to form a branch in his area. It was pretty eye opening to work with a missionary like him, because he showed me to never have any doubts in anything that we do as missionaries, complete trust in the savior instead of in our own selves. There is a huge difference in the missionary work when you rely on your faith instead of your talent, the people begin to recognize you as a representative of Christ.

So Elder Machado and I worked a lot this week, but in the end none of our investigators showed up to church Sunday. So far on my mission it has been pretty easy to get people to go to church, but here it has been extremely difficult. Just imagine, they have to get up early in the almost unbearable cold and then have to go to a place they have never visited, and they all live miles away from the chapel. It is even harder when almost no one in the ward has a car to help out. When Elder Machado and I got home from church yesterday we both ready to burst out in tears. We have worked more in these last 4 weeks than in our entire missions and we had nothing to prove of it at the end of the week. It was really sad, especially when the other missionaries had investigators in the church, references from an awesome family in the ward. 

I think about our Savior in moments like these. Imagine the sadness he feels when we do not do what he asks. All he ever wanted to do was help people and show the way that leads to complete happiness and we destroyed him. Now imagine when we do something even worse like sinning for example. It is one more drop of blood that he has to pay for our eternal salvation, and he would suffer like this over and over again because of the incomprehensible love he has for every single one of us. I know that I will try my best to never let him down, never let him suffer more than he already has. I know that by this I will be able to show my gratefulness for everything he has done for me and will continue to do for me, no matter the price.

On Friday we had our Dessert Night activity. It was a success! There was almost more less-active members showed up than members and some of them brought non-members to the activity. We ate some excellent dessert and then shared a deep message. We took the idea for our message from a message a Utah school teacher did some time back. We handed out chocolates and Elder Beary had to do push-ups for every chocolate that the people ate. We shared a scripture that mentioned how hard the suffering that he went through for our sins. Then the people understood that for every chocolate (sins), Elder Beary had to suffer for just like our savior. It got really quiet in the room and nobody wanted to eat chocolate any more, but we the missionaries kept on eating until Elder Beary was absolutely finished. We shared another scripture and finished with our testimonies. The spirit was really strong and everyone left with a greater appreciation for our Savior. All in all it went well and we are already planning our next activity that will be huge.

 

 

Anyways that is all for now. Thanks for all the emails and letters that you send me. Pray for our success here in Dom Pedrito.

Love, Elder Miller

15 July 2013   Lot's of Gaúchos

Hello Family and Friends,

 This week was rather normal so there is not too much to report. The highlight of the week was that we invited one of our investigators, G, to be baptized along with 2 of her kids. She accepted the invitation but is still waiting for an answer from God to be fully committed. She has been a member of the Igreja Universal- Evangelical Church- for 14 years now so she is still a little hesitant in accepting everything. She did mention that whenever we leave her house it feels like something good is missing, aka the Spirit. Also, she has some form of cancer and the other day her pastor tried to "cure" her from the disease, and she told us for the first time she felt the biggest impression to leave the church. We will see what happens this week with her if she received an answer or not. 

We will be having a big activity in the ward this week, Dessert Night. I was an activity that I thought up and with the help of the other missionaries we will give a message of the Atonement of Christ. We have put everything together and have invited everyone in the ward. We are hoping that they will bring friends and family to the event so that we can increase the number of people that we are teaching. This activity will give us a good idea of how willing the ward is to help the missionary work, and according to the results we will be able to plan bigger and better activities for the future.

The zone leaders and some other missionaries are coming to our area tomorrow to help us out in our area. We are working hard, but our numbers are pretty low still so they will contact a bunch of people for us to teach, I think. I don't really know why they are so worried about us, but I accept the help. I won't lie it has been a great challenge opening up this area especially since NOTHING was left for us to work with from the previous elders. But we have 2 special families we are working with for now and my plan for this week is to find a whole lot more. We were forced to slow down the work this week because of a rain storm that lasted a couple days. It was not fun working at all. Not one person allowed us to go into their house. As much as people tell you that it is easier to enter into houses during the rain it is false, it seems almost worse. But everything is good and I'm not worried, I know things will happen in the Lord's time.

So I have not mentioned much about the area. First, we live in an apartment: 1 study room, kitchen, washer room, bathroom, and room to sleep. It is really nice after a good wash and I am enjoying it. Our city is divided into two parts, I have the North section, and Elder Beary, the senior companion, has the South section. Our section is rather poor and more rural than the south section which has the city center and suburbs. What really stinks is that the majority of the members live in the South section and thus the majority of references are for their area. So basically Elder Machado and I are on our own.

We are living in city with a heavy Gaúcho influence. There is a lot of people on horses and there is a lot of agriculture around here. The food is a lot better than my last area. They spice things up with salads, and noodles etc.. We still eat a ton of meat which is cool. The members are really cool and humble people. They seem to have a desire to work with the missionaries which is a bonus. All in all I like the area, we just need to keep on working hard and I think things will turn around. The people here are not really receptive of the gospel, but hey there has to got be someone that wants to hear the good word we just have to find them.

That is all for now,

Love Elder Miller

8 July 2013   There is no substitute for work

Hello Family and Friends,

 

So my second week in Dom Pedrito has already flown by, it was tough but worth it. We taught quite a few lessons and we were able to find some new investigators. Now we need to invite them to be baptized which is our goal this week.

 

 

My companion and I are doing well here in Dom Pedrito considering the circumstances, being both new in the area and all. I feel like we have the trust of the members already. We have marked a few Family Nights with the less-actives members of the area and we are organizing an activity in the chapel for the 19th of July. I know that through the members of the church we will be able to have much more success than working alone. So our game plan is to strengthen the less-active members through Family Nights and plan activities for the active members to bring friends and family members to the church. Soon our Ward Mission Leader will be able to help us out a lot. He has been recovering from an emergency surgery due to appendicitis, I know about that. He used to be the bishop in Dom Pedrito and he knows almost everyone in the city so he will be a great asset.

Like I mentioned above this week was no small task, it was all about finding people to teach. We walked, contacted, knocked doors, and walked some more. By the end of the week my companion was wiped out, literally. I know the work has been pretty hard, but I know he is grateful to have a companion that does not mess around. While walking in the street one night he told me that he is grateful to work and follow all the rules because he does not have a heavy conscience. He also said that as we have been obedient and working hard he has been able to say and teach things that he wasn't able to before. In other words, he feels a lot closer to the spirit through our  diligence and obedience. I feel the same way as him. I have faith that by fulfilling all the commandments we will be blessed immensely in our area. I know that sometimes those blessings do not come immediately and sometimes we will not have the privilege to see these blessings in our own time, but they will come, of this I have certainty. 

Other than this there is not much to say. The protests in Brazil are getting worse, I am learning a ton being the senior companion, there are some good cooks in our ward, and living with three other missionaries is nuts! The temperature is getting colder but it is not too bad. I have a cold right now because one of the Elders opened the window last night and I ended up getting blasted by the cold breeze. 

This week the letter is pretty short, but hopefully I will have a lot more to say in the next letter home. I missed you all on the 4th of July. Elder Beary and I made up for it by singing the US anthem to our fellow Brazilian roomates and making hotdogs.

Thats all for now,

 

Love Elder Miller

1 July 2013  Here in Dom Pedrito

Hello Family and Friends, 

Well, I finally arrived in my new area late Wednesday night. We left Porto Alegre Tuesday and arrived in Bagé around midnight. I spent the night with other elders in Elder Weber's apartment ha ha. It was just like good ole' times with Elder Weber back in Butiá. I told him everything that had happened there the past few months and he was happy to hear that we had really made a change in that area. We got up early the next day and went to a zone meeting in Bagé. Later we had lunch and got all our luggage together to make our final trip to Dom Pedrito, an hour and a half away.

We arrived in our apartment in Dom Pedrito around 5:00 and we started to unpack. I was not surprised to see that our apartment was in terrible condition when we walked in. -This morning we cleaned everything and the apartment is now looking very well- Later we went to a meeting with the Bishop and other leaders of the ward. Yes, it is a ward but the frequency of members is about that of Butiá when I left. So that was about it our first day.

The rest of the week Elder Machado and I went to work on full-speed, contacting people in the street, visiting less-active members, and visiting other active member to get a good idea of what we are working with. We walked and walked and walked and walked a little more.  I don't know if I mentioned that we are opening up the area, the last companionship was taken out of the area. Also, the other elders did not have ANYTHING for us, no appointments, no investigators, no contacts, and very little information about the members. We little literally are starting from zero here.

We did a lot this week considering what we had to work with. I kind of feel bad because I think I burnt out Elder Machado this first week. By the end of the week there was literally no fire left in him, but I kept on wanting to work. I'm trying to find a balance right now with him because he has a few health issues and is relatively a new missionary, but he is a fighter. He had just finished opening up another area in Arroio dos Ratos which is a difficult area, and he had a lot of success there. His testimony is really strong and I can see him having a lot of success on the mission.

I was called to give a talk Sunday. Welcome to Dom Pedrito ha ha! I basically told the ward that we needed to work together, missionaries and members in order to have some real success in the area. I think the ward really likes us and sees potential in us.

Living in an apartment with 4 missionaries is very different. There is a lot more noise and distractions, but at least there is never a dull moment. The other companionship is Elder Beary, from my original group back in São Paulo, and Elder Carlos a Brazilian, recent convert with about 6 months on the mission. They are both really funny.

All in all this week was good but extremely difficult. It will be like this for a few more weeks, but I know that soon through our hard work and obedience we will be blessed. We already have been blessed in this area! We were able to bring a member with us to a few lessons and we have made some new investigators already. In this first week I have grown a lot as a missionary. I have had to take a leadership role not only in my companionship, but in the apartment also. Also, I have had to come out of my shell a lot by trying to talk with everyone, starting up conversations, and taking the lead in lessons etc.. These things are difficult for me. I have always liked staying out of the limelight and voicing my opinion only when necessary, but it is time to grow up. In difficult situations I tend to think about my scripture on my missionary plaque back home. Ether 12:27, I know that through my faith in the Lord my weaknesses will become strengths. We are going into round 2 this week, I'm hoping and praying that Elder Machado and I can keep our spirits up and keep on fighting.

Love you all,

Elder Miller 

P.S. Pictures of last day in Butiá. Me with our recent converts and members of Butiá

 

 

24 June 2013  Baptism and Protests

Hello Family and Friends,

Wow, there is a lot to write about today. First things first, we had 4 baptisms Saturday night!!! It was an incredible day. A, T, E, and G were baptized. It was a 5 month fight with A and, with T it was only three weeks, but they both overcome more than the average person should ever have to go through. I won't write their stories in this email for obvious reasons, but know that they are warriors and a living examples of the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They have shown me that there is literally nothing in this life that you can't overcome with the grace, and mercy of our Lord and Savior. I was privileged with the opportunity to baptize A and it was a really spiritual experience. I had to baptize her twice because the first time her feet came flying out of the water, just like a seesaw. We all explained to her that she needed to be fully immersed in the water in order for the baptism to be performed correctly. So I got to put her in the water again and when she came out she told me, "I had so many sins that I needed to baptized twice!!!" I thought that was pretty funny. All in all it was amazing to see these people that had gone through so much in life, clean from the stains of sin and ready to start the journey to eternal life. This is what we missionaries live for!

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the Temple this week. It was an extremely raining day but all in all we made it there and back safely. I bought white baptismal pants, a white tie, CTR rings for our recent converts, and Mormon Tabernacle choir CD's. The temple is such a nice experience, and I'm a little mad that I took it for granted before the mission. It is definitely a place you can go to clear your head and focus on the things that really matter. The spirituality and tranquility that exists inside the temple is indispensable and necessary in this world of so much noise and confusion. It was very much different inside the temple than what was happening outside in Porto Alegre, protests.

The protests in Brazil having been increasing in size this past week. First, they started in the major cities of Brazil, but now it has even reached these small cities in which we are serving. There are people here that are really fighting for their rights and others, vandals, that join in to break everything and steal stuff. Anyways, I will be fine and they will end eventually.

On to some big news, drumroll......... I will be leaving Butiá tomorrow to go to Dom Pedrito a small city a little farther than Bagé. Just to let you know it is the farthest area from Porto Alegre in the entire mission, and guess what Elder Weber will be my District Leader! I will be the Senior companion and Elder Machado will be my companion. Elder Machado has almost 4 months on the mission and is from Florianopolis a Brazilian state really close to Rio Grande do Sul. He is basically a recent convert to the church and is 18 years old. I have done a division with him before so we already know each other which is cool.

So Dom Pedrito is about 8 hours away from Porto Alegre and is the coldest area in the mission. I'm going to freeze my buns off this winter, but my super sleeping bag will save my bacon. Also, I forgot to mention that we will be opening this area up, because the last companionship was taken out of the area for reasons unknown to me. We are going to have to gain the confidence of the members and find a way to work with them. The vision of missionary work is changing rapidly ever since Thomas S. Monson changed the age limit of missionaries. The apostles had a world wide transmission last night that laid out the plan. It is basically this, members, members, MEMBERS!!! Every member a missionary and the proselyting missionaries - us - are only here to assist in the work, which is to invite their friends, family members, and neighbors to come unto Christ. They also mentioned something about the missionaries having local Facebooks and Internet to work more efficiently with the people in this "digital age." Also, the chapels will be open to the public for visits and activities every day which the missionaries will organize, I think. So yeah, tomorrow I will be heading out into the boonies. I think I will be serving in another branch. President Castro is really testing me now with this new responsibility. It will be tough no doubt, but it will be good for me because there is so much I need to learn to become the missionary Christ needs me to be.

These past months in Butiá have been priceless to me. I have grown a lot and I now have an idea in mind of what I need to do on my mission and who I need to be after. I have met countless people that are dear to me and that I will never forget. I have a special in my heart place for our recent converts here in Butiá, P, J, J, A, T, E, and G. I have made two life long friends as well, Elder Weber and Leal. We all did a really good work here that the members of the branch will never forget. The frequency of members Sundays is up to 60 per week, a lot better than about 40 when I first arrived here almost 6 months ago. Little by little and according to the time of our Lord, Butiá will get it's chapel and will turn into a ward. Elder Leal has an excellent group of investigators that I have failed to mention in my latest emails. He will continue to work with them and all will be alright. Elder Leal has thanked me for my obedient example these past 3 months and has committed himself to more obedient himself in my absence. That made me feel really good to hear that from him. So far on my mission I have been blessed with my companions.

My time is up now and I have to go. This last week was truly a humbling experience and I'm grateful for every bit of it. I'm grateful for every thing, literally everything and I ask for your many prayers as I leave to continue my mission in Dom Pedrito. It is going to be a real adventure.

Much Love,

Elder Miller